#we’re not even writing good omens fanfic we’re writing other fandoms because this one is too much to handle

[loganlostitall]

@murdadixon and I making eye contact, tearful and distressed, both saying “I need to write. I can’t do this anymore.” after finishing good omens 2

[r3musmoony]

Extended what might’ve been in my bio but ultimately ended up cutting it out because it was getting way too long (^з^)-☆

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

Currently hosting a GoFundMe for my wheelchair due to lack of funds and pure cost of it. If you could donate even just $1 it would be so helpful

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

Yes I smoke, yes I am also disabled, piss off if you think I can’t do both and get a better life

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

this is also now slowly becoming an emo blog. I will not apologise, I am slowly falling back into my early teen ways

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

Keep staring I might do a trick! 凸^-^凸　

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

I refuse to cater to ableists, and yes that includes ableist disabled people. you are still being ableist even if you are disabled yourself

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

I write fanfic, my ao3 profile is Eddies_Steve

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

Yes my real name is Remus, yes I named myself after Remus Lupin, I do not support JKR or anyone like her which is why I stole the name so that a faggot and tranny can ‘bring shame’ to JKR and her godawful inhumane views

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

I am in so many fandoms it’s hard to keep track but my main ones at the moment are:

Into the Spider-verse/Across the Spider-verse (I have a side-blog specifically dedicated to ATSV @hobi3brown )

9-1-1

9-1-1 Lone Star

Stranger Things (I do not support the actors or Netflix)

Criminal Minds

Supernatural

Rocky Horror Picture Show

The Marauders

DC (slowly being corrupted by a friend, still very new to DC)

MCU (mostly Tom Hollands Spider-Man but also slowly getting more involved with other stuff)

Shadow and Bone (TV show and books)

Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom (CK is unfinished atm)

Good Omens

Shameless

Jake and Johnnie

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

As mentioned in my bio, I have Tourette’s syndrome, no I do not have Coprolalia/Copropraxia however I do have echolalia/echopraxia, please do not try and give me tics because you will be blocked.

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

Don’t be afraid to call me out if I say something outdated/offensive, I am always open to learning more as a person and I will not take offence.

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

Bands that I enjoy in no particular order:

The Casualties

Anti-Flag

Black-flag

Metallica

Motley crue

The cure

Motörhead

Judas Priest

Mother Mother

Hozier

Ghost

Iron Maiden

Depeche Mode

She Wants Revenge

Sister of Mercy

Johnnie Guilbert

Jake Webber

The Front Bottoms (concert in April! Anyone else coming to The Gov in Adelaide on the day I’d love to meet you!)

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

This is almost certainly way too much information about me to be sharing on the internet but fuck it, life is short and we all end up dead anyway so might as well have fun while we’re here.

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

A cane user, crutch user, and soon-to-be wheelchair user when I can afford it, stuff is insane to afford without insurance covering it sadly, esp in Australia where the NDIS doesn’t actually rly cover much anyway

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

very supportive of self-diagnosis as I am self-diagnosed with a few things (with months of research and peer-review)

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

I now have a second side blog (as of 14/7/2023) dedicated to sharks! @sharkb01

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

another side blog for Good Omens! @inneffablegays

ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

now also with a side blog for my education of polytheistic norse paganism! @norsepagangay

[dixkens]

MI6 Cafe Creators Tag Game

So late getting to this, but thanks to @silverbrume for tagging me in!

We’d love for people to keep getting to know each other after this year’s 007 Fest, so we’re starting this tag game!

Rules: Answer the questions, then tag 3 new people to complete this. Also tag the person who tagged you and @mi6-cafe so we can reblog your response.

Note that when we say ‘fanwork’ in the questions below, that could mean a fanfic, gif, fanart, headcanon, cosplay, crocheted work—any kind of fancreation counts!

What work of yours challenged you when you were creating it?

Everything I’ve written?

But seriously. There’s Nothing to Fear https://archiveofourown.org/works/27674746 from my Bondverse x Leverage crossover series The Incredibly True Adventures of 2 Hackers in Love where Q, seriously wounded in Afghanistan after a plane crash, has to cope with recovering from a life-changing injury.

Deciding that Q’s backstory was wounded veteran always felt right. On the other hand, writing the immediate aftermath of his injury felt like a challenge and a risk and one I wasn’t sure I was up to executing. Particularly since it was important to me to keep the story respectful of the realities of the situation I was fictionalizing.

What is a fanwork you’ve seen which gave you a new headcanon about a character?

There was a fic with a line about how much more dangerous Q is than an agent. I latched onto the idea that Q is dangerous and, more importantly, aware of it quite hard. The fic was good in several ways but also had plot points that irritated me (to the point that if you ask me about it, I WILL rant at you) so I’m not going to track it down to link.

Is there a fanwork that you really want to make, but you haven’t started yet?

Two that I can think of.

The first’s working title is Yusef’s Tale. A backstory for the man Vesper loved and was betrayed by.

The second is a femslash crossover with the movie Red where M (Mansfield) and Victoria Winslow (the assassin played by Helen Mirrin) were/are lovers.

What fanwork of yours surprised you, and how?

High Water Mark https://archiveofourown.org/works/36281518 - I wrote a magical AU. I made up a mythos. I made Q a god. I made M his priestess. I wrote M/Q.  The whole thing was very different from what I would have said that I ‘usually write’.

What doesn’t surprise me is it will probably have a sequel. This keeps happening to me.

What themes/styles/subjects are common across many of your fanworks? Alternatively, what themes/styles/subjects are you most interested in creating?

High-trust committed relationships, stories where the conflict is Individual vs System, complex examinations of consent, agency, and autonomy. I also tend to sprinkle in references to other fandoms and geeky jokes in a variety of subjects.

I find myself writing similar things from different angles, making something that seems innocuous at first glance threatening later, or taking the same situation and interpreting it multiple ways. For example, in my branching series Curriculum Vitae https://archiveofourown.org/series/2276666 Q ends up wrapped in a blanket several times but because of circumstances his responses vary from nearly having a panic attack to falling asleep.

What other fandoms do you create for, if any?

I’ve posted in Leverage, Good Omens, Discworld, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Norse Mythology and likely will again.

I also have WIPs for the Wayward Children series and Thor: Ragnarok. I aspire to someday write fanfic for my favorite spy movie of all time Hopscotch.

Is there an artist that you like to listen to while you create? Or one whose work always inspires you?

I don’t generally listen to anything while I’m writing though I do sometimes find songs that fit a fic’s theme. I’ve been slowly building a playlist to go with 2 Hackers for example.

Share a fanwork that you’ve found yourself thinking about weeks after reading/seeing it.

This is not a Bond fanwork but it is one I think about from time to time even now, years after I first saw it. This Firefly video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZr9wsZz_bk (I hesitate to call it a fanvid) is an excellent example of a creative work that takes a critical look at the source material’s flaws.

Finally, share where you post your works!

Mostly at https://archiveofourown.org/users/hypatia

Occasionally on https://dixkens.tumblr.com/

Tagging: I’m so late to this party I don’t know who hasn’t already been tagged. If you haven’t and read this, comment, and I’ll tag you!

Edited: Tagging @verdigrissoup

[quillyfied]

Fanfic Writer 20 Questions

tagged by @shakespearevillain! Much thanks!

My AO3, because that's the only link I have the energy to provide, folks :P

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

135, according to the internet. That seems like a lot.

2. what’s your total ao3 word count?

957,125. Oh heck guys that's not too far off from a truly staggering number that I can't process XD

3. how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Um...thirteen, if you take out the duplicates. In order of content, it's Homestuck, Good Omens, Dice Camera Action, The Adventure Zone, Avatar: Legend of Korra, Twilight, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Powerpuff Girls, Red vs Blue, Sherlock BBC, Avengers, Pokemon Sun and Moon, and Harry Potter. Mind, this is just what's posted on AO3...though even the stuff that's not on AO3 and never will be is mostly here. I think there's some various anime fandoms that got some stuff. Maybe some Phineas and Ferb, some Kick Buttowski.

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

Let's see...

1. Snake Children, or Snildren, (Good Omens, Wiggleverse)

2. Snake Cottage, or Snottage, (Good Omens, Wiggleverse

3. Comfort and Joy (Good Omens, Wiggleverse collab with OlwenDylluan)

4. running into the sun (but i'm running behind) (The Adventure Zone: Balance)

5. Broken Crowns (Homestuck)

5. do you respond to comments? why or why not?

I try to! Don't always succeed or have the spoons, but especially sweet or thoughtful comments I try to give some semblance of response to. I cherish every single comment, even if I don't always respond.

6. what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Ha. Um. Probably "Ashes", a Twilight fic from Marcus' point of view about losing Didyme. Entirely canon-compliant and canon-driven, which is probably why it ends so sadly. If we're talking off AO3, I'd have to go digging and I have no such time.

7. do you write crossovers?

No, not really; I've done it by very special occasional request. Of course, you have to define a crossover these days, bc to me, a crossover is shoving two fandoms in the same space and making them interact with each other, but some people tag their AU fanfics as crossovers when it's just "insert characters from fandom A into world of fandom B" and that's...not a crossover. That's an AU. Regardless: no. I don't write these.

8. have you ever received hate on a fic?

Kinda? Had one comment where someone said "i am going to kill you" and that's it so I had no context for if it was a playful jest or a statement of intent and I reacted as if it were the second XD (Also had one fic where the story didn't turn out how a reader was expecting and my collaborator and I knew from their comments that they probably weren't going to like what was coming up and they didn't, and there was some small bit of friction over it, but that wasn't really hate.)

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

No.

10. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Kinda? I had someone post a fic from forums/deviantART to FFN because I was young and thought I needed parental permission to make an FFN account (which I did not have, dad said no) and I had a reader who insisted the FFN crowd needed to read it and started posting it without my permission, but they didn't say it was mine until the author's note at the very end of the last chapter; at that point I finally had made an FFN account on my own and tried to insist the poster take it down since I was there now and could post it myself but they didn't reply. I reported it on FFN but nothing was ever done about it and the poster never replied to my messages. Far as I know it might still be there and I'm resigned to it.

11. have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope! Would be cool, but I'm not holding my breath XD

12. have you ever co-written a fic before?

Oh yeah, all the time now!

13. what’s your all-time favorite ship?

Oh boy. Coming from a veteran shipper, this is quite the question. Naruto/Hinata (from Naruto) and Toph/Sokka (from Avatar: The Last Airbender) were my first big OTPs and I will always love them and have a special place in my heart for them. But I don't know if I can pick a FAVORITE. All my ships are precious.

14. whats a wip that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I wish I could have finished Broken Crowns and its prequel (and maybe the possible sequel I was toying with). That was a fun experiment in flying by the seat of my pants, and the first thing I've ever written that was so big it broke Spellcheck, but ultimately falling out of the Homestuck fandom and losing interest in the project were the death of it. I'm glad I was able to provide a "here's where this was going" chapter, at least, so many fics that fall by the wayside don't get that and it's such a great thing to do for readers.

15. what are your writing strengths?

I think I'm best at character voices and dialogue, and maybe the occasional witty turn of phrase. Also technical polish; sure, my plots are contrived and the characterization might be dodgy but by gum at least my commas are mostly in the right spots and everything is spelled correctly XD (Given that as a reader grammatical errors are what throw me off and distract and irritate me most, I think my own writing evolved to not distract myself with that, at least.)

16. what are your writing weaknesses?

Oh, boy. Settings, I think. Describing settings. And finishing long-form work that's in any way original. Long fic based off another story/movie/whatever? Easy peasy, got an outline all ready to go and tailor-made. Long fic based off my own random ideas? Um...help??

17. what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

Since I only know one of them, I am scared stiff to try it XD Google translate can only take you so far.

18. what was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Very, very first? Probably either Disney or Luigi's Mansion. Published on the internet? Harry Potter.

19. what’s your favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Oh, gosh. I have such love in my heart for many of my own works, which is pleasant and comforting and a nice change from visceral self-loathing, but if I had to pick a few (because heck no I can't just pick one)...the Sherlockbound series I wrote for Homestuck, "i have loved the stars too fondly" for The Adventure Zone: Balance, Suboptimal Omens for DCA, and probably a million oneshots along the way that have helped me work things out and figure myself out as an artist and as a person.

20. who do you tag?

I tag anyone who's looking at this and thinking "gosh, that would be fun." You can even tag me in the post. Blanket permission. Do it!

[jenroses]

Dear Good Omens Fandom *

*And others.

It’s time to talk about footnotes.

Okay, so there are a number of different ways to augment text in a print book to provide more information. When expanding on an idea, on a page, one often puts a footnote to a SHORT paragraph that appears on the same page. In digital versions, all the footnotes are often at the back of the text and linked to via some variant of a hyperlink. 

Functionally, in a print book, most people will read the paragraph or sentence the footnote is in, drop their glance to the bottom of the page, and look up again. Grade: B+, perfectly serviceable.

Functionally, in a properly coded digital document such as an Ebook or web page, one clicks the footnote symbol or number, reads, and then either clicks it again or hits the back button to get back to where they were. Grade: C-, if you exit on the bookmark you may never get back to where you started, if you hit a back button, the document may reload if your browser is being techy, but if it is coded right, you probably can usually get back to where you need to be. 

If it is not coded properly or at all, F-, not functional, will not read.

When providing references or receipts, one uses references, often a numerical list or alphabetical list at the back of the book, chapter or article. The point is that if someone wants more information, they can get it. In a nonfiction article, this works well. 

You provide your reference in whatever style is appropriate to the publication, people can find what they need, the document is rarely long enough to care about flipping back and forth. Online, even easier. People can click through, open in a new window, whatever.  Grade for nonfiction: A+. Provides extra information in an accessible way. 

Grade for fiction... eh. Just use an appendix in a print book, author’s note, end note, whatever. Footnotes for receipts pull me out of the story. Grade: B- (or C+)

And online? Use an end note or chapter note. You rarely need to provide links in the text in fiction, just use an end note and say, “By the way, if you were wondering about such and such, here’s where it came from and what it’s about.” Easy peasy, flow is fine. Grade: A

So in a fandom which grew up with a fully footnoted actual physical book such as Good Omens? The temptation is to stick with the original for style, but please, my darlings, I beg you, do not do this. YES, you can absolutely provide snarky asides, quips and expanded information. You can do it without interrupting yourself mid sentence. 

But it will be more functional in a digital environment, ESPECIALLY for people who use “whole work” viewing rather than chapters, people who download for reading later, and people who are visually impaired who need screen readers... if you use another method.* You do not have to send people on a wild goose chase to find footnotes, which many will simply give up on and ignore, and in which case, why did you bother? *It works like this. Put an asterisk in where you want your aside. Finish your paragraph. Break your paragraph. Add another asterisk and italicize your text. Voila.

Using this alternate method has multiple benefits. Your quip, witticism, background note or digression does not interrupt the flow of the writing. People read the footnote just about precisely where they need to. They do not get lost. They don’t have to follow links. Screen readers are 100% fluent with this method. And it copies from Google Docs to AO3 (if you use rich text paste and not html) seamlessly with nothing getting lost in the transition. 

The eye sees the asterisk,* scans down for another asterisk, finds it, reads, and scans back up a very short distance. 

*Like this.

Since pagination doesn’t happen in AO3 or google docs or websites or screen readers set on “scroll”... you simply do not have one of the components required for proper footnoting. Footnotes go at the foot of the page. And a 100,000 word fanfic doesn’t have pages. It has chapters.

And that’s a problem on Archive of Our Own. You see, people tend to upload one chapter at a time. Footnotes are often numbered within chapters starting from 1. But if you do that, and someone has loaded your entire story, the minute they get to chapter 2, those careful footnote links you crafted bounce them up to chapter 1′s footnotes. 

The Asterisk method completely avoids that. It removes the coding stage. It removes all bouncing around. It works no matter how people load your work. And that, mes anges,* is functional. And it looks fine. It’s intuitive. And it doesn’t make me want to throw my phone out of the window of a moving car because we’re out of cell range** and I’m having to follow hundreds of footnotes back and forth and I couldn’t load the whole document because the footnotes wouldn’t work that way and now I can’t get the next chapter of your fucking amazing writing.

*my angels, French **true story, happened today Nov. 24, 2019. The wanting. I didn’t actually do it because I’m a goddamn grownup.

Grade for using the asterisk method? Five huge sighs of relief, and an A+ from every single person who uses a screen reader or can just about manage a scroll but can’t deal with finding the back button in the dark for whatever reason*.

*rheumatoid arthritis, stiff hands, lotsa lying down reading here.    

The show did not have footnotes. It had occasional voiceovers. It’s okay to adapt your technique to the needs of the technology. 

Bless everyone who has painstakingly gone through and linked to footnotes and back again. I know you worked really hard on it. Please stop doing it. This method is so much easier. 

If you want to see how this works in a full fic, I happen to have one here. Mitzvah

End note

There is no real correlation between the quality of the story and the quality of the footnote method. I see a wide variety of methods in many stories throughout the fandom. You’re not wrong per se, if you don’t do it my way. But you’re doing more work than you need to, and wasting time you could be doing literally anything else. This is probably best taken as a “going forward” recommendation, because no one, literally no one expects you to go back and redo hundreds of footnotes. 

If you reread your own work, and you have a lot of footnotes, it is wise to read it on multiple devices and in multiple ways. Does it make sense without footnotes? Some people will never look at a single one. If someone tries to use the footnotes, do they work in subsequent chapters if they’re not in chapter by chapter mode? If someone just reads in order, text first, footnotes last, are they going to have any idea what the footnotes are referring to? I have done literally all of these things in different fics in the fandom.  

[ladyaj-13]

10 question fic writing

Tagged by @ronniebox, thanks Tee!

1) What’s your favourite genre to write?

Probably something quite happy - fluffy found family perhaps. Or friendship fic.

2) Do you pull inspiration from real-life or do you pull things from other books/fanfiction you’ve read?

Both! Reading fanfic spawns fanfic for me (example: writing 00q because I’ve spent the last week reading it), but not so much pulling things from it. I just end up thinking about those characters and then jumping off from there. In real life, I have a friend who’s girlfriend has a wide social circle (whereas I am pretty sheltered, lol) so I often find myself noting stuff she says about people she knows because I think ‘ooh, I’d never have considered that, that might come in useful one day’ :D

3) Do you tend to write one-shots, short stories or longer things?

One shots is my comfort zone, anything up to 5000 words and preferably  bashed out in one sitting. But I write longer stuff too, I just find the discipline harder!

4) Do you prefer writing descriptions or dialogue?

Dialogue generally. Often a fic will span out of a conversation characters have in my head and I’m frantically transcribing and then going ‘but plot? We need plot?’

5) Favourite fic/book of all the time?

Book, I always say Good Omens. I love it, and I also re-read it every couple of years. Fic - that’s a hard one! I don’t know, it depends what fandom I’m into at the time.

6) Favourite trope?

I mean... fake dating/marriage gets me every time. It’s a wonderful bundle of mutual pining, only one bed, domesticity, and all those other good tropes rolled into one.

7) Are you the kind of person to work on more than one wip?

Yes... I try not to have too many posted half finished things (although, whoops, I haven’t updated either of my Endeavour WIPs in... a while) but I also have SO MANY on my google docs. I will sometimes spend a writing session dotting between them as well.

8) How long have you been writing for?

If you count kid scribblings, literally decades. Fanfic, we’re probably on about year... 18? 19? :S 

I did creative writing as a minor at university, but that then put me off writing for a long while after graduating. I got back into it about properly and consistently about 18 months ago.

9) Do you tend to write more during the morning, afternoon or evening?

Evening usually, but since the world has turned upside down, afternoon as well. Best writing is usually after daydreaming, so post-washing up, post-brushing teeth, or post-walking somewhere.

10) Do you ever prefer to post and update your wip chapter by chapter, or do you prefer to wait until your wip is 100% finished before sharing it?

A mix! Depends how confident I am on it. If I’m not confident, I’m less likely to start posting in case I abandon it, or want to go back and change stuff.

I have no idea who’s been tagged and who hasn’t... @wherehefoundtheporcupine @hekate1308 @pendragonpants fancy giving it a go?

[gh0stbear]

Today we’re gonna talk about Good Omens. Specifically, the way fans interpret Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship and how damaging it is to many asexual people as well as straight up disrespectful to the late Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Normally I don’t really care about how fandom interprets canon, as long as they’re not being bigoted or completely bastardizing characters. But I have a big fuckin’ problem with Good Omens fans, and I’m finally making a post about it. And before you ask, no, I will not be accepting criticism because fuck that.

Out of respect for Pratchett, Gaiman has generally refused labeling Zira and Crowley as gay. At first, I was outraged at this... but then I finished the television series and I quickly understood just why Gaiman decided to do this. It’s explicit in the character’s interactions, the verbal responses from other characters, the plot, the musical score, the dialogue, and interviews with Tennant and Sheen that these two are involved romantically. However, Gaiman has made it clear that angels and demons are agender or gnc and that the relationship between them is NOT a physical one. 

So why is it that nearly every fanfic on AO3 and nearly all fan discussion centers around the sexual relationship or budding sexual relationship between the two??

I’ve heard the argument from some that "Just bc they're ace doesn't mean they cant have sex!!! They're sex positive and sex neutral!!!"

But you’re missing the fucking point!

Do you know how rare it is to find asexual representation that isn’t dehumanizing and hurtful?? Much less GAY asexuals who end up in a soft, loving, nonsexual relationship with one another in canon. I’m unaware of the latter ever having been done before, and as a sex repulsed asexual lesbian, seeing a relationship I’ve always dreamed of for myself on screen meant the world to me. It gave me hope that one day I might get to have a relationship even somewhat close to theirs. It made me feel less broken. Because even with asexual relationships in media, it’s nearly always with one ace and one allo person, and the two end up having sex anyway!!! I have never witnessed a relationship between two asexual characters where sex was not included in that relationship but where they were still able to be Soft and have their happy ending without one or both of them being forced to change. Ever. 

This isn’t about “being sex positive uwu.” This is about aphobia and about being disrespectful to sex repulsed and ace people, as well as to the creators of the characters, and it’s not fucking cute. It’s exhausting and incredibly hurtful. It’s not enough that there are millions of other characters to ship sexually, people still feel the need to take this ONE relationship from me and others like me and alter canon to suit their need to see everyone fuck. 

I’m not saying that sex positive or sex neutral aces aren’t allowed to write sex. I’m not saying that at all. Hell, even I write it sometimes. But this is the first time in popular media that I know of where audiences get to witness a loving, asexual relationship that does not involve sex or even kissing.

tdlr; Let me and others like me have this ONE fucking gay ace relationship without insisting on making it sexual to suit your own selfish needs. 

[norwegianpornfaerie]

I was tagged by the delightful @arcanemoody!

Pick 10 ships without reading the questions.

Thorki

Hiddlesworth

Rimmer/Lister

Stony

Stucky

Venom

Peter/Ned

Jeeves/Wooster

Ineffable Husbands

Tennant/Sheen (Staged-version)

1. Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that you first started shipping 6?

Hah, probably the trailer!! No, that was an instant thing. They just have such great chemistry, and every single frame of that movie confirms it. The banter, the jealousy, the compatibility, the way they care for one another... 2. Have you ever read a FanFiction about 2?

Yes, but not many. I’m VERY picky about the fanfic I read, particularly RPF fanfic. It’s not so much that there’s bad stuff out there (though there is, and you have to search to find stuff you really like), but people also have very different takes on RPF characterization, and again, I’m picky. :p 3. Has a picture of 4 ever been your screen saver/profile picture/tumblr? No, not those two. But they were part of a password of mine once, if that counts! 4. If 7 were to suddenly break-up today, what would your reaction be?

Aw man... I mean, they’re not canon, but if they were to break up in an universe, I would be heartbroken. They’re one of my comfort pairings, and so, so sweet. I’d like to see them together forever.

5. Why is 1 so important? So many reasons. I got into Thorki after Ragnarok, which is a movie that I share a love of with @roadsterguysblog. Seeing that film was such a boost to my creativity, and made me start writing more again. And as for the ship itself, the characters are so interesting and sweet (yes, even Loki), and because they’ve known one another their whole lives and lived as family, it’s a unique dynamic. It’s very fun to play around with. I guess they’re also a comfort pairing of sorts, which is odd for something with so much angst potential. But I suppose I love them enough for them to feel very familiar? Something like that. 6. Is 9 a funny ship or a serious ship?

Both! Like most ships, but definitely this one. Good Omens is a comedy, but also serious, in that perfect way both Pratchett and Gaiman has. It’s funny in that their situation is absurd, and their bickering is clever and biting and funny, but it’s serious in that they’re both super intense people, living through very serious times, and surviving serious scenarioes. 7. Out of all of the ships listed, which ship has the most chemistry?

Oh man, that’s a tough one. I’m tempted to say Ineffable Husbands, but Hiddlesworth is UP there. I mean, I ship RPF couples because the chemistry between them is blatant, and quite often more present than for a completely fictional couple. I think it’s a tie, there. 8. Out of all of your ships listed, which ship has the strongest bond? I mean, possibly Ineffable Husbands again? Just by virtue of their roles, and their age! But there are many contenders here - Venom, for one, as they are literally one person. But it’s going to be Ineffable Husbands, I think, though I feel like they’re cheating.   9. How many times have you read/watched 8’s fandom?

Read and watched, for this one! Oh, I honestly don’t know. I watched the Jeeves & Wooster when I was a kid, and there were a lot of reruns. As an adult, I read the novels, and rewatched the show.... so, so many times. I literally have no idea. PLEASE, if you get a chance, read the books. Some are even available for free, due to copyright. They’re amazing, Wodehouse was a genius. 10. Which ship has lasted the longest?

In terms of interpersonal relationship, that’s got to be Ineffable Husbands, again. But in terms of how long have I shipped them - Rimmer/Lister, no question. I don’t think I shipped them when I watched the show while I was a kid, but I think the embers of what became that fire was definitely there. 11. How many times, if ever, has 2 broken up? Well, they’re not canon! :D In as much as an RPF-ship can be canon. So thankfully, never. :) Though they aren’t seen together as often as they used to be, for obvious reasons, as they don’t work together, they seemed to be great friends and I’ve no doubt they still are. 12. If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive, 2 or 8? If it’s an either/or question, definitely Jeeves and Wooster. Because Jeeves is basically magic, and would just make it happen. But I think Chris would do pretty well too, and Tom is a great runner. 13. Did 5 ever have to hide their relationship for any reason?

They’re not canon, so it’s not applicable. Though if they WERE a couple in the 40s, they would have had to hide it, of course. 14. Is 4 still together?

WE DON’T TALK ABOUT ENDGAME.

15. Is 3 canon?

Very few of these are, so nope! 16. If all 10 ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win? Again, even though we’re dealing with a literal angel and demon here, Jeeves would win. Because Jeeves. 17. Has anybody ever tried to sabotage 10’s ship?

Staged the show is basically the story of other people and David and Michael themselves all continually trying to sabotage them as a ship. :D (And also encourage it.)

18. Which ship would you defend to the death and beyond? All of them. 19. Do you spend hours a day going through 1’s tumblr page?

There are some accounts on here that basically are that, so yeah! 20. If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she´d break them all forever, which ship would you sink?

Oh man. I can’t imagine any of them, honestly. But maybe Tennant/Sheen, because they’re in a constant state of fluxx anyway, so maybe it wouldn’t hold! :D

Tagging anyone who wants to do it, though obviously I’d love to hear from you, @roadsterguysblog!

[nb-octopus-writes]

unposted WIPs

Here is a non-exhaustive list of the stories I’m working on and haven’t started posting yet! I’ve sorted them by fandom, but beyond that, they’re in no particular order.

[masterpost of posted/posting stories]

Sanders Sides

Dragonnapped

(Set in the medieval fantasy period of Faedell)

The capture of Prince Logan was a joint effort between pygmy dragons Virgil and Patton, so they share custody of him.

Roman doesn't understand why Logan doesn't want to be rescued.

~~~

Fairy Prince Roman

Art tag: #fpr art [Chrono Link]

Inspired by a prompt from @hiddendreamer67, and set in the modern version of Faedell.

Logan and Patton did not intend to trespass on pixie territory, nor to kidnap the crown prince, but somehow it happened anyway, and now they're in trouble.

~~~

Sanders Sides Soulmates

Inspired by this post by @fanartfunart​

In a world where soulmarks are many and varied, five young men seek to find their matches.

Okay, that's a lie; they're not all looking very hard. But they do all find each other and it's a big happy cute polycule.

ships: assorted other ships building up to DLAMP in the end

~~~

Abused Pet AU (still needs proper titles for the two stories in the AU)

Virgil, a mini, has lived all his life with an abusive owner. When he's finally rescued and placed in a loving home with Patton and his mini, Roman, Virgil doesn't know what to do or how to behave. It takes a long time, and therapy, for Patton and Roman to show Virgil that he really is safe, and that he won't be punished for being an individual with his own wants and desires.

~

Logan wants to be a psychiatrist. Unfortunately for him, he's a mini, and therefore, legally not a person. He can't get a high school degree, let alone graduate from college or become certified in psychology.

Luckily for Logan, his owner and best friend, Emile, supports him in this endeavor. Emile trains to be a psychiatrist specifically so that Logan can attend all his classes with him, and the two go on to become a great psychiatric team — even if Emile primarily talks in cartoon references.

~~~

Itsy Bitsy Spider Sides

It was a dream.

Virgil and Patton are spider-borrowers, who belong to Dee. Roman is a regular borrower, who belongs to Logan. Through some means or another, Virgil and Patton end up in Logan’s house instead of Dee’s, and they promptly adopt Roman because he has zero borrower skills and cannot climb things. Logan manages to negotiate that they can live in his house, eat his food, and adopt his Roman if he can study their spider abilities.

~~~

Switching Heights

Roman captured a borrower, and his behavior left something to be desired. So, his fairy godmother decided to teach him a lesson.

also it’s logince.

~~~

Sides in the Real World

Everything is going as normal… until it’s not.

Logan pops up to comment like he normally does, except this time, Thomas freaks out. When Logan summons Virgil to explain Thomas’ panic, Virgil also freaks out, because this is the real world and they’re not supposed to be there.

Now the Sides have to pretend to be normal human beings, instead of metaphysical representations of various aspects of one man’s personality.

~~~

Unnamed Logicality Fic (inside the CCAU)

The story of Logan and Patton's relationship, spanning from the third grade to a few years after they graduate college.

~~~

Dinner Guests (proper title still pending)

Emile Picani is best friends with Dee and Remus's son, Remy. So it's only reasonable that they invite Emile and his parents over for dinner one weekend so they can all get to know each other better. Only, they didn't think to ask… how many parents does Emile have? (Four. The answer is four.)

ships: LAMP, remceit

~~~

Unnamed Fic

(Set in Faedell, medieval fantasy time period)

Remy is the most magically powerful human to exist in the last century, and no-one, not even him, is fully aware of all he is capable of. He certainly didn’t expect to be able to cast a fairy spell, especially unintentionally!

~~~

Sanders Sides Crossover Story

Literally all of the Sanders Sides fics smashed together. We’re currently blaming SitRW Roman.

~~~~~~~

Brothers Apart Multiverse (Supernatural/Bowman of Wellwood)

A Lich in Faedell

What would happen if A Lich of Sense or Bothering Bowman took place in Faedell instead of Wellwood?

Well, for one thing, grabby human intruders will get slapped with a defensive curse rather than bitten.

~~~

John in Brothers Adopted

Jonathan Anthony Frederickson has been popping in and out of other dimensions long enough that he’s gotten fairly used to it. However, he’s never shown up in a world where he was less than four inches tall before. Nor can he recommend sleeping through a portal’s appearance — he’d really rather have his glasses and some regular clothes.

Giant pizza for breakfast is nice, though.

~~~~~~~

Good Omens

Baby Snakes

Crowley tries to play a prank on his angel. It backfires.

~~~~~~~

Not Fanfic

Tom and Reggie

Spaghetti Ropes 👅

This time, the Game is Reggie's idea. You can probably guess from the title what happens.

~~~~~

Humans and Aliens

Possessive

In English, the word "my" is used both possessively and relationally. In other languages, there is a separate word for each meaning. Misunderstandings arise.

~~~

Adrenaline 

In many parts of the galaxy, "Dren" is an illegal combat drug. Humans produce it naturally.

~~~

Tetris

There has been a major misunderstanding about humans, video games, and the precise meaning of the linked phrases “game over” and “you die.” Now an unfortunate alien has been issued a challenge which cannot be won, only prolonged, and it’s only a matter of time before the inevitable end.

~~~

Edible

It really is better not to ask the humans questions you’d rather not hear answered. This includes “How far does your omnivorism extend?”

~~~~~

Other

Seeing Double

(no names for the characters yet…)

Metamours who're identical twins

P met twins T1 and T2 separately, and mistook them for the same person. Which makes things complicated when the friendship turns romantic…

(This is NOT a love triangle; it ends with a polycule.)

~~~

Injustice (working title)

‘Borrowers as pets’ theme

Rich kid + borrower pet. The kid is trying to challenge his privilege and become a better person than his parents are raising him to be.

outline-ish thing

~~~

Paige Penn

Paige Penn, age 15, likes to write. Her two favorite characters are Justin and Nick, a pair of secret agents. One day, she finds herself transported into another world, where she is surprised to actually meet the duo. They, in turn, are just as surprised to meet their creator, and more than a little intimidated to discover that this teenager is capable of making things happen just by writing the events in a little notebook.

~~~

The Big Mermaid

A retelling of The Little Mermaid except it’s GT and also gay.

Ariel’s father absolutely loathes the humans, and has forbidden his daughter from going anywhere near them. But Ariel likes watching their ships, and she often sneaks out to do just that. One stormy night, a human is washed overboard, and Ariel rescues the poor, tiny, gilless creature, setting them safely on a cliff. When princex Erica regains consciousness, they will only vaguely remember a kind face and red hair.

Ariel, meanwhile, returns home with confusing feelings. She had long enjoyed watching the ships, but now, somehow, she finds herself drawn toward one human in particular. Ariel goes to her close friend and confidant, Ursula the octo-mer witch, who helps her with a plan to meet the human again and explore what exactly these feelings are.

[bemused-writer]

Fanfiction questions: 6, 22, 28, 38!

Thanks for sending this in!

6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

Oh, so many fandoms.... This won’t include everything by default of there probably being too much but I will list what I can think of! I’ll start with my more current fandoms:

Wei Wuxian/Lan Wanji (The Untamed) - There’s so much I like about these two in the live action. Their loyalty to one another, their growth over the course of the series, and they way they learn to understand one another so well. Other things I really liked was how pleasantly romantic things were between them. The music, the longing, and how they can work together in unison.

Noé/Vanitas (Vanitas no Carte) - I... almost don’t need to say why I like this ship. It’s taken over all my writing. 8D Still, they are such a great balancing act and Mochizuki is writing their adventures so well.... I’m just very impressed. I also really like Jeanne/Dominique but they haven’t gotten much attention in the series yet. :0

Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens) - I just love how they’re nontraditional entities, uniquely eccentric, and that while their friendship has spanned centuries they still have new things to learn about one another.

Oz/Echo (Pandora Hearts) - They didn’t get much time together but they were both in a unique position to understand each other’s suffering in a unique way. I really like these two. The one “date” they went on left quite an impression on me; I think if they’d been given the chance they could have really improved one another and brought a special light to each other’s lives. 

Sherlock/Wato (Miss Sherlock) - It’s hard not to ship every version of Holmes and Watson and these two were no exception! I really hope we get a second season but I loved seeing the progression of their relationship in this show and loved how unusual the cases were. Thought they handled things very well.

Eleanor/Tahani (The Good Place) - Honestly, I like all the ships on this show but these two and their kind of background flirting is just great. Love them. 

And now some fandoms I’m a little less active in (at least at the moment):

Dean/Cas (Supernatural) - I don’t know if I’m really holding out for this to happen in canon in any overt kind of way. It’s been long enough since I’ve watched the show that I’ve created a little distance there. Probably for the best. XD Even so, I always thought these two had something special! 

Korra/Asami (Legend of Korra) - I remember watching season 1 and thinking “These two would be cute together but that’s unlikely to happen.” I’m very glad I was proven wrong. They’re just as epic together as I’d hoped!

Ned/Chuck (Pushing Daisies) - Such an ideal couple. They talk things out, they love each other dearly, and they’re both pretty unusual in all kinds of ways.

Yuuko/Watanuki (xxxHolic) - Pretty sure I’m one of the only people shipping this. XD But it is my opinion that Watanuki had feelings for Yuuko that surpassed his feelings for everyone else. Were they reciprocated? I don’t think they were returned romantically, but I ship it all the same.

Kamui/Subaru (X/1999) - I remember, at some point, this ship had a lot of people disliking it. More recent people will use their familial relationship in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle as a reason but back in the day it was just because it got in the way of all the Subaru/Seishirou and Kamui/Fuuma shippers. At any rate, in X/1999 Kamui and Subaru are not related and they are pointedly portrayed as a healthier version of the Seishirou/Subaru relationship. Anyway, I think they would have been really nice with each other and I still need the ending of this series in case CLAMP ever wants to, you know, do that....

Willow/Tara (BTVS) - Before certain events, they were just adorable and also a power couple.

Cain/Riff (Cain Saga/Godchild) - Tragic, loyal, and bizarre. This sums up their relationship and the series pretty well. I’m always moved by these two.

Data/Deanna (Star Trek: TNG) - Probably also the only person shipping this, but you know? It would have been cool. Also, I think I’m probably only supposed to pick one ship per show but Q/Picard is just also incredibly good. 

Miharu/Yoite (Nabari no Ou) - Just everything about these two is great and tragic and awesome.

Cosima/Delphine (Orphan Black) - They had a lot of troubled points in their relationships but they pulled through and that was nice to see.

Louis/Armand (The Vampire Chronicles) - It’s been quite some time since I’ve read this (I’m due for a reread) but I distinctly recall rooting for these two because I was (and am) convinced Lestat isn’t good enough for Louis. I’m not exactly caught up on the series, so maybe I would change my mind but... I don’t know...

I’m forgetting so many....

22. Is there anything you regret writing?

At the moment, no! I had a phase when I was a teen where I regretted writing all of my fanfiction, though. It was a difficult time in general and I just felt like none of it was that good and I shouldn’t have spent so much time on it--it seemed like I should be doing other things and there was just a sense of shame. It’s weird thinking back to that time because I’ve definitely moved past it. Unfortunately, I deleted my fanfic from that era. Now I’m trying to recover it so I can see the progress I’ve made, but there’s been so-so luck in that regard. Anyway, this is why I encourage people to at least keep a copy of whatever it is they do. You might want it in the future even if you don’t at this point in time!

28. If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story, which story would it be and what would the picture be of?

Hmmm, I’ve actually been fortunate enough that someone did draw some fanfic for one of my stories! But, this is talking about something that hasn’t been created yet. Honestly, I would love to see art of Jeanne taking down VotBM in The Descent. I feel like that is the best action scene I’ve done to date and there was something just... really awesome about her throwing a sword across a room with pin point accuracy. 8D I’d also like to see art of the characters in The Dark Wanderer (the sequel to that), especially Dominique dressed as the necromancer.

38. Do you use established canon characters or do you create OCs?

Generally speaking, I try to keep with pre-established characters since I figure we’re all reading fanfic to see more of them! However, most stories can’t make it on their own with just those characters. Many plots will be too big to only have that limited number, so I create OCs as well to better serve the story. For example, there are a lot of OCs in my interpretation of Vanitas’s background (Dealing with Monsters) because we haven’t yet seen his backstory. If I didn’t create any OCs, there wouldn’t have been much of a story. XD

[goldeneyedgirl]

2019 Fic Meme

My end of year fic meme, compiled from some old Livejournal fic memes that I do when I write stuff. I do this for fun, because I like looking back at what I have and haven’t written, and what keeps popping up again.

It’s meant to be silly fun, and if anyone else wants to do it, PLEASE DO. I don’t want to tag anyone and put pressure on you in case you don’t want to/don’t think you have enough fic/hate memes. 

Twilight

12 Days of Fic-Mas (Twilight, WIP) Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, bonus.  Twelve days of fic extracts, previews, and drabbles focusing on Alice Cullen. Encompasses Folie A Deux, The Only Girl in the World, JessaminexAlice, Omens, Asylum, The Long Way Around, The Dark and the Unknown, Hybrid, Runaway, All These Broken Things, & The Unexpected Second Life of Mary Alice Brandon 

Shadow to Light  (WIP) (Alice/Jasper, AU Angst, PG) In 1918, Jasper lures the newborn known as Mary-Alice back to Monterrey. He is lost to her before it even begins.

Total number of completed stories: Lol.

Total word count: 33,304 words were posted. 

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted?  Look, I just... 2019 was a wash in so many ways. I played a lot of Fortnite really badly. I would have loved to be able to say Shadow to Light was finished, or that I was posting Hybrid regularly or something, but I can’t. I wish, wish, wish I had posted more but alas. 

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? Outside of Twilight, I dabbled with some reader/Ben in the Umbrella Academy, and I was messing around with some Janet/Wanda in my personal MCU canon. As for Twilight, I think my stuff got a lot darker? Like, we’re down the rabbit hole here, and somehow Alice ended up being the most feared vampire in the Americas? Yeah. 

And there’s the Avengers/Twilight fic that is simultaneously three fics and one fic because I cannot make Executive Decisions and I can’t decide if I like 1. Alice knowing Bucky from Before Jasper; 2. Alice knowing Hawkeye from when he was a kid in the circus and being how Natasha and Clint got out of Budapest, or 3. the Volturi hooking up with Hydra and ... yeah, I think this one is legit the most second-most one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever written. (I’ve been filing today, and boy howdy have I written some actual shit.)

What’s your own favourite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest? That’s like making me pick a favourite child. I’m always so, so proud of Shadow to Light, and I love The Dark and the Unknown ‘verse, and Hybrid is just hanging out there, chilling and ugh. My babies <3 

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?  TwilightFicMas was a huge risk! I wasn’t sure anyone cared unless I was posting more Shadow to Light, and people were SO nice and enthusiastic. So I guess the lesson is shut up and share more fic? Get out of your own head and spend time in the community because fandom isn’t meant to be lonely?

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?  I’m starting a graphic design business AND my masters in design in 2020, so I figure fic is going to be my downtime next year. Ideally, I would love to get STL finished, Memento Vivere’s sequel going, and have a few of my shorter pieces posted. I would really love to get some of my original stuff ready for publication, but I’d be happy studying, running my business, and doing the fic thing for 2020.  

My best story of this year: That’s up to the readers, I guess. Everyone seemed obscenely enthusiastic about The Unexpected Second Life of Mary Alice Brandon, though, and I was not expecting that at all - I was actually upset that I left the ‘dud’ fic for the last day of FicMas. 

My most popular story: Shadow to Light. Everyone is so nice and enthusiastic and polite about that one. I’m not used to it! Fandom for me is usually me sitting in a corner, doin’ my obscure thing, and maybe one or two people will read what I’m working on.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:  I think everyone was super enthusiastic and nice about everything I posted this year. Maybe Folie A Deux? But like, that reflects more on me and the excerpts that I chose to post rather than the fic or the audience itself. 

Most fun story to write:  The Unexpected Second Life of Mary Alice Brandon because that Alice is so happy; I have this playlist for it that is super upbeat and funky. 

Hybrid is fun because that Alice likes to torment Jasper. He understands Edward on a molecular level once Alice arrives. 

Most Sexy Story: The Dark and the Unknown is the front-runner for that, because most of the sexy goings-on in Shadow to Light is very much focused on the psychological and emotional aspects rather than the physical.

Story with the single sexiest moment:  The Dark and the Unknown. I am still deeply uncomfortable writing sex scenes, so this may be the only one I ever do. The implication of a blow job in Shadow to Light nearly kill me tbh.

The forest behind the school is silent; just her breathing, and the slight wind. No birds or wildlife, none of the hum of the traffic or of the school.

They don’t undress more than necessary, her skirt slid to her hips, and he takes her roughly against a tree, flakes of bark falling into the dirt. She is hot and slick, and silent as he fucks her, his fingers digging into her hips, a growl rising in his chest. She is every bit his fantasy; the smell of damp flowers, the sweetness of her flesh, her willing supplication. His fingers tear through the lace of her tights as he grips her thighs, and the heels of her shoes must be bending, she’s digging them into the backs of his legs so hard.

Most “holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you” story:  The Long Way Around makes Jasper and Alice’s relationship pretty fucked up, and tbh I look back at it and really struggle with how dark it is and how dark Jasper’s character becomes. There’s a reason that Shadow to Light is the ‘official’ version - it’s a better balance, and I actually think Maria is a lot more interesting in Shadow to Light as a villain with complex relationships with both Jasper and Alice to the point where none of them really want to have to kill each other, but there is a lot of hate on both sides. 

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters:  That’s a hard question. Shadow to Light definitely did that because I had to consider what happened when you took Alice out of the picture, and how that changed what happened, and considered the inter-family relationships. So much of canon relies on Alice’s visions that things can’t just happen the same way. 

Hardest story to write: Shadow to Light isn’t easy because I have such a specific idea of how it plays out, how it ‘looks’ in my head, and because Alice is so fundamentally different to canon. More innocent when it comes to normal interactions, and so controlled because it meant life or death - but she’s still got to be Alice in a way that people can recognize. It also has to sound right? If I can’t get the right turn of phrase for one scene, it has to be put aside until I can work it out. 

 All These Broken Things is hard because I started it back in, like, 2014ish and my writing and understanding of the characters and canon has changed so much - plus there are a few sections that came to me quite early in the writing, and now sound really out of place, but are such a strong linchpin for the story that I have to rework them in. It’s a good kind of hard, though, because I’ve improved so much, my ideas and goals are more refined. 

Most disappointing:  Omens is a little bitch, honestly. I started it for a fic contest and kept going to explore Alice’s human life, and it doesn’t quite feel like my writing? It needs reworking, and be a little less obvious because I think the ‘four horsemen of the apocalypse’ is a good theme for a Human!Alice fic. 

Easiest story to write: Depends on my mood; Hybrid is great when I’m in kind of a ‘girls kicking ass’ mood and boot up my action girls playlist.

Biggest surprise:  Hybrid started as a love story that was basically ‘yeah, let’s make this shit super dramatic and overwrought’, and turned into this actual story with a huge focus on family and relationships. I can’t remember why I decided Alice’s father had a husband except that I was thinking about small town ‘otherness’, and LGBT+ people can and are still considered ‘other’ in these spaces. 

Then you add in Alice and Cynthia who are basically in the same boat but have been separated for their entire lives. Alice has knowledge in her corner, whilst having to fight through foster care, abuse, and hospital; whilst Cynthia has lived a very normal but privileged life as the daughter of a mixed-race same-sex couple in a very small town. I went full-hog with this, and added in an extended family, because I really hated how canon went balls-to-the-wall to isolate Bella from everyone, including Charlie. 

Like, this thing is a monster, and whilst I plan to sit down and rewrite the outline (which dates back to 2016, and I hate the ending of), I stopped outlining at 65 freaking chapters. 

Most unintentionally telling story:  I think this question that still confuses me finally gets a decent answer in The Dark and the Unknown - Jasper is seeing most of it from his perspective, and there isn’t a ton of dialogue. I’ve tried to avoid an info-dump, but it’s meant to be quite supernatural in tone, and focusing on vampire senses and gifts enhances that. 

Story I’d like to revise:  All These Broken Things wins that one. Due to the age of the piece, there are some pacing and tone issues in later chapters that are the reason I haven’t formally posted it. 

Story I didn’t write but will at some point, I swear: Oh man, I really want to finish A Thousand Years of Solitude, which is a Tanya fic. I’m really happy with what I’ve got so far, but it sounds smarter and more layered than it really is, so I’m kind of stuck. 

Mad World because Romani!Alice is super sassy and taking 0% of Swan or Cullen bullshit - I think 90% of my fic is just me going, “yeah, that’s not how normal people react.” And I’m a sucker for gothic horror. 

What else? Aww, Against A Wall which is AU Human Jasper coming from the shittiest home, and Alice finding him. It’s meant to be short, and another one I have a really clear idea of how it needs to work. 

And the one where Alice’s gift is a sentient power that pushes her to follow it; that Bad Things happen if she doesn’t; that Renesmee was always Endgame for Something, and Alice was a key piece to get that result. Or the one where Aro takes Alice as a ‘guest’ for a period because of Edward and Bella, and Alice’s gift is basically broken. 

Good times. I have like 5 years of fic on this computer, we could be here for awhile. 

[supposed2bfunny]

B,L,A,N,K,E,T for the fanfic ask meme

OMG LISSY THANK YOU SO MUCH?? You indulge me FAR too much

B-What was the first fandom you read fic in?  Which was the first you wrote fic for?

I first read for either Hana-Kimi or Ouran High School Host Club back in the golden days of Fanfiction.net...many moons ago...

I first wrote even before then for Teen Titans. I didn’t know “fanfiction” was a thing, and I just wrote “stories” for my favorite superheroes by hand and illustrated them myself, to be enjoyed by absolutely nobody but me.

L- Which of your fanfics was the most emotionally challenging to write?

That’s tough. Probably either “Unacceptable” or “Inarticulate Life,” both of which deal with some heavier subject matter. “OT3″ has also had some darker moments, which can be tough to write sometimes without taking lots of breaks to gather my thoughts and emotions before getting to a final version. It’s not that I can’t write about tougher topics, but rather that I want to make sure the characters speak like themselves while also being respectful of the subject matter (i.e. abusive relationships, sexual misconduct, etc). It can be challenging to strike a balance between handling something in a way that I’m comfortable sharing with readers while also just being in-character.

A-Of the fanfic you’ve written, which is your favorite and why?

If we’re sticking to what I’ve written more recently on AO3, probably “OT3″ or “Naked,” as they both kind of served as icebreakers for me to meet and befriend a lot of awesome people in the Gorillaz fandom, some of whom have become my closest friends over the course of years. The research and time and effort that has gone into OT3 (and will continue to; it’s on hiatus, but I’m not done with it forever) is probably the most I’ve ever poured into anything fandom-wise.

Looking back even further (if you don’t have my ff.net account, you’re not gonna get it; shit back there is CRINGE), I’m pretty fond of “Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc,” because I wrote a lot of that at a time when I was starting to come into myself as a writer and realize that I wanted to take writing seriously as a profession. Plus I’ll always have a soft spot for Sherlock Holmes sooo

N-Any fic ideas brewing that you’d care to share?

I DON’T CARE if no one gives a shit, I’m drafting a JJBA/Vento Aureo Fumis fic that’s gonna be so traumatizing, yo! Mista is dealing with a shit-ton of survivor’s guilt and depression, and Fugo is just an emotional mess on a good day, and they’re gonna be thrown together to topple Passione’s narcotics trade. They’re falling in love, but why the hell aren’t they in therapy? Stay tuned to find out!

Also when that fic has been drafted, I’m seriously hoping to get back into writing “OT3″ again... It’s honestly harder than it sounds to write something when your heart’s not in it, but I’m going to do my best to get back into that mindset once my current hyper-fixation dies down a bit because I know a lot of folks really want to see the story continue (trust me: so do I).

K-Do you have a guilty pleasures in fic (reading or writing)?

Smut. I just read so much smut :( I generally don’t read fics that aren’t M-rated unless they’re exceptionally well-written. The kinkier the better, honestly. I’ve gotta get better about giving other fics a chance...

E- What character do you identify with most?  Is there a certain fic of yours that captures these qualities particularly well?

Hmm. Weird answer, but here goes: Mac from Sunny in Philadelphia is one. His toxic relationship with Dennis helped me externalize a bad relationship in my own life, and I really identify with Mac’s need to “protect” and love his friends even when he’s a total coward who hasn’t really sorted his own shit out yet, and even though he knows those friends wouldn’t necessarily do the same for him. I’m not sure that comes across so well in the sole IASIP fic that I’ve written, but I have drafts floating around for a longer fic I doubt I’ll ever get to that really address that aspect of his personality.

My current hyperfixation, JJBA also has me loving Mista, who is similarly, consciously or unconsciously, overly protective of loved ones to the point of self-destruction. That will absolutely shine through in the fics I’m writing for JJBA.

And my Good Omens fic “Upon Your Shoulders” may as well be titled “Beck Projects Intense Self-Loathing onto Aziraphale and Posts it Publicly.” So yeah. That’s really me not even trying to be subtle, to be honest. Aziraphale is just a character that I saw and instantly stanned.

I know I write primarily Gorillaz, but I don’t actually identify with any of them that closely? I just think they’re neat!

T-Any fanfic tropes you can’t stand?

Anything that uses trauma as the sole means to push two characters together is honestly just :/// like “Character A was sexually assaulted, and their trauma made Character B realize it was time to confess their feelings and now they’re happily together! :)” YUCK. Do not like.

I also generally avoid kidfics (with exceptions--lookin’ at you, Smooty!) because I don’t want kids nor do I want my OTPs to share their time/attention with anyone else, thank you! Unless I personally know and like the author, I skip over anything dealing with kids, adoption, pregnancy, etc.

Anything OC-related is also a no from me, dawg (with exceptions--lookin’ at you, Aaron!) because in case you couldn’t tell, I am there for the OTP I’m hyper-focused on, and don't need any distractions. My unpopular opinion is “why insert an OC when you can just self-project onto a character instead?”

Aside from that, give me all the “there was only one bed :O” or merfolk!AUs or time period!AUs you can--I’ll collect them all gladly.

Thank you so much for the ask, Liss!! This was fun AND you made me open my FF.net page to look at my old stuff. Thanks, I hate it!

[watermelinoe]

ok spoilers for it chapter two

but there's soooo many comparisons you can make between good omens and it. both written by straight white men during a very different time period. both caught in limbo between their textual origins and today's push for diversity, both unwilling to actually commit to that diversity, but still wanting kudos for leaving it "open to interpretation."

and for the authors, shit, it's the best of both worlds. kids ask permission from the writers to read that subtext into the work, and then thank them for being oh so inclusive when they shrug and say sure even though they never intended it in the original source and they didn't have the balls to go through with it in the modern adaptation. there's no conservative backlash hurting the overall reception and the liberals are just happy fancy woke writer man said ace people are valid on twitter!

and like, first of all, we don't need permission to read homoerotic subtext in somebody's work. achilles and patroclus were obviously somebody's otp in classical greece and nobody dug up homer to ask if that was cool. but do we also have to give homer's ghost a pat on the back for being #woke when we're the ones who did all the work realizing it was a love story all along?

that's what i find most irritating about the so-called gay representation in good omens and it. just, come on. the witch and the loser witchfinder literally fucked the same day they met and then got together. the cranky old asshole got together with the old woman he spent the whole show insulting. bev got together with ben, and she spent the whole movie thinking he was the other guy she had the hots for.

meanwhile people in fandom scramble to assign meaning to every glance, quip, or otherwise while the author's like ;) because we all came up with the "representation" he's gonna get credit for. and straight people don't even notice it. win win.

it's almost more infuriating today, because writers are fine assigning sexualities and identities over twitter, but not actually writing them into the work. were the star trek writers fishing for woke points? no, they just accidentally wrote a love story between a man and a vulcan, and we helpfully filled in the blanks. now authors want us to read into it. but i'm supposed to give stephen king woke points because richie carved r + e into the fence? eat me. (and disclaimer maybe he did that in the book, it was like ten years ago and 1200 pages alright. if anyone wants to make the case that book richie was gay i'm all ears)

tl;dr stop giving writers credit for shit they didn't write, and stop asking their permission and just write a fanfic like everyone else lmao

[maniacalmole]

Fic writer ask

I was tagged by @a-candle-for-sherlock . Thank you!!! All your fandoms are great btw :D

Fandoms You Write For: Just Good Omens actually, although I did write one GO fic in the style of a Jeeves and Wooster story

Where You Post Fic: Ao3, and I post links here. Looking through the tag, I realized there are a few super short things just in there too!

Most Popular One-Shot: The second one I ever wrote, Lol 8), in which Crowley teaches Aziraphale how to text :)

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story: Even Without Looking - Aziraphale has to prove to Heaven that romantic love is real. This ask is prompting me to look at my kudos counts, which I haven’t done since like a week after the show came out, and man I am LOSING my MIND (thank you all)

Favorite Story You Wrote: It usually changes with whatever I’m writing at the moment, because I’m usually putting all of my current feelings into it and using the story to work through my issues. That has actually made the one I’m working on now kind of painful so far, but I’m really close to having it where I want it to be, so that’s pretty neat...

Story You Were Nervous to Post: I was nervous to post The Next Place, because it was weird but also very personal in a way that was, well, weird. But I did post it and people have been great about it. The only thing I haven’t posted is like--one that I just don’t think is as honest, I don’t feel like the characters are quite right, so it just bugs me, and that’s why I haven’t posted it.

How Do You Choose Your Titles: Sometimes it’s a moment of panic when I go to post the story I’ve FINALLY completed on Ao3 and it goes ‘Title please :)’ and I go ‘CRAP’. Looking back, it seems like I either choose a very simple phrase that is the subject of the story, a line from it that I think captures its essence well, or a goofy thing I used as my document title for my work in progress that I got too attached to to get rid of XP

Do You Outline: I usually come up with specific scenes first, and when they’re good enough, that’s when I know I want to write something. I put them in a Word document, switch them around to get an order that makes sense, and figure out then what I need to fill in. As I write more and more, I’ve started planning and having to organize before I start writing more and more, because the things I’m doing are getting a bit more complex I guess. But the Big scenes usually still come to me while I’m in the shower or in bed at night, and I end up writing the entire thing in Notes on my phone and add it to the document in the morning (or afternoon, lbr).

How many of your fanworks are…

Complete: 17!?!?! I literally didn’t believe Ao3 and counted them all myself. Soon to be 19!

In-Progress: Two are really close to being done, and I have another that I definitely haven’t abandoned yet that I am still working on.

Coming Soon: The two! They started as totally separate ideas that had VERY different tones, but one led into the other so well that I decided to make it an optional sequel (that could also be read on its own). I got sappy while writing the first funny one, so its tone segues into the next one a bit better now. One is about some...issues with angelic and demonic powers not working quite right...and the other is. Well. Can I say yearning? Is that a word that we’re just allowed to say now? Feels so daring but I love it

Do You Accept Prompts: I’ve never really taken or asked for prompts, other than during the Good Omens Holiday Exchange (follow the mods here to keep up with it this holiday season!). I’m kind of picky about what I write because I tend to write slowly and get stuck in my own ideas, so I haven’t sought out other prompts yet, BUT you guys come up with some GOOD ideas so I do get inspired! But also, I can’t write anything short anymore, even though my stuff is still not as long as some peoples’, so it would never be a quick answer XD

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write: I’m excited just to finish these two I’ve got now. Then I have a little Ligur thing, because I accidentally saved him and love him now. After that, I have no idea what I’m doing next, which kind of scares me :O I am excited and terrified to get back to working on my own original story, too.

Tag Five Fanfic Authors to Answer These Questions As Well: I will tag @not-a-space-alien , @bigdiscenergy , @ethereal-menace , @lvslie , @dwarven-beard-spores

Thank you again for tagging me, this was fun!

[the-signs-of-two]

I made a post yesterday asking if you would be interested in hearing my thoughts on Sherlock and the Sherlock fandom in light of the recent influx of Good Omens-stuff, which has made some people in the Sherlock fandom afraid that the fandom is dying. I received nothing but positive responses, which both surprised and delighted me to no end, so here we are.

This is going to be a bit of a long and rambling one, so strap in.

First of all, I need to talk about some personal stuff that I haven’t really talked about on this tumblr before. That is my Asperger’s (I was diagnosed less than a year ago, I’m still processing it and I haven’t received an “official diagnosis”, just the word of a psychologist specialising in girls and young women with Asperger’s – just putting that out there). I know a lot of people in the fandom have similar problems, so I’m not sure how much I need to explain. But I do want to say that the way Asperger’s is generally written about and portrayed online (on sites like Wikipedia or the like) is, in my opinion, often very negatively worded and gives an exaggerated idea of what Asperger’s is, at least when it comes to milder cases such as me.

A characteristic of Asperger’s is what’s known in English as “restricted and repetitive interests”, which I find to be a very negative term. I much prefer the Danish term særinteresser (“special” or “peculiar” interests). Basically, it means that a lot of people with Asperger’s develop a keen and often very intense interest in a certain quite niche subject – if you’ve heard Cabin Pressure, think of the way Martin obsesses over planes and memorises an enormous amount of plane trivia.

For me, it’s always been an abnormally strong obsession with various media. I’ve obsessed about various franchises through the years, but Sherlock and Sherlock Holmes has been the one and only for at least 4-5 years now. It doesn’t necessarily mean that my interest is stronger than other people in the fandom who spend a lot of time and get a lot of enjoyment out of Sherlock, but it certainly is stronger than the average fan and it has some, shall we say, specific expressions. I LOVE talking about Sherlock – I find it really difficult to describe the kind of excitement and positive energy I get from talking Sherlock, but think of the way children get excited when they do something they love and the excitement is just bursting out of them. I don’t need something new to talk about either. I write meta when I get a good idea or I get inspired by other people’s meta and throw in my two cents, but generally speaking, I don’t need something new to discuss in order to discuss Sherlock. I just want to talk about it! I try to keep it to a minimum on here because I think people… wouldn’t really… care…, but I’d love to discuss things like what I think characterises Sherlock and John, what I look for when I watch a Sherlock adaptation in the characters and in the relationship between the characters, my top ten Sherlocks, my top ten Johns and my top ten adaptations (side note: if anyone is interested in that, PLEASE drop me a comment or an ask, I’d be absolutely delighted).

So… all that to say that I consume Sherlock and Sherlock Holmes and participate in the Sherlock fandom because it gives me an immense sense of satisfaction as well as an outlet for my excitement that doesn’t bother my surroundings. That is what I think the core of fandom is and always should be: enjoying and celebrating what you love unapologetically in a safe, supporting environment, where you don’t have to rein in your feelings in fear of negative social consequences. And I think that’s always very, very important to keep in mind – it’s all about enjoying what you enjoy.

In my opinion, all fandoms should aim to promote that enjoyment and reduce negativity. Of course it’s the internet – negativity is hard to get rid of completely. But, speaking only for myself, I’m here to have fun.

That is why it will always be my opinion that no matter what you ship, that should be met with acceptance and respect. I don’t ship Adlock or Sherlolly (just to mention two prominent ships in my fandom that I am not a part of), but I would never ever argue that shipping Johnlock is “better” or “more correct” than shipping anything else. Shipping Johnlock is simply my preference and, frankly, I don’t consider it my business what other people enjoy. I can join them in loving the show as a whole and then we may go our separate ways when we want to talk shipping. I hope and believe that Johnlock might be made canon someday. But even if it does, I don’t think that matters much when it comes to shipping. Johnlock becoming canon matters for representational reasons and for the people who already ship Johnlock, but shipping is separate from and can live without “the canon stamp of approval”. What’s canon and what’s not doesn’t legitimise some ships relative to others because, again, shipping is about enjoyment and I think everyone ought to be free to enjoy whatever the heck they want to enjoy.

That applies to other fandoms as well.

As a quick disclaimer, I haven’t watched Good Omens. I probably will at some point, it looks really good (but I’m not gonna lie: I’m mainly interested because of Benedict, Mark and the setting).

So… Good Omens. You can probably guess what I’m going to say: people may enjoy whatever they enjoy. Some might leave Sherlock behind and make a full transition to Good Omens. Some might be really into Good Omens now and return to Sherlock in a while. Some might just be experiencing a short crush on another fandom and return to Sherlock very soon. Some might just be dipping their toes into it. As Moriarty would say: It’s all good.

I’m fully familiar with crushes on other fandoms. I go through such phases too every once in a while. I recently went through an intense The Lord of the Rings-phase after watching the Extended Editions and all (yes, ALL) of the additional material.

However, I’m also fully familiar with the fear that you yourself or other people in a fandom are moving on. Whenever I go through one of these phases where I get really into another fandom for a while, I get really upset because I think I might be leaving Sherlock behind. And our fandom is in a very precarious position at the moment. It’s been two and a half years since we last had any new content and that content was… uhm… a mixed bag. We don’t know if we’ll ever get more and, if we will, we don’t know when. And if we won’t get new content, somehow we’ll have to reconcile ourselves with S4, which is really hard. Fandoms tend to stagnate after a while if no new content is added, and I think that’s what a lot of people fear is happening. And it’s a very natural fear, whether you fear you yourself losing your interest in a fandom or the fandom itself shutting down: you don’t want something that has given you so much enjoyment to end.

But I don’t think we’re there. There’s still so much to do and talk about and analyse and create in this fandom. People post new fanfics and upload new fanart every single day. I’m able to reblog tonnes and tonnes of great content from other people in the fandom on a daily basis. I have nearly 1000 followers on here (as a side note, it is absolutely crazy and I am so blessed and thankful to all of you!). Of course, many of them might not actually check out what I post anymore, but seeing as I almost exclusively post Sherlock stuff and have done since the very beginning, clearly there’s still a lot of people who are interested in this content. Heck, even the creators are still desperately trying to keep everyone invested by trying to get us all drunk on themed cocktails.

So my final comments are these: I understand both the appeal of a new fandom (especially a fandom with a cast and crew as supportive of their fans as GO seems to have) and the fear that you or others might be moving on. But I want to stress the importance of having a fandom driven by excitement and enjoyment. So those who are really into GO at the moment should absolutely not be made to feel bad about that. People should be free to post and enjoy whatever the heck they want and that goes for everyone. I, for one, don’t think our fandom is anywhere near done and I will continue to post all Sherlock-Sherlock-Sherlock for the foreseeable future while we wait for S5.

Tagging the people who asked for this: @colourfulwatson @anchored-in-high-tide @catwillowtree @gelos @johnlockedinwarstan @why-are-you-cryingg (your username will not link for me for some reason, I’m sorry, I hope you see this) @cherylbombshellofthegay @royalworldtraveler @flowery222 @ebaeschnbliah @sherlockslove112

[niceprophecies]

“[…]the characters who get much more of the spotlight are unarguably the most adored by Good Omens fans—the demon Crowley (played to hissing, sashaying perfection by David Tennant) and his angel co-conspirator Aziraphale (an utterly cherubic Michael Sheen). Having said that, the execution of the duo’s story was something of a shock for a fan like me, who will freely admit to shipping the heck out of the pair for ages, and even reading and writing fanfic to that end. A bunch of it. And also to dressing up as Crowley and Aziraphale for Halloween with my partner. It’s well known that Crowley/Aziraphale shippers are a sizable contingent of the Good Omens fandom, to the point where both Gaiman and Pratchett had made note that they were aware of it, with Gaiman recently noting that fanfiction and its ilk is also Making Stuff Up, which is the same as all writing—though they did say that making the duo a couple was not their intent when they wrote the book.

Which is fascinating because this miniseries is emphatically a love story.

I know, I know: They say they’re friends, what’s wrong with friendship, you friend-hating fiend. But there are endless stories dedicated to platonic friendships between two male friends. (Or male-seeming in this case, as they are truly an angel and a demon, which then ultimately begs the question of whether conventional sexuality or gender should even apply for the two of them, and it likely shouldn’t, but that’s a fairly long digression…) While modern fiction seems to have a hard time understanding that it’s possible for men and women to “just be very good friends”, the precise opposite can be said for queer people. We’re always presumed to be “just very good friends” and nothing besides. Having said that, it is entirely possible for people of the same (or similar) gender to go from being true best friends to being in a relationship of some sort. It is also possible to say “you’re my best friend” and actually mean “I love you” or even “I’m in love with you.”

Exhibit A, when Crowley is making his way to Aziraphale’s flaming bookshop (he doesn’t know about the fire yet), the Bentley is playing Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend”—which is not an ode to frienship in general, but in fact a love song written by Queen’s bassist for his wife. Immediately thereafter, Crowley arrives and opens the doors to the bookshop, and being unable find the angel, promptly has a complete breakdown over the what he assumes to be Aziraphale’s death. It’s not the shock or disbelief over losing a friend that we can see in Crowley’s face, but utter desolation. “Somebody killed my best friend!” he screams, slumped on the floor in anguish. (Again, I remind you, John Deacon’s friend in the song that served as the cue for this whole scene was his spouse.) Crowley then immediately goes to a pub to get trashed, forgetting his plans to escape the Earth before the true Final Countdown because he’s just lost the most important person in all of creation to him… wait sorry, that’s Creation with a capital ‘C’.

The point is (as Crowley would say, drunkenly, before beginning a long-winded aside about dolphins), the entirety of the Good Omens miniseries unfolds with all the beats you’d expect of a romantic comedy/epic, and that is very much the hinge on which its enjoyability swings. It’s not just the song selection—“Somebody to Love” starts playing when Crowley exits the bookshop, believing that he’s lost Aziraphale; violins swell when the demon reveals to the angel that he has saved his beloved books from a bombing during the London Blitz in 1941—but the entirety of the plot. These alterations to the story seem to reach some sort of zenith during the deep dive into Crowley and Azirapahle’s “Arrangement” in episode three. The opening half hour of the episode works hard to create greater context for their six-thousand-year partnership, tracking them through the ages, and finally closes out in 1967 with the angel handing over a thermos of holy water to his dear friend, saying sadly “You go too fast for me, Crowley.”

He’s talking about Crowley’s driving. But of course he isn’t, because there is no context on this earth in which the words “you go too fast for me” are about being in a car, friends.

This is the part where the usual suspects roll their eyes because culture has endlessly enforced the idea that queerness is conditional and that “slash goggles” (i.e. viewing not-canonically-comfirmed characters as queer) should be derided and that the only person who should get a say in the sexuality of characters is the author—unless the author flat-out says their characters are queer, in which case, they should have made it more obvious if they expected anyone to believe that.

But this pairing is pretty damned (sorry, blessedly) obvious. It’s obvious in the way the Aziraphale bats his eyelashes at Crowley and grumps about the fact that his pristine old jacket now has paint on it, then smiles beatifically when the demon vanishes the stain by blowing gently on his shoulder—both of them knowing full well that Aziraphale can remove the stain himself with angelic will. It’s obvious in how angry Crowley gets when Aziraphale claims he’s “nice”, and Crowley shoves him up against a wall in a standard intimidation tactic that the angel barely registers as fury. It’s obvious in the way that Crowley sits across Aziraphale with a drink every time they’re out, and simply watches the angel indulge in rich foods. It’s right there even at the start, when the Angel of the Eastern Gate shelters the Serpent of Eden from the world’s very first rainstorm with one of his wings, through they both have a perfectly functional set to themselves.

We’re at a point in time where more and more writers and creators are perfectly aware that fans will see characters as queer whether they are written explicitly that way or not. Being aware of this—and not having anything against queer people—many of them say something to the tune of “you can view this relationship however you like, we’re cool with that”. It’s very nice. To some extent, it’s even incredibly helpful, because being okay with the queering of characters goes a long way in telling homophobic people that their vitriol toward queerness isn’t welcome. But when a huge swath of a fandom is queer, and certain characters are commonly rendered as queer to most of those fans, and then we are given a version of the story in which interpreting those characters as just great buddies is honestly taxing to one’s logical faculties… well, it’s hard not to wonder at what point the “straight” view of said characters is likely destined to become a minority interpretation one day.

Which is precisely where I found myself while watching Good Omens.

This clarity kept turning up and tuning in, even in the terms of their dear Arrangement; after Crowley suggests that they start doing work on each other’s behalves during a run-in in the 6th century, another meeting at The Globe in Shakespeare’s day sees Crowley bringing it up again, only to have Aziraphale try and shoot the idea down. “We’ve done it before… dozens of times now,” the demon wheedles, and he might as well be saying “But we’ve made out a lot lately, I think it’s time to accept that you like hanging out with me.” To make up for sending Aziraphale to Edinburgh, he agrees to infernally intervene to ensure that the Bard’s latest play (Hamlet) is a rousing success—and again, the angel offers up that ethereal smile and Crowley takes it as his compensation, as though it’s all he ever wanted in the world.

People may cry, stop shoving your sexuality in other people’s faces! (They always do, like a reliable clock striking the hour with a very irritating chime that you can’t seem to turn off.) But that’s hardly the point, is it? Because I didn’t say anything about sex, I said they were in love. And I’m having a very hard time finding any evidence to the contrary.

Critics and most of the internet have noticed how romantic the show is. The actors did as well, and talked endlessly of it in interviews. The series gives us longing glances and a messy breakup and drunken mourning and a canonical bodyswap (the stuff of fanfic dreams, my lovelies) where Aziraphale strips Crowley’s body down to its undergarments for the purpose of taunting Hell. At the point when everything threatens to blow up in their faces, Crowley asks—sorry no, he begs—Aziraphale to run away with him. And then when it’s all over, he invites the angel to spend the night at his place, and Aziraphale’s response is “I don’t think my side would like that” which is basically divine-speak for “I came out to my family and they’re not cool with it, so I’m not sure this is gonna work.” This has all the markings of the sort of Shakespeare play that Crowley appreciates: the funny ones where no one dies. And it ends on our couple having a lovely lunch in a fancy locale while a swoony love standard plays on in the background.

It’s odd to think that the fact that it took over two decades to produce a Good Omens series is part of the reason why the romantic aspect seems more unabashed than ever; in the book, plenty of people think Aziraphale is gay and that the angel and demon are a couple, but it’s done with that wink and nudge that was common around the turn of the century. These days, teasing at the idea that your core duo might seem a little gay to onlookers doesn’t constitute a ready joke because there’s nothing particularly funny about that suggestion when queer folks are fighting so hard to be seen and represented. And the lack of those winky moments, the way the story simply takes their codependency as a sweet given, makes Aziraphale and Crowley read even more genuinely as a pair. But if you had told me this was the version of Good Omens that I’d see in 2019, I’d have never believed a word. I was ready for extra background, more story, different jokes, but not this. Not confirmation that there are other angels and demons exchanging information and working together in Crowley and Aziraphale’s reality, but Heaven and Hell have a specific problem with their partnership because they clearly love each other too much.

And sure, you can read the story differently. You can choose to ignore those cues and enjoy a story about two very good friends who help to avert the apocalypse. I’m sure for some, that’s a more enjoyable take. But I’m more curious about whether or not, in twenty or thirty years time, people will think of the Good Omens series as anything but the story of an angel and a demon who spent six millennia figuring out that they should probably buy that cottage on the South Downs together.”