#oh my god im constantly shocked by how salty i am about batfam fluff

[yellowocaballero]

hi! I was winding down after school stuff and rereading some of the reverse Batman au (awesome by the way. You understand so many things) and am I tripping or did u make a Batman fic rec post a while ago? I can’t find it, but it’s also been a long time. I crave the sustenance. Also I honestly didn’t realize it’s literally been three years until you pointed it out in your newest fic (Incredible btw) guess I can finally officially declare myself a long time fan. Cheers!!

HAH Hello thank you for being a long time reader! That story certainly reads like it was written a long time ago...I put up the Cass story just so I could love the AU on a more adept note jkaljd. That being said, I'm now thinking about The Secret Life Of Jason Todd, so....

I can't find the post either :(. I think it was a rec lists specifically for good Tim Drakes, and as a result it was extremely skimpy. Literally, it was just Chirp by Amari_T, The Bat's Crest, and Red Raven (the most bonkers fanfic ever written, and one of my favorites). I have a lot more Batman fanfics in general I like, but most of them escape me now - it's mostly classics, like lowflyingfruit's stuff.

Every so often when I need fuel in my tank to go back to writing The Stupidest Magnum Opus Of All Time, I crack open the Batfam fanfic and plow through a bunch. I am then angry enough that I tackle my fic again and produce the best fic I've ever written in my life.

To be a little less negative (for once.), I do want to highlight something specific - All I Have by Janie_Loops is a really nice story, and although a LOT of stories try to do what it does, it's one of the few ones that succeeds. It helps that it's a series of snapshot chapters, which relieves you from having to do a lot of plotting (shoves someone will remember us under the bed), but there's a lot of reasons why it works. Each chapter is very much Bruce vs. Something, whether it's one of his kids or the JL or The World. The conflicts are baby sized, but they always feel very big and World Ending to Bruce, no matter the actual conflict. Everything is equally sized in this story, from the intra-baby problems to the Justice League issues. Bruce's characterization is very consistent and he's reliably forced to grow and change over the course of the fic. And every kid has a stand-out personality (that's so grounded - I was totally Jason!) that creates specific dynamics with each other, they all have different relationships and favorites between each other and Bruce, and their bond is a family is shown not through, like, bonding moments, but how they tackle problems together and how they're always on the same side. It's also deeply funny.

I think the author's a kiddo (who takes suggestions from their baby brother - ADORABLE), and there's still some ways for them to grow in prose and technical skill and a few other things like that. But even if the writer's a relative beginner writer, and you can see where they'll grow, you immedietly understand when reading that this person understands how a story works. That's way, way more important than having beautiful prose. I'm just saying all of this to hopefully demonstrate that, as writers, technical skill and prose will happen naturally with enough work & reading. Don't stress about that. Prose isn't what makes your story enjoyable and a good read. It's if you get what makes a story go. Everything else can come in time.

#my asks #ppl seem to think that a story meant to be 'feel good' #isn't obligated to do like #anything that a story is meant to do #fluff stories dont need conflict! conflict is stressful #guys you cannot all sit here and tell me that like #fanfic is an art form fanfic is legitimate writing we need to respect fanfic was we would books #and then turn around and tell me that fanfic is exempt from having to competently tell a story #what makes a story feel good isn't that it doesn't have conflict #its that the conflict is PREDICTABLE #and has an uncomplicated happy ending #it doesn't have no plot it just has a plot that we can follow along without any stress bc we know whats happening #i mean this sincerely. fluff writers go watch 10 hallmark movies #and then come back and you will write very effective fluff. #what do you think hallmark movies are. #oh my god im constantly shocked by how salty i am about batfam fluff #JAKLSDLKJF