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slytherheign · 1 year

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YOU BELONG WITH ME | tasm!peter parker

PAIRING: high school senior!tasm!peter parker x high school senior!fem!reader

WORD COUNT: 3.9k

SUMMARY: you can’t help but feel insecure when you realize your best friend peter and the most famous girl in the school are keeping a sweet secret from you.

WARNINGS: cursing/swearing, awkwardness, jealousy, insecurities, self-loathing, reader is an overthinker and assumes things easily. let me know if i missed any warnings. [⚠︎︎RATING: G]

AUTHOR'S NOTE: inspired by taylor swift’s song with the same title. angst with happy ending. dedicated to @joshiiieeenesx, thanks for supporting me and requesting this. i hope you’re having a great day!

DESTINATION: Sweet Street | GO BACK TO THE STATION. CLICK HERE FOR ALL THINGS YBWM (reviews, commentary, etc. about this fic).

It was Friday Night.

Your favorite day and time of the week because of your tradition with Peter to order pizza and watch a movie. Tonight was a bit different though, you both decided to order your least favorite flavor of pizza and watch the lowest-rated movie ever.

Peter made a joke in the middle of the movie, causing you to laugh and cover your face with your hands. It was a habit you developed since you were a kid when a bully made fun of you for having an ‘ugly-laughing’ face. “Stop,” he chuckled as he captured your wrists with his hands. “Stop what?” you questioned unknowingly, allowing him to hold your wrists and pull them away from your face. You stared at him confusingly.

“Stop covering your face when you laugh,” he said. “I can’t see your pretty face.” Peter would always make little comments here and there about you, most of them being compliments. You ought not to make it serious since you’d always tell flirty jokes to each other, but you just can’t help but feel a little flutter in your stomach every time he would compliment you.

You tried covering the increasing redness of your cheeks with laughter. “I’m serious. Stop covering your face,” he told you. “What if I told you I’m doing it on purpose?” you thought of a quick funny remark. “And why, may I ask, are you doing it on purpose?” he quirked an eyebrow.

“Let’s just say, if you see my beautiful face when I’m laughing, you might just fall in love,” you joked, smirking at him. There was a tinge of the color red in his cheeks, but he was quick to hide it with a chuckle.

“Well, why don’t you let me see your beautiful face then let’s see if I really fall in love?” he remarked. Once again, you laughed because you didn’t know how to respond. Peter was laughing with you when his phone suddenly rang. He quickly stood up, covering the name of the caller with his hand before walking to a private secluded room in his house to answer it. You didn’t mind it. After all, everyone deserved privacy when they’re talking to someone on the phone. Besides, you were actually quite thankful because the phone call interrupted the growing awkwardness in the room. You paused the movie while Peter talked on the phone in the other room.

Minutes passed and you were getting bored of waiting for him. You decided to pull your phone from your jeans pocket and open the Instagram app for a bit. Your feed was pretty much full of your schoolmates that were either busy preparing for prom next friday or busy with the upcoming game on Monday. You scrolled mindlessly, double-tapping each post from your close friends when you stumbled upon a post from her.

Gwen Stacy. Blonde hair, blue eyes, perfect body. The cheer captain, head of the planning committee, the smartest in school… well, not the smartest because that would be Peter… but still the smartest girl in school. Having all that, you’d think she was the type to be the typical mean girl, but no… she’s actually the nicest.

In the picture, she was smiling with the other cheerleaders, their teeth as white as snow and their faces as beautiful as barbie dolls even when they were sweating. Sometimes you just wonder if they ever had a bad hair day or they’re just perfect all the time.

“Please! Gwen, come on!” you heard Peter yell. Gwen? Why was he talking to Gwen Stacy?

“Really? Yes!” you heard him exclaim excitedly. A pang of jealousy hit your chest, the feeling was unwelcome because you knew he wasn’t even yours to begin with. But still, it hurt.

The next thing you heard was his footsteps nearing the door. You collected yourself immediately, greeting him with a smile as he opened the door.

“Sorry about that,” he smiled, with the same fucking smile you fell in love with. He sat next to you on the couch, subtly putting his arm on the back just around where your head was resting. He grabbed the remote from your hand, but for a few seconds, you felt it linger when his hand touched yours.

He pressed the play button and you both continued to watch the movie.

“Okay, just so we’re clear. You think Peter and Gwen are dating?” your other friend, Mary Jane, iterated on the phone. It was Sunday night, the only time MJ had free time this week since she was also a cheerleader.

“Yes,” you answered clearly. “I heard them talking on the phone the other night. Peter seemed really happy and excited.”

“And what do you feel about that?” she asked.

“Uh–I don’t know?” you admitted.

“I call bull. Come on, I know you’re in love with Peter.”

“Okay. I do have feelings for him… but I don’t think he feels the same about me. He probably asked Gwen to be his prom date even though we promised we’d take each other to the event.”

“So you’re not going to prom anymore?”

“I mean I already have a dress so I guess I’ll still go. It just sucks that I’ll be going without him.”

“Since when did you get a dress?!”

“Uhh… since last week?”

“And you didn’t even tell me?” she made a sound of absolute shock. Knowing her, you knew she probably had her hand on her chest while making that sound. “I could’ve helped you pick.”

“It’s not a problem honestly. Besides, I kinda wanted it to be a surprise?”

“Can you at least tell me the color?” she pleaded.

“Blue. Like the kind of blue in Spider-Man’s suit.”

“Weird way to describe a color. Is there a specific reason why you chose blue? I thought you never liked blue.”

“Okay, I’ll tell you but don’t tell anyone about this because I think Peter is kinda embarrassed about it… Peter is obsessed with Spider-Man. He’s such a huge fan of his–maybe even his number one fan. He even tried to hide it from me, but when I found a Spider-Man suit in his closet he just started getting really nervous and he only stopped when I told him it’s fine if he’s a fan. I’m not judging him, I think Spider-Man is really cool too,” you explained. “I was hoping he’d notice the color reference but now that he’s going with Gwen Stacy, I doubt he would even look at me.”

“You really think Peter would ignore you? Have you seen how that man looks at you?”

“He looks at everyone like that. It’s nothing special,” you denied.

“Listen, believe what you want to believe but I know Peter is definitely in love with you too. But if you did end up alone and out of place at the event, you’re welcome to sit with me.”

“Thanks, but you literally have a date. I don’t wanna be a third wheel,” you laughed. “I appreciate the thought though,” you exchanged goodbyes not long after that, wishing her good luck on their cheer performance.

You thought hard about what she said. Peter did become more clingy to you these last few months and he always made sure to text or call you every day. You guessed there really was a chance Peter shared the same feelings with you.

Maybe he was just talking to Gwen as a friend.

You were at the gymnasium where you'd have to watch student-athletes pass the ball to each other, all having the same objective to shoot the ball in their respective goals. And when a member of a team claimed their shot, it would repeat all over again.

You were never into sports. If you had a choice, you’d rather stay in bed and continue reading Looking For Alaska, but instead, you were stuck sitting on the bleachers while watching cheerleaders dance their routine in such a flawless manner. As much as you wanted to focus on MJ and support her, your eyes couldn’t help but look at Gwen. She really was mesmerizing.

You were too busy comparing her shiny legs and the way they moved with their short flowy skirts with your simple t-shirt and sneakers to even notice someone sitting beside you.

You continued watching Gwen dance, focusing on her pretty face and realizing that even in her sweaty condition she still kept dazzling everyone in the room with her beautiful smile. You noticed her wink in your direction. For a moment you thought she was winking at you, but when you followed the direction she was smiling at you noticed it was directed at someone beside you—Peter.

Funny. You didn’t even know Peter was beside you.

“Hi?” you greeted, putting your best smile in front of him while your stomach ached from cruel jealousy.

“Hey,” he simply replied, before focusing on the phone he just got out of his pocket. He was busy texting someone.

“So…you already have a suit for Friday?” you asked, trying to start a conversation. He shook his head. “Nope. But I plan on looking later today.”

“Cool. Do you want me to go with you? I don’t have anything to do after this,” you offered.

He stopped and finally looked at you. You noticed how his eyes widened at your question and after mere seconds of looking at your eye, he looked away. He didn’t even need to open his mouth, his body language already told you that he already had someone he was going with.

You felt too sick to even hear his reply, immediately knowing the answer. You excused yourself, going straight to the bathroom to try to compose yourself and your body that was slowly starting to shake. You looked at yourself in the mirror, yelling inside your head to stop the tears that were threatening to fall.

You and Peter were supposed to be inseparable. From childhood up until that moment earlier on the bleachers, you thought you would end up together.

All those years, you have convinced yourself you would be together and told the stars that he belonged with you.

But maybe he belonged with someone else.

And if you truly loved him, who were you to stop him from following his heart?

The moment you stepped inside the school tomorrow morning, Peter immediately wrapped his arm around your shoulder.

If it was yesterday or the days before, you would’ve loved it and your stomach would’ve already been swarmed with butterflies. But today, all it felt was aching pain.

“Hey,” he kissed your cheek, a thing he always did whenever he saw you at school. “MJ told me you went home early yesterday because you weren’t feeling well. Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve walked you home.”

“It’s fine, really,” you answered. It wasn’t fine, but how could you tell him he was the reason you couldn’t bear to stay at school yesterday?

“Well, I missed you. You got me really worried.”

And there it was again, the feeling of your heart jumping just from the words he said and how his voice spoke them. Was Gwen even okay with him putting his arm around your shoulder and walking with you in the hallways?

You did your best acting like everything was alright for the rest of today. Peter was busy texting Gwen for most of the time anyway, it wasn’t hard to convince him everything was fine.

Classes for Wednesday and Thursday were suspended to give way for prom preparations. You didn’t have much to do on Wednesday, so when MJ offered an idea to practice doing makeup and putting on the dresses to prepare for prom, you agreed.

You sat in your room in front of your vanity mirror while MJ did your makeup for you. She matched the eyeshadow with the color of your dress, and you must admit, she did amazing. Next was your hair, you requested it to be an updo, with the hairpins you picked out scattered attractively.

For a moment, you wondered what Peter could be doing right now. His house was just next to yours, his bedroom window facing yours and if you only pulled your curtains aside, you would see him through his window—if it wasn’t covered by his curtains.

Mary Jane snapped you back to reality by complimenting the details of the dress she just pulled out of your closet. “I need to see you in this dress now.”

You chuckled but complied nonetheless. With her help, you carefully put on the dark blue long dress. “Shit. This dress is made for you,” she complimented. It was true, you were indeed a vision. The dress hugged your body perfectly and the details were perfect to your liking. You never liked the color blue, but this dress got you second thinking.

After putting on your heels, you checked yourself out in the mirror when MJ’s phone suddenly rang. “Peter? Hi,” she answered. As soon as she said his name, you turned around to face her.

“Are you okay?” MJ asked Peter. “You sound ill.”

“What’s happening?” you didn’t care anymore if Peter wasn’t talking to you. Something was wrong with him based on MJ’s reaction, and you were concerned.

“Oh my god.”

“MJ, what is it?”

“Something is really wrong with him. I think we need to go to his hou–” she didn’t have the opportunity to finish her sentence when you immediately walked out of your room still in your dress and on your way to Peter’s house. MJ followed you but stayed outside Peter’s house. She smirked the moment you entered his house. Everything was going as planned.

Aunt May was thankfully on vacation somewhere, you couldn’t imagine her reaction if she saw you rushing towards her nephew’s room in a long dress and in heels.

You carefully knocked on his bedroom door, announcing your presence. “Y/N?” he asked and you hummed in response. “I’m in here,” he answered from the next room. As far as you can remember, that room was an empty one. You weren’t sure why Peter was in there but in times of emergencies like this one, you didn’t care. “Can I open the door?” you asked.

“Yes.”

You did not expect what you saw.

The room was dark as a result of the windows being covered. On the floor were littered little candles with your favorite scent lit up to light the room in a romantic manner. There was an area left for you to walk leading to the middle of the room, which had a space just enough for two people. You also noticed the petals of roses scattered on the floor as a string version of your favorite song started playing.

A figure emerged from the shadows—Peter. He offered his hand for you to take and only then when he led you to the middle did the fire from the candles revealed his outfit. He was wearing a suit that perfectly matched the color of your dress. You didn’t know how he knew the exact color of your dress, you would ask him that later.

You were both speechless, neither knowing what to say. “Wow…” he breathed out. “How could a person look so beautiful? You are unreal.”

“Thank you,” you blushed. “You look handsome too.”

He held your hand and guided it towards his lips, placing a soft kiss on the back of it before holding each of your hands with both of his.

“Peter?” you started to say. “What–”

“You know I prepared a whole speech just for this moment,” he interrupted. “And then as soon as I saw you, I just forgot every single thing in the world because you’re the only one that matters.”

Tears were starting to gloss your eyes but before you could start crying from his sentiment, you asked him a question that has been vexing you for quite a while.

“What about Gwen?”

His face was quick to react to your question. His forehead scrunched up, looking at you as if to tell you if you could emphasize your question.

“I thought you were together. You were talking to each other pretty much the whole week. You were texting and calling each other, she was with you when you picked your suit, and then I saw her wink at you at the game.”

His face slowly dawned with realization. As soon as he realized what you were talking about, he couldn’t help but laugh. But upon seeing your worried face, he stopped laughing at once and looked straight into your eyes with absolute seriousness.

“Gwen and I are nothing more than just friends. We are not together. We’ve been talking to each other a lot because I asked her for help on how to surprise you. She also helped me pick the right suit so I wouldn’t embarrass myself with a lousy one. She winked at me at the game because she was excited that after the game ended, we would set up this surprise. And also because I was sitting next to you in the bleachers, she kinda saw me stare at you while you were busy watching the cheer routine. The wink was just her teasing and being excited. It doesn’t mean anything, I swear. It’s only you. I only want you.”

“Shit. So I really just overthought the whole situation,” you chuckled. “I’m so stupid.”

“No, you’re not stupid. Don’t invalidate your feelings, It’s completely understandable. If I was you I’d think the same too.”

After a short moment of soft understanding silence, you felt him stiffen. His hands now held yours a little bit tighter. “Can I ask you a question?” he finally said.

“Let me guess, you want me to be your prom date?” you tried to ease the tension with the obvious question.

“Yes, and no.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I want to take you to prom, yes. But that’s not the only thing I want. I want to take you on dates, I want to dance with you not just at events organized by the school, I want to buy you flowers, every day if I can; I want to watch scary movies with you and laugh when you’re too scared and you hide yourself with a pillow, I want to watch sad movies with you and bring you tissues and cuddle you the moment you cry, I want to watch romantic movies with you and cringe together when the characters do something embarrassing and wrap my arms around you when you blush at something sweet that they do. I want the tears, the pain, the frustration, the confusion, the sweetness, the laughter—everything. I want everything. With you.”

“Pete…”

“We’re seniors. Next year, we’re going to college. We will take on different paths and places, but before that even happens, I want you to be my place that’s never changing. And if you feel the same, I want to be your place that’s never changing too. You have been my best friend since we were kids, and I don’t want my memory of us to be just two people being friends since childhood,” he said before resting his forehead against yours. “I am in love with you, Y/N L/N. Would you be willing to enter a relationship that’s more than friends with me?”

Tears glossed over your eyes again, but this time, you let one fall. Peter was quick to wipe it with his hand. “Tell me you don’t feel the same and I will not hold it against you. Tell me you don’t feel the same and I will not cross the line of being more than friends. Know that I will not force you into a relationship you do not want. Tell me if you don’t feel the same and I–”

“Yes,” you stopped him before he could finish his sentence. “The answer is yes. I am in love with you as well, Peter Parker. I have been for a long time.”

Peter smiled, now feeling his own tears try to escape his eyes but he didn’t let them fall. “May I dance with you?”

You chuckled but agreed, letting him guide you into position. Your forearms rested on his shoulders, your hands softly stroking the back of his neck while his hands were positioned at both sides of your waist. As the music still played in the background, you both started swaying.

“I can’t take my eyes off of you. You’re gorgeous,” he commented. “You don’t look so bad yourself. Your suit even matched my dress,” you said back.

“I’ll have to thank MJ for that.”

“Wait–MJ is a part of this?”

“Of course, she is. How’d you think I knew the color of your dress?”

You suddenly remembered the conversation you had with MJ when she asked you about the color of your dress. And then you also remembered that MJ was the reason why you were even inside Peter’s house right now in the first place. Peter called her and then she said that something was wrong with him and urged you to come here. Where was she even now anyways?

Peter laughed as he watched your face change from confusion to realization. “You know what–I’ll give it to y’all. You, Gwen, and MJ are good at this,” you admitted.

“The dressing up with our prom outfits and dancing was my idea though,” he spoke as he guided you into a spin. “I wanted our first dance to be private, not in a room filled with other students.”

You saw him glance at your lips for a moment before looking back into your eyes. “I also want to do this,” he said as he leaned in closer and met your lips with his.

You’ve imagined this moment ever since your heart started beating for him. But still, the feeling of his lips against yours for real was better than what you’d imagined it to be. The kiss was soft but intimate, neither of you having a need to rush into things but at the same time making up for lost time pining over each other silently. You wished you could kiss him forever and stay like this but you eventually needed to pull away to breathe.

“So, you really thought I was in love with Gwen?” he teased while you were catching your breath.

“Way to ruin the moment,” you chuckled, lightly punching his arm before nodding.

“Shit. I really made you jealous?” he seemed really proud of what he had done from the way he was smirking.

“Are you happy?” you jokingly asked, rolling your eyes with fake annoyance.

“Am I happy? Of course, I am. I just kissed you.”

You couldn’t find the words to reply as you blushed harder than you’d ever blushed before. Instead, you just laughed out of blissful happiness.

For the first time ever, he saw you laugh without covering your face and it was the most beautiful sight he’s ever seen. He couldn’t help but kiss you again.

Needless to say, the future was exciting.

If only he could tell you that he was Spider-Man.

SLYTHERHEIGN TAGLIST: @writingstoraes @joshiiieeenesx

TASM!PETER PARKER TAGLIST: @mymilkducts @i-am-woman-strong @lauraneedstochill @jeanettexkillian @ms-mandalore @enaraism @alessandralol @sad-darksoul @sincericida @mentallystablepotato @mich0731 @logolepsic-insomniac @k0miiki @dreamsarecloserwithyou @jumilzzz @primroseparker @preciousbabypeter @myheartonthemove @rebecca-johnson-28 @silkholland @ellievickstar @okkulta @geekygamerchick @starqwerty20 @the-quiet-observer @softiepeterpan

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wtf-scientific-papers · 3 months

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During two months of observation at several feeding stations, Eibl-Eibesfeldt (1955) became personally familiar with several individual groupers (Epiphenelus striatus) […]

Trivers, R. (1971). The evolution of reciprocal altruism. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 46(1), 35–57. https://doi.org/10.1086/406755

Submitter comment: “(it just cracks me up that the author chose to describe this guy’s relationship with ocean fish as “personally familiar”)”

#submission

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insanitysilver · 2 years

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Ao3 Recommendations

Wish ao3 had an algorithm? Wish it would recommend you the best of the best? Ao3 can’t, but your fellow fans can all through the magic of the bookmark search. How is this done?

Find your tag of choice (fandom/ship/character/trope). The default search is by works. Set it to bookmarks.

2. Add filters like normal. Check ‘rec’ and ‘has notes’ near the bottom. Sort.

And voilà. Now everything listed comes with positive reviews for your perusal.

Sit back on your divan and let your servants feed you grapes knowing that other brave souls went before you to bring you these gems for your illustrious inspection.

Side Notes:

Authors do see bookmark comments. Do not be an ass to people sharing their art for free.

This method is biased towards older works. Try not to use this search method exclusively or you’ll miss out on hidden gems.

#i had to turn reversi off for this and it almost blinded me #ao3 #ao3 tutorial #archive of our own #fanfic #fanfiction #posting this mostly bc i tend to forget about it myself on the reg #and microscopic fandoms won't get much use out of it so ymmv #ao3 tips

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secretmellowblog · 9 months

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I'm so fascinated by how conservative reviews of Les Mis often recreate the same attitudes towards Valjean/Javert that Victor Hugo criticizes in the novel. If you've been following @psalm22-6's work collecting contemporary 19th century reviews of Les Mis (and you should!) you'll know that contemporary conservative reviewers often despised Valjean and praised Javert. This is also true for many modern conservative reviewers. And that's interesting because the larger commentary Hugo was making with the Valjean/Javert parallels is that....."Both Valjean and Javert were born in dire poverty and stigmatized because of the time they spent in prison. But wealthy conservative society hates Valjean because he's an outcast who will break their laws in order to defend marginalized people....while they approve of Javert, because Javert would happily destroy himself and everyone around him in order to lick their boots." Valjean is hated because he's "rebellious," Javert is accepted because "knows his place." Jean Valjean is "repugnant" because he would steal a loaf of bread to feed his family, and Javert is "noble" because he would happily sentence his entire family to die for the sake of obeying authority. Valjean is treated like a wild animal, while Javert is praised for his constant bootlicking subservience in the patronizing way you'd praise an obedient dog. I don't know, it's interesting to see these reviews recreating the same bigotry Hugo comments on in the novel. Reviewers make insulting bigoted comments about Valjean, and then praise Javert for how obedient/subservient he is and how he shows the Correct way for a lower-class inspector to behave, without any shred of self-awareness.

#les mis #valjean javert parallels #valjean/javert parallels #i will fight every reviewer who says negative things about valjean #hes just an unbearably sad beast. leave him alone #he's sad enough #hes just a devastated little man

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peaky-shelby · 1 year

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New Romantics | Mbappé x OC

baby we're the new romantics. Come on, come along with me. Heartbreak is a national anthem. We sing it proudly.

» summary: in which an arrogant and talented football player (the best of his time as some say) and a focused and harsh critic of a journalist are gonna have to find a way to co-exist.

» Prologue

» writer's note: posting this as a first taste before the first chapter which will hopefully come soon as well. If you'd like to follow the story please comment so i can know if people are actually interested before i start writing.

Taglist: @mywhimsyjournal @mrs-bellingham

“Everyone is cheering for the young man everywhere he goes, comparing him with Ronaldo and sometimes, his teammate Messi but ones the true Messi is out of the picture, Mbappe seems unable, in the least, to keep the fort down– what in the actual fuck- J'emmerde cet article stupide. Putain de merde.”

“Oi! Oi! Tranquilles!” Hakimi neared him, holding up his hand as a sign of good faith and took the article from his hands. He started reading it himself while Kylian paced around the room in anger.

“It’s not the first time this man has attacked me-” he started “he always has an opinion and never seems to be satisfied with anything-”

“He’s written things about me and Leo as well. I recognize the name. Don’t take it personally it’s just an angry journalist, there are a lot of those-“

“An angry journalist with views and reads. It’s like fucking gossip girl for football and why is it always about me-”

“You’ve watched gossip girl?” asked Hakimi raising his eyebrows. Kylian paused at his question, like he had confessed to a crime or something.

“My girlfriend used to- why do I have to explain this?” Hakimi shrugged, waving away his previous question. Although Kylian was certain that he would probably bring it up again at some point. “Can we please get back on the real issue?”

“Which is?”

“a fucking random guy who has probably never even touched a football in his life. Who the hell even is he-” Kylian snatched pack the article, searching for the name of the author. “JW” he read “is that even a real name”

“Ok!” Hakimi grabbed back the article, throwing it on the nearest table “I think you need a break.” He pulled him by the hand to drag him out on the training field.

“Im telling you it’s not a real name-”

“No, I bet it’s not. Let’s go.”

Kylian was grumpy for the rest of the training. Kicking the balls and imagining it was JW, running as fast as he could around the field to take out his anger and tackling even his teammates. When he was over, he sat on the bench in the changing rooms, a towel around his waist and nothing to cover his broad chest. He was holding the article in his hands, reading it again and again. His phone next to him was buzzing with messages and when he opened it his Twitter feed was spammed with the same article. J.W. didn’t have any of his personal information on his website or his socials. Following no one, liking nothing, there was nothing to connect him to an actual person but there were theories about him being a girl. Kylian laughed when he read one of them, it actually brightened his mood, like any girl was bold enough to write such harsh and-as much as he hated to admit it- on point reviews for football players and especially him, who was every girl’s favorite according to… well himself. No, that was just an asshole that was jealous of him. An asshole that probably couldn’t play football or get any of the girls he liked, so he had his fun ruining others. “Typical” he mumbled and shut off his phone but not before typing back a quick respond under his latest tweet “get a life”.

Taylor JW's House / London — Night

“Oh no he didn’t!” Taylor’s mouth dropped when she saw his tweet. She got up from the couch, stumbling on the blankets she was covered with and falling on the ground.

“Oh my god, are you ok?” Yelled Trish while eating her popcorn on the other side of the small living room, leaning forward in her seat to look at Taylor, who was now laying with her face planted on the carpet.

“No!” she said putting strength in her hands to get up, groaning as she did that “no I’m not ok! I’m angry” she sat on her knees, staring at her phone “he’s such a cry baby!”

“Who? Oh god Tay, is it your ex again? Didn’t you block him?” she was still eating her popcorn.

“its not Alex! It’s Mbappé!”

Trish mouth remained closed. Her eyes opening wide. She left the bucket with the popcorn on the couch while getting up to get to her friend, sitting on her knees to look at the screen “the hot one?”

“Oh-” Taylor’s hands dropped and she let out a deep sigh of annoyance, looking at her friend like she was done. Trish shrugged her shoulders and got hold of the phone. She began to laugh, trying hard to keep it in so Taylor smacked her in the stomach, getting her phone back.

“What? I’m sorry! It’s funny!”

“It’s not funny!” she finally got up from the floor, untangling herself from all the blankets, throwing them right and left, one of them falling on Trish’s head. “He doesn’t even know me.” She walked over to her computer was, opening it quickly.

“I mean” Trish threw away the blanket she had thrown on her and got up as well “you don’t know him either but you’ve been writing about him every week, judging him-”

“I’m not judging him. I think he’s great! I’m judging the way he plays. Last night he missed 4 chances and ruined 1 because he didn’t want to pass the ball over to Junior-“ Trish had already lost interest but she let her go on for the shake of it “—I’m telling you There’s a difference, and also, it’s my job-”

“It’s not a job, it’s a hobby! Did you even finish that article about the sales, Miranda asked you for?” Taylor looked up from her computer screen slightly. Her eyes betraying her. Trish sighed, shaking her head “you’re unbelievable”

“There was a game last night- I had to watch and write a post. My fans are very demanding.”

“Fans aka creeps on a screen obsessed with football”

“Hey!” she pointed at Trish “I’m one of those creeps”

“Why don’t you just get a job at sports magazine?”

Taylor laughed, while moving the pad to get on her website. There were so many comments on last update about Kylian, it seemed she had really hit a chord. “When you find me one that doesn’t treat women like shit, I will. People find out you’re a woman in this world and suddenly your opinion has no place in their columns. It’s in fact, annoying.”

“So is staying without a job, which is what will happen if you don’t write about those goddamn sales in two hours.”

“It will only take 10 minutes, it’s fine!” she waved it off, hitting press on the new post tab but before her fingers met the keyboard, she got an inbox. She opened it quickly, it was a message from psg, one of their employees. “No shit” she mumbled, barely able to function.

“What now?”

“Galtier wants to speak to me.”

“Who’s that?” Trish walked over to her, a confused look in her face.

“It’s the coach of PSG.”

Trish stood next to her reading the message

“Dear JW.

My name is Julie Blanchet. I work for the PR of Paris-saint German.

The coach of our team, Mr. Galtier, would like to get in contact with you, so I’m tasked to arrange a meeting with you and him in Paris. Please send us an email we can communicate with or a phone. Below you’ll find my personal ID CARD attached so you won’t doubt for the authenticity of this message. Thank you very much.

Have a good day.”

She paused “well send the email what the hell are you waiting for?”

Taylor was frozen. She was thinking of all the possibilities, fearing them even. Her heart sinking.

“What’s wrong with you?”

She looked up at her friend, desperate. “Any time someone has asked to meet me and I go, they minute they see me they think I’m the assistant and they don’t even believe me when I tell them it’s me. Do I really want to fly all the way to Paris just to get that same reaction?”

Trish bit her lip and kneeled down next to her friend, giving het a sympathetic look. “Just prove to them you are better than any man they could have wished for, no matter the hell they give you. I think it’s time for you to stop hiding, chase what you actually love and put your foot down. You’ve been wasting away your time in things you don’t love for years” She smiled “in the words Kylian Mbappé-”

“Don’t- don’t you fucking dare-”

“Get a life!” she finished the sentence and Taylor jumped on her. Play fighting with her on the floor. She was actually considering it, leaving everything behind in London and chasing something new in Paris, maybe. Or just the opportunity of seeing psg playing live, well that was enough to make her quit her day job and do something spontaneous for ones.

PSG TRAINING CAMPUS / PARIS – DAY

“he hasn’t stopped coughing ever since Saturday. You know how many days is that Ky? 5 days- 5 days off listening him cough his lungs out-“ Kylian wasn’t really listening. Not that he didn’t care about Hakimi and his baby, who apparently was sick, but his mind couldn’t focus. He was pulling on the sled drags and slowly coming up. These exercises were usual for him, he did them every day but today was different, he had this heavy feeling on his stomach. He stopped and released himself from the sled drags, nudging his friend.

“Let’s go have a run.” He said quickly and was already sprinting on the open field. Snatching a ball on his way there and throwing it back on the grass, kicking it. He did a few tricks, kicking it up in there and then pushing it with his head on his friend who stepped on it and kicked it back to him.

“You ok bro?” he asked, while they exchanged passes at each other.

“Sure. I may had overreacted with the JW thing.”

Hakimi laughed “No kidding.”

“I don’t know. There’s something awfully annoying about him-“

“GUYS!” Neymar Jr. ran about to them, out of breath like he had been running from the other side of the stadium. Kylian noticed he had a weird look on his face and ducked down to get the ball while Hakimi was approaching him “I went to see Linda, you know, new secretary, upstairs. Looks very pretty today by the way-“

“To the point Junior!”

Neymar took in a few more breaths, pointing up at the offices of Galtier. “JW is here. You know, football writer, he has a website-“

“Yeah we’ve heard of him- Kylian where are you going? Kylian-“

Hakimi rushed behind his friend, who was walking very fast down the hallways. Kylian heard him yelling but he wasn’t going to stop, he wanted to meet that fool even if it got him in trouble with Galtier, see if he had the balls to say all that he was writing on his face. He brushed passed a few people who called his name until he reached the upper floor where the offices were. Linda, stood up when she saw him and walked towards him to stop him- “Mr. Galtier is in a meeting-“ The moment she said that the door opened, Galtier coming out first, Kylian moved closer to him, angry. Hakimi had just reached him, to hold him back.

“Is it true? is that fucking fool here. Where is he? Scared to come out-“ he went quiet quickly when he saw a girl coming out, no older than 25 years old. Brunette hair, hazel eyes. Holding a pile of folders in her hands. She looked small next to Galtier, she looked nervous. Kylian laughed, rubbing his face “He couldn’t even come here himself? He had to send his assistant? Who the hell are you-“

Galtier went to speak “She’s actually-“ but the small girl raised her hand to stop him, faking a smile.

“I’m Taylor. Jo’s assistant.” She answered, reaching her hand out for Kylian to shake. Kylian looked at her hand suspiciously before accepting the offer.

“Your boss is a coward, isn’t he?”

She laughed, taking back her hand. “Is there a message you want me to give him Mr. Mbappe. Except of course the one you already sent him yourself.”

Kylian backed off, placing his hands on his hips “Tell him he should keep his nose out of things he doesn’t have the knowledge on. And he was unfair for Friday’s game-“

“So you didn’t actually avoid passing the ball to Number 10 who was unmarked across from you because the defenders were occupied with the golden child, that’s you by the way, and instead chose to go with an impossible kick for the net which of course resulted to you missing a golden chance.” She spoke so quickly he could hardly follow her rhythm. She gave him a smile at the end, like she knew she had already won the argument.

Hakimi got close to him, putting his hand over his mouth and whispering repeatedly “abort, abort, abort.” Kylian had to slap him on the chest for him to stop and getaway.

“My boss writes what he sees. If you don’t like what he writes, you have to change what he sees.”

“Yes, of course!” said Galtier, in an attempt to cut the tension. Kylian was staring at Taylor like he was going to attack her any time now. “Your presence here, I’m sure will help with that.”

“Her presence?” Kylian raised his eyebrows, he could feel his anger raising as he realized what the situation he walked in on actually was.

“Yes, Miss-“

“Taylor” completed the girl, like Galtier was gonna go ahead and say something different.

“Taylor, yes. She’s here to journal your trainings and your games.”

“In what capacity?” Asked Kylian narrowing his eyes. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well she’s-“

“My boss wants a better look at the team of the guy that insulted him on social media. Maybe he really was wrong. But before he gets here to apologize, we wanna make sure he won’t be wasting his time.”

“Waste—” he laughed “wasting his time? Are you boys listening to this?”

“On top of that. He is writing a special article on the website. A month with Paris Saint-Germain.” Galtier explained. Giving him the true reason of her arrival.

“Yes, of course, there’s that too.”

Kylian could understand just be her look that she only said the first part to piss him off and in all honesty she had succeeded. He walked closer to the girl, looking down at her. “He shouldn’t have sent a poor girl like you down here to clean his mess.”

“You’ll find I’m not easily intimidated sir.” She shot back “But very easily provoked.” Kylian let out another bitter laugh. He backed away, if it was a man standing across him this conversation would go a completely different way but it was just a girl. So he turned his back on her, leaving. Deep down knowing nothing about her being here would be easy and this next month would be the worst.

Next chapter: Young, bored & dumb

Not gonna lie I'm crazy excited to start this series if this post does well. Raise your hands if you'll be reading and please please please always comment so i know what you think and if you're following the story. It helps keep the motivation to keep writing hehe.

#kylian mbappe #mbappe imagines #mbappé #mbappe x reader #mbappe #mbappe imagine #mbappe one shot #neymar one shot #neymar imagines #neymar x oc #neymar x reader #football writing #football imagine #Spotify

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thehighfiveproject · 1 year

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Friends, time to get your high fives out of the crisper drawer.

Here's your card for this edition of the bingo. Remember, zero need to sign up, but if you want to share it with us so we can reblog and share the love, make sure to @ us by Monday, May 1.

Remember this, too: you don't have to complete the card! Any number of these things you can do will be a great high-five to whatever creator you want to shout-out or encourage. Just make sure you provide a link to whatever you're high-fiving about. (Except for 'message a creator', although if you want to brag about the cool person you messaged feel free to link to their work!)

Below the cut you'll find the usual list of definitions for each square in case you need any help or ideas, along with a black & white version of the card if you want to get creative and make it your own.

Here’s the way we’re defining the activities associated with each card. If any of this is confusing after you read it over, send us a message and we’ll help!

- ‘leave kudos on a fic’

This is the easiest one! Just go out and find a fic you like and leave a kudos on it, if you haven’t already. It’s a small gesture but it makes an author know that someone actually read their story!

- ‘reblog/retweet an art post’

Find any art post you like and share it! Here’s the catch: you need to interact with it a little. When you reblog/retweet, please tell the creator what you thought about the piece – you can add some tags, or reply to the post, or quote-retweet or add a comment, or anything! A simple “I love this!” is nice but some details are even better (“your linework is so good!” or “that shade of blue is perfect”). One thing to think about: a lot of art on Tumblr is reposted (like when a user posts another artist’s work from Pixiv, say), so it’s nice if you make an effort to interact with posts that are actually from the creator if you can. That way the artist will see your comment!

- ‘reblog/retweet a fic post’

Same as the above, but for fic! Again, tags/replies/comments are needed, preferably with a little detail. You don’t need to be super eloquent or leave a detailed review (although if you have time/energy, that would be appreciated!); a tag as simple as “that was really cute” or “great characterization!” will do. Like with the art posts, it’s nice if you reblog directly from the writer (if you can) – some fics are posted by AO3 feed bots and the like, so the author may not even know a reblog has happened.

- ‘reblog/retweet an edit’

Same as the above, but for edits! Edits can include a gif set, or a set of screencaps, or even a fanvid. And, again, some simple tags/replies are needed. “I love that song choice!” for a vid or “great coloring!” on a gifset can let people know their work is being appreciated.

- ‘comment on a fic’

Find a fic, on any fic-hosting site you like, and leave a comment. That’s it! Again, no need to leave a novel-length comment (unless you’re inspired!) – a sentence or two is all we’re asking for this square to be considered complete. This is a great opportunity to let a writer know how their piece made you feel, or what section you particularly liked.

- ‘message a creator’

‘Creator’ here can mean anyone who makes *anything* to do with fandom: art, edits, fic, meta, knitted sweaters with character faces on them – if they’ve made anything, they’re a creator, and now’s your chance to let them know they’re appreciated. Send a message (anonymous or not!) letting them know that you enjoyed their work!

- ‘make a rec post’

This is a chance to tell your fandom friends about something they need to see. You can rec a fic, a blog, a fan event, an artist, an author, that person who knits sweaters with character faces – any kind of fandom thing that you want to make sure people see. This doesn’t have to be long or complicated, but feel free to go into as much detail as you want! Just make your own post, on Tumblr or Twitter or wherever else seems best to you, and give that thing you loved a little fanfare.

- ‘interact with a meta post’

A little love for our analytical friends! Here, you can reblog/retweet any kind of meta post for your fandom, whether it’s a three sentence headcanon or an essay-length dissection of why Character X is the absolute best character in Fandom Y. It’s even better if you respond to the meta, whether that’s agreeing or (respectfully!) adding your own thoughts, but sharing it is the main thing here.

And here’s the non-decorated version, in case you feel like making it your own. Get creative, if you want!

#admin #card template #fandom boost bingo

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girlfriendsofthegalaxy · 4 months

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tuesdaypost year in review

this year brought to you by viewers like you. thank you! i still do not know how to thank everyone for their incredible generosity during the Late July/Early August Moving Catastrophe Badtimes and im still feelin some kinda way about it. thank you.

took eight weeks completely off, more than any other year so far

overnight traveled for work for the first time

moved cross country with Mack to face dangers untold and hardships unnumbered

bought an actual for-real couch and not a futon

got Phil

(unrelated to Phil) i got spayed after almost ten years of begging and pleading various medical professionals, (also unrelated) got covid and RSV back to back

listening

fallow weeks: 8. i almost always have a tuesdaysong bc i am almost always listening to something. all of the tuesdaysongs are here:

particular favorites were Peel Me A Grape (Anita O’Day), top spotify song of the year Yeah Yeah Yeah (Blood Orchid), Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Wolf remixed by Sextile, Father Finlee (Spence Hood), A Minha Menina (Os Mutantes).

the very last tuesdaysong of the year is Sugar Rum Cherry by Duke Ellington, one of the few christmas songs i tolerate.

special shoutout to the austin underscore walker universe of podcasts, bc i mainlined A More Civilized Age (clone wars/star wars rewatch) while packing, and devoured P/alisade (the newest scifi season of F/riends at the Table) this month.

reading

fallow weeks: 11. pleased that i am killing the invisible rules in my head and including more articles instead of feeling guilty about Not Reading A Real Book!!! every week when i sit down to write the tuesdaypost. read a fuckton earlier this year bc i was procrastinating moving prep, have not read much since i moved.

article sources:

inoreader (the best free RSS feed/app imo)

The Markup (gold standard usage of data to show how various technologies are being used to harm the public good: you may have heard of the recent American bills to equalize internet service and fix organ donation grift. that was them)

Web 3 Is Going Just Great (crypto disasters)

404 Media (technology reporting, internet culture, also break a lot of data/legal/privacy scandals)

Remap (formerly Vice's video games division Waypoint, more active on podcasts and twitch but do have great personal essays about gaming longreads)

Retraction Watch (an important academic service but platformed a particularly virulent transphobe and let the comments devolve into a free for all. yes im still mad about this)

Krebs on Security (~once a month extremely long and thoughtful infosec writeups)

Data Colada (cover academic data whoopsies, currently being sued for their journalism)

the two authors i spent the most time with this year were Alexis Hall (romance novels and novellas) and Raymond Chandler's noir detective novels. i read 90% of Raymond Chandler's work in march and went insane about yet another sad bisexual man. Philip Marlowe the cat is named after his pet detective, the human Philip Marlowe.

march was kind of a banger for this category bc in one of what i consider the best tuesdayposts this year, i tried to break down why i fucking hated Frank Miller's Sin City comics so much.

other comics, but ones i loved: Spy X Family, Berserk, weird noir DC miniseries The Human Target.

watching

fallow weeks: 10

notable stuff i watched for the first time (according to letterboxd) that will stick in my head for a bit. some (The Night of the Hunter) i am so glad i watched once but do not feel the need to revist. some (Slipstream) fascinate me with how good they could have been. some (Twilight. all of them) were fun bc of the people i watched them with. the two i went particularly deranged over are The Big Sleep and Day of Anger. still feel very normal about them.

very heavy on crime and courtroom films this year!

television: very excited for s2 of Blue Eye Samurai, Interview With The Vampire, Spy X Family.

youtube

i should loop back and finish Black Lagoon, Adventure Time (completely forgot i rewatched most of that this spring), and The Big O. that last one is throwing me a little bc (since i last checked) there is no freely available version with subtitles (i cannot find subtitles Period) and i'll be damned if i have to import a dvd. i can find the dub with subtitles but! i want to hear spike spiegel as mecha-batman :(

sort of lukewarm eh-i'll-get-around-to-it about s/tar wars shows. i have not watched a/hsoka At All or wrapped up the animated Resistance show. i'll pay attention when ando/r is airing again.

playing

fallow weeks: 10. way fewer than i would have guessed!

the trouble with this category is that it is exceptionally hard to find new good games (either ones i already own or ones that are free). it is almost completely prohibitively exhausting to trawl through the free category on steam. there's simply a lot of cruft out there. a very good thing (but also incredibly timeconsuming thing) i started this year was throwing games into various folders so the eight bajillion libraries i have are less overwhelming. i can safely ignore 80% of my epic games library, for example. the itch.io library is a whole separate weekend project i think.

got back into genshin for good or for ill, which took up most of the back half of the year.

youtube

go play ABZU. i am no longer asking.

i would like to go back and finish the RPG Gamedec, un-softblock myself in the RPG Weird West, and finish the visual novel Dead Man's Rest. i think i stalled out in Call of Juarez: Gunslinger bc there was a mexican standoff that my reflexes are simply not fast enough for/too much to pay attention to. i am excited to pick up that spooky fishing simulator DREDGE when i have fun money again.

completely forgot i spent most of jan/feb/march being annoyed at fallou/t 4 but having some fun in Far Harbor, also forgot i spent an entire month playing through Wolfenstein: The New Order but i am not compelled to play through it again. it was fun! but like many games after one playthrough my time with it is done!

making

fallow weeks: 17 (unsurprising, pretty low energy year as a whole as i recovered from covid rounds 1 and 2 and the frankly insane stress of moving).

wrote exactly one fic: some matters at the heart of cowboy western snap shirts: why they are so and some of the implications of their being so, i would like to write more next year but i don't really have the brainpower. i hope this changes soon.

the baby blanket i started last year is still not done but the baby is still under a year so i have a very narrow window of time.

dyed some couch covers im still very pleased with

wrote an extremely long but very well received gallery wall guide

recipes: 12. sort of shocked by this? i am becoming an incrementally better cook and slowly finding recipes i both like and can successfully execute. found the fortitude to caramelize onions, for example. quick pickled red onions, for another thing. big year for protein or greens on top of beans and rice. faves included: cuban-style pork shoulder, hellofresh peruvian chicken, red lentil soup, white bean/kale/rice bowls

i would like to be less terrified about cooking fish. i would like to eat more fish.

and of course, the biggest project of all, acquired Phil. here is my very favorite photo ive ever taken of a cat

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem

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boomstab-papa · 2 months

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Tae's guide to Pillowfort

So you fucking hate what tumblr is doing, you're fed up, but you don't know where else to go / what to do when you get there

Here's a guide what I've been up to over on Pillowfort:

For starters, new users need to either get an invite code (message me if you want one, because I literally always have some!) or donate to Pillowfort's operating costs to get started. I recommend getting a code first, and then donating later if you decide you like Pillowfort.

Recognize that Pillowfort has no ads and does not sell user data, so you are not the product. You are the customer. Pillowfort lives because users give their money to the webisite directly, just like how ArchiveOfOurOwn.org operates. If you give Pillowfort a try... and you want to see it keep growing... and you have a couple bucks to throw their way... please consider donating!

On your new account, you'll set up your blog. User icon, description, settings, etc. You get one blog per account. Consider making this your "everything" blog, where you make your original posts AND reblog things.

Consider making a Community that will serve the same purpose as a tumblr sideblog. For example, I made my main blog ceylon-tae and then made the Community "ceylon-tae-art". Just make the Community for now.

Did you set your NSFW and blacklist preferences? You should. Filters & Blacklist have their own link in the sidebar, so you don't have to go into your Settings every time you want to blacklist something. Easy!

Join some more Communities! Think of joining a [Fandom] Community like following the [Fandom] tag on tumblr. Posts from that Community will show up on your feed now! Here is a list of the currently-most-active communities.

Follow some people! You might have seen some of your comrades on tumblr posting their Pillowfort accounts, or maybe you really liked someone's post in a Community and you decide you'd like to follow them! Go follow them! Their posts will show up on your feed now!

Make a post! Remember to add any relevant tags to the post, especially if your post is NSFW, and don't cen/s0r your tags. Your post will now show up on your blog, and you can control who can see it, reblog it, or comment to it. You can make text, image, video, or link posts.

Now you can reblog that post you made to your Community that you made! Or to another Community someone else made! Some Communities review submitted reblogs before posting them, others do not. Remember to add the relevant tags to your reblog here as well.

Reblog posts you enjoyed, so you can show it to your followers!

If you have something to say about the post, Pillowfort has a nested comments section! Livejournal / Dreamwidth / Reddit users will find this familiar. Newbies will hopefully find it easy to learn: make your own comment, reply to the comments other people have made, talk to people in a space that's made for talking and replying.

You can make your own hush-hush commentary in your tags when you reblog a post to your blog, but these tags are not visible anywhere else. So Pillowfort is not gonna rat you out to OP when you make weird tags on your reblog. But also there is no bulit-in way to read everyone's tags in one long list.

You cannot make addendums to posts when you reblog them. If you want to add something, make a comment! Or make your own post and include link to the original post.

Seriously. Comments section. Good stuff. If you enjoy a post, check out its comment section. For comparison, tumblr discussions lived in reblogs, but comments on AO3 fics are what makes an author's world go 'round. Comments are where discussion lives on Pillowfort. So comment on the post if you have something to say! You can have real discussions again! GO. BE FREE. You can also do a Kung Pow Penis in nested comments if you want to. Nested comments are good.

Likes just tell OP you liked the post. That's it. It's just like how kudos works on AO3.

Remember, there's no algorithm, so Likes don't boost any post's visibility, and if you want other people to see a post, you reblog it. If you want to see posts, you follow people and communities, or you dive into the tags for yourself.

There's more details and things to know, but I think these are some good basics for "how the fuck do I even get started"

More how-to-pillowfort guides: https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/3459763 by DoktorHobo https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/4099124 by rah https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/4404622 by killerandhealerqueen

In summary:

Make a blog. Make posts. Make a niche-interest Community or three. Follow people and Communities. Reblog other people's posts to your blog. Reblog posts to your niche-interest Communities. Make comments. Reply to comments. Love the comments. The comments are a fertile land and we will thrive. And we will call it... Pillowfort!

#pillowfort #talking #still figuring out cohost but i do like what people post there too

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uglygreenjacket · 2 years

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I’ve recently started writing in multiple fandoms, and it’s been so interesting to see how they choose to interact on different platforms, but especially on ao3.

One is huge and leaves tons of kudos but very few comments. One is tiny and leaves both. Two of them are extremely quiet except for those individuals that I have known for some time.

So, which motivates me the most as a writer? The comments. THE COMMENTS.

The smallest fandom I write for has some of the most enthusiastic and veracious commenters. I’m an unknown there. No one knows me like they do in my main, but they still leave tons of comments and it absolutely feeds me in the most rewarding of ways.

I’ve always been a slow writer, but in the last three weeks I’ve written some fifteen thousand words, and I was motivated to do so because of comments.

Comments can be transformative.

Even if you can only take the time to say, ‘I loved this, can’t wait for more!’ it means something. It means a lot.

I met my best friend because I left a comment. I have cried the happiest tears because of comments. I keep writing because of comments. Comments mean a discussion about something I love, something I created. It’s the very heart of what fandom is about.

So, read and kudos and comment and review. At the very least, you’ll make an author’s day.

#on writing #fanfic writing #ao3 #comments #on fanfiction #fanfiction #fan fic #writing

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vianwrites · 1 month

Note

Sometimes commenting feels like talking to a wall

I guess it depend on the author? Like, I personally try my hardest to respond to all the comments I received to the point where I would even ask someone to translate a language for me if they comment using one I am not well-versed in. If the comment was even well-written out and/or had something to it that made me feel happy or had an interesting take to my story they theorized about, I would even go so far as to send them a drawing of the scene they said they like and stuff like that. The only time I had to stop doing this was when I went on a hiatus after my aunt died of cancer.

#fanfiction #fanficwriting #fanfic #fanfic writing #ao3 #ao3 author #ao3 writer #ao3 community #fanfic comments #reviews and comments feed the author #ao3 comments

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write143 · 7 months

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✨Reading Master List

Here's a masterlist of what I have read and/or am reading on AO3! Currently everything I'm reading is primarily SKZ fics (some have referenced TxT or ATEEZ and it's cute) but I'm generally just reading to read and learn what people are writing/passionate about. It's honestly enlightening, in a good way (most times). Reviews are below the cut. ♥

my ao3: think143 🔖 - unfinished work 📗 - completed work 📖 - currently reading/tracking

My Favorite (Finished) Fics

(In order of completion, not best/worst or anything like that)

hands-on learning 💖 (E) 25.2k Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho Notable Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Porn with Feelings, Friends to Lovers My Notes: I thought I would have more to say about this one but it's just really really good. A nice quick nighttime read before bed. There's just something about the ones with "feelings revelation" that make me sooooo happy. And yes, all of the smut is *chef's kiss*.

MFA (Most Fuckable Ass) 💖 (E) 53.2k Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho Notable Tags: Teacher-Student Relationship, Professor Lee Minho, Student Han Jisung, Slow Burn, Daddy Kink My Notes: I burned through this fic in an evening and I am fanning myself like a Southern woman in the heat of summer on her front porch. So incredibly well-written, and I've found a fic author that I'll be following closely for a long time.

don't leave me tongue-tied 💖 (E) 57.5k Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho Notable Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Friends to Lovers, Friends With Benefits, Porn with Feelings, Light Angst, Denial of Feelings, Emotional Slow Burn, Misunderstandings, Fluff My Notes: This was honestly really endearing to read and see actual feelings come to light. Author commented to say that it's based on a manga called "My Quiet Best Friend's Just Tongue-Tied", but without the dub-con elements. Well-written and reads easily; comical when it needs to be!

Haebang 💖 (E) 193.6k Relationship(s): Stray Kids Ensemble/Stray Kids Ensemble Notable Tags: Fluff, Smut, Porn With Plot, Sex Work, Dom/sub Undertones, Daddy Kink, Explicit Consent, Subspace, Porn with Feelings, BDSM, Polyamory, Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Possessive Behavior, Feelings Realization, Safewords My Notes: Okay, hear me out; there is a LOT going on in this fic. A lot. The point of the Haebang retreat is that each member specializes in helping you find liberation with one aspect of sex; be it intimacy, dom/sub, etc, and each chapter follows each member at the start before things start to get a bit more involved. However, any time I try to word why I like this fic so much, I simply cannot. Also Seungmin is a nerd and we love him for it.

instinct 💖 (E) 53.4k Relationship(s): Bang Chan/Reader Notable Tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Alternate Universe - College/University, Light Dom/sub My Notes:This was the first ABO fic I read and it makes every other one I've read after it pale in comparison. I love how the author describes what's going on in the reader's head without over-explaining or spoon feeding it to us. The relationship between Reader and Chan, plus all of the other housemates, is so so so good.

come on home 💖 (E) 206.7k Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho Notable Tags: Angst, Smut, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Violence, Strippers & Strip Clubs, Denial of Feelings, Referenced Homophobia, Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Feelings Realization, POV Alternating, Gangs, Guns, Shitty Exes My Notes: The guns are there for a split second, but this fic is very centered on a incredibly difficult to read domestic abuse situation, and the liberation from said relationship. There's also the orientation realization of another character, but that instills a lot of angst and fear of loss while reading. However, the fic is still incredible, a powerful read, and definitely on the recommended list.

Wannabe Poet 💖 (E) 134.2k Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho Notable Tags: Bad Poems, Bullied Han Jisung, Friends with Benefits, Loss of Virginity, Exhibitionism, Smut, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Sexual Assault. My Notes: I'm all about found family and I feel like this fic really hit the nail on the head for it. I loved the concept of this fic from the beginning. Han texts a bad poem to a random number and makes a friend in Minho. Most of this fic seems centered on Han becoming comfortable with his true self and what he wants, not what his family wants for him. I really love the love that he finds not only in Minho, but in everyone around him. ♥

Five Stars 💔 but 💖 (E) 420.7k Relationship(s): Hwang Hyunjin/Yang Jeongin, Han Jisung/Lee Minho, Lee Felix/Seo Changbin, Bang Chan/Lee Minho Notable Tags: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH, GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENCE, DEAD DOVE: DO NOT EAT, Cannibalism, Dismemberment, Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Emotional Manipulation, Some Fluff, Explicit Sexual Content, Animal Abuse, Animal Death, Grooming, Murder, Mutual Pining, Minor Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Implied/Referenced Suicide My Notes: I have to stress so so so so much that the writing on this fic is one of the best I've ever read. HOWEVER, it's also one of the most fucked up pieces of fiction I've ever read. Mental health issues are at the center of this bloody, sexy, kinky fic. It would truly be a horror movie if it were put onto screen. Please please please make sure to read ALL OF THE TAGS on this fic before deciding whether to read it or not. I had to take frequent breaks but it was difficult to make myself look away because I wanted to know what the hell was going on. I have never screamed so much at a fic before in my life. I cried at least six times and four of those were in the last 50k words.

Heart Song 💖 (E) 63.1k Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho, Bang Chan/Lee Felix, Hwang Hyunjin/Seo Changbin, Kim Seungmin/Yang Jeongin Notable Tags: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst with a Happy Ending, Physical Disability My Notes: I just...I cried so much during this fic. In this universe, soulmates are identified by a dream that people have on the night of their 16th birthday. They dream about a significant memory from their soulmate's life, and when they awaken, their soulmate's first impression appears on their body written in their handwriting. The only problem is that...Han Jisung is blind, so he has never seen anything. Lee Minho leads his whole life thinking that he doesn't have a soulmate, because he saw nothing in his dream. I LOVE the author's storytelling style, the way they use angst in believable ways, and the way that they bring the characters together.

Speak With Your Eyes 💖 (E) 164k Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho Notable Tags: Alternate Universe - Space, Hybrids, Androids, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Space Corps, Miscommunication, Slow Burn, ONLY ONE BED, Found Family, Smut My Notes: A ROMANCE IN SPACE?! Lee Know is an android hybrid, and unfortunately this universe has a lot of not very nice things that are in place regarding people who are not fully human. Lee Know saves Han's life, then Han saves Lee Know's life, then Lee Know saves Han's life again...you get the picture. It's incredibly well-written, a lovely drop into a different setting than I'm used to, and devourable in a day. Will be following this author for a while!

so sweet like chocolate 💖 (T) 71.7k Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho Notable Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Fluff My Notes: I cannot stop gushing about this fic. The mutual pining is written incredibly addictingly and just aaaagh! Lee Know is a librarian, Jisung is a student who has never visited the library before, Jisung may have accidently thrown a pencil at Lee Know...it all becomes very fluffy at just the right pace. I read this so quickly and when it was over, and the author's note popped up saying "and that's the end!" I had to check the % progress on my kindle. I would devour any further stories written about this story, but I am also okay with how it ended, and imagining what happens next.

To Be Read/Reading List

Leap of Faith 📖🔖 (M) Relationship(s): Stray Kids Ensemble/Reader

Dream Drabbles 📖🔖 (E) Relationship(s): Each chapter is a one-shot with member/reader

Kerosene 📖🔖 (E) Relationship(s): Bang Chan/Reader

Charmer 📖🔖 (E) Relationship(s): Stray Kids Ensemble/Reader

Quaver and Storm 📖🔖 (E) Notable Tags: SKZ Member/Reader, Dom/Sub, Fluff, Smut, Polyamory, Non-con elements

In Too Deep 📖🔖 (M) Relationship(s): SKZ Member/Reader

The Stray Kids Gang 📖🔖 (E) Relationship(s): Stray Kids Ensemble/Stray Kids Ensemble

We'll Be Alright 📖🔖 (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Minho

Everything you Crave 📖🔖 (E) Relationship(s): Stray Kids Ensemble/Reader

The Force that Drives the Flower 📖🔖 (E) Relationship(s): Lee Felix/Lee Minho

I like the view right now 📖🔖(E) Relationship(s): Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Felix

Connected 📖🔖 (E) Relationship(s): Stray Kids Ensemble/Original Female Character

Animals Without Direction 📖🔖 (E) Relationship(s): Stray Kids Ensemble/Reader

A Crack in the Glass 📖🔖(E) Relationship(s): Stray Kids Ensemble/Reader

Stray Gods 🔖 (E) Relationship(s): Stray Kids Ensemble/Reader, Stray Kids Ensemble/Stray Kids Ensemble

A Glitch 📗 (M) Relationship(s): Lee Felix/Seo Changbin

It's In My Blood 📗 (M) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

Everything's Prettier Underwater 📗 (G) Relationship(s): Kim Seungmin/Everyone

The Curse of Saturdays 📗 (T) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

opposites attract 📗 (E) Relationship(s): Bang Chan/Lee Minho

reach out and touch 📗 (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

chances taken 📗 (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

bl (backwards love) 📗 (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

Let Your Love Walk In 📗 (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

bury me at make out creek 📗 (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

LMCat_98 has joined the chat 📗 (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

always on my mind 📗 (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

We Run This Jungle 📗 (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

The Royal Pack 📗 (M) Relationship(s): Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Felix, Bang Chan/Lee Felix, SKZ Ensemble/SKZ Ensemble

i need you now, but i don't know you yet 📗 (M) Relationship(s): SKZ Ensemble/SKZ Ensemble

Sin 📗 (E) Relationship(s): Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Felix

Sick thoughts 📗 (E) Relationship(s): Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Felix

he ain't heavy, he's ours 📗 (M) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/SKZ Ensemble

Other Fics I've Finished Reading

Most recent finishes at the top!

fool me once (kiss me twice) (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

When the Morning Comes (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

Gravity (M) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

on my lips (your laughter is the sweetest) (G) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

to build a legacy (E) Relationship(s):Lee Felix/Everyone

Love In The Time Of Corporate Korea (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

Did You Get Enough Love, My Little Dove? (NR) Relationship(s): Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Felix

use me for a feeling (or a good time) (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Know

Bruised Elegance (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

don't put off till tomorrow (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

worth the drive (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

lyrics of an improvised love song (T) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

florescence (can i be close to you?) (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

can you kiss me more? (E) Relationship(s): Kim Seungmin/Lee Minho

Five-Point Star (E) Relationship(s): Bang Chan/Reader

all in (to you) (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

For the Wolf (E) Relationship(s): Bang Chan/Lee Felix

Stars and Teardrops (E) Relationship(s): Lee Felix/Seo Changbin

After Us (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

How to Trust Again (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Felix, Han Jisung/Hwang Hyunjin, Han Jisung/Lee Minho, Implied Everyone/Everyone

Vanilla Scented Oranges (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Everyone

Faithfully Yours (E) Relationship(s): Bang Chan/Lee Felix

Secret Secret (E) Relationship(s): Bang Chan/Lee Minho, Han Jisung/Lee Minho

Rooted in Pain (M) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

Darling, let me teach you a lesson. (E) Relationship(s):Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Felix

misery loves company (E) Relationship(s): Kim Seungmin/Yang Jeongin, Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin

Verbatim (T) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

Cheesecake, Sugar Daddies & Other Sweet Things (M) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho, Lee Felix/Seo Changbin

Yours From the Start (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

Scent of You (E) Relationship(s): Bang Chan/Reader, Seo Changbin/Reader

Desire (E) Relationship(s): Bang Chan/Reader, Seo Changbin/Reader

Hidden Identity (E) Relationship(s): Bang Chan/Everyone

Close Your Eyes (...And Count to Seven) (E) Relationship(s): Stray Kids Ensemble/Reader, Seo Changbin/Reader

Limbo (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

Devilish (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

Can I Make a Suggestion? (E) Relationship(s): Bang Chan/Reader

In Winter, Dreaming of Spring (E) Relationship(s): Bang Chan/Lee Minho

Phobia (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

mouth to mouth (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

jumping off in the ocean (T) Relationship(s): Bang Chan/Reader

In Need of Sunshine (E) Relationship(s): Lee Felix/Hwang Hyunjin

Lighthouse and North Star (E) Relationship(s): Lee Felix/Bang Chan

Primordial (T) Relationship(s): Stray Kids Ensemble/Stray Kids Ensemble, Stray Kids Ensemble/Reader

secret secret (E) Relationship(s): Stray Kids Ensemble/Reader

Tangled (E) Relationship(s): Stray Kids Ensemble/Reader

Catch me, if you can (E) Relationship(s): Hwang Hyunjin/Lee Felix

Stray Hybrids (T) Relationship(s): Stray Kids Ensemble/Reader, Stray Kids Ensemble/Stray Kids Ensemble

Bark on Bark, Petal Strands (E) Relationship(s): Bang Chan/Lee Minho, Bang Chan/Everyone

Business Attire (E) Relationship(s): Bang Chan (Stray Kids)/Reader

mouth to mouth (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

shotgunning (E) Relationship(s): Han Jisung/Lee Minho

#reading masterlist #fic recs #fanfic rec #fic rec #fanfiction #stray kids fanfic #ao3 fanfic #fanfic

40 notes · View notes

theoldlesbianwithcats · 1 month

Note

goodreads. com/ review/show/6367238737

just saw this review on my goodreads feed (remove spaces in the link)..... im starting to hate bisexual women so much. why would you write a book about lesbians and pose as an expert, you're not a lesbian? i looked up the book out of curiosity....she really talks about how she was a girly girl who kissed boys as a teenager and had crushes on them in the first chapter and how she didnt think she could be a lesbian because she soooo feminine and loved make up and heels.

these women are so fucking selfish. and its so impossible to escape them.

Hi anon! :)

(Here's what anon's linking to.)

This kind of book is becoming so frequent that, before clicking, I thought I knew which book you were talking about aaaaaaand nope, that's another one! In my case, I was thinking of the book "Comment devenir lesbienne en dix leçons" (How to become a lesbian in ten lessons) where the author says this in the first chapter:

There was no irresistible whirlwind. There was no revelation or evidence. I didn't wake up one morning and say to myself: now I'm sure, I love women and that's all I love. I didn't even have a retrospective predestination - as a child, nothing pushed me towards other girls, and even less towards "boyish" activities, contrary to the sexist cliché that would have every lesbian be a former "tomboy". I enthusiastically played the "girly girl" and lived in heterosexuality for a long time, in a certain comfort. I spent almost five years with a cishet man and, although a post-mortem on the dead man will always reveal the plague and cholera, I think it's fair to say that it was a lovely love story, as lovely as they come when they're heterosexual. Nobody forced me, at least not literally, to fuck guys. If anyone had asked me at the time, I would have said I was quite happy as I was. I'm not talking about a bygone era. I still had a lover a few years ago - a cis guy - and I found pleasure in his company, whether it was having sex, chatting or sleepily watching movies. And yet, today, I've become a dyke.

Every single "lesbian guide" that was published in recent years (or is about to be published) in French is by stupid fakebians/polilez who usually have been with men longer that they have been with women and have the gall to say in their books that gold stars are not an authority on lesbianism.

To me, fakebians are a great illustration of the Dunning-Kruger effect (cognitive bias where incompetent people vastly overestimate their knowledge/skills, while experts can underestimate themselves). They're really similar to TiMs in that aspect, TiMs think they know better than us what womanhood is and that we have a "simplistic, normative, close-minded" (= sex-based) approach of it ; fakebians think they know better than us what lesbianism is and that we have a "simplistic, normative, close-minded" (= innate, natural, stable, sex-based) approach of it. Reality doesn't fit their delusions, so that can only mean that reality is wrong 🤡

That's why I encourage every single gold star to speak up about your experiences, you literally cannot be worse representation than this, you can't say anything stupider than what we have right now!

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barbarian15 · 10 months

Text

Nigel Farage’s bank accounts were closed down after Coutts decided that his views “do not align with our values”, documents obtained by the former Ukip leader show.

A reputational risk committee “exited” Mr Farage after considering a dossier detailing his comments about Brexit, his friendship with Donald Trump and his views on LGBT rights among many reasons he was not “compatible with Coutts”.

The background briefing paper even made reference to Mr Farage’s friendship with Novak Djokovic, the former Wimbledon champion, as evidence that he was not as “inclusive” as the bank.

In the trophy room with Novak's brother Djordje. pic.twitter.com/DjgD4ItdMz

— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) January 9, 2022

Earlier this month, the BBC and the Financial Times reported claims that the reason Mr Farage’s accounts were closed was that they fell below the financial threshold required by the bank. The BBC quoted sources “familiar with” the Coutts decision.

Yet in the 40 pages of documents released to Mr Farage after he made a subject access request to Coutts, the bank repeatedly says he “meets the EC [economic contribution] criteria for commercial retention”.

Writing for The Telegraph, Mr Farage accuses the private bank of “lying” about the real reason he was cut off, saying the documents show that the decision was politically driven.

He describes the file as a “Stasi-style surveillance report” and notes that the word Brexit appears in the report 86 times – which, he says, “perhaps tells us all we need to know”.

“Between 2014 and 2016, when I first banked with Coutts, no problems ever arose. After Brexit became a reality, everything changed,” he writes.

Minutes of a meeting of Coutts’ wealth reputational risk committee held on Nov 17 2022 state: “The committee did not think continuing to bank NF was compatible with Coutts given his publicly-stated views that were at odds with our position as an inclusive organisation.

“This was not a political decision but one centred around inclusivity and purpose.”

Mr Farage has said Coutts told him he was not being treated as a Politically Exposed Person (PEP) – a legal term for customers who are deemed risky for political reasons – but the dossier specifically states that he is one.

He writes: “Whoever at Coutts thought it clever to feed friendly media outlets outright lies about me sorely misjudged the situation.”

The document contains 39 mentions of Mr Trump, and Mr Farage says: “The fact that I support Donald Trump is part of this charge sheet.”

mentioned 86 times, “Russia” 144 & “PEP” 10.

Support for Trump + views on immigration, net zero & the vaccine are listed as reasons to exit me.

They say my account is commercially viable! pic.twitter.com/QjPCuUetu3

— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) July 18, 2023

Speaking on Mr Farage’s GB News show, Lord Lamont, a former chancellor, said: “I was appalled when I looked at the documents.

“It seems to me a right to have a bank account is a fundamental right... but it appears that the executives of the bank were going through your views and saying they were not compatible with their values. That is not the function of a bank. It’s extraordinary that a bank should set itself up as some judge of political correctness.”

Some senior Tory MPs have called for a change in the law on PEPs to prevent abuse of the system. Under UK financial law, gatekeepers of the banking system must perform enhanced checks on people classed as PEPs, their families and close associates.

The Treasury has confirmed that it is reviewing whether banks are blacklisting customers with controversial political views. Under the new Financial Services and Markets Act, the Financial Conduct Authority will look at how banks deal with PEPs in a review to take place within the next year.

A spokesman for the Treasury said: “It would be of serious concern if financial services were being denied to anyone exercising their right to lawful free speech.

“We will soon set out plans to crack down on this practice by toughening the rules around account closures, protecting freedom of expression. In the meantime, people can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service which has the power to direct a bank to reopen an account.”

Supporters of Mr Farage have warned that the PEP rules are increasingly being used to turn away any customers whose views the bank might disagree with.

Mr Farage says he is consulting his lawyers to decide what action is appropriate in the light of his treatment by Coutts.

A Coutts spokesman said: “Our ability to respond is restricted by our obligations of client confidentiality. Decisions to close accounts are not taken lightly and take into account a number of factors including commercial viability, reputational considerations and legal and regulatory requirements.”

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princesssterek · 1 year

Text

Anne Rice, Gay Vampires and the Mistreatment of Claudia in Interview with the Vampire

This was my senior thesis so enjoy.

Intro

Anne Rice’s debut novel Interview with the Vampire (1976) was not well received at the time of its publishing. One reviewer for the New York Times, Leo Braudy, even went so far as to say “there is no story here, only a series of sometimes effective but always essentially static tableaus out of Roger Corman films, and some self‐conscious soliloquizing out of Spiderman comics, all wrapped in a ballooning, pompous language” (Braudy 1976). However, it is now widely considered to be one of the best-selling novels of all time, having been made into a film 12 years after its release and maintaining enough popularity to be turned into a television series in 2022, some 46 years later. While not well received by critics, audiences loved it then and still love it now. Interview is the first novel to allow the vampire to tell their own story; along with the erotic overtones of the novel is what captured the attention of audiences around the world and what kept their attention. Currently, on GoodReads.com the novel has an overall 4.01-star rating with one reviewer writing “Dark and enthralling. This book asks readers to reflect on the constitutions of love and loneliness” while another comments on the writing style, “Anne Rice really makes you feel the depth of emotion that The Vampire goes through.” Both reviews are from 2023. Not only is Interview still relevant because of its content but the impact it’s had on the vampire genre as a whole. It’s opened the door to allowing vampires to not only tell their own stories but to allow them to feel deeply.

Throughout the novel, there is a heavy overtone of erotic desire, often homoerotic desire, mostly between the main character Louis and his vampire father/husband Lestat but also with his later lover Armand. There are also instances of erotic desire with other characters as well; desire is often associated with the act of feeding. Many see the overall desire within the book as being gay, which is one of the reasons its popularity has persisted. While Anne Rice would later write openly gay vampires, this was not the time for that; instead, we are given subtle hints and overtones. After a conversation with Rice, Katherine Ramsland her biographer would write that “The new vampire is brought over into a dramatically changed existence with a gender-free perspective” (Ramsland 148), which confirms the homoerotic overtones within the book. Rice also claims to have attempted to write her vampires as androgynous and without male or female distinctions or as Ramsland said ‘gender-free’. The reality is that Rice has placed Louis and Lestat in traditional gender roles as parents while also feminizing their vampire daughter/lover Claudia. Claudia is also read as feminist through the way she is treated by those around her, in particular their failure to fully acknowledge her as a woman, not a child.

What the people say past and present

Vampires have always been seen as metaphors for various things from the hidden sexuality or desires of the author to a critique of society's values. As William Hughes, a Professor at the University of Macau, put it in his contribution to the book A Companion to American Gothic (2013), “The vampire, an enduring consensus suggests, is the perfect vehicle with which to express the myriad and conflicting cultural implications of human sexual activity and identity” (Hughes 340); vampire lit makes for a good space to explore sexual activity and identity. This idea can be further narrowed but adding gender into the equation. As Melissa Ames says in her chapter of the book Bitten by Twilight (2010), “The fact that the same gender critiques appear in both Dracula and in more contemporary texts suggests that the vampire narrative is a productive space to tease out problems of gender and sexuality, but that it is not a space that necessarily resolves such issues since they recycle decade after decade and text after text in similar fictional constructs”(Ames 44-45); seeing gender critiques within vampire literature has always been common and will continue to be. This idea was echoed in 2016 in the book Women and the Gothic, specifically by contributor Gina Wisker who points out that “female vampires destabilise such comfortable, culturally inflected investments and complacencies and reveal them as aspects of constructed gender identity resulting from social and cultural hierarchies” (Wisker 150), taking the idea of vampire literature critiquing gender a step further by focusing on the role of the female vampire.

Interview with the Vampire has been no exception to analysis or critiques of the portrayal of gender and sexuality within vampire literature. Many cite how Rice shows gender roles in the relationship between Louis and Lestat but most importantly they turn to Claudia and her mistreatment. Many see the way she is treated by those around her, including her vampire fathers, as placing her in a traditional female gender role, often through their lack of acknowledging that she is a woman trapped in a child’s body. Nina Auerbach notes in her book Our Vampires, Ourselves (1996) that Rice’s vampires are compulsive storytellers but Claudia never gets to tell her own story; only men tell her story (Auerbach 154-55). This is a starting point for the way many read Claudia as being placed in a gender role. Auerbach also points out how “Claudia is an adult male construction, a stunted woman who has no identity apart from the obsessions of the fatherly lovers who made her” (Auerbach 158), something that in 2013 Hughes similarly pointed out stating that “Louis’s narration, and his coda,[he] silently deflects the agency from her to him.” (Hughes 345). Claudia is placed in a gender role has persisted through time. The relationship between Louis and Lestat is no exception to a critique or analysis of gender within the novel. Most notably their gender roles are seen in the way they parent Claudia, but these roles can also be seen within their relationship and the way Rice has characterised them. Ken Gelder points out in his book Reading the Vampire (1994), stating that “Rice emphasises the differences between these two male vampires, with Louis as delicate and sensitive (i.e. feminised) and Lestat as aggressive and impetuous (i.e. masculinised)” (Gelder 112). Rice shows gender roles throughout the relationship between Louis and Lestat often feminising one and masculinising the other.

Pre-child Love

In order to establish a foundation of gender roles within the novel you must first look at the relationship between Louis and Lestat before they created/birthed Claudia. In particular, you must look at how their relationship can be seen as queer or as having homoerotic overtones. Iulia Pintilie¹ points out in her article for the Journal of Romanian Literary Studies that “a passionate tension between the male vampires is clearly suggested in the writing” (Pintilie 642), something that can be seen throughout the novel but most notably early in their relationship. When we first meet Lestat in the novel it is at Louis’s bedside where he thinks him a possible doctor or angel. We, like Louis, quickly learn that Lestat is not normal or human, he is some kind of creature. One that wants Louis to be like him so that he may take control of Louis's plantation (16).

Louis gives their relationship a homoerotic overtone when he, in response to being asked to describe his turning, tells the reporter “I can’t tell you exactly, any more than I could tell you exactly what is the experience of sex if you have never had it” (15); comparing the loss of virginity to his turning implying a sexual overtone. Their relationship and the turning itself are given further erotic overtones when Louis says “I remember that the movement of his lips raised the hair all over my body, sent a shock of sensation through my body that was not unlike the pleasure of passion” (19); again equating sex and being turned. After his turning Louis spends time staring at things like the buttons on Lestats coat or the trees and cobblestones, here Lestat breaks the erotic tone created in the turning scene. Lestats sends Louis to relieve his body of waste and upon Louis's return, he finds him already working on the plantation papers–cementing the idea that Lestat only wants him for his money. This is an aspect of their relationship that Pintilie describes as resembling “an eighteen-century aristocratic union in which the two husbands increase their family fortunes through their marriage” (Pintilie 647), though at this moment it's not yet a marriage.

In the five years that make up their relationship–some sixty pages of the novel–before Claudia’s birth/turning, Louis struggles to come to terms with what Lestat has made him. Louis often refers to how violent and unfeeling Lesast could be, noting early in their relationship how Lestat could go from one emotion to the opposite. Louis notes in Lestat's treatment of his father that “he’d been gracious to the old man, almost to the point of sickening, but now he became a bully” (23); Lestat goes quickly from one emotion to another. Louis also notes how easily Lestat is set off when he says that in response to Louis wishing to sleep alone, “he became furious” (34) before Lestat sets off in a small tirade over why they should be bunking together. Lestat’s repeated instances of enjoying violence or being unfeeling are what give him his masculised gender role whereas Louis is often repulsed by violence and feels deeply thus femisising him. Louis even notes Lestats lack of emotions when after describing his own deep feelings about being a vampire he tells the reporter “Lestat felt the opposite. Or he felt nothing” (31). Driving home the idea that Lestat is different from Louis.

In the five years prior to Claudia joining them, Louis experiences many things with Lestat from his own turning to learning to kill but never embracing it to his home being burned to the ground. Throughout it all Lestat remains a violent, emotionally unpredictable manipulator in Louis’s life, not unlike one would see in an abusive intimate partner. Louis even tells the reporter that “I had to stay with him” (35), going on to explain that Lestat was keeping information from him about his vampire existence as a way to force him into staying. Something Lestat continues to do even after turning Claudia. Eventually, towards the end of their five years, Louis finally decides he must leave Lestat when they flee to New Orleans city proper after an incident at the Freniere plantation. Louis tells the reporter “I have to leave him or die” (71), this decision comes only hours before he meets Claudia for the first time and days before they would turn her.

Post-child Love

When Rice chooses to have Louis and Lestat become fathers, she also makes them husbands cementing their “marriage” when they turn Claudia. While Lestat is the one to complete Claudia’s turning by feeding her his blood, Louis participates by having been the one to drain her thus making them both her vampire fathers. Louis is at first a reluctant ‘mother.’ He did not want to turn Claudia but Lestat forces him into it, using her as a way to trap Louis into staying with him. Candace Benefiel explains this scene best telling readers in her article for the Journal of Popular Culture² that “The whole scene reads like a couple having a child in an attempt to make a failing relationship once more viable” (Benefiel 267). In this case, it’s Lestat attempting to keep the relationship viable, he explains to Claudia after her turning that “ ‘Louis was going to leave us,’ (...) ‘He was going to go away. But now he’s not. Because he wants to stay and take care of you and make you happy.’ (...) ‘You’re not going, are you, Louis?’ ” (94). At this moment he is also revealing the truth of her turning to Louis as well. This plan of Lestat’s works, Louis tells the reporter that “Afraid of fleeing alone, I would not conceive of risking it with Claudia. She was a child. She needed care” (97), cementing his need to stay with the ‘family.’ As if Louis was a mother staying with an abuser to protect a child.

In making them parents Rice masculinizes Lestat–he is only ever the ‘father’ and feminizes Louis–he is called ‘father’ but acts as a ‘mother.’ Lestat takes on a more traditional masculine father role when Louis tells us that he “was loving to her, proud of her beauty, anxious to teach her that we must kill to live and that we ourselves could not die” (97). He is excited to teach her to kill, to be aggressive–traits that can be seen as more masculine. Louis takes on a more feminine or motherly role in that he is the one to educate her on things like “mortal creations”, poetry, music, and books (100), teaching her softer life skills that are seen as more feminine. While Louis’s dedication and attachment to Claudia can be viewed as ‘motherly instinct,’ you could also argue that it is simply parental the way he wants to protect her and keep her close throughout the novel, though it’s the juxtaposition of Lestat's masculine traits that give Louis’s a more ‘motherly’ feel. Louis even tells the reporter “At first, I thought only of protecting her from Lestat. I gathered her into my coffin every morning and would not let her out of my sight with him if possible. This was what Lestat wanted, and he gave little suggestions that he might do her harm” (97), implying Louis is a ‘mother’ protecting their child from an abusive ‘father’–Lestat. The three spend some sixty-five years living together as a family before tensions arise. Before their family comes apart, Louis continues to try to keep himself isolated from Lestat, now having Claudia join him when she is not off-killing with Lestat. Louis explains to the reporter that “there was no quarreling. We kept to ourselves (...) Claudia and I pursued our natural tastes and Lestat went about his lavish acquisitions” (104).

When tensions between Claudia and Lestat begin to rise so do tensions with Louis and Lestat. Lestat is frustrated with Claudia ignoring him or as Louis tells the reporter “she grew cold to Lestat” (105). This leads to Lestat lashing out at Louis after Louis attempts to stop him from lashing out at Claudia and later to another argument. An argument where Louis cements seeing himself as Claudia’s mother telling the reporter “ ‘What’s the matter with her!’ he [Lestat] flared at me, as though I’d given birth to her and must know” (105). It’s in the issues or tensions that we can once again see the relationship between Louis and Lestat as abusive. Particularly with Louis as the victim and Lestat as the abuser; this is one of the main ways that Rice has applied gender roles to their relationship. She makes the relationship reminiscent of a heterosexual one by making Louis the ‘mother’ figure to Claudia. This is shown subtly when after Claudia tells Louis they must leave Lestat they begin to plan their escape (118-119). Louis explains to the reporter that before now he’d “grown accustomed to him, as if he were a condition of life itself” (118). Louis had grown complacent in the relationship content to keep himself and Claudia from Lestat but never leaving. Louis goes on to explain that while he planned to buy their freedom (119) he “did not believe it would be possible to escape him [Lestat]” (119); reminiscent of the emotions a victim planning their own escape may feel.

Louis’s ‘motherly’ instinct is seen again towards the end of the novel when the Theater Des Vampires come to collect Louis, Claudia, and Madeliene for trial. Louis tells the reporter that “the instinct to protect Madeleine and Claudia was overpowering” (294), he also attempts to bargain with Lestat for her life saying to him “ ‘You let her go, you free her…and I will…I’ll return to you’ ”(296). In both of these cases, Louis is attempting to protect Claudia the way a mother or parent would. In the second instance, Louis even attempts to stand up to Lestat as a means to protect Claudia or at the very least justify her actions against him by telling the others “how you treated us, that we didn’t know the laws, that she didn’t know of other vampires’ (296); he is attempting to get Lestat to own to his part in Claudia’s attempting to kill him, to admit to abusing his power over them.

Claudia as treated by her ‘fathers’

It’s not until Claudia has lived with Louis and Lestat for over sixty-five years that Loius begins to acknowledge that she is in fact not a child but a woman trapped in the body of a child remarking to Lestat that “She’s not a child any longer,[...] I don’t know what it is she’s a woman” (105). Louis only begins to realize this after she has been ignoring Lestat, resenting him for being her “father.” Both men realize that she is grown again only after she begins to question her origins and subsequently wants to leave Lestat to free them from him saying to Louis “And we’ve been his puppets, you and I; [...]. Now’s time to end it, Louis. Now’s time to leave him”(118). Claudia tells Louis that she will kill Lestat to free them of him. Not because she believes it’s the only way to free them but because she wants to, she repeatedly tells Louis “ ‘I can kill him. (...) I want to kill him. I will enjoy it!’ ” and “ ‘I want him dead and will have him dead. I shall enjoy it’ ” (124). They proceed to argue over if Lestat even can be killed and after she comments she may inherit Lestats power after killing him, Louis becomes angry. He tells the reporter “ ‘I was enraged now. I rose suddenly and turned away from her’ ” (124) but he quickly reverts back to seeing her as childlike in her innocence, seeing her wanting to be free of Lestat like a child throwing a tantrum and making idle threats. It's not until she attempts to kill Lestat that he again sees her as a woman though it is at the expense of also being repulsed by her. After Claudia kills Lestat, Louis tells the reporter “I turned away from her. I was unable to look at her (...) I would not look at her (...) I couldn’t stand the sight of her” (139-140). Though once Claudia shows distress at Louis's reaction he reverts back to treating her like a child rocking her as she cries in his arms.

Lestat never sees Claudia as a woman or an adult; to him, she is simply a means to keep Louis with him, and as a toy or as Lestat calls her a “doll” for him and Louis to play with. Lorna Jowett points this out in her article “ ‘Mute and Beautiful’: The Representation of the female vampire in Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire”, telling readers that “In neither case is Claudia of importance for herself; rather she is simply an object to be used in the struggle/relationship between two male vampires” (Jowett 56). Lestat eventually comes to see Claudia as a child, his and Louis, but by the end of the novel he sees her as the enemy and never does he view her as a woman.

Throughout the novel both Louis and Lesta refer to Claudia as a doll; Louis often refers to her by material things as well. After first presenting the idea of turning Claudia Lestat even tells Louis to “think of all the pretty dresses we could buy for her” (75). Louis even goes as far as explaining that after her turning Lestat hired dress and shoemakers to outfit Claudia; that he “played with her as if she were a magnificent doll, and I played with her as if she were a magnificent doll (99). Both men also treat her like a doll up until she begins to ask questions often dressing her and doing her hair. Katherine Ramsland notes in the book The Vampire Companion⁴ that “Lestat and Louis treat Claudia like a doll, despite the fact that her mind matures into that of an intelligent, assertive, and seductive woman” (Ramsland 69); even after her maturing they continue to treat her as a doll. Louis further feminizes Claudia by placing emphasis on more material items like her clothes and hair. Gabriella Jonsson says this well when in her article for the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts³ she claims “Claudia’s “feminity” is expressed only through clothes and hair, making her gender identity fluid, easily disruptible” (42). Louis often refers to Claudia's dresses, hair ribbons, or even her blonde hair as a way to not only give her physical description but to emphasize her femininity and adolescence. As we know from Louis she is often dressed in colorful puffed sleeves, hair ribbons, and slippers like you might see a doll wearing. Even in her death, Claudia is defined by material things, Louis knows she is dead after seeing not only Lestat holding her yellow dress and her golden hair.

Claudia as perceived by others

Other vampires aside from Louis and Lestat tend to overlook Claudia, something Louis notes when telling the story of his and Caludia’s first night with the Theater Vampires, stating to the interviewer “Knowing what I also knew and what they [the female vampires] seemed unable to grasp: that a woman’s mind as sharp and distinct as their own lived within that small body” (243).The other female vampires Estelle and Celeste– the only two to get named– take an interest in Claudia’s beauty, having her flaunt her looks the first night they meet. Though they quickly reveal their true feelings towards Claudia, Estelle tells her in front of the other vampires that “black was the color for a vampire’s clothes, that Claudia’s lovely pastel dress was beautiful but tasteless” (244) causing everyone to laugh at her. Louis also notes that Celeste appears to not like Claudia early on when in response to a question she asks he claims “her [Celeste’s] eyes reflected a certain contained hostility” (244) only further cementing the notion that these two vampires do not like Claudia. The other vampires like Santiago see her as neither child nor vampire. To them, she is simply a toy, something they can play with to soothe their boredom and allows them to indulge in their cruel nature. They do not see her as an equal which could be because she appears as a child but they feel the same lack of intellectual interest in Louis, who is only saved from being their target by Armand's interest in him. Armand overlooks her simply because he has no interest; he is more concerned with getting Louis to leave Paris with him, to become his companion. Ultimately Armand has no personal feelings about Claudia only seeing her as an obstacle to getting Louis, something Claudia is aware of. She tells Louis after their first meeting with him, “Do you know what he said….that I should die'' (249), explaining to Louis after that “He would have you, and he would not have me stand in the way” (250). Armand notes to Louis that it was cruel of them to turn Claudia seeing as she will never be a full woman, that is a woman who has reached physical maturity, telling Louis that if he were in a position that required him to turn his human child-blood-slave he would not, “because he is too young, his limbs not strong enough, his mortal cup barely tasted”(252). It would be a disservice to turn him, a “flaw” as he calls it. He notes the problem with turning a child, the disservice that her creators did in making her, saying to Louis “And then there is this mysterious child: a child who can never grow, never be self-sufficient” (252), telling him that most other vampires wouldn’t turn anyone who could not be self-sufficient. Having this vampire child with him is part of the reason the other vampires have taken an interest in them, it's quite unusual. Also, Louis and Claudia are not unfeeling vampires (he still holds onto his humanity), making them stand out in a way that makes them easy targets for a group like the Theatre Vampires.

Alternatively, Madeleine only sees Claudia one way, as an immortal child. As we know Madeleine is grieving the loss of her own daughter so that's what she sees in Claudia. When Louis is asking Madeliene if she will care for Claudia he also asks “Is that what you believe her to be, a doll?” (267), though she responds with “ ‘A child who can’t die! That’s what she is,’ ” (267). This interaction tells us that while Madeliene may not see Claudia in the same doll-like way Louis and Lestat once do she still does not recognize her for what she is–a grown woman trapped in the body of a child. After her turning Madeliene becomes obsessed with Claudia, making her clothes and furniture that are proportionate to her size. Beyond Madeliene's grief-induced obsession with Claudia being an immortal child that she must provide for, we know nothing else of their relationship or Madeliene’s perception of her.

Claudia on her situation

Claudia is not ignorant of her position within her family and in the world, understanding that she will always appear as a child so no one will treat her as a woman, a point of great frustration and struggle for her. Before her demise in the novel, she has come to terms with her situation and has chosen a new caregiver for herself so that Louis may be free. Though she must beg him to do so. Louis only concedes after speaking with Madeliene–an adult–emphasizing that Louis does not see Claudia as an equal (adult). It's in the turning of Madeliene that we can see Claudia as other or less womanly in the eyes of men; it brings Louis great pain to turn Madeline causing him to see Claudia as absurd or monstrous. She must ask Louis to do this because while she is a vampire she can never turn another, that is create children, due to her size. Lestat points this out, stating “You don’t have the power. Either of you” (Rice 132) after Claudia makes a comment about the three of them filling the world with vampires. She must beg Louis to do it for her, once again emphasizing her child and womanly-like helplessness, telling Louis in response to his hesitance at turning Madeliene “ ‘Because I cannot do it.’ Her voice was painfully calm, all the emotion under the hard, measured tone. “I haven’t the size, I haven’t the strength! You saw to that when you made me! Do it!’ ” (260). It's in this instance, of Claudia begging Louis to turn Madeliene, that we can see her awareness and frustration with her situation. She tells Louis that had he waited “six more mortal years, seven, eight…I might have had that shape! … I might have known what it was to walk at your side.” (261-62). This is also where we can see her acceptance of her situation as she explains to Louis that he must “Give her [Madeliene] to me so she can care for me, complete the guise I must have to live! And he can have you then! I am fighting for my life!” (265). She points out how she will not survive this world alone; she must be forever tied to another. We can also see her anger in having been immortally bound to a child's body when she calls Louis a “monster” and in her killing of Lestat after discovering he was the one to turn her. This anger can be seen in how his initial “murder” is not one of passion but is intricately planned with Claudia poisoning him to make him an easier target though his later “murder” is one of self-defense seeing as Claudia is attempting to protect herself and Louis from Lestat’s attack that final night in New Orleans.

The other women

Women are not often seen–that is given speaking roles or even names– in the novel. There are a few like Babbette Freniere–a human that Loius and Lestat knew before Claudia’s creation, Celeste & Estelle–the only other female vampires noted in the novel, Madeliene the doll maker turned vampire, and of course, our main female figure Claudia the vampire child created in an attempt to save her ‘father’ relationship.

Babette takes up little space in the novel only being initially significant because of Lestat’s interest in killing her brother and Louis's concern for their family plantation. Before Louis and Lestat must flee to the Feniere plantation for aid Babette is only mentioned when Louis advises her to keep the plantation after her brother's death. Louis shows his respect for Babette not only in advising her to keep the plantation but before then when he describes her to the reporter as “not only as smart as her brother, but far wiser” (43). We see the downfall of Babette when after Louis and Lestat go to her for aid, she attacks Louis attempting to kill him because she believes him to be “from the devil” (65). The last time Babette is mentioned is when Lestat mentions that now some sixty-five years later the Freniere plantation is meant to be haunted. This causes Louis to remember Babette, he tells the reporter that she “died young, insane, (...) insisting she had seen the devil” (130); an insanity caused by discovering that Louis is not human. Babette is also used in the novel as a tool to further Louis’s self-loathing. She acts as a symbol of him holding onto his humanity and what was left of his human life. She even validates his thoughts that he is from the devil when she tells him such and calls him a “monster.” Overall we only know Babette as the human Louis saw his humanity in, a human who descends into madness.

In contrast, there are the two notable female vampires Celeste & Estelle who are often characterized as what you could call ‘mean girls.’ They are initially introduced as part of the Theater des Vampires, women who at first seem to take to Claudia fondling her and having her turn about for them (243). Louis is quick to note that Celeste's eyes “reflected a certain contained hostility” (244) and that Estelle is condescending to Claudia when she points out that “black was the color for the vampire’s clothes, that Claudia’s lovely pastel dress was beautiful but tasteless” (244) causing everyone to laugh at her. We also know from Armand that Celeste is jealous of Claudia, he notes “She is jealous of the child’s beauty” (254); another reason they can be characterized as ‘mean girls.’ Overall they can both be viewed as catty ‘mean girls’ who are jealous of Claudia and only wish to play games with both her and Louis. In the end, they are killed, in fact, no female vampire survives the novel.

Madeleine is the last woman in the novel to be named. Not only does Madeliene die by the end she is only in forty-five pages of it. While she is used only as someone to replace Louis as Claudia’s caretaker we do get to see the beginnings of her descent into madness. When we first meet Madeleine it is after Claudia has brought her home to have Louis turn her; her only significance is in replacing Louis. We quickly learn though that while Claudia intends to have her as a guardian, Madeleine only wishes to relieve the guilt of having lost her own daughter by replacing her with an immortal one; Madeleine notes this to Louis “A child who can’t die! That’s what she is” (267). Her madness starts quickly after her turning when Louis notes that she burned her dead child's belongings and that he “had to lead her away from men and women she could no longer drain dry” (273). He even outright calls her mad when talking about those few nights before her death. Louis also notes that Madeleine had become “accustomed to dreaming; and that she would not cry out for reality, rather would fee reality to her dreams, a demon elf feeding her spinning wheel with the reeds of the world so she might make her own weblike universe” (273); he gives his explanation for what was happening to Madeleine. In the end, Madeliene is only remembered by Louis not only for her madness but for her cries as the Theater Vampires took them away.

Conclusion

The claim that Anne Rice has made of writing vampires as being without male or female distinctions or as being “gender-free” (Ramsland 148) is disproved through a close reading of Interview with the Vampire. The main characters within the novel Louis, Lestat, and Claudia present to readers the gender roles which Rice claims to have not made. Through the relationship that Louis and Lestat share–both pre and post-Claudia–you can see how she has made Lestat masculine in a way that gives Louis a femininity. Through Claudia and her mistreatment Rice once again shows that she has given her vampires' gender distinctions. One can also see Rice’s gender distinctions in her treatment of women in the novel as a whole but it is most notable in Claudia. Claudia the immortal woman-child whose story is only told by a male vampire in relation to a male vampire.

End notes

¹ “GENDER CONVENTIONS: HOMOSEXUAL EROTICISM AND FAMILY LIAISONS IN ANNE RICE AND NEIL JORDAN’S INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE.”

² “Blood Relations: The Gothic Perversion of the Nuclear Family in Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire.”

³ “The Second Vampire: ‘Filles Fatales’ in J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s ‘Carmilla’ and Anne Rice’s ‘Interview with the Vampire.’”

⁴ The Vampire Companion: The Official Guide to Anne Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles"

Works Cited

Auerbach, Nina. Our Vampires, Ourselves. University of Chicago Press, 1996.

Benefiel, Candace R. “Blood Relations: The Gothic Perversion of the Nuclear Family in Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire.” The Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 38, no. 2, 2004, pp. 261–273.

Braudy, Leo. “Queer Monsters.” The New York Times, 2 May 1976. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/02/archives/queer-monsters-interview-with-the-vampire-vampire.html.

Click, Melissa A., and Melissa Ames. “Twilight Follows Tradition: Analyzing ‘Biting’ Critiques of Vampire Narratives for Their Portrayals of Gender and Sexuality.” Bitten by Twilight Youth Culture, Media, & the Vampire Franchise, Lang, New York, NY, 2010, pp. 37–53.

Gelder, Kenneth. “Vampires in the (Old) New World: Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles.” Reading the Vampire, Routledge, London, 1994, pp. 108–123.

Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles, #1). https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43763.Interview_with_the_Vampire. Accessed 3 Apr. 2023.

Jönsson, Gabriella. “The Second Vampire: ‘Filles Fatales’ in J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s ‘Carmilla’ and Anne Rice’s ‘Interview with the Vampire.’” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 17, no. 1 (65), 2006, pp. 33–48.

Jowett, Lorna. "Mute and Beautiful": The Representation of the Female in Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire." Femspec, vol. 4, no. 1, 2002, pp. 59

Pintilie, Iulia-Mădălina. “GENDER CONVENTIONS: HOMOSEXUAL EROTICISM AND FAMILY LIAISONS IN ANNE RICE AND NEIL JORDAN’S INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE.” Journal of Romanian Literary Studies, no. 07, 2015, pp. 642–53.

Ramsland, Katherine. Prism of the Night: A Biography of Anne Rice. Penguin, 1994.

Ramsland, Katherine. The Vampire Companion: The Official Guide to Anne Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles". Ballantine Books, 1995.

Rice, Anne. Interview with the Vampire. Ballantine Books, 1976.

Wisker, Gina. “Female Vampirism.” Women and the Gothic, edited by Avril Horner and Sue Zlosnik, Edinburgh University Press, 2016, pp. 150–66. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1bgzdfx.14.

A Companion to American Gothic, edited by Charles L. Crow, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/stedwards/detail.action?docID=1388810

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