#i tend to imagine certain scenes from fanfics as movie scenes

[rist-ix]

Hey Rist! How've you been? I'm curious. How would you rank Valtor's different voices for the 3 versions(RAI, 4Kids & Nick)? I was looking at S3 of Winx Club (I missed Valtor lol) & I was curious abt his voices for the different versions. So, I watched a bit of S3E5 in all 3 and ranked them from most to least fave. I ranked them: 1) Nick, 2) RAI, 3) 4Kids. Nick's version is so.. so Valtor, 4Kids seems a bit (a lot) too extra, and Rai's version is a bit (just a bit) gruff. What do you think, Rist?

That’s actually pretty much the same as I remember liking them, but my memory has failed me before so I’m editing a crappy little compilation together. And there's really only one scene I could have used for that without losing y’all’s respect. (Fair warning tho the audio trails over scene cuts occasionally so there's some weird jump cuts with sudden noise, but whatever)

From your worst to your best we have:

4Kids Valtor

Ignoring the dollar-store-James-bond music at the beginning, I quite like Valtor's theme here. The ominous cembalo cords remind me of cheesy old fantasy-horror movies and black castles during very dramatic lightning storms, and I honestly feel like the pompous, dramatic 4kids voice fits very well for that. By itself I feel like it’s far too over the top (which is generally 4kids motto), and also my least favorite of the three, but it does have a certain unapologetic arrogance going for it. It might not rank well for me compared to the other ones, but it’s still authentic and fun. Peak gay vampire energy here.

Something I noticed is the pretty big dialogue change here, where he states that he's warning bloom out of an “old, long forgotten curtesy”. I tend to dislike changes from the original script, but honestly? That’s such a cool detail. I feel like that adds a lot to his character pretty early one, no matter if he genuinely means it or is just baiting Bloom.

Rai Valtor (also known as Cinélume)

You are absolutely right, very deep voice. I am looking respectfully 👀👀👀

Compared to 4kids, this Valtor is a lot more subdued. The voice acting is EXCELLENT, the little chuckle he gives when he recounts what people say about him is peak Valtor, pure irony and ridicule. I tend to forget him a lot, if I’m being honest, because he's not as notable as ExtraDramaQueen-4Kids!Valtor, and not as radically different as the Nick version, but he is still very much a very interesting middle ground between them. If I’m being completely honest he's actually my favorite of the three, now that I think about it. His dialogue is closest to the original and I tend to imagine this voice when I write fanfics, and even if you can’t hear it in this example, he's got a really memorable way to speak when he's pitting the Trix against each other or trying to soothe their egos. There's something really manipulative, threatening in his tone sometimes, no matter which lines he gets.

But it is a close call with your number 1.

Nick Valtor

(First of all, Bloom's voice is somehow stealing the show for me here. In the beginning she really sounds like she's scared, in pain, and she's got that rough edge to her tone when she's angry. I don’t usually bother with the nick dub, but damn. Maybe I should.)

I’m not exaggerating when I say that this Valtor is easily the most refined of the three. More subdued, like the Rai version, but not as deep as either of the previous two. It sometimes reminds me of Macaque from The Monkey Kid, and that’s a huge compliment. This Valtor has a quiet, insidious danger to him that is subtle yet very present. He says “I'll do what needs to be done” and you don’t doubt it for a second. There's that weird blend of lighthearted indifference in his voice which makes him distinct from the others, and it helps to emphasize that he's completely different from Darkar and the Trix: he analyzes and understands his enemies in a way that basically guarantees him victory, no matter the opponent. I wouldn’t say I like it more than the Rai Valtor — this one could use a little more drama and pomp — but he's objectively the highest quality here.

But what’s this?

It’s GermanDub!Valtor with a steel chair!!!

Shut up I’m totally right about this one the god of voice acting told me so

I am not taking criticism!

My boy my king my one true love, it’s the slightly raspy, cutting and incredibly heinous voice of my childhood dub! He may be speaking a bit faster to fit all those long german words into such a short shot, but he pulls it off MAGNIFICENTLY. Similar to Nick's it’s not as deep as I’d imagine from seeing his face, but he has a harshness to his words that does not speak of subtle threat but of open hostility, clad in polite words. He's here for a fight, no matter with whom, and while he may not get that on this day he leaves no doubt that eventually, he'll wipe the floor with them. His voice influenced me a lot during Sparked, even if I didn’t really imagine it when he had dialogue. Just the character of it is such a vibe, this slightly impatient thirst for violence he somehow manages to pour into his long game.

10/10.

[usamamoweek2024]

Meet the Creators - iamcharlotte88

What username(s) and platform(s) can folx find you on? (Please include links!)

@iamcharlotte88 is on Instagram and Deviant Art

(Fun Fact) What is your favorite kind of potato?

I like Spicy Mojos

How long have you been creating works in fandom spaces? How long have you been active in the SM fandom?

I have been creating Sailor Moon arts since 2000 but my first post in the internet is around 2016 or 2017

What type(s) of creative works do you usually make? (fanfics, digital art, cosplay)

I do arts from random things that inspires me mostly from movie scene or fanfiction. I started from traditional arts and transition to digital arts around 2020

What do you enjoy about creating for the SM fandom?

The process of turning the artistic words or ideas into visuals arts. When I read fanfiction, there is image of the scene in my head that feels like I am watching a movie and when I translate it to a visual arts, there is this feeling of satisfaction and being somehow involve in the creation of that story.

Are you strictly UsaMamo or do you create for other pairings as well?

I do other couples as well like the senshi and shintennou. But I have never tried pairing Usagi or Mamoru to other characters. Those two literally fought in the spam of 3 life times to stay together. I just can't imagine them with someone else.

What inspires you to create works for Usagi and Mamoru?

I really love Mamoru like he is a real person and I like to create art that shows how Usagi loves Mamoru or how Mamoru show affection to Usagi in his own way when there is just the 2 of them. If you have time please check out my art called "Staying the Night"

Do you tend to work on multiple projects (WIPs) simultaneously or try to finish one at a time?

I do projects one at a time and I tend to work on it non stop because I tend not to finish an art if i don't finish it on one sitting.. 😅😅😅

Do you prefer large projects (chaptered fics, webtoons/zines, highly detailed art) or small projects (one-shots or simple art)?

I actually wanted to try fics and/or webtoon. I just do not have the time because of my full time job and also being the full time care giver to my sickly mother so I stick to oneshots and simple arts.

Are there any common themes, situations, tropes, or mediums in your work?

I do not think I have a specific theme or genre in creating art. But I tend to specifically draw multiple arts about the SM fanfic I'm into in that specific moment. So if I make an art or couple of arts that inspired by a certain fanfic, it means I really love it and they are being my inspiration.

Is there anything you haven’t explored artistically and would like to try?

I would love to explore or learn more about motion picture.

[lasenbyphoenix]

Shipper tag game

Tagged by @sunriseverse thank you!💜

What ship were you completely obsessed with when you were a teenager, but now you don’t care about anymore?

I didn't know the concept of shipping was a thing until I was 29 and stumbled onto fandom on tumblr, (didn't know about fandom either until then), so I'm trying to think of any couples I would have considered cute in anything I watched/read growing up... and I really dont know?? Joshua Jackson was a fave actor from back then and I can't even remember if I had an opinion on the Dawson/Joey vs Pacey/Joey debate on Dawson's Creek. I was always more interested in the story than the ships! (Can you tell I'm on the aroace side of life? Lol)

Which ship would you consider your first one?

Captain America is what lead me to finding fandom in the first place so Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes is the first that comes to mind. But before that I was very into Dr Who, so I'd probably consider The Doctor/Rose Tyler the first fictional couple I had any emotional investment in.

Your first fanfic was about which couple?

My first shippy fanfic (written before I knew what "fanfic" was) was James Bond/William Brandt Skyfall/Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol crossover.

You know the scene in Skyfall when Silva has Bond tied to a chair and starts toying with his chest and teases him about this not being in his training and Bond replies "What makes you think this is my first time?"? And then in Ghost Protocol when Jeremy Renner's character pulls himself out of the vent at the last second and gripes "Next time I get to seduce the rich guy."? I joked to my best friend that "Now we know what James Bond's first time was." And that's how that idea was born.

I started writing it as a joke for my friend but never finished it, and if I find the notebook it was written into I might just revisit it because I still quite like the idea!

Do you remember the first couple you saw fanart of?

Not for certain, but possibly either Dean/Cas or Rose/Ten.

Have you ever gotten into ship discourse?

Like ship wars or 'problematic' kind of discourse? If I did it would have been in my Captain America days (Stucky vs Stony and Peggy vs Sharon being heated topics of memory), and even then I don't remember specific incidents - as a newbie to fandom I tended to lurk and watch instead of engaging. Now I'm very much Ship And Let Ship (and only bitch in private to your mates, not in public!)

Did you use to have any NOTP or have one currently?

There have been plenty of ships I've come across that weren't my thing, Stony for example, but I'm not going to invest enough energy into recalling any others. I'm not here to spread hate on something other people like.

Who were the couple in the last fanfic you read?

On tumblr? Li Lianhua/Di Feisheng (Mysterious Lotus Casebook)

On Ao3? Ming Lou/Ming Cheng (The Disguiser)

Currently, do you have any OTPs?

So many. Zhang Rishan/Ba Ye, Hei Xiazi/Xiao Hua, Steve/Bucky, Steve/Peggy, Data/Geordi, Stiles/Derek, Jiang Cheng/Nie Huaisang, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, and likely more that havent come to mind yet

Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting together?

Haha no. I think I've always just accepted canon couples as "the thing that happened in the story", and now when I have my own ship preferences, then I accept that it's *my* headcanon and not necessarily anyone else's (especially not the writer's headcanon).

When Captain America Civil War came out I realised I'd gotten WAY over invested in what was or wasn't included in the movie (although I knew realistically they weren't going to make Stucky canon ) that I took a big step back afterwards and very much made a mental separation between "this is the story those writers want to tell" and "this is the story I like to imagine".

Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they are kind of interesting?

Dean/Cas maybe? It wasn't so much that I disliked them but that I didn't read them as a romantic relationship for most of the time I've known the ship existed (I'd always read Cas as ace). It's only been since the show ended that I think my idea of what makes a ship had widened to more than just "stereotypically romantic" which recalibrated how I saw them.

Do you have any ship that, in the past, would’ve been considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?

Incestuous (Thor/Loki, et al,)? Teacher/Student(I blame ABBA)? Torturer/Torture subject (Hydra Trash Party)?

What is your favorite crack ship?

I will certainly have come across crack ships that appealed to me, but honestly if the writer/artist sells it well enough then I stop thinking of them as crack ships and instead think of them as rare pairs.

What is the couple you read the most fanfics about?

Currently? HeiHua. Overall? Stucky.

What do most of your ships usually have in common?

Someone to be vulnerable around, someone who understands you better than anyone else, "you're not alone anymore"

What do you absolutely hate in a ship?

If I don't like a ship it's probably more to do with a singular character I don't like than the couple itself.

Tagging @gaiahenshin @fangdoubing @epicwalrus @tazzy-ace and anyone else who wants to!

[solalunar-eclipse]

Scars You Can’t See - Chapter 8

Chapter title: Countdown

Word count: about 3500 words

Author’s Note: I tried to make this one slightly more light-hearted, but we’ll see if that worked out! Also writing fight scenes is difficult.

First | Previous | Next

...

At this rate, it was honestly a miracle that Tails hadn’t had to buy a new carpet yet.

Thankfully for Sonic’s sanity, his little brother’s determination to preserve their house meant that he’d been given lots of free rein to run around outside whenever he felt like leaving. He’d also been given fewer chores lately, as Tails knew from experience that Sonic did not thrive on order and routine like he did.

It had been three days since their visit from G.U.N. and their last contact from Omega- and Team Dark in general. Though he never said as much, Sonic was really having an issue with the fact that Tails had gotten to contact his friend twice by now, while he hadn’t heard from Shadow in ages. He tried his best not to worry, but it had just been such a long time since he’d spoken with the other hedgehog.

And Omega had said that Shadow was struggling...had practically had to relive one of his most traumatic memories….

Sonic decided that he didn’t care about any of the hybrid’s usual thoughts about expressing emotions or vulnerability- the second he got to see Shadow for real, that guy wouldn’t be able to escape the hug he had coming. The hero was practically determined to drag his friend (because they were friends, no matter what Shadow might say) to a therapist, too, since Chaos knew the guy needed it.

The blue hedgehog slowed down considerably and began to stalk through the forest instead, trying to get the majority of his anger out through his legs and movement. It wouldn’t do for Tails to see him like this…

Sonic’s thoughts circled back to how his hands were tied by what he’d promised Shadow- the hybrid had been so insistent, but now Sonic regretted agreeing not to go after G.U.N. Truthfully, the only reason he hadn’t broken his promise already was because while Tails was an incredibly clever and talented person, he could never forgive himself if the young fox got hurt. Otherwise, he would absolutely have long since blasted into G.U.N.’s headquarters, grabbed the commander by the front of his military uniform and told him in no uncertain terms that he had better stop hunting Team Dark and he’d better do it immediately. The hero had had enough of his friends suffering while he was forced to sit safe at home and wait.

His phone buzzed then, pulling him out of his tangled web of thoughts. Tugging it out of his windswept mess of quills, he saw that it was Tails calling and of course picked up immediately.

“Yeah, lil’ bro, what’s up?” he asked, hoping that most of the frustration had left his voice by now.

“Uh, Sonic?” the fox said, sounding pretty tense himself. “Since those agents came to our house a couple of days ago, I managed to hack into G.U.N.’s main server and now I can see some of what they’re doing- mostly where the organisation's sending people and all that.”

“Epic!” Sonic cheered. He began to wonder- could they use this to help their fugitive friends?

“Well, yeah, it would be...except that they’re sending an entire squad to our house. Like, right now.”

His grin froze in place. A squad of soldiers? The hero almost felt a grim sort of delight in that- finally, he’d be able to vent some of his frustration on the organization that had caused this whole mess. He hoped the house would remain standing, though. Tails had built it around a tree from scratch and was really proud of it. 

Sonic decided he’d work that out once he got home, and just a moment later, a sonic boom exploded across the landscape as he took off. 

…

Once the hero arrived at home, the duo began to set up the house’s various defense mechanisms- since they were a) very famous, b) hated by one of the most powerful supervillains in the world and c) one of them was an engineer, it was only natural that the house would be at least as well defended as a high-security bank vault. Sonic practically bounced around the house as he helped activate certain parts of their machinery, nervous tension running high. G.U.N. wasn’t going to be pulling any punches this time, he was sure of it.

Tails, by contrast, was absolutely calm. The fox was ridiculously mature for his age, and Sonic suspected that he instinctively knew by now when he needed to counteract his elder brother’s wild energy. Once everything was set up, the two built a makeshift barricade as a last resort at the front door, and waited.

Thankfully for Tails’s sanity, it didn’t take long for the trucks to arrive. 

As the three trailer trucks parked outside his house, ten soldiers poured out of each one, while several technicians began to set up some sort of weird-looking prototype laser device. The fox laughed for a second at the sight of it in a way that sent a few chills down Sonic’s spine. His brother could be downright terrifying at times.

Tails scoffed. “Please. That laser doesn’t have the power output to break my shields….wait.

“What the heck?”

The four technicians had begun to hook up the laser to- of all things- one of Eggman’s old power cores that he usually used in his bases. 

The young engineer tugged at his tails in frustration. “That’s so dumb! Sure, it might boost the laser’s strength, but there’s at least a twenty percent chance it’ll blow up in their faces! A small machine like that wasn’t made to withstand the amount of power it takes to charge an entire Eggman base!”

Sonic blinked and looked at his brother. “Those aren’t bad odds….”

“They aren’t good ones, either! I’d never let someone use a creation of mine with a one in five chance of failure. It’s just embarrassing! And it shows how far behind their engineers are!” Tails’s fur was fluffed up in outrage and irritation.

The hero almost laughed. “That’s what you complain about first? Not the fact that they’re gonna try and blow up our house?” he asked, his tone light. He snatched up the fox and rushed them both away from the front door as a precaution- that was definitely going to be their first target.

Sonic pushed Tails into the highest room in the house, before launching himself out the window and curling up into a deadly sphere of razor-sharp spikes. He vaguely heard one soldier yell something in a panicked voice, but didn’t pay much attention to it. He slammed into the ground, still in a ball, and tore off towards the laser cannon at top speed, leaving a cloud of dust behind him as he went. 

Irritatingly, the soldiers’ gunfire spattered all around the cannon, making it impossible to tear the thing apart. Sparks flew across the ground as Sonic careened around it before jumping up into a running stance and taking off in their direction. The air snapped around him as he broke the sound barrier and landed a furious kick on one of the trucks, denting the heavy steel and flipping it onto its side.

Sonic stumbled as a loud explosion rocked the ground, but kept sprinting after a glance assured him that Tails’s shields had held against the blast. The hedgehog smacked one man’s rifle out of his hand, the sheer speed of the blow bending it in half (and was almost certain he heard a distinct ‘why do we keep fighting this guy with guns?’) before he moved on. 

A dozen soldiers were on the ground either unconscious or groaning in pain by the time someone thought to radio for reinforcements- which they’d apparently had on standby ready to be helicoptered in. The blue blur wasn’t sure whether this high estimation of his fighting skills was something he should be proud of...or not.

The fur prickled on the back of Sonic’s neck as a humming noise filled the air.

A moment later, he threw himself to the ground as a red-hot laser carved a wide arc above him, slicing through the area where his midriff was a few seconds ago. He heard a faint yell of outrage from inside the house above all the noise, and stuck out his arm for a quick thumbs-up to Tails. 

A couple of seconds later, one very familiar and well-used earpiece landed in the dirt next to him as the laser swung back across the battlefield to refocus on their shields. Sonic shoved it into one blue ear before running up the side of the second truck and backflipping to land behind several soldiers. “Miss me, guys?” he asked smugly, before smirking and delivering several well-placed blows to said soldiers’ kneecaps that left all three doubled over on the ground. None of them had even seen him as he moved, which was really a testament to Sonic’s skill.

Tails’s voice crackled to life in his ear as he sent another person flying. “Awesome job! By the way, they’ve already fired the cannon three times, so either their luck is going to be great with this next one, or else…”

The cannon’s shot breached the shields, but Sonic noticed as he ran that its casing was burning red-hot, and- 

A shockwave blasted out from the cannon, making all four of its attendants fly into the air, yet in the seconds before they hit the ground, Sonic had time to:

Heave a lengthy sigh at their overestimation of the cannon.

Decide that even if they were working for G.U.N., a life was still a life.

Run around and safely place all four of them inside of a truck...

And avoid the explosion as it tore up the ground within a ten-foot radius of the machine.

(The hero had known for quite some time that being the fastest thing alive meant that he could do some really cool tricks.)

Dirt exploded in all directions, leaving a crater and a smoking lump of metal on the ground. Unfortunately, though, the house’s main defenses were down, and any second now, the helicopter would be there with enough soldiers to take out the rest. And his little brother was still inside...

As though he’d heard the hedgehog’s thoughts, Tails’s voice crackled to life through the speaker. “Sonic! The reinforcements are almost here- we can’t take them all, even if I come out there!”

“Not happening, pal, not unless you’ve got your mech.” Sonic insisted, putting on his ‘big brother’ voice. “Hey, wait- where’re they going?” he asked suddenly, watching as the remaining soldiers retreated to take cover behind one of their trucks. That wouldn’t really help them, but Sonic knew that they knew he couldn’t take the whole organization on by himself.

“They’re waiting it out until the rest arrive...but we won’t be here by then.” Tails said, sounding confident.

“And why’s that, pal?” He folded his arms, keeping one eye on the soldiers.

“Because-” and here Sonic suddenly heard a loud roaring noise coming from the back of the house, “-we’re going to get out of here!”

That was when the Tornado soared directly over their heads.

The G.U.N. soldiers certainly tried to shoot the plane down, but of course, they couldn’t keep up with Tails’s expert flying. Bullets embedded themselves into nothing but trees as it flew away into the forest, a blue streak taking off after it at top speed. Sonic kept up with the red biplane easily, just waiting for the right moment to...there!

He launched himself off a particularly well-placed branch, flinging himself high into the air before landing perfectly on the wing of the plane. “Alright, Tails,” he yelled, trying to make himself heard over the roar of the engine, “where to now?”

The kitsune winced and tapped his ear. “Earpiece, remember?” he asked, and Sonic cringed, realizing that he had forgotten what it was like to wear the little speaker while on the Tornado.

“Ahah, gotcha.” he said sheepishly. “So?”

Tails sighed, but not in an irritated manner. “Angel Island- nobody can find it if Knuckles wants to stay hidden. I called him up while you were out front and he said we could crash there.”

“Oh, sweet!” Sonic said happily. “It’ll be like a sleep...over…”

He trailed off weakly, suddenly remembering their home. “Sorry about the house, pal...I know ya worked hard on it.” The hero ran a hand through his quills, unwilling to meet the other’s eyes.

“It’s okay.” Tails said bravely. “I brought a few things-” he gestured to the backseat- “including all my blueprints, so I can always build us another. And besides…” here he leaned forward, catching Sonic’s eye, “home is wherever we are, so long as we’re together.”

The blue blur quickly nodded before looking down pointedly at the biplane’s wing, hoping strongly that Tails didn’t notice that his eyes had begun to glisten just a little more than usual.

(He did, though.)

…

Knuckles was happy to see them, of course, if a little less obviously so than usual due to the circumstances that had forced the two into this situation. The guardian immediately began to move the island to a new area where it would be hidden from view, while Sonic and Tails just relaxed and looked through the various items that the latter had thought to bring: a spare pair of shoes for Sonic, a toolbox and the aforementioned blueprints for Tails, plenty of food for the three of them, and of course lots of important technology.

As Tails left to go check on Knuckles, the blue hedgehog stretched out on the grass and heaved a deep sigh. What he’d give to know how Team Dark was doing right now…

…

Two days later, he found out.

The very moment that the team released the video, all three inhabitants of Angel Island sat down to watch it on Tails’s screen. The fox had been constantly monitoring the Internet for anything about the other team, especially their social media, so of course he was alerted the second anything came up.

Before they started the video, the hero had been vibrating with energy. 

By the end of the section about the ARK, he was completely still, his eyes as wide as they could go.

Tails paused the video there, as the massive wave of responses was already starting to flow. Sonic blinked back to reality to discover that his nails had nearly torn holes through his gloves- that was how tightly he was clenching his fists. He rolled his shoulders, trying to get the tension to leave his body, but he couldn’t stop thinking.

How in the name of Chaos did Shadow watch that?

They agreed that Tails would watch the rest while the other two stepped up to support their friends, and support they certainly did. Both of their tempers were running hot, and more than once the fox, glancing over their shoulders, had to remind them that caps lock was not going to be helpful right now.

Not long after Team Dark had stopped responding to questions, Sonic and Knuckles sat back down to view the other part of the video. They watched in shock as the peace and power of that meeting was violated, people arrested just like that, and yet neither of them had heard anything about this event.

Immediately afterwards, the latter got right back onto his phone and started typing out absolutely vicious responses to some of the more ridiculous conspiracy theorists. His violet eyes were narrowed in anger as he tore into their ideas- while he might not be able to convince the people themselves, he could hopefully stop more from being sucked in.

Sonic, meanwhile, just lay half on his side in the grass for a minute, trying to restrain the urge to scream. Why hadn’t he done more damage to G.U.N. when he’d had the chance? Why hadn’t he been able to see that this ran so deep?

Sonic turned his head to the side to look at his brother. “Tails?” he asked, trying to keep his voice under control. “Where’s Team Dark gonna go next, d’ya think?”

The kitsune frowned. “I don’t know...but if I had to guess, they’re probably trying to figure out how deep this whole problem goes. That’s what I think we’d do if we were in that situation, at any rate. To find that kind of stuff, though, they’d have to head straight to Central City and hack directly into G.U.N.’s mainframe...which would be incredibly risky on a good day.”

Sonic shot upright. “What if they are gonna do that next?”

Tails shook his head vehemently. “After running away from the entire organization for so long? That’d practically be a suicide mission! Even if they somehow managed to escape with the information, G.U.N. would be able to hunt them down in no time!”

The two brothers stared at each other. “But that sounds like them….doesn’t it.” Tails sighed, looking down at the grass.

“Knux!” Sonic yelled, rushing over to where the guardian sat. “We have to hang around Central City, man. If the team’s gonna head anywhere, it’ll be there. And if they’ll be in that much trouble by the time they get out of there, we have to be there to pick them up.”

Knuckles leveled him with a stare so flat it put sheets of paper to shame. “Sonic. Literally three days ago, I helped you guys escape G.U.N. and we have been hiding ever since. And now you want me to move my island, with the last ruins of my tribe’s temple and my Master Emerald, within reach of an organization that would give anything to be able to take it all for their scientists to look at.

“No. Way.”

The hedgehog widened his stance. “Knuckles.” he began, stabbing a finger at the ground for emphasis. “Literally ten days ago, Team Dark escaped G.U.N. all by themselves and have been on their own ever since. And now you want us to leave our friends, and remember, your girlfriend at the mercy of that organization, for the sake of a giant rock.

“Yes way. Absolutely.”

Knuckles scowled and blushed, avoiding Sonic’s stare after that mention of Rouge. “I guess….if we stayed away from the city itself and out of sight….”

Tails decided that this was a slightly safer moment to chime in. “I’ll try and monitor the airwaves in the area- we can move away if we think they’ve noticed us!”

“All of this is assuming that they’re even actually there.” the echidna replied, seeming slightly irritated at being outnumbered. 

“It isn’t the most logical place for them to go.” Tails agreed. “It’s ridiculously dangerous, and G.U.N. probably knows that. But, it’s also their most powerful building, which means that it’s going to have all of the more recent files there.

“While this video is some damaging evidence, it’s not nearly enough to permanently damage their standing overall...they definitely have the cash to sneak out of this level of bad press. A bigger release- now that we know this isn’t a one-time event- is definitely the best way to deal with them. And what better way to do it than to find all their super-secret files at the source?”

Sonic sighed. “Plus, I’ve got a feeling G.U.N.’s gonna underestimate that team’s habit of suffering to save others.” His shoulders sagged slightly at the thought, but he felt a little bit of the weight lift off of them when Tails leaned against him slightly with an understanding look.

The echidna watched them sympathetically for a moment before remembering that he was supposed to be arguing against them. “Well, why don’t they just go back to whatever place they busted first? That sure wasn’t in Central City.”

Sonic rolled his eyes. “It’s ‘cause they’d be expecting them there, knucklehead. Never return to the scene of the crime. That’s what they say in all the TV shows, right, Tails?”

“Well, while this is not a TV show, Sonic, you’re right.” the kitsune said, sighing. “That’s another reason for them to go to Central City.

Knuckles gave a mixture of a sigh and a growl, stalking back to the altar where the Master Emerald floated. “Fine. But if this goes south, I am blaming your-” he pointed a vicious finger at Sonic- “spiky butt for all of it.”

The hero grinned at his friend in a way he knew got under his spines, and was rewarded with a huff and another grumble. Yet the island still began to move, shifting eastward from the center of the country towards Central City. 

Hold on, guys. Sonic thought, feeling properly hopeful for the first time in over a week. We’re on our way.

[hawkland]

My (mostly) Destiel Recs, Round-up #6

Well, between working like crazy on my DCBB fic and GISH and injuring my neck last month I haven’t kept up with my rec posts, so this one is going to be LONG and have a LOT and I’m going to try to break it up into sections, from oldies but goodies (some things I found on very old rec lists) to smutty delights to just tasty little bits of fluff, hopefully there’s something or everyone here. Most of these are not super-long, largely in the 10-25k range, though there are a few beyond that. With all the stuff I’ve had going on I haven’t wanted to lose sleep diving into 100k epics (especially when I’m writing my own right now, lol.)

“Oldies” but Goodies:  Here are two great fics written some time way back when but that still definitely slap.

Theodicy by manic_intent (11k) - Probably the most brilliant Godstiel fic I’ve read to date. One of Cas’s first acts as the new god is to make a new archangel. Dean isn’t exactly on board with having his soul re-sculpted into wings he hates on sight (especially as they seem magnetically drawn to Cas), but he isn’t exactly given a choice. He, Sam and Bobby struggle with how to handle their former friend suddenly becoming a vindictive deity - trying to make plans to kill him if they must, which is pretty hard when it seems like Cas is always one step ahead of him. Can Dean hold on to enough of his humanity to provide a conscience to Cas and try to steer him toward good acts instead of destruction? This is one that I can’t say has a perfectly happy ending, but it’s a hopeful and imperfect one that’s just right for how the story plays out. 

My Eyes Are An Ocean by entanglednow (10k) - Season 5 AU where Dean averts the apocalypse through a spell that “powers up” all the angels and he sees Cas’s true form - before being rendered blind. Dean tries to adjust to his blindness, Cas tries to deal with his guilt, and it’s just a lovely little read with an ending that’s... *chef’s kiss*

Lots more recs below the cut:

More great reads from some of my favorite authors I’ve recced before:

The Cabin on the Lake by DeanRH (21k) - This may be my new favorite DeanRH fic...at least for the moment. The year is 2152, Sam and Dean are long gone to Heaven, while Cas - stuck somewhere between mortal and angel - remains on Earth keeping vigil, keeping up the hunt, assuming he’ll never see either Winchester ever again. But when he starts hearing things, and imagining Dean visiting him as an angel himself, he starts losing grip on what is and isn’t real, and whether he can trust anything he sees or believes to be the truth. This is one hell of a psychological rollercoaster that kept me guessing right along with Cas until the very end. It also has some super-creepy horror elements, a novel “monster of the week”, and the hot-as-sin smut scenes I always expect from this author.

X Marks the Scot by DeanRH (15.9k) A fun little romp through history in one of this author’s great not-quite-au fics. Crowley sends Dean and Sam back in history to the Scottish Highlands to stop a monster, and while there they meet a blue-eyed clan chief who makes Dean weak in the knees. There’s something familiar about him, too. a very clever au that ties back to canon for an unexpected fix-it. Also, Cas in a kilt. Enough said.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon by DeanRH (12k) - Sweet and slightly angsty AU. What if Dean was a gardener in ancient Babylon when a strange dignitary came to warn that the tower under construction was to be destroyed by angels? Lush, romantic and sexy with some wonderful tie-ins to canon characterizations (of Dean, Sam, John and of course Cas).

sufficient for thee by angelfishofthelord (21k) - This is a beautiful Cas angst-fest and character study that reimagines how angel grace works, particularly in regards to healing others. It covers the whole of Cas’s arc from Season 4 through a post-series fix-it, is absolutely stunning and features some great world-building in regards to the angels. (One important TW: those with cutting/self-harm issues may wish to skip or at least proceed with caution). I love that I can always count on angelfishofthelord when I need a good dose of Cas!whump and pain.

And laugh at gilded butterflies by ireallydidthistomyself (13k) - another great Dadstiel fic from this author featuring one of my favorite angsty subjects! I don’t know how I missed reading this one before. An AU where Cas is raising (baby)Jack on his own until the angels find the two of them and prepare to seal Jack away in the Ma’lak box. Cas begs them to let him go with Jack, so at least Jack won’t be alone for eternity. Meanwhile Dean is frantically trying to find what happened to Cas, and he gets some unexpected help from Crowley.  It’s sad and sweet and all the characterizations are great. A+ Crowley use here, too.

what stays (and what fades away) by dothraki_shieldmaiden (64k) - a fabulous read with some great art, too, that started me reading a bunch of fic from this author. Cas goes missing, and when he’s found he seems deep under a spell. When they finally manage to awaken him, he doesn’t remember anything of this life with Dean, Sam and Cas in the bunker. The last thing he knew he was a nurse living with his wonderful husband, Dean, and their two adopted children, Jack and Claire. What I loved about this one was the clever twist as to who was behind Cas’s curse and also how well-developed his AU world/existence was. I’m not generally keen on mundane aus or the one-dimensional way a lot of djinn dream fics tend to go for them, but this one managed to capture a believable version of Dean and Cas living a “normal” life without monsters without making it sugary/too-sweet. 

before knowing remembers by dothraki_shieldmaiden (14k) Post 15x04, a wonderful fic that plays with some meta topics in a clever way. Dean and Sam are happy - they have free will and they’ve won against Chuck, even if they suffered some big losses along the way (including Jack). But Dean can’t help but think he’s forgetting something...or rather, someone. Yet every time he thinks he remembers, the name and face of that someone slips from his mind. 

weights on my ankles by dothraki_shieldmaiden (9k) Post-15x03 where Cas ends up going back to the Gas ‘n Sip and working with Nora after leaving the bunker. A bitter sweet divorce-arc AU and what I love the most is how it ends - not perfect, not tragic, just very real and believable. 

15x18 and Post-canon fix-it fics:

Orbital Velocity Around a Celestial Body by LeverDrift (26k) - An angsty but lovely fix-it fic, one where it gets worse for a while before it gets better. Dean pulls Cas from the Empty, where he’d been living in a fantasy world with a dream!Dean who was giving him everything real!Dean is certain he can’t. Dean has to struggle with wondering if Cas would have been better off with dream!Dean instead of him. This is one that will break your heart before putting it back together again as Dean struggles with his self-worth issues.

so good at crashing in by Wintertree (36k) - Another post-finale fix-it where Cas is back, the world is saved, and things are still...not as easy as it should be for either Dean nor Cas. Monsters are gone, there’s no more hunting to be done, and Cas wants to move out of the bunker somewhere closer to Claire, to move on with a proper human life. Dean thinks he can move there with Cas and stay as “best friends”, even to the extent that Cas encourages him to go out and have sex with others/women. (And wants to hear about it after the fact!) But can Dean figure out what he really wants, and what Cas wants as well? A refreshingly unique take on what a post-series life could have looked like for them.

Delicious smut:

Empty by squirrelofcelestialintent (43k) - Every day this fandom makes me rethink my previous squicks and DNWs in fanfic. Here I find myself enjoying quite a bit more dom/sub elements than I normally ever would! I think because I was absolutely drawn in by the breathtaking first chapter, capturing beautifully the emotions of Cas returning from the Empty in Season 13 if he and Dean had confessed their feelings right then and there. But Dean’s self-worth is all fucked up, he feels there’s no way he can be good enough for Cas, especially when his sexual desires run a little bit...let’s just say outside the vanilla and he’s struggling with shame over doing sex work when he was younger. This was HOT and POOR SAM really gets stuck in the middle of, well, hearing more about his brother’s sex life than he ever needed to.

He's My Mate by Hatsonhamburgers (22k) - This fic manages the delightful combination of humor and extreme hotness perfectly. Dean and Cas catch each other in some questionable masturbation situations. This leads Cas to decide he needs to buy Dean some proper sex toys. He’s just helping his best friend out, right? Sure. As I said, hysterical AND hot as hell. 

Generals by nanoochka (9k) - Cas/Dean, Cas/Balthazar/Dean, implied past-Cas/Balthazar. An old LJ fic I found on an ancient rec list that is just scorching hot and a brilliant character study of Cas and Dean. Balthazar decides to invite himself in when he catches Dean and Cas engaging in some frisky business, and it turns into a bit of a power-play between the two soldiers of Heaven. Cas gets DP’ed and it’s all...well. It’s fucking good, read it.

The One With The Preening by HolyFuckingHell (5.5k) Can I do a rec post without including some wing!kink/wing!grooming in it? No, I can’t. (I also really enjoyed some of the other fics in this author’s series including The One With Dean's Horny Movies).

A Single Point of Light by Destina (2.4k) - This is a gorgeous Cas/Dean/Benny Purgatory short! A delicious balance of the two each caring for and caring about Dean in their own, protective ways, definitely a delight for any fans of this threesome.

Short and sweet, fluff to angst:

Snugglebird by almaasi (5.3k) - So, so soft and sweet and snuggly, just like the title. Dean’s things are disappearing from the bunker...and so, suddenly, has Cas. What’s going on? I do love my nesting!Cas fics, so...yeah. If you need a smile this is a good one to read :)

And Cleanse Me From My Sin by thisisapaige (1.6k) - another one for my beloveds who also enjoy wing grooming and sweet Dean-taking-care-of-Cas fluff.

Needle and Thread by Misachan (4k) - Season 5 wing!fic hurt/comfort. Cas’s wings are badly injured, Dean doesn’t quite know what he’s doing, but he’s stitched up Sam and himself enough times. He can do this. If you love caretaker!Dean and vulnerable!Cas don’t overlook this little gem.

Deceptive Preludes by sp8ce (2.7k) - One of those stories that delves into some of the difficulties Cas might have after coming back from the Empty a second time, especially in regards to accepting what’s real or not, understanding Dean, and how both of their communication issues can add to their struggles. Painful but hopeful for the future, felt very believable as I read it.

[carewyncromwell]

FFWF!

Seeing as I finally plunged into the first part of your Rakepick ficlet and can’t wait to read the second part later, how do you design scenes and as graphic and action filled as incorporated there? What’s the writing process?

Much love to my favourite writer, you never fail to make me want to write better myself 💛💚

I need to reply to your comment on the Good!Rakepick AU fully (because seriously, MY HEART IS SO FULL, you are too wonderful to me, chere 😭), but in the meantime...

When I made up stories as a kid, the visual component always came first for me. When I started writing stuff down as a preteen, I even wrote in screenplay form, rather than in prose, so I tend to see the events of my stories in my head before figuring out the words to try to describe those images to someone else. I'm afraid it's something that's kind of second-nature to me, so I don't know how much advice I can give, but I'll try to break it down in a way that makes sense.

For me, I'm a rather visual learner. Everyone has their own style of learning, whether it involves watching/reading something (visual), listening to someone talk about something (auditory), or by physically doing something (kinetic), and I think that quality can also extend to how your brain interprets, translates, and internalizes information in general instead of just in the classroom.

If you're a visual learner like I am, then taking that time to visualize your settings and characters might make it easier to write a scene that other people can follow.

If you're an auditory learner, maybe speaking the scenes out loud can help. I actually do this too, using the auditory element to help me visualize the characters and check the scene's pacing. ASMR videos on Youtube could also help you place yourself in a certain location: I used one for the first time while writing my Disneyland-centric story TrueMagic, and it ended up helping me visualize the environment better and even inspired some details I included in the description of the location too.

If you're a kinetic learner, perhaps acting out the scene physically or being in an environment kind of like what you're trying to get across can help. I'm not really a kinetic learner, but there's one scene I wrote for Lack of Lamb Sauce that had to feel very physical and raw, so I actually waited until my apartment was empty and all the windows and doors were closed and then went into the living room and proceeded to physically mime and act out this one scene I was writing, lashing my arm out with an imaginary wand and screaming, as I tried to place myself in this character's shoes. Having that physical exhaustion in my limbs and tapping into those intense emotions by lashing out at no one actually helped me visualize that particular scene better so I could write it.

My interest in theater arts and film sort of helps in all three of these cases. Visually, I imagine the blocking of a scene the way a director might for a play, TV show, or movie; I try to hear how the characters deliver their lines in my head; and then like an actor, it's sometimes helpful to actually do what the characters are doing or otherwise "get into character" by dressing the part or immersing yourself in the environment.

When dealing with fight scenes in particular, in the real world, stage or film combat is often referred to as "fight choreography," and the word "choreography" is important, because like a dance, there is a rhythm to it. It's good to narrow down how the fight starts and ends and what the combatants on each side want (which should have some point of conflict). Then one can focus on pacing, starting simple and then growing more complex and raising the stakes bit by bit. For the first part of the Good!Rakepick AU, this thought process could work thusly --

The fight starts because Rakepick attacks; Tulip, Tonks, Liz, and Barnaby fight back; and Ismelda, Diego, and Chiara and later Carewyn, Talbott, Bill, and Ben come to help them.

The fight ends because Carewyn refuses to give Rakepick what she wants and Jacob arrives to violently disarm Rakepick.

Carewyn's goal throughout the scene is to protect her friends. Most of Carewyn's friends' goal throughout the scene is to prevent Rakepick from accessing the Vault and capture her. Chiara's goal throughout the scene is to heal Barnaby and the others.

Rakepick's goal throughout the scene is to push Carewyn far enough that she kills her. This directly opposes what the others want because the Circle of Khanna capturing Rakepick would make it so she can't make Carewyn do what she wants and paragon Carewyn would only purposefully hurt Rakepick if her loved ones were in mortal danger.

I remember one of the filmmakers behind Disney's Aladdin (the real animated one, for the record) once talking about how the climax between Aladdin and Jafar "raised the stakes" so well by showing Aladdin and the others come up with possible solutions, only for each one to be counteracted, therefore taking more and more options for success off the table and making things worse and worse every minute. Aladdin tries to snatch the lamp -- Jafar spots him reflected in Jasmine's crown. Aladdin tries to hold Jafar back while Jasmine runs to grab the lamp -- Jafar traps Jasmine in a giant hourglass that's slowly filling up with sand. Abu tries to grab the lamp -- he's turned into a wind-up toy. Carpet tries to grab it -- they get magically unwound. Aladdin tries again to grab it -- Jafar brings down a cage of swords around it. Aladdin grabs a sword and prepares to fight -- Jafar breathes fire and turns into a giant snake...and so on and so forth. In the part of the Good!Rakepick AU you read, something similar happens with Rakepick and the Circle of Khanna. Talbott and Carewyn arrive to help, with Talbott landing a blow on Rakepick and Carewyn helping Chiara get to Barnaby and the others -- Rakepick lands a curse on Diego that physically tortures him. Tonks tries to retalliate -- Rakepick casts a circle of flames around Tonks, Chiara, Barnaby, Tulip, and Liz to trap them. Talbott, Bill, Ben, and Carewyn all try to fight back individually -- Rakepick blocks their spells and enchants the statues to contain Talbott and Ben. Bill and Carewyn team up and actually end up giving Rakepick some trouble -- Rakepick picks them apart and makes Carewyn panic by trapping her BFF in an enchanted sinkhole she can't pull him out of...and so on.

I hope this both makes sense and is helpful? 😅

Fanfic Writer Friday!

[thesunnyshow]

Name: Sarah

Writing Blog URL: @dreamsafterhours​

Age: 19

Nationality: Korean-Australian

Languages: English, Korean, Conversational Japanese, a tiny bit of French

Star Sign: Taurus

MBTI: ENFP

Favorite color: I’ve heard red suits me well, I also like purple and blue.

Favorite food: Literally everything. I love food.

Favorite movie: Always changes with every movie I watch, but one of my all time favourites is 극한직업 (Extreme Job)

Favorite ice cream flavor: Hokey Pokey/Cookies and Cream

Favorite animal: Tiger

Coffee or tea? What are you ordering? 

Matcha frappe!! I prefer sweeter drinks over black coffee

Dream job (whether you have a job or not)

Screen actor/band member/author, something that allows me to manifest my creative fantasies

Go-to karaoke song 

Tears - So Chan Whee

If you could have one superpower, what would you choose? 

Time manipulation! Ultimately what we are deprived of in the human situation is time, and if I can manipulate the speed at which it goes, or visit different points in my life and beyond, I would be able to fix any regrets I have.

If you could visit a historical era, which would you choose? 

Premodern Korea!

If you could restart your life, knowing what you do now, would you? 

Yes, definitely. I’d spend more time and effort into my academics and start more hobbies at an earlier age.

Would you rather fight 100 chicken-sized horses or one horse-sized chicken? 

A hundred horses, no matter what size, is not ideal. Especially if they want to fight you—I’ll take my chances with one chicken.

If you were a trope in a teen high school movie, what would you have been? 

The protag’s childhood best friend, loyal and ready to throw hands at anyone who wrongs them.

Do you believe in aliens/supernatural creatures? 

Sure! It seems strange to think that we could be the only intelligent life in the entire universe.

If you could buy anything in the world right now (regardless of price), what would it be? 

Idol entertainment companies. No more slave contracts and mistreatment ✌🏻

Fun fact about yourself that not everyone would know? 

I’ve never cracked a screen before (touch wood lmao), mostly because I do prefer protective cases over slimmer ones. I’m also part of a Korean traditional percussion and dance club! We put on our own concerts each year but unfortunately this year’s concert had to be cancelled. Corona really said coroNO

What fandom(s) do you write for? 

Mostly NCT; I used to write for BTS and EXO back in the day, but I’m ready to leave my writing past in my past!

When did you post your first piece? 

2014! I started my fanfic journey on Wattpad.

Do you write fluff/angst/crack/general/smut, combo, etc? Why? 

I prefer writing angst over fluff, sometimes crack if my mind comes up with something ridiculous. I’ve never written smut before and I’ve never really thought about it, but who knows? Maybe in the future.

Do you write OCs, X Readers, Ships...etc? 

For fics that I post online now, they’re mostly x reader, but with original content or plots that include characters who would have a certain name (i.e. surnames) I tend to establish an OC. I’m not sure readers would engage with an OC as much as they would with an x reader fic, so I tend to prefer x reader.

Why did you start writing on Tumblr? 

I love creating universes from my own fantasies, and since kpop groups provide content with concepts and visuals, it’s been so easy to imagine them as characters in an AU. Through writing I can share these little headcanons and scenes with people in the fandom and practise my writing skills at the same time!

What inspires you to write? 

Leading on from my previous answer, my imagination runs wild when it comes to character traits and what I think these people would do if they were faced with a certain situation. I discuss these scenarios with my friends a lot, so I’d say the characters themselves and my friends inspire me to manifest these fantasies into words.

What genres/AUs do you enjoy writing the most? 

Love me a good old mafia au with that angst factor. The weapons! The loyalty (and sometimes lack thereof)! the relationships! The thrill and the danger! That strange sense of second-hand excitement when we think about disregard for legal systems! Top tier. A close second is Hogwarts AUs. Something about the house dynamics and sorting people into them brings me joy.

What do you hope your readers take away from your work? 

When readers consume my work, I hope they are able to take a glimpse of what is going on in my head. I try to use as much description as possible to make it as clear as I can, and ultimately I hope readers can appreciate the wonders of the creative mind. I write a lot of timestamps because I have so many scenes and scenarios in my head that I can’t wait to craft into a full plotline, so I’ll dump all my ideas into a specific timestamp to really get that sense of a “slice of life” style! I hope they explore all the possible worlds we can come up with.

What do you do when you hit a rough spot creatively? 

Discuss the topic with my friends. Keep the flow going, get some input from others. Watch some movie scenes or listen to music related to the genre to get into the feels. If it’s still not working, I take a break from it, come back to it with a fresh mind.

What is your favorite work and why? Your most successful? 

The fic with the most notes at the moment is my college bf renjun timestamp, and I think I can guess why. The line “sorry, I don’t date people who pay me” was one that I came up with for Renjun from the get-go, I couldn’t see anyone saying it better than him. My favourite? I’ll have to get back to you guys on that one. I’ve never been completely satisfied with anything I write, and I think I can do better — but the ones I have the most fun writing are my mafia AUs.

Who is your favorite person to write about? 

I prefer to write about people who I see in a variety of different situations, i.e. is very versatile as a character and suits any genre. In that aspect I love writing about Haechan — much like him as a performer and able to understand and pull off any musical concept, I’ve never failed to see him in any scenario with a range of different personalities. He’d make an amazing actor if he wanted to, and if I was a casting director, I’d love to cast him.

Do you think there’s a difference between writing fanfiction vs. completely original prose? 

No. Not a major one, anyway. The original piece I’ve been working on for the past 2+ years is completely original and yet I’ve set a few of the characters’ faceclaims as NCT members, purely because they fit the image of what I believe my characters would look like (for example, Jeno is the faceclaim for the prince — tell me he doesn’t give off royal vibes and I’ll laugh). This doesn’t necessarily mean I’m writing fanfiction. The prince’s name isn’t Jeno. I don’t include Jeno’s notable characteristics as a person. My writing style remains consistent throughout all my works — fanfic or original — the only thing that separates the two, in my opinion, is whether or not the author draws from the celebrity as a person (i.e. using their name, perhaps their relationships with others, etc.) and ultimately feature that celeb as a character in their story.

What do you think makes a good story? 

In two words, plausibility and consistency. I don’t refer to the creative aspect of writing — go wild with imagination. Break boundaries, invent new things. By plausible I mean whether or not the choices the characters make are understandable in their respective settings. Sure, characters can do stupid things and make mistakes, sure, plot twists can occur — but can we as readers see why the characters made those silly mistakes? were they forced errors? perhaps immaturity? Are the plot twists in order with the situation and its possibilities? Is there a sound explanation behind why these choices are made? If we can’t see and understand why certain plot points happen, it loses credibility and I tend to have difficulty seeing it in my head. Also, I tend to take punctuation and grammar extremely seriously. I’m that friend who calls out grammar mistakes and repeats typos, and in my own opinion, it definitely affects the reading experience. The flow of language is definitely mediated by such mechanisms, and if those aren’t there, I tend to wonder how much I’d love it if the grammar and spelling were correct.

What is your writing process like? 

A lot of the time, I’ll think of a random scenario, maybe act it out myself. Experiment with dialogue, visualise the scene in my head. Jot down a few notes, some good lines that I can come up with. Then I imagine who would fit the scenario best, taking into consideration the characteristics and dynamics I want in the scene. I’ll write out the scene in dot points, and then write it into paragraphs.

Would you ever repurpose a fic into a completely original story? 

I’ve never thought about fic to original story, but I have thought about repurposing an original story to a fic! ‘Casting’ idols as my characters is always fun, I get to experiment with character traits and through this I can understand my characters better. Casting idols also gives me a clear visual representation of my characters, too! So far, I haven’t repurposed a fic into an original story, since a lot of my work isn’t part of a fixed plot. That being said, I imagine it would be fun!

What tropes do you love, and what tropes can’t you stand? 

I love a good old enemies-to-lovers/enemies-to-friends trope — the initial dynamics, the turning point, the character development, the progressive trust towards each other, new loyalties, the compromises, learning to see the good in anyone — and it goes with any every genre. So versatile! I love it. A trope I can’t stand, though? Cheating/adultery. Oof. Goes against my morals.

How much would you say audience feedback/engagement means to you? 

It means a lot more than readers might think. I value all kinds of feedback, whether it be good feedback or constructive criticism. It allows me to see what readers liked and didn’t like, and I can shape my writing into better form with reference. It also motivates me a lot! A retweet with a simple comment in the tags will literally make my entire day.

What has been one of the biggest factors of your success (of any size)? 

Based on my top posts, I think the main factor that engaged readers was that they could also see the people act that way in that scene. I try my best to keep my characters realistic in that their on-screen images and personas align with how they would react to situations in my writing, keeping character dynamics and relationships as consistent as the plot sees fit. Instead of writing an idol into a plot for the sake of writing about them, I tend to plan out the scene and then evaluate which person would be best suited to that character.

Do you think fanfic writers get unfairly judged? 

Yes, we can be. i recently read this thread and it got me thinking about the foundations of fanfic and why we write it, but then as part of that group, I can’t help but think that the genre of fanfic itself just has a bad rep of being shitty Wattpad writing with no punctuation and cheesy plotlines littered with overused cliches by 13 year olds thirsting over grown men. The fanfic world that I know, however, consists of many truly amazing authors who borrow the names and characteristics of public figures to realise their creative ideas to the point where they’re not just authors anymore — they’re artists of language. Curators of words. Some of the best writing I’ve read is through fanfic, and again — the reason why fanfic is fanfic is because the characters are based on people in real life. We share these stories amongst ourselves to imagine things outside our reality, and we consume these stories because we have our support for our artists in common. This is our method of escape. It’s not much different from daydreaming about our high school crushes. They’re just beautifully written and feature people who are part of an industry that relies on public recognition, public appreciation and public support to survive. If you think writing should strictly involve purely original characters born from the author’s own imagination with no inspiration from real live people and thus fanfic is “weird”, “creepy” and “dehumanising”, then I’ll guess you’ve never made art before, nor can you properly appreciate it.

Do you think art can be a medium for change? 

I think that it can inspire and reflect change, but I find it hard to see if art can be change itself. We are the only ones capable of change — art is the medium of inspiration and emotional expression. We can create art and use it as a method to raise awareness and encourage people to take action, but we can’t exactly throw paintings at the white house and expect police reform, can we?

Do you ever feel there are times when you’re writing for others, rather than yourself? 

Yes, definitely. There was many a time I discussed plotlines with my friends and they’d said, “you hAVE to write this I NEED to read it”, or “where’s chapter 3?” and while I know they only mean well and only aim to encourage and support me, it can definitely backfire against their intentions and make writing feel like a chore or rush me into writing when I’m not fully inspired. Forced art is not the best, and whenever I do post something under that kind of mindset, I tend to be less satisfied with it and end up hating it.

Do you ever feel like people have misunderstood you or your writing at times? 

Though i worry about it, I don’t think there’s ever been an instance where it’s happened. I hope it never does, either!

Do your offline friends/loved ones know you write for Tumblr? 

Yes! I don’t mind, seeing that a lot of my friends are also kpop fans who also stan NCT. I link my writing to them when I post, and they support me a lot! It’s not the first thing I tell people when I first meet them, of course — I would only tell a non kpop fan that I write fanfic if I knew they wouldn’t judge.

What is one thing you wish you could tell your followers? 

Myself and other authors always, always always appreciate any form of feedback! Laughed at a funny line? Cried because of another? Felt the pain the character was feeling? Tell us! Have a comment on the writing style, or noticed a certain characteristic in our prose? Let us know that you noticed it! Absolutely dying for the next chapter and can’t wait to see what happens next? Express! (but don’t impose!) have a favourite line or completely agree that they’d totally say/do that? Point it out and gush about it! it’s hard to imagine the warm feeling it gives us as creators when receiving feedback until you actually get it! Go ahead, add an extra line in the tags, send in an ask. Make someone’s day. You’re never going to be thought of as weird or annoying. If it makes you feel something, express it (even in keyboard smash! we may not be able to read it, but we will feel it with you :D)!

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers who might be too scared to put themselves out there? 

If it makes you feel better, my writing when I started out on Wattpad was mega cringe worthy and still kept getting reads and votes and comments. Before I deleted my account, I read through it again and wondered how people can have such low standards when it comes to fanfic. Now, if there’s anything I want to tell you, it’s this — writing should be for yourself. It should be your personal hobby that you invest your own time and effort into, and it’s completely up to you whether you want to share your writing or not. It’s not a requirement. You don’t have to have published works to call yourself a writer. It doesn’t have to be amazing with flowing prose with immaculate worldbuilding with above-average vocabulary. Writing should be your catharsis, your personal medium by which you express your creativity. That should never be measured by likes and reblogs, nor should it come with an obsession over getting engagements.

Are there any times when you regret joining Tumblr? 

Despite the advice that I give to people and my previous answers saying that you shouldn’t be writing for others, a good portion of my motivation comes from reader feedback and engagements I get with my work, which is the reason why I applied to be part of writing networks within the fandom (for more exposure to a wider audience). As much as I don’t want to admit it, the amount of engagements I get will affect my satisfaction with the work. Some works I posted that I personally really liked didn’t get nearly as many notes as I was hoping, and then I can’t help but feel a little disappointed. In that sense, I’m still glad I get to share my writing on Tumblr — but the side effects of it affect me a little more than they probably should.

Do you have any mutuals who have been particularly formative/supportive in your Tumblr journey? 

I’ve only posted NCT fics on tumblr for a short while (maybe a month?) and so I don’t have many mutuals, but the few I have gotten into contact with are all lovely and always willing to rant about anything, despite most of them being in different timezones!

Pick a quote to end your interview with: 

“Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear which is inherent in the human situation.” — Graham Greene, Ways of Escape (1980)

BONUS: K-POP CONFIDENTIAL

Interested in your very own episode of The Sunny Show? Find out how to apply here.

[imanativeofswlondondahling]

Hidden In Plain Site (2)- Tom Holland x Reader

Word Count:  2348

A/N: This was inspired by this wonderful post by @starsholland. Without it this would not be happening. This will be a multi part fic, but I don’t know how many chapters or when it will be posted so if you’d like to be tagged let me know:)  Welcome to Tom being undercover on Tumblr. Quick notes- Y/T/B = Your Tumblr Blog

Chapter One || Master List

The edit turned out better than you thought it would. You had decided to use blue and red, since they’re Spider-Man colors and it honestly suits Tom and Haz so well. You still are wondering when the picture is from since you scoured the depths of Google and Tumblr to no avail. It’s either really old, or not really posted. Either way it made an adorable edit and will look great in your edit’s tag. It’s also sparked some ideas for a friendship imagine. It’s been so long since you wrote anything, with work and family stuff weighing you down, but you can picture the outline in your head so as soon as you finish the last touches on your outline, you click open a new document and drop a few lines down to get going. 

“What you working on?” Your brother calls to you from across the living room. He knows that once you’re home for the afternoon, it’s not normally work stuff, but sometimes your graphic design projects run into your post work day.

“Just some edits. Nothing too big.”

“Bringing work home?”

“Nope, just working on some extra stuff.” You type some more into the document, wanting to make sure that everything is hitting the moment right. In your browser, you pull up your tumblr and make a new post.

Ask me stuff while I work on my latest imagine. Give me a number 1-100 and I’ll give you a song from my writing playlist and a memory attached to it.

Across the ocean, Tom can’t sleep. It’s nearly 3am, but something is keeping his mind from sleeping. He should be able to sleep just fine. He isn’t working on any movies that have him worried, he doesn’t have any auditions coming up, and he doesn’t have press for a few weeks. So why can’t he get to sleep?

Lifting his phone in his hand he sees a notification from Tumblr saying that Y/T/B has posted. He swipes across and waits for the post to load. You want questions? Well, he can help with that. Plus, he’s interested in learning about what kind of music you’re interested in.

Anonymous Asked:

33?

Anonymous Asked:

86?

Anonymous Asked: 

69;D

Three Anons come in right after another. You weren’t expecting that quick of a reaction. Sure you had a couple hundred followers, but you didn’t tend to get that many reactions to your posts. At least not back to back. But you’ll take it, and reply. As soon as you send the edit to that blog that asked for it.

You pull up the thread between you and tomholland2013. You click the camera button and upload the edit you had done. 

Hey, here’s that edit. Hope this works for you! 

Surprisingly, whoever is behind the account messages back immediately.

That looks awesome! Thanks so muchX

Hows your night going?X

More like afternoon here lol. I’m just getting some work done after getting home earlier.

How about you? Is it night there?

It’s like the middle of the night here and I can’t sleepX

If it’s middle of the night there, did you see the news? 

What news?X

That Tom saved Spider-Man?! It’s been all over Tumblr since I got home from work.

It’s kind of the reason I made your edit in red and blue tbh.

I hadn’t had time to look at my dashboard to be honest. I’ve been busy with work stuff most of the afternoon.X

It wasn’t a lie. Over the past few days having talks between him, Bob and Tom trying to smooth everything over, there wasn’t much time to glance over the explosion that had happened since the original news had been released. But after clicking send on his message to Y/N, he clicks over to your main blog to see the reaction to the news. There are some general reblogs of the news announcing Spider-Man returning to the MCU but then there were also some general posts about Spider-Man and Peter Parker. Your tags are what really get to him. Some like hashtag my-baby-is-back-where-he-belongs and hashtag get-tom-drunk-more-often-if-it-saves-my-baby. He can’t help but laugh at the last one. True he hadn’t exactly been sober when he and Bob had first talked about getting Spider-Man back in the MCU, but he didn’t think that story would take the world by storm.

Going into his settings, Tom quickly updates his picture with the edit you had done for him. Honestly, it looked better than he had hoped for. You had done Spider-Man colors and if he wasn't trying to keep this blog on the down low, he would share it on his Instagram so his fans could see how talented Y/N was. As he hits save, another message comes through from you.

Do you mind if I use the edit I sent you as inspiration for an imagine?

A what?X

An imagine. It’s a specific type of fanfic. I had a great idea of one while I was working on the edit for you, but if you’re not cool with it, I’ll find a different picture.

You did all the work on it. Feel free to use it. What kind of story?X

Basically like a Tom x Reader with hints of Harrison friendship notes in it. It’s hard to explain lol

Have you written other stuff?X

I think everyone on this site dabbles in it from time to time, but yeah I’ve written a few pieces over the past few years.

Do you have a list of them?X

Sure, it’s here.

You had linked a page in your message. Apparently dabbling meant one.. Two.. three… his finger drags down the page as he counts the stories. Holy hell, you’ve written fifty stories about him, Peter Parker and even some of the other Avengers. But most of them revolve around him and x Reader, whatever that means. You had mentioned it in your message, but he wasn’t sure what it meant.

Ok, I’m new to the whole fanfic thing, so pardon my stupidity but what does x reader mean?X

It’s a self insert fic. Basically anywhere that it says Y/N or you, you put yourself into the fic. They’re one of the most popular types of fics.

Before he can reply to your message, a notification comes up saying that Y/T/B has posted a new post.

Anonymous Asked:

33?

Y/T/B/ Answered: Heather by Conan Gray. So I love this song and totally have screamed along with the chorus of this song when I’m alone at home and writing or in my car driving places (otherwise I would freak my family out). When I wrote a fic called The Smell of Your Sweater, on my master list here, I listened to this song on repeat for three days straight to be in the right mind set. Honestly I could probably listen to this song until the end of time and never get sick of it. 

Tom reads over the answer and can picture someone jamming out to a song so much that they love it. He pulls open his Spotify app and pulls up the song, because he wants to feel closer to you, even though you’re time zones apart from each other. The fact that it’s afternoon where you are and nighttime where he is makes him think that you’re in the United States.

So reader insert are some of the most popular type of fics, but what are your favorite to read?X

That’s not even something that I would share on a first date lol you’ll be waiting a bit to find out. 

Is sharing that you write fanfic something that you don’t talk about on a date?X

Not normally. Talking about it with tumblr friends is one thing because I link it on my blog, but what I read is a whole nother thing. It literally says so much about you with who you read, what ships you ship, and especially what kinks you look for.

KINKS? IN FANFICS?X

You haven’t read much yet have you?

Literally no. I’ve only been on tumblr since I messaged you the first time. That was the day I made my blogX

So you’ve been on for a month? And you’re deciding to get into fanfics?

No I’m thinking I should stay away from it still. It seems like virtual porn.X

It doesn’t have to have anything smutty in it. Just click on ones that say fluff or don’t say smut next to them. You can also block certain tags so they don’t come up on your dashboard. Like Starker is a popular one to be blocked for a lot of people.

I don’t think I even want to know what that is if people are blocking it who are into this porn esque writing. X

It’s not porn lol You seem to have only found smut so far. We need to find you some fluff. Maybe some Tom x Reader?

Maybe I’m just not ready for it after all.X

Does he want to read about himself? Not at all. That seems creepy. But other people write about him too. It’s not just Y/N. He decides to research this further. In the search bar he types in Tom Holland Fanfic. The first four post all say smut or NSFW so he’s not going to bother reading them, but the thing that catches his eye is the fact that they all have over 2,000 notes on them. Two thousand people have liked or reblogged about him in a sexual way? What the actual flipping hell?

Before he has the chance to flip out even more, another notification from your blog pops up.

Anonymous Asked:

86?

Y/T/B answered: Praying by Kesha. THIS WOMAN COULD MURDER ME AND I WOULD THANK HER FOR IT. Plus that chorus makes me want to write some epic breakup scene and have one of the people begging the other to feel the same as they are feeling. Oooooo maybe I feel a one shot coming up. Anyway, a memory of this song- my best friend and I blasted this song while we drove from California to Philly to visit a school. It literally got us through so many hours of that drive. Kesha is bae lets be real. Or is that not what the cool kids say? 

When he sent you these asks, he thought he would get one or two sentences in response, but he’s learning so much about you from all of these asks. Maybe he would send you some non song related ones, maybe some To- Peter Parker ones to see what else you liked. Purely science based research. 

If you’re not ready for it, don’t push yourself. Fanfics can be a weird mindset to put yourself in. I used them at first to distract myself from some shitty family stuff that was going on, but now I read and write them for fun too. I think I mainly read Avenger ones at first as well as some TV shows too. Plus would I be a teenage girl if I didn’t read a few Twilight fanfics back in my day? 

Twilight? Like Rob-Tom makes himself type out Rob and Kristen’s full names like a fan would-ert Pattinson and Kristen Stewert Twilight?X

That one exactly. I was the generation it was aimed for and so fanfics galore were my teen years. But I’m proud to say I’m a recovered Twihard.

Glad to hear it darlingX

What about you? What were you into as a kid?

I’ve always been a fan of Spider-Man, ever since I was a kid.X

Comics or movies?

Comics. They’re the originalsX

Which Spider-Man is the best? 

Is that a trick question? Obviously HollandX

Was that conceited? Maybe. But hopefully, Y/N doesn’t think so. Oh wait she has no idea-

It was a trick question. A trick question that you clearly got right. 

Another notification pops up and you suddenly remember the last number that you sent Y/N. Well hopefully the number doesn’t seem like you.

Anonymous Asked: 

69;D

Y/T/B Answered: Noice. 

But the actual answer is Bad Religion by Frank Ocean. This song got me through my last bout of depression lol. I remember sitting on the floor of my bedroom with the lights off and just playing this song on repeat. Always open about that here. It also gets me to channel some deep emotions into some pieces that I’m working on because it reminds me of being in that dark place. I also really like the beat of this though, like how it sounds like a mix of an electric piano and an organ. So if I ever name a one shot Bad Religion, it’s probably named after this song.

Tom feels like a weight is sinking in his gut. Almost like someone slammed an anchor into the lower part of his bowl. He didn’t mean to bring up something so dark with that number. He was hoping it would actually make her laugh. So guess he will send her one more number, but this one won’t be on anonymous.

Tomholland2013 asked: 36

Huh, he must have seen all the responses you posted. Between posting and replying to him, you hadn’t gotten much work on your imagine done, but you could post once more before jumping back to your word document. 

Tomholland2013 asked: 36

Y/B/N answered: The Night We Met by Lord Huron. I literally saw them in concert with my friends last month so a lot of the memories I have of them are about this. But I have a great fanfic idea for this song specifically. To not spoil it completely I’ll just leave you with three spoilers- first date, first dance, secrets spilled. It’s a work in progress.

Now it’s time to get off the internet and back to writing, or else you’re going to Tumblr your day away.

Taglist: @ serendipitous-amor @im-still-tryin-to-find-it​

[storyweaverofgondor]

My Story Turnoffs

This is purely personal preferences.

This is purely in regards to published works like book, movies, TV show, or video games,etc. Fanfics and assorted fanworks tend to fall under their own unique set of preferences for me.

I’m writing this because i enjoy finding new stories to read or watch and asking for recommendations. Having a clear list like this might make things a little easier for everyone.

Nudity

I don’t care if the character is naked at some point or not but if the author decides to mention certain things or go into a lot of detail? and use this to have the character ogled by a bunch of people? not my thing. I’m also not to fond of it if it feels contrived, like the writers of a show did this just because they wanted to shove some naked people into things. I’m looking at you, Star Trek: Next Gen. Having the Betazoid weddings be in the nude and the two main characters of that race be women? The whole ferangi/females thing? It makes me uncomfortable tbh.

Sex

I’m ok with “Happened during the commercial break” scenario. Or like a certain level of . . . i guess the word is censorship? But like full on, plain as day sex scenes? No. Not my thing. It makes me severely uncomfortable.

Graphic Violence and Gore

I know what you’re thinking. “You call yourself the Queen of Whump??? What gives?” Well, let me explain. books, for one, are different. i can handle a little more there. With visual Media? I like Return of the King Level Violence. I dislike Games of Thrones Level Violence. What’s the difference? Well, that would be the details. Literally the details. Like say a character is stabbed. LOTR? They bleed. GoT? you could see organs and watch as the light fades from their eyes as they choke on blood. The killer might then do gross stuff to the body and i just XP. I don’t watch GOT and horror movies for the same reason. it’s just too much for me.

Embarrassment, Humiliation and awkwardness

This. This right here. This is the number one reason i’ll stop reading or watching things. I hate it. I can see the set up a mile away and i just start squirming and wanting to run away. I would rather have to watch two hours of the three previous things then endure one minute of this. It just feels too personal and like someone is driving a knife into me and makes me want to scream.

Unlikable Characters

If I’m reading or watching something and imagine going to the world and hitting every character with a big stick? Then it’s not for me. I want to root for the characters. I want to give a sh** about what happens to the main people and want them to succeed. I don’t enjoy stories where the main character is just unlikable. There was one story i read once where i disliked everyone. I like stories about people i can root for.

Preachy Plots

This one is . . . hard to explain. Here’s an example: Fern Gully and the movie Epic have very similar plots. But I like Epic and don’t particularly care for Fern Gully. Why? The preachiness. Fern Gully is very heavy handed in it’s message whereas Epic relies more on telling a story. I am very much a strong supporter of conservation and agree with the things Fern Gully conveys. But i just feel like I’m being smacked upside the head with a picket sign when i watch it.

Animal Deaths

You could have the most perfect story in the world but if the animals or pet dies? Not happening. Yes, in the Neverending Story the horse dies but he comes back! This is the reason i never finished watching Stranger Things. I enjoyed the 1st Season. But when i heard a cat gets eaten in the 2nd? Yeah. Not for me.

Grit and realism

I don’t mind characters getting dirty. but if the story is very cynical and ‘Gritty’ and ‘Realistic’ i don’t like it. I watch and read things to escape reality not experience more of it.

Racism and Bigotry

I only like things were the bullies, entitled, racists and bigots reserve glorious karma and lose in spectacular fashion while those they picked on and oppressed triumph over all. possibly to a catchy song like in Hairspray. if that doesn’t happen i want nothing to do with it. Abuse falls under the same umbrella for me. unless they get some form of karma i don’t usually enjoy reading or watching it.

Psychological or mental illness

Mental illness is something i deal with every day and i have never seen or read about a character with a diagnosed mental illness that i identified with. not a single one. in fact they make me feel like there’s something wrong with me. i have the same issues this character has but we have nothing in common? maybe I’m at fault? They just aren’t healthy for me. Psychological stories or thrillers are the same way. they mess with my mind and cause me a lot of issues.

Lots of Talking

I like for stuff to happen in the things i read or watch. If the story is mostly talking i start skimming trying to find the action parts, wishing i could go into the book and interrupt the characters to ask when their going to do something. Or beg them TO JUST DO SOMETHING. Just some sort of action.  Please?!

Book Burning

No. Just no. There is a book burning in one of the indiana jones movies and i do love those movies. but i have to tell myself every time that their science books (science can be rediscovered) and not fantasy stories otherwise I’d be inconsolable. even then it only gets a pass because it’s Indiana Jones. if there is a book burning in a story a won’t touch it with a ten foot pole.

[carters-coffee]

21, 24, 37 :D!!

thanks for the asks :)

21. How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting? 

Idk I don’t really count I just scan over it obsessively. I’d say prolly at least three times. The thing is when I write something I get super excited to post so my brain just kinda goes brrrrrrrrr and i’m in a rush. my friend vade helps tho. 24. Have you ever deleted one of your published fics? 

Yea I have actually. It was a Julia x Vicky and it was supposed to be a long one but I only had like 2 or 3 chapters out and I just wasn’t happy with it. It was called “A Midnight Drink”. it might still be floating around on Wattpad, idk, I haven’t logged on there in forever.

37. Talk about your current wips. 

Ok so aside from all the drabble and imagine requests, I have 2 fics I’m working on. (I would have more but I’m trying to restrain myself)

The first one is Nellie/Lucy, and its basically about what happens before the events of the movie if Nellie had a crush on Lucy instead of Sweeney. I’ve seen other people do oneshots of this idea but I’ve never seen anyone go as in-depth with it as I am, coz im going through the whole story from when Ben leaves to when Lucy poisons herself and gets thrown into asylum, and then a time skip to when Sweeney first comes back (but then its gonna end there coz I’m not doing a movie rewrite lmao) I'm planning on it being a cute love story with angst and no happy ending, but as most fanfic writers know, things tend to get away from us, so idk for sure.

The second one is Julia/Elizabeth. I don’t have a plot really fleshed out for it yet, I just have certain scenes in my mind (that i wont describe coz spoilers) and im working out how to stitch it all together into something coherent and worth reading. the basic timeline is gonna take place, again, before the movie, but then I’m thinking I’m gonna continue it into the movie until Julia’s “death scene” coz I have something in mind for that.

Naturally they’re both COMPLETELY self indulgent lmao coz there’s only like 7 people in the fandoms for those ships. And you’re not gonna see anything for them until I’m almost done or completely done writing the whole thing coz i don’t wanna post 4 chapters and then never work on it again and it just be floating around.

[edream93]

Do you have some Headcannons of Genderbend of HUMA? If not what's your view of Genderbending?

Oooo so....this is kind of complicated? Let’s hope I can get this out in a way that’s understandable.

Generally, I’m okay with genderbending. However, as an African American female who writes a lot for Huma, I personally would never genderbend them. I’m not saying that I dislike or think anyone who does is wrong but personally I would never genderbend Uma specifically.

Why? 

Because there’s very limited examples of black female characters in the media that are inspiring. And there’s even fewer where a black woman, who isn’t racially ambiguous, has a love interest who is actually supportive and loving. Now I know some people will say “It’s a kid’s show. It doesn’t matter.” Actually, as a mental health professional, I can say it does. Research has shown that constant exposure to media where children do not see characters that look like them has a negative impact on those children’s self-esteem and also their views on whatever is their minority identity. 

Take for instance all the Disney princess movies. I was born in 1993. Growing up, before the Princess and the Frog came out (and oh, don’t even get me started about how that still felt like a cop out because she was a frog for the majority of the movie), the only princesses that I could pretend I related to were Pocahontas, Jasmine, and Mulan and that’s ONLY because they were not white.

Now, I know this may be hard for some people to imagine but just honestly and truly try: You’re a kid growing and all the TV and books and movies that you see all have a character who doesn’t look like you at all. The fews times you do see that a character that does look like you, they either only have one line, they’re a charicature of some negative stereotype like either a thug, gang member, an idiot, a sidekick etc, or they’re identity is so ambiguous that it’s super hard to relate to them. Obviously, race is an easy thing to pick up on but this also goes for those who identify as LGBTQ+, immigrants, those who have different body shapes and sizes than that of those who are typically shown in media, those with disabilities, and a whole bunch of other minority identities that I’m unfortunately blanking on at the moment. 

So yeah, did I memorize a crap ton of Disney songs and make my mom buy me most of the Disney princess movies? Um, yeah, but seriously - and I’m not exaggerating - I remember seeing a Belle costume when I was little (like 6 or 7) and instantly thinking, “I can’t wear that. Belle isn’t black.” 

Now because there’s always that one person who likes to point out the obvious, yes, I do know that I could have worn that dress and at the age of 6 or 7 no one was stopping me from wearing it other than my mom who was like “Do you have a Belle princess dress money?” (Of course not mother, what 6 or 7 year old knows about saving like that?) but it’s still the idea that though I had certain qualities that I could relate to with Belle, I knew that if magic did exist and Belle came into the real world her experience as a white woman would be very different than mine. 

Anyway, going back to the whole genderbend Uma thing, though I can’t say I have love spelled any King’s lately and I’m pretty sure I’m not a sea witch, I can relate to Uma on both physically and in terms of characteristics. China Anne McClain, though not the darkest black woman is solidly, no denying it, a black woman. There’s no ambiguity and though race may not play a role in terms of her character, it plays a HUGE role in terms of little black girls watching her. Obviously, there are other little girls who like Uma and can be inspired by her  too but to have a black female character who is 1.) a leader (she’s captain of a crew), 2.) who’s smart (we see this in the movies during her scenes but also the book really displays this as well), and 3.) who has a heavily implied love interest who obviously supports her and thinks the world of her (have you not seen “What’s My Name”?) changing her to a male character would take away a lot of things that make her awesome. I mean, let’s be real. At least in the U.S. WOC generally but specifically black women are the most looked down upon. 

Some people might think I’m thinking way too deep about this but I’m a black woman fanfic writer. I can write whatever the heck I want to write about and what I choose to write about recently focuses on black female characters or at least women of color characters. I honestly think that’s why I’ve stayed in the Descendants fandom for so long. Uma is a fascinating character for me to write because she breaks all the usual black female stereotypes and I think when she and specifically her actress, China, are allowed to shine they’re fantastic. 

Like I love fandom and I love fanfiction and all the creatives but I would be lying if I didn’t say that fandom generally has a lot of latent racism. People tend to think that’s people blatantly saying “I hate x character because they’re black/asian/latio/etc.” but that’s not really the truth. Personally, I see it obviously in who people choose to ship characters with. I’m not saying that if you don’t ship x character with a person of color you’re racist but going back to Descendants, I think it’s super evident when you see Harry shipped with basically everyone under the sun and other than Huma and a few Uma/Ben or Sea Three stories (though the Audrey/Uma ship has been growing lately), Uma is never shipped with someone and more likely than not, she’s the bad guy or the suddenly jealous ex or she gets killed off. (I’m a sucker for pain and read a lot of non-Huma stories unfortunately.) And you see that in other fandoms too.  

So long answer short: I’m okay with genderbending in general but my personal choice is to not genderbend Uma specifically. (Genderbent Harry would be interesting though.)

I hope that answered your question anon!

[snowbellewells]

3, 14, 16, 28 for the fanfic end of the year asks, please and thank you! :)

Ooh, thank you @laschatzi !! I really like this ask list and hoped to get a few more. ;)

#3: Favorite line/scene you wrote this year: This one is tricky! I tend to look back at what I’ve written and find flaws and edits needed instead of really feeling like I’ve done well.  All the same, the scene that came to mind for me here was the scene I managed to set in the prologue for my shorter @cssns work this summer “A Story Told at Last”. Looking back on it, I feel like I managed to make it atmospheric and set the tone just the way I had hoped to... I was also really pleased with the opening to “The Lawman, The Thief, and the Outlaw” - probably partially just because I have been wanting to write that particular Western for SO LONG, and I was so excited to finally be started!

 #14: A fic you didn’t expect to write: Well, one fic I didn’t intend to write was  the second and third (and maybe more sometime) installments of the French Revolution AU @kmomof4 requested.  I considered that finished when I wrote the first little drabble long ago, but she convinced me otherwise. ;)  Also, the “A Litter More Than They Bargained For” one shot I wrote for @cspupstravaganza was not a fic I would have envisioned until I tried to come up with something for the event - but I loved writing it once I got started.

#16: Fic(s) you completed this year: I’m gonna have to genuinely look back at Tumblr, AO3, and ff.net and take a count to be certain on this one... I guess it’s 6, as far as ones that are actually completed.

“Run to Me (in the Dead of Night)”  - This is actually last summer’s MC from the @cssns event, but I didn’t complete the final chapter until January of this year, so I’m going to count it. ;)

“Captain Swan is my Favorite Rom Com: While You Were Sleeping” - I started this last summer as well. The rom com movies re-tooled as CS fics was an idea I saw @searchingwardrobes doing really entertainingly, and I decided to give it a go as well.  By the time I posted the last chapter though, it was spring of this year.

“A Story Told at Last” - my shorter @cssns piece from this summer. Only a prologue and two main chapters, but I’m really fond of it.  I had a great time trying to fashion my own version of a sort of Rapunzel/CS kind of fairy tale homage, and trying my hand writing grown-up Henry as a main protagonist.

“Savior’s Haven” - This was a two-part fic I wrote for @csseptembersunshine and I really liked what I came up with, even if it was a little more “feelsy” than I first intended!

“A Litter More Than They Bargained For” - CS family fluff for the @cspupstravaganza event.  This one was pure fun to write, and I giggled a lot imagining the literal fluff as I put it down on paper!

“Bless What is Given You” -   This is part of my “Of Swans and Swords and Hopeful Hearts” one shot collection, but it was also written as a birthday gift to stand alone, so I’m going to include it separately here as well.

#28: Longest fic you read this year:  Oh my, um, I’m not sure????  I don’t usually keep a word count or even tend to look it up.  If it sounds go, I read it - whatever the length. I’m just really not sure here, unfortunately.

[pineapplem00n]

Ooh, headcanons for Ollie with Jess? Like what are they like around one another? Who's softer? Who's more innocent? How does Ollie deal with Jess's anxiety?

For anyone wondering, this is for headcanons in my Gilmore Girl fanfic series https://archiveofourown.org/series/1077063 called I’m a Book Half Unread that has the show go AU after Dead Uncles and Vegetables where everyone is nicer to Jess. 

Literally the first thing that popped into my head was something like this:

Rory: “So who’s the big spoon and who’s the little spoon?”

Jess: “I’m a knife!”

Ollie, somewhere in the background: “He’s the little spoon.”

As silly as that is, that’s literally the best description for those two. Jess likes to act all tough and a real James Dean type, but in reality he’s just a big softy.

Jess’ idea of a good time is staying in and expanding Ollie’s movie knowledge to include more and more abscure, horrible 80s movies imaginable. (i.e. Mac and Me)

Oliver’s the mother hen of the two. He’s constantly checking in to make sure Jess is good eating and comfort wise. Jess is used to not telling people his needs since there usually wasn’t anyone to tell, so unless Oliver outright asks Jess “Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? What do you want?”. Oliver gets Jess to advocate for himself more.

Jess gets Oliver outside his comfort zone more in regards to being more himself. Oliver grew up being told to act a certain way, dress a certain way, ect. much like Lorelai’s upbringing, so he’s in a way showing Oliver “See, look at Lorelai. There is more to life than worrying about what your parents will think.” Jess has a very YOLO outlook on life. *Cue the Aladdin “I will show you the world” ride on a carpet scene with Jess and Ollie*

Jess is less of the “less innocent” one and more “had his innocence ripped away”. Living with Liz and in New York forced Jess to grow up way too fast. Being the child and yet doing your mother’s taxes, budgeting the money for food, rent, clothing, ect. would do that to you. On a scale, he’s tipped from “realistic” to “cynical” at a way too young age. Luke and Oliver tend to team up and try and get Jess to be just a little bit more whimsical, and dream more.

Oliver grew up very sheltered. It’s not a fault of his own, he comes from a family of old money, but that tends to skew his vision of the world. When Jess took Ollie to New York and showed him downtown or as Jess called it “the real New York” it was a real eye opener for him. Seeing how Jess and so many other people live was like a splash of cold water.

Jess is slow to trust and open up, so he’s downplayed a lot of his anxiety. Luke, and by extension Lorelai, are the only two that know the full extent of his anxiety. Oliver isn’t oblivious or an idiot though and has suspicions about how bad it actually can get, but doesn’t want to overstep the mark so he won’t bring it up unless Jess is the one to bring it up. He’s done research on his own though on ways to cope, and can recognize now when Jess gets a checked out look on his face or starts to fidget more than normal that that’s a sign to switch to a conversation that’s comfortable for Jess or even just spend quiet time letting Jess read a book while he works on his laptop. Jess is a bit like a cat in the regard that he from time to time needs space, but also likes for both of them to be in the same room doing their own things silently. He likes company, but doesn’t always want to talk. He doesn’t want to be antisocial, but sometimes he gets super stressed out talking to people at school all day and just needs the time to decompress.

They have a good balance of Jess being an introvert and Oliver being an extrovert. Oliver pulls Jess out of his shell and Jess makes sure Oliver stops to breath between sentences.

Thank you so much for this amazing ask! It was a great writing exorcise for me and I will definitely be saving it in my notes to look back on while writing.

[armorbirdpress]

Armor Bird Reviews: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - A One-And-A-Half-Year Retrospective

If you have been following my writings and ramblings and original works and DeviantArt favorites for long enough, you'll know that I am unashamedly a dinosaur fan - I never outgrew the phase because despite what people have told me both online and off, palaeontology, like other sciences, is not specifically a child's thing - obviously dinosaurs are cool, but there is a lot of technical stuff that you'd need college degrees to understand in the field, too. While I certainly am a stickler for accuracy when it comes to dinosaur portrayals, however, I am also not ashamed to admit that I have a love for fictional portrayals of them as monsters, too. Jurassic Park, which was - for its time - pretty much a reconciliation between the "prehistoric monster" imagery of dinosaurs in popular culture and the latest discoveries about the actual fossil animals during its production, is my favorite movie of all time, partly for this reason and partly because there's a lot of depth and sophistication to it as well - a sophistication that modern movies seem to be utilizing less and less. Even the Jurassic Park franchise itself was not immune to this trend, and although it still remains my top favorite franchise of fictional media, the changing conceit of what audiences want in an entertaining film has dragged it along for as much of a long and bumpy ride as just about everything else Hollywood has to offer. Still, even in spite of it all, there are a lot of things to like about the sequels we got since that groundbreaking original - I'm admittedly one of those people who actually enjoyed Jurassic Park III, though in fairness I was too young upon first watching it to really pick it apart and analyze its numerous flaws, and I also heaped a lot of praise on Jurassic World upon my first review of it... in hindsight, perhaps a little generously. Although I won't pretend that everything since The Lost World (including TLW itself) is flawless and that the complainers are wrong, even the infamously controversial JP3 had some enjoyable moments in its own right, despite being seen by many as the worst installment of the franchise by quite a margin.

Which leads us to the most recent film of the franchise, 2018's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

I had intended to review this movie for a good, long while - back when I was a more prolific writer I used to write film reviews shortly after seeing the movies in the theater, though schedule concerns have obviously made that too difficult. But there's a silver lining here, in that by not reviewing a film I've seen until much later (...well, much, much, much later as the case may be), I have the time to really sit down and think about what made the movie tick or not, and oftentimes have come down from my rush of excitement by the time I actually get off my tail and write the review itself. There are exceptions, of course, with certain films actually leaving me disappointed as soon as I left the building, but these cases are mercifully rare. I'm happy to say that despite being horrendously imperfect, Fallen Kingdom wasn't one of those cases. I was genuinely entertained by it more than 50% of the time - which is, for better or for worse, the highest compliment I can give the film because, as we shall see, in some ways it really is quite terrible.

As always with my movie reviews: SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!

I watched Fallen Kingdom twice since its release - first in the theater at my home town, and then on rental DVD - and both times, my impression was the same: this movie, in retrospect, plays out much like a big-budget, cinematic fanfiction of the Jurassic Park films or even of Jurassic World (the latter of which I actually consider darkly hilarious for reasons that are highly specific to me exclusively, which you'd only understand if you know what I've written in the past - I'll get to that shortly). This is perfectly understandable, seeing as the director, screenwriter, and production crew have changed considerably from the team that helmed the original trilogy during the ten-year gap between JP3 and JW. Even if the work is canon, it's essentially someone else taking a look at the original franchise material, picking out what they liked about it, and building an original story off of it, oftentimes borrowing characters from the original work and inserting them in (most notably Rexy, and yes, I consider her as much of a character as the humans she menaced in the original movie). Across the board, in all kinds of franchises, this approach tends to fall flat if you don't know about the original work, though I do have to say that there was one very notable exception in the case of Jurassic World, that climactic fight scene with the Indominus rex, which is my favorite part of the movie even if it isn't entirely perfect. Now, I realize that I'm being a bit of a hypocrite by saying that these films are imperfect, because almost a decade ago, a friend and I co-wrote a megacrossover fanfic where Jurassic Park was the most prominent franchise by quite a margin (and didn't even start out that way to boot - my own selfish preferences caused elements of the franchise to slowly bleed in until a recycled plot of the second and third movies took over the whole thing). What makes it truly embarrassing to me is that the fic didn't even need the series' involvement in the first place, and my choice to shove it in anyway was one of the numerous factors that led to it going completely off the rails and turning into a tremendous tangled mess of clumsy writing and mishandled characterization, not just with JP itself but with almost all of the dozen other continua that got dragged in as well. Obviously, the fact that Fallen Kingdom is restricted by its very nature as a sequel to the one franchise only thankfully precludes the sheer absurdity of what my co-writer and I had inadvertently wrought back then, but upon rewatching the film I couldn't help but notice that in a few ways, it does ironically come off as being quite similar to my own old shame, albeit coincidentally, though it still earns points for choosing to be a Jurassic Park/World film and sticking with that conceit, rather than an entirely different film with JP elements shoehorned into it. I've harped on my stupidity as an immature fanfic writer back in the day for long enough, I think, but I felt this was worth mentioning regardless, because like the fic I touched upon above, this is a work I only started having issues with long after the fact, but these days I can't unsee these issues now that I've considered them.

One of the biggest things that stood out to me regarding Fallen Kingdom was that no matter how you slice it, it was trying to be two films at once, and had less time for both than most would have desired. The first half of the movie concerns Isla Sorna being destroyed by a volcano, and everyone trying to get the dinosaurs off of it before they are rendered extinct once again, with another island being noted as their new sanctuary (though of course, one of the antagonists quickly screws that plan over, but more on that later). You could easily make an entire film out of that - exploring the island one last time, dodging potential threats from both the volcano and the dinosaurs themselves, and coming to terms with the fact that not every creature can be saved, and that the end is coming for everyone eventually. The scene with the Brachiosaurus being overtaken by the eruption, with its plaintive wails and iconic rearing silhouette, is proof that such a moral could make a solid closing for this kind of movie, and heck, you could even have the subplot with the executives hoping to exploit the dinosaurs bleed into the movie until, at the very end, you get a scene where their true intentions with the animals are revealed as a sequel hook, rather than being resolved over the course of like half an hour or so in a rushed manner that gives people too little time to consider the implications. And this brings me to my next point.

Remember what I said about that dumb fanfiction I co-wrote having the elements I personally wanted more than my co-writer did slowly fester in true plot tumor fashion until they took over the entire story like literal cancer? As it turns out, what I witnessed in Fallen Kingdom wasn't quite as ridiculous, but kinda sorta similar in its own way. Obviously, Fallen Kingdom isn't so audacious (or ignorant of copyright laws and plain old common sense for that matter) as to let an entirely different franchise stage a gradual hostile takeover of itself, but the somewhat cliched plot of capitalist exploitation being the absolute worst roommate imaginable with a whole franchise's worth of temporally misplaced creatures that can and will kill you if you look at them funny - already done in both the original movie and TLW, and to some extent in JW as well, but still relatable in our current social climate even after so much repetition - still manages to... well, stage a gradual hostile takeover of the movie, and enforces itself in full force during the remaining third or so of the runtime. The antagonists, a pair of cartoonishly evil and somewhat flat executives, sabotage the plan so that the dinosaurs are diverted to the Lockwood Mansion instead of the sanctuary island, and then things escalate when the prototype Indoraptor is bought in and, inevitably, raises hell for everyone involved. As with my previous pitch, the idea of bidding wars over the dinosaurs and the moral debate over the ownership and exploitation of living creatures - something which does happen in the real world - could have made for something interesting, again, if the script wasn't so rushed. Continuing where the hypothetical sequel hook left off, we could open with a discussion between the villains about the implications of what they are doing, followed by the heroes having to deal with the ramifications of such actions along with the involvement of Dr. Wu, the Indoraptor, and of course Blue as a potential prize-winner. Of course this runs the risk of becoming the original Jurassic Park except on the mainland, and thus not really trying anything new, but it could at least give audiences the time to digest the film and appreciate the moments where it makes a genuine impact, even before the dinosaurs end up getting released into the mainland like what happened in the movie itself, complete with the insane amount of ramifications thereof. The Stygimoloch plowing its way through the bidders on its way to freedom was almost as cathartic for me to watch as the climactic fight in JW, and I wish it could've gotten more screentime, or even plucked up the guts to fend off the Indoraptor in a situation that doesn't seem forced, e.g. the hybrid and the Stiggy getting trapped in the same complex, or even Owen luring it over as backup (which is stupider but, given how he got it to bust him and Claire out in the movie itself, isn't entirely unreasonable). As for the Indoraptor itself, I feel like they could have done a bit better with its design, as even underneath the paint job and altered proportions it's still more or less "Indominus 2: Genetic Boogaloo", as I have called it at least once. Still, it has its own appeal as a monster design and, if it weren't for the presence of similar-looking creatures in previous installments of the series, it would certainly have made an impact as a monster. It's almost wolf-like in movement and mannerisms, even werewolf-like, which is intentional given the vintage horror movie homages the production team was going for. The way it menaces Maisie - who has her own set of plot-related craziness to her, but that's a can of worms I'd rather not open - makes you worry for her life, and even fear for Blue when she engages it in battle. I know I'm one of those who actually prefers antagonistic Velociraptors (the inaccurate variety from the films, not the smaller and fully feathered real-world version which I would absolutely take home with me if I could find a way to retrieve it from Cretaceous Mongolia and have it housetrained and okay I'll stop now), but Blue as always is awesome, and after seeing her actually manage to hold her own in her fight against the Indoraptor if only for a short while, there's no denying that anymore - even if that scene with her outrunning the explosion in the boiler room is a bit over-the-top even by the standards of this movie. There is of course no way a spectacle-driven, plaid-speed-paced romp like Fallen Kingdom could surpass the bar set by The Big One and the legendary kitchen scene, but on its own merits, the Indoraptor is a wonderfully serviceable and formidable threat that I just wish could've gotten more screentime and room to develop as a character, rather than just remaining as an unhinged killing machine that exists just to terrorize everyone before exiting the film (the same is true for all the dinosaurs here besides Blue, really, which is sad because, again, I much prefer when films develop monsters as characters rather than mere plot devices). With a little more design work to make him stand out more among the other critters in the franchise and more time to explore his nature, he could easily have become almost as iconic as The Big One as movie monsters go, or at least as much as the I. rex, though the latter bar is admittedly a good deal lower in the wake of how the movie industry has, ahem, evolved.

With that thought in mind, I will now spell out the biggest problem I had with this movie: the fact that it was trying to do so much in such a short space of time. Humorously and ironically, I know almost enough about the issues with my own writing to recognize the signs of that, with significant events being spaced too close to each other, too many characters at once (though admittedly, Zia and Maisie are a treat to watch, Franklin a bit less so but far from unbearable for my taste), and at least one questionable decision on the part of everyone at some point or another, up to and including the writers. There are a lot of things I liked, but not enough time for me to let them sink in, like I was being bombarded with one spectacle after another. It feels like overkill more than anything, and alas, far too many films in recent years have tried to shove that method into people's faces as though trying to say, "Here's your action, here's your fanservice, here's your whatever the whoopity-freaking-doo you consider entertainment, are you happy now?!" (Well, not quite as vitriolic and sarcastic, but you get the idea.) If the filmmakers and the owners of the franchise rights had been willing to accept four movies in the newer series rather than just three, and let Fallen Kingdom be broken up into two separate, slightly slower-paced movies, the problems with each individual portion would likely not have been as significant, and audiences would not have noticed them so readily. Sadly, though, the rapid-fire, dozen-blockbusters-a-year rush-job environment of the modern movie industry was not kind to this film, which is a crying shame. We need more movies that are more relaxed and subdued half the time, the way the original JP film was, and while audiences may have to take the time to once again get used to movies like that, I think it would be a welcome change of pace from the current influx of chaotic, nonstop slugfests and pyrotechnic displays we've become so familiar with.

In tl;dr form, it is with a heavy heart that I have to say that Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is, in fact, the worst film of the entire Jurassic Park franchise, even more so than JP3 - though don't get me wrong, as with JP3, I still very much enjoyed it as its own movie, as clumsily handled as it was at times (though even then, the movie itself isn't entirely at fault for it). There's a difference between a movie being the low point in its franchise and a low point among movies in general, a difference which a lot of reviewers need to understand before taking an undeserved dump over movies that could've been so much better if Hollywood had worked just a bit differently. You have to actually try to make a work of entertainment media I consider genuinely terrible, and it was actually a relief to me that even the lowest points of Fallen Kingdom still ranked somewhat midway between "meh" and "shakes hand eeeeehhhhhh" from my own subjective standpoint. I truly hope that the next and presumably final JP film will turn out for the better, especially given that Alan, Ellie, and Ian are all slated to have major roles in it, but I'm not going to dismiss Fallen Kingdom off the bat just because of the issues I have with its writing. If nothing else, it's a perfectly decent popcorn flick with prehistoric monsters in it - and hey, that was pretty much what everyone was there for, wasn't it?

Grading Scheme:

96 - 100: A+

93 - 96: A

90 - 92.9: A-

87 - 89.9: B+

83 - 86.9: B

80 - 82.9: B-

77 - 79.9: C+

73 - 76.9: C

70 - 72.9: C-

67 - 69.9: D+

60 - 66.9: D

Below 60: E

Grades:

Writing: 6

Characterization: 6

Pacing: 7

Creativity: 8

Consistency: 8

Cinematography: 9

World Building: 7

Music and Sound: 8

Effects: 10

Engagement: 9

Final Grade: 78 (C+)

[everbrilliantheartbreaker]

Fanfiction Reader Tag

Tagged by @eyeliner-vampire  ♡ ♡

Fanfiction Reader Tag!

1. When did you start reading Fanfic (How old you were or how long ago)?

When I was probably...11 ish? so like 13 years ago

2. Do you have an AO3 account?

Yeh (LadyWisteria)

3. Do you read WIP (work in progress)? Why or why not?

All the time. I’m not picky about this at all. I’m a simple person. I see fic I think I’ll like? I read. doesn’t matter if it’s finished or not. I’ll make up my own ending til it is lol. also authors need that encouragement. finishing stuff is hard

4. What time of day is your ‘fic reading time’?

Usually late at night (like 1 a.m. and later..much later) but sometimes I’ll waste an afternoon instead (2 p.m. ish til I either have to go to work or I finish the fic)

5. How much time do you spend reading fic per week?

Not remotely as much time as I used, that’s for sure. Anywhere from an hour (if I’m rereading That favorite fic) to 2-4 hours if my friend has sent me a longfic again.

6. Do you listen to podfic (fanfic recorded like an audiobook)?

I...didn’t even know this was a thing tbh, so no. Sounds very neat but also I don’t listen to audio books anymore bcus my attention span re: audio input has gotten so bad over the years I can’t focus for more than a few minutes. 

7. What’s your favorite fic genre to read?

AUs AUs AUs. and fantasy. and fantasy AUs (although good long AU fics are harder to find). I am a very simple person. I see magic mentioned, I read. I also read a lot of romance fic (proving once again that fanfic writing is often better than mainstream original writing, bcus romance is one of my least favorite YA/movie genres). I don’t read as much of them but I also love mystery and paranormal fics

8. Are there any genres that you tend to avoid?

Super angsty no happy ending type stuff. “Major Character Death” is an automatic nope lmao (unless the summary looks reaallyyy interesting or it was recc’d to me). Tragedy is definitely Not my thing

9. What tag(s) do you track?

I don’t track any fic tags (I stopped tracking tags at all since Tumblr changed it from “keeping track of new posts in said tag” to “dropping random posts from that tag into the middle of your dash, and usually the same three”)

10. How do you find new fic?

Nowadays I mostly just read what friends send me or the new stuff a very few writers I follow post, but sometimes I also come across stuff through Twitter or Tumblr and curiosity wins out

11. How do you organize your fic bookmarks?

I..don’t? Is this a thing people do?? If I wanna reread something I either search through my bookmarks by title/author or just. filter by fandom. 

12. Do you subscribe to authors or stories?

Yeh. I only keep up with a very select few of them though. altho part of that is due to several of them being people I followed on fanfic.net years and years ago and never unfollowed, even though our interests may no longer be the same. (the other part is me going “oh I’ll read that later” and then just. never doing it.)

13. What is your favorite fanfic trope?

fake dating and bed sharing are always good

everyone is gay. also Good

14. What kind of plot line are you always here for?

“everything’s the same but they’re soulmates” (oh my god they were soulmates)

mafia AU

MAGIC

I really like in-between scene fics too. the events and character interactions that happen off-screen. I like writing those

15. What can an author do to make you love them?

write about my faves frequently

cool AUs

write about minor characters

good sense of humor

16. What can an author do to make you avoid them?

not into mpreg fics

a/b/o fics make me super wary I usually pass on those, even if the summary looks mildly interesting. they’re rarely if ever done in a way that isn’t rapey and gross

don’t care for fics period that have rapey scenes but you’re supposed to find them romantic

adult/minor ships

characterization is a big deal to me so if I don’t like how they handle the characters, especially faves I probably won’t be back

17. What do kudos mean to you?

when I get one I have a few seconds of “oh someone kinda liked this thing I wrote” and then I carry on about my day >.>;;; (I do appreciate them tho)

18. What kind of commenter are you (No comment, short comment, keyboard smash)?

I don’t comment as often as I mean to or wish I did, but when I do they’re loong comments (I’ve passed the AO3 character limit at least once kshg)

I tend to quote favorite parts and then react to them, and I like to theorize and ask questions about character’s thoughts at a certain part or what author imagines happens before/after the fic

19. Have you ever stopped reading a fic? Why or why not?

Yes. Once because I stumbled into a very sexually explicit fic when that was. Not at all what I was expecting (I was also very young lol), I think there was a very few I quit because they were boring or very poorly written, but most often I “quit” a fic for the same reason I don’t do audio books anymore lmao: because my attention span is sht and my motivation and commitment are extremely fickle things. I either forget or just wander away for a bit and then forget. Often I mean to come back and finish it; it’s just a matter of how long it takes. (I also second hand embarrassed out of a fic so hardcore that it’s been a whole 9 months since I’ve touched it khdfgd)

20. Have you ever read a fic more than once? What is it about that fic that makes you want to read it again?

YES. This requires like a minimum 4 separate posts to really answer but:

Behind Bricks and The Penance of a Killer by Deathbelle

this person is my fricking favorite author ever and these are two of my fricking favorite fics ever, I must’ve reread Behind Bricks 6 or 8 times now and Penance is the BokuAka-centric companion piece to my favorite fic of all time that I always wanted 

Mending Bonds and If the Heart Breaks, Does That Mean There’s No Home? by RussianSunflower3 

Mending Bonds is soft found family fluff centering on a very minor fave of mine and If the Heart Breaks is very angsty found family fluff that also focuses on some minor characters and it always hurts my heart but the ending and the soft middle always heal it right back up (“[Hanamaki] has a heart big enough for everyone in the world, and then some.” ohhhh my godd)

Boiled Frogs by ReginaGalaxia 

this one is. a really hard read centered around emotional abuse and manipulation and hoooo boy it is a rough read especially if you’ve experienced any of that personally but it’s so well written and the character dynamics are great and in its lighter moments it’s fricking hilarious. 

(bits and pieces of) The Roost by Ugglabarn 

 bits and pieces only bcus Roost has a lot of very heavy dark content that I’d have to be in a specific mood to reread the whole thing because it hurts my heart way too much but also it’s one of the best Fukurodani-centric longfics I’ve ever read (PLUS AN AU..!!) and I love love how they write the characters and how much focus there is on the minor members and ships and in its lighter moments Roost is also really funny the most recent chapter was hilarious

Expensive Hotel by Crown_of_Winterthorne

smut. explicit smut. excellent explicit smut with loving polyamorous boyfriends and plenty of consent discussion and kissing. my entire jam right there

Class 1-A Whomst? by Ya_Boi_Hal

this is the funniest chatfic I’ve ever read in my life and the first good chatfic I ever read. absolutely hysterical. also has some really good serious content in the middle and some Aizawa dialogue that punched me right in the feels. 12/10 will read again. sometimes I just randomly say “Mineta whomst??” and cackle to myself

and back in the day it was:

The Flame of Betrayal by DataIntegrationThoughtEntity

I guess traitor! Tahu was a popular trope back when Bionicle fandom was at its peak?? and not everyone liked it apparently but I enjoyed this fic greatly every time I read it it was well written and had interesting OCs and I am actually highly tempted to go reread it again

and Asleep Beneath a Wheat Field by Feline Freak

this was a very peculiar little OC-centric one shot that was also very sad and I don’t know why it grabbed me like it did but I remember rereading it 3 or 4 times at least

21. Do you like sequels?

The fics I like don’t usually come with sequels but The Penance of a Killer is one so Yes

22. Do you like dabbles?

I guess? I haven’t read too many I don’t think but hey, more fic is more fic. Who’s gonna complain about that?

23. What do you wish more fic authors would do?

Write about minor characters more

24. What do you wish more authors would stop doing?

that thing where they latch onto one facet of a character’s personality - or worse, one that fandom made up - and write them as if that’s the only trait they have

25. Do you like one-shots or multi-chapter?

Multi-chapter. I mean both are great obviously but the majority of my faves are multi-chapter and obviously if I like a fic I’m gonna wanna spend as much time in that universe as possible

26. How long do you like chapters to be?

Usually I feel the longer the better. once in a while I’ll hit one that’s so long it’s kind of distracting but extremely rarely

27. What’s your favorite POV (point of view) to read (first, second, third)?

Third

28. What do you think of OC’s?

I didn’t use to care for them very much but as I started reading fic by more advanced writers I found several I really liked. have a very small list of OCs from recent fics I’ve read I would actually kill a man for I love them so much

29. Do you download fic?

No, but seeing as my absolute favorite Bionicle fic vanished off the face of the earth several years ago and I cannot find anything about it an y wh ere sometimes I think about saving my faves. I never got to finish reading that fic and I am absolutely devastated every time I think about it. 

30. Tell me something else about your fic reading! Anything else!

best thing is when my friend and I buddy read a fic and send each other our favorite parts

Tag!

@yaelathewordsmith and @samantha-girlscout  ♡ ♡ ♡

[johnlockficclub]

Discussion Recap - Author Q&A!

Well, JFC crew, we’ve reached the end of another fabulous fic! Thank you so much to everyone who read along and participated in the weekly discussions - you all are the best.

And of course, a huge thank you to @swissmissing for writing The Baker Street Nativity in the first place and for coming along to our Author Q&A to share some insight into her writing process and background to this fic. Questions and answers are below the cut as this got quite long!

And finally, thanks once again to @frodosweetstuff for allowing us to use her artwork for these update posts!

Happy holidays everyone - may you and your loved ones be safe and happy this festive season! xx

1: Why this AU? What got you started on it? @ewebie 

 I saw the movie and with MF in it, of course I immediately started thinking of how it could be a Johnlock AU.  I do that frequently anyway: imagine Johnlock versions of stuff. I just watched a few Netflix Xmas movies recently and I am still thinking of how to turn them into Johnlock AU's. I see the world through Johnlock-coloured glasses. Is that healthy or normal? IDK.

2. Would you ever consider publishing your fanfic? @norburylibrary 

No. First off, the story is obviously cadged from a copyrighted screenplay. To publish it for real, as an original work, I'd have to scrub the names and characters so that they don't interfere with BBC copyright. That part should be feasible, but the story itself is too close to the Nativity screenplay. As for any of my other fics, the non-fusion ones, I don't think I've written anything that could stand on its own without the Sherlock association. One of the huge assets of fan fiction is there is a built-in character background and setting. I'm not up to rewriting to the extent of creating something that could be published as an original work.

3.  What do you enjoy writing most, humor or angst and why? @elwinglyre

I can do both, but I guess I'm more drawn to angst. I think humor is harder to pull off, for me at least. I'm not a naturally funny person. I have to think hard to come up with funny situations and lines. Confession: In some of my fics, there are certain punch lines that were actually written by my beta readers. I think Sherlock and John - in fact all of the Sherlock BBc universe - lends itself more naturally to angst anyway. although there are humorour parts in the eps, I find them more geared towards angst.

4.  Was it confusing at all having seen the movie to then switch the roles?  When writing it. @sherlock-nanowrimo

Yes, totally confusing at first! I started out with the "natural" roles, with John as the teacher and Sherlock as the assistant, but it wasn't working for me so somehow I just got the idea to try it the other way round. Once I started down that path though, it wasn't confusing for me. I was worried throughout that it would be confusing for readers. But everyone who commented and said they had seen the movie, also said the switch wasn't hard for them to deal with.

5.  When you write is it because you get a fic idea or for some other reason? Like stress reliever or for doing something fun? @tildathings 

Good question. I always want to write. I get a great feeling of satisfaction when I write something. Especially when I finish a piece. It's a big shot of dopamine for me. It carries me for a long time, sometimes days. BUT I can't force myself to write. I tried that one year with nanowrimo and it was not a good thing. So I can really only write when "the muse" grabs me. When I get an idea that sticks with me for days and weeks. And with this fic, it really came alive and almost wrote itself, once I was on the right track.

6. How much do you base your writing on the show and how much on your headcanon? @travelingwithoutthedoctor 

This is a problem too, as I haven't gone back and watched the episodes in a really long time. Many of the eps I only saw once in the first place. I have the feeling that the fandom circles you travel in tend to create a fancanon that pretty much replaces the actual canon. So that's something I struggle with. I actually try when I write to imagine and hear the TV characters speaking and acting things out, in the hopes that it makes it closer to how they might actually be in those situations. I suppose that's unavoidable. I'm sure I do have an image of the characters in my mind, and I write from that. I just hope they are pretty aligned with the original characters from the show.

7.  I thought you did an incredible job making Sherlock a teacher for young children credible. That wasn't something we'd think of Sherlock doing, and you made it work. What did you take into consideration when doing this? @elwinglyre

Woo boy, that's a thing! He is so completely unsuited for this position. I had to justify him being in that position, however, so I kind of hand-waved something. Honestly, it wasn't my priority. I was just trying to create Johnlock moments. I mean, I think he's actually quite good with children. We've seen that on the show with Archie. I think it would depend on the kids.

8.  I’m curious about the speed of writing. How quickly do you get a chapter done? @vitruvianwatson

Once I get going, I can usually do about a chapter a week. My chapters tend to be 2-5K. 

9.  The UST, miscommunication and angst of this fic was deliciously frustrating, and a lot of us were yelling at them to just sort themselves out. If that was the hardest part about reading it, I'm wondering about what was difficult to write in this fic?  Were there certain sections or characters that you found challenging? @lediona25

I was honestly following the pacing of the movie, pretty much. I did need to add some scenes. I tried to pace it so that there was a romantic bit about at the halfway point, and another one for the big payoff at the end. One challenging bit was the dog. I wasn't sure whether to include him, but once I did, I kept forgetting about him. I kept having to go back and remember where the dog was and who was taking care of him. I don't have a dog so I was just doing what I've seen other people doing with their dogs. They leave them tied up outside of shops and restaurants all the time so I figured it was okay. Again, it wasn't really a priority. A lot of people commented that they liked the dog in there though, so I'm glad I left him in.

10. It was perfect casting!  We were talking about it during the movie - like with Greg as the headmistress. @sherlock-nanowrimo

That's one of the best parts of doing a fusion, for me anyway, is the casting.  I love discovering how characters map onto each other. Sometimes it's astonishing.  I HAD SO MUCH FUN WITH JIM!!  I didn't want to make him actually evil or a real threat. It always gives me massive anxiety when Moriarty shows up in a fic because often truly awful things happen then. But I wanted to keep this in line with it being a kids' movie. And to be fair, I didn't really need to change all that much from the movie bad guy anyway. That nativity play he put on was insane! And I actually was just teaching one of my classes last year about universal story plots such as the hero's journey.  (Yes, I'm an English teacher.) 11.  One of your ficlets suggests some pretty unpleasant stuff re: Jim's backstory. @bluebellofbakerstreet

Jim's backstory. I kind of imagined he and Sherlock had been rivals at the conservatory and Jim had tried to derail Sherlock with drugs. Perhaps somewhat successfully.

12.  What the hell is the story with Sherlock and whatever he did to Seb Wilkes?! @ewebie

I don't know either! LOL that is actually something I like doing in fics because, again, I like it when fics do that: hint at something but not elaborate and leave it up to you to decide what was actually going on.  I guess maybe that's frustrating to some people but for me, it gives fics depth and realism.  It's like in some fics where you just hear about a case in passing but the details are never fleshed out. I was using it to show that Sherlock had made poor decisions with kids in the past, so this thing he did with taking the kids to the studio wasn't out of character.

13. John... as a classroom assistant. How did you see him ending up there? Our conclusion was that... lost people just sometimes end up places @ewebie

I don't recall if it's explained in the fic or not, but I actually had something in mind for that. He was invalided out of the army and bumming around with nothing to do, feeling useless. His good friend Mike, who was also a teacher, recommended him to Greg as a classroom assistant. No idea if that would be allowed in the UK but here in Switzerland it's frequently done. Usually a retired person will be brought in as a classroom assistant. This keeps them active and engaged, and is a big help to the teachers.

14.  We loved the whole scene with Moriarty at the end when Mycroft pops out and saves the day.  You did a bang-up job with that.  When you're finishing a story, are you one those "I've planned it all out" writers or stream of consciousness writers. Let's go with the flow? @elwinglyre

In this case, the ending was written for me. I just followed the plot of the movie. Usually, though, I do have the ending in mind from the start. It's usually pretty much a sex scene, lol. The whole point of the fic is usually, how do I get these two together? 

15.  Oh! The sex! Is that easy for you to write. I have the hardest time with that. Is something your really get into? @elwinglyre 

True story (which I also told on one of my guest slots on the TPP): I didn't use to be able to write sex scenes. But I wanted to. So I literally would copy sex scenes from fics I liked. Just like, typing them out word for word. This got me used to writing those words and those acts on my screen. Then I tried writing my own. I think I sort of have a reputation for writing awkward-realistic sex scenes. I'm not aiming for that, it's just how they come out. It's a mix of, again, imagining how the characters would appear and act and speak in those situations, and also I guess how I would feel and want things to be.

16. We have a lot of people in this group who are just starting out writing fic or are thinking about writing something, do you have any advice to new writers? @lediona25

I'll just say what we started out talking about: Write for yourself. Write what you want to read. You will always have an appreciative audience. I see so many writers get discouraged because they don't have massive hits and kudos, and they just give up. I think most of the popular writers in fandom have been around for years. This may be their third or fourth fandom. They've been writing in real life. Experience takes a long time to build up.So write for yourself. The rest will come. And... at the moment, it feels a bit like there's less readers than 2 years ago, so really really don't be discouraged.

Thanks to all those who asked questions and to @swissmissing for her thoughtful answers! :)