#this is my most serious work so far when it comes to my hetalia oc lol

[m4ruk4ts]

i'm quite late but i still wanted to post this so: here's argentina (angie) and maría remedios del valle (the capitana/mother of the homeland).

i wanted to make these drawings as a sort-of tribute for the 8th of november (aka. the afro-argentines and afro-culture's day, which is in conmemoration to her) because, despite being one of the most forgotten figures in our history, maría remedios was important, more than people realize. and since this is about my hetalia oc (oops-) here's how i vision her influence on argentina, not only as a country but as a woman:

angie saw her as a role figure, almost like a mother in a way, she was the closest thing she would get as a maternal figure. during her independence, angie kept maría remedios close, as they helped eachother and made their way through the war, she tought her how to fight, heal the wounded soldiers and many things.

however, after it was over, they took different paths, angie had other wars to fight and she didn't know anything else about maría remedios until it was too late. it didn't help that all this happened when angie was still very young, as she was growing up, she began to forget. it was only in recent years that maria remedios was beggining to be recognized for who she was, after being forgotten for centuries. argentina forgot about her, just like we argentines did, her people.

i am very aware of what happened to maría remedios and her story, how argentines forgot her and discredited her achievements and efforts (such ignorance being rooted in racism and misoginy). she is just as important as san martín, manuel belgrano and many argentine figures, we must not leave her in oblivion again.

#this is my most serious work so far when it comes to my hetalia oc lol #the reason i did this is because. I've rarely seen an argentina oc drawn with maría remedios :c (aside from martín from lh) #that's why i decided to dig a little deeper and learn about her story. and so i drew her with my argentina (angie) :3 #i thought of it as like. Those hetalia fanarts where they draw historical figures with their specific countries #joan of arc with france. Old fritz with prussia. Washington with america. You get it #that's why i wanted to do the same with mine!!! and add a little twist to it #i'm no history teacher. But i hope someone learns something more about argentine history that not so many know. Not even actual argentines #hetalia #hetalia argentina #aph argentina #hws argentina #historical hetalia #maría remedios del valle #hetalia oc #oc x canon #my art #sorry if its a little bittersweet. But that's just how history is :'( #and also im sorry for posting this so late. I've been busy with life in general ;v;

[fizzycherrycola]

How come you always write the characters with their nation names instead of their human ones? Not hating, just curious.

This ask is a little funny because I just wrote a nationverse fic featuring the North America bros and used their human names for the first time. It was a new experience for me! I also did a human AU a while back, so I did use 'Ludwig' and 'Feliciano', but I'm assuming you're talking about my other works, so I'll address those.

Warning: Slightly long

Before I get into this, I wanna start by saying I don't dislike reading Hetalia characters with their human names. In fact, I like it quite a lot! There are many talented writers who choose the human names, including my lovely mutuals, and they're all creating such wonderfully unique insights into these characters. I thrive on the variety of interpretations and would never, EVER want that to change! So if you like writing with human names, please KEEP DOING SO and keep sharing your style with the fandom. ❤❤❤

~~~

For myself, I suppose I prefer writing their nation names for a few reasons. First, it's because that's what they're called in canon and those are the names I've always known them to be. When I first entered the fandom (back in the day) I'd only seen a few episodes of the anime and was totally unaware of the human names. So, when I started reading fanfic, I was initially confused, wondering which character was attached to which human name. To prevent that from happening to other beginners, I figured it might be easier for newcomers to the fandom to recognize their nation names.

For example, take OC nations and nations that Hima never gave human names to. This can be even harder to navigate as a newcomer, because each writer will pick a unique name for the same character. To avoid that confusion, I want to keep things simple for my readers and stick to nation names.

Second... this might be getting into headcanon territory, but I think the characters would prefer their nation names. Personally, I doubt they mind being immortal, eldritch beings. Sure, maybe now and then, when times are hard, they'd think, "Wouldn't it be nice to be human, and live a simpler life?" But it'd be said as a fanciful daydream and not as a serious desire. Sort of like how I'll sometimes think, "Wouldn't my life be so much easier if I was a cat?" ...But I'm not a cat, and a 12-year life without thumbs sounds very undesirable when you sit down and think about it. I imagine nations see human lives in a similar way: easier, but with fewer freedoms and far less time. Besides, being a nation is all they've ever known. It's who they are, what they are, what they always have been, and always will be.

(Except for that one micronation who suddenly became a human, but like what even was that?? Even Hima said he was a rare exception, so let's ignore that for now.)

And barring some encounters with humans who don't know them well, or scuffles with law enforcement, border patrol, etc., I think they'd use their true names as often as possible. Perhaps England would use 'Arthur Kirkland' to avoid attracting the attention of nosy neighbours, and it'd be written on his tax forms and driver's license. But everyone in Parliament, the royals, high-ranking military officials, guards, personal housekeeping staff, and maybe a handful of deeply trusted humans would know who he really is, and address him as such. So, in my headcanon, the human names are like masks and fake IDs. They have no bearing on the character's identity or their lived experiences, but they do still function as useful tools to help navigate human society.

Third, it's a personal writing preference. There's a weight and history behind 'England' that I can't replicate with 'Arthur', and those extra burdens tied to his name are fascinating. When I'm writing historical nationverse fic, as I usually do, the shorthand, super-fast, most direct way to get that across is just by calling him 'England'. It saves me a bit of time and keeps me in the right narrative headspace when building a scene.

Anyway, sorry this got a bit long, but I hope that answers your question. 💜

#fizzy talks #hetalia headcanons #hetalia #hws #ask box #anon ask #my headcanons

[ohnohetaliasues]

Stones to Abbigale {Ch.6}

(Kat)

We’ve established that I suck at intros, so let’s just get right into it.

Quite a few days passed. Everything felt like it was falling into place with Abbi. She had become the center of my world and I felt like I was finally really finally enjoying my life.

I’m done saying you’ve known each other for less than a week but okay.

One morning my nose woke me up, there was an unfamiliar but pleasant smell filling my bedroom. For the first time in a long while breakfast was ready for my sister and me. My mom had made eggs and waffles. To my surprise Rick was, again, sitting at our table. Him being there completely explained why my mom was making breakfast.

Uh. Great.

I approached everyone already sitting and said good morning. Rick seemed a little nervous and again my mom asked that we all have a talk. I sat down not so sure of what to expect.

Rick spoke “Listen, I don’t want to tiptoe around this topic. Your mother and I want to move in together.”

You’ve been dating a few months, that is not an awesome idea.

My sister’s arm went limp as she was attempting to eat making her fork smack against her plate as she dropped her jaw simultaneously.

That was described so weirdly I can’t.

While she was normally overdramatic about most everything, her reaction pretty much summed up how I too was feeling this time.

‘Most everything’ is going to make me have an aneurysm.

My mom tried to soften the blow by saying “And yes, this is going to be a pretty big transition for all of us but we’ll make it through.”

It began to hit me harder as I thought things through; there was no way Rick was moving in with us, our little condo was already overcrowded. Rick was the one with the higher-paying job, which meant most everything

Fuck you.

I knew was at risk to change. I began to feel panicked, “You... Mom I have Abbi.”

No you don’t. You’re not even dating her.

I said.

My mom looked concerned and Rick blurted out “Listen, we’re not going to break up your relationship for the sake of ours, we’ll figure something out ok?”

I felt like I was going to pass out; I kept thinking about the horrible timing, that I finally I had someone I bonded with more than anyone else and they were going to make it far more difficult for me to be with them, because of what? Rick had said it would work out but I barely knew him. I had learned some time before to trust people on what you know them to be, not what you hope them to be. Rick hadn't been around long enough for me to see him in a significantly positive or negative light and in that, I realized hope was all I had.

I have no words to express how annoyed I am here.

I stood up and said, “I’m sorry, I’m not hungry. I’m going to go wait for the bus.”

Everyone silently sat at the table awkwardly pushing around their food as I gathered my things. As I was brushing my teeth I could hear my sister crying and ranting dramatically in the background. Once again, she reacted externally how I felt inside.

Crying isn’t bad, James.

Davis could see my upset posture out his window as the bus pulled up so as I walked up the steps this time he screamed, “I love you so much! I wish you were my boyfriend!”

That is not how friends talk to each other, Onion.

I hated myself for giving in yet again, but laughter escaped me. My life was turning completely upside down and Davis was there to make me experience a fragment of happiness.

As I sat down, Davis grabbed me and hugged me.

Someone sitting a few seats ahead screamed “Eeew homos!” which made Davis yell back, “I love him! This is love!”

I want to shove my head through the wall.

He jumped onto the seat with his little body and pressed our faces side-by-side “Look at our love!” I patted his arm that had been wrapped around me sarcastically and he released me to sit down. Immediately he asked “So what’s up buddy? How can I turn that frown upside poopy poo poop?”

On what planet is that something that is allowed to say?

He could see I was still a bit upset and didn’t really want to talk so he did his classic “Well, I’m always here!” It was nice having Davis to keep me afloat.

Since I began my Teacher’s Assistant work with Mr. Hanson

Wait since when did you accept that job?

I felt buried in needless information about his job. He was constantly ranting about the low pay, working conditions and hours.

I’m sorry, but being a teacher isn’t like working in a sweatshop, or so I’ve heard since I’m 17 and am not a teacher myself, but you get the picture.

Despite all this he would still remind me about how happy it made him to see some students overcome the horrible condition of our school and succeed regardless.

Why is your school not shut down for cleaning? This violates health codes. Schools can not be literally falling apart while students still attend, it just isn’t what happens.

Ms. Robertson would stop in from time to time while I graded papers. Whenever she visited she and Mr. Hanson would bombard me with questions. They would ask me how I liked being a TA, random questions about the state of the school and discuss academic politics. I kind of felt sorry for Ms. Robertson, we never had normal conversations, it was almost always about her job, almost as if that was all she knew.

I hate this so much.

While she was visiting that day, Ms. Robertson could tell I was upset about something so she asked and I confessed I was pretty bummed out. I wasn’t specific because I wanted Abbi to be the first person to know what was going on between my Mom and Rick.

Ms. Robertson replied “Well, this better have nothing to do with you know who.”

Shut your mouth, you nosy bitch. That is actually none of your fucking business.

I found the fact she was still butting into my relationship with Abbi to be incredibly annoying.

More like strange acquaintanceship.

I said nothing in response hoping ignoring her bringing up Abbi would give Ms. Robertson the hint I didn’t want her talking about Abbi.

Something about this sentence is just... weird?

Finally it was time for PE and Abbi greeted me as happily as she ever did. I didn’t want to ruin her day so I asked her to call me later that night to talk without hinting too much regarding what it was.

Despite my efforts she could see it in my eyes, she said “If you have something on your mind, I really want you to tell me.”

I came back from reviewing a Hetalia OC because I needed a break and I forgot what was happening, so that’s fun.

I tried to think of the best way to say it but couldn't, so I just told her that I had to tell her later.

She replied “After school?” and I agreed.

I hate how dialogue is written in this goddamn book.

Throughout gym class her behavior changed completely. She picked up so well on my concerns that it consumed how she interacted with almost every person and thing around her.

The mere worry of some bad news caused her to appear significantly depressed, almost as bad as before we began talking.

Abbi was waiting by my bus as I walked out of school. I had been thinking about the best way I could tell her all day. “You have to tell me,” she said before I even finished walking.

I didn’t delay my response as she had waited long enough, “My mom’s boyfriend is talking about having my mom move in with him, he said he’d make things work with you and me despite the change.”

Abbi kept looking back and forth at me, then to the side, speechless.

I continued, “I can’t leave you behind.”

She interrupted as tears already began forming in her eyes “I can go with you.”

For fuck’s sake you’ve--

Oh, never mind, I give up.

I paused in disbelief; in a single moment she expressed as much desperation for me as I had been feeling the last few days. It was as if every action she took repeatedly proved her perfect alignment with my intentions.

We were becoming like gears turning in sync, unable to be slowed or broken by any obstructions. She waited for a response, looking at me nervously.

I smiled and said, “Actually, I was thinking I might be able to stay here alone. My mom owns the condo and I’m 17, so I donno.”

I am also 17. My mother would never let me stay alone in a condo with my boyfriend or girlfriend, neither of which I have.

Abbi’s nervous expression faded slightly and she said “Have you talked to your mom about that?”

I replied with “No, but I won’t let us get split up, and...”

Oh my god I hate both of you.

I paused still in disbelief that she was willing to come with me if I left. Abbi started to smile, feeling more certain I wouldn’t leave her behind.

I continued, “I’m glad you... said what you did. I know now either way it should work out.” She giggled excitedly and immediately jumped on me while simultaneously wrapping her legs around me happily kissing every part of my face but my lips.

I said “Whoa” laughing and thinking in the back of my mind about how surprisingly easy she was to carry.

I am not invested in this romance at all since I was given no time to get attached to these characters, so this is just kind of nauseating.

Later that night, I spoke to my mom about potentially staying home and continuing to go to the same school considering I was graduating the next full school year. She seemed hopeful but said she had to talk to Rick who had returned to his home past the mountains to work.

You’re fucking kidding me.

His mom is actually considering it?

When we spoke on the phone Abbi and I mostly stayed away from talking about the move. We focused on topics like colonizing the moon, strange creatures we have yet to discover in the ocean and if robots will become so much like humans one day that they’ll begin to have the same legal rights as us. Some topics were pretty silly but we didn’t really care, it was just fun to hear what we could come up with talking about things we barely imagined till then.

Onion really wants this to be a John Green novel, doesn’t he?

At some point in the night Abbi brought up a more serious topic. “I noticed something about you, when we’re in gym class.” she said, I replied asking her to elaborate.

She said “It wasn’t just in class, once I saw it I began noticing it everywhere. You barely pay attention to any other girls, even when they talk to you. You rarely even look at them most the time.”

I laughed and replied “I do that intentionally you know?” she asked why and I continued “Because I don’t want to risk you thinking for a second you’re not the most important person to me.”

This is alarming.

She replied in an amused tone “Even when I’m not around?”

You two aren’t even dating!

I added, “When you’re not around, I like to pretend you still are. So in a way, there’s no such thing as being without you.” She warmly laughed and we quickly went back to much lighter topics.

I actually crave death.

Abbi wound up falling asleep on the phone with me. Listening to her rest, how peaceful she sounded.

Okay, so that last bit is an incomplete sentence.

Despite knowing it wasn’t true, I couldn’t help but feel like everything was still perfect.

Okay, whatever. You guys are still annoying.

This is the opposite way you want your readers to feel about your characters. Because I only feel annoyance regarding them.

I’ll see you later.

~Kat

#stones to abbigale #onision #onision cannot write #Mod Kat reviews stuff #Mod Kat reviews things #mod kat #help me #cringe #bad books #abbi needs help #I like literally none of these garbage characters #burn this #kill it with fire #kill me with fire #mary sue #gary stu #boring characters

[theprodigypenguin]

Writing Commissions {open}

As most of my followers know already, my laptop very recently broke, and I haven't been able to write as frequently or in as much volume as I usually do. 

At the same time I've been going through a rather hard time, and writing is one of my main coping mechanisms, how I leech myself of toxic emotions and relax, do something productive with my anxiety and depression. 

Thanks to my broken laptop, I have not been able to cope productively or in any healthy way at all, which is not good for me, but it has taken a LOT longer than expected to save the money I need to replace my laptop.

So, I made the decision to open writing commissions. I imagine I'd get more luck if I was an artist, but alas, I am not, so here I go shooting my shot. If you're not interested, don't feel bad about ignoring this post. I'll add the information in a "read more", as it will likely be a long post.

Feel free to reblog this if you want, but you are under no obligation to do so.

~~~~~

You can call me Nico (formerly amelia vale). I've been writing regularly for about 10+ years with a small handful of local college writing courses under my belt (I actually won an award in my first creative writing course. It was a college course and I believe I was 13 or 14 at the time (my charter school allowed me to take college classes while still in highschool)). I've also won a few local essay contests in my town, which probably doesn't mean much, but that's my history.

In my time writing I've finished 11+ novels (some of which reached 50 chapters+, and some which are not posted anywhere online yeet), and over 30 one shots, drabbles, and novellas, with a handful of in-progress novels and shorter fanfictions. I've written both fanfiction and original novels of varying genres.

I am by no means an expert in my craft, and while I do dream of publishing professionally some day, I am nowhere near that goal. I'm certainly hyping myself up, but I just wanted to express the experience I have with writing in general to assure possible consumers that I at least 89% know what I'm doing 🙃 I've also already done a few writing commissions in the past, which can be found on my DeviantArt, but you can find more recent examples of my work on Wattpad and Ao3.

Fandoms I've written for: Harry Potter, The Cursed Child, Riordanverse (notably PJO, HoO, and Magnus Chase), OHSHC, Voltron: Legendary Defender, One Piece, Hetalia.

Note that my main focus currently is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Jeddy and Jegulus mostly) but I have some experience writing in the fandoms above, though not all of those fics are posted online, and not all of them are incredibly recent.

I'm comfortable and have experience writing in an assortment of genres and themes, including smutty or sexual themes, incredibly graphic and triggering themes including r@pe, assault, abuse, neglect, torture, self harm, suicide (please note I wrote these themes as a form of therapy, not cuz I'm creepy), fluff, whump, dystopia, post apocalyptic, werewolf, vampire, etc (please ask if you want to know if I've written in a specific genre or theme not listed).

*important: just because an author may write something, does not mean they support that theme. I've written about graphic violence, r@pe, and racism, but I do not in any way support that crap.

Most Recent Examples of my Writing:

Chances || Venom || Broken Doll (rated E, very graphic)

Examples of Smut/Sexually Themed fics:

Say My Name || Chances || Rythmn of the Night (wattpad) || Encantador de Serpientes (wattpad)

Examples of Original Work:

Pigment || What Happens in Vienna || Love at First Crepe

Fanfic Examples:

The Hyacinth Prophecy(PJO) || Road to Ruin(PJO) || Serpentine Curse(PJO/Magnus Chase) || Make Peace(VLD) || Something Just Like This(VLD) || Stupid Deep(HP) || Recovery(HP) 

So if you've gotten through all the above 👆👆👆👆 (it was actually lowkey stressful to write cuz I'm very bad at complimenting myself, A for effort) and still are curious or interested in commissioning, then below are prices, things I will and won't write, payment methods, etc:

Things I won't write: 

incest, pedophilia, graphic depictions of r@pe or any form of sexual assault, marginalization of a race or group I have no personal affiliation with* (I won't write about a black woman enduring racism because I am not a black woman, etc), underage relationships (both characters must be over 19, unless it's a strictly familial fic).

*I will happily write a black character or any other race/minority, but I do not believe I have any right to add in their racial experiences as I have not experienced them for myself, and that would be wildly insensitive of me. I've written about marginalization from a second perspective before, but I had a lot of help from a POC reader while I was writing.

Things I will write:

fluff, smut (within reason plz), whump, romance, familial, Original work, OCs, fanfiction*, pretty much everything else that isn't in the "won't" list. I'm pretty flexible.

*Disclaimer: All characters in any of the fanfiction I write belong to their respective owners, and I claim no rights to them or to their individual stories. I do not own any of the properties, I am simply producing fan works based on or inspired by them.

Prices:

$15 - for fics under 3k

$20 - for anything over 3k words

$30 - $40 - for smut (smut is extra because I don't write it a whole lot, but I CAN write it, and normally smut fics end up much longer than general fics) 

*MUST BE 17+ TO COMMISSION SMUT (if your age isn't already in your bio I have every right to decline the commission. I just don't feel comfortable writing smut for anyone under 17. I know youngins will read it anyway, but this is just a personal pet peeve of mine)

Payment Methods:

You can pay either through Ko-fi or PayPal, whichever you prefer.

Rules:

PLEASE be kind and respectful to me.

Stay in contact with me as MUCH as possible.

I prefer a lot of communication, especially during my writing process, as I want to be sure I get every detail of the fic right for you.

Full payment upfront (this may change later, but currently I would prefer it upfront)

I do not have a time limit on my writing, that kind of thing stresses me out and my writing quality suffers, which commissioners do not deserve. I can however guarantee that I WILL finish your fic.

Please do not increasingly pester or ask me if the fic is finished or how it's going, I promise I will give updates when they are necessary.

The more enthusiasm and details you give regarding the kind of fic you want, the faster I will finish, because I'll probably get just as excited as you. Basically hype me on the theme and I'll be dying to finish.

I need money because I need a new laptop but I still want this to be fun for me, and for whoever commissions me.

I have a right to refuse any commission request without explanation.

This is NOT first come first serve. I will choose the commissions I feel I can do my best on to ensure you get the best quality writing.

Due to the fact I have a fulltime job already, and I can't write that much on my phone or tablet, and the fact I'm saving up to buy a laptop, I will only be taking two commissions at a time, so as not to overload myself and so I can provide a piece of writing to the best of my abilities. When I finish those two commissions, I will reopen these again, until I've saved enough for a laptop. I figure between commissions and work, I could afford one… maybe February if I'm lucky.

After which I will likely shut down commissions (unless something super serious comes up again).

Slots:

#1:

#2:

CONTACT:

You can DM me on Tumblr or email me at [email protected]

If you do not want to commission me, or can't commission me because you are also broke (same bro) then feel free to reblog if you want (you have no obligation to).

If you still want to support me somehow but can't afford that much, you can donate to my Ko-fi. I actually don't drink coffee, I drink tea, so I'll have to change the caption from "buy me a coffee" to something else, but yeah.

Thank you greatly to the people who read this far, even if you don't commission. I appreciate all of my followers and whoever decides to help, as well as people who can't. I know commissions are a luxury, so if you can't afford it, don't feel bad, you don't need to apologize, cuz that makes me feel bad too. It's totally okay.

And for people going through a similar crisis, hang in there. It can only be shit for so long after all.

NOTE: COMMISSIONS DO NOT INCLUDE PROMPTS THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN SENT TO ME, so if you have sent in prompts in the past, THEY ARE NOT COMMISSIONS. I asked for writing prompts/requests, so they are no included in this.

#commission #commissions #writing commission #writing commissions #open commissions #writing #fanfiction #original work #jeddy #jegulus #scorbus #lilyander #harry potter #the cursed child #voltron #percy jackson #solangelo #sheith #jeith #reblog plz if you are so inclined but you are not obligated #nico writes

[themarginalartist]

Gotta agree with the fact of every character being OC. I doubt there is difference between chars with studios behind them and chars made by one peep. Most interesting is the creativity with most of all, I think. Could read anything as far as it is creative. But how do you set good vibes to reader to make him stay and be excited for next chapter? I can see it happening on me when reading something, but I don't seem to find the key of doings to do so while I'm really interested on how

(I am so sorry this got really, really, really long so I’m putting it under a readmore, I am not kidding, this is ridiculously long. I checked before posting and it’s 1576 words (not including this bit here), which is like my normal chapter length so read at your own risk I guess???)

I mean a character is usually created by one person, or at least the initial concept of them is, then expanded on either by that person or the writers in order to weave them into the story. 

As far as getting a reader interested… I am not really sure why a lot of people are interested in my things…

But usually the way that gets me interested in reading something, and I am basing this off my response to different novels I’ve read (I’ll get to fan fics in a sec), is a combo of the synopsis and the first chapter being the hook. Now not every synopsis makes me want to read a novel, I have read many books where the synopsis made me go “huh” which is like mild interest, and then I start the first chapter if I have time, if by the time I am done with the first 2-3 pages and I haven’t found anything interesting the book gets put back. 

There was one time at a scholastics book fair that I read like the first 3 chapters of a book, it was while I was in high school and my brother was still in elementary school, but like I was hooked the moment I read it… The title escapes me though… 

As far as fanfics go, I used to be the most avid reader of them in my friend group, admittedly at the time I was looking for a very specific fandom and such, but my preference for fanfics is a longer story or longer chapters. My friends were not that way… Which made getting recommendations and giving them hard. 

But as far as what I like to see when I am browsing for a new fic is if the fic is hosted on FF.net or Ao3 a synopsis that doesn’t give the main plot away, but gives a quick intro to the idea, so for example on Think Ink (which I should update that synopsis I think) the bad version would be “Henry’s also been turned into an Ink Demon and now he has to figure himself out. Fighting different studio members and searchers in his journey to understanding himself.” where as “Henry woke up covered in ink, a spike of fear rushing through him, his life forever changed from that moment on.” is a bit better (not the best but yeah). 

Then comes the spelling and grammar component which I can’t stress enough. If the fics first chapter is extremely bad, and I am talking to the point were the word used is wrong, the spelling is wrong on a number of words, and there isn’t a clear tense being used, then I exit out, it doesn’t matter if I really like the synopsis or something or it’s an AU I liked, if the grammar and spelling makes the fic unreadable then it’s game over. 

Next is characterization, similar to spelling and grammar, if the character you are using is portrayed wrong, it’s also a game over. However there are a few exceptions to this. For example I used to really love Hetalia, the basic gist of the anime is that all the countries have a human representative but is also heavily biased as the Japanese stereotype of those countries. Italy in Hetalia is seen as an airheaded, easily frightened, guy who is a womanizer, eats pasta for literally every meal, surrenders in a second, and takes naps whenever possible, again this is the Japanese stereotype based in WW2. So if he’s characterized as being really serious there needs to be a damned good reason for it. You can’t just change a character to fit what you want if you’re basing it on someone else’s work. 

Next comes plot. Plot is key for any fanfic, I mean yeah every once in a while it’s fun to read a one off or throw away fic of cute activities like baking and stuff, but there’s no action or craziness (unless it’s a fic disguising itself as such which is also fun). The goal of the first chapter is set up. In a novel the first chapter is about introducing the main character(s), the world, and what the problem is. And fanfic is no different, however it has the luxury of us already knowing the character (in a way at least, take Spiderman, there’s the basic concept but there’s also a number of versions of him from different cartoon series and comic series). We might also have the luxury of knowing the world already as well, so that can be sorted out really fast, the rules and nature of the world are defined so we don’t need to explain anything. So then comes the problem, what is the character facing, is there something going on right now or is it coming, do(es) the character(s) have the power to stop it now or are they going to have to travel. The goal of the rest of the story after the first chapter is to show how the character(s) grow and change as a result of the difficulties they face in order to take care of the problem. 

And finally cutoffs. First what I mean by cutoffs is where an author chooses to create a time skip, scene change, or end of chapter point and I’ll talk about each of those in brief. 

For a time skip, the only reason that should happen in a fic is if the task at hand would be meaningless for the reader to know about like them going through all the steps of baking a cake (unless it’s to show the characters relationship with each other then don’t skip) or if there is a large gap of time where nothing important happens and I am talking about years of time, which is what happens in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, there is a 7 year period where Link is “gone” from the world and so when he comes back to it many changes have taken place and so it’s a call to action for him. 

A scene change is similar to a time skip in some cases such as character x and y are driving and now scene change to x and y being at a motel for the night, but in other cases it’s a shift in who’s talking like we were getting told x’s point of view for a long time and now y is saying x is stupid or something. 

And finally the end chapter cutoff, which is honestly a hard one, there has to be a reason for the end of a chapter, a lot of times cliffhangers are the main way to go about it, but also resolution of a current problem is important to consider. For example chapter 4 of Think Ink was a cliff hanger I purposefully put in, one because it was evil and made people want the next chapter, and two because I wasn’t ready to continue on with the story at that point, I can’t tell you the amount of “omg what the heck why did you cut off there” I got from people. Now compare that to chapter 10 of Think Ink, the end of that chapter is Henry and Bendy finally coming to an understanding of each other, what has been going on with each of them separately, and the beginning of repairing the bond. It ties up loose ends that Henry and Bendy had been facing for a long time. 

Good vibes come from the care and dedication to the fic that you have. And every reader is different, they pick up on different things, they read something in different ways. I mean hell I have been asked if I wrote lines on purpose when the reality of the matter was I was just like hey this sounds good and it was by accident. But I think what a lot of people don’t think about is how not all stories have happy beginning, middle, and endings. Sometimes there is loss, there is anger, there is dumb decisions that a character made, there are mistakes and problems and too often I see fics that are just “oh everything is happy and good and light”, and that’s not interesting for a multi-chapter fic, maybe a chapter but not the whole thing. 

So in reality there isn’t a short answer. It just depends on how well you can connect with your readers. And it takes time, there have been plenty of fics that I begin reading after 4-5 chapters are already out or the fic has been completed, so don’t worry if people aren’t reading yet, just keep going and stuff. And not everything I said has to be a part of the fic, time skip and scene jump all over the place, make mistakes and get wild with writing. And the biggest thing, and best way to get better, is to make note of what you like the most, what caused you to like a writer’s style, why did this work, what hints did the author drop in order to lead you to this plot point. And it sounds like school work… but that’s because this is what you have to do for basically every English/Language Arts essay ever. analyze the text…

Congratulations on making it to the end of this monster wall of text btw. 🎉🎉🎉

#thoughts in the margins #LONG ANSWER #I am so sorry #I just #have a lot of thoughts