#this is why so many people ended up shipping spike x buffy i think (i mean also they have great chemistry once it starts)

[variousqueerthings]

it's obvs not helped by the fact that buffy is my fave character, you notice the details of when they're poorly treated by the narrative and want to rescue them from it (which is where faith comes in......)

#btvs #buffy summers #buffy the vampire slayer #this is why so many people ended up shipping spike x buffy i think (i mean also they have great chemistry once it starts) #despite being canonically a terrible person he's also the one who sees that she's hurt #and puts that first -- up until of course That scene but i'll see how i feel about that when it comes #and of course faith who was right way more of the time than the narrative fully acknowledges because the good guys dont like her #faith is like buffy if buffy didnt have giles i think -- in the sense that he's the only support that counts for anything imo #faith and buffy shouldve run away together and smooched a lot and not given the scooby gang the time of day #urgh i need to read some faith x buffy #that time where you're like *actually your platonic relationships are no good -- this once romance WILL save you i swear*

[gallavictorious]

I was delighted to be tagged by Our Lady of Words and Joy @howlinchickhowl Cheers, dear!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Earlier today it was 40. Now it’s 39. WHAT GIVES? Did someone eat a story? Which one? I am so confused.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

137 098. At least that hasn’t changed...

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Highs, and Your Lows (i will weather them)

This Time (We'll Be Fine)

Teenage Tales

To Keep Your Gentle Heart

Captive Look

Huh. Would you look at that. All Gallavich stuff!

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

Eh. Well. Listen, I always want and mean to respond to comments, because as a commenter I always love a response from the author, but I am procrastinator supreme so a lot of the time I just... don't. Not for a great long while at least. Then, two years AFTER you left a comment, you might get an e-mail notification about me responding. It's horrible, really, because I keep the comments in my heart and treasure them so much and the lovely people taking the time to leave a few words on my silly stories really do deserve better.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Life, Still to Come has the one main character Jim Moriarty killing himself and his lover Sebastian Moran after he's diagnosed with incurable brain cancer, so I guess that's pretty angsty? The tone of the fic, however, is... kinda soft and peaceful, really. It doesn't feel so very sad, I think.

For Gallavich, I've got Chapter 7 of my ficlet collection Highs, and Your Lows (i will weather them). It's an Wild West AU kind of deal, where Ian Gallagher is visited by the ghost of the young fiend Mickey Milkovich after his dad beats him to death. That one is sad, but there's the glimmer of a promise that they might meet again one day, in a better world.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

My fics mostly end on a happy note, and I have a hard time pinning down which is the happiest. Hm. I'm gonna say Pressure or possibly Foreign Country, if only because the happy endings there are offered in contrast to the otherwise angsty story and so seems all the happier for it.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I have, once. Well, started one, really. Notes Regarding the End of the World is a crossover between Sherlock BBC and Mark Lawrence's The Broken Empire trilogy. I still feel there's a bunch of potential there, but I'm very hesitant I'll ever finish it.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not to my recollection, no. Back when I posted my SW fic on the Jedi Council forums you might receive critical comments at times, but no hate.

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

Not really, no. I'm not very interested in reading it, and so see very little point in writing it. There's been a few semi-explicit depictions of sexual acts – most notably in Claim – and I'm not averse to writing kink fic, even if they don't typically include actual sex when I do. For instance, I did The Ways We Bend and Break and Mend for X-Men, and the whole point was Charles first whipping Erik and then cuddling him – except in the end it turned into a character study with lots of emotions, and I think any attempts to write smut would be like that for me. Accidental character drama. XD

I might have a Gallavich thing for kinktober that is likely to be pretty explicit and kinda messed up. We'll see.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so. There have been a few instances of stuff popping up bearing a strong resemblance to things I've written, but there's also been times when I realize that things I have written bear a (very much unintentional) strong resemblance to other stuff that predates them, so I really think that's the nature of the beast. In any big fandom, the same ideas are likely to occur to multiple people, and we are all, often unconsciously, inspired by the same things and by each other.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah, to Chinese and Russian.

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

Yes! Pathoftheranger and I co-wrote (How to Break the) Alibi Armistice, which was fun!

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I'm a creature of ever-changing affections, so I'm not so good with ”all-time favourite”  and to be honest, I mostly tend to have favourite characters and ship them with everything in sight... Currently it's all about Gallavich but pretty much all ships including Jim Moriarty is forever gold to me (though MorMor is The Best. Or is it Sheriarty? Or maybe Mormorlock? Or Moriadlock? Or Johmlock – notice the 'm'?). Cherik's a big one too!

Ask me again in six months and my answer might well have changed!

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

The aforementioned Notes Regarding the End of the World. And I have this superlong Star Wars fic I started writing when I was 16 and wrote for years and years and then just... stopped writing, when I was maybe 20 pages from the end? It's currently at 180k words. This one I DO have some hope that I will go back and finish one day, although it's likely to be a jarring experience since I'm very much not 16 years old any more and my ideas about writing and the characters and everything have shifted quite a bit.

15. What are your writing strengths?

I do pretty well with the short format, I think. And with dialogue? Finding the voice of the characters (some more than others, certainly). Writing in my native Swedish, I think I'm pretty good at offering decent prose – I'd like to think I have a fairly developed ear for the flow of the text, and the melody of it? But when writing in English, that gets quite a bit harder. This really annoys me, because I'm rather preoccupied with the stylish elements of writing – though I've found that a lot of people seem happy enough to overlook clunky writing as long as they find the story otherwise engaging, which is a huge blessing for me. I believe I can build a decent plot, but since I can't write anyting longer than a few K these days there's no telling, is there?

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Primarily getting any writing done at all. Mostly, I stare at a blank page and despair and then I give up. This is why I no longer write long fic. I also tend to reuse favorite phrases or themes far too often. And there are so many subclauses... Proofreading happens to other people (I'd like it to happen to me too, but I'm terrible with it). I'm not good at accepting constructive criticism, even when I ask for it. I will often favour style over efficiency, and I'll stubbornly refuse to admit that this can be a problem.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

This question makes me feel like I ought to have developed thoughts on this, but I don't so much... I don't mind it? I've used it. Uh. It's a good idea to do a bit of research and not just rely on Google translate for it? If you don't like it, don't use it. Those are my thoughts.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Star Wars. <3

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Buffy/Angel/Spike. The Book of All Hours. Heroes. Maybe something based on The Coldfire Trilogy... ? Oh, and the Bible. I'm sure there are others.

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I really don't have one. There are a few I'm particularly happy with, but no one that truly stands out... That said, I was quite chuffed with how the first ficlet in Or Else Into the Light, my (tiny) collection of Anakin redemption one-shots, turned out. And Claim. I’m very pleased with Claim.

Tagging @dreamylyfe-x @fiona-fififi @pathoftheranger @abundanceofnots and @captainjowl

#tag games

[fanfoolishness]

Interview with a Fic Writer

Tagged by @novantinuum, thank you!

__

How many works do you have on AO3?

242 works. The actual fuck??? Wow, me. Of course, this does span about 9 years, so I guess that's not that insane?

What’s your total word count on AO3

549,737! But that averages out to only 2271 words per story, haha. You got me! I think I have less than 10 fics that have more than 1 chapter. I love one-shots, what can I say?

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Oh, you want to get into this? All right. We'll get into this:

The X-Files, proto-fandom, ur-fandom, first OTP ever... yeah, 15-year-old me went. WILD. Many horrible Mulder/Scully stories, and some Doggett/Scully and character study stories as well. Mostly not very good, but with occasional flashes of decent writing. Really had a difficult time writing romantic feelings between 30+ year-olds given a) I did not date in high school and b) was 17 and not an emotionally stunted FBI agent.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - not a huge volume of stories, but definitely some very angsty Spuffy and Spike tales.

Harry Potter - just one published fic (Lupin grieving Sirius), and one with Snape and Harry having a heart to heart I could never quite get right.

Then came the dark times (vet school) where I was exhausted and hard at work for a few years and I thought, horribly, I might have outgrown fandom. Thank god for...

X-Men First Class and the undying love of Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr! I'd never fallen for a slash ship before but my god I fell hard for this one and wrote my first fandom smut and my first real AU (mutants with zombies) that I never finished.

Then.... let's see...

Quantum Leap drabbles!

Two Avatar the Last Airbender fics!

Agents of SHIELD fics, mostly focused on Coulson and FitzSimmons, and super angsty.

Bioshock Infinite sads (god I love writing the sad bad dad)!

And then the juggernauts of Mass Effect (my longest fic to date with 30 chapters!) and Dragon Age, which were endlessly productive and are still productive given the variety of different protagonists you can create, different choices, and different relationships to canon characters. I'm still working on a Hawke/Varric fic in the back of my mind here.

There's one random Gravity Falls fic (wish I could have got a little more obsessed with it, or gotten into it while it aired) of Stan sads, and one tiny Avengers ficlet of a sad Tony and Peter.

There's one Wheel of Time fic! Dammit I wanted Rand and Tam to reunite so much sooner than they did.

40-odd Steven Universe fics! So many SU fics!

One random Schitt's Creek fic of David and Patrick!

And finally, The Mandalorian, with 47 fics. Phew!!!

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. The Invitation, The Mandalorian. Din Djarin finds himself in dreams that seem realer than real, reminding him of his loss, but he begins to find a sense of hope again. A promise is kept.

2. The Outstretched Hand, The Mandalorian. Din Djarin is a man of action, but sometimes, the quiet finds its way in. Din reckons with the aftermath of the events of Chapter 14, the Tragedy. (My very first Mando fic!)

3. Not the Sentimental Type, Steven Universe. Priyanka Maheswaran has long prided herself on keeping her emotions in check. But a mother's love can only grow, and sometimes it expands to people she never anticipated. Like the Universe boy.

4. Translation, The Mandalorian. Din Djarin was a man of few words, but many languages. Some might have thought the Child had no language at all. Din Djarin and the Child grow to understand each other.

5. Full Disclosure, Steven Universe. Just as the world begins to recover from Spinel's attack, Steven starts having nightmares. The more he ignores his fears, the worse they become, until he's left with no other choice but to ask for help. (My thoughts on what would drive Steven Universe Future, and I wasn't far off.)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I really try to! Even sometimes years later if I realize I've missed some. I appreciate each and every one, and have definitely made friendships through comments <3

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Oh, hell... I'm too lazy to link these but if anyone wants to read them let me know or find them on my AO3!

A Stopped Clock from Bioshock Infinite has Booker DeWitt ravaged by Korsakoff's amnesia from his long-standing alcoholism. Is Columbia real or imagined? Hard to say.

The Viscount's Way shows Varric Tethras having become his parent, and a cruel, hard viscount of Kirkwall.

Songs in the Key of Red shows how Cullen fared under the dark future in Redcliffe in DAI, and they write happy endings, don't they? shows what happened to Varric. Both horribly depressing in different ways!

Two by Two, Hands of Blue shows a not unexpected end to lyrium addiction :( Poor Cullen, he got a lot of angsty developments, didn't he?

Do you write crossovers? If so, what’s the craziest thing you’ve ever written?

Never really got into crossovers or AUs. Just... meh for me!

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No, I don't think so.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Charles/Erik, Shepard/Garrus, Shepard/Liara, Shepard/Tali, a mess of different f/f femShep drabbles, and most of my Dragon Age pairings have gotten sexytimes. On the other hand I helped start the NoRomo Mando tag for the Mandalorian to help find non-pairing Mandalorian content. Depends on the pairing and the fandom, for sure.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope, thank goodness!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I think so! There used to be a Spanish-language wiki linking to some of my old X-Files stories XD

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but friends and I definitely will beta each others' things to help with sticky points.

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

ALL-TIME? Just, why? So many ships I loved in years past turned out to have pretty damn problematic elements I didn't see at the time, so it's hard to say... Mulder/Scully actually has a ton of issues, Buffy/Spike obviously has issues... so maybe Hawke/Varric (except not canon!) or Garrus/Shepard or Brosca/Alistair.

What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Still need to finish my Hawke/Varric fic for after Adamant! I have 3 chapters written that I haven't posted. Maybe posting them will help inspire me....

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue and POV writing from different characters; I feel fantastic writing Steven and Greg, though totally at sea trying to write from Connie's POV, randomly. But I think my dialogue and emotional beats are what people tend to tune in for. When I do write romance, it's usually very sweet and silly and pulled from life. I also love writing nature scenes and settings to help establish mood. Mood and emotion and catharsis are my bread and butter, and I like my poetic prose.

What are your writing weaknesses?

What the hell is a long, well-thought-out plot? Like what even is that???? My longest fic with 30 chapters is basically "Shepard has PTSD and hangs out with her crew. They have some funerals." THAT'S IT. How the heck people actually come up with plot that ties into the lore of a fandom I genuinely have no idea and it's the biggest thing that's held me back from finishing original work. I can come up with a setting and characters and then trying to make them do stuff that's more than just talking to other characters and deepening their relationships with them... how the fuck???

I also definitely have 10-20 words that I am in constant danger of reusing like every other paragraph, LOL!

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I don't speak any other languages so I always avoid it as much as possible. I've seen people describe sign differently in fics and picked one way to depict it that made sense to me for Grogu, but that's about it.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

The X-Files, of course!

What’s your favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Towards Another Day, the tale of how Cullen went from being a templar in Kirkwall to commander of the Inquisition, is definitely up there.

Reverberations is one of my rare multi-chaptered fics and one of my favorite for the catharsis at the end. It makes me tear up every time. 5 times Din and Grogu encounter the Dark Side, and one time they find the Light.

Either a world for the birds (Steven develops a closer relationship with his Uncle Andy, learning birdwatching along the way) or on the subject of rocks (Steven and Jasper finally reach a peace) might take the prize for favorite SU fic.

__

Tagging (if you’re super bored and would like a fun thing to do) fellow writers:

@lastwordbeforetheend, @runrundoyourstuff, @honestlyhufflepuff, @art3mys, and @fake-starwars-fan if you would like to play!

#fandom #writing #on writing #fanfiction #damn look at me go #memes

[hannah-deserved-better]

My fandoms and my favorite characters and ships

I’m going to talk about all my fandoms and my top one or two characters from each fandom, and my top OTP from each one, if I have any. I’m going in order from when they entered my life. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation

I watched TNG when it first aired in 1987. It was my first fandom and my most time honored fandom. I literally grew up watching it as a child, until it ended in about 1994, when I was about 10. I didn’t know about ships or OTPs or anything back then (no internet cuz you know... it was the 80′s and I was a child). But I did have my favorites: 

Favorite Characters

Captain Picard: Seriously Picard is awesome. He was my first role model. He always had an important lesson to teach and he always did the right thing. I had tons of different Captain Picard action figures.

Dr. Crusher:  She was probably my very first girl crush. I seriously loved Dr. Crusher. I thought she was tough and smart. In the 80s, when women were beginning to be able to go to college and stuff, she was especially important because she was the Chief Medical officer. She had an important role on the ship.

OTP: It shouldn’t come as a surprise that my OTP for TNG is Picard and Crusher. I wanted them to get together so bad!! My favorite episode was “attached” an episode in season seven where the two of them were stranded on a deserted planet and could hear each other’s thoughts. They learned about their intimate dreams and their feelings for each other.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: 

Deep Space Nine is near and dear to me because it was MY show. I watched it as a young teenager. It was there for me when I was dealing with some dark times in my life, and dealing with the challenges of being a teenager. it was the first fandom that I wrote fan fiction for. Of course, there was no internet then either, so it was just on notebooks and those notebooks have been lost in time. But even now, Deep Space Nine is my default when I can’t decide what to watch. Its my comfort zone, it’s where I feel safe. It was also one of the first times I felt moved by a show ending. I mourned TNG but I was too young. DS9 left just a void and there was no netflix to take comfort in, so no reruns.

Kira Nerys

I loved Kira so much! She was so bad ass. I seriously wanted to be her back in the day. She had a quick temper and she could be stubborn but she had a very tough past. She was a terrorist. She fought for her people’s freedom and she cared deeply for her planet. She dealt with some serious trauma and PTSD because she had been fighting as a resistance fighter since she was a child. It’s all she knew. Living in caves, starving, surviving. She taught me how to be resourceful, my favorite quote is when she said if you need a hammer, use a wrench. 

Constable Odo

Odo was the sheriff in town. He cared about justice and getting at the truth and he tended to be very hardline about it. He took his work very seriously. I loved his banter with Quark. Odo was the observer, he was on no one’s side but he didn’t hesitate to give his opinion and he wasn’t a fan of authority. He did things his way.

OTP: Kira and Odo! I shipped them so hardback in the day! I knew they had something from the very beginning. In season one I shipped them. I was waiting through the whole show to see them be canon, only to be crushed when Odo left in the series finale! That kiss on the promenade was probably the best thing that ever happened to me!

Star Trek Voyager

I admit I didn’t get into Voyager right away. I was mourning for DS9 and couldn’t handle any more Star Trek spin-offs at the time. So I didn’t get into it until it had already been syndicated. But when I did, it definitely hit me hard. I was going through my early community college years, making friends, I met my husband around this time. I moved away from my parents. There were a lot of changes in my life so VOY came into my life at an important time.

Captain Janeway

Of course, I love her! She’s the captain! She’s smart, she’s tough, and she doesn’t take crap from anyone. She was another huge role model in my life. She was a scientist and a leader. Her crew mattered the most to her and it was through her that I learned about sacrifice and bravery. 

Commander Chakotay

I liked Chakotay. I liked his spiritual side. I happen to be part Native American so that’s something I related to him with. He was a strong sensitive type. The warrior. 

OTP: Janeway and Chakotay of course! I wanted them to get together so bad! It kills me when they had so many close chances that never happened. I mean it was so clear that they loved each other and that Chakotay/Seven thing at the end was a total slap in the face to us Janeway/Chakotay fans! I still hate the writers for that! it totally ruined the series finale for me.  

X-files: So begins the era of stuff that husband introduced me to, starting with X-files. I had never watched it back when it was on because I only had eyes for Star Trek, but my husband, who was my boyfriend at the time, introduced me to pretty much every fandom from here on out. X-files was his show, its what he grew up on. 

Scully: I’m a total Scully girl. I love her! She’s a scientist and she wears a gun. Total badass! And I love that even though her scientific mind, she was also spiritual which, as a pagan, I can relate. She knows that she is in a male-dominated occupation but she doesn’t let it bother her and isn't afraid to give people a piece of her mind.

Mulder

You can’t have Scully without Mulder! I love how dedicated to the cause he was. And my husband and I have this on going joke that whenever you see a top secret secured area you have to wonder if Mulder has broken into it yet. Cuz he always manages to get to places where he isn’t exactly supposed to be. 

OTP: Mulder and Scully of course! Mulder may be a goof ball but he has said some of the most romantic, amazing things. “You were my constant” that whole speech right there was amazing.

Lord of the Rings

My husband introduced me to Lord of the Rings. I never read the books until I met him and even then, I’ve only read the Fellowship, but I loved the movies. They are my ultimate sick day splurge. I plan a LOTR/hobbit marathon when I get sick. 

Aragorn: I think we are seeing a pattern. I like the leader types. The warriors. Which is why I love Aragorn! Also, I’ve always had a thing for guys with long hair so there’s that. But yeah, Aragorn is the sensitive, courageous warrior but he also has this self-doubt. He worries that he won't live up to what everyone knows he must become. 

Faramir

The younger brother to Boromir. I hate how Faramir’s father treated him and I think it’s sad how he still looked up to him and to his brother. He was brave but he had a kind heart and he deserved better than Denethor.

OTP: To be honest, I didn’t really ship anyone from Lord of the Rings. 

Rurouni Kenshin

I’ve never really been into anime but this is the one exception. And of course, my husband introduced me. He’s been a fan of the anime and the manga. I like this anime for it’s historical content. I am a history major and I love fandoms that make the setting a big part of the show. Like the setting itself is a character too, and this was certainly true in Kenshin. Meiji Japan was a character in the show in many ways. I really loved how it tied history into everything, describing Japan’s beginning of imperialism and its rise that would eventually put it on the world stage.

Kenshin

Kenshin is my favorite character! The wandering Samurai who just wants to protect people. He’s the warrior type just like all my other favorites. 

OTP: I didn’t really ship anyone, although I did have a soft spot for Kenshin/Kauru and Sanosuke/Megumi.

The Legends of Drizzt

My favorite book series of all time! I got so obsessed with the Drow through reading these books. My favorites were the first books about Drizzt and his homeland. This is also the first fandom my friend and I got really into and started RPGs with. WE had done RPGs with Voyager and X-files crossovers but this was probably the longes RPG series we did.

Drizzt Do’Urdon: Drizzt and Kenshin have a lot of similarities. Drizzt is another warrior type. He was abused by his female-dominated society until he finally had the courage to do what few drow ever did- leave. He faced hatred and discrimination on the surface because everyone feared the Drow.

OTP: I didn’t really ship anyone. I liked Drizzt/Cattie-brie and I thought it would have been nice if he got to reconcile with Ellifain and maybe they could have been together, but that’s all.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

I wouldn’t say I am a hardcore Buffy fangirl, but I love the show. My sisters were really obsessed with it back in the day and they both know every single episode by heart. My husband is a huge fan so he finally got me to watch it. 

Willow Rosenburg

Willow’s my favorite! She’s nerdy, geeky, and witchy. She’s been Buffy’s number one and she’s no side kick, she can handle her own. I was a nerd in school, and still am so I get her.

OTP: I liked Buffy and Angel and Willow and Tara. I also thought maybe Xander and Spike would have been cool, or maybe Xander and Andrew.

The Hobbit

I loved the Hobbit movies despite the criticism. They were my first attempt at publishing fiction online. I have a bunch of my old Hobbit fics on Fan Fiction.net still. I also have saved some of my all time favorite Hobbit fics. I love the brotherly love between Fili and Kili and fan fic writers did such a good job of capturing it!

Fili

I am on the ‘justice for Fili’ team for sure. I seriously feel like Fili deserved way more than what he got in the movies. The third movie irritated me because Fili hardly got a part. It’s like he wasn’t even there. Fili was Thorin’s heir and I just think fan fiction does a way better job of giving him the love he deserved. 

Kili

I loved Kili. He’s the younger brother so he feels he has to prove to Thorin- his hero- that he can do what needs to get done. I think it hurt him to be left behind.

OTP: No OTPS here, I don’t really ship anyone. I wasn’t a fan of the Kili/Tauriel thing at all. When I write Hobbit fics, I have these OCs I have been using for years that I ship with Fili and Kili but that’s all.

Supernatural

Last but not least! Supernatural is my last fandom. I’ve been a part of it for about three or four years. It’s my most current, the one I’m into the most at the moment. After it ends, that will be it! No more fandoms for me, all my fandoms will be things of the past. But my husband introduced me to it. He and I both have an interest in theology so that’s why we got into it, for all the angel and religious aspect. I like the mystic stuff, and I like how angels and demons are these different species with their own rules and such. That is the thing I’ve always loved about science fiction and fantasy- I love learning about non human cultures. I like learning how their society is. 

Hannah

Hannah is my current crush these days. I love her. I pretty much think she is a goddess. I have so many reasons. I love that she is a soldier and she’s tough, I love that she has flaws but that she’s brave. Her inner conflict was the best part of her character, how she struggled with her sense of law and justice and with her emotions. She seemed to struggle a lot with trying to process the things she felt. I can honestly say that she is the closest I’ve ever seen to a female person with autism in any of my fandoms. That’s why I love her so much, I relate to her on such a personal level, being autistic myself. She inspires my writing and my art so much. She’s probably my favorite character out of all my fandoms right now. I’ve never related to a character more than I do to her. She is the character I love to play the most because she feels comfortable to me. 

Castiel

When it comes to team free will, I am a Cas-girl all the way! Who doesn’t love that adorable little angel? I feel like Castiel’s whole time on the show has been so sad. He rebelled for his friends and ever since then, it’s been one disaster after another with him and even now when season 15 is about to come out, I don’t think he’s ever found true happiness, and that hurts. He misses being an angel and it hurts that they don’t accept him for who he is. I’ve tried to touch upon Castiel’s emotional health a lot in my writing because I don’t think the show does a good job of addressing it. He has done so much for the Winchesters but I don’t think he’s happy with how his life is now, especially after the end of the last season. 

OTP: Castiel and Hannah! My ultimate hardcore forever OTP. I truly believe Castiel loved Hannah and its clear that she loved him. She is one of the few people in Castiel’s life who seemed to truly, honestly want to address his needs. She literally begged him multiple times to take care of himself, and in true Winchester fashion, was willing to let Metatron out and this sacrifice the world, just to save Cas. She’s one of the few angels who cared about Castiel, even knowing what he’s done, none of that bothered her. In the beginning when they first met, when all the other angels wanted to kill him, she didn’t care what he had done and only left when she thought he had betrayed them and was quick to come back to him when she found out the truth. I love Castiel and Hannah, pretty much all my fics focus on them. 

NOTE: Before you start getting all upset about the fact that all my OTP ships are m/f, I want to point some things out to you. First off, I am bi. Second of all, m/f doesn’t always equal straight and m/m or f/f doesn’t always equal gay. STOP IT WITH THE BI ERASURE!!! I have plenty of other ships but these are my top ships and yes I mostly ship m/f. Just because they all just happen to be my favorites. Maybe because all the above characters tend to have certain characteristics and certain traits and it's their personalities that I ship not their gender. Also, I have huge crushes on the above female AND male characters so again, it’s probably why I ship them. Also, I am demisexual so sex doesn’t really play a huge role in who I ship. A lot of these characters also have similarities to me and my husband, so I tend to ship what I see in real life. I actually ship plenty of other ships other than what’s listed, yes most are still m/f, but some are f/f and some are poly. I don’t ship a lot of m/m because, well, I just don’t. I haven’t found any m/m ships that I really ship. I am all about chemistry first and if I don’t feel it I don’t feel it. Since sex doesn’t play a factor in my ships much, I need them to connect mentally and emotionally much more than physically. I also value equality in relationships. I am not into the whole ‘opposites attract’ thing. Characters have to be compatible. 

And one other thing. Chemistry is in the eye of the beholder. What one person sees as chemistry someone else might not agree and that’s okay. It’s okay to disagree it's not okay to be a hater.

#ships #supernatural #star trek #castiel/hannah #fandom

[2goldensnitches]

la-horrorosa

ha respondido a tu publicación

“Idk what’s funnier The KS fans scouring the anti KS tag looking for...”

sea por puro morbo que se asoman al anti ks tag, pero cuánta inseguridad deben de tener para defender una historia que es imposible de defender?

Im gonna reply to this in english so that others can understand and i’ll start this LONG post by citing from an acquaintance’s blog: 

Anonymous asked: what do you think about ppl who enjoy ks but acknowledge that it features a sexually and emotionally abusive relationship and enjoy the story but reject the notion of celebrating the actual relationship or sangwoo as a character? like they hate sangwoo or they might think he's a well written character but a shitty person? just curious bc i know there are ks blogs like that which idk if i should hate[…]same anon who asked about ks blogs that condemn the abusive relationship in ks. i just wanted to add ppl who want bum safe at the end of ks and who see the story as a condemnation of abuse itself

I see where you’re coming from with this but ks is not ~problematic~ media. It is garbage through and through. As someone who has read it, you as a reader are supposed to sympathize with the relationship at some points, it’s kind of emotional whiplash.

The story is barely there honestly. The first two chapters are about how Bum ended up where he is but every chapter after that is just constant violence and pain to not only Bum but to women and other gay men as well. The only thing keeping people reading is how fascinating we, as a society, find abuse. People are drawn to it and this author knows it. The torture is the only “interesting” part and it’s all the story relies on. The people who read it may not consciously condone the relationship but they’re still consuming media wherein the entertainment relies solely on the suffering of a mentally ill gay man.

I had a conversation w/ Dipper after some idiot mikayuu shipper kept coming after them on anon with really nasty messages that were just blatantly insecure about how Dipper condemned Mikayuu as incestuous. So I talked to Dipper and I told them how I ship *problematic* stuff like Mikayuu, but even so it was wrong of that anon to be so rabidly aggressive, and because people are in fact allowed to criticise *problematic content* and point out things that make them uncomfortable/things that display flagrantly awful themes and imagery. 

And I hope every “anti anti” out there knows that the convo was perfectly cordial and productive after we left it at that. Thing is that these kind of ppl don’t get is that it’s not about it being fictional, it’s about how you consume media, how it shapes your views and tastes, cultivation theory, and how you respond to it. What you as a consumer are ok with seeing/what you want to see. This is why *problematic* faves are a thing, because i don’t hear ppl saying to automatically cancel everything prior to 2009 just because of the abundance of disgusting things like rape and gore in them, just that there should be an awareness of how media is now handled, created, consumed, and discussed--not only that, but to display more empowering and positive content across all genres, dark or not, now that we have the tools to do so properly. Nobody’s out there demanding things like cancelling reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer; just pointing out how awful characters like Spike and Xander are and how Joss Whedon’s Male Feminist™ views coloured the creation of Buffy.  

KS is not an example of this because, like Dipper said, there’s nothing *problematic* about it in the first place: it is unmitigated garbage through and through. 

It is solely about an author pandering to the thirstiest yaoi fans and playing with their fascination for abuse. The story is rooting for the “relationship” between Sangwoo and Bum, it puts Bum into explicitly humiliating sexual situations for the purpose of sexually arousing the audience; it puts him into harms’ way such as having his legs broken, being slapped and hit, nearly drowned, and even raped to the point of experiencing anal bleeding. Sangwoo’s repugnant mommy issues are displayed by blatantly homophobic/gender essentialist views by forcing Bum to wear women’s clothing and even buying them for him when they’re out shopping, making him do his housework, frequently commenting on Bum’s “feminine” qualities, always wanting to have sex from behind in a dominant position, referring to himself as the “husband” in the pair (gag), and even vomiting out of disgust after Bum asks if he can receive oral sex from him. 

The “relationship” is all about how a serial killer/rapist--a monster--manipulates and hurts his captive into needing his attention, and preying on his mental illness and insecurities in order to keep himself safe from the attention of the authorities and then (as so many fans are apparently hoping for!) to mould his captive into his accomplice by hinting and prodding him about his abusive uncle. 

For all the fans that protest about being painted as disgusting, who argue they like it for the “plot” and “psychological elements” and “dark theming,” they’re bullshitting. There are plenty of dark and psychological series out there that don’t market themselves on the appeal of an abusive m/m dynamic. There are plenty of m/m series that discuss difficulties in the relationship/show explicit sex without them playing up the looks and “brooding danger” of a sadistic murderer. And so far, all of these people who claim to like it for the “plot” have had as much porn of Bum in female underwear/of being fucked as their fellow fans, salivating over Sangwoo’s muscles, sledgehammer memes, fawning over Sangwoo calling himself the “husband,” posting excited reaction faces whenever Bum is raped they have sex. They hypocritically scorn the lgbt people/abuse survivors who object to Killing Stalking while holding up their token gay/abused fans and egg them on into heaping trash talk onto the others for spoiling their fun. I seriously doubt KS would even be half as popular and get such a defense if the relationship was m/f or f/f.  

And for me, the last straw was when one of the most prominent KS fans turned out to be a disgusting transphobe who supports nonsensical American bathroom laws under the guise of “protecting real women” as well as reblogging from honest to god paedophiles--sorry, I mean “minor attracted persons.”

I’m down to watching and consuming dark, problematic media. I even have a nsfw tag here on my main and have discussed imagery like explicit sex and and violence and death with fellow authors and bloggers here. And I’m not scouring the tags (unlike some people) for “anti x” content to start fights over. It’s ludicrous for others to suggest that objecting to media like that is always born out of puritanism. But KS isn’t *problematic* nor does it deserve a defense--it is pandering to the lowest common denominator and making a buck off of people solely because yaoi makes them hard and they’re still acting like 13 year olds who think consuming violence makes something edgy.  

#la-horrorosa #anti killing stalking

[officialthiamlibrary]

Welcome to another profile on Behind the Screens, giving you personal insight on who your favorite creators are and what they do when they aren’t wowing you with their creative ability.

On this profile, we’ll learn more about Tagan, also known in our pack as ThiamFresh or CaptainMintyFresh. The author of Airplanes, Sweet Talking, and a plethora of other Thiam prompts and stories, Tagan shares bits about her life, her writing process, her ideal road trip buddy, and her tips for creating tension-filled relationships.

Hi, Tagan! Let’s start off simple. Using a sentence, where the word count is either equal to or less than the number of letters in your two favorite Teen Wolf characters’ name, tell us about yourself. 

Theo Raeken + Derek Hale = 19: I’m Tagan. Love to write and act. I have a terrible sense of humour. Generally an accident prone mess. 

Talking about Teen Wolf characters, which five characters would be on your Ultimate Paintball/Laser Tag team and why? 

Theo, Malia, Allison, Liam, Stiles. Right, so I want Theo because like boy’s a master tactician/manipulator and he’s ruthless. Boy would 100% shoot 10 year olds to win and that’s the kind of person I want on my paintball team. Malia, again, she would have no qualms about just decimating the other team. Allison because she is an amazing shot; her role would be stealthing her way through the field to take people out/sniping everyone else while the ‘ground team’ does the closer stuff. Liam because he’s athletic and competitive. Stiles because he’s good at coming up with plans, plus...you know..he’d be really good bait for the other team.

Omg he would be! Now, before those characters blessed us with their existence, we found love and OTPs in other ones. What would you say were your first ships, way back in the day?

I’m not sure if this counts but Ant and Dec? I thought they were married but if not, then Monica and Chandler or Spike and Buffy. The first fanfiction I read was for Dramione.

And, how did you land in the Thiam Family? What about Theo x Liam drew you in?

I really liked their scenes in 6A (And some of the scenes in 5 but honestly, I hated five as a whole and watched it out of duty more than anything so I just didn’t have the enthusiasm to get into a ship.) Theo was the first bit of 6A that i actually really liked and a lot of that was just down to his sass and a lot of it was directed at Liam. And then the car key scene had me cackling with laughter. There scenes were just..fun in a way the rest of the season lacked, at least to me. So I was pretty invested in their whole dynamic and then there was ‘Being the bait’ and ‘do you know how to ride a horse’ and I was pretty sold. I went to search for Thiam content then but didn’t find any so just went back to writing the fics for other fandoms I was doing then and didn’t really mind.

But then 6B came out and the second I saw Theo on screen I was thinking “wow i can’t wait for him to see Liam and realised I was a bit more sold on them than I had planned to be and so I searched the tag again and went onto AO3 and read the few fics there but there really weren’t many. 

I’d gotten stuck on all the fics I was doing for other fandoms and so put up a request for prompts and Thiamkey gave me a bunch of headcanons and prompts and then people seemed to like them and started sending them in and then I just...talked to people and they were all lovely and we had all this amazing content coming out every week from the show and more people climbed aboard the ship. More fics being written, more prompts being sent.

Honestly, i just wanted to dip my toe in the water, write a fic or two while I waited for other people to write their own but then i suddenly found myself up to my neck in Thiam and not regretting a second of it.

Let’s jump into writing. Before we dive into the Thiam pool, if your writing process was a person, describe him or her. What does he or she do? Wear? Listen to?

My writing process as a person would probably be a toddler in a room full of toys but instead of playing with them, she just hiding under furniture and has five different conversations with five different imaginary friends at one time. She’s messy, with chocolate ice cream smeared over her face and her hair tangled into nots. She has no real idea about what’s happening but is excited none-the-less. Will have constant tantrums and cry then be excitedly squealing in the next second. ACDC would be playing in the background.

And your writing Kryptonite? How do you fight it?

Procrastination. I’m really bad at focusing on any one thing. Like, if i’m watching a new episode of a show, I’ll play solitaire in the corner of the screen because otherwise, I’m too unfocused to be focused. If that makes any sense. So when I’m writing I have to have a conversation open with someone or have just done a puzzle or something that’s fried my brain a bit so I can focus on writing, but I often end up getting too focused on the other thing and not getting any writing done.

As for how to fight it, I honestly have no idea? I just kinda flit around and hope for the best.

Well, clearly it works for you, so cheers! Do you write novels or short stories about original characters, as well? If so, can you share one you’re particularly passionate about?

Yes i dooo :) I write books. So I’ve written three so far and have like 12 in the works. (There’s a YA series in there which is why there’s so many) um..I’m not sure what i’m particularly proud of so i’m just pasting the first scene I found in my emails which is a scene from a zombie book I wrote called Autumn

Autumn Excerpt:

Sometimes I could forget, for a moment. When the sun was high in the sky and we were strolling through an open field. Weapons held loose in hand, rucksacks tossed over single shoulders. When we were throwing a bottle of water between us, talking about now pointless things, sharing stories and silly jokes. Laughs etched onto our faces as we'd forget all about it. About the past months and the horror we've seen, the people we've lost.

But then a stray would stumble into the field or we’d hear a distant scream and it would come rushing back. Hands quickly going back to locked tightly arrowed our weapons, smiles slipping from our faces.There were also times I couldn't forget, not even for a second. When we lay on rough roof tops, looking up at the dark sky willing to sleep, to get lost in a dream but I could hear it, the scratching of nails against brick, the snap of teeth hitting together and the low, guttural moans. At these times I’d think, this will be the last sound I ever hear. The huffing of the dead, the wet slapping and slurping as they tore and chewed on flesh.

On these nights I’d try to comfort myself, Say that that nightmare sound wouldn't be what I heard, I prayed for a gunshot, dreamed of that rather than the sounds bellow me. Because, these days, you go out one of two ways and a gunshot was everyone's silver lining.

When you mentioned YA series, my back straightened haha. What’s the title of your series? A synopsis for what it’d be about?

Oh god, so the longest one I have to find a new title to because it’s called Gifted and is about people with superpowers and now there’s that The Gifted show out about people with powers so that’s a bit awkward.

Me and my friend wrote a webseries when we were like 14/15 and although we only filmed a tiny bit of it, we actually had the whole thing planned out. Three seasons, 40 episodes and when we stopped working on it I was like “dude can i turn this into a book series?” and he was like “Yeah go ahead.” So I started writing a bit of it.

Gifted follows the story of three childhood friends as they get powers and deal with all the usual coming of age stuff while getting caught up with other people with powers. The first book will be done in alternating POV between the three friends, but that will slowly expand to incorporate the more important characters met along the way.

There’s lots of whump, teenagers dealing with depression and PTSD.  Basically i tried to write a new fairly light hearted story about kids coming of age and dealing with typical super power problems, but then accidentally put them through the ringer and turned it into a mass of character study and angst.

Final question before the barrage of Thiam questions lol. Characters often find themselves in situations they aren’t sure they can get themselves out of. When was the last time you were in a place like that and what did you do? 

The last time I found myself in a situation I couldn’t get out of was this summer and I cried a lot and then made scathing jokes to the reasons I couldn’t get out of the situation with a sunny smile that left the situations unaware that I was trying to figure out how to word a letter that told the situations they need never situate themselves anywhere near me ever again. (I have yet to send those letters.)

Wow, yeah, I’ve been there before. I hope you find the strength/courage to send those letters one day. Since we’re talking about personal experiences, would you say that any of your life has poured over into your Thiam writing?

The only one I can currently think of is the scene in Sweet Talking where Theo’s tired and listening to Liam, Mason and Corey hang out and thinking about how he’ll never really fit in.

My brother had a bunch of friends round before I wrote that chapter, or at least that part of that chapter. I moved away from my home town/all my friends (there’s literally 1 friend but whatever) 3 years ago and haven’t made any friends since. My brother keeps telling me his friends can be my friends but I‘m always the odd man out and it’s just really lonely so I was definitely channeling some inner loneliness into that.

Let’s say you could escape it all and venture on a major Airplanes-esque road trip. Who would you take (real or fictional)? Where would you go? And what is one shenanigan the two of you would run into?

The Queen. I just think it’d be really funny, not to mention you could get in like everywhere for free.

Honestly I think if the queen wasn’t available, I’d want to go with @thiamfanartlove. We’ve only been talking a little while, but we get on really well and I feel like we’d be equally ready to do a bunch of dumb stuff on our journey. I’d want to go around Europe. Hit up @thiamkey on the way and a few other people. 

We would 100% get into a fight at some point because neither of us have any chill. Like, someone would insult one of us and the other would just be down to fight and then it would turn into an all out brawl with us against the world. (We would lose, but it’d be a good story, at least.)

Truth. And one story we’d demand all the details on. You’ve talked a lot about some trivia, inspirations and spoilers for Airplanes in your livestream, which are linked here. So, my questions to you are more about the technique side of your writing, since it’s always amazing to learn from you all.  

You incorporate great character studies into your stories. What would you say are some tricks you use to portray what your characters are thinking?

I think, just finding a way to resonate with the character you’re writing. Even if it’s a character you think you have nothing in common with, I promise you somewhere there’s a memory you have that fits something they’ve felt. 

Liam’s POV was really weird to me at the start of airplanes so I chose to focus on something I could personally understand. Which was the need for freedom but anxiety at what it might cost the other people if you take it and that..kind of self hatred for the anger issues and wishing everything could change. You find a common thread and write that and soon enough you find yourself understanding the character, even in situations or with feelings you’ve never personally been affected by.

I don’t know if that makes any sense? But basically yeah, find common ground and that one scene you can write and then work from there.

And, the tension between your characters. How do you build that tension when it comes to relationships to avoid the instalove phenomenon?

ANGST! I dunno, the easiest way for me to slow down the instalove is the characters being more preoccupied with other stuff than their love lives. I think just..keeping it as real as possible. In my personal experience, love at first sight is rare. You can’t fall in love with someone until you know them so a lot of it is just..giving the characters these little moments that bring them closer together, making them have those conversations that you’d have with your best friend and just slowly drawing closer and closer together as you get more comfortable. Especially in Airplanes when it first starts Liam’s in a pretty bad place mentally. He’s really drained and feeling the weight of everything he’s been through so his mind was just so far away from romance that it seemed wrong to have him noticing any feelings for Theo until he was a bit happier and had healed a bit. Not to mention all the baggage the two have.

Having a character go through that process of questioning their sexuality is fun as well. I mean, Liam so far in canon has been written as straight and that’s a lot of fun to play with because you have that whole realisation process where he has to figure out that what he feels for Theo isn’t entirely platonic and that it’s different from how he feels about Mason or any of the other guys in the show and that can be a really challenging thing to do. Not even in the ‘Oh coming out is scary’ way just in the heteronormative straight until proven otherwise sort of way.

I mean i’m Bi and that took me like...21 years to realise? And it wasn’t that I didn’t have little crushes on girls before it was just I’d never noticed them for what they were. For me the only reason it clicked was because I realised I was Asexual and that my ‘well I don’t want to bone a girl so I’m not gay’ was kinda pointless thing when I realised that I didn’t even want to bone guys. It was just what was expected. Once I took that away and sat down and thought about it, it was suddenly very clear to me. But most characters won’t have that specific nudge so it can be a fairly long road.

Just, to stop instalove think about what they’re going through, think about how you fall in love because the realisation may be instant but the build up is usually gradual. You notice it in one dumb moment but to actually get there, you have a long list of bits where you get to know the other person and you deal with your own personal issues and stuff.

For building tension, it’s again just building up that relationship. You start off small with touches that make the heart speed up before they’re more comfortable and grow closer. Honestly, the best way is just to focus on the friendship first and the romantic relationship second because then you get the familiarity and that’s when you can start having your characters realise there’s something else there and that suddenly makes all these little touches a lot more terrifying and confusing as they try to figure out what it means. 

That’s perfect though. And the gritty realization that most people have about those they’ve fallen in love with since they’ve usually gotten close to that person by that point is terrifying and emotional, so I can now see where that tension comes from! Anything else you’d like to say, in general. The floor is all yours.

Umm okay. I am always accepting prompts but it willlllll take me a while to get to them because i have quite a few and don’t really go chronologically but more where the inspiration hits and sometimes, like with airplanes, that’s my own story rather than a prompt but my ask box is always always open for more prompts.

Upcoming works, I have no idea. Right now, I just want to finish airplanes and then see where I go after that. I do want to play around in the airplanes universe a little bit more after the fic is done with, delving into Theo’s POV for some of the missing scenes and I also might do a short pack scene where you have everyone realise Theo and Liam are gone in the morning in Idaho.

The reason I like sharing my work is because I like the idea that maybe I can help someone and maybe that sounds dumb--but to me--reading is a major escapism technique. I used it a lot when I was younger and this fic and the comments I’ve gotten have just made me so insanely happy because it seems like, maybe for a few people, I’ve reached my goal in helping someone through a bad day or to relax and just forget their worries for a while. And that’s the whole reason I like writing and that’s the first time I’ve ever really felt that and I literally cried when someone told me my updates helped their shitty week before because...that’s the whole reason I want to get into writing or acting as a career and to see I’d achieved that goal was just awesome.

If you’ve sent me a nice message on tumblr and I haven’t replied, it’s not because I didn’t read it or I don’t like it or whatever you might think. It’s because i’m a hoarder and now have a folder wth screen shots of all the nice messages in it, so that I can look at them when I’m having a nice day.

Really, I just want to say that I see everything you guys send or make or comment and I appreciate every single one and just thank you. Life’s been tough for me lately but getting to write for a fandom as accepting and kind as this one is really really amazing and your messages have picked me up when I’ve felt worthless so many times. Just keep being awesome Thiam fandom! And thank you for being so welcoming and supportive of everyone that joins.

Aww thank you! We’re so happy to have you in our fandom and to have Airplanes, your prompts, and other stories. I, and others have shared the same sentiment, agree with you that this fandom is amazing and so supportive of one another that it almost seems surreal! So, go us, lovely pack! 

To finish us off, what’s next for you? Both in life and in the writing world?

For life, I’m hoping to get some acting roles for student films and stuff. Get myself a laptop so I can write more and a camera (eventually) so I can film the scripts I’ve wrote. I also want to send some of my books to publishers and generally try to make a life for myself out of the two things I love doing.

I have a bunch of books I’m working on and I really want to finish writing my YA series because it seems like it could be quite fun once I get a bit more into it.

With that, BTS presents ThiamFresh to you! As always, you can keep the conversation going; respond to any of her thoughts, ask more questions, send a prompt, or simply swing by for a chat with Tagan anytime. To dive into her works, check out both her AO3 and Tumblr. 

Tumblr: thiamfresh

AO3: captainmintyfresh

Ask Box: thiamfresh ask

A huge thank you to Tagan for being so open to answering our questions and sharing her tips on character stories and building tension. 

Some great news, for everyone who enjoys this series, we’ve decided to run Behind the Screens every Thursday. And, we’d love your help in doing it! 

Have a Thiam Creator you fan over, from any platform (AO3, Tumblr, Wattpad, Instagram, FFN, etc). Please send us their names. Bonus points if you include any questions you’re dying to ask them. Likewise, if you as the creator, would like to be a part of the Behind the Screens series, give us a shout too! We’d love to get to know you, as well.

Hasta Luego!

#thiam #behind the screens #teenwolf #thiamfresh #officialthiamlibrary

[whitewolfofwinterfell]

Bangel or Stelena——and why?!

Wow, you really do hate me, don’t you anon? hahaha. 

My first instinct upon seeing this question is to say Stelena purely because they’ve been my OTP the longest, but in my heart it’s definitely Bangel, which might surprise some of my followers.

Honestly, there are quite a lot of reasons why I’ve chose Bangel so I feel like it’s easier to bullet point each one. This is probably the most you’ll ever see me bash Stefan and Elena, so get ready for it. 

Bangel’s relationship is better written: Buffy and Angel’s relationship was written so much better than Stefan and Elena’s. Us Stelena shippers do our best to work with the stuff we were given post-season 4 but if we’re being honest with ourselves 98% of it was utter crap. I’ve spoken before about the similarities between the Buffy/Angel, but the main the difference between the two is that unlike Plec and co., Whedon and co. did not shit all over Bangel and pretend their love never existed or that it was inferior to Buffy’s new relationship(s). When Buffy was with Spike there was never any doubt cast upon her love for Angel. She still loved Angel with every piece of her heart and soul and whenever she was with him that was clear for everyone to see. On the other hand, on TVD we were expected to believe that Elena’s feelings for Stefan were completely platonic and it was as though everything about their romantic relationship was either erased, invalidated or belittled. 

Bangel’s story is more compelling: This is very similar to the first one, but personally I find Buffy and Angel’s story so much better and generally more well-rounded than Stefan and Elena’s. Buffy and Angel really had that tragic, star-crossed lovers trope down to a T and it was executed so well. You could really feel how much they loved each other and despite being enemies by nature - a vampire and a slayer - you just knew they were soulmates and that if they’d met as two humans they would’ve been together for life. But because of who they were as people and the fact that they were natural heroes that wanted to do good, they couldn’t be together because they had to put the people they dedicated themselves to protect first. It’s just so beautiful that two people love and respect each other and themselves so much that they’d rather separate and be unhappy without each other in order to save others and keep each other safe. As for having a more rounded story, unlike Stefan and Elena, Buffy and Angel remained canon until the end. Like I said, Stelena shippers work with what we were given and although Stefan and Elena had a better ending than we expected, the fact remains that what was written was intended to be platonic not romantic. Elena married Stefan’s brother and stayed with him for the rest of her life and there’s no getting away from that as much as we try. But with Buffy and Angel, even though they didn’t necessarily have any official final scenes together like Stefan and Elena, it was still acknowledged that they were in love and had a possible romantic future together. At the end of BTVS there was the whole cookie dough conversation and near the end of ATS Angel was clearly still in love with Buffy and specifically said, “Ours is a forever love.” I appreciate and love so much that Whedon never let the importance and profoundness of their love fade, because when you’ve loved someone the way Buffy and Angel did it never goes away, no matter how many years pass or how many other people you fall in love with. There are certain loves that stay with you for life and that you always feel a pull to and I feel that Stefan and Elena should’ve been one of those loves just like Buffy and Angel, but the writers just didn’t deliver it. 

Sarah and David’s chemistry is unbeatable: Anyone that has been following me for a while will know that I love Nina and Paul’s chemistry and I’ve spoken about it countless times, but for me nothing compares to Sarah and David’s chemistry. Like honestly you can watch any Buffy/Angel scene and feel the emotions and chemistry pouring out of the screen. It’s just so believable that there’s almost a disassociation between Buffy/Angel and Sarah/David. I genuinely forget they’re just acting and that in real life they’re in relationships with other people and not actually in love. And to say that they had two sex scenes through the entirety of BTVS and ATS, the sexual chemistry was insane. It’s a real talent to be able to portray that kind of physical/sexual attraction and desire purely through looks, touches and kisses without a full sex scene. 

Bangel genuinely were the love of each other’s life: I’ve always described Stefan and Elena as being the love of each other’s lives, but in saying that I’m just ignoring canon and her relationship with Damon. Regardless of my personal opinions and preferences, there’s no denying that Elena loved Damon (she married him and spent the rest of her life with him, after all), but I think for Buffy and Angel they truly were the love of each other’s lives or “the one”. They loved others after they broke up but deep down their hearts always belonged to each other and I think that if circumstances allowed them to be together they would have been together in the blink of an eye, over anyone and everyone else. 

Bangel’s love was more profound and eternal: Similar to the above one, I think that Buffy and Angel loved each other more than Stefan and Elena did. They made more sacrifices to be together/to save each other and more importantly, they didn’t choose anyone else over each other. Like I said, they had relationships after they broke up because they couldn’t be together but it wasn’t the same as Elena choosing to be with Damon over Stefan. Elena made a choice that she was in love with Damon and that she loved him more than Stefan but Buffy and Angel never did that. They chose others over each other when it came to innocent lives and their family/friends, but not romantically. I think that Elena and Stefan fell out of love but that Buffy and Angel remained constantly in love, even when they were separated or with other people. And that’s because unlike Stefan and Elena, they never broke up because they wanted to or because they’d stopped loving each other, it was because they had to. I just perceive Buffy and Angel’s love to be more transcendent and solid than Stefan and Elena’s in that it never weakened or turned into platonic love. 

Bangel are the original epic human/vampire relationship: There’s a reason Bangel and Stelena are so similar - Stelena are based on Bangel. The general similarities between BTVS and TVD aren’t hard to spot, but there’s an interview where Plec actually admits she used BTVS as a template for TVD (x). And I feel like you can tell she did this, because Stefan/Elena are essentially a poorer version of Buffy/Angel (you can read more about the TVD/BTVS comparisons in a meta I wrote on my old sideblog here). Just like Buffy/Angel, Stefan/Elena were written as being this epic everlasting love between vampire and human in the first seasons, but it was completely discarded in the later seasons and for that reason they can’t really compare to Buffy and Angel. And as a general rule the original of anything is usually better. 

Bangel are timeless: This is kind of connected to them being the original epic human/vampire relationship, but Buffy and Angel are one of those TV couples that go down in history. I knew Angel was Buffy’s true love before I’d even watched a single episode of BTVS, and I’d imagine it’s the same for most people - even if you’ve never watched BTVS you’ve still heard of Buffy and Angel. There’s just an inexplicable epicness to their love story that no one can condone or dispute, even those that don’t personally ship it.

I think when it comes down to it my preference to Bangel over Stelena really is a lot to do with the quality of writing. I think Stefan and Elena had the potential to be every bit as amazing as Buffy and Angel, but they were screwed over by having writers that didn’t appreciate the beauty and potential of their relationship. 

Thanks for asking anon, I’m sure this response may have taken some people by surprise and I’d be interested to know who you’d choose and why!

#answered #my meta #btvs meta #tvd meta

[ed-edward-blackbeard]

@rootingformephistopheles posted a looooooooooong list of fanfiction questions right here.

I answered every damn one of them before I realized it was probably meant to be an askbox thing.  SO, here you fuckers go.  (it’s five pages long, wtf.  so it’s under a readmore to save your dashboard)

Fanfiction Questions

Fandom Questions

 1. What was the first fandom you got involved in?

Xenaverse, including Hercules: the Legendary Journeys.  I did PBeM (play by email) role play, and then moved to fanfic, and then slash fanfic.

2. What is your latest fandom?

I have three, technically.  Doctor Who, Hannibal, and Gotham

3. What is the best fandom you’ve ever been involved in?

Hannibal.  Fannibals are the best, by 100 miles.  I’m sure there’s bad parts of the fandom, I’ve just never yet run across them.  

4. Do you regret getting involved in any fandoms?

As far as the people go? Highlander.  There was a lot of overlap, at the time, with The Sentinel, both shows I enjoyed.  I just feel like there were a lot of assholes in the Highlander fandom who disliked me and my writing because of the people I was friends with, not because I sucked (and believe me, I did.  I have the fic to prove it.)  

5. Which fandoms have your written fanfiction for?

From my AO3 dashboard:

Smallville --  The Sentinel -- Hannibal (TV) -- Doctor Who (2005) -- Supernatural -- Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- Veronica Mars -- Stargate SG-1 -- Actor RPF -- Charlie Countryman/Spacedogs -- Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling -- Adam (2009)/Spacedogs – Brimstone -- Supernatural RPF  -- Stargate Atlantis -- Yami No Matsuei | Descendants of Darkness -- The Fast and the Furious (2001) -- Sherlock (TV) -- The Blair Witch Project (1999) -- Star Trek: The Original Series -- Sense and Sensibility (1995) --  Law & Order: SVU -- Lost Boys (Movies) -- Watchmen (2009) -- Lost (1) -- Smallville RPF -- Marvel Cinematic Universe (1) --  Gargoyles (TV) -- Dogma (1999)

6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

Oh my fucking God. Okay, here goes:

Xena/Ares and Xena/Autolycus, Xenaverse; Clark/Lex and Lionel/Chloe, Smallville; Jim Ellison/Blair Sandburg, the Sentinel; Hannibal Lecter/Will Graham, Hannibal; Doctor/Rose, Nine/Rose/Jack, Doctor Who; Dean/Sam, Supernatural; Buffy/Spike, Giles/Ethan, Spike/Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Logan Echolls/Veronica Mars, John Winchester/Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars; Jack O’Neill/Daniel Jackson, Stargate SG-1; Ezekiel/Lucifer, Brimstone; John/Rodney, Stargate Atlantis; Muraki x Tsuzuki, Yami No Matsuei; Dom/Brian, the Fast and the Furious; John Watson/Sherlock Holmes, BBC Sherlock; Nigel Lupei/Adam Raki, Spacedogs; Kirk/Spock, Star Trek; Christopher Brandon/Eleanor Dashwood, Sense and Sensibility; Rafael Barba/Olivia Benson, Law & Order SVU; Elisa Maza/Goliath, Gargoyles.

7. List your NoTPs from each fandom you’ve been in.

I don’t really have NoTPs in the fandoms I’ve written in.  I have a few NoTPs in general, though, although I’m not listing them here because wow, would I cause some hurt feelings.

8. How did you get involved in your latest fandom?

I saw the gifsets from The Wrath of the Lamb, and I saw the name Hannibal Lecter being bandied about, and I fell in love because I’ve loved Hannibal Lecter ever since Red Dragon.  I don’t know how I missed out on hearing about the show when it first came out, but holy hell, am I sorry.  I’ve been a Fannibal ever since.  It was the same story with Gotham.  I’d actively avoided Gotham because of the debacle of Smallville, but it was the Nygmobblepot gifs and Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin that finally drew me in.

 9. What are the best things about your current fandom?

Fannibals are fucking awesome, yo.  They’re the best thing about the fandom; hell, they *are* the fandom.  I love them all, every one.  From well-thought out meta to cracked out gifsets to the supportive fanfic community.  It’s amazing.

10.  Is there a fandom you read fic from but don’t write in?

Because I write, I try not to read a lot, because I don’t want to accidentally crib from someone else’s story, or steal someone else’s idea, because I know what it’s like to pour your life into things.

 Ship Questions for your Current Fandom

 11. Who is your current OTP?

Hannibal/Will, Doctor/Rose, and Oswald/Edward

 12. Who is your current OT3?

Nine/Jack/Rose. That’s pretty much it.

 13. Any NoTPs?

None I’ll share.

 14. Go on, who are your BroTPs?

Jim Gordon/Harvey Bullock, and I’m sure there’s more that I can’t think of right now. 

 15. Is there an obscure ship which you love?

I think I’m probably the only person who actually ships it, but John Winchester/Veronica Mars.

16. Are there any popular ships in your fandom which you dislike?

Destiel.  I dislike Destiel with a passion.  Ditto Barisi.  That’s about it.

17. Who was your first OTP and are they still your favourite?

Ares/Strife.  They’re not my favorite by any means, but I still have a huge soft spot for them.  

 18. What ship have you written the most about?

uh, probably Clark/Lex or Jim/Blair, just due to the length of time I was in both fandoms.  

 19. Is there a ship which you wished you could get behind, but you just don’t feel them?

Destiel and Barisi. They’re popular ships shipped by some people I really like, but I just can’t get behind them.  It’s a knee-jerk thing.  I can’t even really voice why I dislike them as much as I do, I just do.

 20. Any ships which you surprised yourself by liking?

Nygmobblepot, actually. I didn’t think I was going to like anything in Gotham, much less the Penguin and the Riddler, but damned if I don’t love it so much I’m actually writing about it as we speak.  

Author Questions

 21. What was the first fanfic you ever wrote?

Detested Sport, it was from a Shakespeare quote, I think, and it was Ares/Strife. I think it’s lost to the world, thank fucking God.

22. Is there anything you regret writing?

Writing?  No.  Sharing? Yes.  It’s called “My Soul’s Imaginary Sight,” and it’s the first time I used an OC, Meravin, who has gone through about a billion evolutions since, and has ended up as a Star Wars OC named Sheridan.  I wish I hadn’t shared it, because while it was a definitely needed step in my development as a writer, it’s such a blatant self-insert Mary Sue that I really regret sharing it.

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

Shoah.  It’s a Sentinel fic, written for one of the “Many Faces Of…” edition of My Mongoose e-zines.  I think it was MFO Jim.  But it’s an AU set during the Holocaust, in one of the concentration camps.  It’s not a particularly cheerful story, and the writing process was terrible.  I did so much research trying to make it honest to the experience that I spent whole evenings crying in chat windows with my friends Lisa and Patt, who basically hand-held me through the worst of it.  But I’m inordinately fond of it, because of the work that went into it, and of how it came out.  It’s not my best writing, by a long shot, but I think it’s probably my most emotional and evocative.

24. What fic do you desperately need to rewrite or edit?

Pretty much everything prior to my Doctor Who fic.  I’m very critical of my earlier works.

 25. What’s your most popular fanfic?

A recent one, Consortio, an ABO Hannigram sort-of Medieval-ish handwavey AU.  

26. How do you come up with your fanfic titles?

Quotations, song lyrics, poetry, Shakespeare, sometimes pulled out of my ass.

 27. What do you hate more: Coming up with titles or writing summaries?

SUMMARIES, JESUS CHRIST, SAVE ME FROM SUMMARIES.

 28. If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story, which story would it be and what would the picture be of?

Dealer’s choice, really. I’d just be thrilled for anybody to pick SOMETHING.  

 29. Do you have a beta reader? Why/Why not?

I do not, although I fear I need one for Gotham.  It’s more a personal choice than anything else.  I’ve got a particular style that doesn’t always mesh well with taking concrit, and while my grammar is very… erratic, at times (stuff it, I love my commas as you can tell), I feel like I should be the arbiter of what I create.

 30. What inspires you to write?

Practically anything. Songs, less often.  TV shows of the source material, obviously.  Movies, sometimes.  Random quotes, what ifs, conversations with friends, AU lists, prompt lists, sentence starters…

 31. What’s the nicest thing someone has ever said about your writing?

It’s from a writer named Mysenia on my fic Consortio:  “All the kudos! Just re-read this story, and I loved it every bit as much as I did the first time :D”  Because that’s honestly the first time anyone has mentioned re-reading something of mine in the comment, and it made me so happy for DAYS

 32. Do you listen to music when you write or does music inspire you? If so, which band or genre of music does it for you?

Actually, it depends on what I’m writing.  If I’m working on writing sex, then I need dance music, which I usually abhor.  I find the Matrix soundtracks work really well, as do Rammstein albums.  If I’m doing emotional/angsty things, then Meat Loaf is my go-to.  Otherwise, it’s kind of a mish-mash.  My music folders are here, on my Google drive, if anyone is really interested in anything I listen to.

 33. Do you write oneshots, multi-chapter fics or huuuuuge epics?

Mostly one-shots, although I’ve been known to do a chaptered fic/series once in a while.

 34. What’s the word count on your longest fic?

7,706 on “The Masks We Wear.”  I’ve got a series of fics that is 35,498, over about fifteen different stories.  Consortio and Kastytis are both chaptered, so they don’t count.  Consortio is 23,088 and Kastytis is 24,706

 35. Do you write drabbles? If so, what do you normally write them about?

Strictly 100 word pieces? Not any more.  I used to write for drabble challenges, but I can never stay within the word limit any more.  If you mean 200 words or less drabble-ishes, then yes, I do write those.  About a lot of things, really.  

36. What’s your favourite genre to write?

I’m kind of fond of first-times, although that’s not a given.  I don’t tend to stick to any one given genre.

37. First person or third person - what do you write in and why?

Third, unless it’s some VERY special occasion.  First person drives me nuts.  I love the Hunger Games books, but seeing things as Katniss gives me hives from time to time.  

38. Do you use established canon characters or do you create OCs?

I’ve done both, actually, although 99% of my OC writing stays private.  Which is sometimes a pity, because I think I’ve written some pretty good shit with some of my OCs.

39. What is your greatest strength as a writer?

I don’t know that I really have one.

 40. What do you struggle the most with in your writing?

Staying in character, finishing what I start.

 Fanfiction Questions

 41. List and link to 5 fanfics you are currently reading:

I’m not reading anything right now.  Except Stephen King’s IT

42. List and link to 5 fanfiction authors who are amazing:

Just five?  @slashyrogue, @damnslippyplanet, @granpappy-winchester, @mummyholmesisupset, @moku-youbi

43. Is there anyone in your fandom who really inspires you?

@bonearenaofmyskull, @crossroadscastiel, @bu0nanotte, @granpappy-winchester, @moku-youbi

44. What ship do you feel needs more attention?

All of them.

45. What is your all time favourite fanfic?

Home and Dry by @moku-youbi

46. If someone was to read one of your fanfics, which fic would you recommend to them and why?

Consortio, or Kastytis. They’re both Hannigram AUs, and I feel like they’re the best examples of my writing style.

47. Archive Of Our Own, Fanfiction.net or Tumblr - where do you prefer to post and why?

AO3 and Wonderful World of Make Believe, where I am woefully behind.  But AO3, because I enjoy having everything in one place, easy to use dashboard and posting interface, and it’s pre-sorted for me.

48. Do you leave reviews when you read fanfiction? Why/Why not?

Mostly I do, because I know how valuable the reviews are to writers.  I try and speak to what I liked best about the story, or how it moved me.

49. Do you care if people comment/reblog your writing? Why/why not?

I don’t want to care, but I do.  I want the validation, dammit.

50. How did you get into reading and/or writing fanfiction?

I eased into it by way of RP.  Play by email was my thing, and I loved reading threads strung together, which was basically fanfiction.  Then a friend of mine introduced me to Ares/Joxer slash, and I’ve just gone from there.  I’ve always written it, as long as I can remember, even though I didn’t know that’s what it was called.  

51. Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!

The one thing I hate in the world of fanfiction is the kind of elitism that is absolutely bullshit. As a writer, if you don’t write the pairing du jour, or the kind of thing that the fandom at large is clamoring for (RPF, AU, ABO, ten thousand other different things) then you don’t get a bit of recognition no matter how good you are.  Hannibal fandom is the first time that I’ve not seen this.  This is the only fandom that I know of where an author can write what they want to write and still be recognized for it.  

#ask box #ask me things #ask meme #everything you ever wanted to know about my writing #but were afraid to ask

[wolveswithhats]

For Salty Fandom Asks (BtVS): Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion? Most disliked arc? Why? Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?

3. Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

Once, I think?They weren’t mutuals or anything, just someone who made really coolgraphics and had a nice variety of fandom content. But they startedgoing in on how Spike was The Actual Worst and I noped right out. Notthat I’m dismissive of his many, many flaws, but he’s so divisive ofa character that if someone dislikes him, they really dislikehim. I’m not interested in preachy, lecturing meta about how liking acharacter Is Wrong. I can make up my own mind, thanks.

Beyondthat, I screen pretty carefully before I follow anyone. Unless arando really catches my eye, I’m probably returning a follow, and ifthey’re following me, we probably have similar tastes. All my mutualsare pretty awesome people.

Ihave blocked so many posts / assholes in the tags though. I don’tcare about your screaming hate boner for Xander Harris. Yournegativity is boring. Bye.

7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?

I’mcoming up blank with anything actually show-related, whether it becharacters or ships or whatnot, so thankfully nothing I truly lovehas been ruined by fandom. So related to ask #3, I guess I’ll say discourse?

Iused to really like character/ship analysis and did my best to keepan open mind, but I’m tired, I’m so tired. It seems to be less adissection based on canon evidence and more of a lecture about why Xsucks or how Y is so much better than Z. I…don’t care. I’ve made upmy mind about characters and ships a loooong time ago and not going to be swayed regardless of how much you kinkshame my tastes.

Withthat said, I still really enjoy general discussion, meta, and fantheories, but it it’s about the ethics of liking a character or anargument that’s been making rounds for the past fifteen years, I wantnothing to do with it anymore. Grandma needs a nap.

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Iwas going to be boringly predictable and say the 22 episode longProzac commercial that is S6, but it’s been so long since I’veactually watched it that I actually don’t have a solid grasp on myfeelings on it. I know it bums me out. It’s also my favorite settingfor fanfic. I don’t know, I’m very divided.

SoI’m going to say the Initiative? I actually really like S4 and thinkit has some of the strongest (and funniest) standalone episodes.But the Initiative arc itself was too large of a concept to bring inout of nowhere (and drop promptly at the end of the season), but alsoreally disappointing in execution. It’s kind of unimpressive for themagnitude of what they’re supposed to be carrying out. Like twentycollege dudes in fatigues in a school gymnasium covered in tarps.Yawn. It could have been a great opportunity to explore the moralityof slaying, demonic personhood, whether experimenting on them wasethical or not if the ultimate goal is to kill them anyway, or ifrehabilitation really was an option. A lot of shades of gray there toreally make Buffy question her job. But no, we don’t really get anyof that, just a season-long obstacle for Buffy’s (superior) slayingmethods, a lame last minute frankenmonster, and a bitchy, ineffectualSpike stand-in for what should be deeper moral themes (sorry, bby, Ilove you but you are so catty and useless in S4).

#look i am still doing these #i'm just taking forever #tuesday night frights

[awintersrose]

Kri-Kee: Could I just ask you for every single letter from the Alphabet Ask you reblogged? ;p If not, A, B, C, D, E, G, H, K, L, M, N, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y. Or however many you want to answer. I'll even try to answer in reverse too, but I might have to submit a post for it.

Haha, gonna do my best! I did omit B, D, J, and M because I answered them in a previous post here.

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed. Sannin OT3 and every combination to be made between them. Madara/Tobirama, Kakashi/Yamato, Kakashi/Sakura, Itachi/Sakura, Suigetsu/Karin, Naruto/Sakura/Sasuke, Yahiko/Konan/Nagato, Kisame/Mei, Kisame/Itachi, Neji/Tenten, and many others. It changes with the wind or whatever good fanart/fanfic I am exposed to.

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will. Have to go outside Naruto for this one, because there is very little I don’t like. Buffy/Angel. There, I said it xD Spike was better. (I won’t argue about this with anyone, it just is what it is)

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what? Maybe my depiction of drunk!Orochimaru in Secret Ceremonials, I don’t know lol.

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom? I don’t know about actively contributing to fandom, but I have been following the Naruto series and fanfic/fanart since sometime in college, so…something like 14 years (oh goodness)

G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it? My OTP is obviously Sannin OT3. I have been lingering outside established fandom since before the term OTP existed, but my old favorites were from Inuyasha -  Miroku/Sango, Sesshoumaru/Kagome

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)? Anime/manga. 

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why? No, not really, but I am pretty good at filtering out what I don’t like.

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc? Sakura. Can we just forget the ending happened and fill in some gaps, letting her be the awesome character she is and not reduced to a lonely housewife?

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.) Hmm…neutral feelings…what are those? Umm…Iruka perhaps. To me, he is in flat out neutral territory on his own and in canon. I like him in fic if he is characterized the right way. Dominant!Iruka is rare, but pretty great. 

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice). Only three? Female characters being awesome, and given as much development and recognition as male characters. AUs and fix-it fics that focus on righting wrongs in the shinobi world, Team 7 and re-established bonds. Fewer ship wars, and an end to ridiculous assertions that consensual relationships between adults are somehow immoral if there is a gap in age, though both parties are adults.

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of? “Never Enough” by Aesthetic Perfection, Orochimaru x Science/Ninjutsu. “I’m not satisfied / It’s all or nothing / there’s no peace of mind for me / And even though I try / My greedy heart is hungry / I’m not satisfied, you see.”

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas). Steampunk Circus AU! Could be fun :D

Q - A fandom you’ve abandoned and why. Fruits Basket, many moons ago. I fell out of step with the storyline after the Akito reveal (which really messed with fan response to a lot of fanfic written well beforehand, including an author I used to beta for) and I never caught up.

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom? Kakashi & Gai

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged) Uzushiogakure being completely matriarchal and matrilineal, and key Uzumaki abilities inherited primarily by the women of the clan.

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending? I think it’s now technically canon, but genderfluid, no-fucks-given-about-gender-roles! Orochimaru is one that I will hold onto for all time.

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites. I’m gonna branch out here: Hisoka Morow from Hunter x Hunter - so terrible, yet amazing, thus I hate him and love him at the same time. Ririchiyo Shirakiin from Inu Boku SS - I relate to her tsundere personality. Willow Rosenberg from Buffy the Vampire Slayer - What’s not to love in a nerdy girl turned badass witch and general force to be reckoned with?

V - Which character do you relate to most? I really don’t know…too many :P

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom. Harems

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom. Arranged marriages, found family, the ‘only one bed’ trope done right :D

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)? Yuri On Ice…I love it but I can’t get too heavily involved in another fandom

#kri-kee #asks #alphabet fandom asks

[officialthiamlibrary]

Welcome to another profile on Behind the Screens, giving you personal insight on who your favorite artists are and what they do when they aren’t wowing you with their creative ability.

This week, we have the pleasure of learning more about Kristina, also know in our circle as Thiamlife. The author of Rivals AU, Anchors, and numerous prompts, she loops us in on her life as a trainer, her writing persona, and her tips for writing angst. 

Kristina! To start us off, tell us something about yourself. The catch: use a sentence, where the word count is either equal to or less than the number of letters in you two favorite Teen Wolf character’s name.

Theo Raeken + Malia Tate = 19: I’m Sporty Spice but can act like Baby Spice, want to be Posh Spice but badass like Scary Spice.

Before the era of Teen Wolf, we found love and OTPs in other shows. What would you say were your first ships, think way back?

Oh lord, um, probably Marissa and Ryan from the O.C., but I also loved the Buffy/Spike/Angel situation.

And, how did you land in the Thiam Family? What about Theo x Liam drew you in?

Honestly, I just stumbled upon it. But it was one of those things where you see it and then it just clicks… like “Where have you been my whole life?” I wasn’t caught up when I saw the first Thiam related thing on my dash and was like hmm interesting and then when I was catching up the whole time I found myself desperately looking for all the subtle Thiam things.

I know we were made to hate Theo, but for some reason I just couldn’t and when I noticed that Liam didn’t either I was completely smitten. I just love how their love never was nor ever will be easy (blame the angst queen that lives inside me). They have to constantly fight and struggle to be with each other. But at the same time it was so blatantly obvious and simple for them to rely on each other even though they may not have realized it. I also just love how protective Theo was over Liam.

If you could build the ultimate paintball/laser tag team from any five characters on Teen Wolf, who would they be and why?

Malia cause she’s a straight badass and I love her. Theo because he likes strategy and has a serious sense of self preservation that would come in handy if the rest of us got taken out. Brett ‘cause damn, that boy is athletic. Corey because he could make us all invisible. And the fifth spot would be a wildcard choice between Chris, Derek, and Deucalion. All three of them bring something to the table and are valuable.

I’m definitely picking up the Sporty Spice feels, for sure! Together, your and Ashlee’s (AJP_37) teams would be an unstoppable force. Let’s shift into your writing. If your writing process was a person, describe him or her? What do they do? Wear? Listen to?

She is unsuspecting. A relatively plain and humble girl, but has a spice about her. It’s in her walk and the way she does her makeup. She loves leggings, off the shoulder sweaters, and having her hair tied up in a messy bun. She likes to listen to edm when she’s feeling light and free, Beyonce when she’s feeling badass, The Neighbourhood and Sam Smith when she wants to chill, and country on warm summer days. She’s a sucker for innuendos and teasing. She’s a gemini in the truest form and has many facets to her personality, but thrives in drama/angst. She’s fiercely loyal and it is extremely easy to make her jealous but she won’t show it unless cornered. She’s always ready to go big but wouldn’t mind going home either.

And your writing Kryptonite? How do you fight it?

My Kryptonite is honestly myself. There are always at least three different directions brewing in my mind in which to take my stories or chapters. Trying to pick one is so difficult and often deters me from completing things. I also am extremely critical of the flow of a piece of work. Sometimes it’s really hard for me to publish things because I know that it could be better but I don’t know how to take it there or don’t want to get rid of I have already written. When I feel like that I read over it a couple times and try to make all the adjustments I can before telling myself that this is how the characters in my head wanted it to happen if I was able to write a whole chapter about it. (Yes the characters in my head dictate where the story goes lol) I also go back and read everyone’s comments just to remind myself that people actually like the story so the new chapter can’t be that much different in terms of audience acceptance.

Do you write novels or short stories with original characters, as well? If so, share one you’re particularly passionate about.  

I do. Although, I haven’t been paying it much attention since I got sucked into the Thiam fandom… whoops. It’s a romance novel about a girl that gets screwed over by her mom and doesn’t want help from anyone in fear that she’ll just be left in the same position. But a man from her past just won’t seem to take no for answer and refuses to let her continue in her struggle. The first chapter is on my Ao3, funnily enough it’s called Wolves and was titled that before I even began to write fanfics.

Characters often find themselves in situations they aren’t sure they can get themselves out of. When was the last time you found yourself in situation like that and what did you do?

I’m actually working on this at the moment. It happens far too frequently to just pinpoint one time… divorced parents that act like children are super fun in case anyone was wondering. Up until recently, I found myself being the tug of war rope between them and don’t know how to say no which ended up with me doing a bunch of things I couldn’t get myself out of. Can now happily announce that I have separated myself from that and hope to avoid those kinds of situations as much as possible from here on out. :) Sorry if that was too personal…

In addition to your prompts and other stories, you’re currently writing two chaptered works. We’d love to learn more about those and your process for bringing them to life. For anyone unfamiliar, can you give us a quick summary of both Rivals AU and Anchors?

Anchors: Liam Dunbar has had enough of being out of control. So he decides to shut his wolf off for awhile… the only problem is it could end up getting him killed. Theo Raeken had never been good with feelings. But he can’t fathom the idea of losing the little beta. So he makes it his personal mission to help Liam find his way back to the supernatural. Lines will be crossed and there may be no coming back from it. Its angsty and the end will have a twist you didn’t see coming.

Rivals: But rivaling teams AU though… Like, they don’t even play the same sports, but both teams don’t take the other really serious and they constantly prank each other and make fun of each other. Theo, captain of the Football team, and Liam, captain of the Lacrosse team, and they both claim they can’t stand each other and it would be all so easy if it weren’t for the fact that both find their counterpart more than just attractive and maybe one of their screaming matches on the field ends with them furiously making out under the shower after everybody else is gone. And maybe it becomes a regular occurrence from then on; first, they fight and bicker and then they make out. And maybe it’s getting harder and harder to pretend they hate each other’s guts because there is far more between them than just attraction. Oh, well, nobody has to know, right? Idea from formerprincess on tumblr. Okay this one is SUPER angsty, like beware.

What inspired you to write both?

Anchors kinda of just popped in my head one day. After Thiamweek and writing drabbles I decided I wanted to try writing a longer story. I fell out of love with it after being accused of plagiarism and honestly almost didn’t continue writing it. But decided that I would just change the end to reflect how the whole thing made me feel.

I saw the Rivals prompt on tumblr and was praying that someone would write it because it sounded sooooo good. The more I thought about it the more ideas I came up with until it got to the point where I was like no! I hope someone hasn’t already started writing it because I would love to take a whack at it. I hope everyone is enjoying what I’ve done with it! (P.S. sorry it has gotten a little dark, that was like rock bottom for both of them and now the only way to go is up :D)

Any scenes, specifically, inspired by your personal life?

Yes, actually. There’s a couple things in Rivals that were inspired by my personal life, mainly a few of the pranks that have been/will be pulled but there are a few other things in there, as well. And as I mentioned above, Anchors will kind of touch on how it felt to be torn down by someone but built back up by the most wonderful people.

They each include a fair amount of angst, what are some ways you get into the headspace to write angst? Do you have any tips for writers who’d like to improve those skills?

Hmmm. Angst is just something that comes naturally to me I guess. I love the way it makes you feel, like you have to stop but yet you keep going because you need to know what happens. It's like when you try to see how long you can hold your breath under water, those last few seconds burn and you know you should come up for air but you want to see if you can actually make it just a couple more. When I sit down to write something angsty I really just try to put myself in the character’s place and describe how I would be feeling but I make sure to tack on aspects from their character. For example, if Liam were to be sitting in the hospital with Theo, I would be freaking out and sad so I write that for Liam but add hints of anger and self-doubt.

So I would definitely suggest placing yourself in the situation and writing how you would react and then think of it from your character’s pov. I also like to write all my angsty scenes at night… it's weird but the darkness and less busy/loud city really help to put me in a ominous mindset. Also, use as many descriptive words as possible!!! Setting the scene for angst is, in my opinion, more important than the actual dialogue. Dialogue can be inserted anywhere but how it’s read or perceived depends on the mood you set for it.

Ok, that is amazing advice! Can we do a practice demonstration? How would you set the scene that use dialogue like, “Whenever you decide you can stand talking to me again, don’t.”

Depends on who’s pov it is. If the character is the one saying that then obviously they are a little angry/hurt. So the words “harshly” “through clenched teeth” “growls” “glared” would be really useful. But also internalizing the feeling. So like “He pushed out through clenched teeth. The words tasted like bitter venom in his mouth. He didn’t care how the boy across from him flinched upon hearing them, he only cared that he had allowed himself to be cut this deeply. He let his shoulders tense as he spun away from him and stalked off angrily to go lick his wounds somewhere else. The cold from the dingy warehouse finally breaking through his supernatural warmth and settling in his bones.” When I’m angry, I’m usually more angry at the fact that I allowed myself to be hurt/affected rather than the actual thing that happened or was said. So that’s how I would spin it if the character was the one saying it. Painting a picture as to why he reacted that way and making sure the reader can picture the look on his face and make them physically tense their own body in response to the words above.

If the character was on the receiving end of those words, I would convey the hurt/’oh fuck’ emotions. This one would be more internalized than the one saying it, so more of a mental reaction is needed here. Again, I put myself in the situation and visualize what I would do/what would be going through my head if I were to have that said to me. Here’s what I came up with: “He recoiled as if he had been backhanded. He didn’t mean to push the chimera that far. This all started out as a silly game but it had quickly morphed into something the both of them weren’t ready for. And now he stood there, frozen in place, and watched as the one person he truly cared about, his anchor, walked away from him in disgust. The room was darker without him, it was colder. Liam shuddered at the raw feelings slamming in to him and at tone of voice Theo had used with him. He hadn’t spoken to him like that since before he was pulled down to hell, Liam almost forgot who the old Theo was… and now he had just brought him back. His face dropped and a pained noise escaped his throat; What had he done?”  

That’s just an angsty version though. It could also be placed in a humorous way. As a joke between Stiles and Theo. Again, set the scene… paint a picture for the readers with descriptive words:

Stiles mumbled under his breath for the fifth time while walking next to him. Theo couldn’t help but smile as they walked through the colorful preserve foliage on this bright autumn morning.

‘Something you want to say to the group Stiles?’ Theo chuckled after hearing yet another mumbled sentence out of the quirky boy who used to be his friend.

‘Not really’ Stiles grumbled which only made Theo’s smile a bit wider.

‘Are you sure? I’m pretty certain I actually heard you say that I had a good idea and that you were somewhat glad I was in the pack.’

Stiles retorted with some half-assed insult that made that rest of the pack giggle from their various positions beside them.

‘On second thought, whenever you decide you can stand to talk to me again, don’t.’

Stiles scoffed and stopped short glaring in to the side of his head making him stop and look back at him. ‘Oh that’s rich. You’re telling ME not to talk to YOU?’ He sputtered incredulously.

Theo smirked and nodded.

‘What the hell, why?’

Theo shrugged his shoulders and glanced over to Scott who was about to lose his shit laughing, same with Malia and Mason. ‘Because you’re extremely invasive and I don’t want you popping up at my house with some crazy plan every 5 seconds.’ He turned and winked at Liam.

‘Our house.’ Liam corrected as he slid up next to Theo brushing his shoulder against Theo’s arm.

Stiles sputtered and pointed at both of them, ‘How dare you! My plans are flawless’ he shouted earning a snort from Lydia and Malia, ‘and you… you… you little ungrateful shit! I practically raised you!’ At this point Mason and Scott were rolling on the wet leaves, tears streaming down their faces from laughter.”

Wow sorry just wrote a drabble and didn’t even mean to… see setting the scene is important! It takes simple dialogue to the next level and makes it a story rather than just a conversation. Hope this helps!

That was extremely helpful with a hearty side dish of entertainment. So while we're all processing how we’re going to write angst forever now, want to slide us any spoilers for things to come in both stories?

Haha, there may or may not be some steamy scenes in one or both of them soon. That’s all I can say for now.

I suppose, for now that has to be enough haha. Finally, what’s next for you? Both in life and in the writing world?

I’m currently in the process of taking over an athletic training company. So my workload has been steadily increasing, even though it may not seem like based off of how active I am on tumblr haha. Luckily, I get to do most of it from home before the actual coaching and teaching that takes place in the afternoon.

As for my writing, sadly I think Anchors is approaching the end… it will always hold a special place in my heart though because it was my first multi-chapter fanfic. Rivals is my number one baby right now and I have ZERO clue what I will do when I finish that. Hopefully I find another awesome prompt that can take Thiam for a ride. Been toying with dabbling in Drarry... but am thinking I’ll leave that one alone so I can just appreciate it as a reader.

My ask and inbox are always open!! I’m always accepting prompts; it may take me awhile to get around to them because of Rivals, Anchors, Secret Santa, and a possible oneshot smut ;) but I always like to take a break from my fics every once in a while to clear my head and get my creative juices flowing again!

Thank you so so much for wanting to interview me and get to know me a little bit more! The Thiam fandom is awesome and I’m so glad to call it my home!

And with that, Behind the Screens (BTS) presents ThiamLife to you! Let’s keep the conversation going; you can respond to any of her answers, ask more questions, send a prompt, or swing by for a chat with Kristina through her Tumblr Ask Box. And to dive into her works, check out her AO3 and Tumblr.

Tumblr: thiamlife

AO3: Mskristinamay

Ask Box: Thiamlife Ask

We’d like to thank her so much for entertaining our questions, especially the angst demonstration! One of our favorite pieces about BTS is the opportunity to learn craft secrets from one another. So thanks Kristina for breaking it down and going above and beyond the question :)

If you fan over a Thiam writer, artist, music mixologist, or video-making mastermind and want to know more about them, send us their usernames at any time. Also, feel free to add questions you’re dying to ask them. And if you, as an artist, would like to be a part of the Behind the Screens series, we’d love to get to know you, as well. 

Until next time!

#thiam #teen wolf #behind the screens #thiamlife #officialthiamlibrary #mod: minna