#[Not sure if anyone minds this sort of stuff from a fanfic writer]

[karniss-bg3]

oh great and powerful one, do you have any tips for writing kar'niss? i love how you characterize him and in my Desperate Hunger for the Content(tm) my desire to write my own stuff has reared its ugly head. however i am a bad writer lmao so any tips would be awesome <3

love your work, keep it up i want to send u so many delicious cookies

That first line had me giggling for a good twenty minutes, thank you for that.

I'll start off by saying I don't think there are "good" or "bad" writers. Everyone is at a different stage in their journey and like with any creative talent, it only requires some nurturing and practice to blossom. It's more about the journey than the destination. If you finish writing a blurb and you're happy that you took that step then you've succeeded.

As an artist I am sure you have a creative process you go through when you're gearing up to put an idea from your mind to paper. Writing is no different in that regard, a little planning goes a long way. Ask yourself, what premise do I want to see brought to life? From there ask how you see the character(s) reaching that destination. Do they encounter trouble along the way? What obstacles are in their path? How do they overcome them? Ect.

As for my characterization of Kar’niss, I am fortunate that he is a bit of a blank slate compared to others in the BG3 universe. It makes it easier to mold him in my image without making the reader double take. Every character has a “voice”, and if you study Kar’niss his comes through clearly. I am a physical writer which means I focus a lot of energy on how characters move, what expressions are on their faces and why, as well as exploring physical ticks that are unique to the individual.

In the case of Kar’niss, put your focus on these key areas:

-His mannerisms. He has a lot of limbs in motion at once. Is he nervous? Then he may shuffle in place, or wiggle his pedipalps as a form of stress relief. The same can be true of excitement which might make his butt wag or joints sway. I imagine Kar’niss moves around a lot, he doesn’t strike me as the sort that can stand still for any length of time. He has an anxious energy and it only grows the more stressful the situation he’s in.

-His choice of words. Kar’niss speaks in third person often, rarely switching to first only under special circumstances. So when he speaks you’ll often use “We”, “Us, or “Our” when he is referring to himself. “I” does still make an appearance but it seems to only slip in when he’s seeking credit for something good he’s done. It’s almost a way of protecting himself from backlash. Only once he’s confident that he’s done something right will he take full credit for himself rather than acting as a collective. He also uses “Majesty” and “Queen” often and in his early days it’ll be his topic of choice.

-His personality. Kar’niss is a loyal fanatic that is terrified of failure, to the point that he’s blind to his own abuse. He also has a hair trigger temper and will lash out the second he senses a threat or an enemy of his “Queen”. This can come in the form of verbal or physical backlash depending on the degree of the offense. He has major trust issues which is easy to see why. He’ll be hesitant to let anyone close and is likely to scrutinize even the smallest detail out of paranoia. His mind has been broken twice and that comes with consequences. He may have panic attacks, hallucinations, or psychotic breaks that border between zoning out and talking to himself all the way up to violent outbursts. Look at it this way, your Tav is navigating a minefield and they must tread carefully or it’s bye-bye legs.

I think these are three good starting points to begin with. The great thing about fanfic is the world really is your oyster. If you have an idea brimming in your mind then unleash it, whether for an audience or strictly for yourself. None of us are trying to be Tolkien and that isn’t what it’s about anyway. It’s getting enjoyment from characters that we want to spend more time with in the environments we wish to see them in. I have no doubt you’ll do great and I will always support more Kar’niss in the world. Good luck and thanks for the cookies!

[olderthannetfic]

The thing with the rape of Damianos in Captive Prince, for me, is that I'm 99% sure that neither the writer nor most of the readers saw him non-consensually getting oral as rape. Forced to penetrate and forced oral on men is widely not seen as rape since "he came so he must have liked it/it wasn't so bad so lets not call it was it is/men want sex all the time". Generally I don't mind rape in fiction, hell I have a huge rape kink and especially of the sort where the victim is forced to like it (especially men, be it by other men, futas or women with strapons), including mind break and hypnosis. But it's still rape and I'm not gonna pretend it's anything but what it is. On the flip side a victim of rape getting with their rapist and that never being questioned or acknowledged by the narrative, or portrayed as a fucked up thing, is a huge huge squick of mine, be it in fanfic or published media unless it's in a horror setting and portrayed as fucked up. Lets not pretend that not more people would have acknowledged that Damianos was raped on the behest of Laurent if he was penetrated instead of "just getting oral and he orgasmed so it's fine". If you're into that trope go ahead. You do you. Kink tomato. For me it's a squick and I'm allowed to critizise Captive Prince for imo not doing the topic justice, not writing it well and brushing it under the rug like so many types of media do when it comes to non-consensual sexual acts on men. I'm allowed to voice my personal dislike for this particular trope, which yes, is a very common trope in older BL (the manga Bronze comes to mind and I didn't like it there either). I'm not an anti for it, especially since I have lots of kinks that make antis hate people like me and I've written and read my fair share of fucked up things and will continue to do so, including rape stuff with mind break and hypnosis. If the characters had been more well-rounded, the writing better or the plot and world-building richer, I maybe could have been swayed to look past my squick and enjoy the books anyway but I wasn't so I didn't. /rant

tldr Not everyone likes what you like and they're not automatically an anti for it. I'm pro writing whatever you like and I and others are also allowed to critizise things we see as flaws. What we're not allowed to do is stop you writing things are harassing readers and writer, both of which didn't happen in this case. I've never gave anyone grieve for reading or enjoying Captive Prince, I simply don't recommend it unless I know that person likes these particular tropes. Which is why I gave my copy to a friend who I know likes those tropes.

--

Honestly, my main issue with Captive Prince is how well it recreated everything I hated about anime fic circa 2002 (which was heavily influenced by things like Bronze). That could also be a selling point for some.

The part that makes it really annoying to me isn't the work itself but how often people present the work as something other than bog standard tropes from that pool.

[danpuff-ao3]

ChaosBlue, my Bethy, host of @fanficmaverickpodcast...I wasn't sure I would do this one, as she's not all over Tumblr, but, well...I'd be remiss not to take a chance to talk about such a sweet friend!

I first met dear B after the episode she did with perverse_idyll. The encouragement to reach out about an episode sort of stuck with me. I was so impressed with the work on the Fanfic Maverick podcast, and it seemed super fun...What did I have to lose? So I drafted an email and then promptly hid from the internet for a while, because wow scary! My brain is quite mean and I was thinking such rudeness as "she's going to laugh at you. Like, who tf is this lady and why would anyone wanna talk to her??" I am very anxious and insecure, okay? And I live in fear of rejection.

Only...that didn't happen! She was perfectly sweet and excited and we got to planning! We had to schedule a ways out, which was fine. At least in the moment it was fine, but that much time gave me plenty of time to worry myself to death LOL. And when it came time to record, she was very patient and encouraging. We had all sortsa tech issues to sort out, and then my nerves to settle.

Thus was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Sometime before our interview, I believe...(maybe, my recollection of the timeline is a bit fuzzy)...okay, so at some point, I reached out after listening to another FFM episode to explode astrology nerdery all over her. To which she was very receptive! And if you know me, you know I love to talk! The first several times I reached out via email just to chat, I was so worried I was being a bother. We're well past that now! Now I text whatever randomness is on my mind, and if I'm very chatty I return to emails.

Astrology, crystals, numerology, tarot, philosophy, all manner of things! We talk about life, and history, and a shared enthusiasm of terribly human characters.

What you need to know about Bethy is...she is the GOAT, fr. (And not just because she's a Capricorn, though that certainly helps.) She is a KING. She is Daddy. She is badass and amazing. Super professional and personable on the podcast. So creative, and so much enthusiasm for life and for people. She has an endless well of curiosity and compassion.

We've talked a lot about my anxiety and how long and how hard I've fought through it. How much it took for me to reach out to her in the first place. And I'm glad I did. Not only was being on the podcast twice (so far!) a great experience, but more importantly it earned me an incredible friend who I am lucky to have. And it's comforting to know that...facing those fears and trying new things can bring you all sorts of blessings. The most important of which are friends.

Okay no time to cry, gotta leave RECS.

The Fanfic Maverick Podcast

Ep. 3 - #CobraKai - Interview With Fanfiction Writer Storyshark2005 (@talkinfanfic) - I had 0 interest in Cobra Kai but listening to this? Suddenly interest!

Fanfiction History with Talkin' Fanfic PART TWO (@talkinfanfic) and Part 1 on Talkin' Fanfic here.

Ep. 20 - #GameOfThrones - Interview With Fanfiction Writer Priestess_of_Groove

Ep. 21 - #HarryPotter - Interview With Fanfiction Writer SouthronWildling - Drarry a/b/o fic!

Ep. 25 - #HarryPotter - Interview With Fanfiction Writer Perverse_Idyll (@perverse-idyll) - probably my favorite episode so far!

Year-End Recap: Behind The Scenes Chat - 1 year anniversary episode with ChaosBlue and her brother! Very wholesome stories and a sweet sibling vibe! Gave me all the feelings. (Also I too have a brother David so I was weirdly extra excited??)

Ep. 28 - #HP: NextGen & MHA - Interview With Fanfiction Writer MicheleBlack (@micheleblack)

Ep. 29 - #TheTerror - Interview With Fanfiction Writer Snagov (@ripeteeth) - another case of "wow I had no interest in this fandom before, but now...?" Also teeth is amazing!

Ep. 30 - #HP: Tom Riddle - Interview With Fanfiction Writer Phantomato (@phantomato) - oh wow lotsa good stuff in this one! Gave me all the Voldemort feels when I hadn't really had much interest in the character prior. This episode had the biggest impact on my actual reading habits as I started to look more into Voldemort-centric fics than I had before, and I'm quite glad for it!

Ep. 32 - #HP: Snarry - Interview With Fanfiction Writer Danpuff - oh look, it's me!

KC PLanet Comicon Recap With Talkin' Fanfic - ngl I wish I had been there for Comicon last year and this year! Seems so fun!

Ep. 35 - #OurFlagMeansDeath - Interview With Fanfiction Writer Mia_Ugly (@mia-ugly) - I knew mia_ugly from Snarry fic (of course) but now OFMD???? I ran to those fics, let me tell you. (I really do need to read more OFMD fics, fr.)

October Frolic: Controversial Fanfic Ships & Tropes - me again! We do love our controversial stuff!

Ep. 46 - #Supernatural - Interview With Fanfiction Writer Thanks Tacos

Ep. 49 - #Sherlock - Interview With Fanfiction Writer AtlinMerrick

Ep. 51 - #HP: Snarry & Severitus - Interview With Fanfiction Writer SerenaEW - loved this one! I was so excited to see she'd interviewed Serena! What a sweetie (the both of them.)

Truly a great podcast, even if you're not familiar with specific fandoms. They're still cool to hear about and it's always so fascinating to hear from other creators. And through it all lives on ChaosBlue's great love and appreciation for fandom, creation, learning, and people.

I love you, buddy!

for an explanation about Mutuals March, or to figure out why i wrote you a thing, please check out this post.

[tmmyhug]

bestie (nicest way possible) as someone who was new to the fandom last September I wouldn’t recommend making a sideblog and like talking about comics/batfam/etc if you haven’t read the comics? people get really touchy about that, because fanfic interpretation tend to be really far from how characters are in canon (and character relationships get butchered and softened and straight up invented for plot, which once again, creative liberty + that can be fun but often tends to be incredibly ooc & excludes women (cass, helena, steph, etc) or poc (duke (though his case is different considering when he was introduced), cass, damian’s poc but isn’t really ignored) in favor of white boys (jason especially, who shows up far later than said women & isn’t really close to the fam yet fandom tends to give him their relationships with the family) so like...you’ll probably be mostly wrong and people are rather unforgiving about that because they’re tired of people that haven’t read comics talking about the characters (incorrectly) while refusing to interact w/ source material, and it’s a huge problem & very prevalent so I can’t really blame them? idk I just don’t think it’s a good idea unless you want to reblog just art and stuff, which is fine! but like...everything's really confusing w/out proper research if you want to get into the fandom (everything post-reboot/post-2011 is largely ignored unless said otherwise because the reboot was so awful), so i just want to point that out! but I don’t want to be mean, just some advice :) (if you ever change your mind about comics, just give the say so! we’re (and i) am very glad to help you out with what to read and in what order, and take it from someone who was in your position six months ago, they are truly really fun!) /gen /nm

not to worry my friend this sounds pretty much exactly like the dsmp experience where new people never properly interacted with the canon content and the fanon got more and more bastardized over time as a result and everyone got touchy abt it. including me . you could say im familiar . im just on the other side now (oblivious newbie) which should be interesting. i have no intention of treading on anyone’s toes or making assumptions or even talking abt the characters with any sort of authority. if i do make a sideblog it’ll be just to reblog art n stuff.

plus i am ah. very aware that the fanon im consuming is an extremely warped perspective of the actual comics. and with how many different “canons” there are i’m sure it’s a mess. at least in dsmp we could always point back to just the og streams. here i’m gathering there’s 174958637 comics + 284871 writers + movies + live action AND animated tv shows + multiple video games and they ALL have intersecting characters and possible canons it’s giving me a headache just thinking abt it dear lord

so yeah. i’m perfectly happy sequestering myself in an oblivious fanon corner and not claiming to know anything. normally for a new fandom i would seek out the full source material and examine it thoroughly but theres just. too much. and i also just don’t enjoy reading comics. at least not the superhero ones. (i think the art doesn’t appeal to me? and something about the combination of written word and still visual art like. rankles at my sense of pacing and story <- just guessing though) i did watch the under the red hood movie tjough and it was cool so i may do more of those!

i’m glad you said you like talking abt this cause i just wrote you a whole essay lol. if i may ask do you know of any good fanon/fanfic content i could check out that stays mostly true to the comics canon? i’m curious ! but regardless thank you for the very nice message and warning it’s appreciated mwah

[doublegoblin]

Author Ask Tag Game

Well this is a biggin! Thanks for the TAG @gummybugg

I send an invite to @asterhaze (Lol I know gummy tagged ya but nyeh) @angie-j-kay @tailoroffates @tisiphonewolfe @lola-theshowgrl @conkers-theficwriter (that's right I got you and your alt, talk about that fanfic!) @stanrendipity @randomstupidchaos @catchingbigfish

I'll be centering my attention on Rituals and Red Tape because I am nothing if not self-indulgent of my baby.

(1) What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

Your adversities are with you but do not have to define you Bodies are meant to be used as an expression of ones self Corporations are eldritch entities who no matter how much love they shove up your ass will replace you in a heart beat There are no true transitory spaces with which your actions can be left behind, what you may see as a place to visit is someone else's home. Angry Nihilism is the easiest and most childest response to discovering you are not the main character of a story. and Let others be content in their life, not everyone wants to be out there making a name for themselves.

Why did I choose these? To be completely honest I didn't set out with them in mind. These are what has sprung up as I delved into writing more and more and was finding some elements that were hidden from me while I fiddled with the keys. These are as much lessons for an audience as they are for myself.

(2) What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

So I know the stigma that was (maybe still is) attached to this statement but it comes from my dreams. Wait wait wait let me explain! So for a while I have had (although I haven't for a little bit) an ongoing sort of continuous dream. Not like the same dream over and over but more these dreams take place in the same location and I am always in this same role. I would give my partner "lore updates" every so often because it was something fun. Well on a long car ride (3hr) we spent the time chit chatting and I realized I wanted to make a story out of this. So during the same car ride the basic skeleton of the story started to emerge. Then wham bam thank ya mam fast forward and here we are. A lot of the world building also just kinda spring from my own imagination. Like I'm sure I maybe got the pieces from soooomewhere but can't tell ya, unless they are an obvious reference to something like the Giants on The Farm being "as tall as windmill" being a reference to Don Quixote, just small little nuggets here and there.

(3) What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

Alex is honestly just trying to get through each assignment with all their limbs still on their body and as little paperwork to do as possible. They just want to have a nice easy life that is comfortably mundane. What I want to do is entertain first and foremost. Like sure my stuff can have lessons and morals and whattheshit but if it isn't entertaining to at least one person I feel I have failed. And also, maybe help someone who needs to work through some stuff do so through Alex or anyone else in the book. I can't say for certain that can or will happen but there is always a chance.

(4) How many chapters is your story going to have?

No idea, as many as it needs to be told in full. I'll know when we get there lol.

(5) Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

Teehee time to self promote! This is original content. And I post the first draft chapters on here but I post the more edited and more concrete chapters on my WattPad MaxwellAlabaster I try and have the stuff on here accessible through their own dedicated pages on my blog and up to date.

(6) When and why did you start writing?

I started to write this story about a year ago. It started as a writing only for me kind of thing as I was dealing with some life stuff. But, once I started to write and post my stuff on here I really fell in love with the hobby and putting my things out there for people to hopefully enjoy!

(7) Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

Despite my verboseness I can be quite shy and anxious. So i tend to follow people who follow me first lol. It's not out of a self inflated ego but an uneasy feeling. So far it's worked out well and I've really enjoyed the people I have interacted with! Even if it's just getting little hearts here and there.

Something I adopted early and fully: Write for yourself (but we've all heard that before!) Fine! Write slop. Like just absolute pig pleasing slop. Not everything needs to be the next big seller, the most enjoyable, or "good" piece of literature. Write what makes you happy and what you have fun writing. Go outside your comfort zone and make an absolute mess of it all. You don't have to post everything after all. This is advice for even those of you that rely on writing for an income. When you can, just write the hottest and most fun garbage that you want. It's really refreshing to just go hog wild and look at the word doc or whatever and go "Wow...this is horrible, I love it".

Also don't let people tell you there is only one way to write. Like yeah grammar and stuff is good for being comprehensible, but there is power in each punctuation you use;or leave out~ Get flowery with your language too sometime Steve doesn't cheer; sometimes his voice carries so high the birds grow jealous.

Lastly: you don't need an english degree or whatever to be a writer, look at me, I have a freakin science degree. Did you put words on a page to convey a meaning of feeling? You are a writer. Don't let others take that away from you. You are a writer because you write dam it.

[ble-ed-mo-re]

PLEEEEEASE TELL ME ABT UR KIDSWAP AU!! tess looks so cool... they all do actually!! are their classpects swapped at all? also, what pronouns they be all up n usin? 0retty much just spare any details mew have on them atm, if u dont mind none :33!!

:D!!! ill start w the beta kids bc theyre the only ones posted so far and i dont wanna spoil anything for the other characters until im done

vika is the prince of light as she is a very destructive person. she does eventually get over her edgy 4chan phase but not without getting her ass beat. she uses she/her pronouns but finds when people use it/its pronouns for her funny. she is youre average chronically online teen in the early and late 2000s. everyone at school thinks shes super weird and cringy due to solely talking about online drama. was there for the beginnings of christory. shes autistic and says shes “not like those retards” even though she absolutely is like them

kali is the mage of space. she is almost like your average goth girl at school, only that she isnt really goth. but she tries to be. she is obsessed with vampires, witches, werewolves- any type of popular mythical creatures. she has a passion for old school literature. rumours at her school about her is that shes a real life vampire due to her vampiristic tendencies. (drinking her own blood, and drinking the blood of animals.) she is the secret writer of my immortal, or so she claims. strictly uses she/her and will curse anyone who misgenders her

tess is the rouge of mind. she dropped out of school due to [redacted] and not having sort of support for her blindness. shes youtube famous as she posts videos of herself doing sick skateboard tricks and doing stupid dares. she lives life on the edge and has almost gotten herself killed numerous times. shes almost constantly in a manic state of mind, thinking that nothing could ever kill her and that she is safe from everything and anything. her “friends” in real life encourage her dangerous behaviours and delusions. she mainly uses she/her but honestly doesnt care what people call her

koda is the page of blood. he is a firm hater of bugs. which is ironic considering the fact that he lives outdoors. he lives on a island closer to the north rather than south. he is a notorious furry artist and lolcow, as his rage episodes are extremely funny to look at. he lives on furry sites and forums online. he is a little hater at heart. he absolutely hates being compared to the brother bear movie and will explode at people you do that. he uses he/him but later on starts to question everything

vika and kali met when vika attempted to troll kali on one of her cringy fanfics. it resulted in kali emailing vika all of her private information and a picture of her house. vika was instantly in love

kali and koda met when kali commissioned him for a drawing of a gay werewolf and vampire art piece. theyve stayed in contact due to their shared love of werewolves

tess met vika when vika also attempted to troll her. tess started to mess with her back, which ended up with vika getting angry and getting labeled as a lolcow. tess hasnt left her alone since

koda and tess met on a online chat forum about homeschooling advice and how to self teach yourself basic skills in life. they ended up exchanging emails, and eventually chumhandles. koda developed a little crush on her, and theyve been friends ever since

vika and koda met when on one of vikas anonymous accounts, she commissioned art of her secret fursona. koda doesnt know about vikas trolling and posts on various drama sites such as kiwifarms and lolcow. she hasnt posted any of his stuff on the sites and doesnt plan on it

kali and tess met through their shared “hate” of vika. kali gives tess all of vikas accounts that shes ever made (not including her anonymous one) to make sure tess keeps bothering her.

if u have any more questions feel free to ask!

[ghoulangerlee]

🍓🌿🦋?

🍓 how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

like every other child who finally got access to a computer at like 15 years old, I discovered Dreamstreet self insert fanfiction on MSNGroups (link of who Dreamstreet is if anyone's unfamiliar). I was like OH that's so cool, this was like the coolest thing 15 year old me could have found because people write stories about things they like? And then quite literally at the same exact time I found that, I ended up getting into anime as well and wrote my very first fanfiction for Beyblade because like if all those people who really liked Dreamstreet could write fanfic about them, then surely I could write one about my favorite anime at the time, right? hahaha. And we've been here ever since. So, as to say, if you like my writing, then you need to thank Jesse McCartney because without him I wouldn't have discovered what fanfiction was. I really wish I was kidding haha. But, alas. My sordid truth about discovering fanfiction.

🌿give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

i think that like, the actual important thing is to not force it. if you feel that block working on a specific project then take a step back and work on something else if you really have the urge to write something. if you're just feeling stuck and can't write anything then don't force yourself to write because there's some moral obligation there (because its a wip or because you're in a fandom that demands fic to be written daily etc) because you're going to burn yourself out and make writing your lease favorite thing ever if you do that. (i speak from experience).

Sometimes switching to a different wip can help, but also just. take a step back and going outside or going to a different room, letting your thoughts take you somewhere while you're cooking or doing a mundane task; these are all the ways I deal with writers block and low creativity. sometimes you just need a change of scenery, sometimes you need to just rest.

i think the most important takeaway is that your creativity and your ability to write is like a muscle, and sometimes it gets tired. so letting it rest is probably the best way to deal with that. just rest.

🦋 share something that has been on your heart and mind lately 

the lack of community in fandom spaces these days. it used to be all about discussion and collaboration and fun little challenges and writing contests and now it just feels like people who write and draw are expected to churn out stuff, "content" for people to read and "consume" because if you don't then you become irrelevant.

its sort of like how attitudes with television series have changed over the years. a lot of people want completed fanfiction to read Right Now but don't want to put in the work on supporting the author while it's still a work in progress. gotta give the people a 6 chapter fic that's not over 50k but has a deep enough plot to keep someone entertained.

i remember when fanfic i loved on ffnet and livejournal wouldn't update for months because these people writing and sharing this free stuff were just regular people who had lives outside of fanfic. one of my favorite authors from the CSI fandom from way back in the day disappeared for an entire year, no one really knew why except for those closest to them. and then when they came back and posted the next chapter of their fic, they were flooded with love and support, people saying "i'll be with you however long this takes to finish and beyond" and it was just such a beautiful thing.

now days it feels like you have to post regularly otherwise you become irrelevant and then forgotten and like. yes there still are so many good people out there in fandom who love the WIPs just like they love completed stories, who create community with others and do all they can to show their love and support to people who write and draw art, but it's slowly becoming a thing that's rarer to see than the norm that it used to be.

and this is just like, what i've seen in several of the fandoms ive been in/am in now and like. when i tell you i still regularly go back and read fic from older fandoms i was in. CSI, Marvel, all of them, but nowdays its like, the source content ends or something and people jump ship immediately instead of allowing the material to continue to live on.

It's really sad, to be honest.

[t1gerlilly]

I saw someone talking about the potential scraping of A03 and saying “now you writers will know how terrible AI is”.

And this…made me laugh, though probably not for the reasons you think. Yes, the poster was overwrought in that very dramatic way that makes anyone over twenty five have to hide a smile. But it was actually all the assumptions in it that were funny.

Ok. but to explain this, you need to know a thing or two. The first is that I can’t write porn. Not for any moral reason. I don’t like writing porny bits for the same reason I don’t like writing fight scenes. They’re set pieces and distract from the plot. And…um…also because I have a very juvenile sense of humor about words and…well.. I can’t write ‘throbbing’ without a smirk and at the point of purple prose levels of engorgement I’m in gales of laughter and inevitably write the scene off a cliff. Literally can’t do it. I’m not proud of it, but I can’t help it.

Of course, when it comes to fanfic, which is largely erotica, this is a definite handicap. I have endless respect for people who write good erotica, I’m just not one of them. In my first slash fandom (on Live Journal, if you can believe it) there were writers I just adored. And that was the fandom I figured out I can’t write erotica - because I tried and…just sort of glossed over those bits in what was otherwise quite a long and somewhat funny story.

Fast forward a couple of years and I’m perusing my old fandom on A03, just for kicks, to find that a writer that I thought was amazing had basically taken my story and rewritten it WITH ALL THE PORNY BITS ADDED. I was thrilled! I loved it. It was like getting your music sampled by your favorite band. It was fascinating, because I could see how the humor was in some ways incompatible with the erotica scenes. It’s still one of the coolest things of my writing life. Someone liked my stuff enough to make it better. Or at least… different. Because one if the things that was obvious was that while I can’t write erotica - there were some things I was better at …and that just blew my mind. I’d been so focused on the stuff I wasn’t good at, I never realized what I WAS good at, which was like an extra gift.

So when I saw the “now you’ll know what it’s like to have your work plagiarized!” post I just giggled. Because my work had already been ‘taken’ in their parlance, but honestly a good ravaging was exactly what it needed. My reaction was not an offended ‘how dare they, woe is me’, but utter delight.

That’s partly because of how I think about creative endeavors. It just seems completely hypocritical to get offended if someone riffs off of a fanfic that you made riffing off of someone else’s creative work. And…and that’s how oral history and narrative is SUPPOSED to work - to evolve and be enriched. It’s only with the printing press that people thought they could pin a story down and preserve it like a butterfly under glass. That they could own it. Hoard it.

The whole point of creative expression is to communicate- to share- and that’s so in opposition to how people talk about art and AI it sometimes makes my head spin.

Like, if you want to make sure no one can copy your style- don’t share your art. Or you could also go the way of the music industry (which commodified style to the point where living artists were prevented from making a living with their own voice). Or you could do what writers have done. Recognized that while GPT can produce some cool poems - it has nothing to do with the experience of creating in your own voice to communicate your own experience and thoughts. Creating, collaborating, and having your work be adopted by others is such a sustaining joy …I really don’t understand why anyone wants to give that up to be angry. It’s…weird.

[thanatle]

Update

I posted this in a tweet, but I will be changing how I do fanfics. 

It’s been years since I could do constant uploading for a multi-chapter fanfics that aren’t composed of one-shots. I really hate leaving my WiPs in purgatory because of writer’s block and irl things forcing me to go onto autopilot just to get by each day. I don’t want my readers to think my fanfics are dead if they seem unfinished between the months of not uploading the next chapter.

I will post multi-chapter fanfics once they are completely written/proof-read. 

[spaceyaceface]

History - Chapter One

Pairing: Steve Harrington x fem!Reader

Warnings/Cliches: Steve’s dumb dad, yelling, fighting (pretty brief), tiny bit of bullying, popular boy and nerdy girl, slow burn, strangers to lovers (eventually)

Story Summary: Steve Harrington remembers Y/N from high school. He never intended on her getting mixed up with all of his monsters. He never intended to fall in love with her. 

Chapter Summary: In junior year of high school, Y/N is assigned a project with Steve Harrington. Maybe he’s not as bad as she thinks. 

A/N: Hello all! I’m starting this series and I’m SO excited for it!! Shout out to my bestie @multi-obsessed-fanfic-writer for motivating me to write it lol. It’s going to be a pretty slow burn, and after this chapter, I’m going to start integrating it more into the main storylines of the show. Let me know if you want to be tagged in any future chapters!

W.C.: 1.7k

TAGLIST OPEN

REQUESTS OPEN

_______________________

Steve Harrington and Y/N L/N had history.

It wasn’t long—it would hardly be a sentence in a textbook if anyone would bother to record it at all. But for better or for worse, it was there.

It had started in the beginning of junior year. Y/N was a good student—not perfect like Nancy Wheeler, but good. She turned stuff in, passed her tests, and most importantly, she kept her head down.

She was sure most people considered her a loner. It wasn’t completely true; she had a couple of friends who operated similarly to her. Lorraine was her closest by far, but Y/N still rarely hung out with her outside of school. She didn’t mind it that way.

Parties and popularity had never been her thing—reading overdue library books and observing people who thought no one was looking were her favorite pastimes.

Imagine her dismay when the king of Hawkins High himself had been assigned as her partner for the year’s first group project.

To his credit, he didn’t look any more thrilled. But Tommy and Carol had this class with him, and they had paired up immediately, leaving him scrambling with the leftovers until Mr. Chase had told him to quit holding up class and take the one open seat that remained—the one to Y/N’a right.

He plopped down with a sigh, arms folded over his chest without sparing a glance at her. She would have been hurt if it wasn’t entirely expected.

Mr. Chase droned on about the ins and outs about the project. It was pretty straight forward—a History presentation with sort of visual aid, due a week from then. He stopped talking the last few minutes to let people discuss with their partners on times to meet.

Steve finally looked over at Y/N. “I can’t fail this assignment, my dad’s been on my tail about this class since it started.”

Y/N raised an eyebrow. “Is this your way of telling me I’m doing all the work?”

“No, I just—you better not make me fail, alright?” He took her pencil from off the desk and scribbled his phone number and address in her notebook. “You can come over after school and we’ll figure it out.”

“Okay,” she said slowly. “Do you—“

The bell rang and Steve shot out of his chair. He pointed a finger at her. “My house, 4 o’clock. Don’t be late.” And with that, he turned back to Tommy and Carol.

Y/N rolled her eyes as she finished packing up her things. This was going to be a long week.

———

The Harrington’s house was pretty much what Y/N expected—big, nice, and nothing like where she lived. She was sure her ancient car was an eyesore just parked on the street.

She trekked up to the front door, backpack slung over her shoulder. Her knocks seemed to echo down the street. After a couple of moments, the door swung open.

“L/N,” he said simply, leaning against the doorframe.

“Harrington.”

He opened the door wider. “Well, come on in. We can go upstairs.”

She followed him in, trying not to seem hesitant. She’d never been to his house before, and he was clearly aware of that fact. Despite all the parties he had thrown when his parents were away, she’d never bothered to show up. She’d never really been invited, either.

He led her upstairs into his room. It was what she had expected—just as everything else she’d seen of Steve Harrington so far. Some clutter around the room, posters of girls in swimsuits, cans of soda on his dresser.

Steve plopped down into the middle of his bed. Y/N elected to sit on the chair by his desk.

“Ok,” he said. “So I was thinking, like we need to get at least a C on this, so—“

She let out a small snort without meaning too.

He shot her a look. “What?”

“Nothing. Just… a C? Shouldn’t you aim higher than that?”

He shrugged, unfazed. “I’m just trying to pass. Keep the grades up just enough for swim team.”

Y/N tried not to roll her eyes. “Ok, fine. I promised we’ll get better than a C.”

“Good. Anyway, what did you think—“

A door slammed downstairs. Steve swore underneath his breath. “They weren’t supposed to be home until tomorrow. Just--hold tight, I’ll be back in a second.”

He got up, closing the door behind him and leaving Y/N alone in his room. After a few moments, she heard voices talking; Steve and another man. She assumed it was his father. 

It only took a few moments for the words to get heated. 

She couldn’t tell exactly what was being said, but it was several minutes of loud back and forth. She heard steps coming back up the stairs. 

“Get back down here!” the man yelled. 

“And listen to you scream at me for crap I didn’t do?!” Steve threw the door open and he slammed it close behind him. He was fuming, hands trembling. His expression softened when he saw Y/N sitting there. 

His shoulders dropped, releasing some of the tension as he sat on the edge of the bed. He cleared his throat. “I’m um... Sorry you had to hear that.”

Her lips pressed together in a tight smile. “I’m sorry it happened.” She was surprised to find that she was completely genuine in saying it. 

A sigh escaped his lips. “Well, it’s pretty normal around here. Since they’re home, we’ll probably want to go to your place to work on stuff.” 

She nodded. In the next moment, Steve changed the subject to the project. It was obvious he didn’t want to talk about it--it was something that he had never intended Y/N to see. The next hour or so passed uneventfully, and soon Y/N was on her way out. 

As she left the house (quietly, as Steve had insisted to not disturb his parents), she couldn’t help but feel she understood Steve Harrington a little bit better. 

------

The next day, Steve came over to her house right at 4 o’clock. He hadn’t acknowledged her at all at school--not that she had expected him to. 

She motioned for him to come in. He took off his jacket as he did, setting it on the chair by the door. 

“Um, I heard some... yelling or something next door?” he said. “You don’t live next to a pyscho murderer or anything, right?”

She chuckled. “No, that’s just the Hendersons. Dustin probably has his crazy friends with him, playing Dungeons and Demons or whatever. They get pretty worked up about it.”

“Oh, of course. Should have known.” 

If she didn’t know better, he might have been a bit worried for her for a second there. 

She led him over to the kitchen, sitting down at one of the barstools. He took the one next to her. 

“Alright, so I’ve been working on the visual aid, it’s not much so far but it’s a work in progress.” She gestured at the diorama she had built since they had talked over it the night before. 

Steve laughed. “Not much so far? Are you kidding me? It looks pretty much done.”

“It’s not done yet, I mean, the scaling is all off, and the coloring--”

“Did you seriously work on that all last night? That’s what you spend your weeknights doing?”

Y/N rolled her eyes. “Look Harrington, I promised you better than a C, but I want to get an A on this, so sue me if I’m taking it seriously.”

He put his hands up defensively. “No, no, it’s fine. I appreciate it, really, but don’t you ever do anything fun?”

She glared at him.

“I mean, come on , L/N. You’re a junior in high school and I’ve never seen you out on a Friday night.”

“I don’t really like going out, Harrington. And besides, if I ever want to get out of this hellhole, I’ve got to work my tail off to do it. Not everyone has daddy’s money to use.” She covered her mouth with her hand as Steve raised his eyebrows. “I’m sorry, that was probably too far.”

He shook his head a little bit. “No, you’re right. I shouldn’t be poking fun at how hard you work. But... it couldn’t hurt to have fun every once and while.”

“Yeah. I guess.” There was quiet for a moment. Y/N grabbed her notebook, flipping it to her page with notes. “Well, I guess we can get started, then.”

Once again, the night passed. And so did the night after that. And the next one. By the end of the week, they had a project they both could be proud of. Steve seemed a bit surprised at himself with it. 

It wasn’t the until the day after the presentation that Steve Harrington did something unexpected. 

She was kneeling down to gather the books that had been pushed out of her hands. She usually managed to avoid these sorts of things--it was the reason she kept her head down in the first place. But despite her efforts to fade in to the background, there was always the occasional observant bully that found themselves an easy target. She went to grab her last book, but a hand was already holding it out to her. Confused, she looked up to see the hand belonged to no other than Steve Harrington. 

Taking the book from him, she stood. 

“Thanks?” The word came out more like a question than she had intended. 

“Yeah,” he said. He folded his arms. “They do it because you don’t stand up for yourself.”

“Right,” you said slowly. 

“I’m just.... yeah.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Okay.” He head turned over his shoulder as he heard Tommy calling his name. 

“You can do better than them, you know,” Y/N blurted out. 

His head shot back toward her. “What?” 

“You just... forget it. Thanks.” 

And without another word, she turned heel and headed down the hall. 

Since that week, a silent understanding had passed between the two. She didn’t know quite how to say it, but her and Steve Harrington understood each other a little better now--maybe better than either of their groups of friends did. When they passed in the hall, they didn’t look at each other. But no more bullies taunted her. And she wouldn’t let her friends talk to harshly about the King of Hawkins High. 

Her and Steve Harrington had... something. It was small. It was brief. It was insignificant. But it was there. 

[halfyourheart]

Hej, I'm really bad at finding fanfics that I actually enjoy. So I was wondering if you knew any 5sos fanfics where it's just cute stuff. Like just two people obsessed with each other. Some kissing and fluff maybe :)) Sorry if this is too random, but it was worth a try

hi hi hi anon! 💗 

Sorry for the freaking late response, life has been busy 🥲

This might be stuff that you’ve already read, so I apologise in advance but onto the fluff (in no particular order)! 

(I assumed since you requested some kissing and fluff that we were aiming for a general and/or teen rating - lemme know if that’s wrong 💛) 

(also didn’t know what length you were looking for - so some have a bit of plot and some are shorter one-shots 💗) 

I really just went through some of my favourite fic writers and picked some personal favourite fics with your requests in mind :D (also they’re very luke centric because… yeah)(but every writer has fluff related to another pairing I’m pretty sure so check them out!)

the essentials - galacticsugar / @burstingsunrise

Pairing: Michael Clifford & Luke Hemmings

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Words: 1677

Summary: They’ve only been on tour for a couple weeks, but there’s already stray glitter littering the bottom of Luke’s black toiletry bag. 

I immediately thought of this fic, because it’s one of the softest things I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It’s friendship, but that doesn’t deter from the fluff! and it never will! it’s very sweet to explore luke’s relationship with makeup, michael’s relationship with luke, and Michaels relationship with luke’s relationship with makeup! 

Putting on makeup is such a personal thing. It’s a fun little ritual that makes you feel good and sharing that with another person is such a lovely thing !! like here is something I love !! and I am sharing that with you !! it’s an extension of me !! and michael actively taking part even if he’s complaining about it (I mean banter is their love language so) is just AH. 

I think about this fic a lot. 

crowning glory - kaleidoscopeminds / @kaleidoscopeminds

Pairing: Luke Hemmings & Calum Hood

Rating: General Audiences

Words: 1000

Summary: It’s not unusual for Luke to find somewhere to nap pre-soundcheck if they have time, curling his too-long limbs up into an impressively small croissant of Luke Hemmings, his curly head just poking out the side

Napping with someone, or in this case, one person is napping while the other is just in their presence, is just so much casual intimacy, which is my kryptonite, that it makes my head explode. 

This is a routine that they’ve established !! meaning it’s repetitive and something that comforts them both !! they feel safe enough to let their guards down and just exist in each other’s space. Calum doesn’t want to talk to anyone so he just sits with sleeping luke and pets him. That is the softest shit and it makes me want to sob. 

This is short and sweet and the gratuitous descriptions of luke, specifically his curls, will send me to an early grave. 

stolen shirts/heart - kaleidoscopeminds / @kaleidoscopeminds

Pairing: Luke Hemmings/Calum Hood

Rating: Teen and Up Audience 

Words: 6132

Summary: There's a sort of inevitability that comes with being in this band. A set of concrete circumstances that never seems to change. They annoy each other to hell, they know every last thing about each other, Calum is in love with Luke, and Luke always steals Calum's clothes. 

That's the way it is. That's the way they all know it is, except maybe Luke, who might be ignorant to the third thing on the list.

Fluff, clothes sharing, and calum being obsessed with Luke, what more could you ask for? 

I like the passage of time being marked by what items of clothing Luke has stolen from Calum. That’s how the calendar should be 😌 All events can be related to this !! and I will die on this hill. 

sweet and salty - galacticsugar / @burstingsunrise

Pairing: Luke Hemmings/Calum Hood

Rating: Teen and Up Audience

Words: 9290

Summary: “We could get a bunch of stuff to try? See what’s good before we commit to buying anything in bulk?”

“That’s actually not bad,” Luke admits. “Go to the store, grab some things that catch our eye, try them out…” A fantastic idea is formulating in his head. An excuse to spend even more time with Calum. 

“We could make a night of it? Like have a full-on sleepover? Really surround ourselves in the sorority girl vibe.” He chuckles to ensure Calum is aware this is very much a joke. But also a very serious suggestion. But also definitely a joke.

Frat boys cake buying an assortment of bath bombs, face masks, nail polish, ONESIES, etc, and doing stereotypical sleepover things in the name of science (well in the name of making a gift basket for a sorority)? Iconic. 

I love you humour. I love you Luke jk unless-ing the whole time. I love you idiots in love trope. I love you frat boy!cake. I love you snapbacks (something I never thought I would ever say). I love you casual flirting that constantly confuses them because what are they! 

Cake is ridiculous in this and I love it !! 

I leave you with this snippet, “Has Luke’s friendship with Calum just been one long series of dates, and somewhere in there they just forgot they could be kissing?” 

you wanna be closer - kaleidoscopeminds /@kaleidoscopeminds

Pairing: Luke Hemmings/Calum Hood

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Words: 5063

Summary: In hindsight, Calum probably should have seen it coming. In hindsight, he supposes he was incredibly obtuse about it. And in hindsight, he wishes he had pulled his head out of his ass earlier (thanks Michael), so he could have been doing this earlier. He’s not dwelling on hindsight though when his brain is occupied with other things, specifically the way that Luke’s mouth feels against his own lips.

Five times Luke and Calum touch platonically, and once when Calum realises maybe it was never platonic at all.

Essentially a love letter to physical affection, my beloved !! Physical affection, whether platonic or romantic, is my shit !! Hugs!! forehead kisses!! hand holding!! legs touching just to remind the person that you’re next to them!! sharing space!!   just existing together !! 

As a 5+1 fic the scenes are little pockets of lovely moments with physical affection!! Fluffy touches!! 

The reminiscing in this fic about the progression of their relationship makes me very soft but also incredibly feral. 

Off-screen - allsassnoclass / @allsassnoclass

Pairing: Luke Hemmings/Ashton Irwin

Rating: General Audiences 

Words: 3038

Summary: Now that classes are being taught from home due to the pandemic, students are getting a glimpse into Professor Irwin's home life, especially when his mysterious husband keeps interrupting class.

An outsider POV about secret husbands lashton? I LOVE IT. I love an outsider POV because you get to see a pairings dynamic in a way they themselves probably don’t see. You see little subconscious things they don’t notice until pointed out! love that stuff :D Can’t get enough of people watching honestly !! 

and what if you’d never smiled at me - kaleidoscopeminds / @kaleidoscopeminds

Pairing: Luke Hemmings/Calum hood

Rating: Teen and Up Audience

Words: 14910

Summary: He opens up the loaf from the cut, exposing the pale inside that was previously encased by the dark crust. He wonders if you were to split people open whether they would match their appearance; he worries that his own exterior might be a little too much like the hard crust of his sourdough. Not Luke though. He’s pretty sure people like Luke are as soft and golden on the inside as they are on the outside. x Calum's really not happy about the new bakery that's just opened up down the road from his own bakery; it's gaudy and pastel and covered in flowers and is an offence to the name of baking. At least he's got a new regular to make him feel better about it all. One with a smile that can turn a day around just like that, even on a Tuesday.

I had to include a bakery au so I just added it!! I think it fills the obsessed prompt pretty well. Pining idiots my beloved. 

These are just some that I love! I didn’t want to go overboard because I feel like I’ve already done that agahsjsjsjsz

I would check out all the writers I’ve listed on AO3 because I’m sure there’s way more fluff, various ratings, pairings, etc. I’m just too focused on Luke 🧍‍♂️🥲

I hope this is kind of what you had in mind ! 💛

[1-a-b-1]

FANFIC FRIDAY!!!!!!!!

(Don’t love this one, been a really weird week for me, but it’ll do) -

To set the scene, Asher and David still live together.

There is no Babe, nor is there an Angel.

Gabe is still alive, never mentioned in the story, but what kind of writer would I be to not include plot-line expander, of sorts. Opportunistic as ever, on my part. Plus, I love him, so, you know, there’s that.

-

-

-

Asher had just gotten home, the day visably wearing on him. All he wanted to do was relax with his best friend while eating pizza and wings.

After taking off his shoes and coat, he walked into the kitchen, where he found David, with his head down, crying.

Without any hesitation, Asher ran over to him, “Buddy, what happened?”

His head shot up, mind racing a mile a minute, wondering how, 1. He didn’t notice Asher come home and 2. Why Asher was home so early.

“Why aren’t you working?” He asked meanly. David was always like that when he had, on the rarest of occasions, found himself in a vulnerable situation.

“What do mean? It’s already half-past-six? I’m a little late, actually.”

”Oh, shit! I’m such an idiot. How could I lose track of time?” He quickly sprung from his seat, and moving to go to his room.

Asher grabbed his hand, firm, but at the same time, so gently.

“Buddy, please, tell me what happened. I mean, if anything, you’ll be worrying me more by hiding off in your room instead of explaining yourself now.”

At that moment, David broke, quiet tears fell down his face. Asher swiftly, but still gently, lead him over to the couch and waited quietly for David to confess, and confess he did.

“That girl I was seeing and I, we broke up.”

It took everything in Asher not to crack a wide and excited smile. Sure, the girl was fine. And, sure, he had plenty of friendly conversations with her, but she had what he wanted: David.

“Awww, I’m so sorry. Do you know why she broke up with you? I mean, regardless of that, I’m sorry,“ Asher didnt have to try hard to keep his voice sympathetic, after all, he still hated seeing his best friend that upset.

“No, Asher, I broke up with her.”

“Oh…why? I mean, I can understand the gravity of what you did just starting to pull you down, which would explain the crying. But, you’re the type of person who completely thinks out everything, so why did you do it?”

David looked down at the carpet under them, an attempt to refuse eye contact with his best friend.

“I didn’t love her; not like how I love someone else. And I’m glad I broke up with her, she didn’t deserve to be a with someone who doesn’t love her back. Now, though, I’m scared that the person I actually care for doesn’t like me back in that way,” David, whose tears had seized, mumbled after a few moments passed.

“Oh, well, who do you love? ‘Cause I’m sure he/she/ or they love you back! You’re incredible! I mean, the only thing that could throw anyone of is your intolerance of junk food, but between you and me, I think that adds to your overwhelming charm.” Asher spoke with a wink to place the cherry on the proverbial ice cream sundae of attempted comfort.

“Ash, I don’t want to make anything weird between us,” David used a serious tone, and took a long, deep breath. Even with the obvious implications of those words, (hell, the only thing that could make is more obvious is a giant neon sign spelling “I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU), Asher still didn’t make any assumptions. “I think I love you more than just platonically.”

Asher fell silent, tears formed behind his eyes, threatening to spill out, and so forth came anger, “David, I swear to God if you’re playing some sick joke on me, I’ll-…well, I don’t know exactly what I’ll do, but you won’t like it!”

“Asher, look at me, am I really the type of person to joke about stuff like this?”

“I know, I just really, really want it to be true.”

“It is, all of it,” a long pause, follow by hesitation, “Can I kiss you..?”

“Hell yeah, babe!” Asher face lit up as he and David shared a kiss.

The kiss progressed, though. Went from something sweet, a declaration of their new-found love for each other, but became something more hungry, feral, even.

Before either of them knew it, Asher had his legs wrapped around David’s waist as he was carried to the bedroom. All the pent up sexual tension and desire would be released, at last.

[liminalweirdo]

from the fanfic writer emoji ask thing you reblogged a couple days ago: 🏆😈🛒🤡💔✅🤲🏻

🏆 What's your most popular fic?

I wasn’t 100% sure how to answer this, whether I should use hits or kudos to determine popularity on ao3 but kudos felt more valid, so definitely I love your bones is my most popular, which is a shyan fic I wrote for Buzzfeed Unsolved way back in 2017. (simpler times)

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

I don’t really do this? I definitely write a lot of angst and sad stuff, but it’s never just to be playfully mean. I personally don’t like gratuitous hurt in fic, so if I write hard/sad stuff it has to have a place in the plot for me personally, otherwise it goes. (Sometimes it finds its way into another story, though).

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

I definitely do this. The way I describe light, mental illness is a common theme, queerness and particularly queered sex (particularly in straight or straight-passing pairings). I think I have a lot of water imagery. Yeah. Also probably roadtrips. And any time I can add the spooky, I will. :D

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

Haha, oh no. I always think the stuff I write is really funny but then I worry that it isn’t funny to anyone else. Zach’s line (in I’m fine and you’re fine) where he says he wanted to be a teacher bc he’s less hot than Ms. Barron so he won’t be distracting made me laugh a lot. I just hope it actually works in the fic.

💔 Is there a fic of yours that broke your heart?

Oh, always. Maelstrom (shyan, BFU. Roadtrips, mental illness, belonging) is the first one that comes to mind, always followed by the Real Sad Fic Theory Number 7 (shyan + zombies = misery). When you close your eyes, is it hell you see? is another sad-times fave (sad queer kids, trying to fall in love with the wrong person). And maybe He Doesn’t Like You because over the years I’ve somehow become fond of Ginger Snaps’s Trina Sinclair.

✅ What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

Light descriptions, cats, roadtrips, ghosts.

🤲🏻 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

WELL SINCE YOU ASKED SO NICELY! (I would love to)

This is from my Super Dark Times fic I’m fine and you’re fine:

Josh is mostly quiet, sitting at the end of Zach’s kitchen table with a mostly untouched cup of coffee while Zach rush around making sure he does actually have everything. He’s reading the back of the cereal box Zach had taken out for breakfast and forgot to put back, one elbow up on the table, face in his hand, almost like a wall between himself and Zach in a way that sort of puts a pit in Zach’s stomach, but he doesn’t have time for something like this now. They were fine last night.

And this is from an untitled wip for a (gen) Lev and Abby fic in TloU:

It feels like the ground tips sideways beneath him, sometimes, with the drop of the braid down Abby’s back instead of it being wound and tucked and pinned tight. Lev’s hair is longer than it was in their Seattle days, but Abby always makes sure they cut it before it gets too long, and that means… something. It means something that the kitchen scissors they took in the last city take up space and weight in her backpack that could be used for other things. A skinning knife, an extra flashlight, fishing hooks. She keeps the scissors. She cuts his hair with hands that are gentle if unskilled, and her carefulness almost hurts sometimes more than the scars cut into his cheeks.

(Also, for anyone still waiting on my Fo4 fic, he's a demon — he's a devil — he's a doll I wanted to include a snippet but I didn’t have one in showable condition haha, but, I haven’t forgotten about it! And I’m sorry it’s taking so long.)

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Title: Dudeman

Author: Dudeman

Rating: 5/5 stars

One of those novels where I'm not sure what to say about it that isn't just "I am in favor of this novel." I guess a lot of that is just about the sheer joy of seeing a story about some guy with a mustache written well, from the point of view of said guy with a mustache. I want to re-read it at some point, though, so I may have to take a "less wronger" approach and try to be more precise in my positive/negative impressions.

This is the most narratively satisfying book I've ever read; I'm sure there were some big plot points I didn't catch the first time (and this novel has a lot of plot points and one would not expect it to hold the reader's attention if one did not know the plot) but still... just the sheer fact that the guy is writing this and writing it well after being convinced that all stories about his life are in fact false!

A lot of the fun comes from the guy's confusion at what is actually going on. The guy wants to believe that he is not an Iliad character, but this is an Iliad story. And he is just as confused by the reader's reaction. ("I don't know if you'll feel this way," he thinks, "but I feel like a lot of people don't really seem to mind my story's failure to be an Iliad. Is it that much to ask that people not be mad about me not being a Homer?)

I've heard a lot of complaints about this novel in the wild, that people say it's like a fanfic written badly, or whatever, but I actually found that much less off-putting than the complaints usually are. (As I said, I am in favor of Dudeman; I am not sure what my "othering" response is to the average Dudeman-Hater. "I don't like him because he is Dudeman," is an odd and not very productive response, no?)

This is not "serious literature" by any means -- the first chapter contains "I read another book today," "I don't have a paper today," "I did a bad job with the bathroom again," and the sort of stuff that appears in "serious" novels and that "serious" critics say is a sign of immaturity and/or of a failed artistic sensibility, the kind of stuff that isn't supposed to go in "serious" novels. (The guy is also a "fanfic" writer in that he just writes things for the sake of writing them, or at least without making any attempt to be serious or publishable, which is just another mark of the kind of person who writes fanfic and/or "bad" fanfic.)

But the writing is so engaging and the story so moving that I don't think anyone should stop reading this novel just because the protagonist's bathroom habits are bad, or because he has an unreadably bad haircut, or whatever. (In fact, if the second chapter had had no such bad bathroom habits, the book wouldn't be nearly as good, in my judgment.)

I think "what" is a good summary of my reaction. The book has a bunch of "what," "how," and "why" that it is unable to answer. "What" is about the fact that the reader is reading and enjoying a book written by this guy, a guy who really does have some sort of narrative hook (though not any sort of narrative that is going anywhere). "How" is about the way the narrative works, and about some fairly conventional tropes and some things that look very unconventional. "Why" is about what this stuff means, why the guy is doing it, and about why this "works," in some specific, non-technical sense. (I can write the kind of novel Dudeman is not a "fanfiction" novel and not do all these things, I suppose, and I might do that instead at some point. The question is whether Dudeman can or not, and whether Dudeman is doing the kind of thing that can.)

So I guess I've just got to take a third-party position on the "fanfiction" thing, after all -- the writing quality is there, and the story makes sense, so the writer is allowed to just write his life as a story, with as many fanfics or fanvids attached as he damn well pleases, and no one gets to say he's not doing this well or that well or what have you, so why do you want him to follow some kind of rules?

I'm going to read the sequel as soon as I can, to see if it has anything to add to this. It doesn't seem to -- and that's fine, there's no need for a sequel. But it's still there, so it's there.

[thatgirlonstage]

Oh my apologies, I’ve read your stories before but I wasn’t aware of the sort of prompts you accept. Take this as an alternative then.

I don’t know if you’ve ever watched the show “You” on Netflix but it’s basically about a man named Joe who becomes obsessed with the women he falls in love with and begins to stalk them immediately. His latest target is a woman he sees in a bar who turns out to be Bilquis from “American Gods” and not only does she return his affection when he comes to talk to her but she even invites him to her apartment. Then he gets more than he bargained for.

I've never watched You so I can't write fic of that, but I do know American Gods, so here is something that hopefully scratches whatever itch you're trying to get

In the gentlest way possible, in future, if you're asking a fanfic writer to fill a prompt for you, try to be sure it's a source material they actually know unless they've explicitly offered to take a run at stuff they're unfamiliar with. For me, at least, I tend to take prompts when I want to play with characters I know and love but I'm feeling dry for ideas. I'm not mad at you or anything, I do love Bilquis so you gave me something to latch onto here. Just, you're setting yourself up for success more and giving the writer a better chance to have fun if you ask the writer to play in the sandbox they're already in, yknow?

CW: dubcon, mind control

Below the cut for nsfw

Bilquis knew his type. It wasn’t hard; he wasn’t one of the subtle ones. He’d been obsessively responding to her every message for the past three weeks, appearing wherever she went out, shutting out anyone else who attempted to join their conversations. Oh, she was sure he thought he was being clever. She’d seen him scoping out possible targets at a bar, watching for which women sat alone, which of them got messages or picked up by friends, which of them were there every night or only on Saturdays. It had taken no more than a little tug at her cleavage, a few nights sitting at the bar by herself, a few furtive glances in his direction beneath her lashes, and he was wrapped around her finger.

She hadn’t actually meant to keep him so long. A few days to catch his attention, a quick retreat into the bathroom, and she’d feel like herself again, for a few hours. But, well… it had been nice, being the subject of some much focused attention, so much singular intention. It was worship, in its way. A twisted, unsustainable worship, one tasted like old grease in the back of her throat, but after centuries of nothing but weak echoes of the real thing, she didn’t know if she even remembered what real worship felt like.

But all good things must come to an end. He was tiring of her, readying to do whatever it was he usually did to the women he stalked—rape them, kill them, rape and kill them? She didn’t know. She didn’t really care. It wasn’t like she was going to give him the chance.

He’s been licking his lips, over and over, ever since she brought him back to her place. His words are stilted. He hasn’t been able to pull his eyes away from her chest, as she let her shirt slip lower and lower, the barely-there lacy thing she had for a bra hiding nothing.

She held eye contact with him as she deliberately slid the shirt off her shoulder. She allowed her lips to curve in a suggestive smile.

“Would you like to do more than simply sit here?” she asked. His eyes went wide. He wondered if he’d ever had a woman willingly offer to fuck him before. He nodded, licking his lips yet again. Her smile curved wider. She reached down and pulled her shirt off in a single smooth motion. She beckoned him forward and he came, hands going unsure and claw like to knead at her breasts. She laid a hand over his and he flinched. She kept her touch firm as she guided his touch, brought his fingers around to unhook her bra. Sweat beaded his upper lip.

“Like what you see?”

His inhale was desperate and shaky. “You’re— beautiful.” His voice cracked on the word. She hummed in consideration.

“Would you do something for me?” He looked up at her, eyes wide and bright with uncertainty. She shushed him, caressing his cheek with her thumb. “I don’t ask much. It’s only, would you mind worshipping me?”

He shook his head slightly, a frown crossing his features. “I don’t know what that means.”

“You’re already doing it,” she whispered in his ear. She took his hand and guided it below her waistband, into the wetness growing between her thighs. “Just think of me.” He curled his fingers, inexpert, sliding them inside and rubbing hesitantly against the walls of her cunt. “Only me.” She curled her hand around his wrist, encouraging him deeper, harder. “Think of nothing but me.”

He licked his lips, slower, his expression fading into bliss. “I… do,” he said. His fingers pressed against her. She slid her pants down to her knees, giving him more room. He thrust in further, adding another finger, and then another. “I already do. I think of nothing but you.” Deeper, deeper. Harder. “I think of only you.” His breath, shaky, shuddering against her thighs. He was up to his elbow now. “You are the only thing worth thinking about.” His shoulder. “I’m— wait—” He blinked, trying to process what was happening. “This isn’t—”

“Shh,” She stroked his hair. “You only have to think of me.” She watched his eyes fade back into complacency. “That’s it. Just worship me. Just a little longer.”

“Yes,” he whispered. “Yes. I worship you.” Deeper, deeper, and deeper still. He slid into her, still murmuring his devotion. He tasted cloying, too concentrated and too sharp. But he was willing, and focused, and all hers.

[our-reb00t-boi]

If you got the chance to make an All-New DMC universe, what/where/when would you do? Would you change the gameplay? If so, how much? It doesn't have to be similar, you can go as crazy as you want.

For example: a DMC in the Victorian Era, where your Main Character/Devil Hunter is Jack The Ripper, and all the people he killed were actully demons. But on the 3 Arc of game, he (for some reason, haven't really thought about it yet) goes crazy and goes on a killing spree; killing not only demons, but humans as well until his death.

Or a DMC set in a Cyberpunk universe. Always wondered what that would look like. How things would work...

This is a very intriguing question. And also probably overlaps a lot to creating fiction in general and experiences with video games.

Long answer, I made sure I edit it well so I can be clear.

To be perfectly honest, and as someone who's stuck doing reboot DmC fanfic, I'll be staying here in this lane 😅 especially since it's quite clear they can't/won't/(probably don't want to...) continue this series 👀 NOW it's open for interpretation and other wild things we can cook up with 🤓 In our fanfic-sequel of it, we want to explore Dante’s whole journey of bearing the weight of the responsibility he just took on. The guy’s still too young and definitely lacking any experience and wisdom on why and how he’s gonna do it, but he has heart and he also just wants to see his twin brother and he has mixed feelings about it.

We also want to explore mythology, like lots of lore. I knew I lost sleep just refreshing my memory & researching them again regarding angelology and stuff. Yeah, we have this idea that angels are the bad guys here.......yeah, it’s ok to make of this what you will.....

As for any other wild ideas for DMC, I know I kinda ranted before that this franchise has the potential to just EXPAND its universe ever more, so I think Capcom’s devs should just go for it. Make a multiverse out of it, have fun, become serious, incorporate non-canon crossovers, etc. I mean, I know fanfic writers are already doing that so I’ll let other people with better imagination and skills to do that, but I have high expectations to the devs of course!

HOWEVER I do have some things to say about gameplay. Devil May Cry is button-heavy. I'm no developer, but I wish there's an efficient way to access their skills and items a little more smoothly. I definitely felt like from 4, reboot to 5, I feel like I'm not pressing the right buttons and barely made out of a battle in later chapters...or maybe I'm getting old. I know there's some sort of middle ground to be had for anyone who's a casual enjoyer like me and the ones who keep looking for challenges and perfect them even more when it comes to these games.

In what I imagine, I kinda like the idea of this pocket dimension that you can access to all his weapons and tools with a push of a button and all you have to do is choose the ones you wanna take out. You just need to unlock the ones you still don’t have, as usual of video game formulas.

I also like this "quickly equip" option where you can press the button (I guess it's generally the direction buttons nowadays) where you've assigned the weapon/tool to quickly have it for use. Oh, and I like the idea of healing yourself with one button too, the only games I know that do that because they're the only ones I have access are RE7 and 8.....

Lastly, and I think we've revealed in our hypothetical sequel game post that we like 4 characters to play this time (link here). I guess it looks like it's trying to outdo the 3 characters in DMC 5 but we have an explanation for that. But to make it short, all 4 characters are significant to the fanfic story we have in mind. Dante takes 50% of the game play (of course) whilst Kat AND Lady take 20%, with the shortest 10% to a different character/OC

We've also wanted a bit of open world exploration, like you're literally driving a vehicle to the destination 😅 that's definitely like FF15 road trip look, but this open world segment is small, like we thought of this to get a sense of scale of how an abandoned, creepy town looks vulnerable during an infestation of cunning demons that could be lurking in corners. But the "game" is overall linear still.

The new setting we have in mind has a lot of rural/small City/town vibes heavily inspired by European countries, particularly in UK. My friend had been inspired by the region of Cumbria in UK as the magnetic North for the setting. Switching from a big city to a rural, suburban area was likely a subconscious thing because the main reason is that Dante and co. need to get to Paradise mansion and we imagine the mansion is set somewhere less urbanized, based on the main game. However, it seems we're also subconsciously influenced by Silent Hill.

Again not a developer! I’ll personally will stick to the fanfic story we already have. Uh maybe compromise on the controls for the game for schmucks like me. And, you know what, make Kyrie a playable character and put her in a survival horror game segment