#I don't know how to tag this actually I don't think it's really a nandermo post
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I will preface this by saying that of course I’m a nandermo shipper so I’m biased but like
as a writer
I’m looking at this whole Freddie thing with like... increasing confusion. Like... the way to get your audience invested in a romance is to, y’know, show it? They’re hinting at it, but we’re not really getting to see any of the things that usually get fans into a romance. Not how they met, not how they got together, not how they actually interact, not their ship dynamic... It’s mostly been some generic phone endearments and Guillermo hanging up on him mid-sentence. Hard to get a handle on, y’know?
At this point, I’m guessing that there’s a very high likelihood that we really won’t even see the guy until the end of the season. And while hinting at a mysterious lover is great for a fuckin murder mystery or something, it’s not an effective way to get an audience invested in what a romance is rather than what it could be.
So at this point, I can’t help but wonder if we’re not supposed to be getting invested in it...?
Maybe I just spent too long in Big 2 comics fandom, but I know that a good way to get your fans annoyed at a new love interest is to have an established main character go from 0 to 60 about them with no build-up that the fans are actually privy to. Like, we know that the character has feelings for them, and that’s fine. But in order for the fans to have feelings about them, we also need to kind of fall in love with them, y’know? It’s easy to feel cheated and irritated with a character if the writers neglect that very important step.
When it comes to writing a romance, it’s just... not good writing... And I think these are not bad writers! So the only other thing I can think of is that they’re not writing a romance. Either what they’re actually building to is a storyline about Guillermo’s fucked up interpersonal skills and inability to ever actually be “normal” (highly likely, I think) or one where Freddie causes trouble (less likely, I think, though this show doesn’t really have normal people in it) or it’s going to be a story about Guillermo and Nandor in the end (which feels... pointed in the show itself, but seems unlikely from interviews?) or... I don’t know.
I’ve been trying to give both of these new relationships absolute benefit of the doubt (despite obviously not really wanting them to go well, lmao) because I mean! I’ve changed my mind on pairings that split up my ships if they’re well-written enough! I’ve actually spun dozens of scenarios for how these two relationships could work in my head. But yeah, it’s getting harder and harder with each passing episode. Both Marwa and Freddie feel more like plot devices in someone else’s story than actual characters at this point, and we are swiftly running out of episodes. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to see ways that each of these could become well-written romances. (Nandor/Marwa especially is dead in the water, I think.)
And I mean... These writers are so fucking good at writing romance when it comes to Laszlo and Nadja! That’s a pairing that we were also introduced to well after they got together, but they managed to show their ship dynamic so charmingly so quickly that you kind of feel like you’ve known them forever. So the fact that they’re just... not doing that... has me like ??? what are you planning??? because it sure as shit doesn’t feel like a well-developed romantic storyline! lmao
At this point, even if Freddie does stick around for s5 (not a thing I’m hoping for, mostly bc of narrative cohesion reasons which I went into with one of my last answered asks) his introduction has just been so damn strange that I don’t know if this can ever feel like an organic relationship...? I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I realized at a certain point that it was because, based on how this is being used in the narrative, it’s starting to feel more like foreshadowing for a bad thing than a good one. Or if not a bad thing, then at least an explosive one?
I mentioned it in one of my last posts, but this is starting to give “Colin’s 100th Birthday” vibes. The way they keep bringing it up, but too quickly for any real information? The way that “Freddie” has been announced as the penultimate episode of the season, the same spot where Colin “died”...? This is starting to make me uneasy!
I guess I’ll just end with saying personally, I kind of hope that the thing with Freddie ends catastrophically just because I like seeing my blorbos Suffer but I acknowledge that’s probably less likely lmao. At this point, I’m just going to be happy if they have a greater plan here that isn’t just “dump an unintroduced love interest on viewers near the end of the season” because again, I just don’t find that narratively satisfying.
but damn, if we aren’t building up a romance, what are we building?? I keep trying to figure it out! ;A;
#god the fucking trauma I have from comics fandom#I do not miss THOSE days#Carlie became a big thing near the end of my time in comics fandom but it's rare to see a fandom hate a love interest that much#like EVERYONE from all walks of life hated that character#and a lot of it was that every character loved her but they never showed why#the first pairing that comes to mind that won me over#a het one no less#was ben and leslie in parks and rec#I actually shipped Leslie really hard with Ann!#and when Ben came I was like Oh No#but damn if they didn't win me over despite my best efforts#so like... I am willing to be swayed!#but y'all are not swaying me!#why... aren't you trying to sway me...#now I'm suspicious#lmao#wwdits#wwdits s4 spoilers#I don't know how to tag this actually I don't think it's really a nandermo post
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Fanfic Writer 20 Questions
I was tagged by @virginian-wolfsnake - thank you!!! This was so fun to do!!
1. How many fics do you have on ao3?
Technically 40 but actually 39 lmao. When I first started posting my wwdits october prompts last year, I posted the first two as chapters on the same fic before reposting them (and all the others) as individual works in a series. But I refuse to delete the original because I got some nice comments on it ^.^
2. What is your ao3 word count?
94,076
3. How many fandoms do you write for and what are they?
Well I've only ever posted for A Series of Unfortunate Events, What We Do in the Shadows and Harlots, but I've got WIPs for Hunger Games, Why Women Kill, and School for Good and Evil as well (some of which will hopefully also get posted... at some point lmao)
4. What are your top five fics by kudos?
Disclaimer: I have not read these fics in ages and I have no idea what the writing quality is like lmao
That's Not The Point (wwdits) — Nandor gets defensive of Guillermo when Nadja and Laszlo start insulting him. I honestly didn't really like this at all when I was writing it and I cannot believe that it is overwhelmingly my most popular fic with almost a 100 kudos lead on second place
His Good Lady Wife (wwdits) — set in the aftermath of the gang's attempt to capture the Sire, it focuses on Nadja/Laszlo with a strong emphasis on Nadja and how she's feeling. This one is also actually my oldest fic! It's really nice to see that it's doing so well, especially since it's the only fic to make the top five that isn't tagged with Nandor/Guillermo (a feat in and of itself lmao) ^.^
What A Way To Spend The Evening (wwdits) — Guillermo being jealous of Nadja and Laszlo being cute... what more is there to say?
An Eternity With You (wwdits) — a classic "the squad gets drunk" fic wherein Guillermo has to take care of a sad-drunk Nandor while Nadja and Laszlo are, once again, cute. Is anyone else sensing a theme here?
A Wish, Unfulfilled (wwdits) — now this one I do still like the concept of; Guillermo makes a wish that accidentally turns him into a vampire and the vampires into his familiars. However, because it was written for one of the october prompts, it is rather rushed, and I did actually start work on a multichapter version of it. Hopefully someday I'll get around to finishing that
I knew none of my asoue fics even came close to my wwdits ones in terms of stats, but I was not prepared to see the numbers because like... woah. That's a lot of kudos. Thank you!! There's also an (admittedly quite funny) trend of my Nandermo-adjacent fics doing way better than anything else, despite the fact that I wrote far more Nadja-centric content, and haven't posted anything at all for wwdits in almost a year
(giving a lil bonus as a treat: my top asoue fic is Figuratively Speaking, and it's the only asoue fic I've written that managed to beat any of my wwdits fics in terms of kudos)
5. Do you respond to comments? Why / why not?
Yes, absolutely! I love getting comments so so much, they always brighten my day and I think about them like... all the time. So I just want to leave a little acknowledgement and let people know that I really appreciate them taking the time to say that they enjoyed my writing! I spend a lot of time on my fics, and hearing that someone out there liked one of them enough to tell me that is... so so lovely, and I love being able to thank people for that!!
6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?
Oooh okay this is a hard one because I don't tend to really write happy things. I think I'd have to say Insistent (asoue), because the ending of that one is probably the most overtly angsty one (I think, although there are a couple other contenders). This was also the one where someone commented that I owe them for their therapy bills so I feel like that's a good indictor lmao
7. Do you write crossovers?
I don't write crossovers in terms of having characters from different universes meet up (unless you count the one time Mina showed up in a wwdits fic but I feel like that's just canon from the lore the show's given us so far about fictional vampires) and I've certainly never posted an actual crossover... but I do have an AU in the works where the characters from asoue are living in the Hunger Games universe (replacing all of the characters from THG instead of coexisting with them) and that might get posted someday?
8. Have you ever gotten hate on a fic?
Nope! To be fair, I don't think enough people see my fics to get someone hating on them, especially since I write for smaller fandoms where, as far as I've seen, the people are all very nice and encouraging!
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
I certainly don't post smut. I've tried my hand at it once or twice (on a couple of asoue pairings actually), but I'm not sure I ever really hit the mark so I probably won't ever post them. They are still sitting in my WIP folders though
10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not as far as I know. Again, not being super popular and writing for smaller fandoms certainly reduces the risk, along with the fact that the fandoms I do write for are very lovely
11. Have you ever had a fic translated?
Again, not to my knowledge. It'd be SO cool if someone ever wanted to, though
12. Have you ever co-written a fic?
Nope! Honestly, I'm not really sure how that works for people?? I think I'm too unreliable with schedules and going off-plan for anyone to put up with me lmao
13. What’s your all-time favourite ship?
Oh god that's a hard one. I have a lot that I really adore (like, a lot), some of which I've never even had the chance to write for. As much as I love Esmé/Georgina (and they may be my favourite to read), I think Beatrice/Esmé is my favourite to write, purely because you can do so much with their dynamic and it's very interesting to me. Also they're both chaotic and problematic and that is my JAM
14. What’s a wip that you want to finish but you don’t think you ever will?
Possibly the extended version of A Wish, Unfulfilled that I mentioned earlier, or my entire rewrite of wwdits season 4. I've been super uninspired for wwdits in months because I'm honestly really disappointed in the show's writing, and there are so many other fandoms that I still adore writing for that I'm not sure I'll ever get the inspiration to go back and finish either of them
15. What are your writing strengths?
Okay this is kinda hard for me because I know I'm very critical of my writing (it's something I'm working on but we're not there yet lmao). I've been told my dialogue is a strong point, and I do enjoy and spend a lot of time on trying to capture how different characters would speak, so I'm going to say that!
16. What are your writing weaknesses?
In the interest of not spiralling tonight, I'm going to say either using dashes too much - because I really do use them all the time - or my tendency to italicise words far too often. (haha, see what I did there? I'm so funny) Oh! Or my habit of accidentally having a favourite word, that I realise upon re-reading I used wayyyyy too often for the relatively short length of my fics
17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?
I'm not necessarily opposed to it, but also I think that I'd be too scared to try it unless I knew someone who spoke that language that could help me out. It's also not a problem I've ever come across though, and since my preferred style of narration is 'intimate third person', I'd probably just write "they said something in spanish" or something to that effect if my chosen character can't understand what's being said
18. What is the first fandom you ever wrote for?
The first fandom I wrote for is harder to answer, because I write a lot of stuff that I don't post, but the first one I posted was for wwdits
Not including the couple of things I posted on my old ao3 account that I do not, have not, and will not ever attach to myself in any way shape or form
19. What’s your favourite fic that you have ever written?
Okay, I don't really have a favourite, but there's a few that I'm quite proud of for one reason or another (note: I'm not re-reading these before listing them here so if the quality is questionable... please don't blame me I did my best):
Under the Moonlight (asoue) — Beatrice/Esmé. This is my most recent fic, and my longest by a relatively significant significant margin, and I actually really like it
Don't You Miss How We Were? (asoue) — Esmé-centric (because of course). This is an older one, and I believe it's the only one I've ever written that is explicitly TV-verse. Still, I do like it, even if it's sad
The Dream (wwdits) — Nadja-centric, where the whole thing is literally just her having a nightmare that explains a little bit of how I see her transition going after she was bitten
The Incident (wwdits) — Now I absolutely have not read this in ages, but the concept of it is; 'the others are forced to realise that Guillermo is actually dangerous and they don't handle it well.' It's another one that I kind of wish I'd dragged out a little more, but I'm also glad that I didn't because if I had, it probably wouldn't have ever been finished/posted
20. Who do you tag?
Obviously no pressure, but @gray-zelle, @changelinq, @tangentiallly, and anyone else who wants to give it a go!!
#virginian wolfsnake#tag games#the lesbian herself#this was so so fun thank you for tagging me!!#also because i was looking at my stats for this post#i realised i have exactly 100 comment threads!!#woah!!
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I posted 469 times in 2022
8 posts created (2%)
461 posts reblogged (98%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@beansprean
@gaylittlenandor
@michshlo
@autumnwander
@lady-of-the-spirit
I tagged 32 of my posts in 2022
#wwdits - 19 posts
#wwdits spoilers - 11 posts
#guillermo de la cruz - 8 posts
#nandor the relentless - 8 posts
#wwdits season 4 - 8 posts
#nandermo - 5 posts
#nadja of antipaxos - 3 posts
#wwdits fanfic - 3 posts
#marwa wwdits - 2 posts
#fanfic - 2 posts
Longest Tag: 39 characters
#fandom exchanges are a gift to everyone
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
If you want to see Nandor actually treat Marwa like the queen she seems to be from what little we’ve seen of her in season 4, then check this fic out. He treats all the wives super well because he has a big Service Kink in this fic.
3 notes - Posted July 26, 2022
#4
My gift to @friedryebread for the Nandermo gift exchange
6 notes - Posted July 25, 2022
#3
Paws and Reflect
Check out my fic “Paws and Reflect” from the What We Create in the Shadows Vol. 2 Zine. You too can learn all of Sam’s tips for making a Bomb-Ass charcuterie spread.
Zine orders will cease on June 8th, so get your copy while you can. All proceeds will go toward Refugees International.
Fic Cover Credit: @jackiegaytona
7 notes - Posted June 1, 2022
#2
☮ - friendship headcanon
For Colin Robinson :)
Ooh. Wasn't expecting this one straight out the gate.
Colin Robinson, despite being an energy vampire, does want the vampires to like him because those are his roomies. They are his chosen family. He has to drain to live, so he can't help but get some tasty sips from their frustration.
Prior to season three, he considered Nandor his bestie. Nandor, of course, did not feel the same way.
I feel like when the Baron told him he couldn't go on the night out, Nandor had to have a little talk with Colin to make him feel better. Or at least Nandor felt compelled to do the talking.
Colin was genuinely upset when Nandor told him to stop talking about Sandra Bullock.
Why would Colin cling to Nandor? Well, I guess Nandor is the one who is often partner-less. Sure, he has familiars, but he rarely has a partner/companion. And while Colin would love to be a third wheel, he knows Laszlo and Nadja would not tolerate that.
Of course, his new bestie in season three was Laszlo, and I feel like what may have started as Laszlo feeling bad for him, lead to a real friendship between the two. This was easy for them to do since Nadja was so busy with council stuff, and any risk of third wheeling was negated.
His dedication to Colin was shown in the Siren episode when Laszlo basically ignored Nadja's problems in favor of helping save Colin from a cruel fate.
Colin probably doesn't really care so much for Guillermo other than to just annoy the shit out of him, so I don't think they are really friends. He doesn't seem to really know him that well in season one, when he asks how long he's been working for them. I would like to see more interaction between them. I thought Guillermo going to some kind of work even with Colin would have been funny.
It will be interesting to see what they do with Colin now that he's a wee baby/toddler.
9 notes - Posted June 26, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
I need to see the Guillermo/Freddie with Nandor leering in the background equivalent of this scene from The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Original Context: Titus is just listening to Kimmy and Cindy catch-up, hoping to hear some juicy details about their time in the Bunker.
Nandor just handing back hoping to hear something salacious about Guillermo/Freddie. He could literally be stirring nothing just like Titus.
As they keep talking, he clearly sees that they are not about to get into any down and dirty details.
Why?
Well, what if Freddie is just super polite and traditional? Like, he traveled all the way to Staten Island to meet Guillermo’s family before he’d even dare go farther than a kiss?
Guillermo’s been lead along by Nandor for so long, the hope of a kiss might be enough to sate him all things considered.
10 notes - Posted March 5, 2022
Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →
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I found you through AO3 bc your nandermo fics devastated me and really helped kick off my newest special interest and I enjoy your metas a lot. I was sad when I saw your post about being disheartened by lack of interaction. I really struggle to communicate, especially online and especially when going through things, but I wanted to say that I really like what you write and your insight and thank you for creating. I wish I could interact more often and more specifically than leaving kudos. I had a moment of social energy and I wanted to use it to send this since I’ve been thinking about your post for awhile. Sorry for rambling awkwardly, just thanks.
I really appreciate that you put the effort into sending me this message, especially because it sounds like it's not something that's necessarily easy for you to do. That was really kind. Thank you.
I was mostly talking about wider fandom trends and my experiences in other fandoms; like I mentioned in the post, wwdits fandom has actually been one of the best experiences I've had in fandom in years. (Uh. Certain anons aside. lmao.) I get more interaction here than I have in a long time, and it's one reason why I keep writing fic and meta.
I will say that it's still... frustrating, I guess, the way that social media is kind of where fic goes to die these days, even in wwdits fandom. I do still think it's largely because you have to click off the "social" site to read the fic, and AO3 in and of itself was not meant for extensive social interaction. So you do still lose out on the kinds of social interaction that other kinds of fanwork (including meta, for that matter) seem to enjoy.
I would say that the way my meta is received vs. the way my fic is received is drastically different, and I really didn't start making as many friends on tumblr until I started posting it. The fic was definitely not enough, no matter how many people enjoyed it. Again, they might list me as an author that they enjoyed, but not an actual fellow fan that they liked to interact with. I guess that's the part that's a bummer. There is a more collaborative feel to certain kinds of fanwork, and fanfic used to have that feel.
Now, though, it can be very isolating and I do see a tendency to separate author from fanwork. That can feel weirdly like erasure, like people don't want you to exist, only the work you can give them. I've even seen people complain that author's notes exist because they don't want anything to "distract" from the fic. Like an artist existing distracts from the art...? That's frustrating.
I do think it's related to greater trends re: nonconsensual commodification of art, pressure to commodify hobbies, monetization of fandom, art as "content/product" and art enjoyers as "consumer/customer", etc. It does remind me in some ways of the way that people do feel... entitled, I guess? To various artists' output as separated from the artist. (See: misuse of art for AI.)
It does feel extra frustrating to see this forced upon fanfic, though, considering that it's one of the few types of fanwork that still exists in a real legal gray area re: monetization. It's like we get saddled with all of the downsides of commercialization with none of the benefits. I feel like we should be able to opt out of all this commercialization bullshit if we're not even getting paid to deal with the shitty dehumanizing parts. lmao
Ah, I'm getting distracted again.
I guess it's nice to just actually see people talk about something you've created and interact with it. Not just leave a comment to you personally, but show it to their friends, put stuff in the tags, ask questions, start discussions about it, etc. You know, the kind of stuff that happens with other kinds of art on social media. (Meta very much included!) Things that make it feel more like you exist in a community rather than just... idk, putting down something you've made and watching it get consumed absent your presence.
I guess... to extend the metaphor, I may be the cook but I still want a place at the table. The difference between making dinner for your family vs. making dinner for a customer at a restaurant, y'know? I wanna sit down and talk, not just perform. There's a lack of community these days that I really miss.
I guess all this is mostly just nostalgia for an older form of fandom. Fic did used to feel a bit more like an interactive art form back in the LJ days. (And before, I guess.) A conversation, if you will. Sometimes that could be irritating (remember back when reviewers could be put in the fics and such on ff.net? lmao) but sometimes it was really nice.
I SOUND REALLY OLD NOW... There are some things about modern fandom and AO3 in general that I really like, especially the ability to search and filter in ways that really weren't possible ~back in the day~. But... yeah, I do feel like we've lost something, too, by making fanfic almost too easy to "consume" outside of the rest of the social fandom space.
I guess I'll go take my cane and sit down now lmao.
#I mean I do actually have a variety of canes but that's due to disability not age haha#replies#praise
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