#Why is it always the popular ships. I never get comments like this about any other Sanji-centric ship.

[shima-draws]

I feel this sometimes with the Zosan shippers. I wrote a fic clearly marked as like no ships/friendship and because Zoro and Sanji had a scene together, people were like LOOKIT THIS ZOSAN FIC! like they have SO MUCH CONTENT let us have our space please, not everything is about them orz

I feel like this is inevitable in any fandom with super popular ships, unfortunately 😭 Some shippers just happen to be a bit more overbearing than others. And it sucks bc there's always so much content for the ship in question, and yet people will go mmm. Here's this thing that doesn't involve my ship. I should comment and tell them to involve my ship :)

Also I'm so sorry that happened to you wtf. The fact that people can't even read a fic that clearly states they're friends only without going "oh but what if it were romantic" makes me want to drown in a river actually.

Anyway no hate to Zosan itself it's a cute ship and I understand why most of the fandom loves them so much. But like. Yes you're right not everything has to be about them. It sucks bc I don't want this to ruin my feelings towards Zosan but some of you are sooo annoying! Lmao!!

[crienselt]

So a few days ago I saw someone (elsewhere) questioning Zutara fans’ excitement about the scarf scene. It wasn't a mean comment, more general curiosity. And well, I didn't have time to get my thoughts out then. But they haven't gone away, so I'm getting them out here:

Here’s what everyone need to understand about Zutara shippers. We were baited baaaad during the initial run of the show–from the magazines to the shorts to the trailers and how they were cut. And Zuko and Katara’s relationship on the show certainly underwent a lot of development and featured objectively emotional–if not overtly romantic–moments between the two. We were well fed, and we had reason to hope. Right up to the end, we had reason to hope.

The shipping wars were the shipping wars, of course, with all the usual tensions; there are always going to be overzealous fans of each (and any) pairing willing to get toxic. Generally, I think Kataang fans were always jealous of Zutara’s popularity and Zutara fans, post finale, were jealous of Kataang’s, well, canon status. But really it operated much the same as any other large fandom’s shipping wars.

And then came Bryke and the panel where they showed and mocked Zutara fan art, some of which had been created by teens if not straight up children. Then came their, “Come on, kids! It was never going to work. Zutara is just dark and intriguing.”* And the pièce de résistance, their telling Zutara shippers (specifically girls/women) that they were doomed to have failed romantic relationships. Like, what? The thing with the art was arguably cruel, and the rest of it was oh, so condescending. Just all around not well done. 

The after effect was that Zutara went from being simply a fanon pairing to a wrong pairing. The ATLA fandom at large became a far more hostile place for Zutara fans, who were now more commonly deemed delusional and viewed as lesser fans. The vitriol only got worse when the show came to Netfilx and the next wave of antis rolled up with their co-opting of legitimate socio-political terms to paint Zutara not just as wrong but morally corrupt if not evil. It’s all very puritanical.**

So Zutara fans need to be reminded that we weren’t delusional, and we aren’t alone. It’s why it means so much to know that Dante Basco and Mae Whitman shipped their characters. And that so many other VAs came out as Zutara supporters too: Jack De Sena, Michaela Jill Murphy, Grey DeLisle, Janet Varney--even the cabbage man. For it to be revealed that it was discussed in the writers room; that the writers fought over it; that it WAS a canon possibility. (And that writers Joshua Hamilton and John O’Bryan are perfectly comfortable admitting their preference for Zutara.) To know that the Elizabeth Welch Ehasz described Zuko and Katara as an “Avatar-style Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” in the script for The Southern Raiders, and used the phrase “Zutara-feuling synchronicity and cooperation” to describe their action sequences. To see Giancarlo Volpe, a Kataanger, admit Zutara might been the better pairing in retrospect and choose a quiet scene between them (to see their “chemistry”) as what he’d most look forward to in the live action adaptation. It’s why we cling to the artwork done by Korean animation director. We aren’t delusional. We aren’t alone.

But try telling that to the general fandom, right? Most are ignorant of a lot of this, particularly Hamilton and O’Bryan’s revelations re: the writers room. A lot of Zutara fans don't even seem to know. But being baited by Netflix on their official accounts? Oh, people see that. And we are reminded in a big way that we aren't delusional and we aren't alone. And everyone else has to remember it too.

So, of course, we're having fun clowning over the scarf scene. And I think most Zutara fans know we are clowning. I don't think most expect to get canon Zutara in live action because of one little scene or the fact that their Netflix icons are facing each other. (I headcanon that that was totally the doing of Zutara shipper on staff, though, lol. Because there are a lot of us, and we are everywhere.)

And this is okay. Zutara has been doing just fine as a fanon ship. Meanwhile, NATLA might actually do Kataang justice. It always worked better as a future ship. (Really all the pairings do. But I especially don't ever need to see another 12 year old kissing let alone making out, in animation or live action, ever again.) There's a reason Padme and Anakin don't get together in Phantom Menace, after all. Also, there's always the chance they could give us Dante's or Mae's headcanon of them basically suppressing their feelings and choosing duty over love/right person-wrong time. And the odds of getting some more moments to clown over are high enough. 

Anyway, TLDR: Zutara has been made to feel like an out-of-nowhere crack ship and the live action crumbs remind us that it is not. And this is at least partially why we are enjoying it. (Because, also, it's just fun!)

*Side tangent: I’ve never gotten this dark and intriguing comment. Even during Season 1, the height of the capture fic era, Zutara was always a ship fundamentally about hope, predicated on Zuko's redemption. (Back in the day, there were also plenty of antis arguing that there was no way Zuko would ever be one of the gaang.) And they say “intriguing” like it’s a bad thing? Are we not supposed to be interested in the relationships of their characters???

**There have been some very good think pieces written lately on late stage capitalism and consumption as morality. Worth googling.

[mazeofyeni]

( 📂 ) ... KAIA'S REALATIONSHIP WITH SKZ !

♡. BANG CHAN (seobang) !

when 16 year old chan met 12 year old kaia, the only thing on his mind was to protect the girl from anything harmful.

he packed her lunches for school; he walked her to school, he brought her food, and came to all the showcased she was in , people thought they were really brother and sister.

when jyp came to him about forming a group; she was the first person to come to mind, he went to her one day and the rest was history.

he's helped her a lot throughout the years, and he's always there for her when she needs it and is struggling.

♡. LEE KNOW (kaiho) !

wasn't too keen on a girl joining the group, but the second he met kaia all the discomfort went away.

something about the girl made him draw closer to her. the heartbreak she felt when he was eliminated was unreal.

he was more pissed off when she was eliminated than when he was eliminated.

a popular ship because of how much he takes care of her on and off camera, people who've met them says that minho always has kaia close by to make sure she doesn't get hurt.

♡. CHANGBIN (changa) !

sunshine and sunshine protector duo fr.

changbin has and will call out someone's weird behavior if he even senses that she is uncomfortable in any situation.

knows that she has a lot of stress of being the only girl and he tries to understand her when she's going through something and gives her the best advice that he could give.

and older brother figure, she probably has a better relationship with him than what she does with her own step-brother because she doesn't have any blood siblings.

♡. HYUNJIN (hyuna) !

the most dramatic duo you'd ever meet in your life.

lowkey didn't like each other during predebut days, he didn't understand why chan was so keen on her joining, he felt like adding a girl was unnecessary, and she didn't like the shade he was throwing so she kept away from him.

when they debuted, they were close, but not to the point where they rest were. they really connected during his hiatus.

they actually talked out their problems and they began to spend a lot of time together working through their issues, now they're bond has never been stronger.

♡. HAN JISUNG (kaisung) !

the only one jisung didn't have beef with when they were trainees.

because she'd come right back with the comments she wouldn't let win a single argument.

now they argue, but it's mostly for fun, he makes a smart comment and she gives him a kiss on the cheek just to annoy her, it's her way of letting him know that she isn't upset with him.

besides that, they understand each other on a level that maybe none of the other members do.

♡. FELIX (yonga) !

two babes with a lot of love to give. as

much as he wanted to get to know her, the poor baby didn't know how to communicate with her when they first met, due to his lack of confidence.

but it didn't stop her, she'd always come up to him and offer him food. she always spoke in english to make him more comfortable when he was still having trouble with it.

her personal moodmaker, she claims when he hugs her, it makes her mood go up 1000x more.

♡. SEUNGMIN (kaimin) !

a pain in her ass part 1, oh he knows how to get under skin, more than han does.

at first she thought he was making fun her her for real, so it made her upset, but then she realized the only way to beat him was to beat him at his own game.

so then it became this never ending thing, he annoys her and she annoys him.

but it's completely out of love, because then they also like to make fun of chan together (help him plz).

♡. JEONGIN (jeonga) !

a pain in her ass part 2, except she'll put him in a head lock if needed.

these two show love by physical touch, and i mean throwing hands with each other. regardless what they show on the camera,

people who went to the same school they did said that they spent most of their time together and were extremely friendly around each other.

except the three times she put him in a headlock and he dragged her by the ear down the hall.

©️MAZEOFYENI

[pupmkincake2000]

Funny how I keep getting comments like this

And it's not that it's harmful,it's that it's just not right whatsoever 💀 all your reasons for them being together are faulty and are things shared between friends aswell.

So, the dude called me and my ship weird while (and I'll keep saying it nonstop) HankCon is the most harmless ship in this fandom.

Okay, we are not saying that people can't ship whoever they want, are we? Especially in this particular fandom? In which most of the ships have no logic behind them at all, yet people are quite fine with those just because they fit into people's standards of beauty and how guy x guy ships have to look like, in their opinion.

So my questions are like those I've seen on twitter: "why do people find it so hard to be silent haters? like genuinely? why is it so hard to see something you don't like and think "ew weird" without feeling the need to tell the person who likes it that you think its weird/bad/gross/wrong ??"

And here's the answer: It's because they need to feel like they have the moral high ground. Actual virtue signalling. Ewww you like this, here's why you're wrong.

And nobody was able to give me an open answer why HankCon seems so offensive to them. And we do not talk about age gap here, it is too ridiculous to bring this up as an argument even. We are not talking anbout father & son issue because canon relationship is still friends, any father & son as well as romance are headcanons. So why those who like father & son are supported and those who love romance and fucking between the character are hated?

In a fandom (with no canon ships, except maybe Kara x Luther) where people literally ship characters with everyone they want?

Someone on twitter also said that the massive increase in self-insert, kinning etc. has created parasocial relationships with fictional charas. It's always happened but it's more now. Any perceived attack (moral or otherwise) on the chara equals an attack on that person's identity.

But I doubt that's the only issue. Although the theory has its place, given the general infantilization of Connor, which, however, is immediately forgotten when people need him to be an adult.

If haters are here to spread morality and justice, why aren't they doing it in other fandoms? After all, as I've mentioned before, there is the Rick and Morty fandom where people ship a grandpa and a grandson and I've never heard of people hating on this ship. Why these people are not among those discussing, for example, the laws of Japan, where a man over forty can marry a sixteen-year-old (correct me if I'm mistaken) if it is really an age gap that bothers the haters so much? But for some reason they chose as a victim a harmless pairing that does not harm anyone and is not even as popular as it was before? Or the goal is to errase it from the fandom spaces completely? If so, I'd suggest those to go outside and touch the grass.

[punkeropercyjackson]

Ultimately the reason Percabeth is such horrifically bad ship yet gets praised so much is that while Percy and Annabeth canonically love eachother,they also canonically don't like eachother LMAO.Percy's constantly wishing Annabeth was extremely different than who she actually is because he finds her unbearable and hard to be around and finds escapism in being around people who're unlike her with the biggest example being him having been in love with Rachel before they settled into still close exes

There's also his friendships with the Grace Sibs,Thalia had infinitely better progress with him in TTC than Annabeth has in the entire saga and he admires her a lot more too and it's a running theme that Jason is Annabeth's opposite and Percy became instant best friends with him upon first meeting and all three of their first meetings are more charming and unique than Percy saying his type is princess-y girls in his narration but Annabeth hating being seen as one because she's gnc and 'You drool when you sleep'.I also think if anybody is Percy's cosmically intertwined soulmate it's not any s/os but Nico and Hazel and by that i mean in a found siblings with him also being their pseudo-parent way.All their dynamics are interesting and richen their characters and they're from different time periods which only adds to how special their bond is

And on Annabeth's end.......She kinda straight up hates his existense.She's always talking about how stupid he is and that he's useless without her and i get that Rick tried to sell it as affectionate teasing but she's angered by it so often it's obvious it's just Rick being a cishet nt white old man.She gets angered by finding him attractive too?????This trope can be good but Percy never actually does anything,he's literally just existing and that includes not actively pursuing her back since he dosen't want her even half as much as she thinks she wants him.It's rare compared to her mean-spirited comments he explicitly never consented to and finds unnecessary and one of the many thing's he wishes she wasn't and he never returns her physical assaults so 'they're demigods and it's normal!' excuse dosen't add up

Yeah,they're dating in canon and gonna get married.Percy's also gonna not only go to college but a demigod college when again and again and AGAIN he says he dosen't want to be a half-blood and he's only going so he can live out a traditional lifestyle with Annabeth so so much for 'his thether to his mortal side' i guess.Annabeth never got any shit from Poseidon like Percy did Athena or terrorizing like Aphrodite does everybody else she talks to and Percy was forced to narratively forgive Luke,again,only because of Annabeth when he groomed him for a bit and abused him tons too and it's so vile to gaslight us into thinking Luke was anything but a serial pedophile and beyond far right to Percy's lifelong outcasthood and anarchy and Annabeth as a direct victim of his sick sexual 'interests' in plausible deniability font due to being a pg series.Percabeth is the peak cishet romance norms taken up to 12 like the Olympians and it's embarrasingly obvious nobody saying they're t4t has ever been in a transmasc4transfem relathionship

That's why this moment is so fucking depressing.She knows him and she dosen't like any of what he is and he dosen't say it outloud because he's scared of the truth,that he ended up with the wrong person,that he fucked up again and she's hollower whenever she's around him because she exists FOR him and for almost nothing else.They weren't eachother's choice,they were eachother's destiny decided by everyone but themselves.This fucks up my autistic ass so much man,no wonder i only ever liked that lesbian!Percabeth au with transfemme Percy and butch Annabeth that was popular when i was a kid,that's deadass the only way you can make it work,they'd need an entire rehaul but at this point i don't care to try because the shippers don't deserve it after how demonic they've been since the 2000s.Percabeth was never a good ship,you were just a tween

[klonnieshippersclub]

Hi Rikki. If Bonnie doesn't like vampires and Klaus doesn't like witches in canon, how do they make sense as a couple?

Long post warning: I think it's important to note that Bonnie doesn't hate vampires and never has. She hates the bloodshed and violation of humanity that comes with vampires. If anything, Bonnie does hate killers. When she meets Kai and finds out he murdered his family, she immediately has a problem with him.

Bonnie’s entire arc was not about hating vampires. Now why is this change ignored by the fandom? Well, who knows. Bonnie has never outright attacked any vampire simply for being one. Just those who were causing harm to her friends or have hurt her directly. Fans don’t try to acknowledge Bonnie and write her off as a vampire hater for 8 seasons. When Bonnie accepted vampirism from ALL her friends. She places their own emotional-needs and wellbeing before her own but that isn’t enough for fans. Bonnie’s emotions are defined as irritating and judgmental when the entire show is about humanizing vampires.

Bonnie doesn't have the luxury like Caroline and Elena to flirt with murderous vampires. Until the very end of the show in season 7 with Enzo at that time Bonnie she claims Damon is her bestfriend. That’s before Elena and Caroline. There’s issues there as well but I won’t get into that. Yet even with the hypothetical thought of Bamon there’s still this continuous negativity directed on Bonnie’s end. Julie insulted Elena just to prove a point. The Bamon Ban existed and it was real. It may have applied to Bamon but with the writer being so vocal about their dislike for Bonnie it meshed with all Bonnie ships.

Klaus hated what his mother did to him and his siblings. He hated his mother for binding his wolf side. The blame for those actions has been to his parents only. There was a never a moment in canon where Klaus blamed anyone else but his parents for what happened to him and his siblings. Bonnie is a witch just like Esther, but why would Klaus hold her accountable for something she did not do. Bonnie wasn’t even alive when Esther did that! It’s ridiculous take to think Klaus would blame Bonnie for his trauma and would not like her because she’s a witch like his mother. Bonnie is NOT Klaus mother and has never been in a maternal position to Klaus. Notice this claim and outright refusal doesn’t exist when people discuss Stefan and Klaus friendship. Stefan wanted revenge for what Klaus had done and they’re still well liked. Caroline can celebrate Klaus death in season 3 and fuck him in season 5 they’re one of the most popular ships. No questions on either of these but it’s Bonnie that people have such a huge issue getting over when it comes to Klonnie shipping. For a ship that is so small and limited in canon there’s always a fan commenting on how “disgusting” and “illogical” the ship is.

Klaus had allies in witches like Gloria, Greta, Genevieve and Maddox. He’s had sex with both Greta and Genevieve who are witches like his mother. Freya is a witch, Hope is a witch. Klaus did not wake up everyday blaming and hating these other women for the actions of his parents. So I must ask again, why would he turn to Bonnie and hate her simply for being a witch? Doesn’t make sense to me. In 2x17 Isobel and Katherine discuss Klaus and witches. Klaus was abandoned by Ansel he still slept with werewolves like Hayley or Lana.

The fandom places rules and regulations on Bonnie because the writers did. I’ve given enough evidence to prove that Klaus would be willing to date anyone despite his parental trauma, as would Bonnie if she is given the affection and chance too. The problem will forever rely in the writers and the fans who continue to push these narratives. A ship so little like Klonnie shouldn’t have many fans arguing about how disgusting and gross it is. Why is shipping Bonnie with Klaus (or any non-canon character) disgusting but none of the canon white centered relationships get this type of reaction. Finally, if the series kept up with Klaus taste in witches the only woman who matches the woman Klaus was intimate with at that time would be Bonnie.

[project-sekai-facts]

As a person who hasn’t played any other rhythm game, why do you think prsk is so successful in a category where there are so many other games to choose from? I guess this would also relate to why you quit the other games you were playing?

hatsune miku.

also i think the story is project sekai is very engaging and generally much better than rhythm games in terms of writing quality and storytelling. i can't comment on bandori because i never got into the story, but compared to D4DJ, proseka is much more consistently good and deep. that's not to say there's anything wrong with D4DJ's more lighthearted overall tone aside from when it gets into questionable shit but sometimes it feels like there's no stakes even when the story tries to say that there are, and generally it's written more like a comedy slice of life than prsk's very realistic and heavier slice-of-life style.

the same can be said for SIF of which i read 6 chapters 3 years ago before skipping literally everything else. the stories were pretty simple again and obviously some people are gonna prefer that over prsk's sometimes more heavy-hitting tone but from a critical pov project sekai does have the better writing.

both the other franchises i mentioned do have really good writing at times. while love live is ultimately slice-of-life with comedy it does have some exceptional character writing, as does D4DJ. Some of the D4DJ stories released in the last year are also amazingly well-written and have dealt with much heavier topics and handled them really well. but that's enough of me gushing about those.

i think its interesting that while this game has always been pretty popular as a idol mobage outside asia, EN suddenly exploded last may-june and i'm not entirely sure why (i guess summer break in america and maybe some adverts and tiktok?). like i used to be able to T20K-30K by barely playing the events and suddenly i was getting T100Ks when I didn't change how i played at all.

Also like. not the best way to judge but when i first checked this fandom's ao3 page in february last year it had about 300 fics and it very suddenly started rapidly going into the 1000s starting that May-ish. like, very rapidly. as of posting this we're at 15516 (only 6k less than enstars which is a much older game) and two ships made it into AO3s top 100 this year so that's a very significant boom in popularity just to back up my bad tiering strats.

i also think tiktok definitely played a part in the game's EN popularity. i don't go there but the tiktok fanbase is huge, right? and then it runs on algorithm shit so people get that stuff on their FYP and download the game. word of mouth but digital style. also crossover with genshin somehow that i think has roots on that app.

the thing is that none of those directly have to do with why people would play proseka over the others and i think that's it. prsk has become an outright popular game outside of the idol-rhythm label. loads of people at my college know what hatsune miku: colorful stage is but barely any of them know enstars or bandori which are the other big names.

i think in someways it's less project sekai being the "preferred" game and more project sekai being the "known" game.

what the fuck did i just write i'm so sorry

[athena-rocks]

I hate Percy Jackson.

I hate the plot that is, and many MANY parts of it. Now that’s not to say the actors are bad or anything, in fact I think they’re incredible. I haven’t watched the show or read the books but from the clips I’ve seen those actors are amazing and deserve respect and praise. But I am going to go over everything I have against the show in this mini essay of mine.

Like the show and want to counter my points? Feel free to! Leave a comment, reblog with your response, send an ask, all is welcome! I may think very strongly on my points but that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to hear others out, but please welcome my response as well (also anon is on so if you have thoughts but don’t really feel confident sharing them on your account you can send by anon instead, still gonna get answered and no judgement passed :) )

NOW! ONTO MY RAMBLINGS!

First of all, Athena. As someone whose name is literally ‘athena-rocks’ I’m sure you can guess that I feel very passionately about this and have a lot to say.

The first thing I want to bring up is the whole child thing. Athena is a virgin goddess why does she have a child? From what I understand Annabeth is born from her mind, as in thought. Which is immensely stupid. The only account of asexual reproduction I can think of is Hera and the birth of Hephaestus, but even then she had a pregnancy and he was born, he didn’t just show up?? The only being I can think of that just pop up is Chaos, who is seen as both a God and a thing, it is, it’s primordial, so are Athena’s children in this also primordial? No they’re demigods.

Also the idea that Athena just abandons her children? No! There’s literally a myth that directly opposes it! Erichthonius!

Erichthonius is the first king of Athens, before Athens got super amazing and awesome and totally cool and really popular and thus got the totally cool founding myth of Athena vs Poseidon. He was born after Hephaestus tried to assault Athena, he’s autochthonous meaning born of the earth. Some of Hephaestus’s… seed, got onto Athena’s thigh, she wiped it off and threw it to the earth as she ran away and Erichthonius is born.

Now Athena has no obligation to this child, it’s not hers in any form, it came from the man who tried to assault her, yet she still chooses to look after and raise the child! There! She has no reason to do this but does, so why she would abandon the children that she does have an obligation to?

And by all accounts I can find Erichthonius had a good childhood, he’s half snake creature thing and when the daughters of Cecrops (who Athena had given Erichthonius to with him in a basket and told them not to open it while she did something) saw him and were horrified Athena either drove them mad so they killed themselves or dropped a mountain she was carrying in rage. So she cares about him.

Now, the Medusa thing.

Medusa was a monster, the original Greek myth she was always a monster. I understand the appeal of a woman who can defend herself from any man who would dare harm her by just glaring at them, but can’t she just have always been that? Can’t she have just always been a powerful monster who can always protect herself? I’m mostly upset at the Medusa thing in this context because I’ve seen people shipping her with Athena, which is weird as Athena is not only a virgin goddess but a mythological figure who was and in some sense still is worshipped to this day.

There are myths that also actively oppose this, when Cassandra was raped Athena was so furious she drive lesser Ajax mad so he killed himself and for 1000 years they had to send maidens to become Athena’s priestesses to appease her. But Medusa being raped by Poseidon, someone who she’s been known to have beef with? No. Fuck her.

AND ARES!!

Ares who killed someone for harassing his daughter, Ares who is the only God to have never assaulted someone, A BAD FATHER?? A CRUEL MAN??? Anger issues? Sure! I can accept that! But bad father? No.

I think the PJO series just hates the idea of war God’s being good parents and it shows.

I’ll end here, but if anyone would like to add on to this post or argue against me please feel free to. Just don’t be an asshole, I’m fine to discuss peacefully I’m not fine with just being flat out attacked.

Thank you for reading!

[divinekangaroo]

Thanks @palmviolet for tagging me!

How many works do you have on AO3? 154

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 900k

3. What fandoms do you write for? Peaky Blinders, Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy VII, Dragon Age II, The Professionals.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Interesting and not straightforward question: I've been writing since 2007 and only rebooted my fics to AO3 in 2023. I backdated them to time of writing rather than posting live into the current update stream. I was vaguely curious to see what *actually* attracts readers through the AO3 search engine. So, my current top five are all Peaky Blinders Tommy/Lizzie fics, and given my small followers list, everyone following me will probably already have read them!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I do, and it’s my vain (both senses of the term) struggle with how to do it appropriately. I am conscious of how comments, particularly on an AO3 "archival" fic, can weight a reader's further interpretation/engagement of or with fic by that author, and that I'll never put so much time into comments as I do into fic.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? 7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? The fics I thought of picking for these two pretty much overlapped. Perhaps this shows just how I approach happiness – it’s moments, it’s never an ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Only old Dragon Age fics. Interesting period of time where any fic author that didn't unequivocally support the moral rightness of one particular character's opinions was targeted. Like: ok to write torture/rape fics of this character, but only if it was clear the author thought this character was morally right. Such a destructive troll.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I'll write sex, mostly as part of a larger arc rather than standalone smut; often it is a partial scenario rather than linear start-to-end event written in a rhythm to support a coherent wanking rise-to-climax read. I'm pleased if people find it pushes their buttons, but I'm also not bothered if it doesn't. I do approach smut as one of many possible lenses or frames for a character, however, so smut that detaches from character confuses me.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Sometimes but they have to feel really right. I think I tend more to fusion or pastiche (I think those are the terms?) rather than crossover: I take a particular character concept/theme and port them into a particular environmental context which is not possible in the canon to see what happens. The only one I still have up is a FFXII/Dragonriders of Pern fic (incomplete) which was going to be all about the horrible knowledge of socially accepted and endorsed ritualised rape and forced feminisation of a character.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I'm not that popular to notice.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I have a memory of one in FFXII but can't recall.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes! Taught me a lot, including the kind of writer I am - difficult to collaborate as my push to complete within a motivational urge period will always be greater than a long-haul effort, and I struggle to be available for other people. I’m either good at the front end ideas-generation, or a micro detail ‘write this particular thing/scene and fill it with goodness’, and not very good at the middle bit – the long slot of planning and plotting and aiming for consistency etc. I am so grateful fandom exists to support non-traditional prose formats which let me play with writing and thinking and engagement without needing to produce to book-style production standards.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship? I usually fixate on a character, and pairings allow means to explore that character rather than being an end game.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Oh they all carry this potential. *cries* The issue for me is loss of motivational drive/thinking; because I rarely have good structural notes etc if I lose my immediate thread of 'thinking of everything all at once' I find it hard to pick up again later. I also stop some fics because I realise how ambitious the scope really is, and I feel like I can’t do them justice.

16. What are your writing strengths? Speed-sketcher? Completionist? Tests multiple ideas rapidly and freely and never worries about something 'being wrong' because there's always another fic to try? Intuitive gut level hits on characterisation here and there?

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Editing, pacing, I can't sustain long fic, I frequently move characters around like paper dolls for the sake of the cool and forget they need their own internal motivation.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I prefer the kind of cant-based/dialect-based approach which splices non-English terms fluidly into English dialogue, mostly because as a child of many migrants this has been my world experience. I do suck at writing this, hence my frequent use of cop-outs to say 'language shift here, meanwhile still writing in English'. But when it’s done well it hits so many of my sweet spots.

19. First fandom you wrote for? FFVII.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Anything in my Personal Favourites list: https://archiveofourown.org/series/3728710. (I'm still too close to Peaky Blinders to pick a fav, it'll take about five years of distance!)

[atopcat]

What do you think of Emma's opinion on Rhaenicent?

Has Emma commented on Rhaenicent? I haven’t seen anything in regard to this particular ship one way or the other.

It doesn’t matter anyway, actors can ship what they want, my only hope is that it doesn’t come at the expense of their characters. For Emma I doubt this would even be a problem as Rhaenyra is more popular than Rhaenicent, the exact opposite of Olivia’s situation where she has to deal with the fact Rhaenicent is more popular than Alicent.

I honestly love how much Emma loves Rhaenyra, they respect her strengths and tragedy, the writers may treat her with disdain but Emma doesn’t. This is highlighted perfectly by the contrast in Ryan’s dismissive attitude towards Luke compared to Emma expressing Rhaenyra’s pain in such a profound manner people still quote it.

Ryan’s treating Luke’s death as nothing more than a minor inconvenience, something Rhaenyra will simply get over to maintain the idea “there’s still hope” for Rhaenicent. Emma’s doing the exact opposite, emphasising Rhaenyra has never felt this level of indescribable pain before, not even after losing both parents and Harwin. They perfectly articulate how “losing Luke tells her she knows nothing about grief” because their priority is Rhaenyra, not a fabricated ship which only exists on account of HBO not wanting an openly bisexual leading lady who would be romantically involved with a black woman.

So unlike Olivia who is more than happy to throw the entirety of Team Green under the bus to continue the illusion that Alicent’s no.1 priority will always be Rhaenyra, Emma knows there isn’t a universe in existence where Rhaenyra would abandon her family for the woman who stole her throne. I can also see why Olivia’s pushing for a Rhaenicent reunion at the end of Season 2, but I honestly don’t see Emma being in favour of this as it does absolutely nothing for Rhaenyra.

Who knows, maybe Emma does like Rhaenicent or maybe with the introduction of Sabitha Vypren and Black Ally they’re hoping Rhaenyra gets a brand new love interest all together. Either way I don’t think their opinion was even considered because Rhaenicent 2.0 isn’t for Rhaenyra and Team Black, hell you can even argue it’s not for Alicent and Team Green either. It’s solely to continue Ryan’s fanfiction, which is coming at the expense of good writing, and for Olivia to hold onto fan support by warping Alicent into a shell of a woman who has no personality outside of secretly longing for the woman who orders the killing of her grandson.

To be clear I’m not criticising Olivia for liking Rhaenicent, my criticism is with her prioritising it over Alicent.

It just seems to me when you compare and contrast the Rhaenicent they’re hoping for in Season 2 to Emma’s emotional insight into Rhaenyra’s actual character they are on opposing ends. Ryan isn’t able to quite grasp the longterm repercussions of Luke’s death whilst Emma is fully aware that any shred of affection Rhaenyra may have still held for her stepmother died with her beloved son.

[nances]

Here’s a handful of cautious optimism as a treat, my brothers in byler

I think there’s a huge misconception about the state of this ship atp. You guys do realize we’ve always been 10 steps ahead of the general audience, right? We knew Will was gay as early as in 2017, some were aware of this back when the first season released too. If I’m not mistaken, the idea that Will might be in love with Mike was around and going strong especially post-season 2, and especially after that one line in the script “Will isn’t looking at the cute girl, he’s looking at… Mike”

Most of us expected explicit byler in season 3, needless to say we were morbidly disappointed. What we did get, however, was yet another hint at Will being gay, and the number of articles with speculation about Will’s sexuality started increasing exponentially. Any way you break it down, we really only got evidence of Will being gay, and there was little indication of him having feelings for Mike.

Season 4 brought the plot line of Will being in love with Mike to the table in canon. We got to see how strong his feelings for Mike are, how they are absolutely eating him up and yet he’s still putting the happiness of his sister and the person he’s in love with above his own, even if that means he suffers. We saw both him being in love with Mike, being absolutely selfless about it AND beating the homewrecker allegations. Personally, I’d call this a W.

Now I understand why we had our expectations regarding byler so high up, Noah’s comments were only stirring the pot. I don’t know if he was truly trolling, and all this buildup amounts to nothing, but he did say “they can’t end it there”, and on some level, he’s aware of the outline for season 5.

If this is indeed gaybaiting, I by no means want to defend that but we have to acknowledge that his idea of “building up byler” pretty much matches that of the general audience’s. We’re only getting groundwork as of right now. As much as we like to joke about him having a secret account on here, a couple of years ago he was, on some level even hostile about the prospect of Mike and Will being gay.

The fallout of what vol.2 turned out to be hit hard, there’s no denying that. Most of us were shocked they actually ended up fueling midleven even more, despite the fact that we were so convinced that going that route would essentially be anticlimactic and bad writing. There was a lot of dissatisfaction with using Will’s feelings as a prop for the straight ship (understandably so.)

But the thing is, the general audience is now for the first time properly aware of the possibility of byler being canon, and a lot of people are picking up on just how bad the lead-up with the monologue was. A lot of people agree that midleven is getting repetitive, and that the monologue was mediocre at best. Is it really indicative of delusion to assume that this ship is being set up for doom? Meanwhile byler’s popularity is skyrocketing and the tag has gained yet another thousand followers after the release of Vol.2 alone.

We don’t know what’s going through the Duffers’ heads. Oh I wish we did. But we really don’t. We do know for a fact though that they don’t really rewatch their show (albeit I hope they’ve learned their lesson after this) which drastically diminishes their credibility as skilled writers. In terms of cinematography and soundtrack, Vol.2 was absolute peak, but the narrative, however, was a mess. They left a lot of loose ends untied, and they’re going to have a shit ton of exposition to do next season.

So either they’re really shit writers, or midleven was anticlimactic and mediocre on purpose.

Despite everything, there’s still the fact that one of those loose ends is Will’s lying about El commissioning the painting. It’s evident in the letter in episode 1 and as far as we know, she’s never really played D&D. If they’re really as good at constructing stories as they’re hailed, we should expect this to go somewhere. Because the Steve and Nancy stuff was left unresolved as well. Same with Max’s letters. If they really decide to leave all of that unaddressed, it simply won’t be a look good for the show.

Bottom line is, they did say they wanted to write an authentic story, and I really hope they realize that having the main guy and main girl end up together is the most overused trope ever. We should all sit on the fact that we did get a fairly good amount of content to advance byler, and that they could’ve just left this storyline about Will’s feelings for Mike out altogether. They made a conscious choice not to. Now I don’t think that half of the shit presented in the byler slides was intentional, but I do think that there still is a chance that they’re heading towards a midleven breakup and byler endgame. I could be wrong, but this is just how I see it now that I’ve let it simmer for a while. We’re still in for an entire season, jopper’s development spanned over 4 seasons and jancy got together in the span of one, so realistically, anything is possible.

[elialys]

hey. as a fellow writer from niche fandoms and unpopular ships, can i just say i really appreciate you being upfront about how much lack of engagement sucks. really thank you. especially because it comes from someone like you who has a fair amount of engagement, but you know what? you’re right being pissed. i know i am. i come from fandoms where people are constantly yapping about lack of content yet none of them engage w/ each other. i ended up leaving bc i felt like i was screaming to a wall. and you know what? i haven’t stopped writing, just posting. bc why bother? so yeah, i AM writing for myself, and also keeping it from myself. idc if that’s petty honestly, like no, it doesn’t make me feel any better if someone out there might end up liking it one day if they’re being completely silent about it. fandoms aren’t supposed to be one-sided. i’m fine w people not reading my stuff cause they don’t like it. you can straight up tell me you hate my ship and i will be like. cool 👍 but when people do read and like your stuff and yet never say anything, that’s something that i don’t like

anyway sorry for rambling, know that you’re much appreciated. i remember you from my doctor who days and i wish i were in your fandoms so i could keep reading your stuff. ❤️

For the longest time I didn’t say anything because I realize that in a lot of cases, I’ve had what you’d call great engagement, and I’ve always been so thankful for the love my stories have received throughout various fandoms. But the decline is STEEP these days, and I have the hindsight of having been writing/sharing fics online for two decades, so I have a lot of 'data' to compare these days’ numbers to.

That’s the thing that has always gotten to me. NUMBERS. Being so, so aware of how many people click on our fics, and how few of them actually engage with a comment. Even at my most “popular”, I didn’t get more than 5% of my readers interacting with me; it felt like a lot because I had a lot of readers, so it meant more comments, but it still was only 5%.

Like you said, it’s this knowing that people are reading, that they are coming back chapter after chapter, yet they don’t bother engaging with us, even when most of us basically BEG in author notes for them to comment and make us feel less like word spewing machines and more like creative members of their online community. What really got to me this last month was updating my fic for The Last of Us, a chapter that got 1,000 hits in two weeks, and I got 10 comments for it. I was just…how the fuck are 1,000 people reading and only 10 of them bothering? Especially since that fic had averaged 3 times that amount of comments for months on previous chapters.

Every time I get disheartened by the increasingly shitty reader engagement, I tell myself that’s it, I’m done writing fics. But then I always go back to it a few days later because I actually LOVE writing fics. Like, fuck yeah, I do write for myself and actually enjoy it for myself (in a love-hate kind of writing relationship obviously 🤣). I do it because I am in love with the characters I’m writing about, and fascinated by their dynamics and relationships, so it’s genuinely a THRILL, and my biggest passion.

But the abysmal engagement these days is just…it makes me feel like shit, there’s no other word for it. Because I spend so much time and energy on those stories (because I want to and I LOVE to write), but as a fic writer, there’s always this part of me that’s excited to be SHARING it with the fandom. Because twenty years of this have gotten me used to at least some decent interaction, and feeling like I'm part of a community. But then the hit count goes up and the comment count stays low or nearly empty, and it’s just gutting. People just consume, consume, consume.

Honestly, GOOD ON YOU for still writing while deciding not to share with your niche fandom at the moment. I’m thinking I might do the same with the rest of my Tess & Ellie AU, because I want to see it through and finish it for ME, but I’m done spoon-feeding an apathetic crowd. I’ll reach out to my most loyal readers and regular commenters when the day comes, and give them a way to read the rest of the story, might even just post the chapters straight on my blog here like I used to do, but not on AO3, not for a goooooood while.

Maybe it is petty, maybe I am just butt hurt. But fuck it, it does hurt my feelings, and I’m the one spending hours of my life writing those things, so I’ll do it my way. And I will continue to call readers out, and ask them to step up. We are human beings, not chatGPT, we just want some appreciation for sharing our art.

[schrijverr]

The Eddie

Steve’s a teacher and constantly talking about his sweet and caring partner, Eddie. When they finally meet him, they are confronted with the fact that sweet Eddie is a metal band leader, who is very intimidating.

This is very much based off this post by @harringtonisms

On AO3.

Ships: Steve x Eddie

Warnings: none really.

~~~~~~~~~~

Mr. Harrington, or Steve as he begs his students to call him, is an oddity at the local public high school. He is still young, muscled but slender, with most girls fawning over him and his hair. He dresses sporty (expected of a PE teacher) but also soft for his hours as guidance counselor. Most importantly he is openly queer, which is very rare in 90s Indiana.

And Steve probably wouldn’t have gotten far in his career if he didn’t have the biggest ‘I don’t give a fuck’-attitude out there. Whenever parents complain or student comment, he’ll just raise his brow, like their opinion is so far out of the ballpark of his worries that caring about it seems plainly ridiculous.

So, he still works as a teacher and guidance counselor, and despite the setbacks he is massively popular under the students.

His PE classes aren’t like most. He has a rigorous stretching and warming up routine as well as a cooling down period, which everyone is required to follow to a t, though he doesn’t care much about how well they participate with the actual lesson. And he always talks while they go through the routine, either about self care or something he saw or anything random.

Those talks are the reason everyone is aware Steve is not straight, because he always – always – mentions his partner Eddie at least once. It’s like he won’t survive if he doesn’t mention the man every hour.

Jessie absolutely adores Steve. She is currently a Senior and has had Steve for PE throughout her entire school career, a fact she can’t be more glad about. She hates PE and Steve has never cared that she always sat on the bench as long as she participated with stretching, warming up and cooling down. And as a closeted lesbian, Steve is quite a comfort about her own future.

She loves hearing Steve talk about whatever Eddie did that day, because from what she has heard he is the sweetest guy out there. The way Steve talks about him is almost enough for her to go straight at this point.

Today is such a day. They’re stretching, following Steve’s lead as he says: “It is good to stretch. You are all too young to know, but there will come a moment in your life when sleeping wrong will affect you for a whole day. I fell asleep with Eddie on the couch last night. Don’t recommend that at all.”

He changes pose and everyone follows: “Luckily Eddie woke up in the middle of the night and carried me to bed. I guess hauling around his stuff has been good for his muscles. And I have been roping him into regular exercise, because it’s good for you. That’s why I think PE is so important, regular movement is important for everyone. It doesn’t have to be intense, you just have to keep moving every now and then. So, up, up, people, some laps, please.”

There is groaning, but everyone gets ready for laps. They all know there is no set limit or speed, you just need to keep moving for the seven minutes Steve sets. That’s all.

And the next class it is: “A pet is a good way to keep exercising when you’re a professional, since they need love and attention. What I won’t recommend is adopting three kittens.”

“Why did you adopt three then?” Johnny, one of the jocks, asks.

Steve rolls his eyes and says: “Because Eddie didn’t want to separate any of them from their siblings,” in a tone that is too fond for the annoyance he’s trying to convey.

“That’s kinda sweet,” Amanda comments and Jessie can’t help but agree with the cheerleader.

“It is, but he isn’t the one that got woken up at 5:00 AM by multiple kittens on his face,” Steve rolls his eyes, finishing the cooling down. “Anyway, my point is, think of things you enjoy that bring movement into your life. It’s not really homework, more something to consider.”

After that they all file out of the gym to get changed in the musty changing room that has seen the sweat of too many teenagers.

And the talk of Eddie doesn’t stick to his classes. Jessie goes to counseling with him, appreciating how he takes her seriously, how he never presumes to know her better and his suggestions are actually helpful, like he has been through something himself.

But that doesn’t stop him from coming in with a rumpled sweater as he says: “Sorry, I look a mess. Eddie is away right now and he usually irons my clothes in the morning.”

“Eddie irons your clothes every morning?” Jessie asks, unable to help herself, craving to know more about her teacher’s domestic life, even though it’s a bit strange.

However, going off Steve’s soft look, he doesn’t mind one bit to talk about his partner. “Yeah, he’s really sweet. He has looser hours, but he gets up with me anyway. Always says that since he doesn’t have to get dressed that it’s the least he can do.”

“That’s really sweet,” Jessie smiles.

“It is,” Steve agrees, before shuffling through his notes, glasses perched on his face. “Now, you said last time you’ve been sleeping a little better, that still the case?” And with that they move back to Jessie and her problems.

Still, even without guidance counselor sessions the Senior class has a pretty good idea of who Eddie is. He is a sweetheart and a softy, but overall an average caring dude, who has managed to capture the heart of their PE teacher.

But when they actually meet the man, no one recognizes him.

They’re in PE class, doing the cooling down when Jessie notices a man at the doorway, who instantly makes her uncomfortable with the way they are all bend over. He is dressed in black ripped jeans, a dark gray shirt with red letters reading ‘The Devil Was an Angel Too’ and has a leather jacket on. His neck is full of chains and his hands adorned by rings, hints of tattoos peaking out everywhere.

Yet, he does nothing but stand there for a moment, leaning against the door frame. His long dark, curly hair hides his expression, so Jessie doesn’t know what he’s staring at exactly. Though he seems relaxed, one leg crossed over the other, heavy boot resting on its tip.

Obliviously Steve continues on, moving into another stretch as he continues: “This is very good for you back, important for you all since you’re carrying a heavy bag around. I try to get Eddie to do this every night, but he’s so stubborn.”

“You shouldn’t be spreading lies like that, sweetheart,” the man speaks up, immediately getting the attention of everyone.

A hushed whispers go to the group of students as everyone notices the man, who at least sounds much nicer than he looks like, despite the words. However, more notable is how Steve lights up at the sudden appearance as he loudly exclaims: “Eddie! What are you doing here?”

That gets even more attention as multiple people repeat the name in surprise. Everyone giving up the pretense of cooling down in favor of gawking at The Eddie.

The Eddie in question looses a bit of his confidence under the students, before puffing himself up and grinning, revealing a sweet face. “That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” before turning to Steve and asking: “Have you been talking about me, princess?”

Steve has finally made his way through the crowd and is hugging the man closely. His soft colorful work out clothes contrast heavily against the metal look of Eddie. He is beaming as he shrugs: “I can’t help that you’re my favorite topic.”

“You flatter me,” Eddie smiles and his face and voice speaks to how much he adores the man in his arms.

“Not that I don’t love to see you, but you were supposed to come home tonight. Did something happen on tour?” Steve asks, brow furrowing as he tucks a bit of hair behind Eddie’s ear.

“Nah, all good,” Eddie assures him. “We got home early, because I drove for a bit so our driver could rest.”

Steve snorts: “Probably not that restful with you behind the wheel.”

“Uhm, excuse you,” Eddie guffaws, faux offended. “I distinctly remember one very eventful drive in that stolen RV.”

“Special circumstances and we gave that back,” Steve protests as the class raises their eyebrows to each other at the information they’re learning about their nice teacher.

“Sure, sweetheart,” Eddie smirks, before procuring a bag. “I was planning on crashing, but saw you forgot your lunch, so, you know, two birds on stone. You need the food and I was starved off your face, pretty boy.”

Suddenly the caring softie they’ve come to know through the stories. Because no matter how intimidating Eddie looks, that all falls away in how he looks at Steve. Not to mention how he came here, despite the fact that he was tired, just to see Steve and make sure he’s okay.

Jessie is near tears at the thought of someone caring so much, before she starts to think closer. Her little brother had mentioned one of his bands to her, shown her pictures too. And this man before her seemed very familiar for some reason.

“Oh my god,” she’s suddenly loudly yelling, despite hating attention, “you’re Eddie Munson! You’re the lead singer of Corroded Coffin. My brother loves you.”

Everyone is looking at her, but she’s looking at Eddie, who first looks surprised then a big smile breaks out on his face. “Your brother has great taste,” Eddie tells her.

“Wait he’s famous?” Amanda asks.

Now Eddie looks bashful as he explains: “I won’t say famous-famous. We can get a crowd, but we’re not doing world tours exactly. It’s a metal band.”

“I’m glad you don’t,” Steve interjects. “I don’t think I could miss you for that long.”

“If I ever get that famous, you can quit your job and travel with me,” Eddie promises, kissing Steve’s temple. Before he teases: “You can finally embrace your trophy wife tendencies.”

Steve playfully slaps his chests and protests: “I don’t have trophy wife tendencies.”

“Tell that to the mayor after they cleared my name.” Eddie hip bumps him.

“He deserved that,” Steve replies, face darkening.

“Alright, lets not get into that now,” Eddie placates him. “You obviously have a class to teach and I’ve distracted you enough. I should go and let you get back to teaching.”

And Jessie swears she’s seen her little cousins pull similar faces to Steve’s as he pleads: “My break is right after. You can wait for a little, right?” Eddie looks on the fence, so Steve pulls out the big guns. “I haven’t seen you in a month, Eds. Please.”

“Alright, alright, sweetheart,” Eddie gives in. “I’ll wait in your office.”

“Great,” Steve smiles in that smug way that one smiles after winning an argument or getting their way. Then he turns to the class and says: “Come on, walking people. No running. This is to cool down, not to get you pumped up again.”

As they walk, Jessie suddenly has more friends than before as everyone comes to question her what she knows about Eddie. She doesn’t know much, often tuning her little brother out, but she knows more than most.

So, they spend the last minutes of class gossiping about how different Eddie is to what they though he’d be like. At first Jessie can talk along, until they start mention how hot he is. To save herself, she mumbles something about him having a nice voice, before quickly making her way to the changing rooms.

Once she’s done, she hesitates. If she tells her brother about this and she didn’t get Eddie’s autograph, he’ll kill her, but she also doesn’t want to interrupt the recent reunion of the two. In the end, she swings by at the end of her lunch period.

Tentatively she knocks on the door until she gets permission to enter. Then she opens the door, popping in her head. Eddie is sitting on the usual talking chair, though he’s sprawled over it, while Steve sits in his own chair, leaning heavily on the table to be closer to Eddie. When he sees her, he smiles: “Ah, Jessie, anything I can help you with?”

“Oh, uhm,” she stumbles. “This is a bit embarrassing, but my little brother will murder me, if I didn’t ask for your autograph, Mr. Munson.”

Eddie snorts. “Mr. Munson, did ya hear that, princess? They have some respect for me, unlike your rascals.”

“My rascals are also yours and I had nothing to do with their manners,” Steve protests.

“Yeah, yeah,” Eddie waves him away, before focusing back on Jessie and giving her a disarming and sweet smile. “And it’s no problem, I’m glad your brother likes our music so much. You have anything particular to sign?”

“Uhm, not really and thanks so much,” she tells him.

“Here,” Steve hands him a piece of paper alongside a pen.

Eddie raises a brow at him and asks: “Do you have always our merch just lying around in your office like that?” before signing and handing Jessie a card with the full band on it.

Steve shrugs: “Of course.”

“God, your perfect, I love you,” Eddie breathes as if he’s in awe of Steve. It makes Jessie feel a bit like she’s intruding on a special moment, but she can’t bring herself to look away either. Because Steve is blushing and having a soft smile in turn and they just look so goddamn happy.

Unable to stop herself, she says: “Thanks again. I hope you get to catch up properly, you’re an adorable couple.”

Both of them send her a knowing smile, before thanking her and sending her on her merry way. She doesn’t know what she feels exactly, but she feels mostly seen and happy. Maybe hopeful for the future.

With lighter spirit she walks through the hallways, she can’t wait for next PE class.

~~

A/N:

I considered making Steve a History teacher, because it would make the story easier to get him talking and he does seem like someone who could become a History teacher, but actually cool PE teacher!Steve lives in my brain rent free XP

[taehyungfirst]

Do you have any theories about why there has never been a Tae and Jungkook subunit? I saw a clip of them harmonizing together on Butterfly at the Busan concert and it's sounds so magical. This is not even about shipping, but why did BH never capitalize on them? Not even a cover? Their strikingly complimentary looks, vocals and overall vibe if focused into one project would make an insane combination. Also they are always singing together for fun and sharing songs anyway, so it's not like they wouldn't want to work together. I also remember that iconic Bangtan Bomb of them singing together and how everyone in the comments were begging BH to put them on a song together. Why not just give the people what they want? I think a taekook subunit might just break the internet actually.

Hi! I unfortunately have no theory, but I think it has a lot to do with BH. They don’t even get paired up for photoshoots (didn’t Jungkook once say something about being paired up in the same subunit all the time?), BH is scared of them being paired up together it seems.

It’s not even like they never recorded together, they said they recorded something during a live, but it’s either bh is keeping it for some festa or they will keep it locked in the basement forever. A very stupid move if you ask me, the most popular members on a track together would actually destroy the internet, not just break it, I think the world would implode. Maybe one day 💭 Do you have a theory?

[olderthannetfic]

I don't agree with anon who suggested removing comments from AO3, but I do kinda wonder what an AO3 without a kudos button would look like. To the best of my knowledge, LJ had no kudos/like equivalent, and I've always wondered if the interaction culture was influenced by the lack of a "show your appreciation" feature that was both quick and, more importantly, impersonal. I understand that for many readers, kudos is the only way they feel comfortable leaving feedback, but I've always viewed it as a little bit too close to the "consume and move on" culture of IG and Twitter.

On a related note, in a discussion about why people do or don't comment on AO3 fics, many people said something to the tune of "I don't want to break the flow by stopping to comment when I'm binge-reading fic". And I get that, but at the same time the concept of binge-reading fic after fic, like scrolling down an Instagram feed, and only leaving a like as a sign of your passage there, makes me a little sad.

Since you were involved with AO3 early on, I'm also curious what went into the Kudos button and why.

--

You know, I honestly don't remember the conversations around the kudos button. I suspect they happened more among the tech people doing the actual design and programming and less amongst the content policy people where I was.

That said, I think the view of LJ that most Olds have is far too rosy:

The big difference wasn't kudos: it was hit counters.

Kudos-only types were probably lurking, but they didn't show up because there was no like button and no count of how many non-commenters happened by. Actual attempts to figure out rates of feedback showed they were terrible just like they were terrible in the zine days and just like they're terrible now... at least in the minds of authors.

The too anxious to X crowd still existed in the past. They just either never found fandom in the first place because you needed to know someone in order to gain access to zines or a mailing list or they lurked and got locked out of all the locked fic posts on LJ.

The people who get shittons of interaction are the ones with free time to respond a lot and who seem to be inviting interaction. I've had some bitchy assholes whine that they're not popular on tumblr while I am, but 1. it took years and 2. well, see above.

On LJ, the people who got a lot of interaction were writing juggernaut ships in fandoms at the height of their popularity. They often also had meta posts that directly invited responses in between their fic posts. And the fic posts may have had author's notes that invited conversation too.

In 2022, the fic authors who I see getting tons of interaction have a CuriousCat or similar that they link to on their fics and seem to be parked on Twitter all day, responding to fans and inviting more interaction. They are writing juggernaut ships in fandoms at the height of their popularity.

If I look at Fanfiction.net (which had literal millions of users at points where "all of fandom" in a LJ sense was pretty small), I see a lot more commonalities with AO3. Certain very skilled authors have fans falling over themselves to make friends. Certain small fandoms or ships have a dedicated fanbase that comments on everything, and it's the same 6 people, but they're very enthusiastic. Old, dead fandoms or unpopular topics don't get a lot of interaction. Hits are very high compared to feedback of any kind.

You avoid binge readers by sharing your fic in private with your tiny fandom of super committed people. On big, public archives, it has always been the norm. Hell, in zine times, someone with the money for a lot of zines could still be like this. There was just less to read overall.

As an author, I don't like being treated as disposable, but one has to keep in mind how many times one has had a profound reaction to fiction and shared that reaction with friends or with no one.

I don't think the bingers are necessarily seeing me as disposable even if they don't comment.

[fanfiction-artist-prototype]

In the past few weeks I’ve seen lots of posts about people either complaining about or explaining to ‘younger’ fic writers about how their belief in an AO3 algorithm is incorrect and I wanted to put my perspective forward as someone who probably is counted age wise in this section of younger fic writers.

I’m 18 and have been writing fic since I was 11 and found Wattpad and started posting little self inserts of my friends and I in the animes and comics we loved, so about 7 years of writing and to be honest my perspective of ‘growing’ an audience in fic has been influenced in some way by social media, but not to the point of assuming there’s an algorithm. 

With Fanfiction, there’s always going to be niche tropes and genres depending on the fandom and it’s common sense to assume that the more you ‘target’ a popular ‘trope’ or genre in fic the more (i hate to call it this but for the sake of the social media allegory I will) engagement you’ll get. The more clicks you’ll get, and theoretically the more comments, bookmarks/saves and likes/kudos you’ll get!

For instance, let’s take mid-2010′s Wattpad; self-insert/oc-ish inserts were still popular because it let the reader (commonly a pre-teen/teen girl involved in a fandom for the first time) act out fantasy scenarios with their fictional/unrealistic crush or let them become best friends or family with their favourite characters! People loved it, because it’s the most basic form of self-indulgence and of course self-insert always has and always will be popular in fic but from my personal experience it was BOOMING on Wattpad then; so if you wrote self-insert/ocish insert then you would get more people clicking and reading as was my experience. 

However if you were to do a more ‘niche’ genre or trope... lets say a Mineta Minrou ship fic in the Boku No Hero Acadamia fandom (since Mineta is an almost universally disliked character in the fandom) you may get the occasional views from Mineta fans or from people who were looking for another tag and are just genuinely curious about what’s going on here but with a character/trope so unpopular within the fandom it doesn’t matter if your fic is the most beautiful gut-wrenching philosophy changing piece of literature to grace the internet people won’t read it. It’s the basics of ‘don’t like don’t read’.

To me, that’s my social media influenced perspective of fic sites. 

The READERS in an essence are the algorithm, if you want ‘clicks’, hits, likes, bookmarks, kudos in the most efficient way then you have to do research into you fandom and find what people LIKE to read - are songfics really popular here? Is any ABO fic created under this fandom tag bullied into deletion? Does this fandom love coffee shop au’s? 

But if you do that, then what’s the point of writing fic? 

What’s the point of writing something that you might not even want to write, that you won’t be able to put your best into, that you will just sit there going ‘I hate this, this is stupid, useless and not something I want put to my name’ all in the interest of getting people to click on your fic so that you can feel you’ve gamed the system when the number goes up?

I know people who’s magnus opus of fics have gotten less than 500 clicks, and most of them regrettably will come from the same 20 or so people re-reading but they’re beautiful, fantastic fics that have all the right tags, that should be ‘palatable’ to a wide audience but they just never get picked up by a wide readership on A03 because as beautiful as it is, there’s hundred of fics being posted every day on AO3 and the tough reality is you aren’t special.

Fic writing isn’t a competition, it’s a fun hobby or side hustle and it’s something that people do for many reasons; to improve their writing, because they can’t let go of this one particular plot point or scene,  to share their love or hate over a character and many other reasons as simple as ‘I wanted to write a story with these character’s in it. But why would you want to write a fic just so people might go ‘oh wow! you make really popular stuff’.

Will that really make you happy? I don’t think so, my first non-self insert fic did absolutely terribly when it came to people reading it because I was so used to writing a genre where people would flit from one of my fics to the other and tell me how much they loved it, but I nearly ended up deleting the fic and never straying from self-inserts because I must not be as good of a writer as I thought.

(I wasn’t, hand on heart I’ll admit that. I was 13 and had a very inflated sense of self)

But then I just kept writing because my friend told me that they liked it and it took a good long while to unlearn the idea that people interacting with your fic in large droves meant success but I did and my writing and confidence has improved. 

And so...

To all the younger fic writers or even the older fic writers just getting started, looking at fic sites like a social media site will do nothing but hurt your creativity and harm your confidence.

When it comes to social media sites it’s easy to forget you’re engaging with real humans and not just creative outlets handed to you by the algorithm but they are real people, and the social media mindset is ‘appeal to what the machine wants and the people will follow’, but on sites like A03 everyone is a person and there is no machine to appease. If you soullessly pump out fics just to make some mystical computer program push it into peoples faces people will notice how little care there is in a fic. 

A fic is supposed to be something you’ve created, and like with all art it’s in some part a reflection of *you* so if all you do is go ‘I don’t need to put as much effort into this I just need to put the right tags and let the magic happen’ people will know, if you pour your heart into it but then mistag the whole thing people will get pissed at you.

Nobody likes reading a whole wall of tags, it’s boring and unreadable and if you mistag your fic to get ‘more clicks’ people will just report you because you’re in breach of T & C. You’re not only turning people against you from the offset you’re potentially getting yourself booted off the platform with nobody but yourself to blame.

The best way to get ‘engagement’ on AO3 is just write what you want, do what you want and people who like the same things will come to you, people aren’t going to read something they don’t want.

An archive is just a collection that you look through yourself; hence the name Archive Of Our Own. It’s OUR archive of OUR things that we made. 

If you try and dehumanise the system then you’re going to be on the losing side.