storyswap-color-au

[smallhatlogan]

you know, as far as autistic(/-coded) characters go I think I prefer the ones who are canonically difficult to get along with, opinionated, prone to outbursts of anger, or like, otherwise have traits that aren't just "socially awkward" and "has special interests". All these really beloved ones like Laios are the most palatable, unchallenging version of it.

[chrkrose]

I hope this is ok to ask, but what do you think of Daemon and Nettles storyline? I know you ship them, but what about how Martin writes it or the story he wants to tell/thinks he's telling? I'm not really a fan, much less so because by the time I got to that chapter I was already fed up with Martin. He's pretty much using F&B to talk about his favorites characters and while if you can't play in your own sandbox then where can you play, it makes it a little difficult to take very seriously

I wouldn’t say I ship “ship” them because it’s kinda hard to ship something when you have basically just the Wikipedia summary of what their relationship looked like. I think I ship the potential of the couple to a degree lol. And because I love cliche romantic tropes.

With that said, I’ve always been very cool about my ships in the sense that I know when I’m the one reading into it more than the story is giving me anything x the story wants me to see it in a romantic light. And I think George couldn’t be more obvious about how he wanted their story to be perceived as romance.

It’s not very hard to spot when George is going to the romantic angle of something, because his couples follow similar tropes, same as how it’s easy to spot his favorite characters because they all share similar traits. Nettles and Daemon in particular play very much into those things: Nettles is the underdog, who comes from nothing and is shunned by society, only to be proven that they are actually exceptional and special (with his more developed characters, Brienne and Tyrion come to mind, although Tyrion also falls into the next category) and Daemon is the character who commits tons of atrocities but has also certain aspects of his personality that are actually good and therefore the reader has complex feelings about him (Jaime and Theon are a good example of that in the main saga).

It’s only natural that he would pair these two together, especially if he can play with ideas such as the two coming from opposite backgrounds or clashing when it comes to their beliefs or even how they defy societal expectations when it comes to those characters getting romantically entangled. He loves to add any of those tropes to his couples (Dunk & Rohanne; Duncan & Jenny; Alys & Aemond; Jaime & Brienne. The last two in particular, it’s very very clear that Daemon and Nettles are the Dance version of Jaime and Brienne, to the point that even some of Daemon & Nettles plot beats echo those of Jaime & Brienne).

I think both Nettles and Daemon had different purposes in the story, each one having a different arc with a different goal in mind, and their relationship can be read in three different perspectives: what it means to Nettles arc, what it means to Daemon’s arc and what it means to them as a couple and love story. I can go into more depth about this if you want, let me know lol.

Ultimately, like I said before, people (sometimes willingly so they can fit into their own headcanons/agendas) misinterpret their relationship because they either want to close their eyes to the reality of it (“they are father/daughter” when it’s not because the book canonically makes it impossible and cmon, never mind all the obvious romantic imagery of their scenes and goodbye) or because they want to push a problematic angle that wasn’t really George’s goal (“daemon is grooming another little girl because is he’s a pedo” cmon George has a serious problem with ages in general to begin with, to the point I’m pretty sure he never saw a child/young teen in real life. Almost all of his romantic couples have a problematic age gap, which is why I can “overlook” this when it comes to Daemon and Nettles because it’s clear it’s not important in their case. Finally, because he goes out of his way to show that even though nettles is “young”, she is “older” than the girls he used to sleep with, and that with her it is “different”. I said in another post, he never wrote their relationship as a commentary about Daemon’s pedo tendencies, but in spite of it).

I think the story he’s trying to tell, to simplify, is of two awesome characters (subjectively lol. Nettles is awesome. Daemon is up for debate) he likes quite a bit finding romance and having an impactful story because since he likes those two characters quite a bit, and he’s the one writing the story, he can give them all the cool tropes and ideas just because. Which I get. I love Brienne so she’s always the most special one and the queen of everything whenever I write a fic. I can’t say I blame him for it.

And feel free to send me asks, I love answering it!

[swordmaid]

creator tag meme

tagged by the local angel @giuseppearcimboldo thank you so much lizzie!

rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

VERY happy i can fill this out because i’ve been so productive this year lol. also this is all gonna be jb bc ive been RELENTLESS and spamming and i would apologize but i wont lmao 

1. jb eros/psyche au.

i am talking about everything i have done for the au btw, because i’ve done quite a handful of things and honestly i really love all of them--even the doodle ones which rarely happens. anyway, i love this au in general. i think the tale is perfect for them, and i’m happy with the works that i managed to put out most esp this one that’s based on canova’s sculpture of eros and psyche. translating sculpture into digital art was interesting since it was all about converting the weight and structure of the sculpture into the screen and i think i managed to do it imo! i love how brienne looks heavy in his arms, i love how strong jaime looks holding her up and i especially love the way i shaded her dress to mimic the lines that the statue has. all in all, this au slapped and i actually want to do more of it but i have no inspiration right now. 

2. jb as classical art series. 

honestly i never thought that this was going to be a series lol i thought it was just a two time thing, but then i did another one, and then another one, and then another one and now here we are. i love all the pieces that i’ve done for it actually. my favourite thing is that they’re all not direct translations of the original art. there are some aspects that i’ve taken and adapted while also putting my own flair into it. i love the reverse colour scheme with klimt’s kiss and my own rendition of it. the gold being the accent highlight in a field of murky brown/black whereas klimt has the black squares present to emphasis the richness of the gold and yellows. i also like the little thing i did where i put the geometric shapes outside of the subject instead of inside (what he did). i put on the tags that i didnt like how it turned out but i actually like it lol i just didn’t like how long it took me i get too impatient with my art i think. anyway. i love this whole series sm i think all the pieces have their own character, and tbh i always get nervous adding another piece into this just because all the ones that i’ve done has been so well received i don’t want to be a disappointment lool. regardless, i love classical art and i love jb and i love being able to put the two together hehe we love to be self indulgent

3. la belle fleur sauvage commission. 

aka THIS commission that was based from SD’s fic, la belle fleur sauvage. some behind the scenes with that one--that one took me SO long to do, like it was taking longer than i had wanted and i felt very bad and i am forever thankful for sd’s patience 😭😭😭. i really can’t be too mad though since i was working on the third year of my degree, but i still would’ve wanted to finish it sooner than i did. but as for the art itself---i actually love it lol. i always say to zoom in on my stuff to see all the details but i WISH folks would zoom in on that because it’s so big and so intricate. i love how everything turned out; i love how rich the colours are, i love the composition for all three panels, i love how the SKY looked like actually that’s the first time i sat down and painted clouds with that technique and i am so happy and pleased with how it looked im using it for everything LOL, i love jaime’s outfit in the 2nd panel---i actually designed a whole outfit for that and he DOES have his pouches and daggers, etc. stuff that he would have with him if he was a mercenary, but because of the cropping, those details were taken out but it’s THERE. i love the colours and the shading on the 3rd panel. it looks so soft and romantic and it’s everything 😭😭. honestly i didnt know if i was able to finish whole three panels just because of how big the project seemed, but tbqh this piece really pushed me as an artist and im really happy that i had the chance to work on it (-’: 

4. early morning.

this one is a more recent piece and i was thinking post canon jaime/brienne married and either living in casterly rock or evenfall hall. originally the sheets were gonna be red with the gold brocade but i just made it green to make their location more ambiguous. they’re in a castle because of the finery, but which castle i have no idea. anyway i love their faces here in particular--jaime because it’s not often that i draw him old (this is the second time i drew old jaime i think?) and i love how he turned out here. i love how he looks like a silver fox and a dilf and we really do love that for brienne. full disclosure, i have no idea how to draw older folks since i don’t have a lot of practice in that area so im glad my lack of experience doesn’t show lmao. i also love how soft brienne looks here! the little smile on her lips is very sweet, her body language and how relax she seems is very telling abt her confidence in this scene also i think i drew her hands hella well haha. all in all i think it’s a really sweet art! and the full version is not so bad either jaime’s ass was referenced from marble sculptures so you know im aiming for Quality. but i love this headcanon of a younger brienne tiring jaime out, i’ve read a handful fics about it and im happy i can do my own version of it hehe 

5. unravel.

wow we love domesticity. someone said that if you compile all my ns*w art of them together it’s like they haven’t left their bed ever since they got together and you know what? love that for them it’s what they deserve. anyway i chose this one because of how sensual and simple it is. their body language really does all the talking ; jaime’s hand pulling on the ties on her shift, her hand on his hair, how soft and lazy their kiss looks--it’s enough to tell the story me thinks! i just love how simple this whole thing is but it’s very effective. there’s really not much to it besides what you see but that’s really enough.

i am actually very proud of myself with how productive i’ve been. it’s really not often that i get as much drive and energy to post so much art. iirc my art tag is nearly 200 content already (i think it’s 180 ish rn?) and honestly that’s a LOT if you told me ill be making more than 100+ content for jb i would’ve been like nah im too lazy for that lmao. but im really proud of myself this year! i think i pushed myself as an artist and i’ve familiarized myself more with my strengths as well as my weaknesses. i have a clear idea on the areas that i need to work on, and i’ve really gotten more comfortable with being happy with my own pieces and i’m trying not to put myself down more if something doesn’t go the way i want it to. also, i’ve had the opportunity to work with more people this year--so for the people who has commissioned me or IS commissioning me rn--- thank you so much for trusting me with your visions 😭😭 ive never expected to get this kind of reception with my art but i am very grateful for all of it. 

anyway as for the tagging i tag -- @na-bruma-leve / @dreadwulf / @dilfjaime / @fawnilu BUT i would highly recommend you to come along and snatch this tag meme up like a little raccoon because we all should start being proud of our own works imo !!

[angel-deux-writes]

Now that Honor Compels Me is finally done, I wanted to do a round-up of all the things I remember that made me say “I feel like I need to tell someone what almost happened here” or “I should probably explain this later lol”, along with my reasons for cutting the last few chapters/what would have happened in them. It’s prob going to be very long, which I apologize for, but I’ll bold the headings so that you can skip to the parts you’re interested in!

I’ll reblog it and add more as I think of them, but for now: 

Dark Dany: VERY originally, like way back in the OG plotline from 2017, Dany was an antagonist, and Margaery Tyrell was Robb’s queen. Dany would have died fighting Cersei in Kings Landing, with the same result (Cersei was ALWAYS going to go out by wildfire lmao). I changed it both because a) it seemed like too many Conveniently Alive people for one story and b) after the shitty ending Dany got, I decided I would try my hand at writing a Dany I could actually root for! For years I’ve been a big proponent/fan of the idea that Dany is eventually going to be an antagonist in the books, but the way it was handled in the show was so irredeemably stupid (gassing her up and gaslighting/scolding her fans later who didn’t see it coming, making her switch at the drop of a hat for the majority of the general audience just for the sake of a twist, etc). I ended up really loving the version of Dany I created. I tried not to soften her TOO much, which is why I had her wrestle with herself even up to the very end (like thinking “I won” after the explosion in Kings Landing and hating herself for it). I didn’t want all the flaws that make me not support canon Dany to disappear just because I started to like her! I do think that writing this story made me like Dany more overall. I still don’t support her canon actions, and I also probably won’t in the books, but I came to find her more compelling as I wrote her. I’m a lot less afraid to write her now than I have been in the past, though I’ll continue to add warnings to all my stories that feature Dark Dany, bc yall Dany stans have been through enough. 

More Death: At various points Dany, Theon, Bran, and Arya were going to die. 

Dany was already pointed out. 

I had Theon die in the Long Night in the plot outline just out of laziness/in keeping with canon, until I remembered that Redemption = Death is stupid and I wasn’t gonna do it. 

Bran was going to die after warging into Drogon and being caught in the explosion of the Red Keep. That actually stayed in until a few weeks ago! I told a bunch of people that Bran was going to die! It was the plan all along! And then I realized that “somebody has to die” was a shitty way of looking at it, and I changed it. I think a lot of this process of changing things was me trying to write what I thought people wanted vs what story I actually wanted to tell. Sure it’s a little fairy tale ending this way, but it’s my story, and who cares? Happy endings are nice. Fuck off. 

Arya...I probably wouldn’t have ever actually gone through with it, because I am a coward, but there was an idea of a VERY heavy-handed “revenge is bad” message with Arya where Arya was much more savage and instead of turning back into Arya, she was turning farther and farther away from her. She couldn’t reconcile with the Lannisters, she rejected her bonds with her family. In the end she would be unable to let go of her list, would refuse to grow and change and realize that she had other things to live for, and she would have set off one of Qyburn’s traps in the Red Keep, igniting the whole thing, killing Drogon and Rhaegal (and Bran) and leading to the deaths of thousands. AGAIN I was like “that’s too dark” and scrapped the idea, but it was definitely toyed with. I love Arya as a character, so this plotline for her would have definitely been more a reaction to fans of her who seem to want her to hold on to that vengeful seed inside of her. 

Prophecies: Listen, I do not give a fuck about any prophecies. I really don’t. Every fantasy universe has some kind of involved backstory that some fans love to get mired in, but I am not one of those fans. Still, I tried to deliver on two of them lmao. 

Azor Ahai ended up being Jaime, with Ice/Oathkeeper and Maiden’s Heart being Lightbringer. Originally, I had Brienne killing the Night King, without any thought to the prophecy at all, but that was another case of “people will like it if Brienne kills the Night King” and I realized that I would like it better if it was Jaime. I’m not sure how it checks out literally, but I figured it worked with a) tempering in water = splitting Ice. b) heart of a lion = Jaime’s change of heart after the Highgarden Battle. c) Nissa Nissa = Brienne’s “maiden’s heart” breaking during the Highgarden Battle. It was Brienne who did the stabbing, but it was Jaime who made it happen, so I figured that made sense. I made sure to mention Brienne’s tears and all the smoke when Jaime was wounded, so he could be “reborn amidst salt and smoke” or whatever, and I had Bran mention a rebirth for him in the next chapter. Which was maybe a little on the nose, but IDK GUYS I FEEL LIKE IT CHECKS OUT! 

I know the show never dove into the Valonqar prophecy at all, and I think we all know that I absolutely HATE the idea of Jaime being the Valonqar, so I would rather not think about it AT ALL. But Bran AND Rhaegal were both kind of responsible for Cersei’s death in the end, so take your pick of which Little Brother actually did the deed! 

Deleted Chapters: I promise you, you are not missing anything with these deleted chapters. They were always messy, and no matter how many times I edited them, they felt too forced and “now let me explain the ending”. 

Sansa: Sansa’s chapter followed Jaime’s and was primarily about her going to Robb and Dany and the three of them talking about the future of Westeros. The Dany/Robb conversation about it was originally absent--the last Robb chapter was added to fill in the gaps when I deleted this and the other chapters--so this would have been the first time it was discussed. It then would have had a time jump and a wedding scene, which I could never make work! It was such a jarring time jump in the middle of a chapter, and I didn’t think the wedding was particularly exciting to write about lmao. 

Tyrion: Tyrion’s chapter would have been Dany being crowned and announcing to everyone that she and her people are going to be dismantling the monarchy and setting up a new government. I think I had her give a period of a few years in which she and Robb would rule, but they were going to be transitioning governments in that time. Kind of the same idea as in What a King Should Look Like. Bronn also showed up, DID in fact get a minor holdfast, and was mocked by both Lannisters for bowing out before he could have earned himself a better one. Olenna found some bastard daughter to legitimize and continue her house.

Brienne: Brienne’s arc was a lot more drawn out in the original draft, and I ended up editing it a few times and making it shorter. VERY originally, this chapter would have been her wedding with Jaime, at which she has the “wow he actually loves me, huh?” realization. Which I thought was funny as I plotted it out, but in execution it wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, so I moved the realization to an earlier chapter. The original was also going to be Jaime giving up his name entirely, and Brienne cloaking him, but as we have discussed before, I am in fact a coward, so I just deleted the whole chapter lmao. In all seriousness, at this point the endings just felt like Return of the King, and Into the West was actually the chosen song for this chapter, because I knew even as I was writing it that I was doing Too Much lmao. 

Robb: Robb’s last chapter was essentially just a total wrap up chapter. Just Robb and Dany being sappy, Robb being happy he was still alive, and the two of them planning the future. They were at Riverrun for this part, i’m pretty sure, or it might have been Dragonstone? I had trouble even filling this chapter with enough words for it to be a full chapter, because it was basically just an epilogue. As the story progressed, this chapter felt more and more like I was just performing to the “Robb’s Alive” crowd, which I didn’t particularly want to do, because Robb being alive was always a feature, not the focus, of this story. 

That’s all the stuff I can think of for now! If anyone has any particular questions you can message me or inbox me about them and I’d be happy to talk about it! 

[piduai]

ASOIAF for that ask meme

Favorite character: sansa and dany, they are my daughters and i love them dearly. i think the two of them, cersei and arya are the best characters in the books overall, they’re my absolutely favorite povs to read. from non-povs i love tywin and varys

Least Favorite character: jon, tyrion, catelyn and littlefinger

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): asoiaf shipping makes no sense to me

Character I find most attractive: melisandre she sounds hot af

Character I would marry: brienne, there’s something about her

Character I would be best friends with: i think oberyn, he sounds fun

a random thought: people have some nerve comparing it to witcher lol. i dropped the show eventually but the first 2 seasons were good. sure not perfect, but they delivered. it’s popular now to shit on the series which is honestly fine and i don’t care, but the books are good. all his flaws out and his short-commings picked apart, grrm is a GOOD, engaging, lucrative writer, and his story-building and character writing are great.

An unpopular opinion: honestly have no idea what the popular opinions are tho i can guess that this one isn’t but i think that theon deserved everything he got <3 in fact he should have gotten it much worse lol for no other reason than my entertainment. i hate him and every other iron islands character, wish they could all die in a volcano eruption or something, waste of pages. also i don’t understand stannis’s popularity at all. i don’t hate him but he doesn’t exist to me.

my canon OTP: god no

Non-canon OTP: no

most badass character: the mountain solely because he’s genuinely terrifying

pairing I am not a fan of: i hate all of them but i HATE hate sansa/cleagane. in fact i loathe all sansa ships, that dude, littlefinger, margaery, jon, just leave her the hell alone.

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): none of them yet

favourite friendship: i think that as a ship it’s distasteful and cheap but i do love the relationship between brienne and jaime. in general i like how brienne interacts with others, there’s something endearing about her awkwardness and defensiveness. dany and missandei is also cute.

character I want to adopt or be adopted by: no

[tomakeitbeautifultolive]

I like Jon but I love Dany a thousand times more and once in a while I'd be like 'Fuck Jon Snow' but then I try to be rational & I calm myself down that Season 8 Jon was an imposter & the real Jon doesn't deserve my hatred,only hugs. I have been following you for quite some time and I know how much you appreciate and love Dany and you can defend and love Jon too.It doesn't make you any less Dany stan just like me irrationally raging towards Jon sometimes doesn't mean he isn't one of my fav.

Thank you, anon. I think it's safe to say by now that people who actually know me or follow me understand that I do love Daenerys.

I have historically said that I have a slight Jon preference. Why? Because we tend to like characters that we can see ourselves reflected in. I'm a depressed mopey fuck that struggles with self-confidence and communication skills, I have a dark sense of humor and I always wear black/hoodies even in the summer, I have unruly curly hair, and an unhealthy obsession with the Night King/the Others 🤣 So yeah, I could see myself in him despite his gender (and general badassery).

Daenerys? In fact, she was the reason I started watching the show at all. I had no interest until a pair of friends were sitting on my couch gushing about 'Khaleesi' and I had to know what all the fuss was about. And holy shit, they were right. I've loved her pretty damned equally since season one - right alongside characters like Davos, Arya, Brienne. I never felt like my love for any character was compromised by an appreciation for another. You bet your ass I cheered every time Daenerys dispatched an evil man and I'd do it all over again.

When season seven came along? I WAS Jon Snow. Going into the season? I just wanted everyone to shut the fuck up and address the Night King... but most of all? I was utterly entranced with Daenerys. More than ever before, which is truly saying something. Part of it was finally seeing her make it to Dragonstone (I bawled), but every time she was on the damned screen I was like SEVEN HELLS this woman is a FORCE! (Which is why I have a hard time dismissing season seven because, despite subpar writing, Dany's depiction was spot on - compassionate, reasonable, level-headed, selfless, powerful, just, etc, etc.) It's almost like because I related to Jon Snow so much, I got to fall in love with Daenerys all over again in an all-new way. Jon really brought out that vulnerability and tenderness in her character and just, dammit. It was beautiful!

Now, I saw an opportunity to address several previous figureheads in the Jonerys fandom because I witnessed them, for years and years, pouring their personal time and creativity into these characters. So why do I care?

Because I know what it's like to have characters drop anchors so heavy in your heart that the sheer weight of them makes them almost impossible to recover. If a mega-fan can dismiss Dany's season eight canon, then it might be worth dismissing Jon's because Dany and Jon's creator, George R.R. Martin has provided us with several ambiguous remarks that hint that the ending of the books might be different, and the more people spend taking season eight seriously and accepting these bastardized versions of his characters, the further they distance themselves from being able to enjoy George's work and intended ending.

This is why I bothered defending Jon at all. Me aside, why do any of us write metas or engage in discussion at all if not to provide different perspectives? Should I have bothered? Clearly the fuck not. But guess what, I’m not Bran Stark so I can’t change the past. 🤣

While people focus so hard on how badly Daenerys was ruined, they fail to see all the ways in which every character was compromised in order to lead us to the 'Mad Dany' shock ending, just because the other characters weren't ruined enough for them.

Believe it or not, part of defending Daenerys is defending other characters! Prior to my 'cancelation', I was actually planning to write a meta on why I don't think the Stark children will suddenly become xenophobic in future books. Right now they're all on paths that only reinforce their empathy as they interact with different cultures and classes (or in Bran's case, different species) - many of which have a stigma that these kids are learning is unjustified.

It’s very easy to be like 'Fuck the Starks!' but it could also help Dany's case by being like wait... is it even in-character for these kids to be ungrateful and xenophobic? Or was that just a convenient plot device used by the writers to help alienate and gaslight Daenerys into madness? 🤔

Wait... *squints at your original ask* Just how far off course did I go in this rant? lmao. I dunno anon, it’s been a long day. Either way, thanks for the ask. ♥

[zutaralesbian]

Hey anon. I guess I somehow accidentally deleted your ask because I can’t find it anywhere lol. So I’ll just answer it like this.

Anonymous asked: Black Sails, Zutara, and Jaime Lannister

Black Sails:

Favorite character: Max. But sometimes when I’m deep in my feels, it’s Eleanor. I love my ambitious Slytherin wlw and fandom doesn’t appreciate them enough.

Least Favorite character: Obviously characters like Peter Ashe and Thomas’ father are awful but out of characters who were regulars at one point or another, it’s a tie between Woodes Rogers and Charles Vane. God I hate. And I also hate that Eleanor got stuck with both of them as “love interests”.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Max/Anne, Max/Eleanor, Flint/Thomas….Max/Idelle, Idelle/Featherstone

Character I find most attractive: Max. But all of the Black Sails women are gorgeous. 10/10 would bang all of them.

Character I would marry: Max

Character I would be best friends with: …..Tbh I don’t think I’d personally click with any of them. They’re all very extreme and I’m more laid back lol

a random thought: It’s a good show with an exhausting fandom. Which is a shame considering it’s not a very big fandom to begin with.

An unpopular opinion: I don’t ship Silver/Flint. And I feel like there’s little point to be heavily involved in the fandom because of that since like, 75% of the content is about them. I also don’t really give a shit about any of the male characters except for Flint, Jack, and Mr Scott lol

My Canon OTP: Maxanne I love those lesbians. But Maxanor is a close second.

My Non-canon OTP: Max/Idelle. Also Eleanor/Miranda (fandom converted me to this one)

Most Badass Character: Flint

Most Epic Villain: Eh none of the villains were very compelling to me tbh

Pairing I am not a fan of: Eleanor/Rogers and Eleanor/Vane. The Worst.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): I still loved her but….Eleanor. *sighs* Ever since they made her hookup with Rogers her storylines were going downhill.

Favourite Friendship: Flint/Miranda they make me cry. But also just Flint/Women in general.

Character I most identify with: I don’t strongly identify with any of them but I relate to aspects of both Anne and Eleanor. Anne because of how she’s kind of a late blooming lesbian who realized her love for women (and lack of attraction to men) during her twenties. And Eleanor because of her complicated relationship with her father. My dad isn’t as shitty as Mr Guthrie but he is awful and for some reason I can’t make myself completely stop caring about him. That’s why I get so mad when people give Eleanor shit for wanting revenge on Vane for murdering her father. Some people really lack empathy in that regard tbh.

Character I wish I could be: Flint. I’d love to start a war in the name of fighting homophobia.

Zutara:

When I started shipping them: I think it was sometime during my second watch of the series. The first time I watched it was when it was airing and I was just a kid, so I basically just automatically supported the canon pairings lol. But then I watched it again as a young teen after reading Zutara meta and fic and began to see the magic.

My thoughts: I love them so much. The best ship that never was. I love how many parallels they have with each other. The sun and moon symbolism. Their push and pull dynamic. The way they built a friendship in canon based on mutual respect. I could talk all day about why I love this ship tbh

What makes me happy about them: That the Zutara fandom is still going strong and producing great content. It pretty much makes up for it not being canon, honestly.

What makes me sad about them: I feel like Zutara is often very misunderstood as a ship? A lot of people (including Bryke) see it as a “dark ship” and that isn’t how I view them at all. I’m sure there are some people who do and have shipped them in problematic ways (especially back in the day) but most people in this day and age that I've seen ship them in a post redemption way after Zuko and Katara had already become friends. So...that makes me kind of sad lol. Also the way their friendship has been butchered by those stupid comics.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Demonization of Aang and Mai. It's so unnecessary and I like both characters on their own. (Aang is actually in my top 5 ATLA characters). I hate character flanderization in fic in general (even towards characters I don't like) because it's more than often ooc and takes me out of the zone.

Things I look for in fanfic: I think canon divergence and AU's still set in the ATLA universe are my favorite kind of fics to read for ATLA in general. It's an expansive world and story and I think people have a lot of room to be creative with it.

My wishlist: For their friendship to not be ruined in the upcoming live action remake. (I don't have a lot of faith lol)

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: My second favorite ship for Zuko is probably Zukka. But Zuko is so damn shippable as a character that I could come up with plenty of alternatives for him. Katara...with a girlfriend. Or Haru. They had cute potential and I still resent the fact that they gave him that dumb mustache lol.

My happily ever after for them: The two of them getting together a few years after the end of the war after continuing a strong friendship that eventually became romantic. They do marry someday down the line but Katara spends a lot of time going back and forth between the Fire Nation and the South Pole. After Zuko hands over the duties of Fire Lord to their oldest, they end up retiring somewhere between the two nations.

Jaime Lannister:

How I feel about this character: I enjoy him a lot (although when I say this I'm mainly talking about book! Jaime. I didn't know what D&D were doing with him most of the time lol). He's super complex and his arc is one of my favorites out of the books.

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: Brienne. They are my OTP of ASOIAF. But I'm not expecting a happy ending for them *sighs*

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: Tyrion. Their relationship is much more complicated in the books than it was on the show (especially with how they left off with each other) but it still gives me feels.

My unpopular opinion about this character: When it comes to the great Jaime Lannister debate between Jaime/Brienne and Jaime/Cersei shippers (about whether he can be redeemed or not) I'm somewhere in the middle lol. I don't think his arc is one of redemption. And actually, what I think could possibly happen with Jaime/Brienne is that they'll both admit that they love each other but ultimately mutually decide that they can't be together due to how different they are as people. But I also don't agree with the idea that he's not developing at all. And a lot of his development is due in part to his relationship with Brienne.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I hope we get some canon validation of Jaime/Brienne in the books. But not in the shitty way that the show did it.

Favorite friendship for this character: I guess I'm just going to say Tyrion again? It's been a while since I've read the books but I can't think of any hugely impactful Jaime relationships outside of Brienne, Tyrion, and Cersei.

My crossover ship: I don't do crossover ships

Thanks! :)

[rainhalydia]

Because I need to hear my boy praised: fandom ASOIAF; ship: Throbb; character: Theon Greyjoy

Hi, anon! Great to know I’m being recognized as the local Theon-apologist, you’re absolutely right in your assessment!

001 | Fandom: ASOIAF

Favorite character: Theon Greyjoy

Least Favorite character: tough call, but I guess Littlefinger in terms of who I hate the most. In terms of who doesn’t work that much as a character for me, Garlan Tyrell

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Throbb is the OTP, then in no particular order: NedCat, Sansan, Asha x Qarl and Jaime x Brienne

Character I find most attractive: Theon is my type to a T, physically. Personality wise, probably Asha.

Character I would marry: Oddly enough, Renly! He could go off with Loras and leave me to be a powerful lady and he’d probably be okay with recognizing any bastard I could get as his.

Character I would be best friends with: Sansa. Playing harp and doing crafts are my ideal bonding activities. My sense of adventure also begins and ends with stealing stuff from the kitchen.

a random thought: the world building is seriously lacking more of a merchant class and artists, but it’s something that’s only really noticeable when you’re a hardcore fan. I feel like people reading casually won’t miss it because Martin’s writing is just that good.

An unpopular opinion: Probably very unpopular, but I’m not bothered in the slightest with all the rape and sexual violence towards women in the books, except for maybe the Dothraki. With the Dothraki, it feels like a way to signal how violent they are as a society, but it’s too caricatural to work for me. They rape people in the middle of a super important wedding, come on! But with the rest, I find it sadly plausible. ASOIAF also deals a lot with sexual violence towards men, in a more nuanced and respectful way than most media, so I feel like sexual violence is a theme in general, not just something thrown in for shock value or to degrade women.

My Canon OTP: Throbb is canon probably Ned x Cat.

My Non-canon OTP: Asha x Alysane.

Most Badass Character: There are so many! I guess Tyrion wins because he’s going to ride a dragon with no magic

Most Epic Villain: Euron Greyjoy

Pairing I am not a fan of: Robb x Margaery, Sansa x Margaery, Robb x Jon

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): the Dothraki as a whole are very under-developed when compared with the rest of the cast, though Irri and Jhiki arguing over Rakharo is a breath of fresh air.

Favourite Friendship: probably Arya and her Riverland gang

Character I most identify with: Theon and Sansa, maybe Sam

Character I wish I could be: they’re all much braver than I am, but I’ll pick Brienne

002 | Ship: Throbb

When I started shipping them: I don’t really remember? It was on my second read of the series, because I barely remember the first read. ADWD was already out, so after 2011 for sure... If we’re talking about a moment in the books, when Theon thinks he should have died with Robb.

My thoughts: They’re really, really good together. It’s surprisingly balanced for the circumstances they’re in. Even if you don’t ship them, their affection for each other is plain in the text and it drives me up the fucking wall when people say they didn’t like each other. They did! Theon still does! They’re important to each other!

What makes me happy about them: How much they loved and trusted each other. That they really knew each other, in ways other people mostly didn’t.

What makes me sad about them: I mean, theirs is a tragic story, so everything? But especially that Robb died thinking that Theon killed his brothers, and that Theon knows Robb died thinking that about him. That there will be no reconciliation.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: With the caveat that everyone can do what they like, Robb is not a goody two shoes, his patience is not endless, he has a temper and he thinks Theon is awesome and it’s not a fucking favor on his part being friends with him. Theon, on his side, mostly fools everyone with his cool persona, except for Robb, Asha and the rest of his family.

Things I look for in fanfic: Theon being a charming asshole is my number one priority. I can roll with most scenarios, though.

My wishlist: Let’s see... my favorites things ever for Throbb are friends to lovers, mutual pining, secret relationship, preferably with smut.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Jeyne W. is alright, but I can’t help thinking Robb is gay, so Robb x Olyvar. For Theon, Theon x Jeyne P.

My happily ever after for them: They reunite in the afterlife after Theon dies of very old age.

003 | Character: Theon Greyjoy

How I feel about this character: I love him! My problemaic squid son! He does not deserve a tenth of the hate he gets!

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: In order of preference: Robb, Jeyne, Kyra, Patrek Mallister.

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: Dagmer, Asha and Wex. The Thramsay dynamic is terrible but interesting, if done well. I wish Theon had never gone through any of that, but at the same time, where would his story even be without it? And he could have been real friends with Patrek if they had time.

My unpopular opinion about this character: He owned the Starks, including Robb, nothing. He did nothing worse than other characters fighting a war until he killed the miller boys and raped Kyra - not to say his actions were good or anything, but they’re about the same as other characters’, including fan favorites. It’s awful but understandable that he didn’t visit his Mom. He’s actually pretty competent as a warrior, but he doesn’t think long-term when making plans. And probably most unpopular of all in my corner of fandom: though he has all the identity issues and belonging issues, he’s actually very ironborn, and his ironborn upbriding, while terrible and abusive even by in-universe standards, actually helped him survive being a captive for so long.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish someone who loved him had gone to met him when he arrived on Pyke and that Asha hadn’t pulled that “prank” on him. I wish him to live to an old age with people who love him, to get his teeth fixed as much as possible, and to do something important for the Iron Islands.

Favorite friendship for this character: Robb and Wex. I love Asha, but she’s such an older sibling that they’ll always have that dynamic first and foremost to me.

My crossover ship: Super out there, but probably Olivier Mira Armstrong. Theon will drink that respect women juice if he wants to or not!

[firesign23]

🎈💜💘

🎈- what’s a spoiler for a wip or series?

The third fic in the minigolf AU’s premise is that Brienne, desperate to get away from her father and his girlfriend, takes Jaime up on his offer to spend the second week of the Midwinter Break skiing. Unfortunately, their dinner the night before their flight out is interrupted by a telephone call–there’s been an accident, and Robert is dead and Cersei is in the hospital. Plans, understandably, have to change. I’m hoping it will be a gentle story about grief and regret and friendship. It’s also the fic where I’m going to nod to the “In this light” quote, because the idea of Jaime having to hold himself together until this moment he’s sitting with Brienne late at night, the Midwinter decorations he hasn’t taken down yet the only light, and knowing that it’s safe to fall apart is just… oof. I need it.

💜- top 3 favorite lines

Okay, I’m using only my Game of Thrones fics because I’m not even trying to plunder the 150+ other stories I have right now because it’s late. I struggled to narrow down a line from yonder, but this is an early one that has stuck with me.

She is a warrior, fierce and unrelenting, but she is a woman too. She has a woman’s heart and a woman’s body, and a woman’s touch as she places his hand against the scars of a bear’s claws; in the firelight it is difficult to see, but he can feel it, the knots where flesh had stitched itself back together, a reminder of her mortality and her strength. 

–(every single one of us) still left in want of mercy

She feels the minute he wants to leave, or feels he should—he holds her a little more desperately, and she lets every scratch, every bite, every press of fingertips against flesh say what she can’t quite yet. Stay, stay, stay with me, stay here Jaime please, you don’t need to die when you can stay. Touches him in ways that make him shudder and gasp and whimper pleas against her mouth, stores the sensations deep in her heart for the moment she can no longer keep him, and then touches him again.

She will not not admit defeat so easily.

–you have come by way of sorrow (you have come by way of tears)

She thinks that Sansa must have known that even Brienne had dreamt of a wedding once, before she realised there was another path possible, and has done what she can to make the reality as little like those dreams as possible, to spare her that pain at least.

(Still, when they return to their quarters before the wedding feast and part to refresh in their separate chambers, she cries. Hot, fat tears that dampen her doublet but do not show against the dark fabric, and she wonders if Sansa had known that too.)

–in the wild blue yonder, your star is fixed (in my sky)

💘- what’s your favorite AU? Least favorite?

So, I’ve never really been much for AUs in general? At least AUs outside of the “What if X happened instead?” type–I’d read them if I trusted the author or the premise seemed interesting enough, but they have never been something I seek out. But I am loving all the AUs in the Game of Thrones fandom, probably because I don’t give a single fuck about canon and its misogynistic, fatalistic crap.

I think I’m less of a fan of AUs and more what people can do to play with the understandings of them. So I guess my favourite would be ones that push the boundaries of the AU universe in interesting ways. Oh! Actually, I was talking to someone earlier who reminded me of daemon AUs. His Dark Materials was my first serious introduction to fantasy as a genre, and I am an absolute sucker for a good daemon AU. And I’ll say ABO for least favourite, because I’ve read a few interesting ones but mostly it just leaves me befuddled–I really enjoy a push and pull dynamic in my ships, and ABO doesn’t quite scratch the itch.  

Writer Ask Game

[ylizam]

femslash exchange creator letter [currently a placeholder, soon to be real]

Hi, Hello, Hey. First of all–thank you! This is my standard you offered to write one of my fandoms, so you’re obviously a perfect paragon of humanity and all that jazz opening spiel, full of generals likes and dislikes, I’m sure you know the drill. I’ll make sure the fandom specific stuff is up by the time assignments go out. (That said, if you already have an idea about how you want to write about the fandom we match on—wow, I’m jealous! tell me your secrets!—just skip over the fandom stuff and go forth with your bad self.)

Things I like include, but are in no way limited to: fun with POV, fun with linear vs. non-linear storytelling, fun with tone, fun with writing. I really dig character studies, stories that really get into what makes a character tick (and something porny that can get at that is wonderful too), and I like relationships that are hard and prickly and worth fighting for. I like happy endings that don’t feel tacked on or forced. I like doubt, and hope, and theology; I like actors, and directors, and I like the random deity. I like fairy tales. I like (love) romance tropes. Forced to share a bed, marriages of convenience, fake dating, friends-to-lovers, idiots-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers: it’s all like unto catnip. I like interesting turns of phrase, I like the perfect line, I like any story written just for me. If you have any questions about my taste (or lack thereof), feel free to ask @summervillen​ who probably knows my fannish tastes better than I do.

Things that I would prefer you not include—especially gratuitously; there are obviously ways to engage with problematic actions/thoughts/etc. in fiction, but there’s such a fine line there—are as follows: noncon, necrophilia, pedophilia, incest, non-character driven racism/sexism/[all]isms. I also have a pretty big embarrassment squick. A/B/O doesn’t do anything for me. And I’m not really interested in AUs for any of these fandoms: canon divergence is fine, but not-related-to-canon alternate universes really aren’t my preference here.

Babylon 5 Delenn/Susan Ivanova I just ship them post-canon so hard. Later in life chances at love are sort of a thing of mine, and add to that two of my favorite characters ever, well, it’s like this pairing is made for me. That said, if you can find a way to write them during canon (maybe John doesn’t return from Z'ha'dum, maybe Delenn and John just never get together at all, maybe you can think of something I can’t) I’d love that too. Delenn/Shaal Mayan I’d love a story about them that’s really Minbari–that understands that neither of them is human. Something set when they were young and just figuring themselves out (and first love is rarely forever but it feels like it must be) or something set when Mayan visits Babylon 5 in season one or, heck, something set after the series ends. (I have a thing for writing on skin, so if you can find a way to fit that in more power to you.)

ER Jeanie Boulet/Kerry Weaver Elizabeth Corday/Kerry Weaver

Oh, the women of ER, how I love them. While I don’t want a never a medical professional AU, I’m fine with playing loose with canon events for these. (That said, I love that Jeanie can be HIV+ and fall in love, have sex, be happy, so while you don’t have to go deep on that I’d rather you didn’t change it.) I love the idea of post-series Jeanie/Kerry, but would also love something that takes place earlier (does Kerry realizing she’s attracted to Jeanie make her admit she’s a lesbian? do arguments over staffing lead to heated makeouts in the break room?). As for Elizabeth/Kerry, just think of all the sparks. All. Of. Them. I’m not a huge Mark fan, so I’d rather he not be front and center, but I’m fine with you including him as part of Elizabeth’s past if you want to go that route. I’m also fine with ignore canon relationships all together. Go wild, basically. 

Doctor Who Donna Noble/Thirteenth Doctor Donna Noble/River Song

Donna. Deserved. Better. Which is to say: ignore what happened to her, fix what happened to her, however you want to go about it, but make it better. I mean, imagine a world where Donna just shows up and has fun times with whatever Doctor is Doctoring at the time, and when it’s Thirteen they have to pretend to be married for some reason or other and, oh, kissing feels good! Or maybe River meets her during one of those times, and they spend so much time rolling their eyes about the Doctor that they end up in bed! (Or, um, feel free to go a threesome route with Thirteen, Donna, and River. If you want.) I just really do not want a story that is all about how much Donna loses or that ends with her without her memories again or any of that—if you fix it but keep what happened as story-canon, go ahead and have her deal with the fallout if if you want, but I can’t really cope with that being the (eventual or in-story) ending. 

Star Trek: Classic Timeline Beverly Crusher/Vash Kimara Cretak/Kira Nerys

First of all, I don’t know book canon, so include it, don’t include, whatever floats your proverbial boat. Second of all, I am more than happy with “this character lives” stories here. Which is to say, feel free to have Cretak escape/live/etc. Feel free to ignore anything that happens to Bev or Vash or Nerys. I basically think there should be reams and reams of fic about both of these pairings, and yet there is not. For Kira/Cretak I’d especially love something that recognizes that neither of them is human; play around with what we know of their cultures, about how those cultures might clash or unexpectedly mesh, how that can affect a relationship both positively and negatively. And just have fun with Beverly and Vash (and feel free to bring Picard in if you want, either as a friend or a third romantic partner or whatever). And of course I love the crews of the Enterprise and Deep Space Nine, so their reactions and relationships with everyone involved are more than welcome additions (although, again, not necessary).

Game of Thrones Brienne of Tarth/Sansa Stark

Look, the show did everyone dirty. The show did their relationship dirty. The show did writing dirty. Feel free to fix things, either by using the canon ending as a jumping board—maybe it turns out that an all-seeing-knowing-etc. being doesn’t make for a good king and revolt happens! maybe Bran and Sansa meet up for some sort of political thing or another and Brienne’s there as Lord Commander and things happen!—or by going AU (in the for want of a sense, not the everyone’s in space sense). Oh, and this is definitely a pairing where I would dig service kink if you are interested in writing such a thing. Look, it’s right there. 

This is also the only pairing I requested a vid for; I’d love anything that builds on their relationship, maybe plays around with service and fealty and honor and the way different women fight. (I’m sorry; my ability to write about vidding is limited, but know that I’d love anything. I love all sorts of music. I love all sorts of vids.)

[annakie]

On Veronica Mars and Logan Echolls

Heavy Spoilers for season 4.

A long time ago, I used to hate Logan Echolls but I haven’t felt that way lately at all.

I didn’t get into Veronica Mars until after the second season had aired, but I watched the third season live.

I really, really hated Logan Echolls.  

To the point where they, for a very long time, were my NoTP.  Not just for this show, but if you’d asked me to name one couple I’d have never allowed to happen in any show, ever, it would have been them, hands down.

It took some convincing from friends to get me to watch Veronica Mars, but once I did, I loved it so much.  The setting, the characters, the stories, all amazing, VM was an underrated gem.  I didn’t have strong feelings about Teddy, or really any of the guys Veronica dated for the first two seasons (and I mean, ugh, come on, her dating Leo was really gross, I was always like dude, come on, wait until she’s at least in college, you’re supposed to be a good guy) but oh man I truly hated Logan from the start.  

I mean, we were supposed to.  The bum fights, the sexism, the general dickishness.  I was really mad when they started dating in the show, and even madder when I realized later they had somehow become the show’s OTP.  I never interacted with the fandom much especially because of how much the fandom loved them together.

So yeah, when the college season happened, I loved Piz.  But hey, I have a thing for the Paladin archetype, and Piz fit that to a T.  I did hate that it was clear that she still would forever have a thing for Logan but hey, it was a relief she was with an actual decent guy for awhile.

I was sad when the show was canceled, and when the kickstarter was announced, I threw in as much as I was comfortable with.  

So then the movie happened, and I was both happy she’d been in a LTR with Piz, and sad because from like minute 3 it was clear that that was going to end because Logan and Veronica were in proximity again.  I decided to not let it ruin the movie for me, and accepted it.

And then they had let Logan finally grow up.

I can’t pinpoint exactly when it was, but I do know that my favorite moment of the movie was when Logan was getting beat down and then Dick, and Weevil, then Wallace and even Piz kind of shrugged like “Well, I don’t like the guy, but he’s part of our squad so.... guess I’m gonna go jump in there” and that... softened me up a lot.

Somehow, by the end of the movie, I was like.... reluctantly accepting of Veronica and Logan.  I made peace with the fact that that was how the story would end, and had enjoyed the movie and Logan’s character growth enough to be happy with it.

....and then this season happened.  I knew going in there’d be a steady LoVe relationship and expected it to be rocky, but they’d work it out in the end probably.  Or maybe they’d break up at the end for the big noir twist.

Some of the articles I’ve read since finishing the season have said that it’s the fault of the writers for making Logan too perfect now.  And maybe there’s something to be said for that, because by about halfway through the season I realized that Logan was just... a real good guy now.  Real close to fitting into that Paladin archetype I love.  And well... FUCK ME.  I was angry and disappointed at the “Sorry” text and then WHAT THE SHIT I actually teared up at the wedding.

And a minute or two later I actually screamed in not only shock but ANGER when you know, the real twist happend.

You know the crazy thing is, I now very much wish the “Sorry” text WAS the twist, and yet for completely different reasons than I would have thought just a year or so ago.  Because before it would have been smug satisfaction “See? Logan hasn’t changed.” and now it’s “Oh no, he backslid but hey at least he would have been FUCKING ALIVE.”

I’ve read Rob Thomas’ explanation, and I’ve been a fan of his for a long time.  I’ve kept up with iZombie after the first season or so to scratch that VM itch, and considered him one of the “good ones”, kinda revered him as a showrunner almost as much as Mike Schur and John Rogers, but man, even I think his rationalization for killing Logan is pretty bullshit.

And to be honest, it still doesn’t kill my desire to watch another season.  I really hate that they killed Logan and how they did it (and me from seasons 1 - 3 can’t believe I’m saying that) but Thomas’ idea that next season is Veronica out of Neptune is just.... so... meh.  I adore Kristen Bell and generally will watch anything she’s in but Veronica Mars.... well isn’t just about Veronica.  It’s about Keith, and Wallace, Dick, Mac, Weevil, Vinnie, and all the characters we didn’t get to see much of this season, and the ones we just met.  (Also, I just realized, this show needs more women supporting players :p)

I’m not sure how I’m going to feel about a show without them, especially when so many of the supporting players never had a chance to really shine this season.  Or didn’t return because their actors decided their characters wouldn’t be served by the season (and they weren’t wrong.)

There’s a lot more story to tell in Neptune.  And there’s also a lot more story they could have told about Logan.  I’m usually a very “Hey, let the showrunners RUN THE SHOW!” kind of person.  And I honestly LOVED most of this season, I devoured it last weekend as quickly as I could with no regrets.

But man... the ending and the news for what they’re planning for a possible season 5... left me wanting.  A lot.

Just like for me, Game of Thrones ends after Jaime and Brienne finally get together, I think VM might end for me right after the LoVe wedding.  But we’ll see what they decide for next season.  

It’s OK to make your own canon sometimes.

[sanrionharbor-blog]

For Everybody Still Worried About the Leaks

Clues from the Cast Interviews, GRRM Hints, and My Own Gut Feelings

Disclaimer: Hey, nobody knows nothing, but life’s too short to stress about things we can’t control, and stories are supposed to be maps to help us learn more about ourselves and about life in general–not hair-pulling inducements.  So I’m going to enjoy all the speculating that I can regarding the GOT season finale, and want to share some thoughts on why I think certain “leaks” are most likely bunk.

I’m mostly focusing on the pervasive “Does Tyrion die by trial?” leak, and everything that links to that, including any betrayals or major deaths.

Tyrion’s Ending and The Ending, In General

First, let’s quote Peter Dinklage himself:

I had all these ideas in my head and a version of one of them is how it ends up [for Tyrion]. David and Dan have a brilliant version of what I had. If I use any adjectives it will give it away. But I love how it ended up. And how it ends up for everybody. They had a beautiful gentle touch with some, and a hard touch with others.

But that’s just on Tyrion’s ending. Before I get into what that quote tells us, let me quote what other people have said about the Overall Ending of Game of Thrones:

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau:

I’ve never read anyone who got the whole thing. And when I read it the first time, I was blown away.

George R.R. Martin:

So many readers were reading the books with so much attention that they were throwing up some theories, and while some of those theories were amusing bulls*** and creative, some of the theories are right…At least one or two readers had put together the extremely subtle and obscure clues that I’d planted in the books and came to the right solution.

What the above quotes tell me is:

No one has guessed the ending completely–but parts of the ending? Yeah, they’ve been guessed. Which just goes to show how much this show and its themes have resonated not only with GRRM, but with his audience. Because,as a writer, I can tell you that no storyteller tells a story alone. There’s something guiding us and we can’t put a finger on it but it’s often the source of our best ideas. And it’s the same ineffable something that stirs all of us when we’re creating, sharing, and participating in stories. It’s the reason you see the same patterns in stories over and over. In short, the fact that part of the ending CAN be guessed is NOT a bad thing. It’s natural. Some postmodern storytelling theories have taught us that tricks and surprises are where it’s at–but a story isn’t true unless it can surprise us and, in retrospect, give us the only answer that makes any sense. You can see a pithier version of this kind of storytelling in Ye Olde Riddle–for example, the Sphinx in Oedipus Rex could tell us the answer to her riddle is orange, and that would throw us for a loop, but it would tell us nothing and mean nothing and add nothing to the story and thus would be forgotten. Surprise doesn’t count unless it has a ripple effect. So, about-face turns and OOC arcs may shock and subvert, but they’ll ultimately end up as dross and not as gold. (But hey, more on my thoughts on what can and can be accepted as canon in the last blurb below!).

Now, has anybody assumed that Tyrion would betray Daenerys and end up dead simply for 1) loyalty to the Lannisters, 2) suddenly losing faith in humanity?, or 3) suddenly wanting to usurp power himself? No. This is not a popular theory by a longshot. Tyrion dying? Sure. Somebody betraying Daenerys? Sure. Tyrion as a ruler? Sure. But this very specific, shoehorned version of the story is simply too contrived to have been picked up by fans organically.

The leaks so far have painted nothing but harsh endings for ALL the characters. Don’t tell me those leaks are pro-Stark. Those leaks point out backstabbing, loneliness, and emotional stagnation–forget what characters live, think about what these leaks have said about these characters. Not only does this not jive with the “bittersweet” aspect of the ending, it doesn’t jive with Dinklage’s assertion that, while some characters will go down harshly (R.I.P. Missandei especially–at least Edd and Jorah and Beric got heroic deaths and funerals), others will be treated gently. A heartbroken Brienne? A cold, lonely, manipulative Sansa? A suddenly hopeless, headless Tyrion? I don’t think so. (I also don’t think that means that Brienne and Jaime will necessarily ride into the sunset–but I do think we’ll have Jaime’s feelings for her confirmed, along with the completion of his redemption arc. I also don’t think that means Tyrion definitely won’t die–but I don’t think he’ll be character assassination, either. And I also don’t think that Sansa WILL end up in a canon relationship–but, logically, they can’t leave all the Stark’s COMPLETELY UNABLE TO LOVE, and um, somebody has to be willing to have legitimate heirs to the Stark House. Ok, just to continue this aside, but it seems theoretically impossible to me that the Stark House, which is all about the continuation of the Starks and the independence of the North, would not be given any canon marriages/alliances at the end of their arc. Arya’s already rejected marriage, Bran drove Meera away, and Sansa’s always wanted a happy marriage, even if she’s got very understandable trust issues right now. Anyhow–).

Peter Dinklage was able to guess how his character arc ended. What are the odds that Betraying Somebody He Cares About Without Good Reason (Daenerys–I could see him betraying her reluctantly, but not easily)/Being Betrayed By Somebody He Cares About (Sansa)/Dying Guilty After All The False Trials His Character Has Been THrough were in the mix? I don’t think so. Dinklage has gone on record multiple times to say how much he admires Tyrion and thinks he’s a good person. He’s also gone on record stating that Sansa and Tyrion’s relationship is full of true affection. Even if Tyrion dies and/or he and Sansa don’t end up as a couple, betrayal just seems so far out of the scope of what these characters’ storylines have been building to. And again, I can’t see that being even one version of one of Dinklage’s headcanons. What I think is most likely? A) Hand to the Ruler, B) Part of a new council that replaces or supplements the King/Queen, C) the King himself, or D) a heroic death.

How Long They’ve Planned the Ending:

They had talks with GRRM in 2014

They’ve been planning the ending for five years

They’ve known it was Arya who would take out the NK for three years

So some decisions weren’t set in stone, even by GRRM (such as who would take out the NK…an interesting thing not to know, actually, but that just points out how inflated the importance of the Others/White Walkers was–do I still think it will be handled better by GRRM, yes, but that’s another story), and even if D&D’s execution feels more like “here’s an outline of what’s happening” rather than “here’s the organic progression of that storyline,” I can only imagine that if core pieces were given by GRRM AND they’re not completely winging it, then there will be a certain amount of narrative cohesion once this comes full-circle.

Let’s not forget, we still have a third WTFudge moment that was came straight from GRRM himself, with the other two shockers being Hodor’s origin and Shireen Baratheon’s death. Could this third twist be Dany going completely mad? Maybe, though it doesn’t fall into the same category of completely-unexpected-but-honestly-possible, like Shireen and Hodor. Only because the foreshadowing for Dany’s madness was heavy-handed in the last few seasons (taking away the ‘unexpected’ bit), and is now quite uneven here in Season 8.

I think the third twist will likely be a specific action (a la Shireen’s death) or another origin story-type twist (a la Hodor). Some people have speculated that “Tyrion’s Trial” would make for that final twist, but here’s why I don’t think so:

The Nature of the Leaks

It’s very interesting to me that this leak, supposedly this Huge Most Important Leak, was one of the very first ones released. Like, months ago. While the rest of the leaks, the ones that have actually been accurate, are usually only released at the max a few days before each episode airs.

It’s also interesting to me that HBO has not done more to shut down this particular leak.

And, I would not put it past HBO to have actually filmed one entire fake-out scene. Most of the Dragon Pit/South scenes were filmed after the first three episodes, so they probably knew that they had the time and money to just throw fans for another loop. Sound tinfoily? Perhaps, but the idea that this big twist–and a twist that so far doesn’t make much sense given what we’ve seen in what is now ⅔’s of the season–was such an easy leak just makes me suspect.

Another possibility? Tyrion IS on trial, but is pardoned. Or Tyrion thinks he’s on trial, but it turns out to be somebody else’s funeral (a la that Littlefinger Fake Out 2.0.). I’m not saying any of this makes for the best handling of his character or for a particularly compelling scenario, but considering we haven’t seen it, I can’t say for certain.

GOT’s Recent “Plot Twist” Pattern

D&D have switched to information-withholding tactics in the last few seasons. Just look at Sansa and Arya’s arc and the Littlefinger Fake Out. Were these well-written? Not entirely–but they don’t make for the worst entertainment either. Yeah, we had better quality storytelling in the first four seasons, but soap opera can still be fun.

And how long have they been teasing Dark!Sansa without actually delivering? And let’s not forget–show-Sansa’s arc is still, broadly, based on book-Sansa’s arc. Book-Sansa remains far more in tune to the archetype of the Lady/Maiden, while show-Sansa is slightly blended with Jeyne Poole’s arc (and, unfortunately, a dash of Pop Feminism). But the fact remains that whatever meeting D&D had with GRRM back in 2014 contained information based on the broad trajectory of Sansa’s arc as GRRM has been writing it. (I’m writing a character arc meta on Sansa that’ll be out…soonish).

And let’s just say I don’t see Dark!Sansa hinted very well in the books at all. Sansa learning to pull strings like Littlefinger and Cersei and Margaery? Heck yes. But Sansa will do it Sansa’s way.

So, given that D&D usually try to shock us by hinting at a character’s worst possible tendency AND by withholding information AND by trying to get us to see one scenario while giving us another (another example being Jon Snow vs. Night King actually being Arya vs Night King), I can very well see them turning Sansa into a reluctant last-minute ally of Daenerys, Tyrion being pulled out of hot water at the last minute, Jaime’s running to Cersei being about taking out Cersei not making out with Cersei (yeah sorry/not sorry about that one), and heck, maybe Dany won’t go mad–she’ll just realize she doesn’t want the Iron Throne anymore, or the Iron Throne shouldn’t exist, or she dies tragically but not as a monster. Time will tell.

Who We Haven’t Seen So Far That Can Introduce New Complications

1. Edmure Tully

Tobis Mennzies (Edmure Tully) has been confirmed to return this season. Could it just be a cameo? Maybe. But I wouldn’t put it past Sansa, Arya, and Bran to be planning a back-up plan to help out Jon (and thus Dany). Arya is probably planning on killing Cersei, Sansa can rally what’s left of the Tully’s, and Bran will hopefully do something Three-Eyed Ravenish (or regain some of Bran’s humanity–which would be a twist worth waiting for).

2. Khal Drogo

Motherhood is an important theme in Dany’s life. I think ultimately, book and show wise, it’s what’s truly important to her. She just doesn’t realize it. In this way, Dany is a very interesting parallel with Cersei. Both of these women are tempted to replace their intimate losses with power. They believe power will protect them and their own. And that mentality can slowly shift into the classic Mother Bear conundrum: Us vs. Them.

Now, Khal Drogo not only represents a happy time in Dany’s life where she was both powerful and protected, but where she was a mother. After her losses, she gained her dragons. She truly loves her dragons as children, but they are also a liability to everyone but Dany. Interestingly, Dany’s human child with Khal Drogo was a liability to everyone but the Khalasar. The priestess from season 1 knew this, and so she prevented it. It doesn’t make the loss any less of a tragedy, however.

Will we see the same thing play out here in the final act of Game of Thrones? I’m not sure, but Khal Drogo’s presence will be heavily symbolic. Either Dany will meet him in the afterlife or reject death another time–but perhaps she’ll realize that her true desires were always for belonging and motherhood (just not at the expense of her own free will).

And, as an aside–I’ve really come to see Dany in a different light this season. I’ve always been anti-Daenerys as Ruler, but Daenerys as a character is truly fascinating. So what I see implied in her final arc is truly heartbreaking (and I hope it’s handled better overall than it was, in snapshot, here in 8x04). [Dany’s also my dad’s favorite character, haha, and I respect my dad’s opinion almost more than anyone else’s, so she gets props for that too lol].

3. Robin Arryn

I have a feeling this will be a cameo, but honestly the worst-case scenario for me would be Sansa being engaged to him lol. It would certainly be a Margaery Tyrell move on her part (knowing she won’t have to marry him for some time and he’ll be easy to influence), but the Knights of the Vale are already dedicated to her and I’m a Sanrion shipper so you know where I stand on any other Sansa ship. ;-)

Regardless, the Vale could become an important wrinkle in the plot, and I’m all for us not having a complete Doomsday scenario.

And In The Worst Case Scenario

The worst case scenario is that the leaks are legit. Bran as an emotionless king? The Starks are forever alone? Tyrion’s character assassination? Bleh.

But I’ve already hinted at my philosophy on canon storytelling.

Look, most fanon is crap–but so is most fiction. There are millions of stories out there, but it’s hard to find (and tell) one that resonates across all borders of sex, ethnicity, age, and epoch. You know what CAN exist in both fanon and canon–and what actually matters as canon in the end? The stories that are true.

If characters don’t act true to themselves, if deep-in-the-bones themes suddenly drop off, if crucial scenes that are present in every single successful outline are missing (don’t go postmodern on me–just read The Story Grid), then that story is incomplete. And it’s a lie.

Madeleine L’Engle once said “All truth is God’s truth.” She was trying to make the point that fantasy, and fiction in general, is important because it tells the truth. It’s not about the facts (dragons aren’t real! This is just a TV show! Etc.). It’s about the truth (dragons can be beaten! There is wonder in the world! We are united by our mythologies!).

So no, fanon can be a lot more than making heterosexual characters gay or inserting fluff without dealing with the consequences of character actions or erasing parts of canon. Fanon can be more true than canon when the author is on the tail of the actual Story.

Steven Pressfield does a much better job of explaining this in The War of Art. Madeleine L’Engle does a much better of explaining this in Walking on Water. Shawn Coyne does a much better job of explaining this in The Story Grid.

So don’t just take my word for it.

For me, then, I’m excited to see how the show plays out. And I’m fine if certain things that I only WANT don’t happen–but if the story doesn’t have what NEEDS to happen, then I’ll sadly and reluctantly reject it, and wait for GRRM’s books to come out, or simply contribute to the ASOIAF lore as best as I can. Hopefully not as wish fulfillment, but simply to respect the core of the story itself.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

[ultraclausissupi]

Ok so I never thought I’d say this but I kinda ship Brienne with Cersei?! Let me explain: Honestly I haven’t been watching got since season four, but my sister watches religiously and I’m still following a couple of got-related blogs so I sort of know what’s been happening. Keeping that in mind I’m not saying that I ship these two on the show’s universe and I wouldn’t want to see this pairing become canon or anything. However, the bts footage that was recently released is giving me all these feels???? And I just had to let them out. So like I said I don’t want this to be canon (when I was still watching I was a big braime fan and would be happy to hear that they got together at the end of the show) but I would die if there was like a modern au about Cersei and Brienne. Something like Cersei being the undisputed queen of the college campus and kind of a mean girl and Brienne being a history nerd who usually keeps to herself, but then Jaime befriends Brienne in one of her classes and starts hanging out with her. Cersei tries to discourage this friendship because she doesn’t want her brother and this her to be associated with a looser and starts picking on Brienne, but soon realizes that she’s actually quite fierce and they start bonding over their mutual interest in historical battles with Brienne being mainly interested in swords fighting and knighthood and Cersei being a total nerd for battle strategy and queens. It turns out that when Cersei was little she took an interest in these subjects but her father who had sexist ideas about what his daughter should and shouldn’t be interested in stopped her from pursuing it and so Cersei has kept this to herself and resigned to using her love for strategy and schemes to become a “queen” in her own right. Another secret she’s been hiding from everyone but her brother is that she’s a lesbian. Her dad has allowed her to go to college but ultimately he wants her to be the trophy wife of some rich business partner to further the family business. So she has to struggle with her father controlling every aspect of her life. But with Brienne she finds she can be herself and of course starts having a big old crush on her. Brienne on the other hand while always being called a lesbian because of her looks has thus far only been attracted to men and has to come to terms with the fact that she’s bisexual. All of this is complicated by the fact that at first Brienne had a crush on Jaime, but her feelings start changing when she gets to know Cersei better. Also I would like a subplot where Jaime doesn’t want to be the successor of the family business, Tyrion and Cersei work out their issues (mainly Cersei comes around from adopting her fathers hatred of Tyrion) and just general fluffy family+ Brienne outings and Cersei cutting her hair to defy her father and Brienne finding it super cute. Ok so this just got super long, but I think I can sleep now. Towards the end I think this became more of a prompt than anything else, but basically I just had to get this out of my head. Also I’m sorry I have no idea how to like make this post short (I am a technology grandma :/) also sorry if the writing got a little messy at the end :( I was too lazy to read it through a second time

[swordmaid]

"pretty sure it’s because these two characters haven’t met nor has their circles crossed each other’s" jaime/arya has more fics than jon/brienne (another promising ship) and jaime literally tried to kill her for his sis and he's old enough to be her father so yeah, it might be a looks thing or this fandom's just trash. but it does bug me that jaime gets shipped with like everyone yet it's so impossible for fandom to see brienne with anyone but jaime or t*rmund.... even in the jb fandom which SUCKS

i mean, jaime/arya HAVE met in canon while jon/brienne haven’t. not to mention that jaime/arya is part of the lannister/stark circle and that’s popular within the fandom whereas with jon/brienne only jon is in that circle and brienne is generally considered as a side character from jaime’s circle (despite having her own pov). there’s nothing really connecting jon and brienne together as well, so you really have to sit down and think about them to consider the pairing whereas jaime/arya are like prominent characters with a lot of fans there’s BOUND to be some overlapping/people who will take two and two together. I think appearance is a factor as well loool we love to say that it doesn’t but it DOES, tbh. like there are characters out there (in this series and in general) who are super gorgeous and they have COUNTLESS of ships despite never having met the person who they’re being shipped with (sometimes they’re not even from the same series) just because people like what they look like together and appearance plays a part of it. appearance plays a part on the likability of the characters as well we all have characters that we were drawn to because of how they were designed/what they looked like, and that same concept applies to shipping as well. SO, I DO think part of the reason why Sam/brienne is unheard of is bc neither of them are conventionally attractive, but I also majorly think that it’s because their character’s circles haven’t come across each other and the only thing that’s linking the two together is randyll (but he hardly gets thought about when ur thinking about these two) so u actually have to sit down and put effort into thinking about them lool

[jandjsalmon]

What other fics are your faves/masterpieces?

Oooh grayface! You ask the hard questions.

I struggled with answering this over the last couple days for a couple reasons. FIRSTLY - as I tried to compile the list, I got caught up rereading a bunch. I’ve spent the better part of three days either refreshing my Instagram to flail over lilicole at Coachella, or rereading old favourite fanfics. Total time!suck. lol.

Also, like I’ve said in the past, I read A LOT of fic. Like, I think I was several thousand fics last year (Completed and WIPS) on top of the 53 original novels I read for my goodreads challenge in 2016). I read a lot of fic and honestly, I *like* most of the fics I finish because if I hate something or it doesn’t give me joy, I’m not going to continue reading it. (As an example, just recently, I stopped reading a fic by a friend of mine - not because it’s terrible writing (because it wasn’t) or because I don’t love my friend (cuz I do - she’s talented and wonderful and kind and every good thing) - but because every update of the story was giving me anxiety and literal rage at the characters to the point where I was unproductive in real life because I was so mad. Fic is supposed to be fun - even angsty and emotional fic - so I literally had to unsubscribe and take a step back a bit. I still love her, and will read other stories by her - just not that one anymore. It’s a complex thing. So, there’s that.

And then there is the fact that I like a lot of fics that I wouldn’t call MASTERPIECES but… I *liked* them. It’s hard to know what crosses that line into epic awesomeness. I generally bookmark my particular favourites but again - does that mean I think they’re all MASTERPIECES? What does being a MASTERPIECE entail? And maybe there is fic that I absolutely am over the moon about - that other people wonder “What’s the big deal?” There are several favourites of mine that could be like that.

And what if a fic is short? Most Masterpieces are usually Tolstoy length, aren’t they? Sometimes. But sometimes they’re short and perfect and speak to me RIGHT NOW (before more canon makes them suddenly AU) but reading them after isn’t as gut punchy. And sometimes they start as AU and yet they’re still freaking spectacular.

And I hate to throw even one more wrench into the problem - but here’s another: I’ve been around fandom in general for a LONG time. Like 12 years. 12 years where I was really active in fic writing/reading/reviewing/betaing/reccing etc. That makes for a LOT of different specific fandoms. Are you interested in the fics I fell in love with 10 years ago when all I read was Draco/Ginny? Or what about my Sherlolly love? Or Hiccastrid? Or Gendarya? Or Violate? Or Shenny? Or Reylo? Or most recently Bughead? Like - I have a lot of favourites that I read and reread over and over again in all of those fandoms.

And what if a MASTERPIECE is a fan favourite? Does it HAVE to be a fan favourite? Maybe it was written by a BNF and maybe it wasn’t. I was accused of BEING a BNF once (which is laughable - as I’ve mentioned in posts before, I’m a collector of BNF friends - I don’t claim to be one myself) - but does that colour whether I think something is a MASTERPIECE or not?

Does my opinion even matter for that matter?

One last thing before I actually give you a mini list of just a FEW of my favourite “Masterpiece” fics. As I’ve said, I like to collect writers. It’s kinda selfish of me - but I like to surround myself with fandom friends who have so much talent that the metaphorical room is thick with it. Probably because I’m only a mediocre writer myself - but I sure do know how to fangirl people who deserve praise. So, sometimes I love an author so much that every thing they write is a Mastepiece to me. How can I choose when everything they write is so perfect?

You see why this is a SUPER tough question?

ANYWAY - if you got through that, you deserve some links. Remember, some of these will be in fandoms that you aren’t into, greyface. But I hope one or two of them catch your eye. I loved each and every one of them.

And if you’re a writer, and I’ve loved on one of your stories with comments and praise and yet it’s NOT mentioned right here - that doesn’t mean that in the eyes of “Jandy Salmon” it’s not a Masterpiece, it just means that I had so much to choose from and such conflicting feelings about which/how many to share that it didn’t get mentioned. But remember, I’m sincere in every review I leave - and I try to leave at least fangirly squeeing on like 95% of the stories/chapters I read (which is a freaking lot). It’s been a while since I posted fic, but I /still/ receive reviews that make my heart happy and I think being actively engaged with reviews helps build connections with the authors I love.

Right? Okay Right. Here’s the list of just a FEW of my favourites (fics that I would probably call MASTERPIECES) that I read over and over again because I love them THAT much:

List Compiled April 17/2017

Jane Austen

The Effect Series by Shem (Kitty Bennet/OC, Lizzie/Darcy)

http://archiveofourown.org/series/115954

Everingham by katharhino (Fanny Price/Henry Crawford)

http://archiveofourown.org/works/279556

Mansfield End by Ione (Fanny Price/Henry Crawford)

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1072559

How to Train your Dragon

Simple Gifts by Ecoutez (Hiccup/Astrid)

http://archiveofourown.org/works/1925469

The Element of Surprise by Ecoutez (Hiccastrid)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4343291

Game of Thrones

Not Today by ebmordecai (Arya/Gendry)

http://archiveofourown.org/works/407295?view_full_work=true

Pretty much any (Jaime/Brienne) fic by SigilBroken but especially these two series’:

Honour Thy Regard http://archiveofourown.org/series/48322

In this Light http://archiveofourown.org/series/53759

Sherlock (Sherlolly)

Longer Than the Road That Stretches Out Ahead by sunken_standard

http://archiveofourown.org/works/434802

In the End by Lono

http://archiveofourown.org/works/671569/

The Deaf and the Blind and the Color Red by Solshine

http://archiveofourown.org/works/375335

The Falling by Petra Todd

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8455202/1/The-Falling

The Full House by Emcee

http://archiveofourown.org/series/18800

That 70s Show (Hyde/Jackie)

Hyde’s Long Way Home by MistyMountainHop https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7072364/1/Hyde-s-Long-Way-Home

Sky High (Warren/Layla)

Why Villains Have A Better Life By  KFD

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4297395/1/Why-Villains-Have-A-Better-Life

It Just Takes Some Time By Half-elf

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3878294/1/It-Just-Takes-Some-Time

The Office (Jim/Pam)

Oracle Mom By time4moxie https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3893458/1/Oracle-Mom

In My Life, I Love You More By bluelimit https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6420571/1/In-My-Life-I-Love-You-More

Laugh this Life with Me by shannanagin https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2853729/1/This-Life-With-Me

Big Bang Theory (Shenny)

the paladin protocol by spaceanjl https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5623923/1/

miles to go (before i sleep) by medusa20 http://archiveofourown.org/works/250535/chapters/387524

& light is only now just breaking by allthingsholy http://archiveofourown.org/works/154681

the road ahead is clear again by notalwaysweak http://archiveofourown.org/works/250525/chapters/387513

Doctor Who (mostly Ten/Rose)

Chaos Verse by earlgreytea68 (The whole collection is AMAZING) http://earlgreytea68.livejournal.com/82528.html

Welcome To Your Life by cenowar https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3130472/1/Welcome-To-Your-Life

Life As You Know It by cenowar https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3575257/1/Life-As-You-Know-It

Battlestar Galatica (Lee/Kara)

Alone Time by alissabobissa http://beyond-insane.livejournal.com/601124.html

Any and EVERY Starbuck/Apollo fic by hackaddict  (Freaking MASTER of BSG fic) http://hackaddict.livejournal.com/tag/starbuck%2Fapollo

Harry Potter

For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow by florahart (Cedric/Hermione *whut?*) http://hp-springsmut.livejournal.com/79314.html

Under by Tudorrose1533 (Draco/Ginny)

http://dracoandginny.com/viewstory.php?sid=5065&chapter=1

The More is My Unrest by Arabella and Jedi Boadicea (Draco/Ginny)

http://www.sugarquill.net/read.php?storyid=848&chapno=1

American Horror Story (Violate)

Sucker Love by Tjoek  *Incomplete but still a Masterpiece* https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7612662/1/Sucker-Love  

You have been Weighed by Shootingstella http://ahs-exchange.livejournal.com/8634.html

Then anything written by @lolableu (who also writes awesome Divergent fanfic btw), GrayGlube @whatwouldflorencedo (also awesome GoT fic), ScarletWoman @feelavalanche (also started one of my fave Veronica Mars WIPs), and OhYellowBird @ohhyellowbird (also wrote a freaking AMAZING Reylo fic too). These girls are my Awesome Nerds - my Lunchtable girls and I love them. There is no higher praise than that. Read them.

Veronica Mars (Dick/Mac)

Sinclair-Mackenzie  by BIFF1 https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10127131/1/Sinclair-Mackenzie

Mercy on the Undeserved By LVfangirl https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10310550/1/Mercy-on-the-Undeserved

Star Wars (Reylo) - probably the hardest section to choose from - because I’ve literally read over 1000 fics in the last year and bookmarked nearly 100 which I *liked/loved*.

Firstly - read anything by diasterisms (kylorenvevo) - especially Ghostwalks (Gin and Fog) http://archiveofourown.org/works/6931657 (there are only like a dozen stories so I’m serious when I say read them all. *waves fangirly flag*

when there’s nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire. by ohyellowbird (told you she’d show up down here) http://archiveofourown.org/works/5564245

Forms by Trebia  (a fandom staple) http://archiveofourown.org/works/5454443

Isolation by TearoomSaloon http://archiveofourown.org/works/5937457

Sky Marked Souls by AnonymousMink http://archiveofourown.org/works/5816995

On a White Horse by ms_qualia http://archiveofourown.org/works/5863972

Ahgh - there are just so many Reylo fics. This is definitely not a definitive list. Read terapid, corariley, and perrydowning too. I promise I love SO many and all of you writers are freaking brilliant.

OKAY - and lastly Bughead (Riverdale). I am still very active in this fandom, and it's constantly evolving - so I recommend you check out my Mod Faves tag at the @blueandgoldoffice for my current favourites. 🤙

[lobsters-on-their-heads]

What I want from (Fan)fiction

I love fanfiction, but good Lord is it hard to find good stuff in any fandom.  I haven’t counted, but my guess is that only about 10% of works in any fandom are high quality, and the rest range from “okay, I can read this” to “holy fuck, this sucks so badly I now hate this pairing.”  Of course, some of it is personal preference.  There are tropes I can’t stand that other people love, and that’s great!  Diversity is important.  This is my list of things that I want from fanfiction.  A lot of this applies to all fiction.  I start with tips that I feel many readers would agree with, and end with my personal preferences that I know people disagree with.  Specific fandoms mentioned here are DS9, Orphan Black, Harry Potter, and Game of Thrones.  

1) Use the characters’ names, and use them in the way that they’re used in the original material.  No one in Harry Potter called Minerva McGonagall “Nerva,” so you shouldn’t, either.  Besides, it sounds silly.  Call her Minerva.

Also, avoid referring to the characters by their characteristics unless absolutely necessary.  In a scene with Cosima and Delphine, avoid referring to them as “the brunette” and “the blonde.”  If I’m reading Cophine fanfic, I know damn well what color their hair is.  Besides, the names are mostly just convenient tags to let the reader know who’s doing what, to help with the movie playing along in our brains.  Adding in extra markers takes the focus away from the action.  I understand you’re trying to avoid redundancy, but it ends up a little confusing.  

“Cosima gasped as the blonde rolled on top of her.”  This makes me wonder if a third woman joined the action.  Just say Delphine rolled on top of her - it’s more clear.

2) The majority of your speech tags should be said or asked.  It’s okay to throw in an occasional “she yelled” or “he gasped,” but keep those to a minimum, and only use as appropriate.  Speech tags, like names, are mostly to tell the reader who said what.  You don’t even need them a lot of the time if there are only two people speaking.  Using creative and unnecessary speech tags, again, takes the reader away from the main action or message.  

3) Tighten your writing.  Specifically:

- Avoid excessive modifiers and prepositional phrases.  “She spat with vemon” should be shortened to “she spat” unless of course there is literal venom involved, in which case, remove the “with.”  “He frowned sadly,” is redundant.  How else would he frown?  “She thought to herself.”  Well, who else is she going to think to?

- In general, if you can take words out without changing the meaning of the passage, take those words out.  One way I’ve found to do this is by giving myself a page or word limit that’s a little bit shorter than what I already have.  If the draft is 3,000 words, I try to make it 2,500.  Going back to point #1, using the characters’ names helps with this.  “Odo” reads more quickly than “the shapeshifter.”

4) PROOFREAD YOUR SHIT!  Proofread it yourself a day or two after you finish, and then get someone else to proofread it.  None of us can catch all of our own errors by ourselves, but we need to make sure it’s as clean as possible before sending it out into the world.  Proofread especially for the following:

- Verb tense.  Past tense is the most common, but the most important thing to watch for is consistency.  I read a fic yesterday where the writer switched randomly into present tense halfway though, then went back to past.  There was no time travel or flashbacks involved, just sloppy writing, and it took me out of an otherwise interesting story.   

- Check your spelling.  We’ll forgive the stray typo here and there, and some of us won’t even notice if you misspell “achieve,” but if you spell Kira’s given name as Niris, you’re showing that you don’t care about details.  

5) Use accurate and appropriate language.  I’ve lost count of the number of DS9 fics in which Major Kira “stomps” around the station.  I can’t remember her ever stomping on the show, though.  She strode, sashayed, walked, ran, jogged, limped, and (maybe) marched.  She might have even bounced or skipped, but she never stomped.  Stomping is what children do when they’re angry.  

Similarly, don’t get too creative with names for body parts.  Don’t use “digits,” use “fingers.”  When discussing breasts, never, EVER call them orbs, globes, or mounds.

6) Be true to the characters.  I know the point of fanfiction can be to stretch the boundaries of canon fiction, but if you go too far from the canon characters, you create entirely new characters who happen to have the same names.  This doesn’t mean you can pair them up in canonically unrealistic ways.  Garak and Captain Sisko can certainly have a tumble in Garak’s dressing room without either of them leaving character.  This includes physical traits as well as personality.  Some examples of what to avoid:

- Odo fucks Kira in the middle of a staff meeting, and she is pleasantly surprised.  No one is upset about this.  None of this is in character.

- Kira has massive breasts.  In the show, Kira’s breasts are lovely (from what we can see), but they are not large.  

7) Okay, so this one relates to #6, but might apply more to me than anyone else.  I don’t like AUs.  I just saw one that had Cosima as an actress, and another with Delphine as a kindergarten teacher.  Guys.... they are both SCIENTISTS.  That is a critical piece of their characters, not only professionally, but in terms of how they see and interact with the world around them.  Similarly, Jaime Lannister is a soldier and a nobleman.  He is not a musician.  Brienne is not a fangirl.  You can be inspired by characters and put elements of them into your own original work, but if you change too much about them, they are not the characters you say they are.  

Of course, some people love AUs.  If you like AUs, great, keep writing and reading them!  They are obviously popular (about half of the Cophine fics I saw just yesterday were AUs).  For me, though, you have to really sell me on your concept before I’ll even click the link.  

Amendment to #7) This doesn’t apply to divergent plot lines within the original universe.  Some of the best stories I’ve read follow the pattern of “What if [plot point] had turned out differently?”  These keep the characters in character.  What if Kira hadn’t died in “Children of Time?”  What if Cosima had never been self-aware?  What if Hermione were killed in book seven?  What if Brienne found Sansa Stark and they went on adventures together?  All of these work because they keep the characters in character. 

What if Harry were a muggle?  That works less for me.  Being a wizard is too integral to who Harry is as a person.  Still, if you write it well, I might give it a shot, provided that most everything else stays true to the Potterverse we know and love.   

8) It’s okay to use a foreign language I don’t know, as long as it’s realistic.  I don’t speak French, but Delphine does, so having her cry out French phrases during sex totally fits, and is better than having her do it in English.  I can figure out the meaning from context.  If characters are having a conversation in a foreign language, and the exact meaning is critical to the story, there are a few ways to handle that: 

- One way is to have them speaking in, say, French, with each other, and then have a third character ask for a recap or summary.

- Have a footnote somewhere translating the lines into English (or whatever the primary language of the piece is).  

- Have everything in English (or the primary language), but somehow signal to the reader that they have switched into French.  Maybe use italics and have a third character point out that they aren’t not speaking English anymore.  

Do not assume that your readers DON’T understand the foreign language you’re using, or that we all want an immediate translation.  Repeating the same message in English immediately after giving it in French slows down the pace of the story, and is literally redundant.