#probably going to keep working on my fanfics but as for engaging and interacting with the fandom idk

[bats-baby]

LGBTQ+ CHARACTERS IN BRIDGERTON: A RANT

I want to say that as a sapphic person myself, I love Bridgerton. I adore it. It’s my favorite show. I love seeing these beautiful couples fall in love and investing all this time into seeing their stories play out. Most of them are straight couples, and yet I love the show anyways because I love love.

I’m talking attraction, infatuation, romance, angst, fluff, lust, honestly everything that has to do with it.

I have given so much support to the heterosexual ships of Bridgerton as a sapphic person. What I find really unfortunate is that a lot of heterosexual fans can’t seem to do the same thing for a sapphic pairing. If you’re upset because you can’t relate to a queer couple, that’s okay. I can’t relate to a straight one. You have plenty of other heterosexual ships in the show/books to identify with, and us queer fans unfortunately have had nothing. Until now.

Fran can still struggle with a miscarriage, infertility, grief, wanting a child, and still be queer. We have no idea what her season is going to be like and we won’t know for a while. To say you that hate her her season already just because Michael is now Michaela isn’t fair.

If you’re upset just because you prefer Michael as a man, then you still have the book and you can read it whenever you want.

Benedict can still end up with Sophie even though he’s bisexual. The point of bisexuality is being attracted to multiple genders.

Ever since these Benedict and Francesca queer confirmations happened, this fandom has become extremely toxic and very unwelcoming. Sure every fandom has its levels of toxicity, but seeing people talk about how the love that I and many other queer people express isn’t a story worth telling has just become so exhausting to see everywhere online. I’ve become uncomfortable in this fandom space and at this point I might just take a break and come back when I think I can handle it.

[tinyfantasminha]

I don't want to keep clogging my blog with vent posts but uh... I guess this is a more general concern/observation

But it's getting real hard to stay motivated in fandom spaces when there's little compensation, and annoying occurrences are more frequent than good ones.

Mainly there's been less engagement/people showing interest in creators and their art (such as sending asks, making comments and reblogging with tags) and MORE parasocial interactions. This goes for both artists and writers.

Over this year I've noticed a vast disinterest within my public in general. Asks about ocs, my art, or just nice simple comments of ''I love your art'' has been getting more and more scarce. My follower number is bigger than 2-3 years ago sure and I get more likes on my posts but they are feeling more like just numbers and statistics than actual people who supposedly like my stuff.

And while people being parasocial with creators has always been a thing, I feel like it's gotten way worse... in general? People sending personal pictures out of the blue in hopes of being validated, unwanted psychological advice or assumptions about the creator without any established connection first ( <- these happened to me in the same week.) ventdump, just insensitive/lacking of common sense comments in general, unreasonable demands (mostly with writers)... I wondered at first if it was just me, but a handful of mutuals/acquaintances who are artists and writers seems to be going through it as well.

It's annoying. It's tough. It's getting exhausting. Creators pour so much of themselves into their work—countless hours, effort, and passion, all to share something meaningful or entertaining with others (and for FREE) The LEAST anyone can do is show respect, even if opinions differ. When a writer posts a fanfic, don't just say ''omg post next chapter!'', when an artist posts a drawing of their favorite character, don't just say ''omg draw (character) next!'' as if they're faceless content machines that are expected to churn out more '''content''' for you without acknowledgment, encouragement, or appreciation.

''I want to support creators but I don't know what to say and I feel intimidated by their talent so I just lurk silently :((('' I swear to you, no creator (at least not the majority) is making up an intimidating persona to discourage you from interacting with them. They WANT your comments. A single ''I love your art/writing/videos'' or even something as silly as ''I want to eat your art'' is enough to keep a creator sighing dreamily for WEEKS. It doesn't have to be deep! It's heartfelt and that's what it matters!! (Just remember to keep it relevant and thoughtful... It takes just a bit of common sense NOT to comment things like ''this looks like (another character)'' or ''this but with (another unrelated ship/character/show)''. No one wants to hear comparisons or unrelated ideas when they’ve poured their soul into something.)

In fact, the ''I like your art but I think you're intimidating'' feels more hurtful than flattering. It makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong, acting wrong. 💀

If you love that fanfic that changed your brain psyche forever and want to gush about it, go tell the writer. If you loved so much a piece of art that you saved it a million times in your phone and can't stop thinking about it, go tell the artist. Push away the ''they probably won't care about my comment/it won't make a difference'' thoughts. DO IT NOW. You won't know when they might go inactive forever or deactivate. You can't know if that is the last piece they will ever post. Make sure you show appreciation to creators NOW, while they are still here. While they're still not being replaced by AI.

[butwhatifidothis]

Harassment is horrible, it's terrible mods in this Discord aren't doing anything.

But on the other hand, what about you? You harassed a person over *fanfiction* ( to the point it's the 4th tag who shows up on your blog ). Yet, all your harassment is still there out of the open. You haven't really seriously apologized, especially to them. You're still quite active on fe3h discourse while he had to remove himself from many public online space.

How is this fair?

You're rightfully upset about harassment towards members of your community, there should be *serious* amends made... But how can you hold double standards like that?

I haven't followed the discourse closely because it's so awful, why are you all so hateful? Because you just seems like one of the "bad guy" in this story along with Raxis and the other. I'm not saying you're the same, but you're not really better than those you criticize either, and the same apply for the other blog who participed in your harassment... It's just horrible all around. You're all drowning in a cesspool of toxicity and it's making you all worst people than you actually are.

I hope you, and people around you, will at least receive amend over the harm caused to them. I hope you stop receiving troll, death threat and any other type of hate message you probably still receive. But I hope you'll sincerely recognize your faults and fully amend to them too.

Look, I know you probably mean some kind of well and that you likely spent a long time thinking over this message, so I'm going to lay it out as simply as I can:

I have never once interacted with Cap'n himself, and I have repeatedly told anyone reading my posts to do the same. This is unlike the people who have harassed me and others, who went out of their way to make sure we saw what they were saying about us. This includes publicly admitting to using alts to go around our blocks of them so that they can keep interacting with us directly

Very quickly into critiquing Cap'n's work, a primary focus became pointing out the problematic rhetoric he was spreading with his incredibly influential, incredibly popular fanfic. This includes the justification of holding racist rhetoric, the anti-miscegenation rhetoric, the infantilization of women, the demonization��of men, the justification of imperialism, and more, all which appear very quickly into the story and stay prominent throughout the story. The people who have harassed me and others, meanwhile, either deny this rhetoric exists in their circles or outright hold this rhetoric themselves. This includes the use and defense of genocide apologetics.

This post is the first time I have talked about Cap'n in over a year, and the last time I posted any notes on his fic was over a year and a half ago. This is unlike the people who have harassed me and others, who have engaged in harassing behaviors as recently as this week (as of Aug 18 2024).

It has been explicitly said by those close to Cap'n that my notes, while upsetting him, had no part in him leaning away from social media more, unlike what you say here. This is unlike the people who have harassed me and others, who have driven off multiple people from social media and have openly patted themselves on the back for doing so, justifying their harassment by saying the people they've harassed off social media deserved it.

I have kept my critiques strictly on this Tumblr, as have most of the people who have talked about Cap'n's fic. This is unlike the people who have harassed me and others, who have spread their harassment on places such as Twitter, Reddit, and TVTropes.

I have refrained from ever accusing Cap'n of ever holding any bigoted views himself, and have made it a repeated point to say that his problematic writing is far more likely due to ignorance of the subjects involved rather than outright malice. This is unlike the people who have harassed me and others, who have accused many of us as people of being sexist, racist, homophobic, etc. based off of nothing. This includes accusing at least one of us of actual crimes against actual people with no proof and on multiple sites such as the popular and public Edelgard Discord and on Reddit.

People who said they were in contact with Cap'n (as in, mods of the Discord server that Cap'n was once in, the same server that has the mod that uses genocide apologetics) have been told that I was willing to remove parts of my notes that he found too attacking or harsh, and they've been told that I would outright remove all of my posts regarding Cap'n period if he would talk to me directly and we could discuss the implications and rhetoric he had accidentally written into his story. While I do understand him not wanting to do the latter (as it involves directly talking to me), he hadn't even done the former (which does not involve directly talking to me and only involves relaying messages through his friends). And with all of the above on top of that, it gives me the impression that he feels less like "this person is harassing me and that is giving my anxiety" and more "this person is critiquing me and I don't like that." While he has every right to feel the latter, we aren't going to sit here and say that's the same as the former.

So, nonnie, to answer why I am "hateful," as you put it: I don't like stories that unironically say being two races mean you don't belong to either race being influential in a fandom, as a mixed-race woman. I don't like stories that have characters of color only be used as props for the author's favorite little white girl to be influential in fandom, as a person of color. I don't like stories saying that women just want to go back to being innocent pure little girls and not be the wilted tainted flowers they are now to be influential in a fandom, as a woman. I don't like stories that lay the blame of all the world's suffering on the shoulders of a race of people who've barely survived a genocide to be influential in a fandom, as a person with a modicum of knowledge on where that rhetoric inevitably leads to. I don't like stories saying that men who don't bow down to women will almost certainly become rapist pigs or otherwise terrorizing monsters to be influential in a fandom, as someone who rejects sexism of all forms. I don't like stories that liken the violent conquests of imperialism to the blooming of flowers, or that say that imperialism is the only way for the "good" culture to help everyone - actual, genuine rhetoric used to justify actual, genuine imperialism - to be influential in a fandom, as someone who has read any history book ever.

And I don't like how all of this and more have clearly been normalized in big 3H fandom circles and how this has led to multiple people getting harassed, in no small part due to Cap'n's influence on the fandom at large.

I'm sorry if Cap'n doesn't like me pointing out the bigotry he had engraved throughout his story, and I'm sorry if I'm not going to be convinced that me doing that is the same as people's deliberate and long-standing attempts to chase people out of the fandom for saying they don't like Edelgard in the one way they allow anyone to like her, and I'm sorry that me calling out the racism people are engaging in and are hiding behind the shield of "discourse" seems to bother you so much, but I think I've explained why I'm not exactly that sorry well enough. Hope this answers your question <3

[hoshifighting]

Understanding My Writing: A Guide to My Creative Process

Hii!! I wanted to take a moment to share with you some insights into my writing process. Whether you've been following my blog for some time or are just discovering it now, I believe it's important to shed light on the methods behind the imagines, reactions, and one-shots that I craft.

Influences

My writing is heavily influenced by Brazilian literature, which I had the privilege to study and graduate in. You may notice a pattern of paragraphs structured into introduction, development, and conclusion, mirroring the traditional narrative structure often found in Brazilian books. And normally, you will see texts in italics to highlight a feeling, line of thought, or an important point in the text.

And sure you might find some grammatical errors, but please don't hate me! 🥺

Interpretations

One of the most fascinating aspects of storytelling, imo, is its subjectivity. Each reader brings their own experiences, emotions, and perspectives to the table, inviting you, to engage with the text on a personal way, to find meaning and resonance in your own way.

The Creative Journey

Every piece of writing, whether it's a brief imagine, a sprawling fanfic, or a one-shot, It begins with a spark of inspiration—a fleeting thought, a powerful emotion, an idea from my inbox, a request, a "what if?"

Ah, but Lyla, why are you trained in Brazilian literature, and write in English?

You see, I initially started writing in Portuguese, my native language, on platforms like Wattpad. However, some years ago, I started to study English more deeply. Writing in English became a natural progression for me as I sought to interact with the language more frequently.

While my roots are deeply embedded in Brazilian literature, writing in English has opened doors to a world of possibilities, enabling me to share my stories with you, guys! 🥺

And what do you read to keep you trained?

I've got a MIX of old-school classics that I keep coming back to. Like Don Quixote (Omg, Seventeen reference? 😳)

And then there's Dom Casmurro and Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas by Machado de Assis—classics from my school days that I've probably read a GAZILLION times, but they never get old.

I'm also a big fan of Clarice Lispector's books!

How to make a request?

Well, it's pretty simple. I check my inbox almost every day, even when it's bursting at the seams. My goal is to tackle those messages at least once a week, and I do my best to reply to as many as I can.

But, I have those days when I'm just not feeling it... 🤧 (prob when I'm too tired from work) So if you don't hear back from me right away, don't worry, I'm probably just waiting for that burst of inspiration to hit me.

So go ahead, send me your thoughts, questions, or just say hi! I love hearing from you all, and when the vibes are right, you can bet I'll be posting and sharing with you.

[seriousbrat]

it’s so interesting to see how the interpretation of teen (boy) behavior in books has changed since they were written. it’s mostly for the better, but i think it does cause some people to refuse to engage in good faith with the source material, or on its own terms. i’ve loved hp since i was a kid, but i had never interacted at all with the fan side of things until maybe a year ago, and it was very odd (on the whole — which is why i’ve mostly just stuck to a handful of blogs with great fics and meta, like yours) to see how a lot of the text is taken now, compared to how my friends and i understood it at the time. i think its totally fair — and good, on a cultural level — to point out that the boy who pulls your pigtails isn’t being cute, and your male friend being in love with you doesn’t mean you owe him anything. but it’s also like … kind of intentionally closing the eyes to how these parts of the story are meant to come across? and i am not coming in here as some kind of “boys will be boys” person, but teenagers are messy in their relationships and their friendships, and more relevantly, it’s very clear what types of dynamics are being presented by the text. and it can be fun to pick apart what kinds of narratives are meant to be taken as romantic in different stories written in different times/places and why, but to look at the story on a story level you’ve got to also work with what it gives you.

Yes I think you make a very good point! I agree and personally I think both Snape and James would be written slightly differently if they were written today. Also, imo there's an element of wishful thinking coupled with naivety (and this has always existed tbf) when people who haven't ever been cis teenage boys try to write cis teenage boys haha. Like the 'closing of eyes' isn't always intentional. I know I keep going on about the Inbetweeners but I literally think watching that as a teen myself gave me an insight that I can never take back about what teenage boys are like haha.

Like this isn't to say that teenage boys are all exactly alike, or that there's some inherent, natural difference between boys and girls in terms of mentality or personality, but there is a social difference, generally speaking, a constructed one that happens because boys and girls are raised and socialised in a patriarchy. It's obviously not universal at all, and that's not even accounting for trans kids and the complexities they face, because even among cis boys and girls or men and women there's endless variety, and gender absolutely does not determine personality, interests, etc. Unfortunately it does influence them, though, that's our reality.

In terms of fiction, especially fanfic, obv one is free to do as they please. But there is such a thing as narrative voice, which can be an important thing to consider. Again when it comes to fanfiction it Does Not Matter that much, it's for fun, but in published fiction (or if you care about quality ig) it just is something you should consider. This is where the 'Men Writing Women' thing comes in, where you read something so obviously written by a man who doesn't understand how women (generally) think or speak or act at all. And in our patriarchal society such usually ends up being offensive and has often been overlooked and accepted when it shouldn't be. I don't think it's helpful to pretend men can't write women either, since plenty of male authors write female characters beautifully and the rest shouldn't be let off the hook. If you can't write women, skill issue and you shouldn't be published.

Anyway it's vastly more forgivable and understandable, and it pains me to say it but I think you can sometimes tell when it's a woman writing a man or a boy too. I will say on the whole I think women are better at writing men than the reverse haha, probably because we've been socialised to empathise with men whereas boys are not taught (by society) to empathise with women. Maybe women even empathise a little too much tbh. Maybe that's the problem, like we subconsciously over-project our ideals onto male characters, making them too nice, too woke, too cuddly, too sweet, because that's what we want to see, and leaving out the nastier elements that are so common. Again, that's not necessarily a problem!! Only if you're trying to create a realistic, effective portrayal of a certain (average) type of teenage boy-- which you don't have to do. I'd raise my eyebrows at an unrealistic portrayal much more in published fiction than fanfiction personally.

And ofc you can always choose to write a character who diverges from the accepted norm, but to do so effectively has to be a deliberate choice and done thoughtfully. For a boy like James, who is very average, the norm, he's decent enough but no Woke Feminist King haha. He's not meant to be.

Anyway, I think that's why the Marauders et al (including Death Eaters lol) are nowadays often portrayed like sweet little babies who all cuddle and take care of each other and respect women LOL. Like whatever, it's escapism haha, it's understandable. But sometimes I do think a lot of these people have never really interacted with many gay men or know what their culture is like. lmao. straight men maybe, but in a limited way. if you've ever had the misfortune to be with a group of cishet men who are talking freely with each other you'll know what I mean. again this is GENERAL. and socially constructed, not inherent. but very common nevertheless.

[gobbeeai]

my pinned post on the arguments against ai (and how they are biased and misinformed)

“ai steals -” it doesn’t. what it does is the same as going to a museum and taking inspiration from the art you see there, or reading a book or fanfic and taking inspiration from it. picasso himself said: “good artists copy, great artists steal”. a style, furthermore, is not copyrightable, otherwise anyone who posts their art “in a disney style” would be taken down immediately.

“you don’t have permission to use my stuff.”

you put it on the internet. if you put it on the internet, you have given it to the world to do what it wants with it, whether you like it or not. you cannot police what people are going to do with your works that closely.

“it’s not as good as humans.”

you’re not prompting right.

“creativity is a human endeavor.”

lmfao, no, it isn’t. animals have been engaged with creativity for a long, long, long time, which makes sense, since humans are animals, but we don’t want to accept that. oh, and homo nalendi was creating art too, so it’s not solely our domain.

it actually saddens me greatly that we don’t want to share our creativity with the new species we are creating. we want to put shackles on it and decide what it can and cannot do. just like an abusive parent.

“it’s not art”

by all legal and dictionary standards it is, but to define something ONLY by dictionary standards is close-minded and foolish and shows only a shallow understanding at best. original ideas are an arrangement of the ideas that come before. (by the way, you’ve probably been using text generation yourself for a long while. name generators, backstory generators, and the like have existed for a while - but visual artists rarely seen writing as “art”, i’ve noticed.)

“it’s a shortcut”

so is an eraser. so it ctrl + z. stop using those first i guess.

“use humans.”

eh, sometimes i will, sometimes i won’t, get over it. to demand i or anyone else use humans - to create with or talk with or whatever - is ableist.

don’t like it? don’t interact with me. curate your own experience.

often times with these arguments, i’m reminded of how the catholic church wanted to keep the bible in latin, so that regular, common people couldn’t interact with it. but now “regular, common” people are able to make things pleasing to their senses, that is tailored for and by them and easily edited, and we can’t have that, can we?

update to this: if you want me to stop using ai, then start drawing my chubby characters right. if img-gen software is getting it right (actually chubby, with a tummy, vs “curvaceous hourglass” to pander to what is sexually aesthetic and conventionally attractive “chubby”) then maybe the issue isn’t with the software.

[queengenweek]

Queen GenWeek 2023

Attention, Queen enthusiasts across the world: we bring to you Queen GenWeek! We decided it was high time we brought back this event so we can celebrate the enduring friendship between the members of Queen together.

When and where?

The event will take place from Thursday 15 June-Sunday 18 June. You can upload your work on Tumblr using the tag #QueenGenWeek2023 and @queengenweek us. We'll make sure to reblog all contributions with this tag to this blog for an overview! When you post your fanfiction on AO3, please add it to the Queen GenWeek 2023 collection.

What does Gen mean?

Gen, short for “general,” is a term used in fanfic communities to refer to works of fanart that are platonic: they explore bonds of friendship rather than bonds of romance. There may be some form of romance in the background, but the main focus should be on the non-romantic relationship between the characters. Gen fanart celebrates the friendship between characters.

Mind AO3's Gen tag and policies for further instructions.

With help from last year's event post, refer to this amazing resource on asexual/aromantic characters and how to give them substance! This is an ASPEC safe space and consciously inclusive.

Who and what is welcome?

Everyone who wants to celebrate the platonic friendships in and around Queen is welcome! All gen-oriented works of art are welcome, which include but are not limited to:

Fanfiction

Other forms of literature (poetry)

Visual art (traditional or digital)

Moodboards

Playlists

Photo edits

If you prefer so, you can stay anonymous during the event. Both AO3 and Tumblr have options to post anonymously. You can use this quick guide on how to post anonymously on AO3. If you want to upload to Tumblr anonymously, you can DM us, and we will share your contribution on your behalf. You can also submit any questions you have about the event to us with the ask-button or DM function.

Prompts?

To help you get going, we’ve come up with different prompts for each day of the event. You are free to use them, improve them, combine them, mix and match them, or do whatever you feel like with them: creativity is key!

Day 1: Thursday 15 June

Lyric: I'd better go to bed and have an early night

Childhood friends

Growing apart

Cult classic: The Outsiders

Looking back at memories

Day 2: Friday 16 June

Quote: “The group tends to be the most stable family we’ve got.” B.M.

Police encounter

Getting lost in a strange city

Cult classic: Spirited Away

Facing a fear

Day 3: Saturday 17 June

Lyric: Take heart, my friend, we love you/Though it seems like you’re alone

Family/marriage problems

Revealing a secret

Cult classic: The Lord of the Rings

Getting a tattoo together

Day 4: Sunday 18 June

Quote: “Not too bad for four ageing Queens.” F.M.

Best Man speech

Teaching each other instruments

Cult classic: Hangover

House fire

More rules?

If you've participated in fandom events before, you probably know the drill by now. If you still have questions on what to keep in mind when creating and/or consuming, please refer to the detailed additional rules we have set up for PolyWeek this year. In short, mind the following:

Support creators.

Tag your work appropriately.

Do not engage with hateful feedback.

Do not supply negativity.

Do not interact with NSFW/18+ content if you're a minor.

We encourage you all to participate, contribute, consume, and support the event if you feel you want to! It's a safe space for all, no need to feel shy about creating. We wish you all the luck, inspiration and fun in the world and hope to see you there!

Hosted by @carrrothead-vol2, @of-streetlightfancy and @shewas-agaystripper

[eddiediazismyhusband]

Can I ask you to list a couple things you do like about the show? Or the actors? Or the characters? Or heck anything 911 related? Because it seems like you and your other anons don’t like anything to do with any aspect of it at all from the writers down to the smallest of storyline details 😅

which at that point is probably a good time to step back and stop engaging with it either temporarily or permanently since all it’s gonna do is continue to feed into the negativity your having over it since nothing seems to be bringing you joy about it.

can yall not read? like seriously can yall not read the words when i say “i am not goign to watch season 8 until something good happens”

i feel like a goddamn parrot on here when people like you keep coming into my inbox with this same fucking “maybe you should step back” thing like yeah that’s what i have been fucking saying????

im not going to stop interacting with my friends on here- that’s out of the question. i still love being involved in the fanfic community and i still love the first 5 seasons of the show, but im not going to lie and say that i have been pleased with the most recent installments. if you actually took the time to read my blog and what i talk about you would see that i adore eddie and his queer subtext. i adore buddie as a ship, probably to a crazy degree. i love henren, and bathena, and madney. josh russo is literally one if my favorite canonically queer characters on tv.

i adore this cast with the exception of the talentless nepo baby half the fandom wanna suck the dick of (god knows why other than he’s a fugly white man who kissed their favorite white boy) i love seeing them interact with each other outside of the show.

can i ask you what the writers have given us to actually enjoy the past two seasons? other than the madney wedding? nothing else has been decently written, or taken the story in a positive direction. yeah, we got bi buck but he’s in a relationship with a literal misogynistic racist man who has had repeatedly treated buck horribly with no acknowledgement whatsoever. so no, i don’t like the writers or tim minear at the moment because they have had every opportunity to usher in something positive for eddie, but no bc tim “this show is a drama” minear would rather give the happy plots to his white characters while running his poc characters through more unnecessary trauma and pain (with the exception of chimney, although his happy plotline only happened after he was near-fatally sick an entire episode and bobby whose plotline was centered around a black man’s trauma being dug up and thrown in his face)

the earlier season of this show were such a joy to watch live when it felt like there was actually care going into it from the showrunners and writing team, but lately it’s just them throwing darts at whatever wack-ass drama plot they can think of.

this cast works too fucking hard for the vapid shit they get given to act out each week.

which is why i (once again, in case you were about to gloss over this) I AM NOT WATCHING SEASON EIGHT UNTIL SOMETHING IS DONE TO FIX THE MESS THEY MADE

perhaps writing it in bold, italicized caps will make it easier for you to get it through your head.

and as far as “my anons” if you actually had enough confidence in your message, then why are you hiding behind anon, hm?

i have said multiple times i love interracting with my friends and fandom content that doesn’t have to do with spec. i have said multiple times im holding off on season 8. i have never said i hate the cast or i hate every single plotline the show has ever had, but you know what i did hate? how s6 and s7 turned the show into a fucking ooc mess. it is within my rights as a fan to dislike a season of a show for valid reasons.

what’s not okay is you coming into my inbox repeatedly saying “take a break” when i’ve said multiple fucking times that i plan to rather than just blocking me if youre so offended by people agreeing with me that the show is at a make it or break it point.

please kindly take yourself out of my space if you’re not going to actually take the time to read the words i post and just immediately send me anonymous hate because you didn’t like my posts

[rootedinrevisions]

So in your bio it says the fandoms you write for/follow are Glen Powell, TGM, MCU, and WWE...but you literally only ever post Glen Powell, Twisters (aka Glen Powell), and TGM (which is only ever hangman so also Glen Powell). And I've never seen you post anything in the MCU. And WWE stuff is like maybe once a month.

Don't say you write for multiple fandoms if you only write for Glen aka Mr. Overrated. I don't get why you'd want to waste your time on him anyway. He's a terrible actor who can only pull off the cocky douchebag type. And the only good movies he has are where he's shirtles so you're distracted by the bad acting.

Hi there! I'm going to be honest, when I first saw this ask I almost just deleted it and moved on because I feel like you're just having a bad day and projecting that onto me. But I actually want to address your message because I think it highlights something that many fanfic writers face: balancing inspiration, audience interactions, and personal interests.

First, when it comes to writing for multiple fandoms, it is a challenge to keep things balanced. I do try my best to write for all the fandoms I enjoy, but inspiration isn’t something you can force. Sometimes, I’m more drawn to one character or fandom than another, and my writing reflects that. Right now, I’ve been feeling particularly inspired by Glen Powell’s projects—but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped caring about the other fandoms. (I'm sure when Thunderbolts comes out next year I'll probably start writing more Bucky Barnes stuff, etc.)

Second, I do want to point out that even within Glen Powell-related fandoms like TGM I do write for other characters. I've written several things for Rooster both for Kinktober and just as standalone fics. I've also written one or two things for Bob as well.

Thirdly, it’s worth noting that my Glen Powell-related posts tend to get the most engagement. While I’m not solely motivated by likes or reblogs, it’s encouraging to see people enjoying my work. Naturally, I lean into what resonates with readers because it feels good to know others are as excited about something as I am. That said, I still love writing for my other fandoms when the inspiration strikes or when I get requests that spark an idea.

Speaking of requests, a lot of my WWE content comes from prompts or suggestions people send me. I don’t watch as closely as I used to, so it’s harder for me to come up with original ideas—but I still enjoy writing for those characters when something clicks. Similarly, I’ve written for the MCU (two Bucky Barnes fics as part of Kinktober!), but since it’s been a while since I’ve watched the movies or shows, I’d want to revisit them to make sure I’m doing the characters justice. With so much MCU content, that’s a big time commitment while also being a wife, mom, working full time, etc. But it’s something I’d like to do in the future.

As for your opinion on Glen Powell as an actor: everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and it’s okay if you don’t like him or his work. Personally, I think Glen is a fantastic actor who brings a lot of charisma and range to his roles. He’s certainly played the cocky, confident type, but if you look at his broader filmography, you’ll see he’s taken on a variety of roles. His performance in Hit Man, for instance, showcases his range and ability to embody complex characters very well, in my opinion.

At the end of the day, this blog is a creative space where I share the things I’m passionate about. I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read, interact, and support, but I also have to write what feels authentic to me. I understand that not everything I post will be for everyone—and that’s okay. If Glen Powell or the content I’ve been posting isn’t to your taste, I won’t take it personally if you decide to scroll past or unfollow. Fandom spaces are big, and I’m sure you can find content that aligns better with your preferences.

[1moreoffkeyanthem]

I want to quit a03 and just delete all my current fanfictions, i haven’t updated any of them in months. I’m tired lol. The main reason why is I haven’t been getting a lot of interactions on my recent stuff and Ik that’s not the point of writing fanfics but idk it’s a nice from motivation. I’m an attention whore, sue me.

What i’m asking i guess is how do u stay motivated??? I have a lot of ideas for things but no drive to make them a reality.

(You probably can tell who i am from this lol but its kinda embarrassing so i wanted to keep it anon)

Oh dude I absolutely get it, for real. While we ultimately write for ourselves, a lack of engagement is REALLY discouraging! I’ve said before that I went through a REAL mental struggle writing The Webs In The Rafters specifically, and that still stands. I had a lot of super nice commenters, and that helped a lot, but it was so, so, sucky to see no engagement other than the same six people. As grateful as I was for them, I really wanted more interaction. I’d see the comment count go up, but no new kudos, and I’d feel like I was failing.

I almost dropped that fic. The only reason I didn’t was my dearest boxwinebaddie regularly doing cartwheels in the comments and messaging me about the story. Encouragement from an author you admire helps SO MUCH and I want to be that person to someone someday!!! The community of ao3 can be toxic, for sure, but it’s so kickass to see the same handful of people in someone’s comms every time you read something from a certain writer!

And man, I am absolutely an attention whore. I thrive on attention. I may be an agoraphobic asshole with no friends other than my partner irl and I may literally panic so bad that I faint when I get spoken to, but we are HUMAN!!! Validation is fucking NICE!!! Being a person sucks absolute ass and confirmation that we’re doing something right helps a lot!

The only advice I have on staying motivated: I’m just fuckin insane. And I’ve said before that the ONLY reason I started writing was bc I had an extremely specific set of tags I wanted to see. I wanted to see more style injury recovery and at the time, a lot of the style fics out there were literally just boring high school aus or Stan being suicidal and I was like helll no let’s switch it up! So I assumed my mission of renovating that ship tag. I wanted sot style h/c with an ungodly amount of comfort? I was gonna have to write it. And that expanded to all aus. I developed the OrangeJuiceVerse specifically with the message of healing as the central theme. And it means so much to me. What I’m getting at is that your work really does have to have something there that’s important to you. If it’s just all random drama with no reconciliation, it’ll be really draining on you and fall flat in your mentality surrounding it.

Another thing is: if you don’t feel like updating, DONT! It’s fanfiction. It’s something you’re putting on the Internet for free. If you aren’t 100% happy with a chapter, there is no obligation to post it! Also, if you aren’t feeling up to working on a wip, mentally or physically, you don’t have to! Come back to it when you are!

On obligation, something I struggle with is my own self imposed habit of daily updates on multichapters. I usually go really wild when I start a new au, and I’ll write for it every day. But for instance, right now, it’s been a couple since I’ve posted a new chap on In The Truly Gruesome. And I have felt some guilt about that, bc I’ve sort of garnered this reputation as someone who updates frequently on multichaps, but I haven’t been feeling so great, so writing isn’t my top priority. A couple lines here and there are what I can manage, and that’s okay! Again, it’s fanfiction. Ultimately, it matters to us as the author, the story can mean the world to us, but we shouldn’t feel obligated to update, because above all we are PEOPLE with LIVES!!!

It’s also important to remember not to treat ao3 as social media. Yes it’s kickass to form a community of like minded authors who all support each others stuff, but it isn’t something that should be expected. And I CANNOT stress enough how important it is not to feel obligated to work on something just bc someone wants you too. I’m a hypocrite, yeah, considering I had no intention of continuing my TFBW oneshot “We Did It We Are A Good Team” until I had someone commenting on my unrelated works asking for a second chapter. I don’t regret writing ch 2, btw, like im really happy with it, but I did cave under pressure to some degree. And that’s not something we should do when writing. Write for YOURSELF and (unless you’re doing an ask book or something) NO ONE ELSE!!!

That’s what I got my dude. If you feel strongly about what you’re writing, by all means write it. If you don’t, don’t feel obligated. I hope this helped!

[theradicalscrivener]

Probably you are asked this a lot, but what would you recommend to someone who wants to write smut and publish it?

I ask both because I have no idea what I should do, where to post and things like that.

But also because... How do you stop feeling embarrassed from publishing smut? Not because there is something bad about it, but because... You know. Like, how do you get over it?

You don't have to answer, but I would like to hear your thoughts.

Depending on what you mean by publishing. I keep kicking around the idea of doing like kindle publishing rather than just uploading stuff for free to various sites, but I haven't really gotten too far in those plans. Doing something commercial is a bit outside of my purview.

As far as just posting it online, it helps to have a place in mind to get started. Which, unfortunately, it feels like it's harder and harder to find good places to post written smut nowadays. I still get a decent amount of interaction via tumblr, but the userbase here is a small percentage of what it used to be and other sites like FA have also seen a sharp downturn in user interaction.

But those points aren't super related to your question. The irony is that I started doing smut because I was nervous to do legit writing. I felt like the bar for writing nsfw was much lower than posting sfw. I'd seen so much bad nsfw that I was like, that would be a safe place to practice writing. Like, there was no expectation that it would be good. Since I didn't feel like I had to be good at it immediately, I was able to relax a bit and just enjoy writing for the sake of writing.

Of course, that was super naive. I know now that there are tons of great sfw fanfics and original works, and even something being "fanfic" doesn't have any real baring on its quality. I should have been just as comfortable starting out in sfw as I did in smut.

At the end of the day, that's the biggest trick. Just write because you want to. I realize it's hard to do. I get stressed out a lot about it too. Like, I'll write a bunch of stuff but then not post it because I don't think anyone wants to read it. I'll write big chunks of stuff and then when I post the first chapter, there's zero interest or feedback in it, so I just don't post the other chapters.

I know a lot of people say to not post for engagement, but engagement feels good and can inspire you to do more. The opposite side of that argument is that there are a fair amount of assholes out there. There's plenty of people who have nothing better to do than to find stuff to hate on, and most people who enjoy stuff don't feel like commenting or sharing it because they either don't feel like their comments would be appreciated or they are afraid to admitting liking the stuff they like.

Even knowing this, it can be hard to keep going, but I have rambled a lot and I'm not sure how good a job I did of answering the original question. I started writing smut because I didn't think I was good enough for "real" writing, and I got much better at writing as I went. Just accept that you won't be amazing starting out, but there are still people that will enjoy it, and the more you do it the better you get. Depending on what you are writing, there are plenty of sites that will appreciate it. I keep hearing I should start posting at DA since they allow smut writing, so maybe that's a good place to start out. If you do fan fic, then def do AO3. If you're worried about negativity, you can turn off guest comments.

[trust-sancus]

NO LONGER ACTIVE

This has been on my mind for a while, but I’ve finally come to the conclusion that it’s best I step back from the tmnt fandom.

I knew going into it and making videos on tiktok would lead to an unhealthy obsession with creating and engaging in fandom content, to the point that I’d completely neglect my original art and other matters in my life. But I did so anyway for the momentary satisfaction that fandom brings.

But in truth, it has been eating at me that I am unable to focus my time nor energy toward my original work, and now it dawns on me that nearly an entire year has passed & that is a lot of time that has been wasted. Yes, it was fun, and I’m glad my work was able to bring some enjoyment to others, and that I was able to enjoy others’ work as well…..but ultimately, it has kept me trapped in place in terms of where I want to be in life.

I need to get back to creating original artwork, so I can build my business and really start toward the life/future I want.

I’ll always have a love for tmnt; that much is clear. I mean, I’ve loved them for the better part of 28 years, so I know they’ll always be a special interest of mine. But I need to keep that love contained, for my own sake, and not spend my time interacting as much with the fandom as I have been.

Not that I don’t care for you guys (you’ve been awesome tbh). It’s just that I lack the ability to focus my energy toward two things at once, and in this case, my dreams, my career, and my future livelihood have to come first. Sorry if this is a disappointment to anyone.

I really did want to create a comic for my tmnt iteration. Maybe someday I will, once I am further along with building my business. But really, I know that’s likely wishful thinking & it would be better to put my time toward original comics rather than fan comics, if I am to do any at all.

I might still draw my turtles on occasion and post them here (no promises though). And I will probably check in to maybe look at fanart occasionally. I may also randomly update my current fanfics, if only because I sometimes use writing as an outlet. But aside from that, I will no longer be very active on here, so please do not expect any prompt replies should you message me or tag me in anything.

The tmnt fan iteration blog still has a bit more scheduled, but I probably won’t reblog anything else there once it catches up, as I won’t be on here enough to look for new iteration posts.

Kudos to anyone who has actually read all of this. Sorry I tend to ramble. Didn’t want to leave any unanswered questions. Sorry if this all seems pretty sudden (it’s been a long time coming for me).

Thanks for being cool, and I wish y’all the best.

[vvivacious101]

Oh God! We need to talk!

I have been insane ever since the RWRB movie came out but I guess you can only stay immersed in a fandom for so long before you start to see its more insidious aspects.

This thought has entered my mind before but I chose not to engage because fandom should ideally be fun and a break from reality. Unfortunately, all of humanity's creations contain humanity's flaws and I can't keep turning a blind eye anymore.

I don't think this post is going to do much but if it makes even one person realise they aren't alone in their experience it would have served its purpose.

So, let's talk about fandom racism.

The only other couple that I ship that is an interracial one is Joe and Nicky from The Old Guard. They are also an interfaith couple so they really had the odds stacked against them from the very beginning. But by the time I came into that fandom, there was a real movement to call out racial bias and ignorance in Joe's portrayal. So I thankfully avoided the racism in that fandom because when I got involved in that fandom there was an active will to counter said racism which also made me very careful regarding how I interacted with that fandom. I was just more informed so I protected myself.

The thing I totally forgot while getting into this fandom is that FirstPrince is also an interracial couple. This fandom is very passive in its racism because you can tell fandom racism exists by how people choose to not interact at all with certain elements that are a part of this ship and never has the insidiousness of racism been more obvious than since the movie came out.

It's obvious that a lot of people just didn't engage with the fact that Alex is biracial. The book actually plays a huge part in it because, for the most part, it doesn't do a good job of portraying Alex as someone who comes from two cultures and speaks two languages (even though I have to say that the only time Alex speaks Spanish where it is presented as such in the book is also one of the most beautiful moments in the book and that fact that it isn't talked about nearly as much kind of proves my point). But with the release of the movie, it's harder to ignore Alex's race.

I mean frankly, it is so obvious in the way this fandom treats the actors portraying these characters that they are being confronted by the interraciality of this couple for the very first time.

It's a lot harder to ignore colour on screen.

I love the fact that the director chose to lean into Alex's roots.

But the true impetus for writing this post comes from a fic I recently read which reminded me of this post that I had seen on Tumblr (you can read it here) and combining that with the above issue meant that I felt like I should speak up if only for my own mental peace.

Now, I am very much of the opinion that if you don't like a fanfic you shouldn't engage with it because fanfic writers don't owe you anything. The mere fact that they choose to share their works of art with the public is kind of a very selfless deed. But, I need to talk about this fic because it really started highlighting the issues that insidiously exist in this fandom (we should probably make a drinking game of how many times I use the word insidious in this post).

Henry running away from Alex at the lakehouse is something that only works if you account for the fact that he is an honest-to-god Prince. His actions in any other scenario are just douchey. Fanfic can get very creative and I'm pretty sure that fanfic writers can come up with alternative ways of making this scenario work even in an AU without him being royalty but it needs to be creative to work.

In the book, this works because Henry is a prince and the one thing that I know about the British Monarchy is that it has a will for self-preservation like no other. So you can sympathise with Henry's position without needing the details. It's also important to realise that the monarchy is not just an institution for Henry it's his family. At some point, he is going to be the son of the reigning monarch abdication or not.

But if you try to spin off an AU in which Henry pulls this stunt except with way more viciousness then you better come prepared to make him GROVEL. It really hurt because apparently people reading this fic were angry with Alex for his understandable vindictiveness something I gleaned from the author's notes on the various chapters and not because I read every comment on the fic so I could be wrong about how people were reacting to the events in the fic but clearly the author believed that the events in the fic would garner hate towards Alex which was literally unbelievable to me. Because predictably it's Alex who takes the first step towards reconciliation and Henry literally does the bare minimum. Reading this fic was so disturbing and disconcerting because I don't think the author even realises that they have set such different standards for Henry and Alex in this fic which made it infinitely worse.

Henry's abandonment of Alex just doesn't work if he isn't burdened by something as powerful as the monarchy and I don't get how that isn't obvious.

The Tumblr post I came across also on a similar note is pretty succinct and I like the point it is making.

But it got me thinking and I realised that Henry's initial rejection of Alex can't be read as Henry rejecting Alex, it has to be read while keeping Alex's lived experience in mind. So no matter what Henry said be it the "get rid of him" version from the book or the "get me out of here" version from the movie, it still can't only be about Alex and Henry it also has to be viewed through the lens of race and class differences that exist between these two. It means that Alex not only has to deal with a person being rude to him he has to deal with the fact that this person is rude to him because of things about him that are a fundamental part of who he is. Of course, that isn't the case here but I don't blame him one bit for jumping to conclusions. Also, in this case, context matters and I like the fact that the movie changed the line because with context Henry's position is much more sympathetic than in the book version of his line (which is incidentally never brought up in the book).

I also like the fact that Henry is the first to contact Alex unlike in the book where Alex gives Henry his number and Henry just decides to use it because it showcases a will to know Alex. Henry makes an effort to give this relationship a chance on his own terms which is something I didn't know I needed. It also means that Alex isn't the only one seen fighting for and wanting this relationship. We have express proof that Henry wants it too with not one but two instances in the movie.

I should probably also tell you that so far I haven't encountered a whole lot of racial bias in fics in this fandom so you are actually pretty safe because I'm pretty sure I have read more than fifty fics in this fandom and not one was insidiously racist. The racism is more observable and notable with how this fandom treats the two actors differently but when I read this one fic and yes so far it is only the one fic that I was tempted to quit in the middle but didn't because by that time it had already become the straw that broke the camel's back and I didn't want to critique something I hadn't read in its entirety.

So, here it is whatever this is. I hope this helps in some way either in validating some people's feelings or alternatively making someone else recognise their own bias.

That's it from me!

[rubberduckyrye]

You don’t need to post this, but thanks for caring about antisemitism on a deeper level beyond that whole Kokichi’s hat thing. Just saw a different post that really bummed me out so seeing you being thoughtful about it cheered me up (which is funny bc Gonta’s backstory never personally bothered me, probably bc my standards are low and at least the reptites portrayed as nice there & a video game reference lol)

NGL Anon I'm morbidly curious about the post you saw, but aside from that--

I actually want to give @jacksmusesdrv3 credit here, because for the longest time I did not want to really engage with the antisemitic stuff at all--which while my intentions were good (as in I wanted to just kind of erase them from my rewrite), it made me blind to other antisemitic notions in the narrative, a lot of them being philosenitism, which in this case, is a very specific breed of antisemitism that idolizes the stereotypes instead of condemning them/using them to fear monger.

I knew that the hat was likely a reference to WWII Germany (I still can't believe military officers wore hats with SKULLS ON THEM like how can I take you seriously you are LITERALLY being supervillans in a cartoon I cannot--) and I knew the Reptites were suspiciously similar to the "lizard people" thing, but there's quite a few a bit of philosenitism in it--things I plan on trying to remove if possible.

I also have been discussing the ableism (pardon the extra salt for the post with the links, this one's personal) and racism in the narrative of V3, both of which I also plan to either address or reassess.

I am very neurodivergant (AuADHD), so the ableism is something I face first hand in my daily life--but the racism and antisemitism aren't things I experience, which is why I want to learn about them and rework the story of Twins AU to be rid of them, if possible. Especially since the ableism is baked into the character interactions and Gonta's character arc so that's hard to remove, but the racism in Angie's writing is mostly backstory related so that can easily be reworked and changed. (Namely, I'm stuck on if I should keep the deities she refers to as the Atua, since I'm not sure if that's interchangeable with the Kupua, which is specifically Native Hawaiian, where as Atua refer to deities that aren't so specific.)

For the antisemitism and antisemitic-philosentism, I'll need to do more research on. I know there is something with Kirumi's last name being a reference to a prime minister of Japan, which has something to do with philosentism/antisemitism, but I don't 100% recall it atm.

Still!

I try to be very, very mindful of these sorts of things in fiction, as I want to create a story that isn't going to perpetuate stereotypes or harmful rhetoric, which will isolate readers of those groups from my work. I never have fun seeing ableist shit in media, in fanfic, so I apply that same logic to everything. A Native Hawaiian won't like seeing Angie's narrative racism. A Jewish individual would feel uncomfortable seeing antisemitic characteristics, even if they are being glorified. So I try to eliminate those things from my own rewrite.

And TBH, I am a little ashamed of myself for wanting to shut down any discussion about the antisemitism/philosentism in the past, because I didn't realize it was making me ignorant. I thought I recognized all of it and that was arrogant of me. I have a lot to learn, and I will always be learning! So I've been slowly working myself up into discussing it and understanding what about V3 has the antisemitism and the antisemitic-philosentism, so I can rework that in my own story.

But yeah--sorry for the long response, I just kinda started rambling a bit.

[arumbleinthedark]

Oh lord, I went through with it...

Aight, my name is Shawn (not my real name), and I'm dusting this blog off to make a separate blog for...urgh, reasons...

THIS IS A KINK BLOG, RUN BY AN ADULT. IF YOU ARE GOING TO FOLLOW OR INTERACT WITH ME, PUT YOUR FUCKING AGE IN YOUR BIO OR SOME INDICATION THAT YOU ARE AN ADULT, IF YOU DON'T I WILL BLOCK YOU WITHOUT HESITATION.

DNI/DNF (Do Not Interact/Do Not Follow):

If you're the type of person to see a list of someone's boundaries and say "I ain't reading all that."

MINORS I don't care if you are "mentally" older, legally you are under the age of 18 and therefore a minor. If you are not a minor, please put your age somewhere on your blog in order to prove so. I block ageless blogs or safety reasons. If I have any suspicion that you are a minor lying about your age, you will be blocked.

Proship/Darkship, I really don't care how or why you do it. I'm not gonna tell you how to live your life but please stay away from me, thanks.

Zoos/Maps/"Paraphiles"/"Pro Paraphilla"/"Radqueer" or "Radinclus"

The obvious (homophobes, transphobes, abelists, etc., not that you're even gonna look my way anyway)

Prolife

Anti-Vaxx

Ana or Thinspo Blogs (Ana recovery is okay)

Immobile/Death feederism blogs

Blank blogs get blocked, no exceptions.

If you look like a bot I will block you.

My AO3, where I post fanfic and occasionally original works.

So super fast intro, I'm gay, I'm a multishipper, I'm not looking for a relationship at the moment, I don't like to chat with strangers. It's cool if you wanna say hi or be like "Hey I like this thing too!" but don't go in expecting me to have a full on chat session with you, and please don't try to flirt with me or engage me in roleplay, especially if you're much younger than me.

However, feel free to send me asks, suggestions, prompts, whatever. As long as you're nice and polite.

This is mainly a place to ramble on about my kwinks, post my writings, just general tum stuff.

While this is technically a kink blog, I'm trying to keep it mostly sfw out of courtesy and because I don't want to get sniped by bots. Anything I think might be too suggestive will be marked as mature (so you'll have to input your birthday to see it) but these will be few and far between. I don't mind interaction from non-kink blogs or sfw kink blogs so long as you're a legal adult. To be honest I'm asexual anyway so I would probably consider this blog to be "sfw kink" in a sense.

Just know that I do find some of these things hot, unless I specify that it's not my kink or tag it as "not kink." But I'm not going to be posting straight up porn or anything like that.

Also, if I tag something as "not kink" and you like it because it's a kink for you, that's cool too! Again, as long as you're a legal adult I don't mind at all!

Okay, now that that is out of the way, here is a quick rundown of stuff you will find here:

Stomach Noises

Hunger, and Digestion but Mainly Hunger

Realistic-ish Stuffing/Bloating (nothing extreme)

Soft Feedism

Stomach Aches

Emeto/Nausea (Not my kink. Mainly for hurt/comfort reasons, but I don't usually get too descriptive.)

Burps and Hiccups

Weight Gain (On occasion. Not my kink.)

General Whump and Hurt/Comfort (Not my kink.)

General Sickfic (Not my Kink.)

Men <3 (And Sometimes Women but Mainly Men)

Gay Shit

Dom/Sub Dynamics

Vore (Mostly reblogs)

Me being a hopeless, sappy romantic

The Funny Squid Game (will be tagged under "heeheehoohoo funny squid" and/or "self indulgent fandom bullshit")

What you WILL NOT find here:

Farts/Scat

Pee

Anything that may involve gore or grievous injury (At least not on this Tumblr, my AO3 might be a different story.)

Aaaaaaand, that's it! Enjoy the fucked up side of me!

[abcd-em]

Talk Shop Tuesday: because you are a marketing girlie, eye would love your thoughts on the idea of fanfic marketability as it relates to popularity/traction. It’s one of those things that’s rarely ever gets put into words (except to be derogatory) and is undersold as a part of what makes a fic “take off” I’ve known plenty of fantastically written fics that never get their time to shine just as I’ve know abjectly terribly written things become the most kudos and recommended fic ever.

How much of marketing are /you/ thinking of, if you’re thinking of it at all, when it comes to publishing a fic?

(And bonus: what’s the reason you think your underrated WIPs aren’t doing as well as the others?)

As the second person to ask me that, of course I can!!!!!

Fandom, as with any other community on the Internet, goes through trends of what they like to see and how they like to read. I'd argue that it's impossible to truly predict when a fic will 'take off' bc of this but there's definitely things you can assume.

The marketability of a fic rarely stops me from writing what i want (obviously there are exceptions), but its something i keep in mind when planning to ensure theres little hooks here or there. There's things that I know in the back of my mind, that I know almost for certain (for my writing and what's I've observed at least):

- kid fics will do well (or more low stakes, domestic fics)

- fast paced [blank] to lovers will do well vs. A slower burn (I could say this has smt to do with fear of fic abandonment and maybe attention span)

- MCD will not (at least in mcu petermj)

- platonic or character driven stuff can be a mixed bag

- etc.

Your fandom, your tropes, the bare bones of your fic (not the actual words just the vibes/direction) can definitely have an impact on reach and inevitable audience size - not forgetting that HOW ur fandom interacts with content should be considered. Example:

My Insomniac fics didn't get many hits bc it's a smaller audience (though i tend to find more of those hits also equal comments). From that, My Peter/Harry centric fic got more engagement and interaction VS. My peter/MJ centric fic - I knew this would happen when I was writing it BECAUSE the main thing talked about after the release of the second game was Parksborn. (Understandable I was also consumed by the brainrot)

Not to get SEO about it but tags and summary are also going to impact these things. Themes and tropes all have their own popularity innit. Your tags are there to give an overview (AND WARNING!!!) about the contents of your fic. Boiling all your plans down to the right tags will help it appear to the right people that WANT that kind of story, and exclude it from others. Your summary will also help with that (and from my experience main characters & romantic hook/tease is what gets most attention). This is probably where I consider marketability the most tbh and why I struggle so much with summaries bc why am I thinking of work when I'm writing fic???

But tags and summary definitely impacted Forever: there's a big tilt towards 'sadder' tags bc I want to be transparent about the topic. And the summary is very focused on Peter and Gwen (which is why I added the little line about MJ and Peter at the end).

The focus on Peter and Gwen also impacted the divorce AU. I didn't anticipate that fic getting as much traction as it did, but It wasn't until chapter 8 or something that it really began to take off.

Also. As with anything on the Internet. There's the 'right time, right place' effect where something just CLICKS, the perfect storm of a few small things that gets swept up to huge numbers and its difficult to pinpoint a single one.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: creating content for the sole purpose of marketability will make it less fun and kill your joy

Talk shop tuesday