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help-i-need-a-cool-username · 1 year

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Its the end of the year! Which means its time to post the

Tags That Made Me Smile 2022

The following are a collective list of tags, author notes, and fic names that i saw on ao3 and tumblr that made me either laugh or smile. Ive separated them by fandom but a good amount arent actually fandom specific. Ive added the character names or fandom at the end like {name} to clarify who the tag is talking about

[2021's list]

Author Specific / Non-Specific

i saw canon; acknowledged it; And promply burned it in a dirty trash can thanks; Have this instead

Give me pain I need to feel something

this is self projection thank you coming to my ted talk

Whats that?? Overused tropes that everyone has seen before????? Pfffffffft. This fic is literally just a big mess of "how can I cater to myself and myself only"

you ever just look at your life and wonder how you got here; bc that's what this fic is for me

Don't underestimate me I DO NOT know how long this fan-fic will be

can you tell my target audience is myself

this is content specifically catered to me and no one else

these characters are my landlords and i pay them rent

P O L Y A M O R Y I S M Y P O L Y J A M O R Y

cheek kiss warning

kidnapping isn’t sexy don’t do it

i've never read the archie comics but that's not gonna stop me {archie sonic}

not me writing a whole fic for a ship only i care about; that like maybe two other people ship; rowing this boat is hard but someone has to do it {scourge x fleetway sonic}

ankles don't heal this fast but fuck it i do what i want

no beta we die like men; or rather we drown like the sad shipper with a pool noodle we are

I'm afraid of the Danimals mascot and you should be too

if you're getting flood warnings, don't worry. It's just MY TEARS!

me at every character: anxiety be upon ye

Me (Grabs canon and runs a marathon with it)

Quote: Do you think God stays in heaven because he too lives in fear of what he's created (Spy Kids) {tmnt crossover}

Alternate Universe - Monty Python and the Holy Grail

contains dangerous amount of bed based snuggling

(kind of its a very short very homosexual fight scene); and then they kiss.

Hostage situation takes a romantic turn???? Not clickbait????

enemies to frenemies

Improper Use of Pool Noodles

stone cold stoicism meeting determined stupidity

Star Wars

Kanan Jarrus: The Daddening

platonic love is what healed his lonely existence {din djarin}

when in doubt: road trip with the besties {din, boba, fennec}

Soul Eater

found family at its finest {kid, liz, patty}

The Witcher

wife (platonic) {yennskier}

at first I was like haha geralt and Istredd should kiss as a joke…. but bro I don’t think it’s a joke anymore….

Sonic the Hedgehog

Movie!Super Sonic is made out of LOVE no one touch me

Sonics gay awakening I guess

sonic movie 2 made me make an ao3 account lol

Sonic was made to love people

Two Bros Chillin’ in an ER Five Feet Apart ‘cause they’re not gay {sonic x shadow}

the most dangerous thing is to love {shadow}

Trapped in a small box with just enough room to face some feelings {sonic x shadow}

the R in rivalry stand for romance {sonic x shadow}

The L in Rivalry Stands For 'Love' {sonic x shadow}

A Largely Platonic Cave

i love boom!shadow so naturally i made him even more insufferable

Sad-ow

Wachowskis holdin it down in the bg; Absolute champs

I love how Shadow is just so mindbogglingly utterly done with reality

Knuckles is a guardian of all things great and small

“Would you kiss a worm?" “If he was cute as fuck? Yeah.” {wade x stone}

"What is this made of, bendable titanium?!" "INCORRECT. IT IS MADE OF THE FRUSTRATIONS OF MOTHERS EVERYWHERE." {team dark}

featuring a scourge that trips far too much because it's my fic and I said so {scourge x fleetway sonic}

no thoughts just soft hedgehog moments

listen if im going to die at the hands of injured lancelot shit i might as well take advantage of it

Everyone has a crush on Lancelot and I'll die on this hill

fairy Lancelot Fairy Lancelot FAIRY LANCELOT!!!

TMNT

Slow Burn; mostly on april's end of things; casey and donnie are basically on fire right off the bat {tmnt 2012}

Rise!Donnie and 2012!Casey be out there committing arson together for their first date >.>

Please enjoy Casey, the fool, realizing his feelings for Donnie, another fool {tmnt 2012}

Draxum and Splinter are the turtles' dads (it's a reluctant partnership)

just two absolute powerhouses holding each other gently {raph x mona}

“There’s nothing wrong with the way you love, Dee. Goodnight.” {rottmnt}

Wondering what to do when the apocalypse happens? Easy: fly across the country and get Vegas-married. That's definetley an appropriate reaction that won't involve your complicated feelings towards your roommate at all {hypno x warren}

Look rise are weapons of war 12 were accidents and I play with that HARD in this fic

"GET IN THE TURTLE TANK BITCHES WE GOING TO FAMILY THERAPY" {rottmnt}

Donatello is now Dad-Atello {rottmnt}

The other [Casey] is out on a beach in Tahiti; It's what he deserves after surviving the Krang {rottmnt}

Leo is now actively being hunted for sport; (the only sport Donnie is good at) {rottmnt}

These turtles can fit so much trauma

2018 Karai lives because fuck Nick; Casey x Donnie x April are a healthy ship and also fuck nick again

I cant be the only one pissed by Leo's and Karais 'love interest plot'; Leonardo's weird feelings were simply gender envy...Yes that is canon now {tmnt 2012}

What happens when two "dudes" call each other 'girlfriend'; Transgender activities, that's what! {tmnt 2012}

splinter is twice divorced and never married {rottmnt}

Papatello / Dadatello {rottmnt}

draxum's gone from dadxum to grand-dadxum good for him

HOLY FUCKING SHIT YES YES YES YES; GRANDPA BARRY COMING IN CLUTCH

draxum just be like gramps still got it; and by 'it' i mean a complete lack of forethought for care when creating random children

Puts the Bi in Bitchless {rottmnt leo}

its because ninja turtles

feral mamatello {rottmnt}

Marvel

it's the anguish, the self flagellation, the audacity to love the man who annihilate ur nation and killed ur mother; your m o t h e r {black panther}

#hinacu #i cant believe my fav one is from TLG 🤣#star wars rebels #the mandalorian #soul eater #the witcher #sonic the hedgehog #sonic boom #sonic movie #tmnt #tmnt 2012 #rottmnt #black panther #can u tell i'll read just about anything?#expected some things to have really funny tags and they never made the list

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spaceshipkat · 2 years

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A/ster queried Lightlark for 10 years and was rejected for 10 years. She's 27 now, which means she wrote Lightlark at 17... and I get the feeling she edited very little if none at all in these 10 years. Just like Mess wrote ToG when she was a teen.

The book definitely needed a couple more rounds of editing at the very least. The writing is juvenile (teens are so smart! start treating them as such!), the rep virtually non existent (one relevant character is poc and gay, yay tokenism!), the misogyny ("pure", not like other girls protagonist, the slut-shaming). These are deep issues with the author's and editor's mentality and aren't easy to get rid of. But more editing would've definitely improved the writing style, at least.

But the publisher was in a hurry...

10 years of rejections, then A/ster makes a viral tiktok and bam! one week later she's contacted and signed by a publisher. The hype continues, A/ster sells the movie rights. The publisher does everything in their power to ride the wave and publish the book as quickly as possible.

Less than a year and a half from that tiktok, Lightlark is published... after 10 years of rejections.

I'm sorry to sound like an asshole, but rejections happen for a reason. Yes, agents want something that's easy to sell, the industry churns out books like a fast food chain, creativity isn't always welcome... but sometimes your writing is just bad? This wasn't a case of Lightlark being "too mold-breaking", too creative to have a place and a market in YA. Not at all. It's just like any other YA I've read by super hyped authors.

Something something publishing is a business that only cares for money and hype

A/ster also acts like this is her first novel when it's not. I understand it's her YA debut, but she acts like her duology doesn't exist. I know her agent dropped her because the duology wasn't as successful as expected and A/ster couldn't stop talking about the Lightlark project, but still.

The biggest issue is that people were promised a "diverse Hunger Games meets ACOTAR". Diverse being the key word. And people were really excited because A/ster is Latina.

Her parents are both millionaires, she and her twin sisters were given money to start their various businesses, but her mom does come from Colombia. So even though A/ster is a rich, privileged, young pretty girl (like most YA authors atm) people were excited. Especially poc.

Baiting diversity is just so low 🤢🤦🏾‍♀️

the timeline is, as i understand it, more along the lines of she’s queried various books for years (and anyone—not you, anon, but i’ve seen a lot of people throw doubt about this—saying it’s unrealistic that she queried for a decade bc she’s only 27 is unfair, and i can use myself as an example bc i too am 27 and have been actively trying to get published since i was 17, having written books from the age of 12) and then signed with her first agent for her middle grade books. those released in 2020 and 2021, but the numbers weren’t doing so hot, probably thanks to the pandemic. Aster meanwhile was writing Lightlark and refusing to work on anything else, even though her agent said no to Lightlark many times (which is a fair thing for agents to do! they know the market better than any writer, so if an agent says “no, work on something else bc this won’t work in the market,” you should take that under serious consideration). bc Aster refused to work on anything else and her agent didn’t want Lightlark, they parted ways (which is also a fair thing, however much it might suck; besides, knowing what we do of Lightlark, i can see why her first agent said no), after which Aster went on tiktok and made her viral video and then, presumably, queried Lightlark with that under her belt. that then got her a new agent, who also then used that viral video to sell Lightlark to her editor, and from there to foreign publishers bc she has like a dozen of them now (or at least did when i last checked).

so yeah, all of this definitely comes down to the publishing industry seeing an easy dollar and deciding to run with it. if they spent more time on edits to make the prose more elegant, the world-building and plot more cohesive, clean up the bad elements you listed, anon, and made the characters more realistic, i could see why publishing decided to publish the book. it does have a premise that would bring a lot of people in (hence why it went viral and why so many people are excited about it) but the premise doesn’t do as promised, and very few of the things Aster claimed were in the book in her various tiktoks are actually in the book, so people feel and very much have been lied to. the ratings on goodreads say more than enough, i think, especially since a good number of the one star reviews are based on those readers having actually read the book/listened to the audiobook (i read a lot of them, so idk why people in various places are acting like most of those one star reviews are people just being mean to Aster).

and to be fair, an author and their publisher acting like an author’s new book is their debut isn’t unheard of. my best friend had that happen to her (though not bc her technical debut was bad or its sales didn’t do well) and i’m sure countless other authors have, too, even if the author doesn’t publish/re-debut under a pen name. it could happen for many reasons, but especially when sales don’t do well and it’d be more marketable to have an author be introduced as a debut vs an established author with mediocre sales. and from what i’ve seen, she still posts about her MG debut on her insta? or at the very least she hasn’t deleted those various posts about it. but, granted, i don’t pay attention to her tiktok so it’s completely possible i just missed her acting like her MG debut never happened.

either way, there’s a lot of hurt she caused by making readers expect things she promised were in the book, not only from a plot/trope standpoint but as an author of color promising to write a book for readers of color who wanted an ac0tar where they actually exist and in center stage. it’s no surprise to me she’s getting a lot of flack for that. like you said, diversity baiting is fucked.

#ask #anonymous #lightlark

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skadren · 1 year

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I keep seeing a bunch of live and let go, boundaries are personal and not moral stances posts about writing and i largely agree ppl should be able to explore what they want in fic but also. Is there a way to balance or talk about "hi um white author so you kinda reinvented racism/blood eugenics and unilaterally present sex work as inherently degrading and etc etc etc for Shipping Angst Drama fodder, when the text is like. None of that" in fandom or even just in like. A server community. Maybe I'm a bit sensitive bc i feel constructed/projected misery is kind of tacky to begin with and i wouldn't do it with a complete stranger but idk my guy. I don't want to alienate myself but it's weird to go completely uncritical here

i think there are a couple items you need to check off the list before you can go "yes talking to internet stranger #37461239 about a highly sensitive topic is a good idea"

is it tagged appropriately? if it's tagged trust me the writer knows. they have probably gotten way more unsolicited feedback than they would really like

is the portrayal you're concerned about reinforcing an unhealthy or discriminatory predominant social narrative? if it is and you think the writer is genuinely unaware, then yeah, it might be worth bringing up. the emphasis here is on predominant please i am begging on my hands and knees

will this result in a productive conversation? if the intent behind this is to get people to reconsider, it isn't helping anyone if you know it will just lead to them doubling down and doing it even worse. at that point you're only making a performative statement to validate your own stance

if it really is bothering you that much, is there a compelling reason why you can't just block and move on? it isn't your responsibility nor is it feasible to fix how a fandom is doing things, especially if it's a group of people you don't really know. your own mental health always comes first, and a bit of salty venting in private with your friends never hurts anyone

if it IS a friend or acquaintance who is doing this and you think they would be open to discussing it with nuance, then you can probably bring it up. if that person has a basic level of consideration and respect for you it tends to go well, but i've also seen people double down because they already know there's something wrong with their attitudes but get mad at you for wanting them to change, and then it creates a whole ton of drama and people get hurt and it's not pretty. so. ymmv

ultimately, someone's views on racism or sex work or whatever is reflective of a broader social norm, and fandom is not the best space to try to fix that through confrontation-- it's usually someone's "safe space" where they want to retreat from the world, not come face-to-face with any sort of personal reckonings. do i think it's a mark of privilege that some people have the luxury of ignoring these issues when they "just want to have fun"? yes, but again, this is about being able to have productive discussion, not about what's "fair". unfortunately.

my two cents: if you're in a server community or some other space that makes you uncomfortable there's really nothing wrong with going "hey, we have fundamentally different standards when it comes to [x], and i don't think i want to be here" and moving on. the best way to challenge these things is quite literally to make your own food. there's a much better chance of the people you're worried about coming across it and realizing they like it than magically being able to argue them down with well-placed logic and reasonable points or whatever

EDIT: OH ALSO IM STUPID if you mean talking about it in general. not naming writer names but trends in the fandom. yes absolutely-- not in a public space like social media but definitely find a group of people who you trust who you can talk about these things with!! it is good and healthy. just make sure it isn't just a discord server open to the public or smth tho so you personally know and trust everyone who can see it (and you don't accidentally shit talk someone who is in that space lmao)

#skadren rambles #long post #tldr; fandom is allowed to be your safe space too and you dont need to cater to anyone. or fix them. or whatever #it's less that 'people writing these things is okay' and more #starting drama is never a good look and it shits on your mental health and the internet is not a good place for nuanced discussions anyways #if you're planning to take on a whole community you will NOT be able to win i promise

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phantaloon · 11 months

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Hi, so I’m not even sure if this is the right author but it’s the right name so I suppose I’ll find out. I’ve been trying to find what I believe to be your story “I know I’ll be leaving soon” however am unable to find it anywhere. If you aren’t the author of that book then please just let me know that however if you are the author I am going to literally beg you to a) help me find it on ao3 pls and b) pls update it as soon as you can. This book has came to be one of my all time favourites and I love to read it when I want some comfort. That really all. But I’ll add in the fact that I love your work so much and I’ve tried searching for the actual fanfic, your profile and any related tags but nothing comes up. Again apologies if this isn’t you and lots of hugs if it is. Xxx

hii! so yes i am in fact the author of that fic im so sorry ik I've been missing for ahem like a year but oh uni is just consuming my all atm

ngl as much as i want to update that fic soon (as well as write new stuff) i don't like to force myself to write when i have some free time bc i really just enjoy resting as much as i can these days

but really i think I'll have lots of free time so we'll see if i can update some stuff bc i also have some other ideas I'd like to write for another fandom as well as this one specific fic lmao

as for why you can't find it my only guess is that you're using ao3 as a guest and i restricted access a little while ago bc of the people that have been stealing works to run them through ai's :( but really all you need is an ao3 account and you'll be able to read it here:

i hope i make sense lmao I'm typing this as i eat lunch

lots of hugs your way too! thanks for liking my work :)

#ikibls #my writing

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archieism · 4 years

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might fuck around and write episodic oneshots from random seasons later 🤷‍♀️

#idk i just feel like as i rewatch the seasons #i will be bulldozed by missed opportunities and missing scenes and take it upon myself ot write them if i have the stamina #i keep thinking abt the break from. when archie gets that phone call in pops. to he and his mom sat listening to fp explain everything.#idk i project a lot on archie but writing oneshots for 4x01 almost feels like sacred ground sometimes #idk i'll follow my muse where it takes me but i'm. apprehensive.#it feels delicate and like i have to treat it as such #and i want to #so hopefully i can if i rly wanna write smth like that #IDK and that's not even instances from past seasons oof #i've also been thinking about the jump from when archie resuscitates cheryl in the season 1 finale to him like playing music idk??#smth like that #and i wanted to fill that gap myself bc the writers disappoint me wbk #i've ALSO been thinking abt like... finding ways to contact the authors of my fave riverdale fics and asking if i can like #write a fanfic of their fanfic basically dkVJLDS #or like en extentsion #or missing scene #cause i've encountered only a few people who've done stuff like that and it always seems super fun #anyways #stay tuned for my bs prose idk #personal

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isabellehemlock · 2 years

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🏆

Thanks Bee for sending me a reader ask 😍

🏆 "What do you wish more authors in your fandom would write about?"

This is such a loaded question that could go multiple ways lol . . . But I think the reader asks are looking for subject matter, so let's head there 😅

Though before I do, allow me to say, that though there are some tropes that I enjoy, or fics I'll blog about because I really resonated with something, I don't think my personal opinion should really sway any author in any way. It's one thing to share resource posts about a subject matter, and another to inadvertently imply my personal opinion is like the standard to aim for.

Also, this got way longer, and heavier than I ever thought it would so quick cw warning for themes of religious LGBT+ character representation and (non descriptive references to) spiritual abuse mentioned below.

Okay all that being said . . . Honestly? I, and many other faithful people (of any religion, not just Christians) are on a spectrum that is not heteronormative. It can feel like a fairly niche group to toe the line between two very specific identities and some of my greatest joys have been to write and read about characters like me (I know, I know, self projection to the extreme). If you ever wanted to read a post that spoke to me on a core level about how exhausting it can feel to navigate those two things (though it ends on a hopeful note), please check out this one that I keep on my phone.

I've been truly blessed to have had opportunities of discussions with other people of faiths in this fandom about LGBT+ issues, but some of us would love to see more representation for both religious and LGBT+ affirming, because it can feel so miniscule. But we exist, and even the smallest possibility to see that in fandom spaces and across platforms - where it can echo our real life experiences - just yeah, it really does mean something to see it.

You weren't there last November, Bee, but @mostlyimmortal commissioned the header in my blog for me for my birthday - it's Joe and Nicky in the helicopter scene, praying together and holding prayer beads of their respective faiths. I literally started crying when I saw it and recorded a video I shared bc my hands were too shaky to type it all out. I was a blubbering mess trying to express my thanks because I was seeing something so deeply personal that spoke to a younger version of myself. It felt both healing and like a relief. I love that picture.

Of course the other half of all of this is the very real and hard truth that religious trauma exists - in fact I've personally experienced spiritual abuse in relation to my sexuality as well - and the last thing I would ever want someone to do is to read something that involves a religious LGBT+ character and have a triggering response - it's why I over tag my fics. And I definitly don't mean to come across as suggesting anyone should make themselves push through a discomfort and write something that would bring pain (writing should bring joy, or healing, but never pain). Same goes for reading, I would never want anyone to pressure themselves to read my fics and experience anything but either joy, or healing, or both.

And really, the fact is within this fandom, we have no concrete evidence that any of the characters are religious (maybe Nicky with the script leak and some visual comic references but again maybe) and gosh, my brain is tired, I forgot about Nile and her cross and her "not my God" line (thanks Bee). So frankly a fic where they are not religious, or used to be but now hate all things religious is no less valid of a take. Just want to be super clear about that.

So long it's tagged accordingly so each reader can make an informed decision about whether to read it or not, I'll admit I'd love to see more of the TOG characters as religious LGBT+, and I know I'm not the only one 😊

#reader asks #tog fandom #write what you know i suppose lol #it's what I've been doing for a while now

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savrenim · 3 years

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hi hi hi. so I just got into the Hamilton fandom, I swear I am four years late where did everybody go, and, well. I am apparently a hamburr shipper. bcs that is my life now. anyway I saw your fic ifmlam and I swear it is my favourite of all the fics I've ever read (and trust me I've read literally thousands). I love it so so much, how do you write fics like that??? I cried about four times during the whole thing, I stayed up till 4am reading it even when I had to wake up at 7 because it is just. that. good. I could not stop thinking about it for days afterwards and ifmlam has just ruined me. I can't think of listen to Hamilton without thinking of ifmlam anymore.

on to my qursttion: is it abandoned? of course it's perfectly FINE if it is. don't let anyone tell u differently, your fic is YOURS and u are amazing.

but pls I really need closure from ur fic, it has been haunting me if its abandoned or ongoing and I've read ur other fics and they are just chefskiss and thank you so much for writing them all. thank you thank you thank you, I will never be able to thank you enough for writing this fic and for everything it's done for me. I am probably thousands of miles away but I am sending you virtual jugs through a co.puter screen right now.

(don't feel pressured to reply to this or update it flam, I know how overwhelming it can get with so many messages and after a while u get desensitized to it. u can literally reply "thx. itfmlam is abandoned" and I would still be amazingly star struck. anyway has gotten way too long and I need to sleep and I'm sorry u probably won't see this so I'm just talking to myself right now but bye!!)

and thank you so so much for writing itfmlam.

aaaah hello anon!

thank you so so much???? I am so??? honored??? that ifmlam rates so highly to you, and also that you've read my other fics??????

the answer to the "is ifmlam abandoned" question is probably the worst possible one, which is pretty much "I do want to finish it, both for the folks that still want closure as well as it bothers to me have abandoned projects that are in the public eye/ already partially published, but also, it is last on my current writing projects list"

my current actually active writing projects list, kind of in order of priority, is

I'm literally three chapters away from being Actually Fully Done with the not-quite-first-not-quite-second let's call it 1.5th draft of an actual?? full?? original?? novel?? Opus which of course then goes out to beta readers and then gets who-knows-how-much edited and then maybe beta readers again if a lot does change and then a copyeditor my mom, my copyeditor is my mom, and maybe my little brother he's one of the betas but is very good at catching typos and then I!!! get to publish it!!!! which is the single thing I am most excited for!!!!!!!!! this should be closed up in the next week or two, and then take a while for people to actually read the draft and get back to me.

I really desperately want to finish my open-but-like-90%-written fic, which means we raise it up, the final chapter of to the bottom of the river bc I realized that it was kind of incomplete, and the second chapter of a buried and a burning flame because any more work there will need to wait until the author publishes the next book in the series. this should be closed up in the next month or two.

Speedwrite the draft of the second book of the Opus series so that hopefully by the time book 1 edits are happening, I have an almost complete draft of the second book. this is mostly me side-eyeing myself about taking nearly four years to write the first book, but that is solidly in part because I had so many other open projects which point 2 is about clearing that docket. this should be done in the next year.

And then just have my major projects be, at least until books 1-5 are written and published, books 1-5 of that because that is arguably the first major 'plot arc' of the series, so if I'm looking for a pause point on writing, that's probably where to stop.

There are two or three other short side projects (a weird fun second person short story tentatively titled witch-queen, a collection of four short stories Memoirs about a not-so-evil necromancer and the shenanigans he gets up to trying to rule a kingdom, working title Perfectly Normal Recipe Blog which is a collaborative project about a perfectly normal recipe blog that definitely doesn't include anything out of the normal) that will happen when they happen

There are other projects that are on the backburner -- The Numanok Files, a series of probably 12-15 short novellas about a mercenary/ bounty hunter esque person in space whose specialty is dealing with hauntings, but, like, 80% of their jobs is actually "you are effectively a space home inspector pointing out faulty wiring reacting to solar flares/ there's a weird alien fungus/ it's carbon monoxide okay change your atmosphere filters" and 20% of it is punching ghosts; there's a post-post apocalypse novel that I want to write that I know characters and general pacing and half the setting but need to work out the other half and figure out how much aesthetic I want to commit to; there's Strangeside7 aka spacerace book that is my reaction to how much I love how Redline the anime movie commits itself to "no we are about a race, like 60% of the screentime is just fully going to be an utterly ridiculous sci fi space race"; there's even a ridiculous YA trilogy that I would have to completely transplant the setting but might end up writing because the interplay between angel-physics and physics-physics was one of my favorite things in the world. and I guess the weird ridiculous technically a sequel series to ifmlam that was going to be published as original books that was basically me having fun with 'okay I fucking love star wars prequels old rotting space bureaucracy galactic republic style' except with seers and that also still might happen because it does have some of the coolest sci fi concepts and honestly I thiiiink that's all?

but the tl;dr of that timeline is I'm trying to finish a punch of projects Right Now, so that I can write books 2-5 of Opus, and then when I'm done that (which honestly, my average fiction-writing output is close to 100k a year. if I'm concentrating purely on one project, and writing books that are about 100k, we are talking four years. although my job situation is super up in the air in that period and writing might get put solidly on the backburner as I try to make it in academia, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) I will re-evaluate which projects go next, and that's when ifmlam is likely to come up for review.

I do not have any expectations that I will make it as an original author. I'm planning on posting all of my stuff online for free, but, like. it is incredibly difficult to convince people to try out even a piece of free and easily accessibly original work even if one has a huge following, I am a very small fanfiction author, and from what I can tell the majority of the people who are interested in my work are mostly interested in me finishing ifmlam. writing is a hobby for me, and while I'm writing mostly for me--and hence the for me bit at least for the next five years is pretty solidly going to be this series that I am deeply excited about and have sunk my heart and soul into every single aspect of--I'm human, and I don't really like shouting into the void, and I expect if I spend five years publishing to absolutely no response I will either stop writing for a while and do other things gods know my life is busy enough, return to fandom in general to write some other fanfic about whatever I get deeply into, or return to a work that I actually get response to. so ifmlam will probably start getting worked on a bit at that point one way or another. unless, of course, we are in the incredibly rare timeline in which I do make it as an original author, there are people who are deeply hyped for my original works and an actual demand for them, in which case as you may have noticed there are enough ideas there to keep me busy for a decade or two, and they will just get my full attention instead of fanfiction*. in this timeline, I will do what I was considering doing a few years ago, which is officially declare ifmlam otherwise abandoned and make one more giant chapter update which is a full and cleaned up outline of what I was going to write, interspersed with the scenes already written, and have ifmlam be given at least that closure.

*I want to make it clear that I very much love fanfiction and am proud to have been a fanfiction author and in my heart of hearts would keep writing it forever, I just also have a lot of ideas for characters and settings and magic systems and Aesthetics and I have been biting at the bit to write something that is //mine// and all mine and only mine for a while, I don't see original work as superior so much as there are a dozen fandoms that I am currently in and bursting to make content about except oops these fandoms currently only exist in my head, and I want to correct that

of course given how much as writing is my vent activity and I write what I'm in the mood for, there's a chance I'll feel ifmlam cravings before then, just... expect it to take a couple of years for an update, but also for there to be an update one way of another in a couple of years? but as for right now, I'm turning to original writing, because that is what brings me joy.

but I am really deeply honored that it brought you so much joy!!! and while I will never publish spoilers in a public place, if you message me off anon I am perfectly happy to give a run-down of my current plans for the ending, bc I know "wait a couple years and see" is not the most satisfactory of answers! and hey maybe you'll be like me and once you've given Opus a try you'll decide you like it better too, it does have Seers although they are deeply different Seers than in ifmlam but imo it's very gay and fun and at least politics on one side

#my life #my writing #ifmlam

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lillupon · 3 years

Note

So, I've got a very long rant/opinion here and Idk really know how to say this without coming off kinda bad but I'm gonna say it anyways. I agree with the fact that the seventeen tag has been kinda dry lately on most fanfic places, but it's really only in the smut area. It's the sane way with other groups too I feel like. All of the nice little innocent tags are boomin to this day and thats completely fine. I think the smut tag is dry tho bc lately I feel like a few social issues (like sexualizing people and disrespecting them and their identity) have crossed over into kpop and have been ?blown out of proportion? Lately there's been a rampage of people who like to say that writing smut about someone is disgusting and is dehumanizing because people want to assume that it would make the idols uncomfortable which could equate to some morality issues on how you are reducing someone only to their body without their consent and a bunch of stuff like that. It kind of pisses me off bc this is fiction. About grown adults. Clamping down on horny people who simp over hot asian men isn't going to solve the issues we face in real life. I think a shit ton is wrong with the world we currently live in, and deciding to come after something that isn't even real bothers me. Like what does that actually accomplish. But yeah, I think thats a reason why smut has been dying down. I mean, on youtube almost every video about unpopular opinions, or things they dont like about kpop will include something about shipping idols in fanfics. And then everyone in the comment section will talk about how its all fine and dandy in moderation, but once people start writing smut it's crossing the idols personal boundaries. It's something I've been seeing a lot more often and I think people who are interested in writing smut are being turned away from it bc we've gotten to a point where people are being called disgusting for having fantasies.

Hi Anon, thank you for sending in this Ask.

I want to preface this by saying: when I write or talk about Mingyu and Wonwoo fucking on my blog, it is a fantasy. I am not speculating about what the real Mingyu and Wonwoo might be like in bed. I am imagining the versions of Mingyu and Wonwoo that I have created in my head, that exist only in my stories. None of it is real. I understand that this can be a blurry boundary for some people. But for me, the separation between fantasy and reality is well-defined. Now, on to your Ask!

You’ve hit the nail on the head with this one. You’ve also touched on many of the issues I have been struggling with myself as of late. It’s difficult to argue about morals since everyone has a different set of values, as well as different comfort levels. Some people think real person fiction (RPF) is a gross invasion of privacy. Others are fine with it. And others don’t care one way or another. There is no single answer; I can only offer my answer. Which means, of course, people are welcome to disagree with it, or parts of it.

In this essay (LOL But forreal: this is an essay), I will be sharing my experience in the k-pop fanfic community from 2014 to present, the etiquette I personally abide by as a reader and writer of RPF, as well as my stance on RPF in general.

I started reading and posting fanfics back in 2014/2015 on a website called AsianFanfics (AFF). Obviously, no one on that site had a problem with RPF, since AFF is a platform made specifically for sharing stories about Asian celebrities. For many years, I read and enjoyed RPF with zero guilt. I scribbled away by myself in my own corner of fandom and curated my own content. I didn’t interact much with other fans, readers, or writers. I didn’t have a Twitter, and I only used tumblr to reblog memes. As a result, I’ve been able to avoid a lot of anti-shipping discourse, as well as purity and cancel culture. I had no idea there were so many negative opinions about RPF. It wasn’t until I became active on the subreddit r/Fanfiction last year that I learned about all the discourse surrounding RPF.

This newfound ‘awareness’ does make me feel guilty at times—but only because after mulling this over, I still don’t think this is something to feel guilty about.

Here’s what I remember, first and foremost, when I create and consume RPF: fanfics and my favourite ships are fictional, and fiction is fantasy. This is basic etiquette when it comes to RPF, and most people in the k-pop fandom understand this. Delusional fans exist, of course, but they are not representative of the entire k-pop community.

Another point of etiquette is to keep fanfics within fandom spaces. I would never push my fics into celebrities’ faces, or go around claiming that my fanfics are accurate representations of a k-idol’s life or personality, in any way, shape, or form. I would also discourage directing ship-related questions to official accounts, or bringing them up during fansigns or other face-to-face interactions; I believe that in these instances, shipping does have the potential to strain real-life relationships.

So with basic etiquette out of the way, let me share my approach to RPF in general.

As much as we like to think we know our favourite celebrities, we really don’t. All we see is their public persona. And this public persona is intentionally controlled, managed, and curated by a team of people: directors, tabloids, editors, makeup artists, publicists, etc. How “real” are these celebrities? We are so distanced from them that they may as well be fictional.

I draw from the public persona that idols project, and I work them into my own writing. But at the end of the day, these personalities are my own interpretation. My interpretation is probably nothing like an idol’s actual personality. I just use the “public persona/character” that idols portray as inspiration for my own stories, which are set in wildly different universes.

More than anything, I think of k-pop idols as “actors” in my fic. You know how when you write an original novel, you scroll through Google images, looking for the perfect person to portray your original character? RPF is literally that, except you might build upon pre-existing dynamics and personalities.

When it comes to explicit fanfiction, two main concerns are prevalent: one of consent, and one of sexualisation.

If we argue against explicit RPF due to lack of consent, we should be willing to apply the same lens to all explicit works. How do we know that the creator of a movie, book, series, etc., is okay with us using their characters in our stories, explicit or not? We don’t. Perhaps some creators encourage fanfiction, but don’t want their lovingly crafted characters engaging in sexual acts or experiencing trauma. We just don’t know. I feel this line is even more blurred when we talk about characters from movies or TV series.

Let’s take Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, as portrayed by Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan, from the Captain America movies as an example. I am willing to bet that when people consume and create explicit fanfiction about Steve and Bucky, they are imagining Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan in their heads. I doubt many people are imagining the 2D cartoon versions of Steve and Bucky, even though they’re technically the exact same characters. Why? Well, it could be because movies are more readily and easily consumed than comics, and so people are unfamiliar with comic book Steve and Bucky. But it might also be because fans find Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan attractive. Is this really any different from RPF, where fic authors make up everything about a celebrity’s life?

When readers and writers of fanfic talk about how hot Steve Rogers or Bucky Barnes is, those comments are about Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan’s bodies. When reading explicit stories, fans are going to picture Chris and Sebastian’s bodies in their head, doing sexual things. Can we say, “Well, it’s not really you, Chris/Sebastian”, when in a way, it is?

The reality is, people are going to thirst over celebrities, regardless of whether or not explicit fanfiction exists. They’re going to post thirst tweets on Twitter. They’re going to talk to friends and strangers online about how hot [insert celebrity name here] is. They’re going to fantasize about dating and having sex with their favourite celebrity. Or, as it is in my case, they’re going to make up stories in their heads about their favourite idols dating and banging each other. People are going to do all of this without ‘getting consent’ from the celebrity. Cracking down upon and shaming writers of RPF isn’t going to change any of that.

To be honest, I’m not sure why people think it is disgusting to imagine sexual scenarios about real people. It is okay and normal to have these kinds of fantasies. I suppose the alternative is to fantasise about having sex with cartoon characters instead? It’s a very binary way of thinking to say that if you imagine/write real people in explicit scenarios, you are immediately sexualising, dehumanising, or objectifying them. There is more to dehumanisation than writing smut about our favourite celebrities. For one thing, you can love someone and appreciate all parts of them, and still want to fuck their brains out. And generally, fanfics come from a place of love—love that is not only sexual in nature.

Is it the sharing aspect inherent to fanfiction? The possibility that a celebrity might stumble upon explicit works about them? The chances are very low, I think, of the k-pop idols I enjoy writing about coming across my English fics. But I also believe in curating your own content, and that applies to celebrities too. Perhaps a celebrity should not go searching for fanfics about themselves. And of course, people should not show celebrities their fanfics, unless invited.

Another argument I hear against (explicit) RPF is, “How would you feel if someone wrote fanfiction about you?” First off, I don’t like this argument because there’s a difference between someone who decides to be a public figure versus someone who decides to remain a regular private citizen. Celebrities should and do know what they’re getting into when they choose their occupation. (This is not to say, “They are celebrities; sexualise them all you want because that’s what they signed up for.” Here, I am only acknowledging that people might have sexual fantasies about celebrities they are attracted to. Presumably, celebrities are cognizant of this.)

If someone (whose existence I am not even aware of, mind you) decides they want to write explicit fanfiction of me in some tiny corner of the Internet, I wouldn’t care so long as: (1) they don’t shove it into my face, and (2) they don’t harass me and ask invasive questions about my personal life and relationships. It’s not hurting me or negatively affecting my life, so it wouldn’t even register as a blip on my radar. When fanfiction remains within its appropriate spaces, it is largely harmless.

Now, if a k-pop idol were to ask their fans to stop writing fanfiction about them, would I? Yes, I would. However, I can’t imagine that happening. Judging by the number of ‘sexy’ concepts, fanservice moments, and variety shows such as ‘We Got Married’, I am certain that k-pop idols realise they are the stars of many fantasies—some of which are explicit in nature. Considering the prevalence of shipping in the k-pop industry, I would argue that shipping is subtly encouraged.

It’s sad that so many talented writers are shamed out of fandom, or feel that k-pop cannot be the medium through which they tell their stories, or explore their sexuality, or cope with trauma, or simply have fun. Professional works and Hollywood love their RPF—readers and writers of fanfics should be able to, as well.

As you said Anon, “clamping down on horny people who simp over hot asian men isn't going to solve the issues we face in real life” (this is a lovely sentence, by the way). The kind of person who dehumanises another and reduces them to a sexual object will do so some other way, if not via fanfiction. I don’t think the issue of fetishisation can be fixed simply by telling people not to write explicit RPF. In my experience, people who read and write RPF are more respectful and thoughtful about these things than the general public. We’ve all seen the general public say highly sexual things about celebrities in the media and to their faces, or tag celebrities in their thirst tweets. Are these things less invasive than fanfiction? Personally, I don’t think so. And in my opinion, there are more pressing and damaging issues in stan culture than fanfic.

In conclusion, I don’t think there is anything wrong with creating and consuming RPF, both explicit and non-explicit so long as we:

Remember we are writing fiction

Keep RPF within its appropriate space, and

Do not harass celebrities about their personal lives and relationships

RPF is not for everyone. There may be people who enjoy RPF, but draw the line at explicit stories. This is fine. Everyone has their own personal preferences. What is not fine, however, is attacking people for creating things you don’t like. I’m not sure what kind of moral crusade people are on and what they hope to achieve by shaming writers of RPF, explicit or otherwise. Ultimately, fic authors are writing a fantasy. It’s not real; no one is being hurt. I think it’s important for people to curate their own content, and AO3 makes it very easy to filter out explicit works and unwanted tags.

Maybe this is me trying to justify my own participation in explicit RPF—I don’t know. What I do know is that I love k-pop, and fandom is an important part of my media and entertainment experience. I adore the k-pop idols I write about, and I just want to imagine them being happy and getting lots of love and orgasms. Let a bitch be horny, goddamn…

Some bonus fun facts!

At the time I am writing this, on AO3:

26.2% of Stray Kids fanfics are rated M or E

26.3% of Seventeen fanfics are rated M or E

29.0% of Merlin fanfics are rated M or E

34.9% of Captain America (Movies) fanfics are rated M or E

40.1% of BTS fanfics are rated M or E ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Coincidentally, I saw this post on Reddit this morning: Can we have a RPF positivity post?

#asks #my writing #fic & fandom #I keep coming back to fiddle and add things to this answer #but I think I've said all I wanted to now...

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themidnightdisaster · 3 years

Text

Slurp's Nanowrimo Journal

Day 1 of Nano

Woah there i was able to write three chapter outlines and gave all my characters their own professions and some traits.

I'm being productive icb. Hoping to finish these chapters before the week ends.

Q1 : What was your first piece of writing?

Overall in literature I would say it's a script for the trailer we made during the 7th grade. *im cringing on grade 7 self fr*

Then in fiction novel, a university au with my classmates as characters I wasn't able to finish it though.

Day 2 of Nano

Was able to write only like 200 words to end the first scene bc i taught my sis for her modular classes.

: ( hope i can make it up tomorrow.

Q2 : What time of the day are you most likely to write? Why?

If it isn't curious with my username, during midnights. The only time of the day where everyone is asleep and my surroundings is peaceful as well. Kinda not healthy but yea, I've been used to it since the start of HS when I'm procrastinating with school tasks.

Day 3 of Nano

My days are alr late I havent realized lol.

So I wrote approximately 500 words last night (a record I guess) and I'm going out today so I have a chance to refresh my mind! Wearing masks ofc hehe.

Q3 : Do you plan or just go with the flow? Why?

With social media aus, I don't plan like not at all. With novels, I don't too but I at least write my ideas vaguely especially when I think it's so mindblowing!

I feel drained when planning traditionally for some reason no one would understand and that includes myself. Lmao.

But for this nano, I outlined my chapters and the vague idea dumps are still there. We'll see what will be the outcome.

Day 4 of Nano

I surprisingly broke a record again! I wrote 2184 words today yoohoo! And i think i finally found a 1 hour writing music for me and starting tom ill be using that. Another miracle, i wrote those in the afternoon so thats why im sleeping early today. How i wish silence like this happens everyday.

Q4: Is a word count important to you? Why or why not?

Yep! I like it when I see my progress through time and it motivates me. But like... word count in a chapter? I dont think its that important. Every novel is different. We all have our own ways.

Day 5 of Nano

I finished my chapter 1 by 5 am so i did nothing writing-related today. I started watching a web drama series and binge watched Chicago Med by night (im planning to find the full episodes)

Q5: What's your favourite writing snack/drink?

I usually go with water especially at midnight since im always thinking by that time, "oh my maybe i havent drink water earlier yet maybe i should drink today" and food? Whatever we have in here.

Day 6 of Nano

Was able to write 1/4 of the chapter, yet im not contented bc i wasnt able to reach the scene i wanted to write. Im worried that i would break the streak tomorrow bc classes are finally starting again. Maybe i would go by 500 words per day. This week. Ill try.

Q6: Do you have a favourite place to write? Do you change it up or write in the same place every time?

I just want somewhere silent and peaceful. At night, I just roam around the house and feel the vibe. During the first days of Nano, I'm on my bed. Now, I'm comfortable to write on my study table even during the day as long as I have my headphones on.

Day 7 of Nano

I fucking have no idea how come im super late in this when i started on nov 2. Eh. Weird.

Anyway, i almost got frustrated when at the 23rd hour of the day, i wrote only 500 words for the chapter 2.

So i skipped to chapter 4. Wrote a flashback as an intro and yea, got 1500 words! Unfortunately, didnt add up for nov 9. So its for today.

Q7: Who is your favourite author?

Well, it's a local author from wattpad. Serialsleeper. She's the only author whom I will read everything whatever she writes! Her mindblowing plot twists, the humor, the characters. I love the way she builds up every character she makes, she makes everything relatable even when her forte is horror slasher! One of my unfinished works is inspired by one of her books. How I wish her books gets translated so she can also gain fame worldwide. She deserves it.

Day 8 of Nano

I didnt write anything for today (yea thanks to the bunch of modules for my sis) but im writing atm. Yea. Im writing on my birthday. What about it?

Q8: What is your favourite book?

This is hard... i dont have anything in particular. Like that all time fave. I love all the books ive read in their own ways.

Day 9 of Nano

So this is the day i literally wrote nothing. went out for lunch in a faraway place, had a celebration when we got home, and watched the half of sonic the hedgehog movie. We got some visitors sleeping over here too so i really wasnt able to write anything. We have no classes tomorrow so i hope i can make up.

Q9: What is the premise of your current project?

The nano one? So, it's a film maker who is making an attempt to reunite her old crew from College to join a film festival in their place. Ok its sound so boring yea but the thing is... it wont be easy for her. Why? Well, she left them hanging after the tragedy she herself made.

Day 10 of Nano

Welp im three days late. This is so bad. Today. Nov 13 i started writing again. And... i want to survive this chapter today !!!!

Q10: What is your favourite genre to write? Why?

Slice of life? That's where I relate to. Friendships, to be exact. A romance story that only not focuses on the romance itself, but also the characters' friendship with others. That's where I guess, comfortable writing about. I got the experience, I got hurt because of friendships too. So there.

Permanent Note : came across this amazing idea by @emotionalfig that i will be answering in the every day! Yay, go try it too!

#nanowrimo #writing journey #let me finish this novel dear universe

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fanpersoningfox · 4 years

Note

The tiny detail which I absolutely adored in R&L is the fact that Goethe for whatever reason has learnt Sindarin and Quenya (I can smell something like stormy past in the lotr roleplay from here... ;) so may I swamp you with some questions popped as an afterthought? Like, what languages do Goethe and Schiller speak in this au? And, more importantly, which 20th century/modern authors you think they enjoy? It might be irrelevant, but i'm really curious about your opinion! Bless you and your work ♡

YES. You may ALWAYS swamp me with questions about R&L.

So, first of all, small JoWo had an intense fantasy/LotR phase, that heavily influenced him as a person and an author.

Second of all, languages. I haven't actually put any thought into this before but I'm very glad you ask!

They both speak German as their native language, obviously. Friedrich schwäbelt a little, too, because he grew up there and only moved to Weimar when he was around ten years old. Technically he speaks some kind of ungodly dialect child of Schwäbisch and Thüringisch now but he used to get made fun of a lot in middle school times so he's gotten really good at speaking dialect free German when interacting with people who aren't his family. (This is the in-universe explanation for me not being able to/not wanting to write his dialect since I speak rather dialect free German myself.)

Friedrich learned English in school like everyone else, as well as Latin. He fucking sucked at Latin tho, so he took French as a third foreign language to make up for it, which didn't really work out bc his French is even worse than his Latin. His English is great tho bc he's a millennial and always on the internet (but he has a rather awkward accent bc for some reason that's where his Schwäbisch intonation comes through).

JoWo on the other hand is a language genius and a fucking nerd. His parents sent him to a school with a focus on languages, which means that he didn't just learn English and Latin or French like the rest of us. No, he learned both Latin and French, and Ancient Greek. Then he learned Italian because he was interested in it. And later at uni he also got into Yiddish and Ancient Hebrew, as well as some Arabic. He wants to take another Arabic class though because by now he has quite a bunch of students whose native language it is; just makes it easier being able to talk to the parents properly. And maybe some Turkish. He also understands Spanish and Portuguese because of their Latin roots, and picked up some modern Greek while on vacation.

Now, modern authors. I'm'a be honest, I know like three authors and I'm not sure if Goethe would like either of them. But lemme try.

Goethe is a pretentious bitch and a huge nerd, so he's probably read all of the "classics", from Shakespeare to Fontane to Harari. Wilde of course (bc our boi is pan as fuck). He reads Virginia Woolf for fun and has actually read the brick. Tbh, let's just say he's read every book you've ever thought about "I should read that" and has an opinion on it.

I'm not sure if I want to picture him as a full on fantasy geek or if it's just Tolkien for him, so I'm gonna go with he loves epic fantasy but he's a huge snob and therefore hates a lot of stuff in that genre. He's definitely read the Simarillion and every story that guy's ever written.

Also, he read Andorra and liked it.

And because he speaks a bunch of weird ass languages he's read the brick and the odyssey in the original French and Greek respectively.

Fritz on the other hand has suffered through annoying assigned reading in school like the rest of us and only read Wilde because he's bisexual (he did like it tho). And he's a classics nerd as well but without Goethe's time management skills so he just has a super long to read list.

Huge Harry Potter fan tho (or at least was until jkr started being a racist terf). Generally more into pop culture than JoWo, which includes books. Has not read A Brief History of Mankind and refuses to because it's depressing.

Has read a bunch of feminist/queer theory stuff tho bc he took a seminar at uni (he's too unorganized and busy with writing to read much in his freetime without pressure).

I might just be projecting bc I'm not reading half as much as I would like these days but y'know.

Also, Fritz reads fanfic, preferably of Goethe's works, and has also written some.

#Referendare und Liebe #fox answers #fox writes #schoethe #ask

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spaceshipkat · 5 years

Note

Hey out of curiosity where are you rn in publishing? It's been a while since you've given an update, are you back in the query trenches? If so with what project [i'm assuming adult fantasy but I lost track of what projects you're working on]? Are you still going to get the YA manuscripts that you did finish published or are you going to rework them for adult and just do adult?

ah hi! thanks so much for asking :) it means a lot you guys are interested in my work! so currently, i am thoroughly unagented. a couple months ago i had a big conservation with my YA agent, during which i explained where i’m at in my writing, which is to say that i no longer want to write YA and none of my current projects are YA. i had a few samples with him so he could decide which i should work on (it was what we agreed upon last year, that we’d work on the manuscript together since he knows the industry better than i do), but when i thought about writing them i felt like an intense writing block was on the horizon. i couldn’t force myself to work on YA bc i was tired of the same old rejections i always got (too complex for YA being the major one) and bc the current market no longer appealed to me. we have the same old, same old fantasies publishing and the group of current popular YA authors weren’t that great imo (many of whom i’ve talked about on here, so if you want an idea--as i’d rather not name names--check out my “authors behaving badly” tag), and it didn’t feel creatively fulfilling to keep pursuing YA fantasy. if i was going to continue to pursue publication, i needed to stop before i killed my creativity.

thus, my agent and i parted ways, although he left a door open for me, said that if i ever returned to YA again he would represent me, and we’re keeping in touch bc we both really like each other. so at the moment, i’m querying to get an Adult agent. my immortals WIP will be the next manuscript i query, likely in January if all goes according to plan. it’s a long slog, but i was prepared for that, am still producing new material to query, and feel much happier in Adult. i miss my YA agent, of course, but i don’t miss writing YA: the YA projects we worked on will stay in the bank, should the day come we choose to revisit them (i was, in fact, in the midst of rewriting my tyranny WIP--and @longsightmyth actually read the pitch of it that i sent to my agent, so she can testify to me still trying to make YA work 😂). my immortals WIP is an Adult contemporary fantasy that i’m calling the bastard child of a romcom and a dark fantasy. it’s fucking wackadoodle but incredibly fun, and Gideon the Ninth was actually a big inspiration for it (and really revolutionized my writing, if i’m being honest). the currently-shelved Adult WIPs i’ve mentioned on here before are the frozen life WIP, the icarus WIP, and the courier WIP. the only manuscript i’m working on is my immortals WIP and am balancing that with critique work for my CPs and freelance history jobs.

that was a very long-winded answer, but i think that covers everything 😂 again, thank you for asking! it really means a lot 💖

#ask #anonymous #lovely anons #kat rambles #c'est moi #my writing #dont rb

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frighthouseofalighthouse · 5 years

Note

I'M GONNA DO IT TO EM' ALL ASKS THAT YOU REBLOG TONIGHT TILL 10 AM TOMORROW.... DO THEM!!!!

Hey, you had to do it to ‘em! Here they are starting with the most recent.

“Weird asks that say a lot”

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans?

Coffee mugs because you can use them for everything. Teacups are too small for a proper cuppa.

2. chocolate bars or lollipops?

Chocolate bars always.

3. bubblegum or cotton candy?

Bubblegum, which I miss so much. I haven’t had it in over 2 years bc of my braces

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you?

I didn’t go to public school but all the adults who dealt with me said I was sociable and tried to get everyone to do the group projects but no one listened so I ended up sitting alone reading and quietly doing the project.

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?

Glass BOTTLES make it taste superior.

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?

Pastel boho preppy goth best describes my style.

7. earbuds or headphones?

Earbuds, but only rubber tipped ones. The plastic ones never fit in my ears. Also headphones never cover my whole ear right. :/

8. movies or tv shows?

TV shows keep my attention span better.

9. favorite smell in the summer?

Brewing thunderstorms.

10. game you were best at in p.e.?

None. But trampoline if I had to pick.

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?

Scrambled eggs, peanut butter toast, and some kind of fruit.

12. name of your favorite playlist?

My main one is Things You Love. My one for writing is Queen And Country, and my other two favorites are Summer Songs and A Queen Knows How To Fight A War.

13. lanyard or key ring?

Key ring, lanyards get in the way.

14. favorite non-chocolate candy?

Swedish Fish or Sour Patch Kids.

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment?

OH MAN. To Kill A Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, Fahrenheit 451, The Grapes Of Wrath, and The Handmaid’s Tale were definitely my top 5 in English class.

16. most comfortable position to sit in?

Curled up sideways in an armchair with my legs slung over the arm. Sitting normally sucks.

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?

Either pair of my black boots, or my pink floral Skechers that I wear to work.

18. ideal weather?

60 degrees, cloudy, windy, with a chance of rain.

19. sleeping position?

On my right side, arms around a fluffy pillow, one leg out straight and the other drawn up with my knee to my chest.

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?

Laptop. I’m trying to exercise my hand and wrist so I don’t tire as quick of notebook writing, though.

21. obsession from childhood?

History, Nancy Drew books, Harry Potter, and ghost stories.

22. role model?

The person I am but don’t think I am.

23. strange habits?

Pulling my shirt collar up over my nose and mouth/putting it in my mouth and chewing on it.

24. favorite crystal?

Amethyst, my birthstone! Close second is blue goldstone. (Have you ever seen it? It looks like the universe. I have a worrystone made of blue goldstone and it’s one of my prized possessions.)

25. first song you remember hearing?

Something from church probably. Outside of church probably one of these: If I Had A Hammer // Peter, Paul and Mary, Puff The Magic Dragon // Peter, Paul and Mary, Scarborough Fair // Simon & Garfunkel, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald // Gordon Lightfoot.

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather?

Sit in the shade.

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather?

Drink tea, read, and play either Pokemon or Nancy Drew and the Clue Benders Society on my 3DS.

28. five songs to describe you?

The Pines // Roses & Revolutions, I Am Here // Pink, Walk Me Home // Pink, Call Home // Heathers (not the musical), Traveler’s Song // Aviators

29. best way to bond with you?

Talk to me about history, crime, musicals, books, or tv shows

30. places that you find sacred?

Natural swamps. Libraries. Old, overgrown gardens. Anywhere historic. Pine forests at dusk. Anywhere under a clear night sky.

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?

A plaid shirt, black leggings, and black boots with dark neutral lipstick and a black choker.

32. top five favorite vines?

Fre she vocado, BENTLEY NOOOOO, uhhh I sure hope it does, the one of Lin Manuel-Miranda trying to brainstorm, and this bitch empty YEEt

33. most used phrase in your phone?

Idk how to find this out

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head?

Idk if this is just a local thing here but WOW ITS NATURESTONE

35. average time you fall asleep?

12-1 nowadays.

36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing?

I can haz cheezburger

37. suitcase or duffel bag?

Depends. Suitcase for things like my laptop that are better protected than in a duffel bag, but duffel bag otherwise because they’re easier to carry.

38. lemonade or tea?

TEAAAAA

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie?

Both please

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school?

My house? We had a safe word when we did math. It was “quokka.” If we got overwhelmed we’d say it and then stop and look at pictures of quokkas.

41. last person you texted?

My friend and coworker.

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets?

Jacket pockets.

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?

Cardigan or hoodie

44. favorite scent for soap?

Lavender

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero?

Fantasy. It takes me a bit to get into fantasy books usually, but sci-fi is hard to follow and superhero is mostly predictable.

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in?

Fuzzy pants and a t shirt

47. favorite type of cheese?

Muenster, parmesan, or goat cheese

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be?

Raspberry

49. what saying or quote do you live by?

“I have no country to fight for. My country is the earth, and I am a citizen of this world.” - Eugene V. Debs

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have?

A weird local political ad a couple years back.

51. current stresses?

My recent breakup, an overnight shift I work on Wednesday night, and trying to find time to go out to a corn maze with my friend.

52. favorite font?

Baskerville or Georgia.

53. what is the current state of your hands?

Covered in small cuts and scrapes from work, nails picked short, black nail polish mostly peeled off.

54. what did you learn from your first job?

babysitting job: Kids suck never have more than one. Retail job: being on your fee it hardddd

55. favorite fairy tale?

Beauty and the Beast or Rapunzel

56. favorite tradition?

Looking at Halloween decorations

57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome?

Cutting, being manipulated by my dad, and letting other people make me believe I wasn’t good enough (still working on that one)

58. four talents you’re proud of having?

Writing, puzzle-solving, singing, and calligraphy

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?

“Oh shit waddup”

60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be?

One of those preppy gothic private school animes with a dark secret lurking around the corner

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?

Book: “Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance. You have to work at it.” - The Handmaid’s Tale. Movie: “It’s not about deserve. It’s about what you believe. And I believe in love.” - Wonder Woman. TV Show: “I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself.” - Doctor Who.

62. seven characters you relate to?

Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Remus Lupin, Richard Gansey III, Blue Sargent, Dean Winchester, Charlie Bradbury.

63. five songs that would play in your club?

Same five that I said describe me.

64. favorite website from your childhood?

Webkinz and the old American Girl site circa 2009.

65. any permanent scars?

One down my chest from heart surgery as a baby, lots from self harm on my arms/legs, some on my left knee from falling as a kid, and one on the back of my right heel from being pecked by a goose at the fair when I was 11.

66. favorite flower(s)?

Sunflowers, roses, and dahlias.

67. good luck charms?

Myself.

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried?

Ranch anything.

69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned?

Jellyfish have no brains and no heart.

70. left or right handed?

I’m third generation left handed!

71. least favorite pattern?

Vertical stripes.

72. worst subject?

Math.

73. favorite weird flavor combo?

Wendy’s fries and chocolate frosty.

74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen?

7. Usually I just ignore it because I have a “high pain tolerance” (which means I like to put myself through minor pains because I think I deserve it)

75. when did you lose your first tooth?

Age 5. I was trying to blow up an inflatable ball and it came out.

76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)?

ALL POTATOES EXCEPT POTATO SALAD

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill?

Violets.

78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store?

Neither, both suck equally.

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo?

Never had a school id so I guess the license

80. earth tones or jewel tones?

Earth tones for me

81. fireflies or lightning bugs?

...They are literally the same thing

82. pc or console?

83. writing or drawing?

Writing. I absolutely cannot draw.

84. podcasts or talk radio?

Podcasts, talk radio is so obnoxious.

84. barbie or polly pocket?

Barbie. The clothes are easier to take on and off. I used to accidentally rip polly pocket clothes all the time.

85. fairy tales or mythology?

Mythology. I like it because it explains things, it’s creation stories, its origins. Fairy tales are just fantasies or cautionary tales.

86. cookies or cupcakes?

Cookies.

87. your greatest fear?

Rejection, drowning, and clowns.

88. your greatest wish?

To be a semi-successful author and historian.

89. who would you put before everyone else?

My mom.

90. luckiest mistake?

Not succeeding in killing myself!

91. boxes or bags?

Bags.

92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights?

Dim lamps if they have yellow bulbs. I hate white lights. And also fairy lights yes please.

93. nicknames?

Ellie, Ell, Little Lion, Lioness.

94. favorite season?

FALLLLL

95. favorite app on your phone?

Tumblr, Spotify, or Instagram.

96. desktop background?

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized?

98. favorite historical era?

Revolutionary War-era America or late Victorian England.

THIS GOT REALLY LONG AND I DONT WANNA HIT THE TEXT BLOCK LIMIT SO IMMA DO ALL THE HALLOWEEN ONES SEPARATELY, MAYBE IN THE MORNING.

#a series of essays anonymously published

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mittensmorgul · 6 years

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hiya! so this is more of just like a general question, but i always have trouble reading AU fics bc it feels like I'm just reading about similar, but not the actual characters. Do you ever have this issue?

hi hi! (and heck, I’d had about 1000 words written on this and accidentally clicked on something and lost the entire reply, so I’m attempting to recreate my answer here. I had to take a moment to wail at the universe, but I think I’m good to go now...)

Thank you very much for these lovely canned worms! I feel I need to disclaimer this post, because you have asked ME PERSONALLY for my personal feelings. I’m not suggesting that my reply is or should be applicable to anyone else, because everyone has their own reasons for reading fanfic, and their own interests as far as what they enjoy in fanfic. So I am ONLY answering FOR MYSELF, PERSONALLY.

Okay, now that I’ve said that, I’ll explain my personal interests. I love these characters. The show has gone a very long way to giving us fascinating, well fleshed out characters in a richly detailed world. They have so much going on in their canon universe, and while I adore canon fic and exploring those characters within the universe that made them into who they are, I also love AU fic that tweaks some of those circumstances with the express purpose of exploring how those characters look through an entirely different lens of experience.

(this is nothing like what my original post looked like, just fyi... gah)

Fanfic itself is also a product of the person who writes it-- whether canon fic or AU fic. Two different authors could write the exact same case fic plot, and you’d end up with two very different reads on the characters, because both authors are going into it with their own reads on the characters, who they are, what’s important to them, you know?

We ALL interpret canon through our own unique experiences, and we bring that inherent bias into how we characterize them in fic-- whether canon or AU. We all also have our own writing styles, life experience, interests outside of Supernatural, etc., which is reflected in what we choose to write about.

I’m gonna preemptively apologize if this sounds harsh, but... I’ve read AU fic that feels more “in character” than some canon fic I’ve read. A fic being set “in canon” doesn’t mean I necessarily agree that it’s well-characterized based on my own interpretation of canon. And a fic being AU doesn’t mean the characters are only “similar” to the canon characters.

Part of these interpretations is based on what you’re reading fic for in the first place. If you are reading for the setting, because you love the entire Supernatural universe and enjoy reading more stories specifically set there, then yeah, AU fic probably won’t appeal much, regardless of how well characterized or how heavily it leans on canon characterization and references.

If you’re reading because you adore these characters, and are fascinated by their psychological makeup, their internal motivations, and don’t care what sort of scenario they’re placed in, but tend to ask bit character questions about “what if,” such as “I wonder how Dean Winchester would react in these circumstances if XYZ hadn’t happened to him, but ABC had been his life experience instead?” Then yeah, AU fic becomes a wonderland of options and some of the most fertile ground for exploring characters individually.

It all really depends on what you’re looking for, what motivates you to seek out fic in the first place, AND the pov of the author writing the specific fic in question.

*I personally* tend to write AU fic with as much canon characterization as possible, whether I’m writing Cas as a beekeeping semiotics professor and Dean as a mechanic (Project Beyonce) or Cas as an astronomer and Dean as a horse rancher (Winchester 275) or Cas as a bodyguard and Dean as a Hollywood film star with a crazed stalker (The Exception to Every Rule). But I write fic from a really... meta point of view. I do my best to write character studies that heavily reference canon themes and issues, but through an entirely different lens.

Will everyone agree that I’ve successfully achieved that goal? Probably not. But I’ve got a handful of readers who’ve told me they never read AU fic, except mine, because the characters “feel the same as in canon.” Everyone has a different tolerance and set of conditions under which they can still interpret and read those same characters into an entirely different set of circumstances.

I would humbly suggest that I’ve read BOATLOADS of AU fic that felt this way to me. I totally get that not everyone feels the same way as I do.

But then again, I regularly nope out of canon fic that doesn’t feel “in character” to me. Not that others wouldn’t enjoy those fics, or wouldn’t find them well characterized based on their own interpretations of the characters, but that they don’t match up with MY PERSONAL READ of the characters in canon.

I think I’ve got a higher tolerance for character variation and interpretation in AU fic, because it’s already asking me to examine the reasons WHY the character might be behaving differently, when they’ve experienced an entirely different life, you know? I’m fascinated at how Dean may have grown up differently, how his core character traits may have developed under different circumstances, and how that life experience may have built up to make him into the character I know and love from the show, you know?

So, no. I don’t have this problem with AU fic. When I first started reading fic, I absolutely did. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how Dean and Cas and Sam and all the rest could be who they are outside of the canon universe they were raised in. But then I got to know the characters more, to see them on a deeper level to their underlying psychology, and suddenly AU fic became as much of a fascinating experiment full of deep character insight as canon fic was. Often, it was far more fascinating to me, personally.

(and heck, the last fic I posted, Cakepocalypse, is just about as meta-smooshed-together canon-AU amalgam as I could’ve possibly conjured up, so yeah, I wholeheartedly stand by my statement that AU fic can be perfectly characterized canon compliant. Because I think I did a damn fine job of that. :P)

(and heck heck, since the show itself has canonically given us alternate universes-- most prominently for a long time was 6.15, but then the rift in 12.23 opened and we suddenly had validation that ANY AU was technically canon in some way-- even my fic Revenge of the Subtext played with this idea back in s10, that alternate universes are a perfectly fertile playground for canon. It’s just all a matter of perspective.)

basically, if your attachment and interpretation of the characters themselves relies entirely on them existing within the canon universe, you’re probably never gonna get into AU fic. But if your attachment and interpretation of the characters is based on them individually, their internal psychological makeup, it hardly matters what universe they’re in, because you’re gonna find them fascinating regardless.

Like I said at the start, everyone has their own unique reasons for reading fic. No one reason is “correct.” They’re personal! Individual to you! If you only enjoy canon fic, then by all means, only read canon fic. Luckily for us, this fandom has produced more fic than it’s possible to read in a lifetime, regardless of if you branch out into AU fic or just stick to canon. :)

#adventures in fanfic #with a side helping of #shameless self promotion #and if my au fic still doesn't appeal i've got a ton of canon fic too :P #but revenge of the subtext and cakepocalypse are both canon fic anyway #Anonymous

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bubonickitten · 7 years

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So what do you think are anders best traits (other than him worrying about mage rights and him being a compassive healer?) I really love him and I love the way you write about him so I'm just curious.

There’s a lot I love about him :0

I mean, on a personal level, he’s a really relatable character for me, so that’s part of why I like him so much.

But I also like him as a character in general. (I’ll put this post under a cut bc it got long.)

Him being a compassionate healer and being incredibly passionate about mage rights are huge parts of his character and they’re honestly two of the biggest things that make me like him so much.

Like, here’s a person who was subject to systemic abuse for most of his life, who knows full well the repercussions of rebelling against the status quo, but does it anyway, because his convictions are just that strong. He knows that the Circle and the Chantry are fundamentally wrong. He’s experienced and witnessed firsthand what happens to people who fight back. Hell, when we meet him Awakening, he’s only just recently been released from a year of solitary confinement for running away - he just got out and as soon as he was able to, he ran again. If he gets caught and sent back to the Circle again, he’s going back into solitary confinement at the very least, and by the time he’s in Kirkwall, he’s also possessed by a spirit, so he’s risking just being killed outright. He’s risking everything by fighting back so openly and actively, but he does it anyway.

And it’s not just Justice’s presence that makes him so willing to fight. Even when he was running, he was fighting back, because by constantly running away, he was refusing to submit. But in Awakening, Anders did feel like he couldn’t have any impact on the status quo - he believed that things would change eventually, he believed that the way mages are treated is inherently and fundamentally wrong and one day things would be different, but he didn’t think he’d ever see it in his lifetime, and he didn’t believe he of all people could do anything to enact change. Justice helped him realize that he could be an agent of change, but that fire and that strong sense of right and wrong were already there - it just needed to be validated and encouraged, which Justice did for him.

And I do like that Anders needed support to be able to get to that point, bc I feel like that’s... realistic, y’know? I don’t like the idea that everyone should have to fend for themselves and not have to rely on others to stand up and fight. He couldn’t do it alone, and there’s nothing wrong with that. He hasn’t gotten much support from others throughout his life, so I like that in this instance, he had someone to lean on. (And I still wish there were more opportunities to support him more actively in DA2.)

Like, it was difficult for Anders to admit to those feelings of powerlessness - which is entirely understandable, because in his experience, showing that kind of vulnerability could get him killed or worse (if the templars considered a mage to be weak-willed, they might not even give them a chance at the Harrowing and just make them Tranquil outright - and Anders is canonically mentally ill, which I imagine added an extra burden in terms of hiding his vulnerability). So, outwardly, he talked a big talk about only being concerned with his own freedom and pretends to be more apathetic and careless than he actually is.

This also shows a lot in terms of his sense of humor - it’s a lot of morbid sarcasm, irreverent joking, gallows humor even - because he uses it as a shield and a coping mechanism. Ngl, I love that aspect of him, it’s one of the things that started endearing him to me in Awakening first. I play my Hawke as having a similar sense of irreverent, snarky humor, so they play well off of one another. Humor as a coping mechanism is a character trait I tend to appreciate and relate to a lot, haha.

Anyway, I think in actuality he cares so much it hurts. It might not seem like it when we first meet him in Awakening, but I think it’s just that it’s easier and psychologically safer for him to pretend he doesn’t care than it is to admit that he does care but feels powerless to change things. It takes a lot of strength (and also support from others, which again, is something that Anders hasn’t had much of throughout most of his life) to be able to confront your own vulnerability and try to channel it into something that benefits others.

But even in Awakening, his actions often contradicted the “I don’t care about anyone but myself” talk - if you tell him to run away in the beginning of the game, he’ll do so, but he shows back up like five minutes later because he felt like he couldn’t leave the Warden to fight the darkspawn alone (he jokes about being “bad at the whole ‘fugitive from justice’ thing”, which... turns out to be way more accurate than he may even realize in that moment). In the endgame, he’s not eager to go along with the Warden to Amaranthine, but if you do bring him, he’s one of the companions who will argue against leaving Amaranthine to burn - his instincts might tell him to run, but he cares too much about the survivors in Amaranthine to leave them to their fate.

Not to mention, canonically, spirit healers are kinda rare. They derive a lot of their power from spirits of compassion, which means earning spirits’ trust and cooperation. A person who isn’t compassionate probably wouldn’t be able to earn that cooperation of a spirit of compassion in the first place. Not to mention his interest in being a healer in general - it’s a big part of his identity, to the point where in DA2, one of the things he worries most about is not being able to heal anymore because he’s so afraid that he or Justice will accidentally hurt one of his patients.

I think a lot of his attachment to the healer role is also tied up in his own internalized belief that he has to be a Good Mage in order to deserve freedom - it seems contradictory, it’s something that goes against his stated principles, mages shouldn’t have to prove themselves and be ‘good’ mages according to the Chantry’s fucked up doctrine to deserve freedom and life and love, but he lived in the Circle for at least half his life and he definitely internalized a lot of the hateful messages they taught about mages. Fighting against those teachings is a constant battle for him - which also ties into his occasional crises of faith, because he’s an Andrastian and all the spiritual authorities in his life have taught him that he’s a non-person, that he’s inherently sinful and cursed and deserving of subjugation because he’s a mage.

So, he has a lot of moments of self-doubt. He has a lifetime of trauma and abuse that affect his present well-being. He has a lot of self-loathing and a lot of fear of himself (the latter esp after merging with Justice). He doesn’t see himself as worthy of love or care, even if he talks passionately about how mages deserve those things - he often doesn’t give himself the same consideration that he’s willing to give others. He has an incredibly complicated relationship with his own anger - because his anger is totally and completely justifiable, but it scares him, because he associates rage and anger with demons and loss of control. (I think a big source of the conflict btwn he and Justice is how they differ re: embracing and accepting anger. For Justice, that anger is righteous fury, it’s justified, it’s a source of passion and change. For Anders, it’s a source of fear and insecurity a lot of the time. I think a lot of their miscommunication is rooted in that fear.)

But Anders works himself half to death trying to help as many people as he can for as long as he can, and even though he’s barely making a dent in all the suffering he sees in the world, even though he’s risking everything, he just keeps going, because that’s how strongly he believes and that’s how much he cares. Every mage he helps escape the Gallows, every patient he helps in his clinic is worth it to him. That kind of perseverance in the face of hopelessness and doubt and a world set against you is really admirable to me.

And I also like how clear it is that it doesn’t come easy to him. It’s not just some inspiration porn “you can do anything you set your mind to if you just try :)” thing. He stumbles a lot. He fails a lot. He spends most of DA2 in a constant state of anxiety and desperation (esp since he really doesn’t get much support from the people closest to him, except like… Justice and Hawke, if you play Hawke in a supportive role). He’s idealistic, but he can’t help but dip into periods of hopelessness and depression and doubt - partly because he has a mood disorder, partly because that’s just… expected for someone who’s seen as much shit as he has. His life is messy and he’s tired and it shows. But even when he’s running, he’s fighting. Sometimes, survival is in itself a form of rebellion and he’s a walking example of that. He is stubborn and although sometimes it’s a negative, it also has its perks. And that passion doesn’t just manifest as rage - it’s also love, because lbh, he is a hopeless romantic (in a dorky, endearing way at times) and in his romance route he loves Hawke fiercely.

It’s a shame that he didn’t get more positive character development in DA2 (it’s no secret how resentful I am toward the writers, he and Justice really deserved better). I headcanon him over time learning how to communicate and coexist with Justice; learning to practice self-care and be kinder to himself; more fully accepting that he has a right to be angry and he doesn’t have to prove that he’s deserving of personhood or love.

And he has a fair amount of flaws for sure - he has a tendency to project his insecurities onto others (e.g. Merrill), he’s not a good ally to other marginalized groups (e.g. elves), he sometimes lashes out at others when they don’t deserve it (which, although I understand why he behaves that way, it still isn’t fair to others who are on the receiving end), he was manipulative in the ‘Justice’ quest (I understand his motivations but despite his intentions it wasn’t acceptable behavior) - but I think he has an ability to better himself in those areas and I like to headcanon that personal growth for him. (That’s not to say I want him to be a flawless character - nobody’s perfect, and a flawless character would be pretty flat and unrealistic, but I also like when characters are allowed to have personal growth in a positive direction.)

I guess, in all, he’s an interesting, likable, and relatable character for me - I wish the writers treated him better, I have a lot of criticisms wrt how he (and Justice) were written (including how Anders was treated as a bipolar character), and I’m also willing to criticize him where it’s deserved (I have a whole tag full of meta w/ my criticisms of him) - but overall he’s one of my faves.

Tbh the reason why DA2 is my fave game in the series (despite all of my criticisms of the writing in it, esp Act 3) is the characters. Hawke is my favorite protag and DA2 has probably my favorite companion group - like, Anders, Merrill, Fenris, Isabela, and Varric are some of my fave characters in the whole series - so the characters are ultimately what make me like that game.

#/#//#///#////#//////#dragon age #anders #anders meta #i guess #long post #Anonymous

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