@oonalovesastarionssimpleplans

Moving to a text post because it's more comfortable. But hold on...

I mean no offense, but no one needs permission or guidelines (especially from another fan) for how they're "allowed" to enjoy AA and to get berated for "not understanding the character" when they understand him perfectly fine. Just differently.

Is it truly that hard to fathom that some people enjoy the actual character and the dynamic that happens between him and Tav/Durge and not (just) the sexy stuff?

Is it truly that hard to imagine that there are people who enjoy AA outside of the (very mild) sexual content?

Do you only see the ascended ending as some sexy fantasy with nothing else to offer?

Larian themselves did not call it his "bad" ending. The only person who said that was a certain cowriter. Said cowriter was not saying it in an official capacity and was sharing their opinions.

Want to know something? The spawn ending felt more like failing him to me. And that's simply just how it felt. Can't change that as there's no reason to.

Anyone can claim how Tav is "supposed" to feel during a certain scene or event. Even some one shiny and "official". But that does not make it canon information if it isn't actually stated in the game. It really doesn't mean anything in relation to roleplay, except that it's just one way out of many to interpret that game event.

No writer, cowriter, or fellow fan can actually tell someone how that person's Tav feels because only that person can say. That's what roleplaying is.

Regardless of the co-writer's intentions for a specific message or agenda in the story, unfortunately, due to the nature of the game and individual experience, every person is going to interpret the same information differently. As they are supposed to. That's the point of the game.

Yes, there are people who ascend him just because it's sexy. I have seen people admit things, like how they'd never ascend him or could never do "that" to him for roleplay, but they still ascend him just to see the romance scene. I've seen people admit they'd never ascend him for roleplay reasons or dislike AA overall, but are glad to find clips of the romance scene online so they can still enjoy it. Honestly if that's how they enjoy the character and game, that's their choice.

But the people who usually do that are not the people who call themselves AA fans. Because the people who do that don't typically enjoy that version of him, only parts of it. And that's fine! But you cannot lump us all together.

I don't know a single AA fan who prefers the ending SOLELY for the sexual content or the "sexy Vampire" fantasy. I don't know a single AA fan's Tav who ascended him solely because they wanted to be with the "sexy vampire". There's always a roleplay reason well beyond that. Unfortunately, no matter what any cowriter says, personal interpretation and roleplay comes first, thanks to the nature of this game.

And, while I appreciate the way you and the cowriter and many others interpret his story, I cannot and do not interpret it that way, based on my own trauma experiences, my own biases, my own individual understanding, AND my own desire for the kind of narrative I want to tell. And that isn't just me. That goes for every single person as an individual who plays the game.

Like it or not, this is a roleplaying game. Heavy on the roleplay. With this game specifically, the individual player's interpretation of canon information comes first before any writer's intent. That does not render the cowriter's agenda null and void, as many people (like yourself) see it the same way, but it does mean that there is more than one way to interpret this story, and ignoring or berating others for simply connecting to his story in a different way, saying it's "provocative and untrue", is quite honestly inconsiderate and condescending. And wrong.

Yes, posting anything to the internet is going to warrant a response from people who disagree. Everyone who posts anything online knows that. However, there's zero reason to actively be the one saying the negative things. Especially when it's about something innocent and fun.

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks for the tag, @another-lost-one!

How many works do you have on ao3?

106, all in. (105 under ripeteeth, 1 orphaned)

What's your total ao3 word count?

966,792. God, I'd love to hit 1 million before the end of the year, but that's extremely unlikely.

What fandoms do you write for?

Way too many. The main are: The Terror, MDZS, Disco Elysium, Harry Potter, Good Omens.

What are your top five fics by kudos?

Salinity (And Other Measurements of Brackish Water) [Good Omens]: 3094 how a resurrection really feels [Disco Elysium]: 1479 Vigil Strange [The Magnus Archives]: 1266 the art of asking your boss for a raise [Succession]: 1154 no son of mine [Beyond Evil]: 993

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to, but I get easily overwhelmed and sometimes don't. I feel awful about it, I'm so sorry. I am so grateful for every comment, truly.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I guess it depends what you consider angstier? I have some centered around grief and loss and some focused on fucked-up relationships and characters continuing to make choices that hurt them. It's kind of cheating to say Asterius is my choice, considering that I haven't published the end of it yet, but anyone familiar with the story of Theseus and the Minotaur should hear the beat of the story I'm telling there.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

For some reason, I think it's either The Passion or How A Resurrection Really Feels. A believable happiness feels the most relatable to me, and two middle-aged, damaged-but-still-here-godammit men finding a bit of comfort in the midst of all of it just feels right. Like a comfortable boiled wool jacket just a little big in the shoulders. The one that smells like your father's cologne. That kind of warmth.

Do you get hate on fics?

Yeah. It was really bad for awhile, and was the main reason I left Good Omens and turned off comments and orphaned Salinity. I'm pretty desensitized to it now.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I write pretty much only smut. I don't know what I'd categorize it as other than that tbh.

Do you write crossovers?

No, never felt the interest.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No, I don't think so.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah! It was a really cool experience and I felt really honored.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No. I've tried to but I'm terrible at it. It doesn't help that I've had terrible writer's block for the past several years though.

What's your all-time favorite ship?

I have no idea how to answer this. All of them I've ever shipped?

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Revachol Calling. God, I want to finish it so badly. There was a very specific something in me while I was writing it, and then a lot of everything happened. Anyway, I've lost it, that je ne sais quoi. I started replaying Disco Elysium again recently, so maybe it will come back. Here's hoping.

What are your writing strengths?

Imitation. Hearing the music in a sentence. Being fascinated by everything and bogging the reader down in necklaces of useless fact.

What are your writing weaknesses?

See above, turn it up to eleven.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?:

Not unless I'm reasonably fluent and confident in the language.

First fandom you wrote for:

Ghost Story, for Harry Potter, first posted in December 2018. It's surreal to think that it's been five years. What a strange five years.

Favorite Fic You've Written?

Either Revachol Calling (for Disco Elysium) or Blood, Bones, and Butter (for MDZS). I think there's something deeply personal about Revachol Calling that both makes me struggle with it but also resonate the most with it.

For Blood, Bones, and Butter, it was one of the more fun fics I've ever written and I really enjoyed being able to add layers to what the reader knew by simply adding an additional viewpoint, kinda triangulating their messy beginning through three men who are each extremely certain that they're correct. (Yeah, I'd watched Rashomon recently, why do you ask). That's the fascinating thing about songxuexiao for me, each of them is so certain they've got the others all figured out, but they're also all holding back aspects of their own interiority.

Either way, they're both important to me.

Tagging: @pearwaldorf, @et-in-arkadia, @danpuff-ao3, and anyone else who likes!

You don't have to answer this I'm just gonna bitch in your inbox about the x reader post you made because I felt this in my bones.

Like you really can't go in the tag for quality stuff lately. Everything is about sex. I'm not a prude. I read occasionally stuff, but omg, not everything has to be like this. Sometimes stories begin hopeful, but they end the same way. I'm just sick of it because it's all there is. And because it's so oversaturated, "normal" fics don't stand a chance because people don't click on that anymore. So yeah, as a creator, if I wanna get attention for my work, of course, I will produce stuff that people will read.

Also what you said about minors, how are they supposed to interact with fics if everything is porn.

In general, people are sooo fixated on "spicy" content. On tiktok, all people read is smut, or they can't handle other stuff. Literally, smut destroyed their brains. How is it any different than guys having a porn addiction?

Also, the tumblr tagging and searching functions are shit. I wanna find new fics from like 2020 or 2021 (before s4 bc I miss those vibes). When you go to the popular tag thing, the earliest you get is 2022. Like tumblr needs to fix that, so content from years ago can still be found. People also need to start tagging accordingly. It's such a pain.

Again sorry for the rant.

HOHOHOHOHO NO APOLOGIES NEEDED NONNIE i love having a bitch and being on my hater shit and i think more people than you might think agree with all of this + its a whole buncha opinions under the cut u have been warned

to some degree to decrease in quality fics will be due to the lull between seasons which always happens- some of the fantastic writers move onto other obsessions for the mean time and truly, i can't fault them for that.

but yet somehow i know it's more than just that - a smut piece will get more attention and notes regardless of the quality of the fic. it's so tough to complain about cos like sigh its all free writing produced by someone so to moan and bitch about stuff getting more attention than others is like. not very nice and being hypercritical but also

not everyone wants to read smut!! and its fuckin everywhere!! wouldn't it be darling if there could simply be a tag that was smut free but noooooo every post gets tagged with as many fuckin things as possible for 'reach' which is the stupidest fucking thing i've ever heard before

and ur absolutely right, because of it fics with no smut get drowned before they get a chance to get noticed. and sorry to say it, but its very rarely that i've read a fluff piece and been like ah, that seemed like it was just thrown together like no its always crafted to some degree- but i cannot say the same for smut in the least. again, often u can mentally sub in different characters and the fic still works which to me = bad writing (if its a steve fic i shouldn't be able to slot in eddie and have it work? ok cos then its not a STEVE fic its just a porn fantasy which is like fine but GOD this is a whole nother can of worms but if u just write smut and then cycle thru joe keery characters its like half a step from writing rpf cos its obvious u just think he's a hot guy and not so much into his characters 😭 maybe im being autistic levels of protective over my lil guy but i also think im right lmao)

and ough trying to write for an audience is so hard, its a vicious cycle of: wants to produce content ppl will read and interact with -> doesn't enjoy writing it as much -> writing isn't as good as u know it could be -> if it flops for whatever reason u feel like asshole. anon babey please dear god write the ideas you want to <3 i can promise you they will be 100x better than trying to cater to an invisible audience ! ppl follow you for your writing !!! and feel free to tag me!!!! i always want to read good steve x reader fics!!! (i just can't be assed hunting them down half the time)

the minors thing is just. god its - i remember hearing the phrase 'virgins write the best smut' and it was when i was 14 and now im like god don't say that they write like porn cos they have fuck all idea what they're talking about. i read so much fanfic when i was 12 years old and what u said is so true, it just used to sneak up in stories and ruin things. its the internet tho so its impossible to truly moderate

omg ur tiktok comment so fucking true babe. when smut is prioritized over plot, u can tell and so many of the booktok rec's they have are just that. there are ways to write smut and have it still be a story. there's also ways to write pwp and still craft it and yet, u dont see that often. also what happened to being excited when two bitches hold HANDS??? AND KISS FOR THE FIRST TIME?? it's appalling the way they thirst for that content but write their captions like "and they have s3x!!! and f@&k in the bathroom hehehe" like what. its such sanitized and shit content honestly

god ur so right i hadn't even thought about hunting down old fics - and it would make such a difference if you could do that because otherwise SO much weighs on when u post it and if it shows in tags and yada yada

this is so much omg u don't have to read all that but genuinely the reason i started writing more steddie and less x reader is the difference in reception and general support. i dont feel like i'm competing against my mutuals, but more like we're here to just hoot and hollar at each other and unless u have a tight knit group of friends on here, u don't get that on x reader fics ://

fic writery thing

thank you for the indirect, sort-of tag @lauronk -- and also you @ameerawrites

How many works do you have on ao3? 2

what's your total ao3 word count? 36k!

what fandoms do you write for? Currently only for "The Last of Us"

what are your top five fics by kudos? wellllllll I only have the two 💀 but: The Garden Set Us Free Like a Rock

do you respond to comments? like, obsessively

what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I can genuinely say that the only draw, for me, in writing fanfic is giving people the happy endings canon didn't-- so everything I've ever written ends happily. (Minus the WIPs that never ended at all, RIP. 🪦)

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? The Garden Set Us Free -- so wildly fluffy I was worried it would be a flop

do you get hate on fics? I had some... let's say... brutal reviews of my early fics, but tbh it was all deserved. (Not to excuse leaving rude comments!!)

do you write smut? if so what kind? I've written all of it! Slash, femslash, het.

do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've written? It doesn't really count as crazy because it was in-universe, but Voyager/TOS.

have you ever had a fic stolen? I have no idea -- but if you're gonna steal a fic, please steal the ones I left unfinished 10+ years ago after writing myself into a hole and then tag me cuz I'd really like to see how they end.

have you ever had a fic translated? no 🥲

have you ever co-written a fic before? only round-robin style!

what's your all time favorite ship? Like most fandom trash I am constantly embarking and disembarking -- but my OTP with the most longevity is still my very first OTP, Kirk/Spock

what's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I no longer post as I go-- but I have a truly absurd amount of words written for a Jaime/Brienne (Game of Thrones) "You've Got Mail"-style AU that I fear will never see the light of day. I love the plot, I love the setting, I love the vibe-- and my original self-imposed posting deadline was... December 15th, 2017, which was the day AOL shut down AIM. May the me that truly believed I would make that deadline rest in peace.

what are your writing strengths? I had dial-up for, like, years after everyone else switched to high speed-- and therefore have a deep wellspring of patience. I am never in a rush to post!

what are your writing weaknesses? I'm an underwriter... to an extreme. I'll be on the 58th draft before I realize I've never once, in 80k words, described a single outfit.

thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I try to only sprinkle in words/phrases that can be 100% understood via context alone -- or words that are used so often in canon that even the most most casual fans would recognize them. Otherwise! If the POV character understands I stick to simply stating the language in the dialogue tag or at the beginning of a scene ("Where's the bathroom?" he asked in Klingon.) or, if the POV character doesn't understand the language, just stating what's happening (They spoke in Klingon, too quickly for X to understand more than the occasional muttered insult.)

first fandom you wrote for? Star Trek: Voyager <3

favorite fic you've written? Like a Rock. I don't know that I'll ever be able to recapture the joy I felt posting this one... I hesitate to call it a crack fic because I did write it in earnest (and in homage to one of my favorite fanfic writers) buuuut I knew people would go "wtf", and there are few things my inner Hellmo enjoys more than people looking at me and going "wtf"

NO PRESSURE BUUUUUUT.... if you want to do it!! And also I apologize if you were already tagged!! I tag @bearrycool, @howtotrainyourdoofus, & @becomethesun

20 Questions for fic writers

tagged by the lovely @finntheehumaneater 💜

How many works do you have on AO3? 18

What’s your total AO3 word count? 193,735

What fandoms do you write for?

Stranger Things and The Rookie

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

A pretty flower for a pretty boy

Swift Wings and a Brave Heart

The Gift

A lavendar pin in his pocket

Clear Lungs, Full Heart

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Absolutely! Definitely! How could I not? Lovely people have made the effort to tell me that I'm not posting into the void and I want to do the same for them. Plus, I just really like talking to commentors: they have interesting insights, or funny takes, or simply observed something that struck them and it's always fun to talk to them. Especially with the regulars who often comment; I feel like I've struck up a friendship with them.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

A microfic called The Bar. It's for The Rookie fandom and in it Tim gets increasingly drunk after his addict wife stole from his home and guilty reflects how relieved he is that he never told her his secret about being a selkie.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Like, all of them lol? I like to end my stories with people in love and a bright future ahead of them. Laughter and soft kisses are often how I fade out of a fic.

Do you get hate on fics?

No, but I think you have to be a certain size before you start attracting the haters.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, but honestly it's one of my weaknesses - it just doesn't come naturally. But in Tarnished Copper Boy it's been about trust and handing over control. In The Gift it was a reflection of pent-up, forbidden attraction.

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

No. But I think if I did it'd be because I'd want to borrow the other universe's magic/fantasy structure.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

lol I hope not.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nah, but I did accidentally click on my bookmarks for Tarnished Copper Boy once (I forbid myself from reading bookmarks usually) and saw that there was a comment in cyryllic (?) or something. (This was a while back so I can't remember fully but) I think the comment translated to 'sweet pain.' 💜

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

negatory

What’s your all time favorite ship?

steddie

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

secretly omega Steve forced to take meds to appear as an alpha. he agrees to getting off with alpha Eddie but frequently makes sure that the lights are off and that touching only happens in certain ways that he controls. Eddie at first thinks its a reflection on him but increasingly suspects something is up until finally unravelling the mystery. there's definitely some Steve Harrington Has Bad Parents in there, but also some nuance about them genuinely wanting what's best for him.

What are your writing strengths?

I'm told dialogue and characterisation. and, honestly, that's where I have the most fun so it'd make sense that readers pick that up

What are your writing weaknesses?

description. I literally can't imagine anything in my head. have you seen that thing where ppl are asked to imagine an apple and there's a scale of ppl can see it in their head to not at all? I'm not at all. so I do a lot of online imagery research to help flesh my writing out.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I generally avoid it because because I want it to sound natural and I don't think I'll hit the mark.

First fandom you wrote for?

X-files. During reading time in primary school I'd ask the teacher if I could write instead, and tried shipping them before I even knew the word.

Favorite fic you’ve written?

A Tarnished Copper Boy. It probably has the least love compared to my other fics, but that could be because it's a very large fic and chapters reflect that too, so it may be hard to invest in weekly (or, at least, that's what I tell myself haha). But I truly put my heart and soul into it, and I simply love it.

No pressure tags: @solarmorrigan 💜

20 questions for fic writers - tagged by the fantastic @frosty-the-killer-doll ☃️🔪🪆

How many works do you have on ao3?

13.

What's your total ao3 word count?

72,472

What fandoms do you write for?

The Flash, Glee, and Gossip Girl.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Flying Free (or Free Kurt - Emma Pillsbury Style) ((Glee obvs))

Heartless (Glee)

Smoke and Mirrors (Glee)

Maybe Our Real Soulmates Were The... (Flash/Arrow)

As Frightened As You (Glee)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

It depends. Direct compliments, yes, I'll reply to say thank you. I'll also answer questions, or drop little bits of behind-the-scenes info if there's something fun attached to a detail that a reader pointed out. If the comment is simply "wow!!" or "oof" or something else that doesn't really call for a response and that I don't have anything to add to, I'll just leave it as it is.

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Toss up between two:

Heartless ends with Kurt getting hit with another wave of grief after having Finn's letterman returned to him, and while he's hugging it and sobbing, for a second it feels like Finn's hugging him back.

The Longest Distance Between Two Points Is Arm's Length ends with Cisco accidentally vibing a moment from earlier in the fic, and misunderstanding what's happening in it. If he'd had context, he would've realized he was seeing proof that his mom loves him, but instead he takes it as a painful reminder that he'll never be enough for her because he's not Dante.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably Alive Again. Just two dorks playing in the rain, on the brink of falling in love.

Do you get hate on fics?

None so far.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Absolutely not.

Do you write crossovers?

Not usually, but I have a few. Maybe Our Real Soulmates Were The... is considered a crossover fic by AO3 and FFN's standards, but not by mine. My most ambitious crossover (and the one I'm most invested in) is Preppy In Pink, which is gonna be so much fun when it's ready for posting.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I certainly hope not. Doesn't look too likely, though.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Pretty sure I haven't had that happen, either. It'd be cool though.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Smoke and Mirrors started as a few lines of dialogue that @kurtbastian-land had sitting in her notes app that she didn't have a full story developed for, and posted on Tumblr for anyone who wanted to expand on it. I wrote a very dramatic continuation (the majority of chapter 1), and then @jwmelmoth gave it a happy ending (chapter 2). But then she realized we left a couple loose ends untied, so the two of us collaborated on how it should end, and wrote a few more chapters together.

What’s your all-time favorite ship to write for?

I honestly don't know. I think I have the most WIPs for Kamisco at the moment, but Barrisco and Kurtbastian are both incredibly fun as well.

What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I started a crossover AU ages ago where Kurt Hummel ends up with Eric van der Woodsen. I don't think I'll ever finish it, but I like to reread the snippets I've already written every now and then.

What are your writing strengths?

Viscerally describing emotions, setting a scene, nailing characters' voices.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Titles, titles, titles, and titles. Oh, and also titles. They HARD!! Also, I'm very bad at following my own advice to write badly and edit later. I want everything to sound pretty immediately! This is how I get stuck on the same paragraph for weeks with a whole big chunk of the fic still unwritten.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Not something I'm going to attempt a whole lot of in the near future. I have already slipped a little bit of Spanish (+1 word of French) into a couple fics, but only like a single word/phrase at a time, spoken by bilingual characters in mostly English sentences. There are also a few spots where a character says more in Spanish, but I don't write the actual dialogue, I just imply a general idea of what they're saying. I'd love to include more, but I'm not about to make a fool of myself with Google Translate—I'm sticking to very minimal Spanish until I can speak it better.

First fandom you wrote for?

First fandom I finished a fic for was Gossip Girl. As for first one I started writing a fic for, it was either Gossip Girl (not the same fic) or Boy Meets World (a still unfinished Shawngela fix-it).

Favorite fic you’ve written?

I mean, A Little Help From Your Friends is pretty hard to beat. It's got everything—humor, angst, fluff, ambiguity, movie references, ROOMMATES!! And funnily enough, I gave it a title with a little help from my friend, @daftydraw (and by "a little" I mean she suggested the whole title and I ran with it).

And tagging: @starstruckpurpledragon @fictionandmusic @orangesunsets12 @thequeenofshebasays @queer-cheer @elledelajoie

✨ Twenty Questions for Fic Writers ✨

Thank you @disgruntledkittenface for tagging me! I always enjoy this kind of tag games! 🩷

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

57

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

259,349 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

One Direction

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I’d Walk Through Fire For You (Just Let Me Adore You), Sounds like love to me, Find Me in the Kitchen, Sweet like candy, and On Thin Ice

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, I do my best to answer all comments I receive, because they truly make my day every time I get one, and I want readers to know I appreciate them. ❤️

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

...

none? I seem to be incapable of writing anything but happy endings…

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Now this I'm good at lol. Happiest is hard to pick though... maybe Here You Come Again? I feel like the angst that comes in the middle makes the happy ending even sweeter with this one.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

It's happened once or twice that I’ve gotten a mean comment on a fic, yeah, but not regularly. I've also gotten a few comments I would qualify as stupid specifically on my ace fics, though I think those are coming from a place of ignorance more than from a place of hatred (or at least that's my hope...)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do sometimes write smut, but not very often, because I find I have to be in a very specific mindset to do it that doesn't come often, and frankly because I don’t think I’m very good at it. But when I do write smut, I write whatever kind I feel will fit best into that fic.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I've never actually written one!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes! One of the Christmas fics I wrote last year was stolen and posted on AO3 for a different fandom. 🙃 The person had simply changed Harry and Louis’ names to different characters... Someone pointed it out to me in the comments and it got taken down.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! My Ace Omega Harry fic series was translated into Russian earlier this year.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Predictably, Larry. I love reading other pairings, but as far as writing goes, I think Larry will always remain my favourite.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I've been meaning to write a sequel to Chasing Feelings where Harry and Louis get to work together again, but I keep getting distracted by other ideas and at this point I'm not sure when or if it's actually going to happen lol

16. What are your writing strengths?

I like to think I'm quite good at portraying feelings and emotions, even in few words.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Long fics feel kind of impossible to me, and i don’t think I’m the best at writing dialogue either.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I've never done it myself, just because I don't think I've ever written a fic where a character spoke another language, but I don't mind it when reading. It can be fun to try to decipher it sometimes.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

One Direction

20. Favorite fic you've written?

If you ask me the same question tomorrow, I'll probably have a different answer because my favourites change all the time, but a recurring one has to One for the Books. I just love writing Christmas fics and this one feels extra cosy to me.

Tagging: @onlythebravest @crinkle-eyed-boo @sun-lt @homosociallyyours and whoever else feels like doing this!!

IPQ, do you have a type?

(Content warning for suicide and mentioning of death)

In the rise of Jazz for Two just finished last week and I only watched it yesterday (replaying Doyoon Juha's locker room scene more than 23 times, I believe), there's something on my mind.

So, as many of us know, Jazz for Two is produced (or co-produced?) by IPQ, the same company that currently managing boy group OMEGA X. And as soon as I entered the first episode, I noticed something.

Isn't this kind of story... familiar?

Remember ASTCO? Remember Taehyun and his tragic past and his hateful aunt? Although the same past didn't happen in Jazz for Two, we're introduced to another heavy past of Taeyi: about his brother's suicide. And it pestered Taeyi a lot that he loses sleep.

WHICH MAKE ME THINKING

...does IPQ have a type in picking up which BL manhwa they want to adapt?

I know it's too soon, there are only two BL dramas so far that IPQ produced, ASTCO and Jazz for Two. But I'm wondering. And I can't help but thinking that it could lead to the direction I'm not willing to imagine right now.

Since I learn about data analytics, I can't help if they did research of well performed manhwa and type of romance that are guaranteed to be popular and found about this type, this "the main character with tragic past and someone else that would be him for his ups and downs" kind of type. I guess it's possible? If I'm not wrong, Netflix's first (?) original series was based on this kind of research (what the users enjoyed the most in Netflix).

I don't really want IPQ to actually only adapt or make story with this kind of vibes because, let's be honest, it's hard to convey it to the audience. It required a good writing skills, especially in a tightly budgeted production. Even a production as good as Jazz for Two with 30-40 minutes airing time somehow still fail to fulfill the watcher's desire for good story.

Even The Eight Sense needed 10 episodes of 30ish minutes airing time to make such a good angsty drama with satisfactory story.

If in the future they decided to adapt the same kind of manhwa or even made it themselves, I hope they would find a better writer since the one they worked with in these two dramas failed to deliver the maximum.

Also, IPQ, please just know that sometimes we're OK if the main characters simply has family matters that doesn't include anyone dying, or if the main characters are high schoolers with no concern other than their grades, their friends, and their one sided crush. Or simply give us a college student who simply wants to graduate like Jang Jaeyoung, or a high schooler with people pleasing tendency like Shin Daon. We're down with complex character without the heavy emotional baggage so please... if you want to go down this route, please do it right. Please hire a better writer.

Although "we" in this case could be just me.

I always thought the Prequels were good Star Wars stories told less well than they could have been, and one of my pet peeves (obvs. YMMV) was that GL forgot they were prequels and so spent far too much time teasing Anakin's inner conflict when everyone already knew how that was going to end. We did need that taste of what was to come, but the better movie would have been less in Anakin's headspace and more in everyone else's. We all know Anakin's going to fall. Focus on making it hurt. I think Obi-Wan Kenobi's got it figured out. They don't need to explain the obvious over and over again, they just need to stab you in the heart with it in new and cinematically pretty ways.

I mean... yeah, pretty much. The prequels were underwhelming for a few reasons, firstly because George Lucas insisted on writing all the dialogue himself (he had done it for the other films, but there were multiple co-writers and script polishers and actor improvisations that saved it) and it was.... bad. Ponderous, self-important, clunky, and in the case of Anakin and Padme's romance, inadvertently and unfortunately hilarious. This was compounded by his insistence on directing it as a dreadfully grim and wooden tragedy (Hayden Christensen got panned for his performance, but he said that he tried to lighten it up/act in a different way, but George didn't want it), when SW works best especially in its moments of lightheartedness and self-aware gentle mockery of itself. It's a soap-opera fantasy/sci-fi popcorn universe; it doesn't need to be written and directed like King Lear, and the prequels were weaker due to George's insistence on playing them completely straight.

So... yeah, we all know that Anakin is going to fall to the dark side, and I have said before that the whole thing where Padme dies in childbirth because lady parts (apparently there are no gynecologists on Coruscant but Luke can get a totally realistic fake hand?) and that's what makes Anakin go evil is also Bad. The parts and components are there-- Anakin's deep attachments to his mother, Padme, and Obi-Wan, and his problems with anger and desperation to fix the injustice that he experienced as a child slave -- but they're never given enough narrative elbow grease and genuine emotion to make them really hit the way they should.

This is especially obvious because yes, we are now all suffering buckets over Kenobi in the way that we came the closest to doing in Revenge of the Sith (which is by far the best of the prequels, despite its problems). We already know the story backward and forward, we know what happened before and what's happening next and how everything ended up this way, but because it focuses on emotions and character relationships and love and trauma more than clunky exposition or cliché narrative gimmicks, it still hurts a lot anyway. Yet again, it shows the idea that you constantly have to Shock The Audience to tell a good story is total hooey. If you're not necessarily shocking them, but you're still landing your emotional punches because your storytelling focuses on GENUINE feelings and respects the decades of engagement that fans have poured into this story and these characters, you don't NEED schlocky gratuitous random "twists" and the wanton Grimdarking of everything.

Basically, that was why I hated the sequel trilogy so much: the sheer disrespect shown to Han, Luke, and Leia, the destruction of their story arcs and narrative goals from the original trilogy, and the way this was all done in the name of Game of Thrones-ifying Star Wars and never felt authentic to the tones and themes of the original. As a SW fan for my entire life, I simply can't enter or engage with that take on it, because it is so disrespectful and destructive from what the story always was about before. Even the prequels, while they're technically and narratively underwhelming and I wanted them to be much better, still are Star Wars movies. The sequels on the other hand feel shoehorned in from an entirely different franchise, and the fact that mediocre white men can just make up shit and not even properly plan out, script, or plot their addition to one of the most beloved properties of all time will never not make me see red.

That being the case, the obvious adoration that Kenobi has for the characters, the way it tenderly focuses on their love and their relationships and their agonising pain, while still centering hope, Obi-Wan's rusty but deeply rooted compassion, his desperate desire to rest but his equally grim determination to fight for what's right even when it's totally hopeless and his heart is broken... that got me feeling Some Kinda Way. Because at its heart, that is what SW has always been about, and I think the reason people are responding to it so strongly is exactly because they recognize that.

this will probably be quite long-winded so i'm going to put it under a read more. this has nothing to do with matty or the band, it's my other favorite artists, but i just can't talk about this on my main blog because i fear the people i am talking about will find it and harass me and talk shit about me for weeks again (this happened after an anon mistake and a bit of an impulse decision back a few years ago and i hated my life and almost deleted my blog because of it) so i trust that this will stay between us (as much as it can on the internet)

so my main blog is a primarily harry styles/niall horan blog with a whole bunch of my shitty diary posts and things i think are silly. it started with niall and harry writing and then when niall went on hiatus after his last album it became a primarily harry blog because i wrote my biggest story in the height of the pandemic and it gained a lot of traction during quarantine. in that height, someone started talking shit about niall and i went to his defence as any lonesome teenager does and it backfired on me gravely and this group of harry styles blogs that think they're very popular and cool harassed me about it. it was awful for weeks. i basically couldn't go online without having a panic attack. anyways, it's that same group.

all they do is talk about how much they think niall is a copy and paste of harry or that he isn't marketable or that he can't pick singles or that he pushes his streams and charts too much. all while claiming they don't care about him and hate him or whatever. they say all these things that simply aren't true. harry didn't "create" marketing campaigns on websites, neither did niall! however, niall's last album was marketed through a website and videos everyday and all this. harry isn't original in his techniques, the difference is that his following is so insane that they will do every single marketing thing for him. he doesn't need a team of people to do it. these fans are so insane that they are doing a job that people get paid to do. niall does his job! that's why he's telling people to stream and whatnot.

niall's songwriting is miles and miles better than harry's, but because of the way they think harry is the best at everything, they don't recognize that. niall started working with amy allen (a writer harry worked with on his last album) nearly six years ago, maybe even seven. she co-wrote my favorite niall horan song, to this day. like, they saw amy allen and tobias jesso jr and freaked out that niall was copying harry, as if niall isn't also a songwriter in the industry. like .. i genuinely am so sick of this conversation! (i also would compare niall's songwriting in depth and meaning to matty's, which is why i love it so much)

it's also very fucking annoying that harry stans have created this whole culture around going to concerts and liking artists that is so toxic and annoying that i can't stand it. like, half of the people at niall's pop up shop today weren't even singing his songs, they were singing the harry songs that were on the playlist. or the way all these harry stans are suddenly talking about niall on tiktok to get clout or merch or whatever it is. i've literally been a niall fan or whatever since the very beginning of one direction, i followed him on tour way back when, he's the reason i love live music and want to work in touring. i love harry, i do, i've gone to his shows plenty of times and talk about him and have a blog and a story, i'm not saying anything bad really about him, but it's so frustrating to see how people treat other artists just compared to harry styles and i literally am getting so annoyed every day.

okay i think i'm done. like i said .. this is between you and me and god.

Good morning!

This is a sensitive question (in that I might be harshly judged for it) and a difficult one for me to ask (because I am sensitive). Here goes! I recently agreed to beta for a fic writer based on very little background knowledge as I had only read one previous fic. It started out feeling fun! Yay! A couple of chapters and many thousands of words later, though, I’m not having fun. It’s as though the writer has abandoned their own first draft editing altogether, isn’t bothering to check verb tense, doesn’t seem to want to learn how to punctuate dialogue, uses the same phrases repeatedly, and, to be honest, is simply not good at writing. While I am in love with the narrative, I feel like I (and the other beta that I see editing the google docs) am doing FAR too much heavy lifting. I want to know if it is common to ask for this amount of labor from multiple betas. Also, how do I graciously say bye? Sincerely, Feeling Used

Oh, friend, that is a difficult thing. I'm definitely not going to judge you for asking, and neither should anyone else (stares sternly around the room).

Working with a beta isn't just about pointing out grammar and consistency, it really is about building a relationship where the beta and the writer understand each other's styles and are working together. And it doesn't sound like that's what is happening in your case.

Practically speaking, as a beta, you shouldn't be expected to do everything. This why many authors (including myself) will work with multiple betas with different skills. With my lovely betas, I have one who is very good at detail and one who is very good at consistency issues which gives me a nice balance. I also would never let my betas see any of my first drafts. Everything they get has been edited at least twice and run through grammar and spellcheck in an attempt to conquer my inappropriate love affair with too many commas.

Enough about me - back to your situation. As a first step when you're starting a new beta relationship, it's important to have a conversation with your author about what they want to a beta to do for them. What are the key issues they want a beta to help with? It is plot, is it character voice, is it sorting out verb tenses (which are the work of the devil)? Whatever it is, that is where you can be the most help as a beta. And no, basically rewriting things as they go is not a typical answer, that's the job of a co-author, not a beta.

As part of that conversation, it's totally appropriate for you to put boundaries on how you want to help. Personally, I think that making betas do heavy lifting on grammar and spelling is a waste of their time, there are apps that will catch 90% of those mistakes. And as a beta, you can simply recommend that the writer run their work through a spell and grammar checker and you've done that part of the job.

BUT. Going back to your question about how you get out of this situation that you no longer want to be in. Since this is your first time betaing for this author, I think the simplest approach is to simply say that you don't feel like you have the ability or capacity to give them what they need as a beta and that the job is bigger than you anticipated and that you need to regretfully withdraw. I know it's hard, but a clear "I'm sorry, I can't do this anymore" will be much easier for both of you in the long run than dragging things out and building resentments.

Good luck and if you want to message me privately to let me know how it goes or ask more questions, I'm happy to help.

Same anon! Sorry for the spam QnA, but it's interesting knowing more about your author's thought processes! If you have the time, I would love to know how do you characterize Ingo and Emmet? other than the fanstories itself of course 😊 Do you have a guideline? Some perspectives on their characters? Some shipping dynamics? I kinda view Ingo as kind of passive in this case, except for a few moments where he has to break out of his shell (like for pokemon battles where he and Emmet whoop everyone's butt 😫😫). He's a very kind character. And Emmet is a great support! He's very energetic and could be in your face, but he has good intentions even if he doesn't like people very much (Noy shy! just prefers solitude!). Except when it comes to Ingo, to which then he will be do everything!!! Pokemon make them reunite!

-💌 anon

Hello! Back at it again, anon!

I'm honoured that you'd want to know about my thought process! (I myself am not very interested in that kind of thing, so this is new!)

How do I characterise the train twins...? I wonder how I do that myself lol

Okay~ buckle in cos this might be long!

Guidelines on their character: Most of these are adapted from the multitudes of submas fics I've read prior to starting my own. These would include:

Ingo being LOUD and verbose

Emmet having clipped speech with barely any intonation

Frowny Ingo (˚∆˚) with minimal facial expressiveness (he can't help it!)

Smiley Emmet (˚v˚) with all the facial expressiveness

Ingo being polite and Emmet not giving a sh*t

I think much of these stem from how I like the twins having this complementary aspect to one another. They match each other's quirks, compensate for each other's weaknesses, encourage each other's strengths... it's just nice and cool imo ♡ A perfect two-car train! Wonderful synchronicity! Bravo!

Personal perspectives on their character: some of these may overlap with the guidelines bc I'm not sure how common these interpretations are...

Ingo being thoughtful, careful and prudent

Emmet being impulsive, active and spontaneous

Conscientious-of-other-people's-feelings Ingo

Honesty-is-the-best-policy Emmet

Ingo leans towards being a pessimist, correlating with his careful nature

Emmet's an optimist and simply wants the people around him to be happy and have a good time

Ingo is the ideals of their dynamic, able to come up with creative ideas and solutions

Emmet is the truth of their dynamic, able to work towards a goal and succeed, to 'turn the ideals into truths'

They work so well together as a two-car train that any arguments that do happen get cleared up almost instantly (idk how often other siblings fight, but I very rarely have any arguments with my own sibling so...yea)

They can be playful with each other (ie. pranks) but they are mature adults with a job, so they know when to pull the brakes and take responsibility

Emmet has this interesting contrast with being a chaotic, playful little sh*t (I say that with the utmost affection♡) but also possessing the level of responsibility and follow-the-rules mindset of a subway boss... so that's interesting to play around with

I'm probably still missing a lot of aspects but I can't think of anything else rn. Hope these little bits were interesting to read about!

Hm, shipping dynamics... I myself am a gen fic writer so I don't have any opinions on shipping. Not sure why, but it's kind of hard for me to see either twin in their own romantic relationship. They seem kind of... untouchable? I suppose? Perhaps that's evident in the Crystal Conductors AU, since the guys are literally immortal rocks lol. Not much romance to be found there, and if there was, it would be a sad one and I ain't gonna subject them to that.

But, I will comment that your thoughts on their shipping dynamics are interesting and do make sense! Ingo's calm passiveness~ Emmet's peppy enthusiasm~

The twins really do need their heartfelt reunion... *sigh* Alas, I shouldn't get my hopes up and expect too much ;;v;;

Thank you for the ask (again)! It was fun to answer your questions and apologies for taking so long to respond!

Why do you think ppl nowadays are so against redemption and forgiveness? From your POV ofc, and if you want to answer only

I have talked about this a lot so I might end up repeating myself but there are multivaried and probably chaotic variables contributing to it. I'm never going to be able to comprehensively cover it but I can make an attempt at what I think are the cultural strokes in the West underpinning the discourse. The caveat I want to add is that online discourse and writers' rooms are never going to be entirely reflective of much much broader General Audience attitudes, and for that matter in the online sphere you're going to (largely) be encountering the dedicated unless you're in the YouTubes comments sections.

So I also think it's not wrong to say that some of this is simply a result of fringe, intense, over-thought discussion. On the other hand there is a real pop culture bleed effect into the GA with, most significantly, Game of Thrones (see that quote from the showrunners about themes being for book reports in school), and attempts by the MCU to legitimise itself culturally by 'being serious' (and at times choosing not to do so and finding success where it doesn't) narratively (e.g. The Winter Soldier, Civil War, most prominently with Infinity War which ends with you know what, then Endgame deciding to kill the villain... have that not be the solution... then do it again anyway, what joy. Feel what you feel about the MCU, and try to say it's reforming itself now, but I'm not discussing my opinions on the MCU here and I really don't want to hear about it - I think pop culture is interesting and I'm part of that audience myself - but I'm just remarking on its influence and reaction to perceived narrative trends).

Some trends that I might say broadly contribute: cynical storytelling; anti-storytelling ("It's just not realistic,") - see the Game of Thrones discourse (and I'm not saying this is 1:1 with the books but there is certainly room there to criticise); contrarianism to a perceived predominant attitude, ("Actually, I just like when people are bad, I don't feel the need to 'redeem' villains,") so people basically just being edgy and that will always happen; probably some genuine effect from people being unable to believe in redemption in their real lives (because bad people are always bad and maybe that's their genuine experience and their fictional response is 1:1 with their real life attitudes) and then, to be generous and acknowledge criticism of redemption arcs, redemption arcs can ask really uncomfortable questions about forgiveness and morality and what that looks like in your own life or if you even believe in that or also feel that the cultural attitude of redemption (which is very Christian) doesn't mesh with your personal religious beliefs etc., though I do think the idea of villain reformation to heroism can, structurally and narratively, exist independently of such cultural ideas. It's just basic narrative turncoat.

Corporate storytelling and cynical storytelling also go hand in hand. If you need to keep resetting character arcs you can't tell a comprehensive character arc - you need them to go backwards, and you need to maintain the status quo. Radical story transformation is impossible. You need it to be profitable, and more importantly you also need to maintain brand image. There's the evil one, and there's the good one. To use an example close to home and so MCU fans leave me alone, you can't have Kylo Ren and Ben Solo co-existing, it's confusing. They need to keep the evil one (Kylo Ren), that's why Ben Solo also has no voice lines in TROS and is just a battery charger. Bottom line is merchandise.

But actual group perception of redemption arcs... people love a good headline, and talking shit about villains - especially in Kylo Ren's case, an easy controversial character which gets clicks - gets clicks. It really does come down to something that simple.

The memetic hatred of redemption arcs and villains online also gets you in-group bonuses. Us vs. them, I say and do the right things and I'm part of the cool kids club. There's nothing really controversial about Reylo, for instance - it's Baby's First Enemies-to-Lovers - and there are ships 'worse' than Reylo where such shippers mock and condemn it anyway, write posts word for word which describe Reylo and then add, 'Reylos DNI'. It's not about Reylo, it's about making sure someone else doesn't put you on a list or think you have the wrong opinions.

So it's just useful to have territory to demarcate where you stand. Are you good or bad? Will you read my article? Undergirding that is cynical storytelling - romance is stupid and for girls repackaged into 'romance is unrealistic', heightened storytelling is dead, why does the hero persist? He should just be dead already. (Because you... are telling a story for a reason...)

What makes a story realistic isn't mortal threat. It's emotional versimilitude. Achieving that is a lot harder than simply making situations genuinely threatening for a hero; it actually means you need to be good at the craft of writing itself and conveying your ideas.

Much easier to distract by talking about 'realism', focussing on elements which don't necessarily improve it, but instead open you to real criticism on a front which is uncomfortable to negotiate. To use an example from G/RRM's A Song of Ice/ and Fire: his depiction of the Dothraki has been well-critiqued for the ahistorical and nonsensical depiction of them with little to no research evidently done. I believe his response to the criticism was that his realism was more from the angle of 'historical realism' with the politics. It was a very weak excuse when I read it, and I'm sure many really don't give a shit, but there's clearly a line that he draws himself in depicting 'realism'. It's also very evident throughout the books he employs narrative symmetry, and there's clear mythical and literary influences at play; nothing doesn't happen for a reason. So for all the talk of realism is in his books, he still uses familiar literary devices.

That's the frustrating thing about 'realism', it's not about making it 1:1 with real life and it never is. It's the effect of believability.

There's pseudo-intellectual posturing about realistic/cynical storytelling predominant in the discourse. I think it's also fair to say that there's an influence of the real world on our storytelling trends: when people can't control real life they want to control the way others respond to fiction. It's probably not an accident that with real-world recessions and wars and being inundated with news you can't do anything about has something to do with more controlling measures of others in fandom spaces. That's the bizarre intersection of luxury beliefs and real-world backdrop.

It would be remiss of me not to include that a lot of people don't believe in reformation or the steps it takes to better yourself IRL and most people have their own personal conception of 'too far', and the attitude that stories are real and the only battleground we can control bleeds into things here. I don't struggle with this, the bad wizards are allegory/metaphor for higher things.

But I think the pseudo-intellectual, key-to-storytelling, 'I read things realistically' might be the attitude really motivating things here and might be the thing I can talk most broadly about. It's always said with such smugness and I've encountered it years on-end. Part of it is Baby's First Media Criticism and part of it is that it's a prepackaged opinion you don't need to think too hard about but makes you sound cool at parties. It's easier to say, "I just don't find happy endings realistic," than it is to think about what role should endings serve in a story? What do they say about the story's beginning? It's uncomfortable not to know things. Exploratory story response or having to think about something might make you look dumb.

So it's really multivaried, and clearly something which is motivated by our online platforms, corporate storytelling, in-groups and out-groups, the uncomfortable questions that redemption arcs raise. Also, redemption arcs - if you don't know how to write them - can be really hard. That's probably my final point. That's probably contributing to the Vader and Zuko blueprints being bandied around. They are technically demanding. That means bad ones can make redemption arcs in general seem poor. Redemption arcs are challenging because they make you think about heroism and villainy. They make you think about storytelling structure and individual motivations, and whether your enemy is like you or not. This is genuinely challenging stuff, it's easier to see the world in black and white.

Writing that is harder, because if the villain could be the hero, how do you realise the story in a satisfying way? You have to know your themes, know your story, believe in your story.

I am willing to allow audience reception of redemption arcs is genuinely informed by that, and I actually think that popular taste is not often always that bad - and filters good things into our cultural memory - it's the condescension of corporate storytelling which really annoys me.

Honestly? I think that online fandoms and clickbait journalists are in the ultimate minority. People love a good redemption arc. It's not controversial. Most people not terminally online that I've talked to IRL were nominal fans of Reylo and thought Kylo Ren was cool and liked that a Stormtrooper, Finn, was actually a good person and did the right thing. It's potent. That's why it's an enduring idea, despite.

I would just like to mention this here for a lack of having anywhere else to more directly share this: There's a couple of unpublished female OC writers who frequent the one popular confessions blog every so often (I will refrain from naming any names because the intention isn't to create a witch hunt or a callout, but simply to let you and any other readers of this blog know one of the more direct causes for why certain fandoms have gone to shit), and their only engagement with the blog is either to be catty in the replies with regards to the subjects of certain confessions, and/or virtue signal about their own conduct as if they're some kind of "better" person in the RPC while also attempting to garner pity for themselves for their own supposed struggles in the RPC. The catch is, both people have fairly extensive histories of being total hypocrites of the virtues they extol and the things they criticize others for. Both have been known to harass people and run them off the site. At least one has been known to sow discontent, mistrust, and conflict among fandoms while they try to cajole others into writing questionable material with them, then gaslighting them and guilt-tripping them about it later. They've been caught out on these behaviors before and caused a whole lot of drama, and yet they always just disappear and come back later seemingly to pull it all over again. And if you dare to even insinuate what they've done before (like I'm doing right now), and if they even suspect your identity, they'll stalk you, spread rumors and lies about you behind your back, and sometimes occasionally get someone to attack you, all the while continuing to act like they have any ground to stand on and preach to others about the RPC. This is the real truth they don't want you to hear in the RPC. I'm only speaking of two examples, but there are plenty of people just like them among the RPC, among different fandoms, and these are the people who will keep you silent. Who will silence others, foster discord, and burn any fandom down around the ground even if they burn themselves out of a fandom in the process. And they're like cockroaches, because no matter how much they get called out, no matter how much comes out against them, they'll always just "reset" their presence, come back later, sometimes even under the same names that people previously knew them by, and pretend like it never happened. And it always works, every single time, because even if you do bring up their past, they gaslight others into thinking that it either doesn't involve them or they've "changed" since then despite doing all the same damn things that have made them a problem in the first place. These are the people killing your RPC. And so are the people who flock to their defense and get up in arms for them, because maybe they're just as complicit as they are in their bullshit. What's most unfortunate is that they also fall under the banner of "unpublished female OC writers" that you often tout, and they'd probably try to co-op such defenses as a defense and self-justification for themselves as well.

Ya make ALL the justifications ya want to me. Actively ignoring other PEOPLE and ISOLATING them from the fandoms, is NOT acceptable. I don't give a flying fuck anymore what yas excuses are for DEHUMANIZING people for simply writing as a character they know for a fact they can write as. The sooner we realize that this shit is happening the sooner SHIT CAN AND WILL GET FIXED.

I do appreciate the rather in-length 'education' that I already am aware of (just hadn't touched it yet, sincerely thank you and this is not to you specifically). But it's fucking CRUEL to make people feel like they don't exist, all because they write as an unpublished female oc. I WAS ONE OF YAS OR ARE YA NOT READING MY SHIT SWEETUMS?? I ALREADY FUCKING KNOW YAS BULLSHIT. YA AIN'T FUCKING MY MIND ANYMORE.

✨✨✨✨🫱Care to share🫲✨✨✨✨

The message was sent to you because someone loved your writing and stories. ❤️

▪️What are your writing suggestions for newcomers, or what would you have liked to know when you first started?

▪️How do you write different personalities and perspectives? Could you explain how you came up with the manner you written your favorite or any character?

▪️What do you do when you have writer's block?

▪️How do you come up with new ideas and develop them?

▪️Any messages for your readers or fellow writers?

You are welcome to answer if you have the time and desire, or you can simply respond to the questions that come to mind.

💐Thank you for your work as a writer and as a member of this fandom!💐

aww thank you so much!! 🥰

uuuh idk if im (one of the) best person to ask these questions tbh cos i don't think my answers are super helpful or deep lmao but i'll give it a try

What are your writing suggestions for newcomers, or what would you have liked to know when you first started?

hmm, i think if you're starting out the best thing to do is just write. it gets easier the more you do it. maybe prepare to come back to your early/first works and realize you don't like them for some reason (style/characterisation/story/etc). if you're writing fanfic, it helps a lot to read fic of the fandom you want to write for. it helps informing your own take of the characters (though there's always the danger of running into popular fanon takes that are super removed from canon) but it also helps with vocab, style (not saying you should copy anyone/thing).

How do you write different personalities and perspectives? Could you explain how you came up with the manner you have written your favourite or any character?

i don't think i came up with anything tbh. i know some people have like, a whole process and do a lot of research or do deep dives and really put time into this. it's not something i have the patience for, and I've always been the kind of person who doesn't do outlines or drafts or stuff. sometimes i feel so familiar and comfortable with a character that writing them becomes something i don't have to think about, like when im very confident about getting their voice right. but that has only happened when i've written them quite a lot.

What do you do when you have writer's block?

i rot lol i feel like the only thing i an do is sort of... wait it out? most of the time i get writer's block when my hyperfixation has died down or when my mental health is digging deeper than rock bottom. and whenever i try to write then, i dislike everything i wrote. so i genuinely got no advice there, sorry.

How do you come up with new ideas and develop them?

oof. hmmm, i used to be able to come up with a story/idea for almost anything lmao. but i really like talking a story through with someone, brainstorm, bounce ideas off them, stuff like that. sometimes just rambling at someone helps me figure out what i wanna do.

Any message for your readers or fellow writers?

For the readers: thank you so much for your time ☺️✨🙏🏻

For the writers: keep ballin

thank you for sending this anon 🥰😊🩷

Your post has got me rereading some early Oracle stuff and now I am crying about Kim Yale.

She really was everything, wasn't she?

Yeah, Kim Yale is one of my comic industry heroes. I don't think people realize how much of Barbara Gordon's continued relevance as a character after The Killing Joke we owe to her. She was a one-woman whirlwind of determination to do better by the female characters of DC than the men who saw them as disposable, and she deserves SO much more credit than she gets for it:

The Bat office was done with Batgirl at that point. Barbara no longer fit into their plans. Kim and I asked if we could have her and we were told that. So we re-created her as Oracle. To us, it was important that the act have consequence. We didn’t want Barbara to magically recover. Given the violence she had endured, we felt she would be paralyzed from the waist down and in a wheelchair. However, we felt she could still be a hero.........Kim and I felt that, if we did the job well, Oracle could become an important part of the DCU. It solved writing problems for other writers; how did their protagonist learn a necessary plot point? They went to Oracle. She went on to become a valued member of the Justice League and led the Birds of Prey in their own book.

The last story that Kim and I worked on together before she died was Oracle Year One, drawn by the wonderful Brian Stelfreeze. We showed that year as Barbara made the transition from broken hero to dynamic Oracle. She became a strong and much loved icon for the disabled community. In making her a hero again, Oracle allowed others to heal with her. The reader healed with her. -John Ostrander, "Savaging Barbara Gordon"

............................................

Almost immediately, Kim Yale had a problem with [The Killing Joke]. Discussing her dislike of the treatment of Batgirl in the issue with her husband, John Ostrander, the two formulated a plan to address what would happen next for Barbara. As Ostrander recalls, “There were no plans for her in the continuity at that time. We decided that if that happened, we weren’t just going to make her better magically — we wanted to explore what happened when someone like her was crippled and how she would respond.”

In late 1988, Oracle made her first appearance, but only as the name “Oracle,” a hacker who aided the Suicide Squad, in Suicide Squad #23. Oracle aided the Squad for the next year, with hints given to their identity piling up (and Oracle started appearing in Ostrander and Yale’s Manhunter). Finally, in Suicide Squad #38, in early 1990, Oracle was revealed to the readers as Barbara Gordon! [x]

Also.....knowing she (co-)wrote Oracle: Year One while incredibly sick and about to die from breast cancer really makes these scenes hit different, doesn't it?

You know, when you're healthy, when you're whole, there're a million siple things you do every day that you take completely for granted. Things that, for me, were no longer so simple. Such as getting in a car. I used to just jump in and jump out, like most people. Now every move had to be planned...almost choreographed. In full view of everyone.

The internet was a community of people talking-arguing, romancing, helping one another-and you didn't even have to use your real name. You were simply who you were onling. I found enormous freedom-and complete acceptance-there, and for a time in my life, the cybernet was more real to me than the world outside my window. In a strange way, I became more real to me as well. More content, more happy.

"I don't want to be afraid anymore." "Fear's useful, in moderation. What do you really want?" "To walk again. Can you fix that?" "Nope, that's not what you're really seeking." "I want my life back!" "That's who you were, not who you are. Who are you?" "I...I don't know. I don't know if I ever knew..."

A little over a year has passed since my old life ended, since I died and was reborn. The shadows remain, but only to give contrast to the light. I am no longer a distaff impersonation of someone else. I'm me-more me than I have ever been. My life is my own. I embrace it, and the light, with a deep, continuing joy.

I genuinely think that everyone should have to read Suicide Squad: Out of Control and Oracle: Year One and then hear the story of how Kim Yale fought for Barbara before making comments about how "misogynistic" it is for Barbara to continue to be Oracle instead of being magically healed or whatever.

Yes, TKJ is awful, and we all hate it. I'd rather it was erased from publication and peoples' memories. But John Ostrander and Kim Yale (and later writers like Chuck Dixon and Gail Simone) took that story and created a powerful narrative of agency reclamation, healing, and closure out of it, a story undoubtedly informed by Yale's own health battles. Barbara's injury being rooted in a sexist story doesn't mean that Oracle, the product of two very dedicated writers determined to re-shape that trauma into a source of power, is bad or that wanting that representation back is gross.

So if you want to remove TKJ from the equation, that's fine! Have her become disabled another way; The Oracle Code and Young Justice have shown potential paths forward on that front. But erasing Oracle, especially while keeping TKJ canon and forcing Babs to remain Batgirl as the post-Flashpoint Universe has, only perpetuates the story's sexism further by denying Babs closure and agency over her own story, erasing two other women (one of whom is herself disabled), refusing her the permanent character growth that the other male Batfamily members receive...and doing Kim Yale a grave disservice by calling a hero created in direct defiance of an editorial & marketing team that had no use for Babs, wanted to get rid of her, and didn't see the point in making her a hero again "misogynistic."

Barbara wasn’t ever supposed to become Oracle in the first place, because DC had zero plans for her. She was gone, her usefulness outlived. But Ostrander and Yale thought differently. “Batgirl" was ultimately SAVED because of Oracle, and to deny Babs (and her readers) that story of agency reclamation and personal growth is as cruel as writing the story that took it away from her in the first place.