#i don’t know what else to tag this i’ve never written fanfiction before

[eyeritestuff]

Eddsworld x Reader Drabbles

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Characters: Tom

Warnings: None! Might get suggestive though…

Author’s note: This’ll be split into parts :3 How many ? Idk !! I’ll edit this post to add the links if i ever get to it.

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First impressions

> Tom is of particular interest to anyone he encounters. He stands out, and not just because of his literal voids-for-eyes, but because of that damn attitude.

> In 2024, it’s addressed as the sassy man apocalypse, but universally, Tom is dubbed an asshole… amongst a bunch of other very colorful colloquialisms.

> When Tom chooses to speak to anyone, it’s not the accent that swings first, it’s the quickness of his “don’t care” response that uppercuts, and he relishes in watching people struggle to find the words to respond.

> For whatever fantastical and universal reason, when he came across you, things were different… and no, he didn’t change overnight because he saw you and it was “love at first sight”. More so, your ability to rebuttal his stupidity stood out.. and he wanted to know what made you.. you.

> Admittedly, when you met Tom, you were hooked. Something about having a taste for men with a less than stellar track record.. and that’s putting it lightly.

> The light and unintentional tan, the eyes, the dirty blonde hair, the piercings, the way the moles on his face were placed in an aesthetically pleasing way… need you go on?

> You pondered if he had any muscle to match the verbal punches he gave those around him.

> He definitely smells like alcohol.. but you’re also picking up the scent of ‘male manipulator’ cologne.. it’s soft but it’s there.

> Totally random, but are those fuzzy dice hanging off the side of his jeans? Amazing. Goes well with the mini harpoon gun keychain next to it.

> “..and this is Tom! Tom, say hi to y/n!” The taller boy in green motioned to the freak in blue, and you beamed as you waved at him. He came prepared, however, with an umbrella that naturally blocked your rays. In other words, he had a resting bitch face.

> Cliche, but you knew that if push came to shove, he cared about hurting others— he has emotions. You just didn’t know how much it would take for him to show them.

> You had all the time in the world… well! Technically, as much time as your landlord wanted to give you when renewing the lease. You and the three taller boys in front of you lived in the same complex. You needed a place to stay while studying away at uni.. and this place was perfect. The fact new friends came with it was a plus you didn’t really see coming.

>“Twiddling with your hair isn’t gonna make it grow any longer.” a gruff voice said. You looked up to match the voice with Tom. His voice sounds like he just woke up from a bad hangover, and honestly you wouldn’t be surprised if that was the exact scenario. Considering, well…

> “And drinking more won’t make the problems any better,” you retorted and gestured towards him and his flask , “exhibit A.” The blue boy was taken a back, clearly by the way his facial expression illustrated confusion.

> “Some people do it for the fun of it.”

> “Some people should really pick up a book if they consider taking a swigs’ a hobby..”

> “Oh really?”

> “Make the book high school biology, yes.” what a nerdy response , you say you yourself.

> The two of you stared each other down. Honestly though, what was there to stare into? Trying to find his soul was like walking in the dark, really. Your peripheral vision caught the redhead and the green hoodie boy fidgeting in place, so you knew to stop here.

> To your surprise, Tom’s face then broke character with a smile.

> Oh.. his smile.

> Toothy, sly, and alluring. Your face was heating up. The way his lips curled.. it was something you wanted to see more often. It’s decided then.

> “You’re different, y/n, I’ll give you that.” You then snapped back into reality after feeling his hand land on your shoulder a little rough like.. especially since the spiked bracelet he wore on that hand jabbed a little into your skin.

> Make no mistake, you were attracted to him surface level. However, you wanted to know more. Little did you know he shared the same sentiment.

How did you find out

> Tom sucks at compliments. No, really! Especially when he’s crushing on someone.

> He doesn’t want anyone to find out. Which is code for he doesn’t wanna seem vulnerable to anyone. His rationale is if he were to compliment someone, that person and the others around them will get to thinking.

> You, however, are blissfully unaware.

> Tom sucks at hiding his feelings. Shit, he sucks at hiding anything in general. He wears his emotions on his sleeves, and then expresses them in a pretty fucked up way. So, no, your ignorance isn’t because he’s good at bottling things in. It’s because you’re genuinely empty in the noggin.

> Everyone around you knows. Tom knows everyone knows. It’s just better if he gaslights himself into thinking otherwise, it helps him sleep at night.

> Your presence amongst the group is almost a daily occurrence. Edd tries to throw hints, but they’re drowned out but Tom’s sudden outbursts.

> Sudden outbursts could range from burping, shouting vulgarities, injuring himself ‘by accident’ and then channeling his inner sailor some more, or punches to the arm of the messenger. You take your guess, he’s probably done the latter.

> Back to the compliments. There was a particular time where Matt and you decided to have a silly little shopping trip. His invite! You guys went around 10 in the morning, only to come back to Matt’s apartment around 8 in the night. To your surprise, you see Edd and Tom already comfortable on the couch. Tom was in a tight band t-shirt and some sweats, while Edd wore a silly creeper onesie.

> “How was the adventure you two?” Edd hums and smiles. You struggled with your bags and gently placed them down to the side. You had quite a few and your arms felt a wave of relief once you set them down. “I had so much fun! Matt was super helpful in my wardrobe cleanse mission.”

> Matt frowned slightly as he set his bags down and his hands magnetized to his hips, “ What’dya mean cleanse? We didn’t buy cleaning supplies!” You giggled at his empty headed moment and changed the subject.

> “Want a fashion show?” You smiled once you noticed Edd’s visible excitement at the prospect. You also couldn’t help but notice Tom shifting in his seat at the mention. You took a glance in that direction and decided to be a little direct.

> “How about you, Tom?” He cringed at your question. Again, not because of your doing.. necessarily… but because he was nervous. His head was being imaginative, put it like that.

> “…Whatever..” He mumbled, and you shrugged it off. Fashion show time!

> You and Matt were having fun doing silly poses and pretending to vouge. Edd was super encouraging, loved every outfit, and even clapping to the music that was playing. Tom, however, was sunken in the sofa with his arms crossed just glaring at the floor.

> Tom isn’t and wasn’t going to praise you. Again, he had a weird stigma about compliments.

> However, those lowrise bell bottom jeans with that studded belt and that fitted sleeved shirt in what he knows is your favorite color. He couldn’t help but stare at your waist and what little view of your chest your shirt had to offer.

> You noticed how Tom rose in his seat, and felt your face break into a sly smile at the realization that he was interested. His face screamed that sentiment. Everyone noticed it too, and it quickly got silent.

> You try to poke. “What’s with the face, nerd.”

> He deflected next. “You look stupid.”

> “Do I really?”

> “Not gonna repeat myself twice.”

> “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I’ve piqued your interest.”

> “You fucking wish. I’d never be into someone like you. Honestly, you’re such an air—”

> “Hey Tom, your face is really red… are you okay?”

> “Yeah.. Tom… you look like you’re suffocating! I’ve never seen you so-”

> Tom threw up his hands in surrender and shouted “I’m out!” With that, he stood up and walked out. There was a brief moment of silence before there was a slam of the door. You looked back at your friends and sighed, “Sorry guys.. maybe I took it too far..”

> “Seriously..?” Matt facepalmed.

> “What..! I Already said s—“

> “What Matt means to say is, have you really not noticed yet?” Edd asked genuinely concerned. You looked at him and laughed awkwardly before realizing he was serious. “What’s.. what.. huh..? What did I do.. wait- what’s going on?”

> “Tom is whipped for you, y/n,” Matt exclaimed, “Even I knew that!” You felt your face heat up and your head whipped around to face both at them.

> “Huh..?” is all you could manage out before you focused on Edd.

> “Yes! He just doesn’t know how to express it.“ You swing your head to look over to Matt and begin to twitch, “He needs to figure it out then!”

> “That’s the thing y/n, he doesn’t do that all the time. It’s just with you. Sure him and I have our moments, and then there was Tord, but those two genuinely couldn’t get along. Have you not noticed that after your arguments how he hides his face-” Matt then interjects, “Or that time when it was your birthday, and he helped you clean cake off your face after arguing about how much of a slob you were,” Edd then copied Matt, “or when you had just failed your chemistry exam, and all you could do was sulk and watch My Little Pony, and so he stayed the night with you saying the excuse that-“ and in unison the two sung: “I’m bored, and terrorizing y/n sounds like fun.”

> You felt your face heat up recalling just those handful of moments. “I thought he was just being a friend…” you mumbled.

> “It would…! If it was anyone but Tom, of course.” Edd chuckled and shrugged. He was right.

> The MLP binge watch weekend should’ve been so obvious. I mean, come on, you two shared a throw blanket and your legs intertwined with his. Tom isn’t touchy with anyone. You had failed a chemistry exam, yes. It got especially emotional since that week you were already feeling homesick, and you had sacrificed phone time with your family to study.. and failure. When Tom came over, you’d cry everytime the episode had a familial lesson— it sucked. Next thing you knew, Tom put aside your one sided beef when he wrapped you into a tight hug.

> “Well what now…?”

> “Run to him!!!” Matt exclaimed dramatically.

> Do you even wanna give the punk rock boy a chance?

How did he find out

> Laying there sprawled out across his bed was Tom. His bed was the safe haven in the mess that was his room.

> Dirty room. Very Cluttered. Clothes scattered the floors, clean and dirty. It smelled like his cologne took a stroll through a bar.. minus the pungent scent of stomach acid.

> His bed consisted of his precious Tomee bear, two pillows with gray cases on them, and 6 blankets. Half of those blankets were throws, but still.. why so many blankets?

> Posters scattered across his room walls. Old band posters, classic anime franchises, and a few posters of video game crushes he had over the years. In the corner was a cluster of polaroids of all his friends! Yes, Tord included… and yes, even you.

> Tom found himself shifting his gaze from the white ceiling to that corner. There was a picture you took where he was caught mid laugh and you took the opportunity and posed with your polaroid. He loved that picture, to the point where he placed it in a position where it would be the first one his eyes went for. That day, he thought you looked the prettiest. Not like you don’t look pretty everyday, it’s just that one he appreciated because you were in bliss. All he could do that entire night was fight back a smile when you smiled, when you laughed, and when you looked at him with those caring warm eyes.

> “What am I thinking…” He groaned and threw his hands over his face. He wants to tell you, trust, he really does! He’s just.. afraid of rejection.

> It’s a pretty typical fear amongst many people. So he wasn’t alone. He just feels humiliated and embarrassed for having weaknesses. What if those feelings transferred to the relationship? Is there even a potential relationship.

> Gosh you were so pretty to him. He loved every detail about you. There wasn’t a moment he didn’t fantasize about you. He’d probably take you to a museum for a first date.

> Tom loves art. It’s kinda obvious. Unless you view music and art as separate catagories that never merge.. then I don’t know what to tell you.

> He noticed what kind of media you consume, which was a lot of animation, and he wanted to explore other genres with you on that first date. So what better place than a museum?

> There was a knock.

> It shook the man out of his fantastical wonderland, and he shot up.

> Tom has this terrible habit of opening the door without checking the peephole. Opening the door he found himself devoid of air coming face to face with the person in front of them.

> It was you.

> You weren’t wearing the outfit you were modeling earlier. To be fair it’s been about 2 hours since then. You were wearing a silly cat onesie, and in your hand was a reusable grocery bag. Unknown to him, you gambled on having a sleepover with him, and in your bag was a bunch of ingredients to make milkshakes.

> He didn’t have the energy to disguise the emotions he was feeling, and leaning against the door frame, he spoke to break the ice.

> “Uhh, what’s- What’s up ?”

> “Wanna have a sleepover?”, you smiled and shifted the bag to the front of your knees and grabbed it with both hands.

> “Uhmm..” he shifted off the doorframe and let out an unsure sigh. Grabbing the ends of his fitted band tee, he pulled and looked behind him.

> “If it’s a mess you’re worried about, I don’t mind! I can even help you clean up.” you offered.

> “Oh no- you.. you don’t have to do that. Uh. I’m down, I was just caught off guard because when you showed up I was zoned out.” he nervously laughed and opened his door wider, gesturing for you to walk in.

> You walked in and set the grocery bag down on the kitchen island to the left. He went straight for the bag and started snooping while you started picking up items to clear the space you were going to get comfortable in.

> “Smirnoff…?” He said in an almost childlike wonder way.

> “Ah, yeah,” you started, “I remembered it was your go to at bars, and I wanted to see how it would taste in a milkshake.”

> Oh you were perfect.

> “Also, Tom, We need to talk.. but don’t get mad with me.”

> Tom scoffed and turned around to start the dishes, “I could never be mad at you y/n, don’t be stupid.”

> “I don’t, actually. I feel like some of our bickers are not jokes.”

> “Well to clarify, I’m only teasing.”

> “Back to the point, Tom,” you started and he hummed in response, “I like you Tom.”

> No.

> “Yeah me too y/n. You’re fun to be around.”

> “Nono, Tom, I mean.. romantically.”

> The sound of dishes stopped with a crash of glass. Nothing broke, but it was loud enough to startle you.

> You stood up and turned to look towards Tom to see him standing there with wide white eyes and a red face.

> “What..?” He said like a child, and it made you laugh.

> “Yeah, I love being around you, I like your presence.. albeit I could live without the insults, but I love your sass and your jokes. You’re funny, you’re pretty, and I wanna know more about you.. more than the Tom I know.”

> “y/n.”

> “Yea?”

> “I don’t even know what to say in this situation, but know I do feel the same. I feel strongly..? If I could jump off the walls like a damn molecule, I would. Y/n, I really like you too.”

> “Oh what a relief. For a second, you had me believing that the boys were wrong.”

> Tom laughed.. out loud. It made your heart melt because it was a genuine one for once, “You dummy! I’m sure you had Edd and Matt biting their fingernails in frustration over this.”

> “i’m sorry I didn’t notice sooner!”

> “I’m just happy you noticed at all.”

[starryrock]

Okay I’ve never written fanfic before but I have an idea for obligatory HP crossover #49 except TWST get sent to the HP universe and everyone suffers.

Idea 1: Masquerade Event gone horribly wrong because this is NOT the school we’re supposed to be at. (Dark Mirror sends Masquerade Group to the Triwizard Tournament instead of Fleur City. Possibly easier to figure out an ending after all that weirdness happens.)

Idea 2: Freshmen (+ maybe Ortho) sleepover after [insert whatever Chapter would best fit, maybe 4]. Yuu’s mirror does some funky stuff and OH LORD, THAT’S NOT MICKEY (pending idea is that they try doing some “Bloody Mary” type sleepover game and it’s actually a ritual). They are then spit out in Hogwarts, don’t know where or when yet. There will be lots of fighting and yelling at first (and throughout but especially at first).

The biggest problem is that I actually never read any Harry Potters books ever. I’ve seen maybe 2.5 movies and the rest of my knowledge comes from character analysis videos and more crossover fics. And I actually kinda wanna make this good too. I hate crossovers that clearly show favoritism to one media, instead of using both to expand the characters. If you know anything about HP let me know because I have ideas but no knowledge.

[jazzyshifterr]

༻ Things for this page <3

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Allowed!! ✅

❥. Shifters

❥. Fanfiction writers/readers

❥.harry potter/marauders fans

❥.anyone interested in my blog<3

❥.All ages, as long as your being respectful

~~

Not Allowed ❌

❥.Antishifters

❥.people who are going to hate!!

❥.homophic, racist, ableist, etc. people

❥.zionists

❥.anyone who is going to be creepy towards me or anyone else underage!!

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Things I’m gonna be posting on this blog

❥.my scripts

❥.script templates

❥.shifting advice/tips

❥.motivation

❥.my shifting journey

❥.my methods

❥.mine and others fanfiction

❥. The science behind shifting

❥.and many other things <3

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Other socials

❥.TikTok: @jazzyshifterr

❥.Instagram: @jazzyshifterr

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My drs

❥.Harry potter golden trio era(Gryffindor)

❥.harry potter golden trio era(Slytherin)

❥.harry potter golden trio era (modern)(Gryffindor)

❥.Marauders

❥.the maze runner

���.percy Jackson and the olympians

❥.stranger things

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Links

❥. Harry Potter scripting template(notion): https://colorful-sloop-01f.notion.site/Harry-Potter-6ff63207d322465ebacb519f3a87b8a3?pvs=4

❥. Shifting playlist(Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7Dsnvepj5adgNrt4dvFjxC?si=wRDU5CAjSpCL8AhOIJCo4g&pi=u-OZ6-MFUYQH26

❥. Harry Potter shifting Pinterest board: https://pin.it/1tzlsTnWV

❥. Add yourself to my Harry Potter dr: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfqD9wuAh0ayh1JnhKID_ht1mVKL6FbgKdLSaLb7Hxdy-xymA/viewform?usp=sf_link

❥. My TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jazzyshifterr?_t=8jB2ZIxd7bX&_r=1

❥. My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jazzyshifterr?igsh=MWFreHg5Z2p6Z3B1YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

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Huge paragraph about me:

❥. Hii! You might know me from TikTok as @jazzyshifterr. If you don’t my name is Jazzy and I’m a reality shifter! If you don’t know what reality shifting is I would suggest searching for that first. I’ve been a part of the shifting community since 2020 but have been more active in it since around October of 2023. i have never successfully shifted but I’ve mini-shifted once. my main drs in detail is my main harry potter dr, based on the fan fiction TBWL (the who loved) by scribblingquills on wattpad. my s/o in that dr is harry. My next few Hogwarts drs aren’t as important as the first one, I have a modern no plot dr, a Slytherin dr, and a marauders dr. the next de ill be tell you guys about is my maze runner dr. My s/o in this one is Minho. Next we have my Percy Jackson dr. My s/o in this dr is Percy. I have a few other drs but I’ll spare you the details and tell you a little more about myself. I’ve known about shifting for a while but only really got into it around the end of last year. In the short time I’ve been learning about the different parts of shifting I have gained so much information. I learned about the CIA documents(these are not directly linked to shifting but are a good source to learn from, however please do not refer people to this document when talking about shifting, as it’s about astral projection and not shifting), the Robert Monroe experiment/experience, quantum leaping, astral projection, consciousness studies, lucid dreaming, and lastly astronomy based shifting. These are most of the things I have learned obviously in little detail. Soon I will post some more posts going into details on these discoveries as well as scripting things and many other things related to shifting. I’m also a fan fiction writer! My tag on Wattpad is the same as tumblr, TikTok, and Instagram, I go by jazzyshifterr on just about every social I have. I’ve not written much but you’re obviously welcome to check that out if you want to. Another thing about me is that I’ve never shifted before. So right now at least there will be no content on my shifting experiences, such as story times. I will still by trying to publish things about my progress in my journey though. I’ve also made shifting methods I’ll post about soon enough! I know there are so many methods it’s hard to keep up with new ones, but I hope anything that I make for you guys can help you in some way. Whether that helps you shift, or even just learn something about yourself. This is the first time I’ve ever had tumblr and I know this was a lot to read, but I really do hope my time on here can not only help you guys but also help me as well in my shifting journey. Remember we are all capable and are all able to shift. Thanks for reading this whole thing, I really appreciate it, have a good day. <3

[sky-kiss]

twenty questions for fic writers

@makesometime tagged me. Complain to her. Now you have to suffer.

1. How many works do you have on AO3? I have 40. Which shocks me. Gun to my head, I couldn’t have told you about more than 15 of them. So that’s a surprise.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 187,262.

3. What fandoms do you write for? I have what one would call idiot-brain. I can only focus on one fandom at a time. I come and go at the whims of my hyper-fixation. I’ve written one fic for a lot of fandoms.

              1) Baldur’s Gate (The new hotness. My love. My dear one. My rotten soldier).

              2) Final Fantasy XV

              3) Fallout 4 (Nick, my beloved)

              4) Avatar: The Last Airbender (Baffling)

              5) Persona 5

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

              1) Personal Space: Cloud/Aerith at 748

              2) Law and Order: Nick/Sole Survivor 649

              3) Cigarette Day Dreams: Nick/Sole     571

              4) Some Old/Something New: Nick/Sole 412

              5: A Splash of Color: Cloud/Aerith 386

My top five is dominated by Nick and Cloud/Aerith, hahah. But, with a little work, we can frikkin’ shove the Raphael fics up there and dethrone the robot silver fox and the babies. Love my niche ass pairings.

5. Do you respond to comments? Almost always, yes. It’s fun to engage.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending: /stares in one-shot. Uh. Maybe Ash and Ember? It’s more bittersweet than angst, but it’s still the end of Dark Souls 3. So it’s going to be sad.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending: Chance. It’s a short one for Full Metal Alchemist. Hohenheim comes back and Trisha doesn’t die.

8. Do you get hate on fics: I’m very lucky. I’ve never received hate on Ao3 or here on Tumblr. This is not an invitation to start though, I swear to god.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I do write smut. It’s not my favorite thing to do, and I think it’s one of my weaknesses. I’ve done some kink stuff, but don’t post most of it. That might change. Thanks, Ascended Fiend Raphael.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Not posted. I do have an Avatar/Westworld fic on Ao3, which is a batty combo.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not directly. Pretty sure I’ve inspired some fandom trends before, but like. I write in very small corners of fandom.  We share one dumb brain.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I have, yes. A Dreamless Sleep was translated into Russian.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? I’ve collaborated and had shared universes, but don’t think I’ve directly co-written. I’m a control freak.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? I don’t frikkin know, dude. I like a lot of ships. Currently, it’s Raphael/Durge or Raphael/Haarlep/Durge. All time? Zero clue.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Doing It to Death will never be finished lol. I look at it and my soul hurts for Evelyn, but it ain’t happening. I have other WIP's on Ao3 and they will never be finished either, but like. I don't care about them.

16. What are your writing strengths? I like to think it’s my characterization. Maybe scene setting or dialogue. I don’t know. I hate my writing 99% of the time. Like, I need enough time apart from the work. Once I’ve forgotten it’s mine, I can appreciate it a little more.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Pacing and plot. And smut. Pacing long-form fanfiction absolutely baffles me, just because it differs from the pacing of a traditional novel. It’s really challenging to balance, and I have no idea how to do it.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I don’t have a problem with it, but probably wouldn’t risk it. Maybe if someone else handled the translation?

19. First fandom you wrote for? The Mummy, haha. I was 14.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written? UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I’ll do. Three.

              1: Sex, Love, & the Infinite Void: Raph/Durge. It’s the longest story I have on Ao3, and the only multichapter one that’s made it passed chapter 2. And I’ve enjoyed hell politics and character building. I want to finish this damn thing.

              2: The Outsider: Evelyn/Corpo!V. I love Evelyn, and it was fun to experiment with a more cybernoir writing style.

              3: I Don’t Think About You Anymore: Raph/Tav. It was just a fun and clipped style to write. It was very loose, free, and I’m proud of the end result.

I'll tag @kiss-inferna and @adarlingmess if they'd like to suffer this.

[dimplesandfierceeyes]

bad buddy fandom getting-to-know-you meme!

Another tag game I finally managed to get to! Thank you to @tiistirtipii, @dudeyuri, @feralmuskyscentedhoepran, @softpran, @dancing-out-in-space, and of course, @fiercynn for tagging me in this one!

name and whatever you want to share about yourself

Hello, I’m Kayla! I’m, as probably noticeable by my spelling, not American haha. Yeah I guess that’s it. I’ve never been good at talking about myself.

when did you watch bad buddy/join the fandom?

I watched it from the start, but somewhere around episode 3 I started actively looking into the fandom and by the end of ep4 I was already in a discord group and writing my first fanfiction. The rest, as they say, is history XD

favourite ship(s)

I am a PatPran, InkPa enthusiast although I did also like the LouisSafe idea which is why i wrote a whole fic about them haha

favourite character(s)

Beyond Pat and Pran, Pa, Korn and Ink will always be in my heart

favourite episode(s)

As much as I love episode 5, episode 3 is probably the episode I’ve watched the most haha I just love watching Pran coming out of his shell (even if he does get crushed in the very next episode T-T)

favourite scene(s)

The Rooftop comes in at number 1 every time, but also the fight in front of the apartment block just before it, the bus stop scene and guitar scene in ep3, the balcony scene in ep8, the bedroom scene in ep9, so many scenes in ep11, and everything after Pran turns up at the apartment in ep12. Serotonin factories every one. 

one thing you would change about the show if you could

I’d have liked Pat’s anger in episode 7 to have been dealt with a bit more definitely but they pulled it back by giving it proper consideration in episode 11.  Honestly I would have also loved more flashbacks to their pre-transfer era as well as a little more on Icy Pat, but I understand why we didn’t get them. 

what are your some of your favourite fanworks made by other people?

This is a difficult one for me! So I actually did a list of my favourite bad buddy edits here and also fanfics here and here plus I’m pretty sure I did another, but can I find them? No. So I’m gonna add to this by saying also anything by @miscellar (aworkingprinter on AO3).

(if you create fanworks) what are your favourite fanworks that you’ve made?

Some of my own favourites? Well, that’s trickier haha! Probably A Fine Line Between Hormones and Home, The Space Pirate and the Officer of the Law and, just because it was my first fanfic in the fandom, He’s No Romeo.

a song that makes you think of bbs (the ones in the show don’t count lol)

Pancakes for Dinner by Lizzy McAlpine always makes me think of pining Pran, Heather by Conan Gray also gives huge Pran in episode 4/5 vibes. Alas I can’t think of one that screams Pat though I know I have thought that about songs before. No doubt I’ll be listening to a playlist tomorrow and be like “oh yeah, this one!”

idk anything else you want us to know?

So out of the 494,256 words I’ve written on AO3 over an 11 year period, 426,682 of them were written in the last 3 years and all for the Bad Buddy fandom. If that doesn’t encapsulate both my obsession and love of this show, I don’t know what does haha

Now who to tag?! I can't tag everyone so going with people I'm not sure if I've seen do this yet, though no pressure for anyone! @lurkingteapot @galauvant @snimeat @loveongsa

[palmofafreezinghand]

For Fanfic Writers' Ask: #7, #32, #35 and with that intriguing tag, #42 if no one else has also asked you about it! Seeing as you forced me to think about it and it turned out I had an answer however much I do not like the answer...

Thank you, @gisellelx !

Is there a character or ship you'd love to write for, but haven't yet? 

Renesmee. I’ve written her in the background of things but I really want to attempt to write her with more of a voice and discernible personality. I also really want to write about Emmett, but I have yet to find a plot or character question that feels right. I think he’s so fascinating and will probably be a fun challenge to write. 

And I’ve written for them before but I really want to write more of Rosalie and Esme’s dynamic. It's one of the more difficult ones for me but that’s what makes it fun. 

What's a fic you'd love to write, but probably never will? 

I think human!vampire alternate universes can be very fun to read and I have outlined a handful of scenes — most an attempt to see how far I can push Carlisle’s selfishness — and rough storylines but I doubt I will ever finish a whole story. 

There’s one specific plot outline I think of often of a 1927 alternate universe where Edward still leaves, I have yet to figure out the inciting incident or how to get him to leave, Carlisle accidentally runs into a human Esme (who’s son survived in 1921) in a small town he was passing through while wandering aimlessly. She’s going by a different name, as is he, his curiosity is piqued, he knows better than to stay after she recognized him and yet, he’s mad, grieving, impulsive, and slightly curious and in turn makes a very stupid decision. He’s already a “selfish monster” right, what’s the harm?  There’s so many hurdles and character choices that would have to be done just right to make the whole situation even slightly plausible that I doubt I will ever write it but I think about it a lot. 

What's your fic with the saddest ending? 

I think Sarah Bee has the saddest ending, although Oh Bill, I love you so… gives it a run for its money. 

Bride of Cullen gets an honorable mention. 

How do you get over writer's block? 

Anyone waiting on for appearances’ sake (last updated September 10, 2022) or a language of our own (last updated June 28, 2022) would argue I do not. 

In all seriousness I am starting to become fine with letting stories collect dust. I used to feel guilty but the fact I spent last month finishing up ideas I first jotted down two years ago is forcing me to begrudgingly come around to the idea that my interest in this series and fanfiction as a whole may ebb and flow but is not disappearing anytime soon. I do, however, now refuse to post anything incomplete on ao3. 

A few things (I think) help me get over writer’s block: 

I do really well with deadlines, this is probably because I’m only a few months removed from the cycle of writing thousands of words hours before 11:59 PM  that was college, but deadlines still work for me. I hadn’t written more than a few thousand words, which took weeks, from August to November, and then in November I wrote 30,000 because I had a self-imposed deadline of writing that many that month. Twilight Advent for example has forced me to finish two stories I was completely stuck on for years in a manner of hours the evening before they were slated to be posted. 

If I have not written in a while and I think of something for a current WIP, I do not allow myself to resume writing in the document. I can make notes but if I want to add to an already written section I have to retype it, which usually forces me into seeing a flaw I didn’t previously notice and makes me feel like I’ve written more new words than I have and encourages me to keep going. Sometimes I’ll retype a story even if I don’t have any ideas on how to better the draft or have any desire to write and it’ll force some words loose. 

I reread past stories. I have this bad habit of dropping references to things I believe have happened to these characters in the past without having a corresponding story written. Sometimes reminding myself of those little references will force my mind into thinking of another plot. 

Accepting I’m not writing (for fun) for a while and diving into other hobbies instead.  I can only crochet, cross stitch, hike, quilt, etc. so much before I think of some snippet of dialogue I must write down. Sometimes it takes a few months but I figure if that happens the break is needed.

But I think the biggest thing for me is ironically disconnecting from fandom. I’m unsure if this is simply a social media killing our brains kind of thing or I can’t write well if I’m thinking about dozens of other people’s thoughts on these characters and plot lines, but I seem to finally sit down and write when I’ve been logged out of Tumblr and ao3 for a little bit. 

ask a writing question!

[droppofsaltt]

Thanks to @offdutym0del for tagging me, this was fun to do, even if a lot of my answers are I don't know

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

6! Though I have two more in the works, gods on your side and another instalment of the Meandering universe, even if I said I was done.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

49,862

3. What fandoms do you write for?

only hotd rn and I don’t think I’ll ever do anything else, hotd is what got me back into writing fanfic since I was like 16 I think

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I only have 6 so I’m only doing top 3 lol

Meandering

Dirty Feet and Cigarette Burns

Teeth

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

I try to!!! But I am a mess and sometimes I don’t know what to say, but I appreciate comments more than anything!

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

Um…hm either Our Fathers, Our Gods or Teeth

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

None of them?? I mean I guess maybe Dirty Feet and Cigarette Burns because Luke gets out of town, but Aemond has to stay so maybe not?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No, not yet at least

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

I do, kind of, I try. And it’s bad and unhealthy and I condone none of it

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

No, I’ve never really been drawn to it? I can write things that are inspired by other works, but never crossovers in that sense

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I have seen? Maybe when I was younger?? I can’t remember

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, at least not that I know? But that would be very easy to hide from me considering the languages that I know are not v big in the fanfiction world

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No, but I kind of want to! I’m a bit slow in my writing, or super fast depending, but idk I really want to try and write something with someone!

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship

You can get me onboard with most hotd ships tbh, there’s pain everywhere. ....Daemond

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I only have 2 at the moment so I hope I finish them, wait I am lying, I have a wip called Cerberus that is very Velaryon brothers centered, and yeah idk, I don’t feel like anyone would really connect with it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I…don’t know??? Prose maybe?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Length…I want to write long and detailed

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

I used to do this in my younger days just using Google translate, but I don’t do that anymore. I don’t mind other people writing dialogue in other languages, but I will usually just write that the characters change language than actually doing it. Also I guess I’m always writing dialogue in another language as it is not my first language (1 free fic for whoever can guess what my first language is omfg)

19. First fandom you wrote for?

…Hetalia…leave me alone

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Dirty Feet and Cigarette Burns, it is my first baby, and it is horrid and I love it

Okay um, offdutymodel is my only mutual so I am tagging whoever wants to do this xx

[mellowthorn]

I was tagged by @gwenllian-in-the-abbey, thank you so much for the tag! (and sorry that it has taken me forever to do this)

How many works do you have on AO3?

Three currently (I’ve written more for other fandoms but I orphaned those years ago)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

55,643

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I only post for Realm of the Elderlings, but I also sometimes write Kingdom Hearts fics purely for myself

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Uhh, I only have three on my current account, but in order, Someone Other Than Us, After The Sun Has Set and then Ever Your Fool.

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

Yes, or at least I try to! I have a bad habit of thinking my response but never actually writing it down and then forgetting about it completely... But I try my best to remember to reply, even if it ends up taking a while.

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

Neither of my finished fics/oneshots have closed endings, so I guess it depends on what you imagine happens afterwards. Neither of them are exactly happy though.

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

I haven’t finished posting it yet, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise that After The Sun Has Set will soon take that title. I mean, it's already happier than anything else that I've written

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No

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

I do, occasionally. I don’t know exactly how to describe what kind, other than that my smut scenes tend to be quite sad?? I like using them as a way to explore or exaggerate some complicated character dynamic, and I guess that’s why they often turn into something at least a little uncomfortable. As much as I enjoy reading smut that’s all sexy and romantic, for some reason I can’t write it myself at all haha

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

Nah

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Nope

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

Fitzloved is my current favourite (and I've never been this intense about a ship before), though Zemyx (from Kingdom Hearts) is the one I always eventually return to

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Last spring I wrote about 45k words of post-Assassin’s Fate happy ending AU. The outline for it is massive, and what I’ve written so far covers maybe one tenth at most. I know I will never have the patience to finish it, but somewhere at the back of my mind I refuse to let it go. I’ve been trying to see if I could turn parts of it into one-shots or something, but who knows what I’ll end up doing 🤷

16. What are your writing strengths?

I’d say I’m fairly good at characterization, as well as building up tragic and angsty scenarios. My favorite thing when writing fanfiction is to take some (usually sad) aspect of a character/relationship/etc and then dive deep into that, and I think I do it pretty well.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

My prose, especially detailed descriptions and creative similes and metaphors and the like. Writing those does not come naturally to me at all, and I feel like I often get stuck using cliches and specific words or phrases, and then have to spend half my time editing to make things less repetitive.

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

 Not my thing, I prefer to keep everything in one language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

 Harry Potter, I think? Way back in like 2008 or 2009.

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

From RotE stuff, After the Sun Has Set. It’s the first time I’ve managed to fully write, edit and post a multi-chapter fic from start to finish, and that alone is a huge achievement for me. Writing every chapter from a different character’s PoV was also a really fun (if sometimes frustrating) challenge and I’m really glad to have done it. Outside of RotE, a few years back I wrote this super self-indulgent novel-length Zemyx fic. I never posted it anywhere and it’s kind of crap quality-wise so I never will, but since it’s basically just every romance trope I’ve ever liked, it’s fun to reread for comfort every once in a while.

[talesofsorrowandofruin]

2022 Writer Year-in-Review

Thanks for tagging me, @radiowrites! :D

I decided to answer both sets of questions :D Under the cut because this is looooong:

Total Number of Completed Works: 5 (one novel, two short stories and two novellas... Well, one of the novellas is book one of Like Snow on Hungry Graves, but it isn’t long enough to be called a novel)

Total Number of WIPs Worked on This Year: 10

WIPs Neglected This Year: 3. 1 already written and not yet edited (Death and the Emperor) and 2 that I didn’t get around to starting (The Sun Sets at Dawn and Death Waits for Some Men).

Fandoms I’ve Written In: I haven’t written any fanfiction this year, but previously I’ve written for The Silmarillion/The Hobbit/LOTR, Thor/The Avengers, How to Train Your Dragon (I need to continue that series...), and The Prisoner of Zenda.

Looking Back, Did You Write More Than You Thought You Would This Year, Less, Or About What You’d Expected?: Less. I expected to finish Totentanz, but I ran out of inspiration ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Did You Take Any Writing Risks This Year?: I started a WIP with an extended prologue (Like Snow on Hungry Graves) and I wrote a horror novella where I killed off the entire cast (Gracemeadow Manor), neither of which I’d done before.

Do You Have Any Writing Goals For The New Year?: Yep! I listed them here :D

Biggest Disappointment: I hoped to finish Totentanz and start the third book in the Death series. Didn’t get to do either :(

Biggest Surprise: I managed to keep to my original plan for Gracemeadow Manor in spite of the characters’ best efforts to run away with the story.

Most Popular Story Of The Year: Umm... I don’t get many comments on my stories so I don’t know how to measure this... I’ll go with The Power and the Glory, because it got shortlisted for the Watty awards.

What’s Your Own Favourite Story Of The Year?: A tie between Like Snow on Hungry Graves and Gracemeadow Manor.

Story Of Mine Most Under-Appreciated By The Universe, In My Opinion: All of them :P But if I have to pick just one, Totentanz. A lot of readers on Critique Circle complained that the “protagonists” are bad people. That’s the point.

Most Fun Story To Write: A Strange Event on Old Junction Road. It was great fun to write a mystery that never gets solved, though I suspect readers might disagree :P

Most Unintentionally Telling Story: Between Haliran in TPATG, Ketevan in LSOHG, and now Rachael in The Unfortunate Moth, I’m begging to realise my abusive teacher did more damage than I knew. It’s been 15+ years since I left that school but when I set out to make a really revolting character I automatically make them an older woman emotionally abusing a much younger person. I didn’t pick up on it with Haliran and Ketevan because they’re worse than my teacher ever was, but the more I write about Rachael the more I realise she’s a dead ringer for her.

My Favourite Part Of Fandom This Year: The snarky reactions to Persuasion and Rings of Power. “I’m all agony and no hope” has become my favourite way to describe a bad adaptation.

Tagging @eccaiia, @jessica-writes22, @pluttskutt, @weaver-of-fantasies-and-fables, @primroseprime2019, and anyone else who wants to do this! :D

[alphamalereviewsfanfics]

KEEP IN TOUCH by FooT (chapters 1-3)

SUMMARY: “Agent Stone has taken it upon himself to keep watch for the missing Doctor Robotnik. Meanwhile, on the Mushroom Planet, the Doctor stumbles on a most novel way to contact his former assistant to coordinate his return to Earth.”

[NOTE: Still going through my drafts and I found this gem from early December. I still agree with everything I’ve said and I suggest listening to The Pleasure Principle by Gary Numan while reading the fanfic if you ever get the chance.]

PREGAME: I read this fanfic during a time where I was so sick that it was hard to get out of bed so all I could do was lay in bed in the dark and binge-read fanfics. So I have many reviews to write, but so little motivation since as an alpha I have better things to do, like play fallout and think about my partner, (very important things). This fanfic wasn’t a very promising one from the naked eye, especially since it was an unfinished fanfic that was last updated in august of 2020. But at the time i first read it, I was desperate. I had seen it around before, but seeing the tags “butt plug” and “teleportation” right next to eachother didn’t feel right to me. But alas, the tags, “Dubious Science,” “Morse Code,” and “Anal Play” piqued my interest, once I had nothing else to read so I got through it.

REVIEW: Upon first glance, you wouldn’t think that this is the best fanfic you’ve read in your life, but it might be the case this time. This fanfic plays into the absurdity of the concept to a T, and it’s beautiful. The author has this skill of being able to beautifully describe the struggle that Stone goes through emotionally, while also making sure the comedic bits don’t alienate the audience or seem too much like a random change in tone. This has to be one of my favorite things I’ve ever read man. Like I don’t know what I’ve been doing with my life until I read this. Before this I was just a regular man reading regular fanfictions by regular people who like piss and tildes. But now, I am a man who has read a fanfic by a person who has written more fanfictions about PRO WRESTLING than the amount of years I’ve known how to read. It bewilders me. My life will never be the same. The egg shaped vibrating buttplug has changed me. The characterization of Agent Stone and Eggman is just beautiful. His process of elimination to find out that Robotnik is communicating with him via vibrating butt plug in Morse code is fucking insane but you’re with him on the ride and you know what the answer is but you want the explanation, the buildup, AND YOU GET ALL OF THAT AND MORE??? Making Stone a loser nerd who got the fucking Morse code badge in Boy Scouts is genius because the man is literally the type and he has less than 20 minutes of screen time. This makes me understand him more than I ever had. It’s like that one ofmd fanfic about izzy hands being into petplay but also made me want to analyze the character and write an essay on the depth of the character. It’s that but like more because it’s better written. This is beautiful. It should be in the Louvre bro trust me. Seeing Stone recognize a distress signal from the vibrations in his ass is a sight to see trust me bro. Also this author dude is working in healthcare and I respect them more than anything hopefully they’re doing well on this fine day. Read this please.

RATING: 7.8/8 dubious scientific processes (alpha male ranking)

[bigbad-tardis]

While the Doctor/Rose tag on ao3 has a slow but steady stream of content coming out every day, I can’t help but feel that one day it’s going to eventually dry up. However I’ve come up with a solution.

Announcing the Doctorrose Fic Marathon

This fanfiction writing marathon will be set from September First (1st) to the Thirtieth (30th). The goal is to simply write as much fanfiction as you can in that month. Anyone can participate. Even if you haven’t written doctorrose fanfiction before. And you don’t even have to participate every day. There are only four (4) rules.

If you’re going to connect the stories, connect them via series instead of a single book

There is no set length. Write however long or short a fic you want.

Use the tag Doctorrose Fic Marathon on Archive of Our Own

And have fun!!

There is also a set of prompts you can follow if you’d rather have them as well. One for each day. Remember you don’t have to follow them if you don’t want to, and you don’t even have to do them in order. Or even combine them if that inspires you! The whole point of this is just to write.

Prompt 1: Alternate Meetings

It’s simple. Write another way the Doctor and Rose could’ve met. This is one of our less vague prompts. So if you feel like it’ll stifle your creativity? Go ahead and pick something else from the list.

Prompt 2: Holding Hands

If there’s anything the Doctor and Rose know how to do, it’s hold hands. Whether it’s while running, for comfort, or just because. Run wild with your imagination.

Prompt 3: First Kisses

Kisses! The Doctor and Rose have had several, but were they the first? That’s for you to write and for us to find out.

Prompt 4: Mutual Pining

The Doctor and Rose are known for being two idiots in love pining over each other. Give us a moment we haven’t seen before.

Prompt 5: Domestics

Nine famously said “I don’t do domestic.” Well we all know that’s a lie. Whether it be holding a friend’s baby, shopping, or changing sheets. Write a view into the Doctor and Rose’s domestic life

Prompt 6: Cuddling

Soft, sweet, classic. Everyone loves a good cuddle fic.

Prompt 7: Hurt/Comfort

It’s a classic theme for a reason. Go ham! Hurt us with your best shot. Make us fall apart. Then put us back together again.

Prompt 8: One Bed

The classic “only one bed” trope is so well known that it’s reached into popular consciousness. What better way to make the Doctor and Rose confront their feelings than bed sharing?

Prompt 9: Time Loop

It’s surprising that the only time loop story in Doctor Who is Heaven Sent. Time loops are a great way to tell a story for a character with regrets. And the Doctor and Rose have plenty.

Prompt 10: Jailbreak

There is a famous trope in Doctor Who fanfiction that I have noticed. The Doctor and Rose always mention the tens of times they got thrown in a jail cell. Let’s actually see it!

Prompt 11: Chase Sequence

The Third Doctor is known for his long vehicle chase sequences. Whether it be boats, cars, or motorcycles. I find it hard to believe the Doctor’s habits for a good chase sequence went away.

Prompt 12: Truth Serum

Truth Serum is one of those tropes that will never really go away, and has been apart of almost every fandom with even a modicum of fantasy or sci-if in it

Prompt 13: Declaration(s) of Love

The Doctor not telling Rose he loved her for the audience to hear is one of the most painful things in Doctor Who. Write a declaration of love, from the Doctor or Rose, (both works too) and get some closure.

Prompt 14: Meddling TARDIS

It’s so clear, given how much the TARDIS likes Rose (as proven by the books), that the TARDIS wants Rose and the Doctor to be together. And she is alive after all.

Prompt 15: Jealousy

Rose and the Doctor have both been jealous multiple times in the story and it never gets old. And the possibilities for angst are endless

Prompt 16: Multiple Doctors

Remember when Rose was almost in Day of the Doctor, but instead it was the Moment? So Rose technically wasn’t in DotD? Channel that rage and write one of the best things we’ll never get. Unless you count Journey’s End.

Prompt 17: Reunion

Reunion fics are the backbone of the Doctor/Rose tag with good reason. It’s one of the few things that can appease our aching souls.

Prompt 18: Playing with Hair

The Doctor and Rose both have really great hair. Yes, even Nine, and given how domestic they are, it’s a shame we never got to see them playing with each other’s hair.

Prompt 19: Girl in the Fireplace Fix-It

Now we enter what I call the Fix-It Trilogy. Three fix-it prompts that hit all the basics. Girl in the Fireplace, the episode that makes no sense in the context of the series.

Prompt 20: Doomsday Fix-It

Doomsday, the ending that broke our hearts.

Prompt 21: Journey’s End Fix-It

And Journey’s End. The ending that healed us, only to rip out our hearts all over again.

Prompt 22: Alternate Universe

This one is fun! Alternate universe can be anything. Whether it be canon divergence, or the Doctor and Rose meeting in a coffee shop. The world is your oyster.

Prompt 23: Historical

Rose never got a lot of chances to wear period wear in the show. It’s a shame since it led to such an iconic moment. “You look beautiful”

Prompt 24: Rose Meeting a Classic Doctor

The one thing we want that we can’t have.

Prompt 25: Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey

It’s a famous phrase and unlike the Time Loop prompt, this has a bit of wiggle room for what the parameters are. It could be a time loop, or a paradox!

Prompt 26: Chameleon Arch

The Chameleon Arch is one of the most fascinating pieces of Time Lord technology and has only been explored a couple of times in the show and the extended media. Go wild!

Prompt 27: Bad Wolf

This one is more up to you! Is Rose the Bad Wolf again, is she protecting the Doctor? Or has her biology been changed? There are many interpretations of this prompt and every possibility is exciting.

Prompt 28: The Oncoming Storm

The Doctor has been known to be protective of Rose to say the least. And sometimes the Doctor has to let everyone know why he’s called The Oncoming Storm.

Prompt 29: Soulmates

A good old fashioned soulmate au can never go wrong. There are so many to choose from! The possibilities are endless, let your imagination go wild!

Prompt 30: Wedding

And to close out the month weddings!! They could be at a wedding, they could be throwing a wedding, or even having a wedding, just make it so the Doctor and Rose are involved with a wedding somehow.

[serendipitous-magic]

What is your writing advice for young people who want to write fanfiction and original stories in the near future?

If this is just Way Too Much, skip to the end (#16). My most important piece of advice is there. I also happen to think #5 is pretty good.

-_-_-_-

1) Literally just write. Write whatever you want, and do a lot of it.

_-_

2) You don’t have to post everything. In fact you don’t have to post anything. You can, don’t get me wrong, but it can be intimidating to sit down and think “I will now write something that other people will see and read and judge with their eyeballs.” Because that’s probably gonna lead to nerves and writer's block. Just write down the ideas that you have, the things you want to write, whatever’s in your brain that you want to explore and expand upon and make into something. And then if you want to, share it. Or don’t share it. I have plenty of half-baked ideas and documents and random story chapters and shit hidden away on my Google Drive that will never see the light of day, for a whole number of reasons. I wanted to write it but it wasn’t ~Spicy~ enough to warrant posting, or it’s only like an eighth of a good idea, or it’s like one scene with no story around it, or it’s just something incredibly self-indulgent I just wanted to write for my own enjoyment.

Point being, don’t write for other people. Don’t write so that other people can read it; write what you want, write for yourself, and then if you want to share it, do.

_-_

3) You can pretty much ignore any and all of these for fanfiction. In fact, you can ignore pretty much any rules or guidelines you want for fanfiction. Fanfic is a sandbox. You don’t have to be a “professional writer” to post fic. No one expects you to be Stephen King or Margaret Atwood. Fanfic is just for playing in a fandom and having fun. If you wanna write a 50 chapter slow burn with very little plot aside from the OTP slowly getting to know each other, and no real stakes or central conflict, I guarantee people would read that. Really, fanfiction is the Old West of writing: lawless, wild, unpredictable, and free.

However, here are the rules you must follow:

-Separate your paragraphs. (I’m sure you know this already, but I’m gonna say it anyway just in case.) Do not post one big block of text. Make a paragraph break when someone new is talking, when the characters are in a new place, when a new event occurs that changes the scene, when a chunk of time has passed, and when there’s a major change in subject.

-I know it’s obvious, but... grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. They exist to make writing easy for readers to read, and more people will read your stuff if they don’t have to stop and try to figure out what you meant.

-Use tags and labels, as is possible with whatever site you’re using. Especially if you include possibly triggering content in your story. Again, I know it’s obvious, but it’s common courtesy. Bonus: tagging the themes and content of your story helps readers find it and read it :)

-If possible, limit the use of all-caps and exclamation marks / question marks. 99% of the time, one ! or one ? will do. If you overload the page with a lot of all-caps and long rows of exclamation marks or question marks, it hampers readability.

... That’s literally all I can think of. And, like I said, it’s all pretty basic stuff. You were probably rolling your eyes like, “Uh, yeah, Gwen, I know.” But that’s literally it. You can pretty much do whatever you want in fanfic.

That being said, here’s my advice for both fanfiction and original work...

_-_

4) A quick and dirty rule for coming up with a plot, starting a story, keeping up pacing, or maintaining tension: figure out what dreams, desires, and goals are nearest and dearest to your main character’s heart (see #16). Then set up the main conflict to be directly in opposition to that goal. It doesn’t have to be in a tangible way, though it could be. But, if your main character wants more than anything to reach the ships on the southern coast of your world and sail to a new life, make sure the main conflict immediately prevents them from doing that - in fact, make sure to send them north. If your main character just wants to keep their loved ones safe, kidnap the loved ones. If your main character just wants to date their best-friend-turned-crush, make sure they think they have no chance - or, make them cocky about it, and make sure it makes Person B determined not to ever like them. You get it. Figure out what your character most wants, and then keep them from having that. Boom - your conflict now ties in with your character's motivation. It's like instant yeast for plots.

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5) If you’re anything like me, you want your first draft to be Good, despite all that advice about how the first draft doesn’t have to be good and it’s just to get words on the page, yadda yadda. And if you’re somewhat of a perfectionist (like myself), it’s easy to get stuck looking at a blank page because you don’t have The Perfect Words, and you want what you write to be Good the first time.

Here’s how I cheat that:

Instead of trying to write a Good First Draft from a blank page, hit the enter key a few times, skip a little down on the page, change your ink to red (or blue, or whatever - just something immediately identifiable as Not Black) and just thought vomit. Write whatever the hell you’re thinking, exactly as you think it. Don’t worry about it being readable, don’t worry about narrative flow for now, don’t worry about covering all the details, don’t worry about anything except either a) getting all the details of your idea out onto the page, whether that’s a lot or whether it’s just a sentence or two, or b) if you don’t have an idea yet, finding your way there.

Because this method is also very good for finding your way to ideas when you’re stuck in writer’s block.

Because of how human brains work, getting this stuff out onto the page - in all its messy, stream-of-consciousness glory - will likely spark more thoughts. As you write your original idea about the scene, it’ll likely spark more ideas. Creation begets creation. If you just start thought-vomiting your ideas onto the page, chances are you’ll think of more things as you go, and you’ll start filling out description or dialogue or tone or action or whatever, and pretty soon the scene starts writing itself.

Not sure where you’re going with the scene or which ideas you wanna use? Use a lot of ambivalent language in your “thought-vomit draft.” My pre-writing notes are chock-full of the words “maybe,” “perhaps,” and the phrases, “At some point...” and “...or something like that.” In this way, I don’t tie myself down to one idea; it’s just an idea, and I’m keeping it on the page in case I use it, but I might chuck it in the trash or change it or whatever.

And then, once your ideas for the scene (or story, or chapter, or whatever) are on the page, then go back to the top and start translating them into a “real” first draft. Use black ink, and start copy-pasting chunks of the thought-vomit up into the top part of the document and translating them into Draft 1. Separate out paragraphs where paragraph breaks should be. Add the correct punctuation and whatnot. Change “describe the lobby here - include potted plants, fancy carpet, blood stain, etc.” into an actual description of the lobby. Flesh it out, or condense, or whatever it needs. And if you’re still stuck, change back to red ink and ramble some more until you find a path that feels right, then plug that in. This keeps you from looking at a blank page, and it allows you to generate a kind of Draft 0.5, somewhere between a plan and a first draft.

You don’t have to use every idea. Like I said, jot down whatever comes to mind, put a “maybe” before or after it, and keep working. If the idea grabs you and you wanna keep expanding on it and exploring it, cool. If you just wanna jot it down so you don’t forget it and then move on, also cool. Red-ink draft / “thought-vomit draft” is your time to jump around in the timeline, add or finesse details at whatever point your brain moves to, etc. Don’t try to do it exactly in story order, because you will get tangential thoughts and ideas, and you will not remember to write them down five pages later when you finally get to taking notes on that scene. Trust me. On that note...

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6) Write everything down the moment you think of it. Seriously.

“I’ll remember it when I get around to writing that scene in a couple days / weeks / months (/years).”

You won’t.

Write it down.

Phone, journal, google docs - hell, my family regularly laughs at me for grabbing a napkin during dinner and scribbling thoughts down alongside pasta sauce stains.

And then, once you have it written down somewhere...

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7) Consolidate your writing ideas in one place.

Maybe this isn’t really your style, and that’s totally chill.

Buuuut, if you’re Type-A like me - or if you tend to be somewhat unorganized and you know you’ll lose track of your writing notes if they’re scattered across multiple notebooks, journals, napkins, phone notes, etc. - having one consolidated document of notes is a life saver. I keep mine on Google Docs so I can access it, add to it, and look through it for inspiration anywhere at any time. When I have one of those Shower Thoughts that I jot down on my phone or on a napkin during dinner, I set myself a reminder on my phone to type it up in my Story Ideas document later.

(Or, if the idea I had was for a story of mine that I’ve already started planning / drafting / whatever, I put it in the document for that story instead of the Big Random Story Ideas doc. You get it.)

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8) Have other ways to collect and save writing ideas, besides just writing stuff down. If you like Pinterest, make pinterest boards of your characters or stories or settings or whatever. If you’re big into playlists, make a playlist for your character / setting / story / etc. Or both. Or something else. I’m not good at drawing, but maybe you are, and maybe you like to draw your ideas. Whatever form it takes, having another way to save ideas and think about your stories is invaluable.

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9) Some writers can just start writing with no idea where the story is going, and they just kind of figure it out as they go. I envy those writers. And I do that sometimes for fanfiction, where the stakes are somewhat lower and the audience is reading more for scene-to-scene enjoyment (and to see their OTP kiss) than for a Driving And Compelling Narrative.

But here’s the thing: especially if you’re just kind of starting out, writing without some sort of plan is really, really hard, and will likely lead you into a slow, meandering narrative that will likely frustrate you.

Even if you think you’re someone that just can’t write with a plan (and again, I have the highest respect for pansters out there - I don’t know how you do it, you crazy bastards, but you keep doing you) - even if you think “I can’t work with plans, they’re too prescriptive, I just want to write and see what happens -”

Try at least making the most skeletal of plans.

Even if you have no clue what 90% of the story is, yet. That’s fine. But you need to have some idea of what you’re building to, even if that’s nothing more specific than a feeling, or a turning point for your character. Even if your entire plan for everything beyond Chapter 1 is, “At some point, Charlie needs to realize that Ed was lying to her.”

This is where those Draft 0.5 notes come in handy. Because, more than likely, working on your current scene that way will spark ideas for later scenes, which you can put down at the bottom of the document and save for when they become relevant. In my experience, the line between planning ahead and making a Draft 0.5 is exceptionally thin. One can quickly turn into the other.

If you’re really, really resistant to the idea of planning ahead, that’s okay. It’s not everybody’s style. But for the love of all that is holy, write down your ideas for future scenes, even if you’re a person that doesn’t like to plan and writes only in story order, because you will not remember that idea once you get to that scene.

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10) You don’t have to write in order.

Here’s the thing: I’m a person that can only do my Draft 1 in story order (meaning, chronological order). I just have to be in that flow; I need to write in story order for me to best channel where the character is at from scene to scene, both narratively and emotionally.

But my Thought Vomit Draft is another thing entirely. By using the brain hack of putting my notes in red (or another color, it doesn’t matter) and going down to the bottom of the document / page and taking notes there, and then integrating them into whatever plan I have, and then translating them into Draft 1 once I get there in the story - by doing that, I can get my good ideas onto the page (and expound upon them and let my muse carry me and ride that momentum while I’m in the moment of inspiration) without writing out of order.

Maybe that’s just me. But if you’re a person who really prefers to write in story order, that could be hugely helpful to you. It is to me.

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11) Emotion and motivation will do more for your story than technicalities of plot.

If your characters really care about something, and their journey through the (shaky or weak) plot is emotionally engaging, it will be a much more compelling story than a story with a “perfect” plot and unrelatable or unmotivated characters.

If your characters care about what they’re doing, and it means something to them, and their goals and actions are driven by dreams or fears or emotions that are integral to who they are, your audience will care too. If you have a perfectly crafted plot that hits all the right beats and has high stakes and fast pacing and drama - but your characters don’t connect with what’s happening in a way that’s deeply meaningful or emotional for them? You’re gonna have a hard time engaging readers.

When in doubt, prioritize character emotion and motivation over plot. Emotion is what drives story.

This power is highly exploitable. (Just look at pulp novels and shitty but entertaining movies.) You can even use it to glaze over plot holes or reinvigorate a limp narrative. Use it that way sparingly, though. It’s a band-aid, not a surgery. 

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12) Evil villains are hard to write - mostly because there are very few truly evil people in the world. (There are a few. Billionaires and several big name politicians come to mind.) But by and large, there aren’t that many evil people. There are plenty of bad people, but bad people have some good in them, somewhere in there. Trying to write an evil villain is hard, because they often turn very cartoony.

Here’s a tip: it’s much easier to write antagonists who aren’t evil. Even if they’re bad people. Of course, there’s no reason you can’t write a villain that’s just truly evil - a serial killer, or an abuser, or a billionaire, or someone who legit just wants to hurt people or blow up the earth or stay in control of an oppressed population, or whatever. But chances are, it’s gonna be really hard to make them feel real, and even harder to create a plot around them that doesn’t feel forced or contrived.

Instead, try writing an antagonist / villain whose motivations and goals directly clash with your protagonist’s - but not because they want to take over the world or see people suffer. Write an antagonist who’s chaotic good, but whose perception of the situation is completely opposite from your hero’s. Write an antagonist whose only desire is to save people, and who will do anything to achieve that goal - anything. Write an antagonist who believes in the letter of the law, and will hinder and oppose the hero’s methods even if they agree with the hero’s motivation. Write an antagonist who got in way over their head and did some things they regret, and now they don’t know how to get out, and they’re doing their best but whatever they set in motion is too powerful for them to stop now.

Write villains who are human. Write a killer who thought they were doing the right thing by taking their victim out of the equation, who vomits at the sight of the body and sobs over the grave they dig. Write a government leader who truly believes she’s doing what’s best for her people in the long-term, even if it might hurt them in the short term, and is willing to endure the hatred and belligerence of the masses if it means securing what she thinks is a better future for her people. Write a teenage bully that thinks they’re the one being picked on by the world, and they’re just fighting back, standing their ground. Write a scientist who will break any code of ethics and hurt anyone he needs to - in order to bring back his baby sister from the grave, because he promised her he’d protect her and he failed. Write an antagonist who is selfish and self-centered and capricious - because in order to survive they had to look out for Number One, and that habit ain’t about to break anytime soon.

Write villains who aren’t even villains. Write antagonists who oppose the hero because of moral differences. Write antagonists who are trying to do the right thing. Write antagonists who treat the heroes with kindness and dignity and respect and gentleness.

They don’t have to be good. They don’t have to be Misunderstood Sweethearts who “deserve” a redemption arc. They can be cruel and nasty and dismissive and callous and violent and etc. etc.

Just hesitate before you make them Evil-with-a-capital-E. Because evil is hard to write, and honestly, boring to read. Flawed human beings with goals and motivations that directly oppose the main characters’ are much easier to write and much more interesting to read.

Ask why. Why is your villain trying to take over the world? What does that even mean? Are they trying to create a Star-Trek-like post-capitalism utopia, but they know that won’t happen in a million lifetimes, so they’re trying to do it by force? Are they actually super in favor of human rights, but they got very impatient waiting for the world to do anything about poverty and war, so they decided to take it into their own hands? Are they determined to fix the world - no matter the cost? Are they terrified and overwhelmed, but committed to see it through to the end? Or - maybe they’re just doing it on a dare. Maybe they don’t really give a shit about world domination, they were just a mediocre rich white guy who decided to fuck around and find out, and now he’s kind of curious how far he can take this thing. And now he’s kind of an internationally-wanted criminal, so he’s kind of stuck living on his hidden private island in his multi-billion dollar secret base, strapping lasers to sharks’ heads for the hell of it. Gross, selfish, uncaring, and dangerous? For sure. Evil? Depends on your definition. See, now we’re getting somewhere.

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13) It’s tempting to let the plot control the characters. It’s easy to drop your characters into a situation and see how they react. But here’s the thing: that doesn’t drive plot. In fact, it bogs down pacing. Instead, try to build you plot off of your characters’ actions and decisions. Let your character build their own situation. Not to say it should go they way they wanted it to go; in fact, usually, their grand plans should go to hell very quickly. But having the characters take action and make decisions, and letting the plot develop based on that, is much easier to make compelling than making a rigid series of events and then trying to herd your characters into them.

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14) Having trouble justifying a character’s actions? Consider having them make the opposite decision, or having them approach the situation in a different way. For example: you need your character to go meet the bad guy, for plot reasons, even though there’s no way it’s not a trap. If the character goes, readers are gonna be groaning with their head in their hands, because c’mon man, that was really fucking stupid. But he’s gotta go, because the plot needs that. Two ways you might handle this: a) He knows it’s probably a trap. He decides not to go. The plot conspires to get him near the villain anyway. Or, b) He knows it’s a trap. But he needs to go, for (insert reasons here). So, he approaches it in an unexpected way. He brings backup, recruiting a side character we met earlier in the story. Or he arrives on the back of a dragon, because ain’t nobody gonna fuck with a dude on a dragon. Or he goes - early, and ambushes the villain. It may work, it may not. He may get himself kidnapped anyway. But it moves the plot along without having Stupid Hero Syndrome.

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15) This is a legit piece of advice: if all of this sounds overwhelming, literally just ignore it and write what you want. For real. Writing should be fun, and every single writer operates differently. If you’re sitting here like “I’m getting stressed just reading this,” just flip me a good-natured bird and get on with your life. I promise I won’t take it personally. Same goes for literally any other writing advice you see. Lots of rules and guidelines can very quickly make anything thoroughly un-fun. Just write. If you’re passionate about it and you do it for long enough, you’ll start figuring out the tips and tricks on your own.

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16) Here’s the best piece of advice I can give you: know your characters. More importantly, know what’s important to them. Build their personality and decisions off of that, and build your plot off of their decisions.

I see a lot of character building sheets that ask a shit-ton of questions like “What’s their most prized possession?” “Do they like their family?” “What’s their favorite food?”

And while these are good questions, my problem with this type of character building is that if you start there, with the little stuff, you’re building on nothing. IMO, to make a truly strong character (not strong like Inner Strength, strong like effective), you need a strong foundation.

Here are the things you must know about your character:

a) What are their greatest fears / deepest insecurities? And I don’t mean “wasps” or “heights.” I mean the deep shit. I mean fears like “living a meaningless life,” or “turning out just like their parents,” or “that no one will ever love them,” or “being powerless.” You may say, “But they’re really scared of wasps! They fall into a wasp nest when they were little and got stung so much they almost died!” Great! That’s a fantastic bit of backstory. They should absolutely be afraid of wasps, and that should absolutely be an impediment later in the story. But dig deeper. What about that event actually scarred them? Was it the helplessness? Stumbling around, swatting at the air, not being able to do a single thing to stop what was happening to them? Was it that they were alone, and no matter how loud they screamed, no one was coming? Was it the bodily horror of feeling themself turn into an inhuman creature as they swelled up from the stings, unable to move their fingers or face normally anymore?

And don’t forget insecurities, because those factor in, too. Are they deeply insecure about their identity? Do they believe, deep down, that they’re ugly? Did they grow up poor and they’ve always been really touchy about that? Why? Dig deep. Figure out what really, really bothers them.

b) What are their hopes and dreams? What do they truly want out of life? What do they consider the most valuable to their experience here in this thing called life? Is it the freedom to forge their own path and be independent? Is it the approval of their family or peers? Is it a home? Is it knowledge, or understanding? Spiritual fulfillment? Is it deeply important to them that they contribute to their community, or protect those they love? What do they need in order to feel truly and deeply fulfilled in life?

Figure out those two things (each one encompasses several things, btw, you don’t have to stop at just one for each), and then use that to inform how they behave and the types of decisions they make within the story. 

It also informs character behavior and personality. 

Let’s say we have a character who’s afraid of helplessness. They’re probably gonna be the person that always wants to do something, try something, no matter how hopeless the situation seems. They’d despise just sitting and waiting, probably, because it makes them feel powerless. They might even be the person that makes rash decisions and acts impulsively and puts themself in danger unnecessarily, because in their mind it’s better than being at the mercy of fate. This is one way you could use a character’s personality to inform their decisions, which in turn helps to inform plot.

Or, let’s say we have a character whose greatest fear is being left behind or forgotten. We may have a chatterbox on our hands. They might be obnoxious. They might love the spotlight, constantly vying for attention no matter the situation, because deep down they’re so afraid that they’d be forgotten otherwise. Or, it may go the opposite way. They may be so afraid of people leaving them that they’re terrified of bothering people. They don’t want to do anything that could annoy people, anything that might give people a reason to leave them. They might be exceedingly polite, quiet, accommodating. A push-over, really.

These are two nearly opposite types of personalities, both stemming from the same core fear/insecurity. You can go a lot of different ways with it. But if you build on that strong foundation, you’ll have a strong character, and a stronger plot.

Likewise, the structure of your story can and should inform the design of these character traits. If you need your characters to team up near the end, it may be impactful if you give your main character a deep fear of commitment, an insecurity about being unwanted or left behind, and make them highly value independence and freedom. That could make their team-up for the final battle very meaningful. Conversely, you can use your character’s deepest fears and desires to help design the plot. Is your character deeply insecure about voicing their opinions or taking a stand, because of trauma they faced in the past? Make them face that. Build that into the climactic third act. Give them the big inspirational speech where they stand up and talk about what they believe to be important, what they think the group should do. And then design that character arc to run through the story, giving you more handholds and stepping stones, more pieces of foundation on which to design the plot.

In this way, character should inform story as much as story informs character. It’s a feedback loop.

Bonus: if you build your character and your plot off of each other in this way, it automatically starts to build in the foundations of that emotional investment I mentioned earlier. If your character’s decisions are based on what they most want and do not want in life, you basically have your character motivation and stakes pre-built.

Note: you need to know these things about your villain, too.

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I’m genuinely sorry about the length of this, lmao. But you did ask.

Best of luck!

Edit: I forgot an important one:

17) Start when the scene starts and end when the scene ends.

What do I mean by that?

If your notes say “Danny asks Nicole out after school and majorly flubs it,” start the scene when Danny approaches Nicole after school. Better yet, cold-open the scene on “I was wondering if, you know, you’d wanna. You know. Hang out some time?”

Don’t start that morning when Danny goes to school, unless you’re gonna cover the school day in like one or two sentences. Don’t spend whole paragraphs going through the school day, unless it’s to cover other plot points first (in which case apply these same guidelines there), or if the paragraphs are there for a specific reason, like to illustrate how stressed he is and how it seems like every little thing is going wrong. Even then, trim the fat as much as possible. Expounding and describing everything Moment-to-moment is for the meat of the scenes, not the leading-up-to and coming-away-from.

Here’s my rule of thumb: study how and when movies cut from scene to scene. Movies have exceptionally strict, limited time for storytelling; they’re excellent examples of starting a scene when the plot point starts and ending when it’s over. If you can’t picture a movie showing everything you showed, start the scene later and end it earlier.

[nevermindirah]

Do you have any thoughts on the use of AAVE for Nile (or lack thereof) in TOG fanfiction? I've been reading some Book of Nile fic and some writers seem to write her as a Millennial™ (using words like "fave" and "woke") but never acknowledge her Blackness in her patterns of speech. I know we don't see her use as much AAVE in the films, but I would argue she's in situations where code-switching would be valued (first in a "professional" environment in the army, then around a group of non-Black strangers).

Hi anon! I have many thoughts on this and I'm honored you asked me! But I should start by saying I'm white and any thoughts Black fans and especially Black American fans have on this that they want to share would be beyond lovely. (I'm not gonna tag anybody bc that feels rude but please add onto this post if any of y'all see this and want to!)

The main reason I personally avoid AAVE for Nile in my own fics is because I'm not Black. But Nile-centric fics by Black writers tend to avoid using much of it too, at least from what I've noticed/understood, and my guess is it's largely for the reason you mention, that she's in situations that encourage code-switching.

In movie canon Nile is highly competent at tailoring her language to each situation she finds herself in. This fantastic linguistics analysis meta shows how skillfully Nile chooses her vocabulary and grammar to meet her goals with different conversation partners in different contexts. In comics canon Nile had a bunch of different civilian jobs before joining the Marines, so she would've had experience code-switching in the ways that made sense for all those different contexts as well as the Marines and her family and high school and wherever else she spent her time before we met her. And now she's spending her time with a handful of immortals none of whom are native English speakers and a fellow Black American but one with a Queen's English UK accent whose professional experience is in the CIA where high-status code-switching is often an absolute must for success or even survival.

Fics featuring Nile are charged with extrapolating from that to how it might show up in her use of language that she's coping with a traumatic separation from her family and her career and pretty much everything she's ever known and now she needs to be able to make herself understood to people who seem to care about her and each other but are super duper in crisis, three (soon to be four) of whom predate Modern English entirely and the only one who's anywhere near her contemporary she's not supposed to talk to for a century. All of these people are telling her that pretty much any contact with any mortals poses an existential threat to her and the rest of the group. How the FUCK is she supposed to cope with that, like, generally? And would it be a more effective way for her to cope if she talked to Andy Joe and Nicky using the speech patterns that she used to use with her mom and brother, to at least retain that part of her identity even if it means having to do a lot of explaining, or would it meet her needs better to prioritize Andy Joe and Nicky understanding what she means with her words over using the particular words and grammar forms she used with her family?

I've seen several fics, both Nile-centric / BoN and otherwise, explore this a little bit in how/whether Nile uses Millennial™ speak. It's often a theme in Nile texting Booker despite the exile because of the popular headcanon that he as The Tech Guy is the only other immortal who understands memes. But Nile's much-younger-than-Booker mom probably uses Boomer and/or Gen X memes and Andy has been adapting to new communication styles for forever as evidenced by her canon high level of fluency with standard-American-accented English.

Which brings us back to people avoiding AAVE because they're not Black and they don't want to make mistakes (or they're not Black and they don't want to get yelled at for making mistakes, though I think many people overestimate how much they'll get yelled at while underestimating how much these mistakes can hurt). I can imagine some Black fans hold back from using much AAVE in fic because they don't want to share in-group stuff with white people who are likely to then adopt and ruin it, as white people so often do with Black cultural stuff. Some links about this including a great Khadija Mbowe video. I'm saying this gently, anon, because you might not know: woke, an example you cited as Millennial™ speak, is AAVE, and that's gotten erased by so many white people appropriating it and using it incorrectly online.

And also there's the part where fandom is a hobby and you never know when you're reading a fic that's the very first thing someone's ever written outside of a school assignment. This cultural considerations of language shit takes a level of effort and skill that not everybody puts into every fic, or even could if they wanted to because they haven't had time to build their skills yet. It's definitely easier for non-Black fans to project our millennial feels onto Nile than to do the layers of research and self-reflection it requires to depict what Blackness might mean to Nile, and it's not surprising that often people sharing their hobby creations on the internet have gone the easier route. There's not even necessarily shame in doing what's easier. It's just frustrating and often hurtful when structural white supremacy means that 3-dimensional Black characters are rare in media and thoughtful explorations of them in fandom are seen by the majority of fans as not-easy to make and therefore Nile Freeman, the main character in The Old Guard (2020) dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood, has the least fic and meta and art made about her of our 5 main immortals.

I've been active in different fandoms off and on for twenty years and I barely managed to write 5,000 words about Sam Wilson across multiple different fics in the 7 years since I fell in love with him. There's an alchemy to which characters we connect with, and on top of that which characters we connect with in a way that causes us to create stuff about them. Something about Nile Freeman finally tipped me over the edge from a voracious reader to a voracious writer. It's not for me to judge which characters speak to other individuals to the level of creating content about them, but I do think it's important for us to notice, and then work to fight, the pattern where across this fandom as a whole Nile gets way less content, and way less depth in so much of the content that's in theory about her, than any of these other characters.

Anyway, back to language. My two long fics feature Nile with several Black friends — Copley and OCs and cameos from other media — but all of those characters except Alec Hardison from Leverage aren't American. It's very possible I'm guilty of stereotyping Black British speech patterns in I See Your Eyes Seek a Distant Shore. I watched hours and hours of Black haircare YouTube videos in the research for that fic and I modeled my OCs' speech patterns on what I heard from some of those YouTubers as well as what I've heard people like John Boyega and Idris Elba saying in interviews, but the thing about doing your best is you still might fuck up.

I'm slowly making progress on my WIP where Nile and Sam Wilson are cousins, and what ways of talking with a family member might be authentic for Nile is a major question I need to figure out. For that, I'm largely modeling my writing choices on how I hear my Black friends and colleagues talking to each other. I haven't overheard colleagues talking in an office in a long-ass time, but back when that was a thing, I remember seeing a ton of nuance in the different ways many of my Black colleagues would talk to each other. Different people have different personalities! And backgrounds! And priorities! A few jobs ago my department was about 1/3 Black and we worked closely with Obama administration staff many of whom were Black and there was SO MUCH VARIETY in how Black people talked to each other, about work and workplace-appropriate personal stuff, where I and other white coworkers could hear. There are a few work friends in particular who I have in my head when I'm trying to imagine how Sam and Nile might talk to each other. From the outside looking in, God DAMN is shit complicated, intellectually and interpersonally and spiritually, for Black people who are devoting their professional lives to public service in the United States.

One more aspect of this that I have big thoughts on but I need to take extra care in talking about is the idea of acknowledging Nile's Blackness in her patterns of speech. There's no one right way to be Black, and Nile's a fictional character created by a white dude but there are plenty of real-life Black Americans who don't use much or even any AAVE, for reasons that are complicated because of white supremacy. (Highly highly recommend this video by Shanspeare on the harms of the Oreo stereotype.)

Something that's not the same but has enough similarity that I think it's worth talking about is my personal experience with authenticity and American Jewish speech patterns. My Jewish family members don't talk like they're in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and I've known lots of people who do talk that way (or the millennial version of it), some of whom have questioned my Jewishness because I don't talk that way. That hurts me. Sometimes when another Jew tells me some shit like "I've never heard a Jew say y'all'd've," I can respond with "well now you have asshole, bless your Yankee-ass heart," because the myth of Dixie is a racist lie but I will totally call white Northerners Yankees when they're being shitty to me for being Southern, and this particular Jew fucking revels in using "bless your heart" with maximum polite aggression, especially with said Yankees. But sometimes I don't have it in me to say anything and it just quietly hurts having an important part of me disbelieved by someone who shares that important part of me. The sting isn't quite the same when non-Jews disbelieve or discount my Jewishness, but that hurts too.

Who counts as authentically Jewish is a messy in-group conversation and it doesn't really make sense to explain it all here. Who counts as authentically Jewish is a matter of legal status for immigration, citizenship, and civil rights in Israel, and it's my number 2 reason after horrific treatment of Palestinians that I'm antizionist. But outside that extremely high-stakes legal situation, it can just feel really shitty to not be recognized as One Of Us, especially by your own people.

It can also feel really shitty to be The Only One of Your Kind in a group, even if that group is an immortal chosen family who all loves each other dearly. Sometimes especially in a situation like that where you know those people love you but there are certain things they don't get about you and will never quite be able to. I'm definitely projecting at least a little bit of my "lonely Jew who will be alone again for yet another Jewish holiday" stuff onto Nile when at the end of I See Your Eyes Seek a Distant Shore she's thinking about being the only Black immortal and moving away from the community she'd built with a mostly-Black group of mortals in that fic. Maybe that tracks, or maybe that's fucked up of me.

Basically, this got very long but it's complicated, writing about experiences that aren't your own takes skill which in turn takes time and practice to build, writing about experiences not your own that our society maligns can cause a lot of harm if done badly, it can also cause a lot of harm when a large enough portion of a fandom just decides to nope out of something that's difficult and risky because then there's just not much content about a character who deserves just a shit ton of loving and nuanced content, people are individuals and two people who come from the exact same cultural context might show that influence in all kinds of different ways, identity is complicated, language is complicated, writing is hard, and empathy and humility and doing our best aren't a guarantee of avoiding harm but they do go a long way in helping people create thoughtful content about a character as awesome and powerful and kind and messy and scared and curious and WORTHY as Nile Freeman.

[scott-mccall-the-hot-girl]

my ultimate guide to thiam fic !!

( as a new teen wolf stan )

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the classic post war, long ass (multi chapter) fic !!with great development that genuinely made me laugh out loud, they have the best friendship in this & i love it very much. ( like theo teaches liam to drive and i just *happy sobs* ) a fundamental in thiam fanfiction !! all stans have probably already read it but if you haven’t this is in fact a threat ,, go show this vv iconic story some love !!

Airplanes - Captainmintyfresh

Summary: After the Anuk-ite and the hunters are dealt with Liam needs a break. Cue Theo and a road trip that Liam should know better than to think will be peaceful.

Not Rated, No Archive Warnings Apply, Completed, 43/43 Chapters, Words: 236,875 (236k)

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okay okay so this one is also post 6B !! but ,, now we introduce fighting monroe & the hunters again ,, so we get the boys & a new mission !! so if you like an intresting plot 11/10 would recommend !! just to be clear this ISN’T complete ,, if that turns you off i understand but definitely give this one a read !! it litterally have theo doing crossword puzzles & fighting zombies

Vacancy Signs - LovelyLittleGrim

Summary: Theo and Liam are in Manhattan negotiating a pack allyship when the zombie apocalypse breaks out. Now, the two of them have to find their way back to Beacon Hills without getting eaten by zombies or killing one another.

Rated: Explicit, Graphic Description of Violence, Not Completed, 15/17 Chapters, Words: 89,605 (89k)

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Royalty AU !! I REPEAT ROYALTY AU !! a fantastic au where i stan their moms more than i stan them !! genuinely so good at the childhood rivals to lovers trope !! i’m genuinely obsessed with this one. has made me cry more than once ,, hurts in a good way <3 the ending is just *chefs kiss* also one of the tags is genuinely: # theo and liam make bad choices for over 130k straight !! if that doesn’t sound appealing i don’t know what does !!

Artificial Love - songbvrd

Summary: Prince Theo and Prince Liam are forced to spend every Summer together from age five onwards. They hate each other, and usually find ways to make each other miserable as much as possible in their six weeks together. But when they're reunited because of intended unions as adults, things change. They're both supposed to be married to noble women, but neither of them is as interested in anyone else as they are with their childhood rival.

Rated: Mature, No Archive Warnings Apply, Completed, Chapters: 32/32, Words: 172,935 (172k)

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so if you are in the mood for a crack fic that’s not explicitally a crack fic this is for you !! okay so i’m really hit or miss with AU’s ,, sometimes i feel like they don’t quite capture the characters right but this story have the BEST dramatic liam i have ever seen in my life !! basically they all live in the same apartment building & it’s fantastic !! i saw this one floating around a lot but the summary didn’t really unrest me until i have it a shot !! so go read it rn !! also nolan & brett are genuinely fantastic and make me wheeze ,, LIKE ACTUALLY VERBALLY LAUGHING !! all i’m gonna say is that my fav characters are scott & the beetles but that won’t make actual sense until you read it !!

The Neighbors Song - TheodoreR

Summary: “I always hear you singing on your balcony every morning, but suddenly you’ve stopped?”

Or the one where Theo annoys Liam every morning with his awful singing until he doesn’t anymore and Liam is even more annoyed. Liam hates every single thing about his mornings -the fact that they happen in the morning alone is enough. The thing Liam hates the most about his mornings though is the terrible voice of the guy who lives below him. He can’t sing for shit and Liam tried to politely let him understand that by throwing flour and water on his balcony, and also by shouting it to him, you can’t sing for shit!, and then by writing it into a note he proceeded to attach to his door, but this Raeken guy just keeps doing it, every single morning, like a fucking rooster. Liam did nothing to deserve this. He probably didn’t do anything to deserve better either to be fair, he doesn’t expect to open his window and be welcomed by some angelic voice singing him good morning, he’d just be happy with nothing. Silence. That’s something Liam can appreciate in mornings. Just some bark from his dog and the sound of his misery and that’s it. But no, god forbid the new guy lets him have that.

Rated: Explicit, Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Wanrings, Completed, 8/8 Chapters, Words: 42,814 (42k)

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me: i’m not a big fan of AU’s ,, proceeds to talk about ANOTHER au… OKAY BUT THIS ONE !! it’s not complete but the author has been updating regularly ,, vv slow burn !! but in a REALLY intresting way !! i lOVE LIAM IN THIS SO MUCH ,, he is such a diaster of a person and it’s wonderful !! they have a great dynamic & i’m sucker for general puppy pack content ( and erica reyes being a badass ) !! also theo plays lacrosse in this & i really like it ahhhhh ,, also liam is just being an artic monkeys stan the whole time & theo is like *que confused repressed gay noises*

Inglorious Roommates - honeyscape

Summary: A roommate is defined as “a person with whom one shares a room.”

Theo would say a roommate was more along the lines of, “The person who's the bane of his existence. The weirdo that sleeps for days. The spaz that exercises at 3am. The guy with a revolving door of annoying friends. An insufferable human being that Theo has no control over living in his room.”

Example: Theo hates his roommate Liam.

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okay okay i hate myself but i have another WIP for y’all !! this one is jUST FANTASTIC. i’m genuinely so upset it’s most likely not going to updated again *incoherent screaming ensues*. for this story ,, it’s very theo-centric bUT thats bc it ends right before liam becomes a concrete member of the story !! ANYWAY: basic plot = theo & acquiring not one but two children ,, so #dad theo but he is still crusty & homeless and i love him very much. it’s just so GOOD !! just read if you want to experience my fav theo coming out story & him etching high school musical

Look who's talking - Captainmintyfresh

Summary: Theo had been labeled many things in his life. Evil, failure, monster. He'd never thought Father would be one of those things but as he looked across the table to a six year old with blue smears of bubble gum icecream across her face trying to coax the first words out of her sister. Finger jabbing towards Theo's face as she repeated 'Daddy' again and again he couldn't bring himself to dispute the label.

(Theo accidentally adopts two young werewolves)

Not Rated, Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings, Not Completed, Chapters: 16/?, Words: 48740 ( 48k )

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so here me out: post-canon ( poetry like angst ) summer get away !! just the boys doing cute little domestic things together whilst pining !! theo’s guilt in this is just so powerful & aGjffkgkkfkvkdlv !! i think it’s so interesting to see how they interact in this one, it’s just very heart warming !! and it features one of my favorite niche teen wolf tropes of theo being great with like seven year old girls- it’s just so good ,, very much a wonderful little one shot that just makes your heart happy.

(next time i see you you'll show me) a hundred different ways to say the same things - cherrysprite

Summary: “...You deserve good things,” Liam says eventually. He makes sure not to look at Theo even though he can feel his eyes turn on him. Somehow he can already tell that Theo doesn’t believe him.

Liam instantly makes that the goal of this summer - making Theo believe him.

Rating: Teen and Up, No Archive Warnings Apply, Chapters: 1/1, Words: 28875 ( 28k )

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okay so this next section of fic recs is a bit different !!

two of my favorite authors !! and a compilation of fics i’ve read by them both !!

for context: these two have written some genuinely gorgeous fics, like pure poetry, they explore the real gritty & scary side of our boys relationship in such a wonderful way. they’ve both used some of my favorite tropes & i love them very much !!

whenever i need something soothing but so genuinely intresting & enticing these are my go to !! ( also they both write a lot of good nolan angst & some vv good fics with hayden )

go check out:

eneiryu

as well as fallingforboys

here are some of my favorite fics by them ~

darling i want you here in my arms (kiss the pain away, i know you can) - fallingforboys

even before you touched me, i belonged to you (all you had to do was look at me) - fallingforboys

memories linger like tattoo scars (but your touch on my skin is just as permanent) - fallingforboys

skin, bones, a stolen heart, and an ugly creature lurking underneath -fallingforboys

i don't know how to breathe in the place i called home - fallingforboys

whisper your gossamer truths into the shadow, maybe you'll find the answers you're searching for - fallingforboys

between the mountains and the valley we built a monument to our regret - eneiryu

cracked the hinges of the cage and waited for you - eneiryu

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okay and finally: since i am a self centered whore

my own fic: an rendition of the # elevator scene

it’s basically my version of post canon if we did get the kiss in the elevator. we got a classic liam pov in which he is has 12/10 for extreme bi diaster energy even whilst being shot at !! so go him ig…

Fuck Off, Fuck This & Fuck It! - nefelibata_peach

Summary: Liam thought to himself heart rate climbing, they were bound to be dead by morning. So he thought with everything but his brain and he kissed him.

Where Liam Dunbar is very confused, slightly traumatized, and just a bit scared but hey, aren't they all! Bad decisions ensue as two boys fight in a war they never did sign up for.

Rating: Teen and Up, Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Chapters: 1/1, Words: 3558 ( 3k )

[tiriansjewel]

Another day in the jatp fandom, another controversy. As a preface, this post is really just going to be me saying: everyone needs to fucking relax. I’m tired of people calling other people out using weighty terms for no reason, I’m tired of people harassing others over something as trivial as an actor’s view on social issues, and I’m just tired of people not staying in their own circles. That’s basically a TL;DR for you all.

So, about this blocklist. Let’s get into it, shall we?

First, my main issue with this list (and I think a lot of other people’s) is use of the words “pedophilic tendencies”. I cannot understate how harmful it is to draw a false equivalence between real, actual pedophiles and smut writers on the internet. We must remember: these are fictional characters who happen to be teenagers, not real children who can be victimized. Calling adult smut writers pedophilic trivializes actual pedophilia, child porn, and CSA. When terms are watered down like this, the term begins to lose meaning. It is okay if smut written by adults about teenagers makes you uncomfortable, but it does not make the authors themselves pedophiles. Not even close.

Second, minors write smut just like adults do. The weirdest thing about this post is the fact that other minors were knowingly included on the blocklist (ie, “most writers are adults” according to the post) which suggests that the issue is with smut itself and not with who’s writing it. As I’ve said before, it is perfectly okay if you want to avoid nsfw content (which is why we have tags, by the way), but making a blocklist based solely on explicit content where you use the word pedophilia is really “not the move”, so to speak. Here’s the thing. I’m seventeen years old, which makes me a minor. I’ve written smut for this fandom, I am writing smut currently, and I will continue to write it. To suggest that smut in and of itself is bad is strange to me. Guess what? People have sex. Teenagers have sex. It’s a part of life, and it will be included in stories about people’s lives. And in comparison to other forms of explicit content like pornography, smut is a great way for young teens who are growing into their bodies to explore and learn about sex and sexuality outside of reality in a safe, contained space.

Third, there is a very big difference between adults writing about teenagers who happen to be having sex and adults sexualizing kids through writing. I’ve been around the block a few times in explicit tags, and at least I find I can always tell the difference between these two types of content. I’d also like to say that these adults (many of whom are still in their 20s, btw) were teenagers once and grew into their sexuality just like everyone else; it’s not like they’ve been separated from the experience! As a smut writer myself, rarely do I find myself personally thinking “this is hot”. I’m writing from the perspective of a character who thinks it’s hot! There is nuance and character development and thought to writing smut, yes, even pwp fics. In this section I would also like to address the fact that several of the people on this list are my friends and mutuals in this fandom. They are all lovely people who have their own reasons for writing what they write and their reason is never “ah yes I feel like sexualizing children today”. It is very shitty to make assumptions about people you don’t know and say they have pedophilic tendencies. That’s a weighty and unfounded accusation. And no, as a minor, I have never felt uncomfortable around any of them.

Fourth, many of these writers have written wonderful non-explicit fics as well! It’s a shame to write these authors off entirely because they’ve written smut. You don’t like sex scenes? Great! Exclude E and M ratings when you browse ao3. Also, some of these adult authors write fic where they age the characters up, probably because it’s closer to their own experience and it makes them more comfortable. They are literally doing exactly what you want them to do by not creating content about minors having sex. Also, I’d like to point out that Charlie is 22, Owen is 20, and Jeremy is 24, and the majority of smut is about the boys. I don’t think I should have to explain why it’s okay for other 20 somethings to view them in a sexual context, even if their characters are 17. Regardless, many of the perceived issues with these writers as people and also with their work simply do not exist.

Fifth, the number one rule of fanfiction is don’t like, don’t read. I myself have seen several nsfw fics in the jatp tag that I have cringed at and chosen not to read because of their tags, summaries, pairings, etc. And that’s okay! But never have I sent hate to these authors, called them pedos, or made large callout posts about them. I simply ignore or block the content and go on about my day. I’m not about to “yuck someone’s yum”, as it were, and I’m not going to be the moral police and tell people some type of content is wrong in all circumstances, even if I find it personally disgusting or ethically questionable. People are always going to write whatever they feel compelled to write, and the great thing about the internet is that we all have the space to express ourselves differently. As others have said, fandom is big enough for everyone. Here’s a nice little example. I’ve been in the Narnia fandom for years now. The four main characters are siblings, so there’s a lot of incest fic. I personally dislike incest fic and think it’s morally questionable, and so do many of my mutuals. We have conversations in private spaces where we tell one another who to block to avoid seeing that content, and every time I go in the ao3 tag I filter out those pairings. But never have we made public lists calling out people we didn’t know, and never have we sent derisive comments their way. Everyone must learn to keep to their own circles and curate their own feeds for fandom to be a positive experience. Everyone must learn to listen to other people and accept that everything has nuance. Everyone must be learn to be kind. As my choir teacher says, “there is never an excuse for being rude”. And when controversy must happen, let’s all be respectful, mature, and level headed in our discourse with one another.

In conclusion, this fandom has an issue with telling people what they can and cannot do or create, and that’s wrong. Fandom is supposed to be a free, positive environment. It is our duty to keep it that way. Thank you for your time.

[belfrygargoyles]

*whispers* I would like to hear what you have to say on reader inserts in the SW fandom because I too have a problem with them and I feel like not enough people are calling it out 👉👈

I’ve made a few posts about it in the past but I think it’s high time I actually Do This and really get into it.

Before I start: 1) This will be in specific reference to fanfiction written for the Star Wars fandom, particularly tcw and the mandalorian eras, 2) A lot of the issues come down to racist fetishization of men of color by white women; I am white, so there is much that is simply not my place to make statements on. What I can speak most on is my take from the gender side of things.

I’d honestly recommend reading this post by @nibeul with addition by @clonehub first, as they discuss the core issue with reader inserts in the Star Wars fandom.

And 3) some of this will involve discussion of sexual acts (as they relate to fanfiction) and sexual fantasies. These discussions will be non-explicit, and no pornographic text or content will be displayed.

Also. I’m GNC and nonbinary. I’m also a very feminine looking person that falls under the generalization of “small and petite.” I don’t have dysphoria, I like my body and the traits I have, and treating them like inherently female sends me into a blind fury. This is, unfortunately, important.

For the sake of making sure I come across as clearly as possible, I will be writing as though the reader of this post has never read or is broadly unfamiliar with reader-insert fanfiction.

Without further ado.

Hey, Star Wars reader insert fic writers? Please get your shit together.

INTRODUCTION

I’ve been reading reader-insert fanfiction since I was a grade schooler waking up early to check Quizilla. I love it! It got me into fandom, kept me engaged, helped me make and develop some of my oldest OCs, and it’s just fun to read and write- it’s like a self-indulgent little gift you can give to a bunch of people all at once. Because who doesn’t like the idea of starring in their own little adventure, usually alongside some of their favorite characters? It can be fun, immersive, get you attached in ways other ways of fandom interaction may not, make you feel just a little bit special, or be a way to express some feelings you might have about canon and the way the story went.

Like any form of fiction, it ends up saying more about the author’s feelings than anything else, whether the author realizes it or not. For many, many authors of reader-insert fanfiction, the primary enjoyment comes from writing “themselves” into the story- before the readers, the author most often makes the “reader character” someone they, themselves, can relate to and substitute for themselves. They write to live out a self-indulgent fantasy they have, and their readers can come along for the ride.

Some writers do actually try to write as diverse or as vague of a reader character as possible- as few details about the body, identity, etc. as possible so anyone could superimpose their image without the narrative directly contradicting it. This is not the kind of reader insert author I will be discussing.

The kind of author I will be discussing is the one most common in the Star Wars tag on Ao3: White, AFAB, cisgender, gender-conforming, able-bodied women who assume all of their readers are also White, AFAB, cisgender, gender-conforming, able-bodied women. Yes, you can tell.

ISSUE: fetishization of men of color

Again, this post puts it in the best words, but there is a rampant problem with Star Wars reader-inserts, particularly those involving the clones, Boba Fett, and Din Djarin, fetishizing characters played by men of color as either “physically aggressive and threatening, hypersexual and dominant, big strong men who are scary because they do violence and fuck constantly when they’re not” or “completely inexperienced baby who doesn’t know anything about things and needs a gentle nurturing guiding touch to introduce him to the mere idea of a vagina.” The former is common across all of them, the latter most common among clone trooper fics or Din/Reader.

I went into the Boba Fett/Reader tag on Ao3, because I like him and hoped to find something alright. Here are some stats I tallied up (give or take some) based solely on tags, summaries, and warnings:

There are 284 works in the Boba Fett/Reader category as of the time of this post.

198/284 are rated E for explicit sexual content. 69.7% of all Boba Fett/Reader works are sexually explicit.

259/284 are in the F/M category. 91.2% of all Boba Fett/Reader works involve an explicitly female or AFAB reader.

24/284 are tagged with or mention “Age difference,” “Older man/Younger woman,” “Innocence kink” or “Virginity kink.” 8.4% of all Boba Fett/Reader works are written explicitly with an age gap, with Boba Fett as the older party

26/198 E rated fics are tagged with or make reference to “Daddy kink” or involve the reader being called some variation of “little girl” by Boba. 13% of all E-rated works under Boba Fett/Reader are daddy kink fics, or allude to Boba Fett being a daddy dom/sugar daddy.

102/198 E rated fics are tagged as, make reference to, or suggest in the summary that Boba Fett takes a dominant sexual role with a submissive reader involving rough or painful play, or make reference to Boba Fett being frightening, physically intimidating, having a power dynamic over the reader, or being possessive or violent. 51.51% of all E-rated works under Boba Fett/Reader portray Boba Fett as sexually dominant and/or enacting use of physical force or pain play.

Just using this as an example, because it’s the easiest stats I can gather and also what made me realize there was a pattern.

The problem isn’t even necessarily that people write explicit fic about Boba- it’s that 1) over half of all fics in the category are explicitly pornographic, and 2) the way those pornographic fics are written. The two things compound on each other. They’re dominance fantasies projected onto a character of color in which he becomes extremely sexual, physically rough with the reader, possessive, and demeaning towards a reader character who is always written as White, AFAB, and petite.

This brings me to the next issue.

ISSUE: The way sexual relationships are portrayed.

Let me clarify so there is no chance of me being misunderstood: sex is good. Liking and wanting and enjoying sex isn’t bad. It is not bad if you are AFAB and have submissive fantasies. It is not bad to be sexually attracted to a man of color. You can write about sex even if you haven’t had it. Writing about sex can be a good way to express some more complicated feelings you could have about certain things. It doesn’t even have to be realistic. It has its time and it has its place.

This being said.

Sexual relationships as they are portrayed in the vast majority of E-rated Star Wars reader inserts are… not great.

The reader is always AFAB. I can think of maybe one fic off the top of my head where an AFAB reader was written with they/them pronouns and not just she/her.

The reader is almost always submissive, the dominant character is almost always portrayed as cis male. Even when the characters are supposed to just be having spontaneous casual sex, D/S or BDSM aspects will be introduced with no prior discussion or talks about it afterwards. Sometimes characters will start using dirty talk and it just does not fit at all, but it’s what the author thought was hot.

Sometimes, it just reads like a quick smutty oneshot. More often than that, it reads like the author doesn’t realize that sex… isn’t always a dom/sub thing. Or that someone can take the lead in sex and that doesn’t automatically make them a dom.

It’s not bad to be inexperienced. It’s not bad to have preferences or kinks or specific turn-ons.

But it gets… tiring to read, over and over and over and over, because that’s all there is.

That and… I dunno, it just has me a little worried? It doesn’t make me feel good knowing so many people can only portray a sexual relationship if it’s dom/sub. I don’t know why it makes me so uneasy.

Vanilla sex isn’t a bad thing I promise. It's this feeling of insistence that something "spicy" absolutely has to happen for it to be worth writing that gives... some weird vibes.

I’m going to move on to the next Big-

ISSUE: Every “reader” character is exactly the same

By which I mean the following:

Always cis AFAB female

If a character is written with gender neutral pronouns they will always be AFAB and written like Girl Lite

I have never seen an explicitly stated nonbinary/gnc reader character unless it was a request specifically for a nonbinary reader

I have never seen a gender neutral reader insert fic where the reader was AMAB

I have seen a grand total of 1 cis male reader fic and 1 trans male reader fic. The trans male reader fic was about dysphoria.

The reader is allowed to have one of the following backstories: slave/runaway, mechanic, medic, ex-Rebel, secret Jedi, bounty hunter.

The reader is allowed to have one of the following personality traits: throws knives, babysitter, completely civilian, WOMAN, says curse words.

The reader is never written with any narrative agency- things only ever happen to the reader character or around the reader character, they are never written to take charge and actually affect things on their own. Essentially the sexy lamp trope.

Remember when I said the majority of people writing Star Wars reader-insert fanfic on Ao3 were White, cisgender AFAB women who are gender-conforming and able-bodied? This is how you can tell.

It’s at this point where you can tell they’re really not meant to be reader-inserts, but author-inserts with the names removed- they were only meant for a very narrow selection of readers.

I’m nonbinary, I’m gnc, and I’m a very feminine looking person, generally speaking. I’m used to people looking at me and assuming oh, girl. I’m at peace with that.

I can barely stand reading some of these fics just because of how much the author emphasizes that the reader is FEMALE shes a WOMAN with BOOBS and a VAGINA and FEMININE WILES. There’s barely ever even a chance to give myself room to mentally vault over all the “she”s and “her”s because then I’m getting hit with Din or someone calling the reader “girl” or “the woman.” It’s unbearable, and I even fall into the general description every fucking fic author uses for their generic protagonist!

Even with the “gender-neutral reader” fics, it is just. Painfully clear that they just wrote a female character and changed the pronouns- no, there is no such thing as “male behavior” or “female behavior,” and I quite heartily rebel against the concept of gender essentialism. And honestly, I can barely even begin piecing together how I know it and what it feels like, because it’s just one of those vague conglomerates of cues and writing patterns I can’t consciously pick up on but I know it’s there- it’s frustrating, it’s demeaning, and it feels like you’d have to threaten these authors at gunpoint to get them to write a reader character who was any major deviation from the same three cutouts they use every time.

It seems like they can’t possibly force themselves to write a reader character who isn’t meek and submissive or has the sole personality traits of “mean and can hit things”- you can actually strike a balance between “absolutely no personality” and “fleshed out oc” you know? And you don’t actually have to tell the reader what their hair looks like or how full their figure is

It’s like 2:20 AM and I started this at like 8something PM but.

I’m someone who loves reader-inserts. I enjoy them. I still check for new ones regularly. I’ve been reading them for well over half my life now.

So many of these authors are just locked in on exactly one way to write things and it fucking shows. It’s like a self-feeding loop, they just keep writing the same things and the same dynamics because they see each other doing it and they never think about taking a step back.

It’s… exhausting. I’m exhausted. If you’re a reader-insert fic writer and you want to improve your reader character inclusivity and have also read this far, you can DM me or shoot me an ask.