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theheartintheshow · 1 year

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Headcannon: Brennan originally rationalized the decision to publish her books for the purpose of bringing forensic anthropology more into the public eye.

She knew she was gonna get some backlash from the academic community because it’s fiction. Of course.

But she fell for forensic anthropology through a movie she watched when she was younger, it makes sense that she’d like putting it out there in some way.

The way when that journalist comes in and she’s continues claiming, “no, the science, what about the science?”

Writing the books, a definite love letter to a guy she barely knew at the time but made a ridiculously strong impression.

But publishing them? A love letter to her field.

#bonestv #temperance brennan #bones headcanons #I’ve been trying for years to come up with a reason why ms rationality would publish the damn things #I mean writing self insert fiction is one thing #letting it be a best seller?

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noxtivagus · 1 year

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good morning!!!! i had a pretty cool dream ehe

#🌙.rambles #it's a bit dark again tho so.#tw death #my dreams r usually dark fr 😭😭 ngl i'm still a bit. shaken after that one dream i had when i napped tho :<#that was a bit dark in a too personal way i was crying in my dream n i ended up crying sometime irl too #OK BUT! i find it so funny my dreams r so dark usually #oh just. random thought first but i've probably become a lot more comfortable n free w myself again n. fiction yeah bcs #i've been distant from reality but it's alright. this is fine.#seems i can't have both at the same time :^) so much for balance but i don't want to lose myself again so i'm fine with this #i'm fine with letting some stuff falling apart (lie) i was crying abt that but AGHH FUCK NVM #i don't think i slept very well ffs i really didn't mean to ramble again like this but #it's just like how i wrote it two years ago n that's why. that's why i'm rlly such a loss as to what to do bcs two years ago was a very #hfdkflsjdflk time for me :c #it's v important n special bcs of my youth in a good way w video games n stories n writing but then.. simultaneously one of my worst years #it's always rather balanced #that said reading that story i wrote reminded me i'm the type to. oh man i'm quite the hypocrite huh #idc how cringe or embarrassing that thing i wrote was it. it really touches me still w how.. yeah the 'reader'. who's basically #a self-insert ngl but i posted it on tumblr once so YKYK #denying n hiding what they rlly desire. convincing themselves that others r satisfied that others r content; they have what they want alrdy #n so it was fine to hide in the shadows regarding. some things. as to not ruin reality with some faraway dreams that they were #undeserving of. unreachable.. like the moon like the stars. in a cold night; undeserving of warmth #longing in general. always secret. maybe that's why freedom means so much to me #nyways yeah. that feeling of 'this is enough' n more than i could ever have hoped for n #to not. fuck things up they wld hide in a way. too hesitant too afraid to reach out #i think i've known that feeling well for most of my life but just in different ways. i'm glad at least i could identify it now #for the longest time i've been meaning to rewrite that story now that i'm older to see how it wld improve but maybe i'm still afraid of the #extent of how it'll force me to really see the extent of what. nah bcs i do know deep down but when it comes to expressing it?#rather funny i probably seem like a very open n honest person w how much i share but that's just bcs there's a lot of things i'm already #comfortable w within myself?? idk how to phrase but Yeah. i hate lying or not being authentic in any way but i can't deny i'm both used to #it & good at it. but. sob i end up rambling so much in tumblr tags it's just like a diary or smth atp >.>

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sparrowlucero · 1 month

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Even if a creator is a bad person it's still okay to like their work. People need to mind their own business.

Honestly it's not really that sort of situation. I'll actively defend Steven Moffat here.

There was a huge hate movement for him back in the early 2010s - which, in retrospect, formed largely because he was running 2 of the superwholock shows at once, one of which went through extremely long hiatuses* and the other of which was functionally an adaptation of an already well regarded show**, making him subject to a sort of double ire in the eyes of a lot of fandom people. Notably, his co-showrunner, Mark Gatiss, is rarely mentioned and much of his work is still attributed to Moffat (and yes, this includes that Hbomberguy video. Several of "Steven Moffat's bad writing choices" were not actually written by him, they were Gatiss.)

People caricatured the dude into a sort of malicious, arrogant figure who hated women and was deliberately mismanaging these shows to spite fans, to the point where people who never watched them believe this via cultural osmosis. It became very common to take quotes from him out of context to make them look bad***, to cite him as an example of a showrunner who hated his fans, someone who sabotaged his own work just to get at said fans, someone who was too arrogant to take criticism, despite all of this being basically a collective "headcanon" formed on tumblr. Some if it got especially terrible, like lying about sexual assault (I don't mean people accused him of sexual assault and I think they're making it up, I mean people would say things like "many of his actresses have accused him of sexual assault on set" when no such accusations exist in the first place. This gets passed around en masse and is, in my opinion, absolutely rancid.)

On top of that a ton of the criticism directed at the shows themselves is, personally, just terrible media criticism. So much of it came from assuming a very hostile intent from the writer and just refusing to engage with the text at all past that.

Like some really common threads you see with critique of this writer's work, especially in regards to Doctor Who since that's the one I'm most familiar with:

A general belief that his lead characters were meant to be ever perfect self inserts, and so therefore when they act shitty or arrogant or flawed in any way, that's both reflective of the author and meant to be viewed as positive or aspirational.

An overarching thesis that his characters are "too important" in the narrative due to the writer's arrogance and self obsession

A lot of focus on the writer personally "attacking" the fans or making choices primarily out of spite.

A tendency to treat the show being different to what it's adapting as inherently bad and hostile towards the original

Just generally very little consideration of the themes, intent, etc.

This one's a little more nebulous and doesn't apply to all critique but a lot of it, especially recently, is clearly by people who haven't seen the show in like 10 years and their opinion is largely formed secondhand through like, "discourse nostalgia". Which. you know. bad.

I think these are just weird and nonsensical ways to engage with a work of fiction. I also think it's really sad to see the show boiled down to this because that era of who is, in my opinion, very thematically rich and unique among similar shows, and I hate that it's often dismissed in such a paltry way.

This isn't to say people aren't allowed to critique Steven Moffat or anything, but the context in which he basically became The Devil™ to a large portion of fandom and is still remembered in a poor light is very tied to this perfect storm of fan culture and I just don't agree with a ton of it.

* I'm sure most people have seen the way long running shows and hiatuses will cause people to fall out with a show, with some former fans turning around and joining a sort of "anti fandom" for it while it's still airing. That happened with both these shows. ** Doctor Who will change it's entire writing staff, crew, and cast every few years, and with that comes a change in style, tone, theme - the old show basically ends and is replaced by a new show under the same title. As Steven Moffat's era was the first of these handovers for the majority of audiences, you can imagine this wasn't a well loved move for many fans. *** I know for a fact most people have not sought out the sources for a lot of these quotes to check that they read the same in context because 1) most of them were deleted years ago and are very difficult to find now and 2) many of them do actually make sense in the context of their respective interviews

#and yeah i think the hbomberguy video is kind of bad #I can pull up examples but a lot of what he's saying is very rooted in this sort of critique #maybe most egregiously he sometimes just explains something very poorly or outright incorrectly to make it seem worse or more nonsensical #ex. saying a scene in doctor who 'steals a huge chunk of the plot' when it's less than 30 seconds long #saying two characters randomly start hanging out again while not mentioning the episode entirely dedicated to this #or the way her decision to keep hanging out with him is the emotional turning point of the entire season #etc etc etc.

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earlgraytay · 1 year

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The Author's Darling

So I follow a lot of people who post a lot about OC/self-insert positivity. And that's genuinely great. I love people's OCs and self-inserts. But occasionally, I will see someone, in an attempt to Defend The Honour of OCs and self-inserts, defend a particular kind of writing mistake. And that pisses me off, because it does everyone a disservice.

There are plenty of people who write OCs and self-inserts who do not make this writing mistake, and equating the two is unfair to every OC writer who works hard at their craft. There are also plenty of people who write canon-character-only fanfic or original fic who do make this mistake-- and that hurts both them and their potential readers.

The mistake I'm talking about? Writing a sort of character I'm going to call an Author's Darling.

I'm going to talk about what Author's Darlings are, why they're bad, how you can avoid writing one, and what an Author's Darling isn't. I put a cut in this post, because it's long.

What is an Author's Darling?

An Author's Darling is a character who cannot fail at anything that matters to the author of their story.

What this looks like in practice depends on the author-- different authors prioritize different things. Some authors think their Darling should be stone-cold badasses and never lose a fight. other authors are fine with their Darlings getting knocked out every time they try to throw a punch, but would be very upset if their Darling got rejected romantically.

Plenty of characters succeed at most things they try. Superman wins most of the fights he takes on, but he's not necessarily a Darling. But if you look at a character and you can say, "oh, this character would never lose a fight", or "everyone loves this character and would never get mad at them"? You've got an Author's Darling on your hands.

And- especially in fandom- a character can be a Darling in the hands of one author and a perfectly fine character in the hands of another. Steve Rogers/Captain America is an example of a character who gets Darling-ified a lot. Captain America is supposed to be a shining example of The Best that humanity has to offer- he's virtuous, strong, brave, and oh so pretty. It's easy to fall into the trap of making him incapable of failing at whatever you want him to do, whether that's "punching a lot of Nazis" or "supporting Bucky in his recovery". But a lot of writers manage to thread the needle and write Cap as the lovable, flawed person he's supposed to be.

Why are Author's Darlings bad?

Well, two reasons:

Writing an Author's Darling is a really good way to give yourself writer's block, especially when it comes to the plot. If your character can't fail at anything important, this means that it's really hard to build tension. If your character is going to automatically succeed at anything that's important to the plot, all you're writing is "and then they win, and then they win, and then they win". It can get pretty monotonous pretty quickly, especially if you're writing genre fiction. You can run out of ideas, or your inner critic can go "this isn't how stories work???? the FUCK???" and block your creative flow. If your character can't fail at anything- important or not- it's hard to come up with a good story for them at all. You know how sometimes you get a character rattling around your head but you can't get a plot for them at all? One of the first steps in fixing that is making sure you're not writing an Author's Darling.

Writing an Author's Darling makes people not want to read your work. Now, look. I know everyone says "you should write for yourself, and screw anyone who says otherwise!" But let's be honest here: it sucks to spend hours working on a piece of writing, post it, and then get, like, 2 hits and no kudos, or 1 tumblr like from your friend who likes everything that crosses their dash. It's incredibly demoralizing. Author's Darlings are one of the big factors that make people stop reading a story. As soon as a reader gets the sense that the protagonist can't screw up- that they're "too perfect"- the tension in the story is gone. There's no reason for them to keep reading, because they know the character's just going to Press The Win Button And Win. So they'll click out without saying anything, and you'll wonder why no one's reading your fic.

What isn't an Author's Darling?

This section is haunted by the ghost of Mary Sue. If you're reading this list and you're new to fandom/young, you might wonder why I'm calling out certain specific things; this is a fandom war you missed, don't worry about it.

An Author's Darling is not a character of any specific gender. Male, female, and nonbinary characters can all be Author's Darlings.

An Author's Darling is not necessarily an OC. In the current fandom climate, it's way more likely that a Darling will be a 35-year-old canon male character the writer calls "babygirl".

An Author's Darling is not necessarily a self-insert, but it's really easy to make a self-insert into a Darling. There's a reason people recommend that newbie writers avoid self-inserts- it can be really hard to write a character based on yourself that screws up something important. It takes a lot of vulnerability and courage to write, and it's not something you want to show everyone.

An Author's Darling is not an "overpowered" character or a "cool" character. Your character can have sixteen katanas and do air dashes and still not be a Darling- and your character can be a powerless human in a superhero setting and be the biggest Darling to ever Darling. Having "too many" powers or standing out "too much" in the setting is often a symptom of a Darling- if you don't want your character to fail at anything important, and being The Coolest Person In The Room is important to you, you're going to make your Darling overpowered and good at everything. But it's not the thing that makes an Author's Darling bad.

An Author's Darling is not a 'perfect' character, or a character without flaws. There's a lot of overlap in the Venn diagram, don't get me wrong... but you can load up a character with "flaws" that don't matter to you. A lot of dudebro male writers, for example, will make their Darlings emotionally constipated, mean, and Bad At Relationships. These genuinely are character flaws... but these writers don't give a flying fuck about the character's relationships. They're happy to let their Darling fail at this stuff to prove he's FLAWED!!!- but try and make them write a fight scene their Darling loses, and they'll break out in hives.

Why should I care? Writing is supposed to be fun, and writing characters failing is not fun for me.

Writing is a craft. It is no different from knitting a sweater, making a stop-motion film, or trimming a bonsai. There are ways to do it well, and there are ways to do it poorly.

It can be fun and rewarding to knit a shitty sock with holes in the heel where you forgot how the pattern works and weird lumps in the calf. It is more fun and rewarding to get good enough at knitting that you knit socks you can wear.

Similarly, it can be fun and rewarding to deliberately write stories about overpowered Author's Darlings that are boring to read for anyone who isn't you. But it is more fun and rewarding to get good enough at writing that you write stories other people will want to read.

And you know, maybe you don't care about that. Everyone needs a hobby that they're bad at and have no interest in getting better at; it keeps you humble. Maybe writing is yours.

But plenty of writers do care. And tarring every writer who writes OCs and self-inserts with the same brush- the brush of "this is supposed to be fun! we're writing deliberately bad things! yay!"- is an insult to anyone who writes OCs and cares about their craft.

If you want to write well, you should be aware of what an Author's Darling is, and if possible, you should try to avoid writing them. If you don't care about writing well, that's fine- but please avoid implying that every OC or self-insert character is badly written in this particular way.

#general malarkey #tumblr malarkey #fandom malarkey #on writing #author's darlings #the earl speaks #the earl grumbles #the earl has an opinion

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thecruellestmonth · 11 months

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Bruce & Jason fic recs: sweet and bittersweet

Some of the best sweet and sweet-and-sad fan fiction featuring the bond between a Good Batdad and his scrappy birdson.

>Sweet - light and fluffy, minimum hurt with maximum comfort

"Call Me Hopeless" by incogneat_oh - Bruce says good night to Jason and Dick.

"Alternative Means of Acquisition" by Imbecamiel - In which Bruce Wayne arm-wrestles Lex Luthor.

"home is such a lovely place" by evanescent - Jason's first time sneaking out to patrol doesn't go as planned. (He didn't mean to get sick, alright?)

"White Christmas" by LemonadeGarden - Jason's been in the manor for a few months now. Bruce is a pretty cool guy, sure, but he's not exactly sure what to expect from him. And then they go to Siberia in the winter on a case. It goes horribly wrong, and then pretty well.

"Not Guilty, Sir" by incogneat_oh - Robin smoked.

"Safe Space" by Cerusee - Turns out, Bruce and Jason aren’t quite on the same page about who’s parenting whom. Bruce is going to need to clear some things up.

"Sold to Wonder Woman (by my evil adoptive father Batman)" by JeanjacketCarf - Jason writes some fan fiction. It's totally not a self-insert.

"Mint Chocolate Chip" by LemonadeGarden - Summer vacations have been going on just long enough for Jason to start getting bored, when he gets an unexpected visitor. From the future.

"Cookies And The End of The World" by AnActualCrow - Jason has a bad day at school. Alfred and Bruce make him feel better.

"I Love You" by DetectivePrettyBoy - Jason wants to tell Bruce that he loves him.

"don't take your guns to town" by kreestar - batman comes home from a night patrolling to find a 10 year old jason todd waiting for him in his kitchen. across gotham, at the same time, red hood is stopped by a 25 year old bruce wayne.

"The legends and the myths" by orphan_account - Jason Todd is the best liar Bruce's ever met. Jason Todd is the worst liar Bruce's ever met.

"Growing Like A Breeze" by whaleofatime - April 27th isn't anyone's favourite date, but it's somehow worse than usual today when Bruce gets his car stolen. It's nice of Red Hood to come to his rescue. Nicer even that Jason keeps him company afterwards.

"Rise Up With The Sun" by blacklettered - His son came home on a Wednesday evening and Bruce did not call for the slaughter of the fattened calf but it was a close thing. Jason quietly decides to come home, and Bruce is quietly delighted. (Also there's a bunch of freaky Edgar Allan Poe shit happening in the background because lowkey Jason Todd is a revenant who walks the earth as if living and yet remains irrevocably connected to the forces of death and decay—but that's not as important.)

"Bet on it" by Lysical - Damian asks Jason for a favor.

"homerun" by someplacewarm - Bruce backs out from a baseball game with Jason last minute. They handle it just about as well as they handle anything else: bad, then better.

"the reflex" by TheResurrectionist - Jason takes a smoke break.

"Boof" by strikeyourcolors - When Bruce finds Jason turned into a dog in an alley, he tries to take care of him. He didn't plan on getting along so well with this canine form…or getting so emotional.

"Late Night Langoustining" by whaleofatime - Jason steals a live lobster from a supermarket.

"bred in decency and order" by OkayAristotle - Bruce cuddles his giant son. (Contains brief vomiting.)

"Sealing the deal" by orphan_account - In which Bruce Wayne is kidnapped and it’s somehow not the most difficult part of anyone’s day.Or, in which Jason Todd is a selkie.

"Plus-One" by Goldmonger - All the kids were permitted to bring a guest to the gala. Dick brought Barbara, Tim brought Bernard, Duke brought Ana, Cass brought Steph, Damian brought Jon, and Jason brought a forty-year-old 6’6” man with no sense of personal boundaries. Bruce is getting too old for this nonsense.

"the road home" by drakefeathers - Set during Lost Days. An injured and exhausted Jason succumbs to homesickness.

"the clay steals the clay" by zipadeea - Bruce discovers that Jason is alive in the sweetest, funniest way possible.

>Bittersweet - sweet mixed with melancholy, lots of hurt with some comfort; may contain mentions and depictions of child death

"Beneficiary" by sirsparklepants - The beneficiaries of the estate of Jason Todd.

"bird of winter" by knowsphere - Damian meets a ghost. Based on the short story "The Delusions of Alfred Pennyworth" at the end of Batman: Gotham Knights #34.

"A Proper Goodbye" by ceemobster - The emergence of the Red Hood throws Bruce into disarray, and then Jason pays him a visit. The epilogue of the "Under the Red Hood" story... set after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

"this gun needs no bullets" by sacrr - A true Knight is made, not born. Or: the story of Jason Todd. [Batman: Arkham Knight]

"when you were young you used to dream about fires" by someplacewarm - Bruce travels back in time and finds himself in Jason's childhood home. Things aren't easy, but they were never this hard.

"through the valley of the shadow" by Goldmonger - Jason gets kidnapped and tortured. He rescues himself, partly.

"a little bit louder now" by mx_chrx99 - A mission gone awry, too many memories, too much blood, and not enough time. Bruce races to save a son he couldn't save before.

"Haunting" by the_authors_exploits - A child dies of neglect on the streets of Crime Alley; even then, the Batman won't give up on him.

"rip up the floorboards" by orphan_account - Content warning for non-graphic discussions of past CSA. When Jason was young and starved, he hid something like a corpse in his own body. Hurt/comfort.

"Wayward Birds" by LanternWisp - Featuring hilariously crunchy overbearing parent Bruce, who forbids his kid from consuming coffee or dairy.

"Moderation" by orphan_account - In which the Riddler accidentally saves the city a few years early by helping rescue Robin II from Joker’s clutches. Out of pure and vicious spite. [Arkhamverse]

"You're Just A Baby, You Can Not Fly" by BabblingBookends - Batman visits Jason's grave to say goodbye to his partner.

"To See the Stars" by lurkinglurkerwholurks - Jason and Bruce go for a hike.

"Younger Bruce, Older Jason - Shorter Fic" by whatomen

"Knock On Death's Door" by CastleGachi - Red Hood rescues a wounded Batman.

"here in our house, reminders of you" by jesamnelovelace - A Christmas present from Jason becomes Bruce's closest connection to his son after his death.

"a broken piece of what we used to be" by Cerusee - Bruce and Jason messily yet lovingly deal with the ramifications of Damian's resurrection and Nightwing's supposed death.

"Mask Of Blood" by Kieron_ODuibhir - When Jason is trapped in the past, Bruce turns to Jason Blood for help.

"By Any Other Name" by ManURonaldo - Jason thinks of Bruce and Batman as separate people.

"Someone That Hates To See Me Go" by AutumnHobbit - Or, how Jason realizes his family wants him to live, and how he realizes he does, too. (Oprah voice) Your fave gets hurt/comfort! And your fave gets hurt/comfort! They all get hurt/comfort!

"through death and time" by sparkycap - After a mission that takes Batman and Nightwing back twenty years in the past, they end up with time to kill. Bruce does what he does best: he finds a kid. Luckily this one is already his.

"Mighty" by Sparkypants - Five things Bruce taught Jason when he took him in, and one thing Jason taught Bruce.

"it's always sunny in coast city" and "the alignment of the planets, and of you and i" by atlasky - In which Uncle Hal Jordan loves Jason, but Bruce absolutely adores him with every fiber of his being.

"Trapped" by lurkinglurkerwholurks - Bruce and Jason end up trapped in a collapsed building. Jason really dislikes being buried alive.

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chuplayswithfire · 6 months

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Im sorry about this i need to rant. I thought things were getting better but Izzy stan Twitter is at it again with their whining, truth bending and self-victimising.

'Do you like OMFD but wish the queer disabled hero didnt die?' IZZY IS NOT THE HERO OF THIS SHOW!!!!! He is at best a reformed antagonist. What an insult to the other disabled characters, and what about the actual heroes of the show??

'We've been betrayed by straight man writing queer stories'. First of all, way to dismiss the other writers. Also, its not his fault you project your personal traumas and mental health on a fictional character on a show with death in the title.

'GB's ending is comphet (?????) because 'we only need eachother' and theyre breaking away from their queer community' ED HAS BEEN WANTING TO LEAVE PIRACY SINCE LAST SEASON!!! also, its progress that Stede was able to resist basic flattery. And David made it clear that they still have work to do. This one truly broke my brain.

Im just sick of all this. Izzy stans have been coddled for the past week, being told its ok to grieve, but theyve crossed multiple lines. I do wish some things had been more explicit in this finale, only because David overestimated the maturity and media literacy of some people.

Sorry for this but i needed to talk to people here. Its beyond annoyance at this point. Im angry and sick of petty crybabies actively working to poison what we've built.

go off anon my inbox is open to your ranting let the rage flow through you [insert palpatine dot gif] but ngl the best thing you can do is just block liberally. block everyone. block left, right, center. do not be merciful. do not hold back. block until the ceiling comes down!!

because like, some of these fans have spent the last 18 months convincing themselves that their little guy was of equal importance to the main characters, the secret third protagonist, and he just got put in a box.

🎶izzy's in a box 🎶izzy's in a box🎶izzy's in a box🎶

izzy was never a hero of this show. he was a villain and then a side character on a rushed arc to redemption for the specific purpose of making him into the kind of man who could apologize to ed for being a shit. but that's hard to swallow for people who were convinced he was always right, so. also let's be honest: they don't give a shit about the other disabled people on this show. a bunch of them were trying to figure out a way for it to be wee john who was killed, and kristian is actually a queer disabled actor. they're just mad it was their little guy who they latched onto.

also yeah like four of the writers are nonbinary people of color, and there's definitely more queer writers on the team, but somehow this was totally the decision of a straight white guy. alright folks come on now to quote your idol pack it in.

gentlebeard's ending is them deciding to give their relationship a go in a more relaxed and sedate environment than the high stress locale of a pirate ship. their friends ARE going to come see them again. just because they don't all live together in the same frat house i mean ship doesn't mean they're suddenly forever alone. also there is nothing comphet about shacking up with your gay lover in a soon to be literal loveshack.

but like you can't expect these folks to care about ed or stede or gentlebeard or anything that doesn't center their white man of choice. the only thing you can do is block because anyone still throwing a fit a week later is simply not worth it.

no need to apologize anon. return to my inbox whenever.

#the izcourse #izzy critical #fandom fuckery #this one is getting those tags to filter out bc i have to tag this with fandom tags to avoid my friends seeing it and getting spoiled lol #ofmd #ofmd s2 spoilers

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shimmering-dragon · 9 months

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I'm Fictionkin-ish? Coining: Imagithrope.

@who-is-page and @frameacloud's panel at Othercon has gotten me thinking about writing essays about my own alterhuman experience... I was thinking maybe I should write something about why I write fiction, and how that relates to my own identity. But thinking about that made me realize that one of the reasons I write is because I identify as a fictional self-insert character that I created when I was a hatchling in make-believe games. Like, that's the way I view myself - not as a generic blue dragon, but as that specific character. Additionally, given that many of those games were based loosely in books I've read, it means that my identity is based in fiction as well. Though I don't identify as him, my name is even based on a fictional character's!

I've never really thought about calling myself fictionkin before now. When I joined the otherkin community initially, I had some bad reactions to talking about my identity in that way. And then some more bad reactions. My identity as a dragon is involuntary; I couldn't change it if I tried (and I have), and it isn't something I intentionally made into an identity. It's a bit of why I never really got why everyone insisted strongly on the distinction between otherkin and otherlinkers. Though I'm not opposed to the idea, I don't feel like my fictional identity was made by me channeling a past life either, which felt like it was the acceptable explanation for this back in 2016. Otherwise, creating a kintype wasn't "allowed."

For a while, I felt like I separated my identity into a dragon otherkin aspect, where I was just "a dragon", and had character me on the side as a fun thing - what I considered my "kinsona". But I think this is a false dichotomy. The two aren't really separable; who I am as a dragon was created through books and play. It wasn't really until @aestherians's posts in early 2021 - five years after I found the otherkin community - that I felt that the community had finally decided that the definitional line between kintype and linktype, voluntary and involuntary, didn't have to be such a strict line after all. (I'd been arguing that "involuntary identity" shouldn't be a part of the definition of otherkin for four years by that point, so yes, I'm still both smug and salty.)

So, though I didn't expect this to lead to me coining a new term when I started out writing out this post, I've decided to do it. I'm not sure if anyone except me is going to use it, but I think creating it as a concept gives it both a bit of legitimacy and permanence. I hope it will be of use to someone else, and if anyone else shares a similar experience, I welcome them to talk about it in more detail - at some point now, I think I definitely should describe mine.

Imagithrope - An alterhuman whose identity was created and/or formed, wholly or partially, through some form of imaginative play. This can include fantasy play, roleplay (tabletop, text, live action, etc), fanfiction, writing, art, and more.

#otherkin #fictionkin #2am ramblings

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burlowbeanie · 1 year

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Sword-marriage in TLT

Yes, Pal and Cam and Dulcie were all in a relationship. What kind of relationship? Well in our-world terms, who the hell knows. It was a guy and his bestie-bodyguard-cousin who wants nothing to do with sex and his long-distance crush who he never met who he started corresponding with when he and his bestie were 12 and she was 19; there's a whole lot of factors going on there. But by the creation of Paul, we do learn that both Cam and Pal care so deeply for Dulcie that they seem to see her as their soulmate to some extent, hoping to reunite with her upon Paul's eventual death. In HtN, Dulcie seems to indicate similar sentiments. They are a trio, not only "a romantic couple and also Cam" or "a bestie duo and also Dulcie."

One of the fascinating pieces of lore in the GtN extras that has not come up again since is the concept of a sword-marriage, "wherein a necromancer and their cavalier married to one outside party as dual spouses" (452). Mx. M. Bias, as (based on their admittedly hilarious name) a typical second house wet blanket, dismisses this as "almost certainly the invention of the fiction writer, or more likely, the pornographer" (452). It does however seem to be the closest in-world equivalent to whatever the fuck is up with that triad though, and I am inclined to believe that within the 10,000 years of this society's existence it's gotta have been a thing Somewhere at Some Time. Regardless, it's existence within the fictional realm alone leads to some interesting possibilities...

...Anyway, all that to say in this essay I will be arguing that Palamades' sequel to The Necromancer's Marriage Season scrawled on wallpaper in his river bubble was definitely a shameless self-insert work in which he worked through his grief over losing his semi-girlfriend and being separated from and unaware of the fate of his bestie who also just lost their girlfriend through the use of the sword-marriage romance novel trope. This work dealt with themes of what it means to grieve someone who you already knew was dying and the grief of being separated from those you love but was somehow also extremely sexy and would have won eighteen different romance novel awards if Camilla had allowed him to write it (it had an immense amount of smut which she refused to have her body contribute to the creation thereof) and he had managed to send it off to the houses for publication (don't think the necromancy elements would go over well in the publishing industry outside the houses).

#tlt #locked tomb #camilla hect #palamedes sextus #dulcinea septimus #gideon the ninth #I kind of wish I had the writing skills to create a fic for this #but even writing skills aside i do not think that i have the SexyTimes(tm) tolerance to convincingly create it #(me and camilla hect shaking hands meme)

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cherries-in-wine · 1 month

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My thoughts on Colleen Hoover:

okay hear me out: colleen hoover is for the people who skipped their fan fiction phase.

Hi just a warning this contains spoilers for colleen hoover books and English isn't my first language so I apologise for any mistakes. These are just me sharing my thoughts feel free to disagree just please don't be mean about it.

So I read a few of her books because I love torturing myself and just wanted to feel something (also my cousin was obsessed with her) and honestly I don't regret it because now I have valid reason shit on it.

Just fyi I'm a teenage girl in high school so I'm definitely in her target audience, and here's what I've gathered:

None of her main characters really have a personality. they feel more like shells that the reader can self insert themselves into. The books aren't really about two people getting to know each other and falling in love it feels more as a bunch of tropes and generic scenarios thrown together. I think this is one of the reason booktok girlies act with Colleen Hoover the way I did when I found out fanfics exists.

It also just reads like fanfiction? like because there's not much to dwell on and they're so easy to digest you can finish them in just a few hours. plus the main characters just feels like y/n: a shell to self insert yourself into, dead/abusive father, just normal girl who finds herself in these situations etc.

Here's the thing about fan fiction though: the reason why it's so fun to read is because you already know the people/characters in it so you can get right into the scenarios and imagines because they don't really need any background or development.

But the difference is when you write these books you have to develop these characters and introduce them to the readers otherwise I'm just like "I don't even know these people so why the fuck would I care?"

Comparing her to fanfic is honestly an insult to fanfic writers because at least they have the decency to tag their posts properly (calling the abuse, abuse dark themes, dark themes etc) plus they're just so much better.

Colleen Hoover fans will say that she brings up difficult topics in her books in order to defend her but here's the thing: writing about difficult topics doesn't exactly exempt you from criticism + she doesn't even write about them?? they just feel like lazy add ons to spice up the story and add some drama. if you're gonna write about difficult topics you need to discuss and write them properly not just use them to further the plot.

I don't like any of the love interests either. 99% of them are just abusive, piece of shit bland boiled chicken ass people with the unsexiest names I've ever heard of.

Also a lot of these have very much women hating women undertones? I feel like it's the author's misogyny being reflected in her books (extra heart breaking coming from a woman herself). It's very much "you're not like the other girls you're different" kinda themes.

I thought maybe people just enjoyed it because of the smut but the smut is SO BAD oh my god I wanted to kms.

My thoughts are a little all over the place right now (they always are) but maybe i'll update if I remember any more points

thank you so much for reading mwah <33

#colleen hoover #bookstagram #books and reading #booktok #bookblr #anti coho #anti colleen hoover #aditi rants

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autistichalsin · 2 months

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Hello!! :D

Just popping in to say ILYSM (in that strange, mutuals on the internet sorta way) and that you have lots of fans who love your Halsin-posting. Your post notifications always brighten my day. ❤️

Idk why in the world you’ve got people investing their finite existence on this good Earth giving you grief. Some of your stuff might not be everyone’s cup of tea (pleasing everyone is an impossibility, after all), but it doesn’t even come close to the kinds of things my favourite hardcore/“problematic” (<= self-described, including the quotations, lmao!) Halsin/bg3 writers and artists post. And I don’t see anyone clutching their pearls in their comment sections.

Like, when I click on the profile of one of my favourite writers (which includes you! 🥰 But not this example, I love all your stuff!) and see that they’ve posted a story with a description like: “hardcore kinky stuff that you’re not into, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat”, I simply keep scrolling and maybe pick one of the hundreds to thousands of other bg3 stories I could choose from. But maybe that’s just me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(Ao3 has tag filtering, you guys, it’s amazing. Remember the fucking Dark Ages when Ao3 didn’t have that at all? How tf did we ever live like that? That’s the kind of shit you say Thanks for at family Thanksgiving. And don’t tell you guys haven’t figured out at least one of the dozens of ways to filter stuff out on godsdamn Tumblr of all places; we’ve been tweaking the etiquette of that for years!)

How utterly irrational it is for these people to look at such an openly Queer and Kinky video game — the likes of which I’ve never seen in the mainstream before (He-llo strategically advantageous BDSM scene! 🤤) — and decide that they’re going to go around policing how people iterate upon those pre-established themes. How did this fandom attract puritans of all people? [Insert “The Myth of ‘Consensual’ Sex” meme here.]

Any-hoosies, all this to say that your haters are a weird, vocal minority that are letting you live rent free in their heads, instead of doing something meaningful or joyful with their pathetic, puritanical existences. There are way more people who love the kind of meta and fics that you post.

Have a good day!! XOXO 🥰😘💋💖💛🫶🤙

Hello! Thank you so much- that means a lot to me. It's weird to think of myself having "fans" lol! Like you're not the first person to use that word but it's just. Such a weird (in a good way) concept for me???? Like!?!?!? But I'm so glad to hear you love my posts <3

Yeah, pleasing everyone is impossible, and it's weird that of all things, my extremely mild CNC kink fic has become the antis' boogeyman. Fam there is literal necrophilia kink in this fandom! (Not saying they deserve to be harassed either, of course, no one should be!) But the fic that has become the pinnacle of what's problematic in this fandom is a survivor writing about a fictional survivor using kink to reclaim their sexuality? Like. OK Jan

See, but that's the difference, you're a grown adult who takes responsibility for curating your experience, whereas others.... either don't, or they don't read it but act like the fic EXISTING is a problem. I guess some people are in for a rude awakening when they discover who the Marquis de Sade is......

God, remember BEFORE AO3? Remember FFN when half the time, the PAIRING wasn't even properly tagged bc you could only tag two characters at all, so people would by default just tag the most popular characters to appear in the story? And instead of tags, you had genres, so you had to decide if you wanted romance/hurt/comfort or friendship/tragedy or what? (I'm a certified Fandom Old- on my old account I was in the first 10,000 users on AO3).

Yeah, people really are missing the point of this game- and it's no coincidence most of these folks are younger. (And a lot are exclus too; I've seen them get angry at the BG3 characters being canonically pan, saying that "pansexuality is a made-up Tumblr sexuality). So... totally blind to the interwoven history of queerness and kink. Not surprising.

Thank you so much for this kind message, anon, you cheered me up a lot. <3 I hope you have a great day!

#discourse

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thebestofoneshots · 5 months

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okok so i just wanted to compliment ur writing in a way i haven’t seen others compliment it and it’s smth that i never see in any literature ever w fem MCs especially fan fiction. i love the way u give the MC a personality and life of her own. i like that’s he can stand up for herself and has hopes and passions that don’t just correlate with the men in the series. this is insane for fan fiction ESPECIALLY cuz it’s x reader. i don’t think u understand how much i appreciate it and it’s one of the reasons i most look forward to ur chapters. she’s not just some dumb silly, small, boy-crazy, and perfect mc and i love that!! teen girls are so complex and u right that so well. anyway love ya 🤍🤍

Aww darling this is so sweet!

And let me tell you, (this is most def gonna be a small rant) I feel like reader-insert fics have a really bad reputation, and I know there are factions of the internet that absolutely despise them but I have to say some of the best fanfiction I've ever read, have been reader inserts.

So, while I do know there are some bad ones (I've seen them and read them), I also think the genre has the potential for greatness. I mean, just think about it, it's kind of like playing a videogame in which you get to choose the character you're playing as, customizing and all that. But nobody goes around criticizing video games where you get to basically self-insert into the narrative, do they? (I mean I suppose they do but that's because people like criticizing stuff)

If Dante did it, why can't we?

Either way, what I mean to say is that I'm trying to be one of those incredibly good writers I've encountered who basically redeem the genre by being single-handedly incredible. Writers like @wkemeup @kquil @embrassemoi @maiden-of-asgard @lokisgoodgirl @lokischambermaid @pseudonymmcwriter @matchavellichor @buckyskorpion @myfictionaldreams and many many more writers out there that time after time deliver incredibly amazing content, that never ceases to amaze me!

I'm starting a Defense Club for Reader fics, who wants to join in?

Also... I'm so glad you guys don't think MC is "miss perfect", because she might be talented but she's also dumb and stubborn as fuck and weaving that into the narrative has been so much fun! I didn't want a Jane Doe, I wanted a strong female character with actual fucking flaws and character growth because I want and need to see her struggle and improve. The whole "she's magically talented thing" does not vibe with me. Even if she is a little bit gifted, but then again, she has to be if she wants to keep up with the marauders.

i love the way u give the MC a personality and life of her own. i like that’s he can stand up for herself and has hopes and passions that don’t just correlate with the men in the series.

Ugh this! So happy this is the impression it's giving because since the start, I tried to have the series pass the Bechdel Test because I want to accurately represent women in the story. And while yes, they are teens and of course, they're thinking about dating, they also have their own issues. And while this is the story of how Vixen, Sirius and Remus end up in a throuple, it is also the story of how Vixen ends up in Hogwarts and deals with her new life there, and that aspect of the story is just as interesting to me as the relationship drama.

Either way, I want to thank you for your nice comments, I've had one hell of a week and this most definitely made me feel a lot better. lysm.

Read Gilded Constellations

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see-arcane · 1 year

Note

Knowing Stoker was queer certainly puts a new weight on the idea of Dracula's victims becoming damned through no fault of their own and Mina's "unclean" reaction to discovering herself rejected by the holy despite her own faith. idk. I just feel like that's an aspect of the monster that has always appealed most to me when exploring formerly human characters (and what it means about whether the 'holy' is right or fair).

Monsters have always been a perfect format for dealing with the fears of (and fears of being) the Other. Lucy and Mina both explored Stoker's fears and wants in that regard, I think. Lucy is fighting against her own demise and transformation/reveal as the Monster, surrounded on all sides by loved ones who treasure her as she is--and what she is is Acceptable. The Norm.

Until she becomes the Bloofer Lady in all her monstrosity. She must die to be saved/purified. This is Stoker's fear talking. Even in giving a sympathetic light to the execution, to the Suitors and Van Helsing, this is his fear, but masquerading under the lens of No, No, This is Right! This is Good! Look How On Your the Right Side I Am! I imagine a lot of his less xenophobic/racist biases, ala the ironic anti-New Woman quips from Lucy and Mina, were in the same vein. Look, look, I'm one of you!

But then he gets to the sheer escapism of Mina. Mina, who is his mouthpiece. Mina, who says all the Right Things about the New Woman movement and her fear at being the Monster and begging, so rightly and saintly, to DIE rather than be that Monster..! And the Suitors agree. And wise Professor Van Helsing agrees. And the burn from the holy wafer, i.e. God Himself, agrees.

But Jonathan--as much his own self-insert in the Castle Dracula scenes' homoerotic moments with the Count, but also clearly his daydream of an understanding, wholly loving and accepting beloved--Absolutely Refuses to Harm or Shun Mina. Period.

Jonathan would rather be damned with her than toss her and her Otherness away. They will be Other together.

What greater fantasy is there than that for the Other, be they fictional or the repressed hand writing them to life?

I love you. You are not wrong, you are not evil. And even if you were? I would love you just the same. Unconditionally. I will fight and kill and die to keep you safe, my love. You are worth it.

#time for emotions #mina harker #lucy westenra #jonathan harker #the Other #dracula #bram stoker #dracula daily

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13tinysocks · 2 months

Note

hey dude! What's up :)) been just a little since l've said something

Initially, this is me saying thank you and goodbye

This isn't supposed to be a weird pity story, so l'm so unbelievably sorry if it comes off that way, lol.

When I began reading your work, I was enamoured with fiction because of personal issues (as many usually are, honestly, I know I'm one of god knows how many people trying to run away from life for just a second with fanfics or media in general). I don't know if I will ever be able to communicate this properly, hell, this will even be unbelievable funny or dramatic but I need to get this across because it's coming from a genuine place. Your stories and work thus far has brought me comfort, immense heaps of it, and even still when I deal with things that feel out of reach or too much to actually face head on I find myself wandering back to syg or just your blog in general

I mean this, from my entire heart, thank you and thank Bee. A million times thank you, for making that one silly silly stupid piece of fanfiction, because oh my god it got me through some major stressful hardships within my life for the past 3 years.

I am leaving tumblr, however I’m aware I have submitted asks with my actual accounts before, so you'll likely be able to see they're still gonna be up. I'm just deleting tumblr the app instead of my account, but for other social platforms they will be deleted properly (such as quotev) so I won’t be indulging in much reading anymore when it comes to fanfics and such lol

I don't know if I'll come back, if I do I likely will not be back for long or to be as active as l've been because of the toll social media’s taken. So even as ridiculous as this feels, to tell someone I’m simply a fan of and barely truly know, that their fanfic of murderers and their love story with my self insert kept me pushing through a lot of tough days, I genuinely just had to.

I needed to thank both you and your partner for the work you've both put out. I still have that smiley pin I’d made, and I will cherish what you made quotev have been for me ( I literally found out about the website during early or late 2020 I can barely remember, then later found your fic, I was DEEP DIVING into that shit LMAO )

I hope whatever happens for you and bee in the future is only good, and I only will wish nothing but the best of luck with everything man.

feel free to post this (idk what it’s called but when you publicly reply lol) or not, as long as you read this it’ll mean lots to me !! >:))

your coolest weirdest ticci toby fan whose also named toby, 🐚 annon

I always struggle to convey gratefulness for messages like this and readership- especially repeated readership. My life would be different if it were not for comments and messages egging us on to keep writing from syg to ho1c. While it's easy to say that writing is solely out of passion for the craft there is also the drive to share something with others. Hearing those others loud or quiet as a favorite- does push us forward when we have no motivation or desire to work. That drive has made us closer as a couple, better thinkers, and a halfway decent writing team. I thank you and all the others who send us stuff even if it's shit post asks I never answer because I like having them in my inbox like a personal horde of platonic Valentine's. I like keeping the pieces you give me to myself sometimes. I know it may seem like I'm ignoring you but I find genuine comfort in these messages. That there are so many. That they are so varied. That we have reached beyond our shut-in existence to touch the lives of others.

I find myself wondering where an anon has gone when I do not hear from them in awhile. I wish them well. I wish them better standards than us.

Maybe we'll meet again someday space cowboy. If you're ever back in town feel free to shoot me (a message).

Thank you for reaching out. Thank you for reading. I wish you peace and love and good books.

#though i may be inactive as of lates my thoughts have not been #abby and i talk about you #abby and i talk about a lot of you #we are happy to be present day comforts or 2020 nostalgia #🐚#anon #reply #long post

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newtsselfships · 7 months

Text

Selfship Glossary

Notes: Many of these terms can be written with or without spaces and with varying punctuation and capitalisation. I write the same terms multiple ways in this glossary.

Some of these terms have very similar definitions and can therefore be used interchangeably.

Bolded terms have a definition listed.

Anti / Anti-Ship

Those against the problematic things that pro-shippers accept. (Adult/minor ships, incest, abuse, etc.)

Anti-Anti

Those against antis

Used by those who classify as ‘Pro-Ship’ but desire to avoid the negative associations of the term.

Comfort Character / CC

A character that brings one comfort; pretty self-explanatory

You sometimes see this term being used in the same way as 'F/O' on here.

It's worth noting that TikTok has a comfort character community which I would consider to be it's version of our selfship community. It has a strong focus on reality shifting.

Com-Ship

Short for ‘Complicated Ship’.

Used by those who classify as ‘Pro-Ship’ but desire to avoid the negative associations of the term.

Fictional Other / F/O

A play on significant other

A fictional character that you consider yourself to be in a relationship with. The most common kinds are romantic, platonic and familial.

Ficto / Fictoromantic / Fictosexual

Labels mainly used by those who are attracted exclusively to fictional characters, although it's worth noting that these exist on a spectrum.

Husbando

From the Japanese pronunciation of the English word 'husband'

The lesser seen male version of 'Waifu'

Pro-Fic / Pro-Fiction

The same as pro-ship but referring to people's works (writing, art, etc.) rather than shipping specifically.

Pro-ship / Pro-shipping / Pro-shippers

A term much larger than just this community. It can be summarised as believing that any ship is valid, including problematic ships such as adult/minor ships and incest.

Within the context of this community, these are people who selfship with minors (as an adult) or people who condone this.

Some people who don't personally selfship with minors but condone this may refer to themselves as 'neutral' but this is technically inaccurate.

Safeship / Safeshipping

A category of selfshipping specifically separate from pro-shipping, used by those who wish to avoid proshippers.

@ssslep and @pizzacrustdisposal both individually provided me with the post where this term was coined

Self-Insert / S/I

A general term used for an original character created to be represent the creator. These are inserted into fictional stories.

In the context of this community, this character is a vessel to interact with one's F/O

Self-ship

A ship between one and a character they like

Self-shipping

Shipping oneself with a fictional character

Significant Other / S/O

A general term; self-explanatory

This is only on here to mention that this is what those in the waifuism community commonly refer to characters as.

Waifu

From the Japanese pronunciation of the English word 'wife'

Another term used for characters in the waifuism community, as well as communities focused around pieces of Japanese media

Generally used for female characters

Within the community it can be used in a gender-neutral way, but 'husbando' is also used for male characters

Waifuism

Reddit's version of the selfship community on here.

The main subreddit is r/Waifuism but there are others for those who dislike r/Waifuism's strict rules, such as its rule on monogamy, which disallows people from having multiple waifus or a real life partner.

Yume / Yumejoshi / Yumedanshi

Yumejoshi is a Japanese term meaning 'dream girl' or 'dreaming girl'

It is a Japanese subculture with many similarities and overlaps with the selfshipping community

At a basic level, it is a person who enjoys imagining themselves with a fictional character but it has its own complexities.

@saveourship sent me this twitter thread going into more detail

Thanks so much to the people who provided me with resources for this post!

Note: If you found this post through a reblog this post may not be fully up-to-date.

(here’s a link to the original if, like me, you can never get to original posts on tumblr for some reason)

#self shipping #self ship #self shipping community #reference #please tell me if anything is a bit off xx #or requires clarification #self ship resources

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candyheartedchy · 5 months

Note

Hiya! First off, I don't want to be a bother so please do not feel pressured to answer or give any advice if you aren't feeling it. As a warning, this involves feelings of insecurity and poor self image.

Picture the following scenario: You selfship with a character who doesn't have a canon love interest. However, another fan of that character ships either their self insert or oc with your f/o. You are more than fine with sharing them, but this person's oc is beautiful, and I mean incredibly more beautiful than both your irl self AND your self-insert. You start getting a small but persistent feeling that your f/o would canonically be way more likely to love this character than your s/i. You do not want to block this oc's creator. They are cool and you like them. But the feeling is still there.

What would you do in that situation? Apologies in advance if this makes you uncomfortable. I have no-one else to ask such a thing to. I hope you understand that the reason I'm asking this is because your blog makes me feel safe enough to do so. Even if you have no advice to give, I am thankful that you took the time to read this. I love your blog and the positivity it makes me feel. Keep being you. 💖

Anon, to be honest, I struggled trying to answer this because I do understand these feelings of not being good enough for an f/o or the idea of them choosing either a canon character, oc, or another self shipper. And I wish I had a good answer for this problem, but I don’t. The only thing I can say is that when it’s come to comparing yourself/self inserts with others, you have to remember to think about what makes you/self insert special and unique. And find things that makes you stand out and how a fictional character would find endearing about you. Because when it comes down to it, we are all exploring different dynamics and discovering ourselves through these ships. Self ships with the same characters are always gonna be different from yours and one of a kind, and that’s how you have to see it. Everyone’s self ships are catered to what they like and how that f/o would interact with them. One way that can help is seeing those who also ship with the same character as an AU (which is what I tend to do for sharing and canon ships most times). Like a multiverse sort of thing. And the good thing about having a f/o who doesn't have a canon love interest means they technically don’t have a type, so then you can play around with the idea of you being their’s!

A good exercise is to write down some positive traits and things about yourself/your self insert or oc and what would make someone fall for them. And honestly we tend to be harsh on ourselves when it comes to self love and what we look like compared to others sadly. But you will always have traits and features that will be attractive to someone, and with a character who doesn’t have a canon love interest, why not let them be the ones to find you attractive? Because at the end of the day these characters bring us comfort, and you need to allow it to comfort you, because then it will be miserable trying to enjoy these characters that are supposed to bring you joy by only worrying and overthinking about the negatives.

Again, I wish there was more I could say to help, but I’m still figuring out these feelings myself, so I hope this helps a little.

#💌 letters 💌#anonymous

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gralunaisland · 1 year

Note

being a Graylu shipper am i the only one that doesn't like the idea of Lucy or anyone else being a Gruvia Shipper?

About Fairy Tail members being either complicit or enablers of juvia abusing Gray

You're definitely not alone, my friend! I personally am a Gralu shipper, but I don't necessarily agree just because of that.

I've said it in a post before, but I became an Anti gr///vian first and a Gralu shipper second. I totally understand people who don't like a certain ship just because they ship those individuals with other people, and I think that's a perfectly valid reason to hate a ship, as we can hate ships for mostly any reason. So, yes, being a Gralu shipper gives me another reason to not like it if Lucy were to ship gr///via because that basically just reconfirms that they don't like each other.

However, for me personally, I hate it whenever Lucy (whom I don't remember supporting gr///via very much if at all, but she definitely didn't actively oppose it to the best of my knowledge), Erza, or anyone in Fairy Tail/the FT universe supports gr///via mostly because that makes them, at best, complicit in juvia's abuse of Gray, and, at worst, enablers of this abuse.

I refuse to believe that manipulative and toxic affection was the true moral of Mashima's Fairy Tail, even if his characters actively advocate for it. I think he lost sight somewhere along the line of what it truly means to be a Fairy Tail member, and that means to be a loyal, compassionate, brave friend who always looks out for each other and love one another. juvia is none of those things, not even loyal to Gray, because what she does is a detriment to him, and she's really just loyal to herself and her "love" for him. Yet, Mashima promotes her behavior by giving her what she so desperately coveted in the end and by forcing his characters to be completely OOC and back up juvia, the slobbering, nasty, selfish pig, and not their loving, stalwart brother-in-arms and victim here, Gray.

That is despicable.

What's more, beyond how awful it is that FT people would rather back juvia than Gray, it's just bad, lazy writing. In no world would juvia be able to abuse other people and manipulate them and bully women and yet also be praised and protected and loved by those same people. Erza should have never sided with juvia over the 413 days matter or berated Gray for "not being clear enough" when he's been plenty clear. The other FT members shouldn't have ever blasted Gray for "leading juvia on". No one should even like juvia or want to be her friend because of what a b*tch she is.

Yet of course, everyone loves her for NO REASON. There are so many reasons to hate her (and honestly not one good reason to love her in my opinion), but does Mashima care? Absolutely not. juvia is his self-proclaimed self-insert's waifu, after all.

Anyway, true FT fans should be enraged that juvia lockser is one of the main people we are encouraged to be like in this show. They should be indignant that juvia has been made a poster child for this anime, when she embodies none of its values. They should refuse to accept this as healthy and desirable. They should balk at the fact that their beloved characters endorse juvia's actions and life choices, which are wholly unacceptable and unhealthy not only to herself but most importantly to others.

But lots of fans delude themselves, and the fans drive Mashima, so unfortunately, here we are, with a whole cast of characters who promote and affirm juvia, the least deserving of the Fairy Tail members.

For the record, I am not really talking about the fans who acknowledge juvia's toxicity but still like her and the ship because of a sort of suspension of disbelief. Honestly, there are many problematic or evil characters that many people like, and I usually see no problem with it if you are able to separate your fictional fantasies with reality. (Some deeply problematic things I do not excuse though). For example, I like Sukuna from JJK. Do I think he's a good person? Aaaaabsolutely not. He's a completely awful person. But still, I think he's cool and his power is sick, so I like him.

My issue lies within the area of the FT community who refuse to accept that juvia's behavior is deplorable and who attack anyone who tells them otherwise. These are the rabid fans who'd go for Mashima's throat if he dared to not make gr///via canon. I don't believe the fans who know juvia is a bad person but still ship gr///via would be so up in arms about it because this sort of self-awareness indicates maturity to me.

[Sidenote, the really aggravating and only thing that sets juvia apart from the characters who are literal villains and douches is that juvia isn't treated like a bad guy within the story. Sans some uncomfortable stares and sweat drops, she is largely treated like family, and everyone loves her. When even the canon material itself won't acknowledge a character's toxicity and awfulness to itself, of course there'll be people who don't think she's toxic. I hate that Fairy Tail lies to itself in this way. It just helps to turn the deluded fans against well-meaning Antis who speak literal objective truth, that the way juvia acts is not okay in real life.]

Anyway, those are my two cents, thank you for your patience and ask!

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