#it's totally their decision and from that standpoint i'm totally fine w it but like

[ladyreadalot]

hey guys! I'm kind of vague-posting here, but I'm getting really frustrated with a particular side of fandom right now. And by "really frustrated", I mean actually wanting to ban them from AO3 and every other fandom-related website (which is literally impossible but MAN do i want to try).

A fanfic author I greatly respect has recently decided to remove all of their fics from AO3, due to what seems like fan harassment. I won't share their name out of respect for their privacy, but if you're in the PJO or Merlin fandoms, it's highly likely you know who I'm talking about.

They haven't been very clear about the exact reasoning behind their sudden departure, but from what I can piece together from what they have said, a fan recently tracked them down/found them irl and harassed them. Apparently it's not just one person either, since apparently multiple people got a hold of their personal email and began sending them mail.

This side of fandom is not okay. Harassing creators-- even out of love!! even kindly!! even if it's just you wanting to let them know how much you appreciate their work!!-- is never okay. Comments and kudos on AO3 are VERY different than finding someone's email or finding them irl to tell them that. Many creators want to keep their fanfic-writing-lives and their irl-lives totally separate, and that's their call!

I know that you love their writing, because we all did. But invading the privacy of creators to the point where they no longer feel safe inhabiting a space designed to allow users to anonymously share stories without irl repercussions??? That's crossing a line. And I feel like this sort of harassment is becoming more and more common in fandom.

It's frustrating and annoying and it's leading creators to find fandom less and less of a safe place. Stop it. Seriously. I know that you've read and kudos-ed and commented on their every fic, but that doesn't make you the author's friend, and while I'm sure they still appreciate you, there is a boundary in place. Respect it!!

[bookofmirth]

i think we all read sjm for the characters, not the plot, putting that aside, yeah, it's obvious that in acowar she set up the next books that were not hinted at before.

as for mor and az tho, i don't really know what sjm was thinking, bc when i first read acomaf (2016?) we all shipped moriel, but looking back, they had 500 years to solve their issues and didn't. maybe mor is eris' mate and sjm was planning to have that be what stopped mor from being w az? and then she was called out for the lack of rep and decided to make mor sapphic? i don't really know and maybe i never will. i love sapphic mor tho, and i'm glad that sjm chose to have ff rep (bc usually female authors tend to chose mm every fucking time).

also, i can see that in acowar sjm started building up the azriel x elain x lucien conflict. and I'm a firm believer that the next 3 books she sold were nesta, elain and mor, but that's just speculation.

my guess is, with the hints we've been getting since acowar, next book is elain, azriel and lucien pov (bc i know about marketing and this is the perfect way to get both eluciens and elriels to buy the book), and then we'll see what happens.

now, emerie was introduced in acofas and she will be mor's love interest, that's for sure. as for gwyn, we don't know when sjm came up with her, but since there weren't crumbs (that i could find at least), maybe it was during acosf. that doesn't mean she won't get her book though.

i just want sjm to have an interview when the last acotar book is out and spill the tea like she did with tog😭😭

There are definitely clues in acomaf that something was rotten in the state of moriel, but if the issue was that Mor is fundamentally different than we understood her to be, then she needs to stay that way for the next two books. We know she’s gay! Maybe sjm did have another reason to make that not happen, idk. Maybe it was never her intention - perhaps she never intended it to become a thing and just didn’t know *why* it wouldn’t become a thing yet. Then once she did, she threw the queerness out there like a “here’s the explanation!” without then thinking about how that should change the way we and the characters interact with her from that point on. I, too, doubt that we’ll ever get the answers we actually want.

Personally, I also appreciate that Mor is queer. From a writing standpoint, wtf. It was fine when all we had was acowar. It’s not longer fine with me when we have acofas and acosf and no whisper of it since.

I really wish that the next full length books would be Elain and Mor, because tbh I don’t want to read about Az being toxic. I had enough of that having to read Chaol’s POV. I only read ToD once, but I remember being genuinely uncomfortable until he and Nesryn broke up because he was treating her like shit. I don’t want that experience again! Idgaf how much I used to like Az, or how intriguing he is as a character (because he is, I just.... don’t really care about him like I care about Elain, Gwyn, Lucien, and Mor). 

TBH I really like that idea though, of the next book being a split between Az, Elain, and Lucien? Because then tbh, everyone would be happy, at least initially. I don’t like the idea of it being a love triangle - not even, considering Mor and Gwyn it’s more like a love pentagon. I would totally enjoy that if we just knew right away that it was going to be elucien and gwynriel in the end because like I said, even though I theorized that he and Elain could be a thing before they all get their HEA elsewhere, I don’t want to see that happening on the page! He’s not in a place for a healthy relationship and so I 100% don’t want to see him taking out his shit on Elain, or on Gwyn, à la Chaol! 

Good point about Gwyn and there not being crumbs. I’ve seen people suggest that she only exists to make people doubt el*iel which is GROSS I’m sorry, but can this wonderful, intelligent, adorable, lovely female character exist for reasons other than to just fuck with the readers who ship that one ship??? 😅 wtf Let’s just ignore her entire character development and arc in the whole book. She’s really only important for what she does or doesn’t mean for a ship. 🙄

Maybe we will get our wish and she’ll explain all these decisions later on. Even better, maybe she won’t have to because it will make sense! I’ll hold out hope mostly because I’m stubborn.