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missroserose · 3 years

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Fic Writer Question Meme!

Thanks for the tag, @venhedish—I love stuff like this! I'd apologize in advance for how long this is likely to be, but I suspect we share that tendency, haha.

How many works do you have on AO3?

20 total. I've been publishing there since late 2018, so about three years now. That sounds right for me—I'm way too perfectionist to ever be prolific.

What's your total AO3 word count?

125,744! Apparently it takes me three years to write a novel's worth of words I feel are worth publishing...which also sounds right.

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Three, primarily: The Lost Boys, Stranger Things, and Supernatural. Mostly Stranger Things, since I was pretty enmeshed in the Harringrove community for about a year and a half, though these days I'm hanging out more with the SPN crowd. We'll see if that translates to more fics.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1.) Sunflower (524) 2.) Quickly, look away (506) 3.) We'll Become Who We Meant To Be (383) 4.) Too Young To Fall In Love (333) 5.) When the Waters Start to Cross (283)

First, what's not surprising: all are Stranger Things/Harringrove works. I'm a little surprised to see that "Sunflower" had edged out "Quickly" as my most-kudosed story, for years it was the other way around—but maybe that's actually not that surprising—part of the reason I haven't been as active in the fandom is that I really love the darker and more complex renditions of Billy Hargrove's character (a la "Quickly") and since S3 aired it seems like the fashion has moved more towards more lighthearted fluff (a la "Sunflower"). Still, both are pretty undemanding smut, so it makes sense that they're on top; similarly, I'm not surprised to see "Too Young To Fall In Love" in the top five either.

I am a little surprised that "We'll Become Who We Meant To Be" is #3—it's honestly close to genfic, there's only the tiniest moment of hinted-at attraction in there. I'm not mad about it, I honestly feel like it's one of my better efforts; on the other hand, "Wake Me Up" was in a similar vein and it's close to the bottom. I guess there's just no telling what's going to catch on...in fairness, a 25K outsider POV novella is a much bigger ask than a 3K short story.

Honestly, I'm probably most surprised at "When the Waters Start to Cross" cracking the top five—it's a 52K+ WIP and a profoundly complex atmospheric existential horror/romance, which is, like, five strikes against it. I'm not mad about it, though—I love that fic, even if it is a huge time and energy suck, and it definitely contains some of my best writing.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do! Sometimes it takes me a while, but I genuinely appreciate people taking the time to leave feedback (even if it's just a string of emoji!). And every once in a while I'll get really thoughtful or incisive comments that spark whole conversations—that's one of the best reasons to write fic!

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Hmm...to be honest, nothing immediately comes to mind; I love angst but tend to want it to serve a purpose, i.e. it gets a character closer to who they want to be. So most of my endings are at least hopeful. *checks list* It looks like probably my angstiest ending is also my first fic posted, "Blue Masquerade". Poor Michael.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you've written?

I don't currently write crossovers; I wouldn't rule it out, but frankly I haven't come across an idea that appeals to me. Waaaaaay back in the mists of time I had a Daria/Harry Potter crossover that I was actually pretty proud of, but I got about as far as getting them to Hogwarts and then kinda ran out of ideas, so I never posted it.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not that I can think of? I'm not big-time enough to get hate, haha. Worst I ever got was some rando asking for top or bottom tags, which I just ignored, and one person on "We'll Become" who was like "I don't like this pairing but you did a good job", which kinda had me like ??? thanks, I guess? I did get one comment on "Quickly, look away" from someone who felt like it was in a different headspace from the fic I wrote it as a sequel to, but that didn't strike me as hate, it's a perfectly fair observation.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

So first off, yes, and second...I recently came across this great Garth Greenwell quote that really gets at what I'm trying to do when I write smut:

In America in 2019 we are inundated with images of bodies to an absolutely unprecedented degree—images of eroticized bodies, images of sexual bodies; the Internet makes all our fantasies visible, and it trains us in new fantasies. And yet it also seems to me that our culture suffers from a dearth of representations of embodiedness, by which I mean of bodies imbued with consciousness. I’m not at all antiporn, but sometimes pornography (maybe especially Internet pornography, with its arms race of extremity) seems to want to evacuate bodies of personhood, to present them as objects. I think literature is the best technology we have for representing consciousness, and so I think there’s a kind of intervention that literature can perform in representing sex explicitly: it can reclaim the sexual body as a site of consciousness.

"Embodied porn" is probably the best description I can come up with—I love writing sex precisely because it's such a charged form of communication (Greenwell's words again), because there are things a character can do and say in that context that they never would normally. Like, sex acts are great and all, but what really does it for me is what's going on in their head, what's the history that brought the character to this point, how're they handling the inherent vulnerability and intimacy of this incredibly risky but potentially rewarding moment. Kink (whether through roleplaying, props, costumes, or whatever) is really just another way of adding to that personal meaning, since without the characters' reactions any trappings are meaningless.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, although I'd love to work with a translator someday (whether with fic or another context)—I'm fascinated by the inherent puzzles in translating between languages, especially with informal speech and its many idioms and cultural references.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not yet! I'd be open to the idea, but it definitely has to be with the right person...

What's your all time favorite ship?

Isn't that basically like asking a mom to choose her favorite kid? Seriously, I like different things about all of them...which one's getting the most attention depends entirely on mood and headspace and other effectively random variables.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I don't have any I've given up on entirely, yet. Even Waters, as beastly complicated as it is, I've been ruminating on and adding to and arranging in my head lately...

What are your writing strengths?

Atmosphere, character, dialogue. I've said it before, I'm a capital-R Romantic at heart: I love writing settings that reflect and reinforce a character's headspace—while also implying what said character might be missing in their viewpoint.

Something I've noticed—my husband worked for years as a penetration tester, which meant he would regularly have to talk his way past people on a moment's notice. So, unsurprisingly, we both notice people, but he tends to observe their presentation (clothing, accessories, especially ones that're markers of social class and group belonging that allow him to tailor his approach), whereas I notice what they say and how they say it—and, often, what they don't say.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I suddenly feel like I'm in a job interview, haha. Perfectionism is a big one—I have a tendency to feel hopeless and quit if something's taking too long, rather than persisting until I get it sorted, even though some of my best work is stuff where I persisted. Also, I'm big on emotional intensity—which isn't a bad thing, necessarily, but I sometimes read back over my stuff and I'm like "geez, Ambrosia, ease up a bit"...I could definitely use some comic relief in my writing sometimes, but I think I'm often too insecure to try it.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I don't have any in particular—I rarely do it myself, because I don't trust myself to do it properly. (Perfectionism again!)

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Daria, way back in the day. My work is still up on FF.net...sometimes I wonder if anyone's ever going to dig it up and confront me with it, haha. (I doubt anyone will ever care that much...I guess I'm more just curious if my style from twenty years ago is recognizably me.)

What's your favorite fic you've written?

If we're talking about finished fics, probably either "Wake Me Up" or "Young At Heart"—they're both pretty oddball, but both required a fuckton of work and both came out pretty close to what I wanted. But "Waters" is my biggest baby...maybe I'll open up Act III to work on today...

Thanks again for the tag, Ven! I'm going to tag @ihni, @redmyeyes, @twobrokenwyngs, @skybound2, @sambrosia, @shewritesdirty, @introvertia, @coffeeandchemicals, and @anarchist-billy—if you're up for some rumination, I'd love to hear your thoughts on your writing!

#author stuff #my writing #fanfic culture #about me #tag games

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bestworstcase · 3 years

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cassunzel?

this thing

my reading of cassandra in s1-s2 tilts hard towards her having a crush on rapunzel that kind of decays over time into this painful servile devotion and then shatters in the shell house, and i’m. let’s just say not particularly fond of requited cassunzel as anything but an AU, and even then i am picky because i feel like a lot of AU cassunzel fics recreate the exact interpersonal dynamic that puts me off cassunzel in canon except it’s explicitly being framed as romantic now and. no thank you.

(i used to be more ambivalent about requited cassunzel but frankly the way cass is written and read in heavily cassunzel circles lately has soured me hard on the ship in general. it’s very knightly devotion and self-sacrifice turned up to eleven because folks are deep into the princess/knight dynamic, and cassandra being all dour and emotionally constipated so that rapunzel can crack through her walls and fix help her, and generally glossing over the pain and anger cassandra expresses in s3 as a direct result of those two dynamics because it gets waved away as just, like, things zhan tiri planted in her head or like a façade for cassandra actually pining for rapunzel but shoving her away because blah blah abandonment issues. i cannot emphasize enough how much i loathe this.)

i wrote a post a while back breaking down the toxicity i see in the friendship between cassandra and rapunzel, which can be summed up as ‘cassandra repeatedly and consistently states her boundaries or feelings, and rapunzel repeatedly and consistently runs roughshod over them and never apologizes, and because rapunzel has so much social and political power over cassandra, cass has no recourse and no way to get rapunzel to stop doing this other than by blowing up and leaving the relationship altogether.’ THEN, in s3, after she takes the moonstone and forcibly removes herself from this relationship, cassandra is narratively stripped of agency - her villain arc is, from beginning to end, cassandra being moved across the playing board by zhan tiri - whose ultimate function in the narrative is to erase rapunzel’s culpability in destroying her relationship with cassandra, to shoulder the blame for cassandra’s violent breakdown, and to facilitate a redemption without rapunzel needing to learn anything by being so awful that the status quo established in s2 looks better by comparison.

like, s3 ends with cassandra brokenly sobbing and pleading for forgiveness from the same friend who literally maimed her and then blamed her for it, and prior to that treated her so poorly that cassandra ended up apologizing for being upset about it. and the most rapunzel apologizes for is being an obnoxious “flower child” cass had to babysit in the early days of their relationship. gbfjdbfk like ?? god.

and of course there’s no problem with like - if a post-series fic wants to examine that and treat cassandra’s problems seriously and fairly, and explore rapunzel realizing her mistakes and growing as a person and recovering from the trauma that led her to act that way, and over the course of that they fall in love? i have no problem with that. (that seems to be the trajectory this fic is following, and i am enjoying it immensely. likewise @erazonpo3’s CTA au, which is tonally quite different but dealing with similar themes of healing / growth / eventual reunion and rebuilding.) and i also have no problem with cassunzel aus like untangled or burn a broken effigy that either set up circumstances where cassunzel happens without the fucked up power imbalance and toxicity or where the fucked up power imbalance and toxicity are seen and tackled by the characters and rapunzel gets the character growth she was denied in TTS itself. but… like. i feel like it is way way way harder than it should be to find this kind of cassunzel content versus cassunzel content where cass barely seems to exist outside of being rapunzel’s slavishly devoted protector and moody fixer upper and that has burnt me out hard on the ship in general.

#tbh my litmus test is. are you a zhan tiri fan?#and not in a ‘love to hate’ way like are you a FAN of zhan tiri who is invested in giving her more depth than a puddle of cardboard #if the answer is no! i probably hate your cassunzel fic!#and if you make the ‘ziti is homophobic bc she breaks up cassunzel’ joke i DEFINITELY hate your cassunzel fic #kdhdjshdjgj

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mrs-nate-humphrey · 4 years

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So I was reading your WIP list (they sound great!!!) and that part about Rufus's shitty parenting you mentioned in the Blair/Jenny fic section really resonated with me. Rufus, I feel, gets cut a lot of slack in the parenting department by virtue of like, not being Lily or Bart, but honestly his parenting decisions really had a negative effect on especially Jenny, but Dan too. While season 6 was mostly a dumpster fire for Dan's characterization, something that stuck out to me in 6x02 was that

it ultimately wasn't losing Blair or being betrayed by Serena that solidified Dan's decision to publish Inside Out, but his father's relationship with Ivy following everything that happened with Lily. Dan's talking to Georgina about it, and she says something to the effect of having once considered Brooklyn a moral high ground, and Dan's response of his father "having fallen off his pedestal" in his eyes really stuck with me. As much as I hated the way they wrote Dan as the ~villain~, I think there's a lot to be said about how heavily Rufus influenced Dan and Jenny's perceptions of themselves and what they consider right and wrong. To me, it seems like a lot of the inner turmoil vis-a-vis their relationships and their careers that Dan and Jenny both go through throughout the show ultimately traces back to Rufus's "standards", even if Rufus himself isn't directly involved.

OH you’ve said this better than I could ever have! this makes a lot of sense.

so, i do not want to disappoint, but while rufus’s shitty parenting comes up and comes up explicitly, it’s not the focus of the fic! it’s something dan and jenny talk about in the context of jenny, where dan goes ‘i never realised how difficult things were for you when we were kids, i’m sorry about that’ and jenny’s like ‘well, at least you weren’t dad.’ i was describing this fic to a friend as “it contains a lot of heavy themes, but it’s very much like everything is happening around jenny” - jenny is the focus of the fic! her past, the other characters’ stuff, that’s all there but not as focused on. if that makes sense.

rufus was a lot harsher on jenny than he was on dan, in ways that make no sense - like you should not pick fights with your 15 year old daughter. what are you trying to prove!! he handled jenny’s stuff so badly! and he was always so much more patient/understanding of dan, i think because he and dan had a lot more in common than he and jenny did, which made it easier for him to understand dan. he never extended the same courtesy to jenny - he was very “oh i guess you’re a Bad Child Inside” or whatever, which. a lot of jenny’s drama and trauma - esp everything in s3 - could’ve been avoided if she had a good parental figure to talk to. she shouldn’t have needed to keep calling nate to protect her!! anyway this isn’t really a New Take, i think a lot of people HAVE spoken about this.

with dan and rufus i think it’s different because, like, rufus has never been as explicitly awful to dan as he has to jenny. i think that’s sometimes an abusive parent thing where they treat one sibling far worse than the other (tho tbh i don’t know if abusive is the right word for rufus, i think he’s far more neglectful. ah, whatever.) anyway, dan was able to grow up idolising rufus, like you said, and yeah, the thing with rufus and ivy really hit him badly. which i think makes sense - remember how when ivy first shows up as “charlie”, rufus cautions dan against being with her romantically because she’s too young for him or something?? rufus and ivy being together felt like bad writing, but that aside, i think a huge part of dan wanted to grow up to be just like his dad. and i think a huge part of growing up IS realising that the adults around you are not perfect. though of course, it’s a bit more complicated than this in dan’s case - he adores his dad AND he adores his little sister. so, while everything hits dan a bit differently, it still does make an impact.

anyway!! what you said makes a lot of sense, and i think dan and jenny have vastly different experiences with rufus’s shitty parenting. it’s a bit ironic i guess but rufus and lily technically did have the same sort of way of regarding their children - they set impossibly high standards, judged their kids too quickly, etc.

i think for jenny, rufus deciding that she was Inherently a Bad Person would’ve added and contributed significantly to all the shady stuff she was doing around that time. if your own father (who, you know, used to love you Before Everything Went Wrong) decides you’re not capable of being a good person, what incentive do you have to be better? and for dan i think it’s safe to say that the conflict comes from like. how much of him is really what he believes and how much of his self-image, ideology and ways of reacting to things are things he consciously or subconsciously modelled off rufus. & of course, growing up and being like ‘how can i live for myself knowing that the foundation that is my values are shaky’ / ‘i’ve seen my dad hurt people and now i know that i’ve probably hurt people too in the same ways’ etc etc -> there’s definitely stuff to explore from dan pov there! just different stuff from the jenny pov.

sorry this is a bit rambly - i’m a self declared humphrey sibling apologist! was considering making a url with some variant of humphreyapologist in it, but i stopped myself because i did not want people to think i support rufus. i do not!

#anon #dan humphrey #jenny humphrey #anti rufus humphrey #wow what a tag .#meta #sort of?#i have a lot more to say about this but it gets personal v fast dlsfhg #i remember reading a really good anti rufus thread on reddit #but i have no idea how to navigate reddit #i wish i could find it again!#i stumbled upon it a few months ago before i'd even made this blog #oh well #long post #also thank u for the support & encouragement!!#glad ur looking forward to these fics :)

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hmgfanfic · 3 years

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Talk about all the Fillory worldbuilding in LQoF, please :)

THIS IS INEXCUSABLY LATE. I’m so sorry!

And I wish I could say it was just my scatterbrainedness, which is definitely a constant factor, but it was also that when you sent this, I was deeeeeeeep into writing the final few chapters of Little Quirks of Fate and I was kind of... in my head about it. It took a lot longer to finish than I had planned (a cardinal sin to my particular combo of severe ADHD and Type-A personality) and I was spending excessive amounts of time making sure I figured out a satisfying ending by my own exacting standards, so I just didn’t have the headspace to think through my early process yet. Very sorry about that :( But now that I’m finally done, I’m excited to look back! So if you’ll indulge me a very late answer, I’d be tickled. 💗

Long ramblings and major fic spoilers under the cut.

The truth is a lot the world building came down to character stuff foremost, followed closely by my preferences as a writer. I adapted the world to the story I wanted to tell, while using the little bits of information we’re given in canon as a baseline, rather than building the story around the world. And that was a lot more fulfilling for me, since I only really love worldbuilding through the lens of character, rather than as an exercise unto itself (though it’s super fun once you get rolling.)

To explain what I mean by that, you need to know that Little Quirks of Fate was originally going to be a oneshot. My plan was about 25-30k (lol) of a pure S2 retelling, only with Quentin in the role of Fen. It was also going to take a much more traditional enemies-to-lovers’ path—with Quentin as an active member of the FU Fighters—and the whole thing was going to be in his POV. Also, they weren’t even going to kiss until after the bank heist (which, yes, was going to be a thing here), but that got abandoned the fastest in favor of trying my hand at smut. But two things made me realize I needed to significantly shift course:

1) I was struggling to make Quentin actually feel like Quentin. I wrote this very atmospheric early scene at the FU Fighters encampment, with lots of description of the bonfires and the way their shirts dyed in Fillorian red looked like blood (you get it.) It took place in the black of night, shrouded in secrecy, and when Bayler questioned Quentin about his new husband, Quentin said something like, “He’s a drunk idiot, we have the advantage.” It was all very lush and dramatic, but it really, really, really didn’t feel like Q in any recognizable way to me. Now, I’m not someone who thinks Q needs to be a precious sweetheart all the time, but what I was writing didn’t have his idiosyncrasies or a motivation that felt true to who I feel he is.

2) The draft was DEFINITELY missing Eliot’s story and his perspective. I certainly don’t think Eliot’s POV is always necessary (sometimes not having his direct thoughts heightens tension in romance especially), but it felt really necessary here, to fill in the gaps of what Quentin was assuming and also—more importantly—because the events were just as impactful on him, but in a very different way. So I knew I was missing half the narrative, but that meant I would need to deal more explicitly with the Beast (i.e., Mike, the most devastating storyline to me, personally) and I really, really didn’t want to do that.

My first step in making a more recognizable Quentin was figuring out a way he could more or less use the same syntax that he does on the show. Voice is the first way I connect with a character, so while many writers in this fandom thrive at modifying speech patterns and keeping the heart of a character alive, keeping close to Quentin’s canon speech was an easy fix for me in a story I was excited to get rolling. Sort of like the old adage of uplifting your strengths before putting outsize energy into things you struggle with.

The easiest way I could think to give him the same syntax was to figure out a way Quentin spent some significant time on Earth during his formative years. And once I rewatched 2x06 and was reminded that Ess went to Phillips Exeter Academy for high school, I lost my damn mind. I started sketching out ways that Quentin could get there too and that’s how I built out the idea of Umber brokering a marriage deal with the actual landmass of Coldwater Cove, which included an education opportunity for the boys (in a nod to Fillory’s patriarchal nature), and also the reason why Umber did that, which was to take advantage of his brother’s orgy mistake with the first Children of Earth to usher in a more productive and orderly Fillory. So that created a whole new set of rules and essentially a whole new world for me to play with... all for the sake of Quentin getting to say “fuck.” It was that important to me. :p

And as I worked through all that, I realized I also wanted to give Q magic, since Quentin’s relationship with magic is something I’m interested in. But I had read on ye olde Tumblr that the reason Illario uses a wand in 2x06 is a nod to the books, where Fillorians specifically aren’t Magicians and that’s the rationale for the Children of Earth royalty. And while I generally see the books as interesting supplemental material with zero bearing on the television show canon, I still said to myself, “Self, wouldn’t it be kind of funny if Quentin was the only native born Fillorian who had magic and so the FU Fighters believe he’s the chosen true High King, but instead of it being because he’s ~special~, it’s because Umber made a clerical error? Lol! Hilarious!”

So while all my questions for how to explain all THAT spun out into more and more detail, at the same time...

I caved to the idea that this story was going to be a No Beast AU, just like my last two stories, mostly because I really couldn’t bring myself to deal with the Mike of it all, even tangentially. I could have just changed that single element, but I’m not a half-measure gal! But I still wanted to stick with the vague background theme of Fillory = adulthood from a questing perspective and I wanted Julia leading the charge this time, but without the sexual assault that occurs in canon. So obviously, the answer was avenging all of the murdered and cannibalized “grown-ups,” i.e., master Magicians, by seeking out help from the gods in a balanced Fillory free from the devastation of the Beast. Duh! ;)

So then, like anyone would do, I rewatched every episode up to 4x11 that makes a mention of Fillory and took about twenty pages of notes on the canon worldbuilding, along with an analysis of how much a particular piece of information would be impacted or not by balance in the realm. For instance, the existence of geraniums (per The Fillorian Candidate and Tick’s misunderstanding of “power plants”) and the lack of diamonds as a precious stone (per the River Watcher not knowing the value of Margo’s earrings in Knight of Crowns) struck me as static facts unaffected by Ember’s reign of chaos. But I shifted the overall feel of Fillory to one that’s more functional and a lot more bureaucratic, leaning on things like the existence of socialized health/vision/dental insurance (the idea of which is canonical, per a petition from the beavers requesting dental coverage from acting High King Josh in Ramifications), strict taxation plans, and an overall sense of thriving Ceremony to show Umber’s influence.

Basically, I wanted Eliot to inherit a much, much easier Fillory to rule—especially with the highly educated Quentin as a built-in and passionate advisor—mostly so it wouldn’t completely strain credulity when a lot of his energy goes toward his love life rather than the intricacies of ruling (though Margo would say he still favored his personal life more than he should have, and she wasn’t... wrong. He wants to be a husband more than a king!) But I specifically made it so most of the chaotic elements were played as whimsical (sorry) quirky shit or smaller hints of greater injustice (see: Ember getting rid of STDs, but still letting magic-poor citizens die of sepsis because that’s too boring to deal with), all while a cataclysmic danger lurked under the surface.

After that, I just filled in details as they worked with character stuff and plot stuff, and I tried to make sure they didn’t contradict each other in a way that couldn’t be chalked up to “chaos.” I basically lived with the Fillory map open all the time and also took screenshots of Benedict’s map of Loria, which gave me alternate ideas for the overall feel of the landmass rather than just the kingdom. And pretty much that’s the basic process I used to create the world! It was extremely fun, and I learned a lot, though I’m *definitely* focusing on some pure relationship kind of stuff for a while because... oof, sometimes it was a lot.

Annnnnnnd if you’re still with me, here’s some stray observations, for funsies:

I wanted Quentin and Eliot’s starting points to be more mature than in the show. Quentin when we’re introduced to him as an adult in LQoF is a lot more jaded and cautious than S1 Q, which is because in this world, his S1 mentality happened while he was on Earth and came to a head during the throes of his fucked up relationship with Bayler. Similarly, Eliot had already gone through a lot of shit too, and was much more self-actualized by the time he agreed to be High King here than in the show. It was still out of desperation for purpose, but not coming out of a direct trauma spiral. I think if they had been younger, both in age and mentality, the story wouldn’t have worked because they would’ve blown it up day two. They’re both still disasters, as we like to say, which is why the... everything happens, but they’re not disasters in the exact same way as in early canon. I thought of them as closer to their S3 selves, pre-Mosaic.

While I mostly kept Quentin’s syntax the same as on the show, I did change it up in some ways to reflect his Fillorian upbringing. The most obvious was replacing “goddamn” with “godsdamned” and “Jesus” with “Hades,” but I also made him slow on the Earth idiomatic uptake and slightly more likely to use passive voice and less likely to use contractions, especially early on and especially when speaking with Fen. He also said slightly out of date things even for someone who last remembered 1999, since Earth was still overwhelming despite his immersion. E.g.: In the epilogue, he asks Eliot if he can spend some time “Googling the World Wide Web” instead of watching Gossip Girl together, even though by 1999 most people were saying “on-line” or “the internet” by a pretty wide margin. But in my mind, the first term he learned was World Wide Web and he stuck to it like glue.

I originally had a full-blown coronation scene, where Quentin helped Eliot with the answers to the 90s questions via subtle charades, such as flapping his hands at his sides to give him the answer “Wings” (and Eliot was eventually going to Eliot-Logically use that moment to argue to Quentin that maybe Q really is the true High King since he was the one who actually answered the Knight’s questions, etc.), but I cut it and only showed bits and pieces in flashbacks because it didn’t really matter. They had to treat it seriously because it was An Event in this version of balanced/un-Beasted Fillory, with a full audience bearing witness, but the whole thrust of the external plot was about dismantling that moment and the concept of monarchy in general, so giving it too much weight outside of the Eliot and Julia friendship felt disingenuous to the story I was telling.

This is also why it was important to me that Margo hated the title High King Eliot the Kind, even though I only brought it up textually once or twice. But in my view, she fucking hated it and never came around to it. Which isn’t because she doesn’t think Eliot is kind, it’s that it felt like a simplification of all that he is, and the coronation ceremony in general felt similarly shallow. It wasn’t just the four of them working out their shit on the beach; it was true ceremony after a year of questing toil and a lot lingering uncertainty/resentments (especially regarding Julia), so it was too Big Shiny Happy Bow to her.

Yet on the same theme, my greatest regret was not being able to work in the fact that Margo’s title for Penny (King Penny the Persistent) was supposed to be half-sincere and half-sex joke. She did genuinely admire that he stuck it out even through his initial heartbreak because he gives a shit about his people underneath it all, but—and this is a very important headcanon to me—she admired his dedication to the art of the female orgasm even more.

I was originally also going to include the One Day More sequence with way more details—such as Umber taking the Javert lines, Ember taking the Thenardier lines, Bayler taking the Enjolras lines, and Penny taking the Marius lines, but... uh... writing a musical number is apparently not in my skill set. Also, honestly, the weirdness of the original is its whole charm and so I didn’t want to improve upon perfection. See also, in a more serious way: Eliot bowing to High King Margo on the Muntjac, the events of Plan B, and Quentin & Penny in the Flying Forest. Would not touch it!

My favorite Fillorian detail was either the guy who sent a citizen petition requesting a “smidgen” of Eliot’s earwax for an undisclosed purpose, or the use of the verb “to peg” to describe a Pegasus flock greeting an outsider with honor. They encapsulate the obscene yet pristine feel I always tried to give Fillory.

My favorite subtle(-ish?) ironic moment is Ess, the heir to a hereditary monarchy, taking Quentin to task for not honoring the anarchy patch on his high school backpack. In general, I don’t like everything being neatly resolved, including on an overarching world level. And I very strongly felt they had ZERO business meddling in Loria, so it left some fun-to-me unanswered questions. Will Ess usher in democracy for Loria based on his experiences on Earth? Maybe! Maybe not, since tradition’s a hell of a drug and Loria has its own history and complexities. Who knows?

I misread the town name Sutton as Sultan on the map the first time I referenced Bayler’s hometown (Sultan’s Ridge), but instead of going back to fix it, I just made it a sister town. Whatever!

I do not know how Quentin got a full bookshelf of Earth literature back to Fillory with him. Magic, I guess. (That’s the answer to anything I didn’t totally think through.)

I occasionally get asked whether Quentin and Fen were physically related. The answer is no, though it doesn’t totally matter. But I intended heart-cousins to be more like close family friends. (Though I actually originally had a joke where Eliot still wasn’t sure by the epilogue, but it didn’t land/feel realistic so I cut it.)

The details of the magic frequency poisoning were DEFINITELY what I thought through the least. My main goal was to have something catastrophic happen to Fillory based in part from the historical actions of the Children of Earth and Ember, patently ridiculously but with lasting consequences. Hence, god orgy that took away Fillorian human magic and sent out a slow poisoning of the overall magic “frequency.” It sounds all well and good, but it’s definitely something that would fall apart with even the lightest bit of prodding. It serves it’s purpose though, so I figured the gaps could be filled in or politely ignored. ;)

This question was way too much fun and a helpful retrospective for me! Thank you so much for indulging me, many moons ago. 💗

#little quirks of fate #harri writes #anon asks #ze process #<3 thank you i love you #this one is a long post even for me #dialogue asker if you’re reading this you’re up next I promise!

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thirdworldnoize · 5 years

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Eleanor x Tahani fic rec - Third Edition

Here, have your needed Eleanor x Tahani during winter hiatus

My top picks

Imagine Us in Heaven by @lenathecoffeewriter – So, this fic healed my soul. If you’ve been wishing Tahani come to the realization that she’s a lesbian, this is the fic you’ve been waiting for. It has 10 chapters, each chapter is short and a light, lovely reading. It has lovely moments with Eleanor set in S4, in a totally plausible way (well, in a totally plausible reality where the show is not deadset in having Eleanor and Chidi being endgame, but you get what I mean). I’m always skeptical with fics where Eleanor and Tahani have feelings for each other rather than attraction, but ugh this is everything I’ve been wishing for. It’s honestly so good, so well written, loved how the author gave Tahani her personal journey to coming out, and loved the author’s scenarios for Eleanor and Tahani’s relationship to flourish.

Temptations of Infuriation by ao3 author bYeFeliciaah – this is the enemies-to-friends-to-lovers fic you want. It has 3 chapters, it’s so lovely, it’s set in S3 while on Earth, it’s the fic I wish I had written. Author says this fic was inspired by the scene in The Office where Pam has her art show and only Michael shows up, that’s the plot. Other than that, as I previously stated, it is the fic I wish I’d written. It’s so good.

Champagne Bonuses by ao3 author darlingargents – One chapter only, it’s an au/canon divergence where Eleanor is Tahani’s assistant, both alive on Earth. It has the right amount of hurt-comfort, flirting and cute moments. I go back to it often when I’m in the mood for something nice and light.

A couple of M/E rated ones which are nice

That Damn Blue Dress by ao3 author thesilvergoddex – What I love about this fic is that is has sexy scenes not written too explicitly, just smooth enough. Summary goes: “Eleanor spills some stuff on Tahani's least favorite dress, and they have a dressup party. And an undressing party.”

The Pleasure Principle by @iasmelaion – It has one chapter that feels like a few chapters put together in one long chapter. Friends to lovers set in S3 while the Soul Squad were in Australia (meaning there are sexy moments as well as plot). Summary goes: "When Eleanor makes the offer, she doesn’t expect Tahani to actually take her up on it. A woman like Tahani Al-Jamil is not going to stay at a tourist trap motel with Eleanor Shellstrop, Arizona trashbag. What happens when Tahani does, in fact, take Eleanor up on her offer to stay with her in her Sydney motel room.” It’s what every Eleanor x Tahani shipper wanted S3 to make happen for us.

I’m a slut for fluff and you know it, so here are my picks

Going My Way by @thehummingbirdsound – We are left shivering with … anticipation, but it’s a lovely set up of a before-the-romance scenario. They’re both on Earth, Tahani’s flight is cancelled, she and Eleanor go to a bar and bond. It’s cute, I promise.

Trash Bag Heart by ao3 author burglebezzlement – Oof, this author is a constant in these ficrecs for a reason. This is a cute one chapter fic set in the beginning of S4, kind of what they don’t show you on screen type of Eleanor x Tahani content. I love this author’s writing, it’s always flawless, and perfectly balanced between flirty and romantic.

Recovery by ao3 author Merixcil – This is ficlet from a prompt, and it’s part of a big compilatory fic of multifandom ficlets. The fic explores what I gather is the author’s personal take of what should be the solution to the problem The Good Place presents, and Eleanor and Tahani are together in it. It’s really nice, I myself found it an interesting take of what should happen to the souls in their afterlife.

Soulmates by @ticklishraspberries – this is not a recent fic, it’s actually set in the very S2, it’s short and sweet, all audiences, and explores the first instants of Attempt 218.

#tgp fic #elhani #teleanor #tahani al jamil #eleanor shellstrop #eleanor x tahani #fic rec

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vmficrecs · 5 years

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WEEKLY FIC ROUND UP: BOYFRIENDS EDITION

New to VM Fic Recs:

Perdón Author: bigboobedcanuck Pairing: Logan; Leticia Navarro; Weevil Rating: T Genre: Healing!!!! Setting: Post Season 2 Spoilers: 2.22, “Not Pictured” Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1526 Status: Complete Summary: The door creaks open, and a boy tiptoes into the room. She can see that it is not Chardo, even though she has been waiting for three days for him to tell her what has become of Eli. Still Chardo doesn’t come, but whoever this is, he is strangely familiar. Squinting into the gloom, Leticia thinks she must be dreaming. Yet sure enough, Logan Echolls quietly approaches. Maybe he has come to evict her from this place, too.“Um…Mrs. Navarro?” He whispers, and hesitates like you would with a dog you think might bite. Her name sounds foreign coming from his mouth. She doesn’t think he’s ever said it before.She doesn’t answer because she doesn’t know what to say. Notes: CUT TO ME SCREAMING MY FUCKING HEAD OFF. Listen. Every single person who ever worked for the Echolls family knew about the abuse Logan suffered-- there’s no way they didn’t. This fic explores that in the best. way. possible. 10/10 love endlessly.

Living Without Author: cerise Pairing: Logan/Weevil; Veronica; Cliff Rating: T Genre: ROMANCE OKAY Setting: Season 2 Spoilers: 2.16, “The Rapes of Graff” and 2.21, “Happy Go Lucky” Chapters: 1 Word Count: 3660 Status: Complete Summary: Logan picks up an irritating habit, and Weevil can't figure out why he keeps on letting him do it. Notes: Dear cerise, if you’re reading this, I know you wrote this in 2006, but please i am ready and willing for a sequel and I love you. Y’all. This is one of the best Veronica Mars fanfics ever written. The premise is practically canon and them beginning to care about each other!!! MY HEART. Read this!!! Thank you. And alright, I’ll relent, Logan and Weevil are not explicitly dating or together in this, just like they weren’t explicitly dating or together in the show, if you catch my drift.

Not Real Author: litzie Pairing: Logan/Weevil Rating: NC-17 Genre: Angst, sad sex Setting: Season 2 Spoilers: 2.06, “Rat Saw God” Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1801 Status: Complete Summary: A little dirty Logan/Weevil fic...some language and some sex, be warned. Plus, spoilers as far as 2.06, Rat Saw God. // Logan chokes out a breath and smiles, mockingly seductive. "Why Eli, I had no idea you felt this way about me," he says with faux sincerity, rotating his hips against Weevil's. Notes: Logan really almost lets Weevil kill him in this fic, and I’m fucking sad as shit about it. Also Weevil trying to defend his grandma while Logan tears up about Lynn? Good shit!!!!! Sad shit but good shit!!!

This Damned Unholy Alliance Author: amelia_kay (aka cerise) Pairing: Logan/Weevil Rating: T Genre: reluctant crime fighting ft. fuck! i have feelings Setting: Season 2 Spoilers: 2.06, “Rat Saw God” Chapters: 1 Word Count: 1801 Status: Complete Summary: Weevil thinks this whole truce thing is a hell of a lot harder than it looks. Notes: They don’t hate each other!!! They’re in love!!! Logan is a brat!!!

The Devil You Don’t Author: cerise Pairing: Logan; Weevil; Veronica Rating: T Genre: reluctant crime fighting ft. fuck! i have feelings (deluxe edition) Setting: Season 2 Spoilers: 2.09, “My Mother, the Fiend” Chapters: 1 Word Count: 3774 Status: Complete Summary: After Weevil realizes Logan's innocent, and Logan agrees to work with him to find Felix's real killer, our intrepid teenagers get down to the business of figuring shit out together, and maybe they don't hate it as much as they'd thought. Maybe. Notes: This could be considered a sequel to “This Damn Unholy Alliance,” if you do a slight re work of how Veronica gets involved with helping Weevil and Logan figure out that whole PCHer/Fitzpatrick/everybody-hates-Logan-for-fun mess (sidebar: no shit they don’t fucking hire mystery writers on the Veronica Mars staff). This one is a little more of an ot3 than a pure boyfriends piece alone, but polyamory is real y’all and these three got it bad for each other. Especially Logan and Weevil. (Also. Listen. There’s a line Veronica says to Logan in this that literally makes me feel like someone is sitting on my chest and crushing it that’s how fucking sad it makes me. MOVING ON)

In the Cards Author: Kass Pairing: Logan/Veronica/Weevil Rating: T Genre: ROMANCE Setting: Season 3 Spoilers: 3.09, “Spit and Eggs” Chapters: 1 Word Count: 2866 Status: Complete Summary: This is set after S3 x 09, "Spit and Eggs," and though it isn't directly spoilery, it presumes some knowledge of S3 canon. // Logan just grinned, and Weevil felt the pit of his stomach curl. Sonofabitch wasn't crazy enough to hit on both of them at the same time, was he? Notes: Alright. This is a flat out ot3 fic and I don’t care it still counts for boyfriend edition and I am very much in love with it. Weevil feels like the odd man out, but Logan and Veronica want him to stay and eat breakfast with them!! Speaking of, SEQUEL PLEASE ANYBODY. I’M BEGGING. Also god this fic has it all!! HAS. IT. ALL. I feel god in this chili’s tonight.

#vm fic rec #weekly fic round up #c: logan echolls #c: eli navarro #c: veronica mars #c: leticia navarro #c: cliff mccormack #p: logan x weevil #P: OT3 #S: S2 #S: S3 #S: AU #r: t #r: nc 17

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evakuality · 6 years

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I’ve seen some discourse recently comparing the “intelligence” of Isak and Sana which made me very uncomfortable, especially with regard to the themes of racism in S4. Have you seen this and do you have any thoughts on it?

Wow, my first meta-ish ask after I get back and it’s a big one! I actually hadn’t really seen what you’re talking about so I asked a friend and got some links. So bear in mind that my responses are based on kind of a late-to-the-party reading of everything.

First, I think the actual question about intelligence and study habits was really interesting, and the one comment about these two being mirrors is such a good point. And that probably explains why this is the friendship I love the most in this show. To digress a little, they’re shown as very similar throughout the show. They both have a mask to hide how they really feel, they both put on a big show and a big persona and they have both done this since season one. They also both really like being right and dislike when people point out that they aren’t quite ‘with it’ -- Sana can even specifically say she knows better than a textbook because she can’t stand being wrong. So you’d think these two very similar, closed off, masked, unhappy people would clash badly. And yet they don’t. Of course, they don’t actually want to interact until they’re forced into it in s3, but when they do it works surprisingly well. In part, of course, that’s because of their smarts. They both acknowledge and respect each other’s brains all while constantly aggrandizing their own self. They bicker and argue about the answers, and yet it seems like it’s actually their collective brains that bring them both up. Without each other, I think Isak at least would slide into laziness, and Sana would go blithely on assuming she’s right. Together, they discuss and challenge each other and that makes them both stronger. In s3, Isak helps Sana stay on track and focused and she gains a 5 with his help. In s4, when Sana tunes out and stops being the constant, connected study buddy, Isak slips. Without her help, he isn’t getting those same grades he pulled the previous year. He’s in a new home and he has all sorts of lovely new distractions and he just loses focus. The point of all of this is to say that I think they’re very similar people. They both withdraw and isolate themselves when they’re struggling, only Sana does it while she’s actually with people and Isak hibernates in his room. Their way of approaching the world is so very similar, and their study habits are very similar. So it’s not a surprise that they mesh so well.

All that said, I don’t think there’s a different type of intelligence going on here. I agree that they mirror each other. They both need to study in order to achieve. The reasons why they might stop studying or disconnect from each other are different, but the effect is the same. In fact, in s4, Sana is struggling a LOT. She’s dealing with racism, Islamophobia, heartache, jealousy, betrayal and so much more. And yet, despite pulling away from her study partner, she still a) shows a healthy desire to be successful and b) manages to get a 6. Isak, by contrast, is finally settled and happy and he only manages a 5. It embarrasses him, he doesn’t want to admit to it, but that’s still the truth. In some ways, maybe that’s a healthier space for him to be (happy, settled, more balanced in his life) and Sana maybe should get herself to that point again too. Maybe the actual point of this is that clinging to those grades to the exclusion of all else when they are so unhappy and isolated isn’t a good thing. Maybe being happy and getting a 5 is what we should be aiming for. After all, each of them got a 5 when they were in a happier place than when they each got the 6s. Mirrors.

So this, of course, brings us to the other things in this ask. The themes of racism in s4 and how they apply to these two. Personally, I think a lot of this ties back to the scene on the bench where Sana implicitly agrees with Isak’s assessment of her life by saying he’s like an imam. That scene allows white people a nice, comfortable sense that it’s okay to use microaggressions (Sana covertly references these in her side of the conversation) because Isak says that people only use them to ask to be educated. Many many people have talked about why this attitude is a problem, so I won’t really go into it again (except to say that I hate this conversation almost as much as I hate Sana’s blessing of gaslighting in s2). The reason I bring it up is because it shows up a pattern that is present in a lot of our society: that a white person, and particularly a white man, has a better understanding of a situation than the people who actually live in and with that situation day by day. Sana, as a PoC, and specifically a WoC has a unique insight into her world that a white boy can never have. She is faced with sexism as well as racism and Islamophobia throughout her season. Her brother often reminds her that as a girl she’s judged and put down by society far more than he is, even though they face the same racism. So for Isak to say she’s looking for hate is so weird to me. The show explicitly tells us that she’s not looking for it; it’s right there!! And the thing is, as a fandom, we often seem to look at that conversation and nod along with Isak. Because from a certain point of view, that sounds really reasonable: yeah, it should be our responsibility to educate the ignorant. It should be our responsibility to advocate for ourselves. The problem is that it ignores microaggressions. It ignores the fact that for a white person that dumb question happens once, but for the PoC it’s dozens of times every single day. It’s forcing them to justify their existence every time we ask those questions. It’s exhausting, and it’s shown in the show to be exhausting. We’re literally shown it happening, and then. Well. The very thing Sana is shown to face throughout her whole season … that’s the thing that Isak says is all in her head, that she’s ‘looking for’ and so of course as a fandom we nod and go, yep that’s it. Because he’s a boy and he’s framed as the one who’s got the answers.

And then we do exactly the same thing to Sana that the show does. We push her down. We suggest that her success is due to someone else (to a white boy, no less). Or we suggest that she’s not naturally as smart as the white boy and that while he can flow through something with ease, that she must study all hours of the day to even come close to him. We ignore that she’s been set up as his mirror, that he’s just as hard working as she is. That without her help and input, he doesn’t necessarily succeed in the same way. In short, we look at her and go ‘you’re not as good as a white person’ despite the fact that she’s been shown to be his equal throughout the show. Don’t get me wrong. I love Isak, but he’s filled with flaws. I love Sana, too, and she’s also filled with flaws. But in this particular way, I think they’re both very similar people and it is a little uncomfortable that they get treated in very different ways.

Of course, none of this is to say that we should avoid talking about and analysing PoC characters. Quite the opposite; we should be giving them attention and really thinking about them. But we should examine the ways in which we do that. If we’re not considering the wider context of society, then we’re possibly doing these characters a disservice. And I’m not a saint myself. I know I’m often thoughtless about how I write Sana, and I don’t always consider the wider context when I add her to a fic. I haven’t really ever analysed her before, and that’s something I should change. And that’s all okay. None of us is perfect, but we should try to be better and we should give these characters the credit they deserve. And particularly when a character is a different race or religion or gender or sexuality than ourselves, we should maybe be a little careful in how we talk about them and represent them. Because there is a wider context, and it’s not PoC’s (or Muslims’ or queer peoples’ or women’s) responsibility to make white people take it into consideration. It’s our responsibility to think about it and to try to do better.

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evakteket · 7 years

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Watchlist update

Hello, Kit here! This week I’m in the unusual position of posting this from Oslo while Immy is elsewhere in the world, so... halla! Hope you’re all holding up okay?

The usual: When it’s been more than three weeks since a fic was updated we consider it to be on hiatus and remove it from the watchlist. Then we light a candle for it and cry a lot. However, we don’t cancel our subscriptions and if one of the removed fics gets updated again, we’ll put it right back on the list.

The usual II: feel free to send us an ask if you have suggestions for fics we should check out -- even if they’re not Evak-centric!

Update summary:

Completed: 3 Added: 4 Removed: 0 (yay!)

Knock Four Times by @folerdetdufoler NEW

Yes, this is a US college AU, and yes, Even is American in it! This is extremely well written, and heavy on the angst–we won’t spoil you, but we’ll say that, as in the show, there were parts of this that were so well done they sort of hurt to read. Throw in a long distance relationship between Isak and his boyfriend back in Norway, and you’ve got a cool twist on the college AU setting that feels very realistic and really drew us in. - kit and immy

Come On, Set the Tone by @boxesofflowers, eeyoreneedsahug (@chloebeaux) NEW Okay, I can’t even pretend I have any chill about this. I AM OBSESSED with this fic. Isak is a mainstream pop artist with anxiety, trying to make the music he wants to make; Even is an indie darling who winds up on the same tour. It’s vaguely hate to love, and reminds me far too much of my time in bandom for me not to be screaming from the rooftops, so I’ll stop before I start giving away spoilers, but: yes. I like this. Read it. (Warning: you definitely need to check the tags first.) - kit

take me to the stars by iriswests (@westiris) NEW This fic makes the rather ambitious move of having Evak start off hating each other, before diving into a fuck buddy arrangement, but somehow the author makes it work. Some cool balloon squad stuff here, bonus Julian Dahl, and some nice b plotlines with Isak as an astronomy nerd working at the science centre and Isak and Eva as roommates. Well written, although we were sceptical about the dive straight into penetrative sex (which we should note is not explicitly described). - kit and immy stay a minute by grinsekaetzchen (@hotchocolatenthusiast) NEW In which Even is directing a new adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, and Isak is the actor playing Romeo. This fic is a very well-done au that feels true to the characters while still managing to give them a fresh world to play in, and we love the relationship dynamic between Even and Isak here, which is more complicated than it first appears. We're also completely taken with Even and Isak's fandoms, which we get a glimpse of through fake tumblr posts sprinkled throughout the fic; we're loving how this extra layer makes the world seem so fleshed out and real. - kit and immy

Checking from Behind by DickAnderton (@wecanjustbreathe) COMPLETED

Complete, rec here.

Doctor Patient Confidentiality by skambition COMPLETED

Complete, rec here.

Straight Up (Series) by @nofeartina COMPLETED Complete, rec here.

News:

Still on the watchlist:

making new clichés by strangetowns (@sanashappinessisendgame)

This Evak as best friends AU is incredibly well-written thus far and has a very realistic, nuanced portrayal of their relationship, both as children and in the present. This feels like the slowest, best of slow burns, and we can’t wait to see how it all wraps up. - kit and immy

Twice by intothewind (@brokenveinssay) This fake dating/band fic is a delicious addition to the world of Evak AUs, and we’re completely here for it. Isak pretends to be Jonas’s boyfriend, which leads to some full on Josak/Jovak-esque moments here, and we’d be lying if we said we hadn’t already read that shotgunning scene MULTIPLE TIMES. - kit and immy

the city of illusions, the city of yearning by elisewin (@books-figuero) A different city AU where the slightly older SKAM characters are exchange students in Rome, and where the author obviously knows the city and writes it well. Sweet and humorous so far, with a fair bit of the banter we adore so much in SKAM fics. - kit and immy

A Collection of Even & Isak’s First Kiss AU Shorts by @fandomlimb Just what it says on the tin: first kisses, a different AU in each chapter. Adorable short stories, varying POVs and varying amounts of fluff. - immy

Livredderen by Kudzibisa (Norwegian)

AU where Even is the first to arrive at the scene when Isak has been in a car crash. As usual from Kudzibisa, short clipped chapters keeping the reader on tenterhooks, peppered with beautifully crafted evocative sentences, for those truly blessed people who can read Norwegian. - immy

Livet skjer med meg by neelabrenner (@nilabrenner) (Norwegian) Post season 3 canon divergent story about Isak and Even’s life together, from Even’s POV. So far feelgood and funny and precious, but not without angst and other deep and not always pleasant emotions. Capturing the characters well from Even’s POV. Yes, those who can read Norwegian are indeed truly blessed. - immy

Expect the Unexpected by bri_ness (@brionbroadway)

This Big Brother AU had us at ‘snakesak’, and takes that tag to a whole new level. We’re transfixed by the mix of Big Brother gameplay and manipulation and the genuine interactions between Even and Isak, and we love how this fic feels really fresh while still giving nods to canon and staying in character. This is tagged ‘messy relationships abound’ and we’re totally here for it. - kit and immy

a mental archive of love unwanted by chevythunder (@icelandcurry)

This fic begins with Even in love with Mikael and moving into the kollektiv with Isak and Linn–a combo we didn’t know we wanted. We’re already loving the angst and the growing friendship between Isak and Even, as well as the dynamic with the balloon squad, whose friendship here is ultimately #goals. Although we all know how this fic is gonna end, this feels like a breath of fresh air, and we can’t wait to read more. Note: our previous rec had an error in the title, so apologies for that. - kit and immy

Mental kampsport by Peer (Norwegian)

Starting during Even’s depressive episode in S3 and being told from Even’s POV, this is an unforgettably beautiful and moving story. Every bit of it feels true to Even and the SKAM universe, while also bringing a feeling of fresh new perspectives to the table. Only in Norwegian, unfortunately, but if you can read that you should definitely read this. - immy

The Weight of Us by verlore_poplap (@mimi-fics)

This is a very interesting fic, in part because it’s so different to a lot of the stuff in the fandom so far. Isak and Even meet when they’re older, and in serious relationships with Emma and Sonja–in case alarm bells are ringing, yes, Isak and Emma are together, but the author uses the context of their relationship to explore what would have happened if he’d repressed his sexuality, which I think is very cool. The author also treats Emma very fairly. The fic has a few minor niggles–Isak, for example, at one point performs a super rare kind of heart surgery–but overall this fic has me really intrigued, and I can’t wait to read the rest. - kit

Stupid Cupid by BluebeardsWife … an AU with Isak as Eros evicted from Olympos and Even as, well, something supernatural not yet revealed (but based on his choice in films I can guess)? Oh yes. It’s well written and so far it’s really funny, but the tags hint of angst to come. Note: we’ve now fixed the link to this one! - immy

#wip watchlist

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