#not entirely sure how to tag them and I'm very aware this tiny fandom is dead

[newnevermind-sanity]

If you ever forget death, I will return

Alt text available.

[unhingedlesbear]

Okay fuck it yeah I'm making the post idc abt backlash. First of all the hidden agenda fandom doesn't exist anymore so whos even gonna have an issue. But if you do feel called out um. Maybe thats ur problem idk bc I'm not aiming at anyone in particular here.

Anyway long ass ramble abt the tiny dead Hidden Agenda fandom below the cut

This is mainly something I noticed looking through the very limited amount of Hidden Agenda fics on ao3, but it's VERY obvious on there. The vast majority of fics on there are centered on Adam and Finn, which I can understand more since they have an interesting backstory and are well written characters, sure. But then you look at the others and the other characters that are centered are... Riggs and Calvary?

In the actual game ofc Becky and Felicity are the main characters. Both of them not only are pretty objectively interesting characters on their own, and even more so together. On top of this they have the most shipping potential of any two characters in that game, it's literally basically canon, it's not even subtext atp it's literally just text. NO other two characters have that amount of chemistry in the game, and yet there is a noticeable lack of gravey fics in that tag. And I'll stress again bc I know how defensive people got last time I made this kind of observation, I'm not pointing fingers or calling anyone misogynistic/racist/homophobic BUT. but. When the two mcs are women, one of which is poc, and they're implied to be lesbians, and they get sidelined by the fandom despite being the focuses of the game... it's kinda hard not to assume there's some kind of bias there.

And on another point, it's similar when it comes to supporting characters too. In a way I'm disappointed but absolutely not surprised that Adam/Finn is prioritized in fan works over Becky/Felicity, but when characters like Riggs and Calvary are also given more attention than them it becomes way more suspicious to me. Riggs is a fine character, I like him enough and I can see why others might like him more, but wbk he doesn't really have all that much relevance. Calvary is even more confusing bc he basically JUST exists to be a creepy misogynistic asshole and as unlikeable as possible. Thankfully I haven't seen him getting a lot of attention but the fact that I've seen him getting any that isn't entirely negative is... hm...

Now there ARE in fact male characters that can be both relevant and likeable: Tom and Karl. (I talk shit abt Karl bc it's a joke I started with friends, I'm gonna drop that for this post obv bc we're being fr here) these two are pretty obviously more relevant than Riggs or Calvary, they're literally Becky's partners (Tom can even replace Riggs' entire role lmao, and if he's replaced himself it's by Karl) and I'd say they're also both likeable characters on their own too. And yet I'm pretty sure I found maybe one??? fic with them in it? Probably should have mentioned this earlier but yeah, they're both poc.

So like... I feel like it all comes down to what Becky/Felicity/Tom/Karl have in common and then what Adam/Finn/Riggs/Calvary have in common. It strikes me as questionable. But like maybe I'm just an annoying snowflake though idk🤷‍♀️ /s

This turned into more of a ramble than anything and I'm aware i'm also yelling into a void bc I'm posting entirely for a dead fandom that barely existed to begin with, but tbh this stuff applies to most if not all larger fandoms as well, i'm just looking at it from what I've seen in the remnants of the HA fandom. Again I am not attacking anyone here, I am making observations. If you're like mad or something I'm just gonna assume you didn't even read the whole post. Yes ur allowed to like characters, but I am also allowed to address what I've noticed about what characters seem to be more liked than others.

[shadow-pixelle]

Fic Writer 20 Questions

Ta for the tag, @shootingstarpilot!

(These ask games are always so long, so under the cut!)

1.) How many works do you have on ao3?

Thirty four! Which is a lot more than I thought I had.

2.) What's your ao3 word count?

475, 955. All hail oneshots.

3.) What fandoms do you write for?

Currently the top one is Star Wars, but I've most recently been writing for DC.

4.) What are your top five fics by kudos?

Mission Files, Into the Archives, A Credit To The Order, Lineage Dinner, and Chasing a Beacon. (Three of these are from the same series, lol. Kinda great.)

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

Yesssss. Comments are great. I sometimes take a month or two to reply, because of a combo of 'I like to let them build up and answer them all at once' and 'there's comments to answer and I have no energy to do it'. But I do like replying to things, it's very fun. People screaming about my work is my lifeblood and I like screaming back.

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

Hm. So the obvious answer would be Shattering Point, the Pokemon minific I wrote a few years back. I'm not much of one for angsty endings, though. Angsty beginnings, sure, but most of the time if I write a fic I'm aiming for a happy ending, even if I'm gonna put the characters through it in the meanwhile. Even Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, my other angsty fic, ends at least hopefully if not necessarily happily.

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

Proooobably Second Sun, so far. That one's just comfy and I like it a lot.

8.) Do you get hate on fics?

Rarely, but yeah. I've had a few sarcastic/snappy comments about the whole 'oh the Jedi suck', but my personal favourite one was when I got an angry comment on an MCU fic- it was actually my first real nasty comment on AO3, which was cool. It's only not deleted because someone else in the comment jumped in to argue back and the entire comment chain ended up like 40 comments of 'angry screaming versus reasoned debate' which was honestly just funny to read through.

(That part only happened because the entire thing went down while I was asleep and then in class, so I couldn't actually do anything to it.)

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

Nope.

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

I've written a few, yeah. Not sure really what the craziest would be... from posted stuff I guess it's the Worm/Pokemon fic, A Shadow, an Eon, and a Worm, which is slightly gravebound atm because I am so tired and so busy. Other than that I've got an in progress Star Wars crossover that I will eventually finish and then reveal the whole crossover of, and a very tiny DC crossover I'm working on.

(This does not count the ideas, of which I have several.)

But yeah I guess Worm/Pokemon is my craziest.

11.) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of, no. Thankfully.

12.) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Also a no! This would be cool, though.

13.) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Yup! A couple of my really old fics (that have been confined to the basement from Early Writing Cringe) were co-written, and a current project, The Spare, is being written with Kali! It's fun, if a bit slow sometimes because we both have the attention span of cracked out squirrels.

silently ignores that I'm the one causing the delays this time

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

Uuuh. Y'know I don't know if I really have a favourite? I'm pretty down to swap ships really. If I find a fic and like the ship, into the box of model ships it goes.

15.) What's a WIP you'd like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Hey I actually have an answer for this this time! As much as I like to say I want to finish everything I write, the real goal has always been finish everything I post. Just that I tend to post most of what I write.

BUT! There is one fic that I probably won't finish because it's very angsty and depressing, and in the end of things I got maybe half way in and never did pick it up again. It's called Letters to the Abyss, and it's a Star Wars fic that deals with a lot of the later Clone Wars stuff.

So y'know. You can probably guess how that goes, between 'angsty' and 'late Clone Wars era'.

16.) What are your writing strengths?

Personally I don't think I'm good at anything, but apparently I'm good at characters and utterly breaking people's hearts with the characters. So yay that.

17.) What are your writing weaknesses?

I hate writing descriptions. I just really struggle with doing it. Apparently it usually comes out ok, but that's after a lot of work with it. I'm also really bad for keep repeating words in one section and then never using them again.

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

I'm a disaster for this. I like it, so long as it is either a) sparse, b) frequently repeated words, or c) translated shortly after. My personal method is a mix of A and B, I only do a little really and tend to use the same words more. I also make sure to add hovertext translations; I know those only really help if you're reading on computer, but it's still something. If I knew how to do that thing where clicking a word makes it a different word, I'd use that too.

If I'm doing any writing where it's a long stream of dialogue in a different language, then I either go with a) written in English, but in italics to denote that it's a different language (if the PoV understands it), b) a section of 'X and Y spoke for a moment in (language)', or very rarely option c) where I just have the PoV character summarise the conversation in internal dialogue. I don't do that much because I kinda dislike it, so usually it's A or B again.

Literally the only thing I don't like is 'long stream of foreign language that is only translated in the end notes' or similar, and I try and avoid that as much as I can.

19.) First fandom you wrote for?

Pokemon! Was fun.

20.) Favorite fic you've ever written?

Hmm. Hard one, because I get emotionally attached to all of my fics. Quick hit list, probably A Shadow, an Eon, and a Worm, just for the length, Meanings of Master as a whole for the worldbuilding, and I'm super fond of Ornithology at the moment because it was super fun to mess with.

(I also like Maskless a lot but that's a WIP. I mean technically all but Ornithology is a WIP but y'know. It's an unposted WIP.)

Some if-you-fancy tags for @kalicofox, @clockwayswrites, and @greentrickster! Have fun!

[thebibliosphere]

So I'm currently unemployed because I got fired for taking too much sick leave (it was legally sketchy blah blah blah but in the end I just can't work and take care of myself and investigate my mystery health problems at the same time). So I've been spending more time writing!

I really admire your writing and loved Hunger Pangs. I'm looking forward to the poly elements developing and I'm wondering if you have any advice for writing about poly. I've made one of my projects a snarky take on "write what you know" ... Apparently what I know is southern gothic meets Pacific northwest gothic, chronic illness pandemic surrealism, and falling back-asswards into threesomes.

I know this is a very open-ended question and I don't expect an answer, I'm just curious about it if you have the energy. As a writer, trying to write honestly / realistically about polyamory/enm, I'm curious if you have any thoughts on what's different about portraying monogamy or nonmonogamy in books, romance or erotica or otherwise.

I'm trying to read examples but it's hard to find examples that fit the niche I'm looking at. Excuse me if this question is nonsense, it's the cluster headaches.

I'm sorry to hear you've been dealing with all that and solidarity on the cluster headaches. But I'm glad you're finding an outlet through writing! And I hope you're happy with an open-ended ramble in response because oh boy, there's a lot I could talk about and I could probably do a better job of answering this sort of thing with more specific questions, but let's see where we end up.

There's definitely a big difference between writing polyamory/ENM (ethical non-monogamy) and what people often expect from monogamous love stories.

Just even from a purely sales and marketing standpoint, the moment you write anything polyamorous (or even just straight up LGBTQIA+ without the ENM) you're going to get considered closer to being erotica/obscene than hetero romances. It's an unfair bias, but it's one that exists in our society. But also the Amazon algorithm and their shitty, shitty human censors. Especially the ones that work the weekends. (Talking to you, Carlos 🖕.)

So not only do you start out hyper-aware that you're writing something that is highly stigmatized or fetishized (at least I'm hyper-aware) but that you are also writing for a niche market that is starving for positive content because the content that exists is either limited, not what they want, or is problematic in some fashion i.e. highly stigmatized or fetishy. And even then, the wants, desires, and expectations of the community you're writing for are complex and wildly varied and hard to fit into an easy formula.

When writing monogamous love stories, there is a set expectation that’s really hard to fuck up once you know it. X person meets Y. Attraction happens, followed by some sort of minor conflict/resolution. Other plot may happen. A greater catalyst involving personal growth for both parties (hopefully) happens. Follow the equation to its ultimate resolution and achieve Happily Ever After. 

But writing ENM is... a lot more difficult, if only because of the pure scope of possibilities. You could try to follow the same equation and shove three (or more) people into it, but it rarely works well. Usually because if you’re doing it right, you won’t have enough room in a single character arc to allow for enough growth, and if ENM requires anything in abundance, it’s room to grow.

And this post is huge so I’m going to put the rest under a cut :)

There's also a common refrain in certain online polyam/ENM circles that triads and throuples are overrepresented in media and they may be right to some extent. Personally, I believe the issue isn't that triads and throuples are overrepresented, but that there is such minuscule positive rep of ethical non-monogamy in general, that the few tiny instances we have of triads in media make it seem like it's "everywhere" when in actuality, it's still quite rare and the media we do have often veers into Unicorn Hunter fetish porn. Which is its own problematic thing. And just to be clear, I’m not including this part to dissuade you from writing "falling back-asswards into threesomes." If anything, I need more of it and would hook it directly into my brain if I could. I'm just throwing it out there into the void in the hope that someone will take the thought and run with it, lol.

I’d love to see more polyfidelitous rep in fiction, just as much as I’d like to see more relationship anarchy too. More diversity in fiction is always good.

Another thing that differs in writing ENM romance vs conventional monogamy is the feeling like you need to justify yourself. There's a lot of pressure to be as healthy and non-problematic as possible because you are being held to a higher standard of criticism. Both from people from without the ENM communities, and from the people within. Granted, some people don't give a shit and just want to read some fantastic porn (valid) but there are those who will cheerfully read Fifty Shades of Bullshit and call it "spicy" and "romantic," then turn around and call the most tooth-rottingly-sweet-fluff about a queer platonic polycule heresy. That's just the way the world works.

(Pro-tip for author life in general: never read your own reviews; that way madness lies. I glimpsed one the other day that tagged Hunger Pangs as “ethical cheating” and just about had an aneurism.)

And while that feeling of needing to justify yourself comes from a valid place of being excluded from the table of socially accepted norms, it can also be to the detriment of both the story and the subject matter at hand. I've seen some authors bend so far over backward to avoid being problematic in their portrayal of ENM, they end up being problematic for entirely different reasons. Usually because they give such a skewed, rose-tinted perspective of how things work, it ends up coming off as well... a bit culty and obnoxious tbh.

“Look how enlightened we are, freed from the trappings of monogamy and jealousy! We’re all so honest and perfect and happy!”

Yeah, uhu, sure Jan. Except here’s the thing, not all jealousy is bad. How you act on it can be, but jealousy itself is an important tool in the junk drawer that is the range of human emotion. It can clue us in to when we’re feeling sad or neglected, which in turn means we should figure out why we’re feeling those things. Sometimes it’s because brains are just like that and anxiety is a thing. Other times it’s because our needs are actually being neglected and we are in an unhealthy situation we need to remedy. You gotta put the work in to figure it out. Which is the same as any style of relationship, whether it’s mono, polyam or whatever flavor of ENM you subscribe to* And sometimes you just gotta be messy, because that’s how humans are. Being afraid to show that mess makes it a dishonest portrayal, and it also robs you of some great cannon fodder for character development.

Which brings me in a roundabout way to my current pet peeve in how certain writers take monogamous ideals and apply them to ENM, sometimes without even realizing it. The “Find the Right Person and Settle Down” trope.

Often, in this case, ENM or polyamory is treated as a phase. Something you mature out of with age or until you meet “The One(tm).” This is, of course, an attempt to follow the mono style formula expected in most romances. And while it might appeal to many readers, it’s uh, actually quite insulting. 

To give an example, I am currently seeing this a lot in the Witcher fandom. 

Fanon Netflix!Jaskier is everyone's favorite ethical slut until he meets Geralt then woops, wouldn’t you know, he just needed to find The One(tm). Suddenly, all his other sexual and romantic exploits or attractions mean nothing to him. Let's watch as he throws away a core aspect of his personality in favor of a man. 

Yeah... that sure showed those societal norms... 

If I were being generous, I’d say it’s a poor attempt at showing New Relationship Euphoria and how wrapped up people can become in new relationships. But honestly, it’s monogamous bias eking its way in to validate how special and unique the relationship is. Because sometimes people really can’t think of any other way to show how important and valid a relationship is without defining it in terms of exclusivity. Which is a fundamental misunderstanding of how ENM works for a lot of people and invalidates a lot of loving, serious and long-term relationships.

This is not to say that some polyam/poly-leaning people can't be happy in monogamous relationships! I am! (I consider myself ambiamorous. I'm happy with either monogamy or polyamory, it really just depends on the relationship(s) I’m in.) But I also don't regard my relationship with a mono partner as "settling down" or "growing up." It's just a choice I made to be with a person I love, and it's a valid one. Just like choosing to never close yourself off to multiple relationships is valid. And I wish more people realized that, or rather, I wish the people writing these things knew that :P

Anyway, I think I’ve rambled enough. I hope this collection of incoherent thoughts actually makes some sense and might be useful. 

----

*A good resource book that doesn't pull any punches in this regard is Polysecure by Jessica Fern. It's a wonderfully insightful read that explores the messier side of consensual non-monogamy, especially with how it can be affected by trauma or inter-relationship conflicts. But it also shows how to take better steps toward healthy, ethical non-monogamy (a far better job than More Than Two**) and conflict resolution, making it a valuable resource both for someone who is a part of this relationship style***, but also for writers on the outside looking in who might have a very simple or misguided idea of what conflict within polyam/ENM relationships might look like, vs traditional monogamous ones.

** The author of More Than Two has been accused of multiple accounts of abuse within the polyamorous community, with many of his coauthors having spoken out about the gaslighting and emotional and psychological damage they experienced while in a relationship with him. A lot of their stories are documented here: https://www.itrippedonthepolystair.com/ (warning: it is not light material and deals with issues of abuse, gaslighting, and a whole other plethora of Yikes.) While some people still find More Than Two helpful reading, there are now, thankfully, much, much better resources out there.

*** Some people consider polyam/ENM to be part of their identity or orientation, while others view it as a relationship style.It largely depends on the individual. 

[teledild0nix]

Fic Writer Questions! (you can find me here on AO3 if you're interested!)

tagged by dear @theburialofstrawberries mwah!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

112 yowza!

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

750,421 kinda tempted to go delete one word so it can be 750420 which is a far more Pleasing number

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

12ish but some of them overlap: BBCS/Sherlock Holmes/ACD (these are all different bc my bbcs fics are not the same as my own modern fem Sherlock Holmes adaptation are not the same as my ACD Holmes fic; Good Omens; Harry Potter/The Werewolf Draco Malfoy Cinematic Universe; Captive Prince; The Hobbit; Fleabag (it was a crossover with BBCS but Fleabag is the perspective character so it still counts as a separate fandom imo); Doctor Who; The Office; Parks and Rec; Broad City (one a piece for those last 5 but I AM going to write a Parks and Rec polycule fic for @gaykagome)

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

They're all Good Omens fics from the 2019 Summer of Good Omens! Susceptible to Summer, Fragments Shored Against My Ruin, Something So Magic, Enter Serpent, and Anything We Like

All of those have over 2k except the last one, but average engagement for me is like 400 kudos or so

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try! It depends on what's going on with me. Sometimes I just don't have the energy, and I figure people would rather I spend my brain power on writing new fics than on writing replies to comments. Wish I had a fave button tho so I could let people know I read and reread comments, because I do!

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Oh I wrote this ficlet series called A Chemical Defect about John and Sherlock's relationship in s3 of BBCS, and it's WILDLY unpopular. People don't read my fic to cry sad tears I guess! John and Sherlock are having an affair in the story, and it ends with the implication that their relationship is unsustainable and that Mary knows about it anyway. I intended to come back to it after s4 and write a more optimistic ending but LOL! Didn't have the heart.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I know this answer is kinda up my own ass, but like. I think stories that feel true to life sort of feel like they end on a beginning if you know what I mean? You don't really consider a chapter of your life closed until you look back on it from the next? SO that said, I think I'd have to say that it's my big BBCS serial The Only One in the World. I spent 2 years writing it, and it ends with John retiring from medicine to solve crimes and write books full time.

Could also be my WDMCU (werewolf Draco Malfoy cinematic universe) series Moonrise, which starts with Draco isolated in his abusive mother's house, trying to cope with lycanthropy essentially alone and ends with him in love and surrounded by found family in a cozy cottage in Hogsmeade, having gotten some lycanthrope rights legislation passed after working at it for years and talking to Harry about whether they want to have kids. Oh man I feel warm and fuzzy just thinking about it

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I have written one crossover. It's BBCS/Fleabag, because me and @loudest-subtext-in-tv were laughing about how John seems like one of the horrible guys Fleabag sleeps with basically out of self loathing, so I wrote this fic to make Nattie laugh, and you should read it bc it's so good and so underrated.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not really, but people don't seem to know that authors can read bookmark tags unless you private the bookmark, and someone once put in the bookmark tag on one of my fics 'writing was meh but it was okay.' Okay so why bookmark it then??

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Fuck yes! I'm not sure what 'what kind?' means? People fucking? Sloppy, silly, and awkward, with lots of laughing. I also really like writing afterglow scenes which are even sillier and gigglier and often involve one character cooking for another. Food as love language is a very distinct pattern of mine tbh

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of, but occasionally I'll write a post on here where I make some elaborate head canon, and I'll see people in the tags talking about how they want to write fic of it, and it makes me breathe fire out of my nose like a dragon like PLEASE DON'T. The WDMCU came out of a ficlet post I made on here like a year before I actually wrote the 60k series so like!!! Please don't do that!

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! To Russian and I believe Chinese. Not my entire oeuvre but a handful of BBCS and Good Omens fics

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

No, but I wrote a fic inspired by an RP I did with my gf right around when we met (actually now that I think about it, it's two fics), and I waaaaaaanna do a WDMCU collab with my beloved Sally @clytemenestras at some point if he has time bc he inspired me to even write werewolf draco with his original lesbian werewolf story

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

favorites are hard for me? I always think I'm currently doing my best writing lol so I'll say drarry

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I don't post fics unless theyre finished, so I don't have any WIP up on AO3, but I did intend to continue with my fem Sherlock Holmes series, Your Many Tendencies. I just haven't been in a Holmes mood for a long time. Maybe I'll come back to it idk. This particular series is honestly very unpopular? People will just straight up say they don't read femslash, and it hurts a lot. This series feels really personal too, bc it's about a Black autistic nonbinary lesbian, so it does hurt my feelings that no one seems to care, yknow? I mean the people who read it are extremely kind and thoughtful in their engagement with it, but it has vastly less engagement than my m/m fic, and that's painful. It gets literally 1/10 the attention my fics usually get.

16) What are your writing strengths?

Almost all of my writing is romance, but I tend to write concurrently about recovery and found family, and I think I'm very good at doing that in a way that connects with my audience. I once had someone ask if they could use my words in their wedding vows, and I've had people tell me they started doing things with their spouse that my characters do with their partners in order to express love. I think about that all the time. My Impact. It makes me feel like I have a real duty to my audience yknow?

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

This question is hard for me like I've been writing so long and so much that I'm literally always happy with my final draft! It's always exactly to my taste, yknow? I suppose I could say that my fics tend not to be terribly plotty but so WHAT? That's beside the fuckn point for me. Plot who? I don't know Her. Also honestly like. Stories feel more True to me when they aren't ruthlessly devoted to plot bc like life isn't like that yknow?

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

If you're not fluent in that language, get a beta who is!!!!! That said, I have written scraps of very simple dialogue in French using mostly Google Translate (sometimes I check w Sally bc he speaks French but I am usually too impatient), and I am perfectly well aware that I take my life in my hands each time!!! Also don't do that bullshit thing where it's in italics? That shit is weird and exoticizing. Just write it in quotation marks like normal dialogue.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

BBCS babey back in 2012. Ended a 5 year dry spell for me after I got my writing degree.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Hmmmm I think it's probably gonna be the fic I'm working on now that I haven't posted yet, but I know it's called Names for a House, and here's a tiny bit of it

Thanks again Shreya for asking me to do this bc I really love talking about myself. I tag @the-moon-loves-the-sea, @clytemenestras, @tomiano, @gaykagome and @totallysilvergirl

No pressure <3

[st-clements-steps]

20 Questions: Writer’s Edition

Thanks @salty-wench for the tag

How many works do you have on AO3?

15

What’s your total AO3 word count?

57270 (I am in no way looking at that number and thinking I should add 5 words to a fic)

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

1 (2 if you count there is a book series and a show and they are more in conflict than in sync) (asoiaf/GoT)

What are your top five fics by kudos?

Set Piece

Greedy

honeymoon

don't worry, it's my blood

The Night Washerwoman

(I deny there is anything obvious and overarching that explains the kudos on these fics, j*cough*sa)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

yes (I love comments, I have deleted 1 comment, but actually I wish I'd just kept it and responded in some ways ... I can entirely justify heather in the far north, it had nothing to do with a weird kink I've been developing since my early teens, nothing)

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Sea

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I'm tempted to put Sea again, I write a lot of one shots that are quite open ended. Set Piece is incredibly fluffy and has no real arc, so maybe that. [edit - I've just realised this has a happy ending; Sansa kills Euron, Margaery has a baby, people say they'd marry redheads]

Do you write crossovers? If yes, what’s the craziest thing you’ve written?

I'm writing a High Fidelity Greysnow, but I'm not sure it's a crossover, more like I stole a plot cos I don't do plots.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not hate exactly (maybe trolling?)

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yes. What kind? err, I've never written a single sex threesome (or F/F/M) or more than 3 people.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I am aware.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No

Have you ever co-written a fic?

No, (I love beta-reading though and talking about stories with people, so maybe 1 day 🤷‍♀️)

What’s your all time favourite ship?

There's no joy like Snowjoy (everyone I know calls it Greysnow, which kills this joke).

What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

So many; a ship-less Matriarchal North; the whole of asoiaf reframed as the Trojan War and the aftermath, Theon is Odysseus, Jon is Agamemnon, Robb is Menelaus (yeah maybe it should be other way round?); an eighteenth century Theonsa where all the major castles are slave plantations, Theon's ptsd is from working on slave ships (Ramsay was his captain), and various characters are the children of slaves of African origin (Jon, Dany, Gendry). So yeah, all the crazily ambitious ones basically.

What’s your writing strengths?

I like writing descriptive, lyrical, florid stuff. And dialogue happens without me actually making it happen, characters just start saying stuff whilst I'm driving or washing up.

What’s your writing weaknesses?

Plot, I hate plot. Also I think sometimes I'm too obscure and my language is too twisty.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic?

I have a WIP set in Faerie where Jon speaks Scottish Gaelic and Theon speaks Irish Gaelic (a tiny bit). I am not nearly good enough at either of them to have done this. But actually what killed it was not the Gaelic but the fact its set over 500 years so I wanted their English to shift from renaissance era English to modern and that messed with my head more than the Gaelic.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones (or put on t'internet for folks to read, anyway, I mean technically probably The Midnight is a Place self-insert I wrote at 9.)

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

Sea, it has a plot, it has lyrical language, it reflects on canon, very few people have read it.

I don't have to tag anyone, ha, it doesn't say to. If you want to (sorry for bugging you) @selkiewife @cool-like-a-caterpillar @capraiaso @owlsinathens