#not great fanfic that is canon to the series and as a result is FASCINATING INFORMATION

[aparticularbandit]

so. I've just finished the last trial and just. I don't even know what to think of it yet, part of me loves the ambiguous ending but at the same time I want to know what happened (will dr2 address that even?? my fear for spoilers is just too big)

but also like. the artworks?????? the promo arts, character details and all... ended up spending all my coins on it

I liked all of them, but specially 'Here Comes Junko!' and 'Preview Image 1', would definitely buy posters of these

actually that's not true, the Junko character arts (genuine and Mukuro) made me very very very uncomfortable

anyways, sorry for venting to you like that, came to ask your thoughts on the dr1 ending :))

No spoilers. Play DR2. It is.... Let's be honest, I like DR2 significantly more than I like DR1. Also you get to meet my precious child Mikan Tsumiki the most precious child in the series so far who deserves nothing more than a warm blanket and a mug of hot chocolate and good pats on the head.

I had so many coins throughout the game because I kept going back to finish all the FTEs (for the dead characters) between chapters and then had to do the Class Trials again to get back into the chapter I was at but a lot of my coins went to the MonoMono Machine because I was pretending to be a completionist and wanted all of the Gatcha toys. >.>;;;;;

(wait why do the junko and mukuro stuff make you uncomfortable though)

Okay, so like. my concept of the ending was a lot of hype for Junko and then meeting Junko and then feeling like she was overhyped. I think this is a place where the game did better than the anime; at least, I liked how she was done better in the game.

But, and this is important to me, Makoto asked her to leave with them. Like. Here is the mastermind. Who did all of the horrible things to them. Who has said that she caused the most horrible most tragic most despair-inducing event in the history of the world (I probably do not have those descriptors 100% accurate, don't judge me DR fans). And Makoto just. Hey, you want to get out of here with us? Be my new bestie?

M A K O T O. C'MON. Byakuya's going to kill her if she doesn't punish herself what are you thinking. Honestly.

I'm a huge fan of ambiguous endings, though. Particularly in this case. The story isn't about what's waiting for them outside; it's about them surviving. And they survived! ...some of them, at least!

(And so did Monokuma! Apparently! XD)

but also who is your favorite character so far this is the real important question here

OH AND ALSO ALSO if you want additional etc. (I probably won't all the light novels and expanded manga and whatever but I do recommend this one, even if I don't think the writing is great) - I would suggest reading a fan translation of DR0 before playing DR2. It's a prequel! About Ryoko Otonashi! Who has amnesia! And also Junko keeps showing up for some reason and also people keep dying. Around Ryoko. Who insists that this has absolutely nothing to do with her at all absolutely nothing she's absolutely sure of it. (I think this is the fan translation I read.)

Think of it as Dory (from Finding Nemo) is stuck in Danganronpa. Dory who has a notebook where she can write things down so she can remember them later. So Dory but also that guy from Memento. But like. Dory.

(Ryoko is sweet and also deserves better in the same way that everyone in this series deserves better.)

[cool-island-songs]

creek, staig, + k2 pls!!

Thank you, thank you!

Creek:

Creek is pretty much my only OTP ever??? I was shipping them in middle school way before they made Creek canon and I only found out about TxC LAST YEAR???? My South Park friends irl are mostly libertarians, so nobody told me and I've basically lost my goddamn mind about this during covid. I stopped reading SP fanfic around 2010/11, and now have binge read every single Creek fic I could find in the past year. As a result, I have a million recs for Creek fics; if you're looking for a particular fic, I can probably help; and I am now legally insane.

It's really funny to me when people discuss problematic stuff common in Creek fics today. Some of this stuff is deeply entrenched in a long fandom history, but it's a shadow of what it once was. Every other Creek fic in the late 00s was like Craig bullies Tweek into suicide, Tweek is an anorexic cutter for some reason (ok, reason being, simply: 00s), Craig is a rapist/murderer (this seems like way too much effort for Craig/a misunderstanding of his psychology)?? I want to say to these people, you don't know how good you have it. I'm glad for the changes, though, because vers Creek is beautiful and I love it. Like, of course Craig would take it up the butt. Don't be immature.

I was completely blown away by Tweek x Craig. I still can't believe it, and I'm just grateful they addressed Creek and can also see how well they complement one another. There's something so sweet and vulnerable in their relationship, and I'm glad they've taken care to show that Tweek can hold his own and be a total brat.

STAIG:

Staig seems to have gotten popular more recently as I don't recall seeing much Staig back in the day. I've def read Creek fics with Staig in them this time around reading fic. I'm not a huge fan of ships w/ Craig and a main four member, but out of them all, Crenny and Staig strike me as most plausible. Craig and Kenny are actually friendly, but Craig is Stan's foil and there's always sexual tension w/ your foil. If you can't f*ck your foil, how in the hell are you gonna f*ck anyone else??? This is often how Staig is used in fics where Creek is endgame - Stan is some dalliance that helps Craig come to terms with his gay ass. Good for him tbh.

I prefer Staig to Cryle/Crenny because when Kyle and Kenny are made out to be skinny little twinks, physically comparable to Tweek in some way, there's often this impulse to denigrate Craig's bond with Tweek to legitimate his relationship with Kyle or Kenny. I'm not a fan of this approach generally - I also don't like it in Creek fics when Craig's minor crush on Thomas is something that needs to be obliterated in order for his relationship with Tweek to have meaning.

Because Stan and Tweek aren't physically similar, there's less of this impulse to put Tweek down in Staig fics, so I'm more apt to read them in the first place (I'm sorry, I just love him). I've read Staig oneshots where they're together because Tweek cheated/was on drugs. Rachhell (https://archiveofourown.org/works/14299416) and metrophobic (https://archiveofourown.org/works/16138796/chapters/38540477) both had great ones like this. The latter is Twoken-centric but takes place at Staig's wedding, and metrophobic also has a fascinating Staig (and Twenny!) in "Tweeker Nation" which is so goddamn good: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14300271. I think I headcanon Tweek's future relationship to drugs differently from others and I also see him as more likely to be a homewrecker than the one in the relationship cheating, but I love these oneshots and would love to see how Staig got together under those circumstances.

By and large, though, I'm here for like angry fighty Staig messing around? I also love platonic Staig when done well - it's done very well in gremlinteeth's "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space" (https://archiveofourown.org/works/15904065), cocoacremeandgays' "Three Sides" Series (https://archiveofourown.org/series/1231883), and applecrumbledore's "Seven days of alien summer" (https://archiveofourown.org/works/7687666 - they're not friends, exactly, but Craig is kinder to Stan once he grapples with his gay crush on Kyle). That said, I’m always into Craig casually hating Stan's guts, just because, like in qindarka's "Aisle 10" (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6062509/1/Aisle-10) and IDRC's "The Ring" (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12195070/18/The-Ring).

K2:

Okay, so back in the late 00s, I was obsessed w/ Creek, but because of the wild power imbalance between Craig and Tweek in a lot of Creek fics at the time, I'd get tired of reading the 1000th story where Tweek is completely pathetic and Craig is either the big hero or chooses to wreck Tweek for funsies, and I'd read Style and K2. I am trying to get back into these ships, or any ships in other fandoms that are like Creek, because the hold Creek has over me - oh boy, am I unwell.

My impression of K2 at the time was that Style has that soulmate-y vibe to it, but Kenny was often a means by which Kyle has some gay revelation about Stan. Often Kenny would do this deliberately and wouldn't have any illusions about his significance to Kyle relative to Stan. I remember the sexual tension between K2 would often get me like Idk, Kyle! Maybe go with Kenny? You gotta at least once in your life go with a Kenny.

The state of K2 now, a decade later, seems more diverse, especially since we got Mysterion up in this bitch. I put "missing that special something" because, seeing it in passing in fics that also contain Creek, sometimes it lacks the spark I remember it having when I used to read K2 fics (this likely has more to do with my mentality than the fics themselves tho). Send me your K2 recs, plz!!! I used to love it so much and wish I could find the fics I loved back then.

[vrishchikawrites]

That discussion about being neutral about JC was really interesting to me.

I had the unfortunate luck that the first time I went on AO3 for this fandom, the first page was FILLED with extremely pro-JC fics. I didn't really care until I started reading the summaries. And I found a fic where WWX cheats on LWJ and JC is asked to teach WWX a lesson about how to appreciate people and how to behave and be less shameless. Honestly there were just so many things wrong with this entire set-up, but of all things, to even think that WWX would cheat on anyone; like the guy who hated injustice so much that he fought the entire world and died for it would do something like this. And this was set in the canon universe. It's just so bad in so many ways that I still get mad about it. I just clicked out of AO3 and now I only read MDZS fics through other people's bookmarks who I know.

On the other hand, through one of these bookmarks, I found perhaps my favourite MDZS time-travel fic where JC goes back in time. He's the main character and it's such a good fic with such good characterization and I loved that JC. And I found other really good fics as well! which actually made me feel a bit more fond of the character. I mean canon JC still has Bad Vibes but he still is a very fascinating character with so much depth to explore and any fic where he can get out of the pit of Madam Yu earlier, always leads to better results.

I think a lot depends on how people approached the fandom. I legitimately prefer reading over watching (takes less time to read a book or go through manga than to watch a series. I am impatient like that)

So, I read the novel first, which sort of framed my opinion on the characters. JC is a character trope I dislike (angry character that takes his temper out on people needlessly). There's only one exception for me and that character is from another fandom.

As far as JC's character depth is concerned - every character has that potential. You can take the blandest self-insert and turn it into something interesting through fanfic. It is great that some people explore JC's potential in fanfic.

The trick is - how do you make JC an interesting and admirable character without copy-pasting WWX's traits onto him? Does he have WWX's sense of justice? Awareness of human behaviour? Ability to read a situation? His courage to rebel against injustice?

No.

Can he still be a good character? Yes. A lot of great JC fics eventually start to feel like 'wait, this is what WWX would do - not JC.'

That is where I click away. Because you're turning away from a genuine exploration of character to what CQL did to WWX. Just making him an angry version of WWX is a cop out and I will die on that hill.

In canon, I believe he is a very flat character. JC is just... bland. He is just a foil. Foils done correctly will develop into their own fascinating characters. But with JC, we don't get a redemption arc, we don't see him improving in character, he essentially remains a foil until the very end.

So, I just prefer not reading about him.

[johannestevans]

Return to Normal Business

Hello!

I've been juggling a lot of health issues recently, and as a result of this I'd unfortunately dropped off my regular update schedule for a few months. I'll now be returning to the normal schedule, and a weekly update of works most recently published will be coming out on Saturdays going forward - this summary will be dispatched directly to inboxes by email via ButtonDown, as well as posted on  Tumblr.

I will be posting from Wales instead of Ireland for the foreseeable future, and as well as the usual retinue of TweetFic, essays and analysis, short fiction, and serial updates, I'm currently on a big Star Trek kick, and as well as posting episode analyses and likely specifically Star Trek: Deep Space Nine-themed essays , I'm also writing a bit of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fanfiction at the moment!

If you're a fan of DS9 or Star Trek, it might be to your taste, but fanfic isn't part of any of my subscription models and of course, being fanfiction of a property that's not in the public domain, it won't be posted behind a paywall on Patreon or Medium - fanfiction will be posted on Ao3. It's just a little hobby stuff I'm doing on the side, so if people are into it, great, and if not, hopefully it's not too annoying in amongst the rest!

I'm going to put a summary of everything I've published since I last put out my weekly round-up in July and from here on, we'll be returning to our usual scheduled round-up each week.

Thanks so much for the patience and all the love, everybody! I'm feeling far, far better and much recovered compared to how I was a few months ago, and everyone's support has been lovely.

Summary of New Works Published

Serial Update: Powder and Feathers

Chapter Forty-Nine: Party Favour. Jean-Pierre and Aimé orchestrate their gangbang.

This chapter is pure filth.

Chapter content warnings: levels of dubious consent and consensual non-consent, with other men under the impression that Jean-Pierre is drunk; object insertion; messy sex; power exchange and power play; manipulation; rape fantasy; referenced violence; transphobia and misgendering; homophobia

Read on Medium / / Read on WorldAnvil

Serial Updates: An Uncommon Betrothal

Several updates of An Uncommon Betrothal have come out over the past few months, so I'm just going to pop a list of them all here!

Chapter Four: Read on Medium / / Read on WorldAnvil

Chapter Five: Read on Medium / / Read on WorldAnvil

Chapter Six: Read on Medium / / Read on WorldAnvil

Chapter Seven: Read on Medium / / Read on WorldAnvil

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Episode Analyses

This is a new format I’m going to be experimenting while working my way through Star Trek: Deep Space Nine over the next few months — I’ve seen the whole series many times before, and it’s my plan to do these write-ups which will be a mix of blog and live-reaction, character and story analysis and commentary, and other ephemera and thoughts on the show and the episode itself.

Effectively, the purpose of this and the other entries going forward is to do close-readings of each episode I have in front of me.

My main interests in watching Deep Space Nine are typically in queer-coding, the depiction of neurodivergence, mental illness, and disability, and in the Cardassians and the Ferengi.

S1:E1-E2 Emissary Part 1 & 2: Read on Medium / / Read on Patreon / / Read on Ao3

S1:E3 A Man Alone: Read on Medium / / Read on Patreon / / Read on Ao3

S1: E4 Past Prologue: Read on Medium / / Read on Patreon / / Read Ao3

TweetFic: A King's Man

The nastiest, NASTIEST men in this one, when an assassin is caught by his mark, the king, and held captive.

CW for violence, manipulation, heavily weighted power dynamics, consent issues, threats, and general MEAN Men.

Read on Twitter

Romance Short: The Blacksmith and the Florist

Romantic short: a chronically fatigued enchanter becomes fascinated with one of the neighbours. Adapted from a TweetFic — short and sweet! Discussions of chronic fatigue and pain throughout. Rated T, M/M, 2.3k.

Read on Medium / / Read on Patreon

Star Trek Deep Space Nine Fanfic: Tease

Garak/Bashir, Rated M, 1.5k. In the aftermath of the incident with Tahna Los, Garak catches Julian on the way back to his quarters.

Read on Ao3

Star Trek Deep Space Nine TweetFic: Aging Men

Garak/Bashir, bickering about growing older, dialogue only.

Read on Twitter

TweetFic: On The Job

Silly little slice of life and flirtation between a hotel receptionist and the new maintenance guy! Short and sweet.

Read on Twitter

Star Trek Deep Space Nine Fanfic: Interpersonal Studies

Fanfic serial. Garak/Bashir, Rated E, 15k+.

Garak and Julian work to get the measure of one another, each of them trying to see what's hidden under the other man's skin.

Playing with a lot of the canon relationship development but actually letting them touch and play with one another - leaning into Bashir's autism and his status as an augment from the beginning, not to mention his analysis of Garak, and Garak's own analysis of him.

Read on Ao3

Erotic Short: Suspended Pleasures

Rope bondage and potion play in the apothecary’s office. Rated E. 1k. M/M short between a cis apothecary and a trans partner.

Age difference, suspension bondage, overstimulation, crying, come inflation, and fear of getting caught, as well as mentions of exhibitionism.

Read on Medium / / Read on Patreon

Erotic Short: Fit For Purpose

Supervillains and superheroes, but with massive cocks and stretchy bodies. Oh, yes, you read that right.

M/M explicit short between a huge cis male alien superhero and a trans man supervillain with whole-body elasticity. 4.2k.

Silly and light in humour, but extreme on the porn! Featuring pheromones (mildly dubious consent for this, but both parties use pheromones to get their way, and are enthusiastically into it), come inflation, huge size difference, unrealistic sex, alien dicks, prodigious amounts of come, dom/sub, mild corporal punishment, undernegotiated kink, rough sex, objectification, dirty talk.

Read on Medium / / Read on Patreon

[armoredsuperheavy]

Canonical Imperfection Breeds Much Fic

I’ve been thinking a bit lately about the relationship between corporate near-monopoly ownership of our shared stories/modern mythologies, how the for-profit model drives creative decisions in that realm, and how the shortcomings or missing elements in the resulting canon media drives fic writing and fandom participation.

Two things I read kind of got me thinking:

Firstly, @sbooksbowm on Tumblr is doing her dissertation on the place of fanfic in book history and the social mechanics of fandom, and I'm doing a terrible job explaining. Here browse the dissertation masterpost! You can also read her in her own words about it  It's fascinating! But this observation from the introduction jumped out at me:

Fic ‘rewrites and transforms other stories currently owned by others’. Coppa elaborates: ‘it is only in such a system—where storytelling has been industrialized to the point that our shared culture is owned by others—that a category like “fanfiction” makes sense’ [1]. That is to say, in a system where stories can be bought or sold, the transformative, for-pleasure work of fanfiction is defined in contradistinction to for-profit story production and distribution; in a system without purchase and ownership of stories, the work of fanfiction would be called ‘folklore’.[2] 

[1] Francesca Coppa, The Fanfiction Reader: Folk Tales for the Digital Age (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2017), p.7. [2] @sbooksbowm, Dissertation, Draft - Introduction Part 1 (2020)

Secondly, @Nymphomachy on Twitter put out a great tweet discussion about the Harry Potter series, its canonical shortcomings, and how that breeds a huge amount of fic. They also criticize the way in which not-for-profit fandom, bred by inadequacies of original text, end up creating a feedback loop that makes the creators of the original canon even richer. ( Part 1, Part 2 and a great reply thread by @arthur_affect ) Warning it’s got some vitriolic criticism of the HP canon and JKR. 

To me this echoes the firestorm of criticism that’s been leveled at other huge television and film franchises. Most notably on my radar, the widespread panning of Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. But other properties see this stuff too, such as the Supernatural series' later seasons. 

The right environment to breed a lot of fic seems to be a canon with engaging qualities that draw you in, numerous characters with inconsistent or incomplete character development, handwavey worldbuilding, and niggling details of the plot (not to say holes) that fans want to see addressed. These kind of issues with big properties, along with the nature of IP laws today and how we as a culture have permitted certain entities to own our shared mythologies, is why I think fanfic has exploded over the last 20 years. Fanfic has an entire subclass called “fix-it” and this is clearly one of the fundamental drivers behind writing a lot of fic.  Fic spackles in the cracks, makes the pearl around the grain of sand. 

Fanfic exists as an underclass of storytelling, in counterpoint to canon, corporate, officially recognized storytelling. Fanfic has no gatekeeper and no editorial green light. Fanfic is telling all the leftover and left-out stories that aren’t globally marketable or palatable to a mass audience. Fanfic is full of heartbreak, trauma, sweet domesticity, profound emotional connections, and demons exorcised. Its value isn’t measured in dollars, and frankly I don’t think it can be. As with other forms of emotional labor, its value will never be calculated or fully appreciated if you are thinking in terms of money. The tales told in the democratized world of fic are by their nature niche and personal. If they weren’t, then they’d be the tales that we see on the big screen to begin with! 

I think fanfic will continue to boom as long as our mass media continues to deliver huge, shiny, beautiful, incomplete and emotionally shallow adventure tales.  On one level I'm so happy to see fanfiction boom the way it is now - hell, canon + fanon is our modern-day shared mythology!  On another level I'd like to see storytelling democratized more fundamentally. But in our capitalist society, the only way we can have that self-deterministic, open-to-all-comers creation without editorial vetos etc, is in a liminal noncommercial or not-for-profit space. (Donate to OTW/AO3!)

A side note though. I do think mainstream publishing has started to take note to some degree. Notably, TOR has been picking up some books in what I consider to be the “original fic” side of the broader “fic” genre. (e.g. K.M. Szpara's Docile and Everina Maxwell's Winter's Orbit aka The Course of Honour by Avoliot) These books tell the type of tales and tropes we often seek in fanfic but aren’t composed on the framework of an existing canon. I’m excited by this development, and looking forward to see what’s next.

[croose]

Power Down

Request/Summary: After a successful mission, you ride back to Coruscant with the 501st (And more importantly, Rex) prepared to end the war. As usual, however, everything goes wrong.

Pairings: Captain Rex x reader

Warnings: None

Authors note: Definitely excited to write more to this series if anyone's interested! Also, thanks to @capsironunderoos for inspiring me to get back into fanfic with their Commander and Her Captain series! Definitely worth a read!

You sigh as the last of your ships close their hatch, before taking off.

You turn, running your hand through your hair before moving towards General Skywalker, Commander Tano and Captain Rex.

"General." Anakin nods at your approach.

Despite how tired you are, you nod back at him and plaster on a bit of a smile. "This day is a big win for the Galactic Republic."

"All thanks to you, General." Rex said.

You had to admit it - Something about Skywalker's Captain had always intrigued you and now working this close to him you felt that intrigue grow.

"On the contrary, Captain. I may have tracked him down, but I alone would not possess the power to capture this... Monster."

"Well if you two don't want the credit, I'll take it!" Commander Tano said, which elicited a laugh from both Rex and yourself.

"Snips!" Anakin scolded.

"What?"

"I never said I didn't want any credit!"

"Oh! Well, another successful mission all thanks to myself, Skyguy, and absolutely no one else."

You smiled a bit at the Togruta's playful banter before shaking your head a bit.

"Well, that's our shuttle preparing to leave." Anakin said. "So unless you both want no credit and to be left behind, I'd recommend hurrying!"

You laugh a bit as Anakin and Ahsoka walk off, but before Rex can follow, you gently grab hold of his arm, pulling his attention to you. "Seriously, though, Captain..." Your voice is quiet, gentle. "Thank you."

Rex stares at you and when you reach out in the force you sense... Well, you're not great at emotions, but you think it's embarrassment? But almost sort of in a good way? You got the feeling your thanks meant something to him.

"Come on, General." Rex finally speaks "Dooku can't point us to the Sith Lord if we aren't there to guard him and he escapes."

You nod and follow Rex on board.

The carrier shuttle takes off, heading for Anakin's Republic Attack Cruiser. You can't help but think of the war... The Sith Lord has always bothered you... In control of the senate. Not on the senate but in control.

You figured that, logically, that meant there were only about four people that could be. And you watched them all carefully this past year and yet you had gotten no closer to narrowing it down.

It didn't matter, though, because after weeks of analyzing and meditating you had figured out how to track Dooku and with Skywalker's help, you had succeeded. You had captured him.

Count Kriffing Dooku.

You only had one concern as you loaded him into a holding cell and that was how relaxed he was. Amused, almost.

But you put up the proper security measures, the laser gate raised and the door sealed.

At first, sailing back to Coruscant seemed to not be an issue, traveling at lightspeed. The first issue came when one of Skywalker's clones tentatively approached to say there had been a malfunction in the main system and random doors throughout the ship were opening and closing.

Skywalker's admiral Yularen went off to deal with that, along with a few other clones.

Aside from the team piloting the Republic Attack Cruiser, you were left alone with Skywalker, Tano and Rex. Not that this was necessarily a bad thing.

Besides, some door malfunctions weren't a big deal. People were only reacting like this because Dooku was on board. Fair.

The next thing that happened was a bigger deal. The ship lurched unexpectedly and the guards outside of Dooku's cell stopped responding.

"Stay here in case anyone needs you!" Anakin ordered Rex and yourself before running off with Ahsoka.

Of course, Rex wasn't entirely prepared to listen. The two of you stood in the hall so nothing could get to the main control room without you first seeing it, but the people in the control room could easily find you if needed.

You couldn't necessarily... control your emotions, but you could hide them and that was good enough. Rex, however, began pacing, which you found fascinating.

You wondered what it would be like to be able to show your emotions and watched Rex with a fascinated intrigue. It was the only thing stopping you from exploding with fear so you gladly took the distraction.

I suppose, though, that Rex felt your eyes on him because eventually he stopped pacing and turned to star back at you. You could sense him the force, stronger than anyone else on board, though maybe you were just focusing on him.

His presence was calming, intoxicating, actually. You began subconsciously moving towards him and he to you. You found yourself wrapped in the feeling he gave you and you thought you could almost see his eyes underneath his visor.

Tentatively, and almost instinctively, going against everything you've ever stood for, you allowed some of the adoration you felt to slip onto your face before beginning to move your hands towards his helmet.

He leaned his head into your touch, resulting in his upper forehead resting lightly on your lower forehead and you froze there, curious. You wondered what it was about this man drawing you in... What it was about him that was so intoxicating that in a split moment you almost abandoned your whole life.

And now fear did trickle through. Fear of Dooku, but also... Fear of yourself. You had barely noticed how close you had gotten to Rex and how fast and if you couldnt control your own actions in a time of war, then how could you ever keep innocent people safe?

Rex seemed to sense your hesitation, because underneath his visor you saw his eyes flicker up to meet your own.

His eyes.

Stars, his eyes.

They were almost enough to make you continue removing his helmet. They would have been, too, had the ship not lurched a second time, throwing you both across the room this time as you were violently thrown from hypserspace.

You sat up just as all of the interior power cut - You weren't sure how. An Ion canon, perhaps. Either way, from coms to droids, power was cut. You suspected that meant Anakin's hand, too.

Krif. And Dooku's cage.

"Dooku." You growled, pushing yourself up and resting your hand on your saber.

Rex was right behind you, also jumping up.

You had to rely on the hope that Anakin's men would follow procedure and get the power back online even if you didn't tell them because in that moment you had no time to spare. You had to get to Dooku.

The doors into the next couple of hallways still worked, but you assumed that was because of the doors all glitching out earlier. Which you now had to assume wasn't a glitch at all, but part of a larger picture you hadn't yet seen.

The ship rocked again, this time as an exterior enemy fired on you. You and Rex teetered to the side, dangerously close to falling back onto the ground but managed to regain yourselves, though you suspected various areas of the ship would now be on fire.

You were just about to continue running down the current hallway, Rex behind you when your instincts kicked in.

There was no warning, no preparation, no signaling creak. Just you and the Force.

And so you reached out in the force and grabbed hold of Rex's soothing presence. He was too far away for you to physically grab, but it didn't matter. You could reach him in the force. It all happened in a manner of seconds. Less, actually.

You swung Rex past you, careening him down the hallway at the exact same time that your instincts, your gut reaction proved itself yet again.

Rex looked up from where you'd thrown him just in time to meet your eyes.

And then the roof of the hallway collapsed with you still under it.

[philcoulsonismyhero]

Fic Writer Interview

I got tagged by the excellent @astriiformes Ages ago to do this fic writer interview thing, and I’m finally getting around it! So here goes...

Name:

Mairi (sounds like 'marry'), Kamemor over on AO3 (after a particularly cool Romulan politician in a Star Trek novel, if you were wondering)

Fandoms:

Currently, I'm writing a lot of RWBY fic and that's unlikely to change because I'm deep in Special Interest Hell with no signs of coming up for air. In the past, I've also written a bunch of stuff for Criminal Minds and The Flash/DCTV. I've got a lot of other fandoms, but those are the main ones I've written for.

Two-shot:

Assuming this is asking if I've ever written one, technically no. But I do have a series (Just Hold On, a RWBY fix-it) that currently consists of two fics which could stand alone as they are, although I have plans to continue that one for quite a few more fics if I can find the motivation and time. And I guess I also have a couple of fics that I could have split into two chapters because they switch from one POV to another about halfway through. I like to stick to third person limited POV, and that means I often have section breaks when I want to switch from one character's perspective to another's, and for a two-person scene that usually means two sections. But I like the oneshot structure, and usually I don't feel like what I'm writing is long enough to split into chapters.

Most popular multi-chapter:

I only have one true multi-chapter fic, and it's Moving Forward, a Flash fic based on the idea of Reverse Flash being taken prisoner at the end of s1 rather than being wiped from existence. It's technically still unfinished, but I got a lot of lovely comments on that one a few years back when I was posting it, including a few folks that went through and commented on each chapter and really made my day. Maybe one day I'll actually finish it...

The only other thing I have that’s multi-chapter is a collection of missing scene ficlets, also Flash fic, but that doesn’t really count.

Actual worst part of writing:

My brain tends to be very visual when I'm writing fanfic for a TV show, and few things are as annoying as knowing exactly the facial expression someone is pulling and having No Idea how to describe it in words. Same with tones of voice. Also, I tend to jump straight into writing the bits of scenes that are most interesting to me, and going back and adding in the context that you need to make something actually readable for someone that isn't you can be a bit tiresome.

How you choose your titles:

It depends, tbh. A lot of my older fics are titled with short verb phrases that are pretty straightforward (like 'Moving Forward' or 'Breaking the Cycle'), but recently I've rather enjoyed using song lyrics. Most of my RWBY fics have lyric titles either from songs from the show itself or songs that I've got on my extensive Ironwood character playlist or otherwise just quite like and feel like they fit. I don't tend to find titles all that difficult, and I've got a fair few WIPs that have them already.

Do you outline:

Again, depends on the fic. With longer ones, yes, usually as a list of bullet points describing what happens. But shorter missing scene fics or things that I bashed out in only one or two sessions and only follow a single conversation tend not to be outlined because they just flow as I write them. I've got some more extensive outlines for a few of the fix-it AUs I've been playing with, but even then they're just bullet point lists or mostly held in my own head.

Ideas I probably won't get around to but wouldn't it be nice:

I have. So many. Most of them are RWBY fix-it fic, which is fun to write at the moment of divergence but then A Huge Endeavour to follow any further than that. I’ve planned out a bunch of different shapes for where the three different versions I’ve already written and posted would go, but there’s only one of them that I’m really continuing (aforementioned two fic series). Although I have a dilemma there, because the climax of the story arc that I figured out for that ‘verse would work even better in the other one that focuses more on Penny & Ironwood. But it’s not as simple as just throwing the idea into continuity with that one, because there’s a Major difference between the two in that in one of them, Qrow was the one who got through to Ironwood, and in the other they kinda hate each other over the whole ‘I blame you (and also me but mostly you) for Clover’s death’ thing, so I’d have to plot out a completely different relationship arc there which would have a knock-on impact on how well Ironwood is dealing with everything else. Canon divergence fic! it’s a good time.

I’ve also got So Much other RWBY fic in bits and pieces in various Google docs, it’s ridiculous. (Including a superhero AU that I’m rather fond of conceptually, but don’t really have a solid arc plot for.) A lot of it would be nice to get into a publishable state, but I probably won’t ever be bothered to.

On the not-RWBY front, I've also got a big Criminal Minds/Silent Witness crossover that I've planned out all the beats of, but actually writing it means coming up with the specific details of the murders and the autopsy scenes and a whole lot of technical stuff that I'm not comfortable just winging based on what I've seen on TV. But I also don't like researching real life crime stuff even though I love a good crime drama, so you see my dilemma. I like casefic in theory, but in practice I'm probably not going to write much of it. 

Callouts @ me:

Just because you’re an insomniac who mostly writes fic at night rather than sleeping doesn’t mean that every conversation fic has to happen as a result of one or both characters being unable to sleep, my dude. There are Other circumstances in which people talk to each other.

Best writing traits:

I’m good at character voice, although that’s a pretty standard thing to be good at. I also really like unconventional crossovers, I’ve gotten pretty good at playing around with conversations between characters who never met or aren’t even from the same universe and coming up with a believable dynamic for them. I also like to think that I’m good at getting into the heads of awkward characters and figuring out which bits to poke at in order to get them to do things they didn’t do in canon. (And figuring out how they rationalised the things they did actually do.) That’s a big reason why I liked writing Reverse Flash, the complicated bastard, and it’s why I’m having so much fun with Ironwood now. You’ve really got to work at him to get him to change direction, great big stubborn disaster that he is, and I think I’ve rather gotten the hang of that.

Spicy tangential opinion:

People should write more longfic focused on gen relationships. Some of the most fascinating relationships in stories, at least to me, are the ones between people you’d never expect to be friends, or between adults and the kids they feel responsible for who also feel kinda responsible for them, and that makes for a (imho) much more interesting story than most ships. I Live for a good complicated mentor/mentee relationship, but I hate looking for fic about them because then I have to deal with the fact that a lot of people ship those relationships and it squicks me out. Give me the longfics about types of relationships I actually care about!

(This whole thing is a good 40% of the reason that I’ve ended up get absorbed in planning out a RWBY Vol8 re-write where the parallels and the newly complicated relationship between Ruby and Ironwood is The Main Agenda. (The other 60% of the reason being ‘[x character] deserved better’.) There’s some Really Good Stuff there and I want to play with it in more of a longform situation than my usual oneshots.)

No pressure tagging:

@squireofgeekdom , @catgirlalchemist , and anyone else who wants to give it a go! Feel free to say I tagged you :D

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

2019 Oath Fanfic Retrospective

A quick look back! Don’t think I’ve ever done this before and I figured, why not? Sadly really quick because, well, I don’t think it’s really been a great year for me, fandom participation-wise... or generally time and energy-wise, so there’s only an average of one fic every two months here.

In any case, this is what I wrote this year, in chronological order.

Swordsmithing For Beginners And Experts [AO3 link]

Crafting a good blade, both hard and flexible, takes time and care, and there are many pitfalls along the way for the uninitiated. A series of glimpses into that shared history that Pearl values so much, and a post-revelations look towards the future. Some sweet, some bitter, but most somewhere in between, and indeed featuring several swords. Or, in traditional terms: Five times Bismuth and Pearl kissed, and one time they didn’t. Bismuth/Pearl.

Bispearl to kick the year off! This fic is one I’d been working on for such a long time, I remember actually finishing and posting it was a whole Thing for me. It was quite a nice project, what with its 10k length and me obsessing over the structure - and getting really really invested in it all because I love these two and their dynamic and their rich history and want there to be so, so much more content for them.

Marching On [AO3 link]

Garnet, Bismuth, and Pearl, and the end that is anything but. “Change Your Mind” episode tag.

I remember being completely incapable of dealing with that one brief Pearl and Garnet scene near the very end of CYM and generally trying to figure out and iron out a bunch of stuff for myself after the episodes - with this as the result. An interesting one to look at (for me at least) now that the first episodes of SUF are out.

The Morning Watch [AO3 link]

Two pearls, a jacket, and a sunrise on Earth. Pearl and Pink Pearl, a little after “Change Your Mind”.

Aka Volleypearl before it was cool. A lot like the fic just above, processing feelings in the wake of CYM and having this one very specific mental image that wouldn’t go away. Also just... pearls, always. And Pearl’s jacket. And Pearl’s jacket on pearls.

Dreams So Real [AO3 link]

Bismuth and Pearl take a stab at sleeping, starting with a proper afternoon nap in a nice patch of sun. Pearl doesn’t have the best of luck in this particular area, perhaps, and the past has a nasty habit of popping up, all light blue and glowing.

Bispearl and naps because honestly the image was just too precious and then I had to go be vaguely h/c with it. I love these two, I love h/c of all kinds. Posted for Bispearl Week day 3: Together after the war.

Clandestine Creation Myths [AO3 link]

Pearl tells a story as the rain falls. The dawn of the Rebellion proper, and, of course, Imagining Things. Pearl, Rose, guest appearance by Garnet and, well, the Earth.

Dealing with the whole “I’ve been imagining things”/We became our FAAANTASYYYYY stuff is hard, man. I often feel like wallowing in it forever, it’s simultaneously so immensely fascinating and immensely bittersweet to me after everything and it just makes me so... sad. Yearning everywhere. The combo of all the what could have beens and if-onlys, vs the whole concept of Pearl with the power of imagination and storytelling and sheer determination... it gets to me. These past 5 years of emotional investment in particular SU characters have certainly been a ride.

Please take a look at Nerea’s gorgeous illustrations here, holy crap, they’re on a whole other level.

Hearts Like Ours [AO3 link]

Two pearls have some important and long-needed discussions, and work on their growing mutual understanding. (And also cuddle.)

Aka Volleypearl after it was cool. We got actual in-canon interactions between Pearl and another pearl and those Pearl Solidarity vibes I’ve been craving for 84 years, I absolutely thrived.

[writcraft]

Rec List #1 Theme: 2018 Favourites (Non-Drarry)

One of my fandom resolutions is to rec more in 2019. I’m going to post rec lists for some of my favourite HP fics divided up by theme/content/ship or whatever I fancy throughout the year, aiming for one rec list a month with two in January. I thought I would kick off 2019 with two lists of 2018 favourites. This first one excludes Drarry because I’ve read mostly Drarry this year and limiting myself to ten recs per list would be impossible if I included all the Drarry I’ve enjoyed within a list of just ten. The second list will be my favourite Drarry fics of 2018, then I’ll move on to other themes for the remaining months.

Usual caveats for recs apply. This is by no means an exhaustive list, I could have recced many more. I’ve read and enjoyed a whole raft of terrific stories and this rec list is simply based on my personal tastes which may not be everybody else’s cuppa. Please heed the content warnings the author has flagged on AO3 in each case, some of these fics contain darker content and I haven’t listed out any warnings in my recs and summaries.

#1. A Radical Change in (Self) Perception by AnyaElizabeth

Severus Snape/Harry Potter | 57,114

Harry should know better than to touch museum exhibits, especially in a magical museum. Now he's in trouble...

My Rec: I haven’t read a huge amount of body swap fics and I can’t remember the last body swap Snarry I read, and I was so intrigued by how the author would handle this premise. I devoured the whole 50,000+ words in one sitting I was so engaged by this charming story. The body swap forced Harry and Severus to spend more time together but it did so much more than that - it enabled them to better understand one another and also themselves, when they saw each other through a different lens. The writing is terrific and if you’re a Snarry shipper this one is guaranteed to give you all the warm and fuzzies. A great addition to the wonderful Snarry fanfic that has posted throughout 2018.

#2. Hallo Spaceboy by @shiftylinguini

James Potter/Teddy Lupin | 10,075

“If this mirror could talk,” James remembers declaring, already one drink down and trying to tidy up his ridiculous costume eyeliner, “it would say we look bloody amazing.”

Teddy’s arm was warm when he wrapped it around James’s shoulder, pulling him closer.

“We always do, love.” Teddy tugged on a long curl of James’s hair before tucking it behind his ear, then smoothing the whole lot of it back. “We’re the fittest blokes at the party, us.”

James’d had to give up on the eyeliner after that; he was grinning too hard, flushed and happy and basking in Teddy’s attention (fit blokes, we’re fit blokes, that’s us), and he couldn't bloody stop.

Or: James kissed Teddy last night. This may or may not be the end of the world.

My Rec: A thoroughly charming fic featuring trans James waking up in the morning and coming to terms with a kiss with his best mate Teddy Lupin the night before. I loved the quietness of this story, the way James being trans was part of it but not the primary focus. James feeding bread to the ducks on a grotty park bench is honestly such a beautiful, persistent and soothing image, and I loved the whole story from start to finish. It’s got lovely, warm coming of age vibes to it and I felt James’ conflict and fears come through so well in the telling of this story. Wonderfully written.

#3. Of Reckoning and Ruin by @half-light-01

Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore | 10,585

"And it is the eternal rule that drops of blood spilled on the ground demand yet more blood." 

One year after Lily Potter's death, Severus Snape's Dark Mark comes to life. Caught between a creature that wants him dead, and a Headmaster who needs him alive, the young Hogwarts professor is forced to reckon with his past and negotiate his future.

My Rec: I discovered this terrific fic at the end of this year and boy oh boy am I glad I did. The relationship between Severus and Albus is, in my view, one of the most complex and fascinating of the Harry Potter series. This story explores the darker sides we see of Dumbledore in canon through his interactions with Snape, but most of all it is a complex and fascinating character study of Severus, his grief, his guilt, his inner turmoil. The author really gets into the grit of both characters without flinching away from it and the creature in the story gives it a very unsettling quality which forces us to question who can be trusted, if anyone. A really engaging, well told story with a deft handling of complex characters. 

#4. my heart beat a tattoo on my ribs by @candybarrnerd / icarusinflight

Ginny Weasley/Luna Lovegood | 7,403

Ginny can't understand why anyone would want to mark themselves by choice but she still agrees to go with Harry when he says he wants a tattoo.

My Rec: I loved this beautiful story of tattoo artist Luna and a Ginny still processing the trauma and grief of war. The friendship between Ginny and Harry is wonderfully crafted and the dull ache of grief that grips Ginny is beautifully handled - it’s softly done and never overwrought and the story is ultimately one of healing and hope. A really terrific, sexy read and one I’ll definitely return to again.

#5. Distortion by DorthyAnn (JenniferMarie)

Harry Potter Centric (see AO3 for more detail) | 8,924

Harry wakes in darkness. A darkness that goes on and on without end. He can’t see or feel, he doesn’t know what’s happened. All he can do is hold on, replaying his memories to keep him sane. Until it’s over. Until he can go home again.

My Rec: This is horror as I love it the most. A strange, unsettling, superbly written story which grapples with identity, perception of self, loss of identity and evokes a creepy, oppressive sense of things going horribly awry. The Potterverse is so rich with details of magic and potions which can be used to alter ones own perception of themselves and the rest of the world, and the author uses the magic of canon in a deft and eerie way to create a gripping, unnerving tale of psychological horror. 

#6. Soft Touch by perverse_idyll

Severus Snape/Harry Potter | 15,167

Harry's love life has been dismal, and he finds himself checking into a therapeutic massage clinic just to get off - the same clinic to which Snape had been delivered three years earlier for physical therapy.

My Rec: Perverse Idyll is one of those authors whose fics I read and they stay with me for a long time after. One of the first Snarry authors I properly discovered on the journals, Perverse Idyll and I see Snape somewhat differently at times (although the meta conversations that results in are always an absolute privilege and pleasure) but I think that’s one of the things I find so compelling whenever I read PI’s fic. Perverse Idyll takes Snape to places I struggle to as a writer, and I find him absolutely captivating. He never loses his sharpness, his bitterness or his moral ambiguity and there is nothing more compelling than reading an unapologetically brittle Snape from the deft hand of a terrific writer who knows the character inside out and has formed deep, intricate views about his complexities and motivations and lets all his flaws sing instead of silencing or softening them in an attempt to make him more palatable. This is such an electric, sensual, sexy story with tension ramped up to the max. Brilliant.

#7. Rooftop Ruminations by @thealmostrhetoricalquestion​

Pansy Parkinson/Ginny Weasley | 12,209

Ginny barely registered the evening. The musician, whose bow wrung sounds from the strings with a casual, carefree elegance that Ginny would have usually envied, was just a blur in front of her face. The steps she took to the Rialto Bridge once everyone was ready felt too light and airy, and Luna’s hand in hers was just a wisp of citrus-scented silk. The night grew cooler and Ginny didn’t feel it. Simpering crush, Daphne had said. Pansy had a simpering crush. The words bobbed to the surface of her thoughts and pinched at her wrists and looped around her ears. She kept glancing at Pansy in her velvet skirt and towering heels, and she kept not knowing what to feel.

She wasn’t sure who she wanted Pansy’s crush to be on, and she hated that she didn’t know.

My Rec: This is such a gorgeous piece of writing. The scene setting is so immersive and wistful somehow, there’s a quietness to the pace of the story and the telling of it that made it such a wonderful read. I found myself completely engaged by the unfolding of the story, the richness of the details and descriptions sprinkled throughout, the handling of Ginny’s grief, the sparks and flickers of her feelings as she explores her growing attraction to Pansy and past feelings for Luna. I highly recommend this beautifully told story. 

#8. The Frame by mindabbles

Sirius Black/James Sirius Potter | 11,703

What are the ethical implications of falling for a person you're named after? How about the logistical complications of falling for someone who shouldn’t be alive? James would rather, he finds, not look too closely at either, not when Sirius makes him forget anyone else exists. 

My Rec: I left a prompt for Next Gen Fest involving time travel and James Sirius meeting his namesake and I was so excited when I saw it had been claimed. This fic was absolutely terrific. The idea of the portrait / painting being suspended on the wall mirrors this moment of James Sirius and Sirius suspended in time and I love that the author chose to end the story when they did, leaving things open and ambiguous but in a way that still felt very satisfying. Sirius and James are brilliantly characterised and there are wonderful doses of humour throughout what is a fairly tragic premise. The sex is hot enough to burn and the story has a gentle hopefulness which left me feeling really warm and content, despite the openness of the ending. We see James Sirius and Sirius in this one, suspended moment, as one might view a painting or photograph. Brilliantly written, with nods to Jeddy and Wolfstar too. I loved it.

#9. Games People Play by kelly_chambliss

Minerva McGonagall/Severus Snape | 5,610

Life is not easy when you are Severus Snape or Remus Lupin. But sometimes, there are compensations. 

My Rec:  I fell in love with this fic when it posted anon and for this year’s HP Crossgenfest and I wasn’t surprised when the author was revealed to be the immensely talented Kelly, one of my favourite writers of the older women in the Potterverse with a brilliant grasp of Minerva and Severus as characters. The story weaves Remus into the narrative and as ever Kelly’s prose is delightful, the use of second person working particularly well for this story with its shifting POVs. Severus displays moments of his surly, jealous, childish self but also appears a much reformed man although Kelly expertly retains a level of ambiguity around his true motivations in a fully-fleshed out, rich story of human complexity and the ways in which our past informs our perception of the present. If you only ever read one author writing Minerva McGonagall again, read Kelly. Although we are in the heads of Remus and Severus, it is smart, perceptive Minerva who is the star of the show. Wonderful. 

#10. Summer’s End by Barry_Manilows_Wardrobe

Albus Dumbledore/Gellert Grindelwald | 9,505

Gellert was the embodiment of summer: sunlit hair, warm skin beneath Albus's hands, and a smile that made Albus feel hot down to his very bones. But all summers must come to an end. 

My Rec: This story is utterly breathtaking. The writing is so confident and rich and the characters and their doomed love beautifully rendered. I read the fic with a lump in my throat, a gorgeously angsty, evocative tale of loving too much, too young, of powerful, intelligent wizards losing themselves in one another and the heat of an irrevocable passion which pulls them towards one another before everything breaks apart. At times the writing is so lyrical and poetic, I had to go back and read several phrases over and over, to really take them in. An absolutely stunning tale of lost love and the path that his past sets Albus on as he sets about preparing Harry for his future trials. Captivating, from start to finish. 

[avelera]

Some musings on fanfiction literary trends, fandom, and the evolution of online culture (as seen in 15+ years of Tolkien-based fanfic from The Lord of the Rings to The Hobbit films) 

Reading 15-year-old Lord of the Rings fic is absolutely wild because the prose style for fanfic has changed so much during the intervening years. There was a huge focus back then (~2002) on mimicking Tolkien’s style with elevated language, a lack of phobia over using the passive voice, and otherwise formal “epic” dialogue patterns. 

At times it’s a bit hard for me to read, because my inner editor voice wants to rearrange sentences and remove “on the nose” description and dialogue (explicitly saying what the character is or is not thinking/saying like “He spoke nothing of his fears, which were great.”)*

It got me thinking about fashions in prose. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this style, just as there’s nothing inherently “wrong” about 19th c. romantic purple prose vs 20th c. spare, Hemingway-esque thriller prose. Yet writers and teachers of writing delight in creating long lists of what should and should not be done as if they’re ironclad laws of physics rather than extremely subjective matters of taste and changing times.

But back to fanfic, I’m fascinated by the unspoken linguistic trends that pervade fandom, from phrases ( “he smelled of X, and Y, and something all his own”), to aversion to adverbs, to casual vs elevated tone. Even tropes like A/B/O are fascinating in how they spread from niche fetish communities to fandoms that aren’t even tangental to one another, and from there become vehicles for dialogue on matters of society, gender, sexuality, and even history. The pace is rapid, less than a few years ago in The Hobbit community I observed that fanfic writers needed to make some sort of author note in the margin if there was a trans* or gender queer main character, in order to clarify that aspect of the story to unfamiliar readers. Today, such fics hardly need a disclaimer at all because the issue is so much more widely understood, this wider awareness seeming to rise in rough parallel with the IRL fight for trans* rights. Similarly, fifteen years ago in the Lord of the Rings fandom a story that contained slash of any kind (even if they lacked any form of explicit sexual scene) would often contain long, agonized explanations as to why these characters were “just friends” if it made the reader more comfortable, or that the chapter containing a slash sex scene was skippable if it made fans of Tolkien’s work uncomfortable. 

Another trend is the evolution of the acceptance of the Mary Sue. Again, 15 years ago in the Lord of the Rings fandom, it was possibly the most reviled concept out there. “Tenth member of the Fellowship” “Girl falls into Middle Earth” were easy and constant targets of ridicule. The frustration was somewhat understandable, given that at one point I remember counting the first 10 pages of Fanfiction.net, and at the time and fully 60% of the new stories involved a female self-insert character into what was inevitably the film universe. Fans of the book often fled to make their own archives where such stories were explicitly forbidden unless the reached a certain level of prose quality. One of the most popular comedy series was of partnered assassins who would “jump in” to various fanfic universes and waylay Mary Sues before they could make contact with the main characters (all tongue in cheek, I remember adoring these self-aware self-inserts as a teenager). 

Nowadays, I’d venture to say that level of vitriol towards Mary Sues is falling out of favor. I personally still struggle with reading any sort of self-insert fanfic, or any OC fanfic in general, which is a psychological leftover from developing as a reader and writer during that era. But I’ve observed that, like with slash, acceptance has grown and Mary Sues are now defended in a “live and let live” manner. Certainly I would rather avoid reading a Mary Sue fic by a new writer, but I wholly support their writing efforts and see it as an important step in their development as writers. 

For younger fans, you have to understand, this level of basic tolerance was not always the norm. If you’re puzzled by people asking readers not to “flame” it’s because in the early 2000s it wasn’t uncommon for trolls to go into fanfiction comment sections just to send insulting messages to the author for the very idea of their story, to the extent that authors would have to beg in the notes “don’t like, don’t read”. "Don’t like, don’t read” has largely become an unspoken rule of fanfic as a result. (Though Tumblr has removed some of that tolerance, in my view, by the way dashboards work putting “objectionable” content in front of people’s eyes through the clusterfuck of a tagging system.) This evolution runs roughly parallel to the fading of legal “disclaimers” which were once necessary at the top of fics, as fanfic has gained wider acceptance and the need to defend oneself legally online against aggressive authors and creators has vanished in all but the most extreme copyright violation examples.

The greatest change in fanfic in the last decade+ though is without question the acceptance and then the prevalence of slash. It has gone from a small and passionate, but often disdained, niche group--that was seen by some as a fetish culture akin to furries or BDSM, with its own fan conventions--to practically the norm of fanfiction (at least on AO3, which is also relatively new and signaled a huge fundamental shift in the way fanfic is consumed online). I vividly remember in my early days of LotR fanfic seeing the passionate slash fans “over there” and how they were seen as a totally separate, rabid subculture rather than as part of the “mainstream” fandom community. Now, I would say they are the mainstream in fandom.

Meanwhile, “Gen” has gone from the more “respected” “elevated” subgenre to a struggling one. Again, to specify, this is based on my observations of changes in the Tolkien fandom spanning the LotR to The Hobbit film period, and a US-centric one at that. Het fics are still thriving, where I’ve observed a closer linguistic parallel to the language and tropes seen in popular romance novels than I necessarily see in slash fanfic, though there is bleed through. Het is no longer the accepted default along the lines of “canon relationships” that it was 10 years ago, i.e you didn’t even need to tag for romance if it was a het story with the usual main pairings, it just meant you were writing "canon adjacent” works.

It’s curious to watch these changes in fanfiction, as I daresay they mirror the changes seen in the literary world over the past 200+ years, the only difference really is how fluid and fast these changes are. A year online feels like a decade compared to IRL literary trends, and it has also been fascinating to watch what I perceive to be the bleed-through of ideas that fandom has been batting around for years entering the mainstream. For example, the growing acceptance of same-sex relationships in fiction, and a growing comfort with female-led stories with a push back against the automatic knee-jerk accusation of “Mary Sue” as a bad thing. It’s hard to say which came first, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that fanfic played at least a small part in the wider cultural acceptance.

[meliaamethyst]

My Fanfics and Original Stories

So I’ve been sitting around, knowing I should post something here but entirely unsure as to what. And I’ve finally decided! What better introduction to me as a writer, as a shipper, than for me to start things off by posting links to the stories that I’m OK with sharing and telling a bit about my thoughts and impressions for each? I will also be including links to each mentioned story and a synopsis at the end of the post so you can visit them and read if you so desire.

The first story I want to share is my Fairy Tail fanfiction. To be honest, I don’t even remember where or when I first got the idea to write this, but I’m so glad that I started it because it has grown to be one of my favorites! Through a lot of hard work, equal portions by me and my #1 Beta Sandry-Chan, and only two revisions, Fairy Tail: Dawn of Change (I’ll be using the acronym DoC for this one) is about a young girl who doesn’t fit in the real world and wishes desperately to be somewhere else. After a magical day at an anime convention, she wakes up in an animated meadow. Naturally, her first thought is that this is all a dream, but the bruise on her thigh says otherwise. She wanders until she collapses and when she wakes up again she is in a hotel bedroom, being watched by Natsu Dragneel, Happy the Cat, and Lucy Heartfilia; three central characters to her favorite anime Fairy Tail. And that is just the start of her adventure! From there, things are exciting and depressing by turns, shifting from euphoria and the epitome of “OMG!!” to “What did I land in?!” But despite everything, Roxanne perseveres and proves that she is a true Fairy. I love this story not just because of how much blood, sweat and tears I have poured into this, but also because of how similar Roxanne and I are, and how I could channel my own daydreams into her experiences and live out my dreams through her. I also did a lot of pre-writing planning, and I planned things that might not even be used. But if they become needed, then I’ll be ready! I also had to do a lot of research, into the individual magics and the rules for magic, and figuring things out to fill in gaps, and research into how a nine year old thinks! And Sandry also pinpointed some trouble areas for ms to work on, and I strengthened my Showing not Telling. Because of this fic, I feel like I’ve really grown as a writer and that also contributes to my love for this fic. So I really recommend that you read this fic! Also, since it starts at the beginning and explains almost everything as things become relevant, you really don’t need to have any Fairy Tail background to read DoC!!

The next book I wanna talk about is my original idea, inspired by the wonder of freshman year of high school; new friends, new experiences, and a new fascination with dragons. Dragon Girl (the acronym is DG) is my first real attempt at storywriting, my pride and joy. The overall story hasn’t changed much and I still remember almost everything I figured out. DG is about a teenager who can shapeshift into a dragon. Surrounded by humans, she lives in an abusive household and believes herself to be the only one like her. She almost kills herself doing chores and homework everyday, biding her time, waiting until she can move out on her own. But she has trust issues because every time she opens her heart and tells the other person about ‘the dragon’ they end up running away and hating her. And that, of course, puts her life in danger in addition to the damage her heart sustains. In spite of that, she finally finds the courage to fly away and she ends up discovering that she is actually part of an ancient race called Drakons, and she is a very special Drakonian. She helps to rebuild this dying race and she is instrumental in the war against the natural enemy called Scylla. I love this story because it marks where I first started getting serious about writing, and I use it as a landmark for how I used to be and where I am now. Also, its gotten the most attention despite its unrevised writting, telling not showing state, usually one to three people favorite it EVERY DAY. And I have a deal with a graphic artist for a comic book adaptation. So I am very proud of Dragon Girl for a variety of reasons and I hope that you’ll read it.

The third book I want to share is the first in a four-part saga, a fanfiction based off of Christopher Paolini’s bestselling series 'The Inheritance Cycle’ (the acronym will be IC) The first part of the original series was remade into a movie named after the first book in the saga, Eragon, in 2007. Even though it was a blockbuster hit that summer, fans in the IC fandom did not enjoy it. In my opinion, while the movie preserved the overall gist of Eragon and Saphira’s adventures, there was a lot of stuff that was changed or omitted. In the movie, Brom and Eragon killed the three Ra'zac that pursued them in Palancar Valley. However, Eragon and his cousin Roran are the true heroes in Brisingr, and are responsible for defeating the two Ra'zac while Saphira killed the two Lethrblakas herself. This was a huge mistake on the movie’s part because now there is no one to kidnap Roran’s love Katrina, and Carvahall would not be attacked and subsequently burned to the ground. Thus, Roran would not lead the villagers to the Burning Plains in time to help the Varden in the battle against the Imperial Army. Also, Brom was not struck by an arrow as he rescued Eragon from Gil'ead, he was struck by a knife coated in an oil by the Ra'zac outside of Teirm after Murtagh jumped in to help. Also, Eragon was captured by Imperial Soldiers in Gil'ead just after Brom’s death, and the ordeal resulted in Eragon meeting the Shade, Durza, and discovering the woman he had been seeing his dreams was a prisoner as well, and that’s when he rescued Arya. The movie also got several other things wrong, like barely showing Orik and not even mentioning Hrothgar and the Twins. On the other hand, I enjoyed seeing Saphira and hearing her voice. Anyway, my fanfiction series is based off of the books, and called Wyrda, and the first installment of four is called Istalri. In this first book, an orphan elf and her brother are introduced, oppressed by their tyrannical uncle. They dream of becoming Riders because that is the only fate they can stand until they are old enough to retake their family home. One night, one of the dragon eggs they hold hatches, and its the girl who begins her journey. Like Eragon before her, she will face new challenges and overcome obstacles as she helps to rebuild the Rider Order. She is surrounded by mentors Murtagh, Eragon and Arya and their dragons, and she has to carve her own future out of the bedrock of her life. I enjoy writing this because I relied on the canon series so heavily so it was a great excuse to read the series again and even write a letter to Paolini himself to ask questions, and I get to bring life to Alanna and Dusan, two obscure characters that we glance at only once in Brisingr. I get to make them fully rounded, unique characters that are this perfect, unstoppable team when they’re together, and still terrifying when they are apart. I get to give them a past, a life, and a future full of hopes and dreams and a healthy dose of reality. Istalri is also the ninth edition of this series, and is my first legitimate fanfiction that I wrote out of sheer pleasure when I was only 12 years old, in 7th grade. It gave me something to discuss with a woman who would later become my best friend close enough to be my sister, and, through her, another sister. Because of Istalri, I got to develop relationships that I even now must lean on to survive my life. I couldn’t be prouder of Istalri, and I hope that you will read it and come to love it as much as I do.

Thank you.

LINKS:

DoC https://m.fanfiction.net/s/11262127/1/Fairy-Tail-Dawn-of-Change

Istalri (Previously Kvistr) https://m.fanfiction.net/s/10524735/1/Kvistr-Book-1-Of-The-Wyrda-Series

Dragon Girl https://www.bookrix.com/_ebook-melissa-nichols-dragon-girl/

[amodicumofdutch]

vandermorgan fanfic recs - smut ✨😈✨

So you’ve recently gotten into vandermorgan and now feel ready to venture into The Smut™? (yep still at it with the weird rhetorical questions)

Great! This gives me an excuse to present to you my current personal favourites on ao3! As always, this is just a small subjective selection to get you started so feel free to add onto the list.

(Please remember that you have to be 18+ to read this stuff, and please remember to mind the tags before reading a story)

“Of Solitude and Sorrow” by CastleonaCloud somehow manages to make the smut feel like it’s canon. Arthur’s and Dutch’s interaction is so subtle and nuanced and they both feel so in character it’s amazing. This story made me look differently at their in-game interactions after I read it. (Also, it’s hot.)

“Discipline” by madeintahiti has a promising title, and the fic itself delivers on that promise. If you’re at all into spanking and dom/sub type stuff, I think you will really like this one.

“The Joys of Camping Outdoors” by taehly is a hidden vandermorgan gem: While technically a collection of oneshots with different pairings, three out of five chapters are devoted to Dutch/Arthur, and they form a continuous story. So you’ll want to read chapters 2, 4 and 5 of this and marvel at the delicious smut mixed with relationship angst.

“Strike” by Toast_Senpai (two-part series): This series is just so satisfying because it’s long and detailed and there’s so much good stuff packed into it. The first part has Dutch and Arthur camping out in the wilderness and things …escalate from there. For the second part, the author asked in the comments section what kinks people wanted to see, then went ahead and delivered all of them and made it all work beautifully. So the second part is basically vandermorgan smut heaven 👀

“Obsessions and Other Sins” by Vrunka aka @vrunkawrites on here (two-part series): I’ll never stop gushing about how elegant and clever the writing is in this one. The first part starts out with Arthur watching Dutch’s beautiful hands and absolutely obsessing over them - I think we can all empathize with this lol. The second part is written from Dutch’s perspective; the change of perspective is beautifully done and the result is fascinating.

“Comeuppance” by @gwennolmarie (this one has two chapters): Arthur and Dutch drink a lot of moonshine and get it on for the first time. It’s sweet and intoxicating and the writing is so incredibly vivid. (This was actually the first vandermorgan fic I read so I blame this story for my ongoing crazy obsession with this ship)

✨ bonus - Dutch/Arthur/John threesome recs✨ (aka please don’t judge me for liking this so much)

“To A Fault” by sciencefictioness: John secretly listens in to Dutch and Arthur having sex in Dutch’s tent at night. John is incredibly turned on by this. So John is basically in the same position as the reader: He’s really into vandermorgan and just can’t help himself. I think this setup is a stroke of brilliance, and the writing style and the actual smut are brilliant as well.

“Denied Distractions” by Extrication is quite a bit darker: Dutch is mean and manipulative and controlling in this. But what can I say, it’s delicious.