#and I didn't want to not engage with the fandom side at all (bc as you all know I'm incapable of shutting up)

[ilycosy]

subby whiny coryo🤭

sub coryo is literally my fav kind ,,, how did u know are u in my walls ??!?!? this is w post!peacekeeper him bc ... i love the buzzcut

also :) hi tbosas fandom !!

you could hear his footsteps before you officially see him, returning back from the districts to you. his footsteps are heavier than last time— and he seems to have bulked up, broad shoulders now more muscular than scrawny like before.

you smooth out your dress before wrapping your arms around his neck, allowing him to take the lead while in public. his buzzed head tickles the side of your neck as he breathes you in, hands finding their way to your soft hips. he hums in contentment.

"c'mon, coryo, we have a party to go to." you mumble against his shoulder, knowing that the last place he wants to be is a party. but it'd help his social status, especially since the plinths are throwing the party.

by the time you both had cleaned up for the party and arrived, many people were downing posca like it was water (which, you could argue that it was to the elites.) so you and coriolanus didn't have to do much socializing, a simple nod and compliment going a long way.

you were engaging in a conversation with a random elite, somebody that neither you nor coriolanus cared for, when you felt a hand sliding from your back to your ass. you didn't bother with looking, already knowing that it was your impatient boyfriend.

coriolanus was an uptight and elitist boy when you met him, just beginning at the academy— he still is, but now you like to think that he's become more of a man than that boy you knew. so eager to prove himself and his power to everyone, including you.

his hand attempted to go up the dress, but you stopped him before he got ahead of himself. "my love," you said with a small laugh, resting your hand on his bicep. "will you please get me something to drink?"

he almost pouted before realizing what you asked of him, you never drank. his small frown turned into a charming smile as he pressed a soft kiss to the inner corner of your mouth, "of course my dear."

which is how you two ended up here, in the bathroom of an extravagant house belonging to a family that honestly shouldn't even like coriolanus. making out like he was about to go back to peacekeeping (which, he'd never do. he missed you too much.) your glossed lips left sticky colorful marks on his pale skin, marking him as yours.

your hand was wrapped around his pretty weeping cock, slowly jerking him off while you kissed him dumb. drinking up the whines that left his mouth while he grinded into your hand, his pent-up self finally being able to be relieved after the time in the districts.

"did ya' miss me?" you asked teasingly, thumbing his tip while he tried to steel himself. his blue eyes welling up with tears as he shys away from your hand, his cock leaking precum all over your manicured hand. "did you coryo?"

he gulped, which would've looked a bit silly if you both weren't so turned on. he nodded, his reddening face blurring together as tears slip. "missed y'so much miss," he slurred, a throaty noise coming out as he hid in your neck. "needed you, s'much."

you giggled and pressed another kiss to his bruised lips, licking them until he opened his mouth— only to pull back and let him pant openly. "well you have me now sweetheart," you assured him, pulling your hand away from him to rest your precum slicked fingers in his open mouth. "what do you think we should do? to make up for lost time.."

[whoronoa]

I'm being delusional but hear me out

Do you ever think about what it would be like to actually date them? Because I have. A lot. Mainly as a preparation for what would happen in terms of Atiny finding because let's be honest the fandom is kinda scary.

ANYWAYS

Here is something I was thinking about if I was an undercover gf forced to come out of hiding (Bc they would have to force me not that I wouldn't love to shout it from the rooftops I would again be afraid of getting torn to shreds on the internet). Feel free to use my delusion for your fics.

1. Yunho is dating the girl version of his best friend.

Mingi and I are very similar in our aesthetics and interests. With our zodiac charts and personalities, I think we'd drive Yunho crazy or he'd be endeared because we would act more like siblings. I think Atiny would think it was cute(Yunho dating the female version of Mingi), but I can see them being weird about it and giving me insecurity about my relationship with Mingi.

2. Wearing his clothing

I am annoying and possessive. If for some reason, I kept my social media and didn't scrub it from existence I would post a lot in his clothing. No mention of Yunho bc I'm passive with my "asserting dominance." Some would respect it, and some would chew me out. No inbetween. In my defense, this wouldn't be new since I do it now.

3. Social Media in general

I would keep Yunho off my socials unless he specifically wanted to be included and even then I would be hesitant. This would be my bit until Yunho made me stop.

Atiny would ask questions about Ateez and the boys and I would want to engage with them. Atiny means a lot to Yunho and it would break both of our hearts if they hated me (Yunho's GF in general). I was a fan of Ateez first, it would be silly to pretend I didn't know who they were when I was yapping nonstop about them. I would however never talk about Yunho. We could be married and Atiny would be like who is your bias?? "Mingi." Did you see Yunho in ____? "Did you see Yeosang?" Absolute deflection. Yunho would be in the background side-eyeing me.

4. Outfits

Yunho and I would be slaying the outfit department in general ESPECIALLY when together. My man never looks a fool and neither will I.

I would however unironically wear the weirdest Ateez Merch (mainly Yunho bc obs). There is a picture of us out and I'm wearing an "I love Nerds" shirt(I am making one) but when you look at the heart it's just pictures of Yunho. I am Yunho's biggest fan and I will have it written across my chest. IDC. Is it his meme on a shirt? Wearing it to the grocery store.

I might be his biggest supporter but I am also Atiny's which means I am only buying fa- made. As much as I love the boys Atiny makes their merch with so much love and care how could I shop anywhere else?

5. Concerts

I would go because ATEEZ and also to support my cute lil guy. I would be in the nose bleeds. I'd feel uncomfortable if someone else paid for it so I would want to buy my own. I'd be in the nosebleeds because it's all vibes. I could fangirl in peace.

6. Dance Classes

As a couple, we would dance a lot. It could be going to dance classes or messing around in the studio. It would just be a thing. I'd be the one to film his dancing tiktoks- there would be a spike in the amount posted since we were always messing around. Mingi and WooYoung ft.

[diazfox]

(A tentative guess about your BuckTommy vs Buddie post)

I guess a big part of it is because it's canon ? It's canon and it seems to work, and it seems to be make Buck calm and fluffy and happy in a healthy way, which is what a lot (all ?) of us want. So we can get behind that, for now.

Your "why not a similar support behind his exes / fetishizing MM relationship" question is valid and i think the difference is because it's the first time someone Buck dates seems to really fit with him without having something that we can pre-shot is going to be a problem, and the first time he goes into a relationship (getting myself ahead of things there) without it being to heal something in him ? And as I've read other people point out, Tommy's not silo-ed out, he has a backstory with the Begins episodes, he is friends with some of the 118, so it makes him less of a plot device than Buck's female exes.

And about the second part, the fetishizing part, i think sadly it's just a real thing that happens here, on tumblr and in fandom spaces : men are seen enjoying being together and fandom smooches them together together. One could even argue that it's the same for Buddie, wanting them to be together together when canon just factually says they are BFFs. I don't think anyone is erasing anything, but all that is canon about Buddie is that they are BFFs (a lot can be read as more that friends but ultimately it's with shipping goggles on, only - i'm not a very optimistic person, though).

I guess some of us think that if they didn't make Buddie happen for this long, then it may be because it is meant to stay on the fandom shipping side ? And we're given this incredible chance to have a canon lgbt character with an unusual story of self-discovery that doesn't happen a lot in tv shows so we're just enthusiastic to go with the flow ?

And if it turns out that the writers have the guts to get Eddie his own self-discovery journey, and if that later leads to Buddie happening somehow, then I think all BuckTommy shippers will be glad that it finally happened, and that it is canon, and is finally the Truth.

damn, thanks for your insight! i do see how things being canon and properly canon (like Tommy having a "backstory") can cause shifts in perspectives looking into the future.

i 100% understand why some might think buddie is a form of fetishization too. ngl i've seen strong arguments like "why can't 2 male characters share a strong emotional bond platonically? why does it have to lead to romance?" i guess my main reason for bringing up fetishization with respect to bucktommy is the fact that they are quite lacking in the "strong emotional bond" department. so it feels pretty much like "2 hot guys kissing and touching each other hell yeah" to me.

but i realise i'm overlooking the fact that this is bi buck's first relationship, though. i forgot to consider the fact that majority of this support for tommy comes from the fact that this is the first love interest of buck's to whom he can give all of himself and get twice as much with all the freedom in the world AS A BI MAN. thank u for putting me on to the fact that i've been misinterpreting this enthusiasm to some degree.

thats not to say that just bc something is canon or just a headcanon everything is set in stone. writers and actors themselves have made it very clear time and time again that audience reactions and engagement matters when it comes to plot development. in your own line of thought, right until 7x 03 they didn't make bi Buck happen for so long. so would u say it was meant to stay merely on the fandom shipping side? i just think the possibilities are endless, and maybe we as a fandom can try to have a bit more resilience to see through fan-originated storylines instead of a "i'll just go with whatever is canon bc it's easier" ethic.

[exo-raskreia]

hi my dear, i have to say i love your blog and how you get over those pitiful ichihime statements

i want to know how will you explain or if you have another post that explains... how time doesn't interfere between ichigo and rukia

bc i always see how ichihime fans say how fucked up their ship is just bc of their age. i mean, we understand that time goes different between both worlds, but it's like they just refuse to understand it

also how it is not so much about age but connection, understanding and equal interests, they also seem to forget isshin and masaki

i'd be glad if you can answer, thank you much for all your posts 😭 it makes it easier to like ichiruki, sometimes ichihime fans just make it so hard, like you're committing a crime

Oh, thank you! ☺️

Antis really think an unrealistic age gap is a problem in a FANTASY or SUPERNATURAL setting? Especially in the Bl3ach universe, where there's already a canon couple with that trope? Doesn't it sound silly?

They act as if Mortal X Immortal ships don't exist, as if they aren't a popular trope/dynamic in many forms of media. They call IR problematic because of it, but turn around & ship pairings like Yato & Hiyori (Noragami), Inuyasha & Kagome, Tomoe & Nanami (Kamisama Kiss), etc. Yet, they cross the line at IR?

They conveniently forget or ignore the fact Ichigo is a product of Isshin & Masaki, a canon couple that the antis support & like to use as "parallels" with their mid ship (even though those of us who can read know IM parallels IR). Isshin was probably way older than Masaki, older than Rukia even, yet once again, the antis cross the line at IR?

Hypocrisy, much? They only bring up the age gap when it's convenient for them. When they want to grasp at straws to invalidate IR. But all their arguments have a counter-argument to them 🤷‍♀️. IR is just that powerful 😌.

Ichigo & Rukia vibed so well right off the bat, getting on a first name basis early on, & often seemed to share the same brain cell 🤣.

Souls in Soul Society age much slower & differently than living humans. Rukia was the equivalent of Ichigo's age, so she was "15" in SS terms when they first met. Antis like to act as if she's some ancient hag or s*x goddess who's going to corrupt poor innocent Ichigo, yet Rukia showed to be quite innocent in many matters, not to mention, she thought kisses were only for greetings in one of the early chapters 💀. Out of the two, I'm pretty sure Ichigo would know more than her in these matters...

(I've also seen this stupid argument against HitsuKarin. They be calling Hitsugaya an "old man"!! Like, seriously?! How is he gonna "corrupt" Karin—by giving her a large stack of paperwork?! He's about 10-11 years old in SS terms, the equivalent of Karin's age, who was 11!! Then they both conveniently aged up to 12-13 after the 17-month timeskip... Just what was Kub0 getting at?!🤦‍♀️)

Not to mention, Ichigo felt very at home in Soul Society & got along so well with all the "ancient geezers & hags" there, even going as far as calling some of them by first name & hanging out with them like old buds (such as Renji). No wonder Ichigo didn't feel like he belonged in the Living World much; he really was born in the wrong generation (or world), lol... 🤪 He always showed to be more in touch with his shinigami side... (no wonder he chose that out of all his hybrid sides in TYBW, & yet... 😮‍💨)

Anyway, don't engage with the antis. Ignore/block/mute them. Follow the age-old fandom rule: just ship & let ship. Don't let the antis ruin your fun. There's so much IR content out there 😄.

[gothicbeastgirl]

Hello, hello!

Almost all of you know English is not my first language and I'm trying my best. I'm not quite familiar with victorian things but I want to be part of this beautiful fandom so here's my contribution.

I wanted to use another song (you can listen to it searching Lysandro San Valentin on YT) but it wasn't possible, so I chose this one bc I think it's beautiful too. You can listen while you read for a better experience (bc as I told you I'm not familiar with this and I wanted to ambience it more) if you got Spotify or in the link for YT. Hope you like it!

A young man dressed in a long aqua-colored jacket was walking from one side of the room to the other, annoyed, uncomfortable, and beautiful pink eyes followed him from one side to the other, with restrained words. He twisted the tips of his white sleeves, fearing that he would tear off the gold trim on his jacket if he fiddled with them too much. The silver-haired girl (his valet) watched his comings and goings. She cleared her throat but said nothing. She caught his attention and cast a look that was intended to be supportive, to convey love and affection, as well as calm, but she knew that wouldn't change the young man's anger. Her smile faded when there was a knock on the door and Chase jumped as he looked at it, his expression discomposed. Chase felt like the huge bottle-green living room was spinning around him very dequickly, that he would end up tripping over the pretty dark wood coffee table, and that he would be lucky if he landed on the brown sofa instead of on the valuable red, black and cream patterned rug, which he thought he would throw up on. One of the flaps of the large door next to the tall bookshelf full of books he hadn't read opened and the knot in his stomach tightened a little more.

Chase had been engaged to a woman he didn't know, it was one of those marriages of convenience between wealthy families, and he had to start courting her now that they had approved their marriage. He didn't know what she looked like physically, he didn't know what her name was or how old she was, much less what things she liked. He only knew that he had to learn to dance for the ball they had prepared, where they would announce their union to the rest of the members of high society.

Chase sighed, and was glad he did, because when the person he was waiting for finally entered the room, his breathing stopped and time froze. A young man with a pale complexion and ice-blue eyes appeared, his black hair matched his clothing: he wore black pleated pants, a charcoal gray vest from whose lapels hung several thin intertwined silver chains, and over this he wore an elegant knee-length jacket in the same color as his pants. The boy, tall and thin, stared at him and Chase felt the coldness of his icy gaze while his cheeks burned from the intensity of it. Mute before that beauty that seemed from another world, he managed to stammer a ridiculous greeting. He glanced at Silver to see her smiling secretly, looking at the corner of the room, because she was the only one who knew that what Chase really liked were boys. Chase thought that this only happened in the fairy tales he was told as a child, but he had felt those butterflies in his stomach from the first moment their hands touched. The man who was teaching him how to lead the dance to dance with a woman was the one he waited for every week, and he felt absolutely alone when he left, who knew where, and he spent the rest of the day thinking about his touch, his eyes, his smile (somewhat haughty) and the sound of his voice. Buddy opened his eyes when Chase told him about what he was thinking.

With three weeks left to announce the engagement, Chase stumbled, displaying his infinite clumsiness, and his nose was just millimeters away from the nose of the boy, whom he affectionately called Buddy (because he couldn't pronounce his name correctly), and his eyes They made contact longer than usual. Chase noticed the blush on his cheeks, his eyes strayed to the taller man's lips for a few seconds, and with an imperceptible approach he made it clear what his intentions were. To his surprise, Buddy leaned towards him too and their lips made contact for about five or six seconds. He blinked to make sure he wasn't daydreaming, and sure enough, he wasn't. His couples dance teacher stressed that he needed more classes to improve and his visits increased in the following weeks, during which they did nothing but get to know each other more little by little. Days before the appointed date, Chase expressed his disagreement with his marriage, Buddy already assumed it but he did not expect to hear what Chase had to say. While Grandpa Ralph was waiting for his grandson with Deacon, Chase's cousin, who was looking askance at the blonde's fiancée, thinking about how lucky he was, Silver made an appearance.

“Where is Chase, little Silver?” he asked. He always treated her like she was part of the family. She smiled.

“Chase is not going to come, sir” she answered, and both of them were surprised, she giggled and gave Ralph a piece of paper with a little head inclination, and then she retired.

Grandpa Ralph read the note, Deacon looked above his shoulder to read it too  curious.

“He… left with another man?” he asked. He always knew Chase wasn’t into women, but he didn’t expect him to disobey like this. He was proud, but had to keep the looks, so he thought about something to say to excuse him and break that engagement. He smiled as he lended Deacon the note and started walking to the woman who was waiting to meet Chase.

Deacon read the note again and smiled too. Chase was like that, he knew. And someone had to console that poor and beautiful maiden.

I used this pictures for inspiration 🫶🏻

Chase, Buddy, Deacon and Silver's outfits.

And the room where it starts

[acourtofthought]

Part of me wonders if SJM expected the Az bc reacting to go differently. Like maybe in her mind she was excited she finally got to tell us who Azriel’s (possible) mate is since it’s been a mystery for so long.. but I guess the fandom was doing its own thing in the meantime that him having a mate didn’t matter all that much so it came as a surprise

On a separate note, I think a rejected bond would be more meaningful if both elain and Azriel rejected their mate bonds. But when I see rejected bond theories it’s mostly about elain not of choosing her bond. It’s one-sided. Cause who’s to say Az would reject his mate bond? If both he and elain reject their bonds and choose each other now thats a better set up for a rejected mating bond.

I agree that the only way E/riel could ever work is if both Az and Elain rejected their mates. He spent 500 years waiting for a bond with Mor to snap into place. I think a certain side of the fandom downplays the enormity of that. Lucien was in love with and engaged to Jesminda, sure their bond would snap. In comparison: Mor has not returned Az's advances, has never indicated that they'll begin a relationship with one another yet Rhys says of Az in response to Feyre's question of "wouldn't the mating bond have snapped into place for them if it exists?": "I think that is a question Azriel has been asking himself every day since he met Mor." Az and Mor never got off the ground, never even shared a kiss, yet Az wanted a bond with her. That's a bit weird, right? Wanting a bond with someone who hasn't given indication they have feelings for you? Enter Elain and once again, he's focused on the bond. He and Elain aren't in a relationship, he's purposely been avoiding her, yet he's questioning why he didn't get a bond with the third sister. I'm sorry, but isn't that skipping a few steps? Shouldn't he first and foremost be focused on spending time with her, getting to know her, and so on? He knows she's mated to Lucien so why is he still obsessing over who got a bond with who? That's like marrying someone who is 5'10" and spending time obsessing over why they couldn't be 6'4". Had he said he didn't care that Elain was his mate, that his feelings for her were stronger than a predetermined bond than we'd be having a different conversation but he didn't say that. So yeah, at this stage it's very clear that Az holds the mating bond as the pinnacle of all that is holy and worthy and while there's no shame in that (because Cassian felt the same, saying he had always been holding out for a bond), there's little chance that if he went forward and started dating Elain he wouldn't constantly wonder if he had a mate out there. The only way I think E/riel would be believable is if Az knew of his mate and still chose to be with Elain anyway but, if two of her main characters break their bonds the alter upon which mating bonds have been built begins to crumble. First that means two others outside of Elain and Az will be left with broken bonds and the odds of them both being fine with that are unlikely. Say the bonds are between Elucien and Gwynriel, there's little chance both Lucien and Gwyn would be fine living their lives with broken bonds and like it or not, Lucien and Gwyn are just as big a part of the series at this point as Elain and Az are. Second, having the Mother screw up with two mating bonds within the same circle of people, the ones these books are about, invalidates the glory of the mating bond and how special it is. If the bonds success rate is only 50/50 within the same group then people will no longer hold it in such high regard. I think SJM was excited about the end of her Bonus Chapter. It's open to interpretation but she seemed very animated when talking to Steph about it in one of their lives and the only "surprise" within the bonus chapter was the part with Gwyn. People had been shipping E/riel prior to SF so him wanting to kiss Elain shouldn't have been all that surprising. People who did not ship E/riel seemed unsurprised by the bonus where they learned that Az's thoughts of Elain hadn't gotten beyond lust. Really, the most shocking part of it all was the mate coded language that she used for Gwynriel and to me that is what had her excited because she knows how much Steph loves Az and wants to see him happy (Az after Elain was not happy, Az after Gwyn was in a much better place).

[not-poignant]

You have a very broad readership; do you still, like most ao3 writers, use writing as a way to make friends? If so, how do you manage both to make connections and keep from uncomfortable parasocial engagements?

(admitting: I like your work a lot, I have a similar interest in writing trauma and recovery, I would like to befriend you, but I don't want to bother you bc lots of people want to be friend with writers they like and there's no way you'd have energy for all of them!)

Hi hi anon,

So...this response might be disappointing, but I didn't use fanfiction writing as a way of making friends. That's not why I started, and it's never been the reason for me to be in fandom.

(Thoughts about friendship and stuff under the read more, it's pretty personal so no obligation to read. The TL;DR is I am bad at friendship and I also am not like 'most AO3 writers' (is that really why most AO3 writers write?) in the sense that I never wrote fanfiction as a way to make friends and it's very weird to me sometimes that people actually do this as a motive).

When I turned up in fandom, it was a very private experience for me. I didn't know anyone else locally who shared the same fandom/s I do. When I shared fanfiction on Livejournal, I did so to complete strangers who I never got to know better, or to people who were already friends through other interests.

I've never gone to fandom conventions (there's few here, and I have severe social anxiety. By the time I thought about going I was in my late 30s, and just felt like I'd be too much of an outsider even among fellow outsiders - again, I shared almost no fandoms or ships with anyone I knew locally, and no one I'm friends with / know in person reads my fanfiction). Fandom was always an incredibly isolated experience for me.

When I joined AO3, it wasn't with a view to making friends. I was extremely burnt out, I'd quit my previous job as a professional artist because I couldn't see a way of making the income work out, and I just wanted to write a very angst-filled story that would help me deal with my loneliness which I didn't see as something that would ever change. Writing about a character who's experienced centuries of loneliness was like 'cool, yeah, I'm gonna write about him.'

I did end up making friends, but it was kind of by accident! And not all of those experiences were positive. One person in particular became quite toxic and cruel towards me, and I experienced my first kind of encounter with...I guess what I would call the uglier side of fandom life and also just friendship and relationships. It took me a long time to recover from that experience (and to learn what emotional abuse is), and after that I shut down and stopped kind of making friends on the internet.

I have made friends through the writing since (they're usually the mutuals I also have on Instagram, or here, or people I've DMed in Discord etc.), but I haven't really sought it out actively and I think anyone who knows me well enough that we've private messaged a few times, also knows that I'm quite aloof and reserved, and that I will engage quite deeply sometimes but then disappear for a few months (or years) re: communication, which is a remnant of a period of time where I used to get sometimes 200 Whatsapp messages in 5 minutes from someone who expected me to be accountable to her every second of every day when she was awake and wanted me to be.

On top of like, severe social anxiety + PTSD, and being very reserved in general, I would also say I'm very time poor. I don't have much time for the friends I already have and care about. I often view myself as quite a poor friend, who is not good at starting and even worse at maintaining connections. I'm also very private. As in, I will happily tell the world I have PTSD. But I won't tell my friends in a private conversation when I'm having a bad night, and I don't give friends many opportunities to connect. Even with really close friends, this is an ongoing issue that I'm working on.

So as for befriending, that's extremely sweet of you anon, but who I am in my personal life is sometimes very different to like... the way I can respond in comments or to anons, because it's actually easier for me to talk to strangers sometimes than it is for me to talk to friends, lol. I honestly think some of the people I consider my friends don't even know that I do, because I don't really behave like one. I chat online regularly to one person only, and one other person intermittently (and they're a romantic partner) and that's it. Everyone else I chat to pretty rarely in DM. But I do turn up in the Fae Tales Discord every day.

I don't actually think lots of people want to be my friend, tbh? Not in a 'woe is me' way, but simply because I think some people do grok that kind of... polite distance or that sort of warm 'I care for a lot of people but I am also quite personally walled off' kind of way. The good news is a lot of the folks in the Fae Tales Discord also share a lot of interest in writing trauma and recovery, or have those experiences, and I know a lot of good friends have been made within the like...faedom itself. A lot of neurodivergent, trauma-focused folks have met each other through this writing, and it's really cool seeing the different friendships that have sparked up between people. There's a lot of extremely like... skilled, talented, interesting people that I've met through this job, who I admire, respect and want the best for, and am very happy to talk to.

But yeah I'm a bit difficult to befriend, anon, and that's been an ongoing thing all my life, tbh. But it did specifically get worse in fandom because of some early fandom experiences when I started out in Rise of the Guardians fanfiction.

[sapphic-agent]

You know, the narrative plus the fandom sure loves to single out Izu in any way possible. The last ask was about Shig and how his "I want afo" makes no sense.

Can I say what else makes no sense? What was Shig's plan for Overhaul?

"Kill him" yeah sure but that is a goal and technically ...he didnt kill Overhaul.

Not saying Shig should have broke the fouth and said "hey reader here my plan" but like what was the plan?

1) did Shig knew about the raid before happening? Aoyama couldn't know as Izu kept tight lips as the others

2) and even if he knew...so what? The place is crowed with heroes. He could have been captured or LoV could have too.

3) whatever the initial plan was ...it was gone. Thanks to Izu...Shig menages to enact revenge thanks to Izu...

On the third part is what calls my attention bc while Shig stans praise this scene as Shig being a badass villain...I don't think this would have happened without Izu and no credit or aknowldge is give to him.

"You want people to assiciate murder to izu?" No. But Shig is fairly smart and I would like him to understand "oh yes if it wasnt for Izu...I wouldnt have got it" that could help his character a lot. Hell, why not estabilish a connection with Izu? They do have tons of paralels (fandom chose to ignore or downplays it)

Fandom and narrative seems to ignore Izu's pain and contribution in the story.

Shig has cool scenes sure but no depth. Nothing.

On the other side of the coin, Izu has so few cool scenes. He is the mc. Where is the power up? Where is the mentor? Where are the villains reconizing Izu is a big deal? Where are the friends?

Mt kaachan academy.

Anyway. To conclude: Izu and Shig team up accidentally and its still miles and miles and miles away better than bk and Izu teaming up. Think that for a moment, the villain can work better with Izu(even if accidentally) than bk who is stuck and leeching on Izu's narrative.

You bring up some valid points, and it's clear that the narrative and fandom can be quite dismissive of Izuku. Shigaraki's plan for Overhaul is indeed a bit enigmatic, and I've wondered about that myself.

It's true that the goal was to "kill him," but as you pointed out, Shigaraki didn't actually succeed in doing so. The lack of detailed information about the plan is something that's been on my mind too. The questions you raise about whether Shigaraki knew about the raid in advance and the risks involved are important. Izuku's role in disrupting the plan and enabling Shigaraki's revenge is noteworthy, and it often seems to go underappreciated.

I don't think it's about associating murder with Izuku, but rather, recognizing that Shigaraki's success can be attributed, in part, to Izuku's involvement. The two of them are parallels and two sides of the same coin so it's interesting that their actions are so opposite yet end up coinciding. It would have been nice to see more of this.

Your point about the narrative sidelining Izuku and his contributions is a valid one. Obviously, it's one of my biggest gripes with the series.

Shigaraki does have a lot of great moments in the series, but he ends up coming off as shallow a lot of the time. it's like Hori is scared to go all the way with him.

I agree, Izuku's character could use recognition from the villains. Missed opportunity to have villains (maybe not the LOV, but someone) try to convince him that he deserves retribution for what society put him through. I still stand by that it's weird that Bakugou was the one kidnapped. He might have anger issues, but he's the kind of arrogant, entitled hero that the LOV should hate.

In the end, the accidental team-up between Izuku and Shigaraki does offer an interesting dynamic, and I can see how it can be more engaging than the dynamic with Bakugou. It's all part of the complex web of character interactions in MHA.

[loveyouanyway]

Hi Nolan!

Edelweiss, ivy, papyrus, and taro! :)

hey saturn <3

edelweiss: how’d you think of your url/username? what’s it associated with to you?

well ofc the buckaroo part is for buck and i love the nickname for him. in fact, i would have named my bunny buckaroo but it didn't suit him so i will name my next pet buckaroo :D

as for the heart part, it's inspired by buck's heart drawing which is so cute and the whole interaction with buck and eddie about it !!!!

ivy: what are your ‘tells’ for your emotions and moods? how can someone tell you’re happy, annoyed, upset or tired?

hmm if im talking a lot and engaging in conversation, im happy. if im picking at my nails, i dont want to be there haha. when im mentally tired, i just shut down and don't talk. i don't think i get annoyed that much bc i just don't care about a lot of things jdksjdf but when i do, i short breathe out of my nose idk if i explained that right and i just look annoyed sdkfjd

papyrus: if you put your ‘on repeat’ playlist on shuffle, what’s the first song that comes up? what do you like about it / associate it with?

ofc it's a reneé rapp song <3 what a shocker!!!!

so what now? oh it always reminds me gallavich (ian and mickey from shameless) idk if any of y'all 911 peeps are in the shameless fandom

it's about an ex coming back to where u live after leaving (for whatever reason) and then wondering so what now? should we talk? and why haven't you called me yet

anyway here is the part where it's not sung but it's like part of the song iykwim

"You dumb crusty ass bitch, but I think I love you. Welcome back to California. I love you. You're so small, I could flick you. I wish I could hug you. I might kiss you, but I also might fight you"

LIKE ITS SO MICKEY TO IAN. I MIGHT MAKE AN EDIT ABOUT IT

taro: if someone called you right now to catch up, what’re the things you’d tell them about?

i would mention that mentally i'm doing a lot better! i would talk a lot about my idea of writing a sitcom inspired by my family

it would be a comedy but have a serious aspect of mental health

characters:

autistic dad and brother who are like on the opposite sides of the spectrum so sometimes they really clash

mom who works in the mental health field (without her, we probably wouldn't live together sjdksd so grateful for her. ily mom)

me, a queer young adult who struggles with depressive and hypomanic episodes

and the star: bernie the bunny!!

i would also catch them up on all the shows ive been watching lately and rant to them about 9-1-1 season 7!!!

[ca-suffit]

Hello, I'm relatively new here and I saw that poll that one of your anons mentioned earlier in regards to abuse. I didn't engage with it bc I didn't know quite how to but I was shocked to see that one of the options was something along the lines of "Yes, but they deserved it". They meaning Louis and Claudia. It seemed cruel considering that as of the S2 finale Claudia is canonically dead. I appreciate that you bring up the power dynamics which contributes to the overall situation. There is plenty of nuance to be had with their respective relationships but I didn't think did the abuse happen at all was a debatable topic. Anyway, thank you for listening and I will work on creating a more curated space for myself ❤️

hi and ur always welcome to talk here!!

"they deserved it" was literally *never* a thing that would have been said when all the characters were white. ppl before the show, for however much claudia was ever brought up, always took her side in regards to killing lestat. for all everyone said louis was whiny, nobody ever said he "deserved" anything. ppl were sympathetic to the way he'd sit thru plays with lestat but be shunned if he ever tried to engage enthusiastically. nobody said "lestat has trauma, don't be mean to him." it was unanimously agreed that lestat was The Worst in IWTV. I don't remember ppl too much saying that the whole book was a lie either (it's not, that's a weird fanon lie that's only increased as the show came out and ppl want to write off S1 and S2 for the sake of lestat's reputation).

"did the abuse happen" has been a constant theme since 1x5. all these theories came up (and are still posted daily rn by the same ppl) about how this is all *armand's* doing and lestat is innocent bcuz lestat would never do all these things. claudia is "scheming and manipulative," louis is "withholding love" and basically "deserved it," it goes on and on. everyone but lestat is guilty of something that hurt lestat, the *real* victim (literally the trial episode was so much a mirror to this fandom and yet everyone it was commenting on still has no idea it was about them).

at some point I did start tagging stuff as "abuse" so ur welcome to specifically look there or anywhere here. it's all here to give ppl the full picture of what's going on when ppl talk about this stuff.

[ravenishishtrash]

Okay so ✨Hamilton fanficion✨

Back in 2018 I was a big Hamilton (and other musicals like BMC, DEH, Heathers) fan, and I'm talking like a having amino (and a semi decent following on it), drawing silly fanart of the characters in maid suits, reading fanfiction fan

And sometimes I just go by my day and I randomly remember something from a Hamilton fanfiction that makes me stop in my tracks

And so, I decided to come onto here and provide a list of things I remember, that I want to forget, and am afraid that I'll forget at the same time, about Hamilton fanficion

(this being said, if you're still a hamilton fanfiction writer, you do you, this post does not mean to offend you)

I think like 80% of the fics if not more were college AU fics, and 15% were just different AUs but I don't think I've actually read a fic that wasn't a random one-shot taking place in canon timeline (I do believe it was because all of the hamilton ff writers just like me were 16 back then, and just simply did not know how to write historical fiction)

Most of the fics were LAMS (which is Alexander Hamilton x John Laurens) and it was practically canon in fandom eyes, and before anyone says anything, I've seen the letters, of course I've seen them but guyz, I think we were just a little bit delulu with how firmly we believed this (and I'm including myself in this!)

Still on shipping, the second most popular one was Jamilton (Thomas Jefferson x Alexander Hamilton) and I'm gonna be honest, this was my shit, I enjoyed this dynamic a lot more (I always found friends to lovers a bit boring), but man, were the ship wars brutal, I remember when amino mods tried to actually do some sort of a debate lams vs jamilton in which there were actual teams that wrote whole essays about which ship is more valid, but they ended up insulting each other after maybe two rounds

The last ship with its own point is Hamburr (Alexander Hamilton x Aaron Burr), I've always perceived this one as a cool kids ship, I think people who shipped this were the most chill about it

Background ships included Mulette (Muligan x Lafayette), which was one of those ships that were always in the background some sort of "if you don't ship this as your side ship i don't trust you" kind of ship, the same goes to Jeffmads (Jefferson x Madison) in lams fics, and in a lesser degree, and i don't remember its name, Eliza Schuler x Maria Lewis Reynolds (if you don't remember her from her name, is the woman Hamilton cheats on Eliza with), which is always fun, we love seeing some wlw

And now, the random facts that were just headcanons that people very often included, Jefferson and Lafayette were almost always in some sort related (especially in Jamilton fics) and that's because of the double cast, but I don't really think the same was true for any other character it was just them

Hamilton was always a caffeine addict with a bad sleep schedule who was way too engaged in whatever topic the fic made him and I remember one fic (it was a college au, of course) where the whole point was that it was actively ruining his relationships around him (it was a hamburr fic)

John Laurens loved turtles bc of some historical letters in which he mentioned he liked turtles and fandom did its thing and you couldn't read a lams fic where turtles weren't mentioned at least once

Charles Lee and Samuel Seabury were always minor villains/mean college students and the latter was sometimes in a weird unhealthy relationship with (king) George

There was no Eliza slander! I know it's a weird point, but now seeing how fandoms like spn or 911 reacted to female love interest I’m actually suprised there wasn't any, she was always just a good friend (or, in one Soulmate AU I think it was Jamilton, Eliza had Hamilton's name on her wrist but he didn't have hers and that was just brutal)

There was this fic that I won't mention by its whole name (it's off the internet anyway, I don't think the author wants to be reminded of it nor associated with it), that was a hanahaki AU Jamilton that nearing the end of its run had 300k+ words; it was about Alex having a mean spirited rivalry with Jefferson at their corpo lawyer job but hearing he has hanahaki so deciding he wants to be nice to him now, but little does he know that the hanahaki in question is *for* him and later he himself develops hanahaki for Jefferson and they even live together at one point so they have this situation where both of them are willing to die in order to keep the other one happy and cure them by being their rebounds but they actively making each other worse, it's probably not as good as I remember it to be but godDAMN was it a cult classic it really was one of the kind, ALSO a girl on a plane asked me what fic I was reading bc she was peeking over my shoulder because it looked good and it's just one of the interactions I will *never* forget

This fandom was also my first impression of A/B/O dynamic and it wasn't a good one, one of the fics with it that I remember was Jamilton, in which Hamilton was some sort of Omega activist (there was a scene where he was annoyed that romantic comedies in universe pushed the agenda of omega leaving their omegaxomega relationship for an alpha when oxo can be fully normally sufficient) and Jefferson was an alpha and there was a scene at a diner where Jefferson was spreading his pheromones so the other alphas would stop looking at Hamilton? yeah thanks, no thanks

Washington was 95% of the time Hamilton's father in one way or another but what did you expect, in one fic he was even Hamilton's mother soulmate but she died before he met her which I didn't know was possible in soulmates aus

I read one Jamilton fic on wattpad (even then I rarely used wattpad) that I think was (a college au) about how madison and jefferson were in abusive relationship and hamilton "rescued" jefferson out of it? (it feaured a truly iconic quote in a scene that i still remember where jefferson was having a panic attack in the dorm's bathroom and madison didn't want hamilton to think he was an abuser so he said something along the lines of "Don't listen to this whore" and Hamilton responded "I won't listen to a whore" and Jefferson was like no he also hates me no one loves me and then Hamilton added "But Thomas isn't a whore." and I kid you not, I think about this scene every time I see that stupid "do you think im pretty?" "no." ":(" "you're beautiful" meme) and my art was featured in one of the chapters! it wasn't a good art, but it was one of my biggest achievements back then (I drew the most art during my hamilton phase, I wish I kept that passion for drawing in the years to come)

And... I think that's all that I can think of off top of my head

Despite many peoples' opinion now, I don't think the fandom was wrong in how they perceived the source material, any who was in the fandom at that time can tell you that sometimes it felt like it's own entity, those were our characters and what they did in the musical and the historical context didn't really matter in the long run, besides some limited posts about lams or just funfacts about the real lives of the characters (i have so many funfacts about inaccuracies in hamilton stored in my head), just what the dynamic between them was

But, as have many, I grew out of hamilton fanfiction, it shaped how I moved around fanfiction and fandom spaces for years and no matter how much "cringe" that fandom was (and it was cringe in every way possible) I probably won't forget the fun parts (for example how I joined judges guild on amino that was supposed to host contests regularly and then we did one contest and 90% of the members stopped responding so I pretty much single-handedly picked the winners when we had like I think about 20-30 entries? contests were a big deal on amino) and I won't regret it, I think it was one of the if not best then funniest places to be on the Internet in 2018

I have recently rewatched Hamilton now that it is available on streaming and one) I found out that I didn't really know all the lyrics and certainly not what some parts mean (english as you probably already have noticed is not my first language) and two) I actually found myself thinking, man, i would like to read some good fanfiction about this, but not a single one Hamilton fanfiction on ao3 can be separated from how the fandom perceived the characters and that's okay, it's just the way it is

If you truly want to know the grasp of what was normal or not in this fandom, let me tell you this: I saw Jefferson Miku Binder before it was a meme, and it really wasn't that weird, I was seeing art and headcanons like these on the regular, that just how the fandom looked like

and with that, I'm signing off

[if-confessions]

As a writer and a reader, who has been around this community for the last three years, it has been crazy seeing the change in the if fandom as a community.

It used to be a positive environment for supporting independent game creators, but there is so much negativity against IF writers now. the readers are pushy, critical and demanding, expect games to cater to their exact preferences or be customisable to the point it might as well be a 'fill in the blanks' game instead of a narrative. IF writers are antagonistic towards each other, resentful of other creators success. There is a trend that when games/demos are successful, the authors become the target of attacks that seem to be looking for any excuse to take them down, and punish them for their popularity. The result is that a lot of games that are in the alpha stage / completed no longer use tumblr at all, which is a shame, because it was a unique opportunity for readers to engage and support an indie game creator.

I think the IF fandom really needs to do some soul searching on the type of environment it has created for indie game development / IF writing.

[I am assuming Anon meant the Tumblr/CoG scene of IF, as this is not a sentiment/trend shared by the overall IF community. Other scenes of IF don't care or even reject customisation "expected" here (doesn't mean they don't have their issues either).]

LOL, Anon. I was having an eerily similar conversation about the customisation the other day.

Communities do change overtime. As older members leave (because they don't enjoy the Thing-tm anymore, they don't have time for it, they don't like where the community is moving, they've been rejected by the community, etc...) and newer members arrive, the dynamics adapts to the current members. Sometimes it is for the better (more positive contacts, barring less-desirable members creating conflict from staying, etc...), sometimes it's for the worse (like in your message, attracting more problematic members or enabling the worst in people).

An issue with Tumblr that other communities may not have is how "decentralised" and lawless it is. Some groups may have guidelines/rules for interactions (resource blogs/authors asks rules), but you can't control all the members like you could in a Forum, for example. There is no Code of Conduct that limits what is and isn't acceptable (aside from the very board Tumblr CoC and even a lot of shitty things can be posted). There is no mods that can take down a post that will sent the community aflame (unless it is Staff bc the post was against their ToC/CoC). There is no consequences against bandwagon hate/harassment (even with the block button). So you end up with... well, this...

It would be nice if there was a bit more unity in the community, but that would require many people changing their behaviour and essentially stop being complete asswipes. And they are not the kind to stop shitting on others...

I'm pretty sure that a lot of those issue could be solved if people:

stopped being a dick in someome's dms/asks (should be a given, but damn are anons wild sometimes) <- like +75% of the issues would be gone with just this

would be respectful when sending messages/commenting (not making request, being pushy, etc...)

stopped following authors/projects not making them happy (that's a vicious cycle, easy to start hating on them...)

didn't put their problems and frustrations on strangers on the internet*

went outside to touch some grass (or take a break from Tumblr, it will do wonders!)

*This does not apply to the confession booth btw.. I'm talking reg accounts here. This applies to everyone, btw. You'd think this would be common knowledge to be decent to one another... but I guess not.

As a side note, to remind everyone that:

you do not have to have an open inbox if you don't want to

you do not have to have your dms open either

you do not have to allow anonymous messages

you do not have to answer every messages you receive or reply to every comment you get

you can trash any message you do not feel comfortable answering

you can delete comments/replies you do not feel comfortable with

(creator) you do not have to include every request readers make

you can block/unfollow users for any reason (or no reason)

you can block/report hateful anonymous messages

you can restrict reblogs/replies

you can change your mind at any time about accepting a kind of asks (like the NSFW ones)

you do not have to be on Tumblr every free moment you have

you do not have to interact with every post crossing your dashboard

Having boundaries is good, setting and voicing those boundaries is better, enforcing those boundaries is extra important.

Until then...

🤷

Now making a fill-in the blank IF would be a fun idea...

[old comments in tags: be the change you want to see i guess im just trying to stay silly here /]

Under the cut, some more rambling and wild assumptions about how we got here.

===> Increased entitlement in the community

Note: this is a generalisation. Not every reader is entitled, not every request is outrageous, and not every author is a pushover. We are talking about visible trends.

There's no denying that it has had quite the impact on the community and how games are set. Gone(-kinda) are the days with completely unique characters with a unique voice and its set path, hail the rule of customisation that inevitably becomes too overwhelming for any creator to keep track and complete the story. Is the "CoG expectations" the culprit, there? With the CoG to Tumblr exodus, yaknow...

But it must have started from somewhere to have those vocal entitled readers hounding creators for all this stuff, they can't have appeared out of nowhere! Twine games from the 2010s were not chokefull of customisation...

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if it all started with some minor request for customisation, which was accepted by the author, which may have made other readers realise they too could have requests or expect the same kind of customisation in other project, and this snowballed into... *wave at the mess*, creating a vicious cycle of base customisation expectations (which are getting insane...), shunning pieces who do not fit those expectations, and still having more special requests*. *Honestly, the authors could just accept those request but as like paid content. Oh, you want more that will definitely fuck my whole timeline of planned work? Tip me like 100$ and I will...

At the same time, and this is an observation that has been accentuated with the kinds of asks I've gotten here, some authors have not helped the situation either. With people almost begging for interactions and notes or just to please the readers because they are interested in that stilly little project (or the pressure from blowing up, or before the idea is set in stone), some authors will seriously bend over and backwards for those requests, even if it means forgoing the OG plans altogether because it doesn't fit with the promised request.

Readers feels more empowered to ask -> there is a pressure to cater to readers to get interactions or the request has become part of the base expectations -> request is accepted, but author might feels resentful -> readers feels more entitled to ask -> etc...

or

Readers feel more empowered to ask -> the author refuses -> readers put pressure on the author because another one accepted it or iT Is cOmMon KnOwLeDge -> author feels resentful towards the community...

Which is kind of related to point number 2...

===> Numbers go up and Jealousy

Note about this point: I am not talking about the want to be seen by other people, to feel like your message has been heard, to have your presence acknowledged. That's what we are kinda all doing by putting our stuff out there.

Every time I get an ask about someone worrying that to do have enough traction on their project or get zero interactions and they have lost all their motivations or are resentful to newer projects blowing up*, I honestly struggle to see a positive future for this scene. It seems like everything is about notes and reblogs and how many followers you have and how many ratings you can get and how many asks you get and etc... *see the no demo discussion

What is supposed to be a hobby for 99% of us is turning into some ugly race to have the highest number of *wave again at things*, by tanking other creators rating average, manipulating your followers to boost your own, creating rumours about a project/author, sending hate anons, creating dumb drama, stealing/plagiarising whole ass games, etc... Just to be at the top and have the biggest number. Numbers, I feel like I need to point out, means absolutely nothing outside of this website (or even this scene of IF). I really don't understand this dumb race...

And it is so frustrating to see, because we should be hyping each other up, discussing each others fav games, being excited to see another voice join and create stuff. It's not like we have to all be the best of friends and blind ourselves from any misgivings. No, we should still be able to criticise constructively or call out bad behaviour. But the whole envy and jealousy* oozing from the community is really... bleh. *doesn't mean you can't be jealous/envious of someone else, I know I am. Just use those feelings creatively, not to put down yourself or others.

Same with the whole notes/interaction thing. Outside affirmation is great, it really is, and boy does it gives a nice boost to the ego and the energy levels to continue when you get some (especially when the other person is gushing about your project). But basing all your motivation to create on outside approval will lead to a lot of pressure to perform when you get it, despair and disappointment when you don't, and resentment when you see other get more.

===> Parting notes

Ugh... I spent too long on this shit. I'm going for a walk before I get more sad. Then, I'm coming back to play my friend's game and create something weird.

[gatalentan]

We love and support your AvaMel side but I always laugh when I see something about them bc I remember that Janelle’s tweet 🤣🤣

Ok so for those who don't know, Janelle got tagged in an AvaMel ship fanvid, and replied to one of the quote retweets on that fanvid. I've censored op here for privacy:

Two things can be true:

1. Janelle is allowed to be weirded out by being tagged/seeing ship content. That's her face & those are her co-workers. She's a very private person who mostly keeps fans at arms-length and that's healthy. Ava isn't Janelle, but she has her face (and so does Lisa), so fanvids in particular when accompanied by an explicit caption I can imagine would be really weird to see. As fans we know the diff between real-person and fictional shipping but from her perspective you can see how that would be more nuanced and complicated. Unfortunately, the Twitter algorithm now puts stuff on your feed - regardless of if you follow them or not - based on how it has pigeonholed you, and as a person who sometimes tweets about Abbott/Ava because it's her job, the algo assumes shes a fan and dishes up Abbott fandom content to her whether she likes it or not, so she sees stuff she doesn't wanna see even if she isn't tagged; she wasn't tagged in that QRT, but she still saw it, so we can see that's what happened here. A big problem there is that seeing stuff that makes them uncomfortable can make actors change how they approach the character(s) in future which sucks for everyone. We can't control the algo but on the whole it's better to not try and expose actors to ship content as much as possible because there's scores of ships where the actors became hostile to shippers as a result of being repeatedly exposed to content they don't want to see, or even just getting fatigued by an unintended ship overshadowing the rest of their acting effort. Unfortunately social media giving a lot of access to celebrities is a very double edged sword and difficult to balance, especially when some actors (cough lisa cough) are so far over the line of what's considered normal fan interactions that it gives unrealistic expectations for celebrities that are more private. Actors aren't your best friends, they don't owe you interactions or unconditional support just because you're a fan, they're strangers and real people with their own thoughts and feelings. Everyone has their own limits and boundaries and are allowed to express that and they're entitled to not be comfortable with fan work that uses their image.

2. Actors/creators not supporting a ship doesn't mean we still shouldn't be allowed to play in the sandbox. Work Wives isn't gonna be canon either, but that's not going to stop me from enjoying it. I'm 32 and if I didn't ship stuff just because it didn't have creator support I'd have spent twenty years with nothing to ship at all. As queers we have to carve our own space out where we can see people like us and make a meal out of scraps because otherwise we wouldn't get to engage with media the same way cishet people take for granted. Unless a show is Queer™️, a vehicle for a character's queerness and a major topic of discussion, we rarely get canon queer characters, let alone characters where it's treated respectfully without one of the pair getting fridged or dying. Even The L Word, Queer™️ as it was, killed off one of a major pairing. We deserve to see ourselves across the whole spectrum of genres, not just in Queer™️ TV, but it simply isn't there, so we make it for ourselves in fanwork. In fanwork you can play with these characters however you want. You can give them a soft landing where they're safe (or the opposite, explore darker themes for a light-hearted show). You can give them the type of stories that would never have the space to breathe in the works they came from. You can take them out of their environment completely and put them somewhere else, you can change one thing that changes their whole dynamic, or you can just write absolute filth. Either way, fundamentally they're fictional characters, they do not exist and they don't have free will, only what you put into them as a viewer. We're not about to make Janelle make out with Lisa, but in fiction, Ava and Mel can, and as fictional characters they represent a dynamic we don't see a ton of with two older women, not teenagers/young adults which is the predominant type of representation we get for WLW in TV. So I'm gonna keep shipping AvaMel, I'm just, y'know. Not gonna put it where Janelle might see it. Easy.

Some good vids on this topic: Is Shipping Gay Culture? (James Somerton) | Artists & Fandoms (Philosophy Tube) | Parasocial Relationships: Strangers Aren't Your Friends (Naomi Cannibal) | An Exhaustive Defense of Fanfiction (Sarah Z) | Why We Ship Characters (The Take)

[itsjaywalkers]

Hiii, how was your day Laurie? Soo you're one of my favorite people on here and I wanted to ask someone for a lil advice and you were the first person that popped up in my head. I've been working on a little microfic for some time and it's such a small little thing of 500 words and I want to post it but every time I try I get extremely insecure and anxious about it. I never posted anything before and I'm just like, what if what if what if..How do you get over that fear? I love writing and I want to engage more in the fandom but I'm just so scared, and also so self-conscious about my English, which is not my first language

hiii nonnie!! u sent this yesterday and yesterday was Awful, one of the worst shifts i've had in a while (it was bank holiday..). i started at 9 bc i was in the open i didn't get my break until 4:30pm??? and only bc i was about to pass out from both stress and hunger. it was Shit but it ended nicely and today should be a lot more chill!! hopefully!!

how was yours tho babe?? or how it's going so far??

please i'm blushing and smiling so hard, it's always so sweet when any of u tell me my blog or ME in general is one of ur favs in tumblr.. it's also a bit . nervewracking when u guys come to me for advice bc i feel like i'm the least qualified person in the world and i'm also scared of fucking up. but it's such an honour too!! i just hope that i can actually be of help <3

in my experience, u never truly get over that fear/anxiousness. it's been years for me atp (not in this fandom specifically), of . sharing my writing on social media . and i still get nervous and hesitant and second-guess myself every step of the way. i can't even count how many times i've posted a snippet and i've wanted to delete it right after. and with actual fics is even worse. i have this habit of always posting/updating very late at night and going straight to sleep to avoid thinking about it or seeing anyone's reactions/opinions

since this is something i can't seem to ever get rid of, my advice is to just . go for it . do it scared . which i'm aware fucking sucks and it makes the whole process a lot harder but . deep down u know u wanna share it, u want people to read it and u want to engage with the fandom as an author. focus on the side of u that is excited and happy about what u wrote!! the fear is still there, and it may always be, but it's not the emotion that actually matters here. if u still don't seem able to, ask someone to press the post button for u!! or maybe program it to post a few days later so u forget about it until u suddenly see it on ur dash!!

and i totally feel u on being extra insecure bc english isn't ur first language, i've been there and . i still am . i'm always scared i don't sound natural enough, or even right enough. i feel like all my writing is filled with . errors and mistakes . but honestly the fact that u managed to write 500 words in a language that isn't yours is already impressive enough and u should be proud of yourself!! people are gonna appreciate it more than u can imagine, and also, the way u write in english or use it is always gonna be so different from a native speaker's for obvious reasons and that's so fucking beautiful. some of my fav fanfics are written by ppl who didn't have english as a first language bc they have a way to approach it that i've never seen anywhere else and it's fucking magical

and ur english is absolutely perfect, just btw

i wish u the best of luck and i'm sending u a big hug, i can't waittttt to read that microfic (i'm hoping i'll be able to somehow)

<333

[drunktuesdays]

this one feels like a homework discussion question but actually for that? i love it. 🕯️how do you think engaging with each other through tumblr, twitter, comments, kudos, creates healthy fandom experiences? How do you deal with that if you're not a social person/experience social anxiety?

well jenna, as you know, i'm an overly social person, and am always dipping into people's replies or dms or whatever. i join like, every discord i can find with people that seem cool because if i stop hunting for something to keep me entertain, i could potentially experience a "thought" and that's to be avoided at all costs. so i can't really speak to having social anxiety because although i have many "mental problems" that's not one of them.

healthy fandom experiences—i don't know. i think it's probably good, right? i think when we chatter back and forth and talk to each other, we inspire each other to write and draw and create and that's super cool. i think a healthy thriving fandom is always going to be one with a chatty community, and i think there's ways tumblr's really not built for that but other ways it's perfect.

re: comments....idk. it's such a difficult thing to try to talk about. as much as i desperately want to be a person who writes and publishes for the joy of writing and publishing, but i'm not yet that evolved. i love seeing the impact my art has on those around me, and so i'm always really eager for comments or messages or kudos. my last redacted fic didn't really do that well, and it can feel deflating sometimes and that's not really healthy! i never want to be a person who writes FOR the response because the art that comes out of that impulse is often really cloying and cliched. i write the things i like to write because i wanted to, and i'm glad i did! and that's gotta be enough. no one owes me comments/kudos/messages! i KNOW that.

but i also know the flip side. i don't tend to read a ton of wrestling fic because i'm SO picky and annoying about it, so i'm often reading in fandoms i've never heard of and couldn't identify the principals in a line up. and then i feel weird commenting--which is crazy because i don't mind when people comment on my fic and say "i don't know who these people are, but i had fun." knowing how much comments mean to me, i SHOULD comment more. and i keep resolving to, and then failing. but i should.

anyway, tl:dr, i don't tend to click on tumblrs outside of my circle bc i'm scared of wider fandom, but i prize all of you who interact with me SO much and if you've ever left me a comment then you've positively contributed to my mood in a big time way and i need to do better at contributing to others.

[tomdutch]

Hey um I know there's a large chance that you most likely won't see this, but I just have to say this. When you had first spoken up about leaving the fandom I was confused as to why because I didn't really realize how dry it was becoming. I just wanna say how utterly correct you were. It has declined even moreee since your leave (not saying you caused it or anything). I sometimes find myself comparing the notes/reblogs from Tom!peter fanfics to the tasm!peter ones and the difference is astounding ( it has me wondering if anyone even knows that Tom!peter exists). It's really sad, the fandom honestly can't be revived, like where is everyone??? I have so many questions about the decline of content in the fandom ( I know the interactions from the readers played a huge part, but I also feel like there may have been other factor that lead to this.) Did everyone in the fandom just grow up or something?? Anyways, I miss you lots and hope you are doing well and your new fandoms are treating you right.

wow this was a doozy to read but in a good way 😭 the delusional main character side of me wants to think my absence had an impact of any kind lmaooo but to be honest, the fandom was already in really bad shape.

lack of reader interaction personally wasn’t that big of a factor for me, i was incredibly lucky and am still grateful for the consistent feedback and love y’all gave me and i still sometimes look through reblogs on my fave fics for writing inspo :”) it meant so much to me and i look back with so much fondness on all the fun times we had with more interactive series, especially break my heart.

not to sound like i’m giving a ted talk, but what drove me away more than anything was the toxicity of the fandom. granted all fandoms have a certain level of it, but this one was really, truly bad in 2021-2022. there’s only so much consistent harassment and suicide bait a girl can overlook while still feeling welcome and excited abt this space 😭 when i look back at that stuff now i’m honestly shocked so many people stayed as long as we did.

rabid shipping culture aside, i personally feel like the mcu spiderman franchise took a big hit in no way home that drove a lot of ppl away. obviously they couldn’t keep going forever with a 30 year old guy playing a 19 year old, but their creative decisions in nwh are questionable at best to me. the end of mcu peter’s story was so final and abrupt that, combined with how flip-floppy the writers were abt a follow-up trilogy with new characters and a time jump, didn’t leave much room for fanfic to carry on. they quite literally erased mcu peter as a character and individual from the mcu itself lmao it would be pretty hard for people to write copious fanfics about a guy who has no one bc no one knows who he is and his family is dead as hell.

that being said, i really am sorry you feel like it’s difficult to enjoy and share your passion in this space. that feeling sucks and i hope that, if you write fanfic, the lack of engagement and content doesn’t stop you from being creative and sharing what you wanna share. trends and fandoms come and go in waves, you never know when a piece of media or an actor has a revival in the general public. i don’t know what roles tom has going on but if you feel inspired to engage in them when the time comes, i’m sure there will be ppl there to interact. you’re never too ‘grown up’ to enjoy fandom, especially not one as iconic and timeless as spider-man in all variations. if there’s a character, there’s ppl out there creating art for them.

in the meantime, i hope life treats you kindly as well and thank you for your ask :”) if you ever wanna chat with me, i’m still active on my main, or if you’re more comfortable here i still check in on this blog every other month 💛