#give me recs please I've run out of media

[froginaskinsuit]

how to write a podcast

make a scrongly little guy

put him in a situation

#tma #wolf 359 #camp here and there #wooden overcoats #night shift #stellar firma #eos 10 #podcasts #give me recs please I've run out of media #skinsuit notes

[sootonthecarpet]

hate how just looking at things online is like an inherently loaded economic and political choice now. do I want to familiarize myself with what the bigots that endanger my country are saying by checking out primary sources? I'm giving them 'clicks', boosting their ratings and potentially encouraging an algorithm to share their content more widely.

if I go to watch them speak on youtube they may make money directly off of this. if I download an ad blocker to get around this, I am taking away money from small time marginalized creators if I watch any of their videos without disabling it. if I want to read a news article that implies people like me are less than human, I have to accept that I am giving them the positive feedback of my engagement JUST by clicking on the link. depending how I am serviced this link (such as through an automated rec feed that came bundled with a default web browser) I run the risk of reinforcing to my personal device that I would like to be served more links from news sites that run stories implying people like me are less than human, rather than that every few months I will grudgingly observe bigotry with the intention of better guarding myself against it in the future.

every decision I make to look at or avoid something on most major websites, especially news, video platforms, and any social media site but tumblr, has to take into account not just "do I want to have seen this" but "do I want to concretely make this thing more popular and/or leave a trail of stored information registering me as somebody who wants to observe this thing?" I'm not on tiktok (I don't even log in to youtube) but the way the algorithm there works, prioritizing content you spend the most time looking at (or perhaps unable to look away from?) rather than content you mark yourself as 'liking', is something right out of one of my paranoid delusions.

the push for a more profitable internet is one of the driving forces behind our online panopticon and I've seen very little discussion about how this like. automatically makes the very basic act of trying to get context on the way bigots who want you dead are drumming up support into an action of direct support for bigots. yes, I know there are adblocks and archived page versions and all kinds of clever little workarounds. but when did we need a workaround to be able to see with our eyes without funding nazis? I could, let's say, walk into a library and pull a copy of mein kampf off the shelf and skim through it where I stood without having at any point provided money, validation, or a 'boost' in publicity to nazis active in my country, and potentially without anyone else becoming aware that I am reading a copy of mein kampf. if I wanna read a fox article because I know they're a wildly popular news network that has been on the cutting edge of american bigotry my whole life? I have validated fox news's siterunners with my pageview, left an enormous digital paper trail, potentially encouraged my device to show me more fox news articles, and potentially provided fox news with ad revenue they can use to more efficiently spread their dangerous lies and half-truths.

faced with meaningful and legitimate calls to de-platform hateful voices on an immediate interpersonal level, and sentiments like 'here are screenshots/wayback links, please don't give them the clicks' as the only pushback against this constant tracking and leveraging of our viewership (to say nothing of how often content creators rely on widespread outrage and hatewatching to gain engagement that their fans alone could never provide, and the subsequent pleas to avoid watching any bigoted content whatsoever lest you fall prey to their outrage marketing), the logical choice in the absence of someone else offering an easy workaround begins to look like self imposed ignorance and isolation; unless we have a great degree of computer literacy, or hacker friends with the same who can handhold us through our entire online presence, we are forced to either resort to knowingly funding bigots (and potentially marking ourselves as one), or to refusing to arm ourselves with knowledge altogether. YEAUGHHH 💢

[crabussy]

heyyyy welcome, welcome!! I've been expecting you. You don't need to wipe your feet on the mat, mud tracks on the carpet adds some personality to the space!! Hang your coat on the weird fake taxidermy pronghorn. To your left, the dining room, currently occupied by 23 people (and not people) having a heated debate about whether chartreuse is green or yellow (its neither). Oh, and here on our right is a comprehensive list of my Things! Take a peek, I'll be waiting in the corridor with the mosaic floor.

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✦ Name: Robin to most, Rob to some, Thing to all (call me whatever!)

✦ Age: 18 but with absurd levels of whimsy

✦ Nationality: I am a Pākehā Kiwi (European New Zealander) !!

✦ Plurality: I am part of an OSDD-1B system alongside two dozen other headmates, some of the others have their own blogs set up which you can access via @menagerie-crew. they may post on my blog too, tagged with "_____ takeover" depending on who is in front. it is totally okay to request to chat with any of the others!! we're always looking for an excuse to get my greedy ass out of front (I have discussed this with a therapist and a psychiatrist who both believe I am a system. I cannot get diagnosed for safety reasons. lalala)

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✦ Art:

@beastwhimsy - my art account! Please give it a look, thank you! My commissions are open.

@silly-pony-scribbles - an mlp art request blog I run with my boyfriend, sal!

✦ Tags:

silly tag: blorbos

sea tag: FISH. one of my special interests. coelacanth... kissing you

beast tag: ANIMALS. yet another thing I am full of love for

fren tag: any friend/moot related posts (:< sometimes I forget!

art tag: art I am putting in my mouth right fucking now

music tag: music I am grating onto my pasta like parmesan cheese

insp: art inspiration

fave: what it says on the label [:

save: a tag full of posts I haven't looked at in about a year, oops

ultra fave: posts that make me roll around on the ground screaming

people tag: human people!!! I love us!!

mindfuckery tag: posts that violently rearrange my neurons

there tag: liminal spaces yayyy yayy

listen to my gibberish boy: my terrible words

important: usually PSAs and such!

mecore: posts that make me go YEAHHHHH. UH HUH.

robincore: posts that are like if I was images.....

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✦ Hobbies:

⋇ Camping, hiking, etc etc: I'm part of a scout group and have been camping ten gazillion times,, if I am not in a tent again soon I will surely perish. Put me in there NOW

⋇ Conservation/ecology: this is something I am most passionate about!!! I'm fascinated by ecosystems and do everything I can to contribute to positive change in conservation. I am especially passionate about Aotearoa's ecosystems!

⋇ Art: I draw ^_^ self explanatory !!! I specialize in character design!! redesigning characters is my love language.

⋇ Scaring myself shitless: I love horror... I will consume any horror related media although my favourite type of horror is unnerving stuff, not shock value stuff (although shock can be fun) if you have any good horror recs PLEASE I AM SO HUNGRY.

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✦ Interests:

⋇ animals!!! arthropods!!!! zoology/ecology! this is my special interest, has been for years, I could talk about it for hours....

⋇ ADVENTURE TIME. HEEELP HELP ME HEELP HELP HELP

⋇ mlp (currently VERY gripped by The Horses. I love you ponies)

⋇ creatures of sonaria!! fantastically well built roblox game with a bunch of fun specbio stuff. I enjoy making skins!!

⋇ regretevator. yayyy yay yayyyyyyyy

⋇ The magnus archives (Jon liker, Michael liker, Lonely/Vast aligned)

⋇ Hello from the Hallowoods (.. DIGGORY.... and nikignik aheehee)

⋇ FNAF (Sun, Moon and Mangle liker, favourite game is FNAF 2)

⋇ The Muppets (ANIMAL MY BELOVED. absolute freak. Also Gonzo is just like me...)

⋇ Moominvalley (The 90s one!!! comfort show.. snufkin & moomin <3)

⋇ Liminal spaces (Don't mind me I just need to be in those places forever ?? and ever?)

⋇ Horror in general (I eat horror for every meal. I listen to it to sleep because I'm cool and very very brave. what was that sound)

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✦ DNI:

transmeds, terfs, pro-contact harmful paraphiliacs, syscourse blogs, fakeclaimers, autism speaks supporters, Rowling supporters/fans who contribute towards her wealth (critical enjoyers of the series are okay!), neonazis, zionists, anyone who supports anything listed here.

message me if you need any clarification on why I'm against any of these things, or if you're not sure what something on here means!! /g

✦ Opinion on system origin discourse:

I feel like I have to make a statement about this because I am often pulled into discourse around it and I hate that a lot:

I am endo neutral solely because I did not ask to be a system and should not have to pick sides in an infighting battle just because I was traumatised as a kid. I do believe that infighting is nothing but harmful and that completely disregarding the possibility of non-traumagenic plurality makes it much harder for systems who do not remember their trauma to be supported and understood. I also think that centering system identity around trauma can be unhelpful and makes recovery more difficult. Before I considered the possibility of non-traumagenic systems I was constantly a nervous wreck, terrified that my experiences were made up and that my trauma wasn’t bad enough. now that I’m neutral about them, I no longer have debilitating anxiety about whether or not I am real. I am considered a system by multiple professionals. I will not be responding to any asks about my stance on system origins. thanks for understanding!!

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✦ Other:

I am autistic, have a debilitating permanent health condition, and several mental disorders, symptoms of which including memory issues and severe anxiety. yikes!! Please keep this in mind when interacting with me! Tone indicators can be helpful, and I might sound a little off due to pain sometimes.

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I see you finished reading my extensive list of Things!!! Lets continue with our tour- you haven't even seen the indoor crocodile pool yet. Did you bring any swimwear?

#about me #personal #pinned post

[laufire]

Since this seems to be a trend, I have to ask: top 5 pieces of media you'd rec me? I am really curious since I think I've already tried pretty much everything you loved 😅

sorry for the delay, but I was right in the middle of one of the things I thought I miiight recommend you, so I waited until I finished in case it ended up poorly lmao.

Said thing is Zatanna & the Ripper, an already completed webtoon available online for free (don't let the fact that it's 51 issues long deter you, a webtoon episode takes less than five minutes to read lol). I was already reading a couple other DC webtoons, with mixed feelings ("Wayne Family Adventures" is often too fandom-y for my blood but it's given me a few ideas, and "Red Hood: Outlaws" was... neither a bad as its worst moments, nor did it manage to live to the sky high expectations of its very best), and I was already on my Zatanna feels thanks to Young Justice so... I picked this one up.

I'm guessing you know this but Zatanna's comics version differs quite a bit from YJ's; she's from Bruce's generation, for one (he has a cute cameo here with the two of them playing as children lol), her usual love interest is John Constantine (who plays that part here), etc. This isn't quiiiite like the comics version (or what little I've seen of her), she's a bit younger and greener, with a "finding yourself/having faith in your own power" arc.

The premise is that Zatanna, on her 21st birthday, gets transported to London in Victorian times, right around the time Jack the Ripper was killing (I'm pleased to say the run managed to side-step the issues I tend to have with historical fiction that tries to play around with this concept, tbh). She's stuck there, with malfunctioned powers, becomes friends with one of the working girls, starts trying to solve the case etc. etc. It was a fun read, all around.

Hmm... I'm trying to think of favourite stuff of mine that I don't think you've tried... shows-wise, I think that'd be Desperate Wives? Not saying it didn't infuriate the hell out of me at times lol, and I'm not sure how you'll feel about it, since it's also not-my-usual-type... but when it's good, it's GREAT and really damn enjoyable lol. I became hooked really early on so I'd say to give the pilot a try and see if it awakens any interest, if you haven't watched it?

For films... you might've watched some of these, but some of my favourites that you might want to give a try to would be "The Mask of Zorro" (revenge! romance! sword fights as both revenge and romance tools!), "The Handmaiden" (historical lesbian romance with really engaging twists), or 2010's "True Grit" (a western, which isn't usually my thing, about a young girl seeking revenge for her father's murder).

I'll also list some of my favourite classic books that you might or might not have read, Because: "Carmilla", "Dangerous Liaisons", "Frankenstein", "Pygmalion"

I don't know how plausible it'd be to find this available outside of Spain, but I'm recommending "La Promesa", a Spanish telenovela I've gotten into (I'm not really watching it properly because I'm waaaaaaaay behind lol. it's long as fuck, currently in its 150+ episode; I watch the current ones when my mother has it on tv lol, and sometimes some of the old ones). It's sloooooow, which can be frustrating, and LOOOOONG, as I said, but it does some really great things character-wise. I've called it the Spanish Downton Abbey lol, but with faaaar more attention given to the working-class characters (the heroine herself being a maid).

This goes beyond five, but since I'm not sure if you've watched/read some of these, and you probably won't be able to watch the last one ^^U: SEVERANCE!!! Again, I just want people to watch both this AND Dollhouse so we can delve deep into them xDD. Just one short season so far, with a second one coming on 2024. It's about a group of workers who've gone through a surgical procedure that separates their memories from work and those from their life outside, effectively creating different people, and the sketchy corporation they work with. And Dichen Lachman is in it too :D (her part is the only one I actively compared with Dollhouse while I was watching it lol. So far Dollhouse wins but... Priya's story is hard to top).

Another bonus, Because: I recommended the Kemi Ashing-Giwa's short stories stored in Tor to another mutual, so this time I'll give focus to another one: "The Puppermaster", about a banished warrior, her sketchy usurper uncle, and monsters.

#talking to the void #replies #artemis tag #^-^ #top 5s #recs #my thoughts

[bastardbvby]

amaya give me aftg fanfic recs (if you have any) cause even tho i was obsessed with the books i never read any and i feel like i missed out on great stuff

oh my god absolutely. um. putting this under the cut because i've realized that this has gotten super long but....hope this helps adfhdh

lessons in cartography (121k) is a definite must – it's a continuation of the series from where the books left off and honestly. anything by this author is a work of art ive reread this so many times

this roommate bullshit (13.8k) grad school au where kevin sees andrew (short, angry) carrying knives in the library and is like wow u should meet my roommate neil (also short and angry and wielding knives) also highly recommend anything by this author theyre amazing <3

they used to shout my name (now they whisper it) (46.9k) witch/coven au where neil is on the run and winds up meeting the foxes and joining their coven,, descriptions of magic in this one are unreal i love it sm

an assassin's guide to romance (12k) slight medieval au where neil is an assassin sent to spy on kevin and andrew is kevin's bodyguard. also there's a dog. so cute recently reread :')

the first breath (180k) omg it's like a sandman universe au this is genuinely one of my fav things EVER. and yes i highly recommend this author adfhfh also super recommend armies (342k) by them

and we'll be running (62k) necessary band au that every fandom needs,, havent reread in a bit but i remember loving how well the songs were written into this

red rabbits (292k) and red rabbits: season 2 (282k) this series gensrs changed my life like. i have yet to encounter anything quite as unique as this format and style. each fic is set up as a podcast but. idk how to explain it like it's not your normal kind of podcast/social media fic please just check it out if u read anything on this list.

be neither fish nor fowl (26k) and across the turtle's back (53k) mermaid/pirate au. so well written and the sequel is definitely like . top 10 fics

i realize that a lot of these are like Super Long fics mostly because those are the ones i tend to read the most but if u want shorter stuff lmk :] hope this is helpful

#btw so many of these are aus like literally anyone can read them and i HIGHLY recommend u do like every fic on this list is a BANGER #asks #thank u anon <3 #fic rec

[natashalie-lumley]

Welp, I kept saying I was going to write this the next time I was on my computer and then I keep forgetting and since I've already turned the dang thing on twice today I'm using my phone and hoping autocorrect catches most of the errors.

Lately I noticed something that I think used to slide under my radar (esp since one example is years old, both in terms of how long it's been around and how long it's been in my head), and it's probably thanks to tumblr honestly. Because both examples have to do with disability and having access to things as a disabled person, and also kind of in terms of privilege too. And those are both things that, while conscious of, I did not fully think about until joining tumblr. Anyway, here goes.

There's two pieces of media I've been thinking about that I feel show people not thinking outside of their own experiences. The first, and oldest, is from an episode of Parks and Rec. In it Ron Swanson and Chris Traeger are talking about childcare (someone correct me if I'm wrong please but I believe it's the episode where Chris has a nervous breakdown and is trying to learn "Ron's style of parenting" or something) and Chris mentions getting a white noise machine that includes outdoors sounds. Ron's reaction is to give Chris an incredulous look and say "you purchased a machine that mimics the sound of an open window??".

Now, I get it. Ron is a country man, he's lived around wilderness probably his whole life, and he seems fully healthy. So the fact that this seemed so weird to him kind of makes sense. I'm not saying it doesnt. What I -am- saying is that Not everyone can even open a window, let alone open a window and hear trees and crickets. People with asthma or bad allergies sometimes have to have the windows closed to be able to Breathe. People living in the city are likely just going to hear cars if they open theirs. And some people may even just like the predictability of recorded sounds because there's no risk of sudden scares. All things I wouldn't have thought of a few years ago, but now that I have I kind of want to poke Ron in the shoulder and point things out.

The other is from a tiktok series that I follow, which portrays some folks running a cafe. In the episode in question they talk about having set up on doordash and the following exchange happens

Employee 1: You did raise the prices 15% right?

Boss: of course I did. If they don't want to come in they can pay extra.

As someone who is currently carless, dependent on other people's availability, and just enough physically disabled that walking to the nearest grocery store (a block, basically) or to the nearest gas station (block and a half) and back is usually out of the realm of possibility... that hurt. When I use doordash it's usually for extreme purposes Because it's so expensive. And for someone to basically say "if they want to pay less they have to come here for it" as if EVERYONE COULD DO THAT made me so... angry and disappointed and made me start second guessing my abilities again. And in this case, I genuinely don't know if it's something that just didn't occur to the character (let alone the creator) or if they didn't care. And that sucks.

Anyway. That's my rant for the time being. Back to debating writing my Cinderella short here.

#thoughts on disability #parks and rec #being disabled sucks #being disabled without a car sucks worse #i want ice cream now #(last week i treated myself and it cost like $13 for a sundae after everything) #(getting a pint or gallon delivered would cost $10 in delivery fees alone) #i am not that far from either place #but my knee has slipped twice tonight #so thats just a huge nope

[givereadersahug]

Hi everyone. This is Scarlet's sister. I've some unfortunate news to share, Scarlet passed away on December 26, 2023.

I can't put into words how much it means to my family and I seeing how love she was by the community. Thank you all for being her friend and being there for her.

I'll be keeping this blog and all her side blogs up, as well as leaving her fics on AO3 up. Additionally I'll be leaving the all her blog queues untouch.

-- Jan 4, 2024

Where you can find me: Carrd

Hello! I'm Scarlet. Welcome to my blog! Just a fangirl who reads too much fanfiction and involve herself in too many fandoms.

For fanfics - I’m currently writing for the following fandoms: Harry Potter and SK8 the Infinity. (I do occasionally write for other fandoms whenever the muse strikes.)

I’m a multi-shipper, though I do have preferences. Maybe I’ll write a comprehensive post one day diving into all my ships and fandoms. I'm one of the mods who run the Harry Potter @houseofsnarry Discord server blog and the server's Harry Potter @snarryauctoberfest. I also run the following HP fests: @harryjamespotterweek, @hpcottagecorefest and @hprecfest. And I'm one of the mod for the HP reccing community over on Dreamwidth (HP Recs). Come by and check us out!

This blog will not just be all fandom-related things! (Though it may seem like it at first.) I’m also an avid reader and I watch way too many anime, films, and shows. There might be posts regarding my current reads/medias with the occasional wrap-ups and recommendations mixed in. Oh! And random posts as well.

Feel free to follow me! 🥰

** Since this blog will be a hodgepodge of random posts (got to give the header 'this blog will be a mess' its due!), my posts & reblogs will follow a pretty standard tagging system. I like to keep things organized. 🙂 Just check out the tags here and blacklist any tags you don't want to come across your dashboard. <3

My sideblogs for reblogging fanart & gifs.

@slytherclawscarlet - Harry Potter

@sunshinescarlet - Thorki

@fangirlscarlet - Anime/Danmei

We follow fandom rules around here - YKINMKBYKIO (Your Kink is Not My Kink, But Your Kink is Okay), DLDR (Don’t Like;Don’t Read) and SALS (Ship and Let Ship).

Trans rights are human rights.

Please note I will block any blogs that don't have an avatar or haven't reblogged anything. I can't tell if you're a bot or not and I rather not have bots following me.

The butterfly icon was made by the amazing Danpuff.

[irisbleufic]

You don't have to answer if talking about this has been stressful, but I can't stop thinking about how illogical it was for the Gotham troll to do what they did. Trying to use Ao3 stats against you, like the 30something people who defended you pointed out, was petty and illogical and spoke to deeper underlying irrational hate in the perp. I keep trying to isolate what it could be if not jealousy, because I've seen this happen to other people. Do you have any thoughts on this form of bullying?

First of all, anon, don’t worry about upsetting me.  I’m not that easily rattled, so no apology is necessary.  I find your question a fascinating one; I had to sit on this for a couple of days to gather my thoughts on the subject, because it turns out that I do have some notions about possible motives that stem from, oddly enough, some much older fandom attitudes and trends that I’ve recently seen return in a new guise.  I frame this with the usual YMMV caveat; this is my perception of the situation, but it might not be what’s really going on at all.  I’m going to do my best to explain this.  If anyone needs background on the troll situation to which anon is referring, those posts are here.

When I first got into fandom as a young teenager in the early-to-mid ‘90s, a significant number of the people whose stories I was reading (and who were my mentors) were very much part of that first wave whose writing and zine efforts had to remain hidden because the mainstream contingents, in the overwhelming majority, hated slash.  However, I noticed a common-thread attitude between some of the slash community and the larger part of the mainstream community, which was this: Canon Is God.  Even if you’re writing stories about romantic or otherwise nontraditional relationships between various characters (or even just writing gen stories, for that matter), you accept that what you’re doing should never be held in the same reverence as canon.  You are a pale shadow, and you must be self-deprecating.  You must allow that the creators know best and that what you do is, at best, wishful thinking.  Do whatever you like, but revere the creators and do not believe that you or any other fan-creator may be capable of making a wiser decision.

In a community as essentially as subversive as fandom, this attitude puzzled me.  My experience of the media with which I was beginning to engage and about which I was beginning to write was this: the creators did not, in fact, always know better, at least not what was better for me personally.  In some respects, I developed a reputation for being a civil, yet stubborn contrarian early on.  Even more than that, my writing gestures began to hit a register that sometimes made my mentors nervous: for the first time, I learned what it meant for someone to like you only up till the point you start to turn heads and develop friendships with like-minded people outside the circles that inducted you.  What I mean to say, mostly, is that my writing approach has almost always been along the lines of this narrative is broken, it hurt me and it hurt some other people, and I think I might know how to fix it; I want to write an alternative that will carry an equivalency of canon’s essential captivating qualities, but will alter the narrative such that it no longer damages me or the other people I know who have been similarly hurt.  And I learned very fast that thinking on that scale of ambition was something of a taboo to those who had grown up with the idea that Canon Is God (You Should Not Even In the Slightest Believe You Might Know An Equally Viable Approach).

Still, I never stopped writing that way.  I never stopped hoping I could offer an alternative canon-equivalent for myself and for anyone else who wanted something like what I was reasonably confident I could produce.  Scale this across twenty years, and I’m in a position where I’ve absolutely written a significant handful of what are considered some of the foundational fic-series for the fandoms in which I wrote them.  I prefer to make narrative gestures on sweeping scales, because that’s what storytelling is.  We fall in love with the media we fall in love with, usually, because they tell compelling stories across multiple novels, across multiple seasons, across multiple films, etc.  How can I hope to alter a story for readers who desperately want the alteration if I don’t try to do it on a scale commensurate with the scope of canon?  One-shots are a thing, and an admirable one, too, but I’m one of those creators with an insatiable heart.  I don’t like to stop until the story gives me the sense it’s time to stop.  And I’m at a point in my fandom career where I know I have readers counting on me if they get invested in a project, so I’m going to do my damnedest to see nearly everything I start to completion.  I know I’m not the only fanwriter who thinks and works like this, anon, and the fact that you’ve seen similar bullying happen to others is about to become relevant.

Let’s back up a second to the concept of Canon Is God.  For the most part, I’ve seen fandom as it exists now give canon the finger and never look back.  I think that’s glorious.  However, I’ve also seen movements within several of the fandoms I’ve been part of, in just the last ten years, argue that dissent against canon, even civil dissent against canon, counts as negativity.  I don’t necessarily want to talk about the fact that canon dissenters and canon supporters alike often go at each others’ throats as rudely and cruelly as you please; jerks are just jerks, and nobody with either philosophy should be behaving like that.  However, maybe you can see what I mean about Canon Is God appearing in its latest form.  Some feel that you can write what you want, but that it’s wrong to even politely dissent with the events of canon on your blog and in your fan-works.  The mere existence of dissent, even civil dissent, is offensive.  There’s an idea that the only way to participate positively in your fandom of choice is to accept that canon is canon and that you should like it, or, if you don’t like it, you should at least make an effort at pretending you do (in spite of what you may be writing or drawing).  

The trouble, of course, is that some of us aren’t adept at pretending.  Write or otherwise create with ambition—with conviction, with no intention to hide the fact that you’re discontent with canon—to the point that you effectively serve an existing like-minded readership and even sway enough other people (into feeling that your vision is indeed one way things literally could have or should have gone), and, in the eyes of some, you become this: a dangerous heretic and a narrative terrorist.  Your challenge to canon is perceived as effective, and a threat, because of the number of folks who latch onto it.

I’ve run into people before who don’t like the level of influence that they perceive I have over my readers’ perceptions of the characters at hand, and it wouldn’t at all surprise me if the person who attempted to attack me is thinking along similar lines—but realized they’d have to disguise it as something supposedly more logical or community-minded.  I find this an incredibly sad outlook, though, because you can’t stop writers from writing what they want to write.  You can’t stop readers from reading what they want to read.  You can’t stop readers from commenting on, leaving kudos for, or reccing what becomes dear to them.  Fandom is a fucking free-for-all.  There will also always be some writers whose works get more exposure than others, and the patterns governing those levels of exposure are about as difficult to parse as any other trend.  In some cases, it’s the level of scale and conviction I’m discussing; in others, it’s because they’ve brought a fanbase with them from RL or a number of previous fandoms.  Sometimes it’s a combination of the two; sometimes it’s neither.  Sometimes it’s just that they, as a human, embody a bunch of differences that someone hates.  Heaven knows I embody enough of those.

This might be a more complicated answer than you were looking for, but, if we’re looking at me as the case-study writer that drew some mystifying and laughable abuse by just writing and existing, I have to take into account that high emotions (and even insecurities) usually drive the sorts of decisions that bullies make.  I have enough years’ worth of data to suggest that my stories are intensely meaningful to the readers they attract and, yes, even sometimes sway or convert, if it’s useful to keep using that language.  And this is the juncture at which I want to revisit the idea of writing with ambition and conviction, because that’s an approach I hold dear for a specific reason.

If we don’t transform our beloved narratives here at the fringes, narratives in the mainstream will never change.  Although it feels like mainstream trends aren’t changing rapidly enough in the face of our efforts, speed is not what matters.  It’s that we understand that the shifts we model and effect may not come in our lifetime—and persist.  I will not placidly accept what hurts me.  And if you fear the level of conviction and brand of vision with which I transform it, get out of my way.  Hell yes, I’m out to take the chance that I might sway hearts in addition to serving like-minded fans, because maybe, one day, I’ll sway the right ones.  You never know who’s watching; you never know who’s reading.  Maybe it’s no one, or maybe it’s someone with the power to make a different choice about how a mainstream narrative will turn out.  One day, some of us will have that power.  Some of us already do.  Changing the face of stories from the outside can, in a way, mean doing it from the inside.

(Besides, every broken narrative is a puzzle, and I love puzzles.  I just have to figure out where the useful pieces actually go, patch the gaps accordingly, and then rewrite the ending.  If you don’t like the way I do it, then find another way instead of coming at me with something as time-wasting as abuse.)

#fanfiction #fandom history #trolling #st scully the fuckless #writing advice