#and often are super into werewolves and fandom and shit

[yourgamemasterthewhiterabbit]

Tumblr really needs to let me abandon 100% sincerity from time to time.

I know I tend to be tragically sincere, a little too literal and very direct like they are core personality traits...

But let my verbose ass make a fucking shitpost from time to time

Let me be flippant

[fohatic]

fic trope rate game: kink edition

it's the same game from before -- i just swapped the run-of-the-mill tropes for some spicier stuff 🤘

Rate: How much do these tropes affect your decision to click on a fic?

-10 -> very dissuaded

0 - don’t care either way

+10 -> very enticed

nope -> if it’s a hard no and you’d never click on a fic with that tag or or you even have the tag blocked or you’d insta click out of the fic if it wasn’t tagged. Bonus points for explaining the rating and whether it’s conditional.

Onto the game ➡️

Roleplay: +9

i actually don't come across much of this in fic, but if i see it tagged i'm definitely gonna want to take a look. i especially love when one character is really into it and the other is taking a chance on it to make the other one happy, leading to another one of my faves: *kink discovery*

BDSM: +7

there aren't a lot of BDSM-universe fics that draw me in; i'm usually more interested in it as a behind-closed-doors sort of activity between blorbos, in which case i tend to enjoy it a lot. bondage, especially. i love a good dom/sub story, though, so chances are i'm gonna at least save it for later when i come across intriguing premises (my reading list is brimming with these)

Armor Kink: +6

i used to think it sounded kinda boring, but i have been proven QUITE wrong on that score. so glad i learned to love this one!

Sex Pollen: +8

solid trope. so many ways to have fun with it.

Noncon: +10

it shouldn't surprise you that i am a big perv for this stuff. i'm also super into CNC and dubcon, but i didn't add these to this list since these often go hand-in-hand with appreciation for noncon.

Somnophilia: +10

always very into it, rarely disappointed (especially since it's not usually tackled by writers who don't know what they're doing)

Drunk sex: +4

as stated above, i do enjoy dubcon and drunk sex can make for some very interesting conundrums. mainly including this here so i can compare people's responses to this one with the three tropes listed above it.

Tentacles: +8

i am so down. didn't used to be, by the way: i thank @sabrecmc for showing me the light! you can browse my tentacle tag for art and such if you're in desperate need of conversion, yourself ;)

Sexting: +3

not usually that excited about it, especially if it's the main event -- but i've read some fun ones and would be open to discovering more

Daddy Kink: +8

i am almost always down with it. it's the kink that can elevate an otherwise mediocre fic to a smutty sensation, and it's very easy to implement. moderation is key, though: if the word "daddy" is used too many times, or in awkward contexts, my interest might start to lose steam. if you're unsure about the right moments for it, just use it sparingly and you'll use it well.

Vampires and/or Werewolves: +4

i used to kinda sorta be into the vampire stuff but avoided the werewolf stuff at all costs. these days i'm still iffy about vamp fics but there's definitely some good stuff to be found, and i've got no problem with werewolf fucking. life is sweet 😎

Underage: +5

arguably the most controversial kink out there; the hard line that gets repeatedly drawn in the digital sand; the big U-word on so many DNWs, sometimes banned from events, inspiring fics that sow divisiveness amongst fandoms and spawn long-winded text posts and endless rebuttals about morality and responsibility and fiction-versus-reality, prompting the unsolicited dumping of TMI from people on either side to justify their stance, etc. etc....

of course i'm all over that shit like the cartoon sicko in the window. it doesn't usually get darker or messier than this. you have to be comfortable wading through some heavy muck -- but when i find a skilled writer in that tag, it's a revelation.

also sometimes it's just used to tag relationships where two teenagers get together and it's just cute and awkward. fine by me!

Sexual Dysfunction: +3

i've never sought it out, but it's definitely not a dealbreaker. writers that incorporate it often have mature perspectives, which piques my interest.

Crossdressing Kink: +6

there's some truly excellent works out there that feature this kink, and i'd love to read some more

Non-Sexual Submission: +1

my dudes, this is a kink. admitting this doesn't negate anyone's asexuality or what have you -- sexuality is a spectrum -- but i'm very dubious when it's framed as anything else. that being said, it's not generally my sort of kink, but i can appreciate it on occasion.

Cheating/Infidelity: +7

sometimes fics that feature this tag end up being one big sob story about being jilted and trying to move forward, and that's not usually what i'm looking for. i'm more interested in the fraught romance between people that aren't exactly available to pursue one another, but can't help themselves. not fun irl, but in fic? yum.

who wants to share their thoughts on these kinks?? the question is open to anyone who sees this (PLEASE tag me, i want to know!!), but to kick things off, i'll tag a bunch of folks in the hope of getting some takers: @bulkyphrase, @carsonian, @mobiusonajetski, @kandisheek, @sabrecmc, @thepiper0fhameln, @pia-bartolini, @persephonesfill, @tinystark616, @cloudbellsv3, @mserm, @arukou-arukou, @oluka, @thahiree, @kiyaar, @venomous-soliloquy, @therollingstonys

(no pressure at all, though! i realize not everyone will want to chime in on these -- ofc you can feel free to delete options from this list if you don't want to 'go there')

[the-resurrection-3d]

Decided to post the essay I wrote a few days ago. Of course, this isn't meant to shit on anyone, but to work through my feelings on TOH's themes and how I see the fandom working through them.

TOH has a very – let’s say uneasy relationship with its fantasy elements—or at least, that’s how the fandom has received them. I just saw someone talking about how Luz shouldn’t have gotten a Palisman of her own because she “doesn’t need to look any more like Azura,” considering that Luz’s whole thing at the beginning of the series was needing to better “tell fantasy from reality.” But I feel like that’s only getting half the point—the issue with not being able to tell fantasy from reality rests, as the series argues, with expecting the world to cater to you and then lashing out when it doesn’t.

The series makes this most clear with Belos, who rejects the traditional high fantasy genre signifiers as spiritual pollutants and yet is living in as much of a fantasy world as Luz was. “[He needs] to be the hero of his own delusion” locates Belos’s major flaw—in a character way and in a thematic way—in his refusal to see himself as just another part of the world, rather than its center. All of this is spoken to us directly by the embodiment of the Boiling Isles and its magic. This character flaw is then reinforced by how Belos gets defeated and starts rambling on about how humans are innately “better than this” Because Reasons.

I think part of this disconnect might be happening because we’re used to anti-escapist stories rejecting the fantasy world in its entirety. For example, Ready Player One ends with the reveal that the creator of the VR world—it was called the OASIS, wasn’t it?—regretted not spending enough time in the “real world,” and the main character rectifies this by enforcing a weekly one-day service outage. Even though the book explores reasons why people would want to escape into the VR fantasy, including escaping the confines of marginalized identity categories like gender and race, it still asserts that you’re missing out by leaving the “real world” behind. I think also of modern fantasy stories with creatures like vampires and werewolves that bend over backwards to justify why being a human is still totally the best option— “Be glad of your human heart, Feyre,” and so on. Even in series where the human main character becomes inhuman, it’s often through force—characters like Feyre and Elena Gilbert are killed and then revived as monsters, but only Bella Swan actively wants to become one. (It really is the equal-but-opposite response to the question Robert McRuer says is asked of disabled people IRL in his article about compulsory able-bodiedness: “Yeah, but in the end, wouldn’t you rather be like me?” In both cases—whether disabled or super-abled—the normate, abled, “regular” human position has to be reinforced as the ideal.)

And let’s be real, it’s all cope. We can agree it’s just cope, right? But even besides that, I think we also need to keep in mind that, contrary to what internet discourse would have you believe, subverting tropes is not good writing in and of itself — subversion and deconstruction need to be ways of creating meaning within the work, rather than the meaning itself.

I think, then, we can see TOH’s conversation with escapism from s1 to s3 as a way of asking, “What parts of our childhood should we keep?” In Luz’s case, like in many of our own childhoods, the fantasy elements are from the actual fantasy genre because Luz wants to imagine a bigger life for herself than Earth allows, one that is scary and dangerous but in the end still caters to her/us. (See also Freud’s concept of the family romance, wherein a child dreams that their parents aren’t their “real” parents and that their “real” parents are magic space fairy royalty who will one day reclaim their child and everything will be awesome forever.)

In episodes like “Witches Before Wizards,” these genre signifiers provide Luz with a set kind of “script” for how she believes interactions should go—the disappointment and restlessness she feels in the episode is from the fact that it’s not catered to her just because she’s there, in a similar way that Belos believes humans are better just Because They Are. Worth noting that even in that episode, the “reality” Luz needs to learn to accept is still based in a fantasy setting—signaling that the word “fantasy” in “differentiate fantasy from reality” should not be about the genre or the act of consuming fantasy in and of itself. Season three then literalizes this with The Collector turning people into puppets and acting out “The Owl House” as a game with suffering participants.

Conversely, season three adds more nuance by revealing that Luz’s hyperfixation stems from her relationship with her father. The season does a lot to explore the relationship-building potential of fiction, from Amity suggesting her and Luz dress as Hecate and Azura to the reveal that Camila is a secret Trekkie.

A fellow autistic person once described their special interest not just as something they’re obsessed with, but as part of how they processed the world. We can see this kinda play out in Camila’s conversation with Luz right before Stringbean hatches: she says she has forgotten the “Astral Oath” and responds to Luz’s question of her being a “secret nerd” with the admission that she shouldn’t have let her own fears of and experiences with being non-conforming compel her to try and change Luz. The Astral Oath and how it played out within Cosmic Frontier provided a framework for Camila that she admits she should have followed: “My biggest mistake was trying to protect you by changing this beautiful, good witch into something she wasn’t.” The best things about Luz are also the things that make her more drawn to the fantasy genre.

The rampant egoism of the genre should be left behind, the show says, but not the good lessons and the relationships you’ve built from it.

This anti-egoism does, of course, run up against the fact that Luz is still the main character. If Luz getting a Palisman makes her too much like Azura and therefore undermines the message, then honestly I don’t see how the final battle itself isn’t just a colossal fuck-up. Not even in the sense that Luz got Titan magic, which I have seen people say is now suddenly Luz being A Chosen One all along, but in the sense that Luz straight up shouldn’t have been in the final battle at all. (Honestly, if you want YA with a good anti-egoism message imparted through its structure, you’re looking for Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War—book, not movie.)

I said on Twitter while I was reading Charlie Ledbetter’s “The Dysphoric Body Politic” that TOH has an interesting relationship with its escapism messaging because Luz DOES leave the human world. Even though she had to finish high school in the human world, the finale makes it clear that she’s been putting all of her spare energy and labor into the literal rebuild of the Boiling Isles. She entirely gives up on making a life for herself on Earth.

This isn’t super surprising, (I was always sure it would happen) but I do think it’s where the uneasiness—the messiness—between TOH and its genre comes into play. Yes, Luz needed to dial back her daydreaming and yes, her being in the demon realm ultimately led to it almost being destroyed, but it still is the worst possible ending if she doesn’t get to stay there.

In the article, Ledbetter, a transmasc who discovered themselves through fandom, writes that “Escapism is not a departure from reality. Rather, escape decenters the hegemony of oppressive systems that announce themselves as real and creates space to imagine alternatives.” And yet within the show, it’s a closed circuit—the threat to diversity and self-expression comes from the human realm, and yet there is no attempt to save it. Ledbetter, writing of fandom’s political potential, suggests using fanfic to imagine alternatives specifically so we can give ourselves the drive to try and enact them in the real world.

TOH’s sister show, Amphibia, gives us a taste of this in its finale: in the ten years since the Calamity Trio has left, the once-evil king lives out his final days planting seeds, and the girls themselves are dedicated to either educating others or creating art. They honor the memories of their childhood fantasy—Sasha with two crossing swords as a patch on her jacket and a charm dangling from her rearview mirror, Anne with her entire career—but the portal is closed. It’s not coming back.

Given everything TOH does in season three to reaffirm the value of fantasy as a lifelong interest, though, I think what it wanted to avoid suggesting, like a lot of traditional portal stories do, that the fantasy world is the world of childhood and needs to be escaped. Aslan tells Peter and Susan, after all, that they’re getting too old for Narnia. Peter and his siblings return there only in death; Susan isn’t so lucky. If Luz shouldn’t have gotten a Palisman, something which symbolizes she’s discovered a fundamental truth about herself and has “earned” her place as a Witch, then honestly she shouldn’t have been able to come back to the Boiling Isles, either. How many of us would've been happy with that?

If we want to square this with the show’s politics, I think we can read this as the show saying that, yes, there are some things you have to do as a child, but once you’re free, you aren’t obligated to stay with the society and people who won’t ever see you for who you are. In a way, Luz going back and forth between the human and demon realms parallels the teenage fantasy fan, making space in their lives for fandom as a place of joy and connection after all the boring hard “adult” work is done for the day. You don’t have to leave it behind; building outside of the system and making your life centered around your joy is hard work, yes, but worth doing.

[i-dropped-the-chief]

For the writer ask-meme if you're interested!! 👀

(2) What are your top 3-5 most used tags in your stories? (or fav sorts of tags in general that you like seeing!)

(3) What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

(7) Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of? (I love the werewolves in Maybe I will Live to Love & the mention of Christopher on the golf course lol)

(25) What other websites or resources do you use most often when you write?

(49.) Are you up to share anything you're currently working on? 👀✨

and 47 because it's ridiculous 🤭👠

Ehehehe thanks for the ask! You're just too sweet 💖💖💖

My top 3 tags are: 1.) Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence 2.) Blood and Gore 3.) Happy Ending Which are very indicative of my writing style. I love canon divergence! I love scenes with a lot of blood, characters spilling a lot of blood, and characters covered in a lot of blood!! And most of all, I write fics to give people a happy ending!! I gotta give myself and the readers what canon won't! 😂 I love me a good "modern girl in..." trope, and a couple of the fics I'm working on are a "reincarnated into..." trope, so that's definitely a thing in my writing. If you can't find stuff that hits the spot, you gotta write it yourself!! But another recurring detail I have is the ocean motif; I love everything the ocean can represent in life (even though I don't live anywhere remotely close to the ocean, but you love it when you see it!), so it shows up quite a bit in my fics to represent life and death, letting go, the unknown, chaos and calm, all that good stuff. I love all the worldbuilding I've done in my Umbrella Academy fics, and I can't wait to work a bit more into the expansion with the one currently in progress. (Which I will get back to, I swear lol I just have a really bad habit of bouncing from one interest in a fic to another). I also love some of the worldbuilding I've done in my Hobbit/LotR fics, a lot of which is going to show up and come to fruition in Resistencia. I use a lot of fandom wikis for my research because as much as I say I don't care a whole lot about canon stuff, I always wind up looking over allllll the details to make things specific. Right now with my returning interest/motivation for my LotR fic, I've also basically had the Interactive Map of Middle-earth open at all times. My Hobbit/LotR fixation has hit back with a vengeance. I'm working on an angsty/romantic Valeria x Bilbo fic if Fili, Kili, and Thorin hadn't survived the Battle of the Five Armies. Because even though they're my fave brotp I've ever written, they'd make a good couple, damnit! I want to finish the fic before I publish it, so I'm not sure when it'll pop up, but it's happening! Aaaaaand I'm also working on a reincarnation into Middle-earth fic that I'm super fucking excited about bc it has a twist to it that reallllly hits a self-indulgent (but still fucking cool) spot of mine that I've had ruminating in my brain for years now. My Hobbit/LotR series is a pair of trusted running shoes, my definitely maybe series is a pair of deceptively sturdy high heels, my Dragon Age fic is a pair of knee-high boots with a hidden little knife inside, and my BNHA series is just bare feet bc that shit is always running wild in my mind.

Thank you for asking!!! ✨✨✨✨

[cuethetommo]

i don’t think people understand how absolutely terrible this fandom is to fic writers. genuinely. like i enjoy reading and writing larry fic. but the reception i get in this fandom as compared to like merlin or marvel is soooo low as a smaller writer, whereas it feels like in other fandoms (such as merlin or marvel) people go out of their way to find gems that have fewer kudos. it also feels like there’s less engagement? like people (especially on twitter or tiktok) will rec a fic or read it and really like it, and then not leave kudos, a comment etc, where in other fandoms that’s just like an unspoken rule? idk. like it feels like they’ve made y&b the only work. and imo it is a gorgeous work, but i also think there are better works. it feels like that’s everyone’s favorite on twitter whether they’ve read it or not, and it’s almost taboo to have a favorite that’s not a “classic.” and don’t even get me started on some twitter larries’ love of het harry fics lmao.

also, i think it’s sad that the cycle of no engagement then continues with the people the non-responsive readers recced it to. and it also feels like the non-responsive readers are those who have no problems using a plagiarized wattpad link for the “classics.”

sorry this is half cohesive i just feel kinda pissed atm lol

I can’t speak to Twitter or TikTok. I fuck around on TikTok but not in a super fandom way. But I’ve seen some recs on TikTok and I’m like, what? The only fics you wanna rec are from 2014?

Don’t get me wrong, I love some classics. But Y&B isn’t one of my personal favs.

As a person who sometimes makes fic rec lists I try really hard not to let it be dominated by fics people already know. Sometimes I do, but not always.

I am a super picky shit and I don’t rec everything. But I’m trying to be better at reblogging things I haven’t read yet as #to read.

I do three things to find new fics:

Subscribe to authors I like.

Troll around the Harry/Louis tag.

Do specific tag searches when I’m in a mood. It’s often things like Vampires and Werewolves. And I see if there are things I missed.

I don’t read everything though. I pay attention to tags and know what I don’t like. There are a couple that are written by authors that I love but have either Period Specific Homophobia or Internalized Homophobia as tags and I won’t read them. The caveat is if @twopoppies has read it and says I’ll be ok.

Here’s what I’d like to be able to say: feel free to message me your fic if you’re a new author. If you’re writing Larry (I don’t do other kinds of fic, I’m not your girl for rare pairs), I’m happy to reblog your fic.

When I have capacity, I’ll do my best to read. If I enjoy it, I’ll say so. But I don’t want folks to get their feelings hurt if I don’t. I don’t like A LOT of things. It doesn’t make anyone a bad writer, it just means it doesn’t line up for me. If folks want my opinion, you’re welcome to ask but know I will be honest. So you may not want to hear it (also totally fine, just don’t ask).

Once again, I’ve answered with a whole thought process. I do think the vibe here is unfortunate for authors at the moment and I’m sorry it’s disheartening.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Amazing Spider-Man: Full Circle #1 Thoughts

Well...this was odd.

I’ve never read a Round Robin before, not in comics or any other medium.

I think the first thing to acknowledge is that this wasn’t intended to be taken strictly seriously (let alone canonically) and certainly wasn’t treated as such by the creators. It’s more a creative exercise or experiment, the reading equivalent of a theme park ride I suppose.

That makes critiquing it weird and tricky. Thus I’m going to treat this more like an anthology book than one big story as the creative teams were not put in the best position to make everything hang together. I’m going to briefly talk about if I liked the art, the characterization of Spidey (and any other regular characters who pop up) and really that’s it. I don’t think it’s fair to lambast a this comic for taking Spider-Man into space or into a mystical direction as it’s supposed to be weird, wacky and fun, not taking itself seriously.

Also I’ll be writing about each part immediately after I’ve read it and before I’ve read the next part.

Awaaaaaaaaaaaay we go!

Part 1

Didn’t care for this one. Perhaps it’s because it’s the opening chapter and gets to set the stage, I can’t give it as much slack as everything else.

I’ve never liked Hickman and whilst the stuff about his work that annoys me wasn’t present here, his characterization of Spider-Man was very off. It felt ripped straight out of Brand New Day in how buffoonish and infantilized Spider-Man was (he even unmasks in the corner for no reason), the art not helping in this regard.* The art itself wasn’t very good because...well it’s modern day Bachalo and he’s literally leaving panels blank for no reason. Plus in some scenes I genuinely couldn’t tell what was happening.

The final thing to not about this part is that it might be set in the 1980s as Spider-Man is wearing his black costume and the recap page claims this to be an untold tale for Spider-Man. plus it features Hasslhoff Fury instead of Jackson Fury.

Big take away.

Hickman shouldn’t write Spider-Man in the future.

*Not to mention other people were treating Spider-Man as a joke.

Part 2

I liked this one much better. There was one moment of buffonishness with Spider-Man where he was in his underwear, but the other gags (like Spider-Ham and Fury shooting a ferret) I thought were earned enough. I also liked that Duggan provided a way to allow for the black and the red costumes to appear in the story. I adored the reference to the Florida Spidey theme park ride and the art was beautiful.

The only questionable parts were Spider-Man’s webbing working in space (how, there is no gravity?) and the werewolves kind of coming out of nowhere. Maybe that’s a little too harsh on my part given the nature of this story though.

My takeaway is that Smallwood should draw more Spider-Man and Duggan might deserve another shot at Spider-Man as this wasn’t all that bad.

Part 3

Wow.

In a project that was supposed to just be silly fun Nick Spencer put in way more effort than he had to.

First of all the art is lovely even if the human faces are a tad stiff.

Second of all, if you were in doubt that Spencer is qualified for the job as ASM writer, this should dispel those reservations.

Whilst the story has some wacky comedy ala Superior Foes it also has a dash of depth and plot development too.

In a story that thus far has featured Spider-Ham, falling from space and wacky hijinks, BAM, Spencer organically brings up Spider-Man’s origin in a way that’s logically consistent in a story inherently illogical in the first place.

More than this he throws in another brief yet organic reference to Man-Wolf and even uses the continuity of the book itself by referencing the previous two stories.

He ties this all together with the theme of choice and the random unintended consequences of those choices, thus delivering a meta commentary upon the inherent premise of this comic book. It’s actually rather ingenious and he did it in like 10 pages!*

Also I hope and suspect that werewolf MJ will become a fondly referenced moment in the future of the fandom.

*It also touches upon similar themes of quantum theories present in the current 2099 centric storyline in ASM.

Part 4

Mixed feelings.

I really liked Thompson’s Rogue/Gambit mini-series and whilst I’ve not gotten around to checking out her Mr. And Mrs. X ongoing, I made a point of buying the book.

But she’s never written Spider-Man before to my knowledge and whilst this isn’t awful...my eyebrow was raised.

Putting aside how we’re in Forest Hills when the last story clearly didn’t leave off there, there are some lines early on which don’t ring true to Spider-Man at all.

Case in point.

Spider-Man treats his problems like nails he has to hammer because he’s an Alpha super hero. Um...what character has Thompson been reading for 55 years? How many times has Spider-Man NOT tried t resolve problems via simply punching it, even in the Ditko days?

Peter feels like he’s always been alone? Aunt May and Mary Jane are literally in this story!

And where did the man in the box’s psychoanalysis randomly come from?

A part from that the art was beautiful here and I loved Peter’s upset over werewolf MJ and his consideration in subduing her. I also really liked the ending and the main action set piece.

Maybe Thompson could do better with a second bite at the apple, but this wasn’t a strong first impression for her grasp of the character.

Part 5

Holy shit that was awesome.

Al Ewing to my knowledge has never really written for Spider-Man before but goddam I’d love for him to do it more often!

This was fantastic, the first story in this comic book to dive into who Peter Parker is.

It retained the wacky humour the rest of the comic possesses via the inclusion of the Spider-Hams, but it used them for deeper purposes.

Classic Spider-Ham represented Peter’s more positive impulses, or positive assessments of himself.

Black Spider-Ham represented the more negative impulses, the times Peter has questioned himself and wondered if he’s nuts or doing the right thing.

Bag-Ham represented Peter’s humours side.

Seeing Ham and Black Ham argue over Peter’s nature was rather meta as it has often been debated in fandom about whether Peter’s driven by guilt or by the desire to be good, whether he’s fighting the good fight to make him feel better about Ben’s death because he can’t move on, or if he’d do it regardless. There is an answer to that, but I’d rather not dive into it here.

But it is simply brilliant writing on Ewing’s part to include it at all, and he continues the character exploration in the form of Peter’s conversation with ‘the man in the box’. Apart from some funny dialogue and the further debate about Peter’s life style, the conversation lays new layers of intrigue into the story. Could the Man in the Box be the weapon? Or could it be Peter? What if the Man in the Box isn’t real at all?

Ewing also takes the weird wacky situation thrown to him and actually brings things together a little more with a plan for world domination and world order that, whilst comic book mad science, kind of makes sense. It’s impressive that he made such great lemonade out of the lemons handed to him frankly. I also liked he made the werewolves thinking and rationalizing rather than feral animals, as that’s something you rarely see in werewolf stories.

Aaron again, brings it all back around to Spider-Man’s character though because Peter’s presented with a situation that echos his origin story. He has the chance to stop bad people doing a bad thing, but this time the end result could be something positive.

Like Spencer’s story it’s just brilliant and demonstrates a writer who cares enough to put in way more effort than they had to.

The art was quite nice too.

Part 6

Nice art off the top.

And a funny ending.

Considering this was Zdarsky this wasn’t that bad. The worst stuff I could say involves the idea that Peter was psychoanalyzing and second guessing himself earlier, but of course those stories were not written with the intention of being a future version of Peter.

I guess that makes Zdarsky bad for retroactively screwing stuff up but really I’m not holding that against this type of story.

What did make me confused though was that the idea of Nick Fury being an imposter beginning at the end of Part 3 seems weird because, the story lines up. Fury’s eyepatch was on the wrong eye but does that mean this comic was more planned out that it was letting on??????????

I don’t know.

I do know that I’m not fond of Fury and Logan turning this into a Marvel team-up/Zdarsky Spec Spidey story.

Also I don’t get why Fury was unaffected by the transformation and why Peter randomly reverted to normal.

Finally...fuck...I hate the High Evolutionary in Spider-Man stories. I really do.

Part 7

I don’t know how to feel about this one.

I’ve never been fond of Aaron, and his take on Spider-Man is very much from the BND era of ‘he’s a loser we can trash on’ camp.

He does however embrace the Round Robin nature of this comic book like perhaps no other author before in this story.

He does this by simply upending half of everything up until this point (the man in the box is retconned again and dispatched with little ceremony) and then he throws a hell of a cliffhanger for the next person to resolve.

Essentially he did random stuff that ignored the random stuff before him then did more random stuff to make it harder for whoever to bring it home.

You also got the impression that he was throwing shade at how dumb and insane everything had been up until this point, hence he summed up most of it in the final lines of his story.

All of which can be forgiven due to his utterly hilarious Kraven’s Last Hunt homage.

It totally doesn’t jive with what came before but it’s so great I do not care.

The art though, whilst getting the job done, is the weakest after Bachalo’s.

Part 8

Jesus Christ!

I wasn’t expecting that at all.

Walking into this I thought I might get some good art with some funny moments and wackiness upon wackiness due to everything becoming deliberately convoluted.

I wasn’t expecting great craftsmanship like Spencer’s story or a an outright GEM like Al Ewing’s story.

And I certainly wasn’t expecting a grand summation about Spider-Man as a person or life in general.

Now look...it doesn’t really make sense, let’s not pretend it does. There are plenty of loose ends.

But whilst I was never expecting this story to deliver a coherent narrative (that was if anything the opposite of the point), I was equally not expecting the whole thing to wind up being as good as it was.

Al Ewing’s story set up a debate about the nature of who Spider-Man as a person is and as weird as it is to say once you’ve read through the whole comic book, this final instalment essentially answered it. It folded in the convoluted nature of it’s premise and tied it in with Spider-Man’s origin.

Having read the e-mail chain at the back of the comic the resolution to the story makes a lot of sense.

Essentially Ewing provided the basis for a resolution that Spencer tweaked and then made work via Spider-Man’s character and emotional journey. The hypothetical dialogue he proposes as a resolution is almost identical to the finished product.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the best element of this final part, the part that nails Peter as a person, came from Spencer but there you go.

This story, whilst honestly not worth $10, is very much worth a read.

[kiraziwrites]

For the ask meme: 👀 😂 💕 💘

👀 favorite response to one of your works

Oh, there have been so many lovely ones (far beyond any expectation) but I’m going to call this a tie between all the folks who said Ring Them Bells helped them come to terms with their feelings about S8, and the handful of engineers/waste management specialists/etc who showed up in the comments of A Great Fountain to express their professional glee about the premise.

😂 a line that made you laugh out loud

I feel much less confident about my ability to write humor (and am in awe of the writers to do it so effortlessly!) but “Hell is full of seagulls. He ought to have expected that” did crack me up when I wrote it. Also the occasional Tyrion line.

💕 opinion on AUs?

I’ve come to enjoy them more over time, but I definitely have a strong preference for canonverse/canon-divergent/post-canon stories as a reader (and obviously, as a writer). This isn’t a GoT/ASOIAF-specific thing (indeed, the many things I dislike about the specifics of the canon universe may have helped me become more open to AUs!) but rather a general orientation to fic; what usually makes me want to read it is a desire for more of the characters, or for their story to play out differently, and that itch is often best scratched by stories that keep the setting mostly intact.

💘 what’s your favorite AU? Least favorite?

Favorite: hmm, aside from the canon-adjacent ones, probably what Fahye once called the “absurdly detailed and obscure Take Your Fandom To Work AU” (AGF is not...quite this, but there’s an element of it). I’m taking AU here to mean the setting/context kind, but if we’re taking about plot devices, I do have a weakness for a good arranged marriage/marriage of convenience AU.

Least favorite: werewolves and the related constellation of stuff like A/B/O and mpreg (no judgment...it’s just not for me). Basically I usually find myself uninterested in anything where the premise is “character is/becomes some magical/nonhuman/quasi-human creature with strong biologically-determined behaviors/roles.” So I’m not super into vampire, zombie, selkie, fae, etc AUs, although as always, if it’s a writer I trust I’ll give it a chance and might surprise myself by liking it. A/B/O is probably still a bridge too far, though. Idk why, since I will happily read all kinds of other very kinky shit—I suspect it’s the fixed/inborn nature of the roles and power dynamics that put me off. I am VERY into stories that explore power exchange as chosen, consensual, switchable thing.

[harleyquinnzelz]

Rules: Answer the 11 questions of the person who tagged you, make up 11 questions, then tag 11 people to answer them.

I was tagged twice, so the first set of questions are from @foxesandmagic and the second are from @little-miss-emmalie!

What is the best writing advice you ever got?

That sometimes the best thing to help with writer’s block is to just work on something else!

Why did you start writing?

So to answer this, we need to go back in time to fifth grade Cat, when her class began to learn how to write stories! Little Cat had always enjoyed reading, you see, and had always had a remarkably active imagination and so... it came naturally. I mean it was something that I really enjoyed doing and, more than that, something people enjoyed reading. I remember bringing my first story to my mother, a short story about werewolves, and she read it and was convinced that I had copied it from somewhere and that felt good. Like, somebody else thinking something I had made was good was honestly such high praise for me. And, more than all of that, I enjoyed it. A lot. Enough that I have been writing, consistently, for thirteen years. 

Do you make notes on your stories to help with writing later on?

As a matter of fact, I do. For a long time, I didn’t, and would just come up with an overarching story and then write minor things as I came to them, but that made planning foreshadowing and plot twists a pain so now I outline a whole story before writing it. This makes writing so much easier for me, and even makes writing scenes that happen later in the story possible!

Is there a piece of music that helps to inspire you the most?

There are definitely artists and specific songs that help when writing but like... pieces of music? Like instrumentals? Not really. I can definitely appreciate them like... on the level of them sounding good but they don’t help me when it comes to writing. 

What time of day do you prefer writing at?

Nighttime. I’m very much a night owl, and it’s when I find myself being the most productive.

Can you write anywhere, or do you have a specific place to do it in?

I can do it anywhere, though I definitely have places I prefer. But I learned from my period where I didn’t have a computer to write on my phone and to just do it where I could when I could. 

Do you edit your work, or do you just upload it and hope for the best?

So I know that some people have like... a writing-rewriting process and end up with like... multiple edited versions but I can’t do that. What comes out at the end of me writing a chapter is the final product, minus edits of grammar or fixing of types (which I’m really bad at). 

What helps you get over difficult times in writing?

Working on something new, making edits, rewatching whatever fandom the fic is from, reading other fics for the same fandom. 

Is there a scene you’ve written that ever made you cry?

Not really? Like there are scenes that I’ve talked out with people that have gotten me emotional but when it comes to writing... I kind of go into a different headspace. That’s about the only explanation I have because normally I’m a big sissy who cries over everything. 

What is your favourite thing about writing?

Oh gosh, there’s so much I love about writing that it’s difficult to like... pin down a single favorite thing. Probably, it would be the process of creation. Like from the moment that an idea enters my brain through the process of creating the characters and figuring out how the fit into the plot. I love it!

Do you have any other places to help with writing (like Wattpad or Pinterest)?

Pinterest is the biggest help, honestly. But tumblr is also a big help too and so is spotify and youtube, since music is such a big part of my writing process. 

Do you have aspirations to write an original novel?

Look, I’ll be honest, I don’t enjoy writing original works as much as I enjoy writing fanfics. There’s just something to be said about having built-in fanbases. That being said, I definitely have ideas for original works and I want to, it’s just hard to work up the initiative to work on them.

If you could make one of your OCs canon: who would it be?

Oh gosh, this isn’t easy to narrow down, mostly because I love all of my ocs so much. Um... If I had to pick one to be canon... probably Ariel. Like... I love Ari a lot guys. Like a lot. 

Are there any tropes that appear consistently in your writing?

Yeah, the shitty family trope, lol. It just seems like all of my ocs have problems with one or both of their parents. One day I want to write an oc with like... a healthy relationship with their parents. 

What fandom have you had the most fun writing for?

Oh gosh uh... The Walking Dead. I love this show so much and people have been so accepting of Cordelia and it’s fun figuring out how she fits in and how I can change it!

Is there a writing style you wish you could replicate? 

Stephen King’s writing style, holy shit. I love his writing style and like... I feel like my attempts to reflect his writing style are fairly obvious in my work but none of it even comes close. Honestly, horror is my favorite genre to write for and all of my original works are for the horror genre so I feel like this is kind of natural for me to want to emulate his writing style.

Which OC is most like yourself?

Beau, without a shadow of a doubt. I didn’t even really mean for it to end up like this but I end up drawing from how I would react in situations to depict how Beau acts. 

Which OC is least like yourself?

Cordelia. My badass girl who takes no shit from anyone, yeah that’s like the opposite of me!

Do you have to be in a particular mood to write certain scenes?

Um... not really? Like I can pretty much be in any mood and be able to write. Like... sometimes being excited about writing a scene definitely helps to get the scene to come out faster but other than that... no. 

What is your go-to writing beverage?

Dr. Pepper. Honestly, it’s like the only thing I drink.

Which OC do you enjoy writing the most?

Luna is super fun to write because she’s quite different from my other ocs!

What is your favorite platform to post on? (I.e. Wattpad, AO3, or FF.net)

FF.net. It’s the only one that I consistently post on, though I always mean to post on Wattpad. 

My 11 Questions:

1. Are there any music artists that help when it comes to generating muse?

What does your oc creation process look like?

What authors do you get inspiration from the most?

Are there any fandoms that you want to write for but haven’t yet?

What offers you the most inspiration when it comes to writing?

Do you ever base characters on people in your real life?

Are there any specific kinds of characters that you want to write but haven’t yet?

What is your favorite character trope to write?

How long does it generally take for you to write a chapter?

Are there any fictional characters that you draw inspiration from for specific ocs?

How often are you able to sit down and write?

I tag: @susiesamurai, @chuck-hansens, @thetenthdoctorscompanion, @abbyarcxnes, @perfectlystiles, @sansvstarks, @sleepyschmoop, @anthonystvrks, @moirei, @starcrossedjedis, @huntsthemoon

[aikainkauna]

Fanfic trope meme

Apologies to those of you who see this for a third time, as I’ve crossposted it to both LJ and Pillowfort. Feel free to comment over on there (or my other posts) if you like. And of course, feel free to grab this one and do it yourself, if you like.

***

Grabbed this meme from a couple of people on LJ. It's... well, apparently about fanfic tropes. Some of them more terrifying than others.

I have written:

-Hurt/comfort (Yeah, baby! Most of my fic is this.)

-Body swapping (Sort of? Souls slipping into each other's bodies for a bit? Jaffar feeling what Yassamin feels? Sex swap, I've definitely done.)

-Soulmate identifying marks (tattoo, red thread of fate, etc) (I have! The Throne of Solomon. And maybe The Past Forgotten counts, in its way. I may have written more, but I forget.)

-Snowed-in cabin/isolated together for extended period of time (The Jaffar/Pwinzezz Cavefic!)

-Found families (I guess the Samarkand gang counts for poor old Fadl? Even if Jaffar *is* his brother, so technically it is his family. But he does have his religious congregation and Zainab, and is... well, he always does seem to be seeking something, so he's the kind of guy to go for this trope.)

-Fairy tale/mythology AU (And not just when I am  writing in *actual* fairytale/mythology fandoms. Which I am doing most of the time, what with Thief of Bagdad being a 1001 Nights fanfic anyway. So I'm writing fanfic about a fanfic of some age-old RPF (fantasy AU!) about historical figures from the late 700s/early 800s...)

-Enemies  to friends to lovers (Yes, please! Aplenty. I'm surprised that  enemyslash/FoeYay/Hero(ine)/Villain(ess), whatever you want to call it,  isn't mentioned on this list.)

-Characters swap roles AU (Uh... I've written sexual switching in some isolated chapters? Like when Laura  briefly doms Torsten in The Fall of Angels, to help him get over some traumas?)

-Friends to lovers (With RPS, Veidtbone in particular, and Theta/Koschei. This also seems to happen whenever I write femslash.)

-Magical  connection (telepathy, etc) (Doctor/Master basically ruined me for all  my other ships what with their telepathic ability. So that now, it feels less interesting for me to write love/sex that *doesn't* have telepathy.)

-Fake dating/fake marriage accidentally turns into feelings (see next trope)

-Royals/political marriage turns into feelings (These last two are pretty much the same thing in ToB, as I've had Yassamin marry Jaffar a couple of times--like The Past Forgotten and The King's White Falcon, but without him laying a hand on her for up to a year, until she finally grows a brain and realises how loveworthy he is after all.)

-Seemingly unrequited pining (Emphasis on the "seemingly." Jaffar's unrequited   pining is painful enough in the movie, so there's no point in making him  suffer any more.)

-Accidentally fell in love with the mission target (Well, *kind of,* what with Torsten. Lars-Erik was definitely his mission target in the original film, and at the start of Because The World Belongs to the Devil, he made no bones about having wanted to kill Laura Erika [the teenage girl version of Lars-Erik in this AU, to those of you just joining in] when she was born.)

-They break up (but then they get back together) (With Jaffar/Fadl.  Fadl's stormed off in a huff at least twice in the past. And Doctor/Master is always the same old on-off car crash, isn't it? Although this is not a favourite trope of mine, as the setup would usually necessitate them being an existing couple in the first place,  and I tend to not write canon or "plausibly lovers" ships because   they're already happily together. What do Two and Jamie, Holmes and   Watson etc. need me for? They're already as good as married. Let them have their happiness.)

-Supernatural creature/human romance (Sort of. I've written Time Lords/humans, humans/djinn at least. And surely wizards count as supernatural romance, anyway?)

-Reincarnation/'25  Lives' AU (What's with the 25 lives? Is this some big fandom thing again? One of the darkest, most fucked-up fics I ever wrote was the Master killing the Doctor during sex and fucking him as he regenerated around him. As you do. And there's reincarnation in one of my Jaffar/Pwinzezz fics,  but I won't spoil it for the new readers by telling you which one it is.)

-Selfcest (possibly due to time travel) (I am scratching my head trying to remember when I wrote this and in which fandom, but I have the distinct feeling I've written it. I've certainly whacked off to  that World Of Simm!Masters clusterfuck what with the pink dress so many  times I... I think I broke two clit buzzers during that time. I've certainly drawn it. And drawn some Connies on Connies. And then there's, of course, Sarosh the Sexbot  who's a clone of Jaffar, looks-wise, but he is very distinctly just a robot, not a living character as such--not the sort with which you could  have a real, interpersonal dynamic. My problem with selfcest, in general, is that I like having that character dynamic--and that requires  the characters to be different from one another. If it's two characters  that are too similar--if they fulfill a similar role in the canons--it's hard to create a dynamic between them and to make it   interesting.)

-Polyamory (Swinging away ALL the bloody time with the Roses!Jaffar and Yassamin, and Torsten/Laura. Sometimes I miss the monogamous 'verses.)

-Amnesia (I've got a post-movie "Jaffar comes  back from the dead" WIP I'll probs never finish, because it doesn't seem to get off the ground. If I wrote this trope, I would have the characters gradually regain memory, though; complete mind-wipes are   horrid. I did have Handy lose the majority of his cognitive/motor/Timey skills in No More  and that was the main reason I had to... well, I'm not going to spoil it if someone hasn't read it yet, but it wasn't the cheeriest of fics. The Past Forgotten *sort of* has this, but I don't want to spoil as to how that happens.)

***

I could write:

-Daemons (Why the archaic spelling? I have written djinn, so I almost put this in the 'have written' section. I can't remember if I actually *have* written real demons, because I might have. Surely, Torsten counts...)

-'Everyone is evil'/mirrorverse AU (Well, mostly, if I want to explore "evil"   characters, I write about those types of characters in the first place, without having to turn anyone evil. Devilry is the 'verse for that. Hell, usually it's the other way around; I try to look for the human elements of the baddies, or at least explore their logic--what makes them tick, what makes them the way they are. So, IDK, I could've also   put this in the "unlikely to ever write" section.)

-And they were roommates! (This would be terrible and also hilarious, whatever characters ended up becoming my victims. Even if I'm more interested in those hurt/comfort plots, overall. And I have always found it *impossible* to live under the same roof with other people because I need peace and quiet and solitude too much. So this is almost a bit too much like the sorts of negative RL experiences I don't really want to get more of in fic.  But I *could* write it as a comedy for cheap lols, especially if the stress were resolved by hot bonking, ASAP.)

-'They  all work in an office' AU (Otherwise, I would've put this in the "just  no" category, but... the Barmakids were civil servants. So I *could*   write Jaffar and Fadl drowning in paperwork--"WHY DID WE EVER introduce paper into THIS EMPIRE?!?" and cursing their fates and Jaffar restraining Fadl from braining Harun al-Rashid with a paperweight. Same with Lina doing Zainab's books and trying to hold back The Fist of Death when Fadl carelessly drops a piece of his lunch over her perfectly calligraphied accounting.)

-'Falling for a coworker/teammate is a bad idea' except this is fiction so it works out (Maybe. Just maybe. But it'd also be in a medieval ToB context.)

***  

I will probably never write:

-'Groundhog  Day'/karmic time loop (I just never got the appeal of this. Sounds like the sort of thing experimental writers would like? The sorts who really  like filling in bingo cards and challenge lists?)

-Vampires/werewolves  AU (I'm not that big on either. Super-unpopular opinion coming up: I prefer sex to the sublimation of it that vampires are often all about; bloodsucking in lieu of sex, and/or being seen as way better than sex just always feel to me like a cheap cop-out from writers who are disappointed in sex, or afraid of it. I've never grokked it any more   than that stupid, stupid "chocolate is better than sex" quip from women who don't know what masturbation is--yes, it fucking well is sex, TYVM! I much prefer to make partnered sex better than it is IRL by adding supernatural stuff like telepathy to *that*. Immortality alone is interesting to explore, as are Gothic themes, but all the usual themes that vampires *specifically* usually represent just... either hold little interest for me, or then, I can explore them in other ways.)

-'Pride  and Prejudice' AU (I don't hate Jane Austen, but it's not my fandom. That kind of society stuff and being witty over teacups in bonnets has never really been my thing--if anything, I usually have my characters exist in their own bubble, isolated from society and its restrictive mores and social stresses.)

***

JUST NO!

-Coffee  house AU/food service AU (AUGH! Please, no coffeeshop AUs for me; the world is full of them already. Maybe I could write it as some terrible, short parody? Or doodle it? But no more than that.)

-Hogwarts AU (Haven't read HP. Young Adult isn't really my genre. I know, I know; I've just lost all my WLW cred.)

-High  school/university AU (I've done Time Lord Academy-era stuff with Doctor/Master, but I expect this means a sort of American high school/university AU with jocks and cheerleaders and shit. Hell, no. Again, the exact sort of horrid society stuff I would rather have my characters escape from.)

-Adopting/raising a baby (Erm, not unless you count Jaffar/Yassamin adopting a cheetah? They do have kids in some 'verses but there's none of that everyday baby stuff that this question/trope probably implies. I'm squicked by   babies, sorry.)

-Unusually specific occupation AU, like, the Author clearly has the same job (It worries me that this is, by virtue of its inclusion here, apparently seen as normal and acceptable..? When it's crap fanfic, inserting yourself into something that should be about the *established* characters instead. Jesus, I don't want to go in expecting a fanfic, and then find out it’s your diary instead! Unless you're Anaïs Nin. And even if you really *do* want to write about yourself, then just... write original fic? An autobiography? A blog? Write an OC that has your job. Don't do this false advertising where you insist it's fanfic when it's not. That's a dick move towards your readers.)

-Loyalty kink (see next trope)

-Alpha/beta/omega (Too creepy. I can write about piss, shit, incest, necrophilia and cannibalism, but not these last two. Any more than I can glorify the Nazis I've written about; I either take the piss out of them, as with Strasser, or just step outside of their politics and bring them into the land of happy sexings like with von Kolb, with the aim of dragging him out of that madness and leaving it behind.)

-Hot single parent(s) (Please. Rundvik: "You love children." Torsten: "I loooooathe themm.")

-Unrequited pining (Too much of an emotional squick. Has to be requited. I write fanfic to fix things, to avenge wrongs, to set things right. I don't write them to make the characters more miserable than they already are. Unless it's for temporary, character-development purposes, that is.)

[wxldchxld]

🔥 🔥 🔥

Unpopular Opinions as Told by Mary

🔥

Ummmm Daenerys’ dragons look really fuckin stupid. Yeah. Sorry. This one isn’t going to be super in depth or really even justified by any arguments. I respect the Game of Thrones developers for going for it, and like the execution of it graphics wise is actually really impressive given its a TV show and all, but the model is so bad. Did GRRM make it? I really fucking hope not. From a distance when I see them in shots I’m like “yo cool” and then I see their faces and they look so stupid to me and it just ruins it. I’m really picky about dragons so this probably doesn’t come as a surprise. 

Also side rant, why is it so popular to give dragons a weird bottom jaw where it like, protrudes. They did it with Smaug and to a lesser extent they do it with Dany’s dragons. What the fuck is that modeled after? It’s not a snake. It’s not crocodilians. The only thing I can think is maybe some species of monitor lizards? And I’m only granting that bc I really don’t know due to the fact that there are a lot of monitor lizard species. Including this dope one that I’ve modeled dragons after on my dragon blog. 

I guess what drives me nuts is like I feel like there’s no originality in the design. I haven’t read Dany’s parts in the books but from what I have been told at least the coloration is more intense. There are so many species of reptiles, real and extinct, that they could have pulled from to make something that looked really cool…but they didn’t.

 🔥

The words “alpha wolf” need to die in a fire. And I’m not trying to come at some of the people I know follow me that use that term. It’s just become this really huge thing that infects so much of lore that has to do with modern day werewolves (such as in The Originals) and even bleeds over into things like the Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire fandom and just about anywhere you see wolves you eventually hear the term alpha.

The term in and of itself is annoying because it’s not a thing that exists. Wolves don’t live in a pack where they just automatically submit to the strongest wolf, nor do they live in social structures that cause them to battle with one another to see who is on top. Wolves live in family groups usually run by the breeding pair and the offspring of the last few years. The only reason we ever really thought that “alpha wolf” was a thing was because a couple of researchers massively popularized its usage after studying primarily (in fact I think it was exclusively) captive wolf packs where individuals were brought in from various places in the world and forced to live together. And while I’m not saying that all studies should be thrown out if they’re done on captive bred wolves, I think it’s poor practice to say “this is how all wolves are” when you haven’t taken into consideration what natural family groups do. 

So it’s annoying, because it’s not a thing, but it’s also—-really boring to me. We miss the fact that these incredible animals have evolved to have things like a sense of fairness and the ability to cooperate, but the thing that we focus on is that “this is the alpha and its very important to them.” Family is important to them. I’d love to see more media that involved wolves that represented not only how their family groups actually work, but also didn’t make that such a central point for their plots. 

I’m not going to go into uses of the term outside of fiction or address the A/B/O fanfiction. My point is that I personally as a reader find it overused and boring. I understand that since its fiction, there will be inaccuracies in order to fit your narrative. Hell, I have some with Beck and the animals that pop up on this blog. My problem isn’t the inaccuracy alone, it’s the inaccuracy being used to beat a long dead horse (and occasionally as a method of god modding but—I won’t go further into that either). 

🔥

And since I’m just going all in on the GoT shit tonight (sorry guys) Also this is going to make an already very long post massive, and I’m sorry.

… Yara Greyjoy is actually a good character and her book counterpart isn’t nicer nor is she just “better” for some vague undefined reason. She’s not a perfect character, she’s not a necessarily nice person, but Yara Greyjoy is arguably one of the better characters on the show IMO and I wish that she would have gotten way more screen time than she really did.

The worst part of this weird like #notmyAsha argument (and I’ve seen that tag used before it was hilarious) is that people complain that she’s not nice to Theon and that because she either doesn’t have or cannot convey compassion and empathy regarding his trauma, that it’s somehow a valid plot point for her to be tortured so they can bond over mutual trauma. This is gross and I hate it.

Full disclosure Theon Greyjoy is one of my favorite characters in show and book canon, but he is kind of a garbage human being and I love him in spite and often because of that. Now onto our feature presentation: 

Yara Greyjoy doesn’t owe her brother shit. Not even a little. She has zero reason to do anything other than perceive him as unstable and a threat to the position she hopes to claim. Don’t complain to me about how mean Yara is to Theon while simultaneously ignoring the fact that he only stopped treating her like garbage once he’d been horribly traumatized. He was TEN when he was taken from the Iron Islands, and she was older than him and he—didn’t recognize her. So yeah she manipulates him, but he could have very easily put a stop to it if he remembered her or if he just wasn’t such a horny prick in general. He tries to demean her in front of their father, insults her, and shouts at her. Not saying she didn’t deserve it, but you can’t exactly paint him as the saint in the situation either.

I could go on with a million reasons Yara is actually a lot nicer to Theon in the show than the books, and why she’s not obligated to do anything for him at all, but I’d be here for hours. 

What bothers me is the conclusion that because Yara has been mean to him that she somehow deserves to be punished by being tortured or that she needs to be tortured in order to ever like understand her brother. Both of those things are like the craziest logic in the world to me. 

First off: no. Yara tried to save Theon. It’s not Yara’s fault he got in that situation, it’s his own, and she tried to rescue him. Then she allowed him back into her home at a critical time, and rather than being ashamed of him for being “weak” she brings him with her to political meetings and presents him as what is essentially her version of a “hand.”

Second: y’all that’s not how mental health works. Theon’s not ok, and if they write him as ok they’re bad writers. You don’t get over trauma that fast. Especially not because of like one conversation you had with your sister while she made out with a topless hooker in a brothel, and a fight on the beech where you got kneed in the balls you don’t have. Theon is still traumatized and he deserves a plot where his sister learns to see that, acknowledge it, and try to understand him. You don’t throw two traumatized people together and just say “well they have both been horrifically abused… they understand one another.” and then things get better. If anything those people are more likely to be self destructive and dangerous because neither of them are in a good place mentally to make sound and rational decisions. 

So yeah, the point I was trying to make but got really distracted from because I’m very salty about all the Yara hate I see is that she’s actually a good character in comparison to the others in the show and it’s not ok to wish she would be tortured just for the sake of making Theon ok bc a) that won’t work and b) for the millions time: it’s gross.

[daydreamorama]

Okay to all agorithms above but consider this:

When I was young I would go to the library every week, whenever I was in a new city I would go the library. I would find the librarian and say 'These were the last 10 books I read, and oh I read this one too but hated it, what should I read next?' and the librarian would think a moment and then go 'try these' and give me a small list.

The librarian was functioning as a recommendation engine. (I'll use engine to avoid 'algorithm feels')

When I was older the internet became a thing and I told a bookstore seller: here are all the 200 books I've read and what I rated each one. And the bookstore (who yes was making money off me buying the books (though I often went to the library instead, cause $$)) said here try these!

Later sites like goodreads allowed you to import what you read and offered recommendations. It even got so detailed like it realized I read a LOT of urban early 20s female protaganist fantasy with male werewolf love interests (look don't judge me ) and now when it offerred recs it gave me 10 categories. like are you in the mood fore fantasy in general? maybe werewolves? maybe <this very very specific niche category>? and I could see what was in the list, and at one time it was driven solely by what I liked compared to similar people liked and offered up.

These were great for finding new stories outside my own searching! Imagine you are in a large fandom (or you read basically anything of a tag regardless of fandom) and you've read everything you can find that was tagged 'asexual character' it's your favorite tag and you're really good at searching it. Now lets say there's this story, not super popular in kudos, hey it's a niche tag! but right up your ally. And there's 100 people who've read and liked 90% of the same things you do. but have also read this story! so the engine says hey! this story doesn't have the tags you'd maybe normally follow, maybe you normally wouldn't even find it, but we think you'll really like it! Here! So you look at it and you go huh based on the tags yeah I maybe woudln't have given it a try but it seems somewhat interesting, so you read it, and love it. Maybe it's 'right' 50% of the time, but you still win, you still discover things you normally wouldn't. (and maybe you end up discovering a tiny little new fandom and watching all the episodes). Currently you can kiiind of get this by looking at other's bookmarks or rec lists (which is it's own kind of popularity algorithm).

Do I think a03 will implement this? Probably not, it would take a lot of coding, a lot of backlash (see above), and there are many other things that many other people want them to spend their time and money on. I also think a lot of people will be (rightfully if done wrong) concerned about privacy. But also I could probably right this today with publicly available info by just using a script to get all the kudos people of every story have it compare my kudos, and find 'similar users' and suggest me stories. (it would require a shit ton of bot scraping to open every single of the millions of fanworks, but still, if your worried about privacy in terms of who kudos what (as a non-guest), well. kudos are already public)

But is a recommendation engine inherently evil? No.

tl;dr I think it would be great if I could go in a 'for you' tab that would recommend me stories i haven't kudos'ed that users who have kudosed a lot of the same things I did so I don't just doom scroll pages and pages of fic hoping one stands out. If it was solely based on kudos (and maybe bookmarks) of non-guests I also don't think it will violate privacy because that info is already public.

i am so baffled by the conversation i'm watching right now, where younglings who assumed AO3 had an algorithm felt mocked and condescended to when informed no, AO3 does not push any content at any user, and so the younglings are now doubling down and stanning algorithm??? that thing where social media sites get money from advertisers the more shit you click on so they shove content at you that is theoretically to your interest but actually is content that will keep you clicking, including content that enrages you, because they don't care about giving you shit you like just about keeping you engaged as long as possible, and oh also did we mention this ties into the modern lack of data privacy, the algorithm is watching everything you interact with to profile you better for advertising to you, it's spying on you across platforms whenever possible, THAT algorithm,

really you want it to know what fanfic you read, too? good grief

[sharkfish]

Ugh, stop tempting me with all your Sterek posts! I don't have time to watch a new show! Do you think I really need to watch in order to read some fic about them? Or can I just skim wiki about the show haha

oh you absolutely do not have to watch the show and in fact i would recommend you do not. i started reading fics kind of randomly a couple weeks ago and had never seen the show – i wasn’t going to bother but it’s streaming free on amazon prime so i watched a few episodes just trying to get an idea of like… their voices and mannerisms? anyway it’s real bad. like, i talk shit on supernatural for not being a good show, but teen wolf is… in another category of not-good tv. and even the fandom seems overall pretty miserable about everything that happened past s3 or so (multiple people have told me specifically to stop watching past s3 if i make it that far) (spoiler: i won’t). watching the main character (scott mccall played by tyler posey) is real painful. i’m cringing thinking about it. 

TEEN WOLF SPOILERS FOLLOW FOR ALL SEASONS PROBABLY

the main thing you’ll probably want to know about teen wolf is re: werewolf lore [link to teen wolf wiki]. even a lot of tw au fics feature werewolves, which i expected to really hate but i am actually pretty into. i’m still relatively confused about what exactly it means to be an alpha, beta, or omega werewolf in tw-land (no relation to a/b/o in an spn fandom-style omegaverse, though those exist too!!!), but as long as you realize it’s unrelated to a/b/o stuff you can generally figure out what it means in the context of whichever fic you are reading. 

otherwise, here’s what you need to know: setting: beacon hills, california (fictional but probably somewhere in nocal). scott mccall got bit by a rogue alpha werewolf, turning him into a werewolf. he is not relevant, but he does accidentally fall in love with a girl (allison argent) from a family of werewolf hunters. his best friend is stiles stilinski (played by dylan o’brien, who you may know from the maze runner), the boy with a polish name so unpronounceable it isn’t even actually said in canon until later in the series (it’s Mieczyslaw, though many older fics use various difficult-for-americans polish names). stiles talks too much and is super bi. they meet derek hale, who is a hottie werewolf. (derek is played by tyler hoechlin, who is currently running around with this beard that is really upsetting to me because i am not generally into beards but i’m actually really into his beard, ugh, god dammit.) he is very broody and really just gives off some alarming edward cullen vibes in his first appearances in the show. very grumpy and mysterious and quiet and shirtless a lot. there’s a scene where he pushes stiles into a wall that is one of the gayer things i’ve ever seen since the last time dean and cas were on screen together. (seriously – there’s a similar scene between scott and stiles a couple episodes prior that is extremely non-gay, and then stiles and derek start staring at each other’s lips and fixing each other’s jackets and shit, WHOA.) 

stiles is in love with lydia martin, who is a super popular pretty redheaded girl who is dating jackson. stiles’s mom died when he was younger (cancer i think but i am not sure) and his dad is the sheriff. 

derek fell in love with kate argent when he was 16-18 (canon never specifies derek’s age and there is confusing info specifically in response to his age during the kate thing) (are we never told his age bc he and stiles’s antics are a little gay and stiles is only 16 at the beginning of the show? idk), not knowing she was a hunter. she used his love for her to trick him and ended up murdering his entire family (mom: talia; dad: idk his name; sisters: laura and cora [one of them may have survived the fire but died later? i am confused about this] [and then i guess cora wasn’t really dead at all?? that all happens later in canon and doesn’t come up in fics very often]) in a house fire. also i’m pretty sure derek killed this other girl he loved when he was younger (paige) – i’m not sure of the details but he’s real fucked up and guilty about it even though it is generally presented like he does not deserve that guilt. 

other notable characters: erica, isaac, and boyd are members of derek’s pack. sometimes in fic isaac is in a poly thing with scott and allison which is p cool! erica and boyd are usually together. ummm there’s also a chick named kira who is a kitsune (i have no idea what that actually means in the tw verse) and might hook up with scott in later seasons. chris argent is allison’s hunter dad but some fics portray him as an ok dude. peter hale is derek’s uncle and is a creepy dick. 

fics!!! k i have read a LOT of sterek fics (like.. hundreds…..) in the last couple of weeks but here are the 3 that have made it on my bookmarks list so far: 

Love Runs Wild by DevilDoll derek and stiles are porn stars who do like softcore werewolf-human porn for a magazine called neckz ‘n throats. stiles shows up to a shoot with a hickey on his neck and this is Bad News cuz werewolves have this whole thing about marking (!!!) and derek is like really upset but trying to pretend it’s fine and he’s not all in love with stiles. this is probably a good intro to general ideas the tw fandom has about werewolf mating rituals. also it’s just in general A+ smutty good times.

Sell Your Body to the Night by Dira Sudis (dsudis) this one is about 16 year old sex worker stiles, hired by rich werewolf derek. so… like… warnings for all the consent implications re: being a 16 year old sex worker, and generally i stray away from underage stuff even if both characters are the same age, but this is a really beautiful sweet love story, and i can’t believe i’m describing something that is tagged with watersports as a “beautiful sweet love story,” but it really is. (i am not into watersports lmao but am glad i read this anyway. it’s one scene at the beginning of ch9 that can be skipped but tbh unless you are super squicked, i would suggest reading it bc the scene manages to come across really intense and intimate and all around great despite, you know, someone getting peed on.) 

Cornerstone by Vendelin derek is a marine vet and stiles is blind. derek makes a dick out of himself and stiles kind of forcibly befriends him anyway and it’s sweet and fluffy and all-around wonderful as fuck. this was the first sterek fic i ever loved and i hope i don’t forget that feeling (i was just lamenting last night that i have zero memory of when i went from someone who was real scared of the spn fandom in general bc wincest was the only ship anyone ever talked about to dedicating 90% of my available brainpower to destiel – how did i even hear about it?? when did i start reading fics??? what kind of fics did i read??? how did i feel about them??? i have no idea!!!). 

also i went through most of @bleep0bleep‘s fic rec list [link] and enjoyed the vast majority of them so i would definitely suggest checking that out for some good fics!!! (i read a bunch of bleep0bleep’s fics, too, and they are also great [link to their ao3]) 

keep me updated!! send me the good fic links!!!! 

ps i am vaguely working on my first sterek fic. destiel is the first fandom i’ve ever completed fics for (i do have one (1) unfinished merlin fic that predates any of my spn writing, but that’s it) and the only thing i’ve written in years so it’s super weird/fun to play in another sandbox! 

[softkent]

20-39 for fanfic asks?

20. Do you like PWPs?

hell yeah! not everything has to be a full story. they are super great for quick reads and even as writing exercises

21. How and when did you get introduced to smut fic? Any horror stories?

it was so long ago i dont remember. well before i was 18, i can tell you that much. like who knows. i coulda been like 13? and i dont remember how i got into it all. the only horror-esque smut story i have is the entire thing that went down around the glee/dalton fic Caramel. when i hear the word i cant function. just NOOOOOOOOOO

22. Biggest turn-ons in fic?

figurative language galore. using all the senses. and realism

23. Biggest turn-offs in fic?

poor writing. ooc. bad layout like not spacing paragraphs or confusing stuff. blatant author biases like discriminatory things. but for smut the inability to properly describe whats occurring and overusing/under using terms. also claiming and ownership language being treated like its the default like ew no talk about that kinda shit beforehand if youre into it. i hate when writers misrepresent the kink community too

24. Do you have any dirty kinks that you’re ashamed of?

nope. im not ashamed of myself sexually 

25. Any kinks that you’d love to try in real life?

ive tried all the ones ive read about or written and wanted to explore

26. Any kinks that you don’t want to try in real life (but are still hot in a fanfic)?

im not gunna say i love well written a/b/o dynamics that dont rely on sexist bull and masc v femme but 👀👀👀👀👀👀

27. Rough sex or gentle sex?

why choose? there are different moods and needs. change things up. have soft intimate and hard fast and dirty like you dont have to only do things one way. play around with things. having a routine or this is how its always gunna be is boring af. give me rough and gentle

28. How do you feel about masturbation in fic?

there isnt enough tbh. ive only seen it mentioned a handful of times where its just some self lovin time instead of an oh im pining and horny i guess iiiii have to deal with this paired with a fantasy. give me characters enjoy their bodies for them! i have now realized i need to write this now. A+

29. How do you feel about non-con and dub-con?

to each their own. a person doesn’t have to write or read what they dont want to and all that. 

30. Favorite porn fic?

...is it bad that i want to put one of my own?

Exploration [Part 8 of the Daddy Calling Series] by SalazarTipton

31. Do you read AUs?

i do, but not that often. there are certain ones that i will always read tho like hockey aus and potc 

32. Favorite AU tropes?

characters joking about something that happens in canon like it a ridiculous idea like werewolves existing or some shit. like allusions to the original content/world/universe. also soulmates

33. Least favorite AU tropes?

genderswap. it feels so gross to me cuz like gender? and being trans? and just no thank you

34. Do you like UAs (universe-alterations, when the main universe and characters are the same but one plot point/decision/outcome is altered)?

i get why people call it UA but i always thought thats what canon divergence was for? but lets be honest, fixers are needed in like every fandom and who doesnt love the but what if they did this insteaD?? i write canon divergence all the time

35. Do you like high school and college AUs?

not high school aus. high school is so shitty why would you wanna? i just dont get it ??? ive read some college ones that ive dug. 

36. Do you like crossovers? If so, favorite crossover?

the only crossover ive ever really enjoyed and sought out [to the point where i started writing it] is criminal minds/x-men specifically reid/remy 

37. How do you feel about parent!fics/lovechildren? How about mpreg?

i dont like children irl and i dont want to read about them when i can avoid it. 

38. How do you feel about genderbending? De-aging? Animalizing?

fuck genderbending. im trans and that shit makes me feel awful. i dont read it. de-aging depends on the context. i havent ever experienced animalizing unless you count supernatural creatures with animal sides?

39. Favorite AU fic?

fuck dude how am i supposed to choooooooose??? there are so many i cant even--here just have one of my soulmate ones so i don’t have to pick

A Day at Samwell by SalazarTipton