#I forget he read fanfics irl and I love it

[phantomram-b00]

Idk what (funnier or) worse, tiktok showing me Aziraphale edits that make me relate more to him more or envy their gender or Pinterest showing me a tweet Michael Sheen made about Aziraphale’s Garage

[ramons-elevator]

After all everything that happened yesterday, my heart aches. I watched Bads VOD because i couldnt at the time and bawled my eyes out when he read Pommes letter

And if you are in the same boat, i need you to remember something.

Even though this year so far was really rough for the QSMP, please please please remember that this server was built on love and survived because of all the love that was put into it

Quackity wanted to bring his english speaking friends and spanish speaking friends together because he loves them both

He wanted to add as many languages as he could because he wanted as many people as possible to see how amazing different people cultures are

The eggs were only supposed to be a short event but lasted for over a fucking year because the community and the CCs loved them so much

So many defense and safety things came into play, like TTT or the Ninho, because the Ccs loved their kids so much

Pac e Mike/the brazilians started the trend of making cultural events because they wanted everyone to experience what they do in their culture and show how amazing it is

People logged on everyday to take care of their egg and just to hang out with their friends

CCs met up IRL and flew to places they had never been before because they love each other and wanted to spend time with each other

People like Foolish, Bad, Cellbit, Roier, Philza, Fit, Bagi and more started to learn Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German because of their eggs and wanted to communicate with each other more. Hell, I started learning Portuguese because i wanted to understand Cellbit and Tazercraft more

This server was built on love and survived because of the months and months of love that got put into it

Please never forget that love. Keep creating fanart, fanfics, cosplays, etc.

Ill never forget what this server and eggies did to my life. I never wanna stop learning different languages because of this server.

Love is the reason this server exists and its the reason it will never die <3

[choicesficwriterscreations]

December Creator of the Month: Oh-So-Youre-a-Nerd

Each month, CFWC highlights one of our talented fanfic writers or artists, and this month’s creator of the month is @oh-so-youre-a-nerd . We're very excited because Ascindio is our very first artist to be highlighted! We hope you will enjoy learning more about them and their work below! The writer is selected at random. More info can be found on the navigation page.

Quick Links:

Tumblr Blog Instagram

How do you want to be known on Tumblr? 

Ascindio 

More below...

1- When did you start playing Choices? What was the first book you played? 

I started playing in 2016, I can't remember if I read Endless Summer or Rules of Engagement first, but I ended up deleting the app after like 2 weeks cause I couldn't stop buying diamonds 😅🤦

I re-downloaded it about, ohh idk 2 years ago?

2- When and why did you join Choices fandom?

I joined the Fandom specifically on Tumblr and specifically for It Lives Within, which happened to come out right after I read the first two books 

3- How did you pick your blog name? 

I always try to seem cool and mysterious when I meet people irl, and then as soon as I open my mouth, I ruin it with some niche trivia or something, and they say,  “Oh, so you're a nerd.” 😂 Can't tell you how many times this exact phrase has been uttered to me. 

4- Pull up the first post in your archive, and tell us about it!  

This is the first Choices related post I made 😂 I was just thinking about the concept of what if characters make terrible decisions cause they're controlled by a player who is out of diamonds lol I was going to do a whole series of them (next was going to be lotr “fly on eagles to mordor?” *30 diamonds* or “simply walk”) but got lazy lol

5- Do you write fanfiction, create fan art, or are you one of those really gifted people who do both? 

Only art. God, I  WISH  I wrote too. I've thought about trying cause I have so many ideas floating around in my head, but at the end of the day, I'd rather spend my free time drawing. 

6- How long have you been creating for Choices and for any other fandoms?

For Choices, since early 2022

For other fandoms, since well, forever, but I only started posting around 2017/18

7- What is your favorite Choices book, and what is your favorite Choices book to create for?

Favorite Choices book is probably It Lives in the Woods. All of the characters were so interesting, I never got bored reading it, and it had an incredible twist that made sense but I still didn't see coming. 

Favorite to create for is probably Blades of Light and Shadow though because I am such a sucker for the fantasy aesthetic.

8- Share your first Choices fanfic or fan art that you posted with us. Do you still like it, or would you change it if you were creating it today?.

This isn't the first Choices art I made, but it IS the first I actually shared

And honestly, I DO still like it because I still remember the way I felt absolutely POSSESSED while drawing it (I hadn't drawn anything for *months*). I would definitely change the background, though. Those trees look like shit, and they're not even the correct type for the kind of forest they're in. 

9- What is your favorite piece of fiction or art that you created? 

My favorite Choices art I've done is probably this piece. 

10- Do you have a fic/art that you didn’t expect to be well received, but it was? What about one you expected to do well but found it could use a little more love?

I definitely didn't expect this one to do well at all as it was so hastily drawn

And I was sad this piece didn't get more love, it was such a dope scene and I was so excited about how the sword turned out

11- If you could only draw one style or type of art for the rest of your life, what would it be and why? 

I'm not sure if I'm interpreting the question right, but if I had to pick like a specific type of art, it would be digital, and I would want to do fan art. I have a hard time painting anything that I don't already have a deep connection with (so original art with no story behind it is usually a chore for me), and digital art is just so incredibly convenient and not messy and so so versatile. 

12 - Do you ever recognize yourself in any of your MCs or in your writing?

Because I use fiction as a way to safely process trauma/ grief/ other big emotions, each MC I make has a small part of me, whichever part I feel the need to explore at the time.

There's an amazing quote by Patrick Rothfuss that I feel explains it perfectly. 

It's from Wise Man's Fear

“These folk knew all about death. They killed their own livestock. They died from fevers, falls, or broken bones gone sour. Death was like an unpleasant neighbor. You didn’t talk about him for fear he might hear you and decide to pay a visit.

Except for stories, of course. Tales of poisoned kings and duels and old wars were fine. They dressed death in foreign clothes and sent him far from your door. A chimney fire or the croup cough were terrifying. But Gibea’s trial or the siege of Enfast, those were different. They were like prayers, like charms muttered late at night when you were walking alone in the dark. Stories were like ha’penny amulets you bought from a peddler, just in case.”

13 - What element of writing/art do you struggle with most?

I have a very difficult time making the poses seem natural and flowing. My all time favorite art is Baroque/Renaissance style and how fluid the poses are, how soft the skin looks, how delicately it's all done. Obviously, I will always have my own style, but those are things that I so want to incorporate but never seem to get quite right, and it drives me crazy 😂

14 - Do you have any neglected work you really want to finish?

Not really. I mean, I have a ton of unfinished work, but as soon as the window of inspiration passes, I just can't get myself to care enough about it to finish it (insert Jake the Dog, “now it's gone, and I don't care about it anymore!” )

15 - If someone you know in real life (who isn’t involved in fandoms) asked to see your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you show them first? 

I would, and have.  I typically show them whatever most rendered recent picture from my Instagram because I don't post any nsfw there and usually try to post only my prettier work for this specific reason haha. (As opposed to here, I post everything here, ain't NO ONE from real life invited to see my tumblr 😂)

16 - Are there any writers (published authors and/or fanfic writers) who influenced your writing or art? Are there any artists that influence you?

Writers: Brandon Sanderson, for sure. He's the reason I got back into art back in 2017 ish. His stories are just so emotional they push me to create. Same with @saibug1022, there is always at least one scene from every story he shares that I desperately want to draw to try to capture the emotions. 

Artists: God, sooo many, here are just like my top 3 favorites and their instagrams.

Audra Auclair

Obsessed with her unique style, and specifically the way she draws eyelids and noses

f3lc4t

The way they draw those dripping, glowing wisps. I stare at their pieces for hours (no lie) trying to dissect them stroke by stroke to figure out how they do it.

Miho Hirano

Their art has a delicate whimsy-ness I would SELL MY SOUL to achieve 

17- Which one of your creations would you like to see a fiction written about? 

JC, this is the shit I DREAM of.

Definitely this one. 

So this is love.

This little comic means a lot to me. 

18- Do you write original fiction or create non-fandom art? 

Very rarely, but I do, every so often. This is my favorite original piece.

20-  What other hobbies do you have?

Gaming, singing, walking through the Cemetary with my wee daughter, reading, that's about it 🤷

21 - What’s your favorite emoji? 

🙇

22: BONUS - tell us anything you’d like (if you want to).

I really wanted to say that I don't believe in “good” art and “bad” art (just ethical vs non-ethical). That being said, I know what it's like to hate your art, like soooo intimately. If you ever are feeling shit about your art, you can ABSOLUTELY message me (I don't care if we're mutuals or not, I don't care if we've never interacted before) and just say, “I am feeling shit about my art” and I will go through your art and tell you every specific thing I love about it and why it's wonderful. I am not joking; I am so so serious rn. 💗💗💗💗 

[ennead-of-whump]

Psych Whump Masterlist

💉💉💉

This is going to be my go-to list every time I find something with medical or psych whump in it that I want to remember. I'll reblog it frequently and try to keep it updated but it's going to start small because good psych whump is so hard to find. (This in no way endorses medical abuse, I'm a mentally ill individual but I love consuming psych whump in media. Just about everything in these movies, books, etc are at the very least morally gray so consume at your own risk. Also, I only enjoy these things in fiction. Irl it makes me sick to my stomach, I know bc I've experienced some of this.) I'll try to add trigger warnings for each one but I might miss some so I apologize in advance. If you have any recommendations please message me! I'm scouring the internet for good psych whump but medical/sickfic whump is also wanted.

Movies:

A Cure For Wellness: Guy gets tricked into becoming a patient at a "resort" that's really a mental hospital in disguise that uses its patients for nefarious means. CW: incest, medical abuse, teeth falling out, sexual assault, some weird eel shit ^^There's probably more but I haven't watched the film in a while.

TV Shows:

Moon Knight: Whole season of psych whump, the main character has DID and loads of past trauma. Has a huge ancient Egypt theme and the MC gets (kind of) forced to accept psychiatric care. CW: lots of ableism, mental break, psychotic episodes, forced institutionalisation, child abuse, restraints

Books:

House of Leaves: This book is a fever trip but the MC (kind of?? The book has multiple authors, it's honestly very confusing but it's great) suffers from declining mental health and spirals hard. CW: child abuse, lots of sexual content, mentions of a caretaker beating a child, mentions/delusions of sexual assault, death of a dog (it was brutal, huge warning), mentions/descriptions of suicide and attempted murder

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: This is chock-full of psych and medical whump, it all takes place in a psychiatric hospital (I've actually been to the one in the film! -Not as a patient) CW: huge amounts of abuse from staff, doctors, nurses, there's also a scene where SA is implied on a patient, the MC is there after being convicted of SA'ing a minor and he's pretty unremorseful (the MC is a dick though anyways), racism, ableism

OG Works (not mine):

Redwood Psychiatric Insitute: Forced institutionalization, great read and it has just about every trope I look for in fics all packed into one series. Please give it a read, it's fantastic. Source - https://www.tumblr.com/only-shadows-dwell-where-we-are/706656298337435648/redwood-psychiatric-institute-masterlist?source=share by @only-shadows-dwell-where-we-are

Fanfiction:

Into Your Arms: This is a Star Trek fanfic that follows a girl who has a severe eating disorder and mental illness. It's not the normal kind of sickfic or psych whump I go for but the aftercare in this is topnotch. Source - https://archiveofourown.org/works/15185897 by moose-misses-sweets on ao3 CW: suicide attempt, severe eating disorder, abusive partner, cutting/self harm

Note: If something you made is on this list and you want me to remove it, please message me and I will. I don't check messages very often but it doesn't mean I'm ignoring you, I just forget I have a tumblr sometimes.)

This has now been moved to @caspers-delusions which is my main blog. I'll be updating the post from there

[sunlightfeeling]

TAG TIIIME

thank you so much @orchiddingme!!

Name: Alex

Pronouns: I default to using she/her on myself because those are the ones I only go by IRL but I’m comfortable with they/them and he/him

Star Sign: Gemini …two of them

# of Siblings/Fun Facts About Them (If Any):

2 older brothers; fun facts…they both built working guitars in their woodworking class in high school, and both were part of a band that performed in Battle of the Bands…also in high school (+ different bands)

# of Pets & Their Names: None right now, but I really would like at least one in the future

I’ve had 4 guinea pigs, though, some at different times than others ☺️

Fandoms: I mean SMAP is technically a fandom but it honestly feels more and more like a lifestyle since there’s just SO MUCH

I also orbit around RGG a bit… I’m like Pluto but instead of debating whether I’m a planet, people argue about whether I’m a Yakuza/Judgment blog (…not actually but I can sense the confusion for indulging in the dark side (liking Takuya’s face a normal amount) on at least some of the tags I’ve seen…)

Favorite Color: I’m gonna switch it up and actually make a specific choice

I’m going with Periwinkle 😌

Favorite Song: Changes like the season because I routinely forget songs exist

spinning the roulette wheel of songs in my head (aka scrolling my playlists and picking the first that makes me go “OH THAT ONE’S SO GOOD”)

this one! (I think I broke the question…🥲)

Favorite Author (of anything readable - books, fanfics, zines, webtoons, whatever!): Adrian Tomine, probably. I’ve loved every single one of his stories that I’ve read.

Favorite Fic Type: I don’t really read much fic, but I do love my angst…preferably the love triangle kinds or the like…(I like drama, sue me)

Favorite Holiday: Erm….maybe Memorial Day simply because sometimes it means my birthday is a holiday? lmao

Do you have a partner (romantic, qpr, anything!)?: Nope

Hobbies: Traveling (in that I really want to travel more and make it an active hobby 🥲)… exercising (lifting and running specifically)… collecting pieces of paper with pretty boys printed on them…the usual 🤷🏻‍♀️

Fun Facts About You: I once locked myself out of my own room. I had wanted to make sure no one would go in there while I was gone, which turned out to be extremely effective; who’d have thought!? …..I was five

Tagging (no pressure as always~): @tiny-tokunaga @faunandfloraas @floofz @rosemirmir @woundedheartwithin @bizarreshiz @passthroughtime

[spicybylerpolls]

the discussion about how to write good sex is my catnip.

responding to previous anon, i had a few thoughts:

as moderator mentioned before, a lot of fanfic is by people who don't have actual experience with sex (gay or otherwise re byler), so it's probably drawn from porn even more than it is from their own personal fantasy. the age people first interact with porn, and therefore think that's an accurate portrayal of sex, is getting younger and younger what with internet access. but most porn is performance.

obviously people can enjoy performative aspects of sex, but esp re: mike and will or characters having sex for the first time, behaving performatively is less likely to be a genuine preference and more likely to be out of obligation - such as women thinking they need to be loud, men thinking they need to be silent/last a long time.

however, for mike and will, who likely have never seen audiovisual pornography, they just wouldnt know to use these words like 'baby' etc., and even if mike had sneaked one of ted's VHS tapes (eww), then he would likely be so awkward the first time that he would forget - ESPECIALLY around his lifelong best friend! so sex would instead be intuitive for them. which leads me to think that...

fanfic writers don't want to portray awkward sex because it's, apparently, 'unsexy'. now you can see what a paradox this is, but 'sexy' means something very specific to different people, often based on pop culture role models and ideals (phoebe cates anyone?). writers don't feel comfortable engaging with the reality of sex (rather than performative, idealistic sex) because it can be oddly... normal. mundane. sex can be average, bad, not at all the big deal its made out to be. this does one of two things:

ONE, it makes sex into something easy and accessible, and there are many institutions who don't want you to realise this, because it means they either lose money or lose control (not to get too political), and TWO, it does the opposite: it means that good sex becomes something intimidating and hard to reach, and puts people off when all they want is a bit of cheap release. because good sex, spiritually magnificent sex between people with a real connection and who are in love, is genuinely rare irl. and this is why seeing fictional characters find this connection is so cathartic.

so yeah, many fanfic writers who dont have irl experience are flexing a muscle, but they probably don't trust themselves or their audience enough to follow their instincts and write sex as they ACTUALLY would enjoy or want it to be - probably because they don't even know what they want.

it's a famous stereotype with males, that they are visually stimulated and don't have a highly vivid imagination (the visual stimulation part is rooted in truth, whereas typically females are more about emotional connection, originating with the need to nest and make a safe home). This is why pornography is so popular amongst men. I've even read published books that mention men who aren't visually stimulated during sex, and i'm like this female author clearly has done zero research lol.

Second anon was right about sex being somewhat separate from our real lives - see ideas like 'heat of passion' and 'haze' and 'fog' used in sexual contexts - which explains clumsiness, lovesickness, and blacking out during orgasm. (This, as well as the euphoria and relaxation that healthy sex can provide, solo or partnered, makes it genuine self-care, which is why it's such a shame that so many think it's harmful or embarrassing.) We DO disengage from reality somewhat during sex, as parts of the brain shut down, which means personality can change and become more animalistic if there is true abandonment. again many people never reach this level of trust irl, so perhaps extreme wildness in fanfic is a way of living vicariously.

but that said, fanfic is still storytelling, and readers want to see these specific characters in a sexual scenario, so i think the writer has a duty to be in service to those characters and find a way to make it believable, even if said characters do get a little wild. finding this balance is good writing - so maybe i'm just lamenting the lack of good craftsmanship in fanfic. honestly, the reason is probably because most great writers are out there creating their own original material, which is considered a much more worthwhile thing to do if you have a passion for storytelling (even though fanfic can teach you a lot about writing).

as for sex in movies, its a fascinating topic esp if you look into the history of intimacy co-ordination, which only recently became industry standard. in the past, many directors simply said 'you know what to do' to the actors. this had pros and cons: on the upside, it allowed for improvisation, realism, and the actors to take creative control, which performers from past generations/with classical theatre backgrounds thrived on; on the downside, it meant women especially could be taken advantage of or lose control in a scene, and that it was essentially the actors having simulated sex rather than the characters, which you can understand is problematic. (that said, there always will be an element of similarity between actor and character considering it's the same physical person. actors shouldn't be in the business if they aren't comfortable with this fact, and its up to them to control how different their performance is from their true self).

in film, camera angle, tone, context, EVERYTHING is essential for getting a sex scene right. i haven't seen many that hit the spot of respectful, hot af AND narratively appropriate, esp in gay sex scenes. Call me by your name was up there, but then that got a load of bad press for various other reasons.

I personally am praying they get byler right if they do it, though with the amount of things involved (including the edit/post production), it will be a miracle if everything comes together well.

lastly (thanks if youve made it this far!!), in my experience, written sex that i enjoy the most in published books does the following:

makes creative use of wording that is context- and era-appropriate (e.g. 'prick' instead of 'cock' or 'dick', or just implicit descriptions)

cuts away from the action in a way that doesn't feel frustrating but rather that you don't even need to read what they actually did

focuses on the emotional meaning of sex within the story

asks 'why' over and over - what does sex add to the character?

in short, smut itself will always be smut, and very hard to make narratively appropriate because it exists to make people horny lol. i assume this is where people start getting uncomfortable with byler in this conext, because the line between narratively explorative sex and simple porn can be a fine one, and a subjective one too. as a writer, i think it all comes with practise, and, as with sex irl, discovering what you actually like.

loving this discourse anon, more please!

very fascinating points! detailed and thorough! much to chew on.

[voidcat-senket]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @hxhhasmysoul and @subdee!! <3 <3 <3 who are both v lovely go like. look at their blogs. anyway

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

.161

2. What’s your total ao3 word count?

520,484 - 27% of that is one fic looool

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now just HxH and SW:Fallen Order series. Sherlock and Star Trek AOS were big ones too

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Closing the Space (Between Us) - again its 27% of my wordcount! It deserves it! the Hunter x Hunter Killugon Reunion fic of my dreams. I am SO PROUD of this one I have handed it to irl friends! On purpose! My partner got me a physical copy for Xmas 2021!

2. Crying Over Yuuri - a Kyou Kara Maou! fic, which is a fandom I am amazed is still being read. It's a Wolfram POV fic where he, you got it, cries over Yuuri. Pretty fluffy ending. I credit the numbers to the fact that not a lot of fic gets written for KKM anymore so it doesn't disappear under all the new stuff

3. Not Unusual - A ST:AO3 Academy Era McKirk. Bones gets a bunch of clues to something going on with Jim... he gets it a little wrong, Jim freaks out because this man has Issues, but it resolves in the end. I wrote this one as a pinch-hit for an exchange back when I was still RPing Jim Kirk @thewinningscenario

4. 5+1: Are They Or Aren't They? - Somehow my Mystrade (Sherlock BBC) still gets hits with fair regularity and I'll never understand why. It's definitely not my best work but it's cute! 5 times people weren't sure if Mycroft and Lestrade are dating, and the time they know (because they receive a wedding invitation!!)

5. One Flew East, One Flew West - a Killugon Modern AU in which Killua and Gon meet at a Psychiatric Recovery Center, with Kurapika as another patient and Leorio as a therapist. written for HxHBB2020. I'm very fond of this one. It makes me cry <3 I'm so happy there's so much fandom diversity in these! (The next 11 are all either HxH or Sherlock, l o l )

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I wish I could say I did! I mean to! Sometimes I am not in a good place so I mean to do it later and then I forget..... whoof. I am so thankful for each and every review, and I want to repay that!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I wrote a LOT of fics in my teens where people died (not all of them are on A03, it didn't exist at the time. I'm not giving you my ff.net ;) ) Surely, one of them! More recently, I wrote a Dragon Age: Inquisition Lavellan/Dorian in response to Dorian preemptively breaking up with me (rude!) that is Pretty Hecking Angsty. It's tagged "hurt no comfort"

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Closing the Space (Between Us) did so much work to get where it was, and they ended up with Everything! My boys <3 (And Alluka)

8. Do you get hate on fic?

Very rarely! I'm pretty lucky in life that I don't get hate generally. Maybe it's because I'm not Out There enough but- who cares! People are nice and sweet and lovely mostly, and I love writing fanfic for/with them :3

9. Do you write smut?

Sometimes it will appear in other fics. I don't really do PWPs, and smut itself is pretty rare because I don't include it unless it's... necessary? Kinda? Like if the story demands it. I personally only read smut in certain moods, so when smut's included I make it easy to skip, but it certainly exists

10. Do you write crossovers?

It depends! In my Sherlock days I had a Sherlock/Stargate Atlantis crossover series and a Sherlock in the HP universe series, but I haven't done any recently.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of! I heard people copy fics over to Wattpad sometimes but I've never looked. I'm not usually in MegaFandoms anyway, so I don't think I'm in any real danger.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

YES!! A few different Sherlock ones! (I guess I was pretty well known in the Mystrade sphere?? IDK that was back on livejournal. Anyone else miss KinkMemes?) I think one got translated to Russian and one to Chinese. Both reached out to me and asked for permission first, which I of course granted! It's very flattering <3

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Way way way back in my teen years I cowrote a few times- one in YuGiOh and one in Fruits Basket with a high school friend. Recently I am technically cowriting a fic with @spyscrapper atm- I say technically because its really an rp l o l (Star Wars: Jedi Survivor Canon Divergent Spyscrapper, it's pretty hecking cool! And painful! :D ) I once cowrote a fic where the other author just like. eliminated my plotline. so. It's not always good, but it's still fun to try!

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

I refuse to pick One. Killugon (HxH), McShep (Stargate Atlantis), Seishirou/Subaru (Tokyo Babylon & X/1999) and any combination of McSpirk (Star Trek) have probably had the most long-lasting impact on me. And

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

I often feel like I should finish Pulling The Trigger because it's an interesting casefic and I like the thought of a mystery, but... it's 12 years old at this point, so...

16. What are your writing strengths?

Nature-themed metaphors and descriptions! And I feel like I have pretty strong character points of view! Oh, and angst. I'm good at angst. >:)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Planning 🙃 oops what's that. And I use adverbs too much! (but it's fun so I'll keep doing it)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

It depends why! If a fic is from the POV of Character A and Character B is talking in a language they don't understand, for example, it's fine to use it (though please provide a translation for your reader!) The language switch has to be for a specific reason, and if the character understands it the reader should too. (In One Flew, Gon and Killua sometimes swap to Japanese to disguise their conversations from everyone else- I show that by changing their conversation to italics in most cases.) I definitely wrote a fic as a teen that had all Japanese because I was a weeb and... lol don't do that.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Yugioh, 2001!! It was probably two paragraphs long hahaha

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Closing the Space (Between Us) for sure! God it's so good. I am begging people to read it. If you're going to read One Thing I have written in my entire life-so-far, please let it be that!!

"Tag 20 people:" that seems like a lot hahaha uuhh @spyscrapper @avtorsola @mmuffncakes @nightingalesighs @etoiline @iwishtocountthestars @unicorncoalition @shalnarkonice @missinkylace @thefledglingdm 10 is a reasonable number. but tbh if you wanna do it, do it, I wanna read ur response!

[wishesunderthestars]

Amongst the sea of amazing bts fanfics I keep coming back to Eunoia ever so often. It's truly one of those fics that you never forget about yk. It's amazing how you have created such an immersive world; that the length of Eunoia isn't intimidating, no matter how many times I read it. I am going into indulgent and fangirl territory next so I have a feeling this is gonna be kinda long (sorry for that TvT).

Ok sooooo... Starting with the amazing way you write such a relatable and human y/n. I know you don't always have to write relatable reader inserts since the point of these fics is to be able to experience stories and situations that you might (and prolly won't) irl. I know (us) the ppl reading this fic aren't world class producers who are friends with taylor swift but gosh darn it I feel like it when I am reading eunoia XD . The y/n feels so... human. They have their fears, insecurities, mess ups and they worry and overthink yet they also have their strengths and try their hardest no matter what. Their love hate relationship with their career and burnout, is honestly so refreshing to see becuz no matter if your career is your dream you are going to get tired at some point. OH YEAH AND THEIR COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP WITH THEIR PARENTS! My gosh, it was so good to see someone acknowledge how hard it is to have a relationship with your parents where you don't hate them but you also don't get along because of your massive differences. It feels like you are stuck b/w a rock and a hard place. An argument that will never find it's peace...

Also, I feel like you absolutely nail the members' personality to a T. Ofc, tho you just HAD to give them such TRAGIC backstories ;-; (but yk I get it, the angst is what makes the fluff all the more sweeter). I adore the intricacies of their relationships with each other and also with the reader. All of them mean well but are hesitant to cross any boundaries. I hope we can see them get even closer and develop even stronger bonds so they don't feel like they are burdening each other with their problems and instead rely on each other <3 OK RAPID FIRE ROUND-

Namjoon- so charming, absolutely stole my heart with his rizz, emotional support bby, my anchor in the storm

Jin- absolute SWEETHEART, yes love how did you know the way to my heart was through the stomach, flustered jin is my kryptonite

Yoongi- OOHH gimme that angsty emo boy XD, No but for realisies BBY LEMME GIVE YOU A HUG! it's ok, we're gonna be okay <3 your past doesn't define you!

Hoseok- Sunshine Bby, You are loved, valid and just as important as all of the others, never a burden and always do so much more than you take credit for

Jimin- CLINGY BBY COME HERE & HEAL MY TOUCH STARVED SELF, His backstory made me genuinely sob, don't be afraid love you are safe here <3

Taehyung- ADORABLE LITTLE BABY BEAR, well since we haven't seen much of him I can't say that much but I hope to see more of him and his growth in the upcoming chapters <3 (Also since he is my bias I am even more invested! I am excited to see what direction you take him in :)

Jungkook- Bunny boy come here and tackle me to the ground with a hug >:) He is so cute, he just wants everyone to be happy together ;-; the juxtaposition of a cute bunny who is ripped *chef's kiss*

I feel like eunoia rn is at a midpoint. Things have settled and are not as chaotic but there is still so much to be done! So much to be said, done and so much to heal from. I feel like the story can go in any direction and I am so so curious as to what your vision is for the next chapters (ma'am can we have some crumbs please :> ). Also I was wondering; it was originally marked as smut so if you are still thinking of doing that? (I reallyyyy hope this does not come off as rude I was just genuinely curious; I love the story regardless and it's totally your call).

PHEW, OK THIS IS A LOT! I kinda feel bad for blabbering your ear off but what can I say, this fic is very dear to me.

(pls accept this cute kitty as compensation)

This ask made my day and I'm sorry for taking some time to reply but when I receive such long asks I usually like to think some more before replying. First of all, thank you so much for your words and the fangirling. I live fangirling!!

It is very important to me when writing the main characters in stories to give them their own personalities and make them as human as possible. I don't think it's as fun to write perfect characters or to read about them at that. The mc of Eunoia is very close to my heart because I can see myself in some aspects of her character and I'm happy that's true for other people as well. Relationships with parents can be very hard to navigate and she and her parents have a complicated history. They will never stop being her parents but their differences are so stark and they are nearly strangers by now. She was trying with them for the longest time and she didn't know when to stop trying. Or to stop pretending.

All the hybrids share unique relationships with each other. They might have tragic back stories but they are ones that led them to each other. They have had people crossing their boundaries so many times in the past that they are afraid of doing that to each other. They are all my babies and I adore them.

I was planning to write some light smut for it but I've been rethinking it. I don't have any experience writing smut and in this case the second person is throwing me off. I'll try but I don't know how it will go and if it will fit with the story well.

Thank you for sending this and thank you go the kitty💜 Sending all my love 💜💜💜

[a-reader-and-a-writer]

Some people think that a movie can’t change your life. I say it can and, sometimes, not how you would expect.

Exactly one year ago today, a movie was released that changed my life in immeasurable ways. To most people, it was just another of the countless superhero movies that had been released over the last 20 years or so. And at the time, I thought so too. As entertaining, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt as it was, The Suicide Squad probably would have soon faded from the forefront of my mind except for one thing: Colonel Rick Flag.

Having just seen the original Suicide Squad for the first time the night before, I had pretty much written him off in my mind as a character. Yet from the moment he stepped onto the screen in that black tact suit and charming smile, I was smitten. And every scene with him just made my love for the character grow. Until…..

At the time, it was still in the middle of lockdown so I had watched the movie in my living room alone instead of seeing it in theaters with friends like I normally would. But I wanted so badly to talk to others about the film and to get more Rick content that I knew was never going to come. So, I did something I had never done before. I went looking for fanfics. Before that moment, I had never given reading fanfic a chance. Instead, I was usually content with just making up my own stories with canon characters in my head (the irony of which is not lost on me).  But I needed more than that this time, so I ventured into the hellscape known as tumblr. And I have never looked back.

Soon I was devouring fics, drabbles, HCs, anything I could get my hands on for this movie. Then, I quickly expanded my search to other characters, other movies, other fandoms. But Rick never left my mind. And about a month later, I got the idea for my first fic (which would eventually become Bleeding Heart (Part One)). It wasn’t the first fic I wrote out nor the first fic I posted. Yet it was the one that sparked the fire in me to actually give this a try myself. And I am so glad I did.

One fic turned into two which turned into five which turned into countless more. And while there were many characters I was writing for, Rick always remained a constant. And writing for Rick soon led me to the biggest change of all. It led me to those who I now consider some of the most important people in my life. People who love me flaws and all. People who are there for me on my bad days just as much as they are there for me on my good days. People who I sadly don’t know if I will ever get to meet in person, but who mean more to me than some people I have known irl for years. I have grown as a person, as a writer, and as a friend because of these people and I can never accurately thank them or tell them what they mean to me, though I will never stop trying.

My life changed forever exactly one year ago today all because of a movie. A stupid, gory, hilarious, heartfelt comic book movie with a man in a yellow bunny t-shirt and a cowboy hat. And I will never forget it.

[paleneckauthorcowboy]

This is the next fic in the timeline, This is a disclaimer and Trigger warning. This Fanfic contains suicide! If you know me irl or like off of tumblr, I promise you I'm fine, this is a work of fiction!

It's a typical day like any other, except it's not. This is Kestins' last day, but he's not going to let anyone know; keeping up the facade of ignorance and bliss. He tries to spend it with the one's he loved most, even if he knew I'd be unrealistic to have them both at the same time; he still texts Hoodie to see if he wanted to spend the day with him, though he realized how desperate the text sounded. Unfortunately, Hoodie hadn't read the text. But thankfully, he didn't spend the day alone, he still had Alex.

"I'm glad we get to spend some time together. It's nice." Kestin murmured, leaning on Alex. They hadn't been like this in many months, they weren't even doing anything exciting; just watching movies and being in eachothers company. But, of course, Alex is a busy man. By the time is was barely 3 in the afternoon, he had to leave to go do God knows what.

That was fine with Kestin, it gives him more time to make sure everything is perfect, reading over the notes folding them both up neatly. Making sure he knew this wouldn't fail, and that he would be uninterrupted. 10 p.m rolls around and Hoodie still hasn't read the text, so, Kestin just gives up on seeing him before he goes, as much as it hurts him. He shoots him one last text. Then, he shuts his phone off; throwing it onto the bed.

He slipped into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. He strolls over to the medicine cabinet, opening it, he takes out every bottle of pills that he had. Before he proceeds, he checks his pockets, the notes are there. He then continued, one by one emptying each bottle into his mouths and swallowing with an awful gulp. By the time he was done, he felt, well, terrible. He sat on the floor and just waited for the pills to do their job.

It didn't take too long before he was gone. Now, there's not much to say about a corpse, why don't we shift the prospective a bit, let's go see Hoodie.

He's walking at a fast pace towards Kestins place, trying to call him, get him to answer. He saw the texts, the last one worried him the most 'I love you, please don't forget that.' Brian knows how Kestin is, he's seen this before. He's praying he's not too late, he can't be. He's not willing to lose another person, not after both his boyfriend and girlfriend.

Hoodie gets to Kestins house, much to his dismay, the front door is locked as well as the windows; another blaring red flag that something is wrong. Without a second thought, he breaks a window in jumps inside. "Kestin! Are you here?" He calls out, searching the house. Getting increasingly more distraught. Finally, he finds the bathroom, the door is locked. So he goes and gets the keep from Kestins bedside table.

Quickly, he unlocked it, shoving the door open. He finds Kestin. The scene could haunt him for a life time, he's just slumped against the wall, the sink is full of pill bottles. He gets down on his knees, with shaky hands he checks for a pulse. Nothing. Kestin is already gone. He was too late. Brian slowly slipped his mask off, getting a good look at his friend, he failed him, he failed to save him.

He sees two notes peaking out of Kestin pocket, one of them labeled 'To my last love.' And the other, 'To my only friend.' He takes the second one; opening it with care.

The letter reads as follows. "Hello, I know you're probably confused or maybe even angry. It's understandable. I just couldn't keep living the way I was, playing pretend can only get a guy so far. You know that. I couldn't face the truth so now I'm taking the only way out that I can see. This was inevitable anyway. Me dying I mean, you and everyone else said yourself, if I didn't get out I'd be next. But, why wait around for him when I could just do it myself. It'd  hurt less this way, right? No betrayal anywhere. I'm sorry I have to do this to you, I know you care about me and all that sappy stuff. Please don't blame yourself, this isn't your fault. Just know that I love you no matter what, you'll always be my best friend and brother. Please, try to live well, this is goodbye.

Warm regards, Kestin."

Brian didn't have time to process this, he heard the front door open, so he quickly made his exit out the window. He had an 'old friend' to go visit.

[fandombead]

Writer interview ask game 2,4,10,11,13,23,37,40,44,54,58 👀👀 🎤

ELEVEN QUESTIONS—🤣🤣 OKAY, JUST FOR U. I did say as many as you want 🤣

2) in my selkie story, Patton really decided he wasn’t going to leave, actually 💀 in another story, Remus decided he was very much going to insert himself into the plot to help his brother (bonding time!! Yay XDD)

4) oh my goshhh I don’t know 💀💦 some of these are reoccurring but one I have held onto for a few years is my Ring Curse folktale I made up and want to use in a fic— I’ve finally found one for it and it’s the most developed it’s ever been. There’s very likely an even older one I’m forgetting about though. I dread not doing it justice~ the schematics of it are iffy in some places and I’m trying to work it out

10) sometimes I have a title before I even have a fic and other (96% of the) times, I painstakingly try to figure out a good one for an hour so I can frickin post it XD

11) I only research when I want to know more to make something more immersive and to help me make it interesting! Lately that’s been looking up irl locations for ideas to borrow—

An interesting thing I’ve learned while researching is a bunch of Celtic gods I’ve never heard of—

13) Taking a creative writing class in college!! I really enjoyed it and gave me some new things to take away and include (+ some new AU ideas)

23) I take a break and read unrelated fics! Then a few hours or days later I try to read what I have and figure out where I want to go with it. I have several wips, so I also enjoy switching between them.

37) well since I write fanfiction these days, backstory (if an AU) and motivation are the two that come up first OR character dynamics

40) I have so many lovely comments over the years complimenting my work. Even once from a teacher in middle school about my first fanfic. One that sticks out to me though is someone commenting “I looked this up as a joke but this was actually interesting and well-written”. Implies someone told them to look it up and I exceeded their expectations which— huge boost in my writing confidence considering I wrote that old thing in 7th-8th grade. ^^

44) there are no writing rules you cannot break if you do it well. Everything is a suggestion to help you but every one of them can be discarded in the right circumstances and depending on your skill at executing it.

54) formatting: don’t run your sentences too long. Give your readers room to breathe with plenty periods and paragraph breaks after dialogue and descriptions.

58) I searched “cold locations and astrology” I believe 🤣 several variations of those words until I got what I needed. Also “Luxury cabins”.

[trashyreptilian]

Heya! Hope you’re having an Amazing day/evening/noon/night! If not; that’s okay!

I wanted to ask you; do you have any headcanons for Cesar if you don’t mind me asking of course!

Eyy hello! I'm having a good evening and I hope the same for you whether or not it's evening at your place~

To answer your question, I do indeed have some headcanons to share! ;> AGAIN, these are all written for my AU so keep that in mind while reading,,

Headcanons for Cesar Torres:

-While Mark is more of an introvert, Cesar is the complete opposite. From his fancy appearance, you wouldn't really think that he was a chaotic extrovert, now would you? While he may be a little all over the place, he makes up with his friendly attitude towards others. He prefers being around people rather than alone by himself. (I got inspired by the irl face portraying Cesar in the series, Andrew Long. From the few livestream clips I saw, he's so goofy lmao,,)

-Theater kid, no doubt about it. Don't know why but he gives off the vibes to me. Some of my fanfic readers might have noticed that Cesar goes to an after-school drama club. It's pretty much the only thing he looks forward to after classes. He likes to be expressive as possible whenever he's on stage, intentionally over-dramatic with his acting. The club loves him for that. Naturally, like probably most theater kids, he's got a singing voice and he uses that to annoy the fuck out of Mark by bursting out into song at the most random times. Hit em' when they least expect it.

-Cesar is Hispanic. His family being of Latin American descent, living in the US. He can speak fluent Spanish while American English is his second language. To add, he's bilingual. If I were to list a quick quirk, sometimes he forgets a word in English and you might hear him curse out under his breath in Spanish due to frustration. (I've seen a few people give a similar headcanon and I'm joining in,,)

-A great cook, whenever he has the time you'll find him in the kitchen whipping up some tasty meals. Has a fairly refined palette as well, he hates processed and frozen foods. However, he's a terrible baker. Cesar finds little enjoyment in the more precise measurements when it comes to baking. Don't be surprised if his pastries are messy or that his cookies are burnt.

-There's barely any info on Cesar's parents in the canon series but I'm revealing this anyway. In the AU, Cesar's parents work in the airline industry. His father is an airline pilot while his mother, a flight attendant. While they make good money, they're not as present in their son's life. Because of the round-the-clock nature of the industry, they often have to work evenings, weekends, and holidays. Cesar has grown accustomed to taking care of himself, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he likes it.

-You've seen him in his iconic black suit but that isn't the only tuxedo he's got in his wardrobe. Some of the suits in his collection are fashionable, ranging in colors from white to darker shades of brown and red, but he's also got, less than respectable, multicolored suits. Ones that hurt your eyes just by looking.

[allthingsmustfall]

I read your Charles smith/Arthur Morgan fic and i thought the Cooper family was REALLY a quality touch to the narrative. It kinda inspired me actually. So thank you.

I have a sneaking suspicion I know this asker IRL and he is giving me a sneaky compliment, BUT I will take it. I am going to be better about taking compliments!

I've been thinking about OCs in fanfic bc I get a lot of positive feedback about mine, and generally people aren't jazzed about OCs so one or two people have asked me how I go about it. Here's some thoughts.

Readers get salty about OCs bc they're anticipating a mary sue self-insert. Mary Sue's are fine, we've all got some purple-eyed mysteriously alluring archers/sorcerers/rogues hiding in our closets, best not cast stones in that glass house of yours, etc etc. So calm down, fanfic is primarily about what we as writers get out of it and it sure as hell isn't monetary gain. Without writers, there is no fanfiction, so if people wanna lovingly write about their OCs, LET THEM. Writers owe you literally nothing. AND AND, also, i know my OCs aren't 100% believable and they have annoying Sueish elements. Caroline is a bit too cool and tragic. Anri is too funny and unflappable. But the thing is, it's FICTION. if you go too hard overcorrecting for what could be perceived as Sue, you're going to end up with characters with the personality of oatmeal. So do a little flexing, let your characters be dope as hell. Flaws make characters relatable, but it's also fun to read about people being funny and sexy and interesting while being relatable. Caroline is not as good as she thinks she is, she got herself in trouble, and she winds up with a quiet little schoolgirl crush on Charles. Anri is TOO hard around the edges - she comes down on other people so she doesn't have to look too hard at herself. They're fuckups, but they're allowed to be fun too. You are allowed to like your OCs.

I usually approach OCs from a narrative need. "I need this to happen and I don't know/there isn't a canon character that will fill this need." So for ask, but gently, the thought process went like this:

There needs to be another hurdle to make the story come together. The hurdle should be Micah catching up with them. How does Micah catch up with them?

Arthur needs to get the fuck over himself and 'forgive' Charles. He needs to be reminded of Charles selflessness

The hurdle should tie into their identities, maybe racism, homophobia, etc

3. So I basically flipped all those concepts around in my head until i came up with a missing, mixed race girl and her family. Boom. Hits all the marks. Micah gets extra villain points for not only being a thorn in Charles and Arthur's sides, but also threatens this family. Boom boom boom

4. So now we have what the OC is going to be. You can just use them like that, little bricks to build the story, and that's fine. But i think it's more helpful to then zoom out from what I need from them for plot and think about them as characters. Aside from getting tangled up in my story, what are they like, what do they love/hate, how do they gel with the world. It's not all vital, but it makes writing them interacting in the plot easier and more natural.

So, TL;DR:

Identify a narrative need

Come up with a character in a situation that fills that narrative need

Forget about the purpose they're going to solve in the plot and focus on what put them there, who they are, what makes them a full human outside the bounds of your story

[rainbowsky]

You know much about them so I want to ask. When Gege with XNINE, who was he close to, what were his friendships with the other members? When I read fanfic (yes I know it's fanfic so all made up), people often write Chuyue as ex boyfriend. Not that it is real or anything, but I figured there must be reason everyone does. Were they really close? Are there moments between them/did people ship them at the time? Just curious. I'm so happy gege with didi now, they encourage each other to improve and support each other through anything. Thank you for all your lovely posts, I like them so much 😊

Hi Anon!

Thanks for your kind words, I'm glad you're enjoying my blog! 😊

Please don't take anything you read in fan fiction as evidence of something IRL, no matter how frequently it is used by authors. One of the biggest complaints antis have about RPF is that people can't tell the difference between real life and fan fiction, or that their perspective will get influenced by it. Don't prove them right! 😅

I think authors use bandmates and GG and DD's drama casts commonly in their stories primarily because it makes it easier to shape out a character that way than by writing one from scratch. If they throw in a name that most readers will recognize it makes it easier to evoke an image of the character.

People have shipped GG and DD with their bandmates in the past, of course. In fact I'd go so far as to say that GG and DD can't interact with anyone, male or female, without being shipped with them by someone somewhere.

Let's not forget that skinship, fan service, etc. are a huge part of boy band marketing. Marketing actively encourages fans to picture the boys being a couple, because this type of activity and behavior massively contributes to the appeal for young female fans. But that doesn't make it real.

More on fan service here.

[amrv-5]

🎶 🙋‍♀️✍ for the ask game!

Hello!!!! & thank you for the ask!!!!!!! cut for length (I still have Can't Shut Up Disease):::

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

Depends--I like to throw on an album in the background sometimes, and sometimes it's too distracting (I Love Music). Lately I've been spinning CSN's self-titled album a lot, but a few songs I've listened to on their own to set vibes for writing particular chapters of S2G2 are "Hate it Here" - Wilco; "The Only Living Boy in New York" - Simon & Garfunkel; "Summer, Highland Falls" - Billy Joel, "oh baby" - LCD Soundsystem; "Our House" - CSNY; "No Rain" - Blind Melon; "Does He Love You?" - Rilo Kiley (A married man, he visits me. I receive his letters in the mail twice a week. ... / Let's not forget ourselves, good friend. You and I were almost dead. You're better off for leaving... / You only married him because you felt your time was running out. / Now you love him, and your baby. At last, you are complete. / But he's distant, and you found him on the phone pleading, saying 'Baby, I love you, and I'll leave her...') and like 10000 other songs probably but these are the ones jumping instantly to mind.

🙋‍♀️ Do any irl people know you write fanfic?

Yeah! A few friends from undergrad--four total, I think. One IRL friend reads my fic sometimes, but otherwise I try to keep this hobby relatively on the down-low. On one hand, I really do try to push for the de-stigmatization of fan and derivative works, and think a lot of the judgement people have for fan fiction tends to be unexamined misogyny. That said I also don't need professional peers knowing I write shipfic and erotica about a 70s sitcom!!! so!!!!

✍ Do you have a beta reader?

I don't and that's why there's probably a metric fuckton of unchecked typos in my stuff. If anybody spots a really egregious spelling error or missing word or something feel free to let me know in a DM because I do appreciate it and WILL go back and edit it!!! I'm also weird about editing/beta-ing in that I generally don't edit after the fact, or if I do it's almost exclusively additive or typo hunting, so what you read on the page is pretty much 100% pure instantaneous train of thought insanity on my part. I like it that way but it also makes asking for input/beta-reading: weird, because typically it comes out how it will stay, which doesn't really jive with the whole point of beta-reading. is that anything? ? ? Does this make sense??? Is beta-reading a common occurrence these days, I'd love to know because I'm not SURE if I've seen it happen ever, but it could be I'm doing something really weird by NOT having beta-readers???

[drarrypotterrenaissance]

Helloooo for the fruit asks: 🍓 What’s a fic you’ve written you feel is underrated? and 🍍 What kind of AUs do you like? Are there any AUs you hate or just generally have beef with? If those don't spark joy or you've done them, feel free to swap 'em out for anything you want, pls and thank youuuuu!!

Oooh, thank you @phdmama! These are such good ones!

🍓 What's a fic you've written you feel is underrated?

I've been struggling to think which of my fics is underrated - when I post a fic, it's usually as if it entirely ceases to exist in my brain. That's great on the one hand, because if any of my fics have flopped then I have no clue and I'm just as happy as I would have been otherwise, but it also means that I forget what I've written and my irl bestie (who doesn't read fanfic) knows my fics better than I do 😆 By virtue of lowest hits/kudos ratio, I think my most underrated fic is Pieces Falling Into Place. It was the first fic I wrote for the Drarry fandom, and I didn't do much to promote it or share it or anything, so I think it went somewhat under the radar. It's also pretty unconventional, in that it's from Dean's perspective and is just him jumping to conclusions about the nature of Harry and Draco's relationship, based on what he's hearing when they're faced with the Snatchers in book 7. I think it's pretty funny though, and I had fun coming up with the ways that Dean could misinterpret canon compliant things to come up with Drarry!

🍍 What kinds of AUs do you like? Are there any AUs you hate or just generally have beef with?

The question of my favorite AU is incredibly easy - soulmates, all day every day! Red string of fate, sharing pain, identical scars, hearing the others thoughts, lost things finding the other one, any soulmate trope at all is amazing and I will read it!!! However, there is one exception to that rule: I don't like reincarnation fics, or ones where it's the same characters in a bunch of different time periods finding each other again and again. I have no clue why my brain is so against that trope, but I just do not like it. Tbh I'm really sad that I don't like it, because there are some fics that follow that trope written by authors I love, but I know I wouldn't enjoy them properly if I read them. I'm not sure if it's just my historian-brain being skeptical of someone being able to write multiple time periods accurately (I don't watch most period movies for that reason too, I can't turn off that part of my brain no matter how much I try), or if it's the implication of death that fics like that require (I don't do well with death usually), but I can't get myself to enjoy those fics so I just avoid them.

Thank you so much for your ask!! 💜 I think I need to go get to work on one of my Drarry Soulmate WIPs now.....