#this might just be because i'm aromantic. and tend to only enjoy shipping if i'm the one shipping the characters. you know?

[dreameralive]

unfortunately i just don't really care about shipping much when it comes to the slenderverse, especially MH, which makes it. difficult to interact with the fandom on here

[aintgonnatakethis]

twenty questions for fic writers

Tagged by @bagheerita ❤️️

How many works do you have on AO3? 29

What's your total AO3 word count? 208,847

What fandoms do you write for? Stargate Universe mainly, though I've also tried out Stargate Atlantis and James Bond.

Top five fics by kudos: what do pretty monsters dream of? (SGA, Sheppard/Todd) down here they call us animals (SGU, Rush/Young, vamp AU) Valentine's Day (James Bond, asexual Bond) Consultancy Opportunity (SGU, Rush/Telford, PWP) Good Things Come In Threes (SGU, Rush/Young/Telford, P-with-P)

Do you respond to comments? Yes, every one. I know how anxiety-inducing it can be to leave a comment, so I really want to put the effort in to respond. It might take me a few days, as per the anxiety, but there's nothing I love more than discussing my fics!

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? so i bite my tongue and hope for blood (warning for non-con) Rush is drugged and does things to Telford. Telford understandably reacts poorly. No working through the trauma here - just trauma.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Hmm, looking through my fics I guess I'm not a happy endings kind of guy. 😂 Think the best I can do is Valentine's Day, with Q worrying for a lot of it that Bond is sexually pursuing him only for things to end up firmly in the asexual category with cuddling and talking and petting cats.

Do you get hate on fics? Nah, everyone's pretty chill. Though of course I'm not involved in any large fandoms and that's where the more aggressive people tend to end up.

Do you write smut? Hell yeah I do! When I started posting to A03 near the end of 2022 it was the majority of what I wrote. Recently I've not really been feeling it - ever since I really had to force things so I'd be able to finish the 10k final chapter of the threesome fic - so I've been writing other stuff. I'm sure the smut will reactivate at some point.

Craziest crossover: I've never written any, and I'm afraid I'm not a fan of crossovers at all. 😂

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Nah, not to my knowledge. Though I guess with AI scrapers you never know these days.

Have you ever had a fic translated? No, though of course I'd give my permission for it.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nothing posted to AO3. Back in the day I RPed Doctor Who smut and stuck it on FFnet, and got a warning slapped on my account for it. 👎

All time favourite ship? Young/Telford/Rush, either all together in a threesome, or paired off in any possible permutation. These three guys are the revolving door of my brain.

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I haven't worked on Your Own Worst Enemy for a long while, a fic where Rush, Young, Telford, and Destiny are all recovering from different forms of sexual assault. Though I'm really pleased with what I've got so far, I'm not sure where the plot goes next and I want to handle the subject matter with care. I think it's the kind of fic I have to complete before I start posting.

What are your writing strengths? I really enjoy taking a character and changing their sexuality to all the possible options to explore the possibilities. I've been told I do this while still remaining in character because I do the work to get there instead of just slapping a label on. For example, I've written fics where Telford is straight, bi, gay, aromantic, and am currently working on one where he's asexual. I love seeing what shapes I can bend characters into while still remaining true to canon.

What are your writing weaknesses? I see writeblrs talking about doing big cuts in their editing process, trimming off thousands of words at a time! While I understand why, cutting a scene I've worked hard on is something I can rarely bring myself to do.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language? I think my knee jerk response would be to say yes, but don't overdo it. Even if the translations are readily available (found this skin which works for both desktop and mobile users and uses HTML instead of making the author fiddle around with editing the workskin for each individual translation) having to move to hover/click can take the reader out of the story if it's done to an extreme degree.

First fandom you wrote in? Doctor Who, in... 2007 I want to say.

Favourite fic you’ve written? down here they call us animals is the first one that springs to mind, as it was such a massive sense of accomplishment to finish a long project, and making my own vampire lore and history was really enjoyable. I have to give a mention to a memory, a distant echo (warning for memories of non-con) as well though. I feel like I crafted that with my bare hands from clay, you know? Telford's trauma... I could wax fucking poetic about it for days.

No pressure tagging: @fortunatetragedy @frostysfrenzy @wolgerrswraith @frostedlemonwriter @galadhir + open to anyone who wants a go!

[acephysicskarkat]

@queerplatonic-msr

#im kinda interested in your opinion of zutara-

I tend not to think much about it.

Like, I'm not actually here to pick fights with randos on the internet about shipping. I'll comment on a pattern when I think it's interesting or it's relevant to a point I want to make, but while I don't personally ship, to take an example at almost-random, Optimus Prime with Shockwave, picking fights with Shockop shippers is not actually a thing I want to spend my time doing, because I have so little of it and would rather spend what I do have on something else, especially since my new year's resolution for this year was to get into fewer pointless internet arguments.

I'm also just...not that into Avatar. I like it well enough, even though I still haven't seen most of book 2, I enjoyed Legend of Korra and the first Kyoshi book (haven't read the second), I'm enjoying the kicking the live-action one is getting in a popcorn kind of way, but it's not lodged into my autistic soul the way Star Wars or MTMTE or Discworld or even some remaining shreds of Homestuck are. I'm not passionate enough to get invested in shipping arguments about it.

On top of that, when the original show ended in 2008, I had only just picked up my first laptop, which I mostly used to play videogames. I'd never been active in an internet fandom, that didn't really happen until later that year (and that was mostly getting into fights about D&D and Warhammer on 4chan, so, not a great start), I didn't read or write fanfiction (that's relatively recent, and I need to actually finish and publish something after like two years of drought), and while I hadn't even heard the word "aromantic" at the time, I certainly wasn't paying attention to shipping arguments about a cartoon that, at the time, I'd seen Some Episodes Of and Sorta Remembered Enjoying.

At most, at this point, I'm a little impressed by Zutara's resilience. There are people using this website who weren't born when Aang and Katara hooked up. Their kids were prominent figures in the sequel series. And this one non-canon ship is still clinging to life like a f***ing limpet. Can I get a round of whatever they're having for the non-canon ships I enjoy?

But in terms of actual commentary...no, sorry, I don't have any. If the live-action show goes for a Zutara endgame and the writing is ass, I might have something of substance to say then, but I don't have anything now.

Sorry.

[newpathwrites]

20 Questions of Writers 📑

Thank you so much for the tag @djarinmuse !

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Technically 19, but several of those are Mandomera week drabbles that I posted separately.

2. What is your total AO3 word count?

140,976

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The Mandalorian only

4. Top Five fics by kudos:

A Marriage of Convenience

Linked

A Marriage of Convenience Ending #2

A New Creed

A Marriage of Convenience Ending #3

A bit repetitive...

5. Do you respond to comments?

Always.

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

I have no angsty endings. Either it ends happy, or it doesn't end at all (like I will simply never write an ending, it goes on and on...).

7. What is the fic you wrote that has the happiest ending?

All happy endings. Happiest? Probably a 3-way tie between A Marriage of Convenience, A New Creed, and Arms Wide Open.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, I've been fortunate so far.

9. Do you write smut?

Rarely, pretty non-descriptive and minimally explicit. It almost always has some sort of asexual spectrum undertones to it, too. See question #16.

10. Craziest crossover?

I haven't done any crossovers.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I hope not. If so, I remain blissfully unaware.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge.

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

No, and honestly, I don't think I'm capable of doing such a thing.

14. All time favorite ship?

My first and favorite ship ever is obscure - Colleen and Andrew from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. I think I enjoyed that Andrew supported Colleen's plans to become a doctor and appreciated her skills in a time when women were not respected in medicine. Guess what I do for a living...

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

The only one I may not ever find the motivation to finish is Trusted Friend which I started for a DinBo challenge - it's a stretch for me because it's planned to be a very smutty, friends-with-benefits kind of thing. It's just not quite as personal to me as my other fics which are more based in my own experiences.

16. What are your writing strengths?

For sure nonsexual and nonromantic intimacy. I started writing to represent the diversity of asexual and aromantic experiences which I don't see in this fandom, and I think I do it pretty well. My fics run the gamut from conventional romantic/sexual relationship to QPR to platonic partnership, and they all have some basis in my own life (or my own fantasy scenarios).

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I definitely rush to get it out once I start writing, and I feel some of my fics read a bit choppy. I also tend to go too heavy on dialogue.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I personally find it a little distracting, so I don't do it. Just an occasional Mando'a endearment.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

The Mandalorian

20. Favorite fic you've written?

This is hard, but I have to say A Marriage of Convenience which depicts a non-sexual, intimate QPR. This was my first fic which I literally wrote during a time of crisis IRL to portray the kind of marriage I wish I could have had (if I'd understood my aroace identity). I've explored so many aspects of asexuality in particular in that fic, especially relating to physical intimacy, and I've gotten amazingly satisfying feedback on it. I even wrote two alternate endings to explore how sex might fit into that relationship structure which was a really fun exercise, too.

That was fun!

Low pressure tags - sorry if you've already been tagged on this! @the-kittylorian-writes @sytortuga @grogusmum @aithnesroses @court-jobi

[meltiverse]

4, 5, 18, 38 and 39 for Burgerpants? I don't often see people self-shipping with him, so I'm curious...

Sure! And yeah, I know, I have some weird f/os but Felix (my name for Burgerpants) is one of those characters that I can somewhat relate to, for whatever reason.

Warning: Question 38 does include some mature stuff, but nothing overly explicit, and obviously, this is about a human/monster relationship.

4. - First impression of each other? Was it love at first sight?

Mel’s first impression of Felix was mostly pity and understanding. They first saw Felix working at a new fast-food place owned by Mettaton, having to deal with clients being impatient and mean, and having worked at a certain well-known fast-food chain for years, Mel knew all too well what it was like. 

Felix’s first impression of Mel was… mostly filled with wariness. In Felix’s eyes, Mel was awfully cute, and they were nice, polite and they tipped well? Something wasn’t right… He eventually accepted that Mel was genuine, but it took some time.

Neither of them are the kind to fall in love at first sight, with Mel being in the aromantic spectrum and Felix just being too anxious to even consider love in the first place.

5. - Nicknames? Pet names? Any in-jokes?

Mel usually call Felix by his name or shorten it to “Fee” but sometime call him “Kitten” or “BP” 

Felix often still call Mel “Little Buddy”, but also often call them “Mel”. When they are alone, Felix also like to call Mel “Kitten”

18. - What are their dates like? How long do/did they date? Do they ever feel the need to take a break from each other?

Mel and Felix’s dates are usually pretty casual and chill, cafés, cinema, arcades, that kind of stuff. Or even just take-outs and going to Mel’s place for movies and video games. And they have a monthly double date with Mel’s best friend and his boyfriend, where they meet up at Mel’s or their best friend’s place and play video games, board games and card games.

Mel, being independent and an introvert, need times alone from time to time to recharge, but do not really need breaks per say. Felix would not even think about breaks, he’s just happy that someone genuinely care for him and want to be with him, even though he still barely believe it a few months into the relationship.

38. - What are they like in the bedroom? Any kinks/fetishes/turn-ons? Anything they won’t do?

Especially at the beginning, Felix was not only very nervous, but also pretty much completely inexperienced, what he knew coming from the small amount of porn he watched. As such, even though Mel wasn’t particularly experienced, she still had to take control. Turns out, Felix does enjoy being more on the submissive side. Also… Felix purr rather loudly the whole time.

Mel and Felix are pretty tame when it come to kinks and stuff like that. Mel does tend to take control, since Felix is reluctant to do so, but she’s not really dominating, just loving. Felix love receiving praises, even if he doesn’t believe he deserve them. Oral is also a common occurrence. Lots of cuddling too. And Mel pegging Felix might have happened a few time also. 

For both of them, pain and humiliation in general are pretty big no. Overall, Felix is pretty vanilla and didn’t really have anything “kinky” he was interested in beside getting pegged, and Mel is the kind who is just happy going with what her partner like.

39. - Who initiated the relationship? Who kissed who first?  When did they realize they were in love?

Technically… Mettaton is the one who got Mel and Felix together. Mettaton noticed the friendship that blossomed between Mel and his employee and basically decided to use them as “guinea pigs” for a new show, where he plays the matchmaker and set people up on “blind dates” and Mel and Felix kinda just… continued dating after that, finding more common points than they would’ve expected. It’s only when, for whatever reason, while Mel and Felix were hanging out at a caf��, Bratty asked Felix on a date that he was like “Yeah, not interested. I already have a datemate...” pointing at Mel and then started to freak out because they never confirmed they were officially dating and what if Mel hate him for assuming and what if they just pitied him and… But Mel just smiled at Bratty, and confirmed “Yeah, sorry, but he’s already taken” Bratty left and Mel and Felix had a conversation, basically admitting to like each other and “officially” starting to date.

Mel is the one who kissed Felix first, though the first time, they just wanted to kiss his cheek, but Felix moved at the wrong time and Mel ended up kissing him on the lips. Felix immediately broke the kiss, apologizing nervously and expecting to be slapped or something. Mel just put a calming hand on his shoulder, asking for permission to kiss him on the lips. Felix couldn’t help but purr into the kiss, even if it was rather awkward since neither of them had much experience kissing.

Mel realized they were in love when Felix started to open up more to them, and relax more around them. Felix realized he was in love, though he didn’t accepted it at first, when he understood that Mel’s kindness toward him was genuine.