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#harry hook fan fiction
livelaughlovelily · 1 year
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I’m currently reading fanfics 24/7. At this point, the fan fiction is better than the books, and I refuse to believe the books are canon. It’s always been the fan fictions that are real, and you won’t be able to convince me otherwise.
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marymjarvis · 7 days
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I haven’t fallen in love with fictional characters and the world that they inhabit the way I have with Victoriocity in YEARS. It genuinely makes me feel like a kid again, the way I got when I was reading Harry Potter for the first time and the universe just was slowly unfolding and I wanted to know everything about it outside of the main storyline. And then you have the pitch perfect humor and characters I AM VERY DEEPLY INVESTED IN that are in the most perfect Victorian slow burn of all time where I KNOW SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN EVENTUALLY BUT ITS GOING TO TAKE YEARS AND ILL BE HANGING ON TO A DARCY HAND FLEX MOMENT FOR DEAR LIFE UNTIL IT DOES, and you got me hook, line and sinker.
But seriously, it’s well written. It engages in some trope but does so in a way that only good writing can where expectation is subverted and then not that that is surprising and delightful, The pacing is excellent. The world they’ve created is completely original but totally familiar which grounds the characters and the plot.
Anyway, I bought three copies of High Vaultage (audio, ebook and special edition hard copy of course), finished it, binged season three and now I need the link to the kickstarter for the next project because I NEED MORE. This is just going to be a fan account until then.
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watermelonsugacry · 2 years
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Since Harry and 1dbandmember!reader didn't shy away from being close, did any of the fans suspect them to be dating or shipped them during their one direction days? Was there any specific event that occurred that made people question it?
oh for sure bestie. they've been shipped together as earlier as their XFactor days. And she was also shipped with the rest of the boys too, especially Louis since that whole childhood best friends to lovers trope was too good to just not believe in.
Of course interviewers would have no shame in asking inappropriate questions and comments towards the band, especially YN:
"Out of all the boys in the band, who would you want to sleep with, YN?"
"But there's obviously intense amount of sexual tension in the band, right? I mean, look at you guys."
"Alright YN, here's the question that everyone is just dying to know: which 1D boy is the best kisser?"
20% of the time, (non)fans hated on her for being so close to Harry and the rest of the boys, calling her a slut for thinking she slept with all of them and things like that. But the other 80% percent of the time, the fans would ship the two with such a passion that the fandom begun to believe it with no actual confirmation from the band members.
But there were a couple of times during their One Direction days where the two's actions was all the confirmation they needed:
During a show for their Up All Night tour, the two have been talking, making jokes, and laughing all night on stage. Like during one of Niall's short speeches, YN would quickly walk over to Harry, take out his ear-piece, leaning up on the tips of her toes to say something close to his ear that would leave him squinting his eyes shut in a laugh.
Or while they all sit on the couch in the middle of the stage (YN sitting down on one of the cushions and Harry sitting on top of the back of the couch) he would tap her on the shoulder and beckon her with a small curl of his fingers. She would already be taking out her ear-piece to lean closer to his bent figure. She would roll her eyes with a smirk at whatever he said and would lean her head back further to reply to his ear. And the fans would just have to stand at their seats with a burning desire to know what they were talking about; it killed them that they couldn't hear their conversations.
But one talking interaction that had the fans scream their heads off was during an interlude before I Want. They get all excited at the sight of Harry drifting over to where YN is leaning against the fancy dining table on stage. He's coming to her from her right so it was a natural instinct to want to speak into her right ear. But with all the ear-piece pulling, YN's skin started to feel irritated. So as she turns to her head so he can say whatever he has to say into her left ear instead, their noses bump together unexpectedly. The fans that captured the interaction pause, zoom in and screenshot what looks to be the two going in for a kiss. The picture circles the Internet for a while and it becomes the first of many fan fiction cover titles.
Another fan favorite interaction fans died over was the infamous human pyramid for their Take Me Home Tour. So at the bottom it was Liam, Harry, YN with Zayn and Louis for the second layer, topped with a blonde Irish lad. Forget the sexual jokes and innuendos thrown YN's way (she would find them kind of funny at times) from the way her face cringed and laughed at the weight of Louis's knee digging into her back.
All the fans cared about was the time when Harry discreetly spread his long fingers over hers in a way of comfort, encouraging her to keep strong, and letting her know that he felt the same pain. The fans who were at the B Stage's barricade zoomed their cameras in on their hands. They were able to capture the way YN's index finger hooked over his pinky and they way Harry's fingers curled to grip hers the best way he could from their position.
And when the Night Changes music video behind the scenes feature for Harry's dates came out, it easily became the most liked bts video from all their music videos for one very specific reason: YN. For the boys who didn't use their actual significant other to film the "you" parts of the video, YN was the stand it. The bts cameraman had filmed a side of view of Harry actually tying the laces of her skates up and bringing her onto the ice with him. Before they actually started to film anything for the official video, the two can be seen slowly circling around the ice as they chat and smile at one another.
There's another shot of the two talking with Ben Winston on the ice and out of nowhere, YN almost loses her footing and Harry's quick to grab onto her forearms. She bursts into a fit of laughter and Harry can't help but join her in it. It's not long before their competitive sides get the better of them and the two start to challenge each other on the ice: who can skate from one end of the rink to the other the fastest, who can do a cleaner spin, who's able to go from skating to a sliding sitting position the fanciest.
And it was stubble things too: the way they glanced and fully looked at one another during interviews, when they gave each other a five high when passing each other on stage, even promotional pictures of the band when they had an arm around one another for a group photo.
Other times it was deeper, look for hidden meanings situations: One Direction songs, tattoos, possible PR stunts.
But one of the major events that happened that made the fandom and other social media outlets question the two's relationship was when they went on a holiday together with their families and friends on a yacht in 2015.
Why was it just those two band members and not Louis if the Tomlinsons were like family to YN?
It had only been two and a half months since YN ended her engagement with another man before the trip, was her relationship a cover up for her actual relationship with Harry?
Are the two band mates actually merely friends by the way they lounge together on a single pool side couch in their bathing suits?
And then when Anne's iCloud was hacked and even more, intimate picture of the two were leaked and shared to the world, the Internet went ballistic:
YN and Harry sitting together on the back deck of the boat. She has a green bikini on and he's in simple white swim trunks. There are multiple in-actions photos: YN putting a captain's hat on his head as he smirks at her. Another one with his arm going to wrap over the tops of her shoulders and her eyes are clearly set on his lips. And one where she has her hand intertwined with his over her shoulder as she looks out to the water while he stares fondly at her.
A picture of them two napping on one of the huge couches on the main deck. It's a side view photo so Harry's figure is the one mainly being seen but her body is still visible from being in between him and the blue couch. He's laying on his back, ankles crossed while his other arm cuddles her body to his. Fans second guess that it's her until they notice the butterfly tattoo on the hand resting his chest.
YN and Harry sharing a towel after a dip in the water. He hugs her from behind so that the big yellow towel covers the both of them.
A photo of YN sitting criss crossed next to Harry's laying figure in the "living room" area of the main deck. It looks like she's explaining something to him by how her hands are up by her chest. He looks very interested in whatever she's saying and has his hand resting on her knee.
Various group photos of the families with the two snuggled up in one another.
A couple of pictures of them sitting together after a few drinks. Harry's in a Hawaiian button-up shirt with matching shorts (a set YN gifted him before the trip) and she's wearing a matching set of her own. They share a single seat in the entertainment area of the boat: while Harry man-spreads the majority of the seat, YN sits in the tiny space to his right. It's enough room for her bum to touch the cushion so her legs are draped over his thigh.
Tipsy from their drinks, they don't notice Anne taking a few photos of them: a drink in both of their hands as they talk with one another, there's one where YN lazily rests her arm over his shoulders and their faces are significantly closer. Much like the picture that broke the Internet from the band's first tour, their noses brush against one another with soft smiles on their faces. There's another photo of what looks to be them getting caught, Harry brings his glass to his lips to cover his smile to the camera and YN's eyes squint in a giggle.
And the last photo from that scene is the two straightened up with picture ready smiles, his arm possessively laying over and hugging her legs on his thigh.
Since 2010 masterlist
So when their relationship was officially exposed in 2020, there was a good amount of disbelief, a little bit of anger in finding out both were officially taken, and a lot of "I KNEW IT!"
But the question still remained: when did they actually start dating?
Taglist:
@wobblymug @be-with-me-so-happily @ashtongivesmebutterflies @kiwiskiwiskiwi @darlingdesire @obsesseddd @hopefulwastelandcreation @cacapeepee @breezie-b00 @harrysfolklore @theekyliepage @sunshinemoonsposts @nervousspiderling @tbslonelyhes @tenaciousperfectionunknown @harrystylesrecs @certified-nalayak @itsjustsel @iknowyouthinkimbulletproof @gviosca @behindmygreyeyes @twobluejeans @allisonxmcu @theemeraldbutterfly @jean-love @marvellover-sam @b-reads-things @reveriehs @rach2602 @thurhomish @perrypughstyles @luvonstyles @mxltifxnd0m
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monsterblogging · 6 days
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So, something finally clicked into place re: Harry Potter and why people get so attached to it, despite it being... shall we say, not that good.
Now I want y'all to keep in mind, I am saying this as a former Harry Potter fan who still occasionally feels nostalgia for the franchise. As in, what I'm about to say here is informed by personal experience and self-analysis as much as anything.
It finally clicked that Harry Potter hooks you by the emotional vulnerabilities.
As someone who's studied various cults, and knows how they play to your emotions to suck you in, I can definitely say that Harry Potter many of the same moves.
Now, I'm not saying that Harry Potter fandom is a cult. I'm not saying that JK Rowling did this with any kind of deliberate intention. I'm talking about this to get anyone who has any kind of positive feelings toward this franchise critically thinking about what the foundation of their relationship with it really is.
To put it quite simply, cults often promise an escape from the ordinary world, and an entry into a world filled with wonder, belonging, and a sense of identity. There's groups out there who will tell you what kind of magic space alien your soul is, and what your very special purpose for incarnating on this Earth in a human body is.
The actual beliefs and moral precepts cults hold to are never really deep, but are always geared to play to your emotions. There's nearly always a clear-cut enemy responsible for everything we're supposed to hate. Cults often praise love and unity as the best things in the world, and believe that their power can overcome all evil.
It's easy to miss how the wizarding world is actually a soul-crushing dystopia when you're being distracted by the latest magical novelty.
It's easy to overlook how cruel and petty people in wizarding society actually are when your emotions are being played with stuff about love being the greatest magic of all.
It's easy to miss how the Hogwarts house system functions to foster rivalry between students and creates an environment (Slytherin House) where students are allowed to simmer in and internalize the Wizarding World's most rancid political ideologies when the house you or a quiz picked for you is your shiny new identity.
"I like Harry Potter because it's about the power of friendship triumphing over evil!" Yeah, that's... exactly my point.
And like, I'm not saying that the fact that this stuff appeals to people is a bad thing in itself. All of this stuff touches on very fundamental psychological needs. The point I'm making here is that these things are so fundamental that when we're deprived of them (whether or not we even consciously realize we're deprived), when something seems to offer them to us, it creates this massive emotional attachment that does not fade easily.
I still have an emotional attachment to Harry Potter, even though when I stop and ask myself what it's got that I actually find all that spectacularly compelling or interesting, I struggle to actually come up with an answer. Now, when I think about, say, Harry getting his wand and buying magic books and taking magic classes I feel a sense of excitement, but that's not really the same thing; because these emotions are coming from my experience as a very isolated, repressed, and understimulated child coming upon a novelty and power fantasy. When I try to think up anything in Harry Potter that I'd actually like to rotate in my mind, there's just... nothin'.
Now some of you out there might be thinking, "yeah but what about building on her ideas? What about AUs?" and like, the thing is? It doesn't appeal to me. I've got enough skill and knowledge at this point that I can sketch out a better OC than she could ever create in a couple of minutes, and a better fantasy setting in a few days or so.
To wrap this up, I guess I'll just say that really important to be able to distinguish between fiction that's actually saying something worthwhile, and fiction that's just hitting you in your emotional vulnerabilities. Of course friendship and love are important. And of course there's nothing wrong with power fantasies and escape fantasies. And not every story has to be all that deep. But you should ask yourself: could it the case that superficial messages about love, friendship, and family are distracting you from a pretty rancid worldview beneath it all?
Also, before I go - I'm just gonna say that anybody who responds to this post with praise for the fandom or the fanfiction or tells people to go buy fan merch or pirate the series or whatever is going to get blocked. Go clown somewhere else.
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fictionsbaby · 10 months
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Hi everyone!
Okay so I need some requests on fan fiction to write.
Here’s who I write for for sure but if you give me anyone I’ll try:
Sherlock Holmes (from the BBC and Ebola Holmes)
Count Tewksbury
Seth Clearwater
Jasper Whitlock Hale
Edward Cullen
Prince Caspian
Edmund Pevensie
Peter Pevensie
Peter Parker
Tom Holland
Neville Longbottom
Draco Malloy
Blaise Zamboni
Dean Thomas
Fred and George Weasley
Percy Weasley
Percy Jackson
Cedric Diggory
Bill Weasley
Tom Riddle
Mattheo Riddle
Regulus Black
Oliver Wood
Newt Scammander
Scorpius Malfoy
Pietro Maximoff
Bruce Wayne/Batman (2022)
Carlos De Vil
Harry Hook
King/Prince Ben
Diego Hargreeves
Zuko
The Darkling
Kazz Brekker
Hermes (A Touch of Darkness)
Hades (A Touch of Darkness)
Clark kent (specifically any one that’s animated lol)
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I do write smut if you want
Um so yeah. Let me know if you have any requests and I’ll do my best to write them:)
But I prefer to do fem reader, cause that’s what I just typically do, but I also do gender neutral and I’m willing to try male reader in the future
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bucket-barnes · 6 months
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The “Harry Hallucinates” head cannon
This is a head cannon that I’ve seen circulated around the fandom thousands of times and I fucking love it for reasons that cannot be described with words. So let’s expand on it, shall we?
What exactly is it?
I’ve seen several ideas of what Harry’s hallucinations are ranging from schizophrenia to a curse he inherited from Captain Hook (which version of Hook is unclear, I first thought it was Killian Jones but I haven’t seen anything to back that up so the answer is still unknown) and both are great options but let’s get into the reasons why this is such a good head cannon and story plot
Harry’s a fucking nut-job
Harry’s entire character is a mix of several versions of Captain Hook, McJagger, Harry Styles, and Heath Ledger’s Joker (as said by Thomas Doherty in an interview for D2) so Harry is fucking insane. Nobody knows what goes on in that boy’s head nor do they want to, the idea of him hallucinating would fit very well with his insanity, and if you tried hard enough you probably could make an actual argument for Harry being schizophrenic in cannon (the main contributor being his constant half-strut/skulk when he walks…you could probably make an argument for that being caused by exhaustion from schizophrenia) but I digress. The boy’s nuts and the head-cannon works as a solid explanation
Uses as a storytelling device
From what I’ve seen, it’s used primarily as angst/shipping fuel (Huma, Garry, etc…) but you could also go the route of a fic that maybe goes through a day with Harry and how he deals with his hallucinations (sort of in the vein of Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan) maybe he has trouble distinguishing between what is and isn’t real, is he medicated? If so how does it effect him? Now say you want to go the route of angst/shipping fuel, (as long as it’s done respectfully) that can also be done. The most common use of it I’ve seen is that Uma and/or the rest of the crew help Harry distinguish what is and isn’t real, Uma ms Gil help keep him safe during hallucinations, etc…
You got any ideas/thoughts? Feel free to share! And if you have any fan fiction with this head-cannon…send it my way immediately
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strugglequill · 3 months
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2023 Fic Year in Review 🎉
I put off doing this because it's... it's a lot. But seeing @divinerapturee and @spindrifters post theirs convinced me. I rejoined AO3 and joined Tumblr at the end of June of this year and it's been so fucking good to be back. Open tag to anyone else who wants to show what they worked on this year.
June: Joined Tumblr and started over on AO3. 🔥
Archives in the Attic (Marauders; one-shot collection)
Love in Our Library (Marauders; one-shot collection)
July: Wrote first multi-chapter fic since 2019. Rediscovered my love for Prongsfoot. 🦌🐾
You and I (Marauders; Regulus being Blackcest-y)
Canidae (Marauders; Wolfstar puppy smut)
Family Photo Albums (Marauders; one-shot collection)
Mirroring (Marauders; Prongsfoot smut)
Harry's Little Trunk of Horrors (Marauders; Jilypad+Wolfstar crack)
Trainer (Marauders; Wolfstar smut)
Napkin Scraps (Marauders; one-shot collection)
Lycos (Marauders; Wolfstar puppy smut)
August: Submitted first fest event fics. Returned to writing horror/body horror. Joined the Good Omens fandom. ☕️
The Grim's Wrath (Marauders; crack)
Progress Reports (Marauders; Jilypad+Wolfstar smut WIP)
Un/Stitching the Seams (Marauders; Wolfstar horror)
WIP/RIP (Crack Meta)
Ouroboros (Good Omens; Ineffable smut)
Weapon of Mass Distraction (Good Omens; Ineffable crack WIP)
Hissy Fit (Good Omens; Ineffable crack)
Wednesday Evening at La Cucina delle Stelle (Good Omens; Ineffable genderfuck fluff)
Lurking on the Loveseat (Good Omens; Ineffable genderfuck fluff)
Shrift By the Slice (Good Omens; Ineffable fluff)
Getting the Boot (Good Omens; Ineffable crack)
New Year's Eve of 1885, Liverpool (Good Omens; Ineffable genderfuck fluff)
Soho Security Snake (Good Omens; Ineffable crack)
Eating Out (Good Omens; Ineffable eating kink crack)
Birthing the Blessed and the Damned (Good Omens; Ineffable genderfuck drama)
Dining with Drunken Demonic Dignity (Good Omens; Ineffable eating kink crack)
September: Hit 250K words posted in 2023. Finished first 10K+ word fic since 2018. 🎉
Emotional Support Snake (Good Omens; Ineffable crack)
Sharing a Sweet Moment (Good Omens; Ineffable eating kink)
Obsidian (Good Omens; Ineffable eggnancy)
Blurring Lines in the Sand (Good Omens; Ineffable genderfuckery)
Birds of a Feather (Good Omens; Ineffable divorce crack)
The Gift of the Present (Good Omens; Ineffable drama)
Embrace (Good Omens; Ineffable drama)
Warning Signs (Good Omens; Ineffable angst)
Line Without a Hook (Marauders; Prongsfoot murder fic)
Body of Knowledge (Good Omens; Ineffable genderfuck fluff)
October: Floated back to the IT fandom (est. 2004). 🎈 Wrote first non-mlm ship fic since 2019.
Lovey-Dovey Cureckitycoo (Good Omens; Ineffable crack fluff)
Plant Wife (Good Omens; Ineffable genderfuck drama)
The Hidden Cost (Marauders; Prongsfoot angst)
Stairway to Heaven (Good Omens; Ineffable crack)
Walled Garden (Good Omens; Ineffable heavy angst)
Did You Kill Earth's Song? (Marauders; lesbian Wolfstar horror/body horror)
The Final Recital of This Era (Good Omens; Ineffable drama)
Singularity (Good Omens; Ineffable angst)
Omens and Offspring (Good Omens; Ineffable eggnancy fuckery)
Shadow of a Doubt (Marauders; Prongsfoot horror/body horror)
November: Celebrated 20th anniversary of writing fan/original fiction. 🏆 Returned to writing comedy fics. Posted for Tickle Your Turkey Fest. 🦃
Tricks Before Treats (Good Omens; Ineffable fluff)
Tit for Tat (or the Art of Demonic Gift Giving) (Good Omens; Ineffable fluff)
Transitions (Good Omens; Ineffable drama)
Some Summer (Marauders; anniversary repost, Prongsfoot crack kid fic) 🎂
A Taste of Love (Marauders; Prongsfoot-centric horror)
Tough Love (IT; Reddie murder comedy)
Pumpkin Cream Pasty (Marauders; Prongsfoot food smut) 🦃
Bedevilled Eggs (Good Omens; Ineffable food smut) 🦃
Full of Hot Air (IT; Reddie crack with failed smut) 🦃
December: Joined the Barry fandom. 🎭 Read over 300K words in a month.
The Maine Lobster Roll Incident (IT; Richie Tozier's shitty stand-up comedy)
HP Rec Fest 2023: Recommended 24 fics this year! ✨
Winter 2023 Just Leave a Comment Fest: 37 comments left on brilliant fics this week! 💖
56 works and 287K words posted this year! 🌟
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theyraylovehate · 1 year
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Wheel of Fan Fiction Masterlist
Smut 🔥
Fluff 🌸
Angst 💧
*This is like brand new so most of the characters won't have anything just yet*
•Stranger things
-Billy Hargrove
-Steve Harrington
-Eddie Munson
-Robin Buckley (Fem/NB only)
-Argyle
-Johnathan Byers
-Nancy Wheeler
-Jim Hopper
-Joyce Byers
-001/Henry
-Will Byers (No smut)
-Mike Wheeler (No smut)
-Max Mayfield (No smut)
Hateful Cuddling - Female reader 🌸
-Dustin Henderson (No smut)
-Lucas Sinclair (No smut)
-Eleven (Jane) Hopper (No smut)
•Marvel
-Iron Man/Tony Stark
-Captian America/Steve Rogers
-Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff
-Hawkeye/Clint Barton
-Hulk/Bruce Banner
-Thor
-Loki
-Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes
-Black Panther/T'challa
-Doctor Strange/Steven Strange
-Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff
-Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff
-Starlord/Peter Quill
-Gamora
-Spiderman/Peter Parker
-Falcon/Sam Wilson
-War Machine/James Rhodes
-Valkyrie (Fem/NB only)
•X-Men
-Professor X/Charles Xavier
-Magneto/Erik Lensherr
-Wolverine/James Howlett
-Quicksilver/Peter Maximoff
-Rogue
-Jean Grey
-Storm/Ororo Munroe
-Cyclops/Scott Summers
-Mystique/Raven
-Beast/Henry "Hank" McCoy
-Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner
-Havok/Alexander Summers
•DC/Young Justice
-Batman/Bruce Wayne
-Superman/Clark Kent
-The Flash/Barry Allen
-Aquaman/Authur Curry
-Cyborg/Victor Stone
-Joker/Jack Oswald White
-Harley Quinn/Harleen Quinzel
-Wonder Woman/Diana Prince
-DeadShot/Floyd Lawton
-Kid Flash/Wally West
-Nightwing (Robin #1)/ Dick Grayson
-Red Hood (Robin #2)/ Jason Todd
-Robin (#3)/ Tim Drake
-Beast Boy/Garfield Logan
-Superboy/Johnathan "Jon" Kent
-Artemis/Artemis Crock
-Red Arrow/Roy Harper
-Green Arrow/Oliver Queen
-Black Canary/Dinah Lance
-Miss Martian/Megan Morse
-Aqualad/Kaldur'ahm
•Umbrella Academy
-Luther Hargreeves (#1)
-Diego Hargreeves (#2)
-Allison Hargreeves (#3)
-Klaus Hargreeves (#4)
-Five Hargreeves (#5)
-Ben Hargreeves (#6)
-Viktor Hargreeves (#7)
-Marcus Hargreeves (#1)
-Fei Hargreeves (#3)
-Alphonso Hargreeves (#4)
-Sloan Hargreeves (#5)
-Jayme Hargreeves (#6)
-Lila Aryu
-The Handler
•Harry Potter
-Harry Potter
-Ron Weasley
-Hermione Granger
-Fred Weasley
-George Weasley
-Ginny Weasley
-Draco Malfoy
-Sirius Black (Older)
-Cedric Diggory
-Oliver Wood
-Neville Longbottom
-Luna Lovegood
-Remus Lupin (Older)
-Nymphadora Tonks
-Lucious Malfoy (Older)
-Narcissa Malfoy (Older)
-Severus Snape (Older)
-Bill Weasley
-Charlie Weasley
•Marauders
-James Potter
Friendly Love - Male reader 🌸
-Lily Evans
-Sirius Black
-Remus Lupin
-Severus Snape
-Regulus Black
-Lusious Malfoy
-Narcissa Black
-Peter Pettigrew
•Greek Mythology
-Zeus
-Hades
-Posideon
-Apollo
-Hera
-Persephone
-Ares
-Athena
-Demeter
-Aphrodite
-Artemis
-Dionysus
-Hermes
•Divergent
-Beatrice "Tris" Prior
-Caleb Prior
-Eric
-Peter
-Christina
-Will
-Tobias "Four"
-Zeke
Zip line of Love - Nonbinary Reader (Requested) 🌸
-Uriah
•Star Wars
-Anakin Skywalker
-Luke Skywalker
-Leia Organa
-Han Solo
-Obi-Wan Kenobi
-Kylo Ren
•Supernatural
-Dean Winchester
-Sam Winchester
-Castiel
-Crowley
-Lucifer
-Rowena MacLeod
-Gabriel
-Charlie Bradbury (Fem/NB only)
-Chuck Shurley
-Jody Mills
-Ellen Harvelle
-Kevin Tran
•The Walking Dead
-Rick Grimes
-Daryl Dixon
-Glenn Rhee
-Carl Grimes
-Maggie Greene
-Negan
-Michonne
-Shane Walsh
-Rosita Espinosa
-Carol Peletier
-Paul "Jesus" Monroe
-Abraham Ford
‐Tara Chambler (Fem/NB only)
-Enid
-Ezekiel
-Aaron (Masc/NB only)
•The Walking Dead Game
-Clementine
-Lee
-Kenny
-Luke
-Javier
-Gabriel
-Kate
-Louis
-Omar
-Ruby
-Mitch
-Marlon
-Violet (Fem/NB only)
IT (2017)
-Richie Tozier
-Beverly Marsh
-Eddie Kaspbrak
-Bill Denbrough
-Stanley Uris
-Ben Hanscom
-Henry Bowers
-Mike Hanlon
-Patrick Hockstetter
-Victor Criss
-Belch Huggins
•Desendants
-Mal
-Evie
-Ben
-Jay
-Jane
-Chad
-Doug
-Lonnie
-Carlos
-Uma
-Harry Hook
-Gil
•Maze Runner
-Newt
-Minho
-Gally
-Teresa
-Alby
-Chuck
-Brenda
-Aris
-Thomas
-Frypan
-Jorge
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polyghostfacehours · 2 years
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Hiii!! Idk if you’re doing requests or not, this is just a suggestion, so the reader gets Stu and Billy into horror games. Like Corpse Party, Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat, etc. I feel like they would REALLY be into those kinds of games, especially the bloody and gorier ones. Idk if you’ve done something like that already, I know you did one for FF and that one was so cute btw, but I’ve always thought about that ☺️
God yes yes and yes! I love this request so much! Sorry it took so long. Also this is a mix of regular and modern ghostface.
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Reader Getting poly!Ghostface Into Horror Games:
The way you three bonded was originally over horror movies. Nothing special, the same way they had bonded before with Randy or how Stu had with Casey.
They knew you were a gamer, but they actually didn't have too much experience with horror games themselves. Stu was a very casual gamer and he mainly played fighting games or FPSs; Billy didn't play games period since he thought they were for kids or loser-nerds.
Stu did, of course, play Mortal Kombat already. He had heard of it during the parental uproar through the news and, given his absentee parents, he easily acquired a copy. He loved it for the violent, splatterfest it was, and he loved playing you in it.
But other than MK, he had very little experience with horror games, as he is like I said, a casual gamer (modern!Stu is, in contrast, a huge gamer lol)
Originally, gaming was a you and Stu pastime. Billy found them boring to watch. He only enjoyed it if it had a interesting and in-depth story, like FF7 or Persona 2. And even then he tuned out when you and Stu had to grind or do side-quests.
When you breach the topic of horror games to them, Stu was beyond enthusiastic. Billy was intrigued, but had a very "normie" view of games, so wasn't expecting much.
Stu easily let you show him the world of horror through video games. Stu loved mindless gore, sure, but he also loved a good fucked up story. So when you introduce him to Silent Hill...he's hooked.
Seeing Harry tackle the horrors of Silent Hill had him enraptured. He especially loved the "other" Midwich Elementary.
This helps in getting Stu to pester Billy to watch/play horror games as well. Billy is there for Silent Hill 2, and before you know it he's playing on his own time.
When you guys play Clock Tower and Night Trap, Billy loves purposefully scaring you and Stu while you play by suddenly grabbing your leg or shoulder and yelling. (I will never get over how much he likes jumpscaring ppl in the OG film 😭)
Now for a more modern setting, Corpse Party would be quite the entertaining ordeal.
Stu thinks Kizami is dreamy because "He reminds me of Billy."
Billy rolls his eyes at this, but secretly thinks Kizami is cool so he's pleased.
They'd both jump right on the Resident Evil Remakes for sure. Stu streams it and overexaggerates getting jumpscared.
The Silent Hill P.T demo actually did scare the shit out of him though lol. Billy, surprisingly, wasn't scared at all, but he loved it so much he through a fit when it was cancelled lmao.
You introduce him to some more "light horror" games too. Specifically Yume Nikki.
Billy adores Yume Nikki, and is the type of person to sing it's praises online for how revolutionary the method of storytelling is and actively engages with fan theory online.
Billy would never admit it, but his fave horror games are pixel indie games. He feels people who undersell them because of their graphics are elitists (which is absolutely hypocritical, because he himself is an absolute elitist when it comes to horror). Ib, Witch's House, Mad Father, The Count of Lucanor, etc.
He also loves Yume Nikki fangames like Fleshchild and .Flow
Patty and Mr. Miles had him genuinely tearing up, but he'd never ever tell you or Stu about it lol.
Hc that Billy feels very literal empathy/sympathy for IRL people (save for a select few people), but feels a LOT for fictional characters. I feel like it has something to do with his blurring of fiction/reality, escapism, and just seeing fictional characters as more "real" than IRL people.
Stu loves anything with gore and/or disturbing and taboo themes. He also loves a good story, but doesn't pscyho-analyze as much as Billy (though he adores listening to Billy and your theories and even has planty of his own.)
Stu stream Animal Crossing and also will go to "haunted"/scary towns and clickbait the title of his streams/videos "The Scariest Horror Game Ever 😱" lmao
Stu played and enjoyed BTD
Side Note: you made Stu play P.T with a VR headset and it was both horrifying for him and hilarious for you and Billy.
Whenever Billy is home alone, he likes revisiting Yume Nikkie a lot. He gets kinda hyperfixated for awhile tbh.
One of Stu's fave games you let him borrow are the Theresia games for DS. The way music is used in that game tickles him pink and he loves the atmosphere.
Stu is the guy who streams Amnesia in 2022 lmao(and it actually brings a ton of viewers, most ppl amused that there's a streamer who hadn't experience it yet)
Horror games become as important to you three as movies are. It's an excellent bonding activity but also just for playing alone on long nights where the other two are gone.
Billy in particular begins seeing games as an medium on par with film when it comes to horror. He loves the idea of being able to actually experience the horror as a player, rather than just watching someone else go through it like in movies.
But...he still thinks games of other genres are for nerds lmao.
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saintsenara · 6 months
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I always love hearing about people’s fandom and reading/writer journeys especially since they usually involve some very cursed content and fun navigating ‘90’s and ‘00’s tech. Where did you start, what got you hooked, how have your tastes changed over the years, what made you decide to go from reader to writer? 💖
thank you for the ask, anon - and you’re correct that my experience was one of cursed 2000s technology, given that i started reading harry potter fanfiction via the twin madhouses of livejournal and fictionalley, nothing ever tagged beyond ‘lemon!!!’, on the family computer using dial-up internet [god bless the fact that the parents of my generation had no inclination to care about what we were consuming online - one of my brothers was a huge fan of rotten.com, and he's perfectly well-adjusted...]
my reading tastes were, initially, lord of the rings focused - i still think* about a particular elrohir/námo mandos fic which had me in chokehold when i was about fourteen - but i was as big a harry potter fan as anyone of my generation [shoutout in particular to one of my pals, who spent the entirety of a geography trip in 2006 speculating what the unknown horcruxes could be with me while we froze our bollocks off in some godforsaken bog in county antrim]. so it wasn’t a surprise, i suppose, that i was clicking on any fan-fiction links i could find for that series too…
[the fic which has stayed with me most profoundly from those days was called something along the lines of murder at malfoy manor which was on fictionalley and was this exceptional combination of the rules of cluedo and the ron-is-time-travelling dumbledore theory. it was incredible.]
but i wasn’t a writer. i was one of those science-y, not-like-other-girls teenagers who was performatively really cunty about other girls who liked to write little stories or draw little pictures, which i thought was fundamentally unserious. the fact that i was an avid consumer of these stories didn’t make me question what the fuck i was being such an arsehole about…
because i loved a bit of fan-fic, and not only did i love fan-fic but i demonstrably had a fandom presence and was clued up on fandom lore - i could quote my immortal, i knew what a snape-wife was, i was on a forum or two - although i went to great lengths to avoid anyone in my real life discovering that. and i do feel extremely proud of myself that i have a reputation among people i know for not having been particularly cringe as a teen [how little they know… i’ve just got a good poker face.]
i lost interest in harry potter when i went to university - i started uni in 2010, when it was still socially acceptable to be really into it, and i definitely went to my fair share of themed parties in the first couple of years, but by the time i graduated in 2016 (i did medicine, so it’s a six-year slog…) i’d not opened the books, watched the films, or thought about the fandom in years. i remember rolling my eyes at the number of people i know who went to see cursed child when it first opened. bit cringe to be in your twenties and into harry potter, isn’t it?
[lol. lmao.]
but a global crisis changes things, i suppose.
like so many people, i got back into fandom during the coronavirus pandemic - although, regrettably, not because i was stuck at home. i don’t think i’ll ever be able to accurately describe what it was like to work in a hospital in 2020, except to say that by the time i got home each day the only thing i could do other than stare blankly at a wall was lose myself in the comfort of media i knew well and its memories of a simpler time. and once i’d re-read the books a few times… well, it was only a matter of time before i was scrolling ao3 at 3am.
and, because my ego hasn’t changed even if my relationship with my own gender has, it did not take a lot to convince me that i could write stories which were just as good as the ones i was reading.
you can be the judge of whether i succeeded.
[*i’m being coy. i have it bookmarked on ao3]
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suzyq31 · 2 months
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Hi Suzy!
I have tumbled into all sorts of fan-fiction lately and came across “In Between” and was hooked instantly. I love how your interpretations are always book-accurate which is so hard to find!
Will you be continuing this story? 😍✨
Hi!
Myself and @bettertoflee have good intentions... the hope is to get back into it at some point. We've both been a bit of a slump lately, and when the energy is there other projects have taken priority. Side note; I'm the absolute worst with procrastinating smut...and the plans for this very heavily involve smut 😅
So no real clue when it will update again (sorry!), but hoping it will one day be finished as we have a lot of fun writing together!
Although, here's a glance of the draft of Chapter 4 (which only exist because of my other writing half).
“By yourself, I see,” he said. “No book?”
“No book,” she said fondly. “Just people watching.” 
“I take it you have no plans to play spin the bottle?”
“Were you hoping to kiss Seamus tonight?”
Harry laughed. 
“I don’t mind,” Hermione said. “We can have an open relationship if that’s something you’re interested in.” She was having trouble holding back her laugh now, smile growing broader with each word. “I’d hate to hold the boy who lived back from achieving his potential.”
Harry let out a low whistle. “Honestly not sure kissing Seamus is the definition of potential. Wait—you weren’t hoping to kiss Seamus, were you?”
Hermione’s whole face beamed as a wave of laughter overtook her. She relaxed into Harry’s side, her shoulder finding his easily. She let him support her and marvelled in the warmth she felt from his laughter, bubbling up and into her own bones.
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tickldpnk8 · 2 months
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Shipper Tag Game
Thanks for the tags @windsweptinred and @writing-for-life! Sorry it's taken me a bit: this week has been really hectic, but this is a fun one! I suspect that my answers may be a bit of a blend of both of yours.
What ship were you completely obsessed with as a teenager, but now you don't care about anymore?
I still actively ship the same pairings I did as a teenager. Mostly because I tend to like canon pairings, so when I engage with a fandom, it tends to be through that lens.
What ship would you consider your first one?
The earliest ship I remember liking is Clark Kent/Lois Lane from Lois and Clark. But this was pre-computer in my house growing up. The first ship I really got into online fan culture with and fan fiction was Harry/Ginny from HP.
Your first fanfic was about which couple?
So I've never written fanfic: I'm more of a fan art person, although I'm pretty shy about posting it. My earliest fan art was probably something Disney...most likely The Little Mermaid as a kid. My most recent foray back into fan art was for The Unknown and Static Strange, Dreamling fic. Otherwise, I've just had fun painting Morpheus' hair.
Do you remember the first couple you saw fan art of?
Most likely Harry/Ginny: there was this excellent artist, whose name (I think) was Marta, who used to post watercolor sketches on her own site called The Art Dungeon: they were gorgeous and really helped shape how I pictured the characters as I read the books. I'd love to find her artwork again to see what her portfolio is like now if she's still working as an artist.
Have you ever gotten into ship discourse?
Oh man...do you know how non-confrontational I am?? I won't touch it with a 10 ft pole: first whiff of a debate going heated and I nope out of there. I took a peek at the Loki tags when season 2 came out and couldn't close my browser fast enough. Ship and let ship, but don't ask me to comment on it.
Did you use to have any NOTP or have one currently?
I generally avoid anything that a huge power imbalance: (think: underage student with an adult teacher). But other than that, I've come to embrace any ship if the writing is good enough. Almost any trope too.
Who were the last couple in the last fanfic you read?
I'm super excited to see Hounds is updating again, even if I've largely moved on from actively pursuing Dreamling. And I LOVED @writing-for-life's The Light of Stars (Morpheus x OC). I dabbled in a few Loki one-shots recently, too.
Currently, do you have any OTPs?
Man, that's hard...because I'm honestly not reading fanfic for the ships: I'm mostly reading it to satisfy the brain rot. So while I tend to prefer canon-adjacent or gen fics (missing moments, alt POV, etc), it seems that the best way to find those is through searching ship tags. Sandman seems to be the exception: I want all of these characters to pair up with all of the other characters and all bets are off the table. If the writing is solid and the plot is intriguing, I'm in!
Is there any couple that, to this day, that you are extremely mad about not getting into?
Not really: I don't invest so much in the ships I like and hate that I can't Ship and Let Ship. Likewise, if I want to read something, I will. And if it's not for me, I'll just ignore it. I also don't get so invested that if it doesn't become canon I'm upset: I kind of figure all things are possible in Lucienne's library
Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they're kind of interesting?
I honestly didn't really like the idea of Dreamling to start: it's not a canon pairing, I wouldn't have put the spin on Hob's character that fandom seems to have latched onto, and I really like that he's the one platonic friendship that Morpheus has able to form. But I find the idea of someone living for that long infinitely intriguing so I dipped into the tags, and some of the most well-known and well-beloved early fics for this pairing really caught my attention and hooked me in. But since then...my interest has waned. As others have pointed out, it's just everywhere and hard to filter. It's also starting to feel a bit OOC as fandom does what they do in shaping a character's portrayal.
I tend to go in spurts where I really like a certain dynamic and then I get bored with the fic selection for a pairing. But generally, I'll always come back to it after enough time. I really want to see more Desire-centric pairings like Desunity as I think they're a really interesting character and it could be interesting to explore them in different relationships given their function.
Do you have any ship that, in the past, would have been considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?
I've been in fandom spaces a long time, but I don't think any of them would be considered problematic today. It's more likely that there are things I used to feel were problematic, but I'm actually okay with now. I've grown a lot as a reader (and a human) over time.
What is your favorite crack ship?
Prob Morpheus and his Helmet (have we named this yet @writing-for-life?? it needs a worthy ship name). I'm also fairly certain that I coined the name Timeslayer for the Loki fandom (or might have simultaneously come up with the name when others did). But I've never seen a ship sink so quickly.
What is the couple you read the most fanfics about?
Lately, it's been Dream x Joanna (ConstantDream) coming off of a big DreamMuse kick that was followed by Dream x Lucienne.
What do most of your ships have in common?
That's hard! I was going to say Hard Candy Shell of a Guy reveals he has a Gooey Nougat Center...but really it just comes down to 1) is the writing good? 2) is the plot intriguing? 3) do the characters feel in-character? If you satisfy those 3 things, I'll likely read it.
What do you absolutely hate in a ship?
Absolutely nothing outright. I'll sometimes go off a ship a little once it reaches that point where fanon locks in too tight around it. But I think that's a very me problem, as I crave variation/new experiences/ideas. I'll still love the ship, I'll just know that's just my time to move onto something new and come back and visit every so often.
^ @windsweptinred couldn't have nailed this better. I crave new: new perspectives, new takes on a character or dynamic, new AU scenarios. So once things get a bit too repetitive across authors, I'll pull back and visit something else.
This was fun! Thanks again for the tags. I've been minimally online this week so am not sure who else has done this: if you follow me and want to participated consider this your chance!
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twopoppies · 2 years
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Imagine thinking that deuxmoi, who up until recently has been saying once a month that Holivia is engaged and Olivia is pregnant, is right about anything. Deuxmoi who confirmed an anon earlier this year that Harry and Emma Coirin had a place together and were in a serious relationship for a year and a half up until he met Olivia, and is now confirming an anon that Harry hooked up with Emma a few times while she was sharing with someone else, but it was nothing serious. She clearly can't keep up with all her lies and constantly contradicts herself. The fact too that Harries are laughing on twitter about how she'll post their fan fiction and pass it off as real, but only if it's about Harry and women. They've sent anons about him and men too but of course deuxmoi doesn't post them. Imagine thinking that Harry and Emma had any romantic or sexual chemistry at Tiff when he was just being his playful and silly self that he is like with everyone. Harries are really scraping the bottom of the barrel because he's not giving them anything. It's giving desperation. I don't understand how deuxmoi still has a platform when she gets 80% wrong and yet there is still gullible and naive people believing every word she says. The few things she gets right is just educated guesses which anyone can do. She does so much backtracking and deleting posts and switching up thoughts and contradicting herself. Harry has been in the industry since he was 16, is media trained and has talked constantly about how private he is and how protective he is over his private life. If you're to believe deuxmoi he sleeps with every single woman he comes across and has 100s of girlfriends at a time and is more than happy to discuss his love life and sex life openly with complete strangers and anyone who will listen. Apparently he has never heard of NDAs. Why is she doing it? Is she a het Harrie projecting her sexual fantasies on him or is she just using his name for clicks? If he does come out of the closet as a gay man I'm 100% sure she'll still be writing fan fiction about him sleeping with every woman he stands next to.
🤣🤣🤣 how did I miss the idiocy of Harry and Emma living together and being in a serious relationship before he met Olivia? Oh my god why does anyone pay attention to this idiot woman? And she’s making a fortune off of this shit.
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inlocusmads · 1 year
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Thank you so much for the tag Cari! @cariantha it is so lovely to get to know you better!
Rules: tag 9 people you'd like to know better
>> Last Song: Don't Fear The Reaper by Blue Öyster Cult. It's such a melodious song and I was jamming out to it just this morning!
>> Last Show: Community, but I'm halfway through it. And 1899. Highly recommend 1899. It is absolutely phenomenal, if you're a fan of mind-bending sci-fi with a dose of historical fiction.
>> Currently watching: BBC Ghosts. It is so delightful and homely and has a fun quirky humour to it. It is so beautiful, honestly and I have to catch up. I think I'm in Series 1, Ep 6 or something.
>> Currently reading: Apart from the lovely fics here in the Choices fandom, I'm also reading some books to get back into my reading habit. Coraline, Dead Poet's Society, Slaughterhouse Five and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. Fun fact, the last book was actually recommended to me by ChatGPT based on my specific sci-fi needs. I haven't read it yet, but I'm excited to get to it!
>> Current Obsession: An unhealthy amount of rapid informatics videos on the London Underground's train networks. My YouTube feed is just filled with them lmao. It's awesome. I've also been hooked onto video essays on just about anything and I'm loving this one about the history of calculus. It's so riveting!
Tagging: @aallotarenunelma @lilyoffandoms @cassie-thorne @missameliep @peonierose @griffinsboyfriend @dr-colossal-pita @jerzwriter @ofmischiefandmedicine
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4. What fandom’s/ship’s fan fiction do you read the most?
5. What’s a crackship you love?
6. What’s the last thing you read that made you laugh?
7. What’s the last thing you read that made you cry?
8. Bed sharing or roommates AU?
10. Mutual pining or enemies to friends to lovers?
18. Do you have a fic reading/writing routine?
19. What’s your favorite character headcanon?
4. What fandom’s/ship’s fan fiction do you read the most?
Easy one. Disney Descendants, Harry Hook/Uma.
I mean, have you seen them?
5. What’s a crackship you love?
I'm not entirely sure what is a crackship? Like a ship that would be a disaster and I do not take it seriously?
Yeah let's go with that. I'm here for the chaos everyone.
Uma/Harry Hook/Claudine Frollo
I might be the only person who thinks it's interesting, but?? Claudine grew up in a cult?? Literally?? Uma is a descendant of greek Parthenon?? And Harry is very much starting a cult on Lost Revenge and I'll fight you on this??
It would be so bad for everyone involved, hell, everyone near, and I want to see it happen.
Mal/CJ Hook
Assuming that they're about the same age.
Are they really into each other? No.
Is their only mutual objective "let's piss off Harry" and "chaos!!"? Yes absolutely.
They also didn't break up properly before D1 and consequently, during Wicked World, the whole Auradon is very confused.
Uma/Harry Hook/Ben
The sheer amount of bullshit the pirates would get away with while dating the high king ✨
He's also their sugar daddy and doesn't know it.
Uma/Harry Hook/Audrey Rose
I think they'd get along swimmingly and it would be absolutely terrifying for everyone else.
It's also like weird qpr situation?? The tabloids are getting headaches.
Like, Audrey (an aro ace) went "so you think a princess should be involved in a proper romantic and sexual relationship? Fine yeah I can do that."
And no one had a good time ever since ✨
...And yeah I should probably stop there.
7. What’s the last thing you read that made you cry?
My math exam. Does that count?
... Really I'm not sure.
8. Bed sharing or roommates AU?
...Neither?
None of these are gonna make me click on a fic if that's all that is going on.
But bed sharing I guess. There is probably some angst and/or hurt/comfort too.
10. Mutual pining or enemies to friends to lovers?
I don't like romance tropes on their own-
Like, get to it already. I don't have all day.
Enemies to lovers I guess? But I will be disappointed if weapons are not involved.
18. Do you have a fic reading/writing routine?
During the school year, yeah, I'd write Sunday evening or the evening before exam! Kind of like, well it's not like I'd do anything productive now, so I might as well ✨
19. Do you have a favourite character headcanon?
I have way too much of these. It's what I do in my free time.
Can you give me a character?
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checkoutmybookshelf · 9 months
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The Start of a Grudging Self-Explanation
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Ok, having made exactly zero bones about why I am pissed as hell with Jim Butcher and the Dresden files in general and dedicating this whole entire post to explaining why the books took a shitty ableist turn, I suppose it's only fair to explain how I got involved in the series in the first place, and why I was such a mega fan until Peace Talks and Battle Ground. Because I was, and frankly there is a reason for that. Admittedly, most of the reason is that Jim Butcher and William Shakespeare both have the ability to pull lore and extant texts into the blender that is their mind and spit out something that is somehow exponentially more than the sum of its parts (yes, I will explain this more). So let's start this Dresden journey, and let's talk Storm Front.
My original choice to pick up the Dresden Files was quite literally a case of exposure therapy. I was a library aide for my entire senior year of high school, and part of my job was updating the school's Library Thing account (literally I have no idea if this site sitll exists, I never used it after I graduated and uh...yeah). That was also the year that the school got all the Dresden Files books that were out at the time (and this was 2008/2009, so that was Storm Front through Small Favor), and not only did I spend an inordinate amount of time staring at the covers when I was updating Library thing but I also was shelving them on the regular, because they kept being checked out.
So I was seeing and holding and interacting with the physical book objects on the regular, and those early covers are legitimately eye-grabbing and I got curious. So the summer after I graduated high school and kind of didn't have anything to do while I was waiting to start college, I picked up Storm Front, the first Dresden Files novel.
I'm not gonna surgarcoat these books, especially the early ones. Storm Front is fine. Fine enough that yeah, I picked up the next book, and the next, and the one after that, but as far as debut novels go, there are WAY stronger ones out there (if anyone is interested, let me know, I will happily make a list but I'm not derailing this post for that right now). The writing is fine; it's grammatically correct, it has a strong voice, and it clearly and interestingly conveys the plot to me. But it's not any better than fine.
What hooks you for this first book, though, is Harry himself. Our little baby wizard is a hot mess, and he knows he's a hot mess, but that self-aware hot mess-ness is constantly and consistently at war with his self-professed chivalrous side.
I gotta say, that chivalrous side reads HELLA paternalistic and patriarchal, especially early on. It tones down--sort of--in later books, but it never goes away and it has a tendency to return with a goddamn vengeance in situations that lend themselves to Harry's idea of white knighting. I have dropped books never to return to them for significantly less paternalistic, patriarchal chivalry, so what made me keep reading here? Genre.
The Dresden Files, and the early books in particular, have deep, strong roots in pulp fiction, hardboiled detective fiction, and noir fiction. Misogyny, the male gaze, and paternalistic attiudes tend to be baked into the genre in the same way morally grey antiheroes are. So I didn't love it, but I was prepared to accept its presence because if you walk into a noirish detective story, it's kind of not fair to complain about the things that MAKE it noir. The series as a whole also does this weird thing where it starts really noir and detective-y, then that fades to the background as the world expands, but then it comes ROARING back in the later books. It's a weird arc, I gotta say.
Storm Front itself is a pretty straightforward urban fantasy noir hardboiled detective book, with a pretty straightforward plot. The world and characters were sufficiently interesting to hold my attention, and this is where we return to the "Shakespeare and Butcher are both phenomenal synthesizers" claim, which as a Shakespeare scholar feels both hideously accurate and exquisitely cringe.
Wizards aren't new to Dresden Files. Vampires aren't new to Dresden Files. Chicago gangsters aren't new to Dresden Files. Fairies are not new to Dresden Files. Butcher actually introduces very very little in terms of original ideas to the series--and believe it or not, this isn't actually a criticism. Lore, genre, and tropes exist and persist for a reason, and the skill comes in how you take a zillion disparate parts and combine them into a new whole. Shakespeare did this with all his plays, and as a result his plays are the versions of many much-older stories that are baked into our current pop culture. Jim frickin' Butcher has somehow managed to take Harry Dresden and do a very similar thing. It's a wildly on-the-nose parallel, and I kind of hate it on principle, but then we remember that Shakespeare was the pulpy pop culture phenomenon of his day and we cannot close our eyes to the parallel evidence. Even though we hates it, precious.
To bring a chapter of a much longer story to a close for now, I would tell you that what kept me reading this series after the first book was the synthesis of the lore, and Harry Dresden being a compelling character in his own right. I was half expecting this to be a gimmick and that I might not make it through the whole series, but I very much fell down this rabbit hole, to the point that I am furious and will die mad about the latest entries into the series. But for there to be that level of fury and betrayal, there had to be a deep love first.
Stay tuned, I will go through the series and keep telling this story.
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