#its an older fic of mine but its actually one of my faves

[suddenlymicah]

haii um i made a podfic of chaoter 1 my fic please look at one of them

[readreactrant]

'Tale of Winter and Spring' another goyuu arranged marriage fic that might just become a fave despite some reservations of mine!!! Let me explain!!! (Rec Review and thoughts)

This review was so sweetly requested by the actual author and lovely mutual of mine @star2112 (really love their name for some reason). So with that context and their permission I'll be going a bit more in depth, and letting them know where I feel they could improve upon. I do keep in mind that many ao3 authors aren't from the pro writing background so I'll be super gentle.

But before we get to that I will give you a quick summary and listing out the fic's strong points (and there are a lot (✿ ♡‿♡)

CW for review and the story itself: there will be spoilers in this rev so if you want to read it before hearing my thoughts go ahead and follow the link in the title. The story involves mpreg, omegaverse and dub con.)

Tale of Winter and Spring is set in historical Japan as all good fics should be, where Yuuji is given away to Gojo by his older brother Sukuna. Thing is Yuuji is in love with next heir of the Zenin clan, Megumi and he's very, very, very unhappy with what's happening. Nevertheless he goes through it all with some very un-Yuuji like gloom )don't worry, we'll get to that). Its an ongoing fic so we don't know the end or which direction the plot itself is taking but for now there's a whole lot of intrigue and hints of Geto coming into the picture to ruin (or maybe not ruin) everything happening.

There's a handful of things that made this story a bit challenging to read but one of the many things I have to give props to is the development of the FushIta relationship side of Yuuji's story. I don't hate FushIta but it's one of many jjk ships that makes me grit my my teeth when it's not a side story in a goyuu ntr fic. So reading the development of their bond here… actually made me kick my feet a bit, is the author a FushIta shipper in disguise??? We'll never know ig ¯_(ツ)_/¯

There's the flashback scene where they're talking about books they read and after some banter Yuuji's like,

"hey megumi… in the future, let's go North, and see if those demons are real or not."

And I felt that, especially since Yuuji does end up going North (Gojo's Clan location if I remember correctly) but Megumi isn't there with him and it's much colder and lonely for him since he can't relate to Satoru at all.

Genuinely almost sobbed ಥ‿ಥ

Another thing I did enjoy was Sukuna's backstory and part of me really wanted more of it and him. It's said he got his hands dirty but I'd love to know what exactly this entails as it would really add more depth to the evilness of his character which is mostly told but not shown. It's easy to so say oh this character does evil things and imply that constantly but harder to display those evil things and show them doing the tragedies that solidify them in the reader's mind like 'yeah, this dude is the worst'. Example, Sukuna throughout the entirety of jjk lollll.

And there was an opportunity for the story to show one of such things which I'll get to in the critique part of this review.

I also really love the characterization which is very important you're making and alternate world. You don't always have to put characters in roles they'll fit but one thing I do like is when a they reflect that role with their canon personalities. And I know someone's already going "well fanon doesn't care about canon" which is fine and true but realistically many fanfic readers, myself included aren't into ooc content. What counts as ooc does vary from person to person tho, especially bc different people interpret characters differently.

Despite the various interpretations there is a common way a character is viewed and enjoyed, which is why, despite how much I enjoyed reading, there was something about Yuuji that constantly…called out to me.

I'm getting into the critique section now to talk about that. Where the writing shines in dialogue and interesting world building, it's kind of falls back in consistency.

Somewhere at the start, in the wedding scene, Utahime says they all have high expectations of Yuuji putting Gojo in his place with kind of indicates a firey kind of attitude but up until this point Yuuji has being quiet and avoidant and kind of continues to be until some of the later chapters. So it's weird she puts this responsibility on him when his character hasn't shown any signs of it. It's not one of more glaring instances but it's one that precedes a few others.

There's another part where Yuuji apologizes for speaking angrily, but Gojo says he doesn't have to because he knows he's the problem. Yuuji's internal thoughts proceed to view that as his apology being discarded which don't exactly make sense to me and ends up feeling like he's looking for reasons to be nitpicky at this point.

Character building isn't a huge problem but it's always the little things that manage add to the overall picture. There's a scene where Sukuna wants to take Yuuji to the Zenin clan and Wasuke doesn't want him to bc everyone thinks Sukuna wants to sell him off. Thing is Sukuna says he's not depraved enough to use an omega child like that but in my opinion it would have done his story and Yuuji's a greater service for him openly consider it and hold that over Yuuji's head for good behavior. He's evil, even if he'd actually never do it, evil people say evil shit.

With all this talk about characters it's time I finally expand on what really got to me and that would be Yuuji. My baby boy is literally all over the place. Yuuji canonically is a very social characters, eager to please and more ready than usual to give other's the benefit of a doubt. Here he's very quick to judge and overly guarded to me.

Now, I'm not saying has to overly friendly either but there's a balance that could struck with him not insulting or assuming things of Gojo constantly, and yeah the white haired bastard doesn't make it especially easy but one of Yuuji's admirable traits is his fortitude and patience with those around him.

Nevertheless, a part of me does think this was a stylistic choice to convey the disparity of Yuuji's behavior with his two love interests; Yuuji is only truly his best self with Megumi and the worst with Gojo. And understanding this, I was able to look past his behavior with the hope and interest of seeing both him and Gojo warm up to each other.

Also, did I mention it's still a mystery why Gojo asked for Yuuji's hand in marriage. Either that or it was mentioned that it's bc of his scent and I forgot (I've been through a lot this week forgive me (〒﹏〒)

My final critique is the writing structure and grammar. Grammar and writing are like 80% of a fic for me. If I don't vibe, no matter how interesting the concept I just might not read.

Thing is, I do vibe with Star2112's writing a lot, it simple yet beautiful in the way in which it conveys the emotions and moods of the story and characters. I enjoyed reading the scene where Yuuji freaks out cuz Gojo didn't spend the wedding night with him and now it may harm his reputation and Sukuna's. I enjoyed every FushIta interaction and I most definitely enjoyed when towards the ending of chapter 8, Yuuji allows Gojo to touch his belly and feel the baby while the Alpha spoke it (also Gojo wants to be a girl dad and that made me throw my phone across the room screaming cuz cuuuute (●♡∀♡)!!!!)

What I didn't enjoy was the structure of the sentences.

"Sentences work like this," Ren says. ✅

" Not like this, " They add. ❌

Figuring out how dialogue and quotations work are a big step for every author's writing journey, it's common not to know if you end with commas of full stops but for the most part, that doesn't really matter. Leave no spaces between the quoted sentence and the quotations marks and always start a new statement with a capital, doesn't matter if it was a continuation of what they were saying in a previous sentence.

Capital.

Grammar-wise, there were a lot of frequent errors but none to glaring and they could all be fixed with a more thorough read through. It can be pretty hard without a beta reader bestie but I believe you, there's so much talent for you not to give the best reading experience you're able to.

Overall, this is definitely a fic I would recommend to avid arranged marriage goyuu fans that love the DRAMA (and if you're like me who likes to read Megumi getting cucked, tho it's not exactly cheating here we'll manage ( ꈍᴗꈍ)💕

At the end of the day, a lot of this advice is partly objective, all authors are free to take what they feel they want to work on and leave the rest. Or leave it all because what matters about writing and fanfiction is that you enjoy what you do. Other's enjoying it is just a bonus/by product.

And to Star2112, you're doing so good, keep it up, I'm subbed and ready to see more, especially if I'll get to read goyuu raising their kid or kids, I'm a sucker for 'oop it's twins'. I'd also encourage you to read more books outside fanfic if you don't if you're still interested in dialogue and sentence structure. You have a strong voice and I think working on your weak points will really amplify that. I'm honored you came to me and hope I was able to help.

If anyone else wants to request, recommendations and reviews are kinda two different things. If you Recommend me a fic and I may or may not talk about it, depends. If you request I Review (for analysis and advice) a fic it has to be yours and you'll have to prove it to me. Depending on what you want I'll either write a post or just let you know my thoughts privately. DMs open so don't be shy.

Thanks for sticking to the end, go check out Star's work to get in on that action and happy Easter my precious freaks!!!

Ps: will edit this later, my brain is literally on fire, bye lovelies (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤

[atoriv-art]

asks

putting these above the readmore because otherwise i will be speaking into the void

fave. grouping these together to say: i do read fanfic on occasion but it's usually filtered through a friend of mine who reads far more than i do! ie, she reads stuff and sends me what she likes

however she did say that i could tell people to link me things so she can read through them. so feel free to link me whatever in the replies/asks/idk. no promises i will be the one reading it LMAO but we have very similar tastes in characters/pairings and also the types of fics we like 👍

i actually gravitate towards gen fics which are a dying breed lol but you can link whatever you want <3

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anyway. under the cut: misc asks, sasuneji 💕, also a tiny hyuga ramble

this is so late LMAO sorry, its all in my old blog @atoriv-moved ! haven't deleted any of it so if anything happened it's tumblr's fault. i miss kingdom hearts i need luxu to be in things again so i can go crazy :/

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thank you so much!!! 😭😭 it always makes me happy to hear the emotional weight of my work comes through! it's what i'm always trying to improve to make the little scenes in my head real :)

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thank you!!!! i never know what to say to these but they always make me smile 8)

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thank you so much!! honestly noses still give me trouble sometimes but as someone who is particular about trying to properly translate 3D shapes, especially of the face, in my rendering it's probably one of the most important landmarks :P and i think you can enhance a design sooo much with them, despite my struggles they're one of my favorite things to draw now!

i totally encourage you to start drawing again if you want to! but i'm biased of course hehe

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cute i never know how to answer these... maybe a little boring but i'm of the opinion sasuke is the clingier one in the rs :)

he's a very loving person but because of both his personality and collection of issues he struggles to fully articulate his thoughts in a manner that doesn't come off as rude or detached, but imo sasuke esp once he's out of his spiral would hate to have his love go unexpressed. so i think him having trouble with words and making up for it with flopping onto the people he loves like a large dog is sooooo cute, and i always think about how clingy he was as a baby.. he is made for latching onto people and wiggling them with a 😐 face

neji on the other hand is Weird About Intimacy since he's trained himself to be self-sufficient, and is hyperaware of how other people might perceive him due to him having to calibrate himself around his family. neji is very principled and especially when he's older won't let his anxieties keep him from doing something he believes in, but it gets a little more complicated when it comes to his personal relationships because for 90% of his life he had no hope of fostering those. so he ends up in a weird middle ground where he Does allow himself to express some of those feelings, but not fully, and often in a very self-conscious manner. his default answer to vulnerability is fluffing up like a cat because that's what's he's trained himself to do lol

so with these two in particular i think it'd combo into a lot of "flopping onto you like a weighed blanket because you're upset and i don't know what to say but i want to be here for you" situations, especially with sasuke doing it to neji because neji struggles with verbally articulating when he needs comfort like that. i think it works wonders for them because sometimes words get really messy when you have their combination of issues... it doesn't mean they can't talk through their problems of course, it just means that if something can be solved by the cat loaf maneuver it will be :)

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not reading too much into it at all, i love it! i like how much people talk about my kabuto hahaha i really want to draw him more often, i think he's a way more interesting character than he's given credit for (and this is coming from someone who really didn't like him at first :P), and his hairstyle change is one of the most obvious ways to explore that visually imo!

tysm for this, i really enjoyed reading it!

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i do! i wish more was done with her because i'm really fascinated by the implications of how she's presented, and how she could've shown that being the favorite child of someone like hiashi isn't necessarily a good thing! i always thought she seems like she's a little dissociated from life outside of the clan, which is really fun to work with (and definitely sucks for her because the clan is Not good lol)

i haven't gotten through the arduous task of watching all naruto filler (lmao) but one of my favorites is the one about hanabi and her relationship with hinata, especially the first half, episode 389 i think? i'm really obsessed with the way that episode shows what day-to-day life was like for the kids and the way the hyuga structure themselves, and how it creates distance between them. i'm pretty sure it implies hanabi (pre-plot) didn't know who neji is, for example? which i get isn't canon but i looove that thought. and on a less deep note hanabi is one of the few characters who gets a design i actually like in boruto! i think she looks soooooo cute

since i spend a lot of time thinking about them i actually am fond of all of the hyuga to some capacity, hiashi definitely in a "wow this guy sucks so much it's impressive" way but still lol i think his relationship with his brother and how it informs how he regards neji is very fascinating, or at least the directions it could have taken (if kishi cared at all.) are!

see my problem is that i wish naruto was about weird families and their issues (i am also obsessed with the suna family <3), but it is a shonen anime made for normal audiences

[ah0yh0y]

tagged by @ribcagelikepiano for the get to know you game!! thx friend !!!!!

questions: last song you listened to, currently watching, currently reading, current obsession

last song: Come Hang Out by AJR off the top of my head by my tabs say Providence by Poor Mans Poison . Come Hang Out feels so nostalgic to me even if i only listened to it recently reminds me of a graduation song (it came out 5 yrs ago so it makes sense. I just really love Poor Mans Poison's vibes generally great fuel for daydream and also matches well with the feeling of revolution (and seeing everything collapse i guess.) (ish) mentally listening to Your Love is All I Need by Sami Yusuf tho at all times lately, probs because i have been trying to wean myself off listening to music for like the 50th time. (its slow going but IM GONNA TRY inshaallah ill be able to do it) (he also took the old nasheed music video off his channel? sad its so good)

currently watching: does d20 mentopolis count? only watched one ep but its good. i havent watched anything regularly besides like school vids for a bit. tried watching the dragon prince s5 when it came out but buffering (the video player i mean) and dissatisfaction at the pacing and characterization kinda stopped me. ill back on it at the end of the yr when everything is settled. if we are talking about podcasts started relistening to wolf 359 and keeping up with the greater gatsby (the latter has SUBLIME noir vibes as it is a noir i bloody love shipwreck's work it scratches that itch in my brain so well) . i may have seen spoilers for wolf 359 so i am anxiously waiting to see if i am proved wrong but im on s4 so its soon prepare for a barrage of reblogs for it. watched s4 of malory towers it was very nice i cant wait for s5 - the pantomime hopefully we get new members for the older years next season i miss the larger cast

currently reading: not much really. fanfic alot. i guess. caught up to the end of the To Make a Legend series on ao3 (pjo) and other fics for a couple of other fandoms (in one false move by Kalidium is really good if your into murder most unladylike - spoilers for A Spoonful of Murder though) also been reading barbie 2023 fanfic? was bored and started hunting for good ones (slim picking at the moments but if you want character study and grief and some bloody good writing def read something in me in you by telm_393 i cant explain it its that good) also reread My Memories Came Back in the Form of Someone Else by Lucy_Luna yes its that really good spiderverse fanfic do check it out

BESIDES THAT THO in terms of actual books. have the audiobook saved for The Valley and The Flood so gonna listen to that later. Have to read The Hate Race for class (not my fave but i need for analysis ive read it like 3 times but I STILL DONT REMEMBER ANYTHING) .

started rereading The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes a couple of weeks ago ahead of the movie coming out at the end of this year but never got the chance to finish it so ill have to get on that too.

also dracula ive been reading as well but more on that the next section.

current obsession: re:dracula is the first that comes to mind im so bloody invested in jonathan's wellbeing and his relationship wiht mina and the whole story its insane . i should read more older books its good . re;dracula DOES SUCH A GOOD JOB AT SUCKING YOU INTO THE STORY THE VOICE ACTORS REALLY MADE IT FOR ME i just cant with ti it makes me so bloody happy!! Renfield's voice actor is a standout for me everytime he's there i just have to pause and stare at a wall. also jonathan's actor as well hes SO GOOD i was geniunly worried about jonathan not sending me voicemails into my phone i was THAT endeared to him

besides that PLAY IT BY EAR the musical improv show by dropout is also a obsession of mine i cannot with their talent. the MUSIC so good i want to play it all the bloody time . i am in absolute awe in the performers ability to create a story and TIE IT ALL TOGHETER SO WELL like every piece of information is used whether you expect it or not . DN THE BAND OH GOD I DONT KNOW HOW THEY SO IT THE MUSIC IS SO FUN AND CREATIVE AND FITS THE MOOD AND MADE UP ON THE SPOT???!!! HOW I DONT KNOW (if u ask me who my favourite guest star is at the moment its ross byant hes an absolute delight whenever he is on a d20 show- the improvised shakespear episode blew my mind)

anway THIS SI LONGGGGGGGG soz

no pressure tags: @filmloser04 @mistichallow @charlies-a-thief

@literallymahir @quotidian-oblivion @monochrome-anomaly @suksiili @miseria-fortes-viros and anyone else that wants to join!!!! (you dont have to do a brain dump like me i always go overboard)

[secretswiftymarvelfan]

Not really no. I spend an insane amount of time on planning my fics and its during that time that I explore all the different options and directions that I could take the fic.

I look at every plot point and think about how well it fits with the overarching story arc, the character arcs, whether its the right place within those arcs for this plot point or whether it would be better suited earlier/later on in the story.

I basically look at every detail and think is this the best place for this part to be in the story. If not i’ll think of a new plot point, or i’ll move it to some other point in the story which is better. No detail is too small for this level of planning 😅 i’ll even do this for simple characters references 😂😂 it seems like a lot and i know it a lot but I just can’t not plan to this level of detail because otherwise its all too overwhelming and it will just never get written 😂 I’m effectively writing my first draft in bullet point form

So basically when it comes to the actual writing stage, the plot and everything else is pretty nailed on and its not going to change at all 😂 There’s some older series that I’ve considered revisiting and adding more detail in as my skills have improved but the overarching story wouldn’t change

Fics where I really love the direction and the overarching plot, Memory Served is definitely one, it was a real challenge to get the whole story to work and keep the plot twist at the end a twist. Burnin’ Up is also a personal fave of mine because of all the themes in it 🥰

Week Two Question Time:

Reblog with your Answer: Is there a story you wish you could do differently? Why?

Follow Up: What do you like about the direction you took with the story?

[grey-scale-monotony]

Cream-of-the-crop Tommy fics

AKA my super picky ass and its fave fics

This is a list I will continue to update but these are some of the fics I have read (most of them are already pretty popular but tbf thats for good reason) that I think are just some of my favourite fics

Please note that these are not ranked by anything and I’ll also be making 2 separate lists for Superhero/powers AUs and foster AUs bcs I have read far far far too many of them

1. Ours Poetica by zeeskeit [unfinished] This fic is one of the most masterfully written fics I've read, the poems the author includes are just incredible, I love the pacing as well as the other characters that we get to meet. This fic legitimately made me try learning poetry, I'm shit at it but the writing is literally that inspiringly good

2. Butterfly Reign by SilentTeyz [unfinished] Pain. Agony. But so wonderfully written, I love it. The cutthroat brutality even the nicest characters are capable of bcs that's just what is needed in the royal court is one of my favourite things in this fic, there is only one character in this fic I think is actually in the right 99.9% of the time and that's Tubbo. Also love the reasoning we get behind all the characters actions *cough* Wilbur *cough*. Also Beau is incredible.

3. 3 weeks, 41 critters, 1 human (series) by Badnews [on going series] There are a lot of very good space AU/humans are orcs SBI fics out there but this one takes a popular trope and redefines it into something else. The rest of SBI as aliens slowly realising Tommy has sentience is such a hard thing to write but the author does it in such a way that it's realistic (well as realistic as an alien fic can be) and not rushed with an easy fix-it-all solution

4. Whatever Remains, However Improbable by 7CxRhyeby (completed) This fic was a fic I'm still yet to read anything similar to and I love I for that, Wilbur is a framed detective which suits him so much, the different povs are all so well written its just so *mwah*

5. FOIL v.) [something considered wrong or undesirable] from succeeding by MistBorn_SprenDeath (one shot) ok this one is very short compared to the others but its wonderful, Tommy is blind, vampire SBI are dicks, BUT, Tommy is not compliant or complacent, he is smart and philosophical and doesn’t roll over to be babied and I love that for him. Please read this if you have 5 minutes its so worth it.

6. Vibrations by celestialwarden [completed] I don’t read many canon based fics, I’m more of an AU gal but this fic is an exception, and by that I mean its exceptionally well written. Tommy goes on a healing arc, gets a child, gets a Sean (we stan Sean) what else could you need? It has some heartbreaking angst and reunions, also some terrifying cliff hangers, but it all turns out well in the end. Just keep reminding yourself that especially towards the second half of the fic. You’ll need to.

7. The Case of the Fire Inside by trying_to_spell_both_our_names_at_once [ongoing] Whenever the author replies to a comment I left on the most recent chapter of this fic I immediately put down whatever I’m doing cause that usually means a new chapter is coming out. This fic is so unique, Selkie!Tommy and lighthouse keeper W, T, & P,  Evil bastard dream but older brother dream and its so sweet bcs Tommy is friends with SBI as a seal but also a human but its also so sad cause DREAM dbshbvhdj I love this fic pls read it.

8. Kings To You by Flustered [ongoing] as I mentioned earlier I’m not a huge fan of dark SBI but Tommy in this is just? so? cool? From the first chapter he is so badass, continuously does the impossible (I won’t state his feats cause spoilesrs but he is so cool) and when Techno goes all dark and possessive he’s like ‘fine, you want to make me “yours” well then your mine as well bitch’ He literally just goes “same” when Techno is doing his whole piglin bonding thing. Did I mention he’s badass? He is so badass

9. Diasporas Blue by SilverWing15 [completed] Werewolf Tommy is so perfect always, and SilverWing is such a wonderful writer this fic is just perfect. Its soft and fluffy but everyone is also oblivious idiots, sometimes you just need that hurt/comfort with a little bit of fantasy found family.

10. Blood Brothers (Blood God!Tommy AU) by lockergirl [ongoing series] Tommy (blood gods) just goes and yoinks a select few people that eventually become his family and I love it. This AU is so perfect, I love that the way he meets each SBI member is unique for each of them, its bloody hilarious when everyone thinks Techno is the blood god, plus the way he actively hates blood sacrifices so he befriends Techno when he sacrifices a fucking baked potato and that just becomes a thing from then on. This fic has angst but its also really funny at times, Tommy can be an oblivious mess but he means well

IF YOU HAVE FIC RECS I WILL GLADLY ACCEPT

[kyloren]

i was never really into the jonsa ship, but that post of yours has got me really interested... do you have any fave fics of them??

welp, we’re going old-school, lads. prepare for some of my favourite fandom throwbacks well, I failed at that, I put some of the newer things on the list, too

CANON-VERSE:

Now You See Me: Kissed by fire, Ygritte thought to herself, just like me. 

Goodbye Means Going Away (And Going Away Means Forgetting): Memory is unreliable. No one understands this better than Rickon Stark.

Take My Crown Away (Don’t Smile So Sweetly, My Love): A world where everything is easier. Except for those who love, and love too much.

Build a Ladder to the Stars: Jon abandons the Night’s Watch to join Robb’s cause. After rescuing Sansa from King’s Landing, he and Sansa find themselves in a relationship they never saw coming.

A Winter’s Tale: The War of Three Dragons comes to the Vale, bringing Jon Snow and Sansa Stark together once more.

The Winter of Our Discontent: In the end it is Jon and his men of the Night’s Watch who come to take her back to Winterfell.

tell me true (who are you): Ned Stark brought a dark-haired, grey-eyed bastard babe home and called him son. Years later, Jon Targaryen does the same.

Lift Me Like an Olive Branch and Be My Homeward Dove: She never dreams of Jon Snow but in the end he is the one that comes for her under a Targaryen banner, the might of Winterfell and the North behind him with their father’s sword on his back.

The Whispering Ghosts (Left You Out In The Cold): Winter came and brought Jon home. [this is the first Jonsa fic I ever read, boy, did it fuck me up]

A Bronze Crown: In the end there are no knights. In the end Sansa must rescue herself. Based on the prompt: he doesn’t ride to her rescue; she comes north with her granduncle and the armies of the Vale to wage war on the Boltons, save his life and teach his assassins and the Boltons a sharp lesson.

how ruthless are the gentle*: “Yes, I do.” The easiest lie he’s ever told, by far. It came so naturally, he hardly thought of it as false. “She’s easy to love.”

Tell the Ones That Need to Know (We Are Headed North)*: After years of confinement in the Red Keep with Ned prisoner in the black cells, the Dragon Queen comes. With the knowledge that Jon Snow is actually a Targaryen, she agrees to let the Starks return to Winterfell only if Jon marries one of the Stark daughters. Sansa volunteers so they can all go home. Soon she figures out being married to Jon isn’t bad, but it is complicated.

Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things*: We know no King, but the King in the North whose name is Stark. 

Dragons of Red, Dragons of White*: An AU where the Battle of the Trident took place, but just between Rhaegar Targaryen and Robert Baratheon. Their duel and its outcome have ramifications that none could foresee. In the world built afterwards, dragons once again rule and roam Westeros, among them the son of a northern beauty and the king. Prince Jon and his kin, Stark and Targaryen alike, face new challenges from both without and within. Whatever the future holds, the Seven Kingdoms will learn that, whether in a coat of red or a coat of white, a dragon still has claws.

A Knight’s Watch: Jon Snow is forbidden to take the black by his father. Instead he sent to squire for a famous knight, beginning a long arduous journey that causes him to cross paths with characters he never would have. Along the way he learns truths long hidden and discovers love in the most unlikely of places.

The Conquest*: Three hundred years after Aegon the Conqueror built a new empire on the ashes of the Valyrian Freehold the known world is a place of war. The Targaryen Empire is pressed by enemies, the Seven Kingdoms war amongst themselves and forces contrive to pull them all apart.

Live Without Shame: When Catelyn’s treatment of Winterfell’s Bastard unexpectedly softens, Sansa reconsiders her relationship with Jon. But despite the revelations that ensue, Jon must and will always remain Winterfell’s Bastard and suffer its consequences.

The Tempered Kingdoms*:  After years of wars, death, destruction, politics, and White Walkers, a tentative calm has returned to Westeros partially due to the rulership of King Jon and Queen Daenerys. But politics rues its head again as Stannis Baratheon demands his right to rule, while the former Queen Cersei languishes in a cell, plotting her revenge against all who live above her. Sansa Stark is forced to return to King’s Landing after being found by the rumored lovers Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth.

winterbloom: “You’ve traveled a long way for a rumor.” Sansa lives at the Wall under the protection of her brother Jon Snow, but when Sandor Clegane comes looking for her, she and Jon begin to realize that she is not as safe as they once hoped.

As History Changes: Jon agrees to accompany Stannis south to the Vale and he meets a person he did not expect to meet.

hold onto your heart (you’ll keep it safe): When Sansa turns eleven her wrist burns. She excitedly unwraps the cloth guarding her skin, waiting eagerly for the name to finish forming. The dark letters stop after only three and when Sansa leans in closer she realises that she knows that name and she knows that handwriting already.

carve your heart into mine: Sansa spent many evenings sewing her wedding dress by the fire, dreaming of her husband. The gown spilled out of her hands like a silver river, burning brighter from the light of the flames. She had embroidered it with a noble husband in mind, but she wed her lowborn love in the godswood, with snowflakes falling on her veil. 

ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE:

Into the Darkness of the Grave: The tragic death of Eddard Stark’s cousin Lyanna brings her estranged son back to Winterfell House, the family’s old plantation home, for her funeral.

The Other Shoe: If anyone had told Sansa Stark that she would be married to Jon Snow, expecting a child with him at the age of nineteen she would have laughed at them. Not because Jon was a bad person, for he had slowly come out of his shell in the past seven years; not because she was young, her parents were married right out of Hogwarts; simply because Sansa Stark seemed to be the anthesis of a happy ending.

several sunlit days: Everyone knows you don’t date Robb Stark’s sisters unless you want to spend your days avoiding hexes and angry bludgers shot at your head. Too bad Jon’s traitorous feelings could care less.

the unexpected champion: Jon must swim to The Black Lake and retrieve something *cough* Sansa *cough* stolen from him. This task makes him realize who he should invite to the Yule Ball.

Where Did You Sleep Last Night: Sansa needs a new guitarist, Jon needs a new band, and the two of them definitely don’t need each other.

and labor till the work is done: Stark Industries is a family legacy she was hoping to avoid: Robb is a project manager, grooming to eventually be a partner, Arya is a summer intern with Bran sure to follow next year and Rickon in another three, and even Jon Snow, who is technically not family but who has been around for as long as Sansa can remember, works as an estimator. But Sansa is not who she was at sixteen or eighteen or even twenty and she’s still in the process of learning what’s truly important, like who she is, who she wants to be, and what kind of people she wants in her life.

One Of The Few Things: Jaime and Sansa spend a lot of time pining over Brienne and Jon together. Sometimes, they actually even do their jobs.

flower shaped heart*: Alayne Stone has lived her whole life in her hidden tower, forbidden by Mother to leave. But she yearns for an adventure like the ones in the songs, so when a man named Jon Snow crashes into her tower and into her life, she seizes the chance. They travel to King’s Landing where the floating lanterns shine each year on her nameday. The new world is exciting and frightening, but Jon Snow is there to guide her every step. He is not nearly as terrible as Mother said men are, though the rest of the world might be. Danger, betrayals, and lies form the steps of their journey as Alayne uncovers terrible secrets.

Crawl up to my Room: Jon left her side after a few moments of silence and she watched him leave with a quiet thought playing in her mind. He was her stepbrother for only a few hours, and she already found herself utterly fascinated and irritated with Jon Stark. 

in the summer, as the lilacs bloom: “You did tech in high school,” Sansa points out. (Yeah, I did tech because you were playing the lead and I was in love with you.) Jon doesn’t tell her that, though. Of course not. Instead he agrees to spend his summer stage managing this passion project of hers, and some trace of his seventeen-year-old self has dried out his throat at the thought of three months’ constant contact with Sansa.

Down from the Mountain: Sansa flies home from college after her older brother Robb, one of the country’s hottest young pitchers, is hurt in a car accident. Robb’s best friend Jon is there to help the Stark family in any way he can.

Little Bed in the Big Woods: “I stared at him for a solid five minutes because he looked like what I imagine god would look like if god was a lumberjack.”

A Game of Stars*: When the Mad Emperor hears that the Starks are Force-sensitive, he discovers the hidden rebel base on Hoth. He sends Jon there with one order: Burn them all. But bring the Stark children to Coruscant. It’s time for the two most powerful Force bloodlines in the galaxy to merge.

I’ll Pack My Goods for the Arkansas Woods*: When Sansa’s brother goes missing, it falls to her to defend the house and the woods against the greed of the Boltons and Freys. All of this would be much easier if she could fight fire with fire, and there’s a saying in the valley: that all the Starks are a little wild, and all the Targaryens are a little mad. Her cousin Jon just happens to be both.

In the Face of Death: On a long list of things Jon never expected, Sansa came top.

United States of Irreversible Oblivion: With the government losing its fight at the northern border, Sansa’s only hope is that one of its soldiers, Office Jon Snow, will return for her and save her from the horrors of a collapsing society.

remember me love when i’m reborn: ‘Longest Night’ has biggest night in hollywood history. “Joffrey wanted someone to make him famous, and as soon as Sansa wrote a movie for him that did just that, he left her in the dirt.”

Hear the Wolf*: The Starks are in Hogwarts. Sansa has to learn to stand up to her ex-boyfriend and Jon has to learn to face his past. They’re determined to do it alone. Will they ever admit they’re stronger together?

Somewhere in the Winter Woods*: Lost on her way to her grandmother’s cabin in the winter woods after running away from home, beautiful young Sansa thinks she’s run into trouble when she crosses a white wolf in the forest. Instead of harming her, the animal guides her to his master, a handsome warrior named Jon who lives in solitude and clothes himself in black.

* marks the ongoing stories. 

[lookslikefairytale]

what are your favorite H/L fics?

Anon, thank you so much for that question, because it’s my favourite question in the world. Sadly, it is also the most difficult one to answer, because since I’ve joined the fandom in 2015, I have lived and breathed fanfic. I read on the way to the bus, on the bus, in bed, in uni classes (sorry), on holiday, on work breaks, basically every minute I can spare. So I know my 952 bookmarks may look like I use them instead of my Marked for Later list, but I actually don’t. These are the ones that I’ve read and would rec! 

Asking for favourite fics always brings the danger that people only rec the classics, so I’m trying to reduce it to a few, but I know and loved almost all of them! So instead of trying to rank my faves, I’m trying to give a bit of an overview of what kind of fics I like and I would love to rec more specific fics, if anyone is interested! Please always ask!

So first, my absolute favourite fic of all time. I have read it at least ten times, no exaggeration. It is, indeed, a classic: Unbelievers by @isthatyoularry

Second of all, my favourite “older fics/classics”, I’ve tried to choose three, so it’s been a struggle: my heart is breathing for this moment in time by usedtothebeach, Who Painted the Moon Black by throughthedark, and Run Like the Devil by benzos

Next up, my favourite trope in the world: long fics about Omega!Harry. I’d like to thank all the authors who’ve written so many amazing fics with this trope recently, because there has been a lack of them for a long time! Face Your Fears and Just for Tonight (I can be yours) by @sadaveniren, Say Something by @kingsofeverything, A Distant Hazy Light by @greenfeelings, Pretty Please (With Sugar On Top) by @angelichl  and But Please Don’t Bite by shyserious (this one has been deleted but I can send you the pdf if you message me off anon!)

This one has got to be its own category, because in 2016, the time where I was most active and involved in fandom, I’ve been obsessed with everything by @alivingfire. The one I can reread time and time again is Inconceivable (this woud actually also belong in the comfort fics category), but of course Hiding Place and Say Hallelujah, Say Goodnight are absolute masterpieces and I need to mention them. I can’t really choose favourites here, I love all of them equally!!

Another favourite category of mine is Girl Direction! There have been almost none of them when I first joined the fandom but thankfully that has changed lately! My faves are Harriet and Louise by @newleafover, Daisy Chains and I Must Confess (I Still Believe) by @alienfuckeronmain and Kiss the Girl by @hazzabeeforlou!

I have a few comfort fics, so many in fact, that I once started drafting up a rec post for them specifically, but I’m going to mention 3 again: Loathly by orphan_account, blend into my favourite colour by @rainbowninja and Watch Him As He Goes by LoadedGunn

And at last, here are 3 fics that I’ve enjoyed recently! adjudication by @bottomlinsons, gathered on wings by @twopoppies and we can only look behind by @hereforlou

This post has been hard. I’m now sad because I have not recced so many of my favourite fics, so if anyone’s interested, I could definitely do more of these posts! Thank you for asking!

[cloudsrust]

Death comes in all colors

And here I come one year late with a few of my deaths’ headcanons for the lm3 ghosts-... in short story form because of course I gotta go the extra step,, TW: death mention and description (duh), bones breaking / asphyxiation , choking, firearm’s wounds, freezing, aneurysm. Steward - “A back-breaking job.” His last task for the day was to deliver the luggage that had gotten shipped to the hotel to the rightful rooms, ready to be found by the guests arriving in the morning. It was late at night and the overfilled bell cart, tucked away in the establishment’s warehouse, had gotten stuck between a wall and few boxes. As he was pulling the unstable mess from the side, trying to free it, the cart inclined towards him. The worn out belts barely restraining the luggage to begin with. A sickening “snap” breaking the night's silence, as the buckle of one of the worn out belts freeed itself from its prong, mercilessly hitting him straight across the face, hands instinctively going to cover his newly acquired wound as everything around him fell apart. The heavy suitcases and boxes completely crushed him, splitting his spine and breaking his ribs. A shard of the latter penetrating one of his lungs, making it burst. Unable to call for help, he slowly died by asphyxiation, the weight of the luggage “mercifully” taking his last breath away before the internal blood loss could. He is keen to both anger and panic attacks because of how he was treated when alive, both of those feeling still stirring in his heart, unable to find rest. Chambrea - “Feeling your heart in your throat.” The butler of the mansion where Chambrea served as a maid fell in love with her. Many letters and flowers were found in her small room in the following mornings, sweet smiles and compliments filling her days. Even though that was the closest thing she could get to one of the romances in her adored love novels and as much as she desired an happily ever-after, now she needed that job more than a stereotypical love story. She kept refusing him over and over, apologetic smiles following offers to pay him back the money the flowers must've costed. The servant, however, just couldn't stand the thought of rejection. Just as a rope being pulled over and over, he snapped. The night the inhabitants of the manor were out for a private party, he killed her in retaliation, strangling her to death. The thought of “if I can't have her, no one will” only made sense until the time to dispose the body came, clarity coming back to him as he dragged her body across the dark street. He hadn't much time to regret his actions, as Chambrea took her vengeance scaring him off the same bridge he was trying to use to dispose of her corpse. Neither of the bodies were ever found. She still loves to read romantic and tragic novels but she doesn’t feel ready for an actual relationship anytime soon. Her heart stuck in her throat every time she talks with a man, remembering her last moments alive. Steward is trying to slowly help her move on, is the least he can do for a friend colleague. Kruller - “A shot in the dark.” He was a night guard in training at the Grand Mall of the city. It was supposed his first night alone in his side of the mall, a more experienced co-worker taking care of the other half. It seemed a calm night like usual, more tiring the stressful. It would've been so if a thief hadn't managed to avoid security during closing time, hiding in the vents. After an hour or so of undisturbed shoplifting, Kruller finally encountered the criminal during the patrol of his side. Taser gun ready to fire in his shivering hands, still inexperienced in field action, the cop still found the courage to stutter a “Freeze!”. That word sealing his fate. A round of bullets perforating his stomach and chest as the mysterious man turned around firing by instinct, shocked by the sudden threat coming from behind him. The thief fled the scene, leaving the mall cop bleeding to death. The other night guard, alerted by the shoots rushed to his position, calling the ambulance at the sight of the blood pooling and running along the floor tiles. But help didn't come in time, Kruller last words desperately trying to describe the criminal, in hope of justice. He has a serious fear of both realistic looking and real firearms and he still has trouble speaking up from time to time, the remembrance of his error still lingering in his mind. Chef Soulfflé - “Best served cold.” Left behind by his trusted staff to make the inventory of the remaining and the needed supplies for the night, Soulfflé was checking the state of the meat in the freeze chamber. A few misplaced cleaning supplies tragically slipped from their grip on the tiled wall, still humid from the cooking vapor, falling on the chamber’s door, slowly closing it. The spine chilling click of the automatic lock making the chef drop the pack of meat he was inspecting. A few minutes passing with him trying to desperately call for help, the leftover hours of his life passed making peace with himself, writing down his will on the ingredients checklist he had with him. His staff only found his body the next morning, various aliments scattered on the floor, the cardboard where they were stored laying on the frozen corpse as a last hope to produce enough warmt to survive the night. He overcooks the meat by mistake: unable to feel warmth, no matter the temperature, for him everything will always be and remain cold. Amadeus Wolfgeist - “A heartbreaking performance.” Entire days and sleepless nights dedicated to that night, the evening of his concert- just for an aneurysm to take his life before he could complete that cursed melody. Slowly feeling his body crumbling from the inside, responding to his will no more. Hands grasping at the piano keys like a stray dog does with a found bone, his hunger for glory, for redemption, pushing him to keep on going. His fingers suddenly stiff, the last note mocking him with its silence as his vision completely faded to black. Falling to the harsh floor of his reality as red curtains covered the stage, marking his demise. His mind is still plagued by that composition, cursed to always rehears it but to never complete it, his hand still phasing through that last note. It is always better to keep an ear out for such music, just to know when is better to not interact with him at all. ...and that’s all- y’all can surely  see how in the last two stories I was just rushing through eh,,  I do want to share the titles and “plots” that where planned for the other ghosts! (Yes, giving titles is usually my fave part ahah)

MacFrights - “A stab to your pride.” Killed by a spear during a jousting tournament. His saddle slipped at the worst moment, letting his opponent’s weapon into the eye hole of his helmet. (My MacFrights’ design as a deep scar on his right eye, a bit OOC I know-) Dr. Potter - “Quiet as a falling leaf.” Died of old age. Came back to take care of the garden of his beloved wife, passed away years before him and now resting in her garden’s greenhouse, now her mausoleum. She already passed on, but Potter can’t let go of the only thing that remains of her, keeping him tied to the mortal world. (I kinda wish to come back to this one, maybe write a bit about it- but it’s a quite slim chance) Morty - “Letting the credits roll." (TW: suicide mention) Commited suicide via sleeping pills. He was the best conductor of his times, always aiming for perfection in every shot. It was when he reached the top that he understood that he could never reach that perfect dream of his, and that all that he was left with were just golden trophies and broken relationships. He let his movie end in hope of a sequel. (Another OOC, I like the idea of him being the complete opposite of what he was in real life, some sort of desire for redeeming himself and truly enjoy his love for movies. I want to write about this one, I really want to expand on this- so I might have a stand alone fan-fic for this.) Ug - “Flesh and bone.” Died of starvation. Not much to say about him- he lived in tough times with scarce food. Clem - “Washing away your memories.” While he worked in the sewers, he drowned after some falling pipes hit his head, beating him unconscious. He suffers from memory loss, not remembering anything from his mortal life- except a deep love for ducks. (Headcanon of mine is that he worked at a farm with his mother and many siblings- he accept a job into the sewer system to help his family in a time of struggle of the farm.) Serpci - “Sacrifices must be made." Offered herself to be sacrificed to the gods, to help his reign during dark times. Lindsay, Nikky, Ginny - “Warming up the audience.” (TW: childrean’s death) One of their fire tricks malfuctioned, ending into an fire enveloping the room they were performing in. They died of suffocation, due to the thick smoke, before the flames could reach them. Lindsay, the older sister, protected her two siblings until the end. Capitain Hook - “Putting salt on a wound.” Eaten by the shark he was hunting for half his life. Fate played the cruel joke to turn him into his most hated enemy once he became a ghost. Johnny Deepend - “Hitting on you.” Hit his head on the side of the pool as he was attempting a complex dive, trying to hit on his crush. It wasn’t his most succesfull move- Phantasmagloria - “Shock! at the disco.” (Yes I’m P!ATD trash thank you for noticing lmao) She was electrocuted by her malfunctioning equipment.

[technoskittles]

Catradora fic rec list

I mentioned making one of these awhile ago and I’m finally sitting down and compiling some of my all-time favorite fics. I’ve read a lot (like, a LOT), but I feel like a few of those really deserve an extra shout out.

I’ll separate them between multi-chap and one shots, but other than that they won’t be in any particular order. I’ll also try my best to tag the authors here on tumblr if I can find them, but if not, just lemme know if you see your fic and I can edit this later.

I’ll also be including ratings/word count/trigger warnings/etc

(I’ll mostly be including common tw’s so please make sure you also read the tags for anything that may affect you personally! Also, if I miss any, please keep in mind that it’s been awhile since I’ve read some of these so I may not remember all of them!)

Key:

[E] - Explicit 

[M] - Mature

[T] - Teen & Up Audiences

[G] - General Audiences

And for the multi-chap fics:

(O) - Ongoing

(F) - Finished

(?) - Not finished and they haven’t updated in awhile so the author probably died

So let’s get started! (Get ready for a long post obviously)

Multi-chap fics:

1. upper west side by ceruleanstorm (F) [T] ~190,000 words

TW: past child abuse, alcohol abuse

@princessofgayskull

I feel like this is definitely one of the top must-reads for all Catradora fanfics. I know I’ve seen this on a couple different lists but I’m including it on mine as well because it really is just that good.

The chapters are lengthy (but in a good way!) and the story really takes its time to flesh itself out. The character development of the characters as individuals is beautifully done and wonderfully realistic. The pacing of the development of Catra and Adora’s relationship is also sweetly slow, a steady slowburn that invokes that deep-rooted yearning feeling mirrored by the characters themselves.

It’s a really clever premise that takes place in the modern world but implements the canon universe in the form of the book that Adora’s writing that ties back to her and Catra’s shared childhood. The way that aspects of the show were revamped into this fic are so creative and I just....ugh. LOVE.

This fic also has a oneshot compilation that takes place after the events of the final chapter which is currently ongoing and I HIGHLY suggest checking that out as well once you’ve finished this. 

The sister fic for those interested: she’s god (and I found her) (O) [T] ~40,000 words

2. The Devil Is In (The Details) by SeasInkarnadine (O) [M] ~58,000 words

TW: Graphic Depictions of Violence, child abuse, emotional abuse, use of recreational drugs, Major Character Death

@seasinkarnadine

This is a really great fic where Adora is an undercover cop who sidles her way into one of the largest gang syndicates to bust whoever killed Hordak, a big gang leader and drug trafficker, whose death was originally ruled as an accidental overdose. Her and Catra (one of the gang members) both know foul play was involved and work together to figure out the truth.

The dynamics between these two is so casual and hilarious but still has those gut-wrenching moments that really ground you and realize that their relationship is dysfunctional on a few levels. The exploration of Adora’s conflicting feelings towards Catra hurt in such a good way as she realizes that she does genuinely care for Catra, but also is aware that what she’s doing will eventually screw her over and land her in jail. It’s the best kind of underlying angst and I highly recommend it.

Another really great selling point that I particularly love is that Adora is deaf in this AU and the author really shows this in such a realistic and natural way that shows she really knows what she’s talking about. It makes the dynamic between the two even more interesting considering that Catra also knows sign language which give the two a lot of moments of mutual understanding that doesn’t extend to the other characters. It’s something that the two of them have that’s sort of just for them to be on that level of understanding and it’s so great.

Also, Morgan is just a great writer in general and I highly suggest checking out more of her stuff (her art too!). She’s one of the writers I’ve looked up to since my beginning days in the fandom and it’s still amazing seeing all the great stuff she puts out.

3. Skinny Love by Maychup (O) [M] ~100,000 words

TW: past child abuse

@maychup

Another staple of big fics in the catradora fandom but for good reason. This fic is a wonderful exploration of events taking place after S1 illustrating Catra & Adora’s relationship in a different path that the rest of the show takes. It focuses heavily on their past experiences with each other and how that affects their current situation being on opposite sides of the war. 

This fic is older, published just after S1, so canon divergence is an important aspect of its build. But the way the story is written is so beautiful and grounded that it’s still interesting even now knowing what really happens in the show. 

Their dynamic is kind of back-and-forth, with Catra figuring out what Adora means to her and vice versa and where the two of them want to go from that point. It has so many sweet moments and steamy ones as well (btw, there’s a lot of smut) and the exploration into each of the character’s pysches is so compelling and intriguing.

4. Faded With Feelings by yesimgay (F) [T] ~24,000 words

TW: recreational drug use

This was such a cute, short multi-chap fic. It’s a bit older but I think it’s still one of my top faves. 

A modern au, Catra & Adora are roommates post-college and trying to make their way in the adulting world. Catra has ADHD and smokes weed to help with that. One day Adora accidentally eats a couple of her edibles and cute shenanigans ensue. And that’s just the first two chapters.

The rest of the fic goes on to the girls figuring out their feelings for each other, especially Adora who, in this case, isn’t really sure of her sexuality. All-in-all, a really cute fic that’s a nice break from all the angst that typically saturates the fandom.

5. Chasing the Spotlight by holymountain (?) [T] ~20,000 words

This is an AU where Adora is hired to be Catra’s, a pop singer, bodyguard. There’s so many cute moments in this, though admittedly it’s been about 6 months since it’s last updated so be sure to keep that in mind.

6. we’ve been making shades of purple out of red and blue by darklady21 (?) [t] ~24,000 words

An “and they were ROOMMATES” au. In this one though, Catra and Adora don’t actually know each other and really only get to know each other over time. It’s cute and has a lot of interesting interactions between the two, but it hasn’t updated in about 7 months.

7. Tuning Out by FaiaHae (?) [T] ~2500 words

I actually really loved the whole concept of this fic but it hasn’t updated in like, an entire year so...only read if you’re okay with the fact that it probably won’t ever be finished haha

8. burnt sugar by jeserai (O) [G] ~11,000 words

@jeserai

Oh god YES this fic. The classic “fake dating” au except Catra is a rich kid inheriting a business who essentially hires Adora, a broke college student, to go on a date with her to this big business function. There’s not a lot to say about it other than that without giving too much away, but the fic is about halfway done at this point so it’s a pretty short read as of now.

Just be warned, it’s currently on a MASSIVE cliffhanger so if you wanna wait until it updates I totally understand lol

9. still waters by summerson (O) [M] ~28,000 words

TW: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, self harm

A “The Last of Us” AU. Personally, I’m not super familiar with TLOU because I could never get into the game myself, but this fic is so well done and the writing style is so interesting and well-executed that I still love this fic to bits. But obviously, for those of you who are aware of TLOU, you already know that this fic is going to contain quite the fair share of angst so be ready.

10. Whispering Dreams by dragonesdepapel (F) [T] ~7500 words

It’s been awhile since I’ve read this one so I don’t remember everything, but I do remember really enjoying the writing style and the construction of this fic. It’s a short read, but it’s totally worth it

11. please could you be tender by erce3 (F) [G] ~40,000 words

@figbian

please please PLEASE go read this fic. I’m actually begging y’all to go read this one I loved it so much it’s still one of my top 10 faves out there.

This fic is set in a modern setting where Adora & Catra were childhood friends and are in college and god it’s just SO. GOOD. The writing style and composition of the flashbacks with the present events is so beautifully done and organized and I really cannot hype this fic up enough GO READ IT

12. buried a hatchet (it’s coming up lavendar) by erce3 (O) [G] ~12,000 words

on the note of that last rec, I highly rec their other work which is currently in progress. It takes place after S3 but it’s an exploration on if Catra and Adora got trapped in the portal instead of Angella and FUCK this person is genuinely amazing go read their stuff

13. Senior Year by SimplyAbsolute (O) [E] ~98,000 words

@simplyabsolute

This is a really cute fic about Adora and Catra in their final year of college and I guess for me personally it really just hits hard because I’m also in my final year of college lol. But really, it’s a great fic and I suggest checking it out. It’s actually only got one more chapter left too so it’s almost done!

14. Assassinating Adora by Wicked42 (F) [T] ~13,000 words

@wicked-42

TW: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Jeez this fic was a real rollercoaster of emotions. I loved every bit of it. 

Basically, some people try to assassinate Adora and Catra stops one of them, but both girls are still inflicted by the poison and....it just gets crazier from there. Don’t wanna spoil it too much but this is a must-read for sure.

And this one may seem like cheating but I’m gonna plug one of my own multi-chap fics here

15. Pure Feeling (O) [T] ~30,000 words

TW: brief mention of sexual assault in Ch 5

This is a modern AU set after all the kids have been out of college for a few years. 

Adora and Catra were childhood friends but ended up drifting apart and falling out during their college years. Fast forward about 6 years and they run into each other again, except now Adora has a daughter and is struggling to balance her life as a single mother. Overtime the two girls work on rebuilding their friendship and somewhere along the way might even realize that they’re feelings for each other never really went away. But of course, like all things in life, this isn’t an easy process and they run into more than a few complications - internal and external.

One Shots:

(there’s so many of these I’ve loved so I’m really going to try and narrow it down to about 10. If yours didn’t make it, no offense! I just have WAY too many to include and this post is already so long haha)

1. The Interlude That Never Ends by FMLClexa [M] ~2500 words

TW: Major Character Death, brief mention of sexual assault

Okay I’m gonna be honest: If you ignore all the other fics on this list, READ THIS ONE. This is absolutely my #1 favorite without a doubt. It’s a soulmate/reincarnation au and it’s so wonderfully executed that I honestly cannot even begin to tell y’all how much I love this one. It’s old and one of the first fics I ever read, but it’s so timeless and excellent and I promise you won’t regret reading it. I know I’ve read this about a million times over.

It’s been a whole year and this has held my #1 fave position the entire time. READ. IT.

2. after party by summerson [M] ~2000 words

TW: recreational drug use

God this fic was so great I read it last night and I’m still in awe in how well it was written and the emotions it managed to invoke in me. My favorite scene is the part where Catra tells Adora “I love you” because it’s so raw and desperate and I vibed with it so hard. It’s really difficult trying to tell someone how much you love them with just a few simple words because they really just don’t convey how much you love them and it’s so frustrating and GAH this fic was fucking great please read it.

3. jigsaw by jeserai [G] ~2500 words

@jeserai

This fic is so great and I felt so warm inside reading it. Definitely read if you want sweet, slow friends to lovers burn.

4. Vicious by SeasInkarnadine [M] ~3500 words

TW: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Rape/Non-Con

I really highly recommend this one if you can get past the trigger warnings. It was so well written and very suspenseful with the juxtaposition of the timeline between current events and snippets of what had happened just hours before. But the ending is really sweet and the way that Catra cares for Adora after the whole thing squeezed my heart to pieces.

This is one I’ve read a few times over because of how much I love it. Def in my top 3.

5. Basement by spookyscaryskeletons [G] ~2800 words

This was such a great rendition of “Adora and Catra are forced to talk” and the emotions were raw and bleeding and I love the character portrayals. 

6. Coming Apart by Whorls [E] ~13,000 words (or ~6,000 words each chap)

@crazy-pages

Okay this fic technically has two chapters but I’m including it here in the oneshots because the chapters are identical in the sense of story but the only difference is that in chapter one Catra is a cis woman and in chapter two she’s a trans woman pre-op. Other than that the chapters are identical so it’s mostly based off which experience you would rather have while reading.

This fic was. So. Fucking. Good. Sen did such a fantastic job with both aspects of this story and I love it to bits and pieces. The smut in the beginning is delicious as can be, but then towards the latter half it absolutely sucker punches you with feelings but in a good way. I really, really fucking love this fic and I think it needs more attention than it initially got so I’m imploring you all to please go read this fic. It’s fantastic.

7. Seconds That I Cannot Replace by Mogatrat [M] ~7800 words

TW: child abuse, underage(?)

This is a really heartbreaking fic set before canon. It’s about all the times that Catra and Adora started a romantic relationship only for Shadow Weaver to come in and ruin everything by constantly erasing and resetting Adora’s memory. I still think about this fic from time to time. Give it a go.

8. Come morning light by dragonesdepapel [T] ~1800 words

TW: Major Character Death

Another one that’s technically two chapters but it’s the same events, just covers the perspective of each girl. Adora’s dying and asks Catra to stay with her.

Basically this fic ripped my heart out and I still think about it sometimes.

9. someone you like by caela [T] ~5100 words

oh fuck me yes this fic. A modern au where Catra sorta stalks Adora on instagram and accidentally likes an old picture. Fluffiness galore.

10. When You Came Calling by ActuallyMe [E] ~5200 words

TW: Major Character Death

A 1940′s Mob AU where Catra is a private eye and Adora married high-ranking mob boss Hordak...who’s just been murdered.

Really great one shot. Personally I would’ve loved to see more come of this but it’s great on its own.

And once again, this is cheating but here’s a couple oneshots of my own that I wanna plug real quick

11. hang tight (all you) [T] ~9200 words

Modern AU fic set when Catra and Adora are in high school. Adora struggles to come to terms with her sexuality in an discouraging environment as well as the fact that she’s had a crush on her best friend since middle school. Personally I think this was one of my best works and a lot of other people seem to have liked it too so yeah!

12. as my World d[ivides] [E] ~2500 words

TW: Rape/Non-Con, Underage

One of my darker fics, but still one I’m pretty proud of. Without giving too much away, Adora suffers from a trauma and engages in unhealthy coping mechanisms and Catra enables her because no one’s taught them any different.

[kachulein]

The day Tumblr decides to fix its bugs and shit I swear I'll hold a party for all my followers 😭😭 and it's okay!! You don't have to be sorry, I was just worried because I thought something happened to you but knowing that you're doing fine makes me happy ❤️❤️ And talking about my exams... Well, I did my best LMAO I'm still waiting for my scores to be posted because yes my teachers are lazy af and need a whole and entire month to write the scores on the app🙂

Ooohh I've heard so many good things about acupuncture treatment!! My dad took one session to control his anxiety and he liked it quite a lot. What a pity that I'm a coward and am afraid of needles🤡 I'm shaking for when I have to get the vaccine LMAO Everyone be out there being scared because of the vaccine and here I am being scared because of a fucking needle 🤡🤡 And I'm so sorry to hear that you got all the side effects of the vaccine 😣😣 I really hope you're feeling better now❤️❤️ I still have to wait until the end of July/beginning of August to get mine😔 How did your exams go?? I remember you told me the other day you did well on one of them!! 👏🏻👏🏻 I'm sure you nailed them❤️❤️

It's been already 1 year and a half since the last time I could see them😭 Fortunately before covid arrived I could meet them all in Thailand (my uncle lives there) during Christmas because if not it would have been 2 years 😭 And about the ideas of writing... Well... I think I should get banned from watching videos about idols LMAO every time I watch a comeback or something an idea for a fic pops up in my mind and I end up with 382773 ideas on my notebook LMAO

IKR😭 The feelings both of them hold in the song UGH😭😭 It makes me sob🤧

About those two new groups... I just saw the MVs... O H M Y F U C K I N G G O D 🙂 BOWKHLUDQHFIYDQ THEY'RE AMAZING🤩🤩 What's happening with nowadays rookies😭

I've been really into sf9 lately, like REALLY INTO🤧 And actually really into their company groups aka Nflying and P1Harmony 🤧 like have you watched the it's live for Moonshot of Nflying?? HOW ARE THEY SO GOOD😭 And then there's P1Harmony with two amazing albums I can't stop singing and dancing to🙂 what do they eat to be all swaggy and perfect being literally babies? I want to know because I'm older than all of them and all I have done in my life is manage to not burn the kitchen while heating my glass of milk before going to bed🤡🤡

Omg yes right, pls fix the bugs tumblr😭😭😭 and thank you so much for understanding!!😭💖 I didn't mean to worry you :( I wrote a long ass answer and rambled on like always and tumblr just decided to eat the ask, I'm really sorry :(

I hope you're doing good yourself and have you gotten your exam grades already? I'm sure you did amazing!!🥺💖💖 I can honestly feel you so much because it's the same for us as well. It usually takes 3 weeks for us to get our exam results, so I'll probably have to wait another two weeks to see how I've done... I really hope it was good alkfleldksld (and I meant to tell you that I think it went well but I don't have the result yet so I'm not sure yet,,, but thank you so much!!😭💖)

I'm so glad the acupuncture helped your dad managing his anxiety! Anxiety is one of the main reasons I get acupuncture treatments and I slowly start to see an improvement with less panic attacks and being able to handle the anxiety better.🥺 I'm sorry to hear you're scared of needles :( I know it's not really helping but the acupuncture needles are so thin you pretty much don't feel anything.🥺👉🏻👈🏻 And lemme tell you something funny, I had an another session yesterday and got some needles in my butt-😂 I really hope getting the vaccine won't be too bad for you😭💖 I've recovered from the sife effects again and I'm feeling a lot better now and knowing that I'm already protected for around 88% makes me feel a lot more safe, so I hope it will be good for you in the end, too!!🥺 After getting the vaccine at the end of July/beginning of August will you be able to go back home to see your family in August already?🥺💞 And omg, that's been such a long time :( I'm sorry you haven't been able to see them for so long :( You must be so happy to finally be able to reunite with them again. I hope you'll have an amazing time!!🥺💖

Omg akxksso I can see how that's a struggle but I also think it's admirable how creative you are and how you find writing inspiration in everything! That's so cool and something you can be proud of!!🥺 I used to always dream up scenarios in my head when falling asleep and ended up making them into fics😂👉🏻👈🏻

And yes, right!! I agree. I love their voices so much!!😭🥺 And omg yes, these rookies nowadays are so powerful😭😍 I'm really looking forward to their future comebacks.💞 And omgggg although, I don't stan these groups I know them and listen to their songs and I can only agree!🥺 I've just watched the it's Live version for N.Flying's Moonshot and god, it's so good and their voices are *chef's kiss*👌🏻 I also gotta say, N.Flying has absolutely amazing songs anyway! They're often those songs I listen to on repeat.😭😭😭 Rooftop is my absolute fave!!💖 Also fun fact, while answering this ask, I was listening to P1Harmony (Scared - such an amazing song), so I can totally feel you!! And on the age thing🤡 I feel you, again🤡 For me, it's the same with Enhypen. They're all younger than me and I feel like a good for nothing grandma👵 looking at them-😂😂😂

[sleevesareforlosers]

:( jordan i hope you feel better!!! anyways here are some kobra kid hcs since u asked for asks (some of them might b repetitive from my fics.......but yea) umm he’s trans and transitioned in the city so it was v quick and we-arent-ever-going-2-talk-of-this-again...he’s left handed :> i think he likes floral patterns and actually rlly likes skirts but they aren’t super practical so he ends up not wearing them v often but when he DOES he’s like 🥰. also he’s a libra (oct 6) and he and ghoul have the same birthday just a year apart 👉👈 :’} best friends. he knows hand to hand and usually prefers that over his raygun.....and he and ghoul usually partner up during claps bcs they cover each other’s backs rlly well. ADHD and rlly likes vocal stims. also hair twirling. fave color is yellow!! (i hc that party’s favorite color is red so their raygun/mask colors are 🥺 for each other yk?) loves reptiles (he loves snakes obviously but i think he also rlly likes tortoises and lizards and lets them crawl on him) also i think he believes in ghosts but is iffy on the phoenix witch. he’s good at mental math n i hc that party has dyscalculia so he helps them especially when they’re at the market and have 2 add prices and stuff. AND i think kobra secretly the girl’s favorite (she wouldn’t ever say she had a favorite. but it’s kobra) 💕 also here’s a picture of some cats from the dairy we get our milk from to make u feel better 💘

[Image ID. Two cats laying a few feet apart on their sides on asphalt. One is black and one is white with a tan tail, back paws, and ears. End ID.]

🥺🥺🥺 tysm <3 <3 i was feeling better and then i ate rice and its all weird again now but it could b worse!

hhhh kobra kid im love him and ur hcs are SO good. city transition??? always a fun thing to think about. solidarity on liking floral patterns and im SO soft for the idea of kobra in a skirt. him in a skirt and twirlin around so it flares out and hes jsut like happy and laughin?? oh hold on a need a moment im hhh breaking down

oh my god him and ghoul have the same birthday but a year apart. whos older??? oh my god do they have joint birthday parties?? i feel like ive read a fic abt someone in the crew having a joint birthday party but apparently it wasnt one of yours?? will investigate. and them having each others back during claps? 🥺 BEST FRIENDS

YES abt him and partys mask/raygun colours!! im p sure while i was writing alyite i half-designed a mask for kobra that was like. the same style and colour scheme as party’s but with the colours switched around. seeblings :) AND helping them w mental math is so cute im WOW

also you :handshake: me. kobra being iffy on the witch

god every single time anyone says anything abt kobra and the girl i get SO emotional abt it. theyre SUCH sweethearts i LOVE them

ty for the cat picture i love them!!! give them pets for me next time ur there (if they like that) also thats SO cool that u get ur milk from a dairy ive alwyas just gotten mine from a grocery store (not that i get milk anymore bc lactose intolerance life but)

[runnfromtheak]

fanfic author’s tagging game (yay!)

Thank ya darling for tagging me!!!! @boyblunder-thedarkheir!!!!!

AO3 Name(s): LostandLonelyBirds aka RUNNFROMTHEAK

Fandom(s): Primarily Batfamily (so, Dick Grayson) and Young Justice (along with DCU obviously, but I also dabble into Miralculous Ladybug, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Harry Potter, and MCU (none of which I will ever seriously write for? Idk man).

Number of fics: 22 I will admit to (how do you have so many, my dear @boyblunder-thedarkheir​? What is your secret?)

1. Fic you spent the most time on: Are we talking writing or thinking about writing, cause those are two very different answers. I spent the most time writing this bitch of a fic I’m working on right now, and the most time thinking about the two latest installments of my main series, Death is But An Illusion (aka How Could He and How Could It Be). I agonize over every goddamn detail with Dick’s anger, Jason’s Jason-ness, and every person’s every move and word. I am a mess, and I’m going to be murdered if I don’t update them soon. I am not sorry about that XD

2. Fic you spent the least time on:  You Came Behind Me Secretly and Shattered Every Piece of Me (There's Blood On My Hands) aka my pick-your-own-canon clusterfuck of Dark!Dick Grayson and Dick Grayson being traumatized and tortured with no comfort (Some of them are so fucked up I question my own mind). I take less than an hour to write 80% of them, cause they’re short, and they very rarely take any time to plan. Fun and easy!

3. Longest Fic: At present, he had a chest full of heart and a body full of scars (pain became the only way that he could ever learn)  is my longest, but the fic I’ve been hinting at on my other tumblr, @lostandlonelybirds​ is easily double the length (why do I do this to myself? Why am I like this?) the long boi (named one, not the one I won’t shut up about) is easily my best fic at the moment, and I’m so excited to write a sequel whenever I get the chance.

4. Shortest Fic: With Bated Breath and Pain You See (We're Nothing More Than Memories) technically, I have one shorter than that, but it’s a collab that wasn’t my original idea so I’m not counting it :)

5. Most Hits: You Came Behind Me Secretly and Shattered Every Piece of Me (There's Blood On My Hands) why do you people like this trash-fire so much? I don’t understand

6. Most Kudos:  How Could He which does not surprise me.

7. Most Comment Threads: Technically, How Could He followed by the trash-fire AU title thing I’m too lazy to type again, but I’m gonna love on this one: Just Close Your Eyes (No One Can Hurt You Now) because it’s my baby, and it deserves it okay?

8. Fave Fic You Wrote: Ooo we are doing a top five.

             5. How Could It Be (Jason is precious and sad and Dick is oblivious, and I love one-sided pining wayyyy too much)

             4.  How Could He (I put my life force into this stupid fic, so ofc it’s here)

             3. I'm Scared to Live But I'm Scared to Die (I'm Numb Inside) (the suicidal boy, major trigger warning)

             2. I See Things That Nobody Else Sees (And It's Slowly Killing Me)  (the only fic I’ve ever written from Cass’s perspective, and definitely one of the creepiest and most fucked up. Bruce does not look good here)

             1. he had a chest full of heart and a body full of scars (pain became the only way that he could ever learn) (so ummm Bruce doesn’t look good here either? RHATO #25 if DC wasn’t cowardly and let Dick react how he actually would, aka fuck Batman is the new motto)

9. Rewrites?: Fuck. All my older ones? Everything? Who knows.

10. Share a bit of your WIP or share a story idea that you’re planning:

Let’s do two. I’m nice.

First comes from How Could It Be:

“You loved him,” Donna says, ignoring his barb. “You loved him, and no one’s seen you or heard from you and I’m concerned, damnit.”

 She punches his shoulder roughly, and he’s reminded of her strength, no matter how small she seems in her dead best friend’s sweater.

 “I’m fine. Peachy-keen. Couldn’t be fuckin’ better. Honestly, you should be more concerned with Replacement, don’t think he’s slept in—”

 “Jason.” Her voice is firm, even as her eyes swim with tears and she holds her arms tight to herself, breathing in the well-loved item’s scent. Jason wonders when Dick wore it last, if Donna had taken it from his abandoned Gotham Penthouse or his Chicago Apartment. He wonders if he’d left it draped over the couch, like the natural disaster he was, or if it had been folded neatly in a drawer.

For someone who prides himself on not being sentimental, Jason suddenly wishes he had something of Dick’s too.

 “I’m here because I care, and because if Dick was here, he’d be doing the same thing I am.”

 ���But he ain’t here,” Jason snaps, “Is he?”

 Donna’s head falls, and he feels like a giant jerk. He just… reacts poorly to that name, hasn’t heard it spoken since the transmission and subsequent funeral, since the guy he’d had the hots for since wearing the scaly panties had his mask ripped away and his life taken in front of Bruce’s eyes (who, to absolutely no one’s surprise, failed to save his son).

In the aftermath, no one said Dick Grayson’s name, always Nightwing, or some inane nickname the superhero community had for him. Last time he said it was to Damian, a failed attempt at comfort. But even Jason’s form of mutual grieving had been better than any of Bruce’s shit ideas. Bastard immortalized the ripped costume from his own son’s corpse (not that it had been the first time) and hadn’t even had the decency to give it a plaque (No ‘Good Soldier’ or ‘Good Son’, just a bare glass case with a bloody suit). Which… was weird. Jason was far from B’s best friend, but even he noticed something seemed strange, off, just not quite right. Like the funeral he didn’t speak at, like the breakdown none of them had witnessed beyond a one-off rage fit

“B, what the fuck happened down here?”

The Batcave was a disaster, dents glaringly obvious in several vehicles and a large spiderweb crack across the Batcomputer. Bruce closes the screen down, but Jason manages to catch a spiraling eye.

“Nothing, just…”

Bruce looks at the spare Nightwing costume none of them had taken down yet, still clean and ready for use (too bad its owner died and would never wear it again).

“Dick?” Jason questions, and the way Bruce’s eyes snap to his face is almost suspicious, almost enough to arouse concern.

“Yes. I—”

Jason sits next to Bruce on the desk, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I miss him too, Old Man. Don’t mean you need to be an ass about it.”

 A memorial next to Jason’s own, but Dickhead’s is empty and broken from Damian’s fists and grief, and Jason’s is just gone. No one told him why, it was just gone.

Kind of like Dick.

He wonders if Bruce would have told him if the video hadn’t been broadcast, if he would’ve told anyone. B did love his fuckin’ secrets.

 “No,” she whispers, and he can hear the tears in her voice, can feel her grief as keenly as his own. It’s palpable, tangible, “He’s dead, and I’m alive, and I don’t know how to handle it.”

 And then, to Jason’s mounting horror, she starts crying openly.

…..

Second comes from my one I’m working on rn with Stray!Dick called I See Sunset In Your Eyes (I Hate This Part Right Here)

“Come on,” Wally says with a pout, dragging an overly amused Jason and Dick with him through the karaoke bar doors. “Donna and Roy are waiting for us, and Dick had to take forever to primp.”

 Dick shrugs with a grin.

 “Beauty takes time, time I can tell you did not take.”

 Jason snorts, and Wally glares at him.

 “At least I don’t take five hours to finish getting ready.”

 “At least I can last longer than five minutes.”

 “Ouch!” Roy butts in, throwing an arm around Jason and Dick’s shoulders. “Claws are out tonight!”

 “Speaking from experience?” Jason asks, eyebrow raised.

 Dick smirks without comment, sauntering past the group towards the table Donna’s lounging at.

 “Hey gorgeous twin of mine,” He greets with a kiss to her eyes. She smirks, rolling her eyes at him.

 “You’re just stroking your own ego with the twin tacked on, Wonder Boy.”

 Dick bumps his shoulder against hers.

 “Can’t I stroke both our egos?”

 “You can stroke mine,” Wally mutters, turning red when Stray winks at his phrasing. Jason and Roy both facepalm, groaning. “Not what I meant guys!”

 “Why Kid Idiot,” Dick replies, hand on his heart, “I had no idea you could be so forward~!”

 Wally glares, waving over the waitress.

 “Round of shots, on this dick,” he jerks his thumb at Stray, offering up his fake ID. She doesn’t bother checking it, probably because this is Gotham, and they were all in uniform. “Whisky, please.”

 “Trying to get me drunk?” Jason jokes. It is, after all, his first big outing with the Titans for non-mission reasons. Stray had practically dragged him out of the Manor with a wink at Alfred and a middle finger for Bruce, saying that Jason needed to have fun outside of books.

Jason knows better than arguing with Dick Grayson-Kyle when he wants something, Stray trained him well.

 “Of course, Batboy,” Roy replies, “It’s not a Titans outing if Stray is fully dressed and everyone’s sober.”

 Dick shrugs.

 “You’ll have to get some real liquor in me if you want me to do anything like last time.”

 “Last time?” Jason asks, looking to Donna for an answer. Dick snorts. You get near naked one time…

 “Boy Blunder ended up in just his boxers in a dancing cage drunk of his ass. Everyone thought he was one of the strippers, and he made, what, three-hundred dollars in bills?”

 “Five-hundred,” Dick replies proudly, offering the waitress a twenty as she came back with their drinks. “Keep the change, darlin’!” He adds with a wink.

 She flushes, making Jason frown.

 Stray, of course, notices this and elbows Jason.

 “Don’t get jealous, Blue Jay, it’s not becoming.”

 Jason does not blush. He doesn’t, and that’s the hill he will die on.

 “I’m not. On an unrelated note, pass me a shot.”

Jason is the master of changing the subject, Stray thinks sarcastically, passing him a shot and downing one of his own.

 “Five bucks says alley cat blacks out,” Roy says smugly as Dick makes a face, the way he always did with heavier liquors. He glares at the redhead, who shrugs unapologetically.

 Donna eyes them both speculatively, taking a sip of her own drink.

 “Twenty says he gives a lap dance before he blacks out.”

 Roy snorts.

 “I’ll take it,” and to Dick, “Don’t do it, for me.”

 Dick bats his eyes innocently.

 “Lil’ old me? I would never do something so…” He trails a finger down Roy’s chest, making him swallow roughly. “Scandalous.”

 Donna grins victoriously as Roy groans, trying and failing to hide his excitement.

 “I hate you. I hate you both.”

 Tagging whoever sees this, I suppose? 

[konstantya]

Year In Writing Review 2019

Oh, hey, I actually wrote enough this past year to warrant filling one of these out again!  😂  (Some of them were already answered in the recent End of the Year Asks, so please pardon any redundancy.)

Note:  This can also be found on my DW.

.

List of fics:

’Cause You’re a Criminal (As Long As You’re Mine)  (Star Trek: TNG; 3,947 words) Satisfaction Brought Him Back  (Star Trek: TNG; 510 words) To Sleep, Perchance  (Star Trek: TNG; 851 words) Anything You Can Do...  (Star Trek: TNG; 1,375 words) Consider This the Slip  (Star Trek: TNG; 2,205 words) Ligaments  (Star Trek: TNG; 1,540 words) The Devil Is a Gentleman  (Hetalia; 1,530 words) Don’t You Mess Around With Me  (The Tick (2017); 1,486 words)

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Total fic wordcount for 2019:  Somewhere around 16,000?  And amazingly, most of that actually ended up getting published, and not stuck in WIPs.

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted? Way more than I expected, considering my track record for 2017 and 2018.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2019? The Tick, for sure.  I was aware of it, but only ever caught bits and pieces of the cartoon back in the day (and I can’t say it ever did much for me at the time).  I wouldn’t have even gotten into the new series if it wasn’t for my S.O. wanting to check it out, and I sure as hell didn’t expect it to grab me enough to want to write fic about it.  But in this era of superhero (over?)saturation (and especially the darker, more serious takes on them), it was just the kind of optimistic absurdity I needed.

Did you take any writing risks this year?  (See above for unexpected pairings, etc.)  What did you learn from them? I wrote more sex than I usually do, and I guess learned that smut maybe isn’t as daunting as I once thought?  I mean, as with just about anything, the more you do it, the better and more comfortable you get with it, and that’s not to say my writing is going to shift and suddenly become all about sex from here on out…but I could see it working its way into my fics a bit more in the future.  It would have to suit the characters, obviously, but for those characters who are highly sexual, or whose relationships heavily revolve around sex (*cough*Lore/Ishara*cough*), it…idk, can be a legitimately interesting and unique way to explore certain characters/dynamics, I guess.

Do you have any fanfic or pro-fic goals for the New Year? My writing goals have progressively decreased as I’ve gotten older (I just don’t have much time to write anymore), but I would like to finish up at least one of the two Tick WIPs I have, along with a Lore/Ishara WIP (which is kind of a sequel of sorts to this fic).  In addition to those, I’d love to get back to my old, historical AusHun WIP, Forward and Reverse, along with my YA historical romance rewrite, Catherine and the Pirate (The Reformed Criminal Remix).

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From my past year of writing, what was…

My Favorite Story:  Hmm, in truth, I like them all for different reasons.  But if pressed, I might make it a three-way tie between ’Cause You’re a Criminal (As Long As You’re Mine) (because even though I’m not usually one for smut, I’m still pretty proud of the smut there? particularly how the character psychology and dynamics play into it shit is dark, yo), The Devil Is a Gentleman (because it was wonderful to get back to my fave Hetalia pairing, a nice change of pace to write in present tense again, plus I’m an absolute sucker for Greek mythology, and especially Hades/Persephone parallels, pfft), and Don’t You Mess Around With Me (because the whole thing was a hilarious joy to write, and Overkill is my new tragic, trash prince superhero).

My Best Story:  Maybe The Devil Is a Gentleman?  I really like the way it came together, what with the mythology parallels and the characterizations.  But ’Cause You’re a Criminal... would be a close second (if not actually a tie).

Most Popular Story:  If we’re talking fics written in 2019, then probably ’Cause You’re a Criminal... (the dark, dubious smut brings all the readers to the yard, pfft), but I feel it’s worth noting that Silver and Exact, my old Hans/Elsa Frozen fic from 2015, probably saw the most attention overall, due to Frozen 2 kicking up interest in the fandom.

Story Most Underappreciated by the Universe:  Considering I write for tiny fandoms and/or rarepairs, idk, all of them?  XP  Probably Don’t You Mess Around With Me, though.  The fandom was small to begin with (and not likely to grow, since the show got axed after only two seasons...), plus I published it at the end of December, so it didn’t have much of a chance to be appreciated before doing this survey.

Most Fun:  Any of the Star Trek prompt fics I wrote (so Satisfaction Brought Him Back, To Sleep, Perchance, and Anything You Can Do...), or else Don’t You Mess Around...  (I’m tempted to lean toward Don’t You Mess Around..., but that might just be because it still has that new fic smell to it, heh.  In truth, all the above were a blast to write.)

Most Surprising:  A few, to be honest.  Consider This the Slip was surprising, because I’d never written Lore/Ishara from Lore’s perspective (with the exception of the then-very-recent prompt fics, which were distinctly on the humorous side).  But it kind of just came out of nowhere and demanded to be written.  A similar thing happened with The Devil Is a Gentleman--I’d made the Hades/Persephone connection with AusHun before (mostly due to character types), but it wasn’t until I saw a gifset drawing parallels between Austria and Hades that it really crystallized.  And then all of a sudden it was like, “MUST.  WRITE.  NOW.”  And lastly, Don’t You Mess Around With Me was surprising, because, well, series/fandom I wasn’t even aware of for most of the year, but also I was not expecting to fall for Overkill/Dot as hard as I did.  But then episode 1x10 hit where he grabbed her wrist, and suddenly the UST was apparently too much for me to handle, pfft.

Most Disappointing:  None of the ones I actually published, but a couple of my WIPs for sure.  I had hoped to finish a couple more chapters of my Catherine and the Pirate rewrite, and would have liked to at least make some significant progress on Forward and Reverse, if not actually get around to posting the first part.

Sexiest:  Probably ’Cause You’re a Criminal..., but if you don’t like dubious consent with your smut, then Consider This the Slip or Anything You Can Do...  All three of them are pretty sexy!

Sexiest Single Moment:  I’m gonna say the bit from ’Cause You’re a Criminal... where Lore’s like, “Yo, were you friends-with-benefits with my brother?”  (It’s sexier in context, I promise.)

Hardest to Write:  Probably ’Cause You’re a Criminal...  I’d had the idea since, like, idk, 2015?  But it was extremely slow-going, in part because the tone and the focus kept shifting as I wrote it.  It started off as just a smut fic, maybe with a hint of uniform fetish?--which was bad enough, because smut is not exactly my forte.  But then as I wrote more of it, it became more about character and relationship drama, which had a side-effect of turning the smut really dark, and then I had to figure out an actual premise for the fic, and ughhh.  For a long time, I didn’t even know if I’d ever finish it, and it’s honestly something of a miracle that it came together as well as it did in the end.

Easiest to Write:  The prompt fics (Satisfaction..., To Sleep..., and Anything You Can Do...) were pretty easy, but The Devil Is a Gentleman also came together surprisingly quickly.  Like, it literally took me only 2-3 days from basic idea to polished fic, which is insanely fast for me.

“Holy crap, that’s wrong even for you” Fic:  ’Cause You’re a Criminal..., without a doubt, pfft.  Not only way more explicit than I usually get when it comes to sex, but also sooo dubious on the consent front.

Fic That Shifted My Own Perceptions of the Characters:  Consider This the Slip and Ligaments, for sure.  Up until then, I wasn’t even sure the Lore/Ishara relationship could develop beyond sex, but then Consider... comes along, and there Lore is wondering if he maybe loves her, and then Ligaments after that, where they’re being all weirdly domestic, and he actively goes out of his way to help her (even if he’s kind of a dick about it and still doing it for semi-selfish reasons), and...idk.  It got me thinking that maybe they have a real chance at something actually resembling a functional romance down (way down) the line.

Most Unintentionally Telling:  Hmm, in a weird way, maybe Ligaments? 

[rolaplayor101]

Ok so there are two parts why: personally and canonically XD

Ok so how I even started thinking about it was when I was looking up Riley from Inside Out, I think? Cause I thought she was a guy in the trailer and i looked on the interwebs to see if other people had the same thought but then I saw a post by Disney Confessions that said they thought she was a Demiboy or Demigirl or something like that and i was like Oooh that makes sense (that was also when I found out about that particular gender identity I think) and as I kept scrolling through Disney Confessions i think(??? This was a while ago so Idk) someone said they thought Hiro was aro ace or asexual romantic something or I dunno and then I remembered when I watched the movie like how they first introduced Gogo when she flipped her hair and took off her helmet, which is totally used as a Meet Cute™ moment in most stuff, and how my first thought was ooghhh here we go again but nothing happened with them the rest of the movie even at the end.

And then there was the pink blast seen when honey took her glasses off and I was like oh Geeze™ but still, nothing happened and I was just so happy it went the whole movie without romance and focused on building family dynamics. Nevermind age gaps because cartoons don't care about young men having crushes on older teen girls (Ferb and Vanessa, bubblegum and Finn, dipper and Wendy). And so I was like YEAH I CAN GET BEHIND THAT and so I did. I was around Hiro's age when I found out I was asexual and when I first watched the movie and so it was super cool I could just have the headcanon and like never have it debunked unless another movie came out or something-

And low and behold BIG HERO SIX THE SERIES and gosh a part of me was like leave the gosh darn movie alone and by itself but also I really wanted to see more of my faves, especially Tadashi because I wrote a very long fanfic of him and my oc his boyfriend with legit like only 20 minutes of Tadashi screen time. (Its called Tadashi Hamada Is Mine btw go check it out) and so I watched it and while watching it I was extremely disappointed how one dimensional the show made them, cause when you just have a movie you can imagine the characters as three dimensional as you like by inferencing stuff from montages in the movie and little things like how they move and look at each other and stuff but now you have the show that just makes Gogo the edgy one and Honey the super bright one and just archetypes that aren’t that interesting anymore.

And then they introduce these girls like Karmi and Trina and I'm like they can NOT actually be trying to give him romantic interests like are you serious?? And as I watch I notice just how uncomfortable Hiro is with her. Like at first he's seriously trying to be her friend and work with her but she’s so mean to him and for no good reason?? Like, even when she is being awful to deal with he still tries being nice and when he finds out Karmi has a crush on his hero side he gets all uncomfortable, ESPECIALLY in the fanfic episode because, yeah, who wouldn’t? It’s like one direction or kpop or youtube ship fics, it’s weird! but especially cause he isn’t interested in romance at all! He’s even annoyed that people are shipping him with Karmi in that one scene, which furthers the idea that he’s not interested at all in her.

there was that moment in the episode that Karmi met that female scientist and Hiro was jealous, and usually, cartoons make an effort to have the mc’s friends tease them about having a crush on romantic interest AKA Karmi, but the bh6 crew only commented on his jealousy for not winning the thing. 

Then Trina, he was more interested in the Botfights than her, really. He blushed after she complimented his bot-building skills because he was flattered. Creating is his main focus, his passion, and obviously, it feels nice to have that recognized, which is also why he tries so hard at school and against Karmi and to live up to Tadashi. (though yeah i could be looking wayyyy to deep into it(cause i am XD)) Anyway, he becomes Trina’s mentor, and it’s a nice change for him because after probably building stuff on his own and having Tadashi there to support him, and then losing Tadashi and having all these people at college around him just as good or even better at it than him, he started to feel, as Honey put it, insecure. Being a hero gives him confidence, which is why he’s always working on updates for their suits. The bot fighter episode was about his gambling addiction and someone being a bad influence on him, similar to Emmet and his alter ego in the Lego Movie 2. He was supposed to see himself as her, not with her.

Also there’s this:

which kinda debunks my headcanon, but there was a reason it was taken out, right? Like, the writers changed their minds and decided he wouldn’t have a crush on her! So, like, his preferences, or lack thereof, are still up in the air!!

Also, it follows through the aroace scientist thing fandom has going, like for Sherlock before people shipped him with John, or Pidge from Voltron, and characters in anime that outright say romance is stupid because they're only focused on projects.

Outside of that, it just makes me happy to have some plausible aroace rep. I'm demihetro ace myself, but it’s nice to be able to see a main character in a cartoon series not have to pay romance any attention or even want it when it inevitably comes up in conversation. Does that make sense?? anyway yeah Long Live AroAce Hiro Hamada™, he baby

[the-lady-bryan]

Fanfic reader asks! 8, 16, 28 aaaand 29

8. Are there any genres that you tend to avoid? 

Songfics. Is that a genre? If not, it should be. I abhor those. I’ll give anything a try at least once so long as the summary is pretty good. I guess uh... florist AUs? I don’t really avoid those so much as I hardly find summaries that look interesting enough to get me to click an read ‘em. But the few I have read were alright I suppose.

16. What can an author do that makes you avoid them?

Oh dear god... remember, you asked for this.

Where the fuck do I begin...

Beg for reviews/likes/faves, etc. It’s not like “hey, if you like it, review it! hit the like button!” and all that. It’s the ones that are deliberately trying to manipulate the reader into doing it. “If you don’t review/like/fave/rec then I’ll never write again!” and that kind of bullshit. Also, and this is really just Fanfiction.net specific.... author notes on every fucking chapter that respond to each individual person that reviewed on the last chapter. if an author puts it at the end as a note, fine. I’ll tolerate it if the fic itself is good enough. But the moment they put that shit in an author note at the beginning and I’ve gotta hunt for the start of the actual chapter, I’m out of there. It artificially inflates the word counts and if I’m searching specifically for a fic that’s around 100,000 words, i expect AT LEAST 90,000 of that to be ACTUAL FIC, not a 40,000 word fic with 60,000 words of pointless author notes. It’s absolutely maddening! It honestly didn’t used to bother me, but then I came across a fic that I shit you not was around 200,000 words and I was settled in for a good, long day of comfort reading (i was bedridden at the time due to chronic pain issues) and motherfucker had over 100,000 words of author notes! who the fuck does that? why the fuck would you do that?! And nearly all of it was literally shit that could have been put into a fucking private message response to reviews.

Okay, i’m done. I promise. I’m done bitching about that. But seriously, don’t fucking do it. Nobody ever wants to say anything about this problem because it’s rude or bitchy or preachy or whatever the fuck. But its a problem and fuck, If nobody else will say it, then I will.

28. What do you think of OC’s?

I don’t mind them as long as they’re not the main focus. I read fanfic to read about the characters that already exist there. Have an army of OCs as secondary characters, but at the end of the day, I’m reading a Harry Potter fic to see Harry dick down somebody whether it’s Hermione or He-Who-Has-No-Nose himself, not some nameless nobody I have no emotional investment in. If I wanted that, I’d pick up a book from my bookshelf at home. Or buy a new one. Or go to the library. Or any number of original fics out there. HOWEVER - I do have one personal rule about OCs being a focus character and that’s if it ties into an author’s other works. Like say... Say you wrote a fic about Angus McFife XIII and in it somehow this kid ends up going on his quests or he encounters some kid along the way and just says “fuck it, this smol thing is mine now. come along strange alien child we’re fightin’ evil wizards!” and then after Angus ends up in that terrorvortex dimension the kid ends up growing up wanting to be just like Angus or something. A fic based on that OC kid would make sense as a continuation of the previous one - if that makes any sense. Or a canon couple that doesn’t have kids in canon ends up having kids in a fic and then a “Sequel” starring that kid grown up a bit. As long as it makes sense in some kind of established AU, i’m pretty chill about it being the main focus character.

29. Do you download fic? 

Oh gods yes!

You never know when an archive site might close down. Or an author will delete their entire site or purge their accounts. Or even if a fic site (like FFN so frequently does) deletes a fic and/or user entirely. I learned my lesson years ago you either download it and keep it forever or you might never see it again. The smaller the fandom, the more important this practice becomes. The older the fandom, even more so! We absolutely CANNOT rely solely on archival sites and archive.org’s Wayback Machine. Don’t get me wrong, I love AO3 and all that they do to preserve fan works when an archive site owner decides to pack it in and move on, or for some reason can no longer maintain their sites. But there’s always the possibility that a favorite fic gets lost in the shuffle. Or an archive site never manages to get salvaged and transferred over.

There are more fics that have been lost simply because no one bothered to save them before whatever site they were on was deleted than could ever be replaced. And that legitimately makes me truly sad to think about.