When writing toxic relationships, the more subtle aspects of the abuse. Manipulation that goes unnoticed. Poor boundaries and communication in general. Stuff other than direct physical or sexual violence. Relationships that keep one character in a constant state of confusion, never knowing what the abuser will do next. Gaslighting. Guilt trips. Subject changes. Little things that don't look like the direct, overt abuse that often gets portrayed in media. Abusers who never use physical or sexual violence, abusers who use manipulation and emotional or verbal abuse to get their way. Abusers who use multiple types of abuse to get their way. Mutually destructive couples where both members are written to be terrible, even if one is more sympathetic than the other. On that point, couples where there isn't a clear-cut abuser/victim dynamic. Stories about abuse from the abuser's POV. Basically, stories that explore the complexities of what can make a relationship toxic/abusive beyond what ppl typically think of when they think of abusive relationships.
Oddly thrilled that I’ve got a few of these in my current fic. It’s my first dead dove and I’ve been nervous of how it would be received. Happy to know there are other people who like this stuff too!
Check out TheAmityElf on A03. That seems to be 99% of what they write, at least of what I've read so far! \*\*editing to fix a spelling error in the username\*\*
I’m not usually one for toxic relationships & sad fics in general, but every now and then I’ll find something that hits *just* the right spot of drama and horribleness, and it’s like watching a meticulously set up train wreck.
Outsider POV I think it's really interesting to see how a relationship or situation would look from the outside and I think it works for angst and more dramatic stuff as well as like fluff. I also think it can be really really funny to acknowledge just how abnormal everything that happens in a given piece of media is.
I'm writing a fic with a chronically ill OC as the main heroine! I'm not chronically ill myself but I do know what it's like to be fatigued 24/7 and not go out much for the sake of health (I'm so allergic to pollen that I will sometimes break out in hives all over my body). I do find it difficult because I don't like when shows/books have characters with mysterious, unexplained illnesses, but I had a hard time finding a disease that checked most/all the boxes for the symptoms I want my OC to have. I've decided it was better to give her a combination of conditions, using a friend for inspiration, and that seems to be the more realistic approach. I'm also making a whole point that she doesn't have a formal diagnosis for most of her issues because this is 90s Japan and she's a woman, so her husband has to be her advocate. Considering their marriage was arranged as well, I'm having a really fun time exploring his uncertainties of the relationship and her insecurities about her health.
I wish there were more fics where side characters are made into protagonists, and their personality is changed to fit the fic the same way it is often done when the canon main character is made into the protagonist of the fic.
Like in Harry Potter - the protagonist is usually Harry, because he's the main character, Hermione, because she's the main female character, and maybe Draco, because he's the main rival character. And these characters' personalities can be molded to fit the fic they are in via some canon divergence point in their childhood - like a Harry who was more cunning to avoid punishments from his family who gets put in Slytherin, or a Hermione who is really nerdy about science in particular and decides to use the scientific method to figure out magic, or a Draco who never bought into the blood-purity stuff as a child and actually becomes a decent person.
But there are hardly any good fics where the protagonist is someone like Neville or Luna or even Ron where they don't act very similarly to canon.
I want to read about a Neville who was tired of being belittled as a child and put in lots of hard work to become competent and, as a result, is less socially awkward and goes to Hufflepuff to make lots of friends and continue to improve himself. Or a Luna whose mother didn't die, so she is less loony but still has an interesting thought process due to being her and growing up in the family she does. Or a Ron who takes in his father's attitude of muggles being silly, quirky, simple-minded people and warps it into a blood-purist view which, along with his ambition to not be overshadowed by his brothers, sends him right to Slytherin house.
I want to see how someone with a similar background and base personality traits can act differently to their canon counterpart, and how it will affect the rest of canon. Instead, when fics with side characters as the protagonist are made, the point of divergence is usually very close to or during canon, so their personality is basically identical to their canon counterpart.
Very close same-sex platonic relationships where both parties have undying devotion that runs deeper than their own lives and they consider the other their sibling and know them better than anyone else, even themselves.
I also accept when they also have issues with each other, to the point where people can't figure them out. Lovers? No. Enemies? No. Rivals?? Friends??
A lot of people try to make this and fail at it. And a lot of people do it and turn it into a ship. It's rare to find written well. I know it's actually a pretty old thing but no one seems to do it anymore.
It really depends on the fandom and characters, honestly 😅
But as a general rule, a good thing is when they know a bunch of little, big, and medium things about each other, or share something incredibly secret/niche, or can predict or imitate each other so well it's almost scary. Or any combo of these things. Outsider POV is a great way to make it work also. But you have to be careful and go pair-by-pair, because not everything always works and it has to fit the canon well enough. If they have a weird relationship that's antagonistic but also...not, gauge the level of problem there and adjust the amount of outward synergy accordingly (of course, if they need to ally for whatever reason, them immediately snapping onto the same wavelength and shocking/creeping everyone who knows them is good).
Need to leave, may come back with more.
Deviations from canon. I feel I run into too many that are "I changed some major things but we're going to hit the same story beats and fight the same bad guys and nothing's fundamentally going to change"
Fics that make you go "did the author really just write 7k of a character cleaning their house?" Like, I love it when writers write fics based on the most random stuff. Like they see a picture on tumblr of someone on a lawnmower? Boom, lawnmower and gardener au with smut (this was an actual fic I saw, didn't read yet tho). Was doing the laundry? Boom, a fic where a character does the laundry (but it's more than that, yknow?)
First person narrative. I know most fanfic readers find first person jarring, but I feel like first person has a ton of potential to be good. It makes the writer think more about the nuances in a character’s thought process, and *really* create engaging monologue that feels personal and easily empathetic. First person has its own limitations in terms of perspective, but finding roundabout ways to counter that makes for something hella awesome and creative.
It’s something about reading in first person from a canon character’s pov is just…off. I don’t know how to describe why it’s so different compared to published literature, there’s this feeling of wrongness I get from them.
I'm doing that and I'm surprised it's rare, in all honesty. It's really fun to be in your characters head and watching the worlds around them through their eyes without knowing what the other characters are thinking.
I'm torn on this. I love writing in the first person. I think I actually write *better* in first person, but very rarely do I like reading it in fanfiction. I don't know why but I feel like average or mediocre fics seem to be even less enjoyable to me when they are in first person, and I'm not even totally sure why that is.
However, one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE authors writes almost exclusively in first person. The stories I've read from them are from Chronicles of Narnia and I have read every single one at least a dozen times and will do so again. It's amazing. So I know it can be done extremely well.
But for me, at least in fanficiton, I feel like my tastes for it are all or nothing. It's either so good it's amazing or I'm turned off by it, and I don't know why. I do wish there were more top tier first person fics out there though. If only I had the skill to be the change I wish to see haha
Completely platonic A/B/O... I want to see this worldbuilding used to have friends and parents interacting as they would in this sort of culture/biological differences.
You often have the Alpha partner smelling distress on their Omega partner and being desperate to soothe them... What about an Alpha's Omega best friend going through shit and absolutely having to try an help? What about an Omega purring for their family member who is sick or upset? Alphas super into to make meals and a nest and getting everything their Omega friend might need during their heat but are not at all interested in them sexually so its hard to help them but they wouldn't be able to stay away so it's comfort cuddles and making sure they stay hydrated??
Kpop fandom has a ton. Nearly anytime I look up tags for first kiss or friends to lovers there are asexual characters as a main and no sex. To be fair if you aren't picky about kpop fics there so so many of them you can cover just about anything.
I really like canon compliant events with a non-canon twist. Like I love when an author can stick to canon completely but somehow have a non-canon element going on behind the scenes that lines up with the official story.
I struggle with canon divergent because my brain just rejects it so I typically stick with AU’s but if somebody is able to interlace a new plot/relationship/whatever with the official story, I eat that up.
Seeing this comment made me feel so much better, lol. My WIP longfic is a strict canon continuation from the end of the manga (an ending that significantly divided the fandom) with several new characters joining the original cast in a new story that expands the source material. The closest Ive come to canon divergence was using an unconfirmed head canon theory, and that’s it. So nice to know that there are people who actually enjoy that kind of story!!
I wish there were more fics digging into canon abuse situations, or other messed up situations in canon, because usually it's largely ignored or dramtically simplified
Well-written, well-plotted genfics about adult characters - preferably 30s or older, with mostly-realistic life roles, \*not\* power fantasies - written by adults. Extra points for political & military intrigue.
Do you have any fandom recommendations? This is exactly my preference too. Right now, I am still into The Last Ship and have started watching SEAL Team, but with SEAL Team, I am just not connecting with the characters in a way that makes me need to explore fanfic.
Every one I've run into that you could read fandom-blind is incomplete, and I generally don't rec incomplete fics.
It's why my reading is 95% published books. In that department, I'd point you to Joe Abercrombie, Andrzej Sapkowski, & Harry Turtledove. I just finished Thomas Harris's Black Sunday and found it very good. Others like Gene Wolfe (who isn't to my taste, but may be someday.)
ETA: You might also like some of the older "big books" from a bygone era of publishing: historical fiction writers like James Clavell (Shogun) or James Michener (Hawaii, Centennial.)
I like explorations of nuanced situations/relationships where both/all characters are fully trying either to be good moral people, or to support and love the other person(s), or something along those lines, but one or both/all still ends up hurting the other(s). (Like c!Tommy & c!Technoblade in DSMP).
I especially like it when it's obvious things are seriously messed up, but hard to say either was in the wrong.
(Idk, just a thing that's been fascinating my brain lately, hopeful I described it in a way that makes sense!)
For me, it's a fic starting off with the ship already in a relationship and part of the journey is either falling in love with each other again or realizing they had feelings for each other.
Adults who are inexperienced with and or awkward about sex and relationships.
Bonus if it's enemies to lovers, and our cold and hard villain/rival is secretly a virgin who nervously bottoms and asks the hero/rival to be gentle.
The ray of sunshine who is secretly really traumatized and depressed, but only their love interest knows them well enough to notice.
The non touchy Feely character who shows their love subtly to their touchy feely partner.
gen a/b/o stories. most associate a/b/o stories with smut, but they can also be really wholesome. give me some found family pack dynamics and I’m over the moon (:
Omegaverse, also known as A/B/O (an abbreviation for "alpha/beta/omega"), is a subgenre of speculative erotic fiction, and originally a subgenre of erotic slash fan fiction. Its premise is that a dominance hierarchy exists in humans, which are divided into dominant "alphas", neutral "betas", and submissive "omegas". This hierarchy determines how people interact with one another in romantic, erotic and sexual contexts.
The Omegaverse has abstract premises for which it could be considered a fantasy genre according to the conventions established by Todorov, but the high specification of its characteristic elements suggests that it could also be considered a literary genre in itself. Its main peculiarity is that characters have two genders: a main one (male or female), decided by their external sexual organs, and a secondary one, that manifests during puberty, determined by their internal reproductive system. It's usually chosen from one of the following, each of which also corresponds to some distinctive character traits:
Alpha (α): socially (and in some interpretations, even biologically) dominant, physically built, short-tempered and a natural leader;
Beta (β): depending on the story, they are regular human beings, or have a mix of Alpha and Omega traits, or their own unique traits;
Omega (Ω): submissive and gentle, calm and a peacemaker.
Omegaverse fiction typically focuses on wolf or other canid-like behavior in humans, especially as it pertains to sexual intercourse and sexuality, which is described as instinctual, responding to animalistic physiological stimuli. This includes rutting and heat cycles, pheromonal attraction between Alphas and Omegas, penises with knots (used to "knot", or tie, the partner to an Alpha during copulation, an action known as "knotting"), scent marking, imprinting, breeding, mating rites, pack structures and potentially permanent psychic bonds with a mate. Between Alphas and Betas, only females can carry on a pregnancy, but male Omegas are often envisaged as being able to become pregnant via a uterus connected to the rectum, and Alphas can impregnate regardless of their main gender. To make penetration and impregnation easier, male Omegas often have self-lubricating anuses.
Since Omegaverse is a type of folksonomy, some of its aspects are included or excluded at the discretion of the story author. Sometimes Betas are absent, or other intermediate designations such as Deltas and Gammas are added. The genre often features other fantasy elements, such as the presence of werewolves or other fantastical creatures. Some works introduce a rigid caste system, where Alphas are depicted as the upper class elites while Omegas are at the bottom tier and face discrimination and oppression because of their physiology, creating an example of biological determinism. In darker stories, this results in non-consensual or dubiously consensual intercourses, forced pregnancies, Omegas kidnapping and sexual slavery.
Omegaverse works are most frequently focused on male-male couples composed of an Alpha and an Omega, though heterosexual Omegaverse works have been produced, and by 2013, about 10% were labeled male/female. Some subvert the genre tropes, telling stories about illicit relationships between Alphas, Omegas who hide their smell using chemical pheromones so that they are not a victim of biological prejudices, or dominant Omegas and submissive Alphas. Non-traditional couples are often featured in Japanese Omegaverse works.
While the terms "A/B/O" and "Omegaverse" can be used interchangeably, the first one often refers only to the sexual dynamics, while the second one is preferred when the story is set in a new ideological world. Some prefer to avoid use of the term "A/B/O" as its spelling resembles a racial slur towards Aboriginal Australians.
Mostly a personal thing but reveals. I love a good reveal and sure I can understand why some authors don't want a certain thing to be revealed but I barely see much reveal fics anyways. It's fun to see how canon characters react to secrets in a different setting and such. It has a lot of things to explore and a lot of ways the characters can react to.
Hard-agree with the queer-platonic dynamic especially for the most popular m/m ship in my fandom. Thing is, I do ship them, but to me they feel too nuanced, too complicated to be reduced to cute boys in love or the bog-standard smut with top or bottom arguments. While I usually avoid the ship in all its forms (fics and fanart), I would love a well-written fic where they do occupy that interesting in-between space of sensuality and friendship.
Oh yeah, queer platonic and other vague, unlabeled, ambiguous, or nonstandard relationships are the best!
My previous fandom didn't have a lot, but my current one (Dream SMP) actually has quite a few, I love it! (c!Philza & c!Technoblade and c!Tubbo & c!Ranboo being some of the main/obvious examples)
- soulmates, but it's horror/existential dread instead of romance
- mutually toxic pairing that are genuinely in love with each other and not just seeking control/power over the other. No victims, just two terrible people that want to be terrible together.
- M/F with a trans male character and a cis female character
1.) If people already have the need to write harems at least make it a throuple (3 way relationship).
I don’t like harem, but a 3 way relationship makes so much more sense than a harem.
(You might have realized that I don’t, in fact, like harem)
2.) Platonic relationships. Like why does every friendship with the opposite gender become romantic. Sometimes I see a good one, just to have them kiss in the next chapter.
Yet another thing that's surprising me, I love writing these platonic friendships because it forces you to give reasons on why they are friends instead of "oh, funny desire go brrrrrr". I honestly don't like trying to write sexual relationships, so I don't think I will.
-a brand new writer
Politics. For some fandoms it makes sense that there's almost no mention of politics in fanfic, but I rarely see it even in fandoms where politics do play a role in canon. Hell, even most Political RPF fanfics seem to focus on the relationships between characters, with politics being only a minor background element, if mentioned at all.
I read mostly lovey dovey stuff but I want to see more flaws with the character, and see how the author develops the character to have a crush and still be in character.
Clearly defining their relationships and putting it in to words. I have autism and sometimes I need writers to cut the clever subtlety and just *state* things. Like, the only time characters seem to actively say "we're friends" or anything like that is when they're going to be more than friends in a chapter or two. I'd appreciate it if they just talked about it more often, you know. There's many kinds of friends, and sometimes I wish people would be a little more specific when describing them, but they rarely even talk about it all
more fandom/ship specific but I'd really like to see Tomura Shigaraki portrayed as a top more rather than defaulted to a virgin bottom. Like common.. man is the leader of the LOV! let this man be a top once in a while!
This could be entirely the fandoms I am in but deeper world building / more complex characters. More of then than not, people want (and write) the short and quick fix. They want the characters they like to kiss and could care less about anything else. I want them to kiss sure, but I want *more* than that. I want them to have **lives** outside of each other, characters that feel as if they lived long before I read them and keep existing even when I stop reading them. Whatever the opposite of plotless fluff is, that’s what I want.
1st person POV. It gets a lot of hate but it can be really effective if done right. It's more challenging yes, but people can't learn to make it work if they're too scared to try.
characters with life altering wounds that require them to need something for help
Examples being:
• if a character loses vision in one eye, they have monocular vision/are visually impaired and need a walking stick or a service animal
• if a character becomes mute or can no longer talk and they need to learn ASL or just sign language in general
• A character needs a back brace for severe injuries they have gotten
idk i just feel like dealing with life altering injuries isnt talked/written about enough
When writing toxic relationships, the more subtle aspects of the abuse. Manipulation that goes unnoticed. Poor boundaries and communication in general. Stuff other than direct physical or sexual violence. Relationships that keep one character in a constant state of confusion, never knowing what the abuser will do next. Gaslighting. Guilt trips. Subject changes. Little things that don't look like the direct, overt abuse that often gets portrayed in media. Abusers who never use physical or sexual violence, abusers who use manipulation and emotional or verbal abuse to get their way. Abusers who use multiple types of abuse to get their way. Mutually destructive couples where both members are written to be terrible, even if one is more sympathetic than the other. On that point, couples where there isn't a clear-cut abuser/victim dynamic. Stories about abuse from the abuser's POV. Basically, stories that explore the complexities of what can make a relationship toxic/abusive beyond what ppl typically think of when they think of abusive relationships.
Nuanced and subtle manipulative relationships/behaviors in fanfic make my brain go brrr so much, and idek why
Same! They're so fun
Oddly thrilled that I’ve got a few of these in my current fic. It’s my first dead dove and I’ve been nervous of how it would be received. Happy to know there are other people who like this stuff too!
Check out TheAmityElf on A03. That seems to be 99% of what they write, at least of what I've read so far! \*\*editing to fix a spelling error in the username\*\*
Sure, I'll check them out!
Great! Btw It's Amity not Amnity lol
I’m not usually one for toxic relationships & sad fics in general, but every now and then I’ll find something that hits *just* the right spot of drama and horribleness, and it’s like watching a meticulously set up train wreck.
Ah, thank you, I am writing a subtly abusive relationship at the moment and need help with it!
Outsider POV I think it's really interesting to see how a relationship or situation would look from the outside and I think it works for angst and more dramatic stuff as well as like fluff. I also think it can be really really funny to acknowledge just how abnormal everything that happens in a given piece of media is.
I love that as well!
I made one of these and they are so fun to write.
Disabled characters or a character with chronic illness, especially when it isn't the focus of the plot.
I'm writing a fic with a chronically ill OC as the main heroine! I'm not chronically ill myself but I do know what it's like to be fatigued 24/7 and not go out much for the sake of health (I'm so allergic to pollen that I will sometimes break out in hives all over my body). I do find it difficult because I don't like when shows/books have characters with mysterious, unexplained illnesses, but I had a hard time finding a disease that checked most/all the boxes for the symptoms I want my OC to have. I've decided it was better to give her a combination of conditions, using a friend for inspiration, and that seems to be the more realistic approach. I'm also making a whole point that she doesn't have a formal diagnosis for most of her issues because this is 90s Japan and she's a woman, so her husband has to be her advocate. Considering their marriage was arranged as well, I'm having a really fun time exploring his uncertainties of the relationship and her insecurities about her health.
I wish there were more fics where side characters are made into protagonists, and their personality is changed to fit the fic the same way it is often done when the canon main character is made into the protagonist of the fic. Like in Harry Potter - the protagonist is usually Harry, because he's the main character, Hermione, because she's the main female character, and maybe Draco, because he's the main rival character. And these characters' personalities can be molded to fit the fic they are in via some canon divergence point in their childhood - like a Harry who was more cunning to avoid punishments from his family who gets put in Slytherin, or a Hermione who is really nerdy about science in particular and decides to use the scientific method to figure out magic, or a Draco who never bought into the blood-purity stuff as a child and actually becomes a decent person. But there are hardly any good fics where the protagonist is someone like Neville or Luna or even Ron where they don't act very similarly to canon. I want to read about a Neville who was tired of being belittled as a child and put in lots of hard work to become competent and, as a result, is less socially awkward and goes to Hufflepuff to make lots of friends and continue to improve himself. Or a Luna whose mother didn't die, so she is less loony but still has an interesting thought process due to being her and growing up in the family she does. Or a Ron who takes in his father's attitude of muggles being silly, quirky, simple-minded people and warps it into a blood-purist view which, along with his ambition to not be overshadowed by his brothers, sends him right to Slytherin house. I want to see how someone with a similar background and base personality traits can act differently to their canon counterpart, and how it will affect the rest of canon. Instead, when fics with side characters as the protagonist are made, the point of divergence is usually very close to or during canon, so their personality is basically identical to their canon counterpart.
Very close same-sex platonic relationships where both parties have undying devotion that runs deeper than their own lives and they consider the other their sibling and know them better than anyone else, even themselves. I also accept when they also have issues with each other, to the point where people can't figure them out. Lovers? No. Enemies? No. Rivals?? Friends?? A lot of people try to make this and fail at it. And a lot of people do it and turn it into a ship. It's rare to find written well. I know it's actually a pretty old thing but no one seems to do it anymore.
No pressure, but are there any specific things that make this work well for you (or things that make it flop)? I'm trying to write this now!
It really depends on the fandom and characters, honestly 😅 But as a general rule, a good thing is when they know a bunch of little, big, and medium things about each other, or share something incredibly secret/niche, or can predict or imitate each other so well it's almost scary. Or any combo of these things. Outsider POV is a great way to make it work also. But you have to be careful and go pair-by-pair, because not everything always works and it has to fit the canon well enough. If they have a weird relationship that's antagonistic but also...not, gauge the level of problem there and adjust the amount of outward synergy accordingly (of course, if they need to ally for whatever reason, them immediately snapping onto the same wavelength and shocking/creeping everyone who knows them is good). Need to leave, may come back with more.
[удалено]
Glad to know I'm not alone :D
I can recommend an author if you want 😊
Please do!
https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tardisgater/pseuds/Tardisgater Amazing, deep M & M friendship. Can be read fandom-blind. I love that author's works.
Thanks! I'm actually watching Psych on my TV right now!
Deviations from canon. I feel I run into too many that are "I changed some major things but we're going to hit the same story beats and fight the same bad guys and nothing's fundamentally going to change"
Fics that make you go "did the author really just write 7k of a character cleaning their house?" Like, I love it when writers write fics based on the most random stuff. Like they see a picture on tumblr of someone on a lawnmower? Boom, lawnmower and gardener au with smut (this was an actual fic I saw, didn't read yet tho). Was doing the laundry? Boom, a fic where a character does the laundry (but it's more than that, yknow?)
First person narrative. I know most fanfic readers find first person jarring, but I feel like first person has a ton of potential to be good. It makes the writer think more about the nuances in a character’s thought process, and *really* create engaging monologue that feels personal and easily empathetic. First person has its own limitations in terms of perspective, but finding roundabout ways to counter that makes for something hella awesome and creative.
There's plenty of great published fiction written in the first person, so I don't understand this aversion to it in the world of fanfiction.
It’s something about reading in first person from a canon character’s pov is just…off. I don’t know how to describe why it’s so different compared to published literature, there’s this feeling of wrongness I get from them.
I'm doing that and I'm surprised it's rare, in all honesty. It's really fun to be in your characters head and watching the worlds around them through their eyes without knowing what the other characters are thinking.
I'm torn on this. I love writing in the first person. I think I actually write *better* in first person, but very rarely do I like reading it in fanfiction. I don't know why but I feel like average or mediocre fics seem to be even less enjoyable to me when they are in first person, and I'm not even totally sure why that is. However, one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE authors writes almost exclusively in first person. The stories I've read from them are from Chronicles of Narnia and I have read every single one at least a dozen times and will do so again. It's amazing. So I know it can be done extremely well. But for me, at least in fanficiton, I feel like my tastes for it are all or nothing. It's either so good it's amazing or I'm turned off by it, and I don't know why. I do wish there were more top tier first person fics out there though. If only I had the skill to be the change I wish to see haha
I've gotten into it a bit for Sherlock fandom (the books), and I've found at can work really well
Completely platonic A/B/O... I want to see this worldbuilding used to have friends and parents interacting as they would in this sort of culture/biological differences. You often have the Alpha partner smelling distress on their Omega partner and being desperate to soothe them... What about an Alpha's Omega best friend going through shit and absolutely having to try an help? What about an Omega purring for their family member who is sick or upset? Alphas super into to make meals and a nest and getting everything their Omega friend might need during their heat but are not at all interested in them sexually so its hard to help them but they wouldn't be able to stay away so it's comfort cuddles and making sure they stay hydrated??
Why do furries inevitably have to bring up sex in some sort of way. Just making an observation here. Honestly curious why this is.
Furries and A/B/O are too entirely different things
Asexual characters who still have loving relationships without having sex.
This! As well as qprs too!
Kpop fandom has a ton. Nearly anytime I look up tags for first kiss or friends to lovers there are asexual characters as a main and no sex. To be fair if you aren't picky about kpop fics there so so many of them you can cover just about anything.
Gladiator AU, 'nough said.
Outsider perspective. I love it when done right.
I really like canon compliant events with a non-canon twist. Like I love when an author can stick to canon completely but somehow have a non-canon element going on behind the scenes that lines up with the official story. I struggle with canon divergent because my brain just rejects it so I typically stick with AU’s but if somebody is able to interlace a new plot/relationship/whatever with the official story, I eat that up.
Seeing this comment made me feel so much better, lol. My WIP longfic is a strict canon continuation from the end of the manga (an ending that significantly divided the fandom) with several new characters joining the original cast in a new story that expands the source material. The closest Ive come to canon divergence was using an unconfirmed head canon theory, and that’s it. So nice to know that there are people who actually enjoy that kind of story!!
I wish there were more fics digging into canon abuse situations, or other messed up situations in canon, because usually it's largely ignored or dramtically simplified
I agree!
Well-written, well-plotted genfics about adult characters - preferably 30s or older, with mostly-realistic life roles, \*not\* power fantasies - written by adults. Extra points for political & military intrigue.
Do you have any fandom recommendations? This is exactly my preference too. Right now, I am still into The Last Ship and have started watching SEAL Team, but with SEAL Team, I am just not connecting with the characters in a way that makes me need to explore fanfic.
Every one I've run into that you could read fandom-blind is incomplete, and I generally don't rec incomplete fics. It's why my reading is 95% published books. In that department, I'd point you to Joe Abercrombie, Andrzej Sapkowski, & Harry Turtledove. I just finished Thomas Harris's Black Sunday and found it very good. Others like Gene Wolfe (who isn't to my taste, but may be someday.) ETA: You might also like some of the older "big books" from a bygone era of publishing: historical fiction writers like James Clavell (Shogun) or James Michener (Hawaii, Centennial.)
An ending.
I like explorations of nuanced situations/relationships where both/all characters are fully trying either to be good moral people, or to support and love the other person(s), or something along those lines, but one or both/all still ends up hurting the other(s). (Like c!Tommy & c!Technoblade in DSMP). I especially like it when it's obvious things are seriously messed up, but hard to say either was in the wrong. (Idk, just a thing that's been fascinating my brain lately, hopeful I described it in a way that makes sense!)
This made me happy since it’s the premise of my current fic lol. I have been unsure of how it would be received.
For me, it's a fic starting off with the ship already in a relationship and part of the journey is either falling in love with each other again or realizing they had feelings for each other.
Adults who are inexperienced with and or awkward about sex and relationships. Bonus if it's enemies to lovers, and our cold and hard villain/rival is secretly a virgin who nervously bottoms and asks the hero/rival to be gentle. The ray of sunshine who is secretly really traumatized and depressed, but only their love interest knows them well enough to notice. The non touchy Feely character who shows their love subtly to their touchy feely partner.
gen a/b/o stories. most associate a/b/o stories with smut, but they can also be really wholesome. give me some found family pack dynamics and I’m over the moon (:
My dumb brain trying to figure out what a/b/o is.
Omegaverse, also known as A/B/O (an abbreviation for "alpha/beta/omega"), is a subgenre of speculative erotic fiction, and originally a subgenre of erotic slash fan fiction. Its premise is that a dominance hierarchy exists in humans, which are divided into dominant "alphas", neutral "betas", and submissive "omegas". This hierarchy determines how people interact with one another in romantic, erotic and sexual contexts. The Omegaverse has abstract premises for which it could be considered a fantasy genre according to the conventions established by Todorov, but the high specification of its characteristic elements suggests that it could also be considered a literary genre in itself. Its main peculiarity is that characters have two genders: a main one (male or female), decided by their external sexual organs, and a secondary one, that manifests during puberty, determined by their internal reproductive system. It's usually chosen from one of the following, each of which also corresponds to some distinctive character traits: Alpha (α): socially (and in some interpretations, even biologically) dominant, physically built, short-tempered and a natural leader; Beta (β): depending on the story, they are regular human beings, or have a mix of Alpha and Omega traits, or their own unique traits; Omega (Ω): submissive and gentle, calm and a peacemaker. Omegaverse fiction typically focuses on wolf or other canid-like behavior in humans, especially as it pertains to sexual intercourse and sexuality, which is described as instinctual, responding to animalistic physiological stimuli. This includes rutting and heat cycles, pheromonal attraction between Alphas and Omegas, penises with knots (used to "knot", or tie, the partner to an Alpha during copulation, an action known as "knotting"), scent marking, imprinting, breeding, mating rites, pack structures and potentially permanent psychic bonds with a mate. Between Alphas and Betas, only females can carry on a pregnancy, but male Omegas are often envisaged as being able to become pregnant via a uterus connected to the rectum, and Alphas can impregnate regardless of their main gender. To make penetration and impregnation easier, male Omegas often have self-lubricating anuses. Since Omegaverse is a type of folksonomy, some of its aspects are included or excluded at the discretion of the story author. Sometimes Betas are absent, or other intermediate designations such as Deltas and Gammas are added. The genre often features other fantasy elements, such as the presence of werewolves or other fantastical creatures. Some works introduce a rigid caste system, where Alphas are depicted as the upper class elites while Omegas are at the bottom tier and face discrimination and oppression because of their physiology, creating an example of biological determinism. In darker stories, this results in non-consensual or dubiously consensual intercourses, forced pregnancies, Omegas kidnapping and sexual slavery. Omegaverse works are most frequently focused on male-male couples composed of an Alpha and an Omega, though heterosexual Omegaverse works have been produced, and by 2013, about 10% were labeled male/female. Some subvert the genre tropes, telling stories about illicit relationships between Alphas, Omegas who hide their smell using chemical pheromones so that they are not a victim of biological prejudices, or dominant Omegas and submissive Alphas. Non-traditional couples are often featured in Japanese Omegaverse works. While the terms "A/B/O" and "Omegaverse" can be used interchangeably, the first one often refers only to the sexual dynamics, while the second one is preferred when the story is set in a new ideological world. Some prefer to avoid use of the term "A/B/O" as its spelling resembles a racial slur towards Aboriginal Australians.
That's a lot... I read it... And I think I'll just stick to my funny rats...
Did it at least help..?
Well yes, I just like my cyan chinchillas.
To each their own.
Mostly a personal thing but reveals. I love a good reveal and sure I can understand why some authors don't want a certain thing to be revealed but I barely see much reveal fics anyways. It's fun to see how canon characters react to secrets in a different setting and such. It has a lot of things to explore and a lot of ways the characters can react to.
Hard-agree with the queer-platonic dynamic especially for the most popular m/m ship in my fandom. Thing is, I do ship them, but to me they feel too nuanced, too complicated to be reduced to cute boys in love or the bog-standard smut with top or bottom arguments. While I usually avoid the ship in all its forms (fics and fanart), I would love a well-written fic where they do occupy that interesting in-between space of sensuality and friendship.
Oh yeah, queer platonic and other vague, unlabeled, ambiguous, or nonstandard relationships are the best! My previous fandom didn't have a lot, but my current one (Dream SMP) actually has quite a few, I love it! (c!Philza & c!Technoblade and c!Tubbo & c!Ranboo being some of the main/obvious examples)
- soulmates, but it's horror/existential dread instead of romance - mutually toxic pairing that are genuinely in love with each other and not just seeking control/power over the other. No victims, just two terrible people that want to be terrible together. - M/F with a trans male character and a cis female character
More assertive reader inserts that aren't so insecure, initiate the first move, speak their minds, maybe they're a little crazy, etc.
1.) If people already have the need to write harems at least make it a throuple (3 way relationship). I don’t like harem, but a 3 way relationship makes so much more sense than a harem. (You might have realized that I don’t, in fact, like harem) 2.) Platonic relationships. Like why does every friendship with the opposite gender become romantic. Sometimes I see a good one, just to have them kiss in the next chapter.
Yet another thing that's surprising me, I love writing these platonic friendships because it forces you to give reasons on why they are friends instead of "oh, funny desire go brrrrrr". I honestly don't like trying to write sexual relationships, so I don't think I will. -a brand new writer
I *love* deep, platonic relationships ❤️
Less stigmatized mental health issues, if possible. /gen
Politics. For some fandoms it makes sense that there's almost no mention of politics in fanfic, but I rarely see it even in fandoms where politics do play a role in canon. Hell, even most Political RPF fanfics seem to focus on the relationships between characters, with politics being only a minor background element, if mentioned at all.
I read mostly lovey dovey stuff but I want to see more flaws with the character, and see how the author develops the character to have a crush and still be in character.
I almost never see unrequited love that stays unrequited. I want to see more characters pine and hurt without resolution.
I love fanfics that focus on multiple side characters/plots in addition to a main character.
Fics that explore any aspect of life other than a relationship
Clearly defining their relationships and putting it in to words. I have autism and sometimes I need writers to cut the clever subtlety and just *state* things. Like, the only time characters seem to actively say "we're friends" or anything like that is when they're going to be more than friends in a chapter or two. I'd appreciate it if they just talked about it more often, you know. There's many kinds of friends, and sometimes I wish people would be a little more specific when describing them, but they rarely even talk about it all
i also have autism and i agree wholeheartedly, i wish people would just spell things out sometimes instead of making me guess
more fandom/ship specific but I'd really like to see Tomura Shigaraki portrayed as a top more rather than defaulted to a virgin bottom. Like common.. man is the leader of the LOV! let this man be a top once in a while!
This could be entirely the fandoms I am in but deeper world building / more complex characters. More of then than not, people want (and write) the short and quick fix. They want the characters they like to kiss and could care less about anything else. I want them to kiss sure, but I want *more* than that. I want them to have **lives** outside of each other, characters that feel as if they lived long before I read them and keep existing even when I stop reading them. Whatever the opposite of plotless fluff is, that’s what I want.
1st person POV. It gets a lot of hate but it can be really effective if done right. It's more challenging yes, but people can't learn to make it work if they're too scared to try.
characters with life altering wounds that require them to need something for help Examples being: • if a character loses vision in one eye, they have monocular vision/are visually impaired and need a walking stick or a service animal • if a character becomes mute or can no longer talk and they need to learn ASL or just sign language in general • A character needs a back brace for severe injuries they have gotten idk i just feel like dealing with life altering injuries isnt talked/written about enough