#surreyality

✨️ Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?: Oooh, I've been lucky and received lots of comments that have brought me great joy over the last 10 years or so. I will share two that I've replied to and one that I haven't yet (I'm really sorry, I swear I'm getting to it.)

• A comment on icebreakers, my DBH AU fanfic, from surreyality: “This is exactly what I've been needing to read out of a suicidal (but not dead) post-game Connor. Not even joking, it hit everything I've been needing to see — Connor still not being strictly happy about living at the end (for all that he's alive), Hank's own tendencies being brought up without suddenly becoming the focal point, all the feels involved in y'know Not Wanting To Be Alive, hell you even had an extra point I didn't know I needed: Connor not going home with sudden new dad Hank like everything's peachy. Sjnsjajnsknfjenfn this was good, this was very good.” (It was very hard to pick just one person from this series, so I hope everyone knows that picking was excruciating! I still read everyone's comments as I'm planning out the second and third chapters. I ended up going with surreyality's because it felt really good at the time I got this comment to know that everything I wanted to get across hit exactly right. My biggest concern with writing that series has been making sure not to downplay depression or suicidal ideation or behavior, and to write both Connor and Hank (who are suffering in different ways) with a level of dignity and respect without one characterization betraying the other. And since I practically inhale Connor-and-Hank-are-family fics, I also didn't want to make it seem like I thought I was better by writing something different. So. Yeah. Lots of relief that I didn't come across as arrogant or disrespectful!)

• A comment on eyewear, my Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V fanfic, from HealerOfLightAndDark: “This. This has made me headcanon that Yuya enjoys glassblowing. He will now have glassblowing as a hobby in all of my stories, even if it's not explicitly stated or focused on. And I'm seriously considering writing a story about glassblower!Yuya. I've already started writing a chapter in my Sea of Love story where Yoko mentions that Yuya has always wanted to try glassblowing, and now I'm thinking about making it more than just a passing comment or a one-chapter focus!” (This one really stuck with me because I've never had anyone say I inspired a headcanon before. :') So like, that combined with the fact that I loooove this author's works and it's about one of my eternal hyperfixations (Arc V) makes this comment all the better.)

• A comment for birds of a feather, my Harry Potter fanfic, from steloiv: “i've been reading this fic for quite a few days now, i took my time reading it because i've been enjoying it so so much. you wouldn't imagine the excitement i had the first time i saw the premise of the fic and i just KNEW that this was going to be a masterpiece that i would thoroughly enjoy. and wow has it been such a ride! the writing is honestly very superb, i keep getting immersed in the world and deep inside harry's thoughts. you write the dialogues very well (especially dumbledore's!), i had felt like i've been reading from the hp books themselves. i've loved every bit of every chapter, how fawkes is the unmistakable symbol of dumbledore's affection and love for harry that dumbledore himself couldn't express because, well, he's dumbledore (and he doesn't express himself that well, does he). i've had a huge hyperfixation for harry and dumbledore when i read the books but i hadn't looked for fics about them until now (partly for fear of dumbledore discourse and mischaracterization too), so this was really such a delight! you've shown harry and dumbledore as i had always thought they would be. i keep on squealing the few times they made physical contact because honestly, i kept on looking for those in the books, and there were SO few of harry and dumbledore touching. i've loved the gentle touches you added in this chapter, and how it seems like dumbledore, this time, had visited harry to enjoy and relax in his company as a reprieve from his headmaster duties (aside from returning the map of course). my favorite bit was in the last chapter with the notion that fawkes comes to harry bcs dumbledore's loyal to him. and it couldn't be any truer too! i've always thought that fawkes is a physical manifestation of dumbledore's thoughts and feelings (as the books also show), and fawkes visits him because dumbledore himself worries for harry's well-being, so it was bound to show too. as a side note, i wanted to visit the fic that you linked in the end notes but it looks like the story isn't available anymore? 😭 it looks interesting too. i'm looking forward very much in what you have in store for the next chapter! book 5 is arguably my favorite book from the series because of the amount of times i've had to reread and reread so much of it. the angst in dumbledore and harry's relationship was the cream on top of the entire book, more so with dumbledore admitting his feelings for harry. i'm looking forward to how the next chapter will progress for them! i really love the premise of this fic, and it was very very in character for fawkes to visit harry for dumbledore. and it was very fitting too, with their relationship in book 6 having been closer in the father-son sense, so dumbledore himself would've wanted to come to harry as himself by then, also noting with the fact that harry, in TURN has now admitted his feelings and loyalty with him. this was a captivating read, from all the harry and dumbledore drought i've been having. thank you so much sharing this!"

(So steloiv has actually left more comments on my other works too, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM. I love this person. I read these comments every week. I am also a piece of shit because I have not answered any of them yet, but that's part of the reason why I wanted to let them know in some way that I have read their comments and I'm so so grateful for them. The other reason I picked this comment is because it's so hard to find people who like Dumbledore or (more crucially) are fans of Harry and Dumbledore's relationship in the books (even in 2024 when things seem to be getting better and I've found so many more people who love writing and talking about the two of them in the last 4 years). Getting this comment was like someone coming to my apartment and leaving flowers we both like at my door. I'm writing birds because I want to, because I want to leave something for the 14-year-old version of me who was once desperately looking for fics just like this. When other people get it, it makes me feel warm.)

That's all for the first question! whew. now to the second!