“Don’t like, don’t read” is so exhausting because it acts like fandom can only be harmful if people go out of their way to read triggering fanfic. As if it’s all isolated and underground and easy to avoid. Like. I’ve never read a Reylo fic, but if I search for Finn stuff, there it is. If I scroll the TFA tag, it’s there. Fans write “Finn meta” that tears him down to elevate Reylo (shit, journalists do it too). Finnrey shippers and Finn fans are demonized for noticing any of it.
We can avoid it, sure – if we leave fandom. We’re fans, we’re not going anywhere.
Some good points here. The meta bit is pretty distasteful, and just in general I think people shouldn’t tag character hate, or tag a character just because they show up in a fic if they’re not going to be a focus of it.
That said… being upset because you see a ship you don’t like when scrolling through a tag for the whole fandom is maybe a wee bit excessive. ‘cause honestly, if you find it harmful just to know there are people who write your NoTP, then maybe you SHOULD leave that fandom.
You have a right not to have to read content you find upsetting. You do NOT have a right to demand it be so “isolated and underground” that you don’t even have to know it exists.
You have it a wee bit backward. I demanded no such thing. Do I think reylo belongs in the main tags? No, I don’t. It has nothing to do with The Last Jedi, it’s a white fantasy wankfest that buries posts that are about the movie and erases the inclusiveness of the actual trilogy. There’s nothing I can do about that, the Star Wars fandom has always been racist as hell.
But don’t tell me “don’t like don’t read” when it’s everywhere, making just about every tag a shitshow. I DO have the right to say I don’t like it when I can’t avoid it. Don’t like criticism, don’t shove it in my face.
Do you use Xkit or Tumblr Savior?
Those are browser extensions that work with tumblr (i.e. make it goddamn functional for a change) on multiple browser platforms.
You can use the Blacklist feature in Xkit or Tumblr Savior (and for AO3 this works too, with the AO3 Savior extension) to completely block a chosen tag or keyword.
It might show you something was blocked from your dashboard or whatnot depending on the extension but it won’t show you the actual posts with that tag (some people have also managed to set it up – I think in Tumblr Savior specifically? not sure, I stick with Xkit and haven’t fiddled much with this but I think it has a whitelist option too- so that it would whitelist something so that for example a fandom tag would only show up with say, your preferred ships and not any other content, something the Teen Wolf fandom has made heavy use of in rebellion against canon’s apparent queerbaiting turnaround – I say apparent because I’m not in that fandom, but that’s what I’ve seen some people in it say they did).
If you use an extension like this to block the reylo tag/keyword then you should almost never have to sit through those posts on the Force Awakens or Star Wars tags again, if they’ve been tagged with the ship or otherwise include the ship name in their text they should get blocked. 🙂
At worst, you’ll spot a few “blocked based on this keyboard” notifications but they’ll be like a single text line with no post and no content attached other than mentioning what keyboard it was being blocked for.
Options like this are exactly why a lot of people are okay with saying “don’t like, don’t read” because we CAN filter better now – but if you didn’t know these were common options (because why would you? it’s not like they’re official through tumblr, which hates that third parties attempt to make this hellsite functional apparently) then I can understand your frustration. So I hope this reply helps you out with your annoying reylo issue! 🙂 I don’t tend to browse the main tag for TFA or Star Wars, but I really don’t like that ship either (just?? why??) and so I could see how if you’re looking for neutral content and can’t block it, that could be really frustrating
Unfortunately there is no fix for character hate tagged with just the character name though : that’s a matter of individuals tagging accurately, and that’s in turn a matter of internal fandom tagging practices/culture. I’m sad to hear Finn hate is being tagged with neutral tags, that sucks. 😦 If you spot some common lines that get repeated though you might be able to cut down on it with keyword blocking? Again, not a perfect fix, but >_>
Wow, patronizing. Of course I know about and use xkit on the web. Dropped Tumblr Savior years ago. I know how Tumblr works. I’m on mobile 90% of the time, and yes, I know about Washboard, too. All but one of the examples in the op? Xkit doesn’t fix it.
Personally, because of the nature of my blog, I don’t blacklist or block, ever. It’s important for me to see the reality of the fandom. That’s my choice, yeah. It doesn’t make flooding tags with irrelevant ship content reasonable or above criticism. It’s not that I can’t handle all they reylo, it’s that it pisses me off when fanon ships like reylo sideline Black characters. I’ve used blacklisting, and believe me, seeing dozens of “this post has been hidden” posts isn’t any better.
And why is it so damn hard for this particular fandom to be respectful? Kyluxers, regardless of how I feel about the ship, somehow manage not to infest every corner of fandom, on and off Tumblr. I don’t see them harassing SW directors and actors on social media. It can’t be that damn hard.
This isn’t just like, I don’t want to look at Adam Driver’s face. It’s about maneuvering through a fandom for a trilogy that offers inclusion that aggressively prioritizes whiteness.It’s about antiblackness. A band-aid doesn’t help.
I’m someone who does black list things I hate, and I STILL see them! Part of my problems with my current fandom is that there is literally no way to avoid the problematic stuff without leaving it entirely.
And that’s before getting into all the insidious ways in which hate continues to permeate even after you black list the obvious stuff. i.e. My fandom is tremendously racist towards the main character – which would be fine (or, well, tolerable) if people tagged it. But they don’t, because the fanon has spread so far that people think it’s canon, and thus no one thinks to tag it.
Not to mention microagressions. No one is going to tag their fic or write in a warning that “I took the main character’s good traits and gave them to the white leads while giving him all their bad traits” – but that’s exactly what happens.
One of the biggest problems with things like racism, sexism, etc., is that they most often AREN’T intentional – which means people aren’t going to tag for them. The racism will run so deep that people don’t even see it. The hate will run so deep that people don’t even see it. If you don’t see it, you can’t tag for it, so how are you supposed to block it?
“Blocking” problematic content on Tumblr, AO3, or anywhere else, relies on the person generating that content, AND on *everyone* else reblogging that content, to accurately tag it with what you have blocked.
How likely do you think that is to actually happen when people don’t even think they’re doing anything problematic in the first place?
Exactly. People will trigger warning all kinds of things, but not racism, not unless it’s like a screencap of an “alt right” Twitter rant. Tagging their own potentially triggering posts for racism? Doesn’t happen. People can use fandom to cope, unless it’s coping with racism, then it doesn’t really count. What is upsetting to Black fans is just fandom fun. They wouldn’t even think to tag it as racist.
In any event, I’m not going to expend time and energy on helping to create a space that fosters the comfort of fans who make fandom a hurtful place for fans of color who don’t toe the line. They want me to do the work so fandom can be a nice, happy place where racism can flourish while xkit makes me (partially) oblivious of how shitty it really is? Lol no.
For a show so relentlessly depressing, isolating and increasingly incomprehensible, the 100 has inspired some amazing fan art and fiction.
Fairly certain I won’t remember the details of the show itself in ten years, but some of the fan works – I hope many of you go on to conquer the world.
For the anon who requested a favourite line from literature – there are so many and told so often, I don’t want to be cliche about it.
So I had a think and I believe this is truly one of the finest.
“Sneakers with formalwear is fine for Ellen but not for lesser gays like you,” Anya says flatly.
Probably gonna feel dumb in a sec but what is g!p?
g!p: Stands for Girl Peen or Girl Penis
In femslash works, it’s when someone:
takes a fetishized version of a trans woman’s body and uses it as a vehicle, often to write their trans fetishistic smut and/or pregnancy fetish fics through, though sometimes it’s just flat out a non-sexual combo of compulsory heterosexuality, cissexism, and heteronormativity
discards trans experience from their fics, and writes about our bodies in generally incorrect and/or impossible ways, basically showing zero interest in actually representing us, and full interest in misrepresenting us in ways that are directly tied to physical and sexual real life violence against us, purely to sate their sexual fantasies
(also common, but not always present) attaches their pent up baggage and taboo fantasies about cis men (due to compulsory heterosexuality and toxic masculinity) to the g!p characters, which more or less blatantly casts trans women as toxic, sexually predatory cis men. As an example, 50 Shades of Grey and Twilight both featured toxic cis men romantic leads that women in society tend to be conditioned to find attractive…some wlw see trans women and our bodies as close enough to manhood and maleness for them to engage in the compulsory het messages they were taught, so they can have that toxic, powerful/dominant, dangerous person with all the associated power dynamics, PiV sex, and potential pregnancy without necessarily compromising their sexuality so long as they accept trans women as women on a surface level
Characters chosen to be the g!p character in the fic tend to be the more masculine of the women, the more aggressive ones, the taller ones, the ones with more power/status, the more violent ones, the ones with more angular features, the darker-skinned characters, etc. I could list more, but the pattern should be fairly clear.
I’ve written more in detail here, and also have a bunch of links on my education page as well
I know the standard-issue response and defense is ‘don’t like, don’t read’ – aka, leave us alone to have our fantasies that, while, perhaps, not intended to harm anyone, are built off of our (as you point out) willful ignorance, and if you try to educate us, we’ll tell you to back off, none of your business what we do. It’s not about trans women, anyway. It’s about a person with a label I just invented to be conveniently removed from any and all discussion. Censorship! Danger!
Not exactly a supportive attitude toward trans women or discussion or education of their reality or how the pervasiveness of this work affects them in the wider world. The impression is that the writer’s fantasies are more important than trans women’s real lives and they don’t seem to care that there is a price for what they do and they don’t seem to have a clue that other people are paying it (and, keep in mind, so many of them are very young and even admit to having no or limited sexual experience themselves – who/what is informing their fantasy lives? Is that a discussion to have?).
The freedom of the oppressor (even if unintentional) is everything.
I mean, they’re not entirely wrong that fandom is a safe space for them to do that. They willed it to be that way, at the expense of trans women. They’re safe to reproduce transmisogyny and the fetishization of trans women to any length they desire, freely without consequence, as they’re not affected by transmisogyny, and they can very easily shut out the voices of trans women and/or rally people to ignore us and support them. And the fandom, as a whole, allowed that to happen, supported that turn of events, that exclusion of trans women. All the folks who thought “Oh shit, I don’t want to get caught in drama, I’ll just keep quiet and keep enjoying X, Y, and Z big name fanworks creators’ stuff, this isn’t my battle” helped this along just as much as those who actively supported and promoted the g!p trope and pushing trans women out of fandom. We needed help, and only a tiny spattering of allies tried to help push back against the wave of transmisogyny. And then, long after the damage was done, some regretted what they did but made no effort to really change things and repair the damage, generally reverting to the “not my battle, not my problem” mindset. So not a lot of solidarity for trans women in this wlw fandom (or really any other major wlw fandom tbh).
So yeah, they kicked us out of the fandom so they could reproduce harm against trans women freely and without consequence. it’s now a safe space for them, even if it absolutely shouldn’t be.
Many just refuse to admit that simple truth, and get defensive about it, but it’s still the truth. When trans women were reaching out to say “this really hurts us, we wont be able to keep participating if you keep pushing this, it makes you unsafe for us”, folks re-centered the dialogue on ‘trans and nb people’ in general, so they wouldn’t have to listen to trans women, so they could pretend transmisogyny wasn’t involved, so they could rally around all the trans men and afab nb folks that were responsible in the start for promoting the g!p trope, who were ignorant of transmisogyny as a whole. it was willful ignorance, because it was a willful dismissal of our voices so that the only ones they’d hear were the ones they wanted to. People who weren’t trans women.
You’d think that after 3×07 that folks would recognize fandom’s importance as a safe harbour, as a place to escape harmful media representation and gain the support of others who share the love of those characters, those worlds. But it’s just not the case. Too many rush to fandom to flee harmful canon rep, but refuse to accept that their harmful fandom creations can force out others within fandom, who then don’t really have anywhere to go. LGBT+ folks find the majority of our representation within fandom, it’s essentially our version of mainstream media representation since most is subtext and/or baiting-grade material. But many refuse to accept that, and just keep comparing our rep to cishet rep rather than looking at the differing dynamics among the communities.
All in all, I won’t want people to stop writing g!p and other trans fetishistic works because I tell them to. I want them to stop because they recognize the harm it’s doing. And so, so many refuse to see and accept that harm, but it doesn’t make it any less real. And that’s the most upsetting thing…telling someone they’re hurting you, and them insisting repeatedly that they’re not, while continuing to hurt you. All while claiming to be open-minded and caring, which might fool some of our allies, but not us, but I suppose that’s the point. They don’t care about us, it’s just virtue signaling.
And it really sucks that clexa, as a pairing, was kind of really tainted, if not ruined, for a lot of us because of it. it’s a beautiful romance, and it just really hurts that I can’t think of Lexa, can’t dip into her character’s voice, without recalling all the horribly transmisogynistic, trans fetishistic shit that’s been funneled into her character.
Don’t come in OUR space and tell US how to write about people like YOU.
And no one wants to support or engage with anything that someone they perceive as more powerful than they are labels as ‘censorship.’
There are layers to all of this that reflect society as a whole and are, altogether, disturbing and in need of wider discussion.
Oh, the canon issues with clexa differ from the fandom issues with clexa.
Canon issues:
On the show, the showrunner (Jason Rothenburg) and staff aggressively baited the fandom, fueling the fire under the clexa fandom specifically to draw views, acclaim, etc. The fandom grew worried after season 2, because Alycia Debnam Carey (Lexa) was only renewed for a guest role, while she had recently signed on as a lead for an AMC show, Fear the Walking Dead. Generally, networks don’t let their stars play on other networks’ shows, and Alycia only getting contracted on part-time had people thinking she’d get killed off. Rothenburg and staff rushed onto social media to tell us we were idiots to think that, that they had too much respect for the character and the fandom to treat them that way.
They repeatedly, repeatedly said that Clarke and Lexa would both be alive at the end of the season. When worries renewed after Alycia Debnam Carey was absent for nearly half a season’s worth of shooting, Rothenburg made a huge, huge deal about bringing her back in to film in the finale, inviting the fans to come see the scenes get shot in Vancouver, where fans could see Lexa and Clarke embrace and kiss.
The fandom was going wild with joy, and took the CW and Rothenburg and the 100 staff at their word. After all, they had been so reassuring, and so aggressive in their support. As Season 3 progressed, The 100′s social media focused heavily on Clexa, playing up on the recovering, budding romance. They leaked a sex scene that was set to air in episode 7 early, just to get the fans riled up.
And directly after that sex scene in episode 7, they killed Lexa off. Accidentally shot by a bullet not meant for her, a wound in a spot far less lethal than others had suffered in the show, with Clarke (a trained medic/surgeon) present. Lexa died in that episode, and the version of her that showed up in the finale was simply a stored virtual reality version of her.
The clexa fandom blew up in grief, and the show’s social media, cheered the ‘twist’, and claimed that the fandom was taking things too seriously when the LGBT+ fans rightfully lashed out over being baited on a show meant for a teen audience, one far more vulnerable than adults.
Just the way the show treated the fans, the characters…it was hideous and cruel and some of the worst, ham-handed, shoehorned writing I’ve seen on television in my nearly 31 years.
Fandom issues:
In the lead-up to season 3, and the anticipation of a romance involving Clarke and Lexa, a few big names in the fandom (none of whom were trans women, or intersex women) started a “Lexa’s Dick” meme. Prior to this, the fandom’s fan works were were solid. There was a surprisingly low amount of transmisogynistic, trans-fetishistic, intersexist content compared to other wlw fandoms. It’s part of what helped me feel safe to join it when I had, early on in season 2.
Anyways, trans women like myself spoke out against the meme and how it was used to aggressively, joyfully fetishize trans women’s bodies. We were thoroughly, swiftly laughed off. if anything, the pushback against it only seemed to make people celebrate it more. Especially when season 3 started airing and the sexual tension started up on screen. The more that ‘Lexa’s Dick’ stuff spread on social media, the more fanworks of g!p and a/b/o tropes were made. And when lexa was killed off, one of the rallying cries as a means to cope was “Lexa’s Dick”, pushing people to revel in that even while the show was falling apart and had hurt everyone.
There were people crying out against the Dead lesbians trope, the Bury Your Gays trope. There was a huge push to get people aware of how wlw were represented in media, how often they would get killed off directly after validating their relationship, how toxic wlw representation has historically been, etc. etc.
Rightfully so. Media representation is an important fight. nearly all fo the clexa fandom recognized that intimately, having been hurt by it.
But so, so many of those same people refused to acknowledge that they were causing the same abuse against trans and intersex women, by reproducing and reinforcing and celebrating our violently misrepresentative, fetishistic, toxic representation, and refusing to hear us when we spoke out on that. They’d cry over how the media wasn’t listening, the showrunners weren’t listening, how hetero fandoms were vilifying them and just didn’t understand. yet, they’d laugh us off when we’d bring up transmisogyny and trans fetishization, all while propping up monikers and orgs like “LGBT Fans Deserve Better” when they were aggressively dropping the T.
And that momentum behind trans fetishistic, intersexist works has only continued, and now The 100, as a fandom, is not so arguably the most saturated fiction-based wlw fandom when it comes to g!p and a/b/o fanworks. Some of those big names have since recanted their support for the trope, but generally haven’t done anything to work at undoing the damage they helped cause, haven’t done anything to make fandom safer for us.
Even today, some of the biggest names reproducing those works have patreons and paypals and whatever earning them good money each month by exploiting, misrepresenting, and fetishizing trans women, and directing harm against us. Some of them are published authors. Most of them are very well loved in the fandom and nearly no one actually speaks out against them for fear of causing drama, such is the hold that transmisogyny has on it. Apparently, it’s okay for trans women to suffer so long as other marginalized people might benefit. When they claim to be willing to do anything to help except stop harming trans women directly, it’s pretty telling who they deem disposable and not part of the wlw community, regardless of their offhand comments of ‘support’.
I’ve written extensively on this. I’ve a long post here covering most issues, I’ve a shorter one detailing the impact of these works on trans women here, and I’ve got data from g!p fanworks in the clexa fandom here, just to toss out a few things, if you’re ever curious.
I see so much defensiveness on this topic due to the idea that we have freedom of expression (well, depending upon where you live),that fetish-shaming is wrong and so long as the stories are tagged properly, you just have to live with ‘problematic’ content and not read it, if it is not for you. No one is here to parent you and there are no safe places, so don’t even ask for them anymore, kthnksbai. All useful discussion stops here.
Nothing in the OP’s articles (and, if you consider yourself a trans ally, I hope you read with an open heart and mind) call for censorship. Her articles DO point out the inherent transmisogyny, intersexism, and heteronormative bias of these stories (basically presenting Lexa as a heterosexual male in all but name) and how they can relate to perpetuating damaging and hurtful images of trans women in media and, thus, perpetuate violence toward them in real life.
Do we only care about what gets us off and not how it harms other people who are presented as the source of that fetish? Do such stories fetishise abuse? Isn’t this what heterocentric porn has been criticised for for decades?
I’m not blind for the need of many writers to exorcise a demon or two in their writing. Some people write ‘dark fic’ that helps them cope with their own lived trauma. Some people write g!p stories where the g!p character is presented in a positive light, is popular, successful, etc. with the hope that it will help ‘normalise’ being trans or intersex, to give a trans woman a happy ending she probably won’t see in real life (regardless of how problematic the depiction of her body or sexuality might be).
People are going to have their fantasies and write what they will – but I hope we care as much about being educated and honouring the lived experience of other people (and thus truly honour our queer family in its entirety) and not reduce anyone to a truly damaging stereotype, to not bully trans women when they speak out with clarity and conviction over what is happening to them.
The Clexa fandom rose up in rage when they realised they had been manipulated over the use of a damaging stereotype. We refused to back down and sought to educate others and change minds.
Are we not willing to look ourselves in the eye when we do the same to one another? I think this writer has some excellent points to make, I hope others read and absorb all the information and pass it on – build a respectful discussion. We – and our art – can only benefit.
Chapter 5 – Convergence. In which we learn of Raven’s fate, Lincoln’s gruesome discovery and Bellamy’s new job within Mt. Weather Corp. Someone thought lost re-appears and Clarke and Lexa pine for the inevitable.
Please don’t disappear. If you can, please keep a link alive somewhere, even if only to your work (unless there is some personal reason you cannot).
Over the years I’ve probably read thousands of wonderful stories and over the years seen so many writers drop out of sight, even their works have vanished. I know sites like AO3 help, but if you’re ever thinking of deleting or vanishing, please remember your words have affected others, you’ve brought joy and pleasure and comfort and you are just as valid and worthy as anyone who ever wound up on the shelf at a Waterstones or Barnes and Noble. It’s wonderful to be able to revisit you, years later. You matter, what you do matters.
We think about you, we wonder about you and we wish you well.
Sharing this one more time – so much fiction is already disappearing due to lack of readership or interaction – and I’d like to remind you, if you’re thinking of ‘deleting’ – time rolls around and we love to revisit these stories. You will be remembered. Something you did will be remembered. Maybe that person who loved your story isn’t reading it right now, but they might, again. You may find a whole new audience in a few years time.
So I mentioned to a friend that I was confused and a little weirded out that a recent fic I’d posted had more bookmarks than comments. I thought it was odd and sad.
Her response was that she had actually had that experience with most of her recent fics, that it seemed like it was the new norm.
So what gives, guys? Why are people becoming so adverse to commenting that they will to literally everything else other than do that?
My impression is that fan fiction has become just another type of media to consume. YouTube videos, web series, self-publishing, Instagram celebrities, viral marketing, etc. have made it clear that the quality of the end product isn’t the line between professional and amateur. Most people neither know nor care how the creators of what they consume are paid (or not). Ball it all up, and when someone finds a nice fic on AO3, they compliment themselves on the find and note it for later as if it was a niche series on Netflix.
I also find people are leaving comments on the bookmarks, like “note to self this is really good”, “read again when sad”, or “fave fic!”.
But they don’t leave an actual comment or sometimes even kudos, so I don’t know if my work is being enjoyed so I’ve just kind of given up? I mean I gave up for other reasons (theft primarily– always fun finding you work on iTunes for less than a dollar!) But the lack of communication is one of the main reasons fanfic no longer feels worth my time in terms of engaging with my fandoms. And it’s not even so much about wanting praise as just…simple interaction. Fanfic was how you engaged with others in your fandom and got hyped and just…talk to people in the comments? I dunno, I feel I’m shaking my walking cane at my lawn. I just know that while it’s flattering people want to save my work to read again later, it’d be nice if they also said something or at the very least, hit the kudos button.
I try to leave comments on fics I enjoyed, and always when I bookmark them, but sometimes I just dont know what to say. It’s kind of awkward when you can only say a generic “I loved this”
Okay but that ‘awkward’ “I loved this”? Totally not awkward and actually very amazing to receive on a fic. Sometimes, rarely, I will get a comment that says “this comment is extra kudos”, and that’s great too! It shows you are engaging and enjoying the work, even if you don’t know what to say. Cause I mean, I get that. Sometimes you just enjoy things but have nothing specific to say about it, it was nice, it was fun but nothing struck you in a major way, it didn’t make you pause or re-evaluate your life. But you can still say “I enjoyed this!” and the author who gets the email notification will perk up and smile and maybe feel motivated to write more.
Anyone who says they hate “simple” comments (and I have seen a few) that declare enjoyment of their work, are conceited, asinine fools who don’t appreciate what they have.
The end result – these writers and stories will disappear.
I can’t think of how many great Xena stories I read in the day that are now gone for good – and there was no AO3 back then or much of a comment/kudo system, either – and I hate seeing good writing disappear today. Too many just lose confidence when there is nothing returned in exchange. It is wearing – and no way to build community.
So people always wonder why I have such a long time to update things. Partially it’s because of my hectic schedule and intense desire to finish my education and get a job/move on with my life, but mostly it’s things like this:
or this:
or this:
or this:
And it doesn’t stop at AO3. Tumblr followers have many opinions, too:
There are plenty more, but I’m not willing to post them because not all hate was posted anonymously and I’m not out to start shit with anyone anytime soon.
Look, I get constructive criticism. It’s helpful and I appreciate it all. I’ve understood that some things I write are repetitive; I don’t often notice this because a) it’s been too long since my last update and b) I don’t have a beta to read through my work and catch anything that I could have missed/overlooked. I make mistakes when writing, I will admit. Plenty of them. For example, Costia’s husband’s name is Michael, not Lionel (I had forgotten I had already included him previously in the story) and I didn’t catch it until someone pointed it out. This story is fan fiction. It is not published. It is not professional. It is written by someone who has a passion for psychology, mental illness research, and sociological/criminological processes. I want to make it as realistic as possible, but with a story this complex, I don’t always have all the tools. I’m not a psychologist. I’m not and have never met anyone in the army/navy. All of the experiences I write about are based off of documentaries or films or peer-reviewed articles regarding different treatments/lived experiences of war vets.
But most importantly, Sisters is a work of FICTION. It is not real. It will always have elements of fantasy or things that aren’t always realistic. I am telling a story, not doing a longitudinal study or a thesis or a dissertation on the topic.
I am a human being too, and even though I’m “just a writer” I do have feelings. This is a complex, muddled, at times controversial story and I understand that. People get mad over a lot of things in this story (i.e., some hate Anya, some love her, some hate Tris, some love her, etc.) and I like that. If everyone likes it, I’m not doing something right. The best part about writing Sisters is reading the comments and the discussions/debates people have with each other over the characters I’ve written (either defending or accusing them of something).
But on a positive note, the negative responses to Sisters are barely a sliver of the comments/feedback I get, so I think so long as the majority thinks I’m doing okay, I’m gonna keep up with my story the way I want to write it. Anyone is free to take themes from Sisters and write them differently if they don’t agree. I don’t own anything so they’re more than welcome to write it differently if they would like that. I’m just putting my ideas and thoughts on the page and writing it for myself. That’s the foundation of all my writing. I write what I want to see happen, regardless if other people share the same views. I of course take prompts and things like that, but the plot of a story is always my idea only.
Thanks for your feedback, and I hope the next ask you send to someone is a little less hostile and a little nicer. The world is dark enough as it is; the last thing you want to do is ruin someone’s passion just because you dislike something. I apologize that you had to sit through 260k+ words of my “shitty ass story”, and I do hope that when I choose to update again, that you do not read and save yourself from the boredom. I’m sorry that I’m no longer one of your favourite authors.
But quite frankly, seeing as you did this anonymously and not even in a private message, I don’t really give a damn. This is the only “hate-mail” related ask/comment I will answer because they’re draining to reply to and half the time whatever is being written as an answer just enables the sender in the first place.
I’m sorry this has happened to you. This is just wrong from top to bottom. This isn’t ‘criticism’ these are personal attacks. Someone prefers smut to drama? Someone prefers Clarke and Anya without Lexa? Someone thinks Clexa should be endgame and this all boils down to shipping? Someone doesn’t like ‘angst?’ Read something else. To put you down for not catering to their preferences is pure shite. It’s vile, really.
Sisters is an exceptional story – exceptionally-written and developed and I appreciate you taking the time to build a compelling story around these characters and not back down from how difficult that can be. I realise it is based on another film, but how much fan fiction out there is borrowed from another source and barely knows what to do with it (or even acknowledge the source material – I’ve seen blatant plagiarism that no one questioned). Hypocritical to criticise you for doing it when you clearly care so much about doing it well.
Besides, all stories have been told before at one time or another – Brothers is, in many ways, in line with ancient Greek tragedies – so you’re following a good tradition, really.
The Doctor Is Out 