#bc the author thinks of one character as their self insert and/or another character as their romantic ideals

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

sometimes when i say i “ship” something i mean im invested in these characters relationship and how their personalities will compliment/clash to make each other better/worse and im obsessed with the way their storylines intertwine with each other. and other times when i say i “ship” something i mean i find the idea of these characters dating hilarious and i dont care about their dynamic beyond a few memes. like an actual ship vs a crackship.

but sometimes i see a ship and think “oh thats funny” but then i find out people actually ship it and have written 80k words of meta on why the ship is Good, Actually. but when i read it i am overwhelmed by the They Would Not Fucking Say That-ness of it all. and in recognizing how They Would Not Fucking Say That i am forced to think about the ship and its dynamic in detail to decide what They Would Fucking Say. and by the end i can’t even crackship it anymore. because once you think about it too hard the ship stops being funny it just starts being bad

[fefairys]

"There's the Underwood again, which is Doc's typewriter. I'm really not pretending there's much separation between myself and Doc, Lord English, et al. This whole charade is about "dressing up" as a member or leader of this villainous mafia outfit for the sake of explaining things about my own story, which now I am doing down here as well for good measure. It's a critical question of Homestuck: is AH, the "real" person, closer to the self-insert buffoon or the nefarious meta-villains he has created as projections of his antagonistic creative proclivities?"

"Here we see a better-rendered version of myself positioning a shittily-rendered version of myself to begin typing this white-texted excerpt as if he were a stage prop. You could look at this as a funny gag, which it is. I also see it as a visual expression of the textual detachment between the "real me" and the "cartoon me." I myself am just another prop I can play with for whatever creative purposes I have, and statements I might be making. It's just another way of tipping my hand in these otherwise innocuous self-insert segments: nothing is really what it appears to be." -Andrew Hussie

i think this is cool as fuck actually i think a lot of ppl find this whole self-insertion and the way hussie talks about it to be pretentious but i just genuinely find it extremely intriguing the way they toy with the idea of authorship. the way that being the author is comparable enough to being the antagonist that you might as well just put yourself in the story and make yourself the actual antagonist character. bc when u think about it, the author IS the antagonist. they're REALLY the ones making all the bad things happen to the characters, after all.

[zukkacore]

I’m not opposed to the fanfic-to-romance-writer pipeline in principle bc there is literally nothing wrong with fanfic as an avenue for creativity and expression and practice and I don’t think it’s a lesser version of writing, and literally everyone is inspired by something and that’s ok for it to carry over into your original work, but what does bother me is that they are different mediums with different strengths & do different things for their audience & it is really tiresome to act like you can transpose the conventions of one medium to another with no legwork to learn the new thing and expect it to successful. You can’t just write a screenplay and expect it to translate well to a Broadway musical without learning the new medium. I think fanfic-to-book writing is the same way. Of all the “this feels like fanfic” insights you could have about a book, from it being light on worldbuilding and heavy on character interaction, to there being some self insert or wish fulfillment aspects in the protagonist, to a juvenile or conversational tone in the writing style, to the story having some clear derivative influence, I think the worst sin the fanfic-to-romance-writer pipeline has birthed is these books that are really sparse on explaining the connection between the romantic leads or really delving into what makes them work & instead rely on a presupposed & preconceived knowledge of its fanfic inspiration in order to be enjoyable at all. This is what I mean when I say fanfiction is great for what it is, but it is a medium that does not demand a lot of legwork in terms of worldbuilding (unless it’s very explicitly an AU) & allows you to presuppose a lot & also IS FREE. Whereas w/ a book I am paying my hard earned coin, so coming w/ a recommended prerequisite source material sucks ass. I can get behind a book that is clearly derivative of the author’s long time fandom interest but using that inspiration to craft its own story, but what I’ve grown tired of is the growing number of books that are coasting off intertextuality & nothing more.

[dailydegurechaff]

Hand over your YS fic/fic recs

I feel like I may end up disappointing u anon, chances are probably high that my recommendations list won't be all that different from any of the many other lists out there;; but also. if you're asking, well... I will take whatever excuse to just start chattering, whether it be about others' fics or my own. This is probably going to be a long post, I’m so sorry ^^; For everyone’s sake, I’ll put it under a cut

OK SO, this list is literally all over the place, these aren’t really in any particular order and I confess that for a few of them I actually read them a while ago/I don’t remember some very well. I just went through my Ao3 history and pulled the links for the ones I remembered enjoying. I’m gonna try my best to not spoil them and keep it brief so I don’t rant on and on. ALSO. Probably most of these are unfinished, sorry about that rip ;;

We Are Each Our Own Devil by victoria_kay Alright, this one first and foremost. This one literally lives rent free in my head. Do NOT let me get started on this one I am capable of talking about it for paragraphs upon paragraphs. It was the first YS fic I read, it also happens to be the first instance of me ever using Ao3's download button. I have to say, I usually prefer genfic over romance but this is one of my exceptions bc the writing is That Good. Tanya & Lergen are easily top favorite characters for me and here they are!! Interacting!!! We love to see it. Slowly watching them grow and sdfghjdfgh. I've read this fic in full more than once and now that I have it downloaded I frequently go back and reread some of my favorite parts. god. ok ok. time to move on.

A Young Girl's Guerrilla War by Ragnarthesemigreen Long fic, Code Geass crossover. I literally did not remember most of Code Geass when i read it, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this fic. I marathoned this fic over the course of like a week maybe(?) over a month or so ago so specific details are a bit lost but i remember loving it. I wanna reread it again soon.

A Young Woman's Political Record by jacobk You cannot have a Youjo Senki fic rec list without this one. I don’t actually use spacebattles, but I finally went on there recently to see what the hype was about. This is another one I marathoned over the course of a few days simply bc i could not stop reading, so suffice to say it did live up to my expectations.

A Young Girl's Weaponization of the Mythos by Zahariel_Scholar AAA I love mythos aus so much. I made fan art for this one actually. It’s great writing, the author switches it up between epistolary style writing and character POVs which is really fun structurally. It’s an ongoing fic so its nice to have something to tune into on a regular basis

War Record of Young Girl and Boy by Fey_Storyteller An OC/Self Insert fic!! I know these kinds of things aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I love them. A retelling of YS featuring Tanya with a fellow isekai-er (? That is not a word. I cannot think of the correct word. Whatever) ALSO. It features art too!

Crushing on a Devil by TanJaded Yet ANOTHER one I marathoned. Again, usually I stick to genfic, but this is one of my exceptions. Mark my words, this one is getting fan art one day, I swear by it. I have sketches laying around in my files SOMEWHERE I just need to get to finding and finishing them.

TanJaded actually has lots of good fics!! I confess I haven’t read all of them but I will list a few more off the top of my head that I specifically remember liking. By no means is this it tho, check out their full ficography

The Dangers of Magical Combat by TanJaded We love some angst

Deliver My Heart (and not just my Mail) by TanJaded this one was just so cute <3 ;u;

Not Televised by TanJaded The ~vibes~ on this one. Impeccable. Im looking forward to where this one might go

Mage×Family by SwissChocolatess Spy×Family Crossover. Tanya is adopted alongside Anya into the Forger family

The Meditations of a Young Woman by FallQM A Legend of Korra Crossover

A Young Woman's Alchemy by CheshireTwilight A Full Metal Alchemist Crossover

Tanya Degurechaff and the Philosopher Stone by Half_Baked_Cat (demonbunny3po) A Harry Potter Crossover

(edit: removed a fic from here bc the latest update seems a bit... well it makes me dubious about where its gonna go from this point forward so I dont think its something I want to recommend anymore)

Tanya's Wings (and all that they imply) by Anonymous Hydra!Tanya au. It’s so cute, angry little baby dragon Tanya omg ;; I wanna make fanart for this one eventually, I’ll get there one day.

The Pixie of the Hidden Leaf by Dakion Naruto Crossover. Actually, I don’t know anything about Naruto (theres a guy with a frog, right? Dattebayo?), but despite this I’m having fun reading this one. Another one that’s currently updating so its fun to tune in

Rising Heroine Tanya by BrettFire A BNHA Crossover

Stuffiness by Winter (ImmortalBlackWinter) Very short, but still highly recommended. I really do love some painful endings ;;

I Have A Bet by psw262 Another short one that I liked

Tanya's Free Time by ForeverEvanescent Cute Tanya :,)

The Uniform Crisis by Kat_Ivu More cute Tanya

As you can see I've sort of given up on the commentary sorry; It's getting late, I have work tmrw and shit to do tonight, I gotta get a move on with this lol. I havent even drawn tomorrow's post yet ack. So, this is, by far, not an exhaustive list, I would love to elaborate more and put in more links but maybe another time

As for my own fics, I have a bunch of them kinda half-written but unfortunately I haven’t actually finished or posted any of them yet;;; orz. I do kinda want to talk about them anyway tho bc you did ask and, well, I'm not gonna just not take the opportunity to talk abt my things, but I’ll try to keep it brief and restrained to the stuff thats most likely to be posted some day

Tanya’s Peculiar Behaviors This isn’t really one fic, but more like a group of one-shots. Basically I try to see how much out of character I can get away with while still remaining relatively plausible/canon-adjacent. I have three sort of half-written one-shots right now, some very quick summaries of each: -- The one where I try to justify Tanya carrying around a stuffed animal; This was a bit inspired by Tanya's Free Time in the recs above -- The one where Tanya has a breakdown after the Brest Naval Base thing; Lergen accidentally catches her crying and is like oh god oh fuck what the hell is wrong with her -- and lastly the one where Tanya uses the type 95 just a bit too much and oops now she’s broken

Untitled/The one where I lock them in a room together Tanya von Degurechaff and Erich von Lergen accidentally get locked in a room together and are forced to have a civil chat to pass the time. Also, Tanya screws up an orb-less communication spell to call for help, and now Lergen can hear what she’s thinking, so that’s less than ideal.

Untitled/The one I’m jokingly calling Child Soldier × Family You could sort of call it a Spy × Family AU? But honestly I think I’d call it more ‘inspired by’ than a proper crossover. Basically, they lose the war, and for spying reasons, Tanya gets adopted and has to go to school to make friends to get intel on their families. Key differences from SxF though: Tanya’s technically the spy and there isn’t any fake-marriage aspect to the story comparable to Loid and Yor’s relationship. Perhaps my favorite part of it, Lergen takes Loid’s role as Father Figure bc both of them share the character trait “frequently gets stomach aches due to the stressful little girl they have to deal with” lmao

This is Heaven and Hell Tanya manages to usurp Being X and takes control of the universe/Being X’s power. If you’ve seen Madoka Magica, the vibes I was aiming for with this one are comparable to the end of the Rebellion movie. Tanya rewrites the universe, everyone’s memories are a little janky, she’s struggling with her newfound status as Literally God, etc. I intended it to be kind of angsty but literally everything I touch somehow becomes a comedy so this thing may get broken into two different versions the funny one and the hopefully more serious one.

To Those Without Power, Sin was Charged That fallen Angel!Tanya au I posted about before. Basically: Tanya is one of the many angels in charge of judging souls for their next reincarnation/eligibility for the afterlife. When they one day express that they don’t believe faith should be a necessary factor in those judgements, they’re cast down to Earth as punishment. Another one where I cant decide whether to go the serious route or the comedy route.

There are quite a few more drafts but those things are either A) probably unlikely to get finished or B) never seeing the light of day if I can help it purely for the reason they’re self indulgent cringe :,)

Alright finally, if you got this far reading through this post: hello. thanks for coming along for the ride of touring my Tanya-addled brain, I hope u got something out of it

Having read through this post and you have any fic recs for me, I will gladly take them, I am always looking for stuff to read.

thank u, bye <3

[cacaitos]

tbh i probably wouldn't have finished fire candy if i hadn't deduced early on the author was a woman (the plans to cover lesser known women writing typical type seinen/shonen is going. as terrible as you would expect) and in another post i did mention the mixed shoujo/seinen visuals but i guess i focused on like more flowery aesthetics bishonen and stuff. algo guess i ignored to mention that it is pretty much the statement of the author to produce series (or erotica, at any point anyway) that's appealing to both demographics, intentionally.

not that im gonna expound lots on details either though.. (it's stilla bible tho)

i ignored to mention (just forgot sorry) in the short review that in yellow hearts, SA is a verry recurrent thing/part/context of the sex scenes (that i have to define are with the erotic intent). now even then, i don't think [SA, 'age gaps', guys w freudian-esque issues, etc] in this case at least, represent a kind of deterrent for a female audience in intent (regardless of how i feel about it). first bc those are still Very Frecuent Things in erotica more clearly demographically divided aimed and written at women anyway, and second because topics aside the author, as mentioned above, uses the language and form of shoujosei to indicate in an transparent way to emphasize so.

the female characters even in the, yk, Situations... seem to preserve a preocupation with prettiness and the impression of pleasure in their designs/expressions. in net numbers, yes, they are usually/majority of the visual focus of the sexual scenes anyway since it's a seinen (audience implicit), but it's not like i can give you a definitive distinction between what about it is [meant to be in intent] the Object of interest or what has an Self-insert quality.

***the abovementioned preocupations w pretiness etc seem to very pointedly to work under the aesthetic proclivities of shoujosei. at a point it isn't so much about what men/women want but that These XYZ elements straight up don't customarily exist in shonen/seinen and those void bridged by the shoujosei proper also customary structures of the portrayal of intimacy are what evidence the interest of being of a pleasurable quality to read to a female audience, intentionally.

the paneling at points shifts completely to that of an shojosei romance's manga, the use of halftones, textures, neg and pos space, composition; of a tenderness (eh...) and an emotional interest of the parties that for as much shitty horny seinen ive read i dont find ever being as present, like at all (not that im precisely complimenting YH either...). of couse that's speaking of the ones that arent SA; theyre all pretty equally explict and intense regardless, in an customary-shoujosei unlikely fashion, though.

in the men's department.. well, on pretty literal terms the story is about idk yakuza gang conflict or smth, there will be rock bands and whores in between that i guess. from the very beginning there will be a balance to mantain between the main male characters being a more traditional dark but youthful type of masculinity for an seinen story while also obviously being yk. bishonen (most of the main ones at least). pretty easy to discern intent with those elements i think. it also extends to the sex scenes: vaguely speaking the author has a leniency to make them more, expressive? sentitive? something like that; make them have slightly/noticeably more presence in frames, that makes the thing a speck less onesided (well, it's less frequent the older/less bishie/more traditionally masculine the character is, not that that's surprising).

lastly.. hmm.. despite the author being kind of apparently of a bl writer on the side (tho YH is completely straight), male homoeroticism is mostly kept on the side (one char mentions it) or it's expressed thru more conventional male-on-male bloodlust and violence, though limited to the individual than in pro of indicating any particular relationship between the parts. however, i think that keeping the motions of homoerotic violence w no textual outlet for it makes some of the male characters' sexuality interesting so far it's just as confused as the mixed language of shoujosei and seinen of above.

for one, it makes violence, for the seinen audience, sexual but in a slightly more unusual and/or uncomfortable way, for the genre at least. both because of a female audience in mind and how [the male characters] can serve to them in a shoujo fashion but also taking into acc BL fashions, ends up making them as much of the

[suntails]

AAA OMG thank you so much for answering my question! ok ok ok so! first up for the fic desires, right out of the gate - I don't like smut (as a sex-repulsed asexual I find reading about it not fun). also I don't like reading whump that much unless it has a good ending. as for not wanted ships, anything is fine unless it's incest or pedophilia. characters/interactions are a bit harder to pin down, but I know I don't want any fics that involve self-inserts, y/n, or ocs as the main focus, I'd much rather be distanced from the story being told than directly involved in it, if that makes sense? I'd like to read something involving Idia or Ortho or any of the Hades dorm (idk its in-universe name) characters - there doesn't seem to be a lot involving them, at least not that I've found yet. stuff involving the octotrio would also be good, love me some angsty merboys. maybe some stuff with Riddle and the other Heartslybule (idk if that's how it's spelled) students too? if you have any fics involving transformation or body-swapping, those are tropes I really like (I'm reasonably sure that at least some of the Diasomnia students have dragon or half-dragon forms but so far I haven't found anything involving them actually transforming?) In addition, what fics involving the Diasomnia students do you think are the best? (since you are the resident expert in that field, 90% is impressive.) thank you again for answering my ask so enthusiastically, I'm sure you'll be a great help. :)

okay cool beans, ty ty!!! hmm i am,,, unfortunately just abt the worst person you could come to for ignihyde or octavinelle stuff, i so rarely click anything from those dorms. regardless, ill give a list of stuff below!! i will add a little description to give u a feel and if it's something u don't vibe with or a ship u don't wanna read, j skip and try something else, hopefully something here will work for u!

And You Think, "No Escape" (ongoing) GEN – i'm a few chapters behind on this one bc life kicked me, but very good gen fic thus far! mainly focused around the previous overblotters in a weird sidequest treasure hunt forced by some bad guys, with trey and cater in the BG tryna help their situation. VERY long chapters and updates very regularly, so would likely provide a good amount of content

Night Raven Kindergarten (ongoing) GEN – cater is the main char, but he and trey are kindergarten teachers for a selection of the cast as kids!! VERY cute and fun, and delves into the kids' lives at home in rly heartfelt ways that hit, the problems feel nuanced and well-written, and the chars all feel so themselves. whitenoface is the author and i like a lot of their work, i'm recing another work from them later on

Briar Scion (ongoing) Idiasil – p long idiasil fic where the story itself is rly what caught my attention, and now im along for the ride. the premise is rly interesting where essentially like,,, nature itself loves silver, and wants to marry him? so nature is encroaching on school turf while interpersonal romance happens around the plot, its a fun concept! yuu is in it in the bg a bit but its not like,, self-insert or OC, so hopefully u won't mind. updates regularly!

when we don't have the words, chocolate can speak volumes (completed) Idiasil – cute, 30k or so idiasil!! largely focuses on the second years as a group working at the mostro lounge, as silver asks for advice from them respectively and idia works up the nerve in the bg to come in to say hi to silver. mostly just a cute silly story, not as intricate a plot but a fun read!

The Queen's Court (completed) Catervil – first of all, azurith is a FANTASTIC writer, and i highly recommend literally anything they've ever written. this rec branches beyond this fic, but this was my start. this covers cater interning for maleficient herself, and then delves into his newfound connection to the draconias while covering fae history and previous war, etc, it's FANTASTIC and this lore is upheld in a lot of their other work. "Enchanted" is another ongoing work by azurith with cater as a diasomnia student, updates regularly and is very good!! azurith is largely a catervil writer but i think their work is far more important than a preference for ship, i'd rec even if u don't care abt catervil

Snow Is Falling (completed) Cater-focused – idk if u can tell but i like cater interacting w diasomnia content, this is where he goes to briar valley for winter break instead of back home! around 15k, just focuses on his interactions with the diasomnia people while staying with lilia and silver, p short and sweet but v nice :D

devoted malediction (orphaned) malledeuce – of all the fics on this list, this is the one ur most likely to skip. i found this on a WHIM while scouring every existing diasomnia ship tag and was so stunned at the audacity of someone to ship malleus and DEUCE, and to write 140k+ words abt it, that i had to read it. i can't explain it with words,,, the writing style reads so differently than anything else i've ever read, it reads as a STYLE rather than simply reading as 'well-written,' it rly kept my attention. essentially, it's a ...human? au? they're coworkers at a game dev studio, they're human but there's still magic, i can't explain it. there's underground plot-shit with the magic factions or whatever that's so interesting, but it IS orphaned so it'll never update again. i'm devastated. i can't sell this fic to anyone bc of the ship and the length but i enjoyed it very deeply and i'll miss it

Fath-- I mean, Lilia (completed) lilia & silver – ALSO by whitenoface, very sweet familial content of them through silver's life. a 10k must-read for a diasomnia fan

Even a Vanrouge Must Rest (completed) lilia & silver – VERY short and VERY sad but i am legally obligated to rec this. i'd be a bad diasomnia fan if i didn't, very heartbreaking and touching story

Crocodile Teeth (completed) Silsebe – sebek overblot story, decent length and p well written, sebek is infuriating which is Correct for sebek and Correct for someone on their way to an overblot. i've read most of magicalfish's work but i can't rec most to u due to nsfw, this is one of the better silsebe fics out there!!!

Just Out of Reach (ongoing) Silsebe – it DOES update, just not on a regular basis. VERY VERY good fic that FEELS slow-burn, it's 50k+ so far and still feels like the build is just starting up well now. essentially, silver and sebek get in a big fight and lilia magically makes them stay side-by-side till they understand each other, so it analyzes how despite their closeness in their upbringings and how they are partners in their roles as malleus's knights, they don't rly get each other yet and need to cultivate their relationship so it doesn't crumble. very nice story thus far and i look forward to updates!!

WHOOOOKAY that's a lot, i actually don't rly use bookmarks bc i'm typically on incognito on my phone, so i may be missing some, but these came to mind based on ur asks!! if u wanted more for ignihyde, octavinelle, or heartslabyul, i'd rec asking someone else bc i'm truly not the best source ^^;

[pascal-oswell]

20 questions for fic authors

i saw ur tag in the morning when i woke up nessa and then i completely forgot. BUT THANK U FOR THINKING OF ME!!!! i don't really want to tag anyone bc its a bit scary. but eros and duo if u see this... perhaps this might interest u to do it

1. How many fics do you have on ao3?

46 ! and maybe like 20 which existed on ao3 at some point but got deleted by oj for one reason or another.

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

96 365... the oj does not write long things

3. What fandoms do you write for?

mostly project moon these days. and mostly limbus bc (inferno pink grabs me by the throat)

if i didnt feel like it was pointless id probably write for a larger variety of stuff bc the oj brain is full of self insert stuff. but it doesnt rly matter

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

the wine on your skin (137) gonna shrimp myself over that one bc it was my first and probably shittiest smut. but its smut in a large fandom (fire emblem) so it attracted people i guess

yeah dante's fine. what do you mean they're at -45 sanity you're lying (132) IM GLAD PEOPLE LIKED THAT ONE it was a lot of fun. and nice people cared about a dante centric fic with abnos:) (but also still mad as hell over that thing with the guy taking one of the concepts and clearly saying it was from another fic while categorically refusing to actually name it lol)

do NOT wake the manager up. YES they fell asleep on the job but they're REAL comfy right now do NOT disturb them (117) i can't tell if people get attracted by the funny titles or bc they see there are more characters besides faust and dante. bc i know people are NOT coming for them.

i'll always be there (104) a short manuleth fic... im glad there are manuleth likers out there. that professor loves that doctor ok

and they'll fall in love with her again and again (88) people liked the exploration of IDs... its kinda debunked now but it was still fun

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

I USUALLY DO unless i find the comment weird. but if its rly weird i usually straight up delete it lol but otherwise i reply to comment if only to thank people for taking the time to leave one. its a tough world out there for attention starved writer

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

id argue the angstiest i have is one of my deleted ones where i straight up killed a char and the fic was all about everyone else's grief it was depressing lol otherwise theres the obvious silver snow edeleth angst but its kinda whatever. the backward clock chapter of the dante abnos fic was rly good imo. the nothing there one too. the inferno pink confession fic too.... ough...

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

SCORCHED GIRL & ANGELA FIC GOT ME FUCKED UP MAN. FOUND FAMILY BETWEEN THE FUCKED UP LITTLE GIRL AND THE ANDROID

8. Do you get hate on fics?

nah. thank god i dont i think id nuke my ao3 on the spot i already explode over weird comment

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i smack my faust and dante dolls together

i used the be rly scared of smut now im a free little oj. it gets horny sometimes but also im rly vanilla so its usually very sweet.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

i dont. i should sometime though.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

NOT AS FAR AS I KNOW I THINK ID NEVER WRITE AGAIN OTHERWISE

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

nay

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

no and i dont think i could oj needs to write her thing in peace. art&fic stuff are rly fun though.. oj likes when duo art inspires her or oj text inspires duo...

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

ALL TIME IS A TOUGHIE the ships come and go guys cmon. rn inferno pink is all the rage though. and me with all the ladies i like

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

funnily enough i dont rly have wips bc i only start things when im REALLY motivated and i usually dont write things long enough that id drop them mid way. so none

16. What's your writing strengths?

being straight to the point maybe. idk. i mean my whole style is about short sentences and descriptions and just giving enough to get the feelings and vibes and idk. like i dont spend a paragraph talking about the weather thats not my style.

i like to think im good at sounding like chars too. if its the chars i like at least. or i hope at least. maybe its all in my head.

17. What's your writing weaknesses?

im rly bad at writing things that require more description... stuff that i cant just move on from or write by sprinkling lil actions between dialogues... like say. a fight scene. im rly bad at it

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

i mean if the char actually speaks in another language usually and mixes it with the translated language or whatever sure. itd make sense i have no issue with it

19. First fandom you wrote for?

long ago i wrote stuff for shin megami tensei 4. but i think even before that i wrote lil danganronpa drabbles that never got posted anywhere. also technically i wrote a story about vocaloids for an english assignment in middle school. does that count

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

idk if its a favorite but im like. rly fond of "hello doctor, it's me again. i missed you." bc its the fic i probably put the most effort in. longest and multi chapters and like. id started writing it two years prior to when i finished it and id written like. a chapter and a half on paper during breaks in college and never did anything with it. and two years later when i was sorting my stuff i had these papers and wanted to throw them away so i was like ill type this out on puter at least before that. and then i ended up motivating myself to finish it and i was rly proud of it... oj is still rly sad it didnt get that much attention in the end.

otherwise oj rly likes her angela & abno fics:) shes happy with them. and also stuff ive written for duo! i think its cute and i had a lot of fun with them

[gaymerasmus]

No bc im so scared of mentioning i read/sometimes write x readers to other readers/authors bc then theyll think im a freak like WHAT?? WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN? I USED TO BE SO UNAPOLOGETIC ABOUT IT????

This is my point exactly! It used to be so easy to sit down and talk with people who are in the same fandoms about what you like to create and consume, then suddenly self inserts were deemed "too weird" like the concept is really that difficult to understand. You put your characters in a situation (general fanfiction) and then you add yourself or a nameless character that readers can view themselves as. And before people come up with that bs "oh it's always smut or a weird concept" please remember that regular fanfics can also be like that! You just point out self inserts because it feeds into the idea that other forms of fanfiction are just better just because it's not self insert.

But I think a big way to start combating this (other than ranting about it at 2 am) would be to Stop being embarrassed about it! People will begin to see that there's so difference when we start acting like there isn't one. Regardless of other people's opinions, at the end of the day x reader fanfiction is just another kind of fanfiction and they can cry about it.

[saetoru]

stemming off that last ask/discussion, my unpopular opinion is that somehow authors are entitled to write what they want and have creative freedom for things like personality and backstory up until it gets to physical traits...and i feel it kind of seems hypocritical?

once again im adding a readmore bc i talk so much wow i need to actually stfu

ok i will preface this by saying everything i say is meant to be good natured !! and this is just all meant to be simply discussing stuff—im only saying this bc im gonna get into a race related convo briefly

but i think like i said in the last discussion—there is no inherent way to make personality a blank slate or completely neutral. every course of action / decision the reader makes in a fic will indicate something or another of their personality—and there will be loads of personalities it doesn't fit with it, so it is essentially impossible to write reader in a manner that applies to everyone. and since reader's actions and thoughts and dialogue are necessary to make a fic a fic, there is no avoiding having traits for them so it should be fair to let the reader have development in character / let the author explore giving reader complexities. but physical traits hold little to no importance to the plot / the development of the plot (at least most of the time) so it is unnecessary to include (again, most of the time). at the end of the day, there is no 100% way to make x reader content applicable to everyone in every way, but it is still self insert you should still try to make it inclusive where you can—which most of the time ends up being physical traits.

now that being said it's still true tho that u as a writer can write reader however you want—meaning you can cater to specific physical aspects such as a specific race, body type, gender, etc. BUT you should always tag that so ppl are aware from the get-go that they might not identify with the reader of this fic

but i do want to point out that there is also slightly a different conversation that needs to take place when the physical traits describe white / eurocentric features. again, you can honestly write reader to have blonde hair and blue eyes if u rly want—as long as you tag it properly, but writing a white coded reader is far different than writing a poc coded reader. whiteness is the default in a LOT of society and poc representation lacks incredibly so someone writing a poc coded reader for representation's sake is not necessarily the same as someone just casually writing reader to have pale skin and blushed cheeks bc one is trying to offer more representation and one feeds into a societal pattern of making white ppl the majority / default and forgetting poc exist in the process

ANYWAY THATS JUST MY TWO CENTS I TALK A LOT JASKDHS MY BAD IM HIGHLY OPINIONATED

i think the main thing is u are allowed to write reader how u want both personality wise and physical trait wise—but it is your responsibility to tag accordingly when necessary so it doesn't rope ppl into reading a fic and then feeling included halfway through if that makes sense

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (28 Aug-3 Sep 2022)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 Batnesia (Qui) - SuperBat, 60K - Bruce gets amnesia, forgets he's Batman, thinks Clark is his boyfriend, all the BatKids go along with it, hilarious but emotional shenanigans ensue + bonus Clark having to pretend to be Batman

🥰👂‍ Dead Man's Folly (Hercule Poirot #35) (Agatha Christie, author; David Suchet, narrator) - look I just love any of the books with AC's self-insert, Ariadne Oliver [but ngl DS' narration is not my fave!]

😍 Fallout (Whisper91) - Kingsman: Merlin/Harry/Eggsy, 164K - really excellent D/s universe, excellent Roxy & Eggsy BFFs, really good OCs as well

😊👂‍ The Clocks (Hercule Poirot #39) (Agatha Christie, author; Hugh Fraser, narrator) - I personally respect the balance AC tried to find as HP was aging so most of the leg work is done by newer, younger characters and the problem-solving is up to HP; still one of the weaker plots tho

😍👂‍ A Gentleman Never Keeps Score (Seducing the Sedgwicks #2) (Cat Sebastian, author; Joel Leslie, narrator) - takes a lot of courage to write a traumatized, touch-averse capital-R-Romance protagonist and a lot of skill to do it well and CS excels. Shout out to her solid research on historically accurate glass dildos!

💖💖 +249K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

something better than before (napricot) - Sense8: technically Lito/Hernando/Daniela but it's not a romance-focused story, 7.9K - amazing fic about Lito giving birth to a new senstate cluster: great character voices, Lito is exactly the kind of parent you'd expect (bless), Hernando & Daniela are along for the ride, the OCs from the new cluster are fully realized even in so few words. Absolutely perfect fic.

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Death On The Nile (1978) - incredible costumes. all around excellent performances but special shout out to Angela Lansbury playing an alcoholic erotica writer, Bette Davis & Maggie Smith as vicious lesbians and, honestly, Mia Farrow was the perfect Jackie.

Harley Quinn - s3, e8 - love to showcase how fucked up in the head Bruce Wayne is! and now there's zombies.

What We Do In The Shadows - s4, e9 - what the actual fuck, Nandor?!

Evil Under The Sun (1982) - more incredible costumes. more excellent performances, esp Diana Rigg and Maggie Smith being absolute cats at one another.

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Shedunnit Book Club - The Challenge Of Dorothy L. Sayers

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Pigeon Towers of Iran

Song Exploder - Madonna "Hung Up"

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Discovery Hut

Twenty Thousand Hertz+ - TikTalk

99% Invisible #504- Bleep!

One Year - 1986: The Ultimate Field Trip - definite undercurrent of dread listening to this one bc everyone knows how that field trip turned out

Vibe Check - The Girls Are Cashing Checks

99% Invisible #505 - First Errand

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - The Lost Boys of Robber’s Cave

Hit Parade - Still Billy Joel to Me

One Year - 1986: The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones [Madonna]

Presenting Charli XCX

The Go-Go's Radio • Upbeat

Closer to the Edge: Classic Prog

Presenting Rush

Pop Radio • Workout

Presenting Hall & Oates

Interpreting the Masters, Volume 2: (A Tribute to Van Halen) [the bird and the bee]

[yanfeisty]

Hi everyone, I wanted to talk about Mary Sue, especially ranting on why it's smth we shouldn't be shame about. Also, I'm talking about girls in the fanfiction community, because I'm one and I feel like the Mary Sue trope affected us more. But if you're a boy, I would love to hear your take.

It's okay if you disagree with me, just do it respectfully and remember things I'm going to say is from my experiences and we may have not the same view on it.

MS = Mary Sue FFS = Fanfictions OC = Original Character OP = Overpowered

What's a Mary Sue?

An original character used as a self insert for the author, who's loved by everyone, extremely beautiful with unreal features (ex : purple eyes, rainbow hair, wings,...), with only good qualities or flaws that are seen as cute (ex : clumsy, shy,..), and overpowered.

Mary Sue and fanfictions

Even if MS is a term that can be used for every media, it's mostly used in FFS, the feared trope that everyone hates in the FFS community and those outside who hates FFS because most used MS, it's the most cringiest thing ever it's an insult to art and story telling.

But the thing is, FFS aren't that serious that's why it's called f.a.n fiction, you do you, it's not harmful to want every characters to love you or have cool powers that can take down everyone, is it good writing? Who cares, it's self insert, it's for the pleasure of the author and their readers, it doesn't try to be the next Lord of the rings or Harry Potter. If you want a MS, then go write one, I absolutely hate the shame authors are getting, you think it's bad? Good for you, ignore it. Yes, critics are good but sometimes you have to accept it's not for you, there's things that I dislike too, but shaming others when they hold no bad intentions is just a no.

I'm not like other girls, so pick me!

Two mocked phenomenons, that can be related. One feels like she isn't like the other because she usually go against what other girls do, when actually she's referring to what a stereotypical girl does, and with the antagonization of clichés feminine activities in movies (literally every teen romance movie, the mean girl who likes pink and shopping), she wants to go against them. (not saying just bc you like smth that isn't "femine", you just do it to go against cliches, but I've seen and experienced that with the hate of the color pink, for example). While the pick me girl, wants to bring down other women for pleasing a man or men, while it's a terrible attitude, it's very sad to see that mostly teenage girls feel the need to be approved by a man.

Those two are mostly in search of feeling special and validation. Which is definitely one of the reasons MS are hated, they are the stereotypical OC women, viewed as horrible and cringy, so the writers do the complete opposite of a MS and seek for validation of others (like the those quizzes on Quotev, lots of people do them), removing the fun of creating a character for yourself. I'm not gonna even talk about that there is a lot of Gary Sue too, but we just focus the hate on women.

A bad advice

While I'm not a professional writers, I love reading and writing FFS, which what I've been doing for a long time, I advice you to not search or read "how to not make my character a Mary Sue", what you should do is searching on how to make your character better or tips for writing.

Avoiding to put your character into the Mary Sue box gonna make you putting them in another one. That's what an Anti Mary Sue is, the problem with it is that instead of trying to see why a MS doesn't work, you're just taking its tropes and do the opposite. MS are extremely loved ? My OC is universally hated. MS has super powers? My OC has none and is just skilled. There's no depth in the OC, it's not making them suddenly better, you make them like that for no reason besides wanting to avoid what a MS does. I'm not the only one who fell into the rabbit hole of "is your OC a MS?" quizzes trying to search validation instead of actually thinking and trying to work on how my OC can be better written.

Also, one misconception that I've seen is that something that can be found in a MS is avoided like the plage. No, your OC isn't a MS just because it has unrealistic features, is too nice, is clumsy, has a lot of powers, those aren't bad writing. I want to touch upon the "overpowered" trope, since this one is very feared by writers. There's a difference between overpowered and powerful, OP is when the character is way too powerful that it affects the story by making it bland and uninteresting, powerful characters in the opposite are just powerful it's not pejorative at all, just a fact. For exemple, if you know Marvel, Thanos is extremely strong, intelligent and can hold the gauntlet with stones which can control space, time, mind and others. On paper it's sounds like he is OP right? But when you see Infinity War, Thanos is one of the best written villains in the MCU and I'll even say an iconic movie in general villain. My whole point is, don't hold yourself from making your OC powerful in fear to be OP, what counts is the story and how does it affects it, you can even look on Google OP characters, while I don't know much about some of them, I know they are extremely loved and their story too, but also seen by a lot as OP but it's not something that makes their story flawed, it's working perfectly with it.

While, I can agree with some advices on "how to not make a MS", most of the time it's giving the bad idea which results to the point I listed.

[theloveinc]

Catie! Do you have any self-ships? You write about a lot of different characters with us/for us, but who's your ~fave~? (Could also just be a fave, not a self-ship) Is there anyone that you wish you could talk about more with us/in general?

🐞

jfjskdhfjads ladybug PLEASE, you are so berry kind for asking❤️👉🏻👈🏻❤️

i have many self-ships, actually!! tho i'm a bit confused by what constitutes one because... i basically ship myself with everyone LOL. and i know some people have very developed backstories for their selfship worlds... i wouldn't say i have one specific "canon" for each character + i's setup... but rather i pick whatever scenario i'm enjoying at the moment and then apply it to them and do that as needed. probs cuz it changes so often and always has.

Most of the time this past year it's been bakugo (what a surprise), so i would say he's def my top self ship??? but honestly whenever i'm thinking of anything for any character, whether it's suggested by u guys or not, i'm absolutely brainrotting for them, too. i mentioned this ages ago on IHB, but for the longest time i actually liked everyone in mha pretty equally, so i lowkey still do

(its fine bc im so busy rn, but sometimes im sad that we don't have more convos about other characters)

anyway, it's kind of an inside joke with myself LOL but i always joke it's like rick + morty in my mind bc i always think of my selfships as alternate universes that are all happening at the same time... so if i'm thinking about one au of assassin bakugo and another about having kids w/ him............ they're both equally valid. or like, if im thinking about being married to kiri, that's a different caitie than the caitie married to bakugo LMAO but still me🙆🏼‍♀️

(does that even make sense?)

honestly... not so much recently bc i've really been going thru it w/ my writing, but i feel like i do a good job of talking to u guys about all the stuff i wanna! i've honestly been self inserting so long that turning my ideas into inserts is actually very easy for me, plus, since i LOVE and enjoy writing second person, i don't have any issues with stuff being relatable to me personally. it just always is (for the most part).

besides, tho there's definitely a couple things i wish i could bring up, like plans i have for longer things im too scared to start (which are absolutely author-inserts), they're so deeply personal that i really can't even figure out how to make them appealing LOL. so for now i just don't. but that doesn't bother me much tbh, cuz i get my fill as is!

(plus, sometimes they’re just dumb ideas)

anyway, long story short... bakugo is my current, MAIN selfship. it was levi from attack on titan for like, 7 years tho. and i'm sure i'll find someone else berry special to add to the pile too!!! and normally i imagine us meeting because... we're both fucking weirdos who hate everyone LOL and bond over that.

but thank u SO much for asking, i hope i answered this right!! and more importantly, wbu??? i'd love to hear <3 (and hope you're feeling better🥺)

[crossovereddie]

hello! i was wondering if there is anything in fanfics that is an immediate red flag/ turn off to you?

ex and also mine: gender bending in order to make a couple heterosexual, adding OCs and pairing them with the main characters (like literally just make a self-insert fic at that point), people attempting to put real-world logic in a fake/fantasy world and ignoring the rules of that world the real writer/author created

Soooo for me I guess it depends on what ship im reading for. Theres somethings for one ship that I cant tolerate for another.

But I guess one is im big on characterization. Like obviously im reading this ship because I like the characters the way they are in canon so I want them as close to canon as possible. If you switch up their personalities I’m out. (Its easier for me to read rpf actually bc I treat the fic like just another book with a different set of characters who just so happen to have the same looks and names as those irl people)

I agree with the whole gender bending too. Just write/read a OC fic jfc.

Another big turn off and this might just be a me thing bc I know a lot of facts about things so if something is just way too inaccurate, I cant get passed it. Some inaccuracies are fine but like 911 for example. I know how shifts and aspects of the job work so if a fic is like ‘Eddie and buck are on shift together but Eddie is going in at 6am and buck doesn’t go in until 11am’ and it’s like a constant thing with no other explanation and you’re left to think that’s normal for the job then I cant.

And ofc once Eddie starts speaking unnecessary Spanish im out bc about 99% of the time its not even accurate Spanish

[jeffersonhairpie]

One of the YouTube comments of all time oh my GOD

Found on this video

[Image ID: A YouTube comment from user @sire-dame-sander It reads:

Image 1

as promised here in MY Insane Cats Fandom Story. formatting this greentext style bc it’d be fucking unreadable as a big block of text - be me - cats the musical fan, dumb teenager - in groupchat with several other cats the musical fans - our number one group activity is keeping up with this one fanfic, “the silver protector and me” - it’s 70k words of munkustrap x the author’s self insert oc - from the moment you pick TPSAM up it’s not great from a writing perspective but the further you read the more unhinged the plotlines get - everyone can shapeshift into normal cats with no explanation. the main character is french n everybody else is incredibly aroused by it. all the girl cats frequently body shame the main character for being too skinny. the love interest is abusive towards his son because he thinks he might be gay. there’s a bunch of sex slavery just like an insane amount - this isn’t really that alarming to us. obviously the author might sort of be goin through it but at the end of the day it’s just a fanfic - however. there is also an author’s note at the end of every chapter where the author (we’ll call her jazzie after her self insert) shares wayyyyy too much about her life - we learn a bunch through these. she’s british. she has a terrible ex. she loves the guy who’s she’s currently dating but he hates cats the musical. she’s been to cats the musical 115 times. she has a 7 year old son - she also links her instagram + tumblr. maybe this was a dick move of us but being teenagers we check them out - jazzie’s instagram is pretty normal other than the fact that everyone but her looks miserable in every photo - whatever. they might just have resting bitch face - jazzie’s tumblr is CRAZY - we discover that she’s been in several bona fide large scale scandals - you name it jazzie has posted it. most recently she’s gotten in trouble for comparing the traditional body modification of various unrelated african cultures to, and I quote, “dumb bimbos getting too much plastic surgery” - she’s also fighting on a daily basis with people who hate her fanfic over its various Issues, including one heated debate with an actual sex trafficking survivor - about a week after we start checking in on jazzie’s tumblr, she posts that she’s going to be taking a break n moving all her mutuals into a discord server - this server will also house the live drafting of new chapters of TPSAM - being idiot teenagers we decide we HAVE to get into this server to watch TPSAM get drafted live. its siren song is far too strong for morals to assuage us - in an attempt to gain mutualhood before jazzie leaves for good, I create my cishetsona - her name is abi n she’s a 17 year old girl living in indiana who loves only two things: cats the musical and her homophobic 23 year old fiancée who works in his dad’s garage - she’s a closet tuggoffelees shipper as well but she openly ships mistoffellees/victoria (which is for some reason the default straight ship in cats even though victoria canonically hooks up with plato. no I’m not sure why either) - abi begins participating in the cats the musical fandom by posting annoyingly heterosexual content - within one (1) week, this has gotten her into jazzie’s discord - a few of my co conspirators have played the same trick. there’s maybe four or five of us in there - inside this discord we are exposed to fandom drama we never even knew existed - jazzie frequently complains to the server about her current boyfriend. she hates how much he dislikes cats the musical, n hates even more that he’s always telling her to pay more attention to their kids (plural) instead of writing cats the musical sex slave fic - do you remember how I only mentioned the 7 year old son earlier. this is the first mention we hear of another kid - the next day something terrible happens

Image 2

- we MEET the other kid - he is 12 years old n he is a SERVER MODERATOR - this means he’s been fully privy to the active drafts of his mother’s super explicit cats the musical sex slave fanfic - apparently nobody on the server was aware this moderator was jazzie’s son either, because her genuine mutuals seem just as shocked as we do - at this point one of the real mutuals snaps n tells jazzie that while she loves TPSAM, kids shouldn’t be anywhere near it. a good half of the server enthusiastically agrees with this - jazzie takes this as a personal attack on her parenting abilities n the server fucking implodes - a couple days later the whole thing gets taken offline - abi gets a message from jazzie apologizing for the whole situation n thanking her for not attacking her like everyone else - I don’t have the energy left to tell her abi isn’t real, so abi says “thank you. it’s no problem” - there is brief discussion of reporting jazzie to some kind of authority, but we decide that’ll probably only make it worse for her kids, so we don’t - we figure she got the message to not involve her preteen son in the drafting of her sex slave fanfiction when all of her friends left her - TPSAM has not updated since. I really hope it’s because jazzie stopped neglecting her kids for it - it’s for the best she stopped. I hope her family is doing better now - but frankly I’m a bit sad we’ll never get lines like “can I cum in you?” “oui!” ever again

/End ID]

[icemankazansky]

no. 6 for the choose violence ask game? :)

Yaaasssss thank you

6. which ship fans are the most annoying?

Oh man, this is a competitive category. But I thought about it for a while, and the obvious answer was right in front of me.

x Reader shippers are the most annoying. Especially when it's not really x Reader, it's really their fantasy self-insert? Like, on the whole I don't care what other people do, but this kind of baffles me. I don't understand how this isn't just ... role playing by yourself? Which I guess is fine, but like can I PLEASE stop seeing it in the tags? (The answer is no, because they refuse to tag properly. I have about 20 different x Reader tags blacklisted, but I still see posts at least once a week bc people be tag spamming.)

Across the board, the shippers with the absolute worst characterization of fandom characters. Like, legitimately baffling, "Not only do I think you haven't seen the movie, I think you haven't even seen the trailer" characterization. Offensive characterization where totally normal, good guy canon characters are villainized with telenovela subtlety, categories like "domestic abuser," "deadbeat dad," and, "rapist" so that Reader can feel some feelings. I've actually seen author's notes from x Reader authors where they admit they have never seen canon, but they read fanfiction about it, and they're writing based on that.

And why do they take canon events and make them about Reader? These already happened to people involved in canon. Just... write about them? If you want to self-insert, just Rule 63 it? I don't get it. And the Reader/self-insert is always the least interesting person imaginable. Every one of them is Bella Swan. They're wearing a khaki skirt, and it's driving every man who sees them absolutely feral.

(Aside: Why are they ALL straight people? The x Reader side of every fandom is so fucking heterosexual that I am actually confused by how that many straight people managed to find themselves together on the internet.)

Whoops, veered off target a bit. Let's get back on course...

Shippers most likely to be super fucking annoying in my notes, hijacking posts about another ship that involves their "hubby" and writing things like, "You know he's really talking about wifey Heavenleigh Ayngelle 😍🥰😘☺️😉😇🙈🙉🙊❤️‍🔥🩷🩵👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨👰💒" No he's not get the fuck off my post make your own post make your own gifs do not involve me in this. I can't stand when people are like this about their actual spouses; it's somehow even worse when it's fictional.

Anyhoo. Ask answered. I feel better now. Thanks, anon. I needed that.

[captainninej]

people saying 'feysand will always be sjm's main characters 😌' are MISSING THE POINT as usual. we all know that. it's not the hot take you think it is.

the point is, she's become so reliant on them as an author that she can't even let another separate series BREATHE without inserting them into it.

now bryce and hunt and all the others will be secondary to the inner circle. in their own story. that's not genius, it's self-congratulatory BAD WRITING.

you cannot look me in the eye and tell me she planned this shit from the beginning. it's so painfully obvious she ran out of ideas for crescent city so she merged it with the series no one needs any more of to make money.

idgaf about either series bc i hate everything this woman writes but jesus it's embarrassing to watch from the outside. y'all look as dumb as janet