#ok ok I'll stop being sappy on main just having a lot of thoughts about this atm

[maingh0st]

just wrote an overly-long response to an ask about fandom toxicity so I don't want to add on & make it even longer, but it got me thinking—you guys know that it's actually really fun to talk to people with different opinions, right? like we can talk about the perils of echo chambers all day long, but also, they're just boring!

people are so interesting. they approach & understand things differently than you. that's so cool!

[netherfeildren]

hiiii idk why i’m weirdly nervous to even send this ask bc you’re truly my favorite writer. i was wondering if you would ever consider writing a (joel x reader) story without smut? or maybe not fully without it, just not focused or centered on the actual sex? i can’t really articulate what i’m saying, i’m sorry. please don’t get me wrong, i think i would die without having your smut to read, but i just love your writing so much and think about it so often and the parts that always stick with me are the tender moments, the emotional turmoil, the intimacy. so i always wonder what a full story like that from you would be like? idk i really hope you don’t take this the wrong way because i truly love and won’t stop reading anything you write. idk i feel like such a sappy nerd for even saying this out loud. i hope you get what i’m trying to say, and don’t take this as being unappreciative of what you write, because it’s really the opposite. this is just my awkward love letter to you and your work. ok bye 🫣

hi honey, please don't feel bad or awkward at all! I think I do understand what you mean. I can see how it can kind of seem like sex is used as an emotional crutch in fic and it definitely can fee like that when writing on my end as well like... the pressure to include smut bc it engages better and garners more attention etc. I worried about that when posting the first chapter of pink, and then on the complete opposite, for a while I felt that there was too much sex in tcc and was sort of fretting over that but then told myself that it's the main way they're connecting and communicating at this point in their relationship so it makes sense for them now.... and spoiler alert, there will not be any sex for a while in that one soon. and then on the opposite side of the spectrum again, my new Joel story, I think as I'm seeing it unfold at this point, will actually be somewhat of a slowburn and there's a lot of plot details moving around in that despite the fact that the entire thing happens in the same place the whole time, there's almost no geographical movement if that makes sense. I haven't exactly worked out the nature of the sex at this point and I'm not sure if it'll be a huge focus or somewhat peripheral but this is what I know of the story thus far.

I'm not sure if this has answered your question, it probably hasn't, and I'm sorry for that. but again, please don't feel awkward at all I entirely see and understand what it is you're trying to say. will I ever be able to write a romantic relationship without sex? I'm not sure, I use sex as a crutch in relationships in real life too, lol not to show my ass on here or anything, so it would go without saying that the sentiment translates in my writing as well. I did have an idea some time ago for something with Joel when he's very young and Sarah is a newborn that was focused solely on him and I have a tiny bit on that written, perhaps that would fit your idea, perhaps I'll finish and publish one day. idk we'll see but I do promise that I will keep this in mind and think on it, and thank you for sharing your thoughts with me I really do appreciate it :)