#pulp fiction fanfic

[jackalope-with-a-pen]

guess who forgot about this blog again? 🙈

anyway I finally have a fic on my ao3 now...

it is not any of the fics I've been working on and talking about here, lmao, it's something else:

PULP MUSICALS FIC, BABEY!!!!

here's a summary that my friend @snarky-wallflower helped me come up with:

Benjamin usually thinks of the Stratfords and their stories whenever he sees the moon. ... It’s only now, standing in a brick room with Margaret in his arms and looking out at that odd rock—closer than ever and still so far away—that he suddenly becomes fully aware of just how much space Margaret has started to occupy in his mind. These last few weeks, he hasn’t been able to catch even a brief glance at the moon without thinking of her, too, and wondering if she would be watching it that night, if she’d get her answers this time.

OR

In those final hours aboard the brick satellite, Benjamin Park makes amends and falls into the orbit of Samuel Stratford and Margaret Cavendish, fast and bright. (aka, a Benjamin Comes Along AU with a twist!)

[kraymerman]

Murder Drones: "What was that final part Uzi needed for her rail gun?"

"CHAPTER 1: CEREBRAL PROCESSOR & PHOTON CORE

Although the standard 2.3.7 model worker drone is made up of many, complicated mechanisms working in tandem to perform JCJ perfection (all of which will be discussed by the end of this manual), it's best to start at the foundation and work our way up. The drone's foundations, its 'organs', are made up of two essential components: the cerebral processor and the photon core.

THE CEREBRAL PROCESSOR

The cerebral processor is the drone's equivalent of a brain. It is stored in the head and is responsible for generating all the knowledge that makes the JCJenson worker drone a JCJenson worker drone. The wd.OS, its superior problem-solving skills, its near-sentient imitation of 'having opinions', its internet connection, its all stored there, right behind its emotional display visor, so as to minimize the time between calculation and expression. The disconnect of the head, and thus the cerebral processor, from the rest of the worker drone's chassis will result in an immediate FATAL ERROR. If your worker drone is experiencing one or more of the following symptoms, there may be something wrong with its cerebral processor:

[...]

If you have any problems with your drone's cerebral processor, please contact your nearest certified JCJenson technician.

THE PHOTON CORE

In order to support the superior performance of the JCJ worker drone, each drone is powered by a 1/2 megawatt photon battery, stored in the drone's ribcage alongside its primary and supplementary oil stores, like a heart. The photon core glows a bright neon green and is cylindrical, large enough to fit in your hand. If the photon core is disconnected from the worker drone at any point, the drone will suffer an immediate FATAL ERROR. Because of this, and because of how sensitive the battery itself is (power is generated through minor photon convergence), it is highly advised to never touch your worker drone's photon core under any circumstance, despite the method of measurement used earlier in this section. If your worker drone is experiencing one or more of the following symptoms, there may be something wrong with its photon core:

[...]

If you have any problems with your drone's photon core, order your drone to lie flat on the ground facing up and shut itself off, then completely evacuate the immediate premises and immediately contact your nearest certified JCJenson technician. An unstable photon core can very easily result in detonation. JCJenson is not responsible for any injury or death caused by your failure to follow these simple steps. Thank you :)"

- Excerpt from Your JCJenson Worker Drone and You!: Worker Drone Model 2.3.7 User Manual

"After gaining access to the Zombie Drone's admin permissions, the Absolute Solver will begin redirecting material away from the repair of the host's outer chassis into the construction of an additional, shell-like processor around the host's photon core, complete with its own miniature oil stores, display visor, and 3 protruding, pointed, claw-like legs.

After the core processor is completed, the Absolute Solver will move all necessary data previously stored in the host's cerebral processor, including itself, the wd.OS, and the host's consciousness, into it, rendering the cerebral processor redundant and eliminating its requirement for the host to function (disconnection of the cerebral processor will no longer result in the drone's immediate FATAL ERROR).

After the transfer is complete, an additional protective layer is generated around the photon core, this one of pink, sinue-y flesh (genetic testing by Dr. Lejeune and her team confirms that this flesh, perhaps unsurprisingly, shares DNA with both Mr. Jenson and Entity 2-22*). The evidence gathered by Dr. Jenson prior to Contact Point Zero with Entity 2-22 implies that this flesh is CATCH material."

(* Entity 2-22's DNA signature was confirmed by a sample taken from the Champion's Idol during initial testing (07/03/2803). It was left after a physical interaction between the Champion and Entity 2-22, thought to have taken place during week 7 of Incident 373.)

- Excerpt from Absolute Solver Observational Tests - Internal Report 02/15/2805, Dr. Samuel Monroe (Research Assistant Sarah Duffy)

[reservoirreputation]

EXACTLY 10K!!!!!!!! 🥳

[pandaimitator]

There's no point to posting this because I've been shadow banned and no one will see it anyhow. Ban has been lifted, woohoo! I'm just so pleased at having managed to finish this week's chapter on time, despite writer's block, and having derailed with a couple of one shots.

The image above was the inspiration for Jane's outfit as the Greystokes and Tenningtons tour the lake district (and end up in a pulpy adventure consisting of absolutely no lions) and the story can be found here

[absoluterazr]

Every Assassin has a past.

Contract (series) feat. cast of Dead or Alive.

[ihatetheinternetandeveryoneonit]

The Maul Situation

cw: mentions of blood and gore, and the dark brotherhood and Maven Black Briar are assholes, big shocker. But also OOC

The sun danced over the Velothi mountain peaks and the birds trilled through the aspens, and the sights and sounds and crisp air settled through the open windows of the sitting room. Veezara and his new recruit, soaked in the brains and other juices of of an unfortunate Argonian, soaked it all in. The Blackbriar mead was a welcome reprieve from their early morning escapades, especially in the luxurious home of its namesake.

"Mmm! Divines, Maven," Veezara wore a wide smile. "This is some serious gourmet shit. Me and my friend would have been satisfied with a tepid Honningbrew, but you go and spring this fucking gourmet shit on us! What is this flavor, do I detect juniper berries?"

"Knock it off, Veezara." Maven Blackbriar folded her arms, still in her nightgown.

"What?"

"I don't need you to tell me how fucking good my mead is. I'm the one who makes it, I know how good it is. When Maul goes shopping, he buys shit. I make the gourmet expensive stuff 'cause when I drink it, I wanna taste it. But you wanna know what's on my mind right now? It isn't the mead in my cellar, it's the dead lizard in my stable."

"Oh, Maven, don't even worry ab--" Veezara held up a hand. His companion's eyes darted between him and Maven, tankard frozen on their lips.

"No, no, no, no. I'm talking." Maven scowled. "Now let me ask you a question, Veezara. When you came pulling in here, did you notice a sign out front that said 'dead lizard storage?'"

"Maven, you know I didn't--" Veezara put his smile and a friendly shrug back on gingerly.

"Did you notice a sign that said 'Dead Liard Storage??'" Maven's voice rose.

Veezara sighed. "No. No I didn't."

"You know why you didn't see that sign?" Maven moved her hands to her hips.

"Why?" Veezara's eyes were to the floor, playing along.

"Because IT'S NOT THERE BECAUSE STORING DEAD LIZARDS AIN'T MY FUCKING BUSINESS! THAT'S WHY!"

"Well, Maven!" Veezara looked up and held up a hand. "We're not going to store it or any--"

"No-no-no-no!" Maven held up a finger. "Don't you fucking realize that if Maul comes home and finds a dead body in his house, he's gonna fucking leave me? No counselor from the temple of Mara, no trial separation, fucking gone. And I don't want to find a new right-hand man! Just…fuck, I want to help you out, Veezara, I really do. But I'm not going to lose Maul doing it.

"Maven, Maven, he's not going to leave--"

"DON'T FUCKING 'MAVEN' ME, VEEZARA! There's nothing you're gonna say that's going to make me forget that I love--" she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Now look, he's going to get back from leaning against Aerin's house in an hour and a half. You got to speak to the Night Mother or Sithis or whatever for help? Well then do it! And then get the fuck out of my house!"

"Good, well, we don't want to fuck your shit up." Veezara summoned his smile back once more. All we're going to do is call our people to bring us in."

"You're fucking my shit up right now!" Maven spat. "Just do me this favor, get your shit done, and get out of here!" Maven marched out of the sitting room. Veezara's companion stared at him, tankard now emptied. Veezara sighed, chugged the last of his own mead and wiped his mouth. "Let's get to it."

[fosliie]

It is time to actually explain that one vague Sam and Max au! Calling it

Take me out Noir au

first off, you have to know, this au is essentially a hypothetical fanfic Sam and Max write together with their “totally not me” ocs. I feel like they’d be the kinda guys to write self fulfilling fanficfion (they’re terrible at it)

The gist is that it is a gritty noir detective drama starring Samantha and Maxine, their fem counterparts. It’s the same vibes as a noir detective pulp fiction novel in the 1950’s, so VIOLENCE!! DRAMA!! TENSION!!!

With a disheveled detective and her ex-partner turned performer/singer (with connections to the mafia..?), they often cross paths and usually end up fighting, reminiscing longingly, or a mixture of the both

[spineless-lobster]

what books would the ghosts read do you think?

Robin: Astrophysics textbooks, literally no one else knows what he’s actually reading but he understands it completely

Humphrey: Definitely history books, I think he’d be very interested in art history and perhaps also french history (Sophie <333)

Mary: Picture books!!! She cannot read but that will never stop her!!!

Kitty: The wildest, dirtiest, most fucknasty gay smut ever published. And she giggles profusely the whole time (also she reads fanfic of her favourite shows because I said so)

Thomas: His own poetry, he just recites it to himself. He might other poets but that is only to criticize them. Though I think he’d indulge in some Jane Austen

Fanny: Risqué victorian novels, showing ankles and so on. But I think she’d also explore various educational subjects to expand her knowledge and I love that for her

The Captain: All the books about war strategy, tanks, birds, insects, etc. except for the one time he stumbled across one of kitty’s books (he wasn’t the same for the next week)

Pat: I think he’d enjoy a lot of fantasy like Lord of the Rings, but he also collects a lot of ghost/campfire story books (scary stories to tell in the dark <333)

Julian: Reading is for nerds, but if he had to it would be some sort of pulp fiction, if only for the covers alone lol

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

I know I've made this argument myself many times, but I'm starting to think that we're moving in the wrong direction when we respond to critics of fanfic and pulp romance by saying stuff like "Dante's Inferno was fanfic!" or "Jane Austen was dismissed as silly romance!"

Like yeah, transformative works can be just as creative and deep as original fiction, and romance-centric stories can be literature in their own right, but also…. it's fucking okay to read stuff that isn't like that?

Controversial opinion, but if your idea of a good read is a series of <200 word short stories about characters from your favourite TV show trying to book a hotel room only to discover that (shocker) THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED!!! then that's honestly just as valid a recreational activity as reading Remains of the Day or The Brothers Karamazov.

Do the works have equal complexity or literary significance? No, probably not, but that doesn't actually matter if the question is "what to read in the evenings so I can destress before bed?" or "what to entertain myself with while on holiday?"

It's not like we treat other forms of media this way. No one feels the need to justify having a generic flower painting on the wall by comparing it to Van Gogh's Sunflowers. Nobody excuses playing pop songs in the car by pointing out that "Mozart was the Taylor Swift of his day!"

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying people don't get snobbish about this stuff. People get snobbish about anything. But reading is really the only hobby where it seems common practice to validate this snobbery by insisting that actually your preferred form of fiction is literature after all.

We all get that there are people who are consumed by a deep passion for art, or music, or food, or whatever, and that many of these people enjoy spending a lot of time (sometimes in professional settings) analysing various works to determine which ones are the most complex and culturally significant.

That's fine, we wish them well and they're probably doing good work.

But we also get that there are other people who just want to watch popcorn films or listen to whatever's on the radio atm while eating oven pizza, and that's also completely fine. Those things aren't invalid just because you couldn't write an academic essay on them, they're fulfilling a completely different but equally important function in our lives!

As someone with a literal degree in this stuff, it's fine to just let reading be one of those background things that you do purely to relax and don't put any thought into. Literally nobody has the time or energy to become a connoisseur in every field, and the average person will run themselves into the ground if they try.

Bread and roses are important, yeah, but so are bubblegum and fairy lights. Not everything has to be either work or educational.

[goodluckclove]

A Celebration!

So I have memory issues.

It's for a lot of reasons that I won't get into here, it's really not a big deal. But it plays a fun part in the way I form relationships, especially relationships online. To put it simply, I can no longer really remember how I met @mercuryytheraven. I think I made some post asking people to tell me what's keeping them from writing and challenging them to allow me to fix it. We spoke for maybe thirty minutes, and I remember them saying that they were working on a Warrior Cat's fan fiction, which tickled me because I didn't know people still read those books.

They essentially said that they've been trying to write for some time, but no matter what they did they could never get past around 100 words. Something always got in the way. If I'm being honest, I don't remember what I told them, but it must've been insightful because they've been messaging me almost daily ever since.

Eventually my brain just accepted the presence of this bright, dandelion-fluff of a human being. I would look at my phone and say oh hey, it's them again. I would tell my wife about their exploits and we would remember what it was like to be young and even more confused than we are on a daily basis. Quietly, and I have never told them this, but I started calling them my protege. I don't know if that's arrogant or not.

Mercury is such a treasure of spirit. All it takes is one conversation to see the depth of color they carry within them. They care so deeply and about so many things, a quality hard to find in a world so preoccupied with cynicism and meta post-irony. Not only are they already an insightful and deeply curious writer, they are also an incredibly skilled visual artist. I questioned the validity of the high standards they held themselves to again and again - but then I told myself that I once did the same thing.

When I met Mercury they said they never wrote more than 100 words. That was less than a month ago. Today they just finished the first chapter of the Warrior Cats fanfiction they've been brewing for years. It's just over 3500 words.

Friend, do you know how remarkable that is? Can you imagine that big a breakthrough? I cannot stress enough that this is an immense achievement - not unbelievable, very believable, but hard. Worthy of accolades. Worthy of relishing in!

One chapter is never just one chapter. It's the creation of something foundational that didn't exist before. It doesn't matter if it's a fluffy fanfic one shot or literary novel or long-form au or pulp genre shlock. It wasn't here before and now it is and that is one of the most wonderful things in the world to me.

You might know me as someone against the general romanticization of The Writer as an archetype, but it's moments like these that truly call that stance into question. Because what @mercuryytheraven did today, and what many of you do whenever you can, is truly a precious sacrament. It is ritualistic in nature, a human sacrifice where we are the blood offering and the result is a story birthed from our own transfer of matter.

It is beautiful. So please, if you can, send some congratulations in the direction of our friend and colleague. And the next time you reach a milestone you feel is too small to be remarkable, know that you're wrong. You're doing something special for yourself and those around you with every single word you write, whenever you can write it.

So go write it!

[jackalope-with-a-pen]

Keys To The Press And Keys To The Door

When he had accepted this new position as editor, he knew it would mean more work and more stress in addition to the meager increase in his salary. However, he has to admit he hadn’t anticipated this much extra work. Or extra stress. It’s fine, though—he can handle it, even if he’s suddenly short a reporter. He is handling it! He’s learning and adjusting. He’ll prove himself to his boss and his coworkers, show them that his age doesn’t matter. Because it doesn’t. He may only be twenty-two years old, but he will be just as capable an editor as the man he replaced. That being said, this job would be a little easier to bear if he had something to look forward to when the work was finally done, something to lift his spirits at the end of a long day. OR As the newly promoted editor of the Sun, Benjamin Park is stressed and lonely, but he might have the perfect solution to both his problems. (This is part one of my Benjamin Comes Along + Radiant Sunsets AU!)

[poppyandzena]

You hit the nail on the head with Proshippers and Lolita. Nobody’s jacking off while reading Lolita. The same cannot be said about their fanfics.

Hard disagree on Flowers in the Attic though. The books are fundamentally about the cycle of abuse. The siblings getting together is not portrayed in a positive light, and leads to the cycle of abuse continuing in their family.

While stories about overcoming abuse are important, it is also important to have stories about failing to overcome abuse.

Absolutely. I think Flowers struggles the more it tries to add more twists and drama, like the grandma coming back over and over. It's a narrative consequence of being a pulp fiction at a time where mental illness and abuse was not quite understood. I just would have preferred if the siblings didn't end up in a romantic relationship as adults. It doesn't make the series devoid of value as a whole.

I really appreciated MertKayKay's analysis of The Suicide of Rachel Foster. It draws comparisons to Lolita in how perpetrators are portrayed based on the narrative framing.

Being anti-proship isn't wanting to eliminate content that covers the taboo. If we did that, societal progress would come to a standstill. Anti-proship is questioning WHY proshippers use free speech absolutism, specifically as an excuse to make harmful forms of pornography.

I'm not going to shame the person making content about what it's like to be with an abusive partner, what it's like to survive incest or pedophilia. I shame those who hide behind the former to inject fetishistic abuse content into that community, whk use it to groom children or traumatized adults. I cannot be like "not all proshippers" when the ideology is made to protect these bad faith actors--like Lily.

[reservoirreputation]

I'm almost at 10k AO3 hits, come ask me about the stuff I've written (or even about my WIPs...)

[str8aura-no-not-that-one]

protags of this fanfic have known this talking lion for two days and theyre already showing him Pulp Fiction, beavis and butthead, and weed

[olderthannetfic]

I can't believe I'm joining in with this as I started following your goings after stumbling across you and finding myself mildly amused that you'd (seemingly without asking) become the fandom version of the letters section of one of those ridiculously cheap 'real life' stories woman's magazine, the kind that were always a part of my households weekly shop back in the 90s/early 2000s and which always contained a completely electic mix of, murder/ crime, bizarre sex stories and 'this weird thing happened to me' (funnily enough exactly the kind of easily accessible reading material that I've found fanfic replacing in my life)

When people talk about affordability when choosing fanfic over published fiction I'm always a bit like ???? Cause the word you're looking for isn't affordable it's accessible. It's pretty easy to find published works for no or limited cost. I say this as someone from a family of avid working class readers. What you get your hands on isn't always good, but that's no different to fanfic. There are always libraries and tabletop booksales and charity shops and people willing to give or lend you books.

The reason people read more fanfic when cost is an issue is because its easier to find, you don't need to leave the house and it's there at any time. Usually people with less money have less time and energy too. It has little to do with published books being too expensive. It's not a bad thing, I just think, say what you mean.

I think people kind of use it as an excuse? But it's unnecessary, and feeds in to the same classist snobby ideas that have you dismissing your reading as 'not real reading' in the first place. Not everything you read is supposed to be a literary masterpiece, I don't think we need to shy from the fact that it's easy to read a lot of fanfic cause it's accessible. You aren't reading it instead of a book cause it's affordable, you are doing it cause you want to read fanfic not a book. Fanfic is accessible in so many ways, both in its availability and in the fact that it takes less mental energy to go in to a story in which you already know you like the characters? It's easy to judge the vibes of a fanfic before you go in to it (thanks to tagging, tropes, knowing what to expect) in a way that you don't get so much with books. That's the beauty of it.

I very much see fanfic as I see victorian serials like dickens and Arthur conan doyles works. They are supposed to be accessible! Easy to pick up and read in moments between work and life. It doesn't mean you're any less likely to come across a real talent, you might well find a masterpiece in the pile, but there is a pile, that's the point. It's a mass of writing of every flavour, across a spectrum of talent, there's loads of it, so that you can easily find something in that moment that appeals to you.

--

Pulp novels filled a similar niche. Ditto most romance novels. You know what you're getting, and you know where to get more.

[just-ray]

*has a bad day*

Mnbnmmg i think i need to write pulp fiction fanfic