#which is making me realize why I haven't posted any fanfic yet

[yn-has-insomnia]

so help me god I will write something this month and post it

[bomberqueen17]

snippet post

I'm in the editing mines, lol. But I was writing a Lu POV chapter and Morvran was acting funny so I was like ok I have to know why he's in this mood or whether I need to rewrite this, so I went in and wrote, just to throw away, his immediately-preceding conversation with Kalia, Ciri's household manager and a fellow Intelligence operative.

And this is something I'd put in earlier in the series, from Ciri's POV, but it seems relevant that Morvran is aware of it now. So I'm putting it here to preserve it, as this isn't a scene that's going to go into the main continuity anyway. And I wanted to post something as a proof of life, LOL.

Kalia considered that a moment, then snorted. “Morvran, it’s not like she’s going to marry someone else.” He glanced up at her, startled by her bluntness, and Kalia gestured widely with one hand. “You think any of the other candidates haven’t committed war crimes?” Morvran blinked, trying to determine whether he knew that for a fact or not. “Well,” he said. “Would any of them write up a report about them?” she asked. “Have any of them even made an effort to get to know her?” “Kalia,” he said, exasperated. “I’m not competing with the other candidates.” It wasn’t until he said it that he knew it was true. “I”m competing with her not choosing anyone. She doesn’t need me. She doesn’t need anyone. If she doesn’t find someone to marry she can just leave. And then we’ll have another fucking civil war.”

For a separate conversation I had to go look up the name I'd made up for Morvran's little brother and in so doing I wound up rereading most of the FFP series so I'm finding all kinds of shit I've already said in there. Ciri had the exact thought above very early on, before she even arrived in Nilfgaard I think. But she didn't say so. (And yes, i'd meant initially to have there be more suspense over the other candidates, but then I just didn't create any good characters, so that fell by the wayside. It's fine, LOL, I don't think anyone really needed that to be a side plot. There's still room for someone cool to pop up. We'll see if I get to it.)

As I was rereading, I remembered that I made a deliberate choice sometime during the pandemic: I realized that it would take longer for me to edit and cut down the story to make the pacing taut, and given the givens of what was going on in the world, I wasn't going to do that. I was just going to post the long sprawling story as it was. And I've stuck to that. So it's just. This long sprawl with all these meandery side bits, and as part of that yeah, some stuff is kind of repeated.

I know it's working for a bunch of readers, and it's working for me, but sometimes I'm like oh my god why is this so long why didn't i make myself a style sheet why didn't i edit anything down ever. So, LOL, if you've ever been like hmmmm this story is getting kind of long, well you're not the first to have that thought. I used to treat fanfic as like, "practice" for "real" writing (publishing original works), which is still a thing I'd love to do and may well someday, and I know nothing published as an original work is going to sprawl like this, and the worldbuilding would be all different, but you know, it's not like I'm not learning stuff from sprawling like this. It's been a fun ride and I'm not done yet. But that doesn't mean there won't be deleted scenes; I can't include this conversation with Morvran and Kalia simply because the pacing of the chapter works better starting with the other POV, and it's not worth trying to shoehorn in a flashback.

(This is also making me remember another decision I made in the fog of lockdown, which was that I had to stop replying to comments temporarily, because I had such limited time and realized I was spending it all in lovely conversations in the comments instead of writing more material, and while that wasn't bad per se, I really needed to tell the rest of the story. And I still haven't gone back to catch up on replying to comments and I feel guilty about that. So if you've left lovely comments and I haven't answered that's why, there's a three-year backlog at this point, and I've answered a few but it's not necessarily because they were the best, it's more that they came in during a moment when I had time, spoons, attention, and mostly, just happened to click through and do the thing and hit post. Alas.)

[whiteredrose13]

So, I haven't written fanfic in a long time, and it's been even longer since I've posted it. But, oh my god, this fucking AU--

Do you know how long it's been since a piece of media has captivated my ADHD brain into doing more than drawing or just thinking about it really hard?? And then for an offshoot of that media to rot my brain just as badly??

Anyway, all this to say, @somerandomdudelmao I love your AU and I literally cannot stop thinking about it, it's consumed my waking thoughts. Donnie and Leo's reunion has me in a death grip.

(Apologies for any spelling/grammar errors, wrote this on my phone with very little sleep.)

Donnie is going to kill him all over again when this is over.

Mumbling, cursing, Donatello walks the surface of the spiritual lake, stray drops of glowing blue falling up around him. It's been hours. At least, it feels like it's been hours. Donnie knows time dilation is one hell of a drug, that what feels like hours to him may only be minutes–seconds, even–to anyone on the outside. He also knows that he's never had an ounce of patience for pointless tedium in his life, which is really not helping. That does not, however, negate the fact that his feet hurt, and it's fucking cold, and no matter how far he walks there's no sign of Leo–

Stubborn, selfless, reckless, candle-in-the-wind, dum-dum Leonardo!

Of course he'd be the hardest to resurrect! Donatello isn't sure why he had expected otherwise. His twin has always been the most grating individual he's ever met; Leo lived to spite him. It only makes sense that he'd make Donnie jump through hoop after hoop to save him. First his soul being barely more than an ember, weak against even the barest breath and aggravatingly flighty, and now this.

Growling, Donnie hunches slightly, staring ahead into the endless distance.

“Leo!” He screams, the sound echoing far and forever in the void. “Leo, you moron, where the hell are you?!”

Leo doesn't answer. Donnie pretends this doesn't scare him. He leans into the anger, letting the heat of it push him forward, urge him on. He can't be afraid. He's done this before, he's pulled their brothers from death's icy grip, given them a second chance. It's worked perfectly, up til now, and it's going to keep working despite Leonardo's attempts at driving Donnie insane.

Donnie's feet hit the lake harder as he stomps on, and on, and on, eyes darting frantically around for a shadow, a flicker, a sign, something. He calls for Leo until his voice is hoarse. Until his feet are so far past numb he's circled around to feeling them again.

Until Donatello realizes he can feel something under his feet.

He thinks it's the numbness creeping back in again, turning his nerves fuzzy and oversensitive (it wouldn't be the first time). But, no, he realizes, as something pushes up from underneath. Donnie stops dead. So does the thing below.

No. Not a thing.

Sparks flare to life at the back of his brain, familiar yet faint. It's a ghost of that feeling, the connecting thread between him and his other half, that twin sense Leo never shut up about and Donnie always maintained had no scientific evidence to prove. Donatello hasn't felt it since the day he died. Yet, tremulous though it may be, it's here now, bidding him to stop.

The breath vanishes from his lungs as he looks down.

There, amidst the quicksilver finish of the lake, is–

“Leo!”

His brother looks up at him. Or rather, looks up through him. Leo doesn't seem to recognize him. He stares, still as stone. Their twin sense fills with static. Donnie feels sick to his stomach. Clenching his hands, Donnie takes a steadying breath. Pressure begins to build behind his eyes. He's there, he's right there, but he still feels so far away. Donnie wonders for a moment if it's really Leo he's seeing down there.

“I miss you, Leo,”he says, though he's not sure why.

Leo copies him, mouth moving but no sound coming out. Curious. When Donnie moves, so does he, a perfect reflection, right down to the tilt of his head. Donatello kneels. So does Leo. He presses his hands against the glassy surface of the lake. So does Leo. He blocks Donnie, no matter how he moves, keeping himself on his side and Donnie on his. Just like all those games they'd play when they were hatchlings. Donnie hated those games then. He hates them even more in this moment, because on top of being annoying, now he's actively preventing Donnie from doing anything to save him.

“You are not making it easier, you know,”Donatello hisses, irritation replacing fascination.

Gritting his teeth, Donnie presses harder against the water, feeling the tension begin to give way under his right hand. The hand, he notes, Leonardo is missing.

There's nothing to block him there.

Reeling back, Donatello's fist hits the surface with enough force to send shards of glassy cerulean flying. It sinks further down, but not enough to get through. Leo's interference again, he knows. After staving off the sweet oblivion of death for so many years, fighting a decade-and-a-half in a losing battle, he's tired. Leo doesn't want to leave. He's supposed to be here, resting. This is home. That's what the twin sense tells him.

“It's not home,”Donnie grunts, punching the ice again. “Home-” Punch. “Is waiting-” Punch. “For you-” Punch. “Right here!”

Blessedly, Donatello's hand breaks through the icy surface. It's fucking freezing. Painful cold jolts up Donnie's arm into his shoulder, the shock nearly shutting down his nerves. He pushes through. He forces his arm deeper in, willing his fingers to move and close around Leonardo's scarf. Donnie's knuckles turn a startlingly light mint with the strength of his grip.

And he pulls.

He drags Leo, his twin, his brother, the other half of his soul, up and up from the depths of the water. The current shifts beneath his feet, waves lashing against his legs as it threatens to pull both him and Leonardo back under. Still, he keeps pulling. Donnie grimaces at the sharp sting of frost. Leo mimics him.

“Come here, you dumbass!”

Leo sneers up at Donnie. Rain pelts his skin, icy droplets pouring up in a deluge strong enough to nearly knock Donatello off his feet.

“You're coming with me and that's not up for discussion!"

The lake wants to take them both. It didn't want to let go of Leo, and now it thinks it can bring Donatello down with him if it tries. What it doesn't know is that the only thing that can stop Donatello is Donatello. He didn't come this far to give up now.

He didn't fight and claw and rage against all known laws of the universe to come back without his brother.

Both hands close around Leo's scarf. Then his shoulders, his sides, until Donnie's arms are under his, gripping tight around his shell. Donatello slams his foot against the lake for leverage, hauling Leo free of the water's frigid embrace.

“FUCK YOU, DEATH! I'M TAKING HIM!”

The water ripples in reply, and suddenly, it lets go. Gravity shifts. Everything tilts, sending the brothers spinning, dizzy, up–down?–into the dark.

Through it all, Donatello keeps hold of Leonardo's hand.

He made the mistake of letting go once. He's not about to make it again.

[dib-thing-wannabe]

Okay, since you guys want it, I'm giving it! I may not be making a separate blog for it, but I am taking asks for it! Oh, and the name of the au is:

Chemical Overdose! Captain Underpants Au

Things to know before sending asks:

✨The only ones who will be answering asks are: George, Harold, Mr. Krupp, Captain Underpants, and Melvin! Don't forget Captain Underpants sidekicks, Flaming Ink and Polar Painter! (Yes they are color coded to make things simpler, and Captain Underpants's text will always be bold) (Also Flaming Ink is the same as George, and Polar Painter is the same as Harold. Those are just their superhero personas.) ✨

❌No Nsfw asks! These are children for crying out loud!❌

💕If you want to make fanart of my au, please do so! Just give credit to the au and tag me in it so I can see it!💕

⏲️This takes place around a year after the movie, and in that time frame Mr. Krupp knows and now accepts the fact that he is Captain Underpants, they have all fought multiple monsters, and the relationships between them are closer! I will incorporate some things from the show into the au as well, but not everything, as not only are they not the same timeline, I also haven't watched the show yet.⏲️

🔊I will occasionally posts things that doesn't have any asks, which just simply means that when the event happened, you guys were just not able to reach them during that time! (During the night, talking with another character, ect.) It means that it was meant to happen and that it couldn't have been prevented by any of you!🔊

📴If I randomly turn off asks, that's because I have reached the post limit and didn't want to be bombarded with asks while not being able to answer them!📴

⭐Do not think that I would find it annoying if you are sending me constant asks, whether I'm online or offline, I actually enjoy knowing that you enjoy my au that much! So send as many as you'd like!⭐

🧪Main premise of the au currently: George and Harold have accidentally fallen into unknown chemicals, and it's seems to be taking some strange effects on their body's, including giving them new powers that they could only ever dream of. Though we still don't know why all of their comics come to life...🧪

Links to check out for some more deep-seated lore and some things you need to know about the characters! (They are all in top to bottom chronological order except for the first two links shown)

Characteristics of the mains for the CO! Au!

The looks of the main CO! Characters!

Only a wish, not yet reality...

Just a simple thing to ask...

A mishap in the night.

It's been told, or rather, shown.

New looks for new heros.

The realization.

The First Fight.

Another Gift.

A poem.

The Neverending Nightmare.

An official thank you.

A memory in their sleep 1/2.

A memory in their sleep 2/2.

This will have unexpected consequences...

The fine line has been burned.

Just so everyone knows, by the time this blog thingy first takes place, it's around two to three days before the event that really cements the fact that it's an au, so there will be mentions of events that happened during that time.

So, with that being said, start sending asks and have fun!

The asks are currently open for: George, Harold, and Melvin!!

(Incase someone wants to read my other little fanfics, here)

The Villain's Untold Moldings (Fandom: Pj Masks):

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

The Evil and The Genius (Fandom: Jimmy Neutron):

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

[bsgpiece]

I love your artwork and ideas of Sanami! That evening date one feels like inspiration for a good fanfic. 😄

If there was a love confession between the two of them how do you think it will go? I love to hear your thoughts!

First of all, sorry for taking so long for answering! I really wanted to make an art for this, but I didn't like any of my attempts, so I guess I still have to get better for this!

Well, second... THANK YOUUUU 😭😭💕 That makes so happy, being able to share my art and thoughts and knowing there are people who appreciates them is so heartwarming.

Feel free to write a fanfic about it if you want! Hahaha I'd love to read any SaNami fics 🫶🏻

About love confessions.. Oh, that really gets me. I have this HUGE headcanon (almost an hyperfixation lol) they confessed their love to each other after Whole Cake Island. Yes, I know it's almost a cliché for them, but I still have some details in mind I haven't found in any fanfictions I read until now.

I love the idea of Nami feeling really guilty about not realizing Sanji's true intentions, but still feeling angry for all that happened. Sanji even though was really happy to be back, didn't know how to act around Nami.

They would be weird around each other for a day or two, until one night Nami decides to go after him to talk. Well, there is when my imagination goes wild lol

I wish I have the skill to write a fanfiction about this, but to summarize.. Nami would find Sanji looking like he just cried recently, or maybe still crying. She would feel even more guilty and angrier when he denies it, which will lead to a huge discussion. And I mean huge.

Nami would say everything in her mind. All the good and bad things she thinks about him, about herself (she'll just avoid the use of the "love" word, of course. She's not really ready for admitting such feelings). Things could get physical, breaking stuff, Nami really getting over Sanji, pulling and pushing him over, not knowing whether to get away or closer to him.

We know Sanji, right? He'd be very confused. But he is no fool. A small flame of hope would grow inside his heart. Could Nami actually have romantic feelings for him?

He is more honest to his feelings when it comes to love, specially to Nami. He wasn't sure how she would react, but he tought she already was so mad at him, what did he have to loose? So yes, I believe he would be the first to actually say it. But say it without heart eyes or nosebleeds. Holding her firmly, yet gently, so she wouldn't run from him. Say the "I love you, Nami-san" that really send shivers down her spine, made her legs feel weak and her heart racing.

Nami wouldn't react at first. She would just look at him for a few seconds, not realizing she actually start crying even more than she already was during their fight. When Sanji was starting to think he might shouldn't have done it, she grabs him by his collar and BAM, HOLLYWOOD KISS! 🤣 Really really intense kiss, yes.

Why? Because they would lose theirselves in each other's touch, not really having to think all those feelings through. Just feel them!

After several minutes, they'll have to stop at some point and face each other again. This time feeling a lot lighter than before, she'll finally say "I love you too, Sanji-kun".

Well, you can imagine it however you'd like from now on. I still have more headcanons over this, a few really NSFW 🫣 however, it already became such a long post, I'm sorry.. I get so excited about those two! Hope it made any sense for you guys 🤣🤣

Thank you so much if you read until here! Love to answer your questions 💖

[darkpoisonouslove]

1, 2, 7, 8, 24, 25, 27 for fic writing asks :) Hope you’re feeling better!

Thanks!

1.the last sentence you wrote

Well, I posted the last fic I worked on so here's the last sentence(s) from my Fallen Love Chapter 3 doc:

Her head spun from just the couple inches her heels added to her height. She’d bet on practicality for years but combat boots would only take her back to the battlefield. They simply didn’t make sense without the threat of war hanging over her head.

(I was going to play by the rules but the angst doesn't really hit with just the last sentence so...)

2. a character whose POV you’re currently exploring

Oh, my god, I've got nothing for this. I have been sick for over a week. Before that I was barely working on that Erendor x Samara fic I wanted to finish. Tbh my head has been way more into House of the Dragon (heaven knows why when the writers are hacks) than any of my own stuff. Like, I am hyperfixating in the most annoying way where I'm not coming up with fic, I'm not really analyzing the text that much, I'm just rotating the same thought in my head like it's a microwave that doesn't work and I'm hoping the heat generated by the rotating motion itself will be enough to cook my fucking thought.

But yeah, if we're talking about actual writing, then I'd have to go with Griffin since Fallen Love is all from her PoV (and so are all of my other recent Griffin x Valtor ideas, which are all I have). She's, uh... She's having a bad time and I don't know how to make it better. The good news is that I don't have to yet but at some point she's going to have to figure out what to do with her life now that she's not at war every day and I. Don't. Know what I'll do then. For now she's having Realizations TM but those are def spoilers.

7. your preferred writing fonts

I don't have any. Unless the one that's already set isn't an abomination, I just don't care. I'm using Libre Office and my default is Liberation Serif so I'm just using that.

8. if you had to write a sequel to a fic, you’d write one for…

I suppose that fics that already have sequels planned don't count? I have several for which I'd write an AU but a sequel? Let's see.

Yeah, nope, I'll have to pick something from those that I've already thought of continuing.

Originally, Imitation Play was supposed to have a sequel but I decided that I don't have a clear enough idea for it so I've left it alone. I already have enough other stuff to work on but if I had to write a sequel to something I've already finished, I'd look at that one and try to figure out how to continue it.

24. how do you recharge when you’re not feeling creative?

Usually watch movies. Way more rarely read a book or fanfic. But if I'm looking to spark thoughts, then listen to a playlist or even make a moodboard (which I haven't really done recently). Recently I found out that spending time and having fun with your family can really charge you like nothing else. Huh, who would've thunk?

25. besides writing, what are your other hobbies?

There's watching movies and reading books. DIY. Drawing. Playing various games (sudoku, mahjong, jenga, crossword puzzles, chess occasionally). A couple more that I'd feel like a fraud if I list because it's really been years since I've done them.

27. your favorite part of the writing process

It's what would fall under outlining. When I'm making sense of the story and adding ideas, tying plot points together and just weaving it all into one. I like seeing how it comes together into a coherent story and since it's not super serious at that point, I don't have to stress out that much. I'm just throwing pasta at the wall and seeing what sticks. And then arranging the stuff that sticks into a coherent, beautiful pattern. I like that!

send me fic writer asks

[the-music-maniac]

I'm relatively new to ORV, I got into it a while back and then ran out of time to continue (the novel is long AF lol) but as I'm getting back into it, I've realized that ORV is one of the most main character centric fandoms I have ever encountered before.

And tbh I think that's why I've been having so many issues getting invested in ORV fanworks. Specifically shipping ones. It's super rare for me because usually I love reading fanfics.

Before I start talking about my thoughts I just wanna make a disclaimer that I'm not trying to attack anyone. You should interact with media and create stuff however you wish to! Lord knows that I'm not exactly unbiased about my blorbos (I would die for them and you can tell from my posts) but I just kinda wanna talk about this because it's such a unique experience. Never before have I encountered a fandom that is so centered on one character.

Like I hope y'all know what I'm talking about and that I'm not just talking out of my ass. Everything in the ORV fandom is super Kim Dokja centric. On one hand, I really do get it, he's a great character. He's not my favourite character but he's a lil rat bastard and I think he's so fucking neat. And how centred the storyline and moreover the people in the story are on Kim Dokja is to a certain extent, canon. He's their leader and also the person keeping them safe. He's the one who reached out in their darkest moments and pulled them to the light. And he's a traumatized little bitch. Oof. A certain amount of hero worship and protectiveness is valid.

What I can't really wrap my head around though, is the lack of development between other members of the group in a lot of fanworks. This is specifically fandom interpretations of the characters btw, I haven't finished the story fully, so I can't speak on how they are canonically but I have seen people's stories and thoughts. And this isn't always the case of course, I have read fics before where our protagonists all appear to have relations with each other outside of their care for Dokja but it... wasn't as much as I was expecting. Which is weird to me because ORV is super good at writing like. Well written and thought out characters that would be super fun to play with in writing. In developing connections and care for each other - creating a found family. At the beginning they're all tied in by the need for survival and circumstance, they don't even necessarily like each other, and so of course they all gravitate to Dokja, that's to be expected, that's who they're familiar with. But eventually I expect they would learn to care about each other too, y'know? It's difficult to not get to know each other when you're living together daily, fighting alongside each other to survive. I don't believe that they wouldn't develop care for the other members of the group, and people who care about each other don't tend to genuinely threaten each other anytime Dokja gets hurt, especially when it's not anyone's fault - like usually it's in response to one of them "not doing enough to protect him" which makes no sense to me. You don't guilt trip people you care about for things outside their control. Moreover, Dokja is his own person - he will do what he will do and you can try and prevent it because you care about him, sure, but it's also unreasonable for others to expect anyone to be his keeper enough that they get angry when Dokja gets hurt due to his own actions or to situations outside of their control. People in general also don't have their entire character and world centered on loving one person. There are fics I've read where all the characters don't even seem to have any hobbies outside of spending time with Dokja, and I say this because they all literally fight, tooth and nail, over Dokja's time. It feels out of character to me. And yet this characterization is also so common???

I don't usually mind fics that so clearly have a bias towards one character because it's valid to write what you wanna see, but I think it's how saturated the fandom is with those types of works that makes me feel weird. It makes me stop seeing all the characters as individuals in their own right. Having no wants or needs or hobbies outside of Dokja makes it seem like they're just accessories to the story of Dokja's life. The story itself becomes less compelling to me, because it becomes less of a narrative of how Dokja has helped these people and their responses, and more of a world that bends over backwards to worship this one character, using all the other characters as tools to do so. Because if this is meant to convey gratitude and love, its illogical to how it usually works. Specifically in that, you don't lose your own identity or your connections to other people because of it. And I find it hard to interact with this level of saturation of those tropes because at a certain point, I start losing sight of the canonical writing of these individual characters as their own people. I start losing the idea I have in my mind of their canonical personalities. And I don't like that feeling. And because Dokja also isn't my favourite character in this story - I still like him, don't get me wrong - I start feeling indignant on the behalf of all the other characters that are not getting development BC of the concentration on Dokja.

I also don't like it when the banter goes away. Like you can care about people and still enjoy messing with them, I'm not sure why caring about dokja translates to hero worship??? I annoy my friends all the time, and they do it back. It's fun. Like that thing the group does where they can't see Dokja's face and just unanimously decide to tell him he looks bad when he asks about it? That's peak friendship. Peak messing with your sibling energy. As far as I've seen Dokja isn't self conscious about that either (then again I haven't read the entire story yet), so like. What gives? It's canonical that they mess with Dokja - but a lot of fics just get rid of that element.

I also find it especially hard when it comes to shipping, specifically Joonghyuk and Dokja. The reason why I love Joonghyuk and Dokja's dynamic so much in the first place is because they view each other as equals. It would be very easy to place either Joonghyuk or Dokja onto a pedestal - but they don't do that to each other. They know each other pretty damn well and they care about each other even though they're so in denial about it. And you know that thing they do where they act like the other is the worst person in existence and then negates it all by repeatedly devoting themselves to saving them? That's my shit. That whole "you're so fucking annoying but if you died I would kill everything in this room and then myself." The whole "what was that?" "Affection." "Disgusting. Do it again." THAT SHIT. I love that about them. And like the platonic relationships, a lot of shipping works get rid of that type of banter when they shift to a romantic relationship. Like yeah, sweet talk and honesty is important. You should let your partner know you love them. But that's not gonna be all there is. I don't see a need to get rid of the banter because as the story goes on, it's clear that even in canon, eventually the harsh words they say to each other stop being genuine because their actions negate the words. They don't mean them in the first place, so why would that banter change once their care shifts from a platonic to a romantic one? And I could perhaps be okay with that shift from banter to sweet talk if it was MUTUAL, but too often I see a situation where Dokja continues to insult Joonghyuk but he doesn't return it in kind. Joonghyuk is very blunt about his love for Dokja - which is good - but Dokja doesn't do the same back, and for some reason that's fine, and then Joonghyuk also no longer has those very human moments of annoyance when Dokja does some stupid shit. Like I guess I could understand the characterization of Dokja being emotionally constipated cause he's kind of a traumatized control freak and I can see how getting him to talk about his feelings is like trying to get a cat into a bathtub, but it's not like Joonghyuk isn't also like that? It's not really as much of a compelling relationship if one person is telling the other everything, giving care in words of affection and the other person isn't returning it. And you could depict that returned care in other ways, absolutely, but again I don't see it in other ways either, because those stories are still so Dokja centric.

Another factor is that I find that I can't really like a ship in a work where one of the characters is elevated to a point where they can't do anything wrong. Where their own needs are always at the forefront and their partner is always catering to it. Like a relationship is a give and take. We focus a lot on Dokja's trauma - which I love, that man needs sO MUCH THERAPY and it's an interesting topic to explore - but we don't focus on the amount of shit Joonghyuk has had to go through. I very rarely see a shipping fic where Dokja tries to address Joonghyuk's trauma or his hurt. Physical hurt sure, maybe, but that other shit that Joonghyuk bottles up?? Never talked about. My man has had to keep living lives over and over again. Has had to see people he love die, make hard choices. There is no way he's not traumatized to shit, and I'd like that to be a focus some of the time, y'know? Moreover, of all people, Dokja would be the one to understand him the most? One, he's the only one who really knows the whole truth about Joonghyuk, or as much of it as you can, and two, they both have taken on very burdensome leadership roles in a situation where few would be able to understand their position - it makes sense for them to lean on each other mutually, and so far there's a very prominent skew, only an exploration on one side.

And I pretty much haven't seen a shipping fic with Dokja and Joonghyuk where Joonghyuk has recieved any form of platonic comfort from the other characters. I've seen plenty for Dokja. Where he gets comforted/helped by both Joonghyuk and all the other characters. But not for Joonghyuk. If y'all have any recs where Joonghyuk has that, PLEASE recommend it because I need. And sure, it can be argued that Joonghyuk is a hard man to know considering his prickliness but regardless, he DOES have canonical platonic relationships. People who care for him. Who would be protective over him if he were to get hurt. That is not something only Dokja has, and yet it's something I only ever see written for Dokja. Y'all need to remember that technically Dokja doesn't act like any less of an asshole sometimes than Joonghyuk. He's more outwardly approachable sure, but he's not necessarily sweet 100% of the time - he has grit and he's a rat bastard and that's my FAVOURITE FUCKING PART ABOUT HIM. The fact that he's a rat bastard and the fact that not everyone likes him. His interactions in a world where he does have to make hard choices or say things that put people at odds, or hurts others when he didn't mean to. I love that about Joonghyuk too. They suck and they both have so much capacity to be kind despite all the shit they've gone through, but they're not able to see that in themselves and they do bad things because they have to, and I think they're so fascinating.

Y'know out of all of this, I think what cracks me up is, knowing Dokja's character, he would be absolutely appalled at how centred all of it is on him only. Like. Like that's literally the opposite of what he wants 🤣🤣. Like I get that makes people want to do it more because he deserves it and whatnot which is valid but like. He would be quite disgruntled 🤣🤣🤣

[bakuliwrites]

Ooh I'd love to hear about Dark Star! 👀

I would be delighted to talk about it! Thank you so much for asking!

WIP Ask Game here

So, Dark Star is my BG3 fanfic about my Sorlock Tav, Orlando. More detailed info about her here and Chapter One here. She is a Deep Sea Tiefling who grew up in a family of Warlocks who all worshipped a Fathomless being they simply call The Deep Abyss. Orlando managed to escape her family with her mother and brother, but through a series of events, wound up trapped in the House of Hope as a child, where she met a young Enver Gortash. Some things I'm exploring in Dark Star:

Gortash's backstory and his time in the House of Hope. It is here that Orlando and Gortash begin their romance, which started as a childhood crush and bloomed into more as they aged. I wanted to write a story for a Tav with a history with Gortash, rather than a Durge story (though I do enjoy Durgetash).

I don't have any intention of doing a redemption arc for Gortash, but I do want to show his internal conflict when it comes to pleasing Orlando (she wants him to do the right thing) and providing a stable future for the both of them (which, for Gortash, means making questionable if not morally reprehensible decisions). Their relationship has, over the years, become more toxic, but there is a lot of deep love there, still. (If you're curious, I have a little standalone story about them in their younger years here and some letters exchanged between them here)

Lots of eldritch themes in this. Orlando has her own patron that I came up with (a baby Fathomless she rescued!), but her family has the Deep Abyss. She wants to sever her ties from this particular Fathomless, but is struggling to do so. Similar to Raphael, Orlando has an Ascended form, but it is directly related to the Deep Abyss (I'm going to draw up a design for this at some point haha).

Orlando has her own questline, so depending on which ending you get, she'll end up with Gortash, ruling over Faerûn together. Or she will end up with Astarion and Karlach :) I like poly romances and wish you could romance them both in game! I plan to have a ton of wholesome moments between them throughout each chapter.

And finally, here's a little excerpt that I haven't yet posted :) This fic has WAY more Gortash content than I initially intended. My obsession with that man hit me like a train haha. This occurs right in the beginning of act 3, during Gortash’s coronation. Orlando and Enver haven’t seen each other in a few years, but have been corresponding via letters to one another.

Orlando glides up to the dais, the hem of her white dress like silken snow pooling around her feet. She lays her hand softly over Enver’s, a touch so deeply familiar, it could knock him off his feet. For a moment, the throne room in Wyrm’s Rock is still, as if the very building itself is holding its breath. Enver has half a mind to scoop Orlando into his arms, to lay kiss after long awaited kiss to her lips, to make up for the years they’ve been apart. But in the company of others, tadpoled or otherwise, he opts to merely intertwine their fingers, giving her hand an affectionate squeeze. 

Enver is grateful for her discretion. A grand display of adoration would hardly be appropriate for his coronation ceremony. And he does not yet know where Orlando’s allegiance lies. Will she remain faithful to him? To the plan? Or will she deliberately work against him? With the killing of Ketheric Thorm, he cannot be sure anymore. Orlando is more lethal than she realizes, but that is not why Enver is interested in allying with her. No, it is her determination, her softness that will win the hearts of those in Baldur’s Gate. Enver Gortash, the iron fist of Bane, and Orlando, his gentle wife.

“I thought you dead,” he murmurs to his beloved, allowing himself a moment to rest his forehead against hers, to let his eyes flutter shut while he basks in her calm aura. How long has it been since he has felt this at peace? Her thoughts gently nudge his. 

“Your mind is open to me, Enver,” Orlando whispers in his head, a tender voice in the cacophonous din, “You are fraught with worry. What troubles you?” 

He lets her in, lets her wade past the wrathful, shadowy thoughts that have eclipsed his mind. He is controlled, calculated, and pulled together in front of this gathering of nobles and smarmy politicians. But there is a tiny corner of Enver’s psyche that is reeling, chaotic. Orlando is a reminder of softer days, hours spent idling with one another in the dark corners of the House of Hope. Secret meetings, stolen kisses, furtive glances. 

Yet, she is also a reminder of sorrowful, difficult days. Days of punishment for Enver’s insolence. His disobedience. Days of separation, because a note exchanged between the two of them was discovered, and they were no longer allowed to be alone with one another. Notes that contained plans of escape. Plans for a life lived beyond the confines of the House of Hope. Dreams crushed to dust by the cruelty of a world built on lies and false hope.

“Meet me in my office after the ceremony,” Enver breathes, before pulling away and cloaking himself in bravado once more.

[astriiformes]

Fanfic ask game 4, 5, and 30?

1 - What is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread?

Hmm.... I'm trying to think of something I haven't written any of yet (that I still would like to someday) and it's probably my idea for a post-ROTJ Star Wars fic that weaves together Luke figuring out he's aroace against the backdrop of the late days of the Rebellion, with everyone figuring out their next steps, Han and Leia announcing their official engagement, and the little tidbit from the Padmé books that Sola Naberrie is also aromantic.

Basically a solid dose of "Oh wait, these two people I love are going to spend the rest of their lives together, but not always with me, and I have no idea what I want??" but set on Naboo, which allows for both the meet the aunt/cousins plot we deserved AND a silly little side plot about Han freaking out about realizing he's going to have in-laws, because he didn't realize Leia had family other than Luke that were still alive (poor guy).

5 - Have you ever made a playlist about something you were writing as an elaborate means to procrastinate when you could have been actually writing and if yes drop a link, son

I've never made a fic-specific playlist but I really should, because I love making them!

30 - Most inspirational quote you’ve ever read or heard that’s still important to you.

I've always been particular to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "A Psalm of Life," in particular the stanzas:

Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul.

and

Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again.

[willow-lark]

2 and/or 4, please! Hope you’re doing well!

hello hello vee! 💕🫂

2. talk about a notable time a narrative or character has looked you dead in the eyes and said “fuck your plan, here’s what we’re actually doing.”

ooh okay this actually just happened to me when i was writing my last byler soulmate au. i've published two different byler au series like this (and written three, but that first one i wrote will not be seeing the light of day lol) and in the first two i had the first part will's pov, and the second part mike's. but when i was writing the sequel to iimdittgttsy (GAH why did i make such a long-ass quote the title), again supposed to be mike's pov, it was just Not Working. there was a lot i wrote from his pov (and it ended up being most of the fic), but i ended up realizing that will was simply Not Done Talking and he had Things to Say and Angst to Work Through!!! he literally would not shut up, and i had to switch off between his and mike's pov. i think it turned out pretty great tbh, but it was definitely annoying having to break up my formula. perhaps i will write a part three in which mike gets more of a say...

4. what is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread?

hoo boy. if there's a god of carrying around plot bunnies for years and years at a time and/or abandoning them in wips it is probably me. i try to not let it weigh on me. but here's an incomplete list of my stranger things plot bunnies that i haven't gotten around to:

will escapes the UD on his own sometime between s1 and s3 and runs away, ultimately linking up with kali and her gang, who then have to return to hawkins to help el/the squad with the UD/henry. (potentially ft. will-has-powers and/or birthdaygate)

byler reunite in college after drunkenly hooking up

art teacher who runs the gsa!will & new english teacher!mike reunite. it's awkward.

max finds out about "it's not my fault you don't like girls" and confronts mike

will joins scoops troop in s3

fic exploring max's life post-s2

other party members visiting el at the cabin post s2/separate henderhop and hopclair oneshots

the byers hide el in their house post s1

...if anyone wants to know more about any of these lmk... maybe i'll actually start writing them again 👀😅

fanfic ask game!!

[ufuckingpastry]

I've been feeling in a rough patch lately and most of it's manifested in insecurities and a general lack of motivation to work on any writing projects. I haven't touched PB since I put it on hiatus. I came up with a really fun writing series that just petered off into nothing. I've barely progressed and done anything, even though I'm having all these cool story ideas!

If you've been here for a while, you might've noticed that I stopped writing a couple years back, right around when Homestuck ended. Homestuck was the first major fandom I was in and the first one I posted fanfic for. My AO3 has 50 works just for Homestuck. And, when it ended, it felt like so did my desire to create.

Of course, this was right around my last year of college and ohhhhh fuck that was stressful. Plus I got really into WoW too. I didn’t really have much time to write in general.

I struggled for 3 years feeling like I could barely write anything at all. I was in such a depressive funk at the time, and the feeling like I couldn't create only worsened it. It took me 3 months to write 1000 words.

And then, one day, something amazing happened. I got into dsmp, I got into these characters, and on a whim, I sat down and wrote my first fic for it. In the span of 3 days, I wrote 3000 words! And I was happy! And I posted it and people seemed to love it!

My AO3 now has at least 30 fics just for dsmp, and I've got folders upon folders of other projects and ideas springing up every day for new fics for other smp series!

And yet, I'm starting to see myself falter. With the dsmp ending, and especially ending like it did, it reminds me so much of Homestuck. And I see myself doing the same things and behaving the same way I did 6 years ago. Struggling to write. A lack of focus and motivation to work on any of my projects. An external source of immense stress that makes me feel like I don’t have much time to write anymore.

And it's frustrating on a personal level to see that. Therapy opened my eyes to recognizing my patterns of behavior. I can prevent myself from spiraling. I can recognize when I need a break and I can take that break and barely feel guilty for it. And yet, here I am again. Will it soon take me a month to write 1000 words?

Have I even written 1000 words this very month?

... so I've written 5000.

In 2022, I decided that I wanted to track my yearly word count. I wrote so MUCH in 2021 that I broke 100k words posted on AO3 for that year. But that was just finished works! None of my wips, which I knew I had a lot more of! So I tracked my word count in 2022 and I think I hit around 150k? And that's impressive! That's cool!

So I did it again for 2023. But it's been harder to keep up with that over the last few months. I've been in a limbo of not knowing how many words I've written. Based on the fact that I haven't made any progress on my fics, that number must be very low, I thought.

And then I updated my word count yesterday. And I realized something:

I've written over 5000 words this month. Which isn't a lot, sure, but it's a lot for me. And, you know what? That's on track for January and February. March was fucking wild cuz I broke 14k words in March. And I know from tracking it last year, whenever I get a huge spike of words in one month, it takes maybe another month to recover. So my next month won't be as big or grand, but that's okay.

And that made me sit back and really look at what that means. I've been rping a lot, which is where the majority of those words come from. I wrote 1.5k words in a single DAY and I'm over here wondering why I don't have any words left in me! When I was in my last writing slump, I was still rping. All I did was rp.

I'm still writing, even when I don't think I am. I'm still expressing myself in these creative outlets even when I don't think it's "real writing". And why does it matter what's real writing anyways? Isn't it enough that I'm still doing it?

It is. It is enough. Therapy helped me recognize my patterns of behavior, and sometimes the answer really is to just. Take a break.

It'll still be here when you get back.

[tarnishedxknight]

{out of dalmasca} I'm alive, I promise, lol. Mons-Weds this week are the worst days for the start of my summer class. On Mon the course shell opened, so students can see everything, read the syllabus, but the assignments are locked. On Tues, the assignments opened up and they can start working, also it's the first official day of class so a lot of them show up then. And then Weds they have their first assignments due, so that's when a lot of problems/questions will start happening. After Weds it'll probably calm down a bit until the weekend, when they have their first forum assignment due. So that's why I decided to just take this whole week off to give myself a break and make it easier, heh. I hope to be on tomorrow night at least part of the time. I have so much muse for everything here and plenty to do, so I'm itching to chip away at things.

I've also been re-immersing myself in Silent Hill stuff to prepare to work on my fanfic again. I haven't touched that fic since 2016, so I'm slightly rusty on lore, locations, etc. The first movie, which is how I structured the fic because it simplifies things a lot for me, leaves Netflix after 5/31, and the second is on Tubi, so I may watch them back-to-back either Weds or Thurs. The second movie is... terrible, but I like the first movie a lot. I figure I may as well watch both since that's a lot faster than replaying games, and that'll help me get back into the world and mood to write my fic.

And now some blabbing about maybe having Silent Hill as a muse, heh, and about SH in general for anyone who is interested... below the cut.

I may do some posting over on my multi at some point, since the fic concerns a muse I have there, but I am considering? having Silent Hill as a muse. The whole town, heh. Not necessarily any characters in it other than creatures, and the evil or demon or whatever you wanna call it, only because that could get crazy, there's a lot of characters who live there. But the idea would be to let people put their muses in the town and then I throw things at them just like would happen in the games, and it's... designed to push your muse into some realization about themself or admitting something to themself that they're in denial about or that's difficult for them to come to terms with. That's... the very simple way of putting it.

It does... require me to know a LOT about your muse, that's the one catch. Because I have to know what the skeletons in their closet might be, what scares them, what the evil of the town might want to latch on to in order to try to capture their soul. So it has to be a canon character or OC that I know pretty well for this to work. But hey, even if no one's interested in it, it'd still be pretty fun to just write up the info post for it, haha. Yeah, I'm that level of rp dork. I don't know, I haven't decided yet, we'll see how it goes. It may be more work on my part than it's worth and that there's interest for from my writing partners. I am going to try to finish the fanfic sometime soon, though, at the very least.

If you're not familiar with the Silent Hill movies or games, watching the first movie will give you a nice nutshell version of it. It'll help you understand the "universe" better, how it functions, the main story behind it, and will introduce you to a number of the main characters, the creatures, and the locations from the games. And the music! Silent Hill has very iconic music. It's very atmospheric, a little creepy, edgy... and the person who does the majority of the vocals is actually really cool, heh. I met her at a con once and she was just the coolest chick. But, I digress. The first movie used a lot of the music from the games, and that really helps create the same kind of atmosphere as the games. So yeah, if you want the quickest path to understanding the SH universe quickly and simply, I recommend watching the first movie... BUT...

SAFETY DISCLAIMER BELOW!

...I do want to say... and when I post about it over on my multi I'll say the same thing... that if you do decide to watch the first movie, and you're going in cold knowing nothing about SH, please be careful! I don't want anyone to go in not knowing what to expect and being seriously triggered by it. If you have any triggers at all, assume they are in this movie. SH is a violent, heavy, emotional, and raw survival horror world. It's like the GoT of survival horror, heh. No punches pulled, nobody's safe, good doesn't necessarily win, everything terrible you can imagine, it's in there. The game and movie universes hinge on being fear factories for those trapped there. The evil in the town deliberately drives at your deepest fears and worst self-denials, that's the point. So that's why it's so intense. The origin story of how the demon/evil/"dark one" came to be in control of SH in the first place is pretty horrific and triggering too.

If you have any triggers you're concerned about and you want to check with me before you watch it, I'd be happy to let you know if it's in there. I'm only saying all of this because I would never forgive myself if I ended up triggering someone really badly because I didn't properly inform people ahead of time. So please do take care when watching or playing anything SH related if you aren't used to the survival horror genre, and to the level of gore and rough themes that are common in the SH world.

Having said this, if you're into horror imagery, horror symbolism, really fantastical creatures, life after death, and a lot of psychological commentary on human nature, hypocrisy, religion, and the definition of good and evil, then you may enjoy it. Here is the trailer, if you'd like to see, which doesn't have anything too bad in it, but just in case, trigger warnings for a car crash, fire, insects (roach-like), flashing images, and a bit of twisted-body creature imagery.

Also, if I do bring the town to my multi as a muse, of course I will not be venturing into offensive, triggering, or cringe content with threads. The goal would be more of a softened fantasy-horror experience, letting your character encounter creatures, placing them in stressful or puzzling situations, trying to test and frustrate them, giving them clues to things, etc. I wouldn't go into anything too bad, and I wouldn't do anything to your muse without asking you ahead of time. And like I said, I'm still deciding whether to take it on as a muse, or whether it's too over my head as far as amount of work. I've wanted to do it for a while, but I'm just not sure how go at it I'd be. *shrugs* We'll see.

So that's what's up with the lack of activity on here, I've just been working and revisiting Silent Hill stuff. If I'm not back here on Weds (5/29), I definitely will be on Thurs (5/30)! =)

[miabebe]

Friend! RE: your last post.

I hope you're not too discouraged for too long. <3 Interaction and feedback is the hardest part of the writing game in some ways because it is often harder to come by than the drive to finish a piece haha and you aren't in control of it the way you are in control of the worlds you create. Worst yet, the things we're proudest of somehow tend to be the things we hear the least about. I don't read SVT stuff unfortunately, but I have no doubt you made your work into something great because you're something great. (To that end, I just realized I haven't made time read your Kyunnie chap V fic yet--I will have to do so immediately!)

Please keep in mind, we are a consumption-based culture these days--click, consume, move on--which makes us less likely to stop and reflect on an artist's work. Honestly, the nature of social media is kind of breeding this out of us. People legitimately do not take the time to reflect on what they've read or, also possibly, they really never been taught how. What did this make me feel? Why did it make me feel this way? What moments in particular really made my heart skip or my brain whir? What was most memorable? If readers spent even one minute after reading something to consider this instead of just smashing a heart and moving on, we'd all--readers and writers--get a lot more value out of things.

Worse yet, social media has also bred into us a quantitative culture. If our like/heart threshold is below a certain amount, we've failed, which is simply not true! Is it wonderful to have a story with a thousand notes? Yeah, that's hella cool. I don't have any lol, but that doesn't mean I've failed (we met through our writing, so how could that be a fail, number of notes be damned!). <3 The only way to fail at writing is to simply stop doing it. :)

Another thing to consider, most readers are not creators. They don't really understand the breadth of the effort that goes into creation. (Also, going to be a teensy-weensy bit snobby here, but) They're also used to packaged and repackaged boilerplate smut that can be consumed rather mindlessly. Authors like you, who worldbuild and create meaningful connections for your characters, are a dying breed in this niche writing community, and many readers truly do not realize how mentally draining creating at this level truly is. Also, many don't interact because they've lost the art of communicating those thoughts meaningfully or they're simply too shy or feel too inarticulate to do so.

Anyway, all of this is my extremely long-winded and probably borderline pompous way of saying that it's okay to feel discouraged because your work feels undervalued (it is), BUT that doesn't mean that those silent readers didn't take something away from it! You've probably left more impressions than your notes imply. Do you know the number of DMs or asks I've gotten months or years after an anonymous reader read something of mine and finally came back to tell me what it meant to them? A shocking amount, weirdly. You may have planted thoughts or feelings in your readers that will take some time to germinate, but that doesn't mean they're not there, blooming in secret.

Girlie, your writing is special and far too important to give up on, interactions be damned! Not that you don't deserve them of course, but stay open on your writing journey. You're doing tremendously--speaking professionally as an English teacher and a 25-year fanfic writing veteran. Not everything will receive the hefty recognition it deserves, but it still adds value to people's lives--most importantly YOURS. <3

Gosh I've been so chronically offline, I did not know the sweetest, much needed message ever was sitting in my inbox for so long! @biffhofosho the way your words have an effect on me, be it in your stories or in your messages of encouragement, is like nothing else - god only knows what I have done to deserve such kindness from you <3 You're absolutely right, I feel like somewhere, the consumerism of it all got to me - I've never really written stories with the idea of getting a response, but I think once I got a teeny tiny bit, human nature made me crave for more, only to eventually be met with the usual lack of it? It was a viscous, stupid trap that took quite a while to break out of but I've finally done it, I'm back to writing again :) Thank you for pushing me to not give up on this, honestly, notes truly be damned, I'm so glad to have found you on this journey! I'm truly so grateful for the way you appreciate my work and motivate me to do better, thank you, thank you, thank you <3

[mechanicalinertia]

STMPD Attempts To Plan 2023

In case you haven't caught on yet, I make posts like this more to plan out what I want to do for myself, as a fanfiction writer, than spoil what's next in the ol' pipeline. I'm discovering what comes next for this year at approximately the same rate you are.

And... look. I think I'm going to be much busier than I was in 2022. This year is going to be a part of my life where I undergo a lot of big changes, make a lot of big moves, and hopefully don't fuck up too badly in between all of that. Bearing that in mind, my new year's resolution was simply to write less fanfiction and write more real fiction for real people. And given circumstances, I'll probably end up fulfilling that imperative.

But I'll still produce content. It will be smaller, less ambitious, but it'll still be there. I'll still be here. So let's go over what I could work on:

Anatomy Of A Lovedoll: Ha. Could work on? Oh, STMPD, you silly goose. I need to finish this goddamn thing. I have one big epic fight scene to hack out, goodness only knows how long that will take, then one super-short epilogue and I'll have a really good Bubblegum Crisis fanfiction actually finished! Of course, I have to get that fight scene finished first, and that's tricky right now for some reason. I don't know why, but the blow-by-blow just isn't coming to me organically. I'm not giving up on it, but I could stand to work harder on this piece. It's worth finishing, it really is. It's one of the things I'm unironically glad I wrote. I just got to give it one final push.

Divine Patronage: I used to think this was a fic with a lot of views: then I saw how many views Edgerunners fics can get, and realized that I don't know what I'm talking about. Ranma is an old fandom, certainly not a dead one but not a big one by any means. But I haven't stopped having ideas for adventures Urd and Ranma could go on together. Urusei Yatsura, Tenchi Muyo, Patlabor, Dominon... all these 80's and 90's anime that just call out for silly crossovers where Ranma and some cute girl can save the day together. So I need to get back to this one, but is that what I really want to do after Anatomy? Or do I want to try something else? Such as:

Witch of Tranquility: This, actually, was my original plan for a sequel to Anatomy, one which looks like it'll take awhile to really get going. I'm less enthusiastic about it compared to when I first drew up the concept, mostly because in my head it leads into several more fics involving more Edgerunners characters doing stuff. In other words, it's a commitment bigger than I'm willing to commit to, at least in my head. Maybe I could write it as a standalone fic, but it's the kind of fic that doesn't end happily, it has a big ol' world-shaking alteration to the state of the world in the 2060's. I was designing it almost predicated on the promise of there being more adventures after it, but who's to say there will be? And even then, the question of whether I should focus on Edgerunners characters or BGC characters looms its head. I had one idea for a Reika Chang-centric fic in the 2060's continuity, and another involving Celia / Sylia's mother coming back from the dead in a manner akin to Prospera Mercury in Gundam, but I don't know if either of those would really work.

As-of-yet-unproduced Fate / Edgerunners crossover fic: A relatively simple idea: David and the Edgerunners crew end up in a Holy Grail War in Night City. David's Sandevistan is magical, has a catalyst and artificial magic circuits implanted in it, etc etc. I came up with this idea in an Edgerunners fanfiction discord, only for the author of motherfucking Group Chat, one of the most popular Edgerunners fanfics out there, to turn out to be a huge Fate-head as well. I said I probably didn't have it in me to write it, and Arrow said he's interested in writing the fanfic. So I could theoretically just act as a creative consultant. Only... several people on forums think the idea is a bad one, and that it should be inspired by Fate/Extra instead, perhaps even eliminating David from the fic entirely. Which, since I know next to nothing about Extra's sub-canon, I don't really want to do. Well, we'll see if anything comes of the project. I'm excited for it, especially since I think David's drives are similar to Shirou's in crucial and interesting ways.

Fanfic Reviews: Sometime in the later months of 2022, I became convinced that I had run out of reviewable Bubblegum Crisis fanfic that I could recall without having to read too much of something I hated. But that's a falsehood. The number of review drafts I've got on tumblr speaks to that. Now, as tempting as it is to try to review a behemoth like YT2032 or something like that, I don't really feel ready to do that right now. Instead, what I really ought to do is start moving more reviews from drafts to complete posts, finish up what I can easily review and then go there. I reviewed a lot of fanfics over the past year, and it was a fun pastime, helped me get a better sense of what I want out of BGC fan content. So yeah, I need to get back to doing some more fluffy fic reviews.

Silly Miscellanea: Omakes, short stories - anything to get the ol' creative juices flowing. I have this fragment of a thing where Priss, Linna, and Nene talk about 3D printing as it might exist in the 2060's and how technology rarely disrupts the fundamental foundations of society anymore, this whole sci-fi philosophy discharge that could work as a short bit. I had this idea for a story in the vein of early 2010's battle harem high school light novels where Sho from OVA 3 grows up and leads the next generation of Sabers. I keep thinking it might be cool to explore the friendship between Reika and Linna once or twice. Stuff like that.

So: Will I end up writing any of these potential projects? Well, Anatomy's a given, the fanfic reviews are a given, but after that I honestly don't know. We'll see how the year shakes out, and if I find that I have the time to do more than just those projects - if I get to help write a fate fanfic, if I continue Divine Patronage, if I do anything else at all - then so much the better, right?

Yeah.

[olderthannetfic]

Haah, funny thing... I was just seeing another post on Tumblr calling you out (struck-thru vowels and everything) for "propagating racism" on AO3. I think it was some years old, but it did drop something interesting. Apparently, the "real" mass-exodus to AO3 happened because too many writers on LJ were getting into fights over racism-in-writing?

--

Oh, I'm sure there are many. People often make me the posterchild, which I suppose is somewhat justified now that my tumblr is so much more popular than before but was pretty dumb in the past when I was no longer working for OTW and not yet popular with randos. (TBH, I sometimes wonder if people spreading my name around pointlessly and advertising me is what made me popular. If so, congratulations, I guess?)

I've been criticized by at the very least Rukmini Pande for not talking more about Racefail. She's an academic who talks about racism in fandom but who mega sucks on the topic of Asian media and who conflates a lot of things I don't, including ye olde SF book fandom and fanfic fandom.

It's true that Racefail was a huge deal on LJ, but it was "fandom" in the 1960s sense where the word sans modifier means WorldCon type SF book spaces. When I say "fandom", I don't mean that community because, like most fanfiction fans today, I was never in it.

I don't even come from K/S fandom, actually. I come from X-Files fandom (one of the first "digital native" fandoms that made up its own rules) and (US, English-speaking) anime fandom. Those are my actual cultural forebears, and I haven't wasted my time on the racist, sexist, homophobic oldschool SF book publishing world since I was like 13. I do consume sff canons, but they're TV or movies or manga or self-published m/m novels that are also sff.

Why would I waste my time on trying to fix that community that isn't even mine?

Anyway, when people try to tell you that fandom left LJ over something to do with race, they're talking about a massive wankfest called "Racefail" or "Racefail 2009", which enveloped all of SF fandom on LJ and inevitably spilled into lots of more fanficcy spaces because we were all adjacent and overlapping. It largely consisted of clueless white liberals going "But I'm one of the good ones!!!" and being shocked and appalled that anyone could find them racist. People spent a lot of time "defending" their friends in unproductive ways. There was a lot of self-righteous stupidity on all sides, but it was the culmination of years of completely justified anger at the SF establishment being hella fucking racist. (So the two sides were most certainly not equal. A lot of the racist stuff being pointed out was indeed extremely racist.)

Racefail was deeply unpleasant, like any wank that rips through supposed ~civil communities of friends~. In reality, of course, a lot of the people who were pissed had been pissed about micro and not-so-microaggressions for years. It was something like one of those plays or movies about suburban morality where all of the simmering tensions boil up towards the end, destroying the façade of middle class propriety. It's deeply traumatic for people who did not realize the tensions existed, but it's hard to have much sympathy for their feelings if you've been the one suffering all that time.

It is not, however, the reason people moved to AO3. AO3 had already been in the works for a couple of years by the time Racefail was everywhere in 2009 and 2010, and AO3 was not popular at that point and continued to not be popular.

What popularized AO3 was FFN fucking up in 2012.

You know why LJ fic writers moved to AO3 in 2009? Because that's the first time it opened to users.

Moreover, while Racefail certainly affected many individual fans who like fanfic, it was primarily about oldschool US SFF publishing, a thing that 99% of AO3 users could not care less about. A far higher percentage of old LJ users care, of course, but even there, it's a mistake to think fandom=fandom.

"Fandom" in the supposedly-unmarked "book SF" sense and "fandom" in the also supposedly-unmarked "fanfic fandom" sense have never been the same thing. In the early days of Star Trek fic zines, they largely overlapped, sure, but by the early 90s, they had heavily diverged, and by 2009, they were completely distinct.

The reason they keep being conflated is that some of the loudest meta writers are in both and care deeply about that SF-->K/S zines-->AO3 history.

It's fine that they do, but it is not my history, and I see no reason to pretend it is.

The people who spread this lie about AO3's origins have an agenda, and it is not to educate the current tumblr masses about Racefail.

[impyssadobsessions]

So far from what I’ve read from your DPxDC fanfictions I’m in love. Danny would just thrive so much having other supers/vigilantes to bounce off of.

BUTT it got me thinking… What about Dani? She doesn’t have the ghost crown tying her to Amity Park nor is she responsible for any ghost containment. If she’s really stabilized she can go wherever she wants in the world. Heck if she’s feeling drained she could take a dunk in a Lazarus Pit for all we know. Plus she’s got the black hair blue eyes too. AND a very good reason not to trust rich men wanting to adopt kids.

Danny would become top tier hero if he had other heroes to rely on >w< He already has the powers and from experience knows that life is in his hands, plus natural leader. I thought a lot about Dani's dynamic in DC crossover. There is a lot you can do with her, plus it be easier for her to run into heroes because she's roaming around. Also think it be fun if someone did a story of Catwoman semi-adopting Dani.. She be so proud of her little thief. XD I can see them both jiving well together. Meet while stealing =w= With the bats in particular, can see her wandering into Gotham and running into them. If she gives any of them a time of day its because one of them reminds her of Danny, so that little bit of security... (Which wouldn't be Bruce because Batman scary XD) Tim or Dick more likely.. or even Jason because he has that ghostly feel. Anyways Dani I see as a loner mischievous type, she's still fresh to the world so she doesn't have strong morals. I think Batman would actually be really good for her to grow, plus Batman actually has experience with kids that act like her. Once he overcomes her trust issues with billionaires of course. Dani also I don't see as the heroic type, anti-hero at best. She just rather be free and have fun, so I can see her running around as robin just for funs but decide heroing isn't for her. Her getting excited about doing normal things until she realize they're boring like school XDD. Can see Cass being a good mentor/older figure for her too. Dani would wreck havoc at galas.. and Bruce couldn't prove a thing. =w=' Kek. But like I said I see Bruce being a good figure for Dani because of his experience with the other kids.. and having strong morals. Which encourages Dani to start revaluating her own morale and what she is or isn't ok with. What crosses the line for her. Idk if her and B ever be close but she definitely would love all her family members and fight for them in a heartbeat. Ooo can also see if Batman doesn't know about Danny yet... Dani probably confusing the heck out of them.. when she mentions Danny.. because Dani is her name XD... but also them finding out about her "cuz". In DC crossover I see like Danny being good for Bruce's growth more than his own and Bruce being better for Dani's growth. Because Danny isn't like the other kids he's adopted.. despite looking and acting similar. He KNOWS the dangers, he knows how bad a screw up can change everything. He's half-dead, so he's very well aware that death is a possibilty. So Bruce would have to change his approach if he ever want to get close to/mentor Danny. Kek sorry for long post. I had the Dani thing explained better in my head, but anyways. Dani is perfect to use for a dp x dc especially for the bats. Tim bringing over Kon... Connner? ......k or c? ANYWAYS brings him over and she can relate to another clone. If going off from what I have written from my own fanfic.. can see Dani existing makes Danny and Bruce argue.. because Bruce like why haven't you told me and leaving her alone like that was irresponsible. Danny like WHAT YOU EXPECT FROM ME BRUCE?! I'm 16, she doesn't have a cellphone, and the only place that ISNT safe for her is my home town. Well until now.. AND WE HAVE A VENDETTA AGAINST BILLIONAIRES! Why would I tell someone I'm still trying to learn to trust?! Plus I like to make sure she's ok with it before telling you. Because its HER LIFE that's at risk. Anyways Danielle has so much potential. She just hyper little op demon. Chaotic little girl. ..again sorry for the long thing XD