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Hi everyone,

My dad desperately needs a new van for work. Without it, he cannot support himself.

Anything you can spare will help. And for those earning USD or GBP, because of the exchange rate, a fiver will go a long way.

Actually funny. Not making jokes at other people's expense, not the butt of the joke, just villains that have absurd senses of humour and top-notch intentional comedic timing,

CHARISMA!!! Please, can we have more charming villains, villains that can sway a crowd, villains that get away with things because their too polite, too well-spoken, too funny to possibly to evil.

Respected. Villains whose villainous deeds have led them to success and made them widely respected members of society. To be clear, this isn't respected person who is secretly evil. No. I mean, the bad things they've done are the reason they're respected.

Let them win. Let them win because their plan succeeded. Not because the protagonists fucked up, not by pure luck. Let them earn their victories.

Supporters! Lots of them. The more powerful your villain is, the more supporters they are going to need. If the evil king is unpopular with everyone he's not going to stay king for long. He needs allies, lots of them, especially if he's a tyrant.

Knows how to play the game. Manipulative villains who say whatever they have to to get their way, chose their allies and enemies carefully, bribe and blackmail, play the victim, the hero, or even the innocent when it suits them. Make it hard for your protagonists to convince anyone they are a villain at all.

Cold Steel. Give me villains that don't get angry easy, that laugh things off, that kill because it's efficient and for no other reason.

Clever and creative. Strategists who always have a trick up their sleeve and problem solvers with personal flare.

Show other characters reacting with fear. Nothing rams home how terrifying a villain is quite like watching other powerful characters fall to their knees--fast--when they walk in the room.

Irredeemable despite their tragic backstories. For the love of god people, tragic backstories do not justify a villain's actions. You can have empathy for what they've endured while still expecting them to take responsibility for what they've become.

Unconventionally attractive. Take this however you want. I, for one, would like to see more tortured bad boys who aren't white and shredded. But also, villains whose attractiveness lies in how they talk, their body language and facial expressions, and their outfits. Why do y'all think smirking is such a popular word??

Love. Let them love their spouses, their children, their friends. Not in an abusive way either. Let them have healthy relationships with their still living wives, daughters, sons, comrades in arms etc.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25633723

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25633723

I started a new miniseries: Hero Complex by the amazing and talented Tygermine (Dramione). It'll be updated daily.

You can find it on youtube

On Ao3

Or on spotify

Summary:

Hermione is trying to keep her Menagerie from closing down. In an effort to stop this, she stumbles onto a murder, political games and a missing persons case.

If you wish to take part in any fandom, you need to accept and respect these three laws.

If you aren’t able to do that, then you need to realise that your actions are making fandom unsafe for creators. That you are stifling creativity.

Like vaccination, fandom only works if everyone respects these rules. Creators need to be free to make their fanart, fanfics and all other content without fear of being harassed or concern-trolled for their creative choices, no matter whether you happen to like that content or not.

The First Law of Fandom

Don’t Like; Don’t Read (DL;DR)

It is up to you what you see online. It is not anyone else’s place to tell you what you should or should not consume in terms of content; it is not up to anyone else to police the internet so that you do not see things you do not like. At the same time, it is not up to YOU to police fandom to protect yourself or anyone else, real or hypothetical.

There are tools out there to help protect you if you have triggers or squicks. Learn to use them, and to take care of your own mental health. If you are consuming fan-made content and you find that you are disliking it - STOP.

The Second Law of Fandom

Your Kink Is Not My Kink (YKINMK)

Simply put, this means that everyone likes different things. It’s not up to you to determine what creators are allowed to create. It’s not up to you to police fandom. 

If you don’t like something, you can post meta about it or create contrarian content yourself, seek to convert other fans to your way of thinking.  

But you have no right to say to any creator “I do not like this, therefore you should not create it. Nobody should like this. It should not exist.”

It’s not up to you to decide what other people are allowed to like or not like, to create or not to create. That’s censorship. Don’t do it.

The Third Law of Fandom

Ship And Let Ship (SALS)

Much (though not all) fandom is about shipping. There are as many possible ships as there are fans, maybe more. You may have an OTP (One True Pairing), you may have a NOTP, that pairing that makes you want to barf at the very thought of its existence.

It’s not up to you to police ships or to determine what other people are allowed to ship. Just because you find that one particular ship problematic or disgusting, does not mean that other people are not allowed to explore its possibilities in their fanworks.

You are free to create contrarian content, to write meta about why a particular ship is repulsive, to discuss it endlessly on your private blog with like-minded persons.

It is not appropriate to harass creators about their ships, it is not appropriate to demand they do not create any more fanworks about those ships, or that they create fanwork only in a manner that you deem appropriate.

These three laws add up to the following:

You are not paying for fanworks content, and you have no rights to it other than to choose to consume it, or not consume it. If you do choose to consume it, do not then attack the creator if it wasn’t to your taste. That’s the height of bad manners.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FandomHistory/

I’m so excited to share the entries for the Dramione RomCom Fest: The Sequel! You can find the collection here. All the authors and artists worked hard on their entries, so please be sure to leave them some love!

I want to give a huge thank you to all of the participants! I had a blast hosting this fest and hope you had fun, too.

It’s the 554th of March 2020, and once again it’s time to slip into your favourite zoom-friendly pyjama bottoms and grab your stash of Nerds and Kit-Kats because Merlin Holidays is back in town for Round Eleven! So clear your calendar and get ready to give and receive a wonderful Merlin-flavoured gift these holidays. The schedule for Merlin Holidays 2021 is as follows: Sign-ups open: Monday 13th September, 12pm UTC (Convert to your timezone) Sign-ups close: Friday 24th September, 12pm UTC (Convert to your timezone) Assignments out: Wednesday 29th September Fanworks due: Wednesday 1st December Posting begins: Monday 6th December Things to consider when planning your sign-up:

The time has finally come to announce the authors and awards for this year’s edition of

𝕊𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕤 𝕃𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝔻𝕣𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕖 

Before we go any further, the admin team wants to thank each and every person who submitted a piece for this competition and the members who took the time to read and vote. You have all been heard, and voting was so tough that we wound up with multiple tied categories. Without further ado…

All You Need Is Love - Best Romance

Winner - The Long Way Around - @fractured-fiction

Runner-Up - Cambridge Blue - @charlipetidei​

The Sweetest Thing - Best Fluff

Winner - Knee Socks - @purplesugarquills​

Runner-Up - I Open at the Close - @faeorabel​

Killing Me Softly - Best Angst

Winner - Penance - Frumpologist

Runner-Up - After All This Time and Always - @excluded-narrative​

Best Intimate Moment - Elastic Heart 

Winner - After All This Time and Always - @excluded-narrative​

Runner-Up - A Life Worth Living - @kmd0107​

Runner-Up - Coloured Perceptions - @justalonelywriter​

Runner-Up - The Long Way Around - @fractured-fiction​

Sex & Candy - Best Smut

Winner - The Long Way Around - @fractured-fiction​

Runner-Up - I Really Really Hate You - Maurauve

Whatta Man - Best Draco Characterization

Winner - The Mona Lisa Conundrum - @aetherioswrites​  

Winner - Where The Lost Socks Are… - @tygermine​

Runner-Up - After All This Time and Always - @excluded-narrative​

Runner-Up - I Really Really Hate You - Maurauve

Runner-Up - Penance - Frumpologist

Brown Eyed Girl - Best Hermione Characterization

Winner - Coloured Perceptions - @justalonelywriter​

Runner-Up - The List - MGL_Dramione_Lover

That’s My Story - Best Use of Prompt

Winner - The Mona Lisa Conundrum - @aetherioswrites​

Runner-Up - Cambridge Blue - @charlipetidei​

Runner-Up - I think we’re alone now - @emotionalsupporthufflepuff​

The Perfect Fan - Fan Favourite

Winner - Coloured Perceptions - @justalonelywriter​

Runner-Up - Cambridge Blue - @charlipetidei​

Runner-Up - The Long Way Around - @fractured-fiction​

Whole Lotta Love - Best Triad

Winner - Perfect Picture - FirewhiskySoul

Runner-Up - Caught In Between - BlackCatKitchen

Friends In Low Places - Admin Favourite

Winner -  Cambridge Blue - @charlipetidei​

Runner-Up - The Long Way Around - @fractured-fiction​​

CHECK OUT THE ENTIRE SOUNDS LIKE DRAMIONE 2021 COLLECTION 

Link

A reminder that this is what censorship leads to and that it wasn’t all that long ago when purity culture was going after ships that antis would consider to be “normal” today.

I can’t stress enough how you should not ever, ever mention, hint at or otherwise infer that a fic was commissioned on AO3. I’ve seen accounts get warnings even without a direct Patreon link.