#not bothering with tagging the characters i've discussed about lol

[storiesofsvu]

All of us need to do better

y'all... this is hitting another bad streak. I'm seeing multiple friends/moots/other accounts either disappear from fandom/writing silently, or making posts about how they're either leaving, taking an indefinite hiatus or want nothing to do with writing anymore.

And I *completely* get where they're coming from. (and am losing motivation to write/post every single day).

interaction on posts is WAY down. and I don't mean notes. I mean reblogs and comments/a conversation going in the ask box and even requests. (which can happen ON ANON).

i get messages asking when the next ____ (insert character here) fic is and I have nothing for them because no one's sending in req's anymore either.

I have MULTIPLE people who have signed up for taglists (and recently and I know they're active blogs) who then don't interact with the fics theyve ASKED to be tagged in. You're literally holding a spot someone else might want, the very LEAST you could do would be to reblog things. (and i've seen their blogs, some of them don't reblog ANY other fics, they only have their own posted). this is just bad manners.

If you're a newer blog, let me let ya in on something.... reblogging and commenting and engaging with other people's fics is the easiest way to make friends on here, to become part of discord servers dedicated to fandoms where you can discuss headcanons, watch eps together, and spitball for your own fics and theirs.

it takes 2 seconds to reblog, and if you don't want to ruin the aesthetic of your blog, or don't want people to know it's you reading and enjoying fanfic, it takes 5 mins to make a secondary blog to do exactly that on.

ETA: i also see people complaining in the show tags that “no one writes for ______” anymore. Meanwhile they clearly havent done a good job searching as they havent seen my blog or any of the ones i reccommend.

anyways, i could go on forever. i guess i just woke up in a very lacking mood and wanted to get this off my chest because it's been bothering me a lot recently. Decadent Desires is almost wrapped and I have no motivation to even CHOOSE which series to start next because it seems like most of you do not care AT ALL. And yes i threw in random gifs to grab your attention but at least i'm going to tag this appropriately lol

[catras-breakup-song]

i’m not gonna lie… i’m lost here. is this supposed to be an 4nt1/cr1t1c4l post? if so, i genuinely don’t understand the point being made.

is it that playful banter is a bad thing? is it that being too hands-on violates unspoken boundaries? the message is so unclear to my autistic ass…

oh, wait, OP provided tags:

so aside from the fact that they are absolutely not sisters by default, least of all canonically (even if you do interpret them that way somehow), nor was it ever intended by nate stevenson, i’m still having trouble figuring out how this is problematic.

in which ways is lighthearted touch totally contradictory to passionate kissing/caressing? why can’t partners who are dating do both, especially in different cultural environments such as the horde where intimacy is discouraged and friendly sparring with familiar peers is a safe expression? if it’s so different, what are we as the audience supposed to interpret from their style of physical affection by the final season? side note, but aren’t we supposed to consider the latest version of anything in general as the most accurate?

now i have a question lol, did you take this moment literally at her word, and all the other times she repeated it?

also, my friend just pointed out that this is the classic homophobic talking point of "they seem to just be very good friends! they were roommates!" lmao. i've never agreed with accusing anyone who cr1t1c1z3s catradora of lesbophobia, which i'm not doing necessarily, because that's simply not how it works, however i found this funny and partially true so i'm keeping it in.

the lip bite was included unintentionally 👀

anyway, as i’ve discussed on this blog before, i’m very arospec and it’s inseparably intwined with my identity itself; i also project that onto catra. something we often bring up in that community, is romance-favorability (as its own spectrum of range all the way to blatant repulsion btw) — which is a personal preference that’s defined as exactly as it sounds like and occasionally revolves around fictional depiction as separate from one's own reality — and arguably more importantly, amatonormativity — which is an arbitrary set of rules for romantic expectations set up by an alloromantic society. this is typically thought of as common denial of the idea that someone could actually want to separate themself from needing a life partner in marriage, but can very much be applied to an annoying list of what draws the line between romantic & platonic relationships. that line is very individualistic and is to be decided on such a level only, and it doesn’t even get into what queerplatonic means, a concept saved for another day!

my point is, the OP seems to be trying to claim that catradora objectively cannot be read as romantic because their dynamic growing up & early-on in the story doesn’t perfectly meet socially-constructed standards of what that should look like. i say we need to eradicate those standards altogether! it’s up to catradora to decide what they are, if anything specific at all, not us as the audience — assuming they could’ve had the words at their disposal to knowingly describe it. going back to my earlier paragraph above about how limited they were in the fright zone, i’ll borrow a quote from a comment i made on one of my recent reblogged posts (which is a great meta on how their mutual desire was uh... definitely not platonic):

"Catra and Adora’s desire for one another is shown in a variety of ways, mostly indirect. There are a lot of glances - until season 5, not the kind of open leering at one another that we’d seen between other characters. Mostly it’s fairly playful - wiggled or cocked eyebrows, glances at each other while smirking, that kind of thing, or really intense and somewhat angry glares when they’re fighting."

it's really bothering me that i can't recall where i read this from before, but someone analyzed before how, growing up, catra & adora didn't have a good sense of how to label their relationship with accurate terminology despite being subconsciously aware that they, whether they knew the other reciprocated or not, loved each other "like that." unfortunately, they couldn't further explore it because such love & affection was seen as a punishable weakness in the horde, so they resorted to the only safe option they seemed to have, which was subtle body language and play-fighting as [testudoaubrei-blog] described above.

also, since this screenshot is included in that post... i would be amused to read an explanation of how THIS LOOK from catra is "platonic with a capital P", because i'm not even sure if it's up for debate to be quite honest with you:

ESPECIALLY with the "i always have!" line (which 4nt1s like to doubt, but i don't care, it's official!):

[floralcyanide]

⊱ 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝐺𝑜𝑙𝑑 ― 𝐶𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑢𝑠 𝑆𝑛𝑜𝑤 ⊰

[ ᴀ ʜᴜɴɢᴇʀ ɢᴀᴍᴇs ᴀʟᴛᴇʀɴᴀᴛɪᴠᴇ ᴜɴɪᴠᴇʀsᴇ ғᴀɴғɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ]

1960s ᴜs ᴘʀᴇsɪᴅᴇɴᴛᴀʟ ᴄᴀɴᴅɪᴅᴀᴛᴇ!ᴄᴏʀɪᴏʟᴀɴᴜs sɴᴏᴡ x ғᴇᴍ!ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝘵𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑥 (ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑛𝘰𝑛𝑠): 𝑖𝑛𝘵𝘰 𝘵ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘

౨ৎ 18+ ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀs ᴏɴʟʏ !

⊹ summary: the years following you and Coriolanus’ wedding.

⊹ pairing: young!coriolanus snow / fem!reader

⊹ warnings: major character death, mentions of death, mentions of illness, assassination, violence, rioting, mentions of pregnancy, grief

⊹ word count: 1264

⊹ author’s note: I PROMISE I WROTE THIS BEFORE THE EVENTS OF YESTERDAY LOL. (the assassination attempt against trump) I noticed the other day it had been longer than I had thought that I had updated this fic. and I've only just gotten around to feeling like writing. but it's coincidental, I swear; this has been in the plot document for this fic for a while. I hope everyone enjoys this update and I'm sorry in advance lol

౨ৎ divider credit: @cafekitsune

౨ৎ sᴇʀɪᴇs ᴛᴀɢʟɪsᴛ | sᴇʀɪᴇs sᴏᴜɴᴅᴛʀᴀᴄᴋ | sᴇʀɪᴇs ᴍᴀsᴛᴇʀʟɪsᴛ

౨ৎ this fic has been cross posted to ao3.

ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴄᴏᴘʏ, ʀᴇᴘʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴇ, ᴏʀ ᴄʟᴀɪᴍ ᴍʏ ᴡᴏʀᴋ ᴀs ʏᴏᴜʀs ᴏɴ ᴛᴜᴍʙʟʀ, ᴀᴏ3, ᴡᴀᴛᴛᴘᴀᴅ, ᴏʀ ᴀɴʏ ᴡᴇʙsɪᴛᴇ. ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴘᴇʀᴍɪssɪᴏɴ ᴛᴏ ᴜsᴇ ᴍʏ ᴡᴏʀᴋs ɪɴ ᴀɪ ɢᴇɴᴇʀᴀᴛᴏʀs ᴏʀ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴏ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀʀᴛɪғɪᴄɪᴀʟ ɪɴᴛᴇʟʟɪɢᴇɴᴄᴇ. ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀʏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴜsᴇ ᴍʏ ᴡᴏʀᴋs ᴛᴏ sᴇʟʟ ғᴏʀ ᴀs ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛɪᴏɴ.

❝Let us not emphasize all on which we differ but all we have in common. Let us consider not what we fear separately but what we share together.❞ ― John F. Kennedy

✲ Being Coriolanus’ wife meant meeting a lot of people very quickly, including none other than Martin Luther King Jr. He and the Kennedys have worked closely together during Jack’s presidency, and since Coriolanus was leading the polls, the man decided it was time to meet the striking blonde politician to discuss some things.

✲ You and MLK Jr.’s wife, Coretta, chat at the dinner the Kings had set up while the two men wander off to talk privately. She asks you if you have thought about having children as of yet, and you sigh with a knowing smile, “We’ve been thinking about it.”

✲ It’s been a thing for the media and just about everyone to ask when you and Coriolanus were having kids. You felt pressure, but Coriolanus assured you that you could wait until you were ready. 

✲ The day after your dinner with the Kings, the names of the women who are the face of the Women’s Revolution are splattered across news outlets everywhere due to their march in Washington. Katniss Everdeen and Lucy Gray Baird Lead America’s Women!

✲ Coriolanus is bombarded with questions everywhere he’s seen. But he says to wait until the debate for any further comments about the matter. You worry about the escalation of the movement but decide to keep to yourself about it. Even though you’re nearly finished with your higher education, you’re still a woman, so your opinion doesn’t matter much politically at the moment. 

✲ The debate comes and goes, with Coriolanus still leading the polls. It seems this election is secured for him so far. However, some of the major events happening right now are bothering him, so he decides to pay Jack a visit in the White House, you tagging along, of course. Coriolanus asks him how he managed to make decisions during the Bay of Pigs invasion and during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

✲ “There are going to be difficult times, Coriolanus. But don’t let it scare you. In fact, let it inspire you to work harder to make a change.” 

✲ Coriolanus is more sure of himself after that. November comes around, and to no one’s surprise, Coriolanus wins the 1964 Election by a large margin, with Sejanus Plinth as his Vice President. 

✲ The first year is hard, but it is for every president. You eventually finish your research on Jack and present your work, earning your hard-earned diploma. You are now a doctor in political science. Everyone is extremely proud, including your fellow Americans. They beg the question of what you’re to do with your accomplishments if women don’t have the same opportunities as men. To which you answer, “We shall figure that out soon.” You are certain Coriolanus will go through with his promises.

✲ 1966 comes around the corner almost menacingly. Tensions are high- riots break out in the streets over economic trouble, and women are growing tired of the poor treatment of their employers. Bobby and MLK Jr. seem to fuel the fire when they speak out against the violence in the streets, saying there’s a better way to get the point across. 

✲ Jack falls ill and ends up in the hospital in late February. Coriolanus puts meetings and speeches on hold, clearing the entire week out of duties to visit Jack. You are by his side as he watches his best friend suffer. The family comes back together to take care of Jack. You try your best to console Jackie as she’s beside herself with worry. 

✲ “I don’t think he’s going to pull out of this one, darling,” Jackie frowns, “He isn’t young and isn’t able to bounce back like he used to. I’m afraid this is it.” You assure Jackie her husband will be fine, but you aren’t so sure. The pneumonia doesn’t seem to be resolving itself.

✲ A week after Jack is admitted to the hospital, he dies. Coriolanus and Bobby are on one side of his bed, Jackie and the kids on the other as Jack takes his last breath. You hold yourself together as long as possible until you and Coriolanus eventually return to the White House. When you settle in your room for privacy, you lose it. You burst into tears as you picked up and tossed anything readily available next to you across the room. 

✲ Coriolanus pulls you into his arms, trying to calm you to the best of his ability. Both of you cry together over losing a friend. A friend who happened to bring the two of you together in life and love. 

✲ More tragedy strikes the family. Bobby holds a convention to speak out in favor of women’s rights, but only under one condition- that the rioting stops. This angers many, causing a fight to break out and eventually, shots are fired. One was aimed directly at Bobby’s head. He doesn’t survive.

✲ You knew Bobby’s wife, Ethel, very well, and you and Jackie are there for her in her time of need. The Kennedy family is in shambles at this point. Everyone seems to think that the women from the movement are responsible for assassinating Bobby, but no one has proof. It isn’t until August that someone is held responsible.

✲ Martin Luther King Jr. Shot in Memphis is across every headline around the world. Yet another significant figure is brought down. Yet another friend is murdered. Yet another wife is to be consoled by other women who have been in her shoes, losing a husband suddenly. You aren’t sure what to think anymore.

✲ The radical members of the Women’s Revolution refuse to take sole responsibility for the assassinations, but some are arrested for conspiracy anyway. Many suspect Katniss Everdeen or Lucy Gray Baird as the masterminds of the plots.

✲ With the darkness of the world growing as each day passes, you don’t realize you’ve missed your period. When you do, you figure it’s from the stress of losing dear friends. But Coriolanus urges you to go to the doctor anyway.

✲ In December 1966, you find out you are pregnant. You decide, no matter the gender, their name is to be Kennedy, after your dear friends you’ve lost.

✲ The First Lady being pregnant is a beacon of hope for the nation in its darkest hour. Everyone waits patiently for you to start showing and to find out what gender the baby is. 

✲ Coriolanus decides to be bold and requests to do a motorcade through D.C. to lift the spirits of the people. The Secret Service is weary but obliged to Coriolanus’ wishes. 

✲ When in the motorcade, you clutch Coriolanus’ hand nervously. “Go on, sweetheart,” Coriolanus mumbles in your ear, “Wave to the people. They love it, they love you.” You stare at your husband for a moment in absolute awe as he basks in the glow of attention from the crowd. He effortlessly smiles, his eyes twinkling in unbridled pride- a rare emotion you see from him. Sure, he has his moments of pride, but not like this. The last time he looked this happy was the day he married you. 

✲ It’s been hard for Coriolanus, you’ve noticed. Juggling the presidency while losing those close to him. But you think today has helped more than you possibly could have, especially since you’ve been grieving, too. 

[queer-ragnelle]

hello..👋👋

as someone who wants to get into arthurian legends.. where do you think I should start? is there a precise canon to follow? oh and.. this might be a stupid question but.. how would you describe guinevere's and lancelot's relationship...? i personally really like them because of what I've heard online, but i got shamed for liking it a while ago from people who really hated guinevere and said gawain or galehaut(not sure if i spelled it right) would be better for lancelot..

Hello anon!

I have a Beginner’s Guide to Medieval Arthuriana pinned on my blog. There’s no precise canon to follow, but you’ll get the most bang for your buck reading the works of Chrétien de Troyes and the Vulgate Cycle. Much of what Chrétien developed ended up in the Vulgate, like Lancelot rescuing Guinevere from kidnapping, but there are more elements added from other stories, such as Lancelot’s upbringing in the lake which originated from Lanzelet by Ulrich von Zatzikoven. On the other hand, Yvain’s journey as Knight with the Lion doesn’t make it into the Vulgate, so that’s worth reading on its own.

Regarding the part about people shaming you: block them if you haven’t already and anyone else who does so in future. I’m terribly sorry those people were unwelcoming as you begin to read and learn about Arthurian Legend. Let that not reflect on the community as a whole—there’s many lovely people here that’ll be happy to help you along. I hope you’re able to cultivate a positive online experience to the best of your ability and start enjoying the legends with us! :^D

But back to the fun stuff—I also really like Guinevere/Lancelot! My favorite dynamic is when Arthur is included too, but Guin is my number one pick for Lancey. ;^) It’s hard to describe them in so few words but I think it’s important to establish that they’re friends. This is an oft overlooked aspect that really deserves attention. They care for each other deeply. She helps him out of his madness and he helps her out of danger. This is something Arthur couldn’t do for either of them, much as he wanted to. That’s what makes the pair special, to me.

As for shipping wars about medieval characters….kinda ridiculous! And shaming other people over it is just abhorrent. I’m sorry you had to deal with that! Personally I enjoy Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot and Galehaut/Lancelot. I think it’s obvious I favor Gawain with his wife Ragnelle lol but Gawain/Lancelot is fine too. Gawain can have a little Lancelot. As a treat. I even enjoy “crackship” type pairings, like Bedivere/Lancelot or Kay/Lancelot or maybe a little [unrequited] Agravaine/Lancelot, and if the author or filmmaker chooses to write her in a positive light, Elaine/Lancelot as well. But that’s just it—there’s certainly no such thing as a “better” person(s) to couple with Lancelot. It’s literally fake. It’s fiction. It’s for fun! Doesn’t sound like the people you’ve encountered were having very much fun and put that on you, which was wrong.

Here I’d like to mention I run a discord server called the Arthurian Theater Server. Every weekend I stream TV shows and movies, mostly Arthurian, sometimes random fantasy. But it’s more than visual media—my friends and I share resources, character playlists, art we made, stories we wrote, we’ll liveblog retellings or newly discovered medlit translations, and discuss anything else Arthurian! We have custom made emojis for all the knights and ladies, a variety of original art stickers of the characters provided by several members, and an array of sounds bites ripped from films and TV for the soundboard to be played while streaming. Tumblr can be a little hard to navigate with the unreliable tag system, so this server is dedicated to an organized and moderated exchange of ideas and content. You’re welcome to join us!

Let me know if you have any other questions, it’s never a bother. Take care!

[i-heart-hxh]

Hi! I have a question, between the two versions of the anime, which one do you think was more faithful to the manga when it comes to the personalities of Gon and Killua? I've recently finished watching the 99 anime and I really enjoyed it, but idk if this is an unpopular opinion, but sometimes i felt like some of the characters were a little bit ooc, people usually talk about how the Killua of the 99 anime is so different to the Killua from 2011, but I also felt that Gon was really different in both animes, in the 99 version sometimes he was kinda shy or doubtful, like he was too passive, where as in the 2011 anime he seems overall more confident except for the times where he doubts about his self-worth, like after Hisoka didn't take the tag back during the hunter exam, in the 2011 version it also feels like when they are doing something even if the plan wasn't his, like going to Heaven's Arena, Gon is the one taking the lead and deciding how he is going to do things, idk if I'm making sense lol, the point is that he is a little bit more assertive while still being a sweet boy in the 2011 version while in the 99 version he is mostly just a sweet boy at least to me, I'm really interested in getting your thoughts about this topic, sorry for the long post 😅.

Thank you for sending this, it's definitely an interesting thing to discuss and something I've thought about quite a bit myself! Going to go on for a bit right back at you, haha.

Gon and Killua's characterization is actually a major reason for why I have mixed feelings about the 1999 anime. It has some wonderful strengths--like the beautiful cel animation, creative visual direction, more realistic character designs, unique (and darker) atmosphere, some great OPs/EDs, and a lovely soundtrack, among other things. But there are a few different aspects that I'm not a big fan of, and the changes to Gon and Killua's characters are at the top of my list.

First off, I want to say that to an extent I understand why Gon and Killua are characterized differently. Not much of the manga was out when 1999 was made, so the staff could only work with (essentially) the first impressions of the characters, and the anime had to expand into filler/anime-only material to prevent it from catching up with the manga and running out of things to adapt, so to a degree the staff had no choice but to get creative. The artistic liberties they took aren't always a bad thing. I even like some of the additions they made. But I do think some of the choices they made to deviate from the source material--and some of them were definitely not necessary--lead to them being much flatter characters in 1999 than in the manga itself.

This whole paragraph requires some oversimplification so bear with me, but I feel like in 1999, Gon is characterized as too much of a "good boy," while with Killua they lean too much into his "bad boy" side. Leaning into these stereotypes runs counter to what I love about these two, which is that they're both complex and have mixed lighter/darker attributes that feel somewhat "balanced" between them ultimately, and by the end of CAA they have essentially switched positions with regards to their respective light and darkness. They both have strong light sides and strong dark sides contained within them, which is part of why they get along so well even when they're as different as they are. To make Gon more passive and sweet (as you said, which I agree with) and Killua more edgy and bratty makes the relationship feel much more unequal and, to me, uninteresting.

I love Gon's assertiveness, strong-willed nature, and feral and scary sides, and Killua's softer, more vulnerable, and more childish sides, as well as other sides to them we see in canon, so having those toned down makes me sad.

One small example of a change that has always bothered me in 1999 is that they had Gon introduce himself to Killua when they first meet, and Killua even ignores him initially when he tries to introduce himself. While the scene isn't drastically different, I think it's incredibly important in establishing Killua's character that he introduces himself first and is so eager to get to know Gon. He desperately wants a friend! This is a vital basis for his character and motivations! There are a number of decisions in 1999 like this, where some deviation is made to make the characters more straightforward/fitting an archetype, and it would just be a small thing if not for how carefully constructed and extremely intentional Togashi's writing is, and how delicate the balance is with their characterization in the original series.

I'm personally not a fan of how much bigger and older Killua seems in 1999 compared to Gon as well--at times it feels like there must be an age gap of 3-4 years, which is weird to me with two characters where an important aspect of their relationship is that they're the same age. In the early parts of the manga, there was a bigger height gap between them as well (though it gets less and less with time), but even taking that into consideration, the strongly emphasized size difference is odd to me. (I know some people find it cute and that's fine, this is just my own preference!)

That said, I still do enjoy a lot of their scenes in 1999, even some of the added ones! I just don't think the way their characters are portrayed comes off nearly as layered/fascinating/well-balanced as in the manga and therefore in 2011 (which more-or-less closely follows the manga, with some exceptions). I consider 1999 its own alternate canon and any changes/additions only canon within that universe. (Though some of the additions I like can go under "Headcanon accepted!" status for me, LOL.)

2011 does have some small deviations from the manga too, and I do think there are subtle differences in the characterization vs the manga, but 2011 and the manga are much closer to each other overall and the characters are essentially the same at least, with only small exceptions.

So anyway, I definitely agree with what you said about their respective characterizations, and it's something that bugs me, too. There are a lot of aspects I appreciate about 1999, but I'm actually glad I didn't start with it for multiple reasons, and it's a pretty mixed bag for me overall.

[pynkhues]

What confuses me the most when it comes to these femme/masc discussions is that these poeple act like the majority of fanarts, fanfics, even analyses, don't characterize lestat as the masc one.

He is predominantly the top (and even though they are CANONICALLY vers, bottom lestat is very much unpopular), he is drawn taller, bigger, more mascular than Sam actually is. He is also usually "the husband" , "the father", and I would say that even the fact that he is seen as less vulnerable plays into that trope. Of course Louis being seen as the total opposite.

It is disingenuous to act like your opinion will take away all of those popular interpretations or that you have taken away all Louis' feminine traits by doing your own research behind some fan readings. And the fact is that many of them are based on modern standards of what it means to be masculine/feminine,on the way poeple see gay men as more feminine by default or are simply already largely accepted by the fandom.

As you've said already, neither of them are exclusively masc or femme! And at the end of the day caring more about a fictional character than about the fact that there is a real person behind the screen you are calling names or making negative assumptions about is weird. Especially when that person has been open to fair and real discussions from the beginning.

Sorry for the ask being so long but the way some people act on the internet without any care or consideration really bothers me. Hope you had a good day despite all of this!

I hope you don't mind me grouping all your asks together like this, because I really appreciate you all being so supportive and engaged with the discussion, and think you do bring up some different and interesting points, most of which I agree with, some I don't necesarily (in particular, I wouldn't say Louis' just Jacob once he's stopped performing masculinity, but I appreciate too that there are some mannerisms there that do feel more informed by Jacob's own movements/experiences than in other periods of Louis' life), but I feel like I've said all I really want to say about it at this point.

So! Links! Because yeah, I've been pretty baffled by people being so vitriolic about different interpretations of the dynamic, given masc!Lestat x fem!Louis is far and away the most popular interpretation, which I talked about a while ago here, and I do tend to see it as an exercise in trying to control the fandom and iterations of Louis' character that may appear in fandom spaces, which I talked about here and here along with the pervasiveness of gender essentialism in these conversations (although I guess they finally did respond directly and off anon lol). I know a lot of you are responding specifically to this post, but the fashion and nails I talk about here, and - - yeah. I think I'm just going to leave it there for now, if that's okay?

Thank you all though for these thoughtful asks, they were really interesting to read (and honestly, it's nice to feel some resonance in both directions), and I'm grateful for the flurry of support after yesterday. I'm fine though (yoga helped, haha), and I'm really just ready to move on from it honestly. Hopefully that cohort did just block me, as they tagged they would, and we can enjoy our own spaces in the fandom playground. :-)

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

apologies for being callous in asking this, but seeing as so many aegon-centric (or those who had tagged him) blogs, no matter how good their dissertion and dissection of aegon is, gets called/is assumed to be a rapist defender/apologist, have you ever received an ask/comment calling you that? if so, i hope it never bothered you at all. apologies for bringing it up but i feel like getting called that would probably stopped those from actually enjoying/talking about him and his other qualities (such as his alcoholism, his bond with his dragon, his actions during the dance, his desperate survival.) because it actually stopped me from enjoying his character (because i initially felt so bad liking a character like that), going through his tag as well as looking for fics because of the vitriol. well that was until i stumbled upon your AKAB and OFCiR, which gave me so much perspective on aegon. and your opinion on the dyanna scene (which is oh boy, such a hot topic) was so beautiful.

No worries anon! So actually, I've never received an ask or comment with the rape defender/rape apologist accusations (and now that I've said this, I'm sure I'm sure someone will want to break that streak lol). I've participated in discussions in general in which those sorts of attacks were tossed around, but I've never had them aimed at me directly.

I'm honestly pretty surprised it hasn't happened, but I sort of chalk it up to two things. 1) I block prodigiously and pre-emptively and 2) I tag my discourse posts judiciously and try not to antagonize other fans by posting critical things in the main tags. And although I know opinions vary on this, using anti tags and team tags is also another way of making sure that people who have certain tags blocked will not see my posts, so I do use those when I feel it's appropriate. Beyond those two things, I think I also have a habit of writing pretty detailed responses and providing evidence to back up my assertions, which probably discourages people who are just looking to get a rise out of someone and don't want to read a five paragraph essay about why they're wrong.

I'm really sorry that those sorts of accusations have stopped you from enjoying Aegon's character in the past, and I'm glad my fics helped you to enjoy him again. Obviously I think he's an interesting guy with a compelling, tragic story! I will say this: I've been in the greater asoiaf fandom for well over a decade now, and characters who are far more morally dubious than Aegon have always had fans. Ramsay has fans. Euron Greyjoy has fans. I don't know if you were watching GoT when the show first aired, but so many show only people hated Jaime at first, not knowing his arc, and by the end he was one of the more beloved characters on the show. And by the end of the Dance, no one's hands are clean. Rhaenyra herself allows Dalton Greyjoy to reave along the coast of the Westerlands, which results in hundreds of women being taken as salt wives (and we know what that entails!). If we can only enjoy the most morally correct characters, our choices for the Dance era are pretty slim, and mostly limited to literal children.

I doubt most people throwing out those accusations could even spot actual rape apologia in a fandom context, considering all of the other types of apologia I see flying around unchecked. Rape apologia is not the existence of rapist characters, enjoying those characters, or even analyzing why those characters did what they did. Rape apologia is not questioning why the show decided to make Aegon a rapist, or hoping he might get more character development in the future. Rape apologia is making excuses for rape, or outright denying that it happened. So, saying "Dyana was probably lying" or "Dyana was probably into it" or "Dyana was scamming the royal family," or even what Aegon himself said in the scene, "it was just a bit of harmless fun," that's clear cut rape apologia. And here's the thing, when something is wrong, it's usually because it causes harm, and unlike simply enjoying a character, actual rape apologia does cause harm. Making excuses for or denying even fictional rapes perpetuates rape culture in ways that make it harder for women to speak up against assault, and harder for rapists to be prosecuted effectively. But again, I have never seen actual rape apologia among the team green fans I know.

Finally, I'll just say that while fandom in general can be a fun, positive thing that helps people connect with each other based on shared interests, that drives people to think and to create and to do, on the other hand, fandom can also feed some pretty shitty modern impulses. It creates cliques, empowers bullies, and worst of all, it encourages a kind of brand driven consumption that in turn perpetuates this idea of fandom as activism. Activism is getting involved in your community, volunteering, fundraising, protesting, labor organizing, boycotting, etc. Activism is not scolding people online for enjoying media the wrong way. People who think this way need to reconnect with the outside world, and anon, I hope you continue to enjoy whichever characters fascinate you, including Aegon.

[givehimthemedicine]

Lol sure, shit on El and Mileven (which you instead call it these stupid joke names like Milkvan because you're so funny) and post about Byler and then claim that you don't ship it. Whatever works for you.

??? idk if you're new here or what, but people call it milkvan etc. as a courtesy to keep negative discussion out of the ship tag.

I'm not sure what I've said that could be misconstrued as "shitting on El" - is it just that you've misidentified me as a byler, and hating El is the only reason you can conceive of for not shipping Mike with her?

I'm not into either ship. I dislike mileven because it's a poor romantic match which is stunting both characters. I don't care whether byler happens because neither of those characters especially interest me. yes, I do occasionally mention byler whenever the themes or whatever I'm discussing lead me there as a logical conclusion. I don't have to ship them instead to understand that the narrative does not support mileven. the two aren't a binary.

I don't think reading byler as more likely endgame constitutes "shipping it" but whatever you'd like to think is fine I guess, I don't really care. you do you, just don't bother people about it.

[danzafila]

You get me with your tags in the reblog of that post (about Astarion). Thanks for saying it so on point XD

lol sorry for the late reply, but YES you get me.

I'm so tired of going into any other character (or ship)'s tags and half the posts are about Astarion (but they had to tag every other character that gets a glancing mention under the sun... and yet half the time they can't bother to tag any of the numerous Astarion ship tags I have blocked!!!). and I'm sooo tired of literally every fucking discord server I find (about OTHER characters) still having half the fucking convos be about that stupid pale elf

I don't even dislike him!! I just hate the fucking chokehold he has on the fandom and the way his fans can't seem to comprehend that not everyone else is as obsessed with him as them and might not actually appreciate getting his ass shoved down our throats every fucking where we go (ESPECIALLY in places explicitly meant to focus on characters OTHER THAN HIM! SHUT UP ABOUT ASTARION SHUUUT UPPPPP ABOUT HIM I S2G!!!!!!)

anyways. I've half joked about making a BG3 server where mentioning Astarion gets you kicked and every time I get a discord notification and it turns out to be someone spamming screenshots/fanart of or starting a discussion about that motherfucker again, I get closer and closer to making that a reality lmao

[boombambaby]

respond to the following prompts out of character, then tag others you'd like to get to know a little bit better.

roleplayer name: Cas!

roleplayer pronouns: she/her -- though I usually go by character's name/gender or don't really care tbh.

muse name(s): Kuzco!

preferred communication: I'm pretty open everywhere. I'm off Weds/Thurs, and I work from 6am - 2pm EST. At work I have access to Tumblr so I can be reached in DM's, and on Discord on breaks. after work I'm usually here for DM's or on Discord all evening until about 10pm EST (though I should try to get to bed earlier tbh). I'm admittedly terrible at communicating, though. You can reply to me, and I'll open it up and read it and be doing something else, and think 'i'll get to it in a few minutes!' and then completely forget that it exists. On that same note, i'm also always worried I'm bothering someone, so I rarely reach out first for messages unless I have a specific question or something. I love to chat though, or discuss our characters or ideas or. . ANYTHING, honestly. I just sometimes need a nudge.

experience: I've been writing/roleplaying since 2005! Started with Myspace and AIM roleplay, moved from there to LiveJournal for a hot minute and then Facebook, Twitter, and eventually Roleplayer.me. Always said I'd NEVER join Tumblr, bc it seemed so confusing, but. Here we are!

preferred roleplay type: I'm a fan of all kinds. I LOVE banter or crack roleplay. It's my all time favorite, and I think it's the best tool for personality building a character you can have. Thinking on your feet in character can be a BLAST and it's just. So fun. Some of the best interactions come from that or prompts. I'm also a fan of sentence multi-para though I have a tendency (if you couldn't tell) to ramble and turn it into a novella pretty easily.

pet peeves & dealbreakers: I honestly don't have any dealbreakers. I've been doing this so long I've learned to roll with the punches, mostly. I'd have to really think about pet peeves, but I don't think I have any. I've had bad situations in the past, I'm sure everyone has. I don't like overly possessive writing partners. If we ship and we're single ship, that's fine. But don't try to dictate who I can and can't speak to or write with. It honestly takes a lot to upset me. Don't include me in drama, don't count me as a number and never interact or straight up ignore me, don't leave me hanging forever (I'm very lenient with replies, I will NEVER pressure you, but if it's been months I might start to question what's going on.) and we'll be cool. EDIT TO ADD; THOUGHT OF A PET PEEVE. RL issues and politics! I understand that the world is a WILD place right now, and there are controversial topics and that everyone has an opinion. That's all fine and good; BUT I ROLEPLAY SPECIFICALLY TO GET AWAY FROM REAL LIFE AND STRESS, and the very LAST thing I want to see on my timeline is a post endorsing a presidential candidate, or posts showing a war zone, or any of the other trending topics right now. Roleplay is a fictional world we create with other writers. It's not that I don't care about those issues, I just don't think they have any place here. and the black outs and things that roleplayers do for 'support' and all that, I just. I don't get it. I don't want to see it. Same with the asks to support x family from x war torn country. Just. please. Don't.

best time to write: Probably in the morning while I'm at work, other than that I can be pretty sporadic. I love to relax and banter and do goofy stuff at night. But honestly, I'm always up for something!

are you like your muse? Ahhhhh, I'm gonna go ahead and say no lol. I can be quick, teasing and sarcastic when I get to know someone, and I'm pretty extroverted like Kuzco with a lot of things; but the cocky arrogance, all about me, flaunting his wealth and tossing people out of windows bit? Total and complete opposite of who I am. Writing him is definitely a TON of fun, and a very welcome relief from the stresses of real life, and I love writing for him so, so much.

tagged by: @wintersovereign

tagging: @smartylina @musemelodies @emeraldofparis @gunslinginnhogtyin @hellsmayflower @keepmovinjunior @lcafman

[tubbytarchia]

You don't have to publish this ask but I just need to vent to someone who might understand, cause like, I'm over here like "I don't like fh or scott sorry, I promise though I won't talk about it or maintag just letting you know so you don't waste time since I know there's overlap between us, also I have a lot of interesting ideas about them still but I won't talk or write about them because I know that would make some of you upset and more than anything else I want everyone here to have a fun time and ship and let ship <3" and these unproblematic only fh fans will turn around and be like "oh so you're homophobic? You're the most annoying person on the planet? You're just trying to start a ship war? You're the problem with fandom" like BITCH?! Never met people so determined to make their actually quite comparatively good and healthy fandom toxic

This is where it stops being funny and actually genuinely really upsets me, is that very few people dare to talk about "toxic" Flower Husbands, let alone maintag it (and they should be able to! Because it's not fucking hate? Its valid discussion and expression of opinion that doesn't attack anyone). A few people have been more vocal about it recently and I've seen more people besides you come forth NOW, because you didn't want to upset anyone or get shittalked etc in the past for holding a different opinion to the overwhelming majority. I know people who've joked "am I just insane? Am I just stupid for seeing something here that everybody else is vehemently against?". There's evidently people who have just shut up because otherwise they'll get burned at stake, or they stay in their own little circles

And then a few too many FH posts that dare even imply any negative qualities about FH from a character standpoint get a little bit seen, and suddenly FH tag is full of 10 people defending their ship's honor because how dare you!! The way these people are so fucking volatile about fuck-all upsets me so much. Like, haha, we've been proven right I guess! You DO get burned at stake. These people probably aren't even bothering to read any such FH interpretations if they even SEE any, and don't just see 5 other posts claiming "oh my god can people just shut up about toxic FH and write characters breaking up for NORMAL reasons" (genuinely baffling concern that I've seen like at least 3 times btw??) that just leads them to believe that this is a wide-spread "problem" that needs neutralizing? They take even the thought of such posts as personal attacks that prohibit them from shipping FH for some reason? Like dude I fucking dig FH? Just for not always the same reasons as the majority but I guess I've sinned and shouldn't be allowed to speak lol. And these people don't HAVE to read interpretations they don't like, goddamn, look past?? Block if it hurts you that much?? As you said, the Tumblr traffic fandom is largely really kind and healthy so I can't fathom where the hell these guys come from. And then they proclaim the people who have largely shut up or kept to themselves "the problem", and that's the exact response that has been feared lmao

sorry. Long answer but fuck. I'm so sorry anon. The Flower Husbands scene is truly miserable if you dare think of them as anything other than cuddly and cute and teasing at most. Your interpretation is invalid because. ? homophobia I guess lmao

[ricanvvas]

Hello. I have noticed your very impassioned posts about shipping male friends in anime fandoms and am attempting to write a response in what I hope comes across as an understanding manner.

I am not here to attack you. I am not trying to call you homophobic. I will not be trying to convince you to ship anything you don't want to ship.

I do agree with you that fandom as a whole could benefit from more discussions about platonic relationships. Sometimes just seeing a lot of romantic shipping posts can get a bit annoying. Society as a whole could benefit from focusing less on romantic and sexual relationships. Platonic relationships are just as valid and can be just as important and deep as romantic relationships, if not more so.

However, I don't agree with how you seem to talk down to shippers. I've seen you say that people who ship characters who are best friends must not understand friendship. That is not a fair assumption to make. You don't know those people. You shouldn't make generalizations about their experiences. For example: I have 3 best friends I've known since high school who I would do anything for and be devastated to lose, and I ship Gojo and Geto. And I know full well that they will probably never be confirmed to be canonically in love, and I'm fine with that. You shouldn't be making assumptions about people based on their shipping preferences.

And again, I am NOT calling you homophobic, and that's not the point people tried to make when pointing out that the ships you are critiquing in those posts are almost entirely, if not all, mlm ships. I haven't seen you mention non-canonical wlw ships, like Nobara/Maki, or non-canonical m/f ships, like Gojo/Utahime or Yuji/Nobara. None of those are confirmed canon. I know there are only so many ships you can list or know about, but when you only ever mention mlm ships, it appears as though you are making a targeted attack. I am saying this because I want to give you the benefit of the doubt and believe that this is unintentional.

I've also seen you mention that you want to be a writer and how you would feel if people headcanoned your characters contrary to your intention. All I can say to that is that you cannot control how people will react to your writing and attempting to do so is futile. It may sound harsh, but it's true.

I can see that you have very strong opinions about this, but if you do care more about discussions about platonic male friendships than shipping discourse, then your time would be better spent making those discussions yourself and blocking the shipping tags. You aren't going to change anyone's minds with those posts. Sure, you'll attract people with similar opinions, but, as you've seen, you'll also attract the annoyance of people in related tags who didn't want to see posts like yours. For better or for worse, shipping is ingrained in the foundations of modern fandom going all the way back to the 60s with Trekkies writing fan fiction and making fan magazines to ship Spock and Kirk. It's something you'll have to either make peace with or ignore.

I'm not expecting you to reply to this. Honestly, I'll be surprised if you even bother to read the whole thing (I doubt I'd be happy getting a whole essay from some rando in my ask box lol). But if you do read the whole thing, just know that I say these things in the hopes that it will help you have a better relationship with fandom. You don't have to like all of it, and you don't even need a reason to dislike something. Fandom is about having fun, but I just can't imagine that this whole discourse is much fun for you.

Skimmed through your input, the respect is much appreciated.

But I would’ve really liked it if you didn’t bring up the being a writer part—I hope you realize that writers are writers for themselves and not for the satisfaction of others. Their imagination and their work. If somebody is twisting an author’s story and their characters, they have the right speak up and be upset because it belongs to them. Yes, it’s shared publicly, but nonetheless, they should be respected. I think it’s very ridiculous to try and create excuses for this.

A reminder of my main point; friendships should be left alone as friendships instead of being twisted.

I don’t care for headcanons or what ships one likes or whatnot. Trust me, I don’t have that much free time. You have your opinion. My problem is enforcing it onto others and this is an undeniable topic.

Saying these people probably don’t have strong friendships is an an unfair assumption from me, I’ll agree, but I’m not completely wrong for thinking so when they go berserk when I don’t agree with romantically or sexually shipping platonic friendships.

I was targeting specifics here, too. There are rarely any cases to the otherwise of this, but “MLM” has been fetishized immensely across anime fandoms, to the point that male friends are not allowed to stay male friends without being seen as a romantic or sexual partner which is where the toxicity starts. I hadn’t targeted “WLW” or regular male/female ships because they aren’t extremists in HUGE amount of numbers who will bash and shun you for not giving into their ideas. There is no dodging this fact—sure some of them are normal who accept their idea is not accepted fandom-wide and move on, but others will go as far as giving you death threats.

For example, I know an artist who ships Gojo and Utahime, and they got plenty of doxing death threats. It’s very common. When it’s a female and a male, suddenly nobody is entitled to their own opinion. This happens more often than you know.

In the same way, if you comment “they’re best friends” on a post where Gojo/Geto are shipped, they will come for you with ridiculous attacks and ridiculous claims of homophobia and I can test this any second to prove it. They have no sense of respect. They’re triggered by canon, so they should be the ones to find something to their liking. They don’t even watch for story, seriously. And I would like to kindly remind the obvious that people like me are preaching the givens from the author while people like them are preaching things they twisted in their head, so why are we the ones being attacked? We aren’t even the ones with opinions, we are the ones with factual givens.

It’s been barely two years since I became an anime fan and I thought the definition of fandom was to enjoy and speak about the show and author’s work all together—not twist it into something it isn’t and attack one another. If not, then I’m ashamed. I have never personally went up to somebody in the comments and said “fuck you” for shipping two male best friends but I’ve been told that several times for calling two male best friends, best friends.

And the thing about these animes is that they’re beautiful stories, they’re writings from an author portraying strong and emotional friendship between men, encouraging men to be more open and expressive and appreciate those they admire, because in reality they find it difficult to do so. It’s okay to feel angry if your friend left, it’s okay to cry if your friend hurt you in a way, it’s okay to grieve for years when your friend dies—but what does the “fandom” insensitively say? “They’re definitely gay and in love.” What’s the message people are sending when you only address males to romantic and sexual relationships?

Close friendships are damn strong. Stronger than one wants to believe.

What’s the point of watching something just to toss aside the story and contort characters that aren’t yours? That debunks almost any right to yell at those who don’t do what you do.

I’m not trying to change minds. It’s the other way around. They need to stop trying to change minds, and when one doesn’t buy it, they need to stop attacking childishly.

[foundtherightwords]

Writing Tag Game

Thanks for the tag @waterfallsilverberrywrites!

About me

When did you start writing? I've written silly little stories throughout middle school and high school, though technically I've only started writing fanfic two years ago, after I became obsessed with a certain chocolate-button-eyed British actor :)

Are there different genres or themes you enjoy reading other than the ones you write? Fantasy (I've written one fantasy AU; I want to write more though) and mysteries. Funnily enough, I write mainly romance but I don't enjoy reading romance at all (I guess that's why I started writing my own!)

Is there an author you want to emulate, or are compared to often? I wish I got compared to a famous author, lol! I write a lot of historical stuff, and other than the classical authors (Bronte and Tolstoy are the two main ones for me), I'm influenced a lot by A.S. Byatt. Her writing is so subtle and poetic at the same time, and her characters and their relationships are so complex but still feel real.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space? There's not much to tell, haha. I don't really have a "writing space", it's just either at my horribly cluttered desk or in bed.

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse? Music! Most of my stories are inspired by music (and are titled after songs/lyrics), and sometimes, when I'm stuck, a song can help a great deal in getting me inspired again.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and/or places you write about? Kind of? I've written one fic (well, a series - one long fic and a one-shot) set in my city.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? If so, do they surprise you? Loneliness and family issues. Not surprising at all 🥲

Characters

Would you please tell me about your current favorite character? I'm currently writing for Emperor Geta (Gladiator II) so I guess he's my favorite by default. He's such an ass (probably the most asshole-ish character I've ever written, even more than Paul) but that's what makes him so fun to write!

Which of your characters would you be friends with in real life? Eddie for sure. Heck, I was basically Eddie myself in high school (minus the whole Satanic Panic thing.) And Leonard! We can discuss books and music and take long walks together. Maybe Billy too, who's such a sweetheart. Ralph would annoy me (sorry! I love him but he's too hyper for me), I don't think I have enough in common with either Tom or Michael to be friends with them, and I'd probably want to kick Arthur and Paul in the teeth :P

Which characters would you dislike the most if you met them? See above :))

Tell me about the process of coming up with your characters? Are we talking about OCs? For my female lead, mostly I try to go off from the canon character I'm pairing with her and see what traits/backstory would make them contrast and complement each other most effectively.

Do you notice any reoccurring themes/traits in your characters? Basically, all of my couples (except for Hellcheer) consist of a stoic, competent, no-nonsense woman and the pathetic man-child she takes under her wings. Also, most of my OFCs have dark hair and green eyes, I don't know why (they're not based on any real person, I just like that coloring I guess!)

How do you picture your characters? I usually don't, is that weird? Occasionally I would look for an actress or model whose appearance fits what I'm imagining for the character, but most of the time I don't bother.

My writing

What’s your reason for writing? I have stories in my head screaming to get out, I'm just obeying their voices :))

Is there any specific comment or type of comment from readers that you find particularly motivating? Any comment at all would be great at this point. But what I love the most are the comments that point out specific parts in my stories that I hope would make an impact, or pick up on Easter eggs (like the commenter who noticed that Edward and Christine's twins in the Hurstfield Hall series are named after Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath!)

How do you want to be thought about by your readers? As long as they enjoy my stories, I'm happy.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer? Angst, hurt/comfort, world-building.

Have you been told is your greatest strength as a writer is by others? Angst, I guess?

How do you feel about your own writing? I go back and forth between two extremes. Sometimes I'd reread my stuff and think, Damn, I wrote that? That's not half bad! And other times I cringe so hard at my own writing I almost fold in on myself.

If you were the last person on earth, would you still write? Sure, if there was still something to write with!

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, do you write purely for yourself, or is it a mix of both? I write for myself. If others happen to enjoy it, great! If not, I'm already happy with what I've written.

Tagging @jo-harrington, @wheels-of-despair, @palomahasenteredthechat, and anyone else that wants to play!

[rayofsunshinc]

MEET THE MUN - ooc

NAME?: Sara

PRONOUNS?: she/they

MOST ACTIVE MUSE(S)?: as of this moment, Aaron, Daryl, Michonne, Cassidy, Steve Harrington, Jughead, Bucky

RP PET PEEVES?: biggest pet peeve is BIG assumptions about my characters that clearly show they haven’t read important details on my bio page. I understand not reading my entire bios, some are long, but I have bullet points of things I feel are need to know. (Obvi doesn’t apply when I don’t have things done on the bio page but idk idk, I can just tell when someone is assuming/hasn’t looked at my blog at all) Other things that bother me? drama, ooc posts that are really frequent non-rp related to the point of I can’t tell it’s a rp blog and constantly negative, guilt tripping, pushing plots that I’m not into

EXPERIENCE / HOW MANY YEARS?: this is a big read on myself, but y'all are my besties so I'll admit that in high school I did Glee roleplay on facebook, so technically I've been doing rp for about 15 years. I got on tumblr rp shortly thereafter, I'd say. my first rp blog on here was Arthur Pendragon and I still write him from time to time. :') This blog is also about 7 years old and I’ve been writing some of these characters for that long!

FLUFF, ANGST, OR SMUT?: all three! I love a good balance of fluff and angst. my muses deserve to be happy, but I also love delving into their issues. smut probably comes in last, because (aside from a few of my muses who are slutssss), it has to be developed a little bit and even so, I don't like to only have smut on here.

PLOTS OR MEMES?: Both. I love memes for both fun and for things getting in depth. Sometimes things do go more easily with a little discussion, and anyone who has tried to plot with me probably knows I'm not great at it ... lol. but I do try, because clarification makes things easier, especially with deeper subjects and ships.

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES?: I get carried away so easily and I do tend to fill in extra background thoughts and all that. Not opposed to any length as long as there is something to go off of.

TIME TO WRITE?: first thing in the morning, after getting ready for work/morning routine and having some coffee, I write for about an hour and lemme tell you, it's magical. In stark contrast to that, as soon as the sun goes down, if I concentrate for like an hour, gold! I also love to write when it's rainy/gloomy, and I have a little coffee treat.

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S)?: I tend to write characters that I relate to in some way most of the time. Some are very similar, some I don’t think there’s much but internal stuff. Here’s a list of who I’m most to least like, just for fun! Ben, Jonathan, Peeta, Dan, Stiles, Aaron, Jughead, Richie, Eddie, Nick, Kevin, Dominic, Allison, Bucky, Steve R, Daryl, Michonne, Natasha, Cassidy, Mickey, Steve H, Fiona, Cheryl

tagged by: @untilthcyrot

tagging: @painofhumanity, @apurekindness, @filmdesque, @lostgrimesgirl, @corignem, and anyone else who wants to share!

[bookishfeylin]

I just wanted to let u know ur posts and analysis' about Tamlin has softened a lot of my very strong hatred for him. He reminds me a lot my step-dad in a lot of ways and i was incredibly resistant towards Any kind of sympathy or anything else towards him

I have been 100% aware it's full on projection on my part lol but ur posts have put a lot into perspective on Tamlin, and I think a lot of it is is bec u don't try to justify any of his actions or tear anyone down to lift him up. You don't even need to slander Rhys to do it, either

you've presented so many of ur posts very eloquently without a lot of bias imo and I know a large part of my sheer hatred of Rhys is due to the Fandom and the books themselves justifying his every action. and I think bec u actively do not do that to Tamlin I was able to hate him a little bit less

so thank u

- queenofshadowsandflame

Hello! Thank you so much! This was such a lovely compliment!

I'd consider myself a book1!Feyre stan and a Feylin stan of course, and although I really, truly love my ship, but I also want to be cognizant of the fact that many people find half of my ship (Tamlin) a triggering character, so I've always attempted to advocate for my ship whilst not undermining what he becomes later on, because as someone who finds Rhysand reminiscent of my abuser I know what it's like for people to undermine my feelings about a character being triggering and I'd hate to do that to others.

I've dissected his abuse all throughout my 'tamlin's abuse' tag, but I wrote my most thorough breakdown of Tamlin's and Rhysand's abuse here using the National Domestic Violence Hotline if you're interested and I talk about his red flags in book one in comparison to the bat boys here as well. I'm glad that I've managed to remain balanced in my discussion of his character and not let it be clouded by my love for my ship that my analyses were written tastefully and objectively enough to not bother you. This honestly really made my day :)

[revolutionsoftheheart]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you for tagging me @majolination! 💜

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

24

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

166,478

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently: Star Trek, Ted Lasso, Doctor Who, although I'm mainly posting Ted Lasso at the moment (and my Doctor Who fic has never seen the light of day!). I find it hard to go back and forth between different fandoms.

Over the course of my fandom life: Stargate SG1 and Sanctuary (which are still only on FFN at the moment), Once Upon a Time, Madam Secretary (only Tumblr ficlets).

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

five (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Picard)

plausible deniability (Once Upon a Time)

in the silence (Ted Lasso)

somewhere along the way, i should forget (Once Upon a Time) 

Hide (Once Upon a Time) 

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! I've gone back and forth on it during my fandom life because a few years ago, I read some post that was like 'you shouldn't reply to comments because you're just inflating the numbers' and that turned me off for a while, but I like answering comments. I like talking to people and discussing fic! So I do respond. As much as I can anyway. Sometimes, life gets busy.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Surrender (Once Upon a Time), although it's really just tragic. Calling it angst almost seems to soft.

Maybe five (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Picard)? It's a fic about a couple breaking up over and over again.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably Ethereal (Once Upon a Time). It's one of two Christmas fics I wrote in that fandom, and I think this one is the most magical and very cute at the end.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, I luckily never have!

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

Sometimes, when the story requires it. I've never written smut for the sake of smut. I need emotions or something to go with it. I also dislike writing it, haha.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I have not written crossovers.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No! But I did write a fic in French once.

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

Yes, but it was never completed and I forget where it lives. It was a group project by a few authors, to write a season together.

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

I'm going to answer this as the ship for which I've read fic the longest and that would be either Janeway/Chakotay (Star Trek VOY) or Picard/Crusher (Star Trek TNG), but this is a very hard questions to answer. The ship I've written the most for is Regina/Robin (Once Upon a Time). I love River Song/The Doctor (Doctor Who) with every single cell of my body, but I've never written anything for them. And of course, Ted/Rebecca (Ted Lasso) own my heart at the moment. So, my favourite ship? Yes.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Oof. Probably White Lies (Once Upon a Time). There's a chapter of it on AO3, but I won't bother linking because it's only one chapter, and although there's a full folder on my computer with scenes and I know the entire plot in my head, I don't think I'll ever have the motivation to write it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I do angst pretty well, or like just emotional thoughts/scenes. Exploring characters and their motivation (vs plot, which I don't do as well, or much).

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

The English language? Lol. Okay, not entirely true, but my self-confidence in the fact that my English is good enough be a writer. Let's put it that way. I find that my vocabulary is never big or strong enough.

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

If the fic calls for it sure! But it needs to be done well.

I've never written a dialogue in another language in an English fic, but as a reader and as someone who speaks French, nothing turns me off a fic faster than bad French. So if I were to write dialogue in another language, I'd want to make sure it was 100% correct.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

A little unknown local show on message boards 15+ years ago. It's been lost to the ether of the internet.

First fandom of my English fandom era: Sanctuary.

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

I'm cheating and saying three because I can.

Favourite fic of all time and completed? Probably Greatest Hits (Once Upon a Time). I'm super proud of that one and all the multiple AUs I created for it and the way they are weaved together.

From this past year and completed? five (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Picard), hands down. I am so very proud of this fic. It's the first fic I managed to complete in 5 years. I feel like chapter 1 is a little rough, but by chapter 4, I impressed myself and it was a very nice feeling.

Incomplete? I've never had as much fun writing and planning something as I've had working on celestial games (Ted Lasso). I hit a bit of a wall because life got intense and then I lost my momentum, but I cannot wait to get back to it! I smile just thinking about it.

tagging in a no-pressure way (and sorry for any double tags): @broadwayfreak5357 @fandomfrolics @somewhereapart @ninzied @the-alpha-incipiens @writtenndust @quillerqueen and anyone else who wants to do it! (I did my best trying to spread this to various fandoms haha)