#this is my niche favourite whump genre

[foundfamilywhump]

allow me to pitch what i, as a sports fiction writer, find to be a wholly underrated and underexplored genre of whump: sports whump

like. think about it. sports injuries can be devastating and gruesome. cultures of pushing through it and ignoring the pain and often re-injuring yourself much worse. Team Dynamics. the rivalries and alliances built into it. the potential for either whumper-free whump (accidents, stress injuries, bad falls, etc) AND whumpers that can exist in it (what if the whumper was a coach or a teammate or a rival? even a parent if it's school athletics? a journalist who has it out for someone? the potential ways for things to go wrong if you get a Bad Actor in any role are endless). the publicity if it's professional, for those of you who enjoy famous whumpees.

sports whump. that is all.

[wounds-seen-and-unseen]

Whumpmas in July- Day 13: Niche Whump Tags

Alright, I am not sure how niche most of these tags are, but anyway, here’s my list of favourite whump tags, for @whumpmasinjuly Day 13!

1. Royalty/nobility whump: I am a historical fiction nerd, and since most characters that drive the story in historical fiction are either royalty or nobility, there we go! And it is definitely whumperfly worthy to see all the different types of traits that are associated with such high status succumb to whump, which ranges from @tendertenebrosity ‘s sweet Lian, to @pale-is-the-prison ‘s prickly but deeply hurt Acanthir to @whumpflash ‘s Caelon, who has long since lost any memory of being royal.

2. Knight/solider whump: Knights are my favourite whumpees, again, because of the historical genre, and because they often have a code of honour that is…just, it is dear to me. @kim-poce does a great job of it in Kingdom’s Sword.

3. Sensitive whumpee: The characters I relate to the most are the sweet, kind, caring sort. Add whump to it, and wow! Most of my own protagonists are that sort.

4. Self-sacrificial whumpees: People who prioritise something/someone else above them. Closely ties to royalty/nobility/knight, etc. @redwingedwhump ‘s Audren is the first and one of the best I can think of. (Haha, I warned you that you’ll have to deal with a lot of my tags, and here I strike again!)

5. Broken whumpee: Whumpee who…is just lost. Who thinks they deserve it. An excellent example of this is @whumpwillow ‘s Envy.

So yeah, that’s it for the day! @whumpmasinjuly-archive

[astriiformes]

4, 29, 45

4 - What is your favourite genre to write for?

I feel like fanfic genres are slightly different beasts than standard genres so it feels like there are maybe multiple ways to answer this question.

In more fanfic terms, I love writing hurt/comfort -- sometimes pretty heavy on the hurt, verging into whump, but there's usually still some comfort element to it. I just love to fuck characters up and then (usually) also see to it that they are taken care of.

In more standard genre terms, I am realizing that what I really love writing is. Historical fiction. Both for canons that are already historical (like Pentiment) and creating historical AUs for canons that aren't (like my perpetual-WIP Sherlock Holmes pastiche AU for TOH). It's about the research. God, I love doing historical research.

29 - Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

Right now, yes, all of my Pentiment fic, but that's at least a little bit my own fault for hyperfocusing on something super niche and, in particular, writing very spoiler-y fic it's hard to just throw at someone without context. I am clawing at the walls and so normal about it but I don't really have the brain to write for other canons right now so I have badly sadly resigned myself to not getting many comments and trying to stick with it anyways.

I think most of my other fics I'm particularly proud of have gotten a lot more love (long comments, more kudos, showing up on rec lists, etc -- sometimes one more than the others, but you know) which may be one reason I am absolutely dying right now but I guess writing for a small fandom builds character. Or something. I am just annoyed because I am a better writer now than I used to be and no one is reading my better writing,

45 - What spurs you on during the writing process?

Comments comments comments comments comments comments comments comments comments comments comments

(This is the other reason I am clawing at the walls lately)

But for real I am a very feedback-driven person so at least being able to talk about my fics with someone is very important to my process. This is one reason living with Scribe is deeply helpful because I can just hand her my laptop and be like "??" when I am unsure if something is working and/or talk at length about my plans for a story or what I need to do to get unstuck.

I should probably get in the habit of posting more snippets here, tbh. I always worry that it will result in net fewer comments on fics once I do post them, but it's not like that's exactly the type of problem I am having right now.

(My last fic chapter I posted got one comment. One. It has been like two weeks. I'm going to combust.)

[whumpfigure]

5, 10, 15, & 20?

5. Who is your favorite whumpee?

From my own whumpees it's Tee at the moment. And from the ones I read, literally all of them are my favourites. I just love all my friends' whumpees.

10. When did you first realize you were into whump?

I had a story in my head when I was barely 8 that was pretty much all about being kidnapped and held captive and all that so, pretty early on I'd say, lol.

But as of realizing that there was a name for this genre, I came upon it on very early 2020. Maybe late January/early February.

15. Are you interested in any niche whump genres, such as fem!whump or non-human whump?

I don't nearly read enough of it but I really like pirate whump. Specially if the pirates are not the whumpers.

20. How are you doing today, buddy?

Huhhh well I took my most difficult final today and had a bit of a panic attack about it earlier in the morning. I didn't particularly do well in it, but I feel like the weight of it is off my shoulders.

Also my parents went on a lil trip today and my sister invited her friends over while they were gone so I had some fun too.

I'll have to start studying for my next exam but I'm still recovering from this morning, lol.

[purpleyin]

2020 Fic Writer’s Year In Review

So 2020 in review because I like doing stats, there’s something comforting about working them out for me. Even if 2020 was not all that good a writing year.

I actually started writing this post in February but I stalled at the whole favourite lines part because I like to link to the fics and so it sat in my drafts for aaaaagggges and I’m finally getting to it again in May!

For anyone who got tagged in this post and is wondering why, that’d be because there’s a section way way down in the post for ‘Writers You Should Read’ where I am reccing you. :)

Word count written: 90,283/104,000

Word count for posted stories: 63,662/156,000     

Number of fics: 34  - I included fics/fic chapters and ficlets I do with moodboards if they were about more than 100 words

(I also made 5 fanmixes + 1 fanvid)

Fandoms written for (for posted works): The Flash, BBC Sherlock, Legends of Tomorrow, Stargate Atlantis, HP Series, Uncharted

(for the vid - Mass Effect: Andromeda + Game of Thrones for 1 fanmix)

Shortest Story: If I only count fics that have dialogue that’d be the snippet of Killergold Jurassic Park AU I did for Femslash February, at about 300 words.    

Longest Story: “A Matter of Time” my angsty/whump Hartmon timeloop fic I did for the Hartmonfest exchange, that’s about 8.5k words.

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted? 

So I did decently by my writing goal, 90k out of 104k, even though that wasn’t much compared to the previous year. I thought I’d done less, because I didn’t feel very productive, but I guess half my problem was writing things that didn’t get finished. I was hoping to finish more WIPs in general from prior years too and so get more posted than I written but I didn’t really manage that, oh well. I have 35 new WIPs awaiting finished from 2020. No clue if that’s better or worse than last year, may need to start keeping track of them somehow.  

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write most? The Flash was my most written for fandom to no surprise. Most written pairing was Savisnow but Hartmon almost beat it out in 2020, very close with both at around 17k words each. Genrewise it was largely angst and whump as usual.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?

For pairings - I would have to say either McKay/Sheppard/Weir or Coldvibe.

McKay/Sheppard/Weir I didn’t expect because it’s such an old fandom and I was only into it in passing. Somehow I had a resurgence of squee for the fandom and a moodboard plot bunny that demanded to be more so ended up a ficlet. It was more not!fic than proper fic but I unexpectedly enjoyed making it.

Coldvibe was another I didn’t expect to write anything for. Moodboards, yes, and I did a fair few but actually writing a snippet with dialogue in it to go with my Elseworlds AU I wouldn’t have predicted at the start of the year I don’t think.

Genre - I definitely had a higher than usual fluff % though, it’s becoming easier to write with practice I suppose. I never expect fluff! I certainly also didn’t expect to write 2 quarantine/lockdown fics...

Fandom - unexpected was Game of Thrones. Because what I made was for Braime, which I love but I’ve otherwise only lurked in that fandom.  I did a fanmix and a moodboard with short blurb and that was more than I thought I’d ever do.

Did you take any writing risks this year?

I branched out into several pairings I’d not written full fics for before (Snowest, Westhallen) and I started posting my Savisnow multichapter even though it’s WIP slow posting and hardly going to be popular because it’s niche.

But probably the riskiest fics felt like ones that I wrote where I was worried what if I got wrong somehow (like my Iris with mirror powers oneshot or Hartmon ASL day fic) or that were very heavy emotionally like my Hartmon quarantine fic.

Do you have any fanfic or general writing goals for the new year?

Finish more already started fics! Literally that is the main goal this year. Start less stuff, finish more old stuff. I need to be more disciplined. I may not always feel like writing a certain thing but with so many WIPs there should be something I want to make progress on surely no matter my mood.

I also still have 4 bingocards to do - Bad Things Happen, DCTVGen, Hartmon (overdue but eh, if I post stuff it’s still good to do) and WIPbingo now.

From the past year of writing, what was your...

Best story of this year: I think my Westhallen ‘it’s the little things’.

Most popular story of this year (by kudos): This is hard to say when the top fic is “Why Should I Trust You” that is multichaptered and cross year so I can’t tell how many kudos it got last year specifically...it has 166 total. Otherwise, for new fics in 2020 it was ‘with one’s own hand’ a Hartmon fic with 44 kudos.

Personal favorite: It’s so niche but my Savisnow Valentine’s fic is my fave.

My favourite fic to write: The 2nd chapter of One Way Or Another. It was also tough to write but the not quite Frost!Caitlin back and forth with Savitar was strangely satisfying to write out. Also I cackle at the end of chapter angst.

Most fun to write: Definitely my Coldwestallen fluff/teasing heatwave ficlet.

Story with the single sexiest moment: Alas I wrote none this year on my main account and only 1 on my secondary PWP account so there’s no true competition there.

Most “holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you” story: Honestly can’t think of one, wasn’t really a darkfic kinda year. The few Savibarry things I created (a fanmix and 2 moodboards including a short ficlet) are probably the most likely to fall under that category for the pairing alone.

Most challenging to write: The Hartmon timeloop fic, because the plot needed to be good enough and getting pacing right was hard too.

Funniest fic: I don’t do funny much but I’d say the heatwave ficlet again.

Fluffiest fic: My Westallen coffee shop AU probably? Or the Westhallen fic.

Saddest fic: This one is hard to judge. I suspect One Way Or Another is overall saddest, because Savitar, but the Iris has powers one is fairly sad too given her inevitable trauma from being in the Mirrorverse. My Uncharted fic ‘Slip of the tongue’ is also post-breakup so quite morose/regretful.

Fic I’m proudest of writing: Probably the Hartmon quarantine fic, ‘Between Hope And Fear’ because it was a hard subject to deal with for me emotionally at the time. It was cathartic to write but then it looks like from the response that it resonated with several people so I was glad to have been able to write it.

Least popular fic: Going by kudos or hits, my Uncharted fic with only 4/35 but it is a tiny/kinda dead fandom. My Iris fic also was next least popular with only 9 kudos & 52 hits - I’ve only written for her a handful of times as I get a little nervous about if I can write her well enough and I never know if some Iris fans might avoid me due to ship wars.

Biggest disappointment: I wasn’t disappointed in anything I posted but I was least confident about my Snowest fic, ‘Love isn’t a science’.

General writing reflections: I should try and do more variety. Experiment more. Let myself write more shortform stuff again. I get a lot of grand ideas but I need to accept not everything can be long fic. It’d be nice to have some stuff somewhere between longfic and moodboard blurbs as those seems my current two extremes 90% of the time. I should probably worry less about fact checking canon stuff and handwave things more.

Writers You Should Read: My answer wasn’t initially gonna be much different than last year and I’d generally say check out my bookmarks on AO3.

But then I thought more and realised there’s definitely some other writers I found in 2020 and a few others I want to mention.

@voldiebuns has lots of great short fics I enjoyed a lot when I hadn’t many spoons to read fic.

@violetteatime writes great Hartmon.

@astrid-goes-for-a-spin I really enjoyed their Iris and Westallen fics.

@dance-is-life27 has some lovely Snowestallen.

@finalfantasyx writes very thoughtful Snowbarry that is also Iris-friendly.

Check out @tygermine if you want humourous/fluffy Dramione and she also has a lot of Merlin fics.

@jessequicksters is a great writer and got me reading some Flash pairings I’d not considered before.

@secondratevillain has a lot of fab Rogues fics.

@joanthangroff for great DCTV gen in particular. 

@letmetellyouaboutmyfeels who has such great Timeless fics, especially for Garcyatt, but also has started writing great Witcher fics too.

Favorite character to write: I think this year that’d be Hartley, but Savitar is still up there for the same odd reasons as before.

Favorite opening lines:

I don’t think I have any favourites for this.

Favorite closing lines:

A break that created something else, each shard a possibility, a new path to see herself another way.

- from After Image (Iris, The Flash)

Because words are her thing and all Rodney really needs to understand is he doesn’t have to be perfect, he can just be, the same as John is with her. That’s all they really need.

- from my McKay/Shep/Weir College professors AU ficlet (SGA)

It’s her turn to blush then, and that brings out a smile from Barry that makes all his previous smiles seem dull in comparison.

- from my Westallen Coffeshop AU (Barry/Iris, The Flash)

Other favorite lines:

'I can do that' and 'We ought to be able to manage it' and so many variations of those have been uttered by him over the years. All permutations on the theme of him not exactly promising to borrow/beg/steal an object for the client themselves per se. 'I could do that for you', with the words 'I won't' left off.

{...]he blames Elena for her moralizing him – changing his perception from shades of grey to a stronger contrast.

- from Slip of the Tongue (Nate, Uncharted)

there's nowhere to go. Except there's that tug inside her, like a whisper of gravity, that says, there's here.

- from After Image (Iris, The Flash)

Hunter, who turned out to be less bring-home-to-your-mom material and more of a wants-to-take-you-home-in-the-trunk-of-his-car kinda guy.

- from my Snowbarry Little Shop of Horrors AU (Barry/Caitlin, The Flash)

But it makes Cisco swallow hard because that isn’t the Piper outfit he’s most recently seen Hartley in. This is the outfit he made for Hartley, erased from existence like every other part of their friendship.

- from my Hartmon Alice in Wonderland Fusion (Cisco/Hartley, The Flash)

[hey-hamlet]

10 13 14 and 15 for the ask !

10. When did you first realize you were into whump?

Christ, I was really young and I remember thinking “I want the bad guys to win.” Not because I liked them or anything, but because I wanted to see what would happen next. And not gonna lie, my favourite things growing up were Warriors (Everyone suffers so much) and Iron Man (Tony Stark needs a fucking break). 

13. Have you ever felt insecure because you enjoy whump? How did you overcome that insecurity?

Not really? I read and write it a lot to vent because I suffer from the great Australian illness of refusing to touch at my emotions with a ten-foot pole. In all seriousness, its easier to work out your own problems when you present them as someone else's. Plus, the fluff is always sweeter after the pain.

14. What are your least favourite whump tropes?

MISCOMMUNICATION/MISSUNDERSTANDING DRAMA i hATe it so much, I get so pissed at everyone involved I want to tear my hair out. Less of a trope too, but I like my stories with their happy endings. I’m also not a fan of it when literally everyone is a dick to a character for no reasonable reason. 

15. Are you interested in any niche whump genres, such as fem!whump or non-human whump?

No idea my dude, but if I ever see an animal get hurt I will go apeshit, its the worst and I just want to give them love.  Less of a genre, but I tend to like it more when a character gets support rather than being ‘cured’, because the latter feels a little cheap. 

[midnight-mismanagement]

you reblogged it forever ago but i just came across it today so 2, 11, 15, & 17 for the whump blog ask meme?

Hey, anon! Thank you very much for the ask and I would be perfectly delighted to answer more whumpy questions :)

Here we go:

2. Do you prefer illness whump or injury whump?

Uhhh, injury, I think. Just because…I don’t know, illness whump tends to involve a lot of relatively the same stuff, and is caused by an external force rather than another character, so that kind of…I dunno, anyway, however, I still do very much like them, don’t get me wrong, and the character development that can form between the sick person (who is not sick thank you very much) and the person who is very much going to help, or one who gets roped into reluctantly helping because said sick person has just collapsed, can be really good. (Did I say really good? I’m sorry, I meant perfection.)

However, have you also considered…

…both at the same time? Or, or, wait for it…

The illness comes after all the injury whump (possibly torture) and it causes the character to become delirious? The opportunities- (Yes I’m evil, I know.)

(Have I used this gif before? Yes. Will I do so again? Also yes.)

11. How and when did you discover the whump community?

I….didn’t know there was a specific community? lmao, uh, I sort of just started writing and reading whump on Ao3 (without really even knowing that was what it was called until much later) and always very much appreciating it when it happened in canon….I was actually really relieved to find out other people liked it, cause I felt….honestly like a terrible person. Now, I have fully embraced the fact that tormenting my favourite characters is just something I do and will continue to do and read about. Believe it or not, that was a weight off my chest. Anyway, I just sort of kept to myself about it, still do, except for writing fic, so..I guess since I got onto tumblr a couple of months ago? Finding other writers gushing about the whump they’re writing has honestly been really helpful to me haha, if that sounds strange. Anyway.

15. Are you interested in any niche whump genres, such as fem!whump or non-human whump?

Ahh, I am still extremely new to fandom and all the lingo, and everything, so I don’t actually know what exactly constitute as niche genres, but ah…for some reason I’ve never really gotten into fem!whump? I guess cause that just has too many personally squicky things tied into it, I mean, apparently I’m fine with watching my favourite male characters get turned into absolute messes, but I’d rather not the same stuff happen to my favourite female characters? I mean, some stuff is okay, but not..a whole lot, except the emotional stuff to flesh out their issues, and then some injury or illness? I honestly don’t know why I’m like this, so please don’t ask. As for non-human, I mean, absolutely yes. If they’re my favourite character, human or otherwise, chances are they’re going to get whumped if I end up writing them. 

I can’t really think of any other specific niche whump genres, but if anyone would like my opinion on any specific ones (this is honestly a really weird sentence to use. My opinion? Honestly who wants that. This is why these ask memes are still baffling to me…but I enjoy them…..) don’t hesitate to send me some, I would be more than happy to indulge. 

17. When was the last time you got the whumperflies?

Just now, honestly. (And I have never heard of this term before xD) Thank you for sending this ask, anon, it got my pretty lousy writing brain to finally start cranking some rusty gears, and I am extremely grateful

Other than that, well, uh, there has been a recent influx of Crowley whump circling the internet and I am very much enjoying it. I also read the wip Walked in These Quiet Hazes by ratsats a short while ago, which featured some excellent Loki whump (do I tag the author? I don’t know the proper tumblr etiquette here….) and is an overall masterpiece and I highly recommend it. 

Anyway, that wraps that up, again, thank you for the ask, you have a great day anon, and I am also sorry this is so long. Apparently short answers don’t exist in my vocabulary.

Whump Ask 

[ninwrites]

Hi friend! I am you Secret Santa for the Malec gift exchange and I'm super excited about your prompts, they leave the door very wide open for me, which I appreciate! I am curious to know more about what you like though, so maybe you could tell me some more things that interest you - even the most specific or niche things! You also said you like AUs, especially human AUs, so I would like to know what sort, e.g. slice of life, college, work place, procedural, historical, sci-fi, etc. :D

hi secret santa!! im so sorry this is late i’ve had a bit of a hectic week, thank you for reaching out i’m really glad i have the chance to clarify a bit more clearly — i love a good human AU, i absolutely love the depth and complexity of characters without i guess the hubbub?? of the ~ shadow world ~ and i really like slice of life, i love the mundanity and the warmth especially with domesticity i’m a sucker for that. i tend to steer away from college since attending university, and workplaces similarly, although!! i do love a good workplace romance! i am a big fan of procedural drama and mystery, definitely, literally as i’m writing this i’m watching criminal minds so big yes. i am absolutely obsessed with history, i always have been, i’m completing a major in it right now, so 100% to historical — mg favourite eras if relevant are the 1920’s bc i love the juxtaposition of post-war hope and almost melancholy, and just the ... vibes for lack of a better phrase, but also the French Revolution era of time, i’m absolutely obsessed with that. Also a big yes for sci-fi, i’m a big fan of how sci-fi explores the human condition, specifically i love frankenstein and more horror based, even body horror, and thrillers just the same as like more mellow sci-fi like space !! i love space !!!!!! and time travel!! i almost forgot but i love time travel, complications included. given everything in the world i’d sort of prefer to steer away from apocalyptic (and i’m not the biggest fan of zombies). i don’t know how close to sci-fi or else it relates but i am a h u g e nerd and especially with superheroes .... i also really like hurt/comfort, i’d prefer to steer away from death but other than that any level of angst works for me i’m a big fan of angst within context i think it definitely has a place and it always fascinates me (i’m not a big fan of whump but when angst works i’m for it if that makes any sense!) i also really really love found family that’s a genre, i guess, that i find myself gravitating towards!! i hope this helps! my inbox is of course always open if you have any more questions or if there’s something more that needs clearing up!