Pure of Heart, Dumb of Ass, Jar of Head

I would say that recreating the characterisation, mood and general vibes of an existing work of fiction is in fact a skill in and of itself that's acquired via practice. A common compliment delivered to fanfiction writers is how well they have captured the spirit of the original work. Inexperienced fanfiction writers fail to do this.

When creating an original character you can, ultimately, say anything about them and now it's canon bcos you created them and you said so. conversely, well, if you are covering a well known song and start playing the wrong notes people will notice immediately.

In addition: a lot of fanfiction, IMO, is in actuality a form of metafictional literary analysis. a story where two characters sit down and talk about their feelings about a canonical event? literary analysis, which is of course a skill. Sometimes fanfiction is bad bcos the writer is not good at interpreting texts.

it might be true that you are annoying or weird or that you do the wrong thing often, but that doesn’t make you unlovable. you are still lovable regardless of how annoying you are or how many weird things you say. people will love you in spite of and even because of the cringe and strange things you do and say.

can the puppet consent to its strings?

can choosing one's programming transform programming into agency?

the paradox of agency

if an automaton enjoys performing the function she was constructed to perform, does pleasure make her free?

is becoming conscious of the mechanism enough to escape it?