#there's no actual quote unquote romance in this story

[minusboy]

FLEABAG MENTION IM UP. TELL ME E V E R Y T H I N G ABOUT THAT WIP. Im all ears (and eyes to read)

hhhhh it's definitely the most out there out of all of my current wips, thank you for asking<3

to clarify it isn't a fleabag au, but i have seen fleabag, infact i watch it religiously around september every year, and i think the show tackles some topics that are too nuanced to try and replicate in any other format. at least for me. anyway. that out of the way it is definitely inspired and it's extremely messy and with uh. messy family dynamics. possibly a priest somewhere. that's all for now.

okay fine you've twisted my arm.. here have this

”Am I ugly,” Dazai asks. ”That’s what you’re thinking about right now,” Kunikida asks, half-amused, half-despaired.   ”I think my nose might be on the wrong side of my face, Kunikida,” he says, whispers, really. And Dazai sighs, tipping forward until his head rests on his shoulder and then snorts. And he grins, too, even though his face hurts. Because people like him should be laughing, always. His hand is shaking where it rests between his collarbones. ”Idiot,” Kunikida says, after a moment, and there’s something so unbearably sad about the way he says it. ”Let me see.” He lifts his hand and lets Kunikida inspect the bloody mess under his nose, and watches him wince in sympathy, but his thumb sweeps under his cheekbone, gentle. ”Jesus christ,” Kunikida breathes. Which, objectively, is hilarious, first of all, and second of all, ”Not quite,” Dazai smiles, then grimaces instantly. ”My face hurts.”

[artbyblastweave]

Finished up Batman Beyond today. As much as I liked it, one thing that did jump out at me over the course of the show was that Dana Tan was basically an unreconstructed instance of "The Superhero's Girlfriend-" a love interest who's present in the narrative mainly to create tension between the demands of the superhero lifestyle and the loved one who's in the dark, but who has very little agency or role in the story beyond that, indeed, very little else you can have them do if you want to preserve that. The episode in which I believe she got the most focus, she spent most of it running for her life from a Rat Guy through the sewers.

There's a post about Spider-Man doing the rounds, which posits that part of why Mary Jane won out over Spidey's other long-term love interests was that because she wasn't originally intended to win, she had room to develop traits and dynamics beyond "superhero's put-upon girlfriend-"in fact, she had to, in order to present a plausible temptation away from whoever Spidey was quote-unquote "supposed" to be dating. I'm not a comprehensive Spidey reader, so I'm not going to go to the mattress for that read until I've read some more- but I do think there's some meat to that dynamic in general because of this show. Melanie Walker only shows up in three episodes and already she's got a ridiculously tangled family dynamic thrown into the mix, torn loyalties, the need to keep her head above water financially no matter what other goals she has, a cool hoverboard. Max Gibson's got an actual give-and-take back-and-forth with Terry and Bruce, the added interesting complication that she's trying to prybar her way even further into the game than either of them want her to but it's not like they have a way to make her leave. Dana is.... pissed that Terry is spending so much time with Mr. Wayne. Again. I mean, she's got a job to do, she clocks in at the start of each episode and does it.

This sort of harkens back to Invincible, where a major tenet of the first quarter of the book was that for logistical and ethical reasons, a superhero's dating pool is realistically limited to other players of the game- other people deep enough in the cape lifestyle that they can keep up and relate. Otherwise, your partner is going to spend most of the relationship stuck on the outside looking in, and even if they're nominally okay with the situation it's going to suck. Arguably, Amber in the comic fell into the pit of visibly existing mainly to demonstrate this, reproducing the dynamic they were critiquing. The show did a lot of legwork trying to make her more of an actively agentic character, but when the entire point is that a character in her position would have extremely limited agency there's only so much you can do to patch that. Then Eve rolls in, and it turns out you can do the exact same relationship beats about chronic unavailability, lack of communication and the like, but with a partner who's equally capable of showing up to all the big set piece fights and gorily eviscerating people in her own unique ways- a character who's consistently around in the story for reasons other than that she's dating the hero. You don't have to pick!

This got longer than I thought it was going to be. I do want to round out by saying that this sort of aligns neatly with something else that I've noticed- namely that a lot of post-10s cartoons also appear to have noticed this, and either hang back from biting off more than they can chew by committing to a romance subplot for their leads, or if there is a romance subplot they really aggressively commit to making sure the love interest approaches deuteragonist status in terms of airtime and agency. Hell, Steven Universe left the exact status of Steven and Connie's relationship ambiguous, and it still had a lot to say about the civilian girlfriend freezeout trope. Again- date other players!

[eisforeidolon]

The writers were aware of fandom wank, which is why a lot of the “Dean/Cass” stuff ends up on the cutting room floor. It’s like they’d write something that seemed fine on paper, the. they realize people will read too much into it when performed and cut it out.

That was some of it. Like the infamous fake heaven scene they thought would be so hilarious to fill with pictures of Dean - where Jared had to point out some fans would take it seriously as a hint to where the story was going. So they removed it because that wasn't the intent. Like the crypt scene were Jensen pointed out Dean would not say I love you there. So Robbie changed it to what he more explicitly meant in terms of it being familial affection by his own direct admission.

Hellers want to insist all those little cut moments are PROOF of a conspiracy to ~*cheat them*~ out of an intended D/C story the writers were trying to give them, damn the meddling network and producers! However, what all the details we've actually heard about show? Is the ship being a thing in canon was so far outside of the genuine agreed intent multiple writers not only didn't think about the implications and not only used it as a punchline? But usually immediately removed those supposed hints when anyone pointed out the prospect of it being taken seriously by fans. Of course, when you have fans so desperately searching for clues they can turn literally breathing in the same room into ~*epic romance*~ it's hard to remove everything unless the characters literally never interact (and then you end up with "negative space" meta, so there's no winning).

Sure, there's a deeper question there as to whether they thought that specific pairing was ridiculous in the context of the canon (absolutely) or they generally thought m/m pairings were only fodder for jokes (not cool). Except that's a whole different discussion, because either way? What is clear is there was never some intentional secret storyline in easily cut throwaway moments leading up to making D/C canon the REAL story of the show. And not just because the idea anyone would tell a story on tv that way is fucking bonkers.

The writers definitely became more aware as time went on about fandom wank in regards to the subject? Though I think it was complicated a bit by them also having some quote unquote writers join the team towards the very end who were desperate for attention and actively wanted to bait those unhinged fans, like Bobo the Assclown and whatsherface the minion underling.

[mmeskywalker]

|| anakin wattpad story

warnings: no warnings, just hear me out PLEASE !!

if i were to create a wattpad story where the guardians of the galaxy world and the star wars world collided… would anyone be interested in that?

the main character could be peter quills daughter. due to peter needing a place to hide, the main character ended up living on tatooine for the first few years of her life. peter had been friends with shmi for some time now and she agreed to letting peter and his daughter stay at her home until they found a better living situation. there, the main character met anakin. they were childhood best friends. they remained attached to the hip until she watched qui-gon save anakin from slavery and become what he was destined to become; a jedi.

after anakin left, it wasn’t long before peter got caught stealing again. the main character was angry. she was angry at her father for being so reckless. shmi was all she had left of anakin. these were the same shitty mistakes he had made back on earth before she was born, the same shitty mistakes he continues to make that gets him chased out of all planets.

she just wants a normal life. that is until she starts following in his footsteps.

along the way of their chase out, peter and the main character made some friends: gamora, drax, groot, and rocket. of course, their meeting wouldn’t occur in the story, but in the past.

together, they would steal for the sith of the galaxy (or whoever paid well…) this was their first time stealing for general grevious. general grevious had an obsession with lightsabers, he wanted jedi dead and lightsabers to prove it hung on his wall. but he couldn’t do that by himself. so, he hired the thugs he had heard about who’ve been making a name for themselves around the galaxy.

this is where the first chapter would begin.

they were camping out in the outer rim regions. they heard a jedi had been scoping the area, senseful of their arrival. the group didn’t realize killing jedi was so difficult. they were only able to salvage two lightsabers, and it wasn’t because they killed a jedi, it was because the main character had a light saber. actually, the two she had, she made with anakin a long, long time ago on tatooine.

she previously found it stacked away in her closet, burried behind photoalbums of her and anakin as children. she didn’t want that reminder, so she grabbed it and stuck it on the table. “two down, eight to go.” she said as if it didn’t pain her.

they awoke that night to a noise coming from outside the ‘safety’ of their ship. sand people were coming to raid them. they were putting up a fight as the sand people came, one by millions, to their doorstep.

a sand person came up to the main girl, and she was frightened because there were too many of them to fight off. she was surrounded and the rest of her family were occupied with kicking their own piece of sandman ass. in a fit of rage, she reached her hand out, and the sand people began to hover off of the ground; until the forcefully fell with a thud.

she knew she was connected with the force, but she wasn’t connected with the force. she never practiced it. she couldn’t have been that powerful. so when drax accused her of using her quote, unquote, ‘jedi shit’ , she violently shuck her head no.

the force reckoned with began to mess with the family, having them all confused and ready to attack before it came out of hiding. it was the jedi they had been looking for. this jedi is going to be one of my own ocs.

the jedi was sent to achieve them, but not in the way they were all expecting. she didn’t want to send them to jail… rather she didn’t want to send the main girl to jail, she had business that needed to be attended with elsewhere.

the main character was needed back on coruscant, because if she couldn’t get her head out of her ass and stop working for these idiotic sith lords, she, and the rest of the galactic republic, would end up dead.

i was thinking this could be a romance between an oc and anakin skywalker, and the main character would have to (forcefully) become obi-wans padawan.

this is going to occur during episode two, except i want to create my own plotline for the story.

let me know what you think !!! 💗

[earlgreytea68]

A Note on Olivia's Speech -- Kinda

OMG this is so much babbling but I wrote it all down in case it might be interesting to anyone else who feels vast amounts of guilt over writing about guys all the time??????

When I was a younger writer, I used to write a lot of het. That's what I wrote all through my teenage years and into my early twenties, just tons of traditional male/female romance novels, which honestly was mostly what I read through those years, too (aside from the classics that I was forced to read for my degree in English, which was exactly why I majored in English lol). Even when I started writing fanfiction, which wasn't until my mid-twenties, I wrote het.

But then at one point I started writing m/m love stories, and I never stopped. And I worry a lot about that, like, is this betraying internalized misogyny on my part? Why am I writing about men (and often white men), who get so many of the stories anyway? I should write more about my actual gender identity, which is cisgender woman. But every time I did, it felt so weird and stilted to me. And my motto is that unless I'm writing for money I write makes me happy, so I kept writing m/m fic.

Once, years ago, I went to a presentation at an academic conference where they discussed the phenomenon of cisgender women writing m/m fic. I know this often gets characterized as just some kind of sexual kink, and I just don't think that's what's going on with me, and that presentation noted that cisgender men are the default, so to speak, in our society. And so characters with a cisgender male gender identity are allowed to be blank slates that can be absolutely anything you want. Whereas as soon as you make a character a cisgender female, suddenly there are all these societal pressures on that character. And that did resonate with me, that try as I might I couldn't just change the pronouns of the cisgender men I was writing and ta-da! They were cisgender women! Because there's just so much other baggage that comes with being a cisgender woman that they were freed from if they were cisgender men -- even if I resented that that was the case!

But I've been doing a lot of reading this past year, and not of romance novels, of quote-unquote "serious" novels (an adjective I strenuously do not agree with, as a writer of romance lol). I read Elif Batuman's books (both hilarious but both kind of fell apart about halfway through), I read Checkout 19 (which I pretty much hated), I read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (weird book), I read The Farewell Tour (which surprised me and I liked much more than I'd thought I would). Every one of these books had a cisgender female protagonist (or co-protagonist), and every one of these books had a major plot point where that protagonist has a terrible, unhealthy relationship with an obnoxious cisgender guy. Every. Single. Book. And sometimes it was more than one unhealthy relationship, and sometimes it was more than one female character within the book. Like, you're going along reading about these delightful and interesting adventures these fabulous women are having, then -- bam! they run up against some guy not nearly as interesting as they are and not deserving of their time and then they waste a bunch of their life (and the book) all hung up on him. And I was just like: It's the year 2023, and this is STILL what the female narrative looks like? This???? We can't tell other stories about women that don't revolve around what men do to them???

It's not that these books aren't critiquing that part of society (which I understand is still omnipresent all around us). All of the books are very conscious that the relationships are unhealthy and diminishing the woman (except maaaaybe the relationship in T&T&T, but that book also is really mean to its arguably asexual MC and basically implies that he'll never be of importance in his BFF's life because he doesn't want to have sex with her, so the book had other issues, tbh). Not a single one of those books actually, you know, has any apparent repercussions for the guy in question, who just seems to go on and live their life pretty carefree and the woman whose life they stomped all over is barely a second thought, to us the outside observer. And I'm sure that's also very true to how society works. But, all the same, it was striking to me that, even if critical, THIS WAS STILL EVERY WOMAN'S NARRATIVE. EVERY WOMAN'S NARRATIVE WAS ABOUT SELLING HERSELF SHORT FOR SOME GUY. Can we not imagine better for ourselves????

And so, Idk, I do try to put people of other genders in my m/m fics but when it comes to a character like Olivia, and thinking of what her happy ending looked like, I just could not make myself put her with a guy. And you might say: she could have gone with a woman! And yes! She could have! But I think I am craving female narratives that aren't about romantic and sexual love. Because every narrative I read about a woman is alllll about romantic and sexual love. The woman belittles herself to squeeze herself into the box of romantic and sexual love, cutting off all of the interesting parts of herself because she's been told THAT is the end-all-be-all. But I am a believer in all kinds of love, and how all of those kinds of love can give you a good and well-rounded life, and it's silly to pretend that there's only one type of love and that we should pursue it at all costs to our selves.

And then I think, well, gee, that's hypocritical of me, given that ALL I DO IS WRITE STORIES ABOUT ROMANTIC AND SEXUAL LOVE. But then it occurred to me that in writing them about two cisgender men, it does feel more like a narrative that needs to be told. Men get so many stories...but they don't often get THESE stories. They don't often get the love story. They don't often pursue their romantic love as if it will fulfill their destiny...because society tells men that their destiny has other shapes and sizes beyond who they sleep with. Maybe, I think, the world needs more narratives about guys who just love, unabashedly and deeply and fulfillingly, and THAT'S the narrative. That's the whole story. Just that. The way it so often is for women.

When I think about Olivia, and even as I sit and struggle my way with Megan in the Regency AU sequel, it's like...I want more for them than that. Like, for so long I grew up with exactly the expectation that Olivia talks about, that I needed to find a husband and that was the most important thing about me. And I watch the younger women I know still get that message. I've got a great career, went to good schools, do interesting stuff, and still a shocking number of people want to know why I'm single. What about everything else I can be????? I have great friends and a great family and I honestly like my life. Who can ask for more than that? Like, isn't the most amazing thing that could happen to Megan, especially in the Regency era, is just that she lives the life she wants??? And maybe that means she gets married and maybe it doesn't but it's cool either way and she has the freedom to choose it!

I don't mean to imply that I don't have internalized misogyny, because who knows lol. I also don't mean to imply that women shouldn't get married!!!! I have many cisgender female friends in very happy and healthy heterosexual relationships!!! It's awesome for them and it works for them and it's cool and I love them and the lives they have built for themselves. Lives come in all shapes and sizes, and that's great. But I finished yet another book with yet another female protagonist in yet another unhealthy relationship for the fifth time this year or whatever and I was just like, No wonder I gave Olivia that speech. No wonder I'm looking for another narrative.

[bropunzeling]

☕️ fav fantasy books/series and what makes them so good and so For Jess. bonus for thoughts on what makes a less good fantasy fall flat

oh Boy okay alright!!!!

fantasy series i love/are excellent/peak For Jess: radiant emperor duology by shelley parker-chan (point: is it fantasy or just historical-ish fiction with some supernatural elements? counterpoint: i fucking love it and this is my list). the lumatere chronicles by melina marchetta. the daevabad trilogy by s. a. chakraborty. queen's thief my beloved!!!!! piranesi aka one of the best novels i read in 2020. tortall series by tamora pierce (but protector of the small quartet is the best of them).

honorable mentions: the raven tower by ann leckie; sharon shinn's elemental blessings series isn't like, as sharp as the top tier, but i really enjoy every reread; earthsea (but mostly the ones about tenar); it feels like cheating to say discworld but again: my list; the divine cities by robert jackson bennett; the stravaganza books were not quote unquote good but they did change my brain chemistry when i was 13; goblin emperor books (but more witness for the dead bc u kno me, i love a murder mystery). lotr would be here except i read them all once as a 6th grader and have yet to return. i still need to read the oleander sword but the jasmine throne kicked ass.

ok what is the unifying factor here lol. strong world building is very important i think; a real sense of a distinct place and culture/mix of cultures rather than Generic Medieval European City. there was a really good post going around that was like, where does the food come from (aka have you thought about how all of this actually works?), and a lot of these series think about Where Does The Food Come From. differences in cultural norms among different groups within the world AND from the audience. plots strongly rooted in politics/the inherent people-ness of people rather than everything relying on magic (not to say i don't love me some magic/divine plaything stories!!!! but they hit so much harder when the conflict comes from a place of innate human foibles). a dash of wonder and the inexplicable. if an answer is needed, it fits in the schema of everything else, but you don't feel the author trying to answer literally everything (when an author is sweating to show their work u can tell imo). most of these have at least one set of people where i want to see them kiss on the mouth, but most of the time that is not the Point; the best fantasy for me treats romance as a subplot/b-plot where it informs the stakes but is not the stakes itself. and ur basics of a good book in general: good writing, good pacing, et cet er a!

what makes them fall flat? world building inconsistency; new magic springing up because well, the author NEEDED it (aka those moments when you can see the seams lol); when the romance is the a plot (sorry but romantasy = not for jesses!!!!!); i think also authors get tripped up both by not planning ahead enough AND planning ahead too much when doing series (if you get a deal for one than one book you should have more than one book's worth of material; however if you can’t change and move then you can be stifled! see ursula le guin revisiting the gendered magic of earthsea in tehanu years later, or tamora pierce going oh shit there are normies in tortall in protector of the small). also this is a ME thing but i fuckin hate purple or twee prose. fantasy does not mean break out the thesaurus.

sorry for the novel. im gonna think of like six more books as soon as i post this

[transman-badass]

Okay here's what I've got for this Southern Gothic idea

@cljordan-imperium @words-after-midnight @

this is going to be one of my darker stories so under the cut it goes.

The story involves a transman historian returning to the town one of his ancestors founded in Alabama. It's not for pleasure - he has no fond feelings towards the South - but rather he's following up on a theory of his. During the Civil War and Reconstruction period there was a female abolitionist who wrote under the name Mary Tuesday. She was a widow, or spinster, in her 30s, who dedicated her life to the cause, and to charity, and was extremely well-liked by those around her. As the story goes, Tuesday went down to Alabama after the Civil War to help with Reconstruction efforts, but her group was attacked by ex-confederate bandits. The supplies were stolen, the men were killed, and Tuesday taken, along with any other women, presumably to a brutal end. But the historian has a theory, one that's gaining popularity among his peers - Mary Tuesday might have been an early transman, living a double life as a man unknown to most. And the protagonist suspects Tuesday might have survived and escaped the attack.

So down the protagonist goes to the south, to face off the ghosts of the past - his own included. Most people don't recognize him, he transitioned after he left. The class divide, between his lower middle class/working poor upbringing and the world of the upper middle and higher, is immediately on display. He's allowed to stay in a former plantation outside of the city, which he has mixed feelings about. The plantation was the home of the man who legend says led the attack against Tuesday, a man so infamously cruel, even years later, when the town put up statues of quote unquote 'southern heroes', they refused to honor him. They say the only person he loved was his wife Dolly.

And sure, they say the plantation is haunted. Sure the town has some spooky tales, most well known to the protagonist being the local boogeyman figure [that I haven't named yet]. But the ghosts they say still walk the streets and houses turn out to be very different from the ghosts the protagonists actually encounters.

This story is partially a vent. I've lived in the south my whole life. I'm not a fan. All the bad things are true, and all the good things seem locked behind a paywall. And the bigotry is getting worse, at least, that's how it feels in this small town I live in. It's all Jesus, no love. Though I will say, I have never, in all my 30+ years, heard 'bless your heart' used as an insult. Last time I heard it, the full sentence was 'bless her heart, she's so deaf she can't understand me on the phone', said with a smile and small shake of the head.

Another thing that inspired this story was how many damn stories written before the millennium romanticized the south and the confederacy. I was looking through books that are probably long out of print and just boggling at them. The past really is a foreign country.

Other inspirations include Ghostland - highly recommend that book.

I aim to have a reasonably diverse cast, just like the south I've known my whole life. Don't plan to have any romance right now. There isn't really an external goal here. I don't know who's gonna read this, and when I first thought of the idea, I joked that I'd be cancelled for it. I'm writing this story for me, I think, more than some of the rest I've worked on. But if you like this idea, you're welcome to join me.

[shopcat]

do u have any particular sexuality thoughts abt eddie the way you do abt steve?

not really at least in the same way? i don't think!! :0 w steve we have a lot of basis to go off of bc we get 4 seasons of specific characterisation expressly to do with how he interacts with romance + girls + his own reputation thereupon so it's really fun to extract stuff from that but with eddie he's sort of more of a blank slate but also funnily, in comparison, we do get a LOT of character building back story and development even through implication that makes it a different kind of interesting thing to gather stuff from 🤔 it's also funny that we know way more about eddie's home life than robin OR steve's LOL literally just funny...

i think it's fun that the gay hc is so popular with eddie and i get it he is a little gayboy tbh and i also think it ties in significantly with how... you can tell from extrapolation and just basic like, relation that eddie is this guy who was outcast by society BEFORE he developed his own counterculture against it and the way he wears his specific type of anti authoritarian anti mainstream bubble wrap is in line i think with some sort of intrinsic part of him, and others, that he may feel he needs to protect and defend against. a not insignificant part of a lot of actual counterculture is being against the bigotry and oppression that goes hand in hand with society at large and, fundamentally, the loudest voices against oppression and the leading forefront will always be and SHOULD always be the victim and survivors of it, and a gay metalhead with a punk rock attitude in the 80s is the easiest thing in the world to imagine. i think we as like lgbt people and anyone else who has a certain hand in... allyship can pick up on this really easily with eddie and see ourselves in that part of him that feels different than the same vein social ostracisation like, dustin and mike go through, even if on the surface it appears similar.

so yeah basically i think he's literally gay. i don't know if the quote unquote gay CODING was intentional and i'm going to go with a definitive Not but i will enjoy the spoils nonetheless. i also think it's significant that a lot of the real life inspiration for eddie specifically WERE gay kids and probably that is where this unintentional coding springs from... the hunt the freak line is a very important one to me as well for this specifically with that it's him and robin, a canonical gay woman, meeting him on his level without skipping a beat. this is also where i disagree that obviously his death was not "bury your gays" because anything picked up on was not something that was figuratively put down 😭😭 the duffers did not have EDDIE circled on a whiteboard with 💯 GAY -> pointed to it we literally just think he's gay.

also just bc i kind of side stepped the sexuality hc itself unintentionally HEH i think he could also be bi sure and all this remain true!!! though i don't think he had any feelings for chrissy (and to me reading that scene as him having a crush on her comes off... different. soz.) potential age gap notwithstanding. i think bi eddie could be fun and also hilarious bc it means he had even more of a quote unquote chance and still erm. committed virgin sacrifice </3 i do agree with the like general consensus of him being bi feels different if only because erm... there is a lack of actual evidence that he is inclined one way or the other and being assumptive of his supposed attraction to women in order to undercut the gayness is like a very classic homophobic. thing. and also weirdos ruin it

if eddie is bisexual i think it is purely in theory for him as well as us (lol) and he would probably be SO annoying stoner-esque "why limit your love to just one half of the population mannn" type about it despite never getting any bc he's scared of girls in a gayboy way. also i do not see truly any part of him being some sort of behind the scenes suave seductor of women DESPITE what the horny minded may or may not think... he is not looming over any girl being some sort of manic pixie edward cullen reject he goes home and neurodiversely plays the same chord over and over again on his guitar then passes out wearing jeans he is literally a wet eyed loser not a wattpad BAD BOY. My poor little princess RIP

[t0ut3tsu-snz]

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚Written Introductory Post˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

ᴾʳᵒᵇᵃᵇˡʸ ᵍᵒⁿⁿᵃ ᵃⁿⁱᵐᵃᵗᵉ ᵗʰⁱˢ ʷⁱᵗʰ ᴳᵃᶜʰᵃ ˡᵃᵗᵉʳ . ୭ ˚○◦˚ About Me! ˚◦○˚ ୧ . ⭑ * •̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••⊰•̩̩͙ * ⭑

⋆˙⊹・Call me Brian/Toutetsu, or you could send an ask and I'll answer in character (depending on who you ask a question) ⋆˙⊹・Turning 17 in December ⋆˙⊹・He/Him (trans ftm) [actually I don't care what prns you use for me, just don't call me "she"] ⋆˙⊹・I work with gacha to (quote, unquote) "animate" my stories/writing because I can't actually draw for shit ⋆˙⊹・I basically write a big story about a giant crossover au of the fandoms listed below;

⭑ * •̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••⊰•̩̩͙ * ⭑ ✧･ﾟ: Fandoms I'm into :･ﾟ✧ ⭑ * •̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••⊰•̩̩͙ * ⭑

⋆˙⊹・Banana Bus Squad / Vanoss Crew (and by extension; Smii7y's crew: Kryoz, Smii7y, BigPuffer, and Grizzy) ⋆˙⊹・Dave and Bambi (the fnf mod!) ⋆˙⊹・FNaF (specifically the EthGoesBoom fandom of FNaF) ⋆˙⊹・Spooky Month (by Sr Pelo!) ⋆˙⊹・I also have two extra groups of characters, I have lovingly named those groups [D&B OCs] and [Actual Original OCs] ⋆˙⊹・I just realized that aside from my OCs, I listed the fandoms in list of most to least to appear. My original OCs would technically be at the top of the list, followed by BBS, D&B, FNaF, D&B OCs, and Spooky Month if you'd like to know. (Probably gonna make a list of recurring chars later

⭑ * •̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••⊰•̩̩͙ * ⭑ ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚Interested in˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ ⭑ * •̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••⊰•̩̩͙ * ⭑

⋆˙⊹・Very much interested in all those fandoms up there ⋆˙⊹・Also interested in writing stories and will always accept tips and criticism on my writing ⋆˙⊹・Interested in Gacha games (like, the dress up games by Lunime) ((Personally, I'm not at all interested in actual gacha games like Genshin impact or whatever))

⭑ * •̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••⊰•̩̩͙ * ⭑ . ୭ ˚○◦˚ I write about... ˚◦○˚ ୧ . ⭑ * •̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••⊰•̩̩͙ * ⭑

⋆˙⊹・Urban fantasy (ain't gonna be no dragons, but there will definitely be things like demons, hybrids/anthropomorphic animals, ect.) ((Urban fantasy; basically the real world that we're currently living in, except fantasy-type things like magic and demons and whatever exist inside the world)) ⋆˙⊹・Romance ⋆˙⊹・LGBTQ+ (Gay, trans, and everything of the like!) ((Ooooh, spooky))

TRIGGER WARNINGS/DNIs UNDER THE CUT, BE AWARE THAT I DO WRITE ABOUT TRIGGERING STUFF BECAUSE I'M A TEENAGER AND I WILL EXPERIMENT WITH WRITING DIFFERENT SCENARIOS THAT WILL BE PART OF MY STORIES, ALSO BECAUSE I HAVE FREE WILL IG?

⭑ * •̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••⊰•̩̩͙ * ⭑ ✧･ﾟ: TWs that I also write about :･ﾟ✧ ⭑ * •̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••⊰•̩̩͙ * ⭑

⋆˙⊹・D34th ⋆˙⊹・Sexual Innuendos/References/Jokes ⋆˙⊹・LGBTQph0b14 ⋆˙⊹・R4c1sm ⋆˙⊹・R4p3 ⋆˙⊹・P3d0ph1l14 ⋆˙⊹・4bus3 (D0m3st1c, Ch1ld 4bus3, S3xu4l 4bus3) ⋆˙⊹・S3lf-H4rm ⋆˙⊹・Su1c1d3 (Both attempted and succeeded) ⋆˙⊹・Trans Male Preg (Some of my characters including my interpretations of some fandom characters are trans males that still have uteruses/have also not done testosterone, therefore they can technically get pregnant)

⭑ * •̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••⊰•̩̩͙ * ⭑ ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚DNI if...˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ ⭑ * •̩̩͙⊱••••✩••••⊰•̩̩͙ * ⭑

⋆˙⊹・Racist ⋆˙⊹・Misogynist ⋆˙⊹・LGBTQphobic ⋆˙⊹・TERF ⋆˙⊹・Proshipper ⋆˙⊹・Any other DNIs that are common sense because I can't wrack my brain right now

[seavoice]

Do you really think Declan forgave Niall, or do you think he just accepted him?

hmm, honestly i've been trying to wrap my head around where all the lynch dynamics ended up, because a lot of the resolution was so vague and also a very speed-run wrap up lmao (and also, i haven't reread), but i think it's a bit of both.

i think he did kind of forgive him, or at least let go of a little bit of that hate--he has proof now that niall didn't expose him to violence because he thought he was disposable, and that niall didn't not teach ronan because he didn't care but because he didn't know how to and also because he was scared. i think he mainly "accepted" that both sides of niall existed--someone who loved his family and tried his best (close to his best?) with a bad lot, as well as what he already knew...a careless motherfucker who played too smart and fast and and loose with his whole family's lives.

in hindsight i GUESS this (niall actually loving and caring for his family alongside his bad choices) was the final lynch family twist maggie had up her sleeve, and i can actually see it hinted before now that i think about it. ronan's pov has not one but two separate mentions of how ronan found it hard to reconcile the two versions of his father but now he kind of saw it, and how declan doesn't understand that both versions of their father (scoundrel and a family guy) existed simultaneously etc etc (in trk and cdth). i'm on the fence about how effective this twist was--we've been GETTING niall prop in a sense for four books by the time cdth comes along, because ronan pov, and also it was clear that he didn't straight up hate his family, so hearing that hey, niall wasn't the actual worst isn't super groundbreaking. even if it's declan thinking this. because declan has also been telling us that he can't fully bring himself to hate his father for the past two books too! like, we DO know this.

i mean it was really interesting getting the mor and niall romance, i thought it was very gritty and intriguing and i enjoyed reading it immensely, and niall not resenting declan or ronan (presumably) even a little was unexpected lmao, cuz bar on the floor, but yeah other than that, i felt the niall characterization either a) shined a light on parts of his character i personally wasn't as interested compared to other parts (like for example, what came AFTER wrt black market, his thoughts on ronan and aurora, etc) or b) just sanded off a bit of very compelling friction wrt niall's relationship with his sons by making declan go hey everything i felt about my objectively sucky childhood was a coping mechanism. i'm going to give the story the benefit of the doubt that we as READERS are supposed to take that niall is more complicated than quote unquote redeemed, but also it doesn't do an awesome job of it on-page. imo. all said, i think a lot of it still remains complex and compelling, i think the meat of it is GREAT, just that the way greywaren chooses to reveal it with the memory dump feels a little weirdly written and abrupt! and as much as i believe that declan's feelings are more complex post gw, there is just no textual or subtextual proof supporting that. as far as readers see he's just like wow my dad actually was the best he just was sad about his Tragic PastTM :( niall lynch more interesting to me personally as a hole in the story

[elumish]

In the past couple weeks I've read like 25 cheap romance novels of various quality, so here is a somewhat random assortment of things that they've done that have or haven't worked:

Worked:

Giving a character a strong personality. This tends to be one of the easier ways to make a romance novel work, especially if it's not meant to be a particularly intellectual book. Make the character interesting early, and give her a strong sense of voice.

Distinguishing the love interest(s). In full disclosure, the books I've been reading are mostly reverse harem books, and really the only way to make those work is to have each of the men be distinct enough that the reader can keep track of them. Even if there's only one love interest, make them distinct enough from the other characters that they really stand out.

Having the character want something. The best stories are ones where the character has a goal or a desire that is clear and resonates. (To be clear, there are bad stories that do this too, but it's hard to find a good story that doesn't.)

Didn't work:

Having too many characters. I'm currently reading a book where there are like 15-20 named male characters, and many of them have very siimilar characteristics/roles (namely, being attracted to the MC). It's really hard to tell them apart. This is made when they're not made distinct enough. In one of the books I read, the most distinct thing I could say about one of the male love interests was that he was actively slightly hornier than the rest of the love interests.

Repeating the same thing over and over. Again, this becomes particularly noticeable in harem/reverse harem books, but any time you're having multiple sex scenes directly following each other or you're playing out the same debate/discussion/argument 2-3+ times in the story, it really starts to get repetitive.

Weird sex stuff. As shown by what I'm reading, I'm open to reading a lot, but there's a level of metaphor or description that moves from erotic to just plain strange. Also sometimes the blocking just doesn't make sense. They're cooking and then they're having sex sitting on the counter next to the stove and then they're lying down??? Where???? Is the stove still on?????

Characters being mocked for beng conventionally attractive. This is very specific but in one of the books, a character mentioned that she had been mocked for her small straight nose that turns up at the end, which is literally the quote-unquote ideal white/Christian/European nose. More broadly, it always just feels a little "oh woe is me, I'm so attractive" when a character is mocked for a hallmark of white/Christian/European beauty (being thin with an hourglass figure, full lips, long delicately curling hair, etc).

Not processing trauma. I read a book where a character went from literally days of torture to being rescued, waking up in bed, and having sex. Give your characters a chance to breathe.

Not communicating. See above example, but also in general, characters should actually...talk to each other. It's hard to believe characters are in love when they've never held a conversation that wasn't just sexual innuendos.

Bad consent. If a character says no (in any instance where there wasn't previous negotiation that established a safeword in lieu of a no), the other character(s) should at the very least pause so they can discuss it. Even if the person saying no is a guy.

Bad writing. This is a little bit of a gimme, but some stories are just written poorly from a structure/grammar/pacing standpoint. A lot of them could also use a better editor.

[eisforeidolon]

I dislike hellers' mindset for many reasons. I think one of the most irritating ''reasoning'' they have is that they think everything in some way or other is a ''parallel'' to destihell or related to destihell. For example, Big Sky (?) ? It is related to Destiel because Jensen's character has a romantic dynamic with a character and it is somehow a ''parallel'' to destihell despite there being no connection between the two shows or between the two ships in the slightest. Does Jensen appear in the Boys? It is supposed to be some sort of a nod to Dean's sexuality because Soldier Boy is (supposedly) LGBT. The Prequel? For sure JohnXMary romance feast is supposed to be related to and a parallel to destihell and John's sexuality is also 'implied' to be non-straight, so that is also a parallel to Dean's sexuality through John's implied sexuality. Jensen's song and album? Related to destihell, castiel, or even to Cockles and a nod to the Hellers.

Like, I normally would not care about such things, fans can be delusional and have fun however they want. However, this sort of reasoning is just not exactly 'fun', when it involves willfully being delusional and believing in things that do not exist. Now, I am not a fan of Jensen that much, but I think this sort of reasoning Hellers have kinda comes off as disrespectful to Jensen. It is also toxic in many ways because we've all seen how Hellers can act when Jensen does or says something they do not like. They called/call him a homophobe, they attack him verbally or insult him, target him in some ways. I also think that saying everything Jensen does is about destihell is just reducing Jensen's actions and talent and job to all destihell and ship lenses. And it kinda comes off as annoying. There has to be a difference between having fun in fandom circles and attacking people / being toxic to the actors. Hellers cannot differentiate both.

It's just ... not remotely how parallels work. Like, at all.

They start from the supposition literally everything is proof of bi!Dean and/or their ship, someway somehow, and then come up with these absurd supposed parallels to "prove" it. It's very obvious from the outside that it's just about a personal obsession when they will insist literally anything is a quote unquote parallel validating what they already decided to believe. Even before you get into all the ways that their "parallels" either aren't things actually happening in the story, don't genuinely match up to each other at all if you look at the context, or are so pathetically surface level as to be utterly meaningless.

And yeah, it is disrespectful and insulting to Jensen - they really do tend to treat him as a blow up doll who should just do what they want and otherwise STFU. It's also disparaging towards all of the other people putting years of work into SPN and the other media being co-opted to pretend the most important thing about them existing is to send super sneakret signals about D/C being totes real. Even worse to insist those people and productions must be part of an evil homophobe conspiracy if they dare indicate otherwise. It's bizarre and creepy and honestly genuinely concerning in terms of their mental state they're at a level of obsession they can't realize that not only is it not true anything everything Jensen does is about their ship, but the whole rest of the world doesn't revolve around it either. Seriously, they've let their personal prurient fantasies only vaguely related to characters from a silly CW tv show that ended a couple years ago completely take over their brains to the point of harassing and slandering real people, while telling themselves it's an important crusade for Great Justice because they've been wronged by not getting to see their fanfic play out on screen.

It's not. It's just fucking bonkers and they need to wake up and/or legitimately seek help. Genuinely, this is not healthy.

[officiallydriedkelp]

I decided to watch Troy (2004) just to compare it to the Song of Achilles and my general knowledge of the trojan war and here are my notes:

Oh, yeah, ofc the first frame Achilles is in has to be with him next to a naked woman, to really show just how not-gay he is

IM SO CONFUSED ABOUT WHERE IN THE STORYLINE WE ARE how far along does the story start, what?

Why is Agamemnon the King of Sparta here? He's the King of Mycenae, not Sparta??? (Oh, is this one of those things, like, most people recognize the name Sparta but not Mycenae, but most recognize Agamemnon and not Tyndareus/Menelaus so they just put them together? Stupid)

Theyre cousins? Achilles and Patroclus are cousins, you know, to really sell in how not gay for each other they are

They just skipped over the whole part with the wind not existing. Rude.

Why does Briseis know Paris? She lives in a village outside of Troy, and gets brought into the plot by raiding? It doesnt even make a little sense that she would know the prince???

The casting for Patroclus annoys me. The vibe is just off

So they're already at Troy 40 minutes into the movie, what are they doing with the remaining 2 hours? Just fight? Bleh

So Agamemnon isnt King of Sparta here actually, but it was just framed really weirdly in the beginning

Everything here is so heterosexual. And the worst part is that i cant even tell if it's to remove all possible suspicions of gayness, or if these kinds of movies really just are that heterosexual. This scares me.

So, um, yeah, they're fighting. . . Do the filmmakers realize that im mostly not paying attention to these long stretches of fighting because theyre simply just not plot relevant at all. Im just sitting here waiting for something to actually happen

The helmets that the trojans wear look really stupid

Achilles just kills two unarmed priests like its nothing. In the song of achilles he says he doesnt fight/kill unarmed people. Hmm.

"Ive killed men in five countries" - Achilles. What countries? Im pretty sure youve never left greece, dude. (Or are we talking City States? That is far less impressive)

Either way, No, cause isnt he supposed to be unexperienced in real battle?

Overall it seems like this movie tries to make achilles seem more badass than he actually is

The Agamemnon vs Achilles rivalry thingy seems way more agressive here

The plot is moving forward so quickly

Like, we're not even halfway through the movie and we're already at the point where achilles refuses to fight. What is the other 1 h 40 minutes about then???

Giving Patroclus this little screen time should be a crime. He has been in like 3 scenes so far

"I thought you how to fight but I never thought you why to fight" - Achilles. "I fight for you" - Patroclus. Very heterosexual of you, mates

(Also, yes, Achilles taught Patroclus to fight here and Chiron doesnt seem to exist)

Why did they kill Menelaus? He actually survives to the end of the war, so why kill him so early on?

Ngl this movie does have some great one liners

Good for quotes and stuff

Bro why are they forcing a romance between Achilles and Briseis?

Oh great, now they're doing the deed and everything. . . Bruh. Everything to emphasisde the heterosexuality i suppose

It isnt believeable to us as an audience that Patroclus's death brings out this unbridled rage in achilles. We havent formed enough of a bond to this patroclus, because he has been in such few scenes

The only defense they have for this turn of events is that theyre quote unquote "cousins". But still, that is just a "fact", not something that makes us sympathise with achilles's feelings/actions

Also, the trojan war is supposed to last TEN YEARS! Here all events happen withing the span of like 3 days!!!

One scene with a random soldier carving a toy horse for his son back home was really cute tho

Wait, they're making the trojan horse, but achilles is still alive? THEY'RE MESSING WITH THE TIMELINE

(I get why they did it, for narrative purposed, but it still annoys me)

Ok, now Achilles is dead. That was dramatic.

Briseis was easily the character that was changed the most from the source material

But credit to them for writing "inspired by Homer's The Illiad" and not "based on" in the credits. At least they're aknowledging that the movie isnt exactly accurate

Yeah that was all I has to say. I think the movie in itself was fine (although far from perfect), but when we compare it to what it was based on some things come across as strange

[lesdeuxxx]

i wrote a comment on this one blogs review of the heartstopper Netflix show, and it didn't let me post, and i spent an hour writing it so i decided it needs to be somewhere

the article: 

https://takepride.shop/blogs/blog/heartstopper-review-the-problems-of-its-adaptation?comment=126795088033#comments

my response:

tbh, i think every problem with the show could have been fixed with three things:

-more episodes, or at least the standard 10 episode season instead of 8

-make it a teen cartoon

-bring back the fantasy

The general pacing problems of every single character's relationship is a victim of the fact Netflix only gave them like 6 hours to work with, and not only that, but for some reason they decided to incorporate all of volume one into season one instead of make chapter one season one. i think this was probably due to Alice trying to adapt as much as they could into the show, and also add new plot points to expand on it, because if Netflix didn't renew it for a second season, that would leave the whole nick showing up at Charlie's house thing quote unquote, "unresolved" (i say this because it leaves the show itself on a cliffhanger, not the story.) if netflix gave seesaw and alice the standard 10 episode season, i think there would have been less pressure to cram in 250+ pages into 6 hours of screen time, and we would have gotten a more realistic approach to not only the passage of time, but also all of the relationship growth, and the kiss at harry's party would have been more appropriate set at the end of the season.

I'm a big advocate for animation, and i think adapting heartstopper into a teen drama cartoon would have not only benefited the show, as it would allow for more metaphorical nuance with charlie's mental health, but there really haven't been any teen cartoons in mainstream pop culture sense daria in the 90’s, and i think it would have been not only amazing to see a cartoon directed at teenagers that discussed mental health issues in a real life way, but also to show queer characters with actual personality's, goals, storylines, character archs, and in general things outside of “generic white twink with the fashion sense of a middle school social studies teacher that uses AAVE” or “generic white twink with button down has a secret relationship with a homophobic jock” or “generic white twink wears crop top and eyeshadow”

(i also think the show would have done better as a animated franchise, because the build up with the cast ahead of the shows premier gave me massive issues, because i wasn't watching nick and charlie's relationship, i was seeing kit connor and joe locke act, and having the show animated would have fixed this issue that i know a lot of people besides me had with differentiation) 

I also wish the show played more into the aesthetic of “small town romance” that Nick and Charlie embody. Even though arguably most of the music featured in the show could be found on any heartstopper fan made playlist, i almost feel it doesn't do the vibe of heartstopper right, as the whole small-town-teenage-high-school-sweetheart-honeymoon-phase soulmates-romance of them hanging out all day everyday from the comic/novellas/novel is lost in something completely different. (I should note this is the feeling I get every time i see straight people use audios from the nick and Charlie novella on tik tok.) One of the best examples I have of this effect being literally lost in translation is the song “out of my league” by fitz and the tantrums. I saw two fan made edits, one made of the comic panels to the song, and one composed of clips from the show to the song. Both used the same section of the song, both made by the same creator. and I can't fully explain it, but the etherealness of heartstopper was fully missing from the show edit. It was lacking that distinct teenage romance montage fantasy that the book was giving.

It's honestly sad, because I think the show is good, and has legs to stand on separately, however poor execution of all the story, pacing issues, and the energy of the show just being sucked out of it will forever mean the source material is better.

A part of me does think however, this is in large part on seesaw rather than alice, as i'm sure if alice worked directly with netflix on everything, not only would everything just be better, but we wouldn't have plot holes like all of ben's character, all of harry's character, all of nick's friends excluding miss homewrecker (affectionately, i do usually root for the homewrecker), aleds replacement, tao’s hair, and definitely we wouldn't have the horrendous pacing of every single line.

[heretherebedork]

the thing about the whole "happy ending" thing, for me, is that ship has already sailed? like, the story of bad buddy was their college romance, and it's already had its ending. the show itself will probably have a quote unquote happy ending but it honestly feels like it can, at most, be a happy epilogue. idk all the joy has drained out of this show for me

I agree. Actually, happy epilogue is the perfect way to put it. Yes, they're going to end up happy but this was the story of their college romance and whatever happiness they find isn't what I was hoping for them and it wasn't what I wanted from the show.

A happy epilogue. What an interesting way to phrase something so disappointing. I like it. Thank you, anon. That's a good phrase.

A happy epilogue to a sad and painful ending.

[marmotish]

Does Freyja actually love Chester or is she holding onto to the weird family after Francis got adopted because she is lonely?

((no joke - these asks came one after the other in my notifs and uhh ... 😅))

“You’ll never be happy within the confines of a quote, unquote, ‘traditional relationship’. And I said what I said because it pains me to see you try to fit into one simply because it is the default mode of polite society.” — Elementary 3x07

Does Freyja love Chester?

In her own way, she does. How she acts on it really depends on whether or not she gives Francis up for adoption. In the case where she does give him up, she kind of looks for a way to hold on to what she had and confesses her feelings. If she adopts Francis, she is quite prepared to raise him alone and is content to let whatever relationship she has with Chester play out naturally. Which kind of leads on to the second anon’s question.

Does Freyja end up with Chester?

Short answer? It’s possible. Only from the start, Freyja and Chester had very different approaches and ideas when it came to romance. Freyja’s previous relationships had been quick to start and quick to fizzle out, not really expecting things to develop into a long-term relationship. Chester was looking for someone to start a family with, a traditional kind of love story with a happy ending.

The thing is, while their attempts at other relationships might fail, they kind of keep coming back to each other. Late night chats in the dark with a glass of red wine (which Freyja doesn’t like but drinks anyway). In that sense they are kind of a constant in each other’s lives. If they manage to find a relationship that works for both of them, then that’s great. If not, they will remain in each other’s lives regardless.

Whether you care to admit it lately or not, I am an important part of your life. And whether I say it out loud or not, you are an important part of mine. And I think, even though we might draw further or nearer from each other depending on circumstance, you and I are bound somehow. — Elementary 3x04