Anghraine

I am pretty sure I stole this from meridian_rose! I do love me a fic meme :D

Rules: go to your AO3 account and find the following:

1. What rating do you write most of your fics under?

Overwhelmingly general, at 165 out of 222 fics. This isn't that surprising—maybe a bit more than I expected, but I can be a bit skittish about romance for someone who likes it a lot.

2. What are your top three fandoms?

In a totally shocking twist: Star Wars, Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, and Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien. The gap between the first two (tied at 67 fics each) and LOTR (27) is pretty vast, and the "real" #3 was the fandom tag for the SW original trilogy specifically. I know I often feel uncomfortable writing Tolkien fic, much more than Austen or SW, despite writing so much meta about Middle-earth, so again, this isn't a big surprise.

3. What is the top character you write about?

I am extremely sure this one is going to be Darcy!

Yup, it was! He's tagged in 53 fics to Elizabeth's 43, with Luke and Leia following closely at 39 and 34.

4. What are the top three pairings you write about?

The first is, of course, Darcy/Elizabeth, the unbeatable victor of all such contests when it comes to me. It has twenty more fics than the runner-up, which of course is Jyn/Cassian (a big gap, though Darcy/Elizabeth has the advantage of very considerable seniority; I wrote my first D/E fic in 2005, while Jyn and Cassian didn't even exist until 2016). The third most-common romantic pairing in my fics is ... honestly, I think it's got to be Cesare/Lucrezia from The Borgias. I know, I know! And yup, it's got 11 fics, trailing behind platonic Luke and Leia fics (12), Jyn/Cassian (19), and Darcy/Elizabeth (39).

5. What are the top three additional tags?

I wondered if the "always a different sex" tag would hit the top three, but let's see ... actually, no! It's only at #4, following from three rather boring winners. My most common additional tag is "Canon Compliant" (71), "One Shot" (66), and "Drabble" (39). I'm guessing there is quite a lot of overlap between these. The only specific premises or subjects to appear in any of the top ten are the genderbending tags (these days I typically use "Always A Different Sex" but I used to use the vaguer "Gender Changes" tag) and the "Brother-Sister Relationships" tag. If there isn't overlap between the two genderbending tags, together they would actually beat out "Drabble" (the usual tag has 37 fics and the old one 14).

6. Did any of this surprise you?

LOL, not really. I am what I am.

Tagging: croclock, alias_sqbr, sixbeforelunch, elperian, brynnmclean, heckofabecca, incognitajones, and lizbee, if any of you want to do it!

I'm taking a brief break from my dissertation to ... uh, amuse myself by figuring out my readers' ranking of my genderbending fics on AO3.

Rules I'm applying: 1) I'm only including fic verses that are collectively at least 2000 words long because, well, I do have to go back to the diss, 2) verses comprised of multiple fics are ranked according to either the popularity of the series as a whole or the most popular individual fic (depending on which is higher; not combining them because there's a lot of overlap), 3) I'm considering both bookmarks and kudos in my judgment—we'll see if it makes a difference, and 4) I'm ignoring everything with less than 30 kudos and 5 bookmarks.

1. First Impressions | 215 bookmarks | 876 kudos | genderbent characters: Elizabeth Bennet (-> Henry Bennet) and Fitzwilliam Darcy (-> Catherine Darcy)

This is a genderswapped retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in its original period (not really a true "what if"). All stats are specifically for the original (completed) 36k fic. It individually beats out every possible stat for every other fic in the series as well as the series as a whole. (Note: The overall series is 44k words long.)

2. Lucy Skywalker series | 163 bookmarks | 406 kudos (The Jedi and the Sith Lord) | genderbent characters: Luke Skywalker (-> Lucy Skywalker)

This is a genderbent AU that mostly, but not completely, sticks to the rails of canon until the end of the ESB timeline, at which point it swerves into the "real" AU. The Jedi and the Sith Lord is the sequel to The Imperial Menace/the ESB plot, and the third fic in the main series, focusing on the consequences of Vader capturing Lucy. It's technically completed at 70k, but only in the sense that it explores what happens to/with Lucy and Vader until the nature of her captivity fundamentally changes, and everything after that will be a separate fic but hasn't been written yet. Although none of the individual fics have as many bookmarks as the series as a whole, my #2, #3, and #4 most bookmarked genderbent fics are all for the Lucyverse. (Note: the overall series is 129k words long.)

3. Love, Pride & Delicacy | 25 bookmarks | 163 kudos | genderbent characters: Fitzwilliam Darcy (-> Catherine Darcy, for convenience)

This is an actual Elizabeth/f!Darcy "what if" femslash AU rather than a retelling, though a slow one—it's still early in the overall story at 25k. It's also placed in the original P&P setting. There is no wider series.

4. The Lady of Gondor | 25 bookmarks | 119 kudos (we also are daughters of the great) | genderbent characters: Faramir (-> Fíriel)

This is a deeply self-indulgent Aragorn/f!Faramir/Éowyn AU, though it's not only a WIP but split into different vaguely related fics (some of which are also WIPs!) about some aspect of the verse in relation to Fíriel. I think the norms of Gondor and Middle-earth make the gender change particularly significant (in some ways more than any other verse), so actual plot and relationship changes tend to be the focus. The kudos are for the specific linked fic, which is a WIP at nearly 5k and the most Éowyn-centric of them. (Note: the overall series is about 9.5k words long.)

5. The Edge of Darkness | 17 bookmarks | 106 kudos | genderbent characters: Tarrlok (-> Taraka)

This is a genderbent f!Tarrlok AU, though told entirely from Noatak/Amon's perspective, and to some extent more about the impact on him than on Taraka herself (though she's extremely important to the fic). Even more than that, the linked fic is focused on the effect of the change on their family dynamics as children, until teenage Noatak leaves her behind per canon. The fic can look like a retelling à la First Impressions, since the basic plot points don't change, but the larger series is on course to swerve into full "what if" territory as well. However, like First Impressions, these stats are all for the completed opening fic (18k) and not the longer WIP series (32k), which is temporarily paused at the point where 37-year-old Taraka openly identifies Amon as Noatak. CW: child abuse.

6. Blood and Fire | 16 bookmarks | 67 kudos | genderbent characters: Tarrlok (-> Taraka) and Noatak (-> Nataka)

This is a dark(er) AU of The Edge of Darkness in which Noatak/Amon is also genderbent, and the bloodbending siblings never separated. Taraka fled home with Nataka back in the day, they only grew closer (...too close), and although Taraka still ended up on the Republic City council, her true loyalty is to Amon. She promptly turns Korra over when Amon shows up, which is where the fic begins; it's told entirely through Korra's attempts to navigate her circumstances as a prisoner of the Equalists. CW: incest, complicated F/F/F dubcon??? emotional bonding kink with occasional violence yet little overt romance and no sex. I am what I am. The stats are for the completed (though deliberately ambiguous) main fic, which is 10k, and not the side fics or the series as a whole (13k).

7. The Queer Rogue One AU | 12 bookmarks | 57 kudos (the words we've both fallen under) | genderbent characters: Cassian Andor (-> Cassia Andor)

This is, on one level, a relatively straightforward genderbent!Cassian AU that is more or less complete at 13k. The underlying concepts are: a) what if my male fave was a hot lesbian and my ship was f/f and b) what if we headcanon every single member of the main team as queer in some capacity :D and c) the SW universe is so blatantly patriarchal in the films that it's a particularly interesting setting for exploring the effects of the gender change on someone like Cassia, a female revolutionary and spy :D :D. It's a little challenging to properly evaluate where it sits wrt stats because I revised the scattered, vaguely connected scraps of the universe into a single fic through both sentence-level revisions and significant additions, but that revision is only on Tumblr (where the link currently goes to, sorry) and my GoogleDrive, not AO3. It's not even a series in my heart! But it is on AO3. Evaluate as you will, but when I finally get around to converting the AO3 version to the correct format this may or may not change. For now this is where it goes by AO3 stats.

8. Daughters of Númenor series | 5 bookmarks | 33 kudos (the voices of the sea) | genderbent characters: all Númenórean throwbacks in LOTR, but specifically Aragorn (-> Aranor), Faramir (-> Míriel), Denethor (-> Andreth), and Imrahil (-> Imraphel)

As might be guessed, this is an AU where every Númenórean throwback mentioned in LOTR is genderbent (in the backstory, this also includes Ivriniel and Finduilas of Dol Amroth, who become Túrin, Prince of Dol Amroth, and Gwindor of Dol Amroth). It's Aranor/Míriel and definitely focused on them despite the broader change (where Arwen is a non-factor for the OT3 in The Lady of Gondor because she went to Valinor with Celebrían, she actually is present in Middle-earth in this series, though unfortunately very straight). While Fíriel in The Lady of Gondor was never expected to be a warrior and gets on reasonably well with Denethor, this AU is more about the broader effects—so even though we rarely see f!Denethor/Andreth, it's significant that she was a trailblazer as a female warrior, loremaster, and ultimately the first female ruler of Gondor, inadvertently laying a foundation that Aranor could build on later (which would have horrified Andreth herself!). The specific fic with the most kudos in the series, linked above, is a nearly 2k fic about the effect of Faramir's canonical visions on Míriel. (Note: the overall series is currently 3k words long.)

It feels like I'm increasingly seeing posts that are like "a bold and daring thought: what if genre fiction actually is a lesser art form" and "fanfic really is cringe and shallow in a way original, or at least literary, fiction definitionally isn't, as a natural byproduct of the form."

I have many complaints about fandom trends, both generally and specific to certain fandoms. I have always had lots of complaints about these. But I hate this. I hate the snide, snappy versions of this especially, but I also hate the more earnest arguments about how this just naturally arises from the existence of magic or spaceships or the re-purposing of pre-existing characters. I hate the attempts to pass off nostalgia for ye olde SF/F + handwringing over the corruption of the youth/womenfolk/etc as somehow progressive. I hate framing the most absolutely conventionally pretentious arguments about why less "respectable" genres really truly deserve to be disrespected as revolutionary.

There are deeply ahistorical and short-sighted elements to this that I've ranted about before (most recently with regard to fanfic here), and trying to additionally suggest these ideas are dangerous and transgressive and simultaneously so obvious as to be above criticism is so nonsensical. If you want to talk in sweeping generalizations about how SF/F is trash and fanfic is trash, you can do that, but the demand to be welcomed for doing so in fandom spaces and that the entirely predictable result of people getting annoyed just shows how right you are and how defensive fandom is about their unsophisticated tastes is just raw entitlement and elitism. Upsetting people is not a vindication of your position.

( Read more... )

I reblogged prayers and proclamations, a section of my Jyn/f!Cassian fic originally posted on Tumblr on 9 May 2018, then a few days later on AO3.

In 2021, I added:

It’s weird to think this is some two and a half years old, but idk, I was feeling it again today. My girls!

Tagged: #i really should get the master fic all put together—i think it had extra bits

[ETA 3/20/2024: I actually did eventually revise and assemble the various pieces of the fic into a single, more or less coherent one, last year. I haven't backed it up on AO3 yet because I didn't want to delete the nice comments etc on the serialized version that I originally put up on AO3, and I think you're not supposed to duplicate fic there. Still figuring out how to preserve the final version!]

I reblogged a gifset by garethsedwards for an AU where Cassian is an undercover agent among the Partisans at nineteen and meets sixteen-year-old Jyn. I added:

#awww now i'm having persuasion au feelings #this is lovely!

I reblogged a gifset that superimposed the "I'm not used to people sticking around when things go bad" / "Welcome home" Jyn/Cassian interchange from Rogue One over Jyn and Cassian's faces as they cling to each other before dying.

Tagged: #adjkfkj; #okay #the NERVE #of reversing this #in such a perfect way #!!!!!!!!!

brambleberrycottage asked for the headcanon meme:

Cassian and Jyn + ☾ ☠ ☮ ☯ ?

I replied:

☾ - sleep headcanon

When they sleep, Jyn sprawls over him and he puts his arm around her, which looks cute, but privately they’re thinking of how they can protect each other—he’s shielding her back and will see if anything goes wrong, and she’s shielding his chest.

☠ - angry/violent headcanon

Their fights are cold, biting, and resentful, though rare.

☮ - friendship headcanon

They’re in love before they’re really friends, but the two end up comingling, and they end up as bffs who sit in corners and judge people.

☯ - likes/dislikes headcanon

I think they both dislike being expected to perform emotion (Cassian can do it, but it’s a grinding part of his work, not how he naturally is). Their feelings are their own business!

Individually, Cassian dislikes it when people refer to his language as ‘Outer Rim Alderaanian’ or alderés del exterior or whatever. It’s alderés fiesteno, tyvm. Jyn, meanwhile, dislikes being told to do just about anything. She did her time with that.

He really, really likes math and she likes tinkering with various mechanical devices.

I reblogged a Jyn/Cassian gifset by andorjyny, of Jyn and Cassian in Rogue One up to their usual nonsense (read: super shippy moments) and added:

#op this is a good gifset and you should feel good

I reblogged incognitajones's pulse to pulse and added:

#oh i loved this! #it was like all the id candy of soulmates without having to wrap my brain around soulmates

incognitajones's summary:

After nearly dying together on the sands of Scarif, Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor are somehow linked, with painful consequences: able to sense each other’s feelings and thoughts. The only explanation Jyn can think of is that the legendary Force bonds her mother used to tell stories of are real.

Caught up to double digits! This specific challenge is pretty open-ended:

Five Things! The five things are totally up to you. Maybe you want to list your favorite 5 Friends episodes, or your Top 5 fandom friends, maybe you want to list all the Broadway shows you've seen or the 5 Times K-Pop fought global hunger. Go for it. This challenge is the epitome of You Do You (in 5-ish easy steps).

I've actually been thinking about this one for awhile, and while I had a few different vague ideas, I'm going to go with...

Five Favorite Fiction Tropes

In no particular order, some just for fic and some not, and subject to change:

1. Angst -> cathartic happy ending. This can be hurt/comfort, but doesn't have to strictly fit the traditional archetype—the pain can be entirely emotional, or a mix of angst and physical suffering of some kind, or whatever, as long as it's emotionally intense for my faves and then things are made right and looking substantially up by the end. This doesn't need to involve romance (nearly all my Psych fic reading was driven by wanting something terrible happening to Shawn, and Henry feeling really bad and not being a shitty father for more than 2 minutes at a time), but it certainly can (incognitajones's "no grave to bury sorrow in" does a great job of this with Jyn/Cassian).

2. I was talking a bit more about it earlier today, under f-lock, but romantic or intense platonic relationships between people who (when the relationship forms) can expect to live for significantly different lengths of time, or have different aging patterns, or whatever. It just adds a delicious touch of bittersweetness to things. It won't necessarily carry an entire ship for me, but if I already like it ... delicious (I adore both Aegnor/Andreth and Finrod/Andreth for this). I also just like it as a world-building thing, even if I'm not invested in the specific relationship, like in Mass Effect with small details like the random overheard conversation between a young asari (lifespan: ~1000 years) and her aging salarian stepfather (lifespan: ~40 years) as she tries to comfort him.

3. Chosen ones! Yeah, I know, I know. Whatever. I love well-intentioned characters who are just super special for reasons and this has effects (they don't need to be the literal chosen one of the whole story or universe, just very special and cool by fiat, esp if it involves awesome magic powers). Adora has ruled my heart since I was tiny (pretty sure there's a corner of my brain that just has the S5 reboot She-Ra asteroid sequence on constant replay) but my love for this can encompass less centrally chosen characters who are just really special for arbitrary reasons (like book Faramir).

4. My ostensibly cis male fave whose fandom reception is profoundly filtered through gender is now a woman. Or she's a girl, for younger faves, or she's not exactly a woman, but a mixture of feminine-leaning and does not really get gender but rolls with "woman" or "girl" as a useful approximation. Obviously this is partly about personal projection, along with just being something I find interesting to think about (in terms of how the essential personality of the character would be affected by patriarchal norms, mores, heteronormativity, etc). It makes my fave hotter to me personally, it discards the gender filter usually surrounding the character and/or their fandom reception, it mixes up a usually male-dominated cast, and (since I am a creature of spite) it aggravates very annoying people. Wins all around!

5. Quasi-femme fatales: beautiful female characters who are intense, ruthless, usually haunted or damaged by something in their history, and scary to oppose? Yeah, it's a good one, especially if a) they know perfectly well how attractive they are and don't feel the need to use it (possibly they have in the past, but that's not necessary any more, and possibly ever), and b) the narrative has some sympathy for them without them losing their edge.