Fanfic Problems - Tumblr Posts

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my brain trolls me

me: I think this male character is intriguing and want to see how he and his companions would react in a variety of situations, so I'm going to write a fanfic and

my dumbass brain:

KNOCK HIM UP

KNOCK HIM UP

Does anyone else like really like a certain fanfic it’s usually like a short and sweet kind of story that doesn’t come with any other parts or chapters but it’s so good that you wish it did have another part or continuation?😞

This is also my first ever post!

“what are you reading?”

“its a…online book.”

THIS. My god. ALL OF THIS.

There’s always a lingering question that I ask myself, which is why do I, a cis bisexual woman, enjoy romance between two men so much?  

There are easy answers, like that it’s just fetishizing.  And like, I find men attractive, yes.  But I also find women attractive.  I don’t have a problem with enjoying het romance, assuming I can find good ones.  I enjoy stories with female characters I can relate to.

But there’s something much deeper at play, IMO.  A friend of mine who is a gender studies professor was the first person to point this out to me, but a lot of women enjoy m/m romance and gay porn because of the lack of women.  It removes a source of pressure and sexism.  Without any women present, you don’t have to constantly evaluate the sexism of their portrayal, or be reminded of negative experiences in your own life.  It allows women to experience romance and especially sexuality without all the baggage that comes with it in our patriarchal society.

This was recently illustrated to me rather dramatically.  I read a recommendation for a het romance.  And it sounded cute, and came highly recommended.  The tropes at play were fun.  Until I read a snippet and realized this was a romance between a woman and her boss.  I had a visceral negative reaction.  

Instantly I’m thinking of sexual harassment stories I’ve read and heard from other women. I’m thinking of how uncomfortable it would be to have your boss develop feelings for you.  How icky the power dynamics would be, etc.  

And then I realized…this wouldn’t bother me if it were two men.  Now, there’s no logical reason for that.  Sexual harassment is just as wrong when its object is a man.  But I know I’ve read fics with a similar premise and never thought about it.  Because when it’s two men I can accept this is just a light romance, a fantasy, meant to be fun and sexy and not to represent the real world.

But I can’t when it’s a het relationship.  There’s too much baggage there.  Too much societal history of abuse.  I can’t relax enough with the premise to enjoy that story.  

Now some people can.  And that’s fine.  And some people are never going to be okay with power imbalances like that regardless of gender.  That’s also fine.  I don’t think having either reaction makes one morally superior.  It’s okay to just enjoy light entertainment for what it is without going into deep analysis.

But it’s much more difficult for me, and I think for many women, to relax and enjoy romantic and sexual stories when they involve female characters.  We’ve been burned too many times by shitty depictions, by shallow role models, by abuse portrayed as romantic.  We have developed a stress response, a trauma response to heterosexual romance.  We are hyper-reactive to a wide variety of triggers in regards to it.   But removing women from the equation makes stories safer for us.  And maybe it shouldn’t?  In an ideal world?  But for many of us, that’s the truth.

Am I the only one that suddenly gets triggered when a story says SLOW burn! 😂 Angsty as hell I can read but when it says slow burn . . I immediately get actual angst and my stomach twists even thinking about reading it.

The anxiety I get from it is real, maybe it’s from the unpredictable twists and turns and not knowing if it’s ever going to end. Or if they will even get together after their crazy game of avoidance!

It just reminds me of some fanfics where I get so frustrated over it being chapter 89 and they still aren’t together yet! And they are making so many stupid decisions that keep pushing them apart, or they just won’t make the decision to say I like you!! I’m then there getting so damn frustrated and shouting at the character to just say “I want you!” Or “I really like you”

Maybe it’s because it’s never been in me to procrastinate, even though I’m an introvert I will still say I like someone very quickly. I’m not wasting my time playing games, if you don’t like me fine . . at least I can move on from it instead of getting really anxious over it.

I think I don’t like prolonging the torture as it gives me really bad anxiety otherwise ha ha!

Is it just me that gets this feeling? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Shout louder for the people in the back as they need to hear this! 👏🏻

It’s true! And also, if the writers get no engagement it makes them less likely to carry on because they lose heart. That’s why I always comment on the fanfics. And make sure I vote, it doesn’t take five seconds to like it and comment!

So if you want a story to carry on then comment and let the author know you love their fic and want more!

it's so upsetting when ppl complain about not having fics to read but refuse to read wips like ?? this isn't a book store this is a community... the authors are less likely to finish it if y'all only show their work love after it's done...

this isn't a bookstore this is a community

SAY IT LOUDER ANON

i know WIPs can be frustrating because they don't always update constantly or consistently. sometimes they get abandoned. sometimes they go on hiatus for long periods of time.

trust me, i get it. but the fanfic community and fanfic writers thrive on people supporting their works in progress. "there aren't any fics to read" - no there ARE, you're just not reading them.

ao3 isn't netflix. you very rarely get a finished product all in one go that's not a one shot. that defeats the purpose of being able to upload individual chapters at different times.

we as a society are too used to instant gratification and "binging." fanfic wasn't designed for that. if you want to "binge read," go buy a published book. if you want to participate in fandom, support writers who are putting their work out there for free without any compensation other than your love, support, and encouragement.

Go write something yourself if you want a Fanfic so bad! Obviously you can’t 😒

You forget they are writing for FREE! And taking the time out of their lives to write these stories.

You don’t get to just demand shit and be all rude like that 😡

What is wrong with you Anon’s!

Wow…

This is actually the first time I got hate on this app…

I was at first going to type a dramatic ass paragraph responding to this, but I actually took the time and realized that it’s so childish to argue with someone on anon, let alone on the internet.

Sweetie I hope you realize that it’s never that fucking serious for you to have thrown a fit like this. It’s a FANFIC. That I can choose and not to choose to write FOR FREE. You’re acting like you’re paying me or going to pay me to write it.

Go get a life <3

I hate that! I’m like… oh a mature yandere JK and Jimin too, oh and it has angst and smut!

Only to read it and think what Yandere?? It’s not mature?? What angst?? What smut?? And Jimin is mentioned twice 😑

This is the issue with having automatic tags. And I hate it when they don’t put a genre or theme, or a tiny explanation of what’s going to happen.

I’m probably not going to read your story if it doesn’t have a description at the beginning. But PLEASE don’t say it’s something it’s not!

Just know that if you tag your fics with the wrong members on purpose - especially your maknae fics tagged with the hyungline members - I hope your pillow is always warm and that your water tastes mildly weird. Stop tagging incorrectly.

Yes. The thing besides bad grammar that will get me to click out of a fic really quickly is when the female characters who express attraction to or interest in the male main love interest are <i>super annoying</i> or <i>simpering and fawning</i> and don’t know the <i>real guy</i>. Whereas the male main character’s attraction is Soulful and Profound and Respectful. Fuck that shit.

I absolutely hate it when slash fics feel like they gotta tear down the character’s previous relationship with a girl in some way. Like it doesn’t matter if they were canonically having some truly fantastic sex just a few episodes ago, dude’s gonna hook up in the fic with another dude and it’ll be all “it was never this good with HER” or some shit about how it feels more ~right~ somehow.

It’s vaguely biphobic, misogynistic, and invalidates what were often perfectly healthy relationships with women while subconsciously perpetuating the idea that you can’t love more than one person in your lifetime. That girl you were absolutely in love with a few months ago? Yeah that was nice but THIS love with your new boyfriend is obviously SO MUCH MORE REAL.

Why is this necessary? Why can’t you just respect these relationships and the female characters who were an important part of this male character’s life? As a writer, you’re in control of the world you’re building, so they literally pose no threat to you. Grow up.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

smart switch doesn't automatically open the same tabs on the new device that were open on the old device

now I have to individually open each tab on my new phone

I have hundreds of tab groups let alone tabs how am I supposed to do this

Ive already gotten a smile on the new phone and I have almost 550 tabs (I counted) left on my old one

AaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAA

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

smart switch doesn't automatically open the same tabs on the new device that were open on the old device

now I have to individually open each tab on my new phone

I have hundreds of tab groups let alone tabs how am I supposed to do this

Don't you just hate it when you find a fic about your OT3 that has such a good synopsis with an interesting story and appears to have the exactly good amounts of angst and fluff and has tropes you like on tags and when you check it has like. 1 chapter that was posted 2 years ago

I’d like everyone to see this

{Credit to amalasrosa on Twitter}

Trying to find good fics as an incredibly sex repulsed person and feeling sick just reading through the tags sure is something

I've finished the sequel/afterstory for my Binary Star Hero fic- y'know, the one all the fanart I've done was for?- but now I'm delaying posting it because I have this idiotic notion in my head that my fanfics should have cover art for no reason other than the fact that I've been doing it for years. Don't know why I do it, it doesn't accomplish anything, but that awful voice in my head says "this literary work isn't complete without a visual representation of its themes".

Y'all got that dog in you? Well, I got that perfectionist in me and I wish I could take it behind the shed with a shotgun.

Maybe I'll just do the cover later...?

God, that feeling when scenes from your fanfic having been playing in your mind like a movie for weeks, but the second you sit down to write, it's like you've never had a single fucking thought in your life. My brain has undergone a factory reset.

Glad I haven’t dealt with this at all BUT so true!

anonymous reviewer: i don’t like the way you’ve written this character in this fic

me:

We also never got to see the origin's of Shiro's scar. That is one more thing to add to the long checklist I have for the fix-it fic.