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charmsandtealeaves · 2 months

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How do you get people to read your fics?

Hi anon!

Good question, which requires a little interpretation on my part to answer but I’ll give it my best shot from my personal experience.

So first I’m gonna make some assumptions that may be right or wrong:

You’ve started writing in your fandom space.

You’ve got a figure in mind for comments/kudos/interactions of some sort

Those numbers aren’t adding up with your expectations and you’re feeling a bit disheartened by it.

Does that sound about right? Well, in my experience there are a lot of things that play into those factors:

People these days tend to give likes/kudos rather than comments/reblogs

If you’re using Tumblr: when you post compared to the timezone of most of your followers/readers can influence how quickly things get picked up.

Some people prefer reading complete fics over WIPs (when in my opinion reading along with WIPs is half the fun)

People have TBR lists a mile long because life gets in the way (hello that’s me) and so maybe your fic is sitting in one of those.

Anyway, let’s try and answer your original question: how to get people to read your fics.

I’m assuming you have Tumblr? which is a good place to start. The AO3 filtering system can be a little counterintuitive so I know a lot of people get their fics here rather than the search function.

Firstly, are you personally also reading and engaging with other peoples works? Because otherwise you’re probably just shouting to the void and not getting any sort of echo. Fandom is a community space, and we help and feed each other. If you’re only ever expecting stuff for your own work but never doing the same for the content you enjoy… you’re not gonna be having a fun time.

Secondly, timezone reblogs are your friend. Admittedly I’ve never really worked this one out properly. But my timezone is whack and a lot of my followers are in the States/Europe. The point is don’t be afraid to reblog your own post at different times. It increases the chance of someone seeing it.

Personally, I like adding banners to fic posts. A.) because they’re fun to make (and procrastinate writing) and B.) they draw the eye better than a solid wall of text if someone is just having a little scroll.

And now here’s a big one: tag your posts with what’s actually in your story/post. Don’t use every ship and character tag under the sun. That’s not how the tag system works on Tumblr, and by doing that you’re more likely to hide your work rather than elevate it. People block tags to cultivate their online space, and you will annoy people tagging things not actually present.

Okay now I’m gonna offer you a little advice that is probably gonna have you frustrated and rolling your eyes at me but it’s kinda important so hear me out for a second:

Stop comparing yourself to others so much (especially the ones who’ve been around in fandom for decades) and just have fun with it for yourself. <- easier said than done.

I’m guessing you came and gave me this ask because you perceive me as someone who already gets a lot of attention for fics. But the thing is… I still feel quite new to this even though I’ve been doing it for a couple of years now. And I do compare myself… to my past self. You might have noticed the post currently pinned to my blog is a year-in-review post that contains AO3 stats. I started doing it for myself to see how far I’ve come in the space of a year, but also it helpfully offers the ability for others to do the same.

So let’s focus on one thing: all of those stats increased (quite significantly) from last year to the previous. But let’s break down what else happened over the course of that year that might explain WHY:

I was also starting to read a lot more.

I’d started to make some good friends in fandom. Which also meant I trusted people enough to start beta/cheer-reading my works before posting.

I started the whole jilymicros setup (the blog, prompts lists, discord, events etc.)

I did a whole heap of challenges and events.

I was starting to feel more comfortable and welcome in fandom space in general.

Those things all heavily influenced the quality of my writing and the size of my audience. A lot of my followers are because I admin those spaces according to a few ‘why are you following me’ ask games. Taking part in events (like those run by jilychallenge, jilytoberfest, or Ladies of HP, to name a few I do) allows you to get out of your comfort zone, try new things, and get your work out there to a wider audience following those spaces. I honestly can’t recommend doing them more. So my advice to you anon really is this:

If you're gonna compare to anybody, compare yourself to yourself.

Engage with others and their works.

Challenge yourself, try new things.

Have fun with it and find out what style works best for you - if you’re not having fun there’s no point doing it. Some of the best fics are the ridiculously self-indulgent.

#ask answered #anon asks #writing advice

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bookofmirth · 3 years

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after rereading the series and finally finishing silver flames ( which i truly enjoyed, even when there were points which felt disappointing and a little incoherent ) i feel like i can finally pinpoint what is so jarring to me regarding this series. It just seems so disjointed, which becomes especially apparent after reading MaF and the immediately reading WaR.

We move from the first two novels of the series, which are coherent and clean, to WaR - which is hoenstly just a mess, something which was so blatant to me on the reread. during this time, it’s clear that sjm made several massive changes to link this book to the future spin offs, and also obviously changes her original plan to pair mor and azriel - which monumentally changes the way that the previous book is read, and the perception of their characters.

Even with FaS - setting up for cassian and nestas story, sjm completely changes direction between this release and silver flames. And all of that lead up with the Illyrian rebellions and cassians not being respected as a bastard, and his mission fighting for Illyrian female rights - amounts to absolutely nothing.

Don’t get me wrong, I really really enjoyed silver flames, and perhaps some of these ideas will crop up in azriels book and therefore won’t be wasted. But it just makes the series feel disjointed and leaves me at least, feeling unfulfilled.

Sjm is such a good author, in ToG the plot was expertly executed and when you reread the series, you can see hints and foreshadowing even back to book one. She knew exactly where she was going almost from the beginning, and each decision and plot point was used to create impact and build up to the ending. I don’t get that with acotar.

There is so so so much build, and almost no pay off - and I really got that sense in acosf, I loved it as a stand alone - but when we look at it through the perspective of the entire series, there were things which grated and a lot of things which I felt were built up to and nothing happened... Tomas, Cassians mother ( was so sure we would learn where she was buried at least ) the Illyrian rebellions and the Illyrians hatred and disrespect towards Cassian, Mor and Nestas relationship, CASSIAN AND MORS RELATIONSHIP ( I understand that the mor situation will be something which is focused upon primarily in azriels book, or hopefully her own, however their relationship involves Cassian as much as them both and I really wish Cassian had actually confronted the part he played in that whole situation - a part he played for 500 (!!!!) years. It’s a role which he was unable to relinquish in ACOWAR, and actively rejects Nesta to act as a buffer multiple times, seeing it as an obligation almost - and then in SF, pays it no attention at all. Feyre and Nestas relationship also isn’t really touched upon, as if that final act healed everything - what about that interrupted conversation in the library, when Nesta was cut off ? Why Nesta always favoured Elain, even Amren and Nesta - we still don’t really know what happened there... argh there’s just so much potential and so much set up, and it just seems forgotten about ? It makes the book seem disjointed and a bit of a let down.

Yesss I totally get what you mean here. ToG is honestly the superior series, and it’s because it has the cohesion that acotar doesn’t. Everything feels like it’s meant to be there, each character, each worldbuilding detail, their histories, everything just comes together in a wonderful way that just wrecked me when EoS came out and then was resolved perfectly in KoA.

Compared to that, acotar feels like sjm is figuring things out along the way and it is seriously driving me nuts. I’ve had multiple conversations with other people in Discords and they’ve said similar things. acotar at this point feels like sjm is just coming up with random ass ideas and throwing them in. No book in the series feels more like that than acowar. And it was that point where we knew that there would be more books, right? So combined with the fact that she pounded that book out and it got rather half-assed editing, you’re probably right that a lot of things were changed in order to set up the other books, even though it didn’t make sense with what she’d written before.

I agree with you re: Mor and Az, and I feel like I’ve been seeing more people say that lately? That there is a feeling that they actually were supposed to be together and she changed her mind? I wrote a bunch of fics for them back in the day and they’ve gotten a bit more attention lately. But once acowar came out I was like, I’m gonna reread, and I’m gonna find all the clues, I’m gonna see where all this build-up was, and.... considering how often people say that sjm is so “good” at foreshadowing, I’m sorry, but not in this series. In ToG, yes, because she had a clear goal at the end! She knew where she was going and she stayed on that path. In acotar, idfk. Anyway my point is that I’ve reread the series a couple of times through since acowar came out and I’m still over here shrugging because up until that point, Mor and Az could be read in completely opposite ways. (Maybe it’s an Azriel thing, given the current discourse, idk.)

I will say, however, that we had clues that there was tension between them and I had noted that Az is quiet troubled and even pre-acomaf, I would not have been surprised by his extra in acosf. But all of that could have been addressed with Mor and Az still being together? We all had plenty of explanations at the time for the tension, and Mor being queer was like 1 of 100 of those explanations.

If we look at Mor’s character through the books we have so far, I still see almost zero signs that she’s queer except for her literally saying “I like women and Rita’s has a lot of women and here’s my gay story”. Other than that, there is like..... nothing that feels organically queer about her!!! And I love her and I want her to be gay af!!!! But I wonder if my forgiveness of how acowar went down was more about my personal reaction than how well the story was actually done.

And the fact that, like you said, there is still no resolution to the fact that Cassian is supposedly a buffer between Mor and Azriel? Like???? We were all sitting here after acowar thinking “okay, well if she’s gay then someone knows. Someone has to know. She can’t just be gay and NO ONE WHO LOVES HER KNOWS.”

Then in comes acosf with a big “fuck you, y’all thought” which just.... to me, it signals that her queerness was an afterthought. It’s still an afterthought because her queerness is limited to Mor and women blushing at her and Mor has her corner of the world in which she can be gay, but that gay never spills out into any other aspect of her life. It’s just conveniently isolated so that it doesn’t touch or affect other characters.

In terms of continuity, acowar was such a huge shifting point in the series that people left in droves. It was a huge mess in the fandom. And then acofas was just fluff with no real point in pushing the story forward - even the Nesta stuff was a sneak peek, it had nothing to do with acofas itself. And now acosf comes in ignoring things she had set up previously, with almost zero nuanced discussion of the Cassian/Azriel/Mor thing, which means she still (?) doesn’t know what’s going on there. And I think that we did get some answers with Nesta’s reflection on her relationship with her mother, but the deal with the Illyrian rebellion was just in the way so let’s nix that, and then let’s focus on Eris (🤮) just because she feels like it even though she’s set up all these other characters whose stories need more. (Much like acowar, this paragraph is a MESS LOL)

And yes I KNOW that the series isn’t over, clearly, but she keeps setting things up and then letting them go nowhere, or making them seem important and then resolving them off-page, or changing character relationships (Mor and Az) but then having the characters involved act exactly the same, as if nothing had changed (by having the “buffer” situation still exist as a real thing).

I did enjoy the book, a lot, it was a fun read. But tbh we have so many arguments and disagreements within the fandom rn because things have been so left open to interpretation that we it’s not even a matter of “oh I saw this slightly differently”, it’s “WHAT book did these people even read???” That’s kinda weird, to me. There is reader response, and then there is what we have now, which is people having absolute opposite reactions to what they think happened in acosf.

#acosf #acosf spoilers #spoilers #sjm critical #ask #acotar #wow you got me started lol #anon

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jokerfic · 5 years

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Do you ever find it hard to push yourself to keep writing/to finish a fic? I really admire your works, especially pastimes, because you write both good quality and a good quantity with your stories. I find i'll plan out this long fic, and know all the details, but when it comes to writing more than a few chapters I find it difficult to continue. I don't know if it's just me getting bored of my own idea or being lazy but, do you have any advice for seeing a story through to the end?

Oh, it’s hard forrrr suuuuure. There’s a post floating around about how Charles Dickens shouldn’t be given credit for his prolificity bc he didn’t have streaming services and it strikes me to my core every time I see it. It’s part of why I like Neil Gaiman’s writing advice more than anyone else’s (in no small part because it’s really advice, not rules for you to follow– I hate “writing advice” that’s really a bunch of “don’t EVER use adverbs” and “write only in the mornings!” and other things that only cage you in rather than making you feel free)– it basically boils down to “write anything, write everything, just make the time to write.”

and generating content is just one part of the multi-pronged problem– the second is generating content for a specific project, consistently enough that you actually finish it, lol. some people would have you believe that if you love a project enough then it’ll always come naturally (and imply or even outright say that if it doesn’t come naturally, you don’t really love it– side note, I like some of Charles Bukowski’s poetry but he can eat my entire ass with that “if it doesn’t come easily then it’s not what you’re meant to be doing” idea). That’s only part of it. A thousand writers better than I am have already said that love/“inspiration” only gets you so far, and after that comes the work.

I’ve found that to be true. Not that the love doesn’t come back! I’m constantly falling in love and out of love with different WIPs, and each time I fall back in, I get a little bit (or a lot!) more done, but there’s definitely a point where I say “okay, I’m not allowed to work on anything else until x book is finished.” (Whether or not I stick to that resolution is a different matter.) Honestly, it happens the most with jokerfic because I have a small but active and devoted audience and I start to feel THE GUILT if I leave them too long without new content bc they’re so loyal and it has to be a symbiotic relationship or it’ll 100% die.

idk, man, I’m mostly musing out loud here because writing is work, and it might be fun work, and fulfilling work, but you have to allot time and energy to it specifically, and if you do want to finish and publish something on the longer side (fanfic or original), you have to be the one to decide to put that time and energy into it– no one else can do it for you.

All that to say: you have to figure out what motivates you, and what’s important to you. Personally I’m motivated by a moderate dose of ambition and just a little bit of spite (I see writers I don’t like flourishing, I think “I can do better than that,” and it’s good for at least a few pages), as well as feedback from readers and the desire to be able to re-read the specific, finished work whenever I want to. Probably more significantly, and not to be morbid: it’s extremely important to me to get these stories out there and not let them die with me. Listen, I may be a slow writer, but I live and breathe storytelling, it’s the majority of what I think about, and there’s very little that kicks me in the ass like the realization that time is coming for me and all of us, and I don’t have an unlimited amount of it to waste. So what’s important to you, what’s worth spending your time on? Rewatching a TV show you’ve seen all the way through 3 times already? or making something new and sharing it with people, connecting to people through a story that’s important to you?

of course, you can’t and shouldn’t aim to be productive all the time, you’re not made for it, you need to live your life in addition to doing your work. Stephen King says you have to read a lot if you want to write well, and I agree with him. It’s harder to write people if you’re never around people! Some days you are just gonna NEED to veg out in front of the TV (or tumblr) because you don’t have the energy, mental or otherwise, for anything else. you have to read books, watch movies and tv, spend time with people, live your life, have experiences, if only so you’ll have more to draw from when you are working.

Outside of that normal “living life” stuff, I’d focus on trying to trim things that you know are a waste of time, or that drain your energy without reward. Delete the social media you can do without (or outright hate but for some reason haven’t pulled the plug on yet). If you’re sitting down to write, then write, even if you have to use an app to block out the million distractions that are just a click away. If you can, try and make friends that write so you can egg each other on (there are a lot of writing Discords out there that may be helpful). I personally like reading or watching interviews with artists (not even just writers) that inspire me or that I relate to– the richness of David Milch’s mind and the way he seamlessly ties together humanity, community, history, and art makes me want to work harder and be better so that someday I can be a fraction as good as he is, I found out like yesterday that Donna Tartt and I have basically the same process (and take about as long to finish a thing lol), Jack White’s live performances energize me and make me want to create, Tom Waits is a natural born storyteller and funnyman who weaves such a thick atmosphere and mythology for himself with every word that I feel compelled to try and do the same.

and that’s it, that’s the process that consistently results in the most productive work for me: I read or watch other creators I admire until I’m whipped up into a frenzy of needing to do something, then I get in front of a screen and do it. When the excitement runs out, I pretend it hasn’t until it comes back (with mixed success, but really, “fake it till you make it” is an EVERGREEN piece of advice in almost every area). I try not to let too many months slip away without having something finished and semi-polished to show for my time. That’s about the only way I know how to do it anymore.

#Anonymous #meandering writing advice that may or may not help at all bc everyone has a different process #feat. a dollop of existential dread naturally #I know I linked to a full documentary. shut up.#honestly though: find people that inspire you. people with broader horizons than yours #so you can see through THEM what you haven't been able to see before by yourself.#learn from artists you admire! if you can identify WHAT you like about their work then they're the best teachers you'll find #anyway guess who's on a reading/writing kick and feeling like she's unlocked THE SECRETS lol #it'll fade eventually like it always does and then I'll go through the whole cycle again. so it goes #but yeah do yourself a favor and install that Cold Turkey app I linked to #nothing will get a thousand words out of you like knowing your computer is locked until you write them #also I may have talked about this before but that Tom Waits interview I linked to?#some people are CONVINCED that Heath Ledger used it as inspiration for his Joker-voice #I don't buy it but it's a nice thought bc I love them both 🖤#I'm rewatching that interview rn-- it's one of my favorites; he was my age at the time-- and it kills me I'm literally in love with him lol

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girlafraidinacoma · 5 years

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In the Lap of the Gods: Chapter Four - We’re Doing Alright, How About You?

Summary: What do you get when you mix a tight-knit art community, young, hot-blooded twenty-something university students and good old-fashioned British Rock & Roll? Probably the next best hope for art and music that generation has to offer. With her friends’ band skyrocketing to fame, what exactly does a girl do when she suddenly finds herself sitting in the lap of the gods? The answer: do the only thing she can do, rise to the occasion of course!

Pairing: Gwilym Lee!Brian May x Original Female Character

Words: 3.8k+

Author’s Note: Yeesh, I really do take forever to update, and yes I will be calling myself out.

Kind of AU, contains both elements from real life and the Bo Rhap universe, so imagine whoever you prefer whether they be the real thing or the Bo Rhap Boys–be free.

[ Link to the Ao3 fic! ]

Chapter Playlist:

1. Doing All Right...Revisited - Smile 2. Earth - Smile 3. Doing Alright - Queen

Chapter Four - We’re Doing Alright, How About You?

Ealing, November 1969.

They were playing the Ealing College bar tonight, one of their more favoured spots to play if only because everyone knew their names and the beer was free for the rostered band. The place was packed; the room permeated with the heat of bodies and cigarette smoke.

For November, it had been an uncharacteristically mild night. Mild enough for Roger to sport a pair of red gym shorts paired oddly with a dark t-shirt and an open denim button down. The drummer thought that they were doing swimmingly so far; he got at least two or three catcalls before they had started their set, a fact that had him grinning all the while. Brian on the other hand, ever the perfectionist that he was, couldn’t help but pinpoint the rare discordant chord he fumbled during one of the harder bits of a song. He couldn’t tell if either of the boys have noticed, but the displeasure was keen on his face as he shook his head of curls and sucked in a breath.

It also didn’t help that he could tell something was off about Tim tonight. Their bassist/lead-singer had been performing the same as he usually did, his stage presence too hadn’t varied, and had Brian not known him as well as he did he probably would not have noticed anything awry. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that Tim was holding back on something. This, of course, sent Brian more on edge and he almost missed their transition from ‘April Lady’ to ‘Earth’.

I might be at a table And suddenly I'll catch A fleeting vision of her crystal seas

In an attempt to rid himself of those nagging thoughts, Brian’s eyes scanned the crowd, hoping that at least they were enjoying themselves. He concluded that they were doing moderately well if he was being generous. Many were nodding along to the beat, some even mouthed the words or gave a whoop of appreciation, but it didn’t feel enough for the guitarist. He felt like they could be doing something more, as to what, he couldn’t put his finger on it just yet. Though the truth was that there wasn’t really much more that the crowd hadn’t already seen from them. Their novelty had worn off months prior; moreover,m they had only written a few songs and the band already agreed that they would stop doing covers. Among the sea of drunken expressions was a set of familiar eyes gazing back at him.

They belonged to her: the mystery artist he offended back at Fred and Roger’s flat that very week. He should have known she would be here he supposed, but it didn’t stop his surprise. She was the one that made the fliers for their show and she looked to have been a good friend of Freddie and Roger’s. Brian only hoped he would have a chance to speak to her later and apologize for his behaviour. He hadn’t even gotten her name.

At the moment she was positioned close to the bar, slowly swaying to the music, her pendant earrings swinging lightly as she moved. Feeling the intensity of his stare, her eyes flickered downwards, her cheeks glowing pink. Someone called her attention and she walked away from her spot, Brian’s eyes tried not to lose her in the throng of people. It was Freddie who had called her to him, he had been waiting for her with drinks he managed to procure from the bartender. Brian saw her laughing at something Freddie had said in her ear and he felt a strange churning in the pit of his stomach, he averted his eyes, not wanting to appear even more of a creep than he already probably was. He shifted his focus to his guitar, pouring his concentration into finishing the set as flawlessly as he could.

When they had concluded, Tim took it upon himself to address the crowd, “Cheers, everyone. Hope you enjoyed our show and as always…”

“Don’t forget to Smile!” The group shouted happily in response, with several raising their glasses.

“You’re bloody right!” Roger called from behind his kit, laughing.

They were packing away all their equipment into Roger’s van when Tim had said that he wouldn’t be rejoining them for drinks inside.

“What’s this about Tim?” It was actually Roger who broke the awkwardness first. For such a mild night, Roger was steadily growing heated.

“I’m leaving Smile.” Tim said rather abruptly. Nope. Brian definitely did not see this coming, and the shock was clear on his face.

“What?!” The drummer half-yelled.

“Smile. I’m movin’ on, guys.”

“And what exactly are you moving on towards?” Asked a very agitated Roger.

“Humpy Bong.”

Brian, who had been quiet for a while now, did a double-take. “Humpy Bong?”

“Humpy Bong.” Tim affirmed, “They’re going places. They’re gonna be big.”

“Humpy Bong?” Roger repeated, incredulous. “Are you joking?”

“Don’t do it, Tim.” Urged Brian quietly.

“I’m sorry guys but we’re not going anywhere with this.” The frontman explained. “What, college gigs? Pubs? I’ve got to give it a go.” He said, picking up his guitar case, resolved to leave the two without looking back.

“Well that was…” Brian fell quiet once more, his body still as a statue as he became lost in thought. So that was it then? After years of collaboration, that was the end of Smile?

“A prick move.” Roger finished for him. “Could have at least given us a warning. Shit.”

“‘Unexpected’ was what I was going for, but yeah I would have to agree with you.”

“Jesus, I need a drink.” Rog said as he turned round and tramped back inside. A beleaguered Brian followed him wordlessly, deciding that the situation called for getting sloshed with his bandmate.

Minutes later, Brian and Roger had found a corner booth back inside the bar and were talking amongst themselves. Roger had only worked himself up til now, “I can’t believe it. I’ve never even heard of them until just now! I mean what kind of name is Humpy Bong?” It took a bit of effort, but Brian had luckily talked his friend down into a more manageable simmer. The drummer sighed, visibly upset, “I think he’s right. The show was a load of bollocks.” The words were bitter in his mouth.

“There was room for improvement, yeah.” Brian conceded, not really wanting to put Roger in a worse mood.

“I’ve got better things to do with my Saturday nights,” The drummer said when he got to thinking, “I could give you their names.” He tapped the excess ash off the end of his cigarette in the ashtray, smirking to himself. Brian only pulled a long frown, clearly unimpressed with his bandmate's overcompensating facade.

It wasn't long before a familiar face came over to greet them. “Bri, Roggie. Good show.” Freddie said, strolling up to their table with a good-natured bravado. The pair could always count on him to lift their spirits, Freddie just had an innate talent to make people feel good even with just a few words and his toothy smile. What he did not count on however was to see the figure that stood just over Fred's shoulder. It appears that he brought a girl with him. THE girl. Freddie and Roger's artist friend.

Perhaps, now was Brian's chance to talk to her.

At such a close distance he could see her quite clearly now, his view unobscured by a mass of bodies. She had a square-ish face framed by a full fringe which curled to the apples of her cheeks. She looked sweet, almost child-like with her large open eyes, thick lashes and cute button nose. Tonight she was wearing a crocheted lace top without sleeves and a short denim skirt, her figure made taller by the shiny black gogos on her feet. She was beautiful, of course she was, he had known it since he first saw her, but what was now abundantly clear to him was that consequent viewings would not lessen his admiration of her.

She, meanwhile, dutifully ignored the guitarist.

“Thanks, man.” Brian said half-heartedly, tearing his gaze away from her to acknowledge Freddie.

“Thanks, Fred.” Roger was smiling at his roommate. “And you, Sweet? What did you think?” he looked over Freddie’s shoulder, eyes wide and a little hungry for approval. Brian knew the feeling, unconsciously he held his breath, waiting for her response.

“I liked it, Rog. Groovy.” She said.

Brian only just now remembers to breathe. That’s a good sign, right?

“Hah.” Roger barked, certainly less despondent now. Brian didn’t miss the unsubtle way the drummer’s eyes roved up and down her sparsely covered legs, “Killer boots.” Roger said with a knowing grin, taking a slow drag from his cigarette.

The girl bit down on her lip to prevent a forming smile. “Thanks, they came highly recommended.”

“Well, whoever recommended them must have impeccable taste.” The drummer stated with an exhale of smoke. Although Brian was at a loss as to where the conversation headed, Freddie just chuckled at the pair, clearly in on whatever joke was being shared and began to light his own cigarette.

“He has his moments.” She rolled her eyes, conceding.

“He better.” Roger quipped, before remembering that they were not alone. “Oh Sweet, have I introduced you to Brian yet? Brian, this is our friend, Wyn. That’s Wyn with one ‘n’ and no ‘e’.”

“And who’s reminded us that she’s not Welsh,” Fred cut in.

“Though it is a Welsh sounding name...” Roger added.

“Correct.” Freddie said, nodding.

“Right.” Roger chimed. “Not-Welsh-Wyn, Brian.”

“And that’s ‘Brian’ spelt the regular, boring way.” Fred bantered.

Wyn . Wyn, that was her name, and now that he had it, Brian felt that he could now begin to try and make amends.

But the girl only eyed Brian narrowly, before humming sweetly in affirmative. “Mhmm…” Her eyes travelled to him briefly before diverting her attention to Fred beside her, “Get you another drink?”

“I would love another, darling.” Fred said sliding into the booth next to Roger and engaging him in a chat. If Brian thought he had been deprived of oxygen earlier, her perfunctory dismissal of him left the man with a feeling akin to a gut punch. Wyn’s hair fanned behind her, bouncing a little with each step as she made her way to the bar with renewed purpose.

“I should --” There was a beat until Brian stood up rather quickly, his leg jostling the table and nearly toppling their half-finished beers over in the process “Er, sorry . I should probably go-- sorry…” he said, tripping over his own foot, not quite finishing his thought as he ran after the girl.

Wyn had already called the bartender’s attention, motioning for another two pints with her fingers. There was a small tap on her right and she could only guess as to whose it was. “Excuse me?” It said.

She was debating on whether she would continue to ignore him, her pride still hurt with the petty grievance. But then the voice that came at her shoulder was so tiny, her heart could not deny she lend an ear to it. She would hear him out after all.

“Sorry, I’m Brian. Brian May?” Brian internally berated himself for sounding unsure of even his own name. “You knew that already… I just -- I wanted to apologize for the other day?” There was an imploring look on the guitarist’s face.

“It’s fine.” The girl shrugged her bare shoulders, watching the bartender come back with two lagers, he placed the drinks in front of her and picked up the bill Wyn slid him in payment.

Brian’s large hand was pleasant weight on her shoulder as he vied for her attention. “No, no it’s not. Wyn, I was an arse to you, and I honestly didn’t mean to hurt you with what I said, I wasn’t thinking...Can you forgive me?” She considered him a moment, his beautiful mess of curls, the droop of his mouth, his sad puppy dog eyes full of concern. He reminded her of a poodle. She had always loved dogs...

“You’re right. You were being an arsehole.” Wyn said, deadpan. It was then that she faced body fully towards him and offered an earnest smile, “Thank you, I appreciate the sentiment. But I’m sure buying the next round could expedite the process?” She asked coyly. Wyn wouldn't admit to it, but she’d already forgiven him the second he had asked for it. She couldn’t refuse him, not with the way he had looked so distraught at her earlier rebuffing, and certainly not with those sad blue eyes.

Brian chuckled, obliging. “Happy to.” And he was, to tell the truth flagging down the bartender again and ordering four more, cheerful even as he handed his money over. They shared a smile, and both tried to check the other out without the other person noticing. “I er, I also really wanted to tell you that I liked your stuff. I found a few of the drawings you’ve left at the flat, they're good , and I’ve kind of kept one. Although I should have probably asked you first.”

“That’s lovely of you to say, Brian.” She said sounding very happy, genuinely touched by the compliment. “And I don’t mind, There’s plenty more at home. Which one did you end up keeping?”

“The Jimi Hendrix?”

“Oh, yeah! I did like how that one turned out, I’ve got a few more of him in my sketchbook. I like drawing musicians, actually, you're always in action, unbelievably dynamic. It’s so much fun trying to condense all that energy into a still frame. I always have a bit of difficulty picking which angle and the particular moment to draw them in, photographs are a great help but there’s so much choice!” She revealed excitedly.There was an unhidden passion in the way she spoke and her face lit up. “I could definitely give you more if you’d like?”

"What?" Wyn asked when she met his eyes, Brian looked at her with something she couldn’t quite describe, though he tried to contain his smile. “What are you thinking now, May?”

Absently, Brian tried to come up with an equation to map the poised upward curve of her mouth, but instead of telling her of his plans he merely shook his head saying, “I’m just thinking that I prefer you like this over being angry with me. I felt horrible these past days. I crossed some poor girl I didn’t even know.”

“Well next time don’t be so rude!” She chided, bumping his shoulder.

“And I’ll apologise as many times as you want. I’ll grovel if I have to, I felt that bad.”

“That move must be so popular with the ladies, driving a man to his knees…” Wyn giggled at his stunned expression, also not quite believing the blatant way she flirted with the man. Wyn cleared her throat, “C’mon. I know our boys will be thirsty.”

As they were going back to the table, Brian’s blue gaze widened when he found another person he recognised sitting in their booth. “Hullo, Mary. You alright?” He said, placing their tray of drinks onto the table.

The blonde in question was sitting next to Freddie, leaning into him until she saw Brian approach. Her face was still as pretty as he remembered, and Mary looked at him with a bright grin, “Fine thanks, Brian. I was just stopping by to tell you guys you played well tonight.”

“Thanks, Mary. That’s lovely to hear.” When he saw her get up and grab her coat he grew a little alarmed. “You didn’t want to stay and have a drink with us?”

“Oh um, I’ll be heading off actually. I’ve got an early start tomorrow.” She reminded him kindly. “It was nice to meet you, Freddie.”

“I like your coat,” Freddie said as she slipped it on, but his stare lingered more on the person who was wearing it rather than the actual garment itself, though the coat was very nice.

“It’s from Biba.” she informed him with a blush.

Roger liked Biba, there were lots of girls to see there, not bad looking either. “You’re still working there?” He asked with a knowing grin.

Unbeknownst to Brian, Roger’s eyes bounced between Freddie and Mary, witnessing a mutual spark of attraction. When one’s been at the game for as long as he has, seeing these things become something like second nature.

“Er, yeah. Staff discount and all that.”

“That’s good. I might have a look at your coats some other day.” Fred said with a grin of his own.

Roger stopped himself from snarkily commenting where he would get the money to shop at Biba, when their Kensington stall was slow as ever. Freddie could look as much as he pleased, looking was free, carrying on with Mary was another matter entirely (especially with her and a certain someone's history).

Mary didn’t dare look at Freddie, afraid of giving herself away more. “Well, goodbye.” she said, giving them all a friendly wave. Freddie’s eyes followed her all the way to the exit.

“Bye, Mare.” Brian said warmly. Wyn in the meantime had slipped her body into the booth, flanking Roger’s right side as Freddie did the other, busying herself with her tall lager, happy to fly under the radar. Brian climbed in right next to her.

Roger raised his half-finished drink, “How's about we all get shit-faced now?”

About an hour and a half into their drinking session, Wyn found herself gasping for air as Brian told her one cheesy physics joke, they were terrible and she loved every one of them. Okay, so maybe she shouldn’t have tried to match Roger drink for drink earlier. Freddie and Roger meanwhile had taken to the dance-floor, the drummer again on the prowl.

“So where’s you’re lead singer anyway? I haven't seen him anywhere after the set.” Wyn asked the guitarist when she finally calmed down, wiping at the tears from her eyes. There were many equally drunken conversations being held all around them, yet she doubted anyone was having as good of a time as she was. She found his dry wit and soft-spoken ways quickly smoothing out the wrinkles of her first impressions of him. Maybe she had been too defensive, too quick to anger when he wrongly assumed her relationship with Roger.

“Tim?" Brian asked with raised brows, "He’s the reason for this binge! He just quit. Without even a warning.”

This was new information to her, politeness be damned. “What? That’s pretty shitty of him.”

Brian had already lost count of how many pints he had, an unusual move on his behalf, it was probably the last thing on his mind now that Smile was on the verge of breaking up and the girl in front of him actually seemed to enjoy his conversation. His lanky form swayed a little in his seat. “He left us -- left us for HUMPY BONG . What even is that?”

“A crap name for a children’s show.” She shot back, taking a swig from her glass, before cracking up at her own joke. The two were sitting so close together that Brian’s knee had been knocking hers underneath the table.

“It’s not funny,” Brian said, giggling. “Okay, it’s a lot funny.” Brian told himself that he only felt the need to get closer to her as to hear the girl better, yep, that was definitely the only reason, and not because she was incredibly attractive and had laughed at his jokes (even the shite ones).

“Well then you’ll need someone new, don’t you?”

“We're open to ideas, why, do you have any?” Wyn almost whacked him across the face with the speed at which she pointed at the dance-floor. his eyes followed the direction of her finger. “Roger? I suppose he could sing, people might have a bit of trouble spotting him from the back, though I'm sure Rog will manage, and we'll still need a bass player…”

“No! Not Roger,” Wyn replied with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “ Freddie . Freddie can do it.”

“...I don’t know, Wyn.” he said scratching the back of his head.

“Freddie can do it!” The girl asserted with a vigorous nod of her head. “I know he can, he’s spectacular. You should hear him sing! What's that thing he said about the incisors?”

"I have no clue, Rog is the dentistry student, not me!"

"Something about more teeth, a big mouth and a larger range? You need that mouth! You need his voice!" Brian laughed a little, not at what she was saying per se, but seeing her so eagerly defending their friend only made him more fond of her. Wyn gripped his arm, her hands feeling quite warm on his already heated skin. Waiting after another bout of laughter to pass her, she attempted a sense of sobriety, “Look, I acknowledge the fact that I am hilariously plastered right now, but I know what I’m talking about. YOU. NEED. FREDDIE.”

“You called, darling?” Freddie had appeared right behind her, having returned to their booth when he finished dancing. When he sat down next to her, he undid the next button on his shirt in an effort to cool off. He smiled at Wyn's antics, apparently, volume control went out the window with sobriety.

“Fred!” Wyn said joyously. “Go do your thing.” She urged.

“And what’s that, darling?”

“What’s this about?” Roger said, finally joining them, sweaty and out of breath. He now bore a large smirk, dirty blonde hair mussed as if someone's hands had been pulling at it.

"And you said you were only going to the bathroom," Freddie teased, mouth quirking at the rim of lipstick smudging the perimeter of Roger's lips.

"And so we did." Roger winked, not saying anything else as he skulled his beer thirstily.

Wyn hastily waved him off, “We don't need to know what Roger gets up to in the bathroom, this is about you, Fred! Sing something, go on! Do a Smile one.” She encouraged excitedly.

“Tim, quit on us.” Roger blonde added, following Wyn's track of thought. “We could use a new lead.”

“Oh and this is supposed to be my grand audition, is it? Fine by me.” Fred shrugged and then he began to sing.

“Yesterday my life was in ruin, Now today I know what I'm doing, Gotta feeling I should be doing alright, Doing alright.”

As soon as Freddie opened his mouth, all eyes went to him, and soon two other voices joined his in refrain. The harmony of Freddie, Roger and Brian’s voices were enthralling; they complemented each other so well that they sounded effortlessly easy, big, vital. Wyn couldn’t get enough. She clapped at their impromptu performance and pulled Freddie into a tight hug. Roger and Brian shared a contented look.

“So what do you think?” Freddie had asked, in that moment he looked impossibly younger than his twenty-three years, with his voice uncertain, and face lit with hope. Wyn held Freddie tightly in her arms and his hands gripped at her waist, both afraid to let go of one another.

Brian grinned as he clapped him in the back, “Welcome to Smile, Freddie."

#bohemian rhapsody #bohemian rapsody movie #bo rhap #bo rhap fic #itlotg fic #Queen #brian may #brian may x original character #freddie mercury #roger taylor #gwilym lee

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squirenonny · 6 years

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How you even get people interested your fics, asking for a friend thanks

Aw, man, isn’t that a question for the ages?

So I’m gonna preface this by saying that there’s no magic quick-fix to attract more readers (however much we all wish there were.) Writing for the big ships or posting a fic featuring a popular trope/AU when it’s popular is going to get you more readers than writing niche fics, but chasing trends isn’t going to make you happy and it might even hurt the quality of your work. When you post and whether there was some big fandom or IRL event that drew attention away from the newly published pages (or flooded them, burying your fic under ten pages of Klance week ficlets or whatever) can also play a big role.

Secondly, and I know you’re probably not going to like hearing this, try not to worry too much about numbers like hits/kudos/bookmarks/reviews. They don’t mean as much as you think, and they aren’t a reflection on your skill as a writer or the value of your story. The best thing to do is to find some other way to measure success–maybe it’s how many words you’ve written, maybe it’s whether you stick to a consistent update schedule. Maybe it’s reaching that scene you’ve been dying to write for forever. But make sure it’s something that’s in your control, because depending on the faceless masses for validation sucks, and you deserve better.

Okay, on to some advice for attracting readers.

1. Rework your summary. Confession time: I hate writing summaries. Hate it. I’m already not good with short form and trying to sum up a story in a hundred words or less is even worse. But it’s one of the most important skills for a writer to learn, since it’s your one shot to get people interested enough to click that link. If you’re stuck, here are some suggestions, with examples of how I’ve used them for my own stories.

Pick a (short!) excerpt from your piece. Maybe a brief exchange of dialogue, maybe the opening line, maybe something else. It should be something that doesn’t require context to understand and that makes people want to find out what happens next (or what led up to this moment.) Example:

This psychic—Lance the Lucid, according to the posters, and Keith wasn’t even going to comment on that—was a charlatan, plain and simple, and Keith kind of wanted to punch him. Sure, Lance knew how to put on a show, but Keith doubted there was anything more to the act than charm and dramatic flair.

Pidge sighed, catching Keith’s eyes. “At this point, they’re pretty much our only hope.”

If you’re writing an AU, especially a canon divergence AU, put the focus on what you’re changing. Example:

Shiro used to dream of Earth. That was before the Arena, before Haggar, before he joined the Galra army. At least he has an ally, a Galra officer named Keith. Together they plan to bring down Zarkon’s empire from the inside.

Matt never thought he’d see his family again. Then he crash-lands on Earth and Pidge rescues him from Garrison custody. But his homecoming is short-lived. Now the Holt siblings, along with Lance and Hunk, must find the Voltron lions and free the universe from Galra control.

Or: Galra!Keith, double agent!Shiro, red paladin!Matt, black paladin!Allura, full series AU.

If you’re writing something tropey, or a twist on a cliche, maybe highlight that. Example:

[following a short description of plot] Canonverse Soulmate AU with romantic and platonic soulmates (and some gray areas in between)

Sometimes the simplest thing to do, especially for shorter stories, is to do a one-two punch in your summary. The set-up and the punchline. The scenario and the twist. The status quo and the catastrophe. Think “Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.” Or better yet, the next part of that intro–defining the Avatar and then hitting us with “and then he vanished for a hundred years whoops.” Whatever you do, keep it short. Example:

When Keith was seven years old, he spent a year in La Quinta with a boy named Lance, the best friend he ever had. Ten years later, Lance and Keith reunite at the Garrison–only Keith doesn’t remember who Lance is.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that shorter is (usually) better, but you want to include enough to hook readers’ attention. It’s hard, I know, but keep working at it and it’ll get easier. Seriously–write five completely different summaries for your fic, all under 100 words. Give yourself a 5 or 10 minute limit for each so you don’t agonize too much. Set them aside for a while, then come back and see what works. Or write a list of all the things you’re most excited about in a given piece, cut out any major spoilers, and try to work one or two of the others into your summary.

2. Be strategic about your tags. If you’re posting on AO3, use tags people are going to search. Angst, hurt/comfort, fluff, any tropes that feature prominently, any relationships (especially gen ones) that are a major focus. Be wary of overtagging–Shatt shippers, for example, know all too well how common it is to search for Shatt and turn up only Klance fics with a passing mention of Shiro and Matt going on a date. But plenty of people search for specific tags in trying to find new stories. Use that.

Similarly, if you post on Tumblr, use your tags efficiently. The first five tags on a post are the ones that the post will show up in (i.e. if you have a tag tracker or go to tumblr.com/tagged/____) Tumblr’s search looks at the first twenty tags, I believe. So use your first five tags for either the most popular or the most niche aspects of your fic. (i.e. tagging it “klance” will have a larger potential audience, though it’ll get buried pretty quickly; tagging “matt holt” or “shatt” gives you a much smaller potential audience, but one that’s more starved for content so will probably click your link at a higher rate.) Prioritize, and leave your organization tags/tag commentary for after.

3. Your first chapter should pack a punch. This one may be a little harder to put into practice if you have an existing fic you’re trying to drum up interest in, but it’s worth keeping in mind. If your summary and tags get people through the door, your first chapter (in a multichapter fic)/your first few paragraphs (for any fic) is where people decide whether or not this is worth reading. Goals to strive for:

Your first line, or at most your first paragraph, should hook reader’s interest. It should ask an implicit question–what’s happening? How did we get here?

(the equivalent of) Your first page (a couple hundred words, tops) should establish the situation and forward momentum. Diving straight into action with no context can be confusing, but lingering too long on exposition can make people tune out before they get to the good part. I’ve heard it said that the first 250 words should establish three things: character, context, and motive. Who are we focused on, what’s happening right now, and why does it matter? There are exceptions to every rule, of course, but make sure you know why you’re deviating if you decide to do so.

Your first chapter (assuming you have more than one) should leave people wanting more. Don’t leave them in the middle of the set-up, or they may not be motivated to continue. But don’t give them everything they need to see where this is going, or they won’t bother waiting to find out.

**Update: There’s now a follow-up post talking a little bit more about how to start a story, with examples!**

4. Persistence is key. Out of all the advice I can give you, this one’s going to be the hardest to follow, I’m sure. It can feel like you’re throwing words at a void and getting nothing back. Sometimes you have a real slow start. Sometimes you’re writing self-induldgent rarepare stuff, and it seems like you and two other people are the only ones who ship it–and those other two never comment.

The thing is, writing fic (especially as a newcomer or writing niche fic) is like playing Marco Polo at a death metal concert. Not only are you shouting into a sea of noise, but you’re also trying to find the relative handful of people who are going to answer. But here’s the thing: if you yell “Marco” once and get no response, then go home, you’ll never find those other people. If you keep yelling–maybe stay in one spot and yell over and over, maybe wander around calling out every so often–you’ll find someone, and then you’ll find someone else, and then maybe someone else will start shouting with you and find three more people. It starts slow, but it builds momentum.

In terms of fic, though, what does that mean? It means keep writing. Maybe keep hammering away at this one fic–excellent if it’s something you’re excited about, something you need to write no matter what. You keep putting it out there and you’ll start to beat back the wave of random chance that conspires to bury your fic because of weird posting times or an onslaught from a fandom event.

Maybe write a bunch of shorter fics, participate in bangs and exchanges and other events. You might hook readers with your Klance soulmate AU that you did for a secret santa, then tempt them into trying your other stuff (true story.) You might make friends by chatting in a big bang’s discord, and they can help you write more attention-grabbing summaries, or can signal boost on Tumblr. (Or just be that one person who stans your writing and keeps you motivated through low hit counts on AO3.) Or you might just hit a whole bunch of people’s rarepair/nich buttons and start building a following that way.

Or maybe it means going a little more off the rails. Try a different fandom. Write original fiction. Write an 80k Marauders-at-Hogwarts fic for yourself, edit it, and only then start posting a chapter a week so you can grow your reader base without the low number of comments chipping away at your motivation because joke’s on you, hit counter. I already have the next chapter done. And the one after that, and all of them, so they’re still coming even if no one’s reading. ha-ha! (Also a true story.)

Look, the point is, building a reader base is hard, and it’s frustrating, and a lot if it is based on luck and fandom trends, and you’re always going to want to get caught up in the numbers. Even once you have readers, you might get frustrated because the tropey shipfic with a shoddy plot that you BS’d your way through has ten times as much love as the lovingly crafted, well-plotted AU that you’ve poured literally thousands of hours into. Because writers are all starved for feedback, and with the exception of people lucky enough (or unlucky enough) to hit a fandom sweet spot and get shot straight into the realms of That One Fic Everyone Knows About–with the exception of those freak accidents of fate, the people who have sizable followings are almost always people who just plain love to write and do it regardless of what anyone else says or does.

So don’t write for the readers. Write for yourself first, and love what you write. Write stories that need to be told. Stories you can’t bear not to tell–because when you care that much about a story, it shows, and when the right people find your story, they’re going to love that you love it. Trust me. The right people are out there. You just have to keep shouting until you find them.

#anon #answers #writing #advice #writing advice #long post

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bluerobokitty · 6 years

Text

Okay, so I was one of the interviewees for the #LanceIsBi article that just released recently, known as “Shardy”. Given how much the article is being discussed now, I’ve decided to post my entire interview in full to show just how in depth the discussion actually became.

The article barely scratches the surface of the issue of the bisexual treatment in fandom, this is true. However, as someone who has been screaming into the void about this for a solid year and a half now, it was nice to finally have a platform on which to speak.

This whole thing started because the #LanceIsBi movement gained so much traction to the point of trending on Twitter. The editors of Den of Geek grew curious and wanted to look at why such a thing happened. Remember, not nearly as many people are involved with VLD discourse. Our fandom’s discourse so multi-layered and so complicated, people on the outside can’t really see it unless they become involved themselves. As far as DoG was concerned, this was just a fandom thirsty for bi representation.

My quotes about it being mostly for a shipwar are not used within the article, but that would be an entire article on its own. However, this article did focus on how fans do queerbait themselves and others, the importance of separating fanon from canon, and real bisexual representation comes from the characters, not background colors and jokes by voice actors. I’m not gonna toss the baby out with the bathwater here - that’s a pretty good start.

So without further ado, here is my interview. It was conducted via Twitter DMs back in October, but for ease of reading, I formatted the interview to post here. It’s a very long post, so if your “read more” function doesn’t work on your phone, I apologize.

What’s your name? (You don’t have to give me your full name if you aren’t comfortable.) You also don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but if you’re willing to say so, how do you identify?

My name is Shardy and I identify as a bisexual female.

How long have you been a Voltron fan?

I’ve been a Voltron fan since Legendary defender first aired. I never had the chance to watch the original as a child, but I had friends who were super into it so when the reboot happened, I decided to check it out.

How do you interact with the Voltron fandom? Do you write fic? Post fanart? Discuss the series online? Whatever!

I interact as much as I can through fanfic, artwork and zines, I’m trying my hand at making merch, and I’m always discussing the series on Twitter or Discord from meta and worldbuilding to theories and ships.

Why do you see Lance as bisexual when the show hasn’t expressly said that he is?

So when I started headcanoning Lance as bisexual, I saw bisexual Lance headcanons making their way around fandom since day one. By then, fandom was pretty small and it was obvious that he was mostly headcanoned as bisexual for shipping purposes. Which, I really don’t mind, so long as people are respectful about it. I hadn’t entirely embraced my own bisexual label yet, I was still confused about a lot of things. But then I see this guy in this show who clearly prefers the opposite gender, but if he were bisexual, maybe it would be because he’s nervous around his own gender? Maybe he doesn’t know how to approach dudes like that? Maybe he doesn’t want to risk humiliating and outing himself by hitting on a straight guy? And I realized that was MY experience. That’s exactly how I felt around other women. Nervous, scared, maybe I should just stick to guys since it’s safer, makes me less vulnerable.

Lance is my favorite character because he’s closest to me in personality, so I projected a lot of experiences onto him. Of course, I relate to all the other characters in lots of different ways, too, but Lance is a bit special to me when it comes to my sexuality. I really used him in my fanfic to explore my own sexuality, and that’s the case for a lot of women in fandom, really. I know that he is thus far explicitly straight in canon, but the beauty of fandom and transformative works is that we don’t always have to strictly follow canon. So long as you don’t start insisting that such things are canon, because that’s when you start to queerbait yourself and see things that aren’t there, and if you base your expectations like that, you’ll only disappoint yourself in the show if not hate it. Which I’m starting to see a lot of people in fandom do.

This is why I am so incredibly bothered by #LanceIsBi movement. Which I will get to here in a minute because this movement stems from a much bigger problem that’s been festering in fandom for over the past year.

Do you think the series will ever openly confirm Lance is bisexual? How will you feel if they do or don’t?

I don’t think Lance was ever meant to be bisexual. I think he was always meant to end up with a girl (my money’s on Allura given the events of these past two seasons lol). It would be cool, though. I would like to see a little arc dedicated to him coming to terms with his attraction for his own gender, too. Because that’s what bisexual representation is all about. Coming to terms being someone attracted to multiple genders. And accepting that it doesn’t make you confused or broken or prone to cheating or anything else people who don’t understand bisexuality try to throw at us. Embracing our label. Even if Lance were to end up with a girl in the end, that would still be good representation because it’s never about the gender of our partner but our experiences and growing with our identity.

Unfortunately, people just don’t really accept bisexuals in different gender relationships most of the time. There was this huge blowup in fandom earlier this year about that. I’m a bisexual cis woman but I married and had a child with a cis man. It doesn’t sit well with a lot of people, so I get told a lot that I don’t really count as a queer. It looks invalidating. I think it’s because a lot of people think bisexual issues and homosexual issues are the same thing, and while we overlap in some things, our needs and our issues are not the same at all. We are two unique sexualities with our unique issues. I’ve been having quite a time trying to educate people about that ever since I came out.

So I don’t really blame the producers and the crew at all for not wanting to open that particular can of worms. It would be amazing if they did anyway, and a great opportunity, but if they don’t want to deal with that blowback, then that’s completely understandable. So if Lance is explicitly straight all the way through the series, I don’t have an issue with it.

Why do fans, particularly with Voltron, read so many of the characters as LGBT when there is very little if any canonical evidence in the series itself that they are? I know it isn't just Lance being bi. I've seen people Keith as gay, Pidge as trans, etc.

I think a lot of fandom headcanons the Voltron characters as LGBT+ because with so little representation out there, of course we would take matters into our hands. The producers of Voltron also worked on Legend of Korra, which we know ends with a bisexual girl/girl couple, so I think there’s an expectation that Voltron will do the same thing. Shiro and Keith obviously have a very intimate relationship. Lots of shoulder touching. There’s a million reasons from shipping to seeing ourselves in these characters that make us headcanon them as different sexualities. Tumblr in particular has always been attractive as an LGBT+ space so that’s why such headcanons are prevalent there.

How did you first hear about the #LanceIsBi movement? What about the whole #LanceIsBi thing appeals to you?

Alrighty, here’s the thing about the #LanceIsBi movement that super bothers me as a bisexual.

It’s not really about the headcanon. People are allowed to headcanon whatever they please, for whatever reason. That I have no problem with.

The #LanceIsBi movement came about because Jeremy Shada said that Lance’s milkshakes brings everybody to the yard. This is nothing against Shada, I assume he was just joking about how handsome Lance actually is – which he is! Lance is a really pretty guy, he has a better skincare routine than I do. So of course, it’s not a stretch to say that other people than just the ladies are attracted to him, that’s just how good-looking he is. But to take that as confirmation that someone is bisexual… that’s not how bisexuality works. It’s not about who’s attracted to you. It’s about YOU being attracted to two or more genders and how YOU deal with that. And what we seen in canon is that Lance is very much only attracted to women. As of right now, there is no bisexual story there.

It just really takes away from what real bisexual representation is, like I mentioned earlier, being about Lance’s personal issues as he comes to terms with this identity of his. Or even just him saying “Hey, I’m bisexual” or “I also like dudes, but here’s why I’m not as confident around them.” It doesn’t really have to be that deep, you know, I don’t need him to rehearse a whole documentary on bisexuality in order for it to be good representation. It makes it about HIM. About his character growth. HIS story. That’s what matters.

One issue with bisexuals (and I assume it’s not so different with pansexuals and aroaces from what I’ve seen) is that it feels like our identities have to be determined by OTHER people. Are we queer enough? Are we oppressed enough? Are we not with a different gender partner? Our own voices are never enough and it’s exhausting. Lance being confirmed bisexual is because of a joke by his voice actor. The colors of the scenery behind him. Because of multiple genders being attracted to him instead of the other way around. But it’s not his own character that confirms his identity. That bothers me. It infuriates me.

Added to that, fandom tends to blow things way out of proportion. They queerbait themselves a lot because they twist things around because they want their headcanons (specifically their ships) to be canon that bad. I’ve seen people new to fandom say they got into the show because they heard about this bisexual guy being awesome is a cast member only to find out that there’s this guy being awesome who is explicitly not bisexual at all. It’s awful seeing that kind of disappointment. Had I not been in Legendary Defender fandom since day 1, I probably would have fallen for that trap, too. I love this show so, so much and fandom makes it look like the crew is delivering something that isn’t there at all, and they’re even taking the heat for it. Lance is being held up as a bisexual icon next to actual, canon bisexual characters from other fandoms and that’s just… not right. Because once again, it’s not about his character, it’s only about what fandom wants. And non-fans come into this show with these expectations of seeing something that isn’t there.

And if Lance were bi, and if he still ended up with a female character, I know for a fact fandom would not be accepting of that. A lot of people would be, for sure, and it would be great to have that kind of support, but there’s a lot of people out there who won’t and then the whole “bi-het” debate starts up again. And it’s a debate that affects a lot of bisexuals in real life.

This whole movement, taking a joke as canon confirmation of Lance being bisexual, just feels like fandom actually doesn’t care about bisexual issues and representation. They only like it because they feel canonly validated shipping Lance with another male character because there’s this really weird attitude in fandom right now that all your headcanons must be canon in order to be valid. It’s very transparent, and very upsetting. It makes light of bisexuality, turns it into a shipping tool, and completely forgets what fandom is all about in the first place.

First off I just wanted to thank you for being so open and honest with all of this. These are fantastic observations on the whole thing and you really nailed a lot of things I was interested in asking about. Do you think fans would be better off seeking out shows/other pieces of media that feature canonical bisexual characters? Or do you feel as though people want that in their favorite shows regardless? Or to put that question another way, there are other shows out there with confirmed LGBTQIA (and anyone else I missed, nonbinary etc.) characters. Why focus on a character that, so far, can only be headcanoned as bi? Is it just fans REALLY wanting an LGBTQIA character in their favorite show? Why put so much expectations on this one specific show when, admittingly, all of TV has lot of work to do when it comes to representation?

When it comes to for the specific demand that Lance be bisexual, it boils down to a ship war. I’m sure you already know, our fandom is pretty notorious now with our ship wars and how far certain shippers will go to have their ship be canon confirmed. It’s pretty messy, and there are a few factors at play here.

Like I said earlier, a lot of fandom really doesn’t care about actual bisexual representation. Those of us who ship Lance with someone else such as Shiro or Allura, we can get some pretty heated comments. So when things pop up like #LanceIsBi, it’s a little transparent. I remember before S2 came out, fandom lost its mind when an interview said that Keith and Allura were gonna have moments together (whether platonic or romantic, it wasn’t clear at the time and could be interpreted either way). A lot of Gay Pride Keith edits came out and the whole thing was pretty ugly and, dare I say, misogynistic in tone because how dare Keith have a meaningful relationship with a woman even if that relationship is not romantic. And when a lot of Kallura shippers were like “well, we think Keith is bi or pan” (asexual Keith headcanons are also pretty popular with Keith fans), we’re immediately fired back with how that doesn’t matter, we’re just using bi/pansexuality as a copout, we’re actually homophobic, etc.

So when one character is heavily headcanoned to be bisexual but other characters are not allowed to have that same headcanon, it’s pretty telling. And I think it has to do with stereotypes. Lance is flirty and flamboyant and extroverted, maybe a bit promiscuous, so of course he must be bisexual. Keith is the stereotypical emo gay, skinny with some muscle, tight pants, weird hair. And once these headcanons are popularized, the rest of fandom is bombarded with them with no room for argument. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone admit to headcanoning Lance as something other than bi, and anyone who says they don’t headcanon Keith as gay (I am one of them) is met with hostility.

It’s not something I’ve ever seen in fandom before, at least not to this extent and I’ve been involved in online fandom for the past fifteen or so years now. Sure, there’s always been ship wars, there’s always been people being nasty to each other over fictional characters, but it feels different these days. It’s a different type of fandom wank. There’s a different attitude here.

I’m wondering if it has to do with the line between creator and consumer thinning so much now thanks to social media and cons becoming so frequent and mainstream. Fifteen years ago, there was no way we would ever dream of being in contact with showrunners, crew, and voice actors on our favorite shows. We never even sought out such contact, not unless you were really gutsy. And cons were very few and far between, so the only way you could interact with any of these people is if you had enough money and could travel to them. Now with things like Twitter especially, you can just tweet your questions and tag creators in your work, and chances are good that you will actually be seen and acknowledged.

And with this exposure, this really thinned line, I think a lot of fandom fully believes that they can actually influence a show. It’s been done in other shows, or at least enough that the creators give this illusion that fandom influences a show. So they think it’s the same with Voltron, but it’s not. Voltron is not a TV show, it’s a Netflix series meant to be binged in one sitting. But fandom has this belief that if they push and push and push enough, then all their fanon dreams will become canon. And they push back on the rest of us who don’t really go with the flow because they feel threatened.

Sheith, followed closely by Kallura, is the biggest threat to Klance, like I’m just gonna be brutally honest here with the whole ship war thing, we all know what it’s about. Like I said, fandom pushes for a bisexual male character, completely ignoring two things: 1) Lance explicitly flirts with women and ONLY women in canon and 2) Shiro and Keith are very intimate and touchy for a pair of guys (lol I’ve known a lot of guys and they don’t shoulder touch to this extent like Keith and Shiro are so TOUCHY). You would think fandom, determined to have mlm representation, would be all over Sheith because they are already established to have a personal, intimate connection that definitely goes beyond just a pair of dudes being bros. Instead we get all this age discourse, accusations of pedophilia and abusive power imbalances, etc.

And on the other side of this, Keith can’t be bi/pansexual because that makes him still available for Allura. Kallura is a threat because they’ve been the ship of Voltron since the beginning. They were heavily teased in DotU, they get together in the sequel comics and every reboot so far (except for Legendary Defender at the moment). By insisting Keith is gay, then he won’t want to be with Allura. There’s even this headcanon popular in this circle that Allura is a lesbian, yet I’ve seen very little femslash content in this fandom, and none of it reaches the popularity of the mlm ships.

So it’s pretty clear from the two issues that bisexual representation isn’t really something a good chunk and the loudest part of fandom really cares about. This section of fandom only accepts bisexuality when it’s convenient for their favorite ship.

And they insist that the rest of fandom kowtows to these headcanons because I guess there’s this belief that if they get all of fandom to unite for a headcanon, then the showrunners will have no choice but make the show reflect what’s popular. Even though that’s not how fandom or media works at all.

I think it’s a generational thing. A lot of these fans tend to be younger, for some this may even be their first big fandom, and there’s this weird belief among them that they’re only allowed to ship things in hopes it’ll be canon and their headcanons must be 100% backed by canon, so they tend to read too deep into every little joke and offhand comment and fanwork responses made by cast and crew. Maybe because they’re new to this, but these kinds of fans just don’t seem to understand the transformative nature of fandom. That while we do everything out of love for the source material, the stories and art and other content we make doesn’t necessarily have to have a 1:1 reflection of canon.

That's all fantastic insight, especially on the generational gap between certain members of the fandom. Yeah, your comments about the hate for the Allura/Keith ship just reminds me how weird I always found that since in all incarnations of Voltron they've been pretty much the ONLY canon ship of the main characters.

This is all fantastic, I wish I could use it all but as it is with articles I know I'll have to really cut it down. But still, it's all super helpful. Legit.

#voltron legendary defender #lanceisbi #vld lance #bisexual Lance #bisexual discourse #den of geek interview #my words #if you’re gonna quote me on anything here is the context #also my inbox is open for anyone wanting to discuss this further #i can write my whole thesis on this and this alone #i have been very very outspoken about this for a long time #long post

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writteninsunshine · 4 years

Text

I Don’t Want To Feel The Emptiness - Axel/Demyx - SFW

Title: I Don’t Want To Feel The Emptiness

Author: Donnie

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts

Setting: Delphi Beach (Hercules)

Pairing: Axel/Demyx

Characters: Axel, Demyx, Saïx, Xemnas, Vexen, Roxas

Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Romance

Rating: T

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 1354

Type Of Work: One-Shot, Part of the 8 Days Of Axel Series

Status: Complete

Warnings: Gay, Slash, Yaoi, MLM, Canon Character Death, Demyx is Anxious about Vexen’s Death, Post CoM but before II, Demyx was in Thebes and went to Delphi for the beach, Vague mentions of Aquaphobia

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything.

Summary: Collecting Demyx wasn’t all fun and games like it should have been.

AN: Hey guys, it’s me again! Just thought I ought to say, if you want vague updates and to talk to me more, I have Twitter and Tumblr, too! Twitter is Sunshinecackle, and Tumblr is Writteninsunshine! I also have a writing Discord that is currently pretty dead. xD I can PM it to people who want it on FFN, for everyone else, it’s here: https://discord.gg/FyaWw25

So, originally this fic was titled Sunset Strip, and as I was writing it… Well, the song by Cake was stuck in my head but I kept going to the next line, I Don’t Want To Feel The Emptiness. We’ll see if it changes again or not before I post it.

Anyway, so, I’m finally trying to write again. I was late to the party for the 8 Days of Axel event, but I’m joining it anyway. This is day 2, late, naturally. I’m working on day 3 for today as soon as I finish editing this and getting it posted. I’m gonna try and catch up, at the very least. I hope you guys enjoy it!

Kingdom Hearts Fic Masterlist

I Don't Want To Feel The Emptiness

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Always trust Demyx to find a beach anywhere he went and spend his entire day staring longingly into the waves. Axel had been sent to find him, considering he should have checked in with Saïx by now, and simply hadn’t shown up. It seemed the redhead was always going off to find someone, to fetch someone, to eliminate someone. At least, this time, Demyx just needed to be plucked from the warm sunset sands of the beach in Delphi, and not killed. While it was a solid day or so away from Thebes, it didn’t take nearly as long to get there thanks to the Corridors of Darkness.

Stepping out of the swirling, lapping darkness aiming to find a strip of skin, Axel reached up to pluck his hood from the top of his head, guiding it down to rest on his shoulders. Just as he suspected, Demyx sat on the pristine white sand, hood down, strumming away at his sitar, drawing songs from it he’d never heard before. He hummed here and there, as though he might let his voice rise with the music, but it never came. Axel was used to watching Demyx play but now wasn’t the time; Even if he figured Saïx would much rather sit and listen just the same as he did.

As he finally strode over, Demyx looked up from where his eyes melted into the ocean, shaken from his thoughts by the tinkling of metal on Axel’s coat. A warm, easy smile worked over Demyx’s lips as he peered up at him, teal meeting green for a split second before Axel looked away.

“What’s up, Axe?” Demyx asked, his fingers never once leaving the strings of his sitar, “Not often you come to check me out when I’m--” Those eyes went wide and his jaw went slack for a split second, then he jolted forward and his sitar dissipated into a puddle in his lap. “Working.”

“Yeah, man, you forget about something?” Axel couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath, shaking out his mane as he turned his eyes up to the sunset. “Saïx said something about a report on Hades?”

“I-- I totally, definitely did that.” Demyx pointed towards the sky, his hands moving at a hundred miles per hour as he tried his best to write the report in the air with all of the words falling out of his mouth. Axel rose a brow at him, smirk in place as he listened to the stuttering, half-thought-out rearranged dictionary trying to explain what Demyx had been up to until Axel finally held up a hand.

“That’s between you and Saïx, Dem. For now,” He glanced out over the water, saw the reflections of oranges, pinks and blues on the slowly lapping surface, and a soft, tender smile overcame his face, “Let’s just watch the sunset. I’ll take the fall for the next ten minutes.” Ten minutes, indeed.

The instant switch being flipped from panic to relaxation could have made a lesser man’s head spin, but Demyx took it in such stride that Axel got the emotional whiplash, instead. Hands behind him to rest in the soft, warm sand, Demyx leaned his weight on them and shifted his legs out in front of him, absently nodding beside himself. He hoped Axel would join him; It had been a while since the two of them had just vegetated together.

“Then get down here and sit with me.” His voice was melodic in a way that lulled even Axel into a sense of safety, and he settled in beside the other despite how close they were to the lapping waves. Water made him anxious sometimes, but Demyx’s presence definitely made things seem less threatening. Much as Demyx could be a one-man party, he knew when to exude calm in waves. Saïx always got to see the more relaxed side of Demyx, though the blond was careful to try and hide the side of him that was so relaxed he got Roxas to do most of his work for him. Not that he thought Saïx was stupid enough to think he didn’t do it.

Axel brought one knee up, the other leg straight out in front of him, as he pressed one hand behind him into the sand and the other elbow pressed into his knee. Chin in his hand, he hummed a little.

“Man, I’d kill for some sea salt ice cream right about now.” He sighed dreamily, eyes on the sky as it blossomed from red to blue in a rapidly melting display of light and color.

“Kill?” Demyx laughed softly, shaking his head as he let it hang back between his shoulders for a second, “That’s a little extreme, don’t you think?” Was it easy to see his thinly veiled anxiety? Probably. Even Roxas would have been able to see the uncomfortable line his shoulders had become.

“Aw, c’mon, Dem, I’d never--” But how could Demyx know that? After what had happened with Vexen, everyone had started treating him a little (or a lot) differently. Brows drawing in and his good mood ruined, Axel pursed his lips, “I couldn’t do that to you.”

“Because you can’t light water on fire or because you…” Care. The word died on Demyx’s lips, and the two men simply stared at the sky for another minute or two in uneasy silence. Demyx wished he hadn’t opened his big, fat mouth, and Axel’s desire for ice cream went beyond his simply being accustomed to getting it every evening. It would also be a good excuse not to talk to one another, better than simply trying to find anything at all to focus on that wasn’t sitting right beside them.

“Look, Dem, I… What happened with Vexen wasn’t…” Nobody had listened to his side of the story, and now that an opportunity to explain himself had arisen, Axel didn’t have the words. Demyx’s clear anxiety only made him want to change the subject because if the sitarist wanted to run, he would at the drop of a hat. Somehow, he hadn’t, yet, and Axel needed to do something, anything to keep him rooted to his spot.

“Nah, man, it’s--” Demyx turned to look at Axel just in time for the redhead to lean in and kiss his cheek. After a second, the blond turned his head, brushing their lips together softly, just as the last rays of sunshine slipped beneath the horizon. While he was surprised, Axel gently caressed Demyx’s cheek, leaning into the kiss more until he finally pulled back with a little smile.

“What was that for?” Axel questioned, head tilting slightly as his smile turned into a full-blown smirk.

“I… Miss feeling safe with you.” Demyx muttered, his eyes finding the leather of his coat pressed into his knees, “If it wasn’t… If Vexen wasn’t… Your fault, then it wasn’t. Right?” He still looked flighty, but at least he was glued to the sand, warm and soft as it was beneath him.

“Yeah… Yeah, that sounds about right.” Axel nodded with a little smile, his eyes turning tender and his expression softening considerably, “Don’t worry, Dem, I’d never hurt you.” There was no reason to, and he didn’t think he could if he wanted to.

Their lips joined once more, and they held it until the stars above them twinkled a warning. They were definitely forgetting something. It took an hour of kissing on the beach before Demyx broke it, his eyes wide again.

“We have to go!” He exclaimed, “Didn’t you come to get me for Saïx?”

“Crap--” Axel joined Demyx’s mad scramble to get to his feet, “Yeah, we better head out.”

The Corridor of Darkness could only carry them so fast, and the fact that they both knew they’d be getting chewed out when they got to the end didn’t make them go any faster. Saïx didn’t take too kindly to being kept waiting, if only because the Superior didn’t like to be kept waiting.

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AN: Welp, there we have it, the first piece for the 8 Days Of Axel that I’ve completed. I want to try and get to the next ones, too, and go back and do day one because I was really late. xD Writing these in one day seems to be a bit of an issue but hopefully, today is better for focusing than yesterday was.

Prompt: 8 Days Of Axel Day 2 Sunsets

#Kingdom Hearts FanFic #kingdom hearts fanfiction #kingdom hearts demyx #kingdom hearts axel #8 days of axel

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