Compo67

Sandra and Kasey revive Canon Fodder with an in-depth look at J2 AU fanfiction—the nuanced space where RPF meets alternate universe storytelling.

Discover handpicked fanfic recommendations from AO3 that explore this beloved (and sometimes controversial) fanfic category, plus insights into how the Supernatural fandom has shaped this creative corner over the years.

Also, hear from two of the authors themselves in this episode with an excerpt from a 2025 interview with @nyxocity and a recent chat Sandra had with @compo67.

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— The Sleeper, Edgar Allan Poe

☆ "I don't forgive people because they deserve it. I forgive them because I'm tired."

☆ "You have exactly ten seconds to explain yourself before I stop caring."

☆ "I've been loyal to people who didn't even know my middle name."

☆ "Don't mistake my silence for peace. I'm planning."

☆ "You called me difficult. I call it knowing exactly what I want."

☆ "I would've burned the whole world down for you. Funny how that works."

☆ "Stop looking at me like you still know me."

☆ "I didn't ask to care this much. Believe me, I tried not to."

☆ "We don't talk about what happened that summer. We just... don't."

☆ "You left like it was easy. I'm still mad about that."

☆ "Next time you disappear, stay gone."

☆ "I've met ghosts with more presence than you right now."

☆ "They smiled and I knew--we were not getting out of this alive."

☆ "You were my favorite bad idea."

☆ "Don't apologize. Just never do it again."

☆ "I trusted you with the quiet parts of me. That was my mistake."

continuing--

⊹ How do they treat people who can't do anything for them? Waitstaff? strangers? people they'll never see again? this is the oldest trick in the book for a reason. It works. How someone behaves toward people with no social utility tells you everything about their actual values versus the values they perform for an audience.

⊹ What's their relationship with their own body? Are they comfortable in it or is it something they carry around like a problem? do they take up space or make themselves small? are they aware of how they look or completely indifferent? Physicality is psychology and most writers forget the body entirely until someone needs to throw a punch.

⊹ What do they lie about and why. Not dramatic plot lies necessarily. the small everyday ones. the things they exaggerate or omit or reframe. Because people don't lie randomly, they lie to protect something. Find what your character is protecting and you'll find what they're afraid of. That fear is the ENGINE!!

⊹ Who did they used to be? not their whole backstory. just: who were they before the thing that changed them. because that person is still in there somewhere, showing up in small ways, wanting things the current version of them would never admit to. The ghost of a former self is one of the most interesting things you can write into a character without ever stating it directly.

⊹ What would make them walk away?? from the goal. from the relationship. from the person they're trying to be. everyone has a breaking point and it should be specific to them, and please not a generic "too much" but the exact thing, the particular betrayal or loss or realisation that would finally be enough. know this even if the story never reaches it.

Your characters are allowed to be bad people. Your story is allowed to have no moral lesson.yyour ending is allowed to be sad. The villain can win. The good person can do something unforgivable. The lovers can destroy each other. You are allowed to write the thing that no one asked for and everything that everyone told you doesn’t work and you are allowed to not explain yourself.