#tossawary fandom

[tossawary]

This is petty fandom salt, BUT... I've been chewing on this phenomenon that I've been calling "Fandom's Darling". It is related to things like "Author's Darling" and "Mary Sue / Gary Stu" and "Protagonist Halo" and all that jazz, where one character gains a peculiar narrative weight in a story.

"Author's Darling" is when a writer has a favorite character, and the world and all other characters sort of get... warped to put the Darling in the spotlight. It's most noticeable in TV shows with multiple writers, when a character you personally like suddenly has their previous characterization destroyed to make another character look good somehow. Every other character might become weirdly incompetent. The Darling's feelings are treated as The Most Important Feelings in any given situation. The logic of the fictional world seems broken past suspension of disbelief in order to validate this one character's beliefs or skillset or some other fantasy. And so on.

"Fandom's Darling" is what I've been calling the pattern where a fandom essentially crowns a New Protagonist for their fanfiction stories (it's often a side character rather than the original protagonist, but it can also happen to protagonists). This character becomes the self-insert for all sorts of indulgent fantasies, gaining special powers or backstories, and/or becoming the focus of extreme whump, and/or hooking up with all the various hotties, starring in all sorts of tropey AUs, and so on. They're not always an obvious Mary Sue version of themselves, but the character's original personality and interpersonal relationships tend to get warped or dropped completely, and other characters tend to become a little flat around them. I call it "Fandom's Darling" because it's not just one self-indulgent fantasy fic (you do you! Have fun!) with characterization choices that I don't vibe with (I have neither the time nor the desire nor the authority to police anything, I am just venting), but rather a prolific mini-fandom of sorts revolving around this empty doll / fanon version of the chosen vessel character, so it becomes a little unavoidable.

I am salty about this (mildly frustrated) (imagine a soft sigh of disappointment before I just go do something else) because you are FUCKED if you actually liked the canonical version of this character and their interpersonal relationships. It's almost worse than liking an obscure character that no one cares about. There's about a thousand fics starring your fave, but maybe only about a dozen of them are actually rooted in any kind of recognisable canon.

[spockandawe]

Next, a pair of fanfics! I've been fighting really bad reading brain for a while now, which is SO frustrating when I have a fandom I know I love, authors I know I love, fanfic summaries that have my full attention-- and I can't get myself to start reading. So to try to sidestep that, I went ahead and bound two tossawary fics blind, Servant to a Different King, and A Child Once. It was hard not to go for some of the tossawary fics I've read and loved, but I really want to kickstart my brain into reading new things.

Both of these were a lot of fun to work with! I wanted to get blue somewhere in the binding for both books, because mobei-jun, but I didn't want to just take the lowest-hanging fruit. For Servant to a Different King, it slips in through the endpapers, and for A Child Once, it's the navy bookcloth. The bindings also weren't designed as a pair, but I still like to link things in quiet ways, so I took the endpapers from the same pack, and went with chaotic, high-energy ones, for Shang Qinghua. So I love how these came out, and I'm pleased to report that I've now read A Child Once! (not from my nice new book, that would be silly, i just suddenly unlocked my ability to read it on my phone)

[verycharismaticdragon]

Can I ask your top 10 fav fics ever (from any fandom, if you don't mind)?

Also, just curious, is there a story behind your name "verycharismaticdragon "?

I'm not the best at remembering things past the hyperfix, so half of this will be SV, but I'll start at prev fandoms for variety.

Artificial Nocturne (Motorcity) - I've read this ages ago but I remember it rearranging my brain chemistry. And making me realize I had a scar kink.

An Abomination, Grand Cleric Elthina's Murderer and the Herald of Andraste walk into a Bar (Dragon Age) - it's probably abandoned but it's so good. Anders and Varric in this are so *incoherent gesturing*

intra-personal negotiation (Venom) - I don't understand why I didn't bookmark a single Venom fic even though I distinctly remember like 5 straight bangers, but thankfully I'm following this author at least ✊

deathbed (Qi Ye) - that time I was whining there were no first life JBY/ZZS fics and then! Anyway it's understandably melancholy it's also very pretty and exactly right as it should be.

the good rain knows when to fall (TYK) - you should be reading Bichen's entire discography fic collection I just remembered this one first. This one is lighthearted old foxes clowning! The author's angst and cannibalism are also top-notch 👌

Ok now to SVSSS.

Joyed to be Forlorn - THE binghe fic for me. inspired me to start digging into Luo Binghe's character in a way that resulted in Transmigrator Time Traveler, hopefully thats recommendation enough

continued - possibly THE best fic in scum villain fandom. the format alone... oh just read it, you'll see what I mean.

A Child Once - again, i could rec Tossawary's entire discography, but this one is my personal favorite. (if your fav character is SQH though, the one you want is pride is not the word I'm looking for. aka THE sqh fic.)

sweet tongues, sharp teeth - unfinished but raw enough to lodge itself in my brain despite that.

Tale Within A Tale - cute as fuck. made me kick my legs and giggle many times. ...and because once I started pulling up SV fics it was difficult to stop...

side effects (rated E) - part 2 in particular didnt have to go so hard for a fic where the premise is 'bingqiu with tentacles'

don't underestimate me (rated E) - "all for the sake of preserving biodiversity!" god shen yuan SO would be in this situation.

The Best Luo Binghe (rated E) - binggeyuan. shen yuan SO would be in this situation, take 2.

put me in, coach (rated M) - bingqiushang. so fucking funny okay i love it so much

from your knees (rated E) - bingjiu. they're so rancid in this one its perfect 🖤

...Damn, this really puts the difference between my non-hyperfix and hyperfix memory into perspective, huh 😅 i actually had to trim the sv list a bit 😅😅😅

Anyway, yeah, my username actually just references an rp session we had with friends quite a few years back. Where at a certain point my character was referenced as "a VERY charismatic dragon" after managing to turn the antagonist by impressing them (thanks to some VERY lucky dice rolls). And I was dissatisfied with my old username at the time, and thought it sounded funny and snappy enough, so - stars aligned and all that. I'm happy with it still! Probably because dragons are always cool ✌️

[haveyoureadthisfanfic]

Summary: Shang Qinghua goes to take a self-indulgent peek at his baby protagonist son and gets a kick to the shrivelled heart for his troubles. He gave up on changing the story years ago! Yet he finds himself helping his protagonist son's adoptive mother anyway. Just this one change won't matter too much, right? One little change leads to more. Shang Qinghua never meant to care, but he becomes invested in making sure that his new family survives the looming plot. With the changes to the world cascading around him, with his position as a traitor pulling him between his sect and a certain ice demon, and with the protagonist growing up so quickly, how is one displaced author meant to ensure that everything turns out all right? A Pre-Canon to Canon Divergence story.

Author: @tossawary

Note from submitter: Tossawary is my absolute favourite moshang writer, and a personal fav as a whole on ao3. Their fics are sososo so SO good. This is probably their best known fic? but honestly if I could rec everything of theirs I would, they rewrite my brain chemistry in the best way <3 If you like smart yet so so stupid god-authors now trapped in their own story and thirsting over their beautiful yet incredibly socially stunted fav character in the worst king-servant relationship ever, (complete with nonhuman social customs and societies) boy have I got the author for you.

[howdidiendupshippingthispoll]

Round 1, Bracket 1, Side D, Second poll

Shang Qinghua and Original Shen Qingqiu (Shen Jiu) [Scumplane], The Scum Villain’s Self-Salving System vs Jonah Magnus (Elias Bouchard) and Peter Lukas [LonelyEyes], The Magnus Archives

Story of Scumplane:

I was reading a 300k no-ship fic with Shang Qinghua as the main character and there were a few scenes where some of his disciples assume he and Shen Qingqiu are a thing because Shen Qingqiu actually talks to Shang Qinghua and is civil about it (unheard of), and that put the thought into my head and now I’ve been working on and off on a fic where they DO get together. Tossawary ao3 if you're reading this—

Story of LonelyEyes:

I was reading fics about my favorite ship of the fandom and this one kept appearing as a background joke so I was like sure I don't care about the characters I might as well ship them together. Then, because I was running out of fics, I was willing to read a fic where they were a main ship and my favorite one was in the background and God damn why do I enjoy it so much. Why this stupid joke ship has such great dynamics? Anyway, now they are my favorite ship.

[10thmusemoon]

1 & 5 for the ask game, please!

1. Recommend a fic over 100k

I feel like the majority of these are pretty popular in the fandom anyways so I'm not gonna summarize them.

Metagaming by Esama -SQ is SY/YQY/LQG/LBH

Tarnished Gold by Prim the Amazing -Binggyuan

A Child Once by Tossawary - Moshang

What Married People Do by Shamelesscooper which is like The LiuCheng fic

Heartbreak and Other Foreplay binggyuan modern au

No Paths are Bound TGCF retelling where one of the shackles is in XL's eyes, blinding him but also The Soul Remains which is also by Evie about XL being locked away by Jun Wu after the final battle until a modern day HC (with no memories of his past life) saves him. Really, just ready anything Evie has written. This blends with mdzs and Shen Yuan has a blink and you'll miss it appearance.

And so my heart beats wildly, wangxian modern day cultivation sports

Upon our silver bridge, xicheng

Sansukh, if you only read one lotr fic in your life let it be this.

5.a fic with an interesting gimmick

Nine lives in eight centuries, Xie Lian lives out his punishment as a cat!

The More Things Change Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli are trans, of cour their mothers betroth them to each other to keep the secret from JGS

Time Loop, Nie Mingjue is in a timeloop, he sleeps through the first 3 days

Let these bones be the giver, Jiang Yanli opens up a restuarant in Ghost City.

[toomanytakennamesagh]

Ohhh random gush post cuz I can’t seem to focus on my essay after reading the latest chapter which filled me with SO MUCH DELIGHT. I just gotta let these words out cuz they’ve been festering in my brain for a bit.

SVSSS and Moshang fans are probably familiar with this name, but for anybody who doesn’t know (cuz ley’s be honest I don’t have a lot of followers and this is probably gonna get buried under a bunch of other Tumblr posts), Tossawary is a pretty active SVSSS author. I love them so much. Like, they post on Tumblr pretty regularly, draws art, AND writes amazing fics. I feel like the SVSSS fandom struck a goldmine with them.*

More under the cut cuz this got a bit long? And there may be some spoilers to their fics. 

The thing I love the most is how they always seem to complete their fics? And this gives me SUCH a sense of security? Because I HATE feeling the pain of seeing a discontinued WIP so much, but with their stories I get to enjoy the joy/agony of waiting for new chapter updates without having to worry about whether or not it will actually finish.

(And this is no hate to authors who DO have unfinished WIPs, okay. Even if they’re unfinished, I’m honestly glad it was put out in the world for readers to enjoy. Please don’t see this post as a bash, because you’re great too.)

They also write one of my most favorite versions of Shang Qinghua and Mobei-jun? (And Moshang in general.) Like, they perfectly capture the mess and hilarity of the ship, the REALLY BAD miscommunications and weird history together. They write meta posts and fic ideas about Mobei-jun’s family history and thought process, and how he would come to fall for a weird guy like Shang Qinghua. 

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL! Because they also create lovely OC’s (Luo Jiahui and Peng Hongpeng, I’m staring directly at you). Like, they add to the stories perfectly, they’re properly fleshed out, and their relationships with Shang Qinghua are wonderful. 

The relationships--romantic or platonic--in general are great. THEY GOT ME TO LIKE A SHIP I WASN’T ORIGINALLY EVEN INTO (cough shang qinghua x yue qingyuan). They gave me a lovely familial dynamic between Shang Qinghua and Luo Binghe!** THEY LET LBH’S MOM SURVIVE, AND HAD SVSSS!LBH MEET HER!***  

And as someone who’s a sucker for worldbuilding, Tossawary fleshes out the history and setting of the SVSSS/PIDW world beautifully. I have a thing about reading the day-to-day tasks and stories of life on Cang Qiong Mountain, and how the world works outside of that. Like, yes please, tell me more about what the Peak Lords talk about in their meetings. I actually do really want to know about the kind of requests/documents/dealings Shang Qinghua has to deal with.

Anyways some of my favorite fics:

Nothing to Me, Nothing to You-- A SVSSS and MDZS fusion featuring Cloud Recesses Shang Qinghua and Yue Qingyuan, and Wen!Mobei-jun. It features a lovely friendship between YQY and SQH, and Moshang slowly getting closer and acting like dumb teens. 

Stepping Up- Currently on chapter three, and inspired me to write this post in the first place. IT’S AN DING LBH GETTING (kinda) ADOPTED BY SQH! AND DISAPPROVING OF MBJ! Just watching his protective mode go on sqh is a delight, they deserve to be in cahoots. THEY DESERVE TO BOTH BE CARED FOR. 

the ability to remain sober and gracious- I’m a qijiu simp okay. Even if this fic isn’t romantic, I still love how the argument turned out. And how that argument even started hehe. 

Catch a Falling Star- It’s a Stardust/SVSSS fusion. SY is the star, and he’s going on a road trip with lqg and lbh. Need I say more? 

love to the ones i’ve never met- This fic’s synopsis BROKE MY BRAIN FOR A BIT. I WENT FERAL WHEN LJH AND SVSSS!LBH MET! WHEN LBH GOT TO SEE THE PINTWILF UNIVERSE! I’VE WANTED THIS SO FOR MUCH. HE DESERVES TO HAVE A FAMILY AND GET MOTHERED AGAIN. 

Anyways if you haven’t read their fics please do. Tossawary if you ever read this post just know your hard work is appreciated and very much loved. 

*Also not to say I don’t appreciate other svsss/moshang authors, because I DO. The fandom is full of amazing talented people, and I delight in all their creations. 

**I have very strong VERY SPECIFIC FEELINGS about LBH having close platonic relationships. That boy needs friends and family, he’s suffered enough in canon!  

***It was everything I ever wanted

[rec-a-fanfic]

Title: pride is not the word I'm looking for Author: Tossawary Fandom: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù Rating: M Status: Completed Length/Chapters: 408,444 words, 50 Chapters Summary:

Shang Qinghua goes to take a self-indulgent peek at his baby protagonist son and gets a kick to the shrivelled heart for his troubles. He gave up on changing the story years ago! Yet he finds himself helping his protagonist son's adoptive mother anyway. Just this one change won't matter too much, right?

One little change leads to more. Shang Qinghua never meant to care, but he becomes invested in making sure that his new family survives the looming plot. With the changes to the world cascading around him, with his position as a traitor pulling him between his sect and a certain ice demon, and with the protagonist growing up so quickly, how is one displaced author meant to ensure that everything turns out all right?

A Pre-Canon to Canon Divergence story.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25997320/chapters/63206428

.

[tossawary]

One of my personal nitpicks for historical fantasy is a lack of servants, staff, subordinates, and... idk... subjects? Like, their absence is not... a total dealbreaker for me, depending on the situations the characters are in and whether or not I can just assume that other people are there in the background... but so many of the protagonists in historical fantasy stuff are higher-ranking (very often royalty), and/or have busy jobs, and/or have enormous houses that would necessitate having at least part-time staff.

Like, girl, you should have a maid! WHERE is your chaperone?! WHO is driving this carriage?! Where are your footmen? Are you trying to imply that a WEALTHY DUCHESS is taking a CAB?! You know that you probably have tenants, right? Where is your steward?! Where is your lawyer? Your accountant?! (Like, yeah, you're not going to have your lawyer living in your house, but you HAVE one, right???)

Or, man, you're supposed to be a military commander and you don't even have a single secretary?! Where is your SQUIRE?! (In the spirit of historical fiction, I am jumping wildly across time periods with every sentence here.) Man, I know you aren't looking after your own boots. Where are your GUARDS?! Who set up this tent for you?! Who is looking after your horse?! Who is making and carrying the incredibly valuable maps people are recklessly stabbing daggers into?!

SOMEONE has to be scrubbing these floors and delivering the mail and cooking the meals and doing laundry, and they're probably all DIFFERENT people! My dentist has at least three different receptionists and we can't even get ONE for our court wizard here? A sorcerer's apprentice to take notes? Someone like Sherlock Holmes could get away with just having a housekeeper and taking taxis, sure, but your character is supposed to be a KING?! Why is he answering his own front door? He's going to get assassinated. His SERVANTS should have SERVANTS.

Like, yes, I understand that a lot of servants in certain places at certain times were supposed to make their labor invisible, but there have always been servants who still had to interact directly with the masters of the house?! Yeah, there are potentially really messy ethics here, class divisions are bullshit, but I don't think that completely ignoring the reality that humans have ALWAYS been doing work for other humans is better than just including some well-paid and well-treated servants and employees? Because a complete absence of them, especially where logically for the worldbuilding there MUST be servants (and probably exploited servants, or worse, for some particular worldbuilds to work), often makes me think that your main characters just don't care enough to notice the "lower class" people or know their names.

Also, even Frodo Baggins had a gardener and Samwise Gamgee might be the best damn character in the story?! Sam saved the world?! Servants are PEOPLE. Servants are often the funniest and most interesting characters, tbh, with the most to say about a society and its workings (yes, Discworld is a very good book series, highly recommend), and also the joke of some romantic scene being carefully orchestrated by a stage crew of servants frantically diving into bushes to stay out of sight never gets old to me. Teamwork makes the dream work!

I don't want to gatekeep historical fiction, especially not historical fantasy, because the worlds don't necessarily have to conform to our own and may have magic and characters are often in very unique circumstances, but... sometimes I pick up a story and it's like... "Author, please tell me that you know there is a difference between a butler and a valet?!"

[captainsupernoodle]

Fic Recs!

Metagaming by esama - WIP, SVSSS, 30k, M

[Self-Saving System Activated! You will be now returned to your original starting position.]

Shen Qingqiu dies and gets a second chance and decides to try a different approach.

some perfectly crafted and in-character alternative character dynamics with sqq actually dealing with some of the shit he goes through! latest chapter is binghe pov and the way esama tracks the ripple effect from just one person's change in behavior is super fun to read.

The Bird Under the Water by vibishan - oneshot, MDZS, 914 words, NR

He knows Jin Guangyao thinks he keeps Chenqing in the vault.

Jiang Cheng has kept Wei Wuxian’s awful relative-murdering flute on his person for ten years, and if the lingering air of resentment is having detrimental effects on his personality, it’s not like anyone would be able to tell.

No, the relic of Wei Wuxian in the deepest Jiang vault is far more precious, and far more vile.

A daemon AU that's so short and yet it rips out so much of my heart. I love daemon AUs of all kinds but i think this is one of the few where the daemons aren't just a fun addition, they're integral parts of plot and character dynamics that add depth and complexity to an already fraught relationship. This is part of a series of MDZS daemon fics and there's a sequel in the same continuity, but I'm not sure if they all will be.

the bite that binds the gift that gives by sixthmoon - series, SVSSS, 9k total, T & E installments

PIDW AU, where OG Shang Qinghua decides the best way to avoid his impending death is to force Mobei-jun to marry him...or die.

Joke's on him, OG Mobei-jun is into that shit.

Speaking of amazing character dynamics, sixthmoon has a few OG SQH fics that boil my brain in a wonderful way. it's surprisingly sweet for the amount of viciousness OG SQH is packing in that devious brain. It's an ongoing series but each oneshot is wonderful on its own. The latest installment has a confrontation with OG Luo Binghe (Bingge?) that's just *chef's kiss* for the sheer amount of interpersonal dysfunction.

pride is not the word I'm looking for by Tossawary - completed longfic (400K DUDE IT'S LONG), SVSSS, M

Shang Qinghua goes to take a self-indulgent peek at his baby protagonist son and gets a kick to the shrivelled heart for his troubles. He gave up on changing the story years ago! Yet he finds himself helping his protagonist son's adoptive mother anyway. Just this one change won't matter too much, right?

One little change leads to more. Shang Qinghua never meant to care, but he becomes invested in making sure that his new family survives the looming plot. With the changes to the world cascading around him, with his position as a traitor pulling him between his sect and a certain ice demon, and with the protagonist growing up so quickly, how is one displaced author meant to ensure that everything turns out all right?

I would have to break this fic into chunks to actually comment on a fraction of what I love about it, but a few of my top favorite things:

Absolutely delicious character development of the type you only get in longfic. There are time skips, but given this starts pre-canon and runs up to just after the Immortal Alliance Conference, we get a look at a SQH who actually feels like he's growing into his years. There's an age to him that's refreshing amongst the "eternally 20" vibes in a lot of fic. There are seasons of family dynamics and odd friendships that grow across years, really allowing time to dig into difficult characters and let them develop in a natural time frame.

Incredible description absolutely peaking in combat and a series of dungeons where poor SQH has to go fetch miracle cures and things. There's a chapter that introduces multiple powerful demons and the DESCRIPTIONS. IT WAS CINEMATIC. i could picture it SO CLEARLY and it gave me CHILLS before they even did anything. The dungeons are described in such luscious detail that it feels like stepping into some really cool videogame locations. If I could do art i would do an art series for these dungeons and then plaster them all over my walls.

It's cute. like that doesn't sound like a big thing but SQH building (or being built into lol) a family that keeps growing and loving is the glue that holds all the intrigue and drama together. The amount of found family warm fuzzies (sometimes with some gentle angst to make it even better) cannot be overstated. People like each other and encourage people to be the best versions of themselves here.

I know it's intimidatingly long, but at the end of every arc (ranges from about 60k at the beginning to 100k at the end) Tossawary wraps up the most immediate plot points and makes a note that it's a good place to stop and rest. They also warn for cliffhangers, so if you want to treat this like a series it's easy to break up the reading experience.

[mxtxficrec]

A Child Once

by Tossawary

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *ヽ(◕ヮ◕ヽ) 

read it here

Shang Qinghua is cursed to become a child again, with no memory of Mobei-Jun or of his life in this world, and many long-held secrets come tumbling out for both transmigrators.

words: 100704 chapters: 14/14 language: english 

fandom: The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System 

rating: Teen and Up Audiences 

characters: Shang Qinghua, Mobei-jun, Shen Qingqiu, Luo Binghe 

pairing: Shang Qinghua/Mobei-jun 

[corduroyserpent]

✨ TGCF Fanwork Offerings for Fandom Trumps Hate 2022✨

Bidding is open for this year’s Fandom Trumps Hate and there are eleven (11) wonderful creators who have Tian Guan Ci Fu auctions available!! 

Aminias is offering to write <5k words, enjoys rarepairs, and has special interest in poly ships, canonically trans or nonbinary characters, trans or nonbinary readings of canon characters, racial or cultural experiences of nonwhite characters, and ambiguous endings.

BastetCG is offering to write 5-10k words, enjoys redemption and healing, and has special interest in f/f ships, poly ships, genderswap/genderbending, canonically trans or nonbinary characters, and trans or nonbinary readings of canon characters. 

Cathalinaheart is offering two auctions (one for podfic, the other for fan art – specifically banner/cover art), enjoys a multitude of pairings, is interested in queer characters (especially aro/ace/demi), and post-canon. 

corduroyserpent (that’s me! hi!) is offering to write 5-10k words, loves hurt/comfort, rarepairs, and has special interest in poly ships and trans or nonbinary readings of canon characters.

fyre is offering to write 5-10k words, likes action, adventure, angst, and non-canon worlds. 

LadyMerlin is offering to write <5k words, enjoys happy endings, and has special interest in f/f ships, genderswap/genderbending, trans or nonbinary readings of canon characters, racial or cultural experiences of nonwhite characters, and ambiguous endings.

Mockedspace is offering two fanfic auctions (one for 10-20k words, the other for 5-10k words), prefers to focus on fengqing, and has special interest in unhappy endings and ambiguous endings.

Nico / Violet is offering to write more than 50k words, go-to character is Mu Qing, prefers post-canon or canon divergence for this fandom, and has special interest in f/f ships, poly ships, and genderswap/genderbending.

platinum_firebird is offering to write depending on how much the bidder contributes, is happy to write short or long fic, enjoys a multitude of tropes, and has special interest in genderswap/genderbending, unhappy endings, and ambiguous endings.

Tossawary is offering two fanfic auctions (both 10-20k words), is open to most subjects, enjoys canon divergence and families of choice, and likes worldbuilding and Fusion AUs. 

Vestigialstell is offering to write 1k words per $5 bid, will write hualian for this fandom, and is primarily focused on writing a “plot what plot” story. 

Please check @fandomtrumpshate for more information on how to place your bids and make sure to slide in before bidding closes at 8 PM EST on Sunday February 27th!!

[so2voice]

Possible project list ramblings

Stories I'd like to podfic:

What else is there? By ForgottenVice It has always been you by ULTIOcean hey, share the weight a little by Tossawary A Child Once by Tossawary Scum Villain AUs by Feynite [Ch 23 Stardew/harvest moon; Ch 34-35 Free Guy]

ForgottenVice's What else is there? made me all kinds of happy to read. The 1994 animated film of the Swan Princess was probably one of my absolute favorite movies growing up, so I have a soft spot for Swan Princess fandom adaptations. I honestly can't remember if I've asked permission to do this one yet, so we'll probably drop a comment on the fic at some point soon because I do think I'd like to podfic this one.

So far, I have the blessing for ULTIOcean's fic, It has always been you (which I adored reading while it was being posted). I am beyond grateful for the permission. It is, however... an intimidating sized story (361,825 words!) and over 3 times the size of anything I've done as of yet. This project, if I decide to tackle it, will likely take many, many hours over many, many weeks (months? years?) to complete. That knowledge alone is pretty daunting! ULTIOcean, your fic is a behemoth! ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅ )‧º·˚

Why Tossawary's fics? Well, besides the fact that everything I've read by Tossawary has been adorable and heartwarming, I've been told my SQH voice is uniquely good? Either way, I'd love an opportunity to exercise that character voice. He's fun to do. I've asked Tossawary for their blessing, so, we'll see?

As for Feynite's Scum Villain AUs - these are more of a pipe dream. I adore the Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon games (150+ hrs spent on Stardew alone, ah, woops?). They're so relaxing and low pressure. I also absolutely loved the Free Guy chapters Feynite wrote. Alas, I have two basic rules for stories I will podfic and I don't think these will ever meet either of those requirements.

My rules, in case you are wondering: 1. The fic must be a completed work (or a completed part of a work). 2. I want author's explicit permission to narrate their story.

• Why the fic needs to be complete? I don't want to start something and stop in the middle. I'm a completionist. If I start something I want to finish it. Also, I don't want there to be a big gap between recordings. Life circumstances change. The sound might suddenly change drastically between an earlier recording and a later one. I at least want the sound to be relatively consistent within a story/work.

• Why do I want author permission? So, yeah, I know a lot of the big-name authors (looking at you, Feynite, you magnificent writer, you) have notes in their profiles giving blanket permission for other creators to make sequels, inspired stories, or podfics of their works, etc - still, I really prefer permission from the author before I start a project like this.

This gives the author the opportunity to tell me if they know whether someone else might be working on one of their stories. I don't want to podfic something someone else might already be working on. For me, at least, the time commitment for a project is pretty huge. I'm not interested in doubling up on content. The idea of "version comparisons" gives me far too much anxiety.

It also gives the author an opportunity to tell me if they want something stated or worded in a particular way when I'm giving credit.

This rule might change if my feelings shift on this - but for now, I'd like an author's expressed permission to narrate their works.

[svsssartreblogs]

4,000 Post Round Up!

I'm very behind on tag management on my side blogs, but I'm working to catch up. I did a grab of the tags on this blog around 4k posts, and I used that to fix (a lot of) mistakes, update the tag lists, etc. The blog is at almost 4,250 now, so you can see I'm lagging, but oh well.

For those that are new, I try to do a round up post every thousand new posts, mostly cause I like playing with statistics and going through the tags helps me catch and correct any errors I made when I did my initial queuing/reblogging.

Other things!

1. It took about 5 months to get from 3k works to 4k works, which is...slow...but is partially because my health issues meaning I wasn't looking for as much older stuff. I'm trying to do better now.

2. Last time, this blog at 620 followers; now it has 920 followers. Gosh, the MXTX fandoms are growing so much, so fast!

3. Always feel free to poke at my pinned post, which has a list of character tags, ships, etc. It also lists triggers and such, so you can blacklist with the specific language I use (it's uniform across all my art side blogs). Always feel free to let me know if you need anything specific tagged, and I'll do my best!

4. Lastly, artists should always feel free to DM me your work, or you can @ me - I recommend doing so on my personal blog, @unforth, because Tumblr often doesn't show me pings to the side blogs.

Thanks for your follows, welcome to SVSSS art reblogs, and always remember to reblog art you like and support artists!

-unforth

(and, lastly, after a read more, some tag stats, cause I like stats)

Top Ten Most Commonly Reblogged Characters: Still adding some side characters to the list, but the big ones remain as they are...

shen qingqiu (2,276 works) (no change)

luo binghe (1,896 works) (no change)

shang qinghua (894) (no change)

mobei jun (795 works) (no change)

liu qingge (528 works) (no change)

yue qingyuan (215 works) (no change)

original characters (111 works) (+1 from 3k post)

the system (104 works) (-1 from 3k post)

sha hualing (72 works) (no change)

zhuzhi lang (69 works) (no change)

Top Ten Most Commonly Reblogged Platonic and Romantic Relationships: the rare pairs really blew up this time, I loved to see it.

bingqiu (1,139 works) (no change)

moshang (640 works) (no change)

liushen (251 works) (no change)

qijiu (136 works) (no change)

bingjiu (50 works) (+1 from 3k post)

bingyuan (43 works) (+1 from 3k post)

bingliushen (29 works) (-2 from 3k post)

mingling (23 works) (+1 from 3k post)

liujiu (23 works) (-1 from 3k post)

shen jiu and shen yuan are brothers (15 works) (no change)

Top Ten Most Commonly Reblogged Artists: There are currently 1,008 different artists with at least one work reblogged here; that's up from 820 at the 3k check in (plus 188!). tbh I'm surprised there aren't more first timers, but hey, it's still a lot. :D And, as a reminder, the below is not a popularity list - it's a list of the most prolific artists.

asparklethatisblue (70 works) (+1 from 3k post)

selpuku (60 works) (-1 from 3k post)

thesirencat (58 works) (+8 from 3k post)

vodkassassin (53 works) (no change)

lilyfromthewood (53 works) (no change)

tossawary (45 works) (-3 from 3k post)

blackberreh-art (41 works) (new!)

labrujadelteatro (39 works) (no change)

kukuandkookie (38 works) (no change)

sevenjiu (36 works) (-4 from 3k post)

friendodo (36 works) (new!)

Top Ten Most Commonly Used Other Tags: I use fewer tags on here than on mdzs and tgcfartreblogs, but more than I do on the smaller fandom side blogs. Here's the ones I've used most...

comic (1,012 works) (no change)

laughs (811 works) (no change)

chibi (403 works) (no change)

shen jiu (378 works) (no change)

fantasy au (350 works) (no change)

modern au (314 works) (+1 from 3k post)

lemon (277 works) (-1 from 3k post)

creature luo binghe (206 works) (+1 from 3k post)

mo dao zu shi (202 works) (-1 from 3k post)

blood tw (200 works) (new!)