#my aims with this fic are to write something totally canon compliant that leaves you unable to watch ragnarok without crying on her behalf

[tyrannuspitch]

thinking about hela again... god i know i keep saying this and then not doing it but i need to write that backstory fic i NEED to bring my fucked up frankenstein girl to life

[andromeda3116]

to hell with it

title: aim your arrow at the sky (1/9) fandom: dragon age: inquisition pairing: cullen/trevelyan rating: mature content warnings: references to child abuse, sucidal ideation summary: 

The point of a second chance is that it's the one you don't deserve.

Lena Trevelyan is haunted by three ghosts, only two of which are metaphorical, and only one of those is actually dead. Still, after an explosion at the Conclave leaves her with a mark on her hand and a sudden leadership position in the newly-formed Inquisition, she means to do right by them.

Oh, and by the Inquisition, too.

author’s notes: so, it’s like this. i hit a nasty dry spell due to 2018 (and 2019) (and 2020) (and 2021) (and 2022) being Like That and decided to just, like. start writing. anything. even, to pick an example completely at random, my wildly in-depth and only mostly canon-compliant-ish headcanon regarding my inquisitor in da:i. you know, just anything, even if i never posted it because it’s in a fandom i’ve only played one-third of the canon for and have read exactly one-half of one fanfiction in and have only vaguely trawled the tags on tumblr for. in fact, i thought, that’s perfect! because no one was going to see my rusty-ass self-indulgent writing, i could just let go and write whatever the heck i wanted without any expectations or fear of disappointing anyone!

and it worked! i got writing!

a lot.

after the first, oh, 30,000 words i went “i have put entirely too much time, effort, and thought into this fic to not share it” but i also wanted to see if there was any interest at all in this before i continue from the over 70k words i already have written. so here’s part one, as an appetizer.

is there an audience for this? i have no idea. will it be loved or loathed or totally ignored? i couldn’t tell you. is it entirely compliant with the world as shown in all three of the games? i mean, as much as i could glean from the codex entries and an exhaustive number of pages on the dragon age wiki, but it’s entirely possible that i got something wrong, and if so, please just roll with it and don’t tell me unless it's something tiny i can fix in ten minutes or less.

so! this is basically, at its heart, a novelization of the game except with some heavy liberties taken, many scenes added and some altered or rearranged, and an extra three cups of humanism added to the mix because that is who i am as a person. each part covers one major storyline quest, and early on it follows the script pretty closely, mainly only in the first chapter, but that will rapidly become less and less the case as we progress through the story, and eventually be significantly different beyond the so-called “stations” of the canon.

all the introductory quotes are from discworld novels by terry pratchett, because again, that is who i am as a person.

.

.

open your eyes, and then open your eyes again. —the wee free men

.

Lena awoke in a place both horribly familiar and completely alien, staggering to her feet and reeling — she felt hungover, head splitting and throbbing, every heartbeat a hammer-blow to the skull. She was in a dark place, cold, lit green and black; she knew it, but like a song she’d heard once as a child and nearly forgotten, only the barest trace of the tune lingering in the back of her throat. She knew this place. She knew it. She —

— there were… things behind her, huge spiders with thousands of eyes, glittering like the jewels in Grandmother’s dress. A voice she could never, ever forget said her name from somewhere off to the side, and filled her with a panic so profound that it nearly choked the breath out of her.

Hurry!

She turned away from the spiders and began running, stumbling over her feet, toward the new voice: a glow in the shape of a Chantry sister, reaching out to her from atop a high place. The spiders chased, the sister reached, and Lena staggered against the rock, faltered, then threw her left hand forward, to grasp the figure.

Everything went white.

There was a moment, or half of one, where she breathed in smoky air and heard voices yelling and the clanking of armor, a single flash of reality between the light and the darkness, before she collapsed.

(read more)

[inawickedlittletown]

I was tagged by @matan4il. Thanks for the tag!

Writer Interview

Name(s): Erika, emquin on Ao3, 

Fandom(s): 9-1-1 is the fandom I primarily wrote for in 2020, but I also write MCU, but I am currently trying to focus on original works. 

Where you post: AO3 as well as my tumblr. 

Most Popular One Shot (by kudos) Overall/this year: Puzzle Pieces at 413 kudos. 

Most Popular Multi-Chapter (by kudos) Overall/This Year: Next To Me at 827 kudos 

Favorite story you’ve written so far: Picking just one is difficult so I think my favorite fic to work on this year has to be a tie between Next To Me and I’m With You. Next To Me was my first 9-1-1/Buddie fic and it’s this very canon compliant character deep dive that really allowed me to love the characters and hence write them some more. I’m With you is the last fic I wrote this year and I just really enjoyed myself working on it and finding ways to retell the movie While You Were Sleeping while fitting it in with the world of 9-1-1. 

Fic you were nervous to post: I don’t think I get nervous necessarily but if I had to pick one maybe You Belong With Me, I Belong With You, You’re My Sweetheart because it’s a High School AU, but also Anywhere You Go, I Follow because it was such an experiment in the restrictions I gave myself. 

How do you choose your titles? Aside from Puzzle Pieces and And...They Were Zoommates, my titles usually come from song titles/lyrics that seem fitting. Titles are very difficult tbh. 

Do you outline? Only in my head. I don’t like to outline or even write notes or follow any kind of plan so I mostly just dive in on the idea and then see what happens. What usually happens is that I write something far longer than I intended to. For Next To Me I did have to rewatch episodes of the show a lot so I did have to write down things like sequence of events.

Upcoming work you’re most excited about: As far as fic goes, I have nothing planned. I do need to write another companion one-shot for my MCU fic: Walking The Wire. And I’m sure once 9-1-1 is back for a new season that I’ll have plot bunnies to attend to. But right now what I am most excited about is the book I’m writing. I’m 15k words into it so far and I am so excited to keep working on it so my aim is to let that consume my time, so I’m actually hoping to not write any fic in 2021 at all, but we’ll see. 

AO3 stats (for 2020)

(These numbers are a bit off because I posted a companion one-shot for my fic Walking The Wire which I think I finished posting in 2019 so Ao3 is technically counting it with the 2020 stats. So the total stats are off and I didn’t feel like doing the math) 

amount of works posted: 9

total word count: 599,284 

longest fic: not counting Walking The Wire (372,760) because it was technically a 2019 fic, Next To Me (93,649)

shortest fic: Somebody To Love (3,306)

fic with the most kudos: Next To Me at 827 kudos

fic with the most bookmarks: Next To Me at 260

fic with the most comment threads: I’m With You at 145 comment threads

total amount of kudos: 9,074

total amount of bookmarks: 2,700

total amount of comment threads: 2,542

fandoms written for: 9-1-1/Buddie, MCU

fandom events you’ve written for: Buddietines Week during the week of Valentine’s Day. 

pairings written for: Buddie, Stony 

favorite fic you’ve written this year: tie between Next To Me and I’m With You

goals for next year: finish the draft of my book and do at least the first edit. 

Tagging: @diazbuckleysworld @justsmilestuffhappens @seylaaurora @missjmelville @lolabee20  @adamngoodbuck and since I honestly cannot think of any other writers at the moment (I haven’t been reading fic lately sooo...) I’ll just leave it open to anyone that writes in any capacity and in any fandom. You are absolutely welcome to consider themselves tagged by me on this one.

[delineative]

writing year in review: 2018

total number of completed stories: 9

total word count:

ao3: 43 879

(+ ~5k on socks)

fandoms written in:

dorohedoro

we both chose each other - noi/shin

houseki no kuni

growing without rest - phos/phos

idol producer / nine percent

counting flower petals all day long - xukun/zhengting

leaving nothing behind - xukun/zhengting

when we see each other again - jun/zhengting, ziyi/zhengting, yanjun/zhangjing/zhengting, xukun/zhengting, justin/chengcheng/zhengting

take one step closer - xukun/yanjun/zhengting

nct

from first principles - 00line

produce 101 china / rocket girls

coincidence makes sense - yamy/meiqi/xuanyi

seventeen

the earth in its turning stopped (last 2 chapters) - seungcheol/jeonghan/joshua

reaching for you from the endless dream - wonwoo/jun

wips:

out of the wips i’m currently working on:

dirtmix assignment (will be revealed very shortly!)

nahyuck pacific rim au

markrenmin enemies to lovers fantasy au

looking back, did you expect to write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected?

around what i expected... i was aiming for 1 fic a month and didn’t quite manage to hit that but i feel like each fic was longer than usual (i’m a terminal shortfic writer so anything over 3k is long for me). like i kept going 1-4k over my projected wordcount which was extremely panic-inducing when i was trying to write to deadlines lmao so overall i’m okay with the quantity of words i produced this year!

what pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?

fandom-wise probably the survival show spiral and moving into ncity... if 2017 was the year of yugioh then 2018 was the year of rpf. some of the stuff i posted to socks was very uncharacteristic of my usual m.o but i think everything i put on main was very true to brand i.e ambiguous relationships + vague pining + emo conversations in the dark

did you take any writing risks this year? what did you learn from them?

i signed up for svtbb and had to drop out due to exam pressure, which was sad bc it’s the first exchange/fest i’ve ever defaulted on, but then i went and did lordeventeen and yuletide even though they partly ran through exam seasons too so i guess i learned nothing?!?

actually i think i probably could have afforded to take a few more risks genre-wise, i feel like everything i wrote in 2018 recycled the exact same themes but also at the same time those themes are the only thing i can write. terrible taste i will never change i will never improve that is a promise etc etc

what’s your own favorite story of the year?

reaching for you from the endless dream had me tearing my hair out while i was writing it but ultimately i feel like it paid off! i’ve always wanted to try canon compliant + magic and this ended up with some of the best writing i’ve ever done, plus i’m happy i was finally able to write something for one of my favourite svt ships <3 honourable mention to the concept behind when we see each other again, my post-disbandment allzzt ship manifesto titled after csc_uri_dasi_bol_ttae.mp3 

best story of the year?

also reaching for you from the endless dream! i’m really proud of how this one turned out both in terms of technical quality (.... *repeats the same phrase 300 times* Is This Thematic Consistency?) and emotional beats, and it got so many lovely comments. i think this is probably one of my best fics ever, and i’m glad it struck a chord with other people too!

most popular story of the year?

not counting teiits since most of that was posted in 2017, it’s counting flower petals all day long, which really surprised me when i checked my ao3 stats? i must have hit the sweet spot of fandom growth + burgeoning ship popularity bc literally nothing happens in the fic other than one (1) kiss, but thank you for giving it so much love 💖

story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

omg i think everything i wrote this year was WAY over-appreciated but coincidence makes sense, which features a f/f/f rarepair (raretrio?) in a fandom with very little western fan presence, so i’m not surprised by its stats but i’m still pretty fond of this one and consider it one of the better fics i wrote in 2018, and one of the best idolverse fics i’ve ever written

most fun story to write:

from first principles, the debate au fic i’ve wanted to write for like 6 years, my beloved pet project through the month of august, and i think it shows? i tripled my projected word count and in the process of writing fully converted to dreamyism(/renjunism), so a lot of love went into it, even though there are places you can tell i definitely rushed the execution. one day i’ll do justice to a proper nct sports anime fic... 

story with the single sexiest moment:

all the rated content i wrote this year was posted to socks other than the brief dance studio 3some scene in take one step closer, but i genuinely have no idea if that was even sxc since i wrote it on my phone in a feverish last-minute sprint on a plane while blasting twice bdz and haven’t reread it at all jhfgdfjdfh

most sweet story:

the general tone of everything i wrote in 2018 was much less depressing than 2017 but i guess the sweetest story was we both chose each other... what’s more romantic than dismembering a bunch of thugs with your beloved partner and then jumping off a cliff together!!

story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:

kind of a weird question to apply to rpf... characterisation perceptions are constantly shifting based on current meta and au role needs, though i feel like i’m always struggling to play catchup and by the time i publish anything the general image has shifted ;__; 

most unintentionally telling story:

from first principles draws heavily on my own experiences with high school debating... lots of 3rd speaker related anxieties and hangups projection all over the place in there lmao

hardest story to write:

every time i’m working on something, especially when i’m close to finishing, it is the hardest thing i have ever written... i can’t remember if writing has always been this difficult for me or if it’s an rpf thing. probably i struggled the most with reaching for you from the endless dream bc i’m deeply intimidated by writing jun (light of my life) due to the fear of not doing him justice, and also the deadline pressure nearly killed me. also at one point i called writing from first principles the worst experience of my life but looking back it wasn’t even that bad... mostly it was just that it kept getting longer and longer and eventually i was like Please God Let It End Already

biggest disappointment:

not finishing my svtbb fic... i am literally twitter user juncheolsoo i owe them SOMETHING!! not writing more fic. mediocre execution of decent concepts bc i got too impatient and rushed to finish things before i got bored of them

biggest surprise:

all of my fics about idol boys except one have over 100 kudos, which is just a ridiculous amount?! idol rpf fandoms have been so kind to me... i will work hard to become a better content creator in 2019!!

favourite opening line(s):

from leaving nothing behind:

“Are you looking for Justin?”

Xukun rears back, knuckles still poised to knock on the doorframe. “I—what?”

“Are you looking for Justin?” Zhengting repeats. He’s sprawled across the bottom bunk, leg dangling inelegantly off the edge. The phone in his hand casts an unsteady ellipse of light over his collarbone.

favourite closing line(s):

from growing without rest:

Beyond the arches the world is silent. The gem Phosphophyllite will become returns their gaze steadily, evenly. The shadows lengthen. In the distance behind them, a flicker of white, like light needling off somebody’s back, or the gleam of a pearl eye.

favourite 5 line(s) from anywhere:

from first principles:

“If only Mark-hyung was still here,” Renjun said, only half-jokingly. There was a brief moment of solemn silence as the three of them paused to consider their ex-captain, who had passed on last year to the realm of university debating.

when we see each other again:

So maybe they weren’t friends, but they were something. You couldn’t inhabit the same space for two years and come out the other side as strangers. Sometimes Zhengting thought that might have been easier than whatever this intimacy limbo was supposed to be, knowing somebody in the minutest details, what they looked like at the height of their intensity or the moments before they fell asleep, without really knowing them at all. Looking, and not having the gesture returned, or at least not equally.

coincidence makes sense:

The song ends, starts over. Meiqi doesn’t, though, pivoting to face them, and that’s all the invitation Xuanyi needs to unfold from her position beside Guo Ying and cross the floor. Like two halves of a single movement Meiqi reaches out to Xuanyi and Xuanyi presses their palms together, interlacing their fingers. The tilt of their heads towards each other like it’s something irresistible.

reaching for you from the endless dream:

Junhui was practically raised by the industry. The stage lying close enough to the bone it would be indistinguishable from it. He leaves his intensity on the stage but glimpses of it show through in odd moments, seamlessness without ease. It’s hard for Wonwoo to understand, but most things about Junhui are.

take one step closer:

You want to look into somebody, of course you have to let them look back. This is why he kept away in the first place, the terror of vulnerability when it could be staved off indefinitely instead, though he’d wanted to be seen, hoped for it, even, despite himself, something in the marrow singing out to be known.

It’s like an infection, a second heart in his ribs. A kind of longing that bites right through his hand. Strikes down to the quick. Severs the whole thing clean off. He ran so far from himself he landed in somebody else’s body, and here he is, still trying to escape.

top 5 scenes from anywhere you would choose to have illustrated:

jun lifting zzt up and spinning him around, from when we see each other again (;___; #junting_agenda_seeding)

wonwoo and jun in the kitchen with nectarines spilling out of the open fridge, from reaching for you from the endless dream

cxkzzt conversation in the dark while zzt is wearing a facemask, from leaving nothing behind

00z sports shounen hug, from from first principles

phos getting crushed by their future self’s gold arms, from growing without rest

honourable mention to noishin leaping off a cliff from we both chose each other, which actually did get illustrated in dorohedorozine <3

do you have any fanfic or profit goals for the new year?

cut down my wip list... please i have 25+ wips on my spreadsheet i just want to FINISH something for once in my life instead of constantly starting new wips and letting them rot in the graveyard of my gdocs

practise writing actual shipfic and not poorly disguised gen. i WILL get better at writing kiss scenes

try to write something over 10k again

relearn what figurative language is and how to use it. rpf boosted my productivity stats but at what cost...

[sawamura-daichis-thighs]

get to know the author

I was tagged by @yaoyoroses :D thank you En!

Tag | @l1nkp1t​, @astersandstuffs​, @eccentrick-stardust​, @amajikies​, & @hajiiwa​ (if any of you would like to!)

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean? i wanted a Haikyuu!! themed username since i fell deep so here we are :3 in terms of my ao3 username, Miah_Kat, it’s a mashup of my nickname & a name for an old OC; i use some variation of it as a default whenever i make a new account somewhere bc i’m bad at thinking up usernames on the spot. ^^”

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos). what if i told you...? is at the top with 734 hits & 133 kudos (!!!!! holy crow) on tumblr, Cafuné is the most popular with 46 notes :”D

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it? it’s of megane Oikawa! ^^ i chose it because he’s one of my favorite characters & he looks damn good in glasses

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters? @l1nkp1t, @wallynorthbynorthwest, @ninja-spacenerd, & @littleop always leave me wonderful comments/tags that never fail to brighten my day!! ❤❤❤❤

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again? hmmm i can’t think of one off the top of my head but y’all should def check out my bookmarks & fic rec tag for some awesome works!!

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked? i’m subscribed to 46 users, 20 series, & 127 works. I’ve bookmarked 257.

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most? i don’t stray far from canon-compliant stuff but i find myself writing a lot of getting together, first kisses, or domestic fluff kind of stuff. If I’m going to go full-AU though I lean towards fantasy.

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page) i have 8 user subscribers, 17 unspecified subscriptions, & 111 bookmarks total ^^

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!) mmm well i think every writer has some general fears of being judged, regardless of what’s written. for me, maybe smut since i just don’t write it often (& i’ve only ever posted one fic that has it)

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc. writing in general?? lol idk i’d like to be more...dedicated, i guess? i can’t seem to finish anything without it taking months. i also have a hard time with details, so i’d like to find a good middle-ground with that. oh, and world-building when writing fantasy (it’s just so much work aslkdjfk)

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often? i write popular ships more often but i’m absolutely open to writing rarepairs! i know it can be disheartening to really love a ship but not be able to find much content for it, so i don’t mind getting rarepair requests. i like making people happy if i can :)

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)? 33 on ao3

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program? 18 WIPs in Google Docs & probably...10+ in my laptop files?

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head? oh, definitely write them down! i can keep them in my head for a little while but there’s a 95% chance of not remembering them after something distracts me lol

15. Have you ever co-authored a story? kind of? back in high-school my best friend & i used to write stories together. it was all for fun though, nothing that ever made it to a site. i think it would be fun to do a collab with someone though! :D

16. How did you discover AO3? i think a post from tumblr linked me to it & i’d seen a lot of people talking about it, so i gave it a shot.

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3? HAH no way lmao  😂😂😂

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers? not really. i just think everyone who reads my stuff are wonderful, lovely people ^^

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write? i’ve read basically my whole life and fanfiction led me to writing. there wasn’t a specific story or author though; just the realization that i could also put my own twist on characters/fandoms i enjoyed. i also have an amazing best friend who supported my passion when it first began, so she’s definitely a huge part of why i continued to write.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author? read. a lot. write, even when you don’t want to or think it sucks. as with any kind of art, experience and practice is the only way you’ll get better. be open to constructive-criticism but don’t let the “rules” overwhelm or suffocate your passion. most importantly: write what you like! what you want to read! have fun with it!

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go? oh jeez, it’s a mixture of both? i usually start with a scene in my head that makes me go “i wanna write that” but then i have to find a way to get to the scene? so i either wing it, if the idea was clear enough, or i scribble down an outline to get my base ideas down but leave wiggle room for inspiration during the writing process.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do? i’m sure i have, back when i first started; i likely commented back that if it wasn’t their preference, there was no need to read the fic or leave a rude comment behind.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)  a c t i o n, definitely. i also get kind of stuck on kisses? idk how much detail to put into them lol

24. What story(s) are you working on now? even tho i’m slow af about it i’m currently working on 2 actively:

a makoharu gift exchange fic!

a klance fic with which i’m taking my first steps into writing for VLD (i’m jumping on the bandwagon where they’re somehow physically stuck together (via alien handcuffs in mine) for a time & grow closer as a result)

i’m always sorta-kinda working on my various iwaoi fics; the nipple-piercing fic is near completion & i’ve recently remembered my single dads au that i hope to work more on soon ^^

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)? pffftt all the time. the ideas are definitely more forthcoming than the Muse & motivation like to be.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself? nope. i tried that for a while but it didn’t stick.

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started? absolutely! although i sometimes have mixed feelings about it, concentrating in creative writing definitely helped me improve in many ways.

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written? i don’t...really...have one? ^^” i guess i am particularly fond of with a hoarse voice, under the blankets just because i feel i managed to get the atmosphere & imagery i wanted

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written? anything from when i first began lol

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years? hopefully still improving & enjoying what i write (as well as finishing what i start aslkdjfk). i’m not aiming for publication or anything; i just want to write for fun.

31. What is the easiest thing about writing? getting the ideas!

32. What is the hardest thing about writing? to quote En: “e v e r y t h i n g”

33. Why do you write? it’s fun! i enjoy making the ideas i have in my head come to fruition on paper. i like experimenting with styles and imagery & characters. i enjoy the happy dance my heart does when i know i’ve described a scene or a character just right. i’ve made a lot of amazing friends through writing & i love knowing something i’ve created might bring a smile to someone. ❤

[j-philly-b]

OUaT 7x02 – Thoughts & Observations

“I’ll send an SOS to the world; I hope that someone gets my message in a bottle.”

           - The Police, Message in a Bottle

Ugh, seriously? We’re back to this bullshit? I thought we were done with the realm that shall not be named. But no, instead we’re going to be reminded of it on a weekly basis. Or at least I will be, because my anger over that entire plotline is unflagging.

But I am talented in unhealthy avoidance techniques, and will likely continue on because (1) I am a glutton for punishment, (e) Colin O’Donoghue’s face, and (!) I can’t stop myself from trying to puzzle this show out. Hi, my name is Joanne and I can’t get OUaT.

 Random Thoughts:

I was not prepared to say goodbye to Killian Jones, he of the multiple redemption and hero arcs. It was that and the high expectations I had for a story written by Jane and Jerome that left me in a pit of despair after the episode was over. I’ve gone through my stages of grief, I am almost at acceptance, almost.

I am relieved that CS have their happy ending/beginning together in SB. While I’m in the they don’t need a baby to be happy camp, it’s a fine development and everyone’s fic with a CS kid post-S6 is perfectly valid and canon compliant. So there’s that!

I know that many viewers, including myself, took Emma and Killian’s concern as an implication that they had a difficult time conceiving, maybe even suffering a miscarriage at some point. I’m going to go the lighter route and assume that Killian’s penchant for leather pants and skinny jeans slowed down the baby making process, which is why we saw him show up in the alt!EF in regular blue jeans.

I loved how Killian jumped into action and was instantly stabby as soon as he and Regina showed up in response to Henry’s call. Struck me as a very strong parental instinct to go on the offensive like that when you get a distress call from your kid.

Emma tells Henry that she has to give Henry what he gave her – family, and she starts by giving him Hook 2. Then Henry keeps Regina – and no one in SB is complaining because obviously Regina has absolutely nothing in SB and can walk away on a whim, what else do you do with a middle-aged woman with no spouse or child to look after?

I’m bitter because I can’t believe A&E or J&J put me in a position to feel defensive over Regina.

Interesting that being in the alt!EF meant that Regina and Emma’s magic wouldn’t work. But here’s the thing, Regina’s use of magic in the beginning showed us two things – her magic worked when she was protecting her TL, but didn’t work when she was to cast a locator spell. Subtle foreshadowing of what was to come later with Emma and Hook 2.

 Hook 2 using Killian’s blood to become him may have created a deeper connection than simply surface appearance. So not only was Emma able to connect to him by recognizing the man he could be, used to be, but maybe whatever it is that makes TL a physical manifestation was also able to recognize something in Hook 2 because of that blood connection? I’m not being clear, but I think this blood connection and TL is going to come up again for Hook 2 and his daughter. I am really leaning toward the daughter being created using some form of blood magic.

So Hook 2 has a daughter and now we’re going to be following his story. In a way, it makes sense, it allows CS peace and to continue living their happily ever after without unnecessary angst and separation. I just don’t know if I feel as invested in Hook 2 as I was in Killian Jones.

I had work it out in my head when Hook 2’s path diverged from Killian. I’m going with the wish realm diverging at the point of the flashbacks in the Cricket Game – in the wish realm Snow’s attempt to banish Regina worked, and she was no longer a threat to them from that point on. Therefore, Hook 2 never sang with Snowing and did not kill his father to leave Liam 2.0 an orphan out for revenge.

“I’ve always tried to do good.” Where did that come from with Hook 2? Did he turn around when his daughter was born? Was that his “you can be a part of something” moment?

I’m assuming his fall back into darkness was when his heart was poisoned/cursed and he was stopped from seeing his daughter. I’m just… ARGH!!! Another Hook redemption arc? Yeah, I’m still not quite over it yet.

Hook 2 roaming the realms looking for TL to cure his poisoned/cursed heart and then trying to use Killian’s connection with Emma for that purpose tells us what? That Hook 2 thought himself incapable of TL, and maybe now feels guilty that he didn’t try hard enough or believe in himself enough to save his daughter? That now that he has his second chance he will fulfill his role as his daughter’s white knight?

I like the carry through to HH and seeing that Rogers does not like hearing Henry’s daughter referred to as a vulnerability.

Roger’s curse memories of Emma are not too far afield from the truth. Their cursed personalities aren’t too far off from their true-selves either. Very unlike Regina’s curse when she tried to suppress people’s true selves. We’ve seen how Jacinda isn’t afraid to push back against Victoria, how Rogers, Regina, and Henry were able to come together easily, and how Rumple is on the periphery of that as well. So was the curse cast for evil intent or not?

Ok, so I think I called it last week with Weaver being the one to get Rogers promoted and reassigned to him. I’m sticking with my theory that Rumple knows what is going on and is more involved in the curse than we think at this point. It was more heavy-handed in this episode, mainly because there was more Weaver in this episode, but I’m fine with a Rumple that plays on both sides of the fence. I’m wondering if Weaver’s relationship with Victoria is a case of keeping your enemies close?

Interesting that Weaver was not included in the final scene with Roni, Rogers, and Henry.

 Also interesting that Weaver doesn’t push Roni when she says no, not the tactic we’ve been lead to believe he usually follows.

The shot of Weaver and Rogers from behind the bookcase in Henry’s apartment was great. The view of them was slightly obscured, Rogers is in the light, Weaver is in the dark. I like how it framed their characters at that point in time.

 The matching denim jackets of Rogers and Weaver, was there a Starsky & Hutch in the alt!EF?

So Weaver was testing Rogers’ moral core, why?

 Hook 2 is very good at strategizing, probably all the chess, but Rogers was way ahead of Weaver when he thought to grab Henry’s keys before they left the apartment. Not a surprise that Rogers has a healthy distrust of Weaver and can look out for himself.

 Random Observations:

Why are there no evil Kermit memes with Hook 2 in the hood confronting Killian?

Captain Youthful!

I also liked Killian referring to Hook 2 and his existence in the realm to be ignored as a bad dream, not real, a cracked mirror, and a twisted version of the truth.

Why do LT and Tiana jump to Henry being in love with Cinderella/Jacinda? They’ve known each other a total of ten minutes.

THE HAND!!!

Henry is a total hipster.

“I gotta hop.” “You must have a fairy godmother somewhere.” Tiana gets all the good lines.

Lady Tremaine uses that wand a helluva a lot for someone who doesn’t rely on magic.

Ok, but what did Gabrielle’s teenage daughter think about her mother getting all up in Colin’s face like that?

Tune in next week when Weave tests out his Welsh accent!

The Nancy Drews! Even before Weaver pulled the book off the shelf, I knew what they were by the yellow binding. My dad bought me one a week for a little over a year when I was kid. I’m getting teary just thinking about it…

Henry looking for buried family and “keeps hitting dead ends”? Yeesh

Ivy wearing a green shirt with fleur de lis in her first scene with Jacinda – green for a reason?

Jacinda can save herself. We get it, we’ve also heard it before.

How exactly did Hook 2 wind up stabbed?

Emma does have a little bit of a bump when they’re sitting on that log.

Why is Killian so angry when he throws that bean? Does he know Emma has terrible aim when it comes to portals and he’s worried she might run on the wrong side of it?

Henry creeping on Cinderella’s bedroom.

Of course Killian has another magical method of communication. Shellphones, messages in a bottle, does he keep a coop for talking seagulls on the Jolly Roger as well, enchanted semaphore flags?

Ok, Killian and Regina discussing Emma was about 10x more overdramatic than it needed to be.

Emma is “the mother [Henry] wanted, a hero.”  That’s gotta be a kick in the gut to Regina.

God damnit Henry, operation glass slipper is still going on and now you’re staring operation next chapter? Get your shit together kid.

Colin wetn super-irish at the end when Rogers was telling his story to Henry, yes?

Were the hair extensions for Emma totally unnecessary? Or are saviors like Samson and lose their power if they get a haircut? Wait, is that why Rumple got a haircut at the beginning of s6? It was a hint that he was a powerless savior?! AHA! I’ve cracked the code!! Sorry, there are certain storylines I will never not be bitter about

Why is Tilda Swinton doing adverts for Lyft? Someone write an androgynous preternatural character for that woman stat! Speaking of, I need to rewatch Orlando, it’s been way too long…

[littlethingwithfeathers]

Commenting on Fanfic: A how-to guide for not being an asshole. Even unintentionally.

You’ve just read a fanfic that has left an indelible impression, and the siren song of the comment box is calling your name. It begs for you to send your opinion to the author... but should you? Are your thoughts really helpful or encouraging or even all that important?

Well... lets break it down! What do you want to say, and should you say it? And if you should, what should you say?

***

I want to flail at them because their writing is amazing! My comment would be nothing but effuse praise and adulation.

Full speed ahead, captain! By all means! You post that comment! Write for days! There is not enough positive feedback in all the world if you’re a fanfic author. We drink that shit up like it’s the blood of the innocent.

And if you feel awkward about commenting on explicit fic, don’t fret. We’ve all been there. Don’t do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, but if you want to say something positive about an explicit work, go for it! We wrote explicit fic. We know why you’re here.

Something to consider: While, “THIS IS AMAZING! FLAILING FOREVER! THANK YOU!” is an awesome compliment to receive, it isn’t the same as positive feedback. If you’d like to have a bigger impact on an author that you really enjoy, comment with something specific about their writing and how it moved you. 

- “I liked the way you decribed <specific thing here>. It made me feel like I was part of the story.”

- “Your word choice here was amazing!” 

- “ *cut and paste a small section of dialogue or action* This was my favorite part.”

This is not necessary by any means. Flail-comments are still the greatest thing ever, and are the best part of any writer’s day. It’s not a matter of one being better than the other. It’s about what sort of impact you want to have on the writer. Praise and flailing are ego and mood boosters and are sure to help us keep writing, and writing more of what you like. Specific positive feedback is a great way to help a writer find and improve their voice when writing. 

And “thank you” is always nice. It’s good to acknowledge that fic writers do this on their free time, and let them know that you appreciate it.

***

This fic is amazing and I want to encourage updates or ask when it will be updated!

Tread carefully here. While on one hand, you could simply be meaning to encourage a writer to keep writing, but I know a lot of writers (particularly who start publishing before they are finished) that get anxious over requests for updates. Be mindful of your wording, and be sure you tell the author that you’re enjoying the work. Keep it positive and encouraging. 

Remember that fanfic authors have lives outside of writing fic. There may be some real world obstacles in the way of their fic writing, and guilting them about updates will not help. And in fact, it may hinder their ability to write. Not everyone responds well under pressure when it comes to creative outlets.

Something to consider: Pair your request with compliments! And avoid outright demands for updates.

Do: “This story is so amazing. I really love your pacing throughout the chapters. The suspense is amazing. I can’t wait for more! Thank you so much for writing!”

Don’t: “When are you updating? I’m dying here!” or “Update soon !!!”

***

Eeek! This fic I really love has a typo/grammatical error! Can I tell the author in a comment?

Pause for a moment! We are now treading into the dangerous land of uninvited criticism. While your intentions are no doubt good, this could very very easily be taken the wrong way. Or just flat unwanted for whatever reason. This is criticism that is coming quite possibly from a total stranger. There are a few things to consider.

First, check the author’s notes on the fic itself. Do they state that it’s unbetaed and invite corrections? Some do! Myself included when I publish something that has been edited by no one but myself. I know I miss things. When this is the case, I always put an invitation for corrections in my author’s notes, and many other fic writers do the same. Or they put it in their author bio on their main page. 

If you see no explicit invitation for corrections, do not do it. It’s as simple as that. I don’t care how egregious the errors are. It is quite simply not your place.

If you do see an invitation for corrections, a few steps are advised. First, go leave a comment on the fic. Make no mention of the corrections there. Just let them know you enjoyed it and thank them for their work. Then, send them a private message, not anonymously, with a gentle wording of the correction. Don’t do this in a comment that everyone can see. There’s no need to be exhaustive if you’ve caught a lot of errors. Sometimes just one or two corrections are enough to make an author go back through with a fine-toothed comb themselves. Then, thank them again in the private message and lay on a compliment or two there as well.  Again... this is not their day job, nor are you their writing professor.

Do: In a private message, “Hi AmazingAuthorPerson! I absolutely loved your fic “Fic from the Pairing X.” You invited spelling corrections in your author notes, and I wanted to let you know that this word was mispelled here.” *copy/paste line where mispelling takes place* “Your work is incredible. Thank you so much for taking the time to write and share with us! Sincerely, PoliteReaderPerson.”

Don’t: In a public comment, “I found errors X, Y, Z, AA, BB, and CC.”

Something to do instead: If you’ve got a good eye for editing, and you’re really interested in helping out fanfiction writers, consider becoming a beta reader. I see requests for beta readers all the time, particularly from people writing in their second/third/fiftyseventh language, and some of the more established fandoms have lists of beta readers. Just know that this can sometimes mean forming a relationship with a writer that goes beyond just comments on their work. Part of what makes unsolicited corrections icky is that they’re coming from total strangers.

***

The author did not appropriately tag something! Can I tell them?

This is a similar situation to the above scenario with corrections. Even though you may not feel like it be careful, especially with your wording. 

First, consider if there’s something seriously misleading going on? Is the maturity rating wrong? Did they fail to tag triggering material that would have been important to you to know about for safety reasons? 

If it truly is something serious, especially regarding triggering material, very gently tell them using the same method as for corrections. And remember that even though you might be upset, aiming that negativity at the author for what might be an honest mistake or just flat ignorance about tagging is not helpful in the long run.

Do:  “Hi AmazingAuthorPerson! I really appreciate that you take the time to write fanfiction for our fandom. In your fic, “Character Has a Bad Day” there is a scene that contains XYZ triggering material, but the fic is not tagged as containing XYZ material. Would you please update your tags so that your readers can be aware if they need to be? Thank you again for your work! Sincerely, PoliteReaderPerson.”

Don’t: Flame or even shame them in a public comment. Or be rude or angry in the private message. 

Regardless of what the author’s response is, move on with your life. You’re not the fandom police. 

***

Oh no! I just read a fic and I didn’t like the pairing/ending/a plot twist! I with they had done something else! I need to tell the author!

No, you don’t. 

It’s as simple as that so let me repeat it.

No, you don’t.

Here is where we get into the most valuable tool in a fic-reader’s commenting arsenal. 

Not Commenting.

Yes, it’s true! The option exists to just not comment. You can read something, not like it, and then move on with your life! 

Odds are good the author chose to write what they did for a reason that is personal to them. The idea of changing canon, keeping to canon, shipping a pair, not shipping a pair, or whatever it was spoke to them and they wanted to explore it. Or it was a request from a friend! Regardless, let them do so in peace. 

Or go write your take on the same pairing and write it how you think it should be done. I’ll be honest, I’ve read some fanfic where I’ve gone... “Yeah, I don’t know that I like that. I think I would like this better.” And then I go write it! Or at least bat the idea around awhile until it’s out of my system. Hell... isn’t that what fix-it-fics and non-canon-compliant actually is?

Do: Click the little “x” window. Go read a favorite fic you do like. Leave another positive comment for that author. 

Don’t: Leave negative comments.

***

That’s the ultimate takeaway here folks. Negative comments are not helpful to fic writers. Full stop. If you feel the author needs to know you didn’t like something, particularly if it has to do with what they chose to write about, or how they chose to portray a character/pairing, I would ask you this:

Why does the author need to know? 

Why does the author need to know about your personal tastes in fandom/fanfiction? Especially if it doesn’t include what they are writing. They aren’t here to cater to you and your personal tastes. That is what fic commissioning is for. That’s what tagging is for. So we all can find what we want to enjoy.

So enjoy things. And let other people enjoy things. And most importantly, let authors enjoy writing the things they feel moved to write about.

This has been a public service announcement.

*vanishes in a puff of feathers and caffeine.*

[mild-lunacy]

Fan Writing and the Fix It Principle

I really resonate with this comic about creativity and people's happiness a lot. It's important to make people happy with art; that's one of art's oldest and most important functions. Happy endings and comedies in general can ultimately help people heal, and that's what I want too, although I've never actually set out to make my audience happy or sad with my work. My rather frequently humorous work is only funny because it makes *me* laugh. I've written many comedies, and it's mostly because I love wit and can't make myself be sour and dour 24/7. To me, that's just a waste of my good mood, my intelligence, not to mention my time. But neither do I generally care to make my favorite characters happy, except for a very few exceptions. Even then (in the case of my one exception, ie Harry Potter), I would never alter what I consider to be a natural or believable progression of someone's life, or 'fix' things that aren't broken, even if they're painful sometimes.

Happy endings and humor aren't things that exist apart from painful realities. My favorite thing about humor is how it helps us heal and find joy in life, and this is meaningful because life often sucks. If life didn't suck and people weren't frequently assholes, humor wouldn't mean much or matter that much, either. Happy endings in fiction are powerful because they give us hope and make suffering feel worthwhile, not because it's commonplace in reality or conversely simply a part of some genre. There's an interdependence between angst and humor, gritty realism and fairy-tale idealism. These things draw their power from the other end of the scale.

Anyway, I suppose this all sounds super abstract and rather inoffensive, except I'm writing in response to some Johnlock shippers wanting to 'fix' Sherlock Series 4 by making Sherlock happy with someone other than John. And it's not like I aim to actually stop people from writing or reading what they like, obviously, but the underlying approach to fiction, relationships, and the characters of Sherlock and John (even aside from the obvious disagreement we have over the quality of Series 4) is something that makes it difficult for me to participate in fandom. That is, like I described, this is the opposite of what I value and I care about with fanfic in general and about these characters in particular.

I'm always someone who very emphatically doesn't multi-ship, of course. I may dip my toe in (particularly in writing fics myself) as an experiment or a challenge, but I've never actually read non-OTP fanfic in my life, and I've read a whole metric ton of fanfic through the years. So I know I'm an outlier even among shippers. I can at least *understand* multi-shipping, though, even if not in Sherlock or The Raven Cycle. Sometimes a character does have delicious, fascinating chemistry and potential with more than one person in a given canon. I'd never argue against it unless a particular ship or character was being misunderstood or misrepresented in this process (one obvious example is of a gay character shipped with someone of the opposite sex).

The idea of simply making Sherlock happy with someone (anyone!) other than John is something else, though. It's misrepresenting and misunderstanding both John and Sherlock, and his needs and personality on a fundamental level, but it's also something I disagree with philosophically. It's taking sex and/or romance to be a 'reward' for the handsome male hero, which is particularly unfortunate to apply to Sherlock Holmes, of all characters. Of course, that's always been a broad social trend across all types of media. More specifically, that's also a really common thing in and out of fandom (see all the Irene Adler romances in most modern adaptations), but that doesn't mean I'm any more open to the impulse than I was the first time I saw it.

I guess my point is, neither people nor fictional characters are paper dolls, and their happiness and fulfillment are themselves complex and individual phenomena. Humor is individual too, in that people have different senses of humor: what makes one person laugh wouldn't work on another. Similarly, what makes one person (say, John) happy wouldn't necessarily work for Sherlock. And of course, being married to Mary didn't make John happy anyway; he was fundamentally wrong about what he wanted because he was in denial about himself and wanted to perform a persona, but couldn't quite inhabit it the way Sherlock inhabited his own. Their mutual happiness is a long, drawn out process that's been ongoing since ASiP (and finally culminated in their conversation in TLD), and it's actually silly to think some random person or a convenient former romantic interest from Sherlock's past could waltz in and finish what John started: making Sherlock personally fulfilled and fully human.

Not to belabor the obvious, but people aren't replaceable, and fictional characters even moreso. There's usually an underlying reason some characters have the canon interactions or reactions that they do. This reason is what you have to understand to change those reactions or relationships believably. And I'm assuming believability is desirable if the goal is to 'fix' something about canon in the first place.

For me, it always comes down to believability, even aside from my extreme mono-shipper nature, which I've never denied. It can be hard to untangle the threads of my defensiveness about my OTP (being the only Light and the Way, etc) and my more rational disagreement with the characterization shortcuts fans can take to force certain non-canon pairings to happen at all, let alone to make it so the character's focus and happiness are transferred to this new person. This actually happens whether or not I myself ship the non-canon pairing or want it to happen; I'm always concerned that all romances and happy endings are truly justified and believable, even though I think sometimes most shippers give up and believe the only way is the OOC highway. This is probably why canonical female love interests are so often discounted, dismissed, and written as harpies (or just lesbians) in slash fic. Same thing happens to central canon male friendships (like John and Sherlock, naturally) in het fanon romances, too. People think that to make a favorite character happy *their* way, the only way forward is through, so to speak.

I guess my underlying belief is that you can only take the characters so far in order to fix things for them, and no further, at least if you want them to be themselves (outside a total AU, I mean). Given the canon set of circumstances and events, the options for resolution narrow as time goes on. Some options will fall away with time. Some things may happen, but would wreak severe havoc (for Sherlock to have John die would leave him free, but he wouldn't be happy, for example). It's an underlying fact of the narrative that John and Sherlock need each other to be happy, and it doesn't require me to be a Johnlock shipper to say so. Any fic or meta or artwork that contradicts this basic fact ceases to be a genuinely canon-compliant fanwork and loses any chance of really making Sherlock happy, because (of course) that's no longer Sherlock. Fundamentally, a fan writer can't reject the narrative and simultaneously fix its issues, because in order to make significant changes, deep understanding is necessary.

Like I said, I do think that the *drive* towards characters being happy and fulfilled, and the desire to inject humor and love into bleak or depressing stories is natural and good. This is what stories are for. Further, the urge to fix broken stories and make them our own is deeply natural, meaningful and healing as well. I just strongly think that stories being meaningful also requires being deeply honest, to the characters and their canon as well as to the process of how feelings in general operate. There's going to be inevitable, inherent and even necessary darkness in any honest narrative of that nature, like there was in Series 4. But that doesn't mean there's no path to the light, at that point. To the contrary: it's in the darkness that the light truly shines brightest, as that comic showed so beautifully in the first place.