#also me: publishes a stucky

[babufrik]

How is that a Destiel or even Stucky fanfic has yet to be published as a romance novel?????

#they’re like #the FOUNDATION OF Fanfic #ok not really #but you know what i mean #and also if I’m wrong pls tell me #so I can read them #:) #but like srsly #a REYLO FIc is published #and I say that #as a reylo #destiel #stucky

[5ummit]

AO3 Ship Stats: Year In Bad Data

You may have seen this AO3 Year In Review.

It hasn’t crossed my tumblr dash but it sure is circulating on twitter with 3.5M views, 10K likes, 17K retweets and counting. Normally this would be great! I love data and charts and comparisons!

Except this data is GARBAGE and belongs in the TRASH.

I first noticed something fishy when I realized that Steve/Bucky – the 5th largest ship on AO3 by total fic count – wasn’t on this Top 100 list anywhere. I know Marvel’s popularity has fallen in recent years, but not that much. Especially considering some of the other ships that made it on the list. You mean to tell me a femslash HP ship (Mary MacDonald/Lily Potter) in which one half of the pairing was so minor I had to look up her name because she was only mentioned once in a single flashback scene beat fandom juggernaut Stucky? I call bullshit.

Now obviously jumping to conclusions based on gut instinct alone is horrible practice... but it is a good place to start. So let’s look at the actual numbers and discover why this entire dataset sits on a throne of lies.

Here are the results of filtering the Steve/Bucky tag for all works created between Jan 1, 2023 and Dec 31, 2023:

Not only would that place Steve/Bucky at #23 on this list, if the other counts are correct (hint: they're not), it’s also well above the 1520-new-work cutoff of the #100 spot. So how the fuck is it not on the list? Let’s check out the author’s FAQ to see if there’s some important factor we’re missing.

The first thing you’ll probably notice in the FAQ is that the data is being scraped from publicly available works. That means anything privated and only accessible to logged-in users isn’t counted. This is Sin #1. Already the data is inaccurate because we’re not actually counting all of the published fics, but the bots needed to do data collection on this scale can't easily scrape privated fics so I kinda get it. We’ll roll with this for now and see if it at least makes the numbers make more sense:

Nope. Logging out only reduced the total by a couple hundred. Even if one were to choose the most restrictive possible definition of "new works" and filter out all crossovers and incomplete fics, Steve/Bucky would still have a yearly total of 2,305. Yet the list claims their total is somewhere below 1,500? What the fuck is going on here?

Let’s look at another ship for comparison. This time one that’s very recent and popular enough to make it on the list so we have an actual reference value for comparison: Nick/Charlie (Heartstopper). According to the list, this ship sits at #34 this year with a total of 2630 new works. But what’s AO3 say?

Off by a hundred or so but the values are much closer at least!

If we dig further into the FAQ though we discover Sin #2 (and the most egregious): the counting method. The yearly fic counts are NOT determined by filtering for a certain time period, they’re determined by simply taking a snapshot of the total number of fics in a ship tag at the end of the year and subtracting the previous end-of-year total. For example, if you check a ship tag on Jan 1, 2023 and it has 10,000 fics and check it again on Jan 1, 2024 and it now has 12,000 fics, the difference (2,000) would be the number of "new works" on this chart.

At first glance this subtraction method might seem like a perfectly valid way to count fics, and it’s certainly the easiest way, but it can and did have major consequences to the point of making the entire dataset functionally meaningless. Why? If any older works are deleted or privated, every single one of those will be subtracted from the current year fic count. And to make the problem even worse, beginning at the end of last year there was a big scare about AI scraping fics from AO3, which caused hundreds, if not thousands, of users to lock down their fics or delete them.

The magnitude of this fuck up may not be immediately obvious so let’s look at an example to see how this works in practice.

Say we have two ships. Ship A is more than a decade old with a large fanbase. Ship B is only a couple years old but gaining traction. On Jan 1, 2023, Ship A had a catalog of 50,000 fics and ship B had 5,000. Both ships have 3,000 new works published in 2023. However, 4% of the older works in each fandom were either privated or deleted during that same time (this percentage is was just chosen to make the math easy but it’s close to reality).

Ship A: 50,000 x 4% = 2,000 removed works Ship B: 5,000 x 4% = 200 removed works

Ship A: 3,000 - 2,000 = 1,000 "new" works Ship B: 3,000 - 200 = 2,800 "new" works

This gives Ship A a net gain of 1,000 and Ship B a net gain of 2,800 despite both fandoms producing the exact same number of new works that year. And neither one of these reported counts are the actual new works count (3,000). THIS explains the drastic difference in ranking between a ship like Steve/Bucky and Nick/Charlie.

How is this a useful measure of anything? You can't draw any conclusions about the current size and popularity of a fandom based on this data.

With this system, not only is the reported "new works" count incorrect, the older, larger fandom will always be punished and it’s count disproportionately reduced simply for the sin of being an older, larger fandom. This example doesn’t even take into account that people are going to be way more likely to delete an old fic they're no longer proud of in a fandom they no longer care about than a fic that was just written, so the deletion percentage for the older fandom should theoretically be even larger in comparison.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the author of this "study" KNEW the data was tainted and chose to present it as meaningful anyway. You will only find this if you click through to the FAQ and read about the author’s methodology, something 99.99% of people will NOT do (and even those who do may not understand the true significance of this problem):

The author may try to argue their post states that the tags "which had the greatest gain in total public fanworks” are shown on the chart, which makes it not a lie, but a error on the viewer’s part in not interpreting their data correctly. This is bullshit. Their chart CLEARLY titles the fic count column “New Works” which it explicitly is NOT, by their own admission! It should be titled “Net Gain in Works” or something similar.

Even if it were correctly titled though, the general public would not understand the difference, would interpret the numbers as new works anyway (because net gain is functionally meaningless as we've just discovered), and would base conclusions on their incorrect assumptions. There’s no getting around that… other than doing the counts correctly in the first place. This would be a much larger task but I strongly believe you shouldn’t take on a project like this if you can’t do it right.

To sum up, just because someone put a lot of work into gathering data and making a nice color-coded chart, doesn’t mean the data is GOOD or VALUABLE.

#ao3 #ao3 stats #psa #my words #fandom #I doubt anyone is even going to read this but I needed to get it out of my system and at least try to stop this from spreading #if you know me #you know I get Big Mad about misinformation #don't take anything at face value #do your own research

[aley-nag]

Bumpy road, pretty result

Whoaaaa. This one...

The next fanfiction I bound was Cinder and Smoke by @thelittleblackfox. I lover their work to pieces. They write incredible thought out Stucky!AU's with a lot of fantasy aspects or really good scifi and I wanted badly to do one of their fics, but waited til I was a little happier with my results and could make a pretty cover. We decided together on this one and I started formatting... And then I stopped for a long while because Word is the devil.

Cinder & Smoke is a western!AU and just about the most romantic thing I've ever read. It has yearning and a little angst and a very distinct vibe that feels like Fernweh and wilderness and change. Go read it!

I worked on it between June and December 23 and Christmas was the only reason I finished it this quickly, but I did not want to leave it unfinished for the turn of the year.

Sadly I don't have a lot of pictures, but when I'm finished with my copy I'll post some more.

Now we'll come to the journey it was to finish this!

It started out rather uncomplicated, because I thought I had gotten the hang of formatting and then, when I tried adjusting the font and overall look of the text body Word kept killing the italics. And I googled and tried and experimented and I just couldn't get it to stop. I was so frustrated, oh god. It put me off a little and I had to leave it for a while. When I came back around to it I found a slightly butchered solution, that works though so I won't question it. After that formatting went smoother and I was able to bind it. I used paper from that same supplier that fucked up my paper order for the covers from the notebooks. But only after I had it printed I noticed that it was cut crooked and wouldn't cleanly fold in half. I despaired a little, said fuck it and hoped it wouldn't be to noticeable. I think it's alright.

Binding went really well and I think that's the cleanliest job I did to this date.

Did the endbands by hand to match the color scheme I was aiming for. Because of the title I wanted to invoke fire and used primarily black and red for the coloring.

Then came the cover. First of all, don't use black bookcloth. You will see every. single. mistake. Also dust and glitter... I brushed this thing so often, you wouldn't believe it.

And I tried different vinyl. I couldn't find the right shade of red I wanted, it's a little hard to source it around here so I went an entirely different route and used golden glitter vinyl. What I didn't know until after I plotted the design: The glitter has texture. I couldn't see a single cut-line. I had to keep the picture open to work along the edges and not rip the letters. Still lost all of the i-points 😭

The flower was pretty easy though. Glueing it on was also quite hard because it just wouldn't hold and I got glitter everywhere. Which let to more brushing but I'm afraid mailing it destroyed all that work :D

Anyway. I am sooo happy with how it turned out I instantly forgot about all annoyances and was able to mail it before the end of the year and that was a really satisfying last project, so all is well :)

This was also the first time I had the idea of choosing a little icon for the author's penname because most of the time I don't have enough space for the entire name. I reworked all of the other books to accomodate that.

Binding Details

Body Text: Garamond, 11

Half Title/Chapter Heading: Gold Lines Trial, 20

Full Title: Carnivalee Freakshow, 48

Word Count: 57.197

Pages: 232

Paper: publishing paper A4, 90g, 1,5x volume (from the retailer from hell :/)

#fanbinding #bookbinding journey

[twig-tea]

SHIPPER TAG GAME

Tagged by @lurkingshan and @stuffnonsenseandotherthings to dig into the vault. Friends, I have been Perpetually Online since 1995, when that meant I had to haunt my school library computer at lunchtime, so this is going to be for the fellow Olds. Sorry in advance for the HP mentions.

1. What ship were you completely obsessed with when you were a teenager, but now you don't care anymore?

Have I let any ships go? Hmm. I'll go with Mulder/Scully from X-Files. Watching now, they should definitely not end up together lol

2. Which ship would you consider your first one?

Sailor Mercury/Sailor Jupiter from Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. I. Was. Obsessed. This ship hit me like a ton of bricks in I want to say 6th or 7th grade.

I watched the show as it aired with English dubs, found out the episodes we got were censored, immediately fell into my completionist ways, went to the Asian mall (it was literally pan-Asian with stuff from Japan, China, Taiwain, Korea, etc.) and got definitely not official VCDs with Mandarin subtitles, and would sit with friends who spoke Mandarin and had them translate the subs to English for me (I say this like I forced them, but they offered because they were my friends and they also felt passionately about people seeing the uncensored show). I then learned how to Internet and would trawl for fanpages of the manga (it would take 20 minutes to load an image at the time, so rather than full scanlations I'd get walls of text describing what happened with maybe a single panel illustration). Uranus and Neptune were fantastic, but I already had Ami and Makoto aka Mercury and Jupiter long before I got to the Uranus/Neptune episodes (or the Sailor Stars manga arc).

3. Your first fanfic belonged to which couple?

Definitely Sailor Moon fanfic was the first fic I read. It was an easy step from finding fan summaries of the chapters not yet out in English > finding fan sites with fanfic on them, back before we had archives or even decent search engines and you had to just find the sites you needed through links from other sites. It was like a whole new world of possibilities opening up. The first real fanfic community I was in was Harry Potter.

In terms of first fic I wrote, I am not a writer; I've only ever written a small handful of not worth mentioning ficlets featuring the Kirk/Spock ship (Star Trek TOS).

4. Do you remember the first couple you saw a fanart over?

Oh it was likely Serena/Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon and it was in person, because I had friends who got me into anime and manga early and they were artists who drew a lot of fanart.

5. Did you ever get into ship discourse?

Friends, I had a Livejournal. It was impossible not to get into ship discourse.

6. Did you used to have any no-otp or have it currently?

I am going to echo @stuffnonsenseandotherthings and @lurkingshan and say I was dead-set against Hermione as a ship with any of the men in Harry Potter (Hermione/Luna or Hermione/Ginny, though, we could talk), and I also really disliked Draco/Ron. I also am not here for Spock/McCoy (Star Trek), and I don't really enjoy Stucky (as in Captain America/Winter Soldier or Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes from Marvel).

OH and can I be a hater on main for a second? The first couple that I remember hating as a thing was probably Jo and Professor Bhaer from Little Women; I was SO MAD they married in the end. I felt very validated years later when I read that the author Lousia May Alcott was forced by her publisher to marry Jo off and made up the couple out of spite.

7. Who were the couple in the last fanfic you read?

The last fic I read was a Word of Honour modern AU pairing Wen Ke Xing/Zhou Zishu in which they rescued stray kittens.

SInce I started this, I've also read a One Piece Luffy/Zoro fic (and that's not even my favourite ship--I've been a Zoro/Sanji girlie since the early 2000s! I'm weak for banter.)

8. Currently, do you have any OTPs?

I have so many. SO many. Truly. I don't even know where to start with this question! I follow several AO3 tags and fanfic writers that I get regular fic updates from. Most of my OTPs are either canon (from queer/BL/GL media) or the most popular ship (I feel very lucky that my taste is so basic). There is no one couple I love the most. Just going to throw a dart at the board: From BL, the one I come back to a lot is Hira/Kiyoi in Utsukushii Kare, because their dynamic is so intense.

9. Is there any couple that, to this day, you are extremely mad about not getting together?

Hmm. That's what fandom is for, so not really? I usually get more annoyed when people do get together that I wish had stayed platonic (never forgiving Pacific Rim for that kiss, it was so unnecessary). And I'm extremely mad about censorship, i.e. couples that DID get together but we didn't get to see it for whatever reason (see e.g. Uranus and Neptune from Sailor Moon Sailor Stars; Chinese danmei novel live-action adaptations). Otherwise there are lots of these but I just read the fanfic and recover. I'll say I'm still annoyed Buffy didn't get to have with Faith what she had with Spike though. Their chemistry was off the charts.

10. Is there any ship you used to dislike but now you think they are kind of interesting?

This is such a hard question. I came around a little on Lan Xichen/Jiang Cheng from MDZS/the Untamed, though it's still not my fave (it's a soft no not a hard no). I'll also give you an oldie: Andie McPhee and Pacey from Dawson's Creek. I hated Andie's character back in the day but now I like her character but really dislike how she was used in the show, which isn't the same thing. And I actually really liked how she and Pacey worked together.

I'll also give you a BL one: Kurosawa and Haruta in Ossan's Love. Ossan's Love s1 & 3 it was clear they were not OTP so that's a bit irrelevant anyway, but it's much less clear in s2 (the AU season) and the first time I watched it I wasn't sure how I felt about the way that season ended as much as I loved the season as a whole. I like it more every time I rewatch.

11. Do you have any ship that, in the past, was considered normal but now you would be cancelled over?

LOL I am with everyone else on the Brian/Justin train but since that's been said twice I'll go with something else. I was a big Harry/Draco shipper back in the day, which would now probably get me cancelled for shipping someone with his bully (though a significant part of the fun of that ship was about how Draco was such an ineffectual bully...but I digress), in addition to of course how the author's transphobia ruined the whole thing for all of us (fanfic doesn't make her any money, so I don't have a problem continuing to read it in theory, but it's left a sour note over my experience and makes any engagement in that fandom less fun).

12. What was your favorite crack ship?

I was one of those foolish people obsessed with Hawkeye/Coulson before we'd even seen them face-to-face or knew almost anything about MCU Clint Barton. I still read fanfic of that ship even though it's been fully jossed and makes no sense at all anymore. Ok one more, I really love the very small Breakfast Club fandom shipping Brian/John and Claire/Allison. I've read the few fics on AO3 for the queer pair ghost ships in that show multiple times.

13. Who is the couple you read more fanfics of?

Of all time, I've probably read the most Kirk/Spock fanfic. But that's due to the length of time I've been into the ship, the amount of time it's existed, and its popularity. I still read Kirk/Spock regularly.

14. What most of your ships usually have in common?

Honestly most can be boiled down to grumpy/sunshine pairs in which both are very competent in specific ways and both are hiding crippling self esteem issues behind their grumpy or sunshine-ness, and have strong but differing moral codes that they each respect in one another (and is usually where the feelings start). Banter is a must. I am admittedly also here for height difference in my ships. Double-plus bonus for terrible communicators who learn to understand one another's particular communication quirks.

Perfect encapsulation of this dynamic is Danny/Steve from Hawaii Five-0 (listen that show was copaganda trash but the fanfic was fun as hell).

15. What do you absolutely hate in a ship?

Power dynamics that remain unaddressed as part of the story. Hate to love that isn't earned over time. When the relationship makes each other worse rather than better. When they never learn to trust one another. When one of them is in it as part of a savior complex and that doesn't get challenged or worked through. When only one of them has a personality. There's very little that I'd say is a hard no in terms of dynamics or setup for me, but it has to be handled well, and sometimes I don't have the energy to give something the benefit of the doubt.

tagging: @respectthepetty @wen-kexing-apologist @so-much-yet-to-learn @ginnymoonbeam @bengiyo with as always no pressure, plus anyone who sees this who wants to fill it out, consider yourself tagged and let me know so I can see it!

#tag game #thank you for tagging me #i am not tagging all of these shows lol #typed so that i can stop thinking it #I keep sitting on this because I think I'll think of others and will regret not including them but man it's just tumblr

[eusuntgratie]

20 questions for fic writers

thank you the tag @jbarneswilson 💜

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

254

2. what’s your total ao3 word count?

360,427

3. what fandoms do you write for?

currently hockey rpf and i've got two red white and royal blue wips.

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

all teen wolf except one 911 fic :)

(be a) good wolf, open my heart and let it bleed onto yours, safe, partner (911), home

5. do you respond to comments? why or why not?

usually, yeah. i love interacting with readers. i def don't answer 100% of them, but i try to respond to most.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i have a couple with an ambiguous ending where somebody's getting hurt no matter what happens - we weren't perfect and hold me like i was forgiven both fit that category. you could argue that high is the angstiest though, because it ends in the same place it started. all the same ship. tknp angsty mess my beloved 😍

7. what’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

oh, i have a lot. the great pigtail emergency and why not me come to mind.

8. do you get hate on fic?

i've gotten some weird comments but nothing too vitriolic. you can't write rpf without getting some weird shit.

9. do you write smut?

absolutely

10. do you write crossovers?

i haven't. i'm not opposed i just don't think my brain leans that way.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

not to my knowledge

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

no but i would love that!!

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

i've co-written a series, but not a fic

14. what’s your all-time favorite ship?

*spontaneously combusts*

15. what’s a wip you want to finish but probably won’t?

all of my teen wolf and 911 wips, probably. never say never but. idk. stilinski construction you could've been amazing, baby.

16. what are your writing strengths?

showing a little slice of something in a short fic that gives you enough but not too much of the bigger world its a part of.

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

plot :) also kissing like DAMN that shit's hard.

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

oof. it really depends. most of the time when people do it it doesn't actually make sense. when its well done and makes sense for the character, i'm fine with it. but. yeah. can of worms, here.

19. first fandom you wrote for?

wrote? twilight i think. published? stucky/capt america/mcu

20. favorite fic you’ve written?

please don't make me choose between my children. we weren't perfect is up there, though.

no pressure tagging @lostcol @nocttvrnes @onward--upward @matriaya @winderlylandchime @voxofthevoid and anyone else who wants to do it!

#tag games #grace writes

[loki-is-my-kink-awakening]

Fic Rec Friday

Theme: a fic that lives in your mind rent-free.

The rules are simple: tag the fic that lives in your mind rent-free and describe why it's so good/how it has a hold on you. Then, tag some fellow associates to see what everyone else is reading. Spread the love!

Thanks for the tag, @cha-melodius. I didn't realise each week was different, so excuse me for not doing last week's one already. 🙈

Alterity by Scotch

Lokius. A rewrite of canon and beyond.

This a series but I highly recommend because Loki goes to therapy. It's not easy. In fact, it's a struggle throughout. But it is important character development.

We also get time travel elements throughout and I just love when we see a scene for the second time but now from the other side (past or future). It's just genius writing, imo.

Also, the author wrote me mpreg in the third installment For All Time? Always because of my crazy comments on the last two chapters of I'd Lie For You And That's The Truth.

This series is not finished, nor is it being updated for the time being, but all fics published are complete

Don't Tell Me You Love Me by Dandelion (Honestly Dying)

Geraskier. Hanahaki Disease. Major Character Death.

I love to hurt myself, clearly. When I read this the first time, I sobbed so hard. I made so much noise.

And my window was opened so my neighbours in their garden heard me 😬

I've just re-read it again and still sobbed my heart out.

The imagery of the last moments in the fic, of Geralt burying Jaskier, of him visiting the grave, that stays with me. I see that image in my head a lot whenever I think about hanahaki fics.

Cold Frame by Nameless Dragon

Stucky with Loki. Idk what that ship name is. Slowburn. Broken people fix each other.

Ongoing WIP. We are 30 chapters in and only recently has there been small yet meaningful touches. Like a hand on an arm sort of thing. And it's so charged, it's unreal, and I scream for each and every small moment.

There are far from developing a relationship. Everyone has some form of PTSD and needs to heal. Loki also has physical hurts to heal.

Wishing For Tomorrow's Sake by BabyBlueGlasses

Ironfrost. Fake/pretend relationship, idiots in love.

The journey of these two eventually getting together was delightful. Full of twists and turns.

I particularly loved Loki having budgies because I love them, too. Also geeky Loki ftw.

And how they helped each other to grow as people. Yup, I just loved it.

Whole Lotta Love by StereoBone

Steddie. Idiots in love, bisexual awakening.

Like, all the moments that build and build, it's just so good

When we get to Steve eventually realising how him and Eddie have been in a relationship for three months, then realising he's bisexual all at once, it's just amazing. I love it.

Tagging @jesskier @kingeomer @echo-bleu @unclewaynemunson @rauchendesgnu @xavantina @zara2148 @runnyeggsnham @highwarlockofphilly @dapperwerewolf

#lokius #geraskier #stucky #ironfrost #steddie #loki #loki x mobius #geralt x jaskier #steve x bucky #loki x steve #loki x bucky #steve x eddie #tony x loki #loki series #the witcher #captain america #stranger things #marvel #mcu #fic recs

[thisonesatellite]

@wistfulcynic tag-summons me and of course i answer. Not least because she has written some of my favorite stories of all time. 😘

Rules: Go to your published works on AO3 and list the first fic you ever published there, the last fic you published, any fic that you wrote for a fandom/ship only once, your favorite fic you wrote in the fandom/ship that has the most works, the fic you wish more people read, the fic you agonized over the most, the fic that sprang fully formed from your mind without any effort, and a work you are proud of—for whatever reason. <3

OK -- rubs hands. Here we go.

First fic: The road, taken (OUAT /CS)

Look. i was never going to write. i was never even going to get an AO3 account. But then i did (honestly, i'm not even sure why i decided to apply), and then i had this random thought which would not leave, and after three days of constantly imagining Emma and Killian meeting in a bar fight, well--- i wrote it.

Mostly to get it out of my head.

This fic shows very clearly that i was not yet a writer, but i think it also shows the things i would eventually gravitate towards (plot and realistic dialogue underpinned with Feelings), as well as my absolute and unwavering commitment to HEAs, you feel me.

And four short years later here we are, with four fandoms and 37 fics. What have i done.

.

Last fic: despite all my rage (stucky)

My latest OTP Bucky/Steve hath taken me over and this fic is the perfect illustration of the dangers of telling anyone about anything at all, because i mentioned working on an MMA documentary to @angelicalslayer and she said, "ooooh, stucky cage fight fic!", and then THIS HAPPENED.

i am not sorry.

.

Only once: Actually, i have two fandoms i dipped into only once.

we build our lives out of chaos and hope (dramione) a sort of homecoming (Leverage)

The dramione fic is an EWE exploration of Draco's and Hermione's lives, both of which get stuck after the war ends and remain in limbo for a decade until they are thrown together by chance. After which they are forced to work out their issues and also face a new threat.

Dramione had the great misfortune that i slid into stucky immediately after i discovered it and got stuck there (hehe). i have been trying to claw my way back to dramione ever since -- i have a really epic fic idea already in mind which i would LOVE to write. Unfortunately i am horribly linear and cannot do more than one fic at a time, and people keep bullying me lovingly into stucky events, so i won't get around to it until next year. But i will write it. i loved writing chaos and hope.

The Leverage outing? i don't know what happened. Stress, too much work, real life drama, and stucky cage fight plot boas came together and needed an outlet, and suddenly i had a Leverage fic.

i am once again not sorry.

.

Fave fic in most works: we kill the flame (OUAT /CS)

CS is my most prolific OTP so far - although i no longer write it - and this fic i think was by far my best outing. i built an entire world for it, during which i realized i love world building even though it's a ridiculous amount of work that takes a ridiculous amount of time. And this particular sandbox i built is my best one.

Cyberpunk dystopia, plot, action, Feelings, more plot, more action, and then a HEA -- i put all my favorite things into this one, and even viewed from a distance of nearly three years, i still love it.

.

Fic i wish more people had read: Truth or Consequences, New Mexico (stucky)

i realize that Western AUs are not everyone's cup of tea, so i get why this one is bringing up the rear, it's just that i put so much work into the historical accuracy and transposing the canon into post-Civil War America that i kind of wish more people had given it a try. But i do get that this is a matter of taste.

i'm not angry or disappointed or anything, i loved writing it, and i worked with incredible people ( @angelicalslayer again, she is just that fabulous), as well as participated in my first bang ever, so it was totally worth it. Besides giving me a whole new appreciation for people who write historical fiction, bc omg the work.

.

Fic i agonized over the most: if you live by the word, you die by the pen (OUAT /CS)

The plot. OMFG the plot. The plot got so loose.

Look. i love wrangling my plot boas, OK? i complain about them a lot, because they always try to strangle me, but all in all i love it.

But. This fic. First of all, i tried a whole new style (noir -- basically stumbling around in the footsteps of Dashiell Hammett and James Ellroy) AND murder mystery AND magic AND linguistics AND battles AND upwards of eight main protagonists (how very LA Confidential of me) and anyway, i nearly didn't survive it.

The only reason i did survive is @wistfulcynic (because she always is) and she is also the only reason that the result is in any way worth reading (BECAUSE SHE ALWAYS IS). In this case she worked harder than ever, but also i tempted her with a linguistics component, because that is how you get the linguists to help you.

.

Fic that sprang fully formed: a handful of dust (stucky)

i had already left CS and found dramione and was nearly done with writing chaos and hope when i re-binged CATFA and CATWS for the n-th time and finally decided to check out the stucky ficdom. And promptly got sucked into the best vortex ever.

And then this fic just sprang up in my head. No warning. i looked up and there both bois were, looking at me in challenge, going, 'are you going to write us a different post-Potomac ending or what', and really--- what was i supposed to do but nod and write it?

So i did.

And i've been HEA-ing them ever since. (Usually after sending them through various types of AU hell, but as long as they end up happy together, who's counting?)

.

Fic i'm proud of: all

Look. i'll be honest. i'm proud of all of them, ngl. My writing is not as easily accessible as many others' -- both in style and in subject matter -- but i absolutely love the process of writing and i am proud of every fic i managed to finish and put out there.

.

Absolutely no pressure tags: @ohmightydevviepuu, @bittersweet-in-boston, @cable-knit-sweater, @mxaether, @greekgeek24 , @angelicalslayer 💖

#tag game #ask game #asked and answered #stucky fic #dramione fic #cs fic #thisonesatellite #satellite q

[buckets-and-trees]

The Booklyn Boys Narrative Thoughts

Commentary NOBODY ASKED FOR but that's been swimming around in my head for the last two months, but even more lately.

The Brooklyn Boys series has been getting a fairly big resurgence of interest these past few weeks, so that's been cool/interesting. There's something especially fun about seeing the notifications from when someone blazes through the different parts of the story...

Specifically when they're only reading the Bucky pieces or the Steve pieces.

Spoilers for the entire series under the cut.

The Brooklyn Boys was the first thing I published on this account, yes, but it was also the first time I had ever gone about writing an 'x Reader' style fic. (I had written a lot of fic/fanfic from 2004-2008, 2012-2014, 2020-2022 being my prolific writing times, but I decided in high school I wanted to be a writer.) What really stuck with me in the crafting was this concept of Reader as a character, finding a balance between Reader who basically is an OC without a name because there are TOO many specifics (we've been there, we've all seen those fics, just name your OC) with an OC who is a totally empty shell to the point that you can't connect AT ALL. I wanted to get somewhere in the middle, and I realized that there's also this ambiguity with Reader that could - if done correctly - allow a Reader to meet Bucky and Steve in totally different scenarios and end up in a love triangle situation that would be a surprise to everyone but Reader!Character, even actual readers.

...because I'm me, but there are different sides of me that come out more in different situations and with different people and it depends on what we're doing and what we've bonded over and who else might be around. I'm not the same version of Aspen around my parents that I am at work, and I'm not the same Aspen in front of my peers at work as the Aspen that I am around the students I advise/supervise at work, and that's not the same Aspen that's going out on the weekends or that's writing smutty MCU fanfic or that's having deep mid-life conversations with my cousins or that's friends with the staff at my local garden nursery - but they're ALL ME.

So.

This Reader is consistently her. But the things she talks about and bonds over with Steve and Bucky show different sides of her.

The five parts that take place before the Interlude (3 Bucky and 2 Steve) are all very early stages of getting to know someone, when you are still figuring out if it's friendship only or if it's going to actually go somewhere more romantic. Now I knew it was going to be Stucky x Reader when all was said and done, obviously, but as I put out each new part, I would just point back to the collection and only specifically link each Bucky piece to the next, and same with Steve, because I didn't want it to be a dead giveaway. But... there are tiny clues - very tiny - that show up as the story progresses mostly in the moments where we see Reader be hesitant in moving things forward romantically with either of them - because SHE DOES NOT WANT TO RUSH INTO CLEARLY DANGER ZONE FEELINGS especially before she has any secure indication from either one that it's a FOR SURE romantic thing.

But I liked that in The Interlude, Bucky buys these ballet tickets for Steve that end up being the first serious step for Steve and Reader because HAHAHA how sticky, right? And Bucky's trying to fix Steve's lack of initiative because Bucky is hesitant to dive in with his own situation with Reader.

Also.

The titles for every part before The Interlude are alliterative Bucky and the Bench, Bucky and the Books, Bucky and the Brief Brush, Steve and the Sandwich, Steve and the Skyline.

After The Interlude, they all go S-B and B-S: Steve and the Ballet, Bucky and the Shelves, Steve and the Blindside, Bucky and the Situation, Steve and the Best Friend.

That took intentional crafting, my friends! I felt exceedingly clever.

I'm not always for a Stucky x Reader storyline, because I think it depends on both the Steve and Bucky that are being portrayed as well as the Reader being featured, but I think there are some situations where Bucky and Steve would develop feelings for the same Reader and it be a healthy polyamorous relationship. In what I've written up to this point for The Brooklyn Boys, there's only a short mention of this, but I think it's something I might enumerate on in a follow up piece, but when Bucky and Steve experience that blindside of finding out they've been developing a relationship with the same girl, they're forced to grapple with a lot. They're each other's closest person. First and foremost that means that they're not going to sacrifice their bond for a girl. Them realizing they could/do care on a soulmate/romantic level for each other is kind of chicken-and-egg with them coming to the throuple possibility. If they didn't fall for the same girl, would they have discovered the romantic/sexual side of their relationship? Maybe, maybe not. When she becomes this problem point, and they decide she's not going to drive them apart, they have to go deep into why because they're both at that tipping point of going all in for Reader, so if they're going to sacrifice a potential happily ever after for the other person, that's huge.

...I mean, it's not necessarily surprising to us though. You can watch the MCU movies and think they're just platonic OR you can read into the strength of their bond being romantic (and the coding is there). It's ambiguous enough to play platonic - and I argue the same for Steve x Nat, but there's definitely the case for more than platonic there, too.

Okay.

But back to this.

I thought it would be TOO OBVIOUS that Stucky x Reader was where it was headed after I posted Steve and the Sandwich, and so it's fun to me that it wasn't blatant, and that some people do read it and get THE SURPRISE of the Blindside. If you go to my masterlist you see that the Bucky parts are listed under Bucky and Steve's under Steve like this:

But the full series link IS RIGHT THERE and so idk if I'm too clever to the point of TRICKING readers who are reading it for the first time?

Because I've gotten A LOT of comments where people say, "Oh, I'll have to go back and read _____'s part of the story now."

But THE INTERLUDE.

THE INTERLUDE specifically entwines the two narratives and signals that this is a cohesive story - and I don't say that to make anyone feel stupid, I guess I'm just trying to rationalize to myself that I didn't hoodwink readers just to hoodwink them.

If you do click on the series link, you get this listing:

And at the end of the day, the point is that there is the surprise reveal to Bucky and Steve, and I don't want to fully ruin that.

I think now that I've typed this all out, in my author notes I had been very deliberate in directing people to the next Steve or Bucky parts only, and so what I could/should do is just go to the end of Bucky and the Shelves and say that Bucky makes a significant series appearance in Steve's next part, so that if they hadn't already been reading BOTH collections of stories since entwining them at The Interlude, that I'm specifically sending them off to Steve's because there is a series plot point relevant to both of them, then it's courteous, but also HEAVILY HINTS that they should catch up, and it pokes the brain that... oh, is this... no, surely not, but she wouldn't have us... OH SNAP, IT IS THE SAME READER!

(the last parts do all say Stucky x Reader, but it's okay if readers get caught up in the narrative and forget that's totally where we're heading, that's kind of fun)

um

I don't really know how to end this post, and I have thought about writing out about all of this for quite some time, and even now I'm like....maybe not post? But I'm going to post.

end of post

#aspen commentary #the brooklyn boys

[norelationtoatticus]

Hi! I have been reading your Stucky story on AO3 and I have to say I'm absolutely in love with your world and characters. I've never read an unfinished fic before so I've never followed a story weekly or anything, and this is actually the first Stucky story I've ever read (although since starting yours I've read others).

I'm autistic and I see a lot of myself in your Bucky and how he gets overstimulated. I love how you wrote him and he's so much more human and relatable in your story than in any story I've ever read of him.

I'm also trans and Jewish, so Junie feels like a cool older sister. I've got some mixed feelings about religion because I'm nonbinary and my family goes to a fairly religious temple, so it's hard for me to feel like I have a place there, because I feel like it's a very gendered environment and there's not a lot of room to be nonbinary.

Seeing Bucky reconnect with his Judaism is SO healing. In ways I can't even describe. Especially because his mentor is trans. I've cried reading your story. Junie is helping me in much the same way she is helping Bucky. Thank you for writing them and their dynamic. From the bottom of my heart.

Steve's character arc so far is fantastic. I love how strong and righteous he is, and how determined he is to fix this fucked up country. I'm in California so I feel like I've been protected from the worst of it, but I've heard the horror stories and I'm angry too. Steve feels like a vessel I can channel my fury at all the fascist assholes through. He really hits the nail on the head. I'm very curious to see where his story goes after this week's chapter. I just read this week's chapter this morning.

I also love how passionate you write their smut, it seems like lovemaking a lot more than fucking like you get in a lot of fics. That's hard to do, and that's coming from someone who writes smut myself.

I could go on and on about this story. I've never been so invested in a fic. You are an amazing author and I wanted to say thank you so much for creating this. ❤️❤️❤️

Hi, this is so incredibly kind. I read this message and cried, so I left it for a while and planned to respond when I could read it again without crying. Utter failure, I'm crying again lol

Thank you so much for this amazing note. I am honored that this is the first Stucky fic you've read! We are together in that, as this is the first one I've written! And this is the first time you've read an in-progress fic? It's also the first time I've ever published anything in pieces like this! We are on a journey together and I love sharing it with you!!

All of your insights and the things you love about this fic are so thoughtful and meaningful to me. I know this story is long and meandering, I know it's a lot to ask people to commit to reading. But it is something I have put so much heart, and thought, and care into, and the fact that you have connected with it means the world to me. Thank you for noticing all of the things you have noticed. I am especially touched by what you've said about gender and religion and how you're relating to those elements of this story. Thank you so much for sharing that bit about yourself with me. I'm grateful this story resonates with you on that level.

I hope you enjoy the rest of it! There's lots more healing, and smut, and fighting fascism still to come as we finally wrap this thing up.

Thank you so much for reading, and thank you for reaching out.

[musette22]

Hello dear <3 Just wanted you to know that you are one of my favorite writers on ao3 and I wanted to ask if maybe you are writing something new for us? <3

I know you like Arctic monkeys and they are today in my country(Poland) on Opener (its music festival) <3

Oh hi, honey!! Thank you so much for your lovely message, that's so very kind of you to say! I'm so happy to hear you like my writing 🥺 Thank you!! I am definitely writing new things, but because I've been so busy lately (I've been on vacation and real life has been very eventful) I haven't actually been able to finish any of the WIPs that I have been working on over the past few months yet.

I have three Stucky WIPs, one Evanstan one, and I'm currently also writing a Milex (Miles Kane x Alex Turner from AM) oneshot. I honestly don't know which one will be finished first, but I'm going to do my best to publish something new within the next week or so! 🙈

And aahhh yes, I was just watching some clips from Arctic Monkeys' performance at Open'er!! And I saw a video from NME which taught me that Polish people love AM, which made me very happy! Thanks for letting me know, lovely. Sending you a big hug! 😘 <3

#lovely people are lovely #minnie answers

[gay-jewish-bucky]

Did somebody call Stucky a father and a son??? Lmaooo these people istg. Idk why the poll maker picked comic Stucky, but their age gap was never anywhere near that dynamic. Haters have to learn to cope ☠️

yeah, idk either, but i sent them a pic of mcu stucky that they'll use in the next round

ive heard people throw that label around before (mostly to justify calling people pedos for shipping something they don't like), quoting some super obscure panel from a comic that was created when there was the comic book equivalent of the hays code in place

all the hero/sidekick dynamics (batman and robin, steve and bucky etc.) were seen by a bunch of evangelical homophobes as "promoting homosexuality" and kicked up a fuss about it (along with other themes in the comics), to be able to get published, creators were forced (by the publishing company which opted in, it was 'voluntary' but not opting in would hurt a companies profits) to overcorrect hard (which also included throwing in female love interests fyi, thats where batgirl comes from)

it also tells me that these people have never once seen a real-life father and son interact, like dkjhjsdgjsdkjdbksd

#my parents have a bigger age gap lmao

[angelbaby-fics]

i forgot my nonnie emoji on the big soft bucky ask!

and omg the kindle!! he would have you cuddled up with him, reading his book and he would ask you to press the button to go to the next page. He would say it’s your special job but it’s cause he doesn’t know how to use it 😂

🩰

stop thats so so so cute!!!! 😭😭

thats also how he can tell when you've finally fallen asleep, when he nudges you to click the button but you don't budge, and he realizes you've been out since the top of the page, his deep rumbly voice is like an instant lullaby

lately i've been the reading little house on the prairie series on my e-reader (can't remember if i already said this lol) but since they were all published between 1932-1943 (aka "stucky times" hehe) its pretty much impossible for me not to fantasize about reading them with my daddies 💕

#🩰

[swiftwaterprawn]

@ct-9902 thanks for the tag, you're right, this is a lot haha but here we go..

PART ONE

are you named after anyone: no

when was the last time you cried: yesterday... therapy

do you have kids: no

do you use sarcasm a lot: nooooo -said sarcastically-

what's the first thing you notice about people: clothing? their voice? generally not very much, I'm terrible at facial recognition.

what's your eye colour: hazel

scary movies or happy endings: I freakin love scary movies

any special talents: I hyperfixate/focus so its got me through various degrees and qualifications but more recently i'm using this power for evil (fanfics lol)

where were you born: UK

what are your hobbies: writing, video gaming, reading

have any pets: my dog (Ahsoka!)

what sports do you play/have played: bit of tennis, horse-riding

how tall are you: 171cm

favourite subject in school: Biology, psychology

dream job: if I could become a published author writing fiction and not have to do my usual day job honestly that would be THE dream

PART TWO

first ship: the first one I ever read about in fanfic was Drarry and it OPENED my eyes let me tell you

three ships: the three I have written about the most are John/Arthur (RDR2), Stucky (Marvel), and pretty much any cloneship (TCW) I just wanna see the clones happy ok

last (current) song: current song stuck in my head is Waves, Dean Lewis

last movie: I seem to watch a lot more TV than film at the mo, but last film was Luther, after re-watching the whole series as well

currently reading: not at the moment actually as im fixated on writing lol but last book was The Girl From the Well (Rin Chupeco) fantastic horror

currently watching: literally at this moment The Night Agent, but also Mando, You, Narcos, Shadow & Bone, Castlevania, and just finished The Bad Batch(!)

currently consuming: A coffee

currently craving: to write!! But also a croissant. Gimme that pastry goodness.

I'm kinda new here so @just-a-lonely-trashcan @sw-2020-1 @letsgetgoingbro @myrtlesb @kaminosfinest no pressure to reply but hi join in if you want :)

#am i doing this right #information dump #hi this is me #hi who are you

[tessabennet]

20 Questions For Fic Writers

Thanks to both @somanywords and @zenaidamacrouras1 for tagging me 💛

I'm gonna put my answers under a cut, lest this post becomes a nuisance on other people's dash lol

I don't know who already did this in my very small circle of fic writer friends here, so for any writers who see this and want to do it too, you are hereby officially tagged 🤗

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I currently have 7 works on AO3, two translations and 5 that I've actually written. I kind of think of those 5 as one fic though, bc it's one series, and on my laptop it's all one big document

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

493,817 (I can already say though that by the time my series will be fully posted, that number will be much higher, possibly even doubled)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Marve (more specifically the MCU), and exclusively Stucky

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

These City Walls

Carried the Cross

The Hand of a Devil

Still Running

Loosened Chains

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

I always try to respond to every comment I get. If I ever don't respond to one, it's absolutely by accident. I want to encourage people to leave comments as much as I can, and I want to give back the appreciation I receive

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

Uhm. All of them? I stick with canon, which is pretty much only angst, and I can't exactly make it better by filling the gaps realistically.

If I had to pick one though, I feel like Carried the Cross is the angstiest, given that everyone knows what comes next and that it'll be awful

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

The one with the happiest happy ending is currently in the making. The others that I've posted and/or finished writing, while certainly having happy moments, still end more or less angstily

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I had a few anons a while back that called me a copycat and plagiarist. They told me to take down my work bc it was a ripoff of another famous stucky series with the same premise. It's the one I did those translations for in fact.

And that's something I sometimes think myself, so it's not like I don't see their point. But the messages were written so rudely that I deleted them rather than open a whole can of worms of discourse about that

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

I did/do write smut, yes, but none of that is in the fics I posted so far. And the way I write it is definitely very tame, compared to what's out there. But I think the way I write it fits the style I established for the series, and it fits the vibe I'm going for. Maybe when I'll get to editing those chapters I'll make it more explicit, but for now it's pretty mild

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

I don't, given that I'm doing canon-verse fic. It would probably be fun to give it a try, and maybe one day I will, but right now I'm planning on taking a break from fic writing as soon as I'm done with the series, so idk if or when that's gonna be in the cards

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

If so, I don't know about it. I hope not

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Sadly not. I'd love that though, I would be so so so excited to get translations or fanart, and especially a podfic version made from my series

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

Also no. I don't know if I'm cut out for that tbh, I'm very particular about the way I want things to be written. So I'm not really sure if I'm the most pleasant person to work with in that respect

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Stucky. Duh

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

I am not writing 90k+ wips only to not finish and publish them. Everything I've worked on so far will be published, if it's the last thing I ever do

16. What are your writing strengths?

From the feedback I've received, I'd say it's digging into the deep, complex emotional states of my characters. I've also been told that the way I'm writing them all is very authentic and in character, and that I'm doing a good job with fleshing them out. Which is important for what I'm trying to do with the series, so that's also something I'm proud of

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I am way way too wordy sometimes. I constantly have to cut down my sentences and try to turn them into several shorter ones, bc they get too long or too repetitive. I'm also not entirely sure about the way I handle dialogue, which is kind of a shame since the whole project started with me wanting to practice doing that

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

Yes yes yes!! I love it. I loved being able to bring in my native language (german). But even more than that, I like including languages I can kind of understand. I did some French, and luckily I had help with not just getting the meaning across but making it sound like actual native speakers would say it. With Spanish, which I don't speak at all, I asked a friend who's a native speaker, though that was only two lines or so. Also, when I was working on the series and the post-CATFA parts were coming up, I started doing some Russian on duolingo, to drop some phrases here and there. I do have some help there too, but not by a native speaker in this case. Still, it helps to have a second opinion of someone who actually learned this stuff in school

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Stucky is my one and only so far

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Like I said, I kind of think of them all as one big fic, so it's hard to judge. I'm proudest of the one that I'm publishing atm, Loosened Chains, simply bc it's my own post-CATWS fic and those are my personal favourite to read. Skill-wise, I think the best I did is one I haven't published yet, so I'll withhold that information for now

So... there you go! Thanks again for tagging me, guys, I really enjoyed this 🥰✌️

#writing #fanfic

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (28 May-3 Jun 2023)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰Where You Are (lemonoclefox) - 45K, modern no powers stucky - a sort of 'Falling Inn Love' AU [reread]

🥰Waking Up Slow (odetteandodile) - 44K, shrunkyclunks - single dad Bucky, living in a isolated lighthouse in Canada, finds an amesiac, just thawed Steve Rogers washed up on his beach… [reread]

🥰👂‍Legends & Lattes (Legends & Lattes #1) (Travis Baldree, author & narrator) - delightful, warm fantasy about retired orc barbarian Viv deciding to open a coffee shop and the found family she accrues along the way - when i started listening to this i was like, whoa this author is a really good narrator and it turns out that's his other profession.😆so yeah, excellent audiobook

🥰Pages To Fill (Legends & Lattes #0.5) (Travis Baldree) - prequel short story (also included after the main text of L&L published book)

🥰Calico Skies (musette22, author; britbrit99, artist) - 52K, shrunkyclunks - super hot carpenter Bucky, demisexual steve [reread]

😊So Alive (GottaSaveBucky (Cosmic_Entity_1of4)) - 109K, stucky no powers modern AU - bookstore mgr baby bucky, comics writer/publisher daddy steve - very schmoopy, a tiny bit silly & OTT, good smut; a bit of copaganda for plot reasons (i.e. the cops are friendly and on their side) but still enjoyable

😊At Last (Caedmon) - 69K, BlackBonnet modern AU, wedding planner Stede+caterer/bar owner Ed

💖💖 +262K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

Slide To Answer series (relenafanel) - MCU: stucky, 13K - very funny & cute modern wrong number AU [reread]

I Wanna Kiss You (But I Want it too Much) (xiaq) - Stranger Things: steddie, 13K - loved this! - all outsider POV, especially loved Wayne's OC boyfriend

wanna have fun (and be in love with you) (CoraRochester) - MCU: stucky+thor, 15K - modern no powers AU, established stucky adding thor - very, very hot [reread]

some of them want to use you (some of them want to get used by you) (voxofthevoid) - MCU: stucky+thor, 14K - mer!bucky/hydra!steve, A++ quality hot tentacle sex [reread]

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Um, Actually - s3, e8-12

Ted Lasso - s3, e12

TJ Alexander | Chef's Choice (in conversation with Cat Sebastian)

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Tick Collection

Richmond Til We Die: A Ted Lasso Podcast - Trusting Ted Lasso to Stick the Landing (with Alex McDaniel)

Re: Dracula - Bonus 2: Victorian Class and Gender

⭐The Soundtrack Show - E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial - the Music (Parts I-III)

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Woman with the Handbag

Shedunnit - The Villa Murder

Re: Dracula - May 31: New Scheme of Villainy

⭐Vibe Check - Dear Prudence with Sam, Saeed, and Zach

ICYMI Plus - The Only People Who Made Money From Tumblr

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Koutammakou

Ologies with Alie Ward - Black American Magirology (FOOD, RACE & CULTURE) with Psyche Williams-Forson

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Tonopah Mining Camp

⭐99% Invisible #415 - Goodnight Nobody [rebroadcast]

Welcome to Night Vale #229 - The Accused

Song Exploder - Feist "In Lightning"

Richmond Til We Die: A Ted Lasso Podcast - KG • Paul on Ted Lasso

Into It - What Was 'Succession' Really About? And Is 'Ted Lasso' Over or Not?

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse And What's Making Us Happy

Endless Thread - OK, Lamp!

Switched on Pop - Listening 2 Daft Punk: Human After All / Alive 2007

Films To Be Buried With with Brett Goldstein - James Lance

Off Menu - Ep 194: Tim Minchin

ICYMI Plus - Meet NPR’s TikTok Boy

⭐You're Dead To Me - Medieval Irish Folklore (Live)

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

Presenting Tina Turner

Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John [Juliana Hatfield]

Juliana Hatfield Sings the Police [Juliana Hatfield]

Xanadu (The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Presenting Olivia Newton-John

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Southern Culture on the Skids

My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult

Homework [Daft Punk] {1997}

Discovery [Daft Punk] {2001}

Human After All [Daft Punk] {2005}

#sunday reading recap #bookgeekgrrl's reading habits #bookgeekgrrl's soundtracks #legends and lattes #fanfic ftw #if you like either tj alexander or cat sebastian you should watch that panel - so much fun #the ted lasso finale wasn't so terrible it tanked the entire series for me and that is all i could really hope for after this season tbh #olivia newton john #tina turner #my life with the thrill kill kult #daft punk #southern culture on the skids #juliana hatfield #you're dead to me podcast #99% invisible podcast #the soundtrack show podcast #re: dracula #vibe check podcast #the atlas obscura podcast #welcome to night vale #switched on pop podcast #endless thread podcast #song exploder podcast #shedunnit podcast #ologies podcast #richmond til we die podcast #off menu podcast #films to be buried with podcast #pop culture happy hour podcast #into it podcast

[hazel-wand]

Hi 💞

I don't know if you still post favorite Fics of others people but if you do I can forever recommend Baghdad Waltz by Dreadnought ♥️

It's a tough read and it's very long but so worth it. ♥️ ( Also people tend to be scared of the bittersweet ending Tag but I promise the ending is perfect!)

Thanks, Andrea. I'm always happy to hear other people's favourites. I started reccing Stucky stories because I really love discovering new fics through fic recs. Last summer, a lot of the fic rec blogs weren't posting as much so I thought I'd do my own.

I've heard really good things about Baghdad Waltz. I've been on its AO3 page a few times. I'm sure it's amazing, and am pretty sure that if I let myself get sucked into it, I would be absolutely hooked. There's a couple of reasons why I haven't.

One reason is the length. I'm not averse to long fics, but I tend to read very intensively. I'm a quick reader, but while I'm reading a story, I live in that world. Real life practicalities mean that I don't have the time or brain space to sink myself into something so long.

But the main reason I haven't read it is the tags, including that bittersweet ending tag. I love fanfic because people get to explore what they'd like to read and write. It means you get a lot more feelgood fluff (and more tentacle porn) than you do in mainstream published media. I'm not in a mental place right now where I can devote myself to a story that will break my heart and not put it back together by the end.

I've looked at the tags and have decided it's not for me. And I do feel guilty, because I'm sure it's a brilliant and well-written story, and it's a bit silly to only want a happy ending. But right now, that's what's making me feel good, and I have enough going on that I want this hobby to only make me feel good. Maybe one day, I'll look at the tags of that fic and decide that I am in the right headspace for it, but today isn't that day, and I have to let myself be ok with that.

But thank you so much for writing in and reccing it. It's on my radar!

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