#authors commentary:

[monstrsball]

The night before Iwaizumi leaves for California, his mother gives him a gift. It's wrapped delicately in yellow wrapping paper.

Iwaizumi has a feeling he knows what it is.

"I know it's last minute," She says, sitting next to him on his bed in his childhood bedroom. "Your bags are all packed, I don't expect you to make room to take it with you or anything, of course." She watches him, hands folded in her lap. "Ah, and you'll probably think it's embarrassing any-"

"Mama," Iwaizumi interrupts, fighting back a little smile at her fretting. "Let me at least open it before you try minimizing it."

"Right, right." She laughs, waving her hand. "Of course. Go on then. Open it."

Iwaizumi doesn't take his time tearing it open.

It's a book. A scrapbook, Iwaizumi guesses. It has his name handwritten in both kanji and hiragana on the front. It's a little smaller than the other scrapbooks his mom has on her shelf. The binding is a dark forest green.

The only sound in the room is the flipping of pages. Iwaizumi takes his time to study each page, his chest feeling a little tighter the more he flips through the book.

Iwaizumi knows his mothers have always taken lots of pictures, ranging from polaroids to digital. His aunties too but he still finds himself surprised by the amount Sachiko has collected in the book. Including pictures she must have received from other people because neither of his moms were present at said event.

The pages are simple. Each one has about two to five (depending on the sizes of them) pictures on it. They're decorated with stickers and little notes written in his mom's graceful handwriting neatly squeezed where they can fit and still be legible.

Notes like "you gave your poor mother a fright the first time you came into the house with one of these" under a photo of Iwaizumi proudly showing off a jar with a beetle in it and "i'm surprised you convinced tooru to go, lol" by a photo from a fishing trip Iwaizumi took with the other third years.

"This is one of my favorite pictures," His mom says, watching as Iwaizumi flips pages over his shoulder. She points to a picture of the two of them when they first moved into the house. He was only three. They're sitting on the front steps together, neither of them are looking at the camera. He has his arms wrapped around hers and is looking up at her as she laughs.

And he breaks.

"Oh, Hajime." She says softly, pulling him into a tight hug. He tucks his face into the crook of her neck and she strokes his hair as he cries. He feels like he's five again, crying because he accidentally squashed a bug when he was trying to catch it. Ten, crying because he was sick with the flu and thought he was on the brink of death. Thirteen, crying because he and Oikawa had a fight and he thought he would never talk to him again.

Eighteen, crying because he's leaving the country tomorrow and it suddenly hit him that he doesn't know what he's going to do without his mom.

He doesn't say that though.

He doesn't tell her that he's scared, scared that he's going to crash and burn in California, scared that his friendship with Oikawa won't survive the distance, scared that everything is going to go wrong because he left.

Or that he's really going to miss her.

(Maybe he should have told her that.)

-

That night before Iwaizumi spends his last night in his childhood room, he wraps the scrapbook up in the hoodie that Oikawa gave him and tucks them both into one of his bags.

He thinks about where he's going to put it in his dorm room when he gets to California.

#iwaizumi hajime #iwaizumi sachiko #<- 'who is that' you're wondering. that is one of iwa's TWO moms. catch up on your kennedy monstrsball lore #authors commentary: #so. i think iwa is really excited about going to UCI and he doesn't regret accepting. but he's a little scared too. and sad #bittersweet you know?? #he spends a lot of time before he leaves forcing himself not to think about the negatives because he's HAPPY!! he's so happy!! #but then his mom gives him a sentimental scrapbook and he realizes everything is about to change for better or worse and. he breaks #and something about a parent and child sitting in said child's childhood room before the child moves out GETS ME!!! #it gets to me man. #also the ending of this felt really abrupt sorry. but i wanted to finish this and post it before i went to bed so :33 #haha perfectionism! in your face! #i'm cured. [i'm not]

[sofiadragon]

Hey fanfiction loving friend!

AO3 has the ability to turn off comments, moderate comments, restrict comments to logged in users only, or let anyone comment on your story. Most other fanfiction hosting websites do not allow comments to be turned off and in the case of some (wattpad) highly encourage comments even on individual paragraphs.

Over on reddit, someone said it is an unwritten rule of fanfiction that you should never leave a negative or critical comment on a story. This was countered most strongly by many arguments. Despite many people asserting that their stance was the one truth and that there was no debate on the topic - there was a lot of debate about what criticism even is and where the line should be for if giving concrit is alright.

So give this some thought:

If you have tea to spill, examples or an argument you want to make, please do. I have some that go both ways, but I'm going to wait for a few responses so I don't pre-empt the results. I'm not going to vote myself for a while, either, so I won't know which way the poll is leaning when I do pour my tea. I tried to cover all the flavors of debate I've seen in the many "definitive" posts I have read here and on reddit. Please reblog for a wider sample!

#fanfiction discourse #fan fiction #fanfiction #fan work #fan etiquette #commentary #fanfiction.net #ao3 author #ao3 reader #ao3feed #ao3 #wattpad comments #comments on fanfic #looking for constructive criticism #constructive criticism #concrit welcome #concrit not welcome #concrit

[kwillow]

Started this back in February when it was more topical but... I suppose no time is a good time for romance as far as Theo is concerned.

#doing a meme like the old deviantart days #good for the soul #theo #my draws #amaranthine #technically #i could ramble on about some of the choices here but perhaps it'd be best to let it speak for itself #also i think that's supposed to say “physical touch” but i couldn't find a font that matches to correct it #so my neurotic self had to leave the author's typo for the sake of aesthetic coherency #ok one piece of commentary: brain problems + highly repressed upbringing = where i put theo on the kinky slider. it had to be there #you should think less '50 shades' and more '50 year old guys waxing poetic about quicksand scenes in old adventure films' for that one #he's not a quicksand guy. but that's the vibe.

[lord-squiggletits]

It's hilarious to me that someone actually asked/JRO actually confirmed via word of god that Tarn tortured Pharma while he was at Delphi bc like. Fucking yeah??? How else do you think Pharma went from "for most of his life, he was a good doctor" to stark raving mad? What else did people think Tarn, fanatical Decepticon who leads a group of professional murderers, would do to Pharma, Autobot stationed on DJD territory, to make him comply with the deal?

I get that sometimes people just want confirmation from the author for them to go "no yeah your theories are right" but on the other hand I don't understand asking for word of god confirmation on things that are obviously canon if you just think about it for a little bit

#squiggposting #pharma apologism #tho truthfully i dont like word of god in general for anytging besides like. trivia #if it was important to the text it wouldve been included in the text #and im not gonna trawl interviews and supplementary materials to figure out what the author actually meant #if word of god agrees with the text then the facts are already present in the text with no confirmation needed #if word of god contradicts the text then word of god is wrong bc text > retroactive writer commentary #and also i think its more fun to make theories and speculate #than to ask the author what is actually correct

[sprintingficcommentator]

Warning: abuse talked about under the line

Also: TCF Spoilers

... Oh my god they are right and I didn't even notice, what the hell

Damn, if you read the novel again with KRS!Cale's past in mind it changes a lot of things, and not for the better

#ao3 #fic #fic commentary #tcf #lcf #trash of the count's family #lout of the count’s family #cale henituse #kim rok soo #Fic Name: Beginning of the End #Author: who_stole_my_fries

[hexonthepeach]

Do you have nct fic rec? Or anything you are currently reading or have read?

i haven't been able to read much nct fic lately since writing/editing has been sucking up all my free time outside of work, and lately i've been reading more ateez (yunho just has a grip on me) but there are a few authors i'll drop everything for so here's the latest i've read from them/started reading but haven't gotten around to reviewing:

@sluttyten - you in my arms (haechan voyeurism/exhibitionism, haven't had the strength to read the last chapter but absolutely a work of art in terms of longform storytelling and mixed perspectives)

@ncteez - expert adversary (taeil office au, adorable read i went down a taeil hole lately for obvious reasons)

@jnnul - ric flair drip (jaehyun college au, this was so fun/fresh/flirty i enjoyed it even though campus/frat stuff is kind of low interest for me)

@yutaholic - there will be blood (yuta assassin/thriller vibes, beware major character death warning. luna writes villain!johnny the best, control is my all-time favorite fic in this vein, it haunts me, i will never be over it)

anything omegaverse, anything johnny, anything at all from @neopuppy, like that's the GOAT there, another godtier johnny fic that lives in my head is dumb, dumb dilf johnny with an age gap ilu i've been meaning to revisit

also i accept recs if you ever want to send anything my way!

#hex peach answers #hex peach fic recs #i have a bunch in drafts that i just reblog privately for later #once december hiatus hits im gonna catch up on a bunch and shower the authors with love in the form of actual commentary

[actual-skyrim-quotes]

#tribunal #vivec #almalexia #sotha sil #morrowind #tesblr #tes #elder scrolls #the elder scrolls #personally I relate to sotha sil #though the others are each somewhat relatable in their own ways #anyway guess who's playing Morrowind again :D #I would add further commentary to each but unfortunately poll options are very size limited #was going to add a comment about Vivec #'don't tell him any stories you don't want published in a 1000 page novel' #and almalexia: 'remember kids: murder is sexy and cool!' #and sotha sil: 'has been reported missing by most local authorities'

[goingxmissing]

2023 fic reader highlights

thanks to mostlymaudlin for putting together this template. i'm going to enjoy rereading all of these over the next few days and using the floating ao3 comment box, which has significantly improved my life, and increased the unhinged nature of my comments.

Fic that made me laugh

Cool Things to Say to Your Soulmate by @powerful-owl & @love-leah • daniel ricciardo/max verstappen • a collection of soulmate AUs (everything em writes is hilarious, and this is full of heartache, miscommunication, and so many fun takes on the soulmate trope. delightful. haven't looked at geese the same way since.)

2. Fic that made me cry

one step closer and i'm real by @officialmood • daniel ricciardo/max verstappen • time travel, alternate universes (this fic is exquisite, every version of daniel that max meets is distinctly different and broke my heart in a multitude of ways. made my heart twist in the best way.)

3. Fic that gave me a story hangover

all this happened, more or less by multi21 • charles leclerc/max verstappen • social media, canon divergence (so much fun and so inspired! charles is a secret singer-songwriter, told through social media posts and devastating lyrics, le castellet is in my head at any given moment. went with this for story hangover because i thought about it for Days afterwards and then charles literally put his music on spotify. drop the escalier des fleurs content charles!!)

4. Fic I want to discuss book club style

playboy in the grotto by @freeuselandonorris • lando norris/oscar piastri • watersports (the pinnacle of horny romance: gross, filthy, desperate, fond. had to pause reading several times to rant about my favourite bits. need a book club to discuss the wider cinematic universe where they explore more kinks in the most tender way.)

5. Fic that got me a lil flustered

the fire is slowly dying by @strawberry-daiquiris • oscar piastri/mark webber • age difference, mentor/protégé (this is one of the most unhinged fics i've ever had the pleasure of enjoying. oscar is a total menace. scenes in this fic will stay with me Forever. i urge anyone to take a chance on the pairing if you're intrigued and FEAST.)

6. Fic by one of my favourite authors

jump right in by @strawberry-daiquiris • lando norris/oscar piastri • rule 63 (imagine your fiancée muses, 'what if lando was a girl and she'd never had an orgasm?' one day and then a couple of months later she's still working on a 100k+ masterpiece following the 2023 season where a third of the grid are women? i'm the luckiest. this fic is everything and i'm going to be LOST without it when it's finished.)

7. Fic I reread more than once

screen glows in a dark room by @hollywoodsargeant • oscar piastri/logan sargeant • phone sex, sex toys (steaming hot phone sex, not a single word wasted. the first fic i read for this pairing and i keep coming back to it and also the whole apex predator series. HIGHLY recommend checking these out for the Dynamics.)

8. Fic I sent to everyone I know

side by side in orbit by @glasscushion • lando norris/oscar piastri, max fewtrell/lando norris • cuckolding, voyeurism, open relationships (the concept is rancid and the vibes are UNMATCHED. this was delicious. as i said in my comment: when max feels spit pool beneath his tongue, when he forgets to breathe because he's so into what's happening in front of him. i felt that!!!!! immediate rec.)

9. Fic that made me fall in love with an author

i'll kiss you first by venerat • lando norris/oscar piastri • a/b/o (my first fic for this pairing, i read it on a Very Early train and my brain never recovered. you might be able to tell from my tumblr. me reading this fic over and over like: 😅. still can't see the word 'ripe' and not think about lando being a grotty omega. every fic by venerat is an absolute BANGER. hit that subscribe button, my friends!!)

thank you to all of the wonderful authors and creators who have shared their work in fandom this year. 2023 has been a feast <3

#fic rec #i tried to do this post without commentary but it was impossible #blanket rec for all fics by the authors mentioned #i only wish there had been more spaces but it was such a delight to use the prompts to really think about fics that fit #i've read basically no books and A Lot of fic this year sooooo #can't wait to lose my mind rereading all these!!!! #maxiel #max/daniel #lestappen #max/charles #landoscar #oscar/lando #loscar #logan/oscar #oscarmark #nortrell #fic #ao3 #about me

[cinamun]

Super, ultra viral | Next

Oof... Dearest Readers, follow me under the cut to unpack this diaper bag right quick:

So there have been, throughout this story, themes regarding the ways in which the State shows up in the lives of those less fortunate. Those on the "other side" of the tracks so-to-speak. How the State specifically targets certain (Black) families. The Child Protection system (DPS, DCFS, CPS... goes by many names, still the same) was part of Darren's entire story. So here we are.

Yesterday I made mention of how ruthless the "justice" system is and for someone like Jerri, it doesn't get any better.

Learn you something:

Why is this happening to them? <-

The other reason <-

Also stay tuned.

#ts4 #indya #black simblr #tw #author provides no further commentary at this time #ts4 story #sims 4 story #simblr #ch21

[stuckinapril]

i love anthologies. anthologies are so sexy

#in an alternate world where im an english lit major the norton anthology of english lit is my bible #it's by no means an exhaustive overview but i really love how everything is in its neat timeline #and you get a general vibe for how literature was back then as opposed to just going in blind. u see how everything influences everything #a major (maybe a bit irrational?) fear i have is i come out of a book w superficial understanding #and while that has contributed to unfortunate reading slumps i do also like this trait of me #where i am actually focused on giving a book/period of time the respect it deserves vs just reading it flippantly #i like doing my silly little pre-read of a period of time/author before jumping into it #i don't do pre-reads for everything but there are books where i find it necessary to prime my brain for absorbing them #and anthologies are good for that #and they're also a good resource for investigating authors whose vibe sits right w u. #or for knowing the general quaintessential authors of a certain genre of lit #i also love poetry anthologies #the commentary comparing/contrasting certain authors is also rly interesting to me . ok i'll shut up now #p

[viiridiangreen]

#plagiarism #james somerton #hbomberguy #just wanted to give it its own post #it was kinda lost under the absolute unit #(of good commentary and a much needed summary of the More Absolute Unit that is the video in question) #of lrb #i was conflicted abt this dude for a while like. i wasn't A Fan Subbed To His Patreon right #but the way he 'said' some really insightful shit and also dropped some really nonsensical rancid comments randomly in the middle of it. #yeah #guess it's because he Wasn't Fucking Saying Anything But The Rancidity Himself HUH? #nomás que eso fuera 😹😹 #& like i'm laughing rly hard at the audacity but also it's really fucking sad & infuriating to have had the actual authors of the commentar #that i enjoyed obfuscated like that. and obv not just bc of the individual enjoyment or insight i might've gotten from them but #they were fully robbed of an audience #or just fucking. recognition of their memory in the case of the people whose words were stolen who died from fucking aids #like???? #yeah i hope this fully ended this man's whole career for good #but more importantly that the authors of the works he ripped off get the attention they deserve #it's the fucking soulless business major of it all innit #/j #viitalks #gayplagiarismgate

[rearranged-fanfic]

Planned Arcs for REARRANGED

Blog Masterlist

I wanted to give you guys a glimpse into future plans for my fanfiction. So, here's a guide to exactly how far I'm planning ahead, as well as how far we have left to go.

*Spoilers Below*

Prologue

-Final chapter count: 1

-Status: Conceptualized. Outline finished. Writing finished. Completely posted.

-Notable Events:

???

Lucid Dream Arc

-Final chapter count: 10

-Status: Conceptualized. Outline finished. Writing finished. Completely posted.

-Notable events:

???

Interlude 1

-Final Chapter count: 1

Cursed to Kill Arc

-Final chapter count: Unknown (est. 12-15)

-Status: Conceptualized. Outline in progress. Writing in progress.

-Notable events:

???

Interlude 2

-Final Chapter count: 1

Sororal Chains Arc

-Final chapter count: Unknown (est. 10-12)

-Status: Conceptualized. Outline in progress.

-Notable events:

???

Interlude 3

-Final Chapter count: 1

Bloodlines and Blood Feuds Arc *New*

-Final chapter count: Unknown (est. 10-12)

-Status: Conceptualized. Outline finished.

-Notable events:

???

Interlude 4

-Final Chapter count: 1

Martyring of Maria Arc

-Final chapter count: Unknown (est. 15-20)

-Status: Conceptualized.

-Notable events:

???

Interlude 5

-Final Chapter count: 1

God-Slaying Machine Arc *New*

-Final chapter count: Unknown (est. 15-20)

-Status: Conceptualized.

-Notable events:

???

Epilogue

-Final Chapter Count: 3

#REARRANGEDfanfic #fanfiction #read on ao3 #ao3 #ao3 writer #ao3 fanfic #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #self insert #gojo satoru #gojo x reader #gojo x you #gojo x oc #behind the scenes #author speaks #self commentary

[freestoneletters]

I've accidentally made an Emmett Till reference twice now while writing Freestone, catching both mistakes during the editing process. Something about my mind just thinks about the vile nature of his murder and goes 'yeah, that happened in the 1800s'. He was murdered in 1955? The same year of the Montgomery bus boycotts? He wouldn't have been 30 by the time MLK was assassinated by the government.

Just makes me think about how America wants to keep putting racism behind it and gets upset whenever it turns out it's still there and we're still getting killed by it. The most wish-fulfillment thing in Freestone, my greatest indulgence, is that Reconstruction is still fully alive in 1875, that Ulysses S. Grant is popular enough that the Mayor thinks he'll get two more terms, that any attempts to refurbish the reputation of the South will be held back by all the evil wizardry. What's more fantastic than a man who can disassemble people like they're tables is an American government that doesn't abandon us as soon as it becomes convenient to do so, an enfranchised white majority that's willing to cede some of its power to prevent such horror from continuing. Racism that's a bit less institutionalized than usual.

#author commentary

[thatswhatsushesaid]

I am routinely baffled by any criticism of jgy fans' interpretation and defence of his character that can be boiled down to "but genre conventions!!!!" as if defying genre conventions isn't how newer, cooler, more interesting stories end up being told.

#like whether this is what mxtx was intentionally doing with jgy's character is quite frankly immaterial to me #(or maybe not immaterial; I would love to sit down with her over a cup of coffee/tea and listen to her talk about jgy sometime) #(but it likely won't change my interpretation of how he is presented in the text) #the text says what the text says and author commentary about that text is just that: commentary #extratextual commentary can be interesting but the story itself stands alone #and the story as it stands presents us with an extremely compelling antagonist character whose journey rewards the reader with new #and interesting discoveries in the text #new interpretations and parallels and revelations #with each subsequent re-read #he's a banger of a character and insisting that his fans throw out our textually grounded analyses of him because 'genre conventions' #is so boring. and tedious. and depressing. #mdzs meta #jin guangyao #he did crimes??? good for him 😌

[bloodof-leaves]

My brain is a mess atm so I'm gonna try to keep this as cohesive as possible but god. I saw Across the Spiderverse for the second time yesterday night and I had completely forgotten the opening with the Comics Code Authority seal. My first time watching me and my friends laughed at that scene, "Haha lmao they're spoofing on the comics code authority a bit, hell yeah" I had thought, and I moved on to the masterpiece that was ATSP. The second time though, after knowing all the themes and ideas of the movie, the comics code seal hit me like a truck. Because Miles's story could NEVER be approved by the comics code. Neither could Pavitr's, nor Gwen's and definitely not Hobie's for that matter. And this ties back exactly to the themes of the movie because Miles's story is about rejecting conventional storytelling and the norms of what a Spiderman story should be. In the same way that Miguel is so obsessed with maintaining canon, maintaining the status quo of the Spiderman mythos, the entire point of the comics code was to restrict stories with new perspectives that didn't fit a certain agenda. It was when comics were able to break free from the code that we got so much innovation and diversity and complexity. And I know that morally Miguel and the Comics Code are definitely not a 1 to 1 comparison but in a meta sense, viewing ATSV's themes as a commentary on storytelling conventions, it fits perfectly I think.

#i fuckingn. love this movie #any piece of fiction that poses a meta commentary on storytelling norms and breaks through those norms is a masterpiece in my book #i think this is part of why i enjoyed atsv more than itsv #i just have a soft spot for it #across the spiderverse #spiderman across the spiderverse #spiderverse #comics code authority #miles morales #spiderman into the spiderverse #textpost #teatime ramblings

[sprintingficcommentator]

This fic has me laughing 'till I'm wheezing every time, I swear

#ao3 #fic #fic commentary #svsss #scum villian self saving system #luo binghe #shen qingqiu #shen yuan #bingqiu #bingyuan #Fic Name: lowly disciple's self insert fanfic system #Author: Allpiesforourown