whatever you do, don't

you've grown to hate this place, this castle gifted to him for war victories. The halls are barren, the garden yet to bloom. The maids are pleasant, but they keep their distance, as if you'll strike. Maybe your husband is the kind to hit. You wouldn't know.

When he looks at you, it's only in short bursts, his eyes suddenly low. There's a long stretch of silence between you and you consider introducing yourself, but decide against it. He knows who you are.

"The maid is drawing me a bath," he says suddenly and a sick feeling pours over you. This day was always coming, but you aren't sure you're ready to lay under a stranger.

"Am I expected to join?" you ask and his nose crinkles.

"No." He steps back and away. His departure is brisk and driven. You retire for the night by yourself and awake alone. Your husband is set to leave again in a few hours; a few soldiers have already gathered in the front garden.

"Don't you wish to give your new wife a goodbye?" one asks, unaware of your open window. "One night and you've already had your fill? Or has she been filled too much?"

"I refuse to believe she is real!" says another. "What kind of woman has worn down our brute and turned him into a family man? Should we expect a gaggle of children in the upcoming year?"

Your husband growls. "You will leave the poor lamb alone. She suffers enough."

That softens you. Just a bit. You rise from you bed and go to the window, leaning out enough to catch the men's attention.

"Until next time."

He watches you, expression caught between more emotions that you can count, then turns his gaze back to his mount. The two men share a look, wide, wide grins on their faces.

(he must have lovers, you imagine. He hasn't touched you; he must be getting his fill with women in other cities, maybe women he actually loves. these are trinkets to keep his wife amused while she wastes away.)

none of the gifts come with a note.

one day a bolt of fabric arrives, yellow and ornate. It's only a small amount, not enough to make a dress, but enough for you to unravel and admire. It's beautiful and clearly expensive, golden threads woven into flowers and vines. Your father was a silk merchant; while you never wore the silks, you can recognize their quality.

the following week, the delicious man rides up on his steeds and presents a letter. The handwriting is rough. Knights that come from the lower class do not have the schooling of highborns; as fair as you know, your husband was born a street rat and worked his way theough the ranks to glory.

-I have been told by my secund that I did not send you enuf fabric for a gown. I do not no these things.

The spelling mistakes screw a smile out of you.

"Wait a moment." You stop the boy before he can leave. "I wish to send something back."

You take your time and use your finest calligraphy, tucking your note in with a handkerchief you had spent the week on. It's fine work-- one that would please even the hardest of hearts.

-Dearest husband,

Please take this handkerchief as a sign of my thoughts.

Your patient and thoughtful wife

A second letter arrives within the week.

-are you cros with me? A scrap of fabric for a scrap of fabric?

The response is what makes you cross. The poor messenger boy has to stay the night while you percolate over a response.

-Dearest, sweetest husband,

A handkerchief is a traditional gesture of affection. I have embroidered the edges by hand, with your last name and your roses, and it smells of my perfume. It is a piece of me for you to carry. If you do not appreciate my kindness or if you think it will turn away your lovers, you may return it. I do not wish it wasted on you.

Your less than patient and less than adoring wife

The poor boy scatters off in the morning and returns a few days later.

tortured wife,

I wil cherish it. I am sory, pour lam. I wil do better.

For example, I think Scum Villian has produced some of the most consistently interesting fic I've ever seen from a fandom and I think that has to do with all the things left open by the narrative. Yuri on Ice on the other hand seems kinda weak as a jumping off point for fic. People have done great stuff with it but theres so much less meat there. Scum villian is not far behind yoi on fic count whilst being so much less well known. I can kinda understand why but struggle to articulate my thoughts. Is it about the content of the work? Interest levels in the work over time? A clear jumping off point that everyone wants to write their take on a la Winter soldier? Hype generation from a large fandom? I know it depends but again, I'd love some porch thoughts, especially from people who've been around longer than me.

--

It should have some interesting hooks but not be too good, and especially not too good at actual prose or other intimidating matters of craft. Delightful but a bit crap is often better at inspiring people than artistic perfection is.

It should have some things left open-ended and/or some plot holes that need explaining and/or a mildly dissatisfying ending. A terrible ending just turns people off, but if canon is too perfect and too complete, that doesn't invite more fic in the canon universe, and it might not even leave any emotional territory you want to cover in an AU.

It helps for the canon material itself to be long and serialized with some breaks for people to speculate and make fanworks. If it's closed, it helps if it's long enough and being introduced to new fans at a pace that ensures a stream of people making their way through it. (This is as opposed to everyone marathoning some 6-episode Netflix thing the same weekend, talking excitedly for a week, then moving on.) Lack of serialization can be somewhat made up for by related works from the same author/studio/whatever or by adaptations coming out and reigniting interest in the canon.

As for SVSSS, a long trickle of new-to-Chinese-media fans keep getting into The Untamed and then into the official translations of MXTX's novels. Some end up funding SVSSS more to their taste and stick around there. The people who just generally like c-novels probably read it years ago and may have contributed to the early fic, but they're also less starved for content, even reading in English, than someone who's just reading official translations. Isekai with some humor that grows a serious plot isn't rare, but SVSSS is Baby's First to a lot of people, and that makes it exciting and somewhere to stick around (as opposed to deciding you like the genre and getting distracted by other instances of it, leaving no time to write fic).

It does help if a canon is well known, but it mostly helps if it's easily accessible and has word of mouth in the right communities. SVSSS isn't that obscure, and The Untamed is not obscure at all.

Most fic fandoms aren't about side randos. However, in a sufficiently big fandom, you will get camps interested in the tennis team from the rival school or whomever. SVSSS has a setting that's new to many of its readers and some side characters who get explored just enough to make people want more. It's also, canonically, an isekai into a bad book, so writing fic is easier than for a serious wuxia story set in actual Chinese history whose author did a lot of research. If you fuck up the magic elements, oh well, bad world building in the original book! And there's no history to fuck up.

SVSSS has Liu Qingge, the hot, pining guy who ends up alone. It has the side ship who are more hilariously terrible and less sweet than the leads if you're into that. It has the fujoshi writing horny RPF in world. It has Yue Qingyuan and his tragic backstory.

I wouldn't say any of this is particularly unusual in the context of novels in this genre, whether this exact genre or the non-isekai ones it's riffing off of, but it's new to a lot of the audience and, new or otherwise, this particular book is easy to hear of and easy to get in English.