#i think she is to me what nyx is to a lot of the fandom

[cthoniccompanion]

i genuinely think hecate is one of the best written and designed characters across both hades games and i wish i could better articulate why

[hattersarts]

hi! ;_; i come to you seeking wisdom: do you know of any f/f ships featuring mothers/mother figures? I know persephone/nyx or hekate/selene but i was trying to find others and can't think of any. There's no way there's only two. So i thought I'd ask you since it sounds like something you might know about?

Hi!! sorry this took so long to respond, i wrote the answer out once and then my web browser refreshed on me and i lost all my paragraphs 💀💀💀💀💀

Im going to assume you mean strictly mother/mother pairings (i don't know hekate/selene so don't know what those dynamics are)

Emma Swan/Regina Mills (Once Upon a time) These guys were the top f/f ship on ao3 for years for a reason, they literally share a son BUT ARE MORTAL ENEMIES AS DECREED BY A MAGICAL CURSE. AND THEN THEY HAVE TO WORK TOGETHER. the show is often batshit insane but when you get 13K fics that cover a massive range of plots and are so well written i cant complain. s1 is recommended watching to get into the fic but honestly even just the first half of s1 is probably fine and then a plot summary of the rest. Grace Hansen/Frankie Bergstein (Grace & Frankie) i mean am i not supposed to root for the two women who's husbands cheated on them with each other to then get together?? fic pool has a lot of established older writers in it so the quality is so good and grace is the best non-canon comp het character to ever exist (yes even within the the text of the show, some of the things she does are CRAZY) lmao i guess i can also suggest alicent/rhaenyra from House of the Dragon, but the depends on if you enjoy GoT/HotD things (its milfs with shared history i enjoy them a great deal)

I've a few others that are very minor (lol Queen Lillian/Fairy Godmother anyone) but these are the biggest mother/mother pairings that come to mind that have somewhat of a fandom. I've a few that are single mother/single character that have kids as an important part of the ship but not sure if thats what you're looking for.

[elrieldreamer]

And … she’s DONE!

Her thoughts on the Azriel BC (I had told her that it was controversial in the fandom, but not why. I hadn’t given her any other thoughts beforehand. She read it in the timeline with the canon text, so after chapter 58.):

1. She was so in love with Azriel’s thoughts about Elain. She was blushing and kept looking at me as she read and just … she was giddy, y’all. And when Elain said “put it on me” she mouthed the words and put her hand on her heart. 😂😍 It was adorable. She cried and got really upset when he had to walk away. Definitely heartbroken.

2. She’s a huge Rhys fan, so I knew the next part would be difficult for her. She got upset, but did say that Rhys had a lot of stress because of Feyre and Nyx. She thinks that Rhys will regret what he said to Azriel, but did reinforce that it was the right move politically. She was already crying for Elain, and then she was crying again for Azriel.

3. I have to say, I was an extremely proud mom when she got to the Gwyn portion. She IMMEDIATELY picked up on the fact that Azriel’s shadows were acting suspicious. She read through it twice and then with no encouragement at all she flat asked me if Gwyn could be a lightsinger. I asked her why she thought that, and she said, “Maybe it’s too easy, but she like, glows when she sings, right? And now the shadows seem to hear music in her breath. And Azriel was hearing music when he left? Yeah. I think she’s a lightsinger.” ☠️

4. She got really upset about Azriel regifting the necklace. She’s concerned that Elain might see Gwyn with the necklace and it will hurt her deeply. She did point out that Clotho seems suspicious in the scene, and is wondering if the priestesses are all part of some scheme. I did decide to ask her if she thought that Azriel was romantically interested in Gwyn, and she was adamant that it wouldn’t make sense for him to have that scene with Elain and then to immediately have some kind of moment with Gwyn. She also pointed out the portion where he says that he wouldn’t consider Gwyn a friend. She seemed confused that I asked.

5. At that point I asked her to read the BC again and pay attention to all of the specific language usage. After her second reread I was so proud because she looked up and flat asked if there are sirens in the library. She made the connection between the earplugs from Elain and The Odyssey (her school has them read it in 8th grade) and the description of Azriel showing up unexpectedly and then got really excited to continue to pick apart the BC. 😭🥹

I will update again after we have a more in depth discussion about the last 1/3 of ACOSF.

[theshadowsingersraven]

this nyxlin drama lowkey reminds me of the time a zutara artist was run off tumblr because they drew aged up katara/zuko romantically, but I think it was actually angry kataang’s or e/riel’s -because they also drew gwynriel and e/riel’s were jealous- who were stirring up shit 😭

That would honestly make a lot of sense for how/why I didn't see many posts from them or overall in the Nyxlin tag when I was catching up on what happened. Pretty much every person (notably largely Elriels) who supported Elain Week's censorship got an insta-block from me if they weren't already. And I'm sure a decent amount of people blocked me from my stance on Elaingate, Rhys Week, and Nyxlin Week.

And good! You should block me. Seriously. Art has the right to be celebrated and appreciated, especially in the circumstances designed to do that for a specific character and dynamic! Character appreciation and celebration will never look the same to everyone, and just because it's not what you enjoy doesn't mean it stops being appreciative or celebratory. If you can't grasp that, you don't deserve access to my art anyway. You certainly don't deserve to be in my space, that's for damn sure. Kindly, get out.

Honestly, it kind of makes sense considering the overlap of canon rigidity, purity culture, and morality policing of fiction coming from sides of the fandom that generally can't accept criticism about their faves, or even things that go against what they want for their faves. They are terrified of creativity that doesn't give them what they want and it shows. It's the most Evangelical-ass shit ever, and it's fucking weird.

Like...for all intents and purposes, Nyx is an OC in any works that feature him. And I'd know, because I wrote an adult Nyx for my ongoing ACOTAR D&D campaign set 20 years after ACOSF. So yes, Nyx is twenty in my timeline, because it's writing and I can do what I want lol. I have no basis to write Nyx off of other than Rhys and Feyre. Which means...I'm still doing my own character-building to only less than I would for a completely new OC.

Let's compare, shall we?

Writing my OC Solara's backstory: Writing her parents from scratch ✔️ Writing her early childhood ✔️ Writing her trauma ✔️ Writing her adolescence and relationships ✔️ Writing her interests and adventures as she became an adult✔️ Writing her dynamic with her love interest and how she interacts with Prythian as a whole ✔️

Now obviously these are all at minimum influenced by/will be derivative of aspects of ACOTAR because, y'know, transformative works. But still, I made her.

Writing Nyx's backstory and how he is as a twenty-year-old adult: Writing his parents from scratch ❌ Writing his early childhood ✔️ Writing any trauma he might have ✔️ Writing his adolescence and relationships ✔️ Writing his interests and adventures as he became an adult ✔️ Writing his dynamic (collaboratively) with his love interest and how he interacts with Prythian as a whole ✔️

And this is a version of Nyx that I made. Yes, it's still influenced by canon, but if I put in 90% of the same effort to write him as an adult as I did a complete OC, we can acknowledge they're functionally the same.

It's not that people look at Baby!Nyx and instantly think he's perfect to be shipped with someone and there's something to be gleaned from canon about him in particular. We know nothing about Nyx as an individual. That applies to any Nyx ship.

The appeal, at least in my experience, to Nyx ships, including Nyxlin, is the dynamics at play around Nyx, i.e., his role as an eventual leader and powerful figure in the Night Court, the dynamics that affect Rhys and Feyre also extending to him, how the rest of Prythian/Illyria might view the first offspring of High Fae, Illyrian, and Made parents. It's about his circumstances, not him as a character because he is not a "character yet", he just exists!

People are just creative enough to consider those long-term effects on who he could become and how that interplays with other characters. I don't mean to be cruel, but genuinely, have these people never created an OC before? Have they never shipped anything outside of canon? Have they never read any fics featuring time travel, for example, as a plot point to get characters in the same era at the same time when otherwise the ship would not be able to happen? Are they that unfamiliar with making circumstances outside of SJM's canon to allow things to happen for fun?

Genuinely, the lack of creativity for all of us being in this for reading and writing is concerning.

Even just saying this and advocating for Nyxlin's right to be celebrated as well as Tamlin as a whole pretty much puts me in the position of having to tag this as pro-Tamlin. And I wouldn't even describe myself as anything other than Pro-Azriel and probably Pro-Nesta and Pro-Elain because I don't really dislike any characters. I'm equally as critical to all of them and if their good parts just sort of cancel out the bad or are only a bit outweighing one or the other...I don't actively dislike them, I'm just neutral about them.

But this fandom is so fucking polarized because of the toxicity and the Us v.s. Them, Morality Policing culture that's been festering, people can't even neutrally address something. People are harassed so quickly just for not understanding or being familiar with something, and then in the other court people do the harassing because they don't understand or aren't familiar with something the other party likes/dislikes. If don't utterly despise Tamlin, it's somehow considered supportive enough to qualify as "pro" to antis.

Too many people in this fanbase create this parasocial-adjacent attachment to these characters like they're real and have real feelings/boundaries that need to be protected. They are not! Characters can't be hurt by anything happening outside the narrative. Just because you personally do not like something/don't find it appealing or even find it discomforting does not mean it's morally objectionable. It's just not for you, and understanding that experiencing content not made for you is not an attack on you is kind of a necessary life skill.

This rant ended up way longer than I expected it to be, but anyway...y'all stay safe out there.

[infiniteetcetera]

RAPID FIRE ACOTAR CHARACTER HOT TAKES

. [Mostly focused on side characters but thoughts about our mains too BC why not]

🔥Emerie is one of THE most underrated characters and deserved a bigger storyline in ACOSF (obviously it’s Nestas book but other side characters like Gwyn, Feysand, etc got more time that could have been hers)

🔥I don’t know why people really like Helion or want him with LOA😭 mans has let her be in an abusive relationship for DECADES & I feel like if he really loved/deserved her he would have blood dueled by now. he might make a fine father for Lucien but I don’t want to read a love story that involves a few centuries of abandonment

🔥I like genuinely wonder often if the rest of Lucien’s brothers are evil evil. Like if Eris is playing along to their abusive dad’s whims, how do we know the rest of them aren’t? They likely don’t know Eris is different so why would he know that about them? Lucien didn’t? IDK i’m just curious about more Vanserras

🔥Jurian is genuinely one of the funniest characters👀 his revival may be a little pointless but his vibes are immaculate and he’s underrated

🔥You don’t have to hate Mor for leading Azriel on (there are others reasons to not like her) but she definitely did💀aside from the fact every character including her says it we get literal scenes of it too. like she FR tells Feyre he has a huge dick and just says so many other sexual/romantic things about him that are NOT platonic, it makes sense he’s been confused AF😭

🔥Kallias and Viviane have one of the sweetest love stories in the series and I wish we saw more of them. they also just have such good vibes & if they’re gonna keep popping up for little cameos I want more deets

🔥TW SA: I won’t even argue about Tamlins wrongs against Feyre bc i’ve done so before & it isn’t worth the breath BUT it bewilders me that so many people ignore/excuse what he did to Lucien😭 aside from just the generally abusive vibes he not only ignored what Ianthe was doing to Lucien (when equally if not more depressed people like Feyre/Rhys noticed) but also made him have sex with that creepy ass predator😩 Lucien’s struggle with that is so overlooked in general but still bothers me people ignore Tamlins fault in it and that Lucien is now groveling for his friendship

🔥 While on the topic of SA, i’ve seen a lot of people in the fandom have such a gross attitude about what happened to Rhys recently. like man has plenty of flaws and has done a lot of wrong things but that’s not an excuse to make jokes about him being SA’d for DECADES especially when male SA representation is so rare and it’s dumbass jokes like the kind fans are now making that makes guys feel uncomfortable about speaking up

🔥One more on this topic, the SA Nesta experienced is also SO overlooked, even by the narrative itself. The general fact she was using sex as a form of self harm/punishment is also weirdly addressed a few times but then excused if it’s with Cassian in a way that’s so gross

🔥Feyre and Rhys having Nyx so soon was a bad decision. No matter how many people bring up the “oh they were so close to dying” “oh they don’t want to waste time” blah blah blah doesn’t change the fact that’s a TERRIBLE reason to have kids😭 like does the fact they made that decision kind of make sense given what they experienced? sure! was it at all smart or level headed or much more than a trauma response? literally no

🔥I feel like Rhys’ mom…kind of sucks? She’s spoken about more highly than any of the other ACOTAR parents but she literally forced her son to go to a child soldier camp she knew was full of misogyny, poverty, and a bunch of other barbaric practices, did nothing to help any of the other kids unless she was forced to (Rhys brought cassian home, and Az’s mom begged her to take him, she then let Rhys & Cas beat on this poor traumatized boy) and overall Rhys turned out far from perfect but actually could have been SO much worse when you think about it

🔥On the topic of bad parents KIER BEING ALIVE STILL IS SO STUPID AND MAKES NO SENSE.

[highladyofterrasen7]

Ok nesta and feysand and the pregnancy plot:

The whole point of the pregnancy was for it to advance nesta’s “redemption arc” (you can’t argue with me on this)

Like when nesta told feyre that nyx’s wings would kill her it was so she knew she’d gone too far and (surprise surprise) your actions and hateful words can affect people

Now this wouldn’t’ve worked if feyre knew- aka if Rhys had told her- so maas HAD to write it like this and villainise rhys for nesta to make her look better (like some sort of saviour almost) so that it would kickstart her “changing for the better” the whole thing wouldn’t’ve worked otherwise. So while I recognise rhys wasn’t completely innocent in the secret, it’s still more of a reflection on sjm

Which effectively spilt the fandom in half and- in the eyes of some- “ruined feysand”- and in the eyes of the others- made us hate the book (and sjm) bc of the wasted potential and the way those characters were portrayed

With the final scene in which feyre and Nyx die (like give them a rest) again maas HAD to write it like that to effectively “mend the bridge” between feyre and nesta, without nesta actually being held accountable for her actions (which is not cool because she said some fucked up shit)

I have a theory that Bloomsbury wanted Maas to make more books in such a successful series as a money grab (which is why it was “finished”) and in order to do that maas felt like she needed to make nesta worse so she could make nesta better (probably because she was stuck because like with the end of a series, the loose ends were tied up), but she had no clue how to actually do it (when she could’ve focused more on a relationship and actually thinking about a better plot or… written another feysand book)

Therefore she made something that should have been so joyous for the couple (and fans) into an extremely traumatising and controversial experience

Again I remain adamant that the pregnancy could’ve been an interesting plot for a novella where it actually told Rhys’ pov and what he was thinking and cleared up any misconceptions about the book (and shut up his antis instead of giving them fuel for the fire) and showed them like racing against the clock to save feyre. And have a way to save them without nesta losing her powers. Also for some action they could’ve been trying to find bryaxis.

I still find it really strange she wrote rhys like that, a character she has explicitly mentioned to be one of her favourites, so either she didn’t think about his actions when writing, or just thought we would ignore it (we’re trying)

The redemption arc didn’t even fully work because there are a lot of people who still dislike nesta

The fact is that if maas had’ve thought out the plot and the effect it would have on fans and had a different way of making nesta more likeable, the book would’ve been so much better and not been a lost cause

Feel free to add some more points

[acourtofquestions]

I personally love all of SJM’s books, and have read TOG and ACOTAR (I’m on the second book of CC) but I’ve seen multiple anti-SJM posts on tumblr. I personally disagree with them, but what’s your opinion?

(One of the main things they argue is that Rhysand was abusive)

A very good question! Thanks for asking! I always love talking about fandom stuff & your posts are always a fav😊🫶 @romantasyreader28 (apology in advance for the delay & long ramble lol; it was a good question I had many thoughts on🤣)

I was actually pondering something similar within this note but separate for an updated reading post on Rowan from TOG (I’m reading HoF for the first time; & though I generally try not to pick “pro/anti” (as there’s always another side to the story) not gonna lie I was near “anti”-Rowan… until PT. 2… hence the more “pro”-Rowan upcoming post😂).

— So there are definitely a LOT of changing opinions depending on the point in the series.

As far as Rhysand goes:

I was on a rollercoaster with him at first too, the introductory chapters & UTM time period were concerning (assault is a big trigger for me; so having Feyre drink faerie wine, “marking” her with paint, & kissing her without consent was disturbing).

With that said, I did find his character generally easier to “like/not loathe” on first read in comparison to other “enemies to lovers”. I think this is because of a few reasons… The 1st being you know there is more going on beneath the surface. 2nd, the perspective it’s written in shows their draw to each-other & makes swaying the audience easier. 3rd the undercurrents to their banter & little clues to more within their interactions; such as him betting on HER; shows he believes in her & also something more. Finally, it is furthered by the already very dark setting, not to give excuse but to more easily explain the why which is NOT of malice. My biggest point is that he does not defend it, apologizes for it & it is not portrayed as “okay”.

He is not perfect, he can be read as hero or villain; he does NOT make the same mistake twice, he DOES apologize, he does TRY to be better. He creates a sanctuary specifically for women to escape abuse, he makes a lot of effort to give Feyre HER choices & empower her to make them. And the times we are shown his side it is much less morally murky.

I know there is a lot of anger around him hiding the risk of Feyre & Nyx; I don’t disagree it is wrong & confusing, but we do not get the full picture, clearly showing in the other perspectives. & The other being his threat to Nesta after she tells Feyre; which was wrong & he knows it. — There is a difference however between anger & action. — While many of these patterns could probably be deemed as abusive, they could also be deemed as acceptable/explainable. Which one is correct?

— Well, at the end of the day it’s fiction. Within a genre that very much struggles with this as a whole. & While there is something to be said for “real world” power within fictional escapes. It also comes with a different & messier set of non-existent rules; if we are to examine them all, quickly everything becomes problematic. & maybe that’s good to do, maybe not; it’s worth acknowledging; but in that acknowledge that it is fiction.

Meanwhile, writers are real people. So be wary of jumping toward conclusions on either side…

As far as SJM goes:

I don’t know & we’ve never met, I don’t know what she’s like, what she believes in, what she’s experienced. I doubt anyone would write a series with the intention to sway people into abusive relationships. & though intent is a good question to ask; I tend to lean similarly towards no.

There are times I think abuse is shown; whether intentional (as Arobynn and Celaena), or questionably (Tamlin & Feyre’s first kiss; a moment that bothered me as she is drunk, but I actually appreciate because it is shown how problematic they are later; point to it as a key warning, not “romantic fairytale” to aspire for).

I also think the Maasverse does take time to give survivors & “unspoken stories” a spotlight, that means a great deal (or at least it did to me) with characters like Gwyn being a large one.

It serves as an enjoyable escape from the world; one we know is fiction. A morality that can be more “fun” to debate & ponder, but still exists within fiction & opinion primarily over actual moral grounding.

For me: I love Rhysand (though I may not wish to marry him in the real world) I wish to have someone to hold my hair when I have nightmares & I loved watching him and Feyre fall in love in moments like that; I love the way SJM turns plots on their heads & think she does a great job with them.

Reading throne of glass as my next Maasverse series has been cathartic; I have thoroughly enjoyed many dynamics and actually praised them for flipping stereotypes on their heads & NOT being abusive.

So, while I think there are many sides and points to argue & at the end of the day is generally within fiction; I enjoy SJM’s writing & reading them. I generally don’t find it more problematic than other series. And prefer to enjoy fandoms, or move along if it doesn’t feed me healthily.

[caparrucia]

Hi there! Few days ago my brain randomly reminded me of Kingsglaive and hours later I ended up scrolling ao3 looking for fics that feature Nyx, any fic, hoping there're more fics for him than the last time i checked (years ago, i think?) and surprised there's a Cor and Nyx ship??? I mean... HOW? And why? But somehow I spent past three days reading your Cor/Nyx fic in ao3. Started with your "flower soulmates AU", classic trope, figured it'd be hard to go wrong with that. First sentence intrigued me, 8000 words later I was whisked away by the imagery, feelings and humor also a bit wistfulness sometimes. And then "glitter and gold". And then "the sun is out, the day is new" It was a JOY to read it! (holding back to read "always darkest before dawn" because, was it discontinued?) Your worldbuilding of Galahd culture (the Walk! the. WALK) it just fills this pockets of imagination for all these cultural aspects we’ve only got tiny glimpsed before. Your words pulled me in and now I am well and truly hooked on this ship hahaha. Just wanna say you're amazingly talented (superpower with words I swear) and thank you for writing about Nyx. 💜

So, first of all, thank you for your kind words and welcome to the CorNyx fandom, it's cozy and fun!

I do want to say I am not and have never claimed to be patient zero for the CorNyx ship, but I did write a fic specifically to infect as many people as possible with my ship because... you know. I'm a writer, that's what I do. :P

Why Cor and Nyx? To me personally because I watched Kingsglaive, watched the speech Nyx gave the Lucii and went "huh, so he's just Cor but younger" and that thought immediately spawned a need to see these two butting heads (and other things!) ASAP. Cor is my darling boy, mostly because he's a shonen action hero that grew up, and he's forty fucking five years old and still wears red sole shoes and three shirts layered like it's cool. He's a moron, I love him.

Nyx is Nyx! Kingsglaive spent so long painting a picture of an interesting main character shafted into side character status - a thing that XV does a lot, in that the bros are all flavor of Main Character, while Noctis is very much refusing the call at every step he can - and I'm so very fond of him.

So hey, let's write a story to chew on the idea and see if I can convince people to ship it. The story was the sun is out, the day is new, and the answer was overwhelmingly yes! And so here we are. XD

always darkest before dawn is and isn't abandoned, in the sense that I realized I needed to rewrite some bits and I might as well scrap it all and rewrite it from scratch but that takes time and I've been drowning in work and getting swallowed by other fandoms in the meantime so it's been a while. I need to get to it because I need people to know what's the deal with Prompto, because it's so good. SO GOOD. I love my boy.

glitter and gold exists purely because of the awesome @garbria, and if you want some quality CorNyx, well. /Will Smith memes. She's got you covered, trust me. /chef kiss

And if you've still got a hungering for more CorNyx from me, I know it's still on going and truth is I update once a year at this rate, but it is my baby and I try my best not to post cliffhangers (or to resolve them quickly, lmao) but you might want to give nature of the beast a try. It's got teeth, for all it's very soft and squishy in its own way.

[mdhwrites]

When it comes to fanfiction, what are your thoughts on OCs/self-inserts (I'm aware there's a difference between the two)?

So I know both of theirs reputation. In many's eyes, one is just a more extreme version of the other. Both are seen as wish fulfillment on the writer's part and thus are written poorly by default as a part of making them the most special thing that special'd. What is interesting to me in this regard is that this is actually just the same problem that the writers of the OG content face when introducing a new character but the writer doing it doesn't realize the landmine they're potentially walking onto.

Have you ever seen a long running show, even maybe just a couple seasons, and when they add a new character they get a bad reception? "They're just a copy of this character!" "They aren't nearly as deep as the cast that's already there!" "What purpose do they serve to this story except to let the writers... Add their own OC." This is because the audience is going to be inherently biased towards the characters who are already there. Trying to add a new MAIN character is always going to be difficult because it inherently means shifting the balance of the work, especially because the new character is going to need a lot of time to flesh out their place in the ensemble. Starlight Glimmer is an example, where the season after her started with a lot of episodes that were in someway focused on her so she could prove her good girl status or show how she was different from Twilight Sparkle because that's just what needs to happen with a new character.

But I want to emphasize this: OCs/Backlash on a character like this is predominantly a MAIN character problem. You want to throw in a random self insert who gets two lines and then dips out? Few, if anyone, is going to care because hey, you needed a rando there so why not just a quick cameo? This is the style the Marvel movies took with Stan Lee. His cameos were never that much a problem because they were usually a quick joke. They didn't detract from the characters you were there to see.

Which brings us to why this problem is SO. MUCH. WORSE. when it comes to fanfiction. One of the strengths of fanfiction from a novice writer's perspective is that a lot of criticism is going to be softballed because the audience is primed to just enjoy the work regardless because they just are there for more time with the characters they love. For an experience writer like me, I could theoretically be experimental with my stories more on Ao3 as a test bed for if those would work in general because I'm not going to get a one star review for the formatting, I'll get a comment going "This was weird but MAN I loved seeing X do Y." Your audience being inherently primed to enjoy your work is one of the joys of being a fanfic writer because it means it's so much easier to find your audience.

That also means it's really easy for original elements to be seen as hostile. As invading the space, especially if they're overshadowing the rest of the cast. The audience isn't here for your original characters after all. They're here for the characters they already enjoy. It makes me think of how the most famous OC of MLP's fandom... Is Nyx, at least from fanfiction. That or Pip but both use sleight of hand in order to get away with this. Nyx is not a wholly an OC. They are a mix of two characters explicitly. Nightmare and Luna, just turned into a filly. So instead of "Check out my OC," it's "Check out my alternative version Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon." Littlepip meanwhile is in a Fallout AU in an Equestria that is, well, a post apocalypse. That isn't MLP at that point. That's just original fiction and so your expectations change because you don't actually know from go if your favorite characters are going to be there so you're more there for the blending of media. Any appearances by canon characters becomes a treat and so Littlepip doesn't have to compete with them. I've also never read either of these stories, I'm just going off of what I've absorbed since I know these characters are commonly liked and what their concepts are. This is also not a condemnation of either character, both need to be well written to be as popular as they are or else they would have been discarded, just that they don't have as much of an uphill battle as literally just dropping a new character in the media world you enjoy has.

The other way you can bypass this is to make them narratively subservient to a character. What I mean by that is that they clearly are there to push another main character's arc and the like. As such, they don't feel as much like a main character, they feel like interesting supporting cast to one of the characters already is primed to like. Pretty much any Apple Family OC is going to fall into this so long as the story also heavily includes Applejack or Apple Bloom. Babs Seed is literally just this where her connection to the Apples and how she challenges them makes her immediately compelling to the audience because we want to see that. A looooot of one off characters honestly fall into this category, with the added bonus that they're not main characters, they're supporting cast.

So with all of this, I think it begs the question: Are OCs/Self Inserts treated unfairly? Well... That's really fucking complicated. As I pointed out above, the well written and the well conceived can absolutely be liked. It has maybe fallen a bit out fashion post MLP but a lot of fandoms probably have semi-famous that just got popular enough to start being passed around. An OC can be well received so long as they're done well. The reason so few are done well is honestly tragically simple: You have now taken one of the hardest parts of original writing and added the biggest downside of fanfiction with none of the strengths of fanfiction.

I have said that I became an original writer because I found myself limited by fanfiction. That the AUs I made were essentially irrecognizable, or not materially added to, by being fanfiction. This is because the one mandate, the one restriction, of fanfiction is that you have to work within the boundaries of the media you are in. Those boundaries are looser than an original story but there are limits. You make an alicorn OC in MLP fanfic will ask questions because doesn't that make them a princess? So now you have to add someone entirely from whole cloth, robbing you of the bonuses of fanfiction, while making sure they contort to the rules of the fiction, rather than ever being able to bend those rules for the sake of the character and their story. This can actually make it really good practice for making original characters for an original story because of those extra challenges but that's not how most fanfic authors look at it. It's just adding a character, or themselves, into a story because they're excited to do so. That is a recipe for disaster.

I also think it is given too much shit for the same reason. Unless the person touts their OC as perfectly written... Let them enjoy their trash. Fanfiction is for the writer before it is ever for the reader after all. If you can empathize with why a person adds themselves into a story, which is an entire blog on its own, then it can help you see a poorly written OC and go, "This isn't for me." And then leave. You do not have to be a dick about it, they're just trying to enjoy themselves.

As a note: This is why I so very, VERY rarely go after fanworks. I do not want to shit on people just for wanting to create and play. It's just discouraging so unless I have a larger point I can make through the work, an actual lesson to teach rather than just dragging it through the mud, I'm not even going to bother talking about it. I'm just being a dick then.

And a lot of the push against OCs and Self Inserts in fanfiction fall into and I hope that hasn't discouraged people from making the stories they want to like it did for me with my first ever piece of fanfiction. See you all next tale.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[thatgenderfluidmonstrosity]

Hello people! This is my introduction :3

I am a person of many names~ Some know me by their loveliest day dream, others their worst nightmare-

Just kidding, I go by any of these names, and I will put in my bio which I’m using at the time~ (it’s fluid)

Nyx, Rei, Ether, Gray, Aether, Nexus, Kaeya, Nox

I am also Genderfluid, so my current pronouns will be listed in my bio as well :3

Neurodivergent! Diagnosed with Tourettes, PTSD and Generalized Anxiety! (Surprisingly not diagnosed with Depression and ADHD, but oh well.)

I love getting questions about my Tourettes, Gender Identity and whatever else!!! Please don’t be afraid to ask if you have questions!!

Little warning: despite being on Tumblr for about 2 years now, I still have to idea what the proper “etiquette” is. Like- what a blorbo is, or if emojis are as despised here as they are on like… discord or something

Idk man 💀 I’m always confused

I love many things, from video games to anime to cartoons for children way younger than me

Here are all of the ones that I can remember right now (not listed in any particular order):

Hamilton

Amphibia

Percy Jackson

The Owl House

FNaF

She-Ra

Gravity Falls

Marvel (Avengers really)

Genshin Impact

My Hero Academia

Demon Slayer

Spy x Family

Marauders (Kinda)

Horizon Zero Dawn

Horizon Forbidden West

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Avatar: The Legend Of Korra

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

Moon Knight

Jekyll and Hyde

Bluey

Whump (Just in general)

DnD (Mainly Homebrew because I am kinda new to it)

Cars Movies (1, 2, 3)

Detroit: Become Human

School Bus Graveyard

Stardew Valley

I also love making art, and will post that a lot

I have an Ao3 Account: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoManyPassions/pseuds/SoManyPassions

I have a lot of works but am also working like a dog to get more stuff posted ✨

I have so much writing in progress, and can’t wait to get it out there!

Let’s see… what else…

Im working on my own Fantasy/Fiction Series called The Solstice Academy (Yes that does mean that it’s initials shorten to TSA)

I am open to writing submissions for any fandom listen above! I have some stipulations, some minor and others are more important, like how I will never write smut/sexual content. If you have any submissions that you’d wanna see (like your favorite character getting tortured) message me and we can work something out! I can’t promise that I’ll get to it immediately (or that it will get written at all) but I will do my best to fulfill your request!

I think that’s all about me!

:3

[goddess-of-birds]

Hello Ravens!

Name: Laurya | Pinterest: @surpriiiiiiiiiise | Wattpad: @surpriiiiiiiiiise

Main account: @lucegoose-51

ART IS HERE!!!

RP ACCOUNT (rp posts will be tagged #laurya #goddess of birds #rp)

Open rp starts will be tagged #open rp

I am the Goddess of Birds and twin sister to Loki

Faceclaim:

Age: 1157 years old, about 18 physically

Height: 5'7"

Pronouns: She/her

Hair color: Black, dyed blue about halfway down

Eye Color: Bright yellow

Skin tone: Mostly pale but kinda tan, shit ton of freckles

Race: Jotun/Asgardian

A little bit of backstory: It's pretty much the same backstory as the canon MCU Loki. but she figured out she was a frost giant before he did (but she couldn't bring herself to tell him). First came to Midgard in 1854 with Loki (if ykyk), got captured, tortured and nearly killed before help arrived, didn't go back until 1973, found out she liked it, and has been going back and forth since.

Likes: Reading, writing, drawing, fighting with Odin, flying, stabbing people who make fun of homeless people, making friends, maple pecans

Dislikes: Odin, dirt in my wings, wet wings, rude people, dresses, black coffee

Nicknames: Stitch (given by @ireallyliketacosokay ), Feathers (given by @wolverineofficial )

I AM ACTIVELY LOOKING FOR A ROOMMATE

Friends: @nyxe-dragonetti @thebolter1904 @ishani-khera @ireallyliketacosokay @homeless-loki @fox-barnes @wolverineofficial

Worst enemy: @0din-borson

Relatives: @thebolter1904 (niece) @goddess-of-chaos-and-destruction (sister) @homeless-loki (brother) @freyja-freyrdottir (mom)

Pet friends: @arsinoe-the-crow

Random stuff below the cut (such as ask games)

MY PLAYLIST!!!!

pls vote on my polls

Asks are ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS OPEN

Strikethroughs have already been asked

(pls talk to me)

IN CHARACTER ASKS:

1: Favorite color 2: Favorite food 3: Best friend 4: Favorite fictional character 5: Most involved fandom 6: Biggest green flag 7: Biggest red flag 8: Favorite candy 9: Favorite Ice cream flavor 10: hair color/length 11: Eye color 12: Favorite outfit 13: Sweet/Spicy/Sour/Salty 15: Phobia 16: Instrument 17: Favorite Drawing 18: Tattoo I want 19: Number of Exes 20: Relationship Status

(OOC QUESTIONS FOR IRL ME)

1. Why do you like or dislike this character? 2. Favorite thing about this character? 3. Least favorite thing about this character? 4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in? 5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them? 6. What's something you have in common with this character? 7. Could you be roommates with this character? 8. Could you be best friends with this character? 9. Would you date this character? 10. What's a headcanon you have for this character? 11. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot? 12. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character? 13. How about their relationship with another character you admire? 14. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character? 15. Favorite picture of this character? 16. What other character from another fandom of yours reminds you of them? 17. FREEBIE QUESTION!!

EITHER OOC OR IN CHARACTER ASKS (tell me which lol): 📷 What’s set as your phone’s lockscreen? 🍫 Cheese or chocolate? ✨ Do you have any nicknames? 🎵 Last song you listened to? ✏️ Have you ever written fanfiction? 😏 Are you on discord?  💛 Do you have any piercings? 🐰 What do you think says the most about a person? 🍪 If you were a cookie, what kind would you be? 🐶 Are you more of a dog person or a cat person? 🎧 Headphones or earbuds? 🌼 What’s the last thing you said out loud? 🙃 What’s a weird fact that you know? 🦉 Are you a morning person or a night owl? 🧸 Favorite place to nap? 🏳️‍🌈 Are you a member of the LGBTQIA+ community? 🦋 Describe yourself in three words. 👖 Jeans or sweatpants? 🥤 What’s your go-to Starbucks order? 🧡 A color you can’t stand? 💎 What’s your most prized possession? ☕ Coffee or tea? 🦖 Favorite extinct animal? 🌙 How long have you been on Tumblr? 🌴 Desert island item? 🐸 Describe your aesthetic. 🔮 What’s your dream job? 💙 Relationship status? 🌿 Describe your favorite outfit. 🎤 Is there a song you know all the lyrics to? 🤎 What color is your hair? 💌 Do you talk to yourself? 💄 Do you wear makeup? 🌸 Best compliment you ever received? 🎙️ Favorite podcast? 💞 @ your favorite blog?

[nikethestatue]

Anonymous because I don’t want anyone to potentially see this and harass me.. but I’m just so disappointed with this fandom. And tbh, I blame it on ACOSF.

In my opinion, ACOSF really ruined all of the IC characters. And since it’s the last book or the series thus far, people cling to it religiously.

I don’t think SJM really did Nesta justice in her story. I never truly hated Nesta. I felt like her character, while let’s be honest pretty bitchy, was in fact hiding pain through sharp words. Hurt people hurt people. This is a very real world response to trauma. And while we see that, I just felt her journey of training and fucking did not do enough justice. The fact the IC only really “forgave” her for her actions when she saved Feyre/Rhys/nyx is somewhat of a testament in my eyes. Other than Cassian (and Elain from what Cassian mentioned how she understood what Nesta was doing everytime), it felt that she was still misunderstood. That she’s just this mean person. What I wanted for Nesta, other than feeling like she was important and deserved good things, was for the understanding to seep in with all of the characters. And she deserved a real romance. I think the fact it was physical first really took away the romance of Nessian, and honestly sometimes I wasn’t even sure they liked each other, until they had their confession of feelings on solstice. It felt forced sometimes and completely physical.

ACOSF sidelined Feyre completely, made Rhys a villain to half the fandom, made Cassian not a likeable love interest for me and not the funny comic relief character, made Elain more firy which isn’t bad because I guess it’s leading to her story, made Amren a bitch too tbh and Mor. Like she just completely fucked the whole ic with this book imo… and Emerie is a great character as well as Gwyn. Gwyn was retconned in order to ensure Nesta had two female friends. Their characters were really important to Nesta being able to just be herself without history involved. But something I wished we saw was the Archerons hashing out their feelings and trauma. Maybe that will happen in the next book.

It felt like ACOSF added nothing to the plot. Yes, we got the troves but it felt somewhat out of place. A lot could have happened involving the grand scheme of ACOTAR. It’s almost like CC3 needed to come out to answer the questions we didn’t have answered in ACOSF so that we could skip over like 300+ pages of plot.

The smut felt forced, and while “put your hands on the headboard” is definitely a giggle moment, their physical moments were just… not romantic. And I think Nessian deserved more than smut. (This is my personal opinion). Like how did we go from “I don’t have any regrets in this life. My only regret is that we did not have time. That I did not have time with you Nesta. I will find you in the next life.” To.. “I didn’t ask to be shackled to you either”…… it felt very out of character. Not to mention Cassian was still calling Mor beautiful? I don’t dislike Cassian, but I just felt it was very out of character. Or maybe I just had a different headcanon from the original series. Maybe it’s my fault.

For all Nesta went through, I think she deserved more in her book. And so did Cassian. I feel like I don’t know him at all. They had their moments, but there was a lot that wasn’t there. I do ship them because I do see the golden retriever and black cat dynamic, and I love it, and they are the warriors. But I just wanted them to really be happy. Maybe it was the reluctant mates trope that made it difficult to do. Idk. But it makes me worried for Eriel (if that’s what it’s going to be) because I feel like Azriel being a “freak” in bed will once again overpower the actually romance of the couple. Like smut ≠ romance to me. It heightens it for sure, but there needs to be the emotional ground work.

Overall I think ACOSF really twisted the fandom, and it’s lead to this very toxic environment if I’m being honest with ships. I see countless posts hating Rhys, Feyre, Elain, Az (because of his desires etc).. like the fact people are shipping Eris with Nesta instead of Cassian shows how Nessian did not stick after their book. Tbh I felt Eris was more interesting than Cassian a lot of the time.

But ya. Sorry for the long rant. I’m sure lots of this isn’t even explained well because it’s hard to get out my feelings. Like I don’t even want to read the book again in my re-read. I think Nesta was put in cc3 to make up for her book tbh. And Az because of the bonus. Like finding out about Nesta’s powers in CC3 and not her own book…? I think SJM just realized she kind of fucked up. I’m just hoping with the next ACOTAR novel that she doesn’t make the same mistakes. Maybe she just felt rushed to get Nesta’s book out of the way in order to get to Elain’s. Or that it completely was taken over by her own healing journey. Which is not a bad thing at all, it provides the real world ground work, but it also took away from Nesta. But either way, I think personally Nesta deserved better than that. Because I think her character is important and strong. Past just being a warrior. There are a lot of older sister themes that could have been involved in her book. And it just missed the mark. And that’s why I think the “valkayrie” sticks out so much. Because that was the only memorable part of it. Not even Nessian was.

Anyways thank you for reading my massive rant. Would love your opinion!!!

I pretty much agree with everything. Whatever SJM had originally planned for Nesta and for Nessian wasn't what we got in ACOSF.

Overall, it was boring and repetitive, and lacked in any depth. The pregnancy plot was ludicrous and the fact that you have your 500+ year olds losing their shit over a contrary and mouthy 25 year old just makes me want to roll my eyes. I just want to tell everyone to grow up. The writing and their 'reasons' was clunky. You gonna tell me that Rhys the Billionaire, the Elon Musk of Prythian, is gonna lose his mind over $500?

Some other stuff doesnt make sense either--how are the Archerons not the heroes of Prythian. Elain and Nesta slew the king, Feyre reforged the Cauldron, and it seemed like no one cared about that? Not one Fae? Second time Feyre saved their world and nothing? She is just back in Night Court like nothing's happened?

Where were the negotiations which were happening at the end of ACOWAR?

900 pages and the plot didnt move anywhere in ACOTAR. You needed Bryce and half of HOFAS to explain what the heck was going on in Prythian.

My personal pet peeve is that it seems none of these people have jobs, except for Azriel.

I dont understand how a general of an active army has this much time on his hands to train random women for hours every day and then have sex for hours every day. Why is no one doing any work? I think this idleness also contributes to frustration--why are you harping on Nesta and calling her a waste of space, when you all literally do NOTHING, other than build houses.

It's a messy, plotless book and i feel like it definitely contributed to the discord in the fandom. It's so needlessly divisive, and the fact that it lacks an antagonist also makes it super frustrating, because it all just feels pointless.

all in all, you are right on the nose, Anon.

[kaseyskat]

many of yall either already know this or probably could've guessed by my general thoughts and census in this fandom but! i am putting this here for the record: i strongly, STRONGLY believe lark was the one training hero with sparrow's biggest crime being encouraging/actively letting it happen, and here's why.

one of my favorite things to do with media and like. god especially dndads? is connect puzzle pieces of information, draw connections between scenes and base my thoughts entirely around my conclusions. not taking stuff at face value is my entire MO! i think it's fun to analyze situations and the characters and use prior information to figure out Why they are doing what they are doing in any given scenario. because of this, my favorite characters tend to be ones who aren't usually given that nuance in their respective fandoms, and it's definitely a big part of why i gravitate towards sparrow so much! i do feel like most of sparrow's actions get taken at face value without thought as to WHY he's acting the way he does in canon, something that is afforded to most of the other kiddads pretty easily.

because of this, when hero was first said to be the chosen one and speculation about her birth began to circulate, i reevaluated the canon material, reflected, and made a decision of what i personally believed to be true as shown in canon prior to this episode. and that decision, ultimately, was this: the twins trained hero because she was born to be the savior of the world, but lark was the one who really took charge while sparrow is ultimately the one to put a stop to it. so far, as of ep37, this opinion of mine has not changed.

"but nyx, hero blames them equally!" i know this! and i'm not saying sparrow is blameless in the matter, i just personally believe that his involvement was mostly limited to things like. taking hero places. bandaging her wounds when she got banged up in training. being COMPLACENT but not actively the one to train her. and, ultimately, when she was unhappy and this was going to ruin her, it is sparrow who recognizes this and puts a stop to her training before it can change her as a person, because it is sparrow who has seen the consequences! first with grant, and then with lark.

and ultimately, to me. to me! it makes sense. i love lark to pieces, i find him fascinatingly complex, but i feel like sometimes his treatment in the fandom... varies a lot? from the treatment sparrow gets? and i think there is something Very Real about lark being the leader of hero's training. for one, we know that lark wanted normal to be trained as well, even offering to teach him "valuable skills" in the very first episode of season 2. we know he disapproves of the way sparrow parented normal- not because sparrow's a bad parent, but because he was too SOFT. sparrow says lark is the one in charge of violence, and lark seems to be the ringleader of the kiddads entirely- at least, when it comes to the doodler. and sparrow as a character is defined by how much he caves to pressure, how much of himself he hides in favor of being more like lark, even if it means doing things he doesn't agree with.

and, we know that lark doesn't blame sparrow for the doodler. he only blames himself, he says as much to normal when pretending to be sparrow at papa john's. it would make sense for his character if he took charge with hero, wanting to be responsible for her so that he's still the one handling the doodler and not sparrow. sparrow, of course, feels differently, but all that means is that he lets it happen! not that he's the one who actively encourages and trains hero in things we KNOW sparrow doesn't agree with, like killing animals.

this has gotten so long and so wordy but its been sitting pretty heavy on my chest for a few weeks now: it really bothers me that we are willing to take anything sparrow does at face value - hero was trained so it HAD to be entirely sparrow, he married rebecca so they HAVE to be in love even though they got married at 19/20 at the latest - while lark and the other kiddads are explored and given nuance. sparrow is such an interesting character BECAUSE of how different he truly is from lark, and the way his guilt over letting hero's training happen manifesting in him trying so hard to protect the teens from the same fate is just SO INTERESTING and i hate how he gets bashed for assumptions?

so yeah, that is my 2 cents SHFKDSHFSDKFH agree with me or disagree, it's really all for fun anyways, i just hope that someone sees this and understands the Pain i have gone through ahaha

[stargirlfeyre]

List all the things you don’t want to happen that could make you stop reading SJM books if she writes it in her next two books, Go go go for some fun!

Others can add onto this post with the things that would turn them off of SJM books going forward. We got ACOSF being as bad as it was, how much worse do we think her next books will be? What could make us lose respect for her after already dealing with how bad ACOSF was?

I.e.

1. Elain becoming a High Lady of Spring or Dusk

2. Nesta losing her powers

3. Nesta ruling Hewn once Keir dies instead of Mor if SJM has Feysand split the court to getting retconned being two of my 🚩flags

4. Gifting the Moonstone Palace or Town house to a sister

5. Forcing way too many Rhys scenes with Nesta the way she forced Az to always be around her in Acosf 🥴

6. Another sister being referred to as a Queen might piss me off to no end not going to lie

Either of the sisters becoming HighLadies tbh.

Connected to number 1, Azriel or Cassian becoming HighLords.

Tamlin redemption or major involvement (anything that’s not death or eternal misery for him is a no for me).

Never having a proper conversation between the sisters and just having them move on with their lives as if nothing happened.

More retcons about what happened in the cabin so the sisters can look better (ie Feyre teaching Nesta how to use a bow, or Nesta never knowing that Feyre was illiterate).

Forced bonding scenes between Rhys and Feyre’s sisters.

Forced bonding scenes between Mor and Nesta.

Mor getting any kind of heat for “how she treated Azriel”. I know this whole narrative of Mor being a pick me or purposely leading Azriel on is more of a fandom thing but if Sjm writes any of the characters having that opinion of Mor I’m dropping the book.

Love triangle between Elain/Azriel/Gwyn. Not even kidding if Sjm writes the next books as a live triangle with Azriel in the middle, I’m only skimming it for FeysandNyx moments. (I have a sneaky feeling that she’s going to make Gwyn Azriel’s mate and then have him choose between what fate picked for him and what he picked for himself).

More training montages.

Feyre being sidelined or overly coddled since she now has a baby. I love that the people around her are protective over her and Nyx but let’s be real. This is the girl that freed an entire continent at 19. And while she was still human at that.

If everything that went on between the sisters is described as “sibling fights” again or if Elain’s pov goes above and beyond to try and justify her treatment of Feyre.

If Feysand (or specifically Feyre cause it happens with her a lot) are made to suffer for other characters’ development.

[highlordofkrypton]

Surprise self-rec time! Pick 3 of your favorite things you’ve written and share them here, then put this in the inbox (anonymously or not) of your fellow writers to spread the positivity and help celebrate already written fics

(Added side quest from me, tell me what inspired your fics, why you love them so much etc etc, tell me EVERYTHING)

First, I also wanna shoutout to the anon who also shared this ask in my inbox! I appreciate you both so much!

Of my written works, here are my top 3 recommendations:

Wildflowers, a Tamlin x Rhysand ACOTAR Prequel, 50/50 chapters, 104k words

My inspiration: I have to be absolutely honest here, I wrote Wildflowers out of spite.

I was midway through ACOWAR and I was just hating the quality of the writing, the lack of worldbuilding, the character assassination and just how lauded these works are despite doing pretty much everything half-heartedly. I was really struggling with it, and I felt that if I was going to hate on something, I should stand on business.

Instead, it turned into a labour of love. I ended up loving the characters, and by joining the fandom, I realized I wasn't alone in wanting to either fix or build onto what was already set down by SJM.

Aside from that, I would say my biggest inspiration for baby Tamlin specifically is my writing partner. Neither of us have kids, but the way she writes the youth of her characters is wow... if you ever see me writing about gumming on knuckles, it's 100% her. The rest is pretty much... #yolo. The story wrote itself.

Why I love Wildflowers: I love Wildflowers, and most of my long fiction, because to be able to create a story and characters that will keep you engaged for so long, I needed to infuse a part of me. A couple of comments I got were how tragic Tamlin's story ways and how I handled trauma and grief. Those comments really touched me because while I did not live through the same events, Tamlin is the character I saw a lot of myself in and to know that a story that feels deeply tragic can still be beautiful.

My readers who enjoyed it, and told me as much, healed parts of me. All they needed to do was read, and kudos. So, whenever people recommend it, and I say that I don't have the words, I really mean that I don't. I've said it one before on someone else's post: writing may be a vulnerable exercise, but whenever someone loves that story, they are loving little bits and pieces of you and that's wonderful.

Regrets, a Clark Kent (Superman) x Bruce Wayne (Batman) smutty oneshot, 1 chapter, 4k words

My inspiration: This one is easy. This fic was written directly as a gift, homage, serenade to one of my favourite artists Umikochan. She released a Superbats mini-comic and I just had to finish it. The artist never looked at it and I'm a bit embarassed about it because maybe I overstepped, but I love it too much.

Why I love Regrets: WELL IT'S SUPERBATS! And my first proper Superbats work. I also think that this piece hits all the notes of what I want to display in my writing in a succinct way. One chapter of Mathi. It's bittersweet, it's tender, it's kinky and most importantly, it's funny. I also think it's really intimidating to write for your favourite ship of all time, so the fact that people like this... wow. I'm unbelievably flattered. It's also the fic I have the most kudos in (it's a bigger fandom), so just... it hits all the right notes for me!

Cosmogeny, Nyx x Tamlin cosmic horror romance, 3/? chapters, 3k words

My inspiration: This is a mix of a lot of things. I really wanted to continue writing my OC Johan who is a proper morally gray character, and embodies the tall dark and handsome vibes. I wanted to put him up against Rhysand, but there was no plot. So many people on here enjoyed my snippet of him, and at the same time, I was being ENCOURAGED to check out the fantastic phenomenon that was Nyxlin. Admittedly, I was a hater, but my friends have opened my mind (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, I DON'T WANNA TAG YOU ON THIS MONSTER OF AN ASK). So, basically, I shoved both ideas together.

As for the actual writing inspiration, I've always been a horror girlie and I love the visceral imagery of beauty in death, in the sheer mortality of existence and what love is. I love villains. I love romance painted in blood and gore, so... yup.

Why I love Cosmogeny: Because this one is for me! It's that self-indulgent nonsense fic and I do not want to be held to any standard except my own chaos. I wasn't planning to promote this either because what is more freeing than writing without being percieved? I do hope people who read it enjoy it anyway.

[bookofmirth]

The more I think about the Feysand pregnancy arc in acosf the more annoyed I get. It's not about them wanting a child, it's about the plotholes and all the made up bs that resulted in this totally unnecessary drama.

So the main issue was that the baby had wings despite being quarter Illyrian because Feyre shapeshifted during their sexy time. But in acomaf when she starts to learn how to fly, she shapefshifts her wings based on the batboys wings - how in the earth did she alter her whole anatomy to be of an Illyrian woman?? If the pelvis was an issue Rhys probably knew (and Feyre too apparently if she changed herself), why didn't they discussed it beforehand like responsible adults? They were actively trying for a baby at that point, why did noone think about this could be an issue (even if the baby is only quarter Illyrian)? Rhys could have said something like 'hey darling, you know there are risks if the baby has wings since you don't have the anatomy of Illyrian women, maybe we should cut it out with the wingsex for a while'? For me, this is the biggest plothole in the whole narrative of this arc.

You tell me that in a world where they could heal Azriel who had a poisoned arrow shot right in his heart, regrow Cassian's wings that were shredded to pieces, heal Cassian from a would that was so deep his guts were hanging out, they could never in their 20.000+ year history perform a successful C-section? How is this even justified?

Feysand having a baby at a time when their continent is on the verge of war again combined with their stupid bargain results in two things: They either put themselves in the backburner and sit out every conflict for the next at least 18 years which would be interesting since they are High Lord and High Lady, or they risk their kid being orphaned.... Again, like...... ???

The whole birth drama totally undermined the fact that Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie made actual history (esp. Gwyn and Emerie!). They won the Blood Rite and everyone was like 'oh well, AnYwAyy the BABY'. Please...

I don't even want to mention how Rhys dealt with this whole situation and then blamed it on Nesta when it blew up in his face, I think that was discussed a lot

Whew sorry for this rant, it's just the obvious and unnecessary bs-ness of this arc annoys me so much. Feysand just could have had their baby in piece, or at least sjm could have made up some fake magic-science to justify things better, because for me it really did not hit the spot.

What are your thoughts on this?

Absolutely agree with all of this!

I feel like "they were stupid" isn't a good excuse to fix the plot holes in what sjm worked really hard to show was a communicative, equal partnership/romance.

The way the fandom was STRESSING over Cassian's wings post-acomaf though, I laugh at us now. As if Miss Sarah J "handwaves it away" Maas was actually going to have him suffer long-term effects from that.

IMO, the entire pregnancy plot was SJM's way of creating reconciliation between Nesta and Feyre. That's it. Nesta saving Feyre (and by extension Rhys and Nyx) sidestepped any of the tough conversations that needed to be hand. It was so inorganic to... everything we know about Rhys, and Feyre, the IC, the magic of the world, it was inconsistent with what other characters have been through physically. But hey! It made Feyre and Nesta feel better about all the years of conflict and resentment, so whatever.

Okay and the bargain lmaooooo I argued back when acofas came out that the death bargain wasn't a big deal. I was like nah, it wasn't literal. But wow, what a way to inorganically sideline your former main characters in order to give your new main character an excuse to take center stage. Maybe if sjm hadn't made everyone so freaking overpowered all the time, then other characters besides Rhys (and now Feyre) would be able to help solve problems. But noooooo we gotta have an excuse for Rhys and Feyre to sit on their hands because otherwise, they are just Too Strong, the Strongest Ever, and because the magic is so freaking vague, now we need an excuse for Rhys to not be able to wave his hand and make problems go away like bits of lint.

I do wish that Feyre could have had a baby in peace, to not stress, to not be in danger, and most importantly, for her dumbass mate to have NOT kept that information from her. Feyre had been through enough already, just for sjm to be like "hm, how can I get these characters to not be mad at each other anymore without them actually talking like adults about it??" I understand that there needs to be conflict, there will be drama. But it didn't have to be like That. Conflict or the resolution of conflict, should not be built on a house of cards. It should feel natural to the world, the culture, characters, plot, etc.

Feysand used to be otp, and I still do like them a lot, just... pre-acosf. That book nearly ruined them for me, though.