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flyingfluse · 6 months

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AZIRAPHALE SONG

Did anyone ask me to write a song about Aziraphale? Nope. Did I feel the undying need to spend every free second of the last two months doing it anyway, loosing my sanity in the process? Absolutely. So here are the lyrics for Aziraphale Alone, a 8-9 minute classical music/musical inspired soliloquy of our favorite angel, diving into his brilliant and confused brain after the season 2 finale. Enjoy!

(note: I plan on posting a version that is less explicitly romantic, especially without a certain section in this song, for people who view their love as ace and don’t feel comfortable reading their ship in this light)

Aziraphale Alone

Heaven. Aziraphale is alone, lonely, exhausted. And a bit annoyed.

Endless white, so blank, so bright.

This place is unbearably dull.

No colours, no smells, no ringing bell

As the door opens to the shop of Mr. Fell.

No vintage wine, no books, no Sondheim!

No trace of humour or wits.

No Sundays in Parks, no clever remarks

And no dinners at the Ritz.

Aziraphale fondly remembers his time on earth with a certain someone.

At night my heart's turned into rivers of ink,

When there was magic in the air.

And in the blink of an eye I would sink

Into the depths of a warm yellow glare

Building a home, fragile yet quaint

With a good fortune to share

A place with the pleasure of no self-restraint

Where stars are made in the most fervid of flares.

Our timeless dance is enchanting the shop

No miracle could compare.

(reluctant) Then the music stopped. The curtain dropped.

(woeful) And no nightingale sang in Berkeley -.

(Composing himself) You and I have spent millennia working on opposite sites.

And truly I as a dutiful angel was meant to resent and despise

The foul fiend demon Crowley supposedly one of the worst of his kind,

But the meanest, most hurtful deed you ever did was uttering those lines.

Music picks ups speed. Choir joins in as well as the full orchestra.

(getting more and more irritated) How could you dare to simply declare

the absence of our song?

When I was right there, one half of the pair,

of the us you claimed you long to be!

But apparently so

there's so much I don't know!

As if I hadn't learnt a thing

seeing how they burnt your wings,

casting you down below!

I may seem naive, but there's one thing I now understand

That we can't achieve peace, when our castle is made of sand.

Our lovely reprieve has finally come to an end!

For there will be another storm we can't take cover from.

We must act now there's no time for laments!

And there was a solution how we could reduce any

risk of losing what matters most,

So then how could you choose to leave me and refuse

the chance we could have used to finally depose

The faulty regime, heaven's design

is flawed, I know, I am not blind!

That's why we need to find a way to make it right

For heaven's the root of truth, goodness in light.

Still certainly better than the other side!

There may be exemptions to the rule,

But hell is still callous cold and cruel

With torment and torture as daily routines.

Do you think I haven't seen

How you have suffered all these years?

How you have struggled to fight the fear,

That's lingering in your eyes, when you try to hide

your kindness behind a shady guise.

You say you're not nice, a demon who's wily

Wicked, vicious, who always lies.

You can fool everyone and yourself,

But I know your goodness far too well.

Your heart and decency break quietly, secretly

straight through the ceiling of what is allowed!

You act when something‘s wrong, knowing you could be gone

right when the graveyard yawns and hell breathes out.

(Softly) Can you blame me for wanting to see

You smile like you did back then,

When stars filled your eyes with wonder and glee.

I just want you to be that happy again.

You‘ve grown so gloomy, weary and tired.

So I tried to bring you the sun,

(hurt) But you‘ve clarified that‘s not what you desire.

I don‘t even know why I’m stunned,

I guess I was the silly one.

He remembers what followed after their argument.

But then you pulled me in, caught me by surprise,

Warning sirens were howling above.

But shock and confusion would quickly subside.

One glorious moment it all wore off.

One ardent touch and the world fell away

And with it the looming and intricate veil

Of pretence, apprehension, prejudice and pride,

I get lost in indulgence that we’ve been denied.

My hands wander up as my thoughts wander down.

The taste of your tempting lips lets me drown

Deep in your divine, deserving embrace,

Your sweet velvet wine, I could drink it for days.

A ravenous craving I’ve tried to control

To selfishly savour your body and soul.

The music crescendos, getting faster and faster.

Oh how I wish we could just run

Away and paint our own shade of grey.

A fervent mix of blue and red,

Two parts of a painting that finally connect.

You take the wheel, full speed ahead,

Home, to a place where we will forget

The watchful eyes and silent threats

and at last-

Stop!

You‘re going too fast.

(Broken)

Endless white, it shines so brightly through the open blinds.

I shakily stand on this earth we were send to and

can't understand just what I should do.

These quarrelsome queries that I've grown so wary of

haunting my mind like ghosts in a tomb.

How to follow my heart with the song of the lark

bringing back bitter sweetness I‘ve tried to discard?

I just try to be good.

I need to be good.

Why is that so incredibly hard?

And maybe I’m where the problem lies, a

pathetic excuse for an angel for sure,

Destined to fail, disloyal, a liar,

Too soft, too scared and too insecure.

(Overcome with love) But you‘ve made a change, you helped me see

That I am worth the effort of

Risking paperwork to save me from quandaries,

That me being there is more than enough.

You‘re so much kinder than everyone else,

So how come that you are the one who fell?

Even though I have been also defying them,

so terrified of losing her love.

Can’t tell, what’s right or wrong, now that you're truly gone,

how can I move along in the above?

Still, my faith in god stand, I know she’s got a plan

So ineffable even to those who attempt

To end life here on earth, erase progress and mirth

It just can’t be true that all this was meant to be!

(He stops. Shocked. Scared.)

(slowly) Asking questions that’s how it starts,

First the fall, then falling apart.

Can it be that it’s hell I am running towards?

But maybe just maybe her divine intent

has always been for me to thwart!

(With growing conviction) God can’t be where the problem lies,

But there’s a blaze scorching the management board.

It’s said that you must fight fire with fire,

And I was the one given the flaming sword!

I can’t just turn my back and run,

I’ll get that book, take out my gun,

Won’t shoot past the ear, but aim for the head,

a moral argument they won’t forget!

I will make a change. I will make them see

We don’t need more floods but simply a dove!

Don’t they know heaven’s supposed to be

A place of kindness and love?

And you, my dear, left me no choice

But to walk this path alone

Like water off ducks, this picture of us,

Slid right through my fingers, turning to dust.

I left my home, lost all I loved

Though one thing I couldn‘t stand

Even if nothing lasts forever

I cannot lose my best friend!

You’ve rescued me so many times,

all part of our little dance.

And now that the music has picked up its pace

it’s my turn to take a stance!

I get it now! You won‘t come back,

but I won’t wait till they attack!

Got some things to suggest,

This time I won‘t stand still!

I’m a guardian angel and protect this world I will!

(Quieter, gentler, but with equal resolve)

Protect my world, I will.

#I originally planned a 4 minute piece #but anything less than what I’ve written felt like it wouldn’t have done justice to Mr. “Let-me-start-at-the-VERY-beginning”#I will eventually make a recording #but this will most likely include a full blown orchestra and choir and I don’t have the time for all that atm #I just couldn’t resist sharing it any longer #this series has taken over my life #thank you Neil Gaiman and Michael Sheen for inspiring me to write this #good omens #good omens 2 #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #the final fifteen #do it again #good omens meta #character song #good omens song #good omens poem #good omens art #good omens music

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onceuponapuffin · 2 months

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It's my birthday so I'm gonna get a little sappy.

8 months ago I felt like I was boring and weird. I felt it was a wonder that anyone wanted to put up with me. I was getting back into reading a bit, I had tried and failed to get into law school, and overall I felt like a disappointment and a failure.

Getting obsessed with Good Omens and being involved in the Fandom has changed my life. I write for fun now, I read all the time, I will very soon be ready to start streaming on Twitch again. I have friends who join me in my enthusiasm for the show, and strangers online who like the things I have to say, and it inspires me to try new things and post like I have 1000 followers even though I have like 30?? I feel like I matter, I feel like I have Things To Say, and that people want to hear them.

Hard to feel like a disappointment when I'm so busy being happy and confident and planning my future. I didn't get into law school but I did get accepted to a masters program for library science, so you won't find me moping about being a failure because I'm too busy screaming about my successes (big and small) to anyone who will listen.

And a LOT of this is because of this Fandom and the people in it. I know that there are unfriendly corners of it where people don't feel welcome, but here in this corner where I have found myself, I feel like I'm home.

So thank you Ineffable Fandom. I love you. And thank you also to the Golden Trio of @neil-gaiman , David Tennant, and Michael Sheen.

With Ineffable Love,

Puffin.

#good omens #ineffable husbands #good omens fandom #ineffable fandom

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serenity-black · 5 months

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Bittersweet <3

I finally finished writing the only thing that I have been able to write in the last 10 years. I know Neil Gaiman doesn't read fanfiction but I owe Terry and him, and the whole cast and crew of Good Omens so much. They all created something so wonderful and unwittingly gave me the inspiration to start writing again. Something that I have been desperately missing for a decade.

78,742 words, 24 chapters, and 4 months later it's complete and I am ready to relax for a bit.

HOWEVER, I am not done. Now that I'm back in the game and all warmed up now I get to write something original and 100% mine.

So thank you all. Thank you to Terry and Neil. Thank you to Michael Sheen and David Tennant. Thank you to the cast and crew that worked on Good Omens. And thank you very much to my readers, my ducklings, for being amazing and so supportive.

I have the words back and I finally feel like me again. 💜

Thank you.

-Serenity_Black

**Don't mind me, I was just really tired and really giddy to get to clear this off finally.**

#renew good omens #good omens #good omens 2 #good omens 3 #good omens 3 fanfiction #thank you #michael sheen #david tennant #neil gaiman #terry pratchett #fanfic authors #fanfiction writer #good omens fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic #author

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celestialcrowley · 29 days

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Hi! For the fanfic author ask… 🥕, 🥨, 🍕, 🍔. Any and/or all! 🥰

Hi, @zeldamacgregor!

I chose some extra question for the any and/or all. One of those — the first one — took courage to include. 😁

🥝 Who are your literary influences, and have they shaped your own writing?

🪴 Neil Gaiman. Should I tag him? I’m going to tag him. @neil-gaiman. Oh, lord, heal this bike. I did it. I’ve been scared to — and to even pop in to say hi to him — because I’m a shy awkward bean, and he’s someone who very much inspires me. He’s a phenomenal writer, and — how do I say this? — my mother and I watched Good Omens, and because of how … anti … she is, I was honestly about to fly onto the ceiling during the Final Fifteen. She’s gone from outright stating she will not watch shows or movies involving anything LGBTQ+ to telling me that she wants to watch Good Omens again. She even raves to her friends about it. I’m not sure if you’ll see this, but thank you, Neil. You truly are a legend. Here’s to you, Sir Terry Pratchett and season three.🥂

🥕 What's your favorite fic you've written, and why?

🪴 Memory Reboot. It’s a WIP and my first multi chapter piece for the Good Omens fandom. To get to the fluff, we must first survive the angst. It’s my favorite mostly because of the original character I created that wasn’t actually supposed to be in the story. He was only intended to be an RP character, but here we are. Allow me to introduce you to Raven. A Nephalem. Half angel. Half demon. Writing him is a blast!

🥨 How do you overcome writer's block?

🪴 I honestly don’t know. 😂 Perhaps lurking about to see what other writers are up to in hopes of finding motivation or by rewatching Good Omens. Or being affectionately yelled at to write like Michael Sheen yelled DAVID WHAT HAS HAPPEN TO YOUR HAIR. Seriously. Do it. Haha.

🍕 What's your favorite comment you've received on a fic?

🪴 I can’t choose just one. There are too many.

🍔 What's a headcanon that hasn't made it into a published fic yet?

🪴 Ooh! I headcanon that Crowley might grumble about it, or at least never admit out loud — he might even pretend to hate it — but he would absolutely love to be held by Aziraphale. To have the angel run his fingers through his hair. To fall asleep in his arms and wake up in them as well. Why? Love. And also because the chaos demon pretty much short-circuited here…

And here…

Sorry, I’m awkward. I’ll shut up now.

🍭 What's been your most challenging story to write, and why?

🪴 Memory Reboot because *Gabriel voice* there’s a lot happening.

🍩 What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

🪴 Let’s see — there will be good days where the words will do the thing and bad days where they won’t do the thing. There might even come a day where you’re not happy with what you’ve written and want to scrap the whole thing. If that happens, take a break and do something else that you enjoy. Talk about it with your beta if you have one, or with someone else you feel comfortable sharing it with. Some fics or chapters may get more love than others, but don’t get discouraged. Don’t give up. Keep writing. 💚

#the ghost speaks

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sunny-sideup-4 · 9 months

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My review on Good Omens Season Two (also posted to Amazon Prime Video Reviews)

This season, this show in general, is beautifully written, directed, and executed. I can't perfectly describe how the story and characters just grab ahold of your attention instantaneously and keep you drawn in the entire time. There is never a dull moment. You become fully invested in the storyline and form a connection with the characters in a way that I, personally, haven't felt in YEARS. Despite the fictional nature of this story, the characters truly feel real and deal with very real internal and interpersonal conflict. This season was a reminder that we don't magically get fairytale endings-- we work for them. We make them ourselves through hard work and dedication. Through growth, change, and communication. I eagerly await the next season.

Now here's the special bit only for Tumblr: I have rewatched this show several times from beginning to end. I have watched it in it's entirety with my girlfriend and begun watching it with friends as well, with the intention of them becoming inspired in the same way I have. This season singlehandedly reignited a spark I had lost in 2020. In 2019, I was diagnosed with several chronic illnesses and began treatments for them in 2020, one week before the pandemic shut down the world. Learning I would forever live in a vessel that would always be sick... was soul crushing. Though things were starting to look up for my health through treatments that helped me manage my symptoms, I had lost the creative fire that roared at the very center of my being. It would come back in short little bursts of easily put out embers. I would write or draw or paint for a few days and then stop for months at a time, only to fall back into the never ending routine of going to work then coming home to lay on the couch in a deep depression that felt inescapable. I found other ways to be creative that were fulfilling- like crochet. I've deeply enjoyed the feel of yarn and hook moving in tandem to create a beautiful piece of fiber art to gift to others or keep for myself. I've enjoyed the peace it gives my over-active brain. There is no room for wild, unruly thoughts when my hands are constantly moving.

However, it never felt the same as it did when I was creating entire worlds in my head to escape into. It never brought the same sense of joy. It was fulfilling but not in the same way that set my soul ablaze. Good Omens Season two has opened a new chapter for me. It unlocked the prison cell that my creativity had been locked away in to rot. I am writing again. I am bringing ideas and stories to life. Plotting the the downfall and glorious uprising of characters once more. I feel alive again. I feel whole again. While I may keep my stories between myself and my close-knit chosen family, I finally have new stories to tell again. Thank you Neil Gaiman, @neil-gaiman. Thank you Michael Sheen and David Tennant. Thank you to the other actors and the crew that worked on this show and brought this story to the screens of the world. Thank you to Terry Pratchett, may he rest in peace, for his part in creating this story with Neil Gaiman. Thank you for telling a story that reaching into my chest and started my heart again. Thank you for telling a story that I could relate to. One that reflects parts of myself that few others can see. I don't think I will ever be able to say enough thank you's to convey how grateful I truly am.

To anyone who shares a story similar to mine- I see you. Keep fighting, keep growing, keep changing. Keep searching for hope in every crack and crevice of the world until you can even just the tiniest of slivers and let that help you to keep going until you can find yourself again. Until you can find your spark once more. I promise you that it's out there somewhere. Sometimes you will find in in unexpected places... like I found mine again, in Good Omens. Don't give up. Please. Please keep searching. Don't leave any stone unturned.

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens season two #neil gaiman #david tennant #michael sheen #good omens fandom #hope #inspiration #story telling

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bastardsallofyou · 9 months

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By the time I’ve fallen asleep and woke up, Good Omens 2 will be out (inconvenient time zones, what’s up?)!! And I’m so so excited, but also sad to see the Good Omens 1 era close. It’s so weird to me that we’ll have to clarify whether we’re talking about season 1 or 2 when talking about good omens from now on.

I haven’t had to wait an extortionate amount of time for Good Omens 2-I only watched the first season a year and a half ago, though it seems, simultaneously, like just yesterday, and an eternity ago. I made a new years resolution at the end of 2021 to watch more TV shows, as I’d never been a tv show kind of person but still had some I wanted to watch but had procrastinated on. (Ironic, considering 2020/2021 would’ve been a perfect time to do so.) Good Omens was the driving force for that resolution- I watched a video of the best quotes, and I was hooked. I started watching- I kid you not- on the 1st of January. And that tremendous start to the year was the reason I kept that resolution all the way through 2022. (I watched 7 TV shows, compared to just 1 the year before.)

Good Omens really did change my life. It made me start watching Dr Who from the 10th doctor instead of the 11th- thank god, I’d kick myself now if I missed out on Rose and Donna. It made me fall in love with both David Tennant and Michael Sheen, and fall in love all over again with Neil Gaiman’s work after reading Coraline and the Graveyard Book as a child. It made me start reading Sir Terry’s books- another resolution for this year- as I never had the privilege of doing that when I was younger. I got closer to some of my real-life friends who also like our wonderful show. I made this account and made some amazing mutuals. Though I don’t talk to any of you guys (which I’ve gathered is kind of normal on tumblr in my year here, none of us are super social), you’re all super cool, and I regularly think “wow, this person has great taste” or ”aww they always reblog my posts :)” Good Omens inspired me enough to make me want to post my writing online for the first time, and the support you’ve all given that has been lovely.

And, finally, it reaffirmed my bad habit of looking at a piece of media/an artist, etc, going “ooh that’s cool,” watching a video of it, and forgetting it exists until I find it again and become obsessed. But my obsession has reached a new high with Good Omens- I mayyy have made my desk into a Good Omens shrine this evening in celebration of the release.

But anyway- thank you. Thank you to the Good Omens fandom. You’re all so talented, and welcoming and lovely. Thank you to Neil and Terry for this amazing story, to Michael, David, Nina, Maggie and the whole cast of people who have made this story come to life in such a magical way. You’ve changed my life for the better, and I look forward to stepping into this next chapter with you all.

#good omens #good omens 2 #thank you #things i love

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ourimpavidheroine · 3 years

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Happy Belated New Year! I was just wondering if, during the pandemic, you found any new (or old, but new to you) tv shows that you've fallen in love with? Or otherwise liked enough to binge and/or watch on a regularly basis? I remember noticing you mention something about the books you've read, and I wondered if the same could be applied to another creative media.

So I suppose I should preference this by saying that sometimes I watch things because they are excellent television and sometimes I watch things because they amuse me regardless of quality. I am not above being merely entertained by media; sometimes that’s all I want and frankly, I think that’s fine.

1. The Mandalorian. Which, if I am going to be honest, has saved the bloated, rotting carcass of my once-beloved Star Wars franchise for me. And not just because of Grogu, either; Pedro Pascal is great as a character who never shows his face (but still manages to express so much emotion and intent through voice and movement) and frankly, anybody who would bring Amy Sedaris in as a reoccurring character has my vote, so thank you for everything, Jon Favreau.

2. RWBY. I am not a big fan of Rooster Teeth - that sort of frat boy geek club thing they do there holds no interest for me. But I do love RWBY and, no offense to the late Monty Oum at all, but the past few seasons have really tightened the storylines and improved the writing. Also, they’ve been making an effort to bring in some diversity there which I have appreciated. (For a very much adult show, I really enjoyed gen:LOCK and am looking forward to its second season. I’ve actually been wanting to write some gen:LOCK fanfiction, so that should tell you something!)

3. Snowpiercer (Netflix). Yeah, I enjoyed this! Great cast and plot twists and turns that were earned, not just thrown in there for shock factor. Daveed Diggs and Jennifer Connolly have great chemistry and it works, especially in the sort of claustrophobic atmosphere the show has. I love it when characters are morally gray and both of them play morally gray characters and it works.

4. The Untamed (Netflix). I loved this so much I watched the entirety of it twice. Obviously China took out the love story between the two main characters in the book when they filmed it (hello, state-sanctioned homophobia!) but it’s still there if you are looking for it. Gorgeous, lush costuming and scenery (although terrible wigs on the guys, wtf, ever heard of a lace front?) and some inspired casting in some of the roles. It’s that sort of swooping, epic story that I love and you don’t realize until the very end who has been pulling a lot of the strings (and when you do find out, it’s glorious).

5. Doom Patrol. This is a weird fucking show and I love it. I mean, it’s weird. But in all the ways that tick my boxes. And bless, but Brendan Fraser as a foul-mouthed Dale Earnhardt robot man is something I never knew I needed or wanted but I did, I really, really did. Also, Diane Guerrero is astonishingly good. She won’t get any awards for it - Doom Patrol is not the kind of show that gets awards - but she should.

6. Queer Eye. I watched the original when it aired nearly 20 years ago but the reboot is so much better. SO MUCH. The original was so elitist...I remember in one episode that Thom, the interior decorator, gave this couple with three small kids a glass coffee table and I was like, the fuck is wrong with you? Not only is it dangerous for them in terms of injuries but do you have a clue how often they will be cleaning dirty handprints off that thing? Same with Ted, the cooking guru, who gave complicated recipes with difficult to source ingredients which was just ridiculous. The reboot, on the other hand, is wonderful. Antoni not only teaches cooking techniques but gives recipes that people can realistically make (and pays attention to if the person has kids, is of a certain heritage, etc.). Bobby designs real homes that can be used by the people who live in them (including being kid-friendly, and disability-friendly, for example). Tan is an endless resource of real fashion advice that can benefit ANYBODY, not just sample sized people, and he doesn’t try to make people into someone they aren’t - he just enhances and polishes who they are and who they want/need to be. Jonathan is not only a joy to behold but again, is someone who gives people real grooming advice and haircuts that they can actually keep up with (as opposed to a fancy cut that will take a lot of upkeep that you know the person won’t do) and he gladly delegates to other professionals when he knows he can’t do what is needed (fixing some matted dreads, for example). Karamo is a former social worker who LISTENS to people and really connects with them one on one to help build their confidence and tackle issues. (His predecessor, Jai, was completely useless and to this day I have no idea what he was supposed to be accomplishing.) I love Queer Eye. I love how these five men show by example how men can be nurturing, caring, affectionate and supportive. I love how open they are about their own issues, how open they are with their clients about it as well. (Although I will never EVER stop being pissed off that the producers allowed that fucking white cop to pull over Karamo like that for a “joke”.)

7. The Expanse. Yes, there are a lot of differences between the show and the books. But I don’t mind them; if anything I just look at the TV show as a different entity altogether and judge it accordingly. This is the first “hard” sci-fi I’ve really enjoyed since the Battlestar Galactica reboot ended. (The reboot of Galactica remains one of my favorite TV shows of ever, btw. I’ve tried to re-watch it but it reminds me too much of my late wife and I just can’t. But that’s on me and not the show.)

8. Good Omens. This was a delight, from start to finish. I read the book when it originally came out (my paperback copy is battered and well-loved) and it makes me laugh just as much today as it did 30 years ago. What more can be said about how absolutely fantastic David Tennant and Michael Sheen are? Or the careful and loving way Douglas Mackinnon handled the source material? Neil Gaiman meant this as a love letter to his much-missed friend Terry Pratchett and it succeeded in every single way.

9. RuPaul’s Drag Race. What can I say? I watch all of its variations. It’s overblown and relies on cheap, drummed up drama and I don’t give a shit. I’ve been watching since it first premiered and continue watching. Although I’m not yet sold on the new Porkchop plot twist thing this season.

10. Killing Eve. Oh man. A love story between two women, one of whom is a sociopathic serial killer? It’s so wrong and yet so, so right. Great performances by Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer. I especially love that they don’t try to somehow rehabilitate Villanelle; that would just ruin the entire thing. Oh and Fiona Shaw is one of my favorite character actresses and she does not disappoint. If you like your TV dark then this is the show for you.

2020′s been a weird year for TV, for sure. Kind of scarce, thanks to the pandemic, but what can you do? Anyhow, here’s my top 10, Anon!

#tv recommendations #personal #long post #Anonymous

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pictsies-crivens · 5 years

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The Tattoo Post

It's been a couple of weeks in coming, but, it is time I gathered my thoughts together and wrote about the tattoos I got 2.5 weeks ago, and the reasoning behind them. I'll cross-post on Twitter at some point. Apologies, it's a long one.

Here they are:

The explanation: a sad tale of the end of a marriage, now ten entire years ago. The original tattoo, on my upper arm, a birthday gift from my spouse to match their own. I won't go in to details, but we shall say the events surrounding The End caused an episode of extreme depression, and the thoughts that will inevitably accompany such episodes.

I found myself one afternoon soon after The End, sitting on the floor of the new house I had rented with my teenaged children, setting up the television service. I saw Alex Kingston, who caught my eye, as we have the exact same hair (I call her my hair twin). She was standing in the midst of a group of soldiers, with a lovely young redhead, and a young fellow in tweed. The young fellow said, "I’m about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do, jump." (Note: Whovians can probably guess I'm talking about Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone.) I remember being confused, as my dad watched Doctor Who when it aired on PBS and the Doctor guy certainly didn't look LIKE THAT. I finished watching the episode, then saw Smith and Jones (a Tennant one). Welp, I was hooked. I fell more and more for this quirky crazed show, finding other Whovians online and in the graduate classes I was enrolled in. If you notice the silhouette inside the TARDIS door, you'll discover who my Doctor is. Step the first to distracting my broken mind from it's singular focus on the dark.

I know, gentle reader, you're probably thinking, shut up, what about Crowley? Well, I'm getting there.

Step the second: I've randomly engaged with the work of Neil Gaiman through the years, starting with Sandman. I became a fan in earnest after watching Stardust (maybe 2 to 3 years after its initial release). It was in the quicksand slow-sink of my after-divorce that I found Good Omens. Gods, it was like taking in a lungfull of clear air after the near drowning in sorrow I was doing every day. I genuinely laughed, probably the first time since, well, you know, reading the paintball incident. Those ineffable idiots bring me such joy. I found Sir Terry Pratchett, DiscWorld, and the delirious giddiness his writing brings my soul.

I decided, a few years back, to cover up my tattoo that shares a similar pattern with the one on my former spouse. With what? Had to be something I loved, something that had brought me joy, one of those things that had been my life raft. The decision was easy. Doctor Who (space scene and the TARDIS, maybe Starry Night?) for the cover up, and the book cover image of Crowley (who, I had decided, was the greatest character ever conceived of in fiction). This perfectly imperfect and adorable thing right here, if you were wondering which book cover:

Well, I gathered the funds, and researched artists. I found the quite talented and cool as all get out David Cox (https://www.instagram.com/davidcoxtattoos/) and was all set to go, I was thinking, yes, this summer.

On May 31, the show dropped, and I saw a living, breathing Crowley. And my precious, impossible, enough of a bastard to be worth liking/knowing Aziraphale. (Yes, I'll probably tattoo something of him, though Michael Sheen is forever inked upon my heart now). The dam in my head with ten years of writer's block collapsed, leaving floods of words and stories in its wake. I'm writing again; I've found my (Ineffable) Muses. Searching out for my fellows in fandom here on Tumblr, I saw an art piece by the insanely talented @retrouvel.

I sent a message after a couple days thought, and asked if I could base our Crowley design off their idea. And bless them infinitely, they said yes. A bit of a change, because I wanted WINGS, and a more traditional tattoo look, but at heart, it was inspired by the amazing Retrouvel, and I can't thank them enough. Do note, he's still sideways, though not exactly sauntering. That's why I have flame haired Crowley. Apologies to Master Gaiman for the use of his fantastic line from Sandman #6 and the capitalisation of a letter that is not so in its original form. It is a favorite phrase of mine, for all its infinite possible connotations.

I'll end with this: Friends, when you're drowning as I was, find something, anything to cling to. I had my now adult offspring (hi kids didn't forget you), a lovely therapist called Misty, my Doctors😉 and my Gaiman and Pratchett; to them I still cling so very tightly. Remember, there's someone, probably more than just one someone, that wants you to stay. I'm one of them. Find your buoy, your life jacket, anything that floats in your ocean of tears and doubt (tell Rose to bunch over, there's room on that door) and bloody cling to it. Just call for it, send up a flare, rescue will come.

#good omens #aziraphale #crowley #anthony janthony crowley #goodomens #gnu terry pratchett #peter capaldi #doctor who #tattoos #neil gaiman #apologies to neil gaiman #Retrouvel #hi nick frost i still love you the tattoo about you is coming soon #sandman #hi guys if you need help the trevor project is awesome #if youre looking for a place to donate money trevor project

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the-desolated-quill · 5 years

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Good Omens, Queerbaiting And Death Of The Author - Quill’s Scribbles

I confess this is the most reluctant I’ve ever been to write a Scribble. When this topic came up, I remember just groaning and putting my head in my hands because I knew that, due to the nature of what I tend to write about on this blog and the fact that I’m an out and out biromantic demisexual queerbo, people would be asking me to contribute to the discourse. And honestly I don’t particularly want to. I don’t get to enjoy many films and TV shows anymore thanks to the industry doing their very best to ruin everything they touch. Can’t I just watch one good TV show without being dragged into some ideological battle?

Okay. Guess I can’t really put this off any longer.

On the 31st May, the long awaited adaptation of Good Omens was released on Amazon Video. I thought it was quite good. Not perfect. There are some things I could criticise, but overall it was a worthy adaptation of the source material and it was very enjoyable to watch. And that seems to be the general consensus with both critics and fans. However over the past couple of months since its release, a ‘controversy’ began to emerge within the fandom regarding the show’s main characters Aziraphale and Crowley. See, a large proportion of both the media and the Good Omens fanbase have interpreted the angel/demon double act as being gay, but this has sparked a backlash from some fans with them going so far as to accuse the show of queerbaiting as the show never explicitly confirms the characters’ sexuality. This then led to a backlash to the backlash, sparking a whole debate as to what constitutes good LGBT representation. Not only that, Neil Gaiman, the showrunner and original co-author of Good Omens, has stubbornly refused to confirm one way or the other whether or not Aziraphale and Crowley are more than just good friends, which has added further fuel to the fire.

Now before we go any further, I just want to disavow one argument that I see cropping up a lot and that really gets under my skin. That Aziraphale and Crowley can’t possibly be gay because they’re not men. They’re genderless beings that feel no sexual attraction. The implication being that the characters are asexual, but the way you hear people going on about it, the Ineffable Husbands seem less asexual and more like soulless robots. First off, you do know asexual people feel love too, right? We’re not Vulcans. Second, can we stop this ridiculous logic that they can’t be gay because they’re not men? It reminds me of the ‘controversy’ that surrounded Mass Effect 3 when BioWare confirmed that you could play as a gay male Commander Shepard. When people pointed out to the critics and haters that you could already play as a gay Shepard if you picked FemShep and pursued Liara, they retorted by saying that Liara doesn’t count as a woman because she’s a ‘monogendered alien.’ And my response to that was... so? She still looks like a woman and she still uses female pronouns. If FemShep is attracted to her, there’s a good chance she might be gay. It really is that simple. Aziraphale and Crowley may be genderless, but they look like men and use male pronouns. So if they were attracted to each other, they just might be gay. Period.

Anyway. Tangent over. Lets talk about Aziraphale and Crowley. You might be wondering where I stand on this whole issue. Do I believe that Aziraphale and Crowley are gay? Well honestly it depends on which version we’re talking about here. If we’re talking about the book version, I would say probably not. Don’t get me wrong. I’m almost certain book Aziraphale is gay as there are a number of references that seem to suggest that. His bookshop is in Soho, which is famous for its thriving LGBT community, the narrator mentions him going to a ‘discreet gentlemen’s club’ in the 1800s, and there’s of course this brilliant line:

“Many people, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide.”

So yeah. There was never a doubt in my mind that book Aziraphale was gay. (And before anyone comments saying that the next line mentions that Aziraphale isn’t gay because angels are sexless unless they make the effort, let me ask you something. Who, out of all the characters in the book, does he make a genuine effort for? Aha!). Book Crowley on the other hand isn’t quite so clear cut. Sure there are occasional flashes of something, but it could easily just be interpreted as being gestures of friendship rather than romance. Personally I always saw book Crowley as being more aromantic/asexual. In fact their relationship reminded me a lot of my relationship with my best friend. I’m more like Aziraphale, due to being very camp, somewhat old fashioned and often quite emotional, whereas my friend is like Crowley in that she displays a facade of confidence to mask her insecurities and is extremely loyal to her friends. Now please note I’m not trying to destroy anyone’s personal headcanon here. I know for a fact many LGBT people have interpreted and drawn inspiration from Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship for nearly 30 years since the book first came out in 1990, and I wouldn’t dream of depriving anyone of that. I’m just merely describing how I personally interpreted the characters when I read it.

So, while book Aziraphale is almost definitely gay in my opinion, I personally don’t think they were anything more than just good friends. Do I think the same about the TV version? Actually no. In fact completely the opposite. I think TV Aziraphale and Crowley are 100%, unquestionably and unashamedly in love with each other and this view is supported by the extra material Neil Gaiman has written for them, most notably the 30 minute long cold open of the third episode that shows Aziraphale and Crowley’s blossoming relationship over the course of human history, as well as how the show frames them. We hear the kind of swelling, orchestral music you would hear in a romance when Crowley saves Aziraphale’s books from a WW2 bomb, the scenes where the two argue about running away to Alpha Centauri are presented as being like a legitimate breakup (with the addition of some random passerby telling Aziraphale he’s ‘better off without him’), the other angels occasionally refer to Crowley as being Aziraphale’s boyfriend (albeit in a mocking way), and the way Michael Sheen and David Tennant play the characters makes them feel much more like an old married couple rather than being simply friends. There’s even a wonderful moment in the third episode where Crowley asks Aziraphale if he could give him a ride somewhere, to which Aziraphale responds “you go too fast for me Crowley.” It leaves very little room for doubt in my opinion, and yet Neil Gaiman refuses to verbally confirm this, even though the actors and the director have expressed numerous times that they interpreted the characters as such. Not only that, but the writing and filmmaking leaves just enough room for plausible deniability, never explicitly confirming the relationship. So the question remains, does this count as legitimate LGBT representation or is this just a very advanced form of queerbaiting?

Well first it would be useful to talk about what queerbaiting actually is, because a lot of people arguing against Good Omens don’t seem to fully understand the term. Queerbaiting is when a creator hints at a possible same sex romance without ever actually confirming or depicting the relationship. A recent example of this would be Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series.

JK Rowling first ‘outed’ Dumbledore as gay back in 2007, saying he was in a relationship with the dark wizard Grindelwald, but unless you read the interview, you would never have known this because the book doesn’t provide any sort of hint or clue or reference to that relationship. Worse still, when given the opportunity to rectify this in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald, Rowling chose instead to downplay the relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald significantly. This is queerbaiting. Implying a character might be gay or promising to introduce a gay character only to then backtrack or not fully commit. Another example would be Avengers: Endgame where the Russo Brothers announced there was going to be a gay character in the film only for it to be some nameless guy who’s only on screen for about a minute. It revolves around luring people in with the expectation of LGBT representation only to then snatch it away once they’ve got bums in seats.

(Also, just to clarify, queerbaiting is not when a bisexual or pansexual character becomes romantically involved with someone of the opposite sex. Yes it’s important that we see more bisexual and pansexual characters and yes it’s important we see more same sex couples on screen, but do NOT conflate the two. Deadpool’s pansexuality, for instance, isn’t suddenly invalid just because he has a girlfriend).

So, with this in mind, does Good Omens fit the criteria of queerbaiting. Well the sexuality of the characters are often the focal point of many interviews, with the director and actors explicitly describing Aziraphale and Crowley’s relationship as ‘a love story.’ Most notably Michael Sheen, who plays Aziraphale and who has been carrying a torch for the Ineffable Husbands since Good Omens came out. But unlike JK Rowling and the Russos, the makers of Good Omens can back up their words with content. As mentioned above, the way the show frames the relationship makes the implication quite clear. There’s even a bit where Crowley thinks Aziraphale has been killed and he leaves the burning bookshop while ‘Somebody To Love’ is playing in the background. It isn’t really very subtle. So, by my understanding, queerbaiting doesn’t seem particularly accurate when talking about Good Omens. The issue here is one of presentation. The overt subtext is all well and good, but does the fact that there’s no explicit confirmation of their relationship make it invalid? To answer that question, we must look into another relevant term. Queercoding.

Queercoding is when a character is given the traits typically associated with those commonly attributed to gay people, such as effeminate behaviour or ostentatious dress sense. This is used often as a way of getting queer relationships past the censor. Implying a character might be gay without explicitly confirming it for fear of the studio or publisher putting their foot down.

While queercoding is often intrinsically linked to queerbaiting, it’s worth noting that while queerbaiting is always seen as a negative (and rightly so), queercoding is neither positive nor negative. It’s merely a contextual device and can be positive or negative depending on execution. A positive example of queercoding would be Deadpool.

While the Merc with the Mouth has never been officially outed as pansexual, both the comics and the movies in particular have framed him as someone who doesn’t conform to heteronormative expectations. The marketing of both movies present Deadpool in traditionally feminine poses as a way of mocking and commenting on how gender is perceived in these kinds of tentpole blockbusters. The comics often make fairly explicit references towards Deadpool’s sexual flexibility for the purposes of humour, such as in his interactions with characters like Spider-Man or Thor.

The movies follow suit. The first movie is littered with moments where Deadpool alludes to being not entirely straight. He occasionally uses gay slang, we see his girlfriend Vanessa penetrate him with a strap-on during the sex montage, and there are frequent references to how sexy Hugh Jackman is, most notably near the beginning when Deadpool describes how he had to give Wolverine a handjob in order to get his own movie. The second movie meanwhile takes it a step further. Not only is the entirety of Deadpool 2 essentially one big allegory for how members of the LGBT community cope with abuse and discrimination, we also see Deadpool express a sexual interest in Colossus many times, the extended cut even going so far as to depict Deadpool trying to give him a blowjob.

Now as I said, Deadpool has never been officially outed as pansexual. That information comes from one of the comic book writers on Twitter. The comics and movies have never verbally confirmed it. We never hear Deadpool describe himself as such. But to say he’s not queer would be absurd because he clearly is. That’s how he’s framed and presented to us across the majority of media. What makes Deadpool a positive example of queercoding is how we view the character. He’s clearly extremely comfortable with expressing his own sexuality and feels no shame in his antics. While the majority of his queer moments are used for the purposes of humour, we’re always laughing with him, not at him.

Now lets take a look at a negative example of queercoding:

This is Moriarty from the BBC series Sherlock written by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. Sherlock is without a doubt one of the worst adaptations of the canon that’s ever been made and the show’s treatment of Moriarty is a big reason for that. When he’s first introduced in The Great Game, when he’s posing as Molly’s boyfriend, Sherlock deduces that he’s gay based on really no evidence at all other than that he puts product in his hair and his underpants are showing. It’s ostensibly playing on that stereotype that any man who takes pride in their appearance isn’t masculine and therefore must be gay. (if that were true then David Beckham would be the gayest man on the fucking planet). While it becomes clear at the end of the episode that this was just an act Moriarty was putting on to fool Sherlock, he never really loses the metrosexual image. He boasts about his ‘Westwood’ clothes, we see him prance and preen like some over the top camp supervillain (more on that later) and he makes numerous double entendres that imply he’s interested in men, specifically Sherlock. There’s even a moment in The Reichenbach Fall where we see Moriarty sitting on a throne wearing the crown jewels. Ha! Do you get it? Because he’s a queen!

What makes this form of queercoding more offensive than Deadpool is, again, how we as the audience are supposed to perceive him. Moffat and Gatiss want us to laugh at Moriarty’s camp behaviour and they clearly find the prospect of shipping Moriarty and Sherlock utterly absurd, as demonstrated in the episode The Empty Hearse where we see the Sherlock fan club suggest Sherlock survived the fall because he and Moriarty were secretly lovers. This bit was there for no reason other than to take the piss out of Sherlock fans who read too much into the show’s intentional subtext. Also, crucially, Moriarty has no real character or backstory other than as a gay stereotype. He’s a lazily written caricature who serves no real purpose other than as a homophobic punchline. There’s a lot more to Deadpool than just being queer. With Moriarty however, there’s simply nothing underneath.

Moriarty is also an example of how queercoding is most commonly applied to villains. There are countless examples of this across various media over the years. The Joker from Batman, for instance. Ursula from The Little Mermaid. Scar from The Lion King. In these cases, whether intentionally or not, queercoding plants ideas of gender identity into the viewers’ heads. A male supervillain like the Joker is presented as being eccentric, arch and incredibly camp while Batman, the hero, is big and strong and serious and honourable. A manly man. Likewise, Ursula is presented as butch and unfeminine, scheming and malevolent, whereas Ariel is attractive and sweet and innocent. The ideal woman. Queercoded villains have been used to demonise the LGBT community for decades by presenting an ideal, hetronormative image of what a man or woman should be like, battling an antagonist that doesn’t fit in with traditional gender roles. Obviously there’s nothing inherently wrong with having a camp male villain or a distinctly unfeminine female villain, but it’s worth bearing in mind where these ideas originally came from and the impact it could potentially have.

So lets bring this back to Good Omens. The queercoding of Aziraphale and Crowley is obvious and it’s never presented in negative terms. (there’s a moment where Shadwell refers to Aziraphale as a pansy, but considering the man is a complete moron who draws eyes on milk bottles and thinks nipples are the gold standard way of identifying a witch, I think we can safely say he’s not to be taken seriously). In fact their relationship is incredibly sweet and endearing. Except... I can understand why Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman weren’t explicit in expressing the characters’ sexuality when the book was first published. It was 1990, both Pratchett and Gaiman were still relatively fresh faces and Western society’s attitudes toward homosexuality weren’t quite as progressive then as they are now. But it’s now 2019. Things have changed. Gay characters are appearing more frequently in books, movies and TV shows, people in general are more accepting of the LGBT community and Gaiman is now a hugely successful author with a lot of influence in the industry. Why not just make the relationship explicit?

Well there are two ways of looking at this. The first is that it really doesn’t need to be explicit. You would never hear a man and a woman talk about how incredibly hetero they are, would you? Actions speak louder than words after all. But when the two characters in question are of the same gender, suddenly the whole thing becomes a massive debate to the point where unless someone comes right out and says they are gay, people simply won’t buy it. Deadpool, tragically, has suffered from this with obnoxious frat boys deliberately glossing over the obvious queer subtext and hijacking the character for their own self-aggrandisement. This really shouldn’t be the case and this whole ‘straight until proven gay’ mindset isn’t the fault of the show. It’s entirely the fault of the viewer. The second involves our last topic of discussion. The Death of the Author. (no pun intended. RIP Pratchett).

Death of the Author refers to a literary essay written by the theorist Roland Barthes in 1967, which argues against critiquing a piece of literature based on authorial intent. Basically, once a book or movie or TV show is released to the general public, any relation to its creator becomes immaterial. The work in question must stand on its own and be judged independently. The intention of the author no longer matters. (I’m simplifying obviously, but that’s basically the gist of it. If you ever get the chance, read the essay yourself. It’s a fascinating read). Gaiman appears to be a firm believer in this philosophy. On his Tumblr account, @neil-gaiman, when asked about the the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley, he often refuses to comment, invoking the Death of the Author mindset. It’s up the reader/viewer to interpret the characters. If you think they’re gay, then they’re gay. If you think they’re just friends, then they’re just friends. Some could call this a bit of a cop out, and you’re entitled to do so, but I understand where Gaiman is coming from. We’ve seen writers like JK Rowling get into trouble for queerbaiting, saying that she always intended for Dumbledore to be gay, but never actually showing any real evidence for it in the text, and Gaiman doesn’t want to fall into the same trap. Plus it demonstrates that Gaiman respects the views and interpretations of his fans, unlike Rowling who responded to criticism of her queerbaiting on Twitter with GIFs of people sticking their fingers in their ears and ‘blocking out the haters.’

In some ways I do feel very sorry for Gaiman. On the one hand he wants to stay true to his and Pratchett’s original vision, but on the other hand he doesn’t want to disappoint the hundreds of fans who do view the characters as being gay. Good Omens has been cited as an extremely positive influence on many queer readers, some even going so far as to say that it was this very book that allowed them to finally accept their identities and come out of the closet. Heartwarming stories like this can be found all over the web and hopefully many more will emerge now that the TV adaptation has been released. If Gaiman were to suddenly turn around in an interview one day and say ‘oh. No. Sorry. Aziraphale and Crowley were always intended to be just friends. You’re all wrong’, it would destroy people who invested so much in this relationship. Likewise, if he explicitly confirmed in an interview that the two characters are definitely gay, people would either accuse him of queerbaiting if the show doesn’t fully live up to their expectations or accuse him of shoving his political opinions down their throats. He can’t win either way really. That being said, I can’t help but respect Gaiman for sticking to his guns. It demonstrates that he’s confident in his skills as a writer and his ability to make his intentions clear in the text, that he respects the ideas and opinions of his readers and fans, and that he also respects the ideas and opinions of the cast and crew of the Good Omens TV show. While Gaiman has refused to confirm one way or the other, others like Michael Sheen or director Douglas Mackinnon have made their views very clear. Aziraphale and Crowley are in love. That’s their interpretation and they have every right to it.

So do I believe Good Omens is queerbaiting? In my opinion, no. Does that mean I believe it’s faultless? Again, no. If the intention is to depict Aziraphale and Crowley as being lovers, then I think they could have done a bit more. Obviously I’m not suggesting a full blown sex scene or anything like that. Even something as simple as them holding hands or hugging each other would have done. Some physical intimacy of some kind. Because as it stands, Good Omens does share problems with a lot of other TV shows in how they present same sex couples, in that they’re consciously aware that they are presenting to a heterosexual viewer. This is why a relationship between two women is often sexualised and eroticised for the titillation of straight men whereas the relationship between two men can often be quite chaste. Very rarely do you see two men making out or doing anything beyond a quick peck. Good Omens sadly fits into that camp, though just to be clear, I’m not blaming Neil Gaiman or the show for this. I’m merely saying that this is part of a wider systemic issue that needs to be talked about and addressed as the industry moves forward. (Hell, that might as well be be the title of my entire Tumblr profile). Also, whether you believe the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley is platonic or romantic, it does not change the impact this story has had on many LGBT readers nor the fact that the story is about love. It’s important to bear this in mind because while, yes, it is important to have this discussion, we can’t lose sight of the positive message it conveys with regards to building bridges and closing divides between opposing groups.

“And perhaps the recent exertions had had some fallout in the nature of reality because, while they were eating, for the first time ever, a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square. No one heard it over the noise of the traffic, but it was there, right enough.”

#aziraphale #crowley #good omens #lgbt representation #quill's scribbles

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ineffably-human · 5 years

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Some Thoughts on ‘Representation’ and Good Omens

Ugh, am I actually gonna get into this? I am? Ok cool. Cool. Okay.

This is my single, solitary, cis bi probably-allosexual-but-sometimes-not-sure opinion.

Anyway: grey areas are not a bug, they’re a goddamn feature.

There’s a reason there are many names for love in its different varieties, and all different ways to express whatever label you’re putting on it. There’s a reason “You’re My Best Friend” by Queen was written for a spouse and “Buddy Holly” by Weezer was written for a close platonic female friend.

I’m not even talking about where sex and sexuality live in all that. The bleed between ‘friendship’ and ‘love’ and where ‘romantic’ sits between them is thorny enough. Outside of the narrative structure of fiction, marriages turn into primarily friendships and partnerships all the time - you’re meant to be that first. And yet so many het couples in fiction show up as ‘just friends,’ and you can tell right away they’re going to be paired off. Of course they’re in love, they’re a man and a woman. Of course those labels are never hard to define, the label they should be is one that the audience can clearly see. Because they’re a man and a woman.

Yes ok, good for me, we all know the Ineffables are a love story, everyone agrees it’s a love story with a lot of rom-com tropes on an epic scale. But no one kisses (neither do Tracey and Shadwell). And no one holds hands (except they do) or proposes marriage (Crowley asks Aziraphale to run away with him twice, which I consider far more intimate than ‘it’d be nice to have a man around’). Or says I love you (not said by anyone, in the whole series, at all). The same standards do not apply to the male-female couples we get, even if their intimacy is newer and less, even if Newt/Anathema, Tracey/Shadwell, Crowley/Aziraphale get scenes one right after the other at the end with the same Good Omens theme playing for all of them.

Even if Crowley and Aziraphale get the date, the final Moment, the love song about impossible things coming true inside a romance.

The fact that we don’t have the cultural markers to say ‘this is definitely love’ when it’s two men in the roles, as opposed to a man and a woman, is because we have a heterocentric view of the world. Characters are cis and heteroromantic and -sexual until proven otherwise. That’s why we’re flat-out looking at two beings with no other meaningful relationships, whose happy ending is to be together forever, who are a metaphor for the human condition and were once one single character, and it’s somehow not queer enough.

And I get why that is, I really do. I know there’s Hiding, Coding, Burying, Baiting, and all the rest. But no one is hiding here, no one is baiting, we are being very clearly told that this can fit the breadth of every experience but a straight one. With a groundbreaking and ever-growing amount of LGBTQ characters on the screen, eventually, you will have queer stories that aren’t going to fit ‘explicit text’ in their narrative. Because not every story calls for that regardless of sexuality, and not all things are said out loud - especially when they’re better shown, and just as strong if not stronger. And because not every living, breathing relationship can fit a label, either, and often they fit more than one.

Do we make the story explicit, even if it’s not needed or even weaker for it, because we need to “fix” people who’ll write it off? I’ve shipped fictional couples that had male/male sex they enjoyed and they were written off as confused. Characters who said “I love him” and were written off as meaning a different kind of love. You know how you “fix” that? Having as many kinds of stories as there are in the world and your imagination. In every single way that they can be delivered. Implicit, explicit, idyllic, messy, ambiguous, clear-as-can-be. There’s no right way, as far as I’m concerned, to write a diverse world so long as you do it. It’s not your job to grow someone else’s mind, you can’t, and that’s not what diversity should be.

You know what defines representation to me? If I feel represented by it. If my world or the world as I see it is reflected in a story. Or if it reflects and expands on some aspect of the world, not necessarily mine, and reflects emotional truth for - at the very least - someone.

I have seen countless people talk about feeling seen by Good Omens. Gay, bi, pan, trans, genderqueer, genderfluid, ace, aro, you name it. Countless people talking about how they felt inspired, felt like it was for them, had the courage to come out for fuck’s sake. And those are just the people Neil Gaiman or Michael Sheen has interacted with directly. Made visible to a broader audience, directly.

Certainly, some of us feel seen, moved, inspired. Maybe we should be allowed to be. Maybe the people who made it happen should be thanked.

#good omens #i am a meta gremlin #bad kim no wank #this is an essay about 'is it canon' and 'say it you coward' (he freaking did)#i am not going to feel differently about it if someone argues with me probably

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ao3feed-goodomens · 5 years

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To the Sound of the Beat

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2YA48gq

by amamini

“I’ve figured out a way that we can send memos back to our respective head offices, and - get this - get completely piss drunk while doing it.”

Aziraphale blinked. “I don’t think I follow.”

“Clubbing!” Crowley threw his hands in the air, half in disbelief of the angel’s lack of enthusiasm and half in celebration of his own genius. “Let’s go to a nightclub!”

OR: Crowley and Aziraphale go to a nightclub and realize that they aren't so different than the humans they interact with. Love and antics ensue.

Words: 7678, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of Fics That Got Left in the Bentley

Fandoms: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Good Omens (TV)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Multi, M/M

Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens), Original Characters

Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)

Additional Tags: 80's Music, they go to a gay nightclub, gay disasters meet other gay disasters, MLM/bi solidarity, angels don't have a gender but they're gay nonetheless, Song: Another One Bites The Dust, Queen (Band) References, Queen - Freeform, based more on the song's vibe than its lyrics, First Kiss, crowley likes being a snake sometimes, Snake Crowley (Good Omens), for like half a scene jfdkls, Love Confessions, Michael Sheen if you're reading this I love you, and if you're not reading it, you inspired me to start writing again so thanks

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2YA48gq

#ao3feed #fanfic #Good Omens

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timeandspacelord · 5 years

Note

Fanfiction Q’s: 21, 23, 30, 31, 51? ❤️

21. What was the first fanfic you ever wrote?

Ooh, goodness, uh, probably some sort of Warriors fanfiction when I was ten. I genuinely couldn’t tell you an exact piece lmao

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

I really like my Good Omens one because it’s so soft and everyone’s been so nice about it and it makes me feel good? But I also like the Miraculous fic I’m writing on AO3, and some others, pretty much anything I’ve written recently, I think?

30. What inspires you to write?

Absolutely everything. The world around me, books I read, people I meet, conversations I have, things I learn, anything

31. What’s the nicest thing someone has ever said about your writing?

Hmm, people have said a lot of nice things about my writing lol I think like all of the comments on my Good Omens fic are super nice and they make me Soft and I love the fandom, but also my creative writing professor, and a lot of the people in that class, were really nice about my writing

51. Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!

Oh boy. I really hate the entitlement some people feel when it comes to fanfiction. Like, whether it’s to the author/creator of the original work or the author of the fic, some people can be insufferable about their own ideas, or other people’s ideas, or getting more content from someone, or whatever. I also really, really hate the kind of stigma around fanfiction, that it’s like, less than “real” writing. It’s very real writing, half of renaissance writing is just fanfiction, hell half of the “classics” could be considered fanfiction off of existing ideas (looking at you, Dracula), and saying that fanfiction is “less” than other writing is stupid. Fanfiction isn’t “less” just because you’re not coming up with a new world and new characters (even though if you’re doing an AU, you almost definitely are coming up with a new world, and maybe it even has more/more complicated rules than the original if it’s like a soulmate AU or whatever). Anything that’s set in our world isn’t coming up with a new world. Anything that’s historical fiction or a biography isn’t coming up with new characters/plots necessarily. And fanfiction writers honestly put so much work into their writing, sometimes even more than published authors, that it drives me insane when people belittle fanfiction. Even fanfiction writers themselves act like it’s not “real” writing, because we’ve all been programmed to think that. It’s obnoxious.

However, I do love how a lot of published authors treat fanfiction. Obviously very few of them read fanfiction of their own work for legal reasons (people can claim you stole their idea, it’s a whole thing), but plenty of them love when people do write fanfiction anyway. Neil Gaiman, specifically, encourages people to write fanfiction, and has published HP Lovecraft/Sherlock Holmes fanfiction before. Marissa Meyer started her writing career by writing Sailor Moon fanfiction, and one time she even held a sort of fanfic writing contest. Michael Sheen isn’t an author, but he has (I believe) read his fair share of Good Omens fanfiction. It’s so good that famous people, especially authors, support fanfiction as a form of “real” writing, because it is!

(There’s a whole other can of worms I could open here, that kind of goes with the entitlement bit, about people going overboard with fanfiction, writing it about real people, forcing actors to read it when it makes them uncomfortable, etc, but I wanna end on the more positive note of people supporting fanfiction as a legitimate form of writing)

Thanks for doing the thing!!

#ask games #answered #fangirlwithasweettooth

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the-apples-were-monitored · 5 years

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it’s 1 am and i’m exhausted because i just got off my shift at the Retail Hell Job a few hours ago and have been writing because the only fucking time i have left in my day to write is at midnight because minimum wage existence steals my day...but anyway, that’s my excuse for this post then i’m gonna immediately pass out and forget i said anything. (i’ve said most of this before, but after the scene i was just working on, i wanted to put it all in one post)

@neil-gaiman, thank you so much for good omens. And thank Terry from beyond the grave (my word choice is suffering, I apologize, I got my good words out on my own writing over the past several hours). Not just because the book gave me so much comfort when I read it as a teenager (Crowley is so easy to project my trauma onto, you have no idea, I’ve talked about this often and at length), but because even today with the series being out it continues to give me something. You see, my girlfriend lives in England and I live in America. We’ve been friends for 6000 years almost 9 years but only just admitted our feelings to each other last year during a kind of apocalypse of my own. (It involves a fall from grace of my own, long story short...) Seeing as we’re both broke we’ve never gotten to meet in person, but that’s fine. I’m planning a visit next year and eventually I’ll move there. She relates more to Aziraphale, while I relate more to Crowley, so it’s a workable arrangement. (Did I mention Aziraphale is very easy to project our autistic traits onto?) Anyway, she hadn’t read the book previously, but we met because of Doctor Who when we were teenagers so of course she wanted to see it and now she’s reading it. And she’s absolutely obsessed. It’s given us something else to connect over, which is really hard to do with the time difference and the fact that we very often have such different tastes. (Hoping to get her at least onto Discworld next, I’ve been meaning to read more of those but finding the time is always a thing...)

Anyway, i wanted to say all of that before I got into the Other Stuff.

First, thanks for casting David Tennant. It was a special vindication because I said 8 years ago when I first read the book that he should play Crowley but at the time I was Big Obsessed so everyone was just sort of like that’ll never happen, but I’ve done community theatre casting so I have an eye for these things. I’ve been an actor since I was 9, but only on the community stage, and David’s filmography inspired me in a big way when I got into Doctor Who at 15. He made me realize I’m fascinated by long-form visual storytelling and actually want to work in TV. I’ve kept following his work and he keeps consistently picking projects that I find helpful in some way or at least inspire me as an actor. And of course he just had to go play Crowley. Not just because I predicted it like I’m a modern day Agnes Nutter, but because I always had a crush on Crowley so that’s fun just kill me now, Casanova, it’s easier.

I want to also thank Michael Sheen. Because I went through some really traumatic events when I was a teenager that took me away from the stage and took away my confidence and self-worth. Something about Michael’s (and David’s, of course) performance reminded me of what I loved about acting and how much I miss doing it. I still can’t really, right now, because gotta scrape by and earn a living and eventually move, and plus I am far too passionate about acting to allow my performance to suffer because I have to divide attention and give less of it to the show...but it reminded me of exactly what I love about storytelling. Got me looking for an acting coach so I can do this properly, maybe someone to help with accent work, perhaps a proper screenwriting course...This all really reminded me of what I love about storytelling, which I never really lost, even though I lost my confidence. So I’m working on that, getting back to who I always wanted to be before the trauma took that away from me. Thank you all.

Also send my best to Amanda. I read the Art of Asking last year and was blown away. But I always am by her work - big fan of her music even before I was a fan of yours, Neil, but not before I was a fan of David Tennant’s...the web of influence is ever expanding.

For Satan’s sake, I gotta go now. I’m gonna regret this in the morning. Getting a bit embarrassed. Hope this wasn’t too weird I just know that when anyone tells me they like what I’ve done in any aspect with one of my projects I enjoy it, so I wanted to, I guess, pass that along. Again, really sorry. Totally feel free to ignore me, I know this was long and a bit Much.

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