#might have written THE most self-indulgent fanfic

[syndxlla]

best friends don’t look at each other the way we do

A low stakes, high rewards and self-indulgent Zelink fanfic. Canon-compliant, takes place between BOTW and TOTK

chapter three: She is beautiful, I am a mess

Read chapter two here

My masterlist

Song: Lights are On by Tom Rosenthal

Summary: Link processes his destiny while Zelda slowly recovers. Link meets with an old friend, and realizes how much he wants to Zelda in his life.

Warnings: PTSD, implied self-harm, illness, trauma

Word Count: 3.3k words

Authors note: The last line of this? Scrumptious. I ate that up. Also I’m going to start doing different pieces of art/gifs at the start of each chapter mostly so I can see the differences in the notifications! Thanks for all the support! Everyone has been so kind this is easily the most supportive fan base I’ve ever written for.

Link doesn’t leave her side the entire night, yet again. He sits on a stool pushed against the bed, and watches as she breathes in the sleep. He refuses to sleep, which means he’s gone about four days now with very little actual rest. This normally wouldn’t be a problem, but fighting Ganon on the second day of that no sleep schedule has really taken a toll on his physical health.

In his quiet contemplation as Zelda rested, the weight of what just happened set in. His heart rate rose as he remembered the sight of the Calamity, its spider-like body dripping with malice and disgust as it sneered at him. The stench is still pungent in his memory, his bad ear still beats with the blood that filled his body as he faced his destiny for a second time. He’s supposed to be courageous, unafraid and rarely daunted by his fate, but in reality he’s terrified.

Link doesn’t think he’ll ever forget the feeling in his bones as witnessed by the beast. How he felt paralyzed, how the night before he prayed to the Goddess that he wouldn’t wake up. Make someone else do it, please.

He could never admit this to anyone, and even struggles to admit it to himself. If he’s supposed to be the closest thing to the God of Bravery, why does he feel like such a pathetic coward most of the time? Maybe it was his reckless abandon that caused his status, or the fact that he’s so desensitized to the horrors of his knighthood. But those things do not equate to courage.

What even was courage, he asks himself.

He looks at Zelda. “She is beautiful”, he thinks “I am a mess”.

Link places a nervous thumb to her jaw with trepidation. He gently holds her face, soft enough that it wouldn’t wake her. Her skin is so soft, her eyelashes so gentle, her breathing even. Does she have any idea how beautiful she is when she sleeps?

When day finally breaks, Link realizes how cold it’s gotten in the house, and he takes the brave step of leaving the sleeping princess to build a fire in the hearth. He does so quickly, using a fire arrow. He pulls on a warm shirt, and quickly returns upstairs to Zelda.

She was awake, looking up at him.

“You should keep sleeping.” He whispers.

She groans, “Why did you leave?” She was aware enough to tell?

“I built a fire.” Link explains, "It's cold.”

“Oh.” Zelda whispers, “I am cold.”

Link crosses to his dresser and pulls out a woven blanket from the bottom drawer, draping it over her and the blanket she already had. She whispers thank you. ”Did you dream?” Link asks.

Zelda nods.

“It was me and my mom, we were eating and laughing together.” She describes and Link smiles. He places his hand against her forehead, and feels that she’s burning up. Of course she has a fever, that would cause her body to have the chills, that on top of a cold house wasn’t a good fit.

“How are you feeling?” He asks, vocalizing from a whisper for the first time.

Zelda thinks about it for a moment, she’s so snuggled up in the blankets all he can see is her face. “I’m not sick.” She states. Link is skeptical, but he nods.

“Go back to sleep.”

“Are you going to leave me again?” She asks.

“I might. I think I’ll go into town and get some things from the market, and I should probably send a message to Impa that we’re alive.” Link explains. Zelda frowns.

“I’m scared to be alone again.”

Link frowns, “You’ll be okay. But you need to sleep, your body is trying to recover from-“ He stops himself, he doesn't need to explain any further.

“You need sleep, too.” Zelda replies. She was right.

“I’ll be fine.” He shrugs it off. “But you need to promise me that you’ll be okay if I leave for a few hours, alright?”

Zelda groans, “You’ll come back, right?”

“Of course.”

It’s a few more hours before he leaves, he waits until Zelda falls back asleep, and it’s mid-morning when he finally does. He makes his way into Hateno Village, which is as lively as ever. He first stops in at the general store, buying a few essential items, and telling the store keeper about where he was last.

“You’re telling me you got rid of that thing at Hyrule Castle?” He asks, skeptical. Link just nods and shrugs as he examines a swift carrot. Like it was no big deal. The man laughs behind the counter, “And you lived to tell the tale? I don’t believe it.” He scoffs.

Link sets his items on the table between them, digging out a handful of rupees. “Well, I lived to tell the tale of Naydra last year, you all witnessed that, didn’t you?”

“I suppose… but that thing at the castle is a legend, I never even saw it. Just got told ghost stories of it as a boy.” His voice was gruff.

Link smiles, “whatever you want to believe, you don’t have to believe me.” Link sets to rupees down.

“That’s more than the cost.” The man states.

“Keep it.” Link pushes it towards him before putting his items in his pouch. “Use it to fix your roof, I saw it was leaking.”

The man smiles, “you’re always so good to us, Link. This village owes you.”

“You don’t owe me anything, except maybe your trust. The story will spread and rumors will, too.” Link turns to leave, but stops just outside of the door, speaking over his shoulder. “It wasn’t a ghost either, it was a spider-like thing that hatched out of a cocoon with giant axes and swords.” Link opens his arms up to show the size, “Probably at least the size of three oxen!” The shopkeeper's face goes pale, “But that wasn’t even the hard part!” Link starts to smile mischievously, “Then we took the battle onto Hyrule Field, and he turned into a massive pig. As big as a house, or bigger.”

The owner was dumbfounded, unable to reply at first, but then he shook his head, “You have quite the imagination, Link!” He chuckles and waves him off. Link just grins as he exits the shop.

He makes his way up the mountain to Purah and Symin’s, making a stop at the farm to pet the cows and help the owner with a broken fence post in trade for some milk. It was about noon now, and he wasn’t expecting to take as long to get to the Tech Lab, but the fence was absolutely destroyed. The farmer didn’t know what caused it, but it certainly wasn’t a cow…

The light on the Hateno valley is warm and inviting. It will be the harvest soon. Link had missed his days here. Early on after he woke up, he spent weeks at a time in this little village. Mostly because he was still too poor to afford sleeping anywhere other than his home. It was a safe home base for him when he was freeing the divine beasts. It wasn’t until he had laid his friends' spirits to rest that he became the wild child of the forest he was now. The last year or so he stopped spending more than a few days anywhere, it was the anxiety of the upcoming battle he kept avoiding that caused him to become such a nomad. He learned that it was always free to sleep in trees.

He gets to the lab, and before he can even open the door, Purah is swinging the door open. “Linky! You’re alive!” She cheers, looking up at him.

”I am,” Link replies with a smile, “and Zelda is, too.”

Purah smiles wide, her eyes becoming fiery, “Incredible. Is she okay!” She opens the door for Link, he enters the messy-as-usual lab, setting his sack of goodies down on the table.

“I don’t know…” Link shakes his head, “She’s very tired all the time, and she passed out quite unexpectedly last night.” He sighs. “I’m actually rather worried about her.” He admits. “It took me a long time to wake her up after she passed out, too. Longer than it should have.” Purah walks over to the table before climbing on top of it to Link’s eye-level.

“But she’s alive! And I’m assuming her body has been preserved, no?”

“It has, she doesn’t look a day over seventeen. But her spirit and her mind has changed, she’s tired.”

“Aren’t we all…” Purah shakes her head, “But no one as much as her.” She shrugs, “I would love to run some tests on you two, it might help me figure out my age issue.”

“More tests? I thought you said you were done with me?” Link groans.

“Nope, now that Zelda is here I want to take a sample of her DNA, too, and see if I can reverse-engineer it to cross with my DNA and get me back to my preferred physical age. I’m sick of this.” She gestures to her child-like state.

“When she’s feeling better I’ll ask her. I’m sure she’ll say yes, considering her love of science and all.”

“Alright Linky, what are you here for, I know you didn’t come to just talk, you always need something from me.” She teases.

“Alright Purah… don’t be mad.” He says as he reaches into his pouch to pull out a smashed and destroyed sheikah slate: the same one that got him through his quest.

Purah’s face goes white. “You did not just do that to an ancient piece of indestructible tech.” She reaches for it, taking the device in her hand and cringing.

“Well it wasn’t that indestructible, now was it?” Link asks with an awkward laugh.

“How?” Purah asks, traumatized.

“It happened while I fought Ganon, it kind of… exploded, and then he trampled it as a giant hog in Hyrule field.”

“That is…” She chooses her words carefully, “Epic, Linky.”

“You’re not mad?”

“No! But you’re gonna be when you can warp to sheikah hotspots. You’ll just have to go on foot like the rest of us. Speaking of, did you see what happened to the shrine in the ocean?”

“What?” He obviously didn’t.

“It sunk back into the ground, completely gone! Symin watched it happen! I’m curious about that happening to the other sheikah tech…” She gets lost in thought, and Link realizes that they all might disappear just as fast as they were found. “No one is gonna be more heartbroken about this than the Princess.” Purah finishes her thoughts.

“I’m hiding it from her. She can’t take a heart break in this state.” Link groans, sitting down in one of the chairs by the table. “Purah… I need you to send a message to Impa. I would go myself in person and be back by dinner but I can’t because the slate is gone. I know you sheikah have weird ways of communicating through distance, especially you sisters.” Link sighs.

“Oh she’ll beat you if you don’t go in person. You know how she is.”

“Yes. Which is why I am absolutely sick over this. But I can’t leave Zelda, she’s not okay, and I don’t know how long it’s going to be until she is.” He explains. “Impa can be mad at me all she wants, but she deserves to know that we are both alive and safe, and Ganon is not.”

Purah squints, “Fine. But you owe me.”

“As if saving the world wasn’t enough.” Link scoffs playfully.

“Hey! Don’t get cocky, no one likes a cocky hero. Besides, it’s not like you did it on your first try.” Purah jumps down from the table and Link’s entire body seizes. She freezes in her tracks when she realizes she said that out loud. She slowly turns around to see Link tense and unhappy. “Linky… I’m sorry I didn’t mean-“

He says nothing at first, “Is that what you guys say about me?”

“Link, we've always pushed each other's buttons like that.”

“It’s fine.” He sighs, it wasn’t fine. He signs, “I’m leaving. I don’t need anyone else’s shit.” He always signed when his emotions were at risk of betraying his words. He didn’t want to upset someone with his words. Purah isn’t very good at signs, but she gets the gist.

It was rare to see Link genuinely mad, especially at someone he cared about and knows is good. But that was out of line.

“Link…”

“Will you just tell Impa that we’re okay. Both of us. The calamity is gone and we’ll come visit as soon as we get our strength back.” He grabs his belongings and heads out.

“Wait-“ Purah tries to stop him but he leaves too fast. He takes a deep breath when he gets outside, looking out towards the sea. He walks towards the edge of the cliff, staring out at the horizon, letting the salty sea air blow on his skin. He looks where the shrine that lived in the water once was, and nothing was there but the original mound of island sand it sat on.

Back at home, Zelda is still in bed, and Link frowns when he sees her. He sits on his stool next to her, placing his hand against her forehead again. Her fever hasn’t broken.

“I’m home.” He whispers, and she stirs awake, her green eyes looking up at him. She smiles.

“I had the most wonderful dream.” She sighs. “We were at the beach, you and I, and Impa and Urbosa… and my mother.” Link worries that she dreams about those who have passed, he brushes some of her golden hair out of her face. “We looked at the water and listened to the seagulls. My mother was so beautiful and healthy, not like how she was when I remembered her.”

Zelda was very young when her mother died, and she was quite ill for the years leading up to her passing. Link remembered that, he remembered many of the things Zelda opened up to him about in their final days before The Calamity. “Do you want some water?” Link asks, she nods. He stands up, making his way to the well outside and scooping a bucket of it before coming back in. He finds her sitting up in bed.

“Did you get up all by yourself?” He asks with a smile. She nods, her face still pale and expression lost. She was much worse today. Link scoops some water out with a cup, and hands it to her. She shakily holds it in both hands, bringing the wooden mug up to her lips and sipping lightly. Link sits beside her this time, but he feels petrified.

In the last two days they've already crossed so many boundaries. He feels as though he has to be the stoic Knight from before, never looking at her for too long, not speaking unless spoken to, and especially not touching without explicit permission. That was a whole lifetime ago, however, and he’s barely the same person he was when those were the rules.

But even so, he can’t help but follow those roles that he keeps breaking. He shouldn’t see her in such a state: shirt too loose, eyes droopy, sighs so gentle and alluring it could tame a lynel.

He knows no one is watching them, no one is there to judge them, but he cannot bring himself to hold her hand as she shakes, even though he desperately wants to. Placing his hand on her head to check for temperature and burns in her hair from her face was already a serious breach of protocol, and yet when he did it, he felt so comfortable, so safe. He felt more like himself.

Maybe what’s holding him back is the knowledge that she didn’t lose her memories. To her, he is supposed to be that obedient servant.

He knows they got very close towards the end. Based on the memories he’s recollected, he knows they broke those rules far more than they should have. But it was always by Zelda’s instigation. She wanted him to place his hand on the small of her back as they walked, she asked him to lace up her goddess dress, she initiated the gentle touches and hugs of despair.

Now, he’s terrified of taking advantage of her in her sickly state, but he wants so badly to lie with her. To finally get some rest of his own, in his own bed, holding the girl he worked so tirelessly to rescue.

He wishes he could rest as a reward.

He reminds himself that her presence, safety and life is reward enough.

And goddess, is that a wonderful reward. Her weight sinking down the bed, her intoxicating smell, their shoulders just barely brushing. She was incredible, completing a feat that no one had ever come close to accomplishing, and here she was, in his home, in his bed, wearing his clothes.

Link's stomach flips, and he immediately forces himself to relax. Realizing how immature his though process was. This was a princess, not a girl in the Gerduo Brothel. He was confused.

“What are you thinking about?” She asks him, pulling him out of his rampant thoughts. He snaps back to reality.

“What?” He turns to see her looking up at him with her shiny eyes. “Oh…” He desperately wants to tell her, tell her that he’s thinking of her and only her. For three years he spent sleepless nights staring at the heavens and thinking about her. How he hungrily searched for every memory just to hear her voice, and how he took her diary out of the castle to read every page, even the ones that were scribbled with doodles and blacked-out poetry. He wanted to tell her that he fell for her the moment she told him to open-his-eyes, and when he finally remembered what she looked like, she was even prettier than what he imagined.

“…Horses.” He says, dumbfounded and foolish. She smiles.

“I’ve always admired how you loved them. You were the best rider in all of the guard, I fully believe it’s because of how gentle you were with them. They trusted you, which made them listen to you.”

The way she spoke was so thoughtful, so intelligent. Link catches himself accidentally looking at her lips, but yanks his eyes away.

“W-What were you thinking about?” He asks.

She looks off, swallowing thickly. Zelda then lifts her hand, holding it palm up, staring at it. Nothing happens.

“My gift isn’t working anymore.” She states. “I tried while you were getting the water, and look, nothing.” Zelda explains. Link looks at her hand, not knowing what he’s supposed to see.

Her hand is so soft, her fingers long and slender, her nails clean and rounded to perfection.

Her wrists are littered with old scars.

Link wants to take her hand. She sets it down in her lap, “I suppose that’s alright. I don’t need them anymore.”

“What was it like?” Link asks. “In that castle.” Zelda shudders. “You don’t have to say.” Link states.

Zelda carefully constructs her words, “Cold. All the time I was cold. I wasn’t conscious usually, but I wasn’t… unconscious either. I know it makes no sense. I was in a sort of trance. Time seemed to move at a rapid pace while also simultaneously standing still.” She looks at him, rotating her body to face him, he mirrors her.

“Did he ever… say anything?” Link asked.

Zelda nodded, “In the beginning he would whisper constantly, but it was an ancient language I didn’t understand. The longer time went on, the more tired he got, but the wiser I became. He spoke less, and I was able to pick up on certain words and phrases. He didn’t expect me to last as long as I did, that’s for certain.”

Link listens intently, “How did you do it, last so long?” He asks.

Zelda’s big, green eyes meet his. She takes his hand with hers.

“Because I knew one day you would wake up.”

—

Read Chapter four here

[wangxianficrecs]

Follower Recs

~*~

hello there, im finally able to send my summer recs!!

One of my favorite fics in the mdzs fandom, and my favorite work in progress at the moment, missing only four chapters until it's concluded, and has weekly updates. It's a masterpiece, from the writing style, characterization, worldbuilding and plot. The author makes it seem like something that could have been written by mxtx herself, while giving their own skills the recognition it deserves.

At the beginning of the story we get to see Wei Wuxian's life, position and responsibilities in the Jiang Sect not only in the complicated and emotionally charged Jiang main family, but also showing how he interacts with the others members of the sect, how he is a good Head Disciple who is good at his job. How he interacted with the Lan and Nie delegations is a delight, not only because his interactions with Lan Wangji are the cutest, but because it also shows how political aware and competent he is, even if not a mastermind of a politics.

Everything is so masterfully done that it could easily be the path that the characters lives could have taken in canon, with how the characterization is faithfully done. The canon material is explored to the most subtle of details, and we can see the characters, the sects, cultivation and their society growing into their flaws and virtues with all the self-indulgence of fanfic and all the character of canon. - Anon

Dispersing Clouds

by dreamingofcake

E, WIP, 195k, Wangxian

Summary: While the Wen Clan is embroiled in subduing internal conflicts within Qishan, the Jiang Clan hosts the annual discussion conference. It has been one year since the disastrous archery competition where Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji last met but Wei Wuxian remains as optimistic as ever. An unlikely friendship begins to blossom and without the looming spectres of conquest and war to strengthen his ties to the Jiang family, the trajectory of Wei Wuxian’s life changes.

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[missingooster]

IF WE WERE VILLAINS: scaramouche smau

gn reader

summary:

teyvat university is an elite conservatory. as an actor in the theatre department, you and your talented classmates play the same roles onstage and off. but in your fourth and final year, good natured rivalries turn ugly.

[REDACTED] is dead. supposedly, it was an accident, but is it really the case?

an : yeah this smau is inspired by hit book iwwv so what. obviously most things will be different (like how rhis smau doesnt take place in fucking 1990). also Warning ive written fanfics but have never done an smau so if i fuck up Ermmmm.... Not my fault

genre n warnings : murder mystery-ish? there might not be a happy ending. alcohol consumption and smoking anddd minor character death. not scaramouche tho

taglist: not sure if anyone wld want tags lol this is kind of a self indulgent thing im writing 4 myself. if u wanna be tagged tho u can comment

"in the beginning, no one had any idea what we were up against."

ENTER THE PLAYERS:

y/n and friends | scaramouche and friends

ACT ONE:

01: new year

02: cast list

03: envy

04: y/n absolutely fucking sells rehearsal

05: off-book rehearsal

06: the fair lady

07: brutus

ACT TWO:

N/A

ACT THREE:

N/A

[elias-rights]

any fic recs? 🙏

A few! I'm not sure what you're looking for, so I put in a bit of everything. Most of them are fairly old because I haven't been keeping up with the fanfic scene.

-> Jonah-centric Gen Fics

all praise! he's found the awful truth! by foreverthyme — A character study of a young Jonah's development into an avatar. It is a must-read for me. 9K.

Identities of Silence by theatredelabsurde — An exploration of Jonah's character and his relationship with Jonathan Fanshawe as an existentialist tragedy set after his first bodyhop (with flashbacks). Read it for a fantastic grasp on his character and a really interesting take on the themes of the podcast. While you're at it check out everything else the author has written. 35K.

Cathexis by Alias — If you're interested in the topic of Jonah and free will, you need to read this. Short but juicy, and delightfully immersive by way of the (as the tags put it) Period-Appropriate Sentence Structure. 2K.

-> Jonelias

a heavenly madness by roundthedecay — I will never get tired of recommending this fic. It is a perfect, self-contained story about Jon falling in love with the historical Jonah, all under the guidance of Elias. 8K.

man without the eyes that gave us the moon by murph_y — Jon meets Elias in his dreams during the apocalypse. Featuring: Elias's excellent ability to make the other party in a conversation seem like they're the unreasonable one. One WORLD'S SHITTIEST BOSS mug. And not nearly as many laughs as the previous point would imply. 2K.

You can't outrun your Occupation, Jonah by blue_blue_electricblue — A short Jonah character study that features a sort of might-as-well pragmatism that I very rarely get to see in fics and that rings extremely true to his character. 2K.

looking back at the thing that looks back by axisasymptotic — Elias puts a cassette inside Jon by means of DIY surgery. Body horror and extremely in-character snippy back-and-forth. 2K.

A Little Game of Cat and Mouse by Paptato — A borderline-romcom setup: Jon travels back in time to kill a young Jonah before he can cause any trouble, but the Web seemingly has no intention of letting that happen. 75K, unfinished.

-> Miscellaneous Jonah Pairings

The unironic ironic elias/reader series by blue_blue_electricblue — It's a very self-indulgent read for me that features scenarios ranging between a hanahaki AU and Elias helping the reader schedule their day. Each work is standalone and usually around 2K.

-> Non-Jonah-centric

a poison that never stung by a-m — A Melanie-centric canon divergence AU where she becomes a full Slaughter avatar. It is very good at being less lenient than most of the fandom towards her without falling into character bashing—it feels fair to her, in both ways. Also features Jon as a scapegoat. 8K.

Let me know if you need something else to scratch the itch—I have my history to look through, and I've also been meaning to read some fics I marked for later, so I could probably pull together a list twice as long given a couple of free days.

[femme-enby]

Do not attack me, but I have a fanfic update-

So, after waking up after a shift & having another one tonight, I realized a few things…

1) I really miss my seasonal haunt job

2) I really miss spooky season

3) since I’ve never before in my life written a fanfic, or any type of writing that included conversation aside from quotes in essays, I might be better off writing possibly the most self-indulgent BS ever as practice (NOT instead of!!!)

Plus it would give any feral readers some advice, as much like myself, some of y’all are probably decent at analyzing other’s writing. Even if you’re not tho or don’t think you are, when I finally (probably within the week) start posting chapters, I welcome all advice! Just… please, remember I’ve NEVER done this before, so it’s probably gonna be a little bit all over the place and kinda rough.

Sooo…

I’ve kinda already started…?

Summary- you want a seasonal job, (subject to change, considering Fazbear DID try to make a whole haunt attraction with no indication that THAT was seasonal… or maybe I will simply ignore the fact that time is a thing that passes. Who knows.) so after moving you apply at the local haunt. Shenanigans, shitty customers, some animatronics are there, notably two jesters. What could go wrong? (Probably not much, this is for me to indulge & my indulgences are very relaxed)

Similar to the last offering- we will be wooing the jesters, some friends to lovers perchance (we completely ignore the general advice to never date a fellow haunt actor, which exists bc at heart even if not in reality almost all haunt actors are theater kids and that leads to drama) aaaand idk.

I just wanna be a haunt actor rn instead of my typical job, and I DESPERATELY need practice before I dive into a more proper, structured fanfic.

This is gonna be cringe. It’s gonna be goofy. It’s gonna be wordy bc I need practice on… NOT, being INCREDIBLY over explanatory. It’s not that I think my readers are dumb, it’s that I got that tism in me and I over analyze and over explain EVERYTHING.

But!!! If you’ve ever been curious about how being a haunt actor works, what it’s like, etc. then you’ll know how it works (at least from my experience) intimately well.

That being said…

I’ll be doing some research on other haunts for more location ideas, bc while Sun & Moon are pretty easy (EVERYWHERE has clowns. Can’t have a haunt without clowns) the others might give me some trouble… but I also REALLY want to include them, not just bc they’re awesome but also bc it would be good practice for my other fanfic, so I can get a general idea on how I want to write them…

I know my haunt had a more “country” attraction, and Monty’s backstory seemed to portray him as more of a rural gator… but idk. Maybe the difference from his attraction vs his true/current personality is workable tho.

My haunt also had a… food focused, of sorts… attraction, where ofc it would be easy to put Chica…

But WTF do I do with Roxy? Or Freddy???

That will be a problem for another day.

[cyberpunk-20xx]

Kerry's situation is a very painful reminder of how fucked up the game's canon society is, even to the rich people. Which is maybe my biggest gripe with the game. A game where I'm not given even the slightlest chance to change shit around me, a game that's just so pessimistic and cruel in how it treats its characters, so hopeless, is not punk. but that's smth else entirely to talk about.

Back to Kerry. He's less suicidal at the end of the game when V reached out and helped some to sooth his trauma about Johnny, even if one could argue it's maybe just, well, putting him back where he started or indulging a toxic fixation. Depends on your interpretation. But his situation hasn't actually changed, he's still held by his label in a death grip, even if at least his current manager's supposedly out of the picture. But even that i don't believe. All we know for sure is that we burned his yatch. Like. Kerry tells us that his MSM Record manager (can't remember his name and be bothered to check) makes him drink on purpose to get him to sign shit, which is blatant abuse and all we get to do is fucking burn a boat? Let me make the dude a corpse, even if you make me have to work for it jfc.

I really love when fanfic writers actually address that issue btw, because it really hurts me to think about him being left in this bullshit. And in so many endings we know his situation is less than ideal even with V.

Kerry's profound unhappiness is visible in many ways: the state of his house, his insinuated addictions, his impulsive, self-destructive behaviors, his tendency to lash out and paranoia to assume people are against him, and overall defensiveness, his fear of the unknown, his clinging to fame, his refusal to see his kids, his mentioned and hinted suicide attempts. He's a guy who, at 89, doesn't seem to me like he knows what he wants, what he needs.

Personally, it both hurts me and makes me really like him, because I find him relatable in how he reacts to despair. In that aspect, I find him very well-written, even if a lot of shitty tropes and pop star stereotypes are used. Yes, pop stars one.

(One other thing that's devastating about Kerry is that he's a rocker, but he doesn't act like one, according to his own definition (which seems to really just be Johnny's shitty macho definition altho it's a whole label that precedes both of them in the TTRPG lore). Which wouldn't be a problem to me if he also didn't find the genre inferior to rock.)

But what fucks me up the most is that he's dealing with despair at all, when out of the four LIs, he's the one that has the safest, most stable life. Hell, he could even easily leave Night City and never look back, and still create, he's got the money for it, it might sound terribly materialistic of me but the man has enough money to just no longer be dealing with all this shit. But he's stuck there because even at nearly fucking nine decades of life, he's not yet felt seen, heard, or acknowledged. He's still scrambling for his roots and something to look forward at once.

Kerry is 89 and has the self-esteem of a 23 years old still.

If I just listen to my basest instincts, I blame Johnny for a lot of that, but that's the easy way, actually. If I actually think about it, Kerry's responsible of his own life too, and Johnny got nothing to do with how he feels out of touch with his Filipino roots, or him being a burnt out rockstar, Johnny is not that powerful at all, and mostly I blame Arasaka and the corps, and i blame the music industry in the game especially actually, i blame the media and the fans for how Kerry bit by bit stops feeling human in the spotlight, but the thing is, it's harder to be angry at those, even in game. Because we're not actually given meaningful ways to do something about inequality in game, and when you're unable to fight something, your brain becomes apathetic to it. It's just a survival thing. my brain does that a lot. i prize my anger a lot because of that (probably why i am so attached to Johnny tbh).

I think Kerry craves to be seen as the man he is, but his ways to try and fix that is to feed the demigod image his career upholds. I'm mad we can't do something about it, nor see the change he deserves happen. I'm mad a game with "punk" in its name is so hopeless and cynical.

[99corentine]

Corentiiiine!

First of all I want to say that I love love love Gol Hah Dov! Definitely one of my absolute favourite fanfics of all time. I'm on my 5th or so reread at the moment and love it just as much as when I first ready it. The way you write the relationship between Miraak and Chrysanthe scratches that fated-enemies-to-lovers itch perfectly.

I loved GHD so much that it has inspired me to start writing my own Miraak/LDB fanfic, I have read most of fics available but want more! I have been planning it for ages (an embarrassing amount of time and many, many notebooks in fact) but have just started writing it out officially. The first chapter is very nearly done, and I have plotted up to the final act, but I just wanted to ask how you found the writing process and managed to keep motivated? I haven't evenn published it yet, but I'm already worried that it won't hold up to the other fics out there, especially one as amazing as GHD. I also fear I have bitten off quite a lot with the amount I want to write, and keeping momentum may be difficult.

Thank you again for sharing Gol Hah Dov with us! I look forward to reading Tooth for a Tooth, Tavstarion is another favourite ship of mine and if it's anything like your other fics I'm sure to love it!

Hello, and thank you so much for such wonderful words! I too have been re-reading GHD as I'm proofreading it one last time at the moment, and it's been interesting to see how my writing style and preferences have changed over the course of the story. I'm very proud of how it turned out, and endlessly bowled over by how many people have come forward to tell me they liked it. My dumb self-indulgent story about a 2011 game! It's crazy that it's had so much attention.

You can never over-plan for a story, so having a number of notebooks worth of planning is a great start! I would say you'll want to write the first few chapters before publishing it, just to assure yourself that you're going to keep writing - I have written loads of stuff I was sure would turn into an epic longfic and I never made it past chapter one or two, sometimes it's just like that. When you're confident you'll keep going, publishing it will then motivate you to do more.

I've covered a little of my writing process in this guide I knocked together (which you may have already seen). I'd say specifically for writing motivation, these three things work for me:

Absolutely DO NOT discuss the plot or story arcs in great detail with anyone, as mentioned in my guide this will demotivate you to actually create a finished piece of writing. Holding onto that cool plot thing you want to show to the world and what people's reactions to it might be will fuel you to Write The Thing

Sometimes it's hard to get stuff down on paper, and when that happens eventually I just brute force it: sit down, no distractions, no phone, and force myself to write something, anything, even if it's garbage. I kind of hold myself hostage sometimes, e.g. I'm not allowed to watch this TV show/play this game/do this other project until I've worked on this one

It's helpful to break writing down into smaller chunks. You mentioned you've bit off a lot, can you break it down into story arcs or segments? If you do you'll be writing not to the end (a distant and unattainable-feeling finish line), but just to the end of the next story arc, which is less daunting.

As for quality, I wouldn't worry about that because you'll improve over the course of your story. I loved the events in the early chapters of GHD (scary Miraak is my favourite Miraak) but I think the writing of the later chapters is much, much technically better, because writing so much made me improve. We're also our own worst critics, of course! So your writing is likely better than you think, and it can only grow.

Best of luck to you with it! A longfic is no easy endeavour (and Tooth for a Tooth is probably going to be enormous too...) and it takes a lot of patience and perseverence, but I believe in you!

[shi-daisy]

Surprise self-rec time! Pick 3 of your favorite things you’ve written and share them here, then put this in the inbox (anonymously or not) of your fellow writers to spread the positivity and help celebrate already written fics

(First of all, TUMBLR STRIKES AGAIN I HAVE NO IDEA WHY IT UNFOLLOWED YOU WHAT IS HAPPENING)

(Second of all, little side quest from me, tell me what inspired your fics, why you love them so much, how they came to be, etc etc, I wanna know ALL!!)

Absjkwk Tumblr is crazy don't worry about it this happens all the time. Okay time to gush!

I'll start with the oldest fic since I got a comment on it today and I was like 'oh right, I wrote you in 2018!'

Road to Redemption (Bleach)- This was spite concentrated basically. Bleach was my favorite anime until the abysmal final arc and the atrocious ending we got. So this was me rewriting it with every single thing I wanted and never got, getting all my pairs together and most importantly giving my favorite characters the endings I feel they deserved. It's been 8 years since the story's end and four since this fic was finished and while I still hate what went down in canon I am happy to have given my faves some peace in fanfic world. That's enough for me to take a break from this Fandom though I have two more sequels with the cast since I've loved them from 2010 onwards and that's probably gonna stick with me into old age. I just want them all to be happy.

Road to Ruin (Bleach)- Same as Road to Redemption but for the villians. Bleach has some of the best and most sympathetic villians you'll find. But the writer doesn't do much with them, so I said it f it and gave them all time to shine. You know how I love Tamlin? Well the same goes for Sosuke Aizen. That man owns my soul and if his writer won't hype him up then I shall. This is my favorite fic in terms of writing because is pure self indulgence and I adore the protagonist. I miss writing it so so much!

Five Missed Calls (Disventure Camp) - Not much to say here, it was mostly feels and headcanons that fueled this fic and for once the gods answer my prayers we might get a spinoff with the couple in question but back when I wrote it I was just angst ridden and needed some content to comfort me. Loads of people liked it tho, so I'm happy the sadness fueled headcanons were enjoyable.

A Court of Threads & Daisies (A Court of Thorns & Roses)- IF SJM WONT GIVE TAMLIN A HAPPY END ILL DO IT MYSELF ALSO FUCK YOU RHYSAND GO DIE IN A FIRE! Okay I'm calm now.

This was just meant to be fluff. It spiraled into more because this darn universe is so fun to play with and I really wanted everyone to find joy. (Not just Tamlin) So like with the Bleach fics I said 'Fuck it! Self indulgent rewrite it is!' It's been so fun to write this fic, the characters that became my favorites very quickly (Nemesis & Lazarus Ily ♥) the fluff, the headcanons, getting everyone to have their proper arcs and mostly spreading joy it's been a delight. More than the fic itself I love the people I've met and befriended because of it. As I hadn't thought of Acotar since 2017 but now it's rotting my mind again 😂 Most of all you and your support made this a delight for me to write and while I love the fic and will forever be glad I made it, what I love most about it it's that got me to meet you. Love you buddy!

A Court of Emerald & Sapphire (A Court of Thrones & Roses)- Like Road to Ruin it's a self indulgent prequel to the main fic that you can skip if you don't want the extra info but man do I love it. I'm thinking of editing and rewriting it to have more chapters because these ocs of mine have stolen my heart. They're baby and it's so much fun to plan a revolution with them against Rhysand. I wrote it as just extra info but it was a delight to make and I love my ocs so much. (Also my proud ass is thriving as the only Keir/Oc Acotar fic. That man is mine and mine alone 😈)

The Running Free (Danganronpa: Despair Time) - For as much as I love Danganronpa I don't often write for it as it's one of the rare fandoms where I don't take issue with the writing at all. This is just a one-shot with my crackship for this Fandom but it was fun to write and I love how despite it being super niche people seemed to enjoy it. Probably will be rendered null by canon if either of the characters involved is guilty when Chapter 2 concludes but hey, I have a sequel planned if that's the case 😉

A Court of Blaze & Sorrow (A Court of Thorns & Roses).- Acotad was meant to be 10 chapters of fluff and calling the IC out at the end...Why does it have two sequels?!?!? Anywho, the short story, I wanted to include Autumn in acotad but it was Tamlin's story so I gave Nesta and the Autumn Court their own fic. The long story, this fic is therpahy. Many things delved in it are there not just because I want to do the themes and characters justice but because they help me heal. Particularly addressing a though relationship with an abusive parent or a neglectful parent. In my case, mine's dead but even if it's been two years the struggles haven't fully left me and it's been therapeutic to handle that while tackling these characters who also have one parent who loves them yet (unwittingly) neglected them and one parent who limited their self expression, was physically and emotionally abusive, and in some cases even ignored the mental illnesses he himself exacerbated. It's not over yet but I feel really comforted by it and confident that I'll make everyone proud by the end.

The Jeweled Dragon (A Song of Ice & Fire)- Look you give me a rebellious princess that escapes and disowns her abusive family and becomes a badass sex worker plus she also never married had a bisexual polycule and refused the throne/ spat on the legacy of the fucker who abused her and I am yours baby! Saera Targaryen you are mother! Okay jokes aside her story fascinates me and while I love GRRM's attention to detail and meticulous planning I'm sad he didn't tell us more of what happened to her. So this is just my take on it. Also I loved some other characters here that deserved some love and more than to be a footnote in Westerosi history. They'll get their just desserts too but Saera is my star and I'm forever salty at HOTD for daring to sully her name. (Season 2 sucks and on behalf of Team Green I'm making a sequel and rescuing the babies from the TV writers!)

Heart to Heart (Disventure Camp)- It was gonna be a spite fueled one-shot. Then the season got so bad I had to rewrite (common theme here) also FUCK YOU CONNOR BLAKE, AND FUCK WHOEVER DECIDED TO BREAK UP THE BEST DUO OF THE SEASON ALEC AND RIYA ARE PEAK! End scream.

I don't wanna spoil much since you told me you want to get into this Fandom soon but I'll just say it's been such a delight to write this and to meet like minded people who wanted better for these characters and to give them better ends. (Also making my fave ship canon and running laps around the writers in the official show server has given me a fucking ego) It's so much fun to write. I love making angst romance and I am exicted to give my villianess girlie a befitting end.

Bonus:

Transformers fic (Transformers) with @maplesamurai - What's better than writing? Writing with your beloved bf!

Now this was just us being silly and coming up with goofy ocs but given the flexibility of the Transformers Fandom we chose to make our own story and it's been a blast, it's still a bunch of drafts but I am exited for it to be done and to share it with everyone because it has so much effort and love put into it that I am certain it will be beloved. Decepticon centric fic lets go we will give our badies their day in the sun! Also Maple is a freaking genius and a delight to write with, love you babe this has been so much fun!

Those are all the fics so far so I hope this has made you as giddy as me. Love ya bud!

[halfratsalready]

Help me figure out what fic to write next! ✨

I feel like I’m in a weird limbo after finishing the first arc of the Lose Yourself series and I have a few ideas floating around in my head for what to write next (after the Wanderrose fic exchange, at least), but I have no clue which one to focus on.

So if you happen to like my silly little stories and want a say in what my next fic is, I’ve got some ideas and a poll below the cut! 💕

Idea I: Dark & Angsty Murder Mystery 🔪

I've discussed this one on here before so it might sound slightly familiar, but this would basically be Angst: The Fanfic. If you thought any of the Lose Yourself series was angsty, this fic is probably 10x worse. Part of me worries it's a little bit too dark to be a Just Dance fic. Multiple murders (though not described in detail), an intense attempted murder (that is described in relative detail), and some of that patented Night Swan mind control, plus some supernatural elements later on. But also a sizeable portion of it is Brezziana and Disocball playing detective and trying to solve a rash of murders, which should be very fun, in a weird and kinda dark sorta way.

Wanderrose ft. best friends Jack & Brezziana. Also featuring Discoball, Sara, Mihaly, Mothigan, Cygnus, Felicia, Boss Witch, Si'Ha Nova, and Agent D

I have the first chapter and a half written of this one already. It would be 9 chapters total.

Idea II: Angsty Jack-Centric Post-JD24 Fic 🥀

This is an idea I've had for a while but haven't really gotten around to properly outlining. This is based on my theory of sorts that Night Swan exploited the wrong weakness when targeting Jack in Dance With the Swan, where she realizes after the events of JD24 that she hadn't done it right and approaches it from a different angle. Basically just a lot of Jack-centric angst, a lot of Night Swan & Jack interactions, and a world where Treasure Jack may or may not actually become more than just an illusion...

A lot of Night Swan & Jack but definitely featuring at least some Wanderrose. Also featuring the Just Dancers, Si'Ha Nova, and the Traveler, and maybe some others.

I haven't even outlined this one yet, so I have no idea how long it would be.

Idea III: Significantly Less Angsty & More Random Self-Indulgent AU (Actually a "Silly Little" Fic This Time, For the Most Part, at Least) ✨

I've been toying with the idea lately of an AU where Leda and Sara were sisters on earth and Sara has been searching for her sister. I think it would be fun to do some intentional canon divergence (and not just have my fics' canon be derailed by a new event). There's a few directions I've considered taking this in, including Jack ending up on earth (there's like two or three ways for that one to happen and like two or three directions I could take it in) or Sara's adventures in the Danceverses just going really differently.

Still a lot I'm not sure about with this one but it's been bouncing around my head since Night Swan: The Prequel dropped, so here we are. Definitely would have Wanderrose cuz they own my heart.

The Poll

I have no idea which idea I really wanna commit to following through on first. Every time I think I'm leaning towards one, I end up leaning towards another. So I'm throwing these out there in the hopes that a few of you will be able to help me out with your opinion!

If you wanna share your thoughts in the comments or reblogs also, I’d love to hear what you have to say, so I don’t have to wait the whole week for the poll to finish to be able to see which idea(s) is/are getting the most interest!

[jasmine-tea-latte]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Spread the self-love 💜

Thank you so much, love! ❤️❤️❤️

While I love my bigger, ongoing fics ("delicate" and TYCSTD), I'm veering into a slightly different approach.

Besides my more well-known fics, these five will always have a place in my heart.

Of Halos, Waves, and Starlight – The very first fic that I wrote, the one that kicked all of this off! This one is my baby, the one that I wrote based on a fleeting idea and a want to see a ZK fic with them dancing and falling in love. It was June 2020, shortly after that year’s Zutara Week prompts had been released and the pandemic shut down everything, and I had a lot more free time on my hands. So I thought, why not? Let’s write a fanfic for the hell of it! Then once I finished Halos, I decided to write something for all seven prompts… and the rest is history!

The Fortuneteller and the Fire Prince – This one was born from a tumblr post, when I thought “that sounds like a fun fic idea – I’d want to read that!” before deciding, “actually, I want to write that.” This is my third most-liked fic, and it’s one that I go back to from time to time. I just love the idea of S1 Zuko discovering that a certain waterbending peasant might just be the love of his life. This was so fun to write ❤️

this pain won’t be for evermore – This little two-parter was another fic that was a lot of fun to write. I have a fondness for Pining!Zuko and this one has a whole forest full of our fiery boi pining away. Katara’s POV in the second chapter was also a pleasant surprise, as I initially hadn’t planned to add on to it. I followed this fic up with another entry for ZK Drabble December 2020, though this one will always be one of my favorites.

You are the Ocean (and I'm Good at Drowning) – This is one of my more purple-prose-ish (purply prose? purplish prose?) fics, and I make zero apologies for how indulgent it is, even if it probably defies the law of physics on some level. This fic is straight-up fluff and steam, and I have such a soft spot for this little story.

little rays of starlight – One of these days I will go back to working on the parent fic that inspired this one, but it is not this day. In the meantime, this was a sweet little break from everything else, set in The Phoenix and the Dragon universe and chronicling ZK’s first trip to the South Pole after becoming parents, hoping to show their daughter the southern lights. I love doting, fussy mother hen Zuzu worrying about their bebe while his loving wife looks on, grinning at her dork of a husband. There are lots of continuity nods and a few references that tie this to the parent fic, though it can be read as a standalone.

A runner-up would be Happy Birthday, Father Lord, also set in the same AU as “little rays of starlight.” This one was written as a coping mechanism during a particularly stressful time, and I needed a dose of major fluff to cheer me up. Yes, back when I first came up with this universe I gave ZK a whopping SEVEN steambabies. Yes, I got carried away and no, nowadays they’d have a fraction of that at most. But still, this one was a lot of fun and best of all, there’s a lot of love.

I tag you – yes you! Don’t make me go into your inbox 😉

[mrv3000]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @starrybouquet

1. how many works do you have on Ao3? 58

2. what's your total Ao3 word count? 187,625

3. what fandoms do you write for? Arrested Development, Doctor Who, Good Omens, Iron Man, Sherlock, Star Wars, Stargate SG-1 (fics not on AO3: Alias, Gilmore Girls, Labyrinth, The 10th Kingdom)

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

Cautiously Un-Pessimistic (Star Wars)

Dear Force (Star Wars)

Your Jedi is in Another Castle (Star Wars)

Jedi Ex Machina (Star Wars)

The Jedi is a Lie (Star Wars)

All of these are recent fics, probably because a lot of my stuff is older and was mainly written on other sites (LiveJournal, email lists, and even my own website), and when I moved them to AO3 I backdated them. Of course Star Wars is a BIG fandom so they still might have had the most kudos.

5. do you respond to comments? I try!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably the 200 word fic Finally (Star Wars) where Vader's having a hot girl summer thinking about torturing Obi-Wan.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Most everything I write is light and fluffy, but maybe Inertia (Doctor Who) because it was an actual fix-it fic. The Doomsday episode of Doctor Who aired, I had a breakdown... bon appetit.

8. Do you get hate on fics? A very mild comment here or there, but I write fairly mild fic.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Revelation: I've done a few anonymous prompt fills on kink memes in the past. But I don't have anything on AO3.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I wrote a crossover between The 10th Kingdom and Labyrinth a billion years ago. But generally I don't.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I have vague memories of Duck Soup (SG-1) being stolen, which was spotted by people almost immediately because there aren't many stories out there that revolve around a farting duck. 🦆

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! It's nifty!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yup! With @go-ldy and @shinyopals and also josephides on LiveJournal!

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Um...probably Doctor/Rose, although I'm not much into it these days. They gave me serotonin for years.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Uh.

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I'm fairly good at parroting characters' speaking patterns. It goes a long way if the dialog sounds like something the characters would say.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Plot. I'd love to be able to churn out a 100k fic.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Two languages in one head? No one can live at that speed!

19. First fandom you wrote for? My very first was The 10th Kingdom, where I wrote 2 whole fics that were posted on an email list. I think I've still got them somewhere, although they're not on AO3.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? Right now it's Dear Force (Star Wars) because its completely self-indulgent and exactly my sense of humor.

Tagging people who I've spotted on my dash with fic in the recent past so I know they actually write fanfic. I KNOW I'm forgetting people. I'm sorry!! If you want to do it, go for it!

@gabolange @nandamai @elismor @dettiot @wonderlandleighleigh @shinyopals @oodlyenough @go-ldy @abadplanwellexecuted @noblealice @geneeste @satans-poptarts @complementaryhalves @afhyer

[super-paper]

what context did bnha mean by "fantasy becomes reality?" how is it used in the story

Hmm?  This question is kinda broad, so I'm not really sure how to go about answering it, but.............

I do talk a bit about how MVA plays with the idea of fantasy vs reality + how the league all noticeably use "masks/villain identities" and "fantasy" as a coping mechanism in this post, and I talk a whole lot about how MHA itself plays w/ these concepts in this post.

Other than that-- There are like, three or four BIG lines in the first chapter that firmly establish what the core ideas of the series are, and the "fantasy became reality" line is one of them:

“Fantasy Became Reality!” <- The "establishing line" of the series. Izuku uses this line to establish what sort of world they live in (a world that has become "just like a comic book"), and he later repeats this line when All Might becomes the first person to validate his "fantasy" about becoming a hero while offering to make that fantasy into a reality. It sets the tone for the type of series MHA is. AFO later repeats this line during Izuku's OFAFO dream, where he witnesses AFO forcing a quirk/"role" on Yoichi-- The entire scene depicts AFO acting as a dark echo to both Izuku and chapter one of the series, taking the idea of "fantasy becoming reality" it to its darkest possible conclusion and showing us how people ACTUALLY reacted to this concept. This is the chapter that cements why AFO is the main villain of mha, with AFO using MHA's establishing line to instead ask the readers: If reality is now fantasy, and a fantasy is something that's written.... then who gets to be the author of that story? :) (he then proceeded to write the worst, most self indulgent Captain Hero x Demon Lord self-insert fanfic the world has ever seen. boo this man.)

"You looked like you needed saving." <- The heart of the series.

“You CAN become a hero.” <- The point of the series.

And I'll throw the opening line in as a bonus:   4. “People are not born equal—that's the hard lesson I learned at age four. But that was my first and last set back.” (<- i'm including this one bc so many people cite the first part of this line as evidence that the series is about how “life isn’t fair + some people are just dealt a bad hand and there's nothing you can do about it + you can’t save everyone, actually”..... while completely omitting the second part, which establishes that the first part of the line is just that: a setback that can be overcome, not an ironclad rule that chains people in one place. Like sorry, but MHA is all about PLUS ULTRA + GO BEYOND + BELIEVE IN THE U THAT BELIEVES IN URSELF + ETC. It is NOT a fatalistic, nihilistic, pessimistic series. )

Back on topic!

There is smthing wrong with him ❤ (part 538 of ???)

MHA's relationship with fiction as a concept or w/e is baked into the story on practically every level-- it's both a love letter to and a deconstruction of the art of telling stories, of comic books, and of the conventional expectations people have of "fiction" and "hero/villain" stories. MHA understands the value of fantasy in saving/inspiring others while also exploring what drives people to use fantasy as an escape from reality. Understanding how MHA plays with these ideas is fairly integral to understanding what's going on with Tomura/AFO.

Like, there's really no way to summarize it briefly, but here are some of the other ways MHA utilizes these concepts:

The idea of "Heroes" and "Villains" being exaggerated alter egos or "roles" that might not be a 1:1 reflection of who that person truly is. Tomura, Endeavor, All Might, and AFO are all big examples of this.

The concept of defying fate (i.e. the narrative/author) and breaking free from the villain/hero/mentor archetypes also plays heavily into Tomura, Izuku, and Toshinori's respective arcs. "The mentor dies once he completes his role so his protege can take up his mantle" isn't anything unique, ya'll-- it's a classic and wildly popular trope. Toshi's arc is about breaking free from the constraints of "the mentor role" and expectations of that particular narrative, and shaping his own fate while wrenching his story away from a particularly malicious author (i.e. AFO). side note: AFO getting curb-stomped by a "character" he helped create and having them basically call his writing shit right to his face will never not be funny btw-- let's go three for three, Tomura.......!!!!!!!!!

Izuku is trying to break free from the narrative of "the hero killing the villain at the end of the story" and outright rejects AFO's idea of a "happy ending" (that is, an ending where Tomura disappears and AFO gets to keep wearing his skin as a cool villain costume).

Meanwhile, Tomura is trying to force the whole story to perma end 😬. Which is like, fair enough, bc he's the character who has been hurt by "fantasy" more than anyone else and he's completely over it at this point-- but destroying that fantasy means losing himself in the fantasy of being "Shigaraki Tomura", which implies that he is going to destroy himself in the process of tearing the story apart. Not a good thing. Treat him gently, Izuku.

Also, here are some choice panels/excerpts that I feel emphasize MHA's relationship with fantasy and the above bulletpoints:

the absolute state of the mha fandom lmfaoooooo

iirc the anime also has a neat scene where they include a sort of "television suddenly being turned off" effect to emphasize when AFO completely takes over Tomura's body during the PLW-- you can see part of it in this video, around the 8:36 mark. I gotta give Bones credit where it's due-- it's a really fuckin' cool way of emphasizing what exactly AFO is doing to Tomura + how AFO is treating Tomura as more of a fictional construct than an actual person:

Tomura: sensei you don't get to be a voice in my head you lost to all might like a punk bitch and I'M gonna be the one to surpass YOU 😤

AFO:

tbf if i had the power to permanently mute the mouthy little teenager who keeps bringing up my Ex and our embarrassing break up, I would also abuse tf outta it. That and the boyish appreciation for eldritch body horror is where I draw the line at relating to AFO, tho.

----- Anyway!

MHA's premise basically asks: “wow, what if fantasy suddenly became reality? what if we started treating reality like it's a comic book? what if.... we started treating actual people like they were comic book characters? what if we implemented a system of justice that's ripped straight from the pages of a comic book WHILE treating actual people like they're comic characters?? :D wouldn't that be wild ha ha”-- and after that question has been popped in the most deceptively flippant way possible, Hori spends the rest of the story holding his readers in place with a white-knuckled grip while fixing them with an unblinking stare as the entire concept just gets more and more (VERY INTENTIONALLY) uncomfortable lmfao.

At any rate, sorry if this doesn't answer much-- but like I said, the topic is a broad one bc the way MHA plays with the concept of fiction/fantasy is baked so deeply into every aspect of its narrative that like....... it's impossible for someone like me to summarize it succinctly. It's just one of the foundational aspects of the story!👍

[velvetwastaken]

Afterdeath - A Ganqing Fanfic

Author’s Debrief

First off, I feel sooooo pretentious writing this, LOL. But I figure people who don’t care won’t read it, and if they do care, I can only hope they’ll find it mildly interesting.

And so, without further ado, let’s take a peak behind the curtain of this fic!

I first started writing this all the way back in May of 2022. And in the beginning it was very much a way for me to express my own feelings of grief. If Ganyu’s pain in the early chapters felt real, it’s because it is. It’s how I felt, how I sometimes still feel, and how I observed others around me feeling and behaving. The difference is that in Afterdeath, Ganyu gets to do what we in reality cannot. She got to right the wrong in a sense, she got to quench the burning feelings of injustice that so often come hand-in-hand with sudden and unexpected loss.

And that’s part of the beauty of fiction, isn’t it? Sometimes it allows for unreality to feel just a tiny bit real, if only for a while.

I’ve gathered that writing like this might be some kind of psychotherapy? Maybe that’s true. I wouldn’t say that writing this fic helped me overcome my grief. I don’t think grief works like that. It’s part of me now. It always will be. But I think it did help me compartmentalize it, to put it in a space and into words that I can more comfortably handle. So that’s something.

But whatever this fic started out as, it quickly grew to be more than that. And part of that is why I made the choice to post as Anon. I think most people know my writing because of Reversal. And Afterdeath is a whole other beast. Reversal is great, I love it to bits, but it got far more attention that I ever dreamed it would, and I ended up putting a lot of pressure on myself not to disappoint people. And if they were to open Afterdeath expecting more Reversal, they would be VERY disappointed, lol.

But I learned something during this whole writing and posting process: I do not care. Or rather, I am learning to not care. I will write the things I enjoy writing and the things I would want to read myself. Others can read it or not, and that’s okay. I am still happy to share my writing, even if I end up the only one entertained by it. It’ll still be enough.

This fic also has a lot of firsts for me. I have never written something this long. Or with this rating, LMAO! And, if I’m honest, as challenging as it was at times, it was fun to push myself and see what’s possible. I will not claim it’s prefect, or even anywhere close, but It has been something of a confidence booster. And as silly as it feels, I am prodigiously proud of myself for writing—and finishing—this fic. And yes, I fully intend to typeset and bind it for myself because I am that just self indulgent LOL!

I also want to thank everyone who followed along, reading and commenting as I worked on this over the last year. A few people guessed it was me posting very early on, and their support has been instrumental. So THANK YOU! I couldn’t have done it without you.

I am always happy to talk about my fics, or ganqing in general, so if anyone has questions or whatever about anything, my inbox is open.

But now, it’s time to work on some of my other WIPs! Wish me luck lol.

— Velvetwastaken

[fonulyn]

20 Questions for Fic Authors

thanks for the tag @thebrandywine 💖

answers under the cut.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

268 works.

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

1,256,253 words.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

RE. and still have the urge to write Gears but lol if you thought nivannedy was a rare pair...

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

nobody's perfect (TOG, pretty gen)

now drunk on lust I drown in you (forever within I'm lost in you) (RE, Chreon)

and who's to find the way right through you (RE, Chreon)

scattered fragments of time (that's all we are) (RE, Chreon)

how to accidentally get adopted - a guide by Piers Nivans (RE, Piers-centric, also background Chreon)

5. Do you respond to comments?

always! i know i missed a couple, sometimes i take ages, but i do always try to respond bc i love and cherish nice comments.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

the bad endings on three words to last forever. i still like the angstiest one the most :'D

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

lmao like everything else idk i want them happy. i've written loads of fluff idk how to quantify which is the happiest.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

only ever got a few nasty comments thankfully, so no, not really.

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

yeppp. idk what does 'which kind' mean? anything that feels inspiring lol.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

not really. i did start a few back in the day but i didn't really finish them. i am not really into crossovers tbh i don't even read them 99% of the time.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

yeah. someone was selling it on amazon pffth.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

a few. apparently five on ao3 lol but i think there was one or two back in the lj days too. might be wrong tho :'D

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

lol loads. at one point in life like... fifteen years ago, most things i wrote were co-written with a friend. and i've done it a couple of times after that too. i really like co-op stuff tbh but haven't found people to collab with lately.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

right now i would sell my soul for nivannedy. might already have.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

ehhhh at this moment i doubt i'll ever finish anything. maybe the lifeguard au? i was red-hot for the idea at first but then it kinda... fizzled out. kept changing. got ruined by pushy ppl lol. but maybe i'll get back to it one day bc i would love a nivannedy summer romance tbh.

16. What are your writing strengths?

uhm. characterization. dialogue. emotional shit? idk i think i do best when i have intimate moments with two people. tiny everyday moments and mundane shit. like that. if i get going writing sometimes flows super well and i think i can get consistently readable stuff done in one go. but that'd require getting going lol.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

action. i suck at action. i also suck at it in the way that i can't actually make myself start writing. i got way too co-dependent when i still had people excitedly participating in the process and now i sit here sad doing nothing :'D but anyway. writing action and having some self-discipline lol.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

depends very heavily on the context. in general i do think it should be all in one language for readability but there are exceptions. i've done it too lol but it was only like a line or two in finnish :'D

19. First fandom you wrote for?

diru, twenty years ago lmao, it's like a different lifetime. i only learned of the existence of fanfic at the ripe old age of nineteen lol but yeah it's still been so long now.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

asdjfngkn i can not choose between all of my children c'mon. uhm. am just gonna say the self-indulgent series bc it truly was so important to me for so long and i'm still devastated it ended. sigh. now i made myself sad again :'D

[badassbutterfly1987]

Any/all of D,L,M,N you're inclined to answer :)

D: What’s the most personal fanfic you’ve written?

Hard to say, honestly. Beacon of Hope is pretty self-indulgent. A lot of my fics have personal touches: things like gender and disability tend to be inspired in part from my own uncertainties.

L: Which of your fanfics was the most emotionally challenging to write?

Mother Destroyer was a difficult one to write. So imagine a little girl with psychic powers, imagine her being experimented on. But because she's too powerful to control, they put her in a coma. When she's 15 or so, they decide to use her to create psychic super soldiers because psychic abilities might be genetic. She wakes just in time to both realize she has two sons and see them taken away. Next time she wakes up, they are the same age she was at the start; she tries to connect to one telepathically and it causes a breakdown that ends in a murder spree; her life support is turned off and she dies. Except very powerful psychics create very powerful ghosts. Imagine that ghost child stuck with her rage and stunted growth and just simmering in it for 20 years. Anyway Alma Wade is tragic and scary and it was fascinating writing from her perspective.

Gift fit for a King is also challenging (don't worry I haven't forgotten about it) because both Holland and Vortalis are in worse places emotionally than they are in their first canon meeting.

N: Any fic ideas brewing that you’d care to share?

So Beacon of Hope is set during Vortalis' reign, right? It's going to end before his assassination so some story threads are going to be left dangling. So I have some ideas for a few one shots for that period between the Danes takeover and main canon. Holland will be clinging to whatever sense of agency he can before that gets beaten down.

I do also have an idea for modern au fic where Holland is the Danes' new foster brother and Athos is a creep about it but not blatant enough for Holland to recognize all the red flags.

[spectascopes]

I might take a break from fandom stuff for a while, I've been feeling incredibly inadequate here lately and I'm not even sure why. Writing stuff For Me and For Fun has led to this weird place where a lot of my stuff is, yes, made for myself, but also not... objectively Good as a fanwork for the video game UNDERTALE? Which it doesn't need to be and having fun is the most important part, I know. And people are very genuinely supportive of my stuff and I appreciate that! But I keep thinking "I should pivot to making things so and so would like, I should write better stuff, I should-" and it's like woah, hold on, why?

I think part of the problem is that I KNOW I'm pretty good at writing, and crafting a story, and all that stuff. But I don't really push myself with my fanfictions because I'm writing really really self-indulgent stuff that ends up being similar to the 500 other stories I've written, and again- there's nothing WRONG with that- but I feel pretty stuck and like the many tens of thousands of words of fanfic I've written haven't... amounted to much? HAHA I mean, some fics I'm proud of. I think I'm going to keep writing the Papyrus/Reader story because it's a lot different from my usual schtick and pretty fun to work on.

Sighhh anyways. I'm just rambling and unsure of how I feel. Maybe I should try writing a "serious" UTDR fic (in terms of quality) and see where it goes. I do TRY with all my fics but they're usually planned chapter-by-chapter with a very vague idea of where the fic will go and what it'll accomplish- I don't usually sit and plan out, like, character arcs and intricate stuff like that. Whomst knows. Thanks for reading!!!