#tbh. I come to fandoms primarily as someone who's primarily into fic writing

[liesmyth]

I appreciate that TLT fandom meta going around that's like "you're all so smart but let's remember the sins of hubris of the bbc sherlock fandom" because yeah! Good reminder! Theorizing is fun but also sometimes you connect the wrong dots! Sometimes the curtains are just blue!

Personally. I'm ready to have every single theory and headcanon I ever conceived personally debunked by Taz. I'm fine with it. I've accepted it.

EXCEPT for Vagina Dentata Alecto. Sorry to say. Unless AtN includes a very detailed first person POV of Harrow eating out earth barbie pussy and confirming firsthand with her tongue that there are no teeth down there, I will keep believing that she has teeth down there. I simply am perceiving the truth.

[mistressoftherant-blog]

Separating TMNT Verses and Characters

This is just a quick one, because I've been seeing this happen a lot recently and need to vent, but I really just want to say that it is so annoying when fans won't stop mentioning a TMNT series or character when a post, video, fic, pictures, etc, has absolutely nothing to do with them (this is annoying in other fandoms as well tbh).

If someone makes a post about, say, the relationship between Donnie and Raph in the 03 series, why do people immediately feel the need to start comparing it to other series, or start dragging other characters in? Or, as another example, if someone makes a post about how physically strong the Bayverse boys are, why is there always at least one person who has to jump in and be like, 'well, actually, thanks to his mystic powers, Rise Mikey is actually the strongest turtle in the TMNT franchise, and he can solo anyone'. Like, who asked? If the post is clearly discussing physical strength, and doesn't even mention other iterations, why do you think they'd care about you trying to prove that Mikey is the strongest due to his mystic abilities?

Or if you're reading a post/fanfic, or watching a video that is clearly about one character, and half of the comments are going on about someone else, or just annoying copy pasted phrases (this is worse on TikTok than tumblr though honestly, why does every TMNT post, even ones that aren't about certain characters, need several iterations of comments like 'transfem Leo solos', 'Mikey solos 'I am Rise Leos girlfriend' etc)? I probably am coming across as a bit of an ass here, or I am misunderstanding something, but I just can't see what value these comments bring to a video. Sure, people are free to say whatever they want, but if you are commenting on a video about one character, and the comment is solely a phrase like the ones mentioned above which have no relation to the topic of the video, I just don't understand the point.

When you're in a fandom with many different iterations of the source material, you need to learn that not all of the content is going to be geared towards your particular favourite, or your particular favourite character, and trying to interject them into everything is just going to engender bitterness towards parts of the franchise, certain characters, and even amongst the fandom. I think we've all seen posts that are annoyed at Rise fans constantly trying to take over posts, fics, polls, etc that have nothing to do with Rise, or trying to tell people that their characterisation is off because they are writing/talking about a different version, and some Rise fans don't always seem to realise that the dynamics are very different in other versions. Though I do tend to see this happening more with people who are primarily Rise fans, other parts of the fandom do the same thing, which can get pretty tiring.

I honestly think the fandom would all get along a lot better if everyone could take a step back and remember that not everyone is coming into the fandom for the same things. My favourite character across every iteration I've checked out, (and I have watched/read and enjoyed quite a few iterations at this point so I have experiences across most of the fandom), is Donatello, which is probably obvious from my previous posts, and if I was paid every time I've seen someone jump in on a post about, say 12 Donnie with a comment like 'Rise Donnie would be laughing right now, Rise Donnie would be cringing, Rise Donnie would never', I'd be rich enough to buy the rights of the TMNT myself. Obviously all of the Donnies wouldn't do the exact same things or react in the same ways to everything. They all have the same core, but they are also different characters in different universes with different experiences. Of my post is specifically about one version of Donnie, I don't want a bunch of people comparing him to other iterations or characters, or just generally shitting all over him.

Or a post about something traumatic that Donnie went through, and then someone leaps in with a 'yeah but the Leos obviously have it worse, they've gone through this, and this, and this.' Alright, but this is about Donnie so again, why should I care? If I wanted to discuss Leo's trauma, I'd have mentioned this in the post, or made another post about it.

I think that one of the most egregious repeating examples of this that I have seen is usually attached to the phrase, 'what about x character'. If someone creates something about one character, and you immediately hop in with a 'what about x' it kinda makes me want to scream. Say I made a post talking about how 12 Donnie actually makes a pretty good leader in some episodes, someone jumping in to say'well what about Raph or Mikey in these particular eps' would infuruate me. Or if I say, '03 Donnie really suffered in SAINW, someone jumping in to say, 'well what about Mikey, he suffered too' is more annoying than anything.

We all have to curate our own online fandom experiences, but part of this should also involve the realisation that other people are also trying to curate their experience, one that might be fundamentally differeny from what you want, and that, by trying to interject things about other characters and iterations where they arent wanted, you are probabky just going to make people annoyed.

Some people (maybe not all, but definitely some) will not want you to hop on their post and make it all about a character or series that isn't relevant to what they are talking about, and if you do so, you may face some kind of backlash. I have seen countless people grow bitter towards certain parts of the franchise/fandom and characters because of things like this (I know that I can grow irritable when half of the content that I consume ends up being buried in comments about things that are completely irrelevant). And this isn't just fans of one particular iteration or series, even though some fans have more of a reputation for doing this than others.

I guess my main point is to just have some consideration for others, and reflect on whether or not you'd be annoyed if someone commented on something that you'd worked on talking about a character you don't particularly like, and making everything about them. It can really suck, and I've seen people become discouraged when an excellent fic, character study, post, vid, etc of their favourite character gets flooded by comments of, 'this is more like x character, imagine x character in this scenario, but what about x'. Obviously this isn't the same for everyone, and some people actually do invite people to discuss other versions and characters on their posts, but I still think people need to consider whether or not the comment that they are posting is just going to end in an argument where no one comes away happy.

[rowanisawriter]

20 questions for fic writers

thank you @mightymizora for the tag!!!!!! i’m always ready to go into my ao3 for stats and stuff lol

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

39

2. what’s your total ao3 word count?

186,225

3. what fandoms do you write for?

a lot…. 13 total but these days i’m primarily writing dragon age and bg3

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

parlor tricks (dc/young justice)

lucky one (avatar/legend of korra)

riposte (dragon age)

mirrors (assassin’s creed)

heretic (bg3)

5. do you respond to comments?

yes always!

6. what’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

god i love angst so probably most of my stories have an angsty ending but i’m going to go with attrition (dragon age), it works towards cullen going back on lyrium so the end is a gut punch lol delicious

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

gonna go with riposte (dragon age) for this one, it has a sweet ending that comes after just a little angst to make it go down easier lol

8. do you get hate on fics?

no everyone’s been very nice to me :)

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

kinda?? i’m not sure if what i write is considered smut, i do like to pack in a fair bit of sex but it’s all really emotional and written with a lens on feelings rather than the actual act… so yes? i think i do??

10. do you write crossovers? what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

i haven’t!!

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

nope

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

yes back on ff.net a bunch of times!! always really cool!!

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

i haven’t and i would like to but my writing method is so chaotic and insane that i’m afraid of alienating all my writer friends if i ever tried to collab 😭

14. what’s your all-time favorite ship?

i can’t answer this lol as someone who moves from fandom to fandom and then back again so often, but i do come back again and again to the same few ships so my top like 2 would probably be dick/zatanna (dc) and shepard/kaidan (mass effect), and i haven’t written shepard/garrus but i loVE THEM

15. what’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

man i wish i could summon the willpower to finish my dragon age inquisition treasure hunter au, its a retelling of the jaws of hakkon dlc but the mummy-esque, it’s so cool i have to get back to it but i keep getting sidelined by other stories 😭😭😭

16. what are your writing strengths?

character study, lots of feelings, telling a story with a lot of missing pieces like being intentionally vague and annoying generally

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

being intentionally vague and annoying lmao i feel sometimes that i’m not direct enough with the story i want to tell and trust too much that my intentions are clearer than i sometimes think they are… does this make sense…. also i don’t like my dialogue most of the time

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

i wouldn’t tbh unless it’s a made up language

19. first fandom you wrote for?

harry potter lol back in the day when i was like 12

20. favorite fic you’ve ever written?

i’ve reread ceasefire (dragon age) the most i think, it’s one of my faves and i’m super proud of it!!

your turn…. @zenstrike @samseabxrn @smoreofbabylon @nirikeehan @theluckywizard @jtownnn and anyone else who would like to share 🫧

[hearteyesmcgarrett]

20 questions for writers! Thanks @frostysfrenzy 💙💙

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

46, which feels impossible to believe

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

97,544 (which is also hard to believe)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Primarily Stargate, Leverage, and Hawaii Five-0, but there will be more Grimm fics coming

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Five Times Parker Proposes (ot3)

You Save Me (mcdanno)

I've got my heart (strung up on clothing line) (mcdanno)

In this moment, you are everything (mcdanno)

Kiss the boy (eliot/hardison)

I actually didnt realize these were the top 5, and im kind of surprised. tbh I'd say I've got my heart and five times parker proposes would be my faves out of these 5

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes!! I adore comments and try to reply to them all

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

I basically refuse to write angsty endings lmao but I guess reading up on black holes just for the long term emotional consequences? or I could see myself dying for you because they clearly got Fucked Up

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

I refuse to write a non-happy ending alkjflskjdf but oh i love the glow delights me

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not so far, tho one turned out to be... a Topic in a discord server

9. Do you write smut?

yup! the stargate kinkmeme changed me as a person

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

I have done one, which was a leverage/h50 crossover purely for my own enjoyment

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that i know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

not that i know of

13. Have you ever co written a fic?

No, but I'd be down with certain authors

14. What's your all time favourite ship?

tied between mcdanno and mcshep and leverage ot3 honestly

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I haven't even started it but i have a stargate baseball AU tentatively planned out

16. What are your writing strengths?

honestly i feel like when i feel a character I feel them and the dialogue is very in character and plausible

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

i am incapable of writing anything longer than like 2 chapters

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

i feel like it often comes across weirdly (when done by someone who doesnt speak that language) so i avoid it. there are some characters and situations where it is done well, but i avoid it

19. First fandom you wrote for?

CSI Miami i think? yes i know thats embarrassing

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

honestly im not sure. maybe ive got my heart? its such a good trope and i love those two idiots so much

also i was doing this while watching a hockey game in another tab and without fucking fail, they scored every time i was on here. I MISSED FIVE GOALS what the fuck

anyways, i think all of my writer friends have already done this??? so if you haven't, consider yourself tagged

[thistidalwave]

questions for fic writers

wow just noticed @softbrah tagged me in this....how fun! let's go!

How many works do you have on ao3?

120! that's since 2011.

What’s your total ao3 word count?

1,222,928. dear god.

What fandoms do you write for?

currently we deep in the k-pop trenches, collecting lil blorbos with compelling narratives and dynamics to smack together like dolls. specifically i've been writing for Seventeen lately, and previously for TXT and BTS, and because i am me, i write niche inter-band shit and collected a couple soloists to throw in for seasoning.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Addicted (to loving you) (Teen Wolf scott/stiles. no, idk either. please don't read it.)

pictures in frames of kisses on cheeks (checkpls bitty/jack/kent. pure fluff no substance the people love it)

love doesn't come in boxes (checkpls bitty/jack)

something good and right and real (hockey rpf benn/seguin, cowritten with @aperfect20)

drop everything now (hockey rpf bgally/agally, cowritten with @aperfect20. listen. these hockey fics are of their time and now they'll never leave the first page sorted by kudos.)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

yes, all the time! it takes negligible time and brain power for me, and i like to let people know how much i appreciated hearing their thoughts, even when it was just a thank you and then we're in a lil awkward thanking circle.

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

ok, i think it just has to be a tie between "only time is ours" and "34 Days", which are check please kent/jack fics about the same pre-canon break-up events, the first from jack's pov and the second from kent's (tho iirc they have different interpretations of events beyond the pov switch, too). they are inherently angsty bc absolutely nothing is good at the end of them.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

this is so hard to decide, bc i primarily write romcoms and by the end of them if your teeth aren't rotting i did it wrong. i will give a shoutout to "doesn't matter what we do", a bts jimin/j-hope that is all about just Letting Urself Be Soulmates and then grossing out ur bandmates about it.

Do you get hate on fics?

no, thank god.

Do you write smut?

yes i have been known to write filth. sometimes the romcom plot calls for it. i'm horrible at pwp bc i'm always giving it plot, but u kno, sometimes the spirit moves me and i manage it.

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

crossovers of fandoms that have nothing to do with each other actually kind of squick me - i'm talking crossovers where characters who have never and will never meet are there for no reason (think superwholock tbh, tho i was uncharacteristically a lil into that at the time), not fusions or big universes with diff shows or whatever. it's just not for me!

but in terms of things where it's less drastic (crossing over bands in k-pop, for example) i am all over that, bc there's interesting stuff from real life there! my craziest example atm is a baekho/jun fic, and like, it's not that crazy!

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

i don't think so!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes, it's always so awesome that someone wants to take the time to do that.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yessssss, my favourite way to create fic.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

this is an extremely insensitive thing to ask a ship whore like me. there are some ships that REALLY set my brain on fire over the years, though. check pls kent/jack drives me insane to this day. harry styles/nick grimshaw was So compelling. 2012 oilers "kid line" (nugent-hopkins/hall/eberle) went off.

often fandom really makes these ships worth it to talk about and inspires me to contribute. i am often very compelled by one character in particular and just ship them with everyone possible so i can examine all their sides.

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

hmmmm if i WANT to finish it, i probably will. there are things that i ended up abandoning, though. one of those i'm still kinda sad about was a dylan/mitch/auston sequel to my connor/rystro.

What are your writing strengths?

i write realistic dialogue and i'm great at characterization (shoutout to the mean comment i got circa 2010 telling me to get good at characterization. i did. thanks.) my voice has always been strong, too.

What are your writing weaknesses?

i sometimes slack on depicting the interior emotions of characters. i'm not great with setting or exposition because the brand of fanfic i tend to write isn't a great place to practice those skills. i try to find places to do it, though!

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

it's the norm in k-pop fandom to drop in localization things like honorifics, and i like it because it can communicate relationships between the characters and so that it's not SO divorced from the context the idols actually live in. this is such a weirdly specific question, idk what else to say about it lmao

First fandom you wrote for?

twilight. bless her.

Favorite fic you’ve written?

choosing between my children? ok. at the moment i'm quite fond of too real to call it magic, a contemporary fantasy au where the main character is stuck in a dream. i felt really good about what i did with the themes and setting of the source material (a mv, so you're only 3mins and a quick google of the main characters' names away from reading this fic!) and the way i developed the relationship. it's underrated af bc it's a niche pairing.

i will tag @aperfect20 since i already tagged her in the text of the post. no pressure tho.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

The way you write Ingo and Akari's interactions with each other never fails to warm my heart. And after seeing how he is with Rei in oop, I'm so excited to see how Emmet interacts with Akari. And let's not forget how your Cyllene is with Rei, and how she considers him Her Boy. I just love the intergenerational relationships you have going on. Kids deserve to have good adults in their lives, especially ones like Akari and Rei who have had it so rough.

There are... a lot of things I don't like about many interpretations of Emmet in fandom, but one I especially dislike is when he's overly rude or dismissive towards the kids. You avoid that trap neatly, though that's no surprise because the way you write him is one of my all time favorites. That's maybe a bit beside the point though.

In any case, I loved the little prompt snippets you wrote yesterday about Ingo with both Akari and Rei. The one you wrote with Rei was both cool and heartbreaking with how his dedication and care was the only thing keeping him going, all so Rei might have the chance to live. And the one Akari was so sweet and heartwarming, with how gentle his love for her was. She doesn't know it, but Ingo's home isn't a place, like her it's the people he cares about, and she's included in that too now. In this au where he's so close to her, it wouldn't be complete without her there.

WAAAAH THIS IS SUCH A NICE ASK?? THANK YOU?? thank you so much... i'm gonna cry this is so sweet. thank youuuu... i uh rambled a lot about characters and relationships so i'm going to put the rest of that under. a cut i think. contd:

anyway. YEAH re: kids deserving Good Adults. tbh whenever i see a kid on their own in fiction it activates some kind of primal pack bonding instinct in me to protect them, so this is like, vicarious parenting. and i just REALLY like characters who are Good With Kids, it's like one of my fav character traits that makes me instantly love them. and i love all the different ways that can come through, like, like you said, cyllene who isn't so great at saying how she feels but has SO adopted these two. so. yes. this is primarily self indulgent. it all comes back to my love of picking apart character motivations lol

also WHO is making emmet not nice to kids. i'll fight them. i'll duel them in the street right now. why is everyone else so WRONG about my BLORBO. i think- not to Also get sidetracked, lol, but- i think emmet is someone who's extremely straightforward with everything he says, and doesn't back down, but the critical thing is that all that blunt directness and stubbornness is backed by an intense motivation to help and protect others. so that's what i'm trying to channel when he's with rei or anyone else—specifically because he doesn't try to hedge his words or anything, it is so obvious at all times that he Cares and wants to Help. which can be like, intensely validating/reassuring/trust-building. like short and direct and not good at subtlety don't have to be negative asshole-building character traits!! ...but uhh anyway what were we talking about again

ingo ficlets right. YEAHH THANK YOU... i think in comparison to emmet ingo is like. actually good with people, in the sense that he can read peoples' emotions from their words and actions much better, and is very understanding and patient. and obviously he's also driven by that same compassion. trying really hard not to just make this about comparing how i characterize them both ANYWAY. and i am giving him the Parenting Instincts, lol, which, i think he has an immediate reaction of "oh i need to help you" when he sees anyone who's lost/hurt/confused, but it's stronger with kids bc they obviously tend to have less ability to support themselves. so with akari in the adoption fic i keep gesturing towards and Not Finishing, and rei in the ficlet who got separated from his usual crew, he just adopts them very quickly lol. (there's also something to be said there for how i usually write amnesiac-ingo as having a kind of busted self-perception, as we've covered, so he's outsourcing his motivation and desire to continue living to others, which is sort of a Not Great aspect of this, but uhh that's getting sidetracked again)

anyway YEAH!! his home is his loved ones!! yessss exactly!! you have it spot on, i think in that snippet after akari brings it up he does have that thought of, all he has to judge his "home" by is a vague vibe that it was good and he misses it. what if it isn't as perfect as his non-memory thinks it is? what if it can't/won't make space for akari? in which case i think that despite how much he misses it, he would be fully prepared to walk out of it for her. because like you said, his home isn't a place, it's the people!! so if akari can't belong there, then it isn't his home, either. (not that it would ever come to that in reality)

so. yes. as you can probably tell i could go on about this subject forever. just adhd tangent after tangent about kids, and the ways they get treated, and what it says about characters, and character motivations in general, and bitching about how my blorbo gets misinterpreted. but. my point is. this was a very nice ask i am going to print it out and tape it in my diary thank you

[aseplant]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers!

I was not tagged,,, but I felt like doing it anyway haha

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 12! I'm not sure when that happened, whoa.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 55,540.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Primarily the Ember Knight, and probably Hand Jumper once it comes off hiatus. I'll branch out if/when the urge strikes, I think.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

the price of divinity - Genshin Impact, Jean & Venti (121 kudos)

walk these shorelines with me - The Ember Knight, Nagyunn & Najin (83 kudos)

Mind Games - The Ember Knight, Nagyunn & Zius (72 kudos)

heavenbound laughter, hellbound lies - the Ember Knight, Waron/Zius (57 kudos)

nagyunn’s treatise on scamming important people - the Ember Knight, ostensibly Nagyunn/Tyr; mostly, it's crack (55 kudos)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try my best to reply to every comment I get! It makes me really happy when authors take the time to respond, so I try to make an effort to reciprocate from the other end. Plus: I write primarily for obscure-ass fandoms, and I want it to feel like people can talk to me, not just consume from me, so.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I have been reliably informed that I am SHIT at gauging the angst levels in my own writing. Having said that, I'd vote for the price of divinity, since it's a combination of bittersweet ending + major character death + the cycle continues. (I like cycles, what can I say. That's probably how I ended up in the revenge cycle fandom.)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? morning dew is fluff all the way through!

8. Do you get hate on fics? I have not, probably because I inhabit my own cozy little corner of the internet. I'm glad the fandoms I'm in are so chill.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I used to write insane crack rpf smut fics of my friends in high school whenever they did something stupid (I distinctly recall writing something involving my friend climbing a ladder in heels in order to give another anal?? It was written in response to one of them going dumpster diving for an LED buttplug). I stopped doing this in college, but recently, I have met two idiots dear friends who have been eager to revive this old hobby of mine. Hence, blood red camellia. Among other things.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I do not. They've never really been my cup of tea, and also I'm lucky to have even one thought rattling around in my head at any given moment, never mind two.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of! It'd be extremely unlikely, all considered.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope. I might translate some on my own at some point for practice, but that's far down the backlog for now.

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

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? I'm not that pressed about ships in general tbh. I just like dissecting characters, and if someone dies in the process, all the better <3

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Ember Knight high school AU... I actually have a pretty cohesive outline, but for various reasons it's been a difficult fic to write, and many of the main themes are no longer as dear to me as they once were. Still, I hold out hope that I'll get back around to it someday.

16. What are your writing strengths? I want to say characterization? And I guess grammar LOL. I had some stickler-ass teachers growing up, and this is probably the only thing I can thank them for.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Hnrhg plot. Thank god I can write all the character studies I want when it comes to fandom, so I'm sure no one has noticed this tiny little weakness yet.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I'd do it in a heartbeat if it was (1) in character and (2) I knew the language/had a friend who could translate for me, because there is nothing more embarrassing than having clearly machine-translated lines. But those conditions are so difficult to fulfill that it's never happened yet.

19. First fandom you wrote for? I wrote like... a chapter and a half of a Harry Potter fic when I was in, like, 4th grade? We don't talk about it. It's gone. I hope. I did not seriously try my hand at writing again until I got into Genshin Impact back in 2021, which is what I generally consider the first fandom I wrote for.

20. Favorite fic you've written? This one is hard... I think walk these shorelines with me is the best-executed, but I'm partial to Parallel Lines despite it not being executed quite as well as I would have liked.

It's late and I don't remember which of my mutuals write off the top of my head... I'm gonna tag @quiets-cradle, but if anyone else sees this and wants to join, feel free to! In fact, I am begging you to.

[starspray]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks for the tag, @grundyscribbling!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?  242

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 

597,122

3. What fandoms do you write for? 

Primarily Tolkien though I've dabbled a bit in a couple others.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

A Change of Career

Fields and Mountains Ever Blessed

God, I Pity the Violins

An Unexpected Friendship

He Who Harps

5. Do you respond to comments? 

I try! But it's hit or miss, tbh. I read and deeply appreciate them all, though.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? 

Hour of Departure, probably?

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

Honestly most of my fics have...if not happy than at least hopeful endings. Not sure I can choose the happiest.

8. Do you get hate on fics? 

Nope, though I'm still a bit nervous about future chapters of my Fingon/OFC fic.

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

Noooope

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

Very occasionally, but none that can't work within each canon--so I couldn't call any of them crazy.

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

Nope.

13. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Earendil/Elwing my beloved <33333

14.  What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? 

I'll finish them all eventually.

15. What are your writing strengths? 

Was told once by a creative writing professor that I write very good dialogue.

16. What are your writing weaknesses? 

Romance, probably.

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? 

I'm moving farther and farther away from it. I'll use elvish words for like mom and dad and stuff because I think they sound nice. A full sentence would only come up if it was from the POV of someone who did not speak that language, and even then I'm more likely to say that they just can't understand than to use actual dialogue.

18. First fandom you wrote for? 

Tortall

19.  Favourite fic you’ve written?

Usually it's the one I've finished most recently.

[theroyalspiderart]

AO3 Questions Tag Game!

I got tagged by @squish--squash. Thank you so much! I'm glad you thought of me!

I Tag: @neon-virus and @xmajordumps And any wonderful person who wants to hop on the wagon!

1- How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently, only three. One drabble and two actual fics. (One sadly left behind BUT I do intend to work on it again)

2- What's your total AO3 wordcount?

About 9,527 based on current fics. Actually a bit lower than I thought it would be, I should fix that.

3- What fandoms do you write for?

Currently it's Cult of the Lamb and Splatoon! Specifically bouncing off Splatoon 2 and into 3. I don't have a lot of things I'm a big fan of but maybe that will change in the near future! I'm getting into more games so I might pick up another.

4- What are your top five fics by Kudos?

Also pleading the fifth only because I'm no longer in the fandom for most of the fics sadly

5- Do you respond to comments?

I would like to more, yes! I don't get a lot of comments so it's hard to do, but if I get more I'd really like to!

6- What fic have you written with the angtiest ending?

A fic I haven't posted before actually. It's more of an on-going/living story so to speak. A story of trauma, pain, trying to make up for said inflicted trauma, coming to terms with never being forgiven, and knowing this character has actively fucked up that life beyond repair. It's real nice to have around for pain~

7- what fic have you written with the happiest ending?

Currently have plans for both my CoTL fic Death's Forbidden Love and my Splat fic Why Do I Hate You So? (Soon to be renamed) to both get happy endings! Of course there is angst along the way. What can I say? I think they deserve to be happy

8- Do you get hate on fics?

Dunno, never had someone actively tell me before :V

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

I need you to understand that is like the majority of my personal writing. I want to estimate a good like.... 80-90% of personal writing, be it RP or for myself, is either primarily smut or has some element of it sprinkled in.

As for what kind? Yeah, you'll have to kill me to get that answer. My main page is SFW but if you know me, You Know.

10- Do you write crossovers?

Not any more, but I used to all the time! Back when I was on Wattpad I want to say like 5/7 fics were all crossovers of fandoms and oc/canon stuff. It was a lot of fun. I think my most popular ever was a goofy Hetalia/Aliens fic I made. Don't ask me where I got the idea, I couldn't tell you.

11- Have you had a fic stolen?

ACTUALLY YES! Still pisses me off, but a fandom friend stole one of my drabbles and posted it to her account. I think it's dead now and you can't find it any longer but it did happen!

It was a small friend group and I was like- in middle school. I've done my wailing about it.

12- Have you had a fic translated?

Nope, but it would be nice if someone did! If they like it enough to translate it, I'd be honored!

13- Have you co-written a fic?

Sadly, no. Unless you count RP stuff turning into OC lore, then maybe. But in literal terms? Nah.

14- What's your all time favorite ship?

Oh this one made me think.

I'm gonna have to go with 3/8 from Splatoon simply because of my own ship pair of them. I adore these two a lot and all the growing they've done as characters together.

15- What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

My personal Paracosm's story tbh. There's no set storyline for the world and it just exists in the back of my head like a DND campaign. I want to do it justice one day and turn it into an actual story and REALLY REALLY flesh it all out.

16- What are your writing strengths?

I'm often told that my characters feel like real characters. Not in like, they're made by a professional, but more so in the way they feel like they've had solid personalities. My personal favorite compliment I got was from a teacher in my high school. He'd commented on my lead at the time and how, despite my clunky writing skills, she felt like a living breathing person he was being told all about. Like a long lost friend.

I think this rings most true in my current writings of my version of Narinder. I've gotten a LOT of compliments about him and it makes me excited to write more! Hopefully if I can polish my skills again my whole cast will feel this way!

17 – What are your writing weaknesses?

Pacing. By god is my pacing TRASH. I'm getting some more work on this with my friend's help and just getting back into the flow of writing again. I'm hoping to reawaken my middle and high school self cuz that bitch could bang out 3,000 words a day for fics.

18 – Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Mixed. An actual language? I don't trust my translation skills to be that solid. Small phrases I can do but definitely not full on conversations.

A language I made myself and am currently attempting to flesh out more? Oh you bet your sweet bottom dollar I'm writing whole SCENES in that shit!

19 – First fandom you wrote for?

Funnily enough, Sonic. That's where a lot of my creation started as a kid and where my Paracosm kind of spawned from. Despite having never really written a fic for it before, I consider my first "comic" to be that fanfic. AKA 10yo Spider was having a blast writing their characters being besties with the canon crew -fingerguns-

20 – Favorite fic you've written?

Gonna be Death's Forbidden Love. It's my most ambitious writing project in years and has reignited a part of my love for just making stuff. Plot still isn't solid but I really enjoy the things I have planned and I hope to share more of this silly spinoff with everyone!

Thanks again for tagging me Squish! This was a lot of fun and brought back some good memories for me.

[army-of-mai-lovers]

in which I get progressively angrier at the various tropes of atla fandom misogyny

tbh I think it would serve all of us to have a larger conversation about the specific ways misogyny manifests in this fandom, because I’ve seen a lot of people who characterize themselves as feminists, many of whom are women themselves, discuss the female characters of atla/lok in misogynistic ways, and people don’t talk about it enough. 

disclaimer before I start: I’m not a woman, I’m an afab nonbinary person who is semi-closeted and thus often read as a woman. I’m speaking to things that I’ve seen that have made me uncomfy, but if any women (esp women existing along other axes of oppression, e.g. trans women, women of color, disabled women, etc) want to add onto this post, please do!

“This female character is a total badass but I’m not even a little bit interested in exploring her as a human being.” 

I’ve seen a lot of people say of various female characters in atla/lok, “I love her! She’s such a badass!” now, this statement on its own isn’t misogynistic, but it represents a pretty pervasive form of misogyny that I’ve seen leveled in large part toward the canon female love interests of one or both of the members of a popular gay ship (*cough* zukka *cough*) I’m going to use Suki as an example of this because I see it with her most often, but it can honestly be applied to nearly every female character in atla/lok. Basically, people will say that they stan Suki, but when it comes time to engage with her as an actual character, they refuse to do it. I’ve seen meta after meta about Zuko’s redemption arc, but I so rarely see people engage with Suki on any level beyond “look at this cool fight scene!” and yeah, I love a cool Suki fight scene as much as anybody else, but I’m also interested in meta and headcanons and fics about who she is as a person, when she isn’t an accessory to Sokka’s development or doing something cool. of course, the material for this kind of engagement with Suki is scant considering she doesn’t have a canon backstory (yet) (don’t let me down Faith Erin Hicks counting on you girl) but with the way I’ve seen people in this fandom expand upon canon to flesh out male characters, I know y’all have it in you to do more with Suki, and with all the female characters, than you currently do. frankly, the most engagement I’ve seen with Suki in mainstream fandom is justifying either zukki (which again, is characterizing her in relation to male characters, one of whom she barely interacts with in canon) or one of the Suki wlw pairings. which brings me to--

“I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!” 

now, I will admit, two of my favorite atla ships are yueki and mailee, and so I totally understand being interested in these characters’ dynamics, even if, as is the case with yueki, they’ve never interacted canonically. however, it becomes a problem for me when these ships are always in the background of a zukka fic. at some point, it becomes obvious that you like this ship because it gets either Zuko or Sokka’s female love interests out of the way, not because you actually think the characters would mesh well together. It’s bad form to dislike a female character because she gets in the way of your gay ship, so instead, you find another girl to pair her off with and call it a day. to be clear, I’m not saying that everybody who ships either mailee or yueki (or tysuki or maisuki or yumai or whatever other wlw rarepair involving Zuko or Sokka’s canon love interests) is nefariously trying to sideline a female character while acting publicly as if she’s is one of their faves--far from it--but it is noteworthy to me how difficult it is to find content that centers wlw ships, while it’s incredibly easy to find content that centers zukka in which mailee and/or yueki plays a background role. 

also, notice how little traction wlw Katara ships gain in this fandom. when’s the last time you saw yuetara on your dash? there’s no reason for wlw Katara ships to gain traction in a fandom that is so focused on Zuko and Sokka getting together, bc she doesn’t present an immediate obstacle to that goal (at least, not an obstacle that can be overcome by pairing her up with a woman). if you are primarily interested in Zuko and Sokka’s relationship, and your queer readings of other female characters are motivated by a desire to get them out of the way for zukka, then Katara’s canon m/f relationship isn’t a threat to you, and thus, there’s no reason to read her as potentially queer. Or even, really, to think about her at all. 

“Katara’s here but she’s not actually going to do anything, because deep down, I’m not interested in her as a person.” 

the show has an enormous amount of textual evidence to support the claim that Sokka and Katara are integral parts of each other’s lives. so, she typically makes some kind of appearance in zukka content. sometimes, her presence in the story is as an actual character with layers and nuance, someone whom Sokka cares about and who cares about Sokka in return, but also has her own life and goals outside of her brother (or other male characters, for that matter.) sometimes, however, she’s just there because halfway through writing the author remembered that Sokka actually has a sister who’s a huge part of the show they’re writing fanfiction for, and then they proceed to show her having a meetcute with Aang or helping Sokka through an emotional problem, without expressing wants or desires outside of those characters. I’m honestly really surprised that I haven’t seen more people calling out the fact that so much of Katara’s personality in fanon revolves around her connections to men? she’s Aang’s girlfriend, she’s Sokka’s sister, she’s Zuko’s bestie. never mind that in canon she spends an enormous amount of time fighting against (anachronistic, Westernized) sexism to establish herself as a person in her own right, outside of these connections. and that in canon she has such interesting complex relationships with other female characters (e.g. Toph, Kanna, Hama, Korra if you want to write lok content) or that there are a plethora of characters with whom she could have interesting relationships with in fanon (Mai, Suki, Ty Lee, Yue, Smellerbee, and if you want to write lok content, Kya II, Lin, Asami, Senna, etc). to me, the lack of fandom material exploring Katara’s relationships with other women or with herself speak to a profound indifference to Katara as a character. I’m not saying you have to like Katara or include her in everything you write, but I am asking you to consider why you don’t find her interesting outside of her relationships with men.

“I hate Katara because she talks about her mother dying too often.” 

this is something I’ve seen addressed by people far more qualified than I to address it, but I want to mention it here in part because when I asked people which fandom tropes they wanted me to talk about, this came up often, but also because I find it really disgusting that this is a thing that needs to be addressed at all. Y’all see a little girl who watched her mother be killed by the forces of an imperialist nation and say that she talks about it too much??? That is a formational, foundational event in a child’s life. Of course she’s going to talk about it. I’ve seen people say that she doesn’t talk about it that often, or that she only talks about it to connect with other victims of fn imperialism e.g. Jet and Haru, but frankly, she could speak about it every episode for no plot-significant reason whatsoever and I would still be angry to see people say she talks about it too much. And before you even bring up the Sokka comparison, people deal with grief in different ways. Sokka  repressed a lot of his grief/channeled it into being the “man” of his village because he knew that they would come for Katara next if he gave them the opportunity. he probably would talk about his mother more if a) he didn’t feel massive guilt at not being able to remember what she looked like, and b) he was allowed to be a child processing the loss of his mother instead of having to become a tiny adult when Hakoda had to leave to help fight the fn. And this gets into an intersection with fandom racism, in that white fans (esp white American fans) are incapable of relating to the structural trauma that both Sokka and Katara experience and thus can’t see the ways in which structural trauma colors every single aspect of both of their characters, leading them to flatten nuance and to have some really bad takes. And you know what, speaking of bad fandom takes--   

“Shitting on Mai because she gets in the way of my favorite Zuko ship is actually totally okay because she’s ~abusive~” 

y’all WHAT. 

ok listen, I get not liking maiko. I didn’t like it when I first got into fandom, and later I realized that while bryke cannot write romance to save their lives, fans who like maiko sure can, so I changed my tune. but if you still don’t like it, that’s fine. no skin off my back. 

what IS skin off my back is taking instances in which Mai had justified anger toward Zuko, and turning it into “Mai abused Zuko.” do you not realize how ridiculous you sound? this is another thing where I get so angry about it that I don’t know how useful my analysis is actually going to be, but I’ll do my best. numerous people have noted how analysis of Mai and Zuko’s breakup in “The Beach” or Mai being justifiably angry with him at Boiling Rock or her asking for FUCKING FRUIT in “Nightmares and Daydreams” that says that all of these events were her trying to gain control over him is....ahhh...lacking in reading comprehension, but I’d like to go a step further and talk about why y’all are so intent on taking down a girl who doesn’t show emotion in normative ways. obviously, there’s a “Zuko can do no wrong” aspect to Mai criticism (which is super weird considering how his whole arc is about how he can do lots of wrong and he has to atone for the wrong that he’s done--but that’s a separate post.) But I also see slandering Mai for not expressing her emotions normatively and not putting up with Zuko’s shit and slandering Katara for “talking about her mother too often” as two sides of the same coin. In both cases, a female character expresses emotions that make you, the viewer, uncomfortable, and so instead of attempting to understand where those emotions may have come from and why they might be manifesting the way they are, y’all just throw the whole character away. this is another instance of people in the fandom being fundamentally disinterested in engaging with the female characters of atla in a real way, except instead of shallowly “stanning” Mai, y’all hate her. so we get to this point where female characters are flattened into one of two things: perfect queens who can do no wrong, or bitches. and that’s not who they are. that’s not who anyone is. but while we as a fandom are pretty good at understanding b1 Zuko’s actions as layered and multifaceted even though he’s essentially an asshole then, few are willing to lend the same grace to any female character, least of all Mai. 

and what’s funny is sometimes this trope will intersect with “I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”, so you’ll have someone actively calling Mai toxic/problematic/abusive, and at the same time ship her with Ty Lee? make it make sense! but then again, maybe that’s happening because y’all are fundamentally disinterested in Ty Lee as a character too. 

“I love Ty Lee so much that I’m going to treat her like an infantilized hypersexual airhead!” 

there are so many things happening in y’alls characterization of Ty Lee that I struggled to synthesize it into one quippy section header. on one hand, you have the hypersexualization, and on the other hand, you have the infantilization, which just makes the hypersexualization that much worse. 

(of course, sexualizing or hypersexualizing ANY atla character is really not the move, considering that these are child characters in a children’s show, but then again, that’s a separate post.) 

now, I understand how, from a very, very surface reading of the text, you could come to the conclusion that Ty Lee is an uncomplicated bimbo. if you grew up on Western media the way I did, you’ll know that Ty Lee has a lot of the character traits we associate with bimbos: the form-fitting pink crop top, the general conventional attractiveness, the ditzy dialogue. but if you think about it for more than three seconds, you’ll understand that Ty Lee has spent her whole life walking a tightrope, trying to please Azula and the rest of the royal family while also staying true to herself. Ty Lee and Azula’s relationship is a really complex and interesting topic that I don’t really have time to explore at the moment given how long this post is, but I’d argue that Ty Lee’s constant, vocal  adulation is at least partially a product of learning to survive at court at an early age. Like Mai, she has been forced to regulate her emotions as a member of fn nobility, but unlike Mai, she also has six sisters who look exactly like her, so she has a motivation to be more peppy and more affectionate to stand out. 

fandom does not do the work to understand Ty Lee. as is a theme with this post, fandom is actively disinterested in investigating female characters beyond a very surface level reading of them. Thus, fandom takes Ty Lee’s surface level qualities--her love of the color pink, her revealing standard outfit, and the fact that once she found a boy attractive and also once a lot of boys found her attractive--and they stretch this into “Ty Lee is basically Karen Smith from Mean Girls.” thus, Ty Lee is painted as a bimbo, or more specifically, as not smart, uncritically adoring of Azula (did y’all forget all the non-zukka bits of Boiling Rock?), and attractive to the point of hypersexualization. I saw somebody make a post that was like “I wish mailee was more popular but I’m also glad it isn’t because otherwise people would write it as Mai having to put up with her dumb gf” and honestly I have to agree!! this is one instance in which I’m glad that fandom doesn’t discuss one of my favorite characters that often because I hate the fanon interpretation of Ty Lee, I think it’s rooted in misogyny (particularly misogyny against East Asian women, which often takes the form of fetishizing them and viewing them only through a Western white male gaze)  

(side note: here at army-of-mai-lovers, we stan bimbos. bimbos are fucking awesome. I personally don’t read Ty Lee as a bimbo, but if that’s you, that’s fucking awesome. keep doing what you’re doing, queen <3 or king or monarch, it’s 2021, anyone can be a bimbo, bitches <3)

“Toph can and will destroy everyone here with her bare hands because she’s a meathead who likes to murder people and that’s it!”  

Toph is, and always has been, one of my favorite ATLA characters. My very first fic in fandom was about her, and she appears prominently in a lot of my other work as well. One thing that I am always struck by with Toph is how big a heart she has. She’s independent, yes, snarky, yes, but she cares about people--even the family that forced her to make herself smaller because they didn’t believe that their blind daughter could be powerful and strong. Her storyline is powerful and emotionally resonant, her bending is cool precisely because it’s based in a “wait and listen” approach instead of just smashing things indiscriminately, she’s great disabled rep, and overall one of the best characters in the show. 

And in fandom, she gets flattened into “snarky murder child.” 

So where does this come from? Well, as we all know, Toph was originally conceived of as a male character, and retained a lot of androgyny (or as the kids call it, Gender) when she was rewritten as a female character. There are a lot of cultural ideas about androgynous/butch women being violent, and people in fandom seem to connect that larger cultural narrative with some of Toph’s more violent moments in the show to create the meathead murder child trope, erasing her canon emotionality, softness, heart, and femininity in the process. 

This is not to say that you shouldn’t write or characterize Toph as being violent or snarky at all ever, because yeah, Toph definitely did do Earth Rumbles a lot before joining the gaang, and yeah, Toph is definitely a sarcastic person who makes fun of her friends a lot. What I am saying is that people take these traits, sans the emotional logic, marry them to their conception of androgynous/butch women as violent/unemotional/uncaring, and thus create a caricature of Toph that is not at all up to snuff. When I see Toph as a side character in a fic (because yeah, Toph never gets to be a main character, because why would a fandom obsessed with one male character in particular ever make Toph a protagonist in her own right?) she’s making fun of people, killing people, pranking people, etc, etc. She’s never talking to people about her emotions, or palling around with her found family, or showing that she cares about her friends. Everything about her relationship with her parents, her disability, her relationship to Gender, and her love of her friends is shoved aside to focus on a version of Toph that is mean and uncaring because people have gotten it into their heads that androgynous/butch women are mean and uncaring. 

again, we see a female character who does not emote normatively or in a way that makes you, the viewer, comfortable, and so you warp her character until she’s completely unrecognizable and flat. and for what? 

Azula

no, I didn’t come up with a snappy name for this section, mainly because fanon interpretations of Azula and my own feelings toward the character are...complicated. I know there were some people who wanted me to write about Azula and the intersection of misogyny and ableism in fanon interpretations of her character, but I don’t think I can deliver on that because I personally am in a period of transition with how I see Azula. that is to say, while I still like her and believe that she can be redeemed, there is a lot of merit to disliking her. the whole point of this post is that the female characters of ATLA are complex people whom the fandom flattens into stereotypes that don’t hold up to scrutiny, or dislike for reasons that don’t make sense. Azula, however, is a different case. the rise of Azula defenders and Azula stans has led to this sentiment that Azula is a 14 y/o abuse victim who shouldn’t be held accountable for her actions. it seems to me that people are reacting to a long, horrible legacy of male ATLA fans armchair diagnosing Azula with various personality disorders (and suggesting that people with those personality disorders are inherently monstrous and unlovable which ahhhh....yikes) and then saying that those personality disorders make her unlovable, which is quite obviously bad. and hey, I get loving a character that everyone else hates and maybe getting so swept up in that love that you forget that your fave is complicated and has made some unsavory choices. it sucks that fanon takes these well-written, complex villains/antiheroes and turns them into monsters with no critical thought whatsoever. but the attitude among Azula stans that her redemption shouldn’t be hard, that her being a child excuses all of the bad things that she’s done, that she is owed redemption....all of that rubs me the wrong way. I might make another post about this in the future that discusses this in more depth, but as it stands now: while I understand that there is a legacy of misogynistic, ableist, unnuanced takes on Azula, the backlash to that does not take into account the people she hurt or the fact that in ATLA she does not make the choice to pursue redemption. and yes, Zuko had help in making that choice that Azula didn’t, and yes, Azula is a victim of abuse, but in a show about children who have gone through untold horrors and still work to better the lives of the people around them, that is not enough for me to uncritically stan her. 

Conclusion    

misogyny in this fandom runs rampant. while there are some tropes of fandom misogyny that are well-documented and have been debunked numerous times, there are other, subtler forms of misogyny that as far as I know have gone completely unchecked. 

what I find so interesting about misogyny in atla fandom is that it’s clear that it’s perpetrated by people who are aware of fandom misogyny who are actively trying not to be misogynistic. when I first joined atla fandom last summer, memes about how zukka fandom was better than every other fandom because they didn’t hate the female characters who got in the way of their gay ship were extremely prevalent, and there was this sense that *this* fandom was going to model respectful, fun, feminist online fandom. not all of the topes I’ve outlined are exclusive to or even largely utilized in zukka fandom, but a lot of them are. I’ve been in and out of fandom since I was eleven years old, and most of the fandom spaces I’ve been in have been majority-female, and all of them have been incredibly misogynistic. and I always want to know why. why, in these communities created in large part by women, in large part for women, does misogyny run wild? what I realize now is that there’s never going to be a one-size fits all answer to that question. what’s true for 1D fandom on Wattpad in 2012 is absolutely not true for atla fandom on tumblr in 2021. the answers that I’ve cobbled together for previous fandoms don’t work here. 

so, why is atla fandom like this? why did the dream of a feminist fandom almost entirely focused on the romantic relationship between two male characters fall apart? honestly, I think the notion that zukka fandom ever was this way was horrifically ignorant to begin with. from my very first moment in the fandom, I was seeing racism, widespread sexualization of minors, and yes, misogyny. these aspects of the fandom weren’t talked about as much as the crocverse or other, much more fun aspects. further, atla (specifically zukka) fandom misogyny often doesn’t look like the fandom misogyny we’ve become familiar with from like, Sherlock fandom or what have you. for the most part, people don’t actively hate Suki, they just “stan” without actually caring about her. they hate Mai because they believe in treating male victims of abuse equally. they’re not characterizing Toph poorly, they’re writing her as a “strong woman.” in short, people are misogynistic, and then invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of feminist theory to shield themselves from accusations of misogyny. it’s not unlike the way some people will invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of critical race theory to shield themselves from accusations of racism, or how they’ll talk about “freedom of speech” and “the suppression of women’s sexuality” to justify sexualizing minors. the performance of feminism and antiracism is what’s important, not the actual practice. 

if you’ve made it this far, first off, hi, thanks so much for reading, I know this was a lot. second, I would seriously encourage you to be aware of these fandom tropes and to call them out when you see them. elevate the voices of fans who do the work of bringing the female characters of atla to life. invest in the wlw ships in this fandom. drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic (please, drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic). read some yuetara. let’s all be honest about where we are now, and try to do better in the future. I believe in us. 

[espoir-et-reves]

hi maria!!!

i LOVE your work and wanna pick your brain :)) for the writing asks:

1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 20, 32, 35, & 39

hope your day is going well!!!!! <3333

Yooo Nadia what’s up?? No, nope I LOVE YOURS and I’d let you pick my brain but I doubt you’d make much sense of the chaos in there. Even I don’t 😂😂 okay so on with the q&a

1. How long ago did you start reading fanfiction? Writing fanfiction? 

Hmm I think I started reading fanfiction when I was in middle school? I’m pretty sure the first few fanfics I ever read were Harry Potter and Supernatural fics. I was SO into those fandoms back then (still am tbh)

The first fics I wrote were in high school if I remember correctly. Harry Potter and k-pop, more precisely a few EXO x reader fics lmao

2. How do you spend your time when it comes to fanfiction? Are you primarily a fic reader, writer, or a perfect 50/50 split of both?

It depends on the day I think. On some days I have no motivation to write, so I just lose myself in reading fanfics. Other days I spend hours upon hours of writing and doing research for my fanfics, wips and YA stories. 

4. Link your three favorite fics right now.

Just three??? Blasphemous but okay...

Daughter of Fire by the amazing @justjstuff -- one of my TOP favorite KakaSaku fics and also Naruto fanfics in general. Always makes my day when I see an update^^

Deep Within the Trees; Under the Boughs & Blossoms by candy_floss_consumer (I’m sorry I don’t know if they’re on tumblr) The entire series of a Different Wave is just so magical and so well written but especially this one. Gave me chills on every single chapter.

Take your pick between The Shadows of Your Heart and Dying Embers by @riseoftheblossom-ff . Just amazing.

Also take a pick from your fics. I love them^^

(I only listed fics from the Naruto fandom, because I’ve been more invested in them for the past couple of years.)

5. What are your fanfic pet peeves? Do they have a huge effect on whether or not you decide to read something?

I HATE a huge block of just words. Please, people, change paragraphs, use “ ” when someone’s talking and for the love of everything you find holy, do tell us who is thinking what and who is speaking when there are more than two characters in a scene. 

The lack of paragraphs especially drives me mad... like I don’t care if it’s the best story I may ever read, I’m not doing it, sorry.

Thank you, sincerely Maria❤

8. How often do you reblog/comment on fics that you like?

Not as often as I should tbh. Especially before I began uploading my fics, I was too shy to leave a review. Still am, but I’m trying to leave comments more often bc I understand how much they can lift the writer’s mood. 

10. What’s your favorite fandom, pairing, or character to read fic for?

Favorite fandoms: Naruto, Supernatural, Harry Potter, The Mortal Instruments

Favorite pairings: I’m a MultiSaku hoe so I read EVERYTHING, Dean/Castiel + Meg/Castiel, Draco/Hermione, Magnus/Alec!!

Favorite character: BAMF Sakura, Cas my little angel baby, Hermione bc we love BAMF witches and Magnus Bane the High Warlock of Brooklyn y’all✨

11. How do you come up with your fic titles?

Hahahhahahahha good question. It’s the hardest thing tbh. Sometimes I just google for a title generator, other times I sit down for a couple hours and beg for my brain to come up with something good...

13. Do you outline your fics? How much of a headache would someone get if they just looked at an outline of yours without reading the fic?

*snorts* not just a headache, it’ll be a damn explosion. I do have a rough outline for my fics, I even have the major scenes I want in a chapter written down and an ending and all that. Thing is... my mind hates me and I change everything at least three times, so I decided to just go with the flow. 

20. What’s your favorite part about the fanfiction writing process?

Honestly? just the fact that I’m writing. Especially when my brain wants to work with me and creativity just hits. I also enjoy doing research for my fics, but more often than not, it leads to distractions because I fall too into whatever I’m searching for😂

32. Copy and paste your top three favorite lines/jokes/sentences you’ve ever written. What fics do they come from?

“He didn’t smile back at me,” Sakura pouted and stabbed the rabbit meat on her plate with unnecessary force. --- A running joke in A Tale of Songs and Ashes is that Sakura has vowed to make Madara smile at her and she tries to get a reaction out of him every time they meet. This line started everything. 

Across from him Shikamaru was smoking a cigarette, lazily observing the people around him. The sharp look he received from said boy though had him taken aback. He followed the Nara’s eyes landing on Sakura and Sasuke, before turning back to him. Shikamaru shook his head, resigned and offered Neji a cigarette.

“I don’t smoke,” he replied.

Shikamaru shrugged, “It could help with the homicidal thoughts.” --- This interaction basically is one of my favorites from Nightstrolls because it kinda highlights Neji’s and Shika’s frienship in the fic and the fact that Shikamaru often makes fun of Neji’s crush on Sakura.

Gai’s laughter filled the air around them, “What a youthful child! Shisui-kun I didn’t know Uchiha came out in spring colours as well!” --- From Trials of Change I don’t think it needs an explanation. Gai just being Gai😂

35. How much has writing fic changed your life?

Oh so damn much! I think it’s the only thing that kept me from falling apart during quarantine and the COVID-19 crisis. Writing really helped my mental health when it comes to dealing with all the stress and even members of my family falling ill and dying. 

39. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

Uh, I don’t know? My readers usually tell me that I have an interesting way of writing -- whatever that means. So since they like it, I do as well? 

Also, I try to make the characters more realistic, give them backstories and emotions and hobbies etc. I like that😊

Thank you so much for your questions!! Sending you lots of love💕

[charcubed]

I agree with your opinion on ?no thing and wanted to ask what do you think of jackles saying his number 1 reservation about 10.05 was destiel mention. People also use that as a proof that he is/was homophobic, which I tbh can't agree with, bc there's like a million reasons someone can dislike a ship involving their character and it's not fair to immediately make the worst conclusions possible? Idk, can you share your opinion on that?

Part 2:  Forgot to add: and even saying that those reservations mean he dislikes the ship is already an assumption anyway - 10.05 anon

Hi anon! 

First thing I’m going to say is that I think it’s frankly bonkers for anyone, in any fandom, to call someone homophobic for not loudly supporting or maybe not understanding a gay ship. Of course this is a blanket statement and in some ways it can still depend on the situation, because could someone be outright homophobic about a queer ship? Sure. But that’s not always (and tbh, probably rarely) the case in situations like this. As you said, there are a million reasons someone can dislike a ship or simply not understand fandom culture with that kind of stuff; if one is unfamiliar with it, it does take a certain level of PR coaching to understand it more fully. I’ll go back to that though.

I looked around for ages, and for the life of me I can’t find a source on Jensen saying that the Destiel mention was his number one reservation. If that was something he said, can you (or anyone reading this lol) point me to a source?

All I know of–and found in my search again–is this video / article, where he talked about his initial reaction to the episode.

"I didn't have a positive reaction," Jensen Ackles told E! News. "The first time in I think 200 scripts I went and sat down in the showrunners office and said, ‘What in god's name are you doing?! Why? I need to understand why this is happening.'"

It took some convincing from executive producer Jeremy Carver for Ackles to finally come around to the idea.

"He gave very eloquent answers and did a great job of explaining why we were doing what we were doing," Ackles said. "I guess I had been aware of this 'fan fiction' for a while and I felt like maybe if I ignored it, it would eventually go away. When I read it in the script that is what I do for a living and is my work—I'm very protective of these characters and the story and I think we have a right to be—I wasn't angry. I just wanted to understand why and what was the message we were ultimately sending with this script and story. By the end of it, I felt good and it gave me all the confidence I needed. It was better than I could have ever hoped."

He continued, "I never should have even sat down in that office, so Jeremy, I'm sorry."

So from the perspective of this quote (if that is indeed the quote in question):

No part of this is anti-Destiel lol. I think it’s very clear what he meant by having concerns about this episode. I’d even go as far as to say that if he has said something about worrying about the Destiel name drop (if there’s a source on that I don’t know about), then it was still in this context: he wanted to know what message they were sending with this story. 

I think it’s also key to remember that he’d been aware of fanfic and ignoring it. Why? Because he was also primarily aware of w*ncest fic and J2 tinhatters and the like. There’s a sordid history there, and it’s not unrealistic to say that it caused problems. That was Jensen’s first and primary encounter with fanfic and shipping as concepts, and it makes sense that his method was trying to ignore it and not focus on it. 

Then, the flip side: maybe he didn’t want the fans to feel ridiculed either. What kind of message were they sending with this episode? aka is this going to be a nod to fans, or be seen as making fun of them or even getting their hopes up about a ship?

Then clearly things were explained to him, and he understood, and felt good about it. That counts for a lot. After that conversation, he clearly liked 10x05 and often said as much in other interviews too.

Overall, look, ultimately... I don’t know Jensen as a person, obviously. I wouldn’t ever claim to. But I think he seems to be the kind of person who just doesn’t like being back into a corner, especially very publicly such as at conventions. I think he–like all other actors–know they don’t write the stories and can’t promise things on behalf of the writers’ rooms. This applies to any instances people dredge up across the board.

I think he also–especially in the early days–didn’t understand what fandom wanted from him when they asked him leading questions about Destiel... because even at the best of times sometimes fandom doesn’t know what they want, and because without being coached in the best kind of responses no one would know how to answer perfectly especially back then. A mere 5, 6, 7 years ago, social media was still growing, talk of queer rep was still actively evolving and becoming louder, and fans were becoming emboldened (not necessarily in a bad way) to demand more of stories–but that didn’t mean everyone (especially actors) were engaged or educated on what that all meant for the ways they had to respond including on the spot.

SPN season 10 aired in 2014. Same sex marriage wasn’t legalized country-wide in the US until 2015. Lexa died in The 100 in 2016, and I mention this to put in perspective where queer rep conversations were at the time, using a marker many people know about. 

Is it so surprising that an actor in a show from the early 2000s–with the baggage of w*ncest shipping debacles, network pressures, inability to speak for writers, and already many years’ worth of playing a character who felt personal to him–wouldn’t have known that fandom wanted to hear the exact phrasing of “I’m not sure Destiel is where the story is going but all interpretations are valid and if you think Dean is bi then of course he is” anytime he was asked a question practically designed to trip him up?

It’s not homophobia to have a cocktail of concerns surrounding a topic like that, in context like that, and especially in very public spaces like conventions. (Homophobia is shit like “not everything is about the gays, okay gay people?” Lol.) There are many reasons an actor could dislike a ship, but even more so, there are many reasons an actor may not understand fandom culture or not know how to perfectly address a ship / queer question because they didn’t know what the fans wanted to hear.

Basically, in summary: I agree with you and I���ve never personally seen anything from the backlog of history that Jensen’s said that struck me as either homophobic (a big word people should stop slinging around!!) or deliberately anti-Destiel with malice.

[dreadnought-dear-captain]

You Asked, I Told: Featuring asks about my new fic

Hello everyone! Tomorrow I will be launching my new fic that finally has a title: How You Leave. So I thought I would answer a few asks about the fic that dropped into my inbox recently. 

Thank you! I’m glad you’re excited about it. I have heard of this fic but I never read it. I took a look at the summary and tags and it sounds fascinating (and newsbypostcard is a fantastic writer). TBH, I will probably refrain from reading it for a while, because I’m sensitive to cross-contamination with my own story. I’m trying to build this whole thing from my own imagination using the MCU canon as a springboard. I don’t even know if I’ve read more than a couple BuckyCap fics or fics where Bucky and Steve’s positions were somehow reversed, just like I barely read any modern military fics leading up to writing BW (ditto for post-CW recovery fics for The Crucible). But they certainly do seem to have some similarities, and I wonder how readers who read both will compare the two!

I… okay, yes. I do seem to like to put Bucky through the wringer. But don’t we all?! He’s certainly been through the wringer canonically, lol. Though I guess the prospect of nearing death is one of the ultimate wringers one can put someone through. Honestly, I don’t know who’s going to have it rougher in this story - Bucky or Steve. The good news is that there’s enough angst to go around for everyone!

But in all seriousness, I really didn’t pick this premise primarily for the emotional obliteration factor. I was really inspired by listening to a couple of phenomenal dying memoirs (The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs and When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi) and thought, huh, how can I make this a fic? I also noted a real dearth of terminal illness fics in the fandom (to nobody’s surprise, I imagine) and thought it might be an interesting premise to explore while folding in my much-evolved fic idea I posted about here . What I like most about these death memoirs is that they’re not these lugubrious hauls toward demise. They’re filled with humor, joy, longing, practical matters, and relationships. That’s the spirit of what I hope to bring to this next story.

Honestly, one of the most joyful parts of writing this story is the prospect of having a Bucky who has done a lot of work and is actually quite high functioning. Death as an antagonist feels less difficult in some ways because of its absolute universality, versus trauma (especially deeply painful interpersonal/sexual trauma) which is rooted in the horrible behaviors of people. It feels like an easier foe to tackle because it’s something we all face (though it could be argued that its inevitability makes it that much more frightening). And unlike a complex trauma narrative, which I can’t relate to from personal experience, I am definitely going to die, so I can bring my own mortality considerations into the story. American culture sucks generally at dealing with death and the concept of what it means to die well, so I felt the need to really dig in and examine this closely.

Yeah, some of my favorite novels are in first person POV (Lolita, Never Let Me Go), but the first person POV seems a bit rarer in the fandom (which is not saying much, because I’m not a super prolific reader of fic). I’m also writing in present tense, so there’s a real immediacy to it. I have grown extremely comfortable with the close third person, which I think is the richest POV to write from because you get to tap into so much information despite the limits imposed by it. Writing BW really gave me a flavor for writing with a strong character “voice,” so the transition to first person wasn’t too hard. I chose this POV in part because it’s the POV of the death/dying memoirs I cited above. It’s so personal, and I want readers to really be with Bucky for this journey, but I’ve had to think more about narrative reliability and how we can really only know certain things about the character through others. I hope it’s not too aversive to read, if first person POV isn’t your cup of tea!

I’m super excited too! All aboard the angst train. I don’t have plans for Sam be in the fic because I am trying to keep close-ish to the canon timeline as much as I can, outside the deviations necessary to make Bucky Cap and whatever direct consequences come from that. I’m not sure where Sam would be in 2012, whether he’d still be in the Air Force or whether he already transitioned to civilian life at the VA. In either case, I don’t know how he would fit into the current story, unfortunately (he is one of my MCU faves, so this is a bummer).

Natasha, on the other hand, canonically should be working for SHIELD in a special operative role, so she will be in the story. It’s been really fun to re-watch all of the early MCU films (including Thor, God save us from that poor man’s eyebrows) and to find ways to incorporate these things into the story in realistic ways.

Okay, that’s all for now! Thanks again for all the interest in this. I’m chipping away at BW comments slowly, and I haven’t forgotten about the works consulted list for BW, either. I’ve just been furiously trying to get this story ready for prime time and it’s been consuming a lot of my attention. 

[tuntematonkorppi]

Fanfic Writer Ask Game: 1,3,4,6,7,9,10,12,13 and 16 :)

Well hello, someone isn’t fucking around x)

1. How long ago did you start reading fanfiction? Writing fanfiction?

i started reading fanfic probablyyyy 14 or 15 years ago. My sister had given me her old laptop and she had left a couple of her stuff and some fic she had downloaded on it so i read them even tho i didn’t know the fandoms really well and i had no idea who most of the characters were.

i started writing fanfic i think 12 or 13 years ago. i don’t remember exactly when i started writing or publishing.

3. Are there any fics that inspired you to write what you do?

well, i have a couple of absolute fav fics (like anyone else i guess), but i can’t say that they actually inspired me to write. like i admire the prose and the plot and the characterizations of these fics but i usually find inspiration in the canon material, or in unrelated movie plots, or in situations from my actual life.

4. Link your three favorite fics right now.

THREE? ThAt’S CRUEL DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY BOOKMARKS I HAVE???

okay let’s see what i liked lately.

the switch by moonprincess92

jyn/cassian. It takes ten years of other relationships, broken limbs, quitting jobs, starting new ones, Instagram posts, depression, almost marriages and Thanksgiving turkeys for Jyn and Cassian to realise that they belong together.

it’s over 100k and it’s fucking glorious.

a lesson in navigation by sandalaris

seth/kate alternate s2, over 30k and still in progress and omg i love it so much it’s fucking perfect

and one from a fandom i don’t really participate in anymore but that i love love love love LOOOOVE

find what fits by @everythingremainsconnected

amanda/martin a dghda pacific rim au and it’s fucking amazing

6. How do you find new fic to read? Where do you primarily read fanfiction?

i go to ao3, i type the pairing in the search window, i filter for english fics and then i go through all the pages, opening the fics that looks promising on new tabs. then i read.

Answered 7 already.

9. Tag 3 fic writers you think are underrated/unknown in the fandom/fanfiction community.

well it’s actually kinda hard to figure out because i’m not super involved in fandoms anymore and i don’t know if the authors i love are well known or not. so, yeah, sorry x)

10. What’s your favorite fandom, pairing, or character to read fic for?

at the moment i’m very much back on my rogue one bullshit, but i’m also obsessed with fdtd. i’m also still very much into kastle and leverage. i used to be super into other star wars stuff, dghda, the magicians, captain america and wynonna earp but not that much anymore.

12. What’s your favorite title you’ve come up with and why?

i don’t really come up with titles tbh i just look up the lyrics of the songs i’m listening in repeat at the moment i’m writing a particular fic and see what fits best. 

my current favorite title is for a fic i haven’t started publishing yet and it’s a 5+1 fics whose working title used to be “whump fest”. now it’s “you gotta love all the pain” 

13. Do you outline your fics? How much of a headache would someone get if they just looked at an outline of yours without reading the fic?

hahahah i’m 99% a pantser. i sort of know where i’m going but i very veeeery rarely outline my fic. out of all my wips, i’ve currently outlined only two and i can tell you that if anyone look at those outlines, they might think i wrote them while being high on LSD and having a stroke at the same time.

16. Do you research for your fics? If so, how deep of a rabbit hole have you gone down by accident when researching?

i mostly research recovery times and medical stuff the most and usually i don’t fall into an endless rabbit hole. i did however got sucked into a youtube vortex while researching snowboard tricks for my snowboard au rogue one fic. 

Thank you so muuuch!

Fic Writer Ask Game

[thinger-strang]

🌟Author Meme🌟

tagged by @gideongrace ilyssm 😚💖🥰

(honestly it's hilarious that im doing this bc ive only finished and published the one fic (thx adhd) but i have so many wips, ill just talk about those)

author name: ezra_mara on ao3 and thinger-strang here

fandoms i write for: mostly just stranger things right now (harringrove primarily but im trying to write more of my other ships too) but i did write some star wars and spiderman stuff once upon a time but never finished or posted

where i post: mostly tumblr and ao3 (I'm still new to the writing game so nothing too fancy)

most popular oneshot: lmao i only have one posted so that'd be Singing In The Shower And Other Sins on ao3 (im on mobile rn so i can't link rip)

favorite story i wrote: a tie between my surfing fic and my roommates fic (both wips rn but im close, so close to being done with both im stoked for y'all to read them)

story i was nervous to post: tbh all of them? I don't have a lot out there rn but posting any of content is nerve racking

how do i choose my titles: generally just a little thing from the fic, I can't do song titles bc music and writing don't really exist in the same place in my brain (but I can do playlists which is funky)

do i outline: not at first but if i get stuck or need to remember stuff i want in the fic but haven't quite gotten to that part ill write it down so i don't forget

complete: ...just the one i think?

in progress: oh boy, 35? maybe? but a lot of those are like revamps of earlier stuff or a mash up of a bunch of wips into one, i need to clean up my stuff tbh

coming soon/not yet started: okay, a lot is coming up BUT i have a surfing fic that's v billy centric, a roommates modern fic that's very near and dear to my heart (and also it's apparently really funny?), a nonbinary steve thing, and a coming out fic (these are the big four yes)

do i accept prompts: ive never received prompts but i might be down? writing is weird for me bc it's a bunch of random ideas that i can't stop thinking about and eventually have to write down but if i vibe with a prompt enough id be down to give it a shot?

upcoming story im most excited to write: honestly the nonbinary steve thing, as someone who is nb and is still figuring it out, it'll be really fun to have my favorite character go through all the same shit (but in a better way bc I can't make him suffer like that)

tagging: @harringrovesfawcettspray @grabmyboner and anyone else who wants to!

[ladykf-writes]

Fanfic Writer Appreciation (and a little self love)

Sooooo, as talked about I wanted to do a little promo. I may not always be my favorite writer, but I try to be one of my cheerleaders. And well, if you’re here you obviously have some interest in what I’m up to.

SO! Here’s a list of my currently-published WIPs and some info about them, in the order that I’ve updated them, most recent to oldest. 

Feel free to ask questions about any of them!

Dog Whistle (Ao3 || FFN) - started off as a prompt from @snackarey​ when I reblogged some Soulmate AUs. This one was a prompt for soulmates (Zack/Kunsel) who felt what each other felt - like pain. Needless to say, this went into a canon divergent AU where Kunsel felt some of what Zack was going through when Hojo got a hold of him after Nibelheim. And saved him, setting off an ever-increasing list of revolutionary consequences. It’s nearly 58K, and though I’m a little stuck I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Dewprism: Journey to the [Relic] (Ao3 || FFN) - this actually has a lot more written than I’ve posted, I just got a little frustrated because well... the fandom is teeny tiny and there’s no real feedback. But! It’s an interesting piece. It’s a semi-novelization where I’m taking the old PS1 Classic from Squaresoft, Threads of Fate/Dewprism and merging the two storylines. Basically... you can’t play the game anymore unless you got it from the PSN for your PSP or... PS2, I think? Or emulate it, of course, you can do that. And I wanted to bring the experience to more people, because it’s got such a great story.

It’s Not a Game (Ao3 || FFN) - this is my Avengers/FF7 crossover, and funny story, it was actually born out of a comment back on my old Genesis RP blog about how Genesis would totally be Tony Stark’s favorite character if he played Crisis Core. It’s turned into a full blown fixit I have a type and I actually have like, 90% of the next chapter done, it just doesn’t feel quite right so I haven’t posted it. And am, of course, stuck. There’s a case of choice paralysis here; the premise is that, in the MCU, FF7 is a series like it is in our world, and Tony is a fan. So he goes to make a simulation to do a self-insert... only he somehow transports himself (and Bruce) to a dimension where it’s real. A “Stark-insert” someone called it; and it does use a lot of “Self-Insert” tropes, actually. There’s just so many ways it could go that I’m stuck on choosing exactly how to progress here.

Party of Five (Ao3 || FFN) - the MMO AU! This was actually originally a prompt @up-sideand-down​ got, that I got permission to take off with. It’s a modern AU AGSZC where they meet online playing this MMO I made up that’s based off of FF7 and modeled after a mashup of like, me studying WoW and my experiences playing SWTOR. I’ve actually got some ideas of where it’s going, I just got too caught up in technicalities and need to reroute it back to the relationships going on.

Welcome to FF7 (series link, Ao3) - this is me hashing out basically what I think went down pre-games. Most of it is headcanon, I cannot stress that enough. It’s based off of the little we know, of course, but there’s just so much we don’t that it’s mostly headcanon. Tons of OCs. It’s a whole series, and they overlap - different sections that follow different departments, mostly. The base story is Welcome to ShinRa (Ao3 || FFN) and that follows the man who will become President Shinra from back when they first discover mako energy. I’ve also got Welcome to the Science Department (Ao3 || FFN) which starts off with college students Gast and Grimoire and how they get drawn into the beginnings of what becomes ShinRa Electric.

And last but not least, honorable mention to Times of Change (Ao3) - this was actually a piece inspired by @deadcatwithaflamethrower‘s Re-Entry series. I desperately need to reread that before I can hope to continue this, but... one day. One day.... I don’t suggest reading it right now, my headcanons have changed and it needs an overhaul. But you’ll see eventually.

And now... the WIPs you haven’t seen. (Under a cut)

By fandom, just to keep things straight, but in no particular order otherwise.

Compilation of FF7

The Snowball Effect (Ao3 || FFN) ... sequel? continuation? - as one of the gift exchange presents I’ve just done this past month, it is definitely standalone as is, but if I ever figure out where I want to take it, I’ll continue that one. It was just far too much fun.

The Price of Freedom - the sequel to To Be Human, which... I’m looking forward to, but I really burnt myself out on TBH so it’s going to be longer than anticipated before I approach this one. TBH definitely stands on its own, but there were some loose ends left to tie up, so we’ll see how that goes. And when it goes, when I’m ready to approach that again. TBH needs some editing, too... lots of work there.

The Unnamed Pokemon/FF7 crossover that I’ve talked about for... a couple years now (yikes) but now actually have a plot for. It’s very interesting to me, putting Pokemon on Gaia, and seeing how that changes everything. Because like, they’d have presumably used Mew’s DNA since there’s no Jenova (I can’t see them using Deoxys, which would be the closer parallel) and since there’s no Chaos, Grimoire is still alive. Which means no extra Drama between Lucrecia and Vincent - and really, there shouldn’t be the stress between Vincent and Hojo over her being sick because Mew would theoretically be much more compatible with humans than Jenova was.

What I’m saying is Seph has three parents and at least one set of grandparents and a much more stable Sephiroth (and Genesis and Angeal, thanks to Lucrecia teaming up with Gillian) leads to some very interesting changes. Like deciding they don’t want to fight the Wutai war anymore. >_>

Hold My Flower - a timetravel fic featuring our one and only flowergirl, who has had enough of people messing up her planet and refuses to just... let it die. She is, unquestionably, a force of nature. No fragile flower to be found here, this is the gal you see in the OG who threatened a mob boss and meant it. Heaven help anyone who gets in her way. She’s going to save the world. Possibly in a Turk Suit, don’t look at me.

The Long Game - Reeve goes back in time, and holy crap this one is a monster I am truly intimidated by so it’s gonna take a while for me to get going on that. XD But basically, similar premise to the above - the world isn’t healing and someone has to do something, so Reeve is nominated due to his position in ShinRa and potential to... he’d say “influence” but let’s call a spade a spade - manipulate people and events to a more favorable outcome.

A third BIT fic is one that I started writing with my friend @askshivanulegacy back in... damn, somewhere between 2011-2013, before we switched to writing SWTOR fic together. It’s one where Zack is sent back in time, and the differences in him post-Hojo change things even before he can start deliberately changing anything. But I got permission to take and remake that, so I intend to, one day. It was Good Stuff. And you can never have too much timetravel.

Dragon Ball Z

So, this is an oooooold fandom of mine - the first fanfics I ever wrote (under a different name, no I’m not telling XD it was ten years ago) were for DBZ, and definitely the first ones I ever read, back in the days of dial up. And I read a couple interesting takes on Chichi/Vegeta fic... and I was talking with @vorpalgirl about it and said I’d love to try my hand at something with that one day. I think they have the potential to be a really great pair (don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the canon pairings but those two have a lot of potential) so... yeah someday I might dip my toes back into Z. It’s on the wishlist, as well as reviving and cleaning up an old unfinished work of mine. Someday~

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Seven Years Lost - this one I’ve been debating a long time, and even did a little on! It’s basically how I rationalize what happens when Link pulls the Master Sword out and - well, spoilers but it’s a really old game so - when he comes out as a teenager and is immediately able to handle a nearly-adult body. It involves a dreamscape scenario where he communicates with his past incarnations and learns from them, and from sharing dreams with Zelda due to their bond.

Sailor Moon (manga/Crystal based)

Second Chances - I read a lot of SM fanfic back in the day, and my favorite ones were... more real? Like, there were more consequences to these 14 year old kids out there fighting for their lives and sometimes losing them. I’d like to tell a story through Minako/Venus’ eyes primarily, covering what that’s like, and then I also just really want a happy ending for the senshi/shittenou? So... yay canon divergence, lol. You guys know the deal by now. XD

Star Wars: Legends Era

United We Stand - SWTOR fanfic, baby! Basically, I’m just dying to see the eight classes cross over each other, and I will bend canon to do it. For anyone that’s played the original class story lines, there is some cross over but believe me when I say there were huge opportunities that were let drop by nature of the game. Just with the two Jedi stories alone... but that’s #spoilers for a not-as-old game so I’ll leave that be and only elaborate if asked.

(And do feel free to ask about any of these! I’d love to hash them out more.)