#sorry for what probably seems like an unhinged analysis of a pretty banal comment

[walkawaytall]

For the fanfic emoji ask game? And also, yes, I did correct the typos in both prompts because I just couldn't leave it. (retired but not recovered assistant to a big wig).

📃 Ever written something inspired by someone else's fic?

📬 The best comment you ever received?

Thank you for asking!

📃 Ever written something inspired by someone else's fic?

So...not directly, but I know there are headcanons I've picked up reading fics that I sort of adopted as my own and it's been difficult to parse through whether I got something from one particular person or just absorbed a commonly embraced idea while binging on fics back in December (I was in my "I'm just going to read, but I won't ever write fanfiction" stage of denial then). That's been one of the wild things about jumping into fandom after avoiding it for so long -- especially since there was the EU reboot -- working through what's old canon (which I wasn't really acquainted with outside of the movies), new canon, widely accepted fanon, and personal headcanon has been borderline impossible at times. If I do knowingly pull an idea from somewhere other than canon, I do mention it in author's notes, but it's usually smallish details -- I don't think I've written an entire fic inspired by someone else's.

📬 The best comment you ever received?

So, I have received many lovely and encouraging comments and I am particularly partial to the ones that say I've captured characters' voices and characterizations well because, at the end of the day, the characters are far more important to me than how correct my estimation of the time it takes to fly between two planets is. Really, the majority of my comments have been encouraging, and some have been endlessly thoughtful, and I'm appreciative of each one. I would find it difficult to rank one above the rest since I have several that I would consider top-tier comments that have been inspiring and lovely and really made my week.

But this question doesn't ask for the loveliest, it asks for the best, so I'm going to interpret that in the way I think is funniest. And the comment that has brought me the most...entertainment was an anonymous comment left on FFN when the name "Amilyn Holdo" was mentioned in Chapter 8 of Purpose of Heritage:

Amilyn Holdo So I guess in your fanfic universe Han and Leia split up and have a kid who murders his father. Thanks for the warning. I'll find something else to read.

I know this just seems like a very bland and weirdly bitter hate comment, but every time I think about it, it gets a little funnier because:

1. I am like 90% sure I know exactly who wrote this (it's a regular commenter of mine who has been on my I'm Keeping an Eye on You List for like five months) based on some other odd behavior on the part of this person, the intense vitriol they have for the sequel trilogy that makes glancing through one of their profiles feel like reading a manifesto, and their contacting me directly about the guest comment with some really strange timing. And if I'm right and this is that reader, they're still reading and commenting on that story every time I post a new chapter.

2. This fic explicitly takes place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, a fact that is clearly stated in the fic description. We're stopping literally the morning of the day ESB begins (I may not have the next five thousand chapters written, but I do have the final scene, so I know that much). So, even if I was super on board with the sequel trilogy's take on Han and Leia (which I'm very much not), it literally does not affect this story at all.

3. If they hate the new canon so vehemently that a single mention of a character turns them off of a fic, they should be aware that I was pulling details from From A Certain Point of View since like Chapter One and Leia, Princess of Alderaan (which is where Holdo actually first shows up both chronologically and if we're going by release date) since Chapter Three. That's right: they were reading new canon mixed in with old the whole time!

4. Amilyn Holdo isn't mentioned until about sixty-eight thousand words into the story. They read sixty-eight thousand words of my story and the mere mention of canonical Alliance member Amilyn Holdo, a character who I still can't decide if I want to actually show up, was the final straw. Which means they presumably liked most of those words, because if they were hate-reading, the mention of Holdo would have only given them more resolve to continue. So, you know, my writing isn't good enough to soothe the residual anger someone has for JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson, but it is good enough to hold a really fickle person's attention for sixty-eight thousand words. That's something.

Fanfic writer ask game

#fanfic writer asks #fanfic ask game #sorry for what probably seems like an unhinged analysis of a pretty banal comment #it just still makes me laugh like two months later so