heroine addict

I finally finished it...

I think I redid it like 4 times, and I still not satisfied with the end result, but to this point I'm tired,

maybe I'll redo it somewhere in the future, who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

monsanto

monsanto

Her smile in the end…

The Gothic Pool of Landa, Burgos, Spain 

I once read a fanfic or fancomic about Zuko (Lee) and Katara (using fake names) who were forced to disguise themselves as a married couple in the Earth Kingdom to survive.

By definition you can't accidentally queerbait. Queerbaiting is specifically using a same sex pair from the show to market the show to queer audiences with no intention of ever following through on a romantic relationship.

There is officially licensed Destiel merch signed off on by Kripke. Teen Wolf had a commercial with the actors for Derek and Stiles draped over each other talking about being "on a ship." Both shows actively used scenes between them as marketing while actively mocking fans for wanting them together. Sherlock has multiple characters refer to Johnlock as a couple, including characters we're supposed to believe are never wrong about human behavior and pushed those scenes in marketing. Then they acted insulted when fans saw them as a couple.

That's queerbaiting.

Done on accident it would just be queer subtext. Done because they had no other choice due to censorship is queer coding.

The specific meaning of the word is really starting to get lost and it's a pretty important one to keep accurate. It describes a very specific phenomenon that was done repeatedly and maliciously for decades and is meant to examine that specifically.

Let’s pray

I also filter by tag within a ship for tropes or relationship to include or exclude them based on what I want to see (and not see).

Mostly you just have to read a lot and participate in the tumblr fandom and be patient as you learn who the writers and artists are and who they reblog and rec. Check the tag on tumblr for your character or ship and be willing to try new authors.

Big bang and other event collection tags on AO3 are also a good place to wade through fics.

I don't do discord but there are fandom discord channels where folks rec fics as well. Ask tumblr moots if they know of discords.

I also qualify what "good" means. Fanfiction is an amateur endeavor often created by newer writers, including ones whose first language isn't English. "Good" for me doesn't include the occasional spelling or grammar error-- if the premise is interesting, the characterization is good, and they're legitimately trying, I want to encourage them to keep writing and growing.

And finally-- if you find an author you like, comment on their fics. Don't just kudos them or bookmark them or worse, say nothing at all. Comments are what encourage authors to keep writing.

"I really liked this," is all you need to say, but I promise you that from an author POV it's discouraging when someone hoovers up your fics and leaves kudos but never takes a half minute to say "I enjoy your writing, thank you for sharing it." It feels shitty to be seen as just content and not as a person who did something time- and thought- consuming who's worth the consideration of an actual, textual "thanks."

Start clicking on those; work out which fandoms attract you, or which writers.

Start checking out those authors, their bookmarks, their rec lists, their accounts, their backlog. If you like the way they've written one pairing, see if they have a theme of pairings and the tropes that go with them. Chances are if you like the way they wrote pairing A/B, you'll probably like the way they write pairing C/D.

Comment and kudos. Let the author know you like their stuff. Bookmark and subscribe. Rec on tumblr and anywhere else you care to be fannishly active.

Keep an eye on the authors you're following and check out their recs, what they get gifted, what they gift to others. Those sorts of things are often interlinked: someone likes pairing A/B and writes pairing A/B for someone else, who also likes pairing A/B and likes other things that maybe you like, too.

There is no FYP on AO3 - it's an archive, not social media.

it’s not weird to love it and comment and leave kudos because the author will probably still see it someday and it will make them happy.

it’s not weird to like said author’s work so much that you want to go look for other fics from them.

it’s not weird to go through the authors profile and look for other fics from the ships you like (or maybe some that you’ll give a chance because you liked the author) and maybe bookmark them for later.

it’s not weird to read these other fics and like them too and comment on them because you actually like them and you want to let the author know.

it’s not weird to read fanfiction from 5, or 8, or 10 years ago and actually enjoy and engage with it because it’s perfectly normal to relate to something that’s less than a decade old!

let’s stop treating fanfiction like they’re instagram posts that stop being interesting in 24 hours! fanfiction is NOT social media, fanfiction is art!!! and art doesn’t get old in one day, one year, or even a decade!

Some of it was written a decade ago. Some of it was written more than a decade ago.

Frankly, IDGAF. I'm enjoying myself, commenting where I see good things, dropping kudos when I'm enjoying it. I'm binging authors' "back catalogues" on AO3 and having an absolute ball.

Not to mention, I've been on the other side of the equation. And it is an entirely different order of feeling!