#thyp research

[girlbookwrm]

i DO recommend these fics, but this ISN’T actually a rec list

a while ago i did a meta about Bucky Barnes and the Winter Soldier and Hydra and the headcanons I put in The Terror of Knowing, and I mentioned that I wanted to compile a long-ass list of fics that inspired The Hundred Year Playlist and ppl (hi @conlatio and @marveluc) asked about it SO HERE, AT LONG FUCKING LAST, IT IS.

Fanfiction, like every other art form that has ever existed in the history of ever, is all about synthesis: combining pre-existing elements to make something new. It’s the making something new thing that’s exciting. (If you’re not making something new with your found material, that’s called plaigiarism and it’s distinctly uncool.)

When I was in college and grad school, if we used material from other scholars to make a new idea, we made sure to include a bibliography. 

Now this is fic, so like. Everyone knows that we’re using found material. We put the fandom in the tags and everything. But there’s a lot of unseen inspiration, because it’s harder to tag all the fics and metas you read that gave you ideas and inspiration along the way.

I’m... making an attempt.

These are some, SOME of the fics that inspired the headcanons and characterizations and whatnot that then got incorporated into THYP. I’ve been reading MCU fic since 2014 (possibly earlier) and I didn’t even start thinking about THYP until 2017, so there’s probably a lot of stuff that went into my subconscious that I’ve forgotten about. I’m @ing the authors and sources when I know them, but if any of yall want me to like, un-@you (is that a thing??) or if any of you know of authors who have tumblrs that I DIDN’T @ but should have, pls let me knoooowwww

A (Probably Incomplete, but at least Attempted) Fanfic Bibliography for The Hundred Year Playlist

by Seriously I Don’t Have More Important Things To Do? Astonishing.

PLEASE HEED THE WARNINGS IN THE FICS THEMSELVES. THYP may be rated T for Teen (and even that I debate about tbh, given all the swears and violence) but most of these fics are very emphatically not.  some of them will probably squick you out, some of them might be triggering, so take care of yourselves.

I’ve divided the list into sections by the story they inspired, but all of these stories inspired all the parts of THYP, this is a very very very rough categorization. Think of it as my fanfic n headcanon spice rack. some stories are going to have more or less of one spice or another.

Dreamers With Empty Hands

All the Angels and the Saints by @cesperanza

"You're a brutal person, you know that? You're always rummaging through my guts with your bare hands!" and then Bucky turned away, his long, muscled back curving as he sat on the edge of the bed, hunched and struggling for breath. Steve wanted to draw him, and he also wanted to blot the image from his memory: this picture of Bucky in despair.

Speranza’s Socialist Steve is deeply flawed in a way that people don’t usually write him and i love it so much??? He’s angry, and egotistical, and righteous in a way that’s hard on the people around him and I was like YESGOOD MORE PLS. It’s also a masterful example of how to write a story that’s ostensibly Steve-POV but still manages to make Bucky not only a main player, but a driving force. It’s about Steve, on the surface, sure. But it’s also about Bucky, because Steve is about Bucky and I just *clenches fist* love it.

cascades. 

This fic. THIS FIC. Hngh. Okay so this fic is good on so many levels, but for THYP, the takeaway was me very gently lifting the Bucky-Steve-Barnes Family dynamic and then adding more swears to get to my take on the Bucky-Steve-Barnes Family Dynamic. Namely: 

“Steve was a bit of a Barnes, too, wasn’t he,” she says.

“He was ours,” says Rebecca, shrugging. “We were his.”

i crie???

More Man Than You

“You’re very pretty,” she said, and Steve tensed up.

“I’m not a fairy.”

“No, you’re not, are you?”

this fic has a study guide. and that’s literally all I feel I need to say about it. It’s an exploration of queer culture and masculinity in the 30s and 40s, thinly veiled as stucky fanfiction. (It’s also pretty brutal so I’ll reiterate that you need to heed the goddamn warnings)

Also, lest yall think I came up with Billy Thompson in a vacuum, I didn’t. In this fic, there’s a violent mob runner called Duke, and Steve comes up with a plan to take him down, and Bucky makes sure that there’s a Different plan that Steve doesn’t know about.  It’s all executed a little differently in this fic, but the idea lodged in my brain and got reused in THYP, and kind of became a central theme.

Good Morning Heartache, What’s New?

The Night War by @praximeter

IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THIS WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE. This is... honestly, just one of the finest pieces of fiction i just 

HNNNNGH

I don’t know that I can point to any specific part of this fic and say “this gave me that idea” it was more the... the feel of it. The way the Normandy invasion is written and the way the trauma is handled and the way Steve is just slightly to the left of being a real soldier and especially this:

He asked me with a smile on his face what goes through my mind when I line up my shot—God and country? Pearl Harbor? Uncle Sam? —and I stared at him struck dumb from the question so long that I think he thought I was just plain stupid. The fact is that it is none of those things—not even close. It is sick, numb fear and careful, barely breathing so that I don’t miss. I must never miss. And then when I shoot, an awful thought curls up from my trigger finger to my heart “how many mothers must be praying I will miss?”

The Thirteen Letters

oh you didn’t really think that Not Easily Conquered wasn’t going to be on this list, didja? OF COURSE IT’S ON THE LIST. But possibly not for the reason you might think. That fic is legen-fucking-dary of course, and the scene where Steve gets stabbed was obviously very inspirational for that bit in GMHWN where Steve gets shot in the thigh, but the scene that really got teeth into my brain and Would Not Let Go was the one where the Howlies meet the Winged Victory of Samothrace and 

Bucky knows the truth now. It is a deep and insurmountable truth. She has no face. Like the operative whose head he beat in, like the boy who he killed one month into active duty, even like Bucky himself, Nike is faceless. Bucky feels unprepared, or like he should have brought an offering.

Beside him Steve quakes before the oldest and the only god.

look my fixation with statues didn’t come from nowhere is what i’m saying ok

Sincerely, Your Pal

This fic haunts me because i hate the ending. not because it’s not good (It IS good) or because it’s not the right ending for the story (it IS the right ending for the story) but just because i  h a t e  i t. I just like happy endings is all, and resolutions, and this fic is why THYP will have a happy ending.

But also, I really liked the way this fic dealt with Bucky in Basic and lines like this really caught in my brain:

And of course I want to kill some Nazis I guess but not because they’re people. Not because I actually want people to die because I don’t.

And that sentiment definitely fed into how I write Bucky especially.

The Terror of Knowing

there must have been a moment by @redstarwhitestar (magdaliny’s marvel sideblog)

Listen, I’ve been trying to make sure that there’s a good spread of writers on this list but magdaliny is the exception. Magdaliny is the exception for a lot of things and there must have been a moment when we could have said no is always the first fic I think of when I think of a fic about Bucky’s time as the Soldier. Which is ironic, because it’s very much about his time after that, but that first chapter made uhhhhhhhhhhh an impression.

The fractured nature of the narrative, the way that the reader can piece together a coherent timeline but the main character can’t... that was very influential on TTOK. example:

“Kill him,” the officer says.

The subject says: “Why?”

☙

“Kill him,” the officer says.

The subject makes a mess.

☙

“Kill him cleanly,” the officer says. “Good! Good lad.”

I’ll build a house inside of you

Another magdaliny G I F T, an AU where Nat is much younger and Bucky is her dad, and if you think that didn’t affect the way I write Bucky and Nat’s relationship in THYP, then you are dreaming. 

Past the praises of the handlers, above the hot wet smell of cordite and blood, Natalia can hear crashing and shouting down the hall.

“—goddamn animals, they're little girls, they're just kids, you fucking—”

Her father screams in English, in Mandarin, in Russian, and then he just screams.

I know that’s a super sad excerpt but listen and hear me when I say this fic is actually really good and wholesome and it’s got A+++ OCs and All The Widows and it’s just really good ok

Memory

Bucky is hard AF to write and very few people write him half so well as magdaliny but one of those people is emilyenrose and this fic is M A S T E R F U L. Bittersweet and achingly perfect. It contains this beautiful moment that really stuck with me, where Steve is comparing the post WS “James” to the Pre War “Bucky” and realizes... 

He truly hadn't known James all that well. James hadn't let him. Hadn't wanted him to. Hadn't wanted anyone near him, ever—

—the way Bucky went, when he was miserable, when he was angry...

and that, to me, was kind of key when I went on to write the Soldier, because the Soldier IS Bucky, even when he isn’t.

Fool For Sacrifice

Dona Nobis Pacem

THIS GODDAMN FIC came to me outta FUCKING NOWHERE, I’d already written the first draft for FFS, I’d already started posting it, for crying out loud. And then all of a sudden I stumble upon THIS and i just

It’s already fading, just hours after the skirmish.  And the wounds Sam stitched will heal without a mark.  And the welts on Steve’s chest will disappear.  Like all of it never happened. 

Fuck the serum. He keeps thinking it, saying it.  Maybe if there were some goddamn scars, it’d be easier to process the damage.

This fic is heavy af, it’s like the 65k word version of That Chapter in FFS Where Steve Hits Rock Bottom. This was the fic I read when I was ramping myself up to tackle That Moment

three white horses

This is the other fic I read to ramp up for That Scene, and I think that probably shows in the way I wrote it. It is also is a Strong Contender for the title of Heavyweight Fic That Convinced Me Buck Is Jewish. Honestly I cannot praise this fic enough.

I think the thing that stuck hardest about the Steve in three white horses is the way he feels ghostly himself, like he’s only drifting through the present, and somehow most of his living happens in the past. It’s very beautifully done, and very subtly done, and it’s my go to fic if I am in Dire Need of a Good Clean Crie.

It’s getting an extra long excerpt because This Is My List And Neither God Nor Man Can Stop Me.

Steve's fingers touch metal when he reaches into the second-to-last box, and he feels the blood drain out of his face even before he's looked down. He knows the feel of it too well. He'd know it blind, a hundred years from now. It's Bucky's not-a-medal.

It'd been Bucky's grandfather's, or maybe his great-grandfather's, made of the kind of sterling silver that tarnishes if you look at it funny, so Bucky had always been polishing it; he'd traded cigarettes to the mess staff for baking soda and vinegar, during the war, but the thing was still soot-black half the time, like it is now. It'd been a fool's errand, wearing a thing like that in Axis territory, but Bucky'd worn it on his chain like the rest of the guys wore their Christophers and Michaels, and HYDRA'd ignored it. It was a subtle thing, though: nothing like wearing a Magen David, or the implacable H on Bucky's tags, just a thin slice of metal with a stylized branch and an oblique squiggle Steve only knows is the Hebrew word for life because Bucky told him so.

Bucky'd had a curious mix of reverence and irreverence about it, the same mixture that seemed to colour the whole of his religious life. He'd teased Steve sometimes, saying, “No, wait, you gotta kiss it before you enter the building, you schmuck, what are you, some kinda heathen?” with his legs around Steve's waist. Bucky hadn't complained when Steve had carried on with an inch of silver between his teeth, but Steve had offhandedly called it Bucky's good luck charm once, and Bucky'd blown up; it's not a superstition, he said, it's not a fucking amulet. He'd apologized later, and he'd explained, and said it was a touchy subject, just ingrained. Jews weren't supposed to believe in luck. Bucky'd thought maybe it was the opposite: maybe luck didn't believe in Jews.

Sparked Up Like a Book of Matches

AH YES, THE FIC THAT TAUGHT ME ABOUT LIL AUDREY JOKES. SIPPY CUPS OF SUPERBOOZE! A ROBOT CALLED SHITCAN!! WHAT MORE COULD YOU NEED IN A FIC??? I really like the way it addresses Steve being in the future is all

This one could probably also fall into the list of fics that inspired DWEH, in part because of This, which stuck with me Hard and heavily influenced the opening:

“...You ever have scarlet fever?"

Sam shakes his head.

"It starts in your throat, like an itch, and as your fever starts to climb, your tongue swells up and turns white and that's when they know, really, even before the rash, that it's scarlet fever. You can't swallow, it hurts so much. You're freezing and your joints ache and your fever keeps spiking and you start to hallucinate. I, uh, I thought things were crawling on me and there were voices that I didn't recognize whispering things that didn't make any sense. My mom had to fight me just to get me to drink broth, but I threw it up most of the time, anyway. Then I got pneumonia from being so worn down from the scarlet fever and I was so lucky, Sam. Nobody seems to understand how I lucky I was to make it through. Talking to people today, to make them understand I'd have to tell them I survived bird flu only to fall sick with Ebola."

listen. For reasons I can’t fully explain, I really wanted to read that happening so i wrote it, and this is what being a writer is All About.

Actually, on a second thought, I might be able to explain it: it’s because an experience like that is Capital F Formative, and I really wanted to explore how there’s a tiny sick kid rattling around inside Captain Beefcake’s souped up bod.

(And an additional shoutout to Steve Rogers’ American Captain, a webcomic that now exists only in the Wayback Machine, but which was L O V E L Y and I sincerely hope that the artist knows that)

No Hope for the Weary

Strays

This fic? is so fluffy?? Like literally so fluffy. But this fic (and, obviously, Infinite Coffee) were very much behind the inclusion of the God Damn Starbucks, and also the source of a lot of my headcanons about Barnes & Rogers: Secret Millennials. For Example: Bucky’s Notes on How To Be A Millennial:

- Lots of coffee. Travel mugs or paper cups from Starbucks place. Often looks guilty for drinking, obv derive pleasure from doing so. Unknown as to why. Investigate further? Why is there one every two blocks if no one wants it there? 

Infinite Coffee and Protection Detail

This is another fandom classic that needs very little introduction. A+ characterization, A+ OCs, Utterly Charming from start to finish, and the originator of a very distinct way of talking that got very strongly coded in my brain as Winter Soldier Bucky.

He passes within 4 m of Barnes on his way back to his building. The mission imperative achieves a Doppler effect.

contactContactCONTACTContactcontact

Aw.

If They Haven’t Learned Your Name by @silentwalrus1

If I had to point to one (1) fic and say “Blame This Fic for THYP” it would be this one: the Fic that my roommate and The Gal Pal know as “The One With the USS Motherfucker.” This might seem like an odd statement, because if you’ve read them both, I don’t think you’d necessarily put them in the same class. silentwalrus is a genius of hilarity and THYP is a big pile of The Sads. ITHLYN is delightfully unassuming and I’m sometimes embarrassed by how pretentious THYP ended up being. 

I would technically put this under the list of fics that heavily influenced NHFTW on account of the way it portrays Bucky going by gradual degrees from murderbot to mostly human person, but listen I could never write Cryptid!Bucky the way Silentwalrus has. It’s magnificent. And TBH the level of Intensity in ITHLYN’s Steve has is something I aspire to, and the Sam Characterization is On Point, and both those things influenced FFS, 112%. Nat’s Chaotic Slav Energy in this fic is OFF THE GODDAMN CHARTS and I LOVE IT. Every single side character, down to the spaceship is given the kind of care, attention, and characterization that just... it cannot be beat, my dudes.

16/10 highest recommendation. I could not possibly pick a single paragraph from this behemoth but uhhhhh

Two minutes in there’s a grunt and a slippery, gritty noise somewhere to her left, and then the Soldier barrels past at breakneck speed, vanishing down another tunnel. A second later Steve careens around the corner, bounces off the opposite wall and crashes away after him, so fast he’s nearly a blur. Natasha’s brain, entirely of its own accord, provides her with the utterly unhelpful accompaniment of a Yakety Sax soundtrack.

that’s it. that’s the fic.

Also, this fic is Stoutly To Blame for the playlist aspect of the hundred year playlist? Silentwalrus really got me good with Grounds for Divorce by Elbow, one of my all time favorite songs, which was then paired with one of my all time favorite chapters. By the time Caravan Palace’s Lone Digger made an appearance, I was sunk. This fic introduced me to Lyube, and gave me a new appreciation(?) for dubstep. So many of the songs ITHLYN used ended up in my Very Long Stucky Playlist, though I think the only one that then went on to become part of the Hundred Year Playlist: Upside Down and Inside Out by OK GO.

And Finally, the Coup De What The Fuck Ever:

Ain’t No Grave by @spitandvinegar

yet another fandom classic... I wasn’t sure where to put this fic, but I couldn’t NOT include it in the list. Spitandvinegar’s Steve is charming and so? Sweet? and the ANG Bucky is a delightful foulmouthed mess of a person, and the Sam/Claire pairing is something I DIDN’T KNOW I NEEDED, BUT I VERY MUCH NEEDED IT and I don’t know that I can point to a single thing and be like: Ah Yes, This Bit, but this is definitely one of my faves:

Imagine you live in this country, right? And there's a brutal war, and you witness and maybe participate in a horrific amount of violence, and you lose absolutely everyone you care about. Then you end up in this other country, where the culture and ways of doing things are completely foreign to you, and random assholes make fun of you for how you dress and act and talk while you're still coming to grips with the fact that everyone you love is gone and you can never go home again. Meanwhile, everyone around you is like "smile, motherfucker, you're in the Land of Plenty now, where there's a Starbucks on every corner and 500 channels on TV. You should be grateful! Why aren't you acting more grateful?" So you have to pretend to be grateful while you're dying inside. Sound like an traumatized, orphaned refugee? Also sounds like Steve fucking Rogers, Captain Goddamn America. Except that most refugees were part of a community of other people who were going through the same thing. Steve is all alone, the last damn unicorn, if the last unicorn had horrible screaming nightmares about the time when it helped to liberate Buchenwald.

Usually this explanation yields a "huh." People don't want Sad Refugee Steve: they want Captain America, Indestructible Defender of Freedom. But that doesn't mean that Sam isn't right, because he is right, goddamnit. So yeah, Sam's a little protective of Steve. And if the last unicorn finds out that its best damn unicorn friend in the whole world is actually alive, then damn straight, Sam's heading out with a tranq gun and bringing that damn unicorn in and starting a goddamn unicorn wildlife refuge in his backyard. Or something like that: at a certain point the metaphor kind of gets away from him.

Til The End of the Timeline

I’ve recced this so many times you’ve probably all gotten sick of hearing about it, but it’s an invaluable goddamn resource and you should all check it out. 

A Shit Ton of Metas and Blogs, some of which are tagged with THYP Research but especially @steve-rogers-new-york and @hansbekhart‘s How To Brooklyn and @historicallyaccuratesteve

and last but certainly not least

LITERALLY EVERYTHING @quietnighty READS HOLY SHIT

If you’re looking for a common thread through all the above recs, it’s that almost all of them have podfics, and the vast majority of those podfics are by Quietnight. I am, and always have been, an audio learner. I read my writing aloud when I’m editing, I listen to audiobooks when I’m commuting, and when I’m cleaning, and when I’m playing computer games, because I like stories, and I especially like listening to stories. Quietnight’s podfics are Of The Highest Quality, and her taste in fic is Impeccable.

hooooly shit this post is long wow okay. I can’t promise I won’t add more to this later, but I’m leaving it for now because goddamn. it’s as complete as I can make it at this time. I’ve added a “THYP Fanfic Bibliography” tag in my bookmarks, and incidentally I really need to make sure I’ve gone through and kudosed all of these because goddamn.

[girlbookwrm]

oh no, i spilled politics all over my meta

with regards to the way I write American vs Russian HYDRA in The Hundred Year Playlist, I mentioned

(I have a whole separate pet theory/rant about America and Liberty and Dehumanization)

and @allduerespect-no said:

GIVE IT TO MEEEEEE

so here we are. 

Let me prelude this by saying that I am talking about America as portrayed in the MCU, which is, as we know, a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual burgeoning fascist regimes, neonazi conspiracies, or end-stage capitalist hellscapes is purely coincidental and also super super depressing. (FELLOW AMERICANS DO NOT FORGET TO VOTE.)

ANYway. 

I’ve talked about this some in the comments for TTOK, but let’s get it out here in the tumblscape:

When I was writing American!Hydra, I had three Big Questions: How does American!Hydra explain the brainwashed war hero to freshfaced new recruits, how do they convince Soldier!Bucky to do their bidding, and how do they justify the shit they do with him?

1) how do they explain Bucky to their recruits? I mean obv they keep him in a mask and a bank vault but at the very least he’s got a bunch of techs to work on him and STRIKE has seen his face. How are they sure that someone won’t rat them out? That’s an American war hero in the Chair, his name is on the wall of valor at SHIELD headquarters. I know these guys are hydra, but they’re not machines. If someone was going to get squeamish, surely this is what they would get squeamish about:

don’t even look at me this scene still kills me jfc

ok ok but here’s the thing: I work at an antique store that sells a lot of WWII memorabilia, which is a fancy way of saying there’s a lot of Nazi bullshit in the back. I hate it. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from it, it’s that the people who call themselves patriots and idolize WWII heroes, and the people who are neonazis are often the same fucking people. 

Just look at the Republican Party.

What I’m saying is, if you were running a neonazi outfit AND you had a WWII hero in your skankyass brainwashing basement, that would actually be a selling point for exactly the brand of asshole you’d want to recruit.

2) How do they convince Soldier!Bucky to do their bidding? For starters, and I’m taking a Watsonian view of this shit, but Soldier!Bucky seems more erratic under the Americans: he’s restrained, there are more guards, he lashes out... The Americans don’t seem to have the trigger words that Zemo gets from Karpov, which could explain it, but... in my world at least, for Russian!Hydra, it was about protecting the motherland by any means necessary, which taps into a deep-seated aspect of buckaroo’s personality. three baby sisters and a best pal constantly starting fights? Bucky’s a protective kinda guy. So the Russians say “you’re a protector now” and Soldier!Bucky says “yeah that seems right” and does more or less whatever they ask.

The Americans, as I write them, are... different. Cuz they’re not using bucky to protect, they’re using bucky to “improve” things (look at Insight, right?) And that doesn’t jive with Bucky’s personality so much (again, imo.) So how do they get bucky to comply? Two Words:

This Asshole. Lookit that handsome blond and then listen to his rousing speech about freedom and shaping the century, and then try to convince me he isn’t doing all that to deliberately manipulate Bucky Barnes, who has a well-documented soft spot for self-righteous blonds.

A brief aside: Whatever else he is, I believe that Pierce believes in his cause. He’s so convinced that he’s right about this, and so in love with being right, and being in control, that he’s willing to rub shoulders with racists and torture POWs and attack helpless people, and if that doesn’t remind you of the Republican party, then you’re not paying attention. 

*ahem*

3) How does American!Hydra justify their actions? They’re still Americans, right? And Americans, for all our flaws, believe in Liberty. That’s one of those things we’re very into. also justice. we dig that shit. Which is ironic, cuz of that whole genocide/slavery/imprisoning thing. Liberty and justice for all, amirite?

And here’s where we finally get to America and Liberty and Dehumanization. 

Bucky, as I write him in TTOK, is very dehumanized by Hydra. They don’t treat him like a person (except Pierce, who talks to him like he’s a person, deliberately, and manipulatively) and if he’s not a person, then he doesn’t need rights, right?

Because obviously Americans do deny liberty and justice to loads of people. We deny liberty and justice to the vast majority of people, in fact, because we’re always putting the lives of white, wealthy, male, cis, straight US citizens above, you know, literally everyone else. hell, we deny liberty and justice to veterans, and future generations.

That is who we are right now. I say we, and yes, I am including myself in this, because I am an American Citizen and that means accepting responsibility for all the bullshit that my country has done. That is who we are, because that is what we, as a country, do.

But it’s not what we have to keep doing. We don’t have to keep being like this. We can change. It’s not easy, and it’s not fast, but it can be done. because goddammit, it doesn’t say liberty and justice for some, it says liberty and justice for all.

I want to end by saying this: the way I write Bucky, and Steve, and Hydra -- Bucky draws a lot of parallels between Steve and his handlers, particularly Pierce. Steve’s a believer too, and he’s willing to work with people he doesn’t really like, and do things he doesn’t want to do in service of those beliefs. What makes him dangerous, and what makes Pierce dangerous -- it’s the same thing. But Pierce’s ideals are about fear and control. And Steve... 

Well. Steve knows what’s up. 

Look, I’m not actually sorry for getting politics all over this meta. I don’t know how to talk about TWS without talking about the current political situation in my country. There are too many parallels, and it’s too important.

So. You know. Fucking vote this November. And for god’s sake vote Democrat. When I say we’re up against Hydra, that’s not really an exaggeration. Now is not the time to argue with the Furies and the Natashas and the Tonys on our team. That’s how Thanos gets his fucking snap, ok? 

[girlbookwrm]

I just read the hundred year playlist and im so sad it wnded i must ask how do you get your characterization right? i love your bucky he is literally my favorite version to read like i cannot even. What are your secrets?? Also lay down your weapon i had to lay down MYSELf multiple times because I was just squealing the whole time god ive re read it like 3 times already snsjnssn i love it SO FUCKING MUCH shsjsjjsns im sorry for keysmashing and being incoherent but god this was perfect tysm

shsjsjjsns is the sincerest form of flattery, thank u

getting characterization right is my favorite thing about writing fanfiction, because it really is about really paying attention to the small shit. For my money, no one does that better than a fan. so like, in terms of practical advice: 

 - I have watched the movies and clips from the movies more times than I care to admit (oh no what a trial). Not all writers have to do this or want to do this -- but I kind of have to or else the characterization shifts and becomes unrecognizable.  - I really pay attention to which other fan writers write Bucky and Steve in such a way that I can hear them and see them in my head (you can check out the ficliography if you want to know which were the Most Influential Fics)  - there’s also a lot of talking through headcanons with supportive friendos, because THYP especially is basically a box I carry all my headcanons in.   - i try to ground in reality as much as I can -- things my grandparents told me about the 30s and 40s, research into catholicism and judaism because i was raised secular, and I also found a fucking gem on audible (The Home Front?iirc?) that had recorded interviews with real live people from the 30s and 40s and that was Helpful  - but like, maybe the most important thing is learning how and where to fudge it? drop one really vivid detail or historically accurate factoid and the reader will fill in the rest on their own. If you describe everything in completely excruciating detail then you’ll bore people, triple your research workload and you’ll STILL get things wrong. getting one (1) detail wrong can throw a reader completely out of the story. if you’re a little discerning about what details to include, you have a better shot at not fucking up. this looks like a lot of work when i type it out but tbh it's just things that I enjoyed doing that I twisted into serving my writing, which applies to p much everything I do lol

and hey! if you’re interested in more writing advice n stuff, I just started another tumblr @wrmbooks that’s going to be for book reviews, writing advice and (eventually) original fiction

[girlbookwrm]

WAIT-- "just research for my fanfictions" you say in your bio. you reblog lotr. are we allowed to hope??

“are we allowed to hope?” “ARE WE ALLOWED TO HOPE???”

oh my sweet summer child. 

you think I’ve got MCU feels? that ain’t got nothing on my LotR feels.

THYP may be the longest fic I’ve written, but my true Fanfic Magnum Opus is a sweet little number currently titled The Baggins-Oakenshield Hypothesis and it is, hands down, the nerdiest thing I have ever written. It has footnotes. It has citations. There is an abstract. 

It’s an academic paper/epistolary novel/travel adventure about a Hobbit scholar and a Dwarf scholar investigating a secret collection of long lost love letters exchanged between a certain burglar and a certain dwarf king and there is CULTURE CLASH and WORLDBUILDING and ACADEMIC INQUIRY and SO MANY OCs and EVEN MORE SIDE PAIRINGS OMG.

It is one of my “passion projects” in that I don’t know how long it will take me to finish it (probably a Long Time) but I also cannot imagine ever giving up on it.

[girlbookwrm]

Think i found the song for THYP part 6 y’all