#they don't write romance like that anymore
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Text
Just came back from Argylle
#argylle#can't wait for Kingsman 4 (3?)#just came back from cinema and argylle was so fun#it was goofy and fun#and sincere#and the romance??#they don't write romance like that anymore
105 notes
·
View notes
Text
Just wanna say that I think Ekko and Mel slander makes sense when you understand that 85% of the Arcane fandom views both of them as characters less worthy of fandom attention.
In their eyes, they are afterthoughts to more interesting relationships, so when someone in the 15% dares to give them anything outside of dutiful lamentations ("Mel and Ekko deserved better!"), they can't help but feel those analysis would be better suited for a character they *actually* like and so they lash out.
Fans of both characters have to constantly argue that these characters have loved and have been loved. They want Mel "independent" because she doesn't "need love" and they want Ekko focused on The Tree and the unnamed Firelights because they want it to be easier to carve both of them out of the interpersonal narratives that attaches fandoms to characters in the first place.
They want Mel and Ekko to "save the day" because they don't want their roles in the story to interfere with other characters that they like. Better for them to beat the Bad Guys™ than to be given more material that would validate their personal connections with other characters in ways that the fandom would prefer to ignore.
And the fact that Ekko and Mel are completely different characters who have never once interacted with each other and yet somehow both of them are being treated the same way with how the fandom constantly diminishes their relationships with the rest of the main cast leads me to believe that it does have something to do with the One Trait they do share.
#arcane fans when people say Mel and Ekko are loved by other characters: >:(#arcane fans when they see Mel and Ekko's last scenes are them alone and sad: XD#''mel deserves more than romance'' and then you check and they're a jayvik shipper#like clearly romance entices you to these characters#so you not wanting that for Mel isn't the woke feminist aromantic take you think it is#and don't even get me started on the ekko discourse#super convenient that somehow he gets last place on the who loves jinx in arcane competition#even behind a character who isn't even in the show#and suuper interesting that if his 26 minutes in ep 7 were used differently (aka on another character)--#all the show's writing problems would be fixed#anywaayyyyyy#ekko#mel medarda#arcane#meljay#timebomb#these people want the show to be about caitvi and jayvik so bad#even when they remember to say ''this show is supposed to be about the sisters!''#you can tell they're heart's not in it#doesn't matter anymore bc like who is reading all this but *aromantic-supporting take*#fandom racism
543 notes
·
View notes
Text
I think it's really annoying that leo has completely falsified memories of jason too and this is barely acknowledged in the books
#it is also barely acknowledged by the fandom but I blame the books for that#call me crazy but I think that's a big deal actually!#he grew up with nothing! no close friends! now his memories of his best friends are fake!#the whole tlh gang obviously become close in the end but I just think leo and jason in particular warranted more thought#rick clearly doesn't dwell on it with leo bc friendships and romance are not given the same weight#one of the first things pov jason says about leo is “if someone like this guy is my friend then my life must be messed up”#(not a callout of jason I think it was hilarious and understandable. he is So Confused)#but idk instead leo's reaction in the books is mostly framed as Ok finally I don't have to be the third wheel anymore#Wait fuck they're dating again anyway!#which is also understandable but I would love to also see him Struggle More with the fact that those memories aren't even real to begin wit#something something friendships are just as valuable and significant and consequential as romances#leo valdez#jason grace#rr crit#<- this is barely a fleshed out criticism of the books themselves but just in case#pjo hoo toa#I could say something about how people hate jiper for this same reason but I won't bc I don't care about jiper really#beyond my general feelings that the way their breakup was written was one of rick's worst writing moments
66 notes
·
View notes
Text
dream & george; falling in love
Dream: 'Have either of you talked about liking each other in the past?' George: *Scoffs* Dream: ... Well— George: *Giggles* Dream: Well, none of the answers fit. But I'd say, like, we've talked about 'whether' ... George: The weather? Dream: Yeah.
Dream: The realisation that, once again, I met someone that's not going to be my friend, but something more. They were never meant to be my friend in the first place. I can't avoid it. If I'm going to fall in love, I'm going to fall in love. So this song is a cry to please be gentle, please don't make me even more paranoid.
Dream: I want that part of my life to be private, you know? Regardless of who that person is ... Once the cameras are off, once we're not doing anything, it's our time. It's me and you. There's no one else. No one else exists in the world, regardless of the fact that there's thirty-million people that are looming over.
Dream: Because I'm famous and because I have all this attention on me—when I'm in my normal life it's like, I want to put the people in my life in the spotlight and make sure they feel that way. But then there's lyrics like 'the celebrity in my bed' and 'close the curtains now you're all mine' ... It's about, you know, that special someone in your life, and how in my mind, because I feel so special, I want them to feel that same specialness. So, yeah, it's about relationships and how I want that person to feel special like I do.
dream @/dreamwastaken: .@/GeorgeNotFound you've had such a big impact on my life I don't even know where to start. helping me code my videos sometimes, helping with random ideas within videos, encouraging me and always being the light in the room to make things even just a little bit brighter. you took a chance on me out of university, making thumbnails and coding for scraps because we wanted to make it big and I’m proud to say that we did it and I’ll have an appreciation for you for the rest of my life because of your friendship, kindness, and love you’ve shown me. love you man. idc if you’re never serious or if we joke around a lot, you have a place in my heart and I’m looking forward to finally meeting you and taking our next step in content creation and friendship. LOVE U
Dream: 'Spotlight' is a song I wrote about making that special someone in my life feel as special as they truly are ... I want to be there to support them through the ups and downs, and make them feel like they have a million fans screaming cheering them on, even if it's just my voice echoing a million times. They are the most important person in the world and the only one in that spotlight of love and admiration, and I want them to know that.
a lot of my future is your future
Head Over Heels / Broken, Tears for Fears | Dream and George retake 'Am I In Love With My Bestfriend' Quiz, DNF Discord Podcast | Head Over Heels / Broken, Tears for Fears | Dream Team House Cooking Stream, Awesamdude VOD | The Diaries of Franz Kafka, Franz Kafka | Paranoid, Dream | to whoever wants to hear – lyric booklet, Dream | Franz Kafka Letter, Franz Kafka | Red Doc>, Anne Carson | Photograph of Dream and George during the Foodbeast's Panel at Twitchcon San Diego, @/itsjusttai_ | Dream Team Christmas – Baking Cookies, Sapnap VOD | Paranoid, Dream | Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince, Taylor Swift | Dream's Snapchats of George, @/dream | Paris, Taylor Swift | Dream breaks down his new EP track by track, Associated Press | long story short, Taylor Swift | Dream and George on set: Everest – Dream & Yung Gravy BEHIND THE SCENES, Dream Music | Dream breaks down his new EP track by track, Associated Press | Spotlight, Dream | Technoblade Charity Stream George's POV, GeorgeNotFound VOD | Dream and George during Foodbeast's Kitchen League Battle Royale at Twitchcon San Diego, Twitch VOD | October Passed Me By, girl in red | Waiting for a Star to Fall, Boy Meets Girl | Dream Team Christmas – Gingerbread Houses, GeorgeNotFound VOD | dream Tweet, @/dreamwastaken | Dream Team Christmas – Baking Cookies, Sapnap VOD | "George napping and the sun is literally beaming him square in the face" – Photograph and Tweet, @/dreamwastaken | Paranoid, Dream | Dream and George on set: Everest – Dream & Yung Gravy BEHIND THE SCENES, Dream Music | to whoever wants to hear – lyric booklet, Dream | Dream Team House Cooking Stream, Awesamdude VOD | SOMEONE MADE A DISSTRACK ABOUT ME???, GeorgeNotFound VOD | Paranoid, Dream |
#whew !!!!! WHO ELSE IS FEELING CRAZY#memememmeememem#constant state of delirium and just utter hysteria like. dream wrote love songs about his george his boy his soulmate his best friendhis lo#both of whom we've been shipping n writing n reading fics n creating fanart for YEARS bc we could see it and. now its kinda beenhardlaunche#romance is not dead if u keep it just yours !!!!!!!!!!!!!#IM SO HAPPY FOR MY BABIES MY DNFIES ohmygod likeisferejrghrgeuoegrh#this took hours btw its now 9am and i had 1hour sleep ijust. don't know anymore this is dnfs fault#poured my blood sweat n tears into this load of crazy TRUTH. time to write dnf fic now o7#compilations#web weaving#dnf#my dnfies#dreamnotfound#dreamie#georgie#love#timeless#tin can#my webs
294 notes
·
View notes
Text
I wanted so badly to like Don't Want You Like A Best Friend to spite the puritanical pearl-clutchers online who are mad about [checks notes] the sapphic lovers, who are not related and who met as adults, Parent Trap-ing their way into becoming stepsisters because it's 1857 and there's no other way to legally codify their relationship AND reduce the pressure on the poor one to marry a rich man
but tragically I noped out at like...5% completion because the anachronistic dialogue (with no clear stylistic choice behind it) and spotty understanding of 1850s culture were just too much
#books#sapphic romance#wlw romance#historical fiction#historical romance#some parts were very well-researched to the point where the shakier stuff was hugely jarring#after the concepts of an open bar at a ball were introduced and the term 'grounded' was used in the modern sense#(which comes from AIRPLANES and was DEFINITELY NOT AROUND IN 1857)#I just. I couldn't do it anymore#when people who don't actually like historical or Actually Old fiction try to write historical fiction maybe?
102 notes
·
View notes
Text
We need to start treating bad writing like bad art and im not kidding
#now theres a lot more nuance to this#because “bad writing” is SUPER general#so i have to add a disclaimer#i dont mean propoganda. i dont mean biased and biggoted#i mean writing decisions u dont like!#ppl are very quick to just sit there and shit on writers#its okay to not like an ending. its okay to not like how a character was treated#and its okay to be mad about it if u like them very dearly#but at the same time sometimes we're a little too mean.#and sometimes they deserve it#but sometimes it's a little mean#this is. in truth. because of the lumine ending#on webtoon#its pissing me off how ppl are getting super upset and being rude to kabu#even tho so many ppl are explaining its because she grew out of the story. she didnt have passion for it anymore#she gave us an ending! you dont have to like it but stop acting like just because she COULD write more that she HAS to write more#art is tiring. sometimes you lose passion for it. sometimes you dont do it perfectly#sometimes your idea of good isnt the same as someone else's#i dont like romance for example. several tropes will turn me off it#but some ppl do#sometimes you make a pretty shitty plot or make plot holes#and yeah those arent super great to read!!! but a story is an art. its all different#its not all good and its not all bad#its made from a persons head therefore it'll reflect a person in a way#i just think its important to remember that writers are not machines#artists and writers aren't actually as different as everyone treats them#we're all making art. we're all making mistakes. i just think we should be a little nicer about it#its okay to criticize. but can we be nice about it#also i dont like the “professional author” argument#picasso was a famous artist his paintings are in meuseums and there's still people who don't like his art. i dont think its fair to go
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
I never get to post about this AU so this prompt had me PUMPED!!! This is Emmet from my Stelleret AU, where he made a deal with a star weaving, soul eating, spider Ultra Beast in order to find Ingo. He gave up his physical body for Stelleret's interdimensional/time travelling powers on the condition that he would continue to feed it. So they fused and now Emmet's a weird monster thing trying to manage the hunger of the other soul in the vessel and also find Ingo, wherever he is. There's more but I don't want to bore the audience rn ^^* if I have time I might post doodles/sketches, since this is one of my favourite AUs I've written but also very tedious and longwinded to explain. Anyways, hope you guys like the art and have a good day!
#submas#subwaymasteremmet#emmetpokemon#kudari#monthofemmet#pokemon#pokemonfanart#fun fact: there's so many stupid antics between StellerEmmet and Volo's family due to the complicated romance#this is one of the few AUs where I have them together and they're a silly couple doing their best#Emmet is also just generally very different in this AU (besides the obvious change)#5 years without Ingo‚ 3 years stuck in a body he hates‚ and not having positive human contact after the contract's sealed#he's very quiet and tends to hide a lot because he knows he won't be accepted by others#Volo's a big win in that aspect cause he doesn't really care and tends to him with all the love he doesn't get anymore#I'm not gonna get started on Ingo cause that's a whole other mess and I don't want to write too many tags ( ╯▽╰)#anyways have a good day let me know if you guys would like to know more
59 notes
·
View notes
Text
I will never understand the fanfic impulse to take characters with thee most coo coo bananas codependent/nuanced/toxic/insane relationship and turn them into love interests #1 and #2 in a generic romance novel. like what is even the point anymore
#i don't just mean 'bad' relationships that they're trying to romanticize or sanitize; this happens all the time with 'good' relationships#with some funk or flavor to them where they sand off all of the things that actually make them interesting and compelling#and you're just left with this bland ball of nothing like they're generic couple no. 4 in a clothing ad#like girl why are you even here then?? what was the appeal for you that made you want to write about these people in the first place???#you've taken all the flavor out???#it always reminds me of that one screenshot someone took of a tag on a succession fic that was like 'logan is a good dad au' and its like#okay well why are we here then? like that changes so much about the characters and the story (and also like the entire point#the show is making about power and abuse) that you might as well write about literally anyone/anything else bc you're sure as shit#not writing about these characters anymore#and like. there's nothing wrong with enjoying bland or formulaic romance i'm not gonna find you and come to your house#but if that's what you're into then why do you even like these people???#to be clear i don't mean 'take them and place them neroses and all into a suburban home to watch them chew the wallpaper and#confuse their neighbors' that's completely different
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
me, giggling and kicking my feet as i write the next chapter, knowing the slow burn is finally burning, we have hit the Will They/Won't They Era, and the geurdo desert segment is coming up.
49 chapters and 185,101 words later.
#sometimes i will be writing and will be like 'hang on is this going too quick now?'#like my perception of slow burn is so effed up#THIS IS FINE FOR SLOW BURN UR ALLOWED TO SPEED IT UP A BIT IN PLACES IF U WANT#WE ARE 185000 WORDS IN#heres me thinking a hair tuck is going crazy pace#i'm just going to try and not overthink it too much anymore#ill do what feels right#and what feels right is letting the romance begin#it has to happen at some point#doesn't mean they will be macking out in the next chapter mind don't get ur hopes up#legend of zelda fanfiction#zelda fanfiction#the legend of zelda#botw link#botw#tloz#botw fanfic#zelda#the curious minds
8 notes
·
View notes
Note
HOLD ON WAIT UP HOLD THE PHONE
I KNOW I WAS GONE FOR A FEW MONTHS THERE BUT HAS BLUE LIKE DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME ALWAYS BEEN A PART OF A SERIES OR IS THAT A NEW DEVELOPMENT???
I FEEL LIKE ITS CHRISTMAS ALL OVER AGAIN FUCK Y E A H
Okay so
I...
have been cooking
by which I mean illusions of grandeur and
schemes
And I have not been forthcoming lol Everyone kind of disappeared all at the same time so I kind of stopped talking about what I'm doing but I have been biding my time, quietly putting mechanisms into motion and plotting and occasionally cackling over my cauldron.
I finished the first draft of Blue like don't forget about me and didn't like it so I cut out all the sci-fi fantasy stuff (bye bye aliens farewell superpowers) and in November wrote a new first draft that's all contemporary romance babeee and I'm so in love with it I'm turning it into a little 3-part (possibly 4 if I can't control myself) series.
The original childhood years have been split off into a prequel novella called Red like my bleeding heart in your hand. Then Blue like don't forget about me will take place 20 years later. Nash works at Cherished Hope Nursing Home
“And what is it you do? At the nursing home, I mean.” I wipe shit off of old people. And Teddy’s a hockey player. What’s Luke, an underwear model? He shouldn’t have come.
Teddy comes back to town for a funeral and
Teddy looks at him for the first time in twenty years and every ounce of warmth leaves his expression. Message received. He should not have come.
OKAY SO AND THEN the next book will be Jo's POV and is called Violet like these delights. and MAYBE there will be a 4th from Luke's POV bc he gets to live this time by the grace of god (me) but it'll depend on how Violet goes (its current state is mostly vibes and a single overarching theme so, stand by).
Red needs a clean-up round of edits to snip out the few little threads that connected it to OG blue. And rewritten blue is basically done. I've done the major revisions and am about to start line edits and after those are done I'm sending it out to beta readers (lmk if you're interested).
There are concise actual summaries in my pinned post btw lol
WHICH REMINDS ME
The series title is Wildflowers of Deliverance. Which I'm extremely proud of. Did you notice did you notice how each title incorporates a wildflower did you did you? and the town they grew up in where Nash and Teddy first met is called Deliverance!!! It's okay I know I'm a genius.
And this brings us to the meal okay? because like I said I've been Cooking™ quietly but steadily for a few months now. ANd what have I been cooking? PLOTS and PLANS
I've decided on a pen name: Sarah B. Elisa
I've created a(nother) side blog for it that will be exclusively centered on my og writing and geared more toward readers rather than writers like this blog is: @sarahbe-writing
I'm going to create a website (as soon as I convince myself to spend money)
and a newsletter (as soon as I convince myself to spend money and do work)
I'm still waffling between trad publishing and DIY. I really like all my hats and it would be a shame to have to share them but oh my god I don't want to do all the marketing but trad pub seems hit or miss on how well they market you so I might get half of my hats taken away and still have to do the marketing bullshit UGH
anyway
OH YEAH and the OG draft I wrote for Blue? I'm going to spin it back to its OG OG roots [parkner, naturally--Return of The childhood friends to estranged almost lovers to super-powered rivals to reluctant allies to friends to lovers finally wip!!! AKA: We Were Gods (we were kids)] and that will fix all the things that went wrong and I didn't like 😌 so it's basically like double Christmas I think
#i have been#a tad reluctant to use the tag list#since because I scrapped the whole plot and genre and started over#feels like a teensie bit of a betrayal?#so idk i think i need to make a post (way fucking shorter than this one) and tag everyone and see who still wants to be tagged in stuff?#or maybe im close enough to the finish line i shouldn't do tag list stuff anymore? I'm kind of wary of oversharing bc#i totally did before#and the word count is smaller now#and there aren't like Plot Twists#it's a romance we all know how this is gonna end#so idk that's mostly why i've been quiet like haha what should i say and to who?#But anyway this weekend I'm going to get my shit together and put up some posts and get the ball rolling again#share some excerpts#get people excited#put out a call for beta and sensitivity readers#you know. work lol#also i missed you and i'm glad you're back <3333#my notes were sooooo quiet lol#and i don't just mean on my writing stuff i love seeing all of your tags in my activity like Yay that's my friend!! And they're yellin!!!#we love to see it <3#anyway#:)
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
Ughhhhhhh I hate writing and I hate not writing and I hate myself
#nearly bought a digital typewriter today. actually i DID buy a digital typewriter today. officially yes i have bought a digital typewriter.#the money for the digital typewriter has left my account but i have emailed them to cancel the order because i can't in good faith buy#a digital typewriter when i don't fucking WRITE#i thought it might help me get back into it. distraction free and while allowing me to not judge my own writing#and be continuously editing while i write and going 'i'm crap i'm crap i'm crap no one will ever read this and if they do they will think#that i'm garbage and that i should feel bad etc etc etc'#but it's too expensive and i have the feeling i wouldn't even like or use the thing once i got it#because the IDEAS! the ideas aren't coming to me. or rather they are but none of them seem to stick#i feel underconfident in writing any of them#and then i have old projects that i've always wanted to get back to like the tennis romance thing but SO much has changed since i first#started drafting it. like i don't even know if i like the main couple anymore. i kind of want to put both of them with different OCs of min#but it'd switch up the WHOLE story if i had a different cast#in fact most of the problem lies in the fact that i have this long-running bedtime story i tell myself every night with lore#and a massive cast of characters that i switch out depending on who i'm most interested in right now and every so often i incorporate new#themes and ideas and motifs and plot points sometimes based on media i've been watching because it's MY bedtime story and it doesn't matter#if i plagiarise in my own brain. but then obviously i can't plagiarise in real life#and none of my bedtime stories are GOING anywhere. sometimes i only get through a scene or two before i fall asleep#all of which means my bedtime story is not so much a sweeping epic novel but a sitcom with way too many characters#most of which are werewolves to be honest and sometimes for my own wish fulfilment one of them will walk out of my head#and take care of my problems for me by lending me £1million or murdering my best friend's ex. in my mind obviously#so it's like. it's a case of getting in there and annexing off the stuff i think i can use#it's like yeah i've definitely written several romance novels in my head in the process of this but does it matter if they're IN my HEAD#to be honest i feel like my main strength is in creating characters. like i have this one family of werewolves i've been slowly but surely#adding members to since i was like 16. maybe younger? no yeah i think i made the first one when i was 12#they're compelling to ME anyway. i care about them. it's just PLOTS. i can't plot#if a book could just be a lot of dialogue and sex scenes and silly moments and character studies i'd be alright#i also can't describe settings. don't ask me to because i can't#and now i'm just annoyed with myself because i sat down at my laptop to try to write and instead i'm here complaining about how i don't wri#and if i had the digital typewriter... i mean i'd probably still be doing this i'd just no longer have £300#i don't have the £300 anyway. i hope to christ they refund my card i'm a fucking idiot
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
.
#man browsing the dorian tag tonight is serving as a very good reminder#of why i don't like npc/npc romances in rpgs as just a general rule of thumb anymore#because unless one of them is a garrus-level fan fave; people tend to just decide that it's CANON and that's that#if it's an option that exists; that pairing just becomes synonymous with the characters themselves#and every second bloody post in the character tag is going to be ABOUT the pairing#so if you happen to be squicked by it or if you just don't particularly enjoy their dynamic; that's it; you're SOL&JWF#nothing quite like having to add filtered terms back to your list after literal years#and then seeing half the character tag get greyed out#sigh#squirrel plays dragon age#and tbh i'm fairly sure this is also exacerbated by the tumblr fandom being majority women but i'm gonna be real quiet about that#i don't mean this in the “women be shipping” type of way; this is not in a negative way ofc#i mean it as “women/afab people are more prone to playing female characters and romancing characters interested in women in general”#so like..... ten years on; yeah; probably few people who rolled male characters and romanced dorian#actually post in the dorian tag still#oh well back to my carefully curated dash i go#poking yall with a stick; keep posting please#i'm not sleepy and i lost interest in the short i was writing for the time being
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
how to ruin jugdral characters and make them into shitty modern tropes: have two teenage girls cat fight over their romantic feelings for a grown ass man and make them aggressive rivals
#DCB Comments#we all knew they'd ruin jugdral as soon as they could but it still hurts to see#i knew they'd add in things that were never there and butcher the characters but... still painful#and ofc it's the females that suffer that treatment when they were actually good characters originally#but modern FE doesn't allow for that anymore alas. can't even say edelgard is free of it#bc she's obsessed and in love with byleth. not even a villain can escape that nonsense#fe12 is the last game i can think of that had decently written women (if boring but not... /this/)#and that was over a decade ago. siiiigh#like yeah lakche is in love with shanan but not as directly as this??? ever???#she's actually very reserved about it and doesn't behave like a banshee abt it lol#lakche was one of the better female characters overall and ofc since she's one of the most popular#IS uses her as much as possible and puts their little romantic modern spin on her#like they can generally write men just fine but when it comes to women i swear they think all women just#think about nothing but romance and will fight each other over it. worst part might be that i saw this exact issue coming#another reason why i don't want a remake of these games: supports possibly existing#and ruining characters more than they have been already /just from heroes/#i have a lot of feelings abt this lol i am watching my favorite game of many many years just be#basically ripped to shreds by modern fe bullshit. it's upsetting#and before anyone shouts ''kaga elitist!'' might i remind you that tellius did not have this problem either#hence modern fe and not post kaga fe. micaiah was arguably very bad with her romance for her ''he's my brother!'' love interest#but from memory she was the only rly bad example from tellius#and let's NOT forget that gaiden got a remake and what did they do?#created a brand new female character whose only purpose for existing was to be madly and obsessively in love with a man#like thanks i hate it IS get your nasty modern inability to write women out of jugdral bc i bite and munch#DCB Heroes Stuff
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
Okay I've read the main body of SVSSS. I think it's really good as a meta parody and gives some interesting insight into MXTX's mind- I think some of the criticism of her work is unfair and this book is a pretty good example in parts (the running commentary about misogyny in stallion novels is a lot more unambiguous than her accurately depicting misogyny in others wirks like MDZS, though I don't understand why the latter gets read as an indication of her as a person).
However I don't think it works well as a romance story. There are main two problems; one,that while all of MXTX's main characters are people that have gone through the wringer and lashed out on others because of it, sometimes in really grusome and reprehensible ways, we get to see who they are not just before it goes to shit, but after they've acted in a such a way and either by intentional choice or just the passing of time, behave in a kinder and more upright manner. SVSSS's main story ends right after LBH isn't being an antagonistic force driven to the pits. Additionally, LBH is (understandably) a very misanthropic character which makes the way you'd show him learning how to be a person not driven by grief, fear, and anger different.
The other point is SY/SQQ's internalized homophobia is handled in a way that distracts somewhat from his feelings for LBH, and this combines with a lot of the things taken as romantic by other characters being misinterpretions of his internal world. Some of the latter seems to be him bullshitting himself though- "I'm not crying because I'm facing down my beloved student who I've failed horribly and hates me before I off myself without knowing for sure if my contingency plan will work, the sun's just in my eyes", sure Jan. Given how WWX acts its clear that MXTX now knows how to balance internalized homophobia with the character falling in love even if he doesn't realize it, and TGCF doesn't really have internalized homophobia on the protagonists part as far as I've read, he's just a sworn virgin. (However one could argue HC had some issues when he was human depending on how you read the Land of the tender scene).
SVSSS is short compared to her other works, and while I'm not sure how one would do it, having us spend some time with LBH and SQQ after they've gotten rid of his evil sword and SQQ is helping him work through his misanthropy, desire for control, and abandonment issues would improve their relationship from a story perspective, especially because of how obsessive and unhealthy LBH has spent... 8 years of his life regarding SQQ. There's already a foundation with LBH taking SQQ back to his home peak to be taken care of after his near death experience and leaving alone when he gets chased off, and SQQ choosing to go with him with no pressure on him to do so other than LBH's wellbeing (which is no longer tied to things like the apocalypse). I just think there needs to be a bit more between that and what I'm reading in the extras so far.
And it is needed because of how much LBH's dark behavior was directed at SQQ. WWX's dark behavior wasn't so targeted, LWJ's had an instance of targeting but a large part of the novel has been about him doing his best to respect WWX's boundaries and not repeat his parents relationship. I'm not up to snuff on what happened after XL's first banishment yet so I'll keep quiet on that. LBH is so desperate for this one person's affection that he almost destroys the world to ensure he has no other choice but him (and they have terrible fuck or die sex that no one enjoys about it). Evil sword possession making him decide this was a good idea or no, to work as a satisfying romance story, you need to after of all that. Especially because the evil sword had the ability to push him that far because of how chaotic and wrecked his mental and spiritual state were. They're still wrecked.
#Cipher talk#SVSSS#Just thoughts. Overall I like the novel- I think SQQ's internal monologue is hilarious and the comedy is decent#But the romance aspect needs workshopping#I think one way to work this in with a Main plot might be to revisit SHL's father causing trouble#Like that didn't get dropped exactly but you could have him trying to take advantage of the post 'oh gods we're all still alive' mindset to#Cause chaos at the borderlands or have him trying to take advantage of LBH taking a power hit from not using his evil sword anymore#Have SQQ accompany him while dealing with it#Maybe have it be a campaign where we see more of LBH's other aides and have part of it be LBH learning to actually have relationships with#Them and not suspect everyone 100% hates him for being half human half demon. The value of not acting like a monster even if it's expected#Hell maybe have his relationship with SHL improve so they're not romantic but he's not holding her in such contempt#Or make her turn traitor because of his contempt for her#Thereby expanding the theme about women not just being harem collectibles by having her have a platonic relationship with him or by having#Her take logical actions instead of just sticking to LBH like glue for ??? Reasons#I could write this but I have several wips already and I don't feel well versed enough in Chinese culture to write fanfic for it#(Or any of MXTX's works. It's not about feeling not allowed to its about wanting to pay respect to the work#And wanting to do it in a way I'll be satisfied with)
12 notes
·
View notes
Text
hello i have written 4k words today !!
#fic#writing#matty and ross#i feel like i say this about all of the fic i write lately#but i am really loving writing this one#it's got filth#it's got the scottish highlands#it's got soft sweeping romance#and like did i mention filth#i literally don't do my actual job anymore#hope i don't get fired :)
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
not to be a hater (though this is more hating on how fandom treats sapphic ships and female characters than anything) but last night i felt bored and deranged and kept thinking about my changing opinions on ATLA ships, so i sorted the mai/ty lee tag on AO3 by kudos and kept track of how long it took me to find an actual mai.lee fic, usually just by looking at tags and descriptions but sometimes taking a peek at the work itself... and it took 53 fics lol. 53 fics down the list of most kudos'd fics in the mai/ty lee tag, to find a 3k oneshot that is actually about them. on some of these i would click the "entire work" button and search for their names, just to find zuko and sokka's names mentioned 700 times each while mai and ty lee's would be mentioned maybe 10 times each. ugh. their tag already only has 871 fics to zu.kka’s almost 6k to begin with.
like, to be fair, from what i could tell based on their tags and descriptions, only 33/52 of the previous fics--so around 60%--were entirely/primarily focused on zuko or zu.kka (or the set of harry potter/zuko crossover fics i found). the other 19 fics seemed to be the odd zu.tara, zuk.ki, or azu.tara fic, or even gen fic about azula, katara, toph, or the whole gaang, that included mai.lee in the background. so not every one of the top fics in the mai/ty lee tag is actually focused on male characters. but still, to see so many of them be like that... i tried sorting by date updated and most of the stuff on the front page wasn’t about them either. :/
idk i just kinda feel like this backs up what i said before about mai.lee mostly just getting popular because zu.kka got popular and its fans wanted to get mai out of the way, and not because they actually care about the girls and their dynamic. NOT saying everyone who ships zuko and sokka is like this of course, but i think it also shows in the fact that zuko/sokka/suki has become a semi-popular ot3 whereas i have never once seen mai shipped with zu.kka, as part of an ot3 or even ot4. she just gets paired off with ty lee and then the two of them get a secondary role at best (in several of the fics i opened up, mai and ty lee were tagged but literally not even mentioned or there was just one line saying they were dating) in every fic. people just don’t seem to actually like her and to be honest, i don’t like her much either, although i tried to get myself to. i tried to more closely examine her character and see the good in her and i started thinking mai.lee would be a cute ship and seeking out content for it about a year before the ATLA renaissance of 2020. content was scarce but a lot of the oldest fics for them on ao3 are, at least, actually about them even if they’re just short drabbles. so after the renaissance i was excited to come back to tumblr after a hiatus and discover that they were finally a popular ship and people were seeing how good they could be together, but then every time i went to look for fanworks about them, on ao3 or here on tumblr, i realized everything i’m saying in this post. they’re a wlw ship, so of course they’re not actually popular, that would be crazy. of course their “popularity” is entirely owed to the fact that a mlm former rarepair (yeah, zu.kka was not that popular pre-renaissance, people who wanted an mlm ship used to prefer jet.ko) that involves mai’s canon love interest blew up. and i just hate that this sort of thing seems to happen in just about every fandom. i wish the ATLA fandom could’ve been better about it.
#blehhh. don't mind me--just ranting about how people don't actually care about wlw ships#i'm sure not every zu.kka and/or mai.lee shipper is like this. in fact i know some wonderful zu.kka fans#but if mai.lee fandom at large actually gave a shit about mai i bet i could've grown to really like her#and sadly it feels very much like they don't but idk what i expected tbh#ngl i think the renaissance only served to make the ATLA fandom 20x more insufferable overall#although i am grateful for all the new fanworks and actually decent and normal fans it brought in#also to be clear i used to hate mai but i don't really anymore. just think she's kinda boring#and also that mai.ko isn't good for either party because bry.ke can't write romance#she deserves a cute gf who loves her but idc about mai.lee anymore :/#especially since a lot of its fans seem to really hate azula too
5 notes
·
View notes