#lots of words because idk how much background you have on these fandoms

[librarylexicon]

wip asks! Let Me Down Gently and Pumpkin Winter? :D (just bc Pumpkin Winter sounds delightful)

Hi @freyafrida! 🫶

Went a bit ham here, so I'll put it under a cut.

Let Me Down Gently is a self-indulgent Batman fic about TimSteph - Tim Drake (the third Robin, also Red Robin) and Stephanie Brown (Spoiler/Batgirl). I don't often write shipfics, but I love their relationship in canon and wish they were still together. But hey, that's what fanfic is for! It's set in the same continuity as some of my other one-shots, in a hypothetical post-canon world where the family was allowed to remain together and Tim and Steph were able to grow up, instead of being interrupted by the New 52 reboot.

The fic is about them navigating young adulthood and falling back in love, because I see them as endgame. It is, of course, titled after a line from the Adele song "Water Under the Bridge", which is an eternal favourite of mine and encapsulates the TimSteph pairing so well.

Snippet:

Pumpkin Winter is based on one of my favourite TV shows ever, Road to Avonlea, which is an AoGG spinoff that incorporates characters and storylines from The Story Girl, The Golden Road, Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea. The show is mainly centred on the lives of the King family (Alec and Janet and their children) and their friends and relations.

Anyway! There's an episode in Season 5 called "Thursday's Child", in which the third King child, Cecily, gets consumption, and she and her family have to decide if she should go stay at a sanitarium. It's a very sad episode, not least because it's the last time we see this particular actress playing Cecily. The character of Cecily is so often neglected by the scriptwriters, to the point that even this episode focused more on the rest of her family than on her! So, as soon as I watched it, I wanted to write a fic about Cecily's thoughts and feelings during it, especially in relation to her father.

The title is partially because her father calls her "pumpkin" in this episode, and partially because of the excellent Tori Amos song "Winter", which is thematically appropriate. Oh, and the episode is set during winter.

Snippet:

(WIP game here - send me an ask!)

[satoriberry]

Y2K!!

#??: BLUE LOCK BOYS AS 2000s MOVIE TROPES.

#CAUTION: PROBABLY MAKING SHIT UP AS I GO BUT WHO CARES. LOTS OF COMPOUND SENTENCES???

#BERRY'S PRE-WRITING NOTE: if you're gonna ask, "wow aya did you actually research 2000s movie tropes to write this", the answer is going to be a big fat NOOOO im going off my idea of a 2000s movie using all the ones i watched as a kid/recently. some of these may be like late 2000s at most but we're sticking to y2k lol

Jock/Popular boy that asks you out and makes you his girlfriend because his friends dared him to do it. But then he starts to actually like you and falls for you eventually. He'll run after you during prom when his friends out him and reveal that it was all a dare (initially) and tries to repair your broken heart, even if it meant embarrassing himself. Movie ends with you forcing him to do a really embarrassing dare during graduation in front of everybody to make up for hurting you.

-> OTOYA, OLIVER, Shidou (?), Imamura, Kuon (if we up his asshole-ness jusssttt a bit more), KAISER

MC's comedic relief bestfriend (most of whose lines get followed by a laugh track if the movie is bad) who wasn't even interested in you (the bff of the love interest), but as the movie goes on, you two forcibly spend more and more time with each other and eventually have to concoct the final plan that'll get MC and his love interest together. when he tries to confess 3 minutes before the movie's ending, you have to pull him in by the collar and give him a big fat kiss instead because he can't stop rubbing the back of his neck and stuttering (then credits roll as a zoom-out shot starts)

-> BACHIRA!!!!, KARASU, IGAGURI, ZANTETSUUUUUUU, Naruhaya (?), Nanase, Neru

Guy bestfriend who watches you go through severe superficial change and become somebody totally different just to be with the popular guy. You two become distant and a huge fight blows up between the two of you, and you two stop talking. After going out with popular guy, you realize how much you hate him and ditch him. You and guy bestfriend both realize how much you two actually love each other and can't stand not being together. Guy bestfriend and you both coincidentally run to the place you two usually hung out in as kids, you out of post-date frustration and him to clear his mind after what happened. You dramatically approach each other and exchange a few words before one of you confesses to fix things, then seal it with a kiss with the moon in the background.

-> Isagi, YUKIMIYA, Reo, Ness, BAROU, Kunigami

Hot vampire boyfriend. That's it lol.

-> ARYU.

#BERRY'S POST-WRITING NOTE: if you havent noticed i kinda left out the two fandom favourites (sae and rin) for the sole reason that i dont know what kind of trope they would be in. like, idk man. they're too THEM to fit into any of these or any bs trope i could come up with. i also couldnt find one for my tokimitsu but oh well he fits into another one though (MY BOYFRIEND) :333 hope you enjoyed this peepol. lets hope my two other bllk related works make it out of drafts lolol

[medusagorgongirl1]

I'm sick of this Fandom saying that Dick only eats cereal and that the only thing Tim can cook is a cup of coffee and treating Jason like he's some sort of michelin star chef, like seriously? that's it?

Dick came from a circus full of people with different cultures and backgrounds. Idk if y'all have every gone to one of those big weddings that takes place in your cousins back yard but fucking everyone comes together with food. You make the things you know and love and share them with the people your friends and family know and love. And also Dick was a kid that loved attention, of course he would sit in the kitchen and be entertained by someone while his parents were training. I'm convinced that Dick knows how to cook the most random, homey, comfort food dishes but like nothing 'ordinary'. Like that man can make the best goulash you've had in your life (only with the good paprika), he makes vegetarian momos that even Damian can't resist, his challah had more jew in it than Bruce does. But if you ask him to bring a casserole to a get together, he'll fucking bluescreen and buy a pre-made potato salad.

I agree that Jason is a good cook. As a kid I was poor, but in my later teenage years we were more middle class. That change in being able to buy ingredients, to actually make something homemade with is insane. I'm convince that one day he showed Alfred one of those '3 ingredients browine recipe' and asked if that wasn't too much to use and Alfred introduced him to the concept 'the more ingredients the better taste'. That said, as an adult I don't think he was making all these grand dishes. He doesn't live with Bruce, and frequently changes safe houses. He doesnt have the dishware to make these extraordinary foods. Like he'll make some fettuccine alfredo, but those aren't homemade noodles. He's not making a cheesecake, but he'll make a nice banana bread. I also think that he would be a bit nostalgic for the foods of his childhood like we all are in a way, but he would better it. Like cheap ass Ramen? That man is making a steaming bowl of pho. Baked potatoes? Creamy potatoes au Gratin. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Fruit tarts with peanut butter cookies. He's not phenomenal, but he's resourceful.

I said this in a previous post but Tim can cook goddammit. He grew up in a big home as tween with an unlimited fridge. He did what kids do; make really shitty food until they understand cooking. He would thrive off of reciving praise from his parents if he informed them on how independent he is. I know he tried to learn how to make all of their favorite meals until he could recite the recipe word for word. And I don't think that left even after he became robin. Because things were shaky with Bruce for a while, and Tim needed to prove himself. He definitely found out how to make the most tasty protein filled post workout foods because he was determined to be a good robin. I think that as an adult a lot of those would stick too. Like he would know how to make a lot of standard meals, and knows how to read relatively re create a recipe. He isn't useless in the kitchen just because he's rich.

Stephanie is always neglected in these and I refuse too, I love her. I think that she would be kinda a combination of Jason and Tim, like she knows as a vigilante (especially one always underestimated) she really needs to prove she can hold her own and I think that means that she would care about her diet in relation to her workout regime. Her diet would probably consist of a lot protein, fiber and vegetables. But also I think she would be more nostalgic that Jason. Because who can't help but romanticize the sight of your mom making your birthday cake and adding a drop of magic that turns it purple. If it comes down to the frozen pizza or the frozen stir fry, she might choose the pizza because it's the same brand her mom would make on Fridays. She knows how to make the foods that are good for her (to an extent, similar to Tim in that way) but she would also be able to make more of her comfort foods. But above all else, she's a sucker for convenience store meals. She's a patsa roni after patrol kinda gal. And some days she'll add in steamed broccoli, but the nights she's really feeling it, she might just turn on some old cartoon and sit on the floor with her pasta roni.

Damian is more interesting. Always being wealthy has him thinking cooking a bit beneath him. BUT, he also how easy it is to poison someone by making their meals. I feel like in the league of assassin's he learned to detect poison in food and knows how to get it back up. But, it's easier to detect that type of thing with plants. I think he knows which plants are poisonous simply by sight, taste and smell. And besides the obvious reason behind his vegan/vegetarianism I think that is also one of the contributing factors. But I still think it took him a while to come around to Alfred and ask to learn how to make more of the foods he can eat. I don't think that would happen until after he has since how the memories from cooking affect Dick, how cooking gives Jason a sense of freedom and control, and Tim independence. I think he would come to recognize the importance of being able to do something for yourself without assistance. I think he would begin with shyly approaching Alfred vegan recipe he found (because vegan/vegetarians recipes are finally becoming more mainstream and popular on social media), and Alfred will agree because he wants Damian to request certain foods. He wants Damian to truly enjoy meals and not just tolerate something Alfred makes. So I think Damian would know how to make a lot of staple dishes, but also a lot of really yummy vegan dishes. But I also think he would have a slight nostalgia for foods more regional to Nanda Parbat. Specifically I think he would miss spicy food and that it would become necessary in his favorite dishes. I think he would be a sucker for a nice lentil soup, so spicy that only Jon can stomach it.

Sorry for the long post, but this has been on my mind a bunch lately.

[koiiiji]

whole fandom is blasting about how windbreaker became absolute piece of shit with boring chapters and characters with no sense, where author giving juiciest assjob to Jay Jo, making him win every race, adding new characters just because they are hot and of course each of them should have ahhh such sad background so we would feel sorry for them and what Yong Seok decided to do? of course add another absolute unnecessary race, character and drama😍😍😍

aside from that, now i understand the problem of drawing style. because what the actual AI fuck is that? it looks exactly as if you asked chat gpt to draw slim shady aka eminen in anime style. like at first i didn’t even recognize wb art style and i genuinely thought it was another post of AI art in tt. for everyone who says that author improving his art style, no, now he is not. the peak of his art was in 3-4 seasons, where there was true emotions of characters and when they still make sense. maybe beginning of 5 season was also good. but now? it’s AI, i don’t even what to know where this rumors came from, because now i can see it.

and back to topic how “Jay Jo is mc, it’s obvious author make him win. it’s webtoon about bikes and race, it’s obvious there gonna be a lot of races”. i always used to think that Jay Jo is unholy boring mc, but now i understand that in previous seasons he had at least something, while now all his character is flashbacks with Mahyeon (another problem with endless flashbacks… do you guys have a lobotomy? because i don’t, im quite good with remembering what im reading). and speaking about how wb is about races… well, maybe it was, but not anymore. we already have at least 3 new villains, and still no words about who they are, where they came from, and how they fuck they connected to Mahyeon death. was it Sangho? was it that guy in glasses? why they fuck they cared so much about almost random biker, because as we can see now it’s worldwide organization. it’s been 10(?) years of windbreaker and we still don’t have any idea of Mahyeon death. but of course instead of speaking about truly interesting topics we will eat another “hot boys” ahhh chapters😍😍😍

i really used to love windbreaker, but it so sad to look at what it turning into… almost no hate to author, we all like money and our works, but with each day i believe more and more in words he said about 3-4 years ago, about how he tired of windbreaker and want to hurry up to end it. now it really seems like he tired of it, but keep pushing it.

idk, share your thoughts and ideas on it🥹🤔

[guardian-angle22]

maybe you’ve already done this but I would love to know your top underrated tarlos moments

Thank you for asking! I did make a set once for my favorite background moment. That set is here. I do like that one!

As far as underrated, I think that can be tough with a fandom like ours with as much hiatus time on our hands as we've had... because I think we've hyped up about every possible tarlos moment we possibly can. 🤭

HOWEVER, I can't leave you empty handed here. So! here are some of my Top Slightly-Maybe-Underrated Tarlos Moments:

Carlos Being at Owen's Remission Cake Celebration. Something about the exchange between TK & Carlos at the beginning of this scene just always strikes me. Carlos says, "It's cool your mom came down here for this." and TK says, "It's cool you did. Thanks for being here, babe." and something in his face after that exchange just says to me that he's not used to having a boyfriend show up for things like this. So it feels like a subtle but big moment for them!!

TK & Carlos Shopping at the Farmer's Market. There's something very domestic and sweet about the two of them walking through the farmer's market together swinging their tote bags, buying flowers, sniffing random plants, checking out the local jam offerings.

TK & Carlos Cuddling on the Couch. Much has been said about the cuddling specifically in this scene, the equal opportunity big/little spoon situation. but also I just love the thought of them doing this regularly: cuddling up in front of the TV at the end of their shifts, decompressing, and telling each other about their day and their struggles. encouraging each other. and then also cuddles.

Holding Hands at Owen's Intervention. The tone they kind of took this scene in with the music and editing made it seem less serious, but I feel like the situation would've been very stressful for TK (especially as someone who had been on the other side of an intervention before like he said) and I love the silent support Carlos offers here and the way he tucks his fingers into TK's sleeve.

TK Sleeping on Carlos as He Works. This probably isn't underrated but. it's one of my All Time Favorite Moments and therefore it makes this list. Here is a set I made for it awhile ago that I still really enjoy. The way TK tries to get Carlos to stop working in the middle of the night and when he realizes that's not going to work, he says okay. I'm gonna sleep right here and be with you then. He said I'm not going to sleep alone ever again if you're here so MAKE ROOM, BABY!

Carlos Keeping His Eyes on TK. not sure how else to describe it tbh, but just the way Carlos zeroes in on TK taking the phone call at the end of 3.07... it's like he always has a feeler out for what TK is doing at all times, even when surrounded by their friends. I truly wish we got to see the aftermath of that phone call. the way Carlos would've taken care of TK in that moment.

Scritchy Scratches. that's it. send tweet.

Soft!Dom Carlos Backing TK Up. listennnn this scene might be talked about a lot. but never enough. the gentle dom carlos of it all truly eats at my brain constantly. the way he backs TK up, reigns in his spiraling and calms him down with just a couple words and grip of the neck. I cannot.

TK Offering Carlos Back Rubs. another instance of TK waking up because Carlos isn't next to him. recognizing that Carlos needs comfort and offering to rub his back, like he's probably been doing for multiple nights now. it's just another sweet look into the way they comfort and support each other that might not get fully shown but is still there.

The Wedding Leg Grip. this is my Most Favorite of all the gifs I've made for the touch series. idk what it is about this particular gesture, but the way Carlos grabs TK's leg will forever be famous to me and we should be talking about it every week.

[green-socks]

2024 fic reading stats / AO3 Wrapped - Reader Edition

Last April I got the idea that I wanted to, in some form, get a better understanding of how much and how often I read fic, and some other stats as well. Obviously I knew the answer was a lot and often. But you know the urge to make lists and sort things when you're stressed? Yeah, that hit, so I started up a spreadsheet starting May 1st. In my spreadsheet I logged the date I had read the fic, the fic's title, author, fandom, ship, rating, and word count. I also added the AO3 link to the fic which has proven handy in looking up recs and stuff like that!

I just wanted to share some of those stats now that I've made lil graphs to go with them and everything lol

Starting with the totals:

Last year, from 1 May to 31 Dec, I read about 3,928,191 words of fanfic. (Now, that's the logged amount, but it's not... perfect. I won't go into detail but let's just state that that amount is still very telling!)

Total of different fics I read during the logged time was 478. (There are 479 logged entries but one of them was a reread, so.)

The most amount of entries for a single day was 8, and it happened three times lol. Two of those I know I was sick but idk what that third day was, probably a wonderfully lazy sunday.

Authors:

I logged at least 141 different AO3 authors. (Some people using several pseuds may have confused my count a little but give or take a couple!)

Here I have to shout out @fuddlewuddle because if I read 478 fics, 93 of those were hers. I don't even know what to say except that I'm glad our freaks match each other <3

A fun thing to note was that I myself made it on my top 10 list of "favorite" writers based on the amount of fics logged because I reread my own stuff frequently enough! That's kind of uplifting to think about. If sorted by word count, however, I am farrr from the top, because I tend to write shorter fics :D But I'm happy to keep it that way!

Fandom:

Showing off some percentages based on the 478 logged fics. Ahem, as you can see, Top Gun continues as the ruling fandom in my life, but there were some new smaller fandoms coming in as well! And that strange, two movie fandom fusion is, of course, courtesy of Fuddle...

If I were to sort these by word count instead, the percentages would stay pretty much the same, except Other fandoms would give a tiny bit of its slice over to Ted Lasso.

Ship:

Again, this is based on the total of 478 logged fics. Quelle surprise, I'm a hangster girl and there's a lot of that on the market, so 183 out of those 478 were hangster fics. Other ships here entails multi-ship fics (where the ships are equal instead of clear main ship & background ship type of thing), poly ships with a number of varying character combinations, and ships that had less than 5 logged fics with it as the main ship.

(The tiny red dot says roykeeleyjamie and it had 6 logs in total. The purple dot with the name not fully showing is macheresin with 10 fics.)

Rating:

This is again based on the total of 478 fics.

My own writing stats:

I posted 18,687 words' worth of fic last year (though some thousands of words haven't made it to AO3 yet, but were still written last year). As you can see, I am still very much a reader rather than a writer, but it's the best of both worlds, getting to do both!

Overall, I thought this was a fun experiment, and I'm going to keep up with my spreadsheet for the new year – because what is life without spreadsheets, really.

Guess if I realized I had forgotten to log at least one longer fic after finishing up the last of those graphs!!!! Sighhh

[the-way-astray]

I don't know if we're all sharing our journeys with you about how we came to our conclusions about Keefe and Fitz, but here's mine:

About a year ago I read Flashback for the first time and that was when I first started to realize that Keefe was manipulative (I know I know, it's a basic argument at this point and it makes people mad when it's brought up, but that's what I noticed, and I wasn't in the fandom so this revelation was.... revelatory?), but I still thought to myself, oh yeah that makes sense given his background (which I still do believe but now it's just too annoying for me idk), and then reading his POV in the Flashback short story, I thought to myself, 'huh, he's saying the perfect things, isn't he? Almost like it's propaganda or something....'

A bit later I went to the internet, and learned that it is very very popular to not like Fitz at all (though I had already seen that in the real world talking to other people in real life), and to compare him to Keefe a lot. So I think that's why I started disliking Keefe, the way so many people perceive him (and compare him to Fitz) just soured my opinion of him. And I know people like to say "you can like both!" And while I do agree with that I don't think that anyone who doesn't isn't less valid or less mature than those who do, which I think is the attitude of some people who make that argument.

Anyway. That is my story (I don't dislike anyone who likes Keefe and Fitz or who likes Keefe and dislikes/hates Fitz)

had to do a different graph for you since your opinion over time wasn't all over the place like summer's was.

the one summer sent was because i asked about her story specifically, but now that you mention it, i do want to know everyone’s stories about how they decided what their opinions on fitz and keefe are. i should create a tag . . . anyway send me your stories everybody! i’ll make you a messy little visual.

interesting that flashback was the book that made you see him as manipulative. i personally think it starts a lot earlier, and gets particularly bad in nightfall. and yeah, i talked about this in my rant, but shannon randomly decides to have keefe say all the perfect green flags in flashback/the short story to cover for the fact that his actions literally do not match his words.

i'm not a fan of the idea of a "basic argument" or "complex argument", i'm more of a fan of "valid argument" or "invalid argument". like if an argument is good, it's going to be repeated . . . because it's reliable? that should be a point in its favor not a strike against it. and i'd say saying keefe is manipulative is a perfectly valid argument. but i'm also heavily biased. obviously.

i’m gonna be so honest, i have no idea why people hate fitz so much. like yeah, he gets angry, but he does apologize and try to get better, which i don’t see with keefe. i don’t hate fitz haters and unlike a lot of people in keepblr, i actually respect them, but i don’t understand them.

there is definitely an attitude of people thinking you’re less mature or not as valid if you hate on fitz or keefe. i think, as long as you’re mature about it (and don’t send weird asks), you can dislike whoever you want, and you aren’t a bad person if you do. the idea of "you can like both!" is very true, but i think we do need to respect haters. and i'm not just saying that as a keefe hater. fitz haters (as long as they aren't being weird about it *cough* "Just because your gay doesnt mean Sophie is!!!" anon *cough cough*) deserve respect, as well. acting like hating a character is immature is ridiculous. they are fictional. they are not real. chill out.

oof, i just turned your ask into a rant. sorry . . . moving along . . . i, too, do not dislike you if you like keefe or hate fitz. i'm actually pretty neutral on fitz myself, wouldn't say i'm particularly insane or obsessed with him.

[m1zumono]

what i read in 2024!!

i read a total of 952 ao3 works last year and this is what they were :D

general info about the length of fics and stuff like that because. i want to know.

total word count was 18143678, about a million less than 2023 and less than half of 2022, but this is also the first year i've made sure this ONLY includes what i finished. still was less than i expected but it makes sense considering the gaps of just not reading anything (less than 2023 though there were MONTHS where i read nothing)

mean word count was 19058 and median was 7152, i read a fuck ton of really short fics and a few very long ones apparently, and the longest fic i read was just over 400k - just checked what it was and apparently i reread 91w i literally do not remember that

i think that this is just really making it obvious that most of what i read was porn. most fics were under 10k, most were oneshots, it's all porn. but like,, i think i probably read more words of non-porn than of porn. i don't know and i cba to work it out

stuff about ratings, categories, warnings :) apparently it is not in fact all porn but like that's a lot. i read a LOT of like avengers & peter domestic shit, think that makes up a lot of the gen tbh, and it's less explicit than 2023 iirc

mostly m/m. gay man reads gay fic. shocking. think the f/m is almost entirely background pairings in spider-man fics or matt murdock getting pegged. also feel the need to say that i turned 18 this year and am not a freak thank you

nothing really surprising here tho, disappointingly few lesbians :(

fandoms!!! mostly marvel. shocking. i cba figuring out the total number of marvel fics because that would mean doing a lot and i'm not doing that, i am tired and coding sucks, but yeah it's a lot of spider-man and daredevil stuff. the iron man stuff is entirely spider-man and probably tagged because of harley. also the red hood and the outlaws is just jayroy porn

excluding marvel and dc because jesus, a lot of spn between the two tags and some house and twd. not a lot else. nothing really surprising, did think i would have read more than one 911 fic but knew it wouldn't be much??

and. characters. so so much spider-man. so so much irondad spiderson. i hate tony stark in everything other than domestic peter fics, there's not a lot other than marvel so like above im getting rid of the marvel (not the dc tho that can stay)

idk there's nothing really to say. did not think i'd read that much jason stuff. all that is very recent i love that guy tho. cas is there twice so i combined him and the same for house. rickyl actually had theee same number of fics i gen think every fic i read with one had the other i don't read twd other than occasional rickyl. but yeah it's just spn, house, dc, twd

relationships!!! i decided to split this because otherwise it would tell me fuck all so romantic first (okay not romantic some of it is but a lot of it is. just porn)

destiel. stucky. hilson. fratt. spideypool. jayroy. im fucking boring. the pepperony is background in the irondad fics like literally all of it every single one. there are so so disappointingly few women in this but also that entirely makes sense. didn't think clint and matt would appear but also that's like about 7 fics so. the stuckony is entirely porn, the cassiedean is (almost) entirely t4t, the stony is also entirely porn other than like. three.

platonic time yeah that's. a lot of irondad. i have fucking nothing to say about any of this other than that the only ones i actively search out are matt & peter, team red, frank & peter, and nelson murdock and page my loves. also i read a total of 172 'peter field trip to si' fics with the tag. what the fuck.

this is entirely unsurprising i read a lot of fluff and a lot of angst. the nsfw stuff is just fun to look at i like how high pegging is. also rimming. i think the praise kink stuff is just in fics i have literally never tagged it in and don't look for it, pretty much the same with d/s but that's just bc i cba tagging it. also don't think i've tagged in either of the last two in the past year

edit: pegging stats. most pegged character was matt murdock, followed by dean winchester. 4 of the fics tagged pegging were m/m and maybe mentioned pegging. i am confused.

okay now just general fun shit to know. i missed watersports a total of 7 times and was either surprised by it or just read it anyway. i don't think i read something for it though. not sure? might've done tbh, who knows, i think the oviposition was jason todd. also. i just checked and i did not read a single fic tagged pregnancy i am so proud of myself. okay the jason ovi fic logically must have had it but . i do not fucking know

and then :) my favourite bit :) a total of 36 fics had 'no beta we die like _' tagged, some of them were about the author or not about a specific character so. yeah. but i've sorted them a little bit. jason is on where he was specified, men is not exclusively men and is variations of people, and tony was also under iron man

most importantly, authors!!!! in pink because pink, these are the authors i read 4 or more fics from, thank you!!! thank you @not_me_underc0ver for the irondad spiderson, thank you @sobsicles for making me cry, @dumbbitchnumberone for tvg and the dd/dp!!, and everyone else i read anything from <33

i think that's everything and i am gonna end up rbing this with something i forgot. also this is entirely for my own reference because i want to knowwww and compare things but my files from last year are not on this laptop and i cba to find them

update: i just searched my photos and found the ratings pie chart from last year, it was about 65% explicit, that's actually kinda impressive. also it was like 80% destiel which is . insane.

tagging @dicklessthewonderclown hi dean because i am gonna watch ur thing when u post it and @timetravelfag and @castielsprostate because hi look also vik u were the first person to come up when i typed @ i did not have to type u :D

[jainydoe]

emmg's ao3 tag game

ok full disclosure I have not been writing on ao3 long enough to feel fully able to tackle this it will likely be quite boring but nonetheless i'm a team player

How many works do you have on ao3? I think four?

What's your total ao3 word count? A measly ~20k

What fandoms do you write for? dragon age atm but I'm thinking of branching out

Top five fics by kudos: top is definitely metastable

Do you respond to comments? I try to!

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? hm. rn with battle of wormwood being just one chapter it's def that one but given it will end up having a happy ending, I guess it's delirium

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? the happiest fic is probably misdirection we're just having fun over there

Do you get hate on fics? not yet, thankfully

Do you write smut? yes? not usually though

Craziest crossover? I guess making emmrich a fucking fed is a weird crossover but it felt like the closest thing to the mournwatch available? other than that idk maybe I'll put those fools in fallout HAH

Have you ever had a fic stolen? not that I know of

Have you ever had a fic translated? no but that would be interesting!

Have you ever co-written a fic? nope but if anyone wants to I'm down

All time favorite ships? woof in dragon age i'm a fan of emmrich/johanna. other than that, hmm, ghoulcy? you know what, I'm a big fan of pansy parkinson and neville longbottom in harry potter too i'm clearly a sucker for a gentle academic with a particular special interest going goo-goo-eyed for a raging bitch

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? shit maybe battle of wormwood yeesh

What are your writing strengths? hm. I think my writing is a good, hard fuck. but we're not gonna cuddle after

What are your writing weaknesses? rhythm is really important to me, so I can't write with anything playing in the background it'll fuck up the melody and flow. I'm also pretty bad at planning shit. something you'll probably notice as I try and remember all the crap I've said in the chapters of misdirection I have to keep going back and reminding myself You can't do X because of Y blahblahblah. i've never written a long multi-chapter thing like it, lol, so uhhhh buckle up!

Thoughts on dialogue in another language? awesome. love it. being able to convey the essence of a conversation just through the way characters are reacting and not giving the audience a cheat code is great

First fandm you ever wrote in? haaaaaaarry potter. back in the day.

Favorite fic(s) you wrote? shit, idk. maybe delirium. definitely not metastable. it's funny, that seems to be the one everyone likes best, but looking back on it i shriek in agony. I think I like delirium because it's true, I'd never written smut before that and I guess the only way I could psych myself into it was by making it a character study and fucking romanticizing hanging bodies and chronic masturbation :-) had a lot of fun with that one

you pretty much tagged everyone I'd think of, but I encourage you, if you're reading this and write on ao3 or even tumblr for that matter, please do this and tag me, I'd love to read your work whether it's for datv or not! love, jainy

[andorerso]

Answer the Questions and Tag 5 Fanfic Authors

thanks for the tag @mosylufanfic <3

1. How did you get into writing fanfiction?

I started reading fanfiction when I was very young, maybe 10-11? and it pretty much immediately made me want to write my own stories. early attempts were... unsuccessful, but I always had a lot of ideas and I just wanted to get them out there... so I did

2. How many fandoms have you written in?

in reverse chronological order: Rogue One/Andor, GoT/ASOIAF, She-Ra, Grisha-verse/Nikolai Series, The Raven Cycle, American Horror Story, Reign, Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, Twilight

and some I have never published but did write for: The Witcher, Dishonored, Magnificent Century: Kösem

so that's 14 fandoms total

3. How many years have you been writing fanfiction?

well, my first attempt was at 14 but I pretty much immediately abandoned that story after posting. I tried again at 16 and have been writing pretty consistently ever since. so it's been more than ten years, almost fifteen

4. Do you read or write more fanfiction?

lately I'm writing more than I'm reading, however in general over the years, it's definitely read. I've consumed so many!

5. What is one way you’ve improved as a writer?

I think my action has gotten better recently? it's still far from my strength but being forced to write some action scenes in recent stories definitely improved that area... who would have thought?

6. What’s the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

I've researched many weird stuff over the years but idk, I'm blanking on specifics

7. What’s your favorite type of comment to receive on your work?

I love it when people yell and curse at me <33

8. What’s the most fringe trope/topic you write about?

idk if I've ever written something truly fringe... actually maybe the dildo fic?

9. What is the hardest type of story for you to write?

smut! which is funny because I've spent the last month writing nothing but that. but smut is hardddddd

10. What is the easiest type?

I'm seconding modern AUs, that's my comfort genre, and I'm also very well-versed in anything paranormal

11. Where do you do your writing? What platform? When?

I switched from Word to Scrivener a few years ago, and I haven't looked back. Word would probably still work, but Scrivener is just very convenient, I can have all the things in one place, and it makes things so easy

12. What is something you’ve been too nervous/intimidated to write, but would love to write one day?

well, sex pollen belonged to this category, but I've just gotten over that! other than that, I've been going back and forth about this apocalypse/zombie exes to lovers longfic for months now, because it's intimidating as hell for many reasons, and it would be a lot of work which I may not have the time for currently, but there's so many parts of it that I love and want to write. mainly this very specific scene that will not leave my brain, but absolutely would not work without the proper background and build-up.... sigh

13. What made you choose your username?

here or on ao3? on ao3, it's wintersend (winter's end) and like. I can't even remember why I picked it. it's so random, I've never used it before and never since. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that I'm a winter child, and I was also into GoT at the time... I genuinely don't know

and here.... hmmm idk if I should tell you guys.... it's very niche, you wouldn't get it

tagging @frostbitepandaaaaa @quarantineddreamer @fulcrumstardust @flythesail @luciechat

[fayesdiary]

001: for your ship of ships, Yunaka x Alear, and 002: for Timerra

Alear/Yunaka

when I started shipping it if I did:

I started genuinely shipping them when I played Engage for myself, because that's when I realized that oh. Oh this works so well.

my thoughts:

OHHHH THEY'RE SO GOOD. The parallels are immaculate, their dynamic is super silly in lighthearted moments and so heavy during more serious ones, they give hopelessly in love vibes and, you know. I adore them platonically too, obviously.

What makes me happy about them:

Yunaka finding love and support from her god of all people, someone who she always thought would judge her to be irredemable and instead adores her, and Alear trusting Yunaka despite her being expicitly sketchy being the first step in their self-forgiveness. When you think about it, Yunaka's background is basically an abridged version of Alear's.

Just, idk. They make me so happy!

What makes me sad about them:

Oh boy. Their pasts and their trauma. Yunaka's constant self-loathing and fear of her past coming to the surface and impostor syndrome and thinking Alear's too good for her. Alear's discomfort at being treated like a god and feeling alienated because of it. Past Alear. Just... Past Alear.

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

I don't think I've found anything that actually annoys me, to be honest. Which is good.

things I look for in fanfic:

Both the fluff with them being silly together (pre and post relationship) but also the angst of them dealing and opening up about their trauma.

That good hurt/comfort stuff 🥲

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

For Yunaka I'd say Citrinne, since you know. "Enemies" to lovers is always fun

For Alear I don't have any other strong ships, so I'd say I'm fine with almost everyone. Except the kids and the rest of their family, obviously. And Lindon.

My happily ever after for them:

Them being happily married and obnoxiously in love while they watch over Elyos together 💕

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

They switch! I think they're very into cuddles, generally :3

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Yunaka infodumping about weapons with the detail of an MGS codec call while Alear listens to her with heart eyes ❤️

Timerra

How I feel about this character: 

Love her! She's such a good mix of silly and serious, she can be really goofy but also she's one of the smartest people of the cast and will not fuck around with people she deems a threat, but she's super chill with anyone else!

If I had to describe her in a word, it would be "Fun".

All the people I ship romantically with this character: 

Ivy's a fun one (thanks Koto), but her, Merrin and Panette are so polycule shaped. Oh, and Nel too!

My non-romantic OTP for this character: 

Veyle! The fact she goes from being among the most skeptical about her to one of the most supportive once she actually joins for good is so interesting, and also the contrast between someone so carefree (on the surface at least) and someone who feels ashamed to even be alive. Just, idk. I really like them.

I think she'd be besties with Alfred too, wish they had supports together.

My unpopular opinion about this character: 

She's smarter than she looks, her voice is great and she's a lot more interesting than people give her credit for.

Also the fact the Solm siblings are the most overlooked ones of the cast is... sus, to say the least. This fandom is not escaping the racism allegations.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

I wish she was more involved in the story. Compared to the other roylas she and Fogado don't go through much that directly involves them, you know?

Oh also while I'm not sure I would actually want it in canon, recruitable Fell Timerra would've been cool.

my OTP:

See above. I don't feel particularly strongly about any of them to declare them my OTP, so...

my cross over ship:

If FEH counts as a crossover, she and Sharena would hit it off really well. Azura too would be fun! OH, and Rinea too. Just thought of it👀

As for other stuff, hm...

BOTW Zelda would be interesting, she and Daisy would be cute and, hm. Her and Aqua would be the crackiest of crack pairs but, you know. It could work!

I dunno, I'm just throwing stuff around at this point.

a headcanon fact:

She absolutely brings Fauxgado with her during battles and on official business. Nobody's going to stop her from bringing her poorly done youngest brother along!

[stellanslashgeode]

ao3 wrapped [writer's edition]

1. How many words have you written this year?

266,592 so far but I'm not done yet.

2. How many works did you publish this year?

14, though I think 2 were carryovers from last year.

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

I'm really proud of how Way of the Mynock is turning out and it will definitely be my longest work. BUT overall, I am most proud of Permission to Come Aboard, Admiral because I was hesitant to dip my toe into the Thrawn series and it was well-regarded by that fandom and I was asked to put it into a Thrawn Rare Pairs collection. That just tickled me.

4. What work of yours has the most hits?

Way of the Mynock by far, only one to get over 2k which isn't a lot but I've only been at this two years so I'm pretty small. And it's not close to done so it'll just keep persevering.

5. What work of yours got more feedback than expected?

Dissonance and Upheaval has 40 comments and while half of them are my replies I'm tickled that something with such a wonky high concept engendered such engaged readers.

6. Favorite title you used?

Serpentes Tremens is one of which I am particularly proud. Poor little drunken snake.

7. If you use song lyrics, which artist did you pull from the most?

That's gotta be Kate Nash. Way of the Mynock wouldn't exist without Skeleton Song, though the chapter titles aren't exclusive to that.

8. Pairing you wrote most this year?

Only 4 out of 14 were not Barrissoka so I remain that bitch.

9. Favorite pairing you wrote this year?

Vampire Barriss and vampire hunter Ahsoka followed closely by Emerie Karr and Riyo Chuchi.

10. What work was the quickest to write?

I wrote I Love You, Fulcrum directly into the AO3 interface in under an hour.

11, What work took you the longest to write?

Dissonance and Upheaval took a lot of research, and I have to be in the right mood to get the vibe.

12. How many WIPs are you taking into next year with you?

I am hoping to get a few finished, but it looks like seven as well as four or five I have planned but haven't started.

13. What's your longest work of the year?

Way of the Mynock is at 82,571 and not even half done.

14. What's your shortest work of the year?

I Love You, Fulcrum is 756 words young.

15. What WIPs are you taking into next year with you?

idk how this one is different from 12. Way of the Mynock might not even be completed next year. I'm taking it into the Sequel Trilogy era and I'm still on Rebels/Andor. I am hoping Don't Get Captured, Dissonance and Upheaval, and Serpentes Tremens will get finished by the end of the month. Contrasts is giving me trouble. It will get done when it gets done. I haven't even finished the first chapter of The Convor and the Tooka Cat. Poor Operations Other than War is just lying there at the bottom of the ocean.

16. What is your most common "Additional Tags" tag.

Probably "Fusion of Star Wars Legends and Disney Canon". I'm a slut for that one.

17. Your favorite character to write this year?

Tempted to say vampire Barriss but Emerie was really fun to write since she had some standout episodes but didn't get much backstory or closure in canon. NAH, nah scratch that. It's the Seventh Sister, actually. Both versions of her.

18. The character who gave you the most trouble this year.

Post-Tales of the Jedi Barriss. Still getting to know that girl. After having this version of her in my head post TCW it was hard to connect with new canon.

19. What's one paring do you want to explore next year?

I want to get more into Anidala, if I can find the time. I find them very easy to write and I want to explore the space since they're usually background in my work.

20. Which work of yours have you read the most?

Finishing up Dissonance and Upheaval has me reading the whole series over and over so I get the tone right.

21. How many kudos did you get this year?

482 which pleases the heck out of me as a small creator. That's over half my total!

22. Which work has the most comments?

Way of the Mynock at 52 so far.

23. Did you do any collaborative works this year?

No, but I will next year.

24. Did you write any gifts this year?

Three, same as the number of licks it takes to get to the gooey center of a Tootsie Pop.

25. Did you receive any gifts this year?

Nope, but it's not over yet!

26. What is your most common category?

A tie between Explicit and General Audience, which makes sense. They're usually the short one-offs.

27. What do you listen to while writing?

I often pick either one artist or genre for a story. Dusk of a Golden Age is all Dead Can Dance, for instance.

28. Favorite work you wrote this year?

You know what, it's hard to choose but I think my words in her voice is my most personal and I am really happy with how it turned out.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

“Why, Miss Offee. You are sopping.”

30. Biggest surprise while you were writing this year?

I didn't expect to have so much fun writing a Sith character having a philosophical debate.

[quaranmine]

Hi, not sure if you remember me, but i sent an ask a while ago saying how i love the Incadescence of a dying light and that i talk about it with my friend and how we both really liked the story and are juts you know discussing it well update to now. we still do that lol. i cant stop thinking about it, i listen to the firewatch OST on the daily, resonating with each track at a time. I love it. I live it. I am enamored. Everytime Im studying Polish (my native language) and revising each epoch for my upcoming finals i cant help but connect themes and motives to that wonderful story of yours. If i land on a fitting topic in my oral final exam (like pop-culture, creativity and arts, certain themes in modern media) you BET Ill be talking about this fic (with all the credit I can give of course!) cause USARWSETDYRVUHUISC I cant get it out of my head. Its such an amazing example of how the media of fanfiction elevates the story to its maximum potential. How knowing the characters makes it so much easier to connect and resonate, even though Mumbo is absent from the majority of the fic, we still feel hurt after finding out whats happened to him. Like, its such an amazing creative medium I love fanfiction and TERSSXEFJNKVCRXSERARXSXERCDJNGIKKDc :thumbsup: oh gosh The Incadescence of a Dying Light. yeah so fun fact i actually had to look up what it means cause i didnt know the word before and oh. oh. oh its so much worse and more painful. really love it, i do, oh i do! I now have acquired (idk how to spell it lul) the never subsiding lust for nature and outdoors and hiking and being a part of it. I love it, you made me regain my love for it. I loved it before, yes, but i was caught up in my own head and had so much stuff i had to do, but now i love to look out my window even more, i love strolling in my garden. i love it. thank you, thank you, thak youuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbsup: So yeah, this fic is one of my faves of all time, i like it a lot, it has inspired me to live more and be alive basically and also. and for the end a fanart of an alternative ending where Mumbo somehow survives and just lives in the forest like a wild animal, living his best life, eating berries (i decided on drawing him eating berries [peace love and plants] instead of chowing down [is chowing a word??] on some rabbit lol) and then grian finds him and its super awkward

HI! Yes, of course I remember you! First of all, had a really wild day yesterday at work, but I read this at soooome point on my phone during the middle of the day and it made me smile :)

This ask is just so??? AAAAAAA???? I almost don't know how to respond, because it's just SO wonderful to hear this about something I created. Like I did that? I made a thing that is sticking deeply with people? I'm just soooo <333333

I like your point about how fanfiction can maximize story potential! I think it'd make a wonderful essay topic honestly. I have thought about this in connection with fanfic a lot--specifically, the divide between original fiction and fanfiction. In original works, you have to make the audience care. You have to introduce me to a character, setting, and story I will be interested in. I've read a lot of negative book reviews that start off with "the author didn't make me care about the characters" (i have also...said this myself about books I ended up not liking.) With fanfic, you skip that step! It lets you jump right in. I don't have to explain Mumbo and Grian's friendship or demonstrate it to you. You just Know. Someone reading it fandom blind would get the implication about how important they are to each other simply by seing the depth of Grian's grief, but for my intended audience, I can do whatever I want because I trust you to already have the background information you need.

The title is from a line I really like in a song (Post Humorous by Gus Dapperton). It just...painted such a nice word picture. Especially for a story about grief death and fire!

I just. Love that this fic helped you regain a desire for nature? That just makes me feel...warm, I guess, to know that I was able to spark that with something I created. I hope it goes well for you, and you get to take many walks. This spring I've been using the trails near my aunt's house (not.....hiking paths. too urban.) much more. I wanted to walk this week but I was too busy lol. I hope you have many wonderful experiences out in the Great Outdoors <3 one of these days, I swear I'll up and move to a place with "better" nature and "real" trails close by.

Also, SKFJSLFJSKFLSJKF your fanart made me laugh so much. I have like. Entertained this idea. Not as an actual or serious part of the story but I was like man wouldn't it just be off-the-wall if he was just vibing Out There 😭😭😭 You've caught the vibe perfectly LOL

this was all around such a special message to hear, thank you SO much!

[practically-an-x-man]

questions for fic writers #s 1, 2, 3, 12, 13, 14, 23, 26, and 30 :)

Thank you so much!!

Questions for fic writers

What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

Honestly... Taking Flight. It's in by far the smallest fandom I've written for, but that almost works in its favor because it means the fic is able to stand largely on its own without requiring any background knowledge into the Fablehaven universe. And it's my most recent longfic, so it best reflects my current level of skill and writing style from the first chapter. Plus... I'm just really proud of it, and I wish more people would read it

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

Angst, Fluff, and Hurt/Comfort are the top three. Makes a lot of sense, most of my fics include a blend of all three at some point

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

References to birds, references to music, devoted couples facing the horrors of life at each other's side, and romance alongside fast-paced action or angst

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

Hanahaki! I didn't enjoy the idea that only requited love would cure the disease, since it basically put the weight of a person's life on the other reciprocating feelings that they really can't control. But I've seen a version of Hanahaki that's based on the confession, not the love itself, and I like that a lot more

13. Are there any tropes you used to like but don’t anymore?

I don't know about particular tropes, but I think my characters have become a lot stronger and more self-possessed than they used to be (we're talking like... when I was 14-15 and just getting into fanfic here). I don't think it was full "damsel in distress", but there were definitely a lot more OCs in need of rescue rather than working together to rescue themselves. Idk

14. Are there any tropes you would only read if written by a trusted friend or writer?

I mean... I've only ever read Twilight/vampire fics as written by @nebulousfishgills, and I had to look at a wiki just to know who the Volturi were, if that tells you anything. I don't like Twilight at all, but I really like Nebby's writing style and characters

23. What’s a trope, AU, or concept you’ve never written, but would like to?

Hm... I've had a few ideas for a soulmate AU, but I've never put one down on the page. The closest is Heartstrings, but that doesn't quite count.

26. Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue?

No dialogue. I explained this in more depth in a previous ask, but I feel like building a scene would get stilted and awkward if it relied on only dialogue.

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

I mean... I feel like I'm always a little bit out of my comfort zone in some way or another. Writing is an exercise for me, so I try to pick at least one character detail or writing style that I need to practice and research so that I'll always be engaged in the story.

I will say that writing Desert Song has definitely stretched me in a lot of ways - there are some darker characters, more intense moments, and a few slightly racier scenes than I usually write, and working myself through those moments I feel has made me more well-rounded as a writer in general. The spicy scenes especially... I still don't write smut, but I've gotten a lot more comfortable with spicier scenes in general, and that's also made me better at other types of emotional intensity in scenes I think

[asummersday]

It was really nice to read Hollow Mind after you mentioned it in an ask I think, Id love to know about 3, 23 and 27 and if possible (it wasnt exactly in the suggestions I think) what fandoms do you write for and whether you write original work too? I really love your writing style!! In ataimw you capture Raph‘s and Leo‘s arguments so well, it seems so natural as in this is what would for real happen in that situation and that makes reading it a whole lot more fun and engaging

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

Hm. All the ashes in my wake, definitely! It's been a whole lot of fun writing it and it's also been pretty surprising! I wasn't expecting to have so many ideas or explore Leo's relationships with his family (and Casey) in detail, I was really expecting to mostly only focus on his and Raph’s. I set the fic after season 2 because to me that would be the best time to set a fic where Leo gets cursed and no one realizing for a while (because they just moved and because so many things happened all at once and they'd definitely take some time to adjust. Also because I didn't see enough fics focusing on how it must’ve felt like to literally have your entirely home destroyed to the point where there's probably very little they could've salvaged :(( like idk they probably spent most of their lives in that lair! It would've definitely been a bad emotional hit)

23. Did you do any collaborative works this year?

I did one! It was a round robin I did with some friends on discord. It was actually my very first time doing a round robin!

27. What do you listen to while writing?

I have a playlist of musical scores and classical music I like to listen to when I write (because I need constant background noise but if it has words its gonna distract me). When I edit i usually put on any playlist, sometimes my fic playlist.

.

for the fandom question, I've written for several fandoms, but my current ones are rottmnt and dc! I do write original fiction but I haven’t published anything yet. I mostly have the world and the ocs, its the plot that's a little harder to figure out lol.

I'm so glad you like my style! <33 and im also really happy to hear you like raph and Leo's arguments!! They've been really fun and interesting to write and I've been greatly enjoying exploring their relationship in this fic.

I've been partially drawing inspiration from my own arguments with my sisters (having siblings is so fun because you'll have the worst argument you've ever had and like two hours later you're sending each other memes like nothing ever happened and that's basically the entire apology)

Anyway this ask got super long, I'm sorry. I love talking about ataimw (there's your assurance that I'm never abandoning it, I'm literally mentally insane about it lol)

But thank you so much for the ask!!! 💕

[decepti-thots]

re: writing fandom meta and why there might be less of it recently - the fandom spaces I started out in ~15 years ago didn't have any meta, at least not in the way they have now, so the whole thing is comparably new to me. and then the meta I see always posts that seem to take SO MUCH of canon/background knowledge into account, so many things that I haven't even heard of. and there's so many posts criticizing (parts of) fanon and common fannish opinions, which I often understand, but which also feel a bit elitist and doesn't make me wanna try putting my thoughts on a piece of media into words just to get criticized. finally, I also don't know how to - last time I analyzed media was in school, and I was never good at it.

Thank you for this ask anon, first off! All of this is really interesting to hear, and a lot of it lines up with things people said in shorter responses directly on the post, so it looks like there's definitely some overlap in terms of common pain points in terms of this stuff. (And not just "pain" points, to be clear- folks also basically said that they preferred expressing their ideas through fiction, which is fair, and not really a thing that exists as something causing friction, per se, as much as an active enjoyment of fanfic as a way to express ideas.)

I hope you don't mind if I use this response as a launching point to give a few of my personal thoughts on this, because you so happened to bring some stuff up I kind of wanted to give a perspective on anyway. Not necessarily as a direct response in all regards, but it seems as good a place as any to touch on my own feelings? (Under a cut, feel free to skip this, if you do then thanks again for responding!)

The point you make about how meta wasn't much a thing in fandom spaces you were in 15 years ago is interesting, because one of the things I always think when I see the argument there's universally "less meta" now than there used to be is: does at least some of this stem from the folks saying(/bemoaning) this come from them being in different fannish spaces that the ones they're in now and not realising? It's a similar thing to when people confidently assert "people comment less on fics than they used to", where I can't help but wonder how much of that is just that the fandoms they are in today have different ways of engaging with fanwork, or different expectations, or that the fandom spaces they used to be in commented a lot relatively speaking. 15 years ago, I was in fandoms mostly based around LiveJournal communities, which were often assumed to be the obvious "centre" of fandom activity by folks in said communities. (Incorrectly; LJ only looked like the "main hub" of all online fannishness if it was where you and your fandoms mostly clustered, IME.) A lot of those were media fandoms (though not all) and those tended to have a lot of meta, I would argue at least in part because LJ as a "format" encouraged the posting of long, pre-mediated posts that lent itself well to folks wanting to write meta. But some other fandoms (a lot of anglophone animanga fandoms come to mind) tended to not have nearly as much because people were mostly engaging with them in places and communities where those things didn't line up in a way that encouraged it. The move to Tumblr and even Twitter as big fannish platforms where things work differently is then probably also of note, idk!

(Sidenote: the AO3 meta wars when it launched are probably worth mentioning, since the push to allow fannish nonfiction on AO3 was in part a result of Tumblr seeming like a very bad replacement for LJ when it came to posting essays!)

Anyway, a really common thing that seems to be cropping up is the "if I post an opinion as meta, it opens me up to [potentially virulent, potentially bad-faith] criticism, and that sounds unfun" fear. Which on the one hand is not necessarily untrue because I think even now fannish norms around meta are just a little different than other forms of fanworks, yes. Meta is usually seen as, on some level, an invitation to discussion in a way that e.g. fanfic often isn't. What I do think is interesting to think about here is it seems like there's not a lot of faith that there could be productive, even fun disagreement on specifics and readings. I'm not saying that wariness is necessarily wrong, to be clear. (I have been on the receiving end of plenty of virulent, bad faith "criticism" in my fannish life, haha. Or just... like... bad criticism that is tiring and unproductive and unnecessary, lol.) I mention it more because it seems worth explicitly saying that the assumption that being contradicted, corrected and/or argued with is an inherently unpleasant or even disciplinary way to experience fandom is one that seems to be pretty deep-rooted in fandom right now, and it seems worth pointing that underlying principle out.

To bring that back a little to the "platform shapes the fandom engagement" thing, I do think the way Tumblr works contributes to that. Reblogging to add additions has a very different impact that replying to someone else's static blogpost, and reblogging is (as people do keep pointing out on viral posts, haha) the primary encouraged form of interaction on this site. It's different in multiple ways; a person reblogging something often feels like they are talking about your ideas in the abstract and not by talking to you as a person which can encourage a very different tone and approach on their part and make their addition read very differently. And it also means that your post may not just be contradicted, but the contradiction may wind up being exposed to huge numbers of people as the default way of seeing your post and opinions. That makes the idea of being subject to that disagreement higher stakes, I feel, and also the idea of productive back-and-forth functionally impossible a lot of the time. (It also means having a full conversation often requires constantly spamming your followers, let alone multiple convos.)

So I fully get it. But I do also think it's a shame that it can be really hard to imagine fannish communities where disagreeing back and forth on different ideas about a canon or text is... fun? I guess? I sometimes find that stuff fun, is the thing! When done in a good faith way and an environment it works in. You wind up with all these interesting perspectives that may run very contrary to your own but still have interesting ideas in them, and sometimes you wind up with opportunities to expand on ideas you had but hadn't yet found a way to articulate them. I don't think that's going to be fun for EVERYONE but I think it's a shame that it seems so universally... terrifying, for a lot of people? Fandom is a very good place, if nothing else, to practice getting comfortable with low-stakes intellectual disagreement. (Because for most things, it really is low-stakes as hell.)

I do want to touch on the elitism comment though. I find that... a strange perspective tbh? It's true that doing analysis generally holds a baseline expectation of familiarity with the canon, but I can't really see how that can reasonably be called "elitist". Similarly I think there's a sense where someone will sometimes see people strongly dislike a thing they enjoy and feel the need to argue why that person is "wrong", such as when folks defend their fave fanon against folks who find it tiring/uninspired/etc. I think this post really sums my thoughts on that up, tbh. Sometimes what can kneejerk feel like a person passing judgement on you is actually them being a bit bitchy in their own space knowing full well they're talking about their own taste and nothing more. IDK.