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"This character handled a shitty situation badly and therefore I dislike them" - bites you bites you bites you

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Another option: Not liking a villain doesn’t mean you’re a puritan who only likes fiction if it’s perfect and everyone gets along. Sometimes you just prefer the goodies over the baddies in a story, whether that be they’re more interesting or the villains are just extremely evil

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"if fiction doesn't affect reality why do racist stereotypes against indigenous communities exist!?!?!?"

...Not because of modern day fanfiction communities I'll tell you that right now smartass.

You know racism wasn't invented on the internet. Right. Do you know that.

Please tell me you know that.

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Even better when the whumpee lashes out at them, confirming their fears

I love it when the caretaker accidentally triggers the whumpee and the whumpee panics and cries and the caretaker feels horrible after.

Bonus points if the caretaker feels like they shouldn’t be allowed around the whumpee again and it creates a big misunderstanding.

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It's important to have both perfect victim OCs and imperfect victim OCs. To have a character that does everything 'right' and is still punished needlessly + a victim who does it all wrong but didn't deserve what gets done to them bc what was done was wrong regardless of who the victim was.

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Virgin: Darkfic is evil and should be banned!

Chad: I prefer fluff/positive recovery fics, and I prefer to block darkfics rather than censor them

Some readers: darkfic is evil, and should be censored/banned!

My AO3 experience:

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Whumpee is being tortured in front of Caretaker, with Caretaker restrained in the corner of the room. Caretaker knows Whumper wants them to beg them to stop, so out of defiance they don't.

After a while, Caretaker starts to get restless, but they won't cave in. The thing that finally breaks them is when they make eye contact with Whumpee. With that moment, all of Caretaker's walls came crashing down.

Whumpee was looking at Caretaker with an expression between hope and fear. They wanted- no, they needed Caretaker to save them. They were being tortured for god's sake and Caretaker was just sitting there letting it happen.

The moment Caretaker started begging, Whumper paused and smiled at them. "Aww, Caretaker, if you wanted me to stop, you should've just asked!" Then they left the room, leaving Whumpee and Caretaker alone, along with Caretaker's guilt.

Feel free to add onto any of my prompts!

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love the post-recovery moment where caretaker is just trying to comfort whumpee who's working through the trauma and the shock and everything and they say something like "you're still here. you're fighting. it's gonna be fine. that's enough for me."

and whumpee just snapping because everything is too much and nothing is fine and they don't understand why caretaker would try to comfort thrm by saying *that* goes: "it's not enough for me!"

*insert shocked silence from caretaker/a fight/angst*

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what do you mean to tell me a character who was abused in his childhood, constantly compared and overshadowed, disregarded and pressured, had to take up huge responsibilities when he wasn't ready and was mourning and was essentially lied to and constantly disrespected isn't the nicest, most sunshiney, most moral, most selfless, most whateverthefuck person out there?

that's not allowed we have to demonise that character, call him a scum and only see the bad in him

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It’s weird because I actually am guilty of partially doing this, however it’s either:

The healthy coping mechanisms result in intense trauma moments as they’re forced to confront their emotions, which both partially heals and re-traumatises them

Only about 1 or 2 personality traits are removed

So essentially it only be a light coat over 1 specific part

There are some characters where giving them therapy and cleaning them up is the fanfiction equivalent of buying antique furniture and painting it white

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Based on a few things I've seen in the whump community in the past;

No, you're not a fake fan of whump if you prefer victims who are soft and docile over victims who lash out.

You're not being disrespectful if your whumpee actually deserves it

I'll never understand shaming WITHIN the whump community. No you're not a "fake fan of whump" or "weaker" than other whump fans because of your squicks. No your blorbo doesn't have to be chopped into little bits and blended into a smoothie for it to really be whump. Yes you can like whump and still like fluff, fix-its and wholesome fandom content.

I thought we knew better than this, y'all. Support all whump fans, we're a community after all

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Negative outcomes to exposure therapy/releasing suppressed emotions

I've been exploring how to use healthy/"perfect" coping mechanisms to cause conflict and drama recently.

General negative outcomes

Possibility of being retraumatised

Increased anxiety (at first, but may cause character to increase reliance on unhealthy mechanisms)

Bringing up intense emotions that are too hard to manage

Feeling like they're failing if progress is slow

Being put in danger (for instance, if they're facing fear of water, they could almost drown)

Outcomes related to anger

Becomes resentful at others for making them relive their trauma

Feels betrayed by support systems

Expresses anger in outbursts or aggression toward others

Becomes hypersensitive to perceived slights or rejection

Suddenly becomes an extremely angry person due to dealing with suppressed emotions being triggered and being a part of them

Struggles to regulate anger, leading to conflict

Outcomes related to danger

Suddenly having an increased amount of flashbacks

Loses touch with reality during a session

Takes physical risks to cope with the intense emotions (like I said earlier, the confrontation of trauma can lead to unhealthy coping)

Becomes dependent on the wrong person for comfort

Alienates support network

Puts themselves in harms way to test their fear tolerance (especially works if the character is beginning to heal and is excited about it)

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Specific reasons a character with trauma can get angry

They get angry at little things, eg their computer not turning on or accidentally ripping some paper.

They enter survival mode as a trigger and fight or yell because they perceive everything as a threat

They feel out of control (eg plans failing or someone changing their space) and they get angry as a protective response

They might interpret neutral or minor comments as rejection

Overstimulation or any physical discomfort in general

Protecting vulnerable emotions like sadness or embarrassment

Pattern recognition (I.e something slightly similar to the trauma they faced)

Projection onto others of their guilt or anger

Quick to assume that others will abandon them

Black-and-white thinking and/or inability to regulate emotions (BPD)

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Random, morally grey(-ish) character situations

An investigator/detective who is bitter and (sometimes, though frequently/not at all if u want) abusive due to the trauma of working on intense cases which exposed them the cruelty of humanity.

A character who disfigured themself in some way to save a life, but despite their extremely heroic achievement, is very bitter due to the disfigurement(s) it caused.

A character who did a courageous and heroic act, but is constantly haunted by the thoughts of how it could've gone wrong, the trauma from the fear they felt, or what would've happened if they hadn't even gotten involved.

A character with anhedonia (inability to experience joy) discovers that hurting others is one of the only things that makes them feel alive. They are either horrified by this discovery, tolerant of it, or they revel in it.

A character who is forced to act in a discriminatory way to a social group or they will be killed

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Ways I Show a Character Is Deeply in Love (and Doesn’t Realize It Yet)

Falling in love doesn’t always come with violins and kissing in the rain. Sometimes it looks like, “Why do I know their coffee order, favorite pen, and dog’s birthday?”

They remember everything. Not because they’re trying to flirt. Just because their brain decided, “This person’s data is important now.”

They get annoyed by other people talking to them. Why are you laughing at their joke? He’s not even funny.

They show up. For dumb things. Things they wouldn’t normally care about. Your cat’s vet appointment? They’re there.

Their body reacts before they do. Smiling before their brain catches up. Leaning closer without realizing. Looking at their mouth while they talk. Oops.

They pretend they’re just "helping out." You know. Just being a good friend. A good friend who stares at your texts like they’re holy scripture.

They get flustered when the other person flirts with anyone else. “I’m not jealous. I just… think they deserve better. Like someone emotionally mature. Who knows their coffee order. Who… wears this hoodie. Okay bye.”

They panic when the other person gets too close. Not because they’re scared of them. Because they’re scared of how much they care.

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Ways I Show a Character Is Grieving 

They say "It’s fine, I’ve processed it" while clearly processing it through spreadsheets, sarcasm, or passive-aggressive emails.

They treat memories like landmines. They avoid certain songs, places, and foods like they bite and they kind of do.

They hoard weird things. A receipt. A voicemail. A cracked mug. Objects that wouldn’t matter to anyone else but now feel sacred.

They laugh at really inappropriate times. At funerals. In therapy. During serious conversations. It’s not funny, they just don’t know what else to do.

They forget things. Not just dates. Entire days. Their brain is buffering because it’s too full of everything they don’t want to feel.

They get too angry at tiny things. The pen runs out? Full mental breakdown. It’s never about the pen.

They say “they wouldn’t want me to be sad” as a way to guilt-trip themselves into pretending they’re not actively falling apart.