Been Scrolling Through Fanfiction, As One Does In Their Spare Time, And I've Noticed An Interesting Trend

Been scrolling through fanfiction, as one does in their spare time, and I've noticed an interesting trend when you get outside characters to punish the 'morally repugnant'. Could be historical, could be the dead, could be a character from another fandom. But it never fits with their crimes.

And I'm not talking about people punishing a genocidal dictator or a rapist or someone who is canonically evil in the original source material, I'm speaking of people who were negligent but still on the side of good. People who are flawed, yes, and those flaws sometimes endanger those around them, but ultimately do the right thing.

And some writers go way over the top that they justify monstrous crimes for 'trusting one person too much' or 'not listening to something frankly outrageous' or 'not fighting hard enough against a person in power'.

I want to clarify, no hate to the writers. Rage fantasies are entirely okay and can be beneficial. I'm not saying that type of content doesn't have a place.

But it's a trend I've noticed, and it's really annoying when I'm trying to find a critique of a character and then read this and see the author's notes where they're all "Yeah, I was going to have them raped/stripped of something intrinsic/tortured/etc., but the other characters need them to not be until they can find an adequate replacement'

Like, good god, we get it. You don't like this character. That doesn't mean your logic isn't disturbing.

I don't know if I'm reading too much into this, but I just find it mildly discomforting. It just gets extreme, ya know? And the actual monsters in canon and in the fanfic, get at most a "then this amazing avenger of justice killed them" in the first couple of lines. And it's, disappointing, I guess. It boils complex characters and situations and relationships into "this ones bad and this ones good"

"aphobia doesn't exist"

bitch literally not that long ago an aroace youtuber animator was insulted by almost half of its community for being it

Definitely. I wonder how people can criticize fanfic when I have seen some absolutely should-not-have-been-published-or-should-have-at-the-very-least-used-a-spellchecker awful books.

I think it's because people actually care about fanfic. Even with the amateurs, you can tell they are having a blast trying it out and that makes it genuinely delightful to read.

reblog if you’ve read fanfictions that are more professional, better written than some actual novels. I’m trying to see something

this whole james somerton thing is really amusing if you, like me, have legitimately never heard of the guy, have never been recommended his videos, and this is your first exposure to him at all. like holy shit did he say that nazis being hot is why americans enlisted during wwii? what the fuck is this smug clown on about and who allowed him to have recording equipment

Oh gods.

december???? what next??? 2024?????

My ancestors, watching me dump an entire stick of cinnamon, two cloves, an allspice berry, and a generous grating of nutmeg into my tea, sweetened with white sugar and loaded with cream, while I sit in my clean warm house surrounded by books, 25+ outfits for different occasions, and 6 pairs of shoes, in a building heated so well I have the windows open in mid-autumn:

Our daughter prospers. We are proud of her. She has never labored in a field but knows riches we could not have imagined.