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not-poignant · 2 years ago

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Do you view Gary/Ef as a 'fanfic' ship? Like... for me, Augus/Gwyn, Eran/Mosk, all the canon FT ships... whenever you wrote a different setup with them, I loved it, but I was sort of aware that it was a fannish thing. But somehow I don't get the feel here? Like I know Arden/Ef came first, but Gary/Ef feels just as canon, if that makes sense? Maybe bc the Rainbow verse is so fleshed out, idk, but I thought it was interesting and I'm curious how you feel abt it XD

Hi hi anon!

This one's complex, so I'm gonna try and explain how I think about it as clearly as possible.

To me, everything I write that's set in my own world with my own main characters is original fiction.

That includes the alternate universes, because those alt universes are canon within those universes. So what happens in The Wildness Within isn't canon for the main universe, but it's certainly canon to TWW, and not only that, but about 70% of the extra character details are canon to the main universe, they're just things I couldn't share there, for whatever reason.

On the other hand, if someone else wrote an FT story, it wouldn't be canon to anything at all, except for like, their own story.

I think of many of the Fae Tales AUs as being fannish in nature (they're serials, they go up on AO3, I'm pro transformative works, they show characters in different or new scenarios etc.), but to me they're still original fiction. I've never seen a single AU that I've written as a 'fanfic' ship, no matter how connected it is to the original canon (like The Nascent Diplomat and The Wildness Within which I think we can say are probably the closest to the original world, and the original canon).

However, when it comes to almost complete departures, where characters like Efnisien become almost unrecognisable compared to his original counterpart, I think of those as new worlds. For example, I almost never tag any of Underline the Black with 'fae tales AU' anymore, because it doesn't really mean anything. It's not helpful to newcomers. It's not useful.

Most of the cast never appeared in the canon. (This was also true for the main cast of Falling Falling Stars sans Efnisien - Arden, Gary, Kadek were all newcomers; for me, if a story is 75% new main characters and 25% one holdover vastly AU character, that's now another canon universe lmao).

But back to Underline the Rainbow:

Kadek, Gary, Anton, Flitmouse, Caleb, Faber, Nate, Janusz are all either original characters or were developed as original characters in AUs (like Kadek). Kadek, Caleb, Faber, Kent, and more aren't AUs of anything, they're original to the story. Characters like Gary, Anton, Flitmouse, Nate, Janusz were never anywhere near the Fae Tales canon, or the early Fae Tales AUs, and to me they have nothing to do with it. Which makes classifying Underline the Rainbow as a 'Fae Tales AU' make about as much sense as classifying it as an 'FFS AU' - there's about as much crossover in the characters, after all. And not only that, but main ensemble characters more fundamental to the canon - Ash, Mosk, Eran, Julvia, Gulvi, Augus, Gwyn, either haven't made an appearance (or been mentioned once), or have only been one or two chapters out of 50+.

Proportionately, the amount of characters remaining from the original canon Fae Tales universe stands at about 10%. If you had a dog that was 90% border collie and 10% beagle, you probably wouldn't call that dog a 'beagle AU' or a 'beagle cross' - you'd probably just start calling it a border collie with a weird grandpa. Falling Falling Stars is the same to me, honestly, because so much of the core cast was original to the story, and everyone else from the original series mostly got 'cameos' if they weren't Efnisien or Gwyn. I made a conscious decision to give more weight to original characters - even side characters we don't see much - Vicki, Bridge, Han Yuen, Leo, Nate, Janusz, Teddy, Mika, Gary, Arden, Kadek, etc. The story is nothing without them.

To me, this kind of process (10% og characters remaining) separates Underline the Black out into its own universe. It has very heavy, fairly robust worldbuilding for an omegaverse story (enough that I need to use worldbuilding software to keep track of some of it). I don't need to go back to the Fae Tales canon ever to write it (which I did have to do sometimes for The Wildness Within, and have very rarely had to do for The Nascent Diplomat). I don't need to go back to the Falling Falling Stars/Spoils universe to write it. It stands fully on its own, complete and contained.

Because it has some links to Fae Tales (Efnisien + Gwyn's family mostly), it still has like... a Fae Tales flavour. And now that I've started working on like completely original world stuff in the background, there is a difference.

But yeah no, for a start I don't consider any of it fanfiction, and it's weird when people do, because it's not fanfiction if it's something the OP is doing. We don't call comics by the same comic author - that happen to be different versions of the same world - 'fanfiction.' If the Russos direct two Marvel movies focusing on two separate characters, but the first character cameos in the second in a way that retcons the character's narrative, we don't call the second movie an AU of the first, or fanfiction of the first. It's still an original property.

Underline the Black and Spoils are both separate universes as both have like less than 25% of the original story/characters within them (Imho Iron Man is still Iron Man just because Loki or Thor cameo, or join the ensemble as minor characters). It could be that the Spoils universe feels less fleshed out to you because it's contemporary, for me they're on a similar keel. Especially because Efnisien was literally a 2 dimensional paper cut-out of a fae before Spoils who exists for like 5 seconds in the canon, and he bears almost zero resemblance to his originating character except in name, family and appearance. But certainly not in personality, origins, actions or capacity for growth - i.e. everything that makes the character a character.

But it is fannish.

Tl;dr: I definitely don't see Gary/Ef as a 'fanfic' ship. I don't see any of my AUs as 'fanfic ships' because I don't see any of my original writing as fanfiction even though it's fannish in nature.

If anything, Underline the Black is a Spoils AU, lol.

#asks and answers #spoils of the spoiled #underline the black #fae tales au #(lol)#fae tales verse #pia on fandom #pia on fanfiction #efnisien ap wledig #dr gary konowalous #one of the reasons you might feel that Underline is separate #is because i made a deliberate choice #not to bring Arden into the world AT ALL #and in a more standard AU #he'd be there in some other visible capacity #either matched off to someone else or like #just around #i didn't repeat the couple that most folks would write an AU about #and he's not even in the world itself #which does change the vibe #but i did the same when i transplanted Efnisien and matched him #with someone completely new in Spoils too #both to me were new / original worlds with cameos / guest star spots #vs. AUs like TWW / TND / QPP / Strange Sights / etc.#for me it's like...a percentages thing #but none of it is fanfiction #even though it's very pro fandom asdlfkjsa #bless your soul for not asking me about Temsen

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bitchfitch · 2 months ago

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writing advice for characters with a missing eye: dear God does losing an eyes function fuck up your neck. Ever since mine crapped out I've been slowly and unconsciously shifting towards holding my head at an angle to put the good eye closer to the center. and human necks. are not meant to accommodate that sorta thing.

#like it started with me just holding things more towards my right #but the things started shifting more towards center and my head turns instead #like. when im driving especially i have to keep my head turned so i can see on coming traffic #and when im around people ive noticed i position myself so my body is facing them and then turn my head to get them actually #centered in my now very right biased field of view #so anyways draw blorbo bleebus cheated to that 3/4s angle without guilt #at least one one eyed fucker actually does that

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river--ghost · 1 month ago

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