#yes that fanfic exists and is archived somewhere

[olderthannetfic]

I found AO3 pretty intuitive. Took me like 5 minutes to realize how all the little buttons work. They're pretty straightforward. Apart from the AND filters - took me a while to realize what type of filters AO3 used. Beyond that, I'm not sure why people have a hard time? Wattpad and FFnet are way more of a pain in the ass.

--

It's all about familiarity.

I mean, look, AO3 works how my brain works. When we first set it up, it was what we were all used to, more or less, but an upgrade. It was hard to even see how it could ever be unintuitive because this was just How Things Were. From the style of trope tags to the fact that there's an index of fandoms by media type, it was all familiar.

But that thinking is a trap.

It's easy to say "Oh, well, that person's just an idiot", and sometimes, the problem really is laziness or sleep deprivation, but a lot of the time, it's different cultural context.

By the time we were designing AO3, I'd had many rounds of formal instruction in how to use library catalogues of various sorts, familiarity with Delicious, years in LJ slash fandom whose assumptions form the metadata structures of AO3, etc.

There's nothing strange about going "Why are ship types a top level system of organization?" or "How do I search for genre X in any anime fandom but not in non-anime fandoms?"

It's strange to me, but it's not strange in the context of people who read fanfic overall.

It's not just about learning the search features that do exist: it's about unconscious assumptions about what metadata must exist.

If you don't know to look for something and you aren't coming from a culture where poking buttons is encouraged, you're going to take a lot longer to find things than if you already have a good idea of what's probably there somewhere.

To pick two very obvious examples:

If I were designing a gen-focused archive, I'd make genre a top-level organization system, like on FFN.

If I were designing a more x-reader-focused or One True Character-focused archive, I'd make the ship searches work like Character X/Anyone instead of having to click on each ship of your blorbo or each ship with Reader.

If someone has years of experience searching for some bullshit 'trickyfish' style nonsense ship name because they're on sites with garbage searches, they'll go to AO3, plug some words into the search bar at the top, and then feel like they can't find any relevant results because everything that turns up is just that word in author's notes on an irrelevant fic. They might even go to advanced search...

...and then totally miss that the sidebar filters are the best part of AO3, and they don't appear when you do a search search as opposed to starting from a tag.

Isn't Advanced Search the most... well... advanced search? On every other website, it is, but not on AO3.

--

Each new site/technology/culture/etc. a person has to learn takes time and attention. If you're exhausted and burnt out, that's hard. Even if you're not, it takes at least some effort. It doesn't Just Happen, not for every person and every new thing.

We should tell people to read the damn FAQ, yes.

But I can't say I always do that myself on every site unless I'm both having a problem and invested enough to care about solving it.

--

On an average day, most of us don't need to care why some people have a hard time figuring out AO3.

But if anyone is planning to design a site or needs to teach a bunch of kids how to use the library or something, it's worth keeping in mind just how many unconscious assumptions are hiding behind the idea of something—literally anything—being "intuitive".

[naryrising]

3 easy things to do so you don't get locked out of your AO3 account

(Prefacing this by saying that while I am chair of the Support committee and thus handle plenty of attempted account recovery situations, this is unofficial advice based on my own observations.)

OK, ideally you would never get locked out of your AO3 account. You would keep your email address there up to date so if you ever did forget your password, you can request a reset and get right back in. Or you would use a password manager and never forget your password again. But sometimes things happen - maybe you used an older email that you no longer have access to, or you can't remember which of 27 different fannish emails you used, and now you want to get back into your account but you can't. I get it, it can happen easily enough.

Here are 3 things you can do with relatively minimal effort that would potentially make it easier to recover your account if you do get inadvertently locked out.

Put some social media links in your AO3 Profile. Add your tumblr, your twitter, your dreamwidth, your fanfiction.net or wattpad, or whatever you feel comfortable putting there. If you don't want to put your "real" social media there (for whatever reason - stalkers, nosy family, don't like mixing fannish and real life, etc.) go MAKE a fannish account somewhere else purely for the purpose of linking it on AO3. Keep those accounts active (by which I mean, don't lose the email/password there too! Maybe even use a different email address than you use on AO3, so if your email access suddenly shuts down one day, you haven't lost both accounts.)

Post a work or two! Even if you are mainly using your account for reading/bookmarking/subscribing, write a drabble or a short fic and post it. You can disable comments, make it restricted to archive users only, etc. if you don't want to deal with potential feedback. You can even post it to an anon collection if you want to keep people from knowing it was you. It doesn't have to be a masterpiece, just a valid fanwork (so don't just post some random words or something).

In conjunction with #1 and 2, cross-post a work from another site. If you have older fanfics you never imported from Livejournal or Wattpad or fanfiction.net, import them now! If you have a little series of ficlets you wrote for a prompt on tumblr or twitter once, archive those. (Yes, even if you think they're bad or embarrassing. They still deserve to be archived! See above about making a work anon or restricting access if you prefer.) If you don't have pre-existing older works posted elsewhere, write a new story, post your story somewhere else (say, on dreamwidth or tumblr), and then a day or two later, archive it on AO3.

Even doing one or two of these things would make the chances of recovering your account higher, but doing all three would be ideal!

#ao3 support

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted on Tuesdays.

Interview with Lydia Bower

Lydia Bower has written some true classic X-Files fics. Do yourself a favor and dig into her collection! She has 29 stories at Gossamer and 35 stories at AO3.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

Actually, yes, it does. With AO3 becoming the premiere spot for fanfic (rightfully so, by the way) I assumed most of the newer fans were unaware of the Gossamer Archive and the few other sites still available for the older fics. So I was delighted to come back into the fandom and see folks reccing a lot of the classics.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

I remember how incredible it felt when I initially found people who got me, who were just as stupidly invested in this weird little TV show as I was. It was like nothing else I’d ever experienced. There were message boards and newsgroup lists and email lists; anything you wanted to talk about, you could find a place to do it. I loved the post-episode discussions and would spend hours at that. We had a week (or months) between episodes, so nothing went undissected. We were all very, um, focused. Yeah, focused is as good a word as any.

And then the fanfic started showing up. That was it for me; I was all in. I can still remember going first to Vincent’s archive and it was like achieving a state of nirvana. The heavens opened up, the birds began to sing, and all was right with the world.

What did I take away from it? More friendships and good memories than I can count. That’s something I’ll carry with me for the rest of my days. Oh, and the two best imaginary friends a person can have: Mulder and Scully. I carry them too, etched indelibly on my being.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

I was involved with all of it in the beginning. I bounced from newsgroups to mailing lists to message boards to web sites. Around the 5th or 6th season it got to be a bit much since I was also doing a lot of writing then, so I narrowed things down and got the majority of my fix from The Haven message board and the smaller Primal Screamers email group.

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

As I said before, the friendships and the good times with fellow Philes. I also took away a better sense of who I am as a writer and how to use that to hone my skills. I learned how to look at media as a whole with a more critical and analytical eye and to dig beneath the surface of what I was consuming. I learned how to better express myself and maintain a cool head while in the midst of a fiery discussion. I became more confident of who I am and the worth of my opinions. I finished growing up, basically. Most of all, I learned how to just let go and enjoy being a fan of something so incredible that still connects with people almost 30 years later. That’s a legacy to be proud of.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

I’ve always been drawn to the paranormal and the strange, and when I caught an ad for TXF, I made sure to tune in. The Pilot itself was enough to hook me. It was creepy and a little scary and the two leads were incredibly smart. It didn’t hurt that they were also good-looking and had smoking hot chemistry. Like the kind that jumps in through your eyeballs and settles into a low boil somewhere below the waist.

The final act of my undoing came with the episode Conduit. By the end of it I knew the show had a firm grip on my soul. Mulder captured my heart that night, too. He still has it. He’s one of a very small handful of characters I’ve encountered over the years that I just get, at a bone-deep level I can’t even begin to explain. I am him and he is me.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

I’d been writing fanfic since the mid-80s but hit the proverbial wall that is writer’s block right around the time the show premiered. I wanted to write TXF fanfic from the start, but the muse wasn’t having it. She reappeared not long after The Field Where I Died first aired. I hopped around on the web a bit and found much wailing and gnashing of teeth on the shipper front. The muse decided we needed to give my fellow shippers something to make them feel better and give them a bit of hope. So I wrote Games. And the rest is history.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

I reacquainted myself with it earlier this year after an extended absence. I walked away from the show and the fandom after my utter disappointment with the direction the show took after the 7th season. I just couldn’t choke down what TPTB were trying to feed me in S8, and completely tuned out of S9 (with the exception of the finale). I saw IWTB a couple years after it was released in theaters and watched the revival, too. Sadly, nothing I saw there made me want to dive back in. Then one night this past spring I was poking around for something to watch and caught Paper Hearts on a broadcast channel. That was all it took. That feeling I thought I’d lost came roaring back and I settled in for a complete S1-7 rewatch. I poked around looking for a spot to call home and came back to my safe place on Tumblr.

I’m neck-deep now, for however long that feeling lasts, and devoting a lot of my free time (again) to this weird little show about aliens and monsters and two people who love each other dearly. And I’m writing fanfic again - after another bout of writer’s block that lasted almost seven years.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

I got pretty deeply involved with the Game of Thrones fandom when the show began. I was already a fan of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice book series and liked what I saw the first few years. I wrote several fanfics in the ASOIAF universe, and I’m still involved, but only from the perspective of a book fan. The show went too far off the rails toward the end of its run and killed my love for it.

Compared to TXF, I think it’s a much more segmented fandom. There are several small groups built around dozens of characters there, instead of what I see in TXF fanbase as a larger, more inclusive community. I think it’s safe to say we’re all here for Mulder & Scully in one respect or another. The other characters get their share of love too, but it’s the MSR that draws us in and helps keep us here. Other than that, fangirling is fangirling. You find your tribe and take it from there.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

Well, let’s start with Fox Mulder, with the why of it being what I tried to explain earlier. Dana Scully, because I want to be her when I grow up, but without all the emotional and physical damage she had to endure. I’m also a fan of Sandor Clegane from ASOIAF. Stu Redman from Stephen King’s The Stand. Kevin Garvey and Nora Durst from the HBO show The Leftovers. Olivia Dunham and the Bishops from Fringe. The Three Musketeers that make up the core group of the TV show Evil. I could go on, but I don’t want to bore you. Suffice to say I’m drawn to characters who are complex, damaged, and deeply flawed, but are trying their best to do the right thing and who are ultimately perfectly imperfect human beings.

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

At present, every day. I’m very much back in over my head right now. If I’m not watching it, I’m writing about it, or talking about it. I don’t know how to obsess just a little bit when it comes to TXF and Moose and Squirrel.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

Absolutely! It’s almost overwhelming how much fanfic I have to catch up on, let alone the new fics being posted daily; and all that while trying to reread some of my old favorites on Gossamer and the other OG archives. I don’t have time to read fanfics in other fandoms right now. Maybe someday.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

How much room do you have for this? <g> Okay, in no particular order and no doubt forgetting some folks, I’ll read anything by these OG authors: Karen Rasch, Terma99, Nascent, Jill Selby, Madeleine Partous, Meredith, Kipler, MCA, Anne Haynes (Paula Graves), Penumbra (@mashnotesofthemythopoeic), Rachel Anton, Joyce McKibben, Tim Scott, Darwin_xf (@darwin-xf), Suzanne Schramm, Prufrock’s Love, Sue Barringer, Mustang Sally, Rivkat, Dianora, Plausible Deniability, A.I. Irving, Rachel Howard, MD1016, Punk Maneuverability (@seepunkrun), bugs, Dasha K (@dashakay​), Khyber, Blackwood, and OneMillionAndNine.

As far as new to me authors (OG or not), these folks are also talented wordsmiths: leiascully (@leiascully), Aloysia_Virgata (@aloysiavirgata), audries, and lepusarcticus (@lepus-arcticus). I’m sure there are more great authors out there, but I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to dig into the newer stuff on AO3.

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

TXF: Pass You By, Light Don’t Sleep, Red Letter Day, Primal Sympathy, In the Ruins, Dance Without Sleeping, and Incomplete. I’ll stop there but please understand that they’re all my babies and I love them equally. I’m also very fond of the Let Everything Happen to You series I recently completed.

ASOIAF: These Scars We Wear, The Calling, Beggar’s Banquet.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

I’m doing both. I’ve written and posted 10 new fanfics since I came back into the fold and I’m working on another one right now. I also have a casefile WIP I’m struggling with that I began during the early part of S4 and set aside when the cancer arc reared its head.

I’m also in the process of bringing all my older stuff from Gossamer and my defunct website over to AO3. I think I still have 2 or 3 shorter pieces still to be moved and one post-Fight the Future fic I wrote that’s lost somewhere on the net. If anyone has a copy of my fanfic titled Shift laying around, please give me a holler! [Lilydale note: Fic found! I had a copy and sent it to Lydia.]

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

See above!

Where do you get ideas for stories?

From the ether. Seriously. Something, whether it be a line of dialogue, a question, an image, or a scene, will just pop into my head and demand my time. I’ve written 6,000-word fanfics just to slip in a single line. I don’t know how the muse works or why; I’m just along for the ride.

What's the story behind your pen name?

I always published under my own name until I set up my AO3 account. I went with wonderland there because I’m like Alice when I’m writing: I fall down the rabbit hole into Wonderland and enter a different reality.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

Yeah, they know I write it but not where to find it. Though I suppose a Google search would make it easy enough to locate. My family and friends have always been supportive of my writing, albeit confused that I’ve chosen to write fanfic instead of “real” fiction. Yeah, I know.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

wonderland on AO3

@amplifyme on Tumblr

amplifyme271 on the bird app

Lydia Bower everywhere else

Thanks for your invitation, Lilydale, this was fun!

#new post #old school x #xfiles fanfic #xf fanfic #lydia bower

[garden-bug]

Let's fix Star Wars!!

(I said at the start of the summer and wrote nearly 100k.) (It needed a lot of fixing ok.)

Here is a fix-it fanfic but it's for three series and the entire sequel trilogy. I will be posting about this more because I am determined to finish it soon (and then redraft it wooo!).

Description:

Somehow, Darth Maul returns. (As a force ghost.) (Somewhere Ahsoka thinks is probably the living Force.)

This changes everything.

In other words: The Mandalorian S3 but make it Din/Luke; the Ahsoka series but make it EZRA AND THRAWN SPACE ADVENTURES; and ‘somehow Palpatine returns’ is ripped to shreds because I connect plot points and add new characters.

Chapter excerpts below!

Chapter 1 excerpt:

“Not as far as I remember. Oh, wait! I wanted to rule the galaxy… shame.” He rolls his shoulders again. “Can’t do much about that now. Being dead is quite demotivating.” “I’m sorry for your lack of motivation.” “Don’t make fun, Lady Tano. Have sympathy for this poor, dead, ex-Sith.” “I guess 'dead' is your only personality trait now.” “You preferred me before?” Ahsoka grimaces. She can’t argue with that. “No, sorry." “I will be honest,” Maul says, “I haven’t felt this peaceful since before I lost the lower half of my body.” Ahsoka fixes him with a reproving look. "You were Palpatine's apprentice then." “Yes.” Maul sighs wistfully, chin sinking into his hand. Ahsoka rubs her eyes. Maul has already given her a headache and they've only been talking for a minute. There is still nothing but darkness and flickering light, and Maul’s steady, yellow eyes. “Do you know where you are?” Ahsoka asks. “Why should I help you figure this out? You didn’t help me once. Also, in case I haven’t made it abundantly clear, I’m dead, so I don’t care what happens to you or anyone else who is still alive. Some of us aren’t so lucky, you know?” "If we figure this out, maybe I'll get peace. I really don't want you as a voice in my head." Maul grimaces. “B’ahor,” he mutters. “In the Al'har system?” "There is a dark power on that planet… I sense evil, but also… something else." His eyes burn. "Perhaps you will go there and die. That would solve this problem quickly."

Chapter 2 excerpt:

“What was that?” Mayan asks as they hurry towards the mountain. “That feeling… the…” “The Force,” says Ahsoka. “The Force exists all around us. It is created by all living things, it moves through them, and it binds the whole galaxy together.” “How do you know about it?” “I was trained as a Jedi.” Ahsoka is surprised when her face remains impassive. There is no flicker of recognition, no spark of awe in her eyes. She just nods. “In my village, people like that are called world breakers.” “There are more of you?” “There were.” Mayan looks away. “The legends say that world breakers can take a planet in their hand and shatter it.” “That's... impossible,” Ahsoka says. She wonders why she had never considered that remote planets may have different legends about the Force. “According to the stories, we are children of the Great Universe. If we follow its will, it will guide us... That's how it used to be.” Ahsoka means to ask if there is more to these legends, but Mayan comes to a halt suddenly and points to the rock face in front of them. “This is where the curse is,” says the girl. “Yes.” Ahsoka can sense it too. This is where the Force has been leading them. It reeks of Sith and of evil. Something terrible must have happened here.

Chapter 4 excerpt:

Fleeing vehicles kick up a cloud of dust, and Luke jumps up onto the roof of the adjacent building, crouching close in preparation to drop down. Sweat licks the back of his neck. For a stupid moment he thinks how this is the complete wrong time of day to be out, when both suns are high in the sky. Then he leaps. There isn’t even time to be annoyed as the roller-wheeler careers around the corner. “Peli, I told you to keep him inside!” “He wanted to see his dad!” Peli screams. Luke sends Grogu a withering look. The little guy sticks his tongue out from where he is held securely in the Mandalorian’s arms. “I am so sorry,” says the Mandalorian. Luke doesn’t even know where to start. “It’s alright, can you hang on to him?” The roller-wheeler jolts suddenly, and Grogu squeals in what’s probably excitement. “Yeah, but you can’t get through their shield with your lightsaber. I tried with mine.” “Ok.” Luke tugs the vehicle slightly to adjust its course. “We’re gonna have to talk about why you have a lightsaber later.” He senses annoyance from the helmet. “Did you kill a Jedi?” “Won it from Moff Gideon.” “You defeated Moff Gideon?” “Watch it.” The Mandalorian blasts a Pyke who was aiming for Luke from the top of a building. “Good shot.” The Mandalorian nods. Next thing they know, a Pyke has taken out the droid, and Luke somersaults off the roller-wheeler before it flips. He plants his feet in the ground and catches the vehicles momentum that everyone lands relatively unscathed. The Mandalorian caught Grogu immediately, so Luke draws them towards him, until his hand meets bescar. “Nice catch,” says the Mandalorian. Luke grins. “Is Grogu ok?” Grogu pops up over the Mandalorian’s shoulder. He’s a little shaken, but a smile breaks across his face when he sees Luke. Peli spits out a tooth from where she’s lying.

Chapter 5 excerpt:

“We’re even,” Boba decides. He makes a hand gesture for the blue liquor, which Fennec tosses to him with a roll of her eyes. Boba places his helmet beside him on the seat and takes a swing, acid-scarred face regarding him cooly. Luke bows respectfully. “Thanks a bunch.” Boba waves an arm dismissively. “Go see the little green guy.” He turns to leave, but Boba isn’t done. He comments, offhandedly, “I thought you would’ve gotten a few more scars since the last time I saw you.” Luke turns, puzzled. “Why?” “Haven’t you been Jedi-ing?” “Jedi-ing...” “Saving the galaxy.” “We... I did that.” “What about Tatooine?” Luke’s smile falters. “Tch. ∂ι’кυтℓα נєтιιѕє.” “What's that s'posed to mean?” “It means I don’t like you.” “He called the Jedi useless,” says Ahsoka. Luke meets her eyes, trying to stifle the burn in his skin. Ahsoka clears her throat. “We’ve been gone a long time.” “That’s why I want to rebuild what was lost.” Ahsoka looks at him for a long moment. “I know.”

Chapter 6 excerpt:

“σяιтѕιя!” Koska yells. “Bo-Katan Kryze!” Bo-Katan’s eyes widen, she drops her gaze and breathes softly. “Stop yelling.” “You… you…” Koska clenches her fists. “иιвяαℓ! αяυєт!” She kicks the metal desk, exclaiming incoherencies. Bo-Katan shakes her head. “What do you want me to do?” She sits back, hands out. “I don’t have any way to unite our people, and Mandalore is inhabited by a clan of psychos.” Koska’s lip trembles, but she bites it down. “We were going to follow you. We were going to get our home back,” her voice cracks. “Don’t tell me it’s all over now. After everything we’ve been through to get here.” “Mandalore, and my legacy, is dead,” Bo-Katan seethes. “Even with the darksaber, would we be able to subdue, or, live alongside that… Clan куяαу¢, knowing what they did to Mandalore?” “Just get the darksaber from him!” Koska says. “If you get it our clan will stop kriffing falling apart and we can take them down.” Bo-Katan slumps into her hand. “This is why we fell apart in the first place. We fought each other instead of the Empire. It’s not a path I am willing to go down.” “The others are,” Koska states. Bo-Katan looks up. “And they will,” Koska continues, eyes hard. “That’s why you need to decide what to do now before they decide for you, and we end up going down a path of self-destruction. While they’ll still listen to you, choose.”

Chapter 8 excerpt:

Ahsoka clenches her jaw. “Maul,” she grits out, “what did you do?” “Em, an… indoctrination ceremony? It was mostly just for fun,” he assures her. “Ezra thought it would be fun.” “You indoctrinated him into your clan?” “That’s…” Maul blinks. “Yes. He could be considered a son of Dathomir.” “And that’s why the night sister magic took him to Dathomir.” Ahsoka groans. “Well, this was a complete waste of time! Now I have to deal with Thrawn and get out of here somehow.” Maul nods, as though that had been his plan all along. “How long has it been since they returned from the unknown regions?” he asks. “I don’t know.” “Find out,” insists Maul. “Spending too long on Dathomir with the spirits of the night sisters… would not be advisable.” Ahsoka narrows her eyes. “How so?” “They will attempt to resurrect, using whatever means they can get their hands on. I wouldn’t be surprised if they sacrifice his mortal body to gain strength to cross back over into the physical world.” “Are they immortal?” “They are… like Force ghosts that can absorb energy. With enough energy, they can reconstruct themselves, piece by piece, until all they are lacking is a physical body. They will need many sacrifices to resurrect fully.” “Hold on… could you resurrect?” “I would prefer not to,” Maul says simply. Ahsoka’s eyes widen. “Okay… why?” “Haven’t you asked enough personal questions?” he snaps. “Leave. I’m busy trying to wallow in misery.” “Sure, okay.” Ahsoka shrugs. “But if you want to talk about it—” “I said go,” Maul hisses.

Chapter 9 excerpt:

The smaller tunnel winds further down, deeper into the centre of the planet. There’s the slightest movement in the air, vibration, and Luke recognises the energy of life forces and stops walking suddenly. “There are… people down here,” he says. Din casts him a dubious helmet tilt, and they continue until it is unmistakable. Voices echo through the tunnels, many, it seems, perhaps a covert worth. “Do you wanna go say hello?” Luke asks. “Perhaps they can help us find the living waters.” The tunnel breaks off into several other small passageways. This close, Luke can pick out the soft glow of light, and he gestures for Din to switch his torch off. When he does, they are plunged into darkness, but gradually, Luke’s eyes adjust to the light, and he leads Din by the arm towards the light and the voices. The voices hush suddenly. Luke pauses, he wonders if they should stop, go back, maybe confront these people somewhere they have more of an advantage. But Din steps past him, leaving Grogu in Luke’s arms. “тισи’¢υу?” “иι αℓιιт мαи∂σ.” “иυ тισи’αℓιιт ѕσℓυѕ?” “иαу¢… αѕн’α∂.” “к’σℓαя.” Din steps into the room. Luke follows after him. Inside the large cave, is a group of Mandalorians. One of them stands abruptly, blaster raised. “тισи’ѕσℓєт?” he barks. “єни,” Din responds. “тισи’ναιι?” Din reaches for Grogu, and takes him into his arms. “иєя ιк’αα∂. иι куя'тαуℓ gαι ѕα’α∂,” he says. The Mandalorian stares at them for a moment, then sighs raggedly, and sinks back onto the rock. The others in his group relax, but keep their eyes fixed on the newcomers. Their armour is in a state of disrepair, some of it clearly salvaged from the ruins. Some wear their helmets while others do not. The faces that Luke can see are pale and gaunt, as though they haven’t seen the sunlight in a long time and their torn clothes hang off their body in a way that makes Luke think of skeletons. “Do you speak basic?” Din asks. “We haven’t,” the Mandalorian says harshly, “since a long time.” His eyes are dark, hooded, his hair matted and entirely grey. “We are looking for the living waters,” Din explains. “Do you know how to get there?”

Chapter 10 excerpt:

Mayan has gotten better at interpreting binary speech, but she’s not quite there yet. It takes her a moment to figure out what the little beeps mean as she stuffs some out-of-date rations into a makeshift pack. “Um… we’re going to rescue Ahsoka.” R2 spins excitedly. Then he stops and says, “…. --- .--?" “I don’t know how.” Mayan ties her boots. “By now, the blue man will think we’ve gone, so we can surprise him, right?” R2 whistles uncertainly. “Well… there’s no other choice.” Mayan grips the lightsaber in her hand. “You said Luke can’t come… so…” R2 bumps into her as she walks towards the ladder. “Ow, that was my toe.” Mayan groans. “What is it?” “-.. .- -. --. . .-. --- ..- …!” “I know it’s dangerous. You didn’t want Luke to come because he’s an important Jedi, right?” Mayan squeezes past him. “If the blue man finds him it’d be bad, so it’s better if I rescue her.” R2 whistles a sad note again. Mayan clambers up the ladder one-armed, her other arm tucked into a sling under her cloak. It’s completely useless. She doesn’t know how bad the break was, but since it happened, the skin has gone from red to purple — the edges faintly green. If she tries to use it, a sharp pain stabs through her. The town is quiet this early — even the fruit vendors haven’t opened their stalls yet. Mayan sneaks around the side of the blown-up house, pulling her cloak over her feathered hair. She gestures for R2 to follow. She thinks if she can get to the mountain again, she can… well, she doesn’t really know. Mayan has always been good at getting out of dangerous situations, not getting into them. Maybe R2 can come up with a plan. “This is hopeless,” Mayan decides. They sit within viewing distance of the tall mountain base, hidden in a valley of rocks. “--. --- ……. -… .- -.-. -.-?” R2 suggests. Mayan rubs the wrinkly skin of her fingers. “I don’t want to give up, but I don’t know how to get in, or where she is. I’ve never even seen a prison before.” She pulls her knees up to her chest. “I don’t know why Ahsoka even believes in me at all.” “… -.- -.-- ……. .. … ……. .- -- .- --.. .. -. —.!” Mayan smiles a little. 'Sky is amazing,' R2 said. It’s nice that he gave her a nickname after she said she wanted one like Ahsoka had as a padawan.

Chapter 11 excerpt:

Their arrival must have caused a minor uproar. A dozen Mandalorians watch from every hallway Luke glances down. They are all blue, presumably Bo-Katan’s people, and they don’t seem happy. They are brought into a large hall, where spear-shaped windows bite into the ceiling, and white crystal casts a steady light over the room. A long carpet leads to a throne that resembles a hardened splash of lava, and on it, sits Bo-Katan. She’s really got the throne thing down, maybe even as much as Boba Fett. Luke would not mess with either of them unless absolutely necessary purely based on their throne demeanour. “What the kirff are you doing,” Bo-Katan says. She doesn’t yell, just sounds exasperated, maybe even exhausted. “I’m taking you up on the offer to join you.” Bo-Katan looks at him. Her amber eyes narrow, and she gets up, and makes her way towards them. “You’re too late now,” she says. Her expression touches on cold rage. “I’m barely holding this together as it is. With the arrival of your covert, things have only gotten worse.” “Mandalore is habitable,” Din says. “There are other Mandalorians already living there.” “The clans on Mandalore are belligerent and mad,” Bo-Katan snaps. “And the Empire has eyes on the planet. With the numbers we have, staging anything with only attract attention and get us all killed.”

Chapter 12 excerpt:

“You have redeemed yourself?” asks the Armourer. “I have,” says Din. The intense blue of the forge reflects off both of their helmets and the heat dusts Luke’s cheeks with warmth. “And you have acquired another foundling…” The Armourer’s tone shifts to something decidedly less serious and more akin to amusement. “What is the name of this child?” “Kymir,” Din says. “Kymir, do you wish to join our covert?” the Armourer asks the boy. Kymir looks from Din to the Armourer, brows furrowing. “He doesn’t speak basic,” Din says. “Kymir, тιαи’¢σρααиιя тσ αℓιιт?” he translates. Kymir bites his lip. “иαу¢,” he says. Luke infers that his answer is no. Din looks at the Armourer. “He has had a bad experience with his covert. He will not trust easily.” “Without a covert, he will have no protection.” “I will watch over him.” “At this time, you are also in need of protection,” says the Armourer, lightly. “You were almost killed this morning.”

Chapter 13 excerpt:

“Ahsoka? Ahsoka!” Mayan shakes Ahsoka’s shoulders, but her master doesn’t stir. She holds her face and tries to somehow will her awake with the force, but nothing seems to work. Her eyes remain closed, eyelids twitching minutely every few seconds. “Is she alright?” Leia asks, crouching by the broken tree Ahsoka rests against. “I think so… she goes into deep sleeps sometimes. I don’t really know what…” Mayan hugs her arms. “Um, is the Falcon okay?” “Ships fine,” Han says, an edge of annoyance in his tone, as he walks over to them. “But Ahsoka better wake up soon so I can ask her what in the hell just happened.” “We went through a portal,” Mayan says. Han squints. “How d’you know that?” “I’m a Jedi padawan…” Han throws his hands in the air. “Not another one! Come on, Chewy,” he says, “let’s go help Sabine get the engine started like normal people. Damn Jedi…force portals…” he mutters. R2 beeps in a pattern that Mayan recognises as a laugh as Han stalks off. “I hope Ahsoka wakes up soon…” Mayan says, mostly to herself, though Leia is still beside her. “Yes, well,” Leia starts, “we need to get back home. This was meant to be a drop-off, not another adventure.”

Chapter 16 excerpt:

“Come with me to Mandalore,” Din says. “But I don’t think I’m supposed to do that.” “Do you want to?” “Yes.” Luke glances at him from over his shoulder. “But I can’t,” he says. “I’m a Jedi, I have to follow the will of the force.” Din is silent for a long time, and Luke wonders if the conversation is over. But finally, he speaks. “I understand.” Luke huffs dubiously. “Really?” “Yes,” Din says. “I know what it’s like to be told that something that feels right is somehow wrong.” Luke’s stomach twists. Nothing feels right. Nothing. He let the force guide him here and now the force is telling him it’s time to leave. What if Din and Grogu still need him? He’s almost certain they do. But the galaxy needs him too. Perhaps his responsibilities lie elsewhere, maybe he got caught up in his emotions and mistook this for being the right thing. The problem is, Luke doesn’t know. The uncertainty makes him afraid. (Jedi should not be afraid.) He remembers his vision in the mythosaur lair and his throat tightens until he can barely speak. (Fear clouds one’s judgement.) “I can’t choose you,” Luke whispers, and a laugh catches in his through. “I can never choose you. Can you really tell me you understand that?” Din brings a hand up to his helmet. “I don’t know.” Luke stands up and catches his wrist. “Don’t,” he says. “I can’t let you give up your creed for me when I wouldn’t do the same for you.” Din’s hand falls. Luke stares into the dark visor, feeling further from his eyes than ever. The words of Obi-Wan’s Force-ghost echo in his head. “Had she said the word, I would have left the Jedi Order to be by her side.” “I’m sorry,” Luke says and lets go of his wrist. He steps back, gaze falling to the floor. If he wasn’t among the last Jedi… if the fate of the galaxy didn’t rest on his shoulders… But the Jedi are gone. Palpatine and Vader made sure of that. And now Luke has to spend his life paying for his father’s mistakes.

Chapter 18 excerpt:

“Leia, I don’t like this.” Luke tries not to squirm in his seat. If he had no appetite for the fancy Coruscant food before he certainly doesn’t now. “A Moff, after a force-sensitive child, working with a cloner? What the kriff were they doing?” “He might just have been after him because he was force sensitive and you know how the Empire felt about the Jedi.” “I wish I’d asked Din about this! I’m such an idiot.” “Who’s Din?” “Never mind. Okay, I’ve got to find out what Pershing was doing for Moff Gideon. I have a seriously bad feeling —” “Okay,” Leia says. “I trust your judgement. Are you finished? Let’s go speak to them.” Luke’s stomach swoops. “What?” “Sorry, farm-boy. Sneaking around isn’t how we learn things on Coruscant. You’ve got to play the game.” “What game?” “Politics, Luke.” “Oh great.”

Chapter 19 excerpt

“Good. I’m going down. Kymir and I can reach them fastest. Once we know where the creature lives we can go with a small group and rescue Ragnar.” Bo-Katan narrows her eyes, searching his visor for something to reassure herself. Din’s stomach drops when he realises that she’s desperately searching for his eyes. He touches her shoulder instead. “Keep them together,” he says, nodding in the direction of the others who are still reeling from the shock of the attack, some badly wounded. Bo-Katan sighs. “That’s what I’ve been doing for years, Din.” She shakes her head. “Let me wrap your arm. Take some more painkillers or you won’t be able to think when you’re down there. You might still lose the arm the way it is now.” Din stares at her. “Yeah, okay,” he says. “Okay?” Bo-Katan squints, winding the bandage around his arm which is thoroughly smothered in bacta. “I think you mean fuck.” “Fuck,” Din says. “It’s fine. I still have another arm.”

“∂ιи ∂נαяιи נσя иєя’вυιя נιι.” Din Djarin is… my… Din grabs a wall to steady himself. The words bounce around his helmet and his ears ache. He shuts his eyes, tries to focus on the words through the pain. They’re the important thing. “σяι’νσ∂ вυяк’у¢. ναιι’уαιм ∂яαgσи?” My friend is in danger. Where is the dragon’s home? “куяαмℓα.” He’s dead. “иυ ∂яααя!” Not never! “кумιя, уαιм’σℓ.” Kymir, come home. Din steps out to stand beside him. He tries to stand straight. He pulls out the darksaber with his good hand. “gαα’тαуℓιя,” he says, and ignites the blade. Help me. For a moment, nobody moves. Then, somebody asks, “ιвι¢… иι ¢єтα?” Will this… redeem us? Din looks at Kymir. Understanding wells in his eyes. "Do you forgive them?" “иααѕα∂ мι’ѕυя’нααι,” says Kymir. Not in my eyes. Din nods. Good. “мєн’gαα’тαуℓιя, нιвιяαя gαя иι ¢єтα.” If you help us, you may learn to forgive yourselves.

Grogu frowns in concentration. He peers out of the window, ignoring the computer completely, but his hand shifts on the stick and suddenly his eyes widen and he presses the button down. It hits the dragon and the creature screeches in agony, twisting up into the sky to escape from the onslaught. “Mu?” Grogu turns to Din. “Uh, lucky shot,” Din says. “I wouldn’t shoot without aiming first, kid. Wait, actually… can you use your Jedi stuff to aim? Is that what you’re doing?” Okay. What would Luke say? Something like… “In that case, just focus, and… listen to the — is it called the Force? Yeah, listen to the Force.” Grogu snorts. “What? Wouldn’t I make a good Jedi?” Din smiles, but Grogu can’t see it.

The guns bombard the remaining dragons with enough firepower to essentially obliterate them, and litter their scaly corpses across the ground. Boba-Fett lands his ship with a whoosh of hot air. Din stares as he lowers the landing ramp and marches towards him, Fennec following closely. “Thought you could use a hand,” says the gruff voice. Din tries to speak but his legs decide to give out. “Woah, there.” Boba keeps him upright with a firm hand on his shoulder. “Let’s get you inside, Manda’lor,” he says. “Someone oughta throw you in a bacta tank,” says Fennec. “We don’t have a bacta tank.” Bo-Katan scowls from the cave entrance. “What are you doing here, Fett?” “I heard there was a get-together on Mandalore. Someone must’ve missed my invitation.”

Chapter 20 excerpt:

The magic tethering her to Dathomir tugs sharply on her wrist as she falls again into the familiar darkness. And then stops. Ahsoka can hear her breaths this time, sharp and cutting, and she scrambles to her feet, searching for — “You…” “Get away from him,” Ahsoka snarls. Leia’s lightsaber ignites with a burst of blue. Palpatine, or whatever’s left of him, has found them. His dark cloak drowns his physical form, making him almost impossible to discern from the flickering darkness, if it wasn’t for the ghastly, misshapen white of his face. Yellow eyes melt through the darkness, and grey lips stretch in a triumphant gleam. “He is of no more importance,” Palpatine snarls. Maul’s body twitches in the air, hands grasping desperately at his throat. “Let him go,” Ahsoka says. “S-sever our dyad,” Maul gasps. “Don’t let… don’t let him…” Ahsoka rips her arm free of the green string. “No!” Maul cries. Now there is no going back. “I will not leave you with him.”

“Grand Admiral, Sir, permission to speak freely?” “Permission granted, commodore Faro. You know I always value your input.” “Well, Sir, we’re kriffed.”

Chapter 25 excerpt:

“Thrawn,” Eli starts, looking into his red eyes, “y’know I—” The security feed beeps. Eli’s eyes widen when he sees Ezra waving up at the camera from the supply room. Eli clicks the comms. “Um, Ezra, wha’d’ya think you’re doing there? Actually, how’d you even get on board?” “Space portals!” “Right. I see.” Eli rubs his forehead. This is going to be a long day. “You need anythin’?” “You won’t believe what happened down there,” Ezra practically yells. “Anyway, I need the key now because we’re locking Dathomir so this doesn’t ever happen again, then we’re all jumping through a space portal to you guys. Is that alright?” “Sure. See ya in a bit.” “Excellent,” says Thrawn. He turns to Eli. “What were you going to say?” Eli sighs. “Moment’s gone. Alright, let’s get this data ready for Ezra-kid to look at.”

#star wars #fanficion #ao3 fanfic #ahsoka #ahsoka series #thrawn #star wars fanfiction #grand admiral thrawn #eli vanto #ezra bridger #luke skywalker #din djarin #the mandalorian #the mandalorian fanfiction #star wars fix it #star wars au #star wars oc #jedi oc #thrawn ascendancy #thrawn trilogy #the mandalorian critical #dinluke #thranto

[tnc-n3cl]

A Guide to Rito Village er... Torikirika

Torikirika (Toe-re-key-re-ka) is the Rito name for their settlement on Lake Totori known by non-Rito as "Rito Village." While it is the only Rito settlement accessible to non-Rito after the Great Calamity, it is far from the only Rito settlement in existence.

The term Torikirika most accurately translates into "Home of the Rito People," or more literally "Home of Our People." The word was poorly translated into "Rito Village" eons ago and the Rito themselves don't seem to bother correcting anyone, perhaps because their geographical isolation makes interaction with non-Rito so rare.

... Okay, that's enough in-universe stuff... So in my fanfic, "The Realm Walker," most Rito fled Hyrule after the Great Calamity and I put a world map that shows where their new settlements are at up on DA. (I will warn that it is a huge image though...) Also this is going to be a bit long and rambly, but there's visual aids using in game screen shots...

So, as "The Ballad of Kass" is moving towards events happening in Rito Village, I've decided to do a little expanding of the place because quite frankly Nintendo didn't give these poor birds enough space/didn't properly utilize the space that was given.

This pillar is located at the end of a lone bridge to the left of the entrance (when approaching from Rito Stable). This is where the Village Archives are, all sorts of historical documents and artifacts are stored in there. Kass is the Loresinger so he's in charge of keeping this stuff secure and preserved and Amali takes over that while he's flying around Hyrule helping Link out. Super secret stuff is in there so it's probably one of only two places the Rito would have actual doors.

This is one of those lone pillars on the lake, just south of the previous image. This is where the blacksmith shop is located, her name is Vertis (based on Harth's name in the German version) and her roost is on that pillar where the Archive entrance is. (Yes, there's a Korok there, so depending on how you get him, he's either hiding on top of the roost or moved somewhere else.)

A map view, the red pin is Frita's workshop/roost, she's the town jeweler, though she lets Huck & Nekk sell her wares rather than run her own shop. The Blue pin is Misa & Fyson's roost (at least until he moves to Tarrey Town...) The Yellow pin is Guy's roost, where he lives with his wife and kid. (Yes, I know, he's got a kid that never shows up in game, very suspicious that...) The green pin is Kisli's house, she's an OC I made cause there's not enough guards and Gesane needs to sleep! She's a Bubo Tribe (Owl) Rito loosely based on the red morph of the eastern screech owl. And the pink pin is Gesane's roost.

Gesane's roost is basically right under Kass and Amali's roost.

This is more or less where Kisli's roost is, there's some stairs leading down to the area below that bridge cause that's where the Rito food storage area is (next to the three ore deposits in game.)

And here's where the food stores are. Filled with preserved meat, grains, fruits, etc. I was thinking about a mine or catacombs... but it seems really dumb to be weakening the pillar with mining activity... So there's some caves along the rim of Lake Totori, though they really don't do much in the way of mining after the Great Calamity. Vertis probably gets most of her metal from melted down scrap.

A couple screen shots of the lower area, the second one is right under the Slippery Falcon.

So this map shows some spots on the lower area of the pillar with the shrine. Originally I was going to have Huck and Nekk (they're brothers), live and do their sewing on the lower level but... The yellow pin is right next to the back landing of their shop! So that's where they live. The blue pin is Harth's bow shop, cause I don't think his roost is big enough for him and his daughter to live in and make bows and sell bows.

Right next to the armor shop, there's a new bridge that leads to Harth's shop. Just pretend it's there okay! :P

This is by the entrance to the village, there's an armory here cause weapons aren't allowed in the village proper. (Except for Harth's bow shop, and all the catches of bows and bomb arrows Teba's hidden around the pillar, out of the reach of fledglings of course!)

So if you go to the right when approaching the village, you see this pillar...

...which I marked on the map. That's where Revali's roost used to be, huh, fun coincidence that the pin is blue isn't it? Anywhoo, this doesn't relate to "The Ballad of Kass" but in other stories I focus on Revali and this will be relevant then. Also back before the Great Calamity, there was an open market on the third island (counting from Rito Stable, or if you'd rather it's where the salmon pond is). It was called the Eagle's Bazaar and was something of a tourist trap with Rito merchants selling all sorts of goods to visitors. I had a map image showing Link standing there, but it didn't transfer, and you can see it here so, whateves...

And so in these last couple images, I show the emblem for Torikirika. The little boxy G with the wings/E's. Every Rito settlement has a symbol like this, and it is usually found on the cloth "skirt" on Rito armor (or on the chest plate if you're a bigshot Warrior like Teba).

#rito botw #rito village #orni #loz botw #breath of the wild #fanfiction #zelda fanfiction #ao3 fanfic #therealmwalker #headcanon #the legend of zelda

[srmthg]

ICYMI fanfiction.net went quiet for a while and scared everyone so bad that it did a big update to reassure everyone that no, actually, the site doesn’t quite have a foot in the grave yet, but still... I look at how many SRMTHG fics exist on FFN vs. AO3 and get pretty sad. Like, did y’all younger fans know that over on FFN, which was the main fanfiction site back when SRMT was airing, SRMTHG is in the top 50 cartoon series in terms of fics published? This fandom may be small but back in the day we wrote like NOBODY’S business.  If you’re reading this and have work on FFN, I encourage you to give it new life over on AO3, or at least keep it somewhere safe for yourself. Even if you cringe at the sight of your old writing, it meant something to someone when you wrote it and likely still has the potential to make someone smile. Yes. your OC fanfic about Gibson’s long-lost sister is important fandom history IMHO. AO3 has even been going as far as to import whole archives to preserve fanwork... but I remain a bit ehhhhh on the idea of “preserving” other’s writing without their express permission.  If you’re not sure, I encourage you to at least use tools such as save to PDF and Calibre’s fanfiction downloader to save your hard work for yourself - FFN seems safe for now, but you never really know. I’m hesistant about only having my fics on one website even when it’s incredibly healthy seeming. 

#fanfic preservation #srmthg #srmthfg

[no2ticonderoga]

😅,😈,🎶,🛠,⛔,❌ ,🧐

😅 What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge embarrassed exists?

The West Wing fanfic I wrote in high school that managed to migrate to me on AO3 when the archive I originally posted it on closed (thanks AO3 for preserving fandom history, tho, that's pretty awesome). It's poorly written and super cringy, and reflects a high school sensibility that was informed by reading a lot of Tom Clancy and other technothrillers.

(Also, I realized further down that there does exist on my hard drive a smutty scene from a Wheel of Time fanfic. That is probably the cringiest thing I wrote)

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

Well, actually, when I was writing in the HP fandom, lo these many years ago, I would have a tendency to leave my readers off on nasty cliffhangers.

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

I do sometimes. When I'm writing the Senior Year series, I'm usually rocking songs from when I was in high school. For the Regency/Napoleonic AU, I usually listen to music from the period, like the Master and Commander sound track. Lately, though, I've been rocking my playlist of all James Bond theme songs. Don't ask me why, it has nothing to do with my writing.

🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write?

I might as well be a walking, talking, ad for Google Workspace. I experimented with Scrivner a while ago, and I liked some of the features, but I didn't like not being able to access it from anywhere. I wish I could recreate some of the features in Google Docs.

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

A Star Wars fic I wrote with friends in high school, that was basically all of us being extremely self indulgent. Several others from the old HP days. There exists a Wheel of Time fic on my hard drive somewhere. More recently, I have abandoned, at least for the moment, a Miraculous Ladybug fic that would have been a sequel to one of my others.

We won't talk about the number of original works that were abandoned.

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

There are probably many. Cheating of any kind makes my stomach turn. I probably won't ever write a breakup fic because I believe in true love in my ships. I'm sure there are others that I would stay away from if I was thinking more.

🧐 Do you spend much time researching for your stories?

I...well...yes. Entirely too much time. But I have learned so much. There are so many things I would add or tweak about ItSotK after all the reading/research I've done over the past year. I think one of my problems is I often get too caught up in the research. I got so bogged down in research that I ended up abandoning an original project because I got lost in the details.

#asks #darkmagyk

[sleepfiles]

Breaking Stereotypes: The Diversity in Fanfiction

An essay in defense of fanfiction. Written on the 17th of December, 2020.

Fanfiction, commonly shortened to fanfics or fics, could be defined as a work of fiction based on a pre-existing book, movie, television show, play, etc. written by a fan of said media. Over the years, fanfiction has gained a double-edged sword reputation. Torn between being widely read by a large audience but simultaneously never being truly taken seriously. It is seen, by many, as a teenage girl's projection of pop culture. And I could honestly see where they're coming from, with the numerous self-insert One Direction fanfiction that granted fans to look at what lies in the possible, and even the infamous best-seller E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey starting out as a sex-induced Twilight fanfiction. However, while the term has gained popularity during the 21st century with the rise of the internet and fanfiction websites such as Wattpad, Fanfiction.net, Archive of Our Own, and many more, there is a deeper history behind these fan-written pieces of literature. Ahlin (2016) lists several classic works of literature that may be classified as fanfiction. The first on the list is John Milton's Paradise Lost, which essentially is his take on the characters from the bible. Dante's Inferno is a self-insert fanfiction about his journey with the poet Virgil in Hell. Even Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was based on a poem entitled The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet. Others mentioned on the list were James Joyce's Ulysses, Virgil's The Aeneid, Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers, and a few more. The main takeaway from this article is that, taking into account the definition of fanfiction without any existing biases, fanfiction is a large diverse genre that extends far beyond the work of an adolescent's naïve imagination. There exists both good and bad fanfiction. With every cliché Y/N one-shot comes along a brilliant reimagining of pre-existing characters. See, the diversity in fanfiction not only lies in what it is, but also in what it is for. In present times, it could be said that fanfiction is a form of expression. With a large part of the genre's demographic being adolescents to early teens, its main purpose is to serve as a creative outlet for these young writers to explore aspects of their imagination. And, yes, a lot of fanfiction tend to be cringey and filled with cliché tropes; but you don't crucify the thirteen-year-old preteen who wrote Harry Potter self-insert fanfiction for not meeting the literary standards. An article by Aragon (2019) presents a passage that perfectly captures the notion, "When I was 13, I had a major crush on a certain fictional character. My fics were full of phrases such as "gorgeous cerulean orbs," "manly hunks of muscle," and the like. Reviewers were kind enough to be positive about my amateurish fangirl postings—mostly because they also liked this character—but also pointed out my uses of clichés and overwriting. As a result, I learned to be sensitive to these types of bad writing. Today, I've published original fiction, and no one has ever called me out on a florid writing style. I think if a teacher had simply red-penciled my childish scribbles, I might have been so discouraged as to never write again". We all have to start somewhere, and fanfiction is honestly a good stepping stone for aspiring writers. It's essentially a platform where aspiring writers could post their works to a wide audience, there are no deadlines to be met, no standards to follow but one's own. Admittedly, that's where I started to. All the YA novels I owned only fueled my love for reading, but my interest in writing arrived the moment I considered writing Harry Styles fanfiction at age thirteen. Burt (2017) said, "Writers who started out with fanfic and then found the proper mix of critique and encouragement could go on to publish "real" (and remunerated) work". A lot of people who write fanfiction are also amateur writers trying to find their own voice. It's good practice. I, for one, as both an aspiring professional writer and a creative writing student, have tracked my noticeable improvements and transformation in my writing through the fanfiction I've written over the years. From writing predictable tropes with language that sounds too try-hard to being able to formulate coherent plot points and engaging character dynamics. Fanfiction, like any form of literature, grows. Moving on from amateur fanfiction, as we move forward in the spectrum, there lies in the shallow waters of the internet, well-written fanfiction. Fanfiction that is arguably better than some published YA novels I've read. Not all fanfiction is written by preteens or sex-deprived teenage girls, sometimes they're written by people with enough talent and knowledge to address the speculative what-ifs regarding some of our favorite characters — or in this incoming example, people. Real Person Fiction (RPF) is a subgenre of fanfiction that reimagines the roles and lives of real people, typically celebrities. I've read my fair share of RPFs, and some of them have ended up being my favorite pieces of literature to read. "I tap on it because the ticks are familiar to me. It blocks out the other noises." This is a line from one of my favorite fanfictions entitled Noisy Thoughts. It is said by the main character, Wendy, in the earlier chapters. It is such a compelling way to introduce the main character without giving too much away. See, in the story, instead of being a famous celebrity, Wendy is merely a college student with a strange affinity to sounds that 'tick'. Her seemingly quiet world is suddenly thrown into a pit of confusion at the entrance of her new roommate, Joohyun. Together, the two help each other deal with the emotional baggage cluttering their apartment. With an interesting cast of characters, each with their own depth and interesting subplot, the flow of the story keeps the readers on edge. As most fanfictions are, you might've guessed right that it is a romance story at first glance, but it is also so much more. This story deals with trauma and mental illness in a way that leaves me captivated, I feel for each of the characters and what they go through. I would go as much as to say it is better than how some professionally published stories tackle sensitive topics such as addressing trauma and healing from these traumatic experiences. I suppose the only downfall is that chapters are posted once every six months at the most; and with fifteen chapters into the story, it's still not finished. Another story I love from the same fandom (meaning Wendy, Irene, and other K-POP idols are also involved) is entitled The Purity Club. While this isn't as heartbreaking as Noisy Thoughts, it still tugs on my heartstrings and even makes me uncomfortable at times when the scenario just hits too close to home. The story makes use of the celebrities' birthnames as opposed to their stage names, so Wendy is referred to as Seungwan, and Irene is referred to as Joohyun, the same goes for the rest of the characters. The Purity Club starts with the characters attending the same boarding school, Joohyun being a devoted member of her church and Seungwan who always seems to cause trouble wherever she goes. It sounds like a cliché synopsis, and the premise is taken from an overdone trope of the troublemaker and the good girl. But the way this story progresses, it just left me speechless. This one tackles story arcs such as abuse, internalized homophobia, societal homophobia, healing from trauma and shaking off bad habits, and many more. It seems that every arc the plot passes has me holding my breath for what's to come next.

Although, my favorite aspect of this story has to be the character development. Joohyun's most notably, one of the characters who has gone through the most transformation throughout the entire story. She starts as the perfect daughter, almost blindly obedient to her parents' commands and with a straightforward grip on her religious faith. As she goes through and processes the events that transpire in the story, she learns to be her own person. Battling years of bigotry taught to her at a young age and coming to terms with her sexuality, and despite all the bad memories, she still actively practices her faith in God. All of the main cast has some degree of exceptional character development in this story, arguably better than how some mainstream TV shows like Riverdale develop their characters. The writer took their time in letting the characters grow without losing track of the foundation of what makes these characters click. Fanfiction is truly a diverse genre; it deserves more credit than people give it. It deserves to be taken seriously. As I've mentioned before, there exists good and bad fanfiction. But doesn't every form have its good and bad content? Frankly, I'm exhausted at the world's refusal to view fanfiction as a legitimate genre when some classical works can be considered fanfiction themselves. There exists a gold mine of well-written literary works with compelling plots and satisfying development deep within the confines of fanfiction websites. I believe it's time for the world to see it. REFERENCES: Ahlin, C. (2016, May 6). 11 Classics That Are Secretly Fanfiction. Bustle.      https://www.bustle.com/articles/159041-11-classics-that-are-secretly-fanfiction Aragon, C. (2019, December 27). What I learned from studying billions of words of online fan fiction. MIT Technology Review.        https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/12/27/131111/online-fan-fiction-learning-communities/ Burt, S. (2017, August 23). The Promise and Potential of Fan Fiction. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-promise-and-potential-of-fan-fiction Changdeol. (2017, March 27). The Purity Club.         https://archiveofourown.org/works/10468458/chapters/23099487 scarletstring. (2015, October 9). Noisy Thoughts.           https://archiveofourown.org/works/4964323/chapters/11399977

#essay

[dragonnan]

🥳 Why did you start writing fanfic?

🐇 Do you write for yourself, for others, or both?💕 What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

Eeeeee!!!

🥳 I started writing aaaaaat…. roughly 14 or 15-ish? Our family had just gotten our first computer (which right away should give some fair indication of how long ago this was. Hint - we’re talking late 80s). At that time I had been heavily invested in Star Wars novels and had recently read “The Courtship of Princess Leia”. So, being incredibly confident in my skills as a writer, I determined that I was going to write the next book in the saga using our brand new IBM Zeos Clone II. I won’t bore you too much suffice to say it took 5 years and I did actually finish the story. Somewhere it still exists on an old A drive hard disk. I also have a printed version. And while it very much reads like a 15 year old kid with too much confidence and very little previous experience wrote it - it also hooked me in to writing for life. Discovering fanfic in those same 5 years further lodged the writing bug deep in my brain.

🐇 Both for sure. I write the stories I can’t find or that simply hit my brain sideways out of nowhere. And then once I start, I get gleeful thinking of other people reading my tales. Writing a story is like cooking a delicious meal. Yes, you do it because you’re hungry, but you also want to share that deliciousness with others to bring them happiness. I’m fully encompassed in both.

💕 Now, see, that’s just mean lol!! At the moment, counting drabbles, one-shots, collections, and chaptered works I have at LEAST 600 stories- give or take. So picking a favorite is literally impossible. I also have written for multiple fandoms which further complicates it. Soooo one? Best I can manage is a selection of stories that personally speak to me in this exact moment that would likely be different if I answered this tomorrow lol!

Psych: “Tell Me a Bedtime Story, Daddy” - it’s a one-shot originally titled “Precious Treasure” on Psychfic and was part of a prompt series. This was specifically an exploration into horror - back during my Walking Dead phase. It is also straight up tragedy so be aware of the tags if you decide to check it out.

Sherlock: “A Faun at Baker Street” - fully inspired by the works of @sgam76 who has a series about vampire Sherlock and are utterly glorious! I had previously read some various fawnlock stories and wanted to try my own version. The result is both ridiculous yet fun and doing its best to be a “serious piece of literature” 🤣.

Marvel Universe: “Sed Diabolus” - I realize it’s a WIP but I am in love with how this story is very slowly coming together. It’s also the first time I’ve ever (with MASSIVE help from @kitcat992 ) created a complete outline for a fic so I know everything that will be happening and I’m dying to eventually get to share! I love the exploration of the various characters and getting to give them what the MCU failed to provide. I love digging into characters I normally wouldn’t be likely to write - such as Wanda or Hawkeye - to see who they are and what motivates them. It’s a sort of bonanza of character studies interspersed with terror and bloodshed lol!

#thank you so much for the ask!

[copperbadge]

It’s so funny to me that like...sometimes I will wonder where an idea or a character came from, because they feel very fully developed in my brain, and then weeks or months later I’ll be excavating my old fiction and find the prototype. There’s 3-4 versions of Ellis Graveworthy floating around in my ouvre before he made it into The Dead Isle, some of which I didn’t even remember before writing Dead Isle, and I’m relatively sure there’s at least one other iteration of Bill, Wild’s younger brother in Six Harvests, somewhere, though I haven’t found him yet.

Hilariously, I realized while out on a walk yesterday that Michaelis also existed before the Shivadh stories -- he’s a more fully-realized version of the first fanfic OC I ever wrote, which in many ways explains why I enjoyed writing him so much. He echoes all the way back to my X-Files fanfic days in the mid-90s. Different name, different situation, but roughly the same age and very recognizably the same basic personality. I just had a thought about my really old fanfic flash through my brain and went, “Oh....that’s Michaelis.” 

Happily for me most of those super-old fics don’t exist anymore, prey to early internet lack-of-archive (yes, some things did go permanently lost) and a hard drive crash when I was 18. I’m sure Michaelis is a much, much better version of that old OC, but it does amuse me that I’m still writing about Extremely Tired Dads Rediscovering Wonder, just like, from the other side of forty now. 

High five, teenage Sam, we survived our twenties with all of our weird traumas and fixations largely intact. 

#writing #shivadhverse

[olderthannetfic]

An archive is an archive, right? I'm still getting the hang of this... Trying to fully understand the function of Ao3 as a whole. Apologies for any misunderstandings, please feel free to correct me.

Some years ago, I wrote a HP fanfic. It is one of my best works yet, one of the best written fic I ever made in my entire decade of writing fanfics. Personally, ofc. However, I posted it on ffnet... I can't access ffnet anymore because of country restrictions...but through an arrangement, I got my friend to help download the fic for me!

I have been meaning to continue it but with JKR being as is...I don't have the heart to continue it. Despite that, I still want it preserved somewhere and thought, oh, that's why Ao3 exists right?

Am I understanding this right? (Maybe I'm having mixed feelings over some sort of moral ground or something...)

--

Yes, AO3 exists to archive works in the long term if their authors want.

[qqueenofhades]

Hi. I’m curious. What did you mean by “women who read fiction might get Bad Ideas!!!” has just reached its latest and stupidest form via tumblr purity culture.? I haven’t seen any of this but I’m new to tumblr.

Oh man. You really want to get me into trouble on, like, my first day back, don’t you?

Pretty much all of this has been explained elsewhere by people much smarter than me, so this isn’t necessarily going to say anything new, but I’ll do my best to synthesize and summarize it. As ever, it comes with the caveat that it is my personal interpretation, and is not intended as the be-all, end-all. You’ll definitely run across it if you spend any time on Tumblr (or social media in general, including Twitter, and any other fandom-related spaces). This will get long.

In short: in the nineteenth century, when Gothic/romantic literature became popular and women were increasingly able to read these kinds of novels for fun, there was an attendant moral panic over whether they, with their weak female brains, would be able to distinguish fiction from reality, and that they might start making immoral or inappropriate choices in their real life as a result. Obviously, there was a huge sexist and misogynistic component to this, and it would be nice to write it off entirely as just hysterical Victorian pearl-clutching, but that feeds into the “lol people in the past were all much stupider than we are today” kind of historical fallacy that I often and vigorously shut down. (Honestly, I’m not sure how anyone can ever write the “omg medieval people believed such weird things about medicine!” nonsense again after what we’ve gone through with COVID, but that is a whole other rant.) The thinking ran that women shouldn’t read novels for fear of corrupting their impressionable brains, or if they had to read novels at all, they should only be the Right Ones: i.e., those that came with a side of heavy-handed and explicit moralizing so that they wouldn’t be tempted to transgress. Of course, books trying to hammer their readers over the head with their Moral Point aren’t often much fun to read, and that’s not the point of fiction anyway. Or at least, it shouldn’t be.

Fast-forward to today, and the entire generation of young, otherwise well-meaning people who have come to believe that being a moral person involves only consuming the “right” kind of fictional content, and being outrageously mean to strangers on the internet who do not agree with that choice. There are a lot of factors contributing to this. First, the advent of social media and being subject to the judgment of people across the world at all times has made it imperative that you demonstrate the “right” opinions to fit in with your peer-group, and on fandom websites, that often falls into a twisted, hyper-critical, so-called “progressivism” that diligently knows all the social justice buzzwords, but has trouble applying them in nuance, context, and complicated real life. To some extent, this obviously is not a bad thing. People need to be critical of the media they engage with, to know what narratives the creator(s) are promoting, the tropes they are using, the conclusions that they are supporting, and to be able to recognize and push back against genuinely harmful content when it is produced – and this distinction is critical – by professional mainstream creators. Amateur, individual fan content is another kettle of fish. There is a difference between critiquing a professional creator (though social media has also made it incredibly easy to atrociously abuse them) and attacking your fellow fan and peer, who is on the exact same footing as you as a consumer of that content.

Obviously, again, this doesn’t mean that you can’t call out people who are engaging in actually toxic or abusive behavior, fans or otherwise. But certain segments of Tumblr culture have drained both those words (along with “gaslighting”) of almost all critical meaning, until they’re applied indiscriminately to “any fictional content that I don’t like, don’t agree with, or which doesn’t seem to model healthy behavior in real life” and “anyone who likes or engages with this content.” Somewhere along the line, a reactionary mindset has been formed in which the only fictional narratives or relationships are those which would be “acceptable” in real life, to which I say…. what? If I only wanted real life, I would watch the news and only read non-fiction. Once again, the underlying fear, even if it’s framed in different terms, is that the people (often women) enjoying this content can’t be trusted to tell the difference between fiction and reality, and if they like “problematic” fictional content, they will proceed to seek it out in their real life and personal relationships. And this is just… not true.

As I said above, critical media studies and thoughtful consumption of entertainment are both great things! There have been some great metas written on, say, the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how it is increasingly relying on villains who have outwardly admirable motives (see: the Flag Smashers in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) who are then stigmatized by their anti-social, violent behavior and attacks on innocent people, which is bad even as the heroes also rely on violence to achieve their ends. This is a clever way to acknowledge social anxieties – to say that people who identify with the Flag Smashers are right, to an extent, but then the instant they cross the line into violence, they’re upsetting the status quo and need to be put down by the heroes. I watched TFATWS and obviously enjoyed it. I have gone on a Marvel re-watching binge recently as well. I like the MCU! I like the characters and the madcap sci-fi adventures! But I can also recognize it as a flawed piece of media that I don’t have to accept whole-cloth, and to be able to criticize some of the ancillary messages that come with it. It doesn’t have to be black and white.

When it comes to shipping, moreover, the toxic culture of “my ship is better than your ship because it’s Better in Real Life” ™ is both well-known and in my opinion, exhausting and pointless. As also noted, the whole point of fiction is that it allows us to create and experience realities that we don’t always want in real life. I certainly enjoy plenty of things in fiction that I would definitely not want in reality: apocalyptic space operas, violent adventures, and yes, garbage men. A large number of my ships over the years have been labeled “unhealthy” for one reason or another, presumably because they don’t adhere to the stereotype of the coffee-shop AU where there’s no tension and nobody ever makes mistakes or is allowed to have serious flaws. And I’m not even bagging on coffee-shop AUs! Some people want to remove characters from a violent situation and give them that fluff and release from the nonstop trauma that TV writers merrily inflict on them without ever thinking about the consequences. Fanfiction often focuses on the psychology and healing of characters who have been through too much, and since that’s something we can all relate to right now, it’s a very powerful exercise. As a transformative and interpretive tool, fanfic is pretty awesome.

The problem, again, comes when people think that fic/fandom can only be used in this way, and that going the other direction, and exploring darker or complicated or messy dynamics and relationships, is morally bad. As has been said before: shipping is not activism. You don’t get brownie points for only having “healthy” ships (and just my personal opinion as a queer person, these often tend to be heterosexual white ships engaging in notably heteronormative behavior) and only supporting behavior in fiction that you think is acceptable in real life. As we’ve said, there is a systematic problem in identifying what that is. Ironically, for people worried about Women Getting Ideas by confusing fiction and reality, they’re doing the same thing, and treating fiction like reality. Fiction is fiction. Nobody actually dies. Nobody actually gets hurt. These people are not real. We need to normalize the idea of characters as figments of a creator’s imagination, not actual people with their own agency. They exist as they are written, and by the choice of people whose motives can be scrutinized and questioned, but they themselves are not real. Nor do characters reflect the author’s personal views. Period.

This feeds into the fact that the internet, and fandom culture, is not intended as a “safe space” in the sense that no questionable or triggering content can ever be posted. Archive of Our Own, with its reams of scrupulous tagging and requests for you to explicitly click and confirm that you are of age to see M or E-rated content, is a constant target of the purity cultists for hosting fictional material that they see as “immoral.” But it repeatedly, unmistakably, directly asks you for your consent to see this material, and if you then act unfairly victimized, well… that’s on you. You agreed to look at this, and there are very few cases where you didn’t know what it entailed. Fandom involves adults creating contents for adults, and while teenagers and younger people can and do participate, they need to understand this fact, rather than expecting everything to be a PG Disney movie.

When I do write my “dark” ships with garbage men, moreover, they always involve a lot of the man being an idiot, being bluntly called out for an idiot, and learning healthier patterns of behavior, which is one of the fundamental patterns of romance novels. But they also involve an element of the woman realizing that societal standards are, in fact, bullshit, and she can go feral every so often, as a treat. But even if I wrote them another way, that would still be okay! There are plenty of ships and dynamics that I don’t care for and don’t express in my fic and fandom writing, but that doesn’t mean I seek out the people who do like them and reprimand them for it. I know plenty of people who use fiction, including dark fiction, in a cathartic way to process real-life trauma, and that’s exactly the role – one of them, at least – that fiction needs to be able to fulfill. It would be terribly boring and limited if we were only ever allowed to write about Real Life and nothing else. It needs to be complicated, dark, escapist, unreal, twisted, and whatever else. This means absolutely zilch about what the consumers of this fiction believe, act, or do in their real lives.

Once more, I do note the misogyny underlying this. Nobody, after all, seems to care what kind of books or fictional narratives men read, and there’s no reflection on whether this is teaching them unhealthy patterns of behavior, or whether it predicts how they’ll act in real life. (There was some of that with the “do video games cause mass shootings?”, but it was a straw man to distract from the actual issues of toxic masculinity and gun culture.) Certain kinds of fiction, especially historical fiction, romance novels, and fanfic, are intensely gendered and viewed as being “women’s fiction” and therefore hyper-criticized, while nobody’s asking if all the macho-man potboiler military-intrigue tough-guy stereotypical “men’s fiction” is teaching them bad things. So the panic about whether your average woman on the internet is reading dark fanfic with an Unhealthy Ship (zomgz) is, in my opinion, misguided at best, and actively destructive at worst.

#long post #anonymous #ask

[jasontoddiefor]

tagged by @sonderwalker! I posted 4.544 times in 2021

853 posts created (19%)

3691 posts reblogged (81%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 4.3 posts.

I added 3.553 tags in 2021

#star wars - 1355 posts

#ask - 465 posts

#no i am your queue - 322 posts

#anon - 307 posts

#writing - 268 posts

#video tag - 227 posts

#fanfic - 159 posts

#dgm - 152 posts

#dc - 151 posts

#yes - 147 posts

Longest Tag: 125 characters

#obiwan: so we can try killing the emperor which will likely result in our deaths because i can't stand being away from anakin

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Script of Attack of the Clones and The Clone Wars Wild Space

Unreliable Narration: exists

Anakin Skywalker: Is the problem I never articulated properly actually Obi-Wan’s fault?

1023 notes • Posted 2021-01-26 13:44:38 GMT

#4

Anakin Skywalker’s Guide to Jedi Traditions ft. Meditation

1333 notes • Posted 2021-04-11 18:58:38 GMT

#3

Slice of life Jedi Order thoughts

anyway, take a bunch of thoughts about the Jedi Order’s day to day life

The temple is never silent. Either the diurnial or the nocturnal Jedi are up. A lot of activities are timed to include both, hence most events being hold at sunset / sunrise

The idea of cooking just for yourself is just weird. If you cook, it’s for at least one more person. Large communal kitchen where you can just pick anything up at all times

Some Jedi might live alone in their rooms, others share. Why wouldn’t you live together with your Padawan or best friends? And if your friend takes on a Padawan, guess you’re also feeling at least a little responsible for it

Large greenhouses where they plant their own vegetables and fruits and herbs. It’s a bit of a tradition to bring home new plants from different planets if they aren’t already in the temple so lots of botanical gardens as well

art and music rooms! they probably have long hallways where they just display art and you can probably always find a jedi somewhere in the gardens or halls, playing an instrument

mixed environment rooms! Masters with aquatic Padawans or the other way round. Constant (fond) bickering about room temperature and so on

mixed aged classes and everyone’s special interest gets suported. There are probably hundreds of classes/club.

The most experienced get to teach a class. If that means the 20-year-olds attend a seminar on Alderaani High Republic Romanticism Poetry being taught by a thirteen-year-old who took a deep dive into that topic last summer then that means that you get taught by that 13 y/o

They probably have an in-house network with a list of abilities/interests people have so they cna just search what person can teach them what

Age honestly is fairly irrelevant when it comes to teaching, as should be whether you pass or fail an exam/course. You can try again, asking for the support you need

You probbaly have to write something like a bachelors or masters thesis about a chosen subject when you become a Knight.

Hobbies are all over the palce. From ancient old fashioned ryloth weaving to modern Naboo waterpainting

A lot of celebrations and holidays about the Force or certain important battles being won from the Jedi, but also celebrating holidays of the cultures the members of the Order are from

show fights and competitions!

1659 notes • Posted 2021-04-07 20:15:58 GMT

#2

Canon, give me the forbidden fun Jedi anecdotes-

2506 notes • Posted 2021-03-26 18:04:32 GMT

#1

my ideal Star Wars TV show would just be a slice of life Jedi show. Plots include:

younglings losing frogs they were supposed to look after for a week and trying to hide their absence from their teacher.

(Yoda ate the frog)

The one time Mace gets talked into taking a break and walks past increasingly distressing situations and Jedi going “no, no, it’s fine, enjoy vacation”

A Padawan hiding a couple lothcat kittens they found in their room and getting their friends to help them

Tournaments!

One episode about a Master frantically searching for a book to return to archives fearing Master Nu’s wrath only for their Padawan to have already returned it

Philosophy discussions getting increasingly debated

Padawans babysitting Initiates

At least one forbidden trip to the lower levels

Feel free to add

5337 notes • Posted 2021-06-13 16:30:58 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Audrey Roget

Audrey Roget has 10 fics at Gossamer, with some different ones at AO3, fanfiction.net, and her website. You might know her from her very good fics or as part of Musea, a collective that all wrote fic and posted X-Files fic recs. I’ve recced some of my favorites of her stories here before, including Three Times Dana Scully Didn’t Go to San Diego for Christmas and The Shirt. Big thanks to Audrey for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)? A little, yes. Not so much by folks who were around in those days. I sometimes go hunting for beloved stories from the early years, both those I read and loved, and those I never got around to. I am always delighted to hear that later generations of fans have stumbled across my stuff, especially since I haven’t posted anything new in a number of years. It’s fantastic that both years-long fans and new ones are out there continuing to rec fic from all eras, and to maintain archives for fans yet-to-be born. What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it? What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general? It may sound corny, but the main thing I think of, and the thing that has ultimately been most valuable and lasting, has been the friendships. The feeling of having found a tribe – not just of TXF fans, but of other people who could be as enthusiastically engaged as I was (if not more so) with fictional stories and characters – was mind-blowing. Since I was a kid, I had often mulled over the books/movies/TV I loved and speculated internally about what happened off the page or off-screen, or created new stories for characters in my head. But, except for an elementary school phase where I and my two BFFs regularly played Charlie’s Angels, I hadn’t engaged in that kind of gleeful immersion in a fictional world with others until TXF fandom. My involvement in fandom followed pretty quickly from getting hooked on the show, so for me, it’s all one big ball of experiences. Even as my interest in/involvement in fandom has waxed and waned over the years, I’ve been lucky to remain friends with wonderful people who I originally connected with as fellow fans.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)? What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

My initial entrée to the fandom was through fanfiction. I didn’t get interested in the show until mid-season 5. Around the same time, I read an article in a zine called Might (co-founded by Dave Eggers) about this thing called fanfiction that people would write and publish online. At first I thought it was satire or a joke – the fic cited involved Wilma Flintstone and a polished sabre tooth, as I recall – but then realized this was an actual thing. So I figured that a show then at the peak of pop culture must have fanfiction, and I went looking. Early on, I scrolled atxc on a daily basis and downloaded stories. But I didn’t engage in discussions about the show on Usenet, since I only knew how to access it with my Earthlink email client, and I didn’t want to post using my real name.

Later, I set up a pseud address with Yahoo and subscribed to a couple of email fanfic/discussion lists, and stayed subscribed to those for years. There was also a period in there somewhere – of maybe only a year or so, when I think about it – when I’d often nerd out into the wee hours with other fans via IM chat groups. That was around the time the small writers’ collective Musea was founded, and we were active for several years after the show’s initial run. In the early aughts, I followed many authors to LiveJournal and eventually set up my own account and stayed involved in fandom that way, until it mostly dispersed as well. What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show? In a word: Chemistry. I had casually watched a couple of episodes during the first four seasons, but I’m not a huge sci-fi/horror fan at heart, and the story lines didn’t immediately grab me. But I happened to tune into The Red and the Black in 1998, and BOOM. For the first time, the intense layers of emotion and attraction between Mulder and Scully really struck me – and then of course, upon further viewing, I realized it was unmissable, an essential element in the fabric of the show. As a wise woman once said, a switch had been flicked. Mulder and Scully’s magnetism was like nothing I’d ever seen, and though I eventually came to appreciate the storytelling, humor, production values, and other components that made the series so successful, watching those characters interact has always been what kept me coming back. Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files? I was part of a list-serv discussion group for The West Wing for a while, which was a fun melding of character and plot analysis with political discussion. Later, I got into the House, MD fandom, again mostly as a fanfic reader/writer. I was finding that other fandoms, unlike TXF, were more dispersed, the networks of people structured more loosely, if at all. There were fanfic and discussion communities on LiveJournal, and fanfiction.net was the other main hub for posting and reading, but if there was anything centralized like Gossamer, Ephemeral, or the Haven, I never found it. Within all those fan communities, as in TXF, there were partisans for various characters and pairings, and flame wars erupted over plot developments that outraged this faction or that. One main difference was that those other shows had larger, ensemble casts and more varied subplots. So on one hand, there was more opportunity to explore back stories and multiple perspectives. In House MD in particular, there were several entrenched rival shipper camps, which were about equally grounded in canon, rather than TXF’s central ship. I was less into TWW fic, but my impression was that readers were less militant about their pairing preferences than TXF or House fans. Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

I was deeply fascinated by Greg House for several years. (And the love-hate chemistry between him and Lisa Cuddy was a strong draw for me.) House MD came early in a wave of TV shows centered on anti-heroes, and Hugh Laurie brought amazing complexity and thoughtfulness to the character.

Philip and Elizabeth Jennings (The Americans) are a lethal pair of antiheroes. The inherent moral conflict of a sympathetic narrative from their POVs, and the global political conflict they embody was TV catnip for me. The internal struggles at the hearts of those characters were so exquisitely written and performed, they completely fascinate me.

The West Wing felt so much like a show created specifically for me. I’m especially fond of story arcs and scenes that centered on CJ Cregg, Charlie Young, and Josh Lyman. Though I loved Martin Sheen’s human portrayal of Jed Bartlet, the fact that he was the President always made him a little untouchable in my mind. But CJ, Charlie, and Josh were basically hard-working functionaries who were ambitious and idealistic and funny and flawed, and they spoke to me. What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom? Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully? Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I do continue to think about Mulder and Scully and watch episodes somewhat often. I’ll sometimes run a favorite episode as background when I want something comforting on. I read TXF fic pretty regularly, which can inspire me to go back and watch a particular episode or story arc I haven’t thought about in years. Just recently, I started listening to The X-Files Diaries podcast (@XFDPodcast, @admiralty-xfd), and that’s a fun dive into the characters, and how other fans react to and interpret episodes.

Every once in a while, a TV show or movie – and more particularly, the characters – will grab my attention and make me curious about how fanfic writers have interpreted the original material. Random example, I saw Singin’ in the Rain for the first time in a theatre a couple of years ago, and the chemistry of the three leads sent me to AO3 as soon as I got home. I also loved the first season of Mercy Street and found some well-done stories in that fandom. I usually peruse the Yuletide gifts every year and have been amazed by the sheer variety, creativity and cheekiness of the output. There are a bunch of other shows I’ve followed faithfully, and sought out fanfic – Broadchurch, The Killing, Agents of SHIELD, Elementary, The Good Wife. Although I’ve found some well-written stuff in those fandoms, I’ve rarely gotten the same charge from them as reading TXF fic. Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

syntax6 (@syntax6) – Universal Invariants/Laws of Motion. I’d also shout out to syn’s Hunter fics, too – well worth reading even for those who have never seen or particularly loved the show itself.

JET – I re-read Small Lives Awake every year around Thanksgiving time. Other annual holiday re-reads: Revely’s The Dreaming Sea and Jordan’s Through the Fire (both set at Halloween).

Amal Nahurriyeh’s Casey universe – the rare post-col fic that felt hopeful, made extra intriguing by a kick-ass original character. [Lilydale note: the series starts with Machines of Freedom and has lots of additional fics and snippets.]

Prufrock’s Love – Finding Rokovoko was genuinely terrifying and tender.

melforbes (@melforbes) – Seaglass Blue is a recent favorite, lyrical and bittersweet.

These are just a few (apologies to those that didn’t come to mind immediately). Fortunately for readers, there’s an astonishing number of authors who have written in TXF fandom whom you can depend on for a good yarn, insightful character study, and/or ingenious “fixes” where 1013 went awry.

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

Probably the two set in my own (former) backyard of Southern California: Enivrez-vous and Ravenous. I’d first read the Baudelaire poem that was the source of the former’s title back in university days, so I was tickled to be able to use a few lines as an epigraph. Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online? It’s not out of the realm possibility. I’d meant for “Three Times Dana Scully Didn’t Go to San Diego for Christmas” to be followed up with “And One Time She Did.” In fact, the idea for that never-finished story was what inspired “Three Times” in the first place. I have a couple of scenes sketched out and – unusually for me – even know exactly how to end it. Every year, November rolls around, and I think I should finish and post it…maybe in 2021?

Where do you get ideas for stories? Sometimes it’s from my environment. “Enivrez-vous” and “Ravenous” describe places that I’m fond of, that made me want to place Mulder and Scully there. “What Not to Wear” has that element too – I set it in Memphis as a tribute to a great trip there with a sister Musean. But WNTW was also inspired by a kink challenge in a years-ago LiveJournal thread, so sometimes ideas come from fandom discussions or even other fanfics. In the House MD fandom, a fic by another writer made me want to continue the story, and the author kindly allowed an authorized sequel. What's the story behind your pen name? I wanted my pseudonym to sound like it could be a real person’s name – or at least, maybe like a romance writer’s pen name – rather than an online handle. I also wanted to use a slightly obscure fictional character, to amuse anyone in the know. I had long had a bit of an obsession with Whit Stillman’s 1990s film trilogy, which started with Metropolitan; the 3rd installment, Last Days of Disco, came out the same year I started down the TXF rabbit hole: 1998. The central heroine of Metropolitan – who is mentioned in or makes a cameo in the other two – is Audrey Rouget, a lover of Austen and, eventually, a book editor. I altered the spelling of the last name as a nod to every writer’s companion, Roget’s Thesaurus. Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions? I have a few close friends – from outside TXF fandom – who know that I’ve written fanfic. I don’t know if they know my pseud; if they do, or if they’ve ready any of the fic, they haven’t said so to me. They are fannish sorts themselves, but not really TXF fans. A smattering of other friends and family members know or could intuit that I’ve been a fangrl on some level for years. My boss, whom I’ve known for about 3 years, recently mentioned off-handedly that she was really obsessed with TXF “back in the day,” and I am DYING to know if she got involved in fandom, but don’t think I’ll ever work up the courage to ask.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now? Most of the X-Files stuff continues to be generously and steadfastly archived by Forte at The Basement Office. The House MD stories and some TXF things are at fanfiction.net; same for AO3. If ever post anything new, it will probably go to TBO and AO3. I really ought to get it all together in one place, one of these days…

(Posted by Lilydale on April 6, 2021)

#old school x #xfiles fanfic #xf fanfic #xf fanfic author interviews #audrey roget

[communistkenobi-archive]

yeah like even when these writers ARE fans of the media (like how you can tell lots of the mcu writers are) that doesn't mean they're writing fanfic when they create stories for the franchise like. the nature of their writing (and their relationship with the work) absolutely does differ & change based on the involvement of like Marvel or Star Wars or whatever, and the nature & definition of the work changes based on the studios' interference and approval etc

yes exactly! this is also why people who HAVE written fanfic about properties they are then hired on to write for have to either delete all their works online or hide them somewhere. Or, for example, why fanfiction that is then turned into licensed art (ie 50 Shades of Grey) is removed from fanfiction websites and other archives.

I’m still trying to get a better working definition down of what I’m talking about (and if someone has discussed fanfic as a relationship to art in a market I’d be interested to read it), so I’m repeating myself a little bit, but I think defining FF as “communal art of an existing property that is produced outside the confines of copyright law” is instructive in these discussions. I don’t think that’s ALL of what fanfic is, but that definition is instructive when talking about why like, Dante’s Inferno is not AU Bible fanfiction.

#misc.txt #questions in spaaace #the great fic debate

[duskandstarlight]

M, R, and U prompts!

M) Got any premises from E&L you’ve got on the back burner that you’d like to share?

Many! But they are all for future one-shots in the same universe of E&L and for me to share them would be for me to give you spoilers!

R) Are there any writers out there (fanfic or otherwise) that you consider an influence?

Yes? I read basically every Nessian fic that existed before and all of those fuelled my desire to write my own Nessian fanfic! I loved (and still do love) the emotional in @vidalinav writing which I discovered somewhere in my Nessian journey! And obviously SJM is a major influence 😂

U) Share three of your favourite fic writers and why you like them so much.

This is hard because my memory is a sieve.

For Hunger Games: No Unicorns by misshoneywell on A03 (Peeta / Katniss). Bloody excellent smut tbh.

For Six of Crows: a love like this by monkkeyslut (Kanej). Truly beautiful writing.

For ACOTAR: This is so hard! I think my most reread fic is Amongst the Archives by writinginthedust on A03. I just find it really funny.

#nessian #acotar #hunger games #soc #six of crows #nesta x cassian #ask me anything #ACOTAR