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#i say as i write a fic where jenny does that and one where vastra does that in the span of very few days
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There's something so beautiful about a woman tearing apart and murdering men to save her lesbian lover
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crinkle-eyed-boo · 5 years
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Annual Self Writing Evaluation
Tagged by my boo @disgruntledkittenface
list of works published this year:
Own the Scars
You Be Stunning, Baby, I’ll Be Stunned
There’s Such a Lot of World to See
(3 fics, 284,411 words. I am indeed a wordy bitch)
work you are most proud of (and why)
Own the Scars will ALWAYS be the thing I am most proud of, not just because it was the first fic I ever posted, but because of HOW LONG I had sat on that story (FIFTEEN YEARS) and all the deep personal meaning behind it and how it’s FINALLY out in the world now in a way that touches people. It helped me rediscover a side of myself that I thought was lost, and the year that I spent working on it will probably be the peak creative experience of my whole life. 
work you are least proud of (and why)
Does not apply. I love every single thing I’ve posted. 
a favorite excerpt of your writing
From Chapter 13 of Own the Scars: 
“Are you okay?” “I am now,” Louis replies. “Fuck, Lou,” Harry breathes. He takes Louis’ hand in both of his, pressing a fervent kiss over the bandage. “I’m just...I’m so sorry.”   Louis shrugs. “It is what it is. And then I – wh-what are you doing?” Louis squeaks as Harry’s hand cups his jaw. “You have a scrape on your chin.” “Oh. I...I didn’t even know...okay.” Harry’s hand slides to Louis’ neck as he gently dabs peroxide-soaked gauze on his chin. Louis gasps and wonders if Harry can feel the way his pulse is racing. “That must have been some fall,” Harry murmurs. He’s so close that Louis can feel his breath puffing against his skin. Louis closes his eyes and takes a shaky breath. “Yeah,” Louis says lowly as Harry carefully applies the ointment. “I...wasn’t paying attention. Just...splat.” Harry hums, tilting Louis’ chin up as he fixes a small Band-Aid over the scrape, carefully smoothing the ends in place. “All better,” he murmurs, his thumb brushing Louis’ jaw. “Thanks,” Louis whispers, his eyes fluttering open and meeting Harry’s. He’s still so close that Louis can see the flecks of gold in Harry’s green eyes. Louis holds his breath. Is he going to…? But then Harry withdraws, avoiding Louis’ eyes as he packs up the first-aid kit. Louis exhales, not knowing if he’s relieved or disappointed.
share or describe a favorite review you received
Listen. Every single comment on Own the Scars where people have shared their own stories of dealing with addiction and saying how WELL I depicted Louis’ journey and how it was both painful and cathartic for them to read meant the GODDAMN WORLD to me. 
a time when writing was really, really hard
Chapter 18 of Own the Scars took me close to 2 and a half months to write? It was SUPER hard with the constant perspective switching and the amount of time the chapter covered. Plus, nailing Harry’s monologue at the end of it was super important to me cause I HATED the version in my original script and I really wanted to fix it. 
a scene or character you wrote that surprised you
I’ve said this in another ask, but the Anatomy Study Session in YBSBIBS felt really inspired because it came out of nowhere on a random Sunday morning. 
I was also REALLY surprised at how much I loved writing Ziam as Vastra and Jenny in the Doctor Who fic. I was quite obsessed with the two of them and I def want to write a drabble or a one shot based on them. 
how did you grow as a writer this year
I think my confidence grew immensely. I think it speaks worlds that it took me a solid year to write Own the Scars, and I busted out with the Doctor Who fic in HALF the time and it’s only 20K shorter. 
how do you hope to grow next year
CAN I LEARN TO BE MORE CONCISE?
who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc)
Without a doubt @disgruntledkittenface has been and continues to be my greatest influence. She knows exactly how to push me when I write, how to get me to say what I am TRYING to say, and how to get me out of my own head. I’ll never tire of saying that my writing wouldn’t be half as good without her influence and I am very lucky to have her in my life, as both a beta and a friend. @a-brighter-yellow is an excellent cheerleader and helped SO MUCH with the Doctor Who fic, especially in regards to untangling Moffat’s narrative for the Impossible Girl and Whovian canon. (And then Maggie would be the one to tell me to FUCK CANON, it’s such a great relationship.) 
It’s also been amazing forming friendships with so many other active writers, and I am not gonna TAG people for fear of leaving them out. Everyone is so supportive of each other and I really think that’s why fic is FLOURISHING in the year of our lord two thousand and eighteen. 
anything from your real life show up in your writing this year
Lots of Own the Scars is based on personal experience. Plus, pretty much any pop culture reference I drop in is usually something I am obsessed with. 
any new wisdom you can share with other writers
If a story is inside of you, it’s worth telling. It doesn’t matter how long it takes you to figure out to tell it, don’t give up on it. 
any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year
I’m finally doing the While You Were Sleeping AU that’s been living in my head for ages. Coming soon to a Big Bang near you. 
tag three writers whose answers you’d like to read
I THINK pretty much everyone has done this already? 
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fanfictionlive · 5 years
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Why is first person fanfic bad?
I am considering going back to an old, unpublished and unfinished fic of mine because my other fanfiction Discord server (not the r/fanfiction one) is having a steampunk month.
The fic is about Vastra and Jenny and is very heavily inspired by the original Sherlock Holmes stories. As a result, I was initially thinking of writing it in first person from Jenny's POV since she is the "Watson" to Vastra's Holmes.
However, I have since seen a lot of comments saying that first-person writing is bad and no-one wants to read it. On nearly any thread asking about "What things put you off reading a fanfic?" "What do you dislike the most in fanfic?" etc, there are several replies saying first person, and they always seem to get upvoted. It appears to be a near universal opinion, and apparently most people will click away immediately if they see a fic is in first person.
My question is: does first person automatically = bad writing and if so, why? If not, why does everyone hate it so much? Should I rewrite my fic to be in third person and lose some of the "Sherlock Holmes" style?
Also, what makes first person fanfic so different to other first person writing? After all, the Sherlock Holmes stories were and still are very popular, and were written in first person, as are many other popular stories. Why do people not dislike the first person writing in these, if first person is so unpopular?
This is a genuine question by the way, I am actually curious about this and wanting to improve my writing (so if to write good stories I have to change it to third person, I will do so), not trying to be defensive or anything.
submitted by /u/EvilToTheCore13 [link] [comments] from FanFiction: Where Magical Ponies battle Imperial Titans https://ift.tt/2ZP8AFA
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spynotebook · 7 years
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We’ve been excited about Doctor Who‘s latest companion, Bill Potts, for a while now. Well, if you saw actress Pearl Mackie bring Bill to stunning life in the show’s S10 premiere “The Pilot” over the weekend, you’ve likely already fallen in love with her. Of course, change isn’t easy for people, and there are always going to be some who are skeptical of a new companion no matter what. Here are some reasons why you may just become smitten if you give her a chance.
Yes, She’s a Woman of Color!
The thing that most people noticed and talked about from the moment the character was introduced was that we were finally getting another black companion. Considering that in over fifty years of Doctor Who, Mickey was the first black person to set foot on the TARDIS in 2005, and Martha was the first black full-time companion in 2007, this is a pretty big deal.
For most, this in and of itself was exciting news. Yay representation! Of course, for others, this was yet another sign of “SJWs” ruining everything. I mean, what’s next, a female Doctor? *sigh*
As trailers were released, people began forming more concrete opinions, and those who loved her seemed to love her because she’s a black character who is a positive female protagonist. Those who didn’t love her started bending over backwards to insist that their dislike of her had nothing to do with her being black. *more sigh*
The truth is, before “The Pilot” aired, none of us had enough information to make a judgment on the character one way or the other, and now that we’ve seen her in action, I’m happy to report that Bill being black, while hugely important and understandably exciting, is also the least interesting thing about her.
I love that we have a woman of color on the TARDIS again (and that black Whovians have her as a new cosplay option). I love that Bill rocks her afro majestically, providing an alternative image to Martha Jones’ straightened locks. I love that, even though she has a white foster mom, we get to see her mourn and look at her black biological mother (do I smell a future episode where Bill gets to see her mom again, a la the “Father’s Day” episode for Rose?), and I hope that she lasts longer than one season, which would be a huge first for a black companion. (Yes, Martha reappeared on both Doctor Who and on Torchwood, but she only got one season as a regular companion).
Still, her being black isn’t even what makes her awesomesauce. It’s an added bonus.
Yes, She’s Unambiguously a Lesbian!
As we got closer to “The Pilot” airing, and once people got tired of talking about Bill being a black companion, we heard that Bill was also an LGBTQIA character. This is an even bigger deal than her race in that there has never been a queer companion on Doctor Who (and no, your Second Doctor/Jamie fan fic doesn’t count. I mean, it should, but it doesn’t). The closest we’ve come is Captain Jack, but while he traveled with the Doctor a bit, he wasn’t a full-time companion (though he did get his own show, which is pretty sweet). Obviously, there’s also Madame Vastra and Jenny, but they too are supporting characters. This is the first time that a long-term resident of the TARDIS is LGBTQIA, and I am here for it.**
Even better than this basic fact, however, is how it was handled in the episode. This was all the more impressive considering that showrunner Steven Moffat wrote the episode. In the past, I’ve complained about his writing of gay and lesbian characters: grateful that he wanted to include them, but disappointed in how they seemed to be shoehorned in and inelegantly written to make a point of their inclusion. (See! I included gay people! Lookit! Lookit!) In the specific case of Vastra and Jenny, I thought some of his writing for them a bit male gazey and weird. Lots of jokes and tongue motions that felt more like what a dude enjoys watching women do, rather than what two actual female characters who are married to each other would say or do. As much as I’m #TeamVastraandJennySpinoff, I’d prefer for someone else, preferably a woman, to write it.
Bill, however, has been handled wonderfully. Not only is her sexuality integral to her personality, but it’s also integral to the plot of the episode in a really beautiful way. Her attraction to women is established right at the top of the episode as she tells the Doctor (who she thinks is a really cool university professor) about a crush that she has on a female student who always comes into the cafeteria, where she serves chips. She alludes to her sexuality again when her foster mother warns her about her new, cool university professor who’s taking an interest in her,
Later, we see her crushing on a girl named Heather (Stephanie Hyam), with whom she had a chance encounter at a bar and with whom she is reunited on the university campus—the girl with a star in her eye. It’s her attraction to Heather that propels their continual meeting, that causes an alien oil puddle that is piloting Heather’s body to continually follow Bill, and ultimately it’s the thing that makes Bill’s eventual release of Heather so sad. Hell, when Bill joins the Doctor, he tells her that it’s a big Universe and that they may well find Heather again. There may be more to the Bill/Heather relationship than one episode, and that would be a beautiful thing.
She’s Also Intelligent, Straightforward, and Enthusiastic
She may not be an enrolled student at the university where she serves chips, but unlike Rose or Donna, she doesn’t need the Doctor to unearth hidden potential, or to show her that there’s more out there than a dead-end job. She prioritizes knowledge. Of her own accord, she attends the Doctor’s classes simply because she’s fascinated by his lectures on physics and time. She might not be “Type A smart” like Martha, but she’s absorbed a huge amount of knowledge simply by being a human being who’s curious about the world around her, and she’s quick and clever in new situations because she loves to learn.
While Bill is unique in so many ways, she also has a lot of past companions’ best traits, evoking them while subtly avenging the wrong done to those companions by the Doctor. Hell, the jacket Bill wears in “The Pilot” seems like it was taken right out of Ace’s closet.
There’s a moment when the Doctor is about to mind-wipe Bill, and she tells him that she “knows what a mind-wipe looks like” because she’s seen sci-fi. She allows him to take away his memories, but only after reprimanding him and seemingly chastising him on behalf of the viewing audience for what he once did to Donna. Then, “Clara’s Theme” faintly plays, evoking Clara and how she mind-wiped the Doctor as Bill consents to being mind-wiped, but that the Doctor should first think about what it would feel like if this were happening to him. As it turns out, since Donna, he has experienced having memories taken from him, and so this time, he’s able to make a different decision with a companion.
Bill’s straightforward personality, coupled with the fact that she’s uninterested in men romantically, make her someone that seems set up to be a “bro” to the Doctor. Like the Doctor’s relationship with Donna, there’s the potential here for Bill and the Doctor to be friends on equal footing.
Much though I love Clara, and as amazing and powerful as she became over time, there was still that sense of her being amazing for the Doctor. Ie: she’s strong in order to allow for the Doctor to go on being great.
Bill is an equal right out of the gate. Not in intelligence or experience, of course, but in feeling like her ideas and thoughts deserve a seat at the table. There’s no gendered hierarchy here. It doesn’t feel like a mentor/mentee relationship, nor does the Doctor’s mission and life feel More Important than Bill. Whereas Clara and the Doctor were co-dependent “best friends,” Bill and the Doctor could genuinely be good friends to each other.
And then there’s her enthusiasm. She loves learning, she loves figuring things out, and she loves taking risks—she wants to absorb everything simply for its own sake. She’s not someone who is escaping a life she hates, or who needs to be coaxed out of her shell. She goes with the Doctor because she wants to, not because she needs to.
In part, she goes with the Doctor because there may be a Heather out there for her, but the way she was putting things together (seeing the TARDIS, seeing the Doctor and Nardole sneaking around, etc), it was only a matter of time before she decided to go with him anyway. And he would’ve been a fool to say no.
Shout-out to Pearl Mackie, who’s doing amazing work in this role and has done in one episode what it took Clara years to accomplish: winning my heart.
**There were hints that Clara was bisexual as, even though we only ever saw her with male love interests, she talked a lot about what a good kisser Jane Austen is. I wish that had been made more clear. 
(image: BBC America)
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🥝🍐🍇 for the ask game!
Thank you so much for the ask, anon!
🥝 What’s your favorite trope/AO3 tag to write?
I love me some hurt/comfort! It's what the vast majority of my fics can be classified as. Also, Fluff. But most of the time (mild) hurt/comfort.
🍐 Is there anything in canon that you absolutely hate and love to fix in fics? A wrong choice made, a fuck-up in characterization, a misunderstanding never cleared up, a conversation never shown onscreen, etc…
Whatever the FUCK Vastra flirting with every woman she comes across was. That woman is so gone for her wife, she would NEVER... 😂 (not unless she wants to be cold at night....... :) hehe)
Also, the fucking leather catsuits that don't make any sense, I refuse to acknowledge their existence in my fics. They wear the GMGTW outfits >:(
The lack of in-depth story for Strax, it is so upsetting that esp. the DW show used him literally ONLY for comic relief... He has such an interesting past as well and deserves more attention!!!
🍇 Is there a particular scene/episode/book/etc that you want to just write a million fics about, over and over? Which one?
More of a general thing, but I will ALWAYS be a sucker for sharing a bed and huddling for warmth. I think I don't have a very specific scene itself, but I love to explore pasts being shared between characters and themes of loneliness. So yeah... This one is kinda hard to answer since I see most of canon as a suggestion where I take what I wish.
Wait does Jenny's canon scale kink count. Mermaids, lizard wives, the like... 😂 I will never let that go (can't say I blame her but still)
I hope these answers were satisfactory! Thanks again, anon :3
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