tfa_kink | DISCUSSION/OFF-TOPIC POST

In an Avatar the Last Airbender AU who is Fire/Air/Earth/Water?

Are Jedi's the only benders, are they just super strong benders, or are they masters of multiple elements?

Personally I'm all for a Legend of Korra-esque bending team with Rey being Air, Poe being Fire, and Finn being Earth.

were you looking for the prompt post?

If I had to choose male and/or was having a 'bad decision moment', Kylo. Because he is my manchild trash boyfriend.

Female and/or 'I will survive this liaison without harm', either Rey or Leia. OT Leia is stunning but mature TFA Leia is wise and still beautiful in a melancholy way I tend to be attracted to.

Yes. I'm also someone who tends to enjoy/find interest in the darker side of life, and that's something which generally villains share more than heroes (I might get the odd anti-hero though, which is cool).

This is also why I tend to gravitate to hero/villain ships (to go back to the topic slightly); I might find the hero attractive and an excellent example of saintly shining goodness, but I am also drawn to and identify with the villain. So seeing the two of them form a relationship despite their differences gives me hope. And if it's just angsty one-sided pining fic from the villain's perspective, well I can really relate to that.

I sometimes wonder if I'm the only one who finds TFA Leia more attractive. Then again, I've always had a thing for older women. >_>

Not OP but would this qualify as a prompt? This is like asking about a Harry Potter or Golden Compass AU imo

I like the idea that Jedi=Avatars. It makes sense for there to be more than one on a galaxy scale, though I think a lot of Jedi would only master 2 maybe 3 elements so there could still be a special goal. Maybe there's also more elements in space?

Sith definetly blood bend, use lightening, and suffocate through removing air from people's lungs/throats

I think the first order either has squadrons based off of elements or use supressants
Rey is probably a super powerful chosen one. Like in the beginning she's only using one element (I was going to go with earth, but I could also see air) and then she meets Kylo and taps into the force (like an avatar mode) and whips out some cool fire bending.

I was reading some TFA fic, can't remember what one, but halfway through I realized that I misread the pairing list and those pairs were my LEAST favorite, made me super uncomfortable, and so I left the story. And it sucks, because other than that, it was a REALLY great story. Great character development, beautiful writing, interesting plot, but I couldn't do it.

Which is one of things I hate doing. I hate leaving stories unfinished, but there are some things I can't stand in fics and I give up on them because there's no avoiding it. Not the little things, but major plot points or tropes I can't stand.

I do it with TV shows, too. If there's a sex scene, I tend not to come back to a show. Like, I should LOVE Penny Dreadful, but I can't stand sex scenes on TV or in movies. Same with AHS, I should be completely into the story, but I hate visual rape, and that show is filled with it.

So what are your top things that you can't stand in a fic? Even if the story is so good, the writing beautiful, what's the one thing that sends you for the hills? Or rather, back in search of better fics.

What mogai?

*is

I really dislike the word "cunt" in sex scenes. Maybe it's because I'm ESL and its equivalent in my native language is only ever directed at women? Strangely, I don't mind it so much as a general insult in British comedy. "Quim" is another word that turns me off.

Other things:
- embarrassing dirty talk
- no paragraphs

Can't really think of much else right now.

When the characters start to act more like their fandom counterparts than their canon ones. I don't mind some level of out of characterness in fanfictions. But there is a line that I just can't get pass sometimes. Like Supernatural is painfully bad in this department.

Repetitive smut. I love smut, I do. But I feel like in every fandom I join there is a point where I just get bored with it. Like I feel like I can read these scenes with my eyes closed because they are the same.

Underage/noncon. I've tried it, is a no for me. There are other kinks that I also don't do, but this two tend to be really popular in some fandoms that you can't go to the tag without seen it everywhere.

Attempts to be dark/edgy. I went through an emo phase when I was in middle school. I had to read so many dark/angsty things friends would share with me (abuse/depression/suicide/death/self harm, ect.) I thought they were annoying and overdone then. Now that I'm in my twenties they're even more cringeworthy. I just feel embarrassed for people who say they are into dark things. It's all very fictionpress 'darkness'

Related to that I don't understand the point of sad endings. I read fanfiction for escapism. I'll read actual literature if I want to read something with an emotional impact. I've read one fic ever that actually made me cry at the end, but I was hella high so it probably doesn't count.

Ditto on unrequited love, love triangles that don't end in poly, and break up fics. What's the point? If I want to hear about failed relationships I'll just ask anyone ever to tell me about their life.

BB-8 is a fire bender.

In tone of the 'new canon' backstory books, there's mention of Palpatine being selected and basically groomed by someone to become Emperor. Are they implying it's Snoke??

OP here, I hate issues in presentation too, like paragraphs, stories where the first line has spelling issues or no capitalizations. Or when people use screen play layouts? Like, stop.

I hate the words erection, vag, womanhood, "quivering manhood" bleck. Like if your dick is literally vibrating, get it checked... Or words that describe an orgasm like a soda bottle exploding. Draws me right out.

OP here: I can only spend so much time in a fandom before I feel like I've seen all the gems, you know? If I see one more Destiel fic where Dean sobs or Cas sobs or someone just like bawls? No. Tears, yes, openly sobbing repeatedly throughout the fic? Like, stop. No.

And I agree with underage/non-con. It bothers me really deep down. Non con and dub con are no goes for me. I can't get into the sexiness of no consent...

OP: Yeah, I get that. The scene phase of American youth glorifies this troubled mindset, like no other person can have issues without it being the root of all problems. I see it a lot in self harm fics, where there's actual hormonal reasons for self harm, especially stemming from depression or other chemical disorders, but it get's glorified as this catchall for sad teens. Like, I'm a Stiles fan from Teen Wolf, the amount of fics where he cuts himself because Scott's a dick, just that, no other reason, are so abundant. It's annoying and a little ignorant of mental disorders.

And I agree with sad endings, I don't see the point. Especially when it's sad just to be sad? There are a few that rewrote character deaths, like in SPN, that worked with the show, but I still didn't enjoy it.

Come being spelled 'cum', it makes the author seem like they're in grade school. Same with 'jizz' 'spunk' 'man-juice' etc. Unless it's a character with that as part of their diction of course (Deadpool), in which case it's fine as dialog.

Coming in 'ropes'. Unless it's Spiderman with an unusually placed web-spinner, no.

hee!

Pratchett, and others I can’t think of off the top of my head, write heroes that are more compelling than their villains

It's interesting that you use this as an example, because I completely agree, and one thing I've noticed about some of his characters is how much their flaws and their strengths occupy the same ground, and how easily some of his most compelling heroes might have been villains instead (Granny Weatherwax, anyone? Vimes?). They're good guys because they choose to be good, but there's a lot of darkness in them, and the fact that their choice isn't an easy one is one of the most interesting things about them.

It stands for "marginalized orientations and gender identities."

AYRT. Something only becomes a flawed coping mechanism if it's having a negative effect on a person's life or the lives of others around them*. Surely you respect other survivors enough to let them decide for themselves whether or not that's the case?

*and no, writing fiction that other people don't have to read doesn't count.

Nope, you're not alone. Among other things, there's so much effort being put into handwringing about how to teach potential victims that abuse is bad, and no one gives two fucks about recognizing and stopping perpetrators.

I love this comment so much. Thank you. For me, it is a mix of a lot of things. Some of which you mention and some of which I haven't entirely figured out yet.

I apologize (and warn) for the following overly self-indulgent soapbox comment.

I was around eleven or twelve when I watched The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) for the first time. Afterwards I cried for Tom Ripley and for myself. Ripley was one of the first characters I identified with on a personal level: Not because he was a murderer, a liar, a manipulator, but because he possessed a certain darkness. A darkness, an Otherness, that he hid and locked away so perfectly that he lost himself over time. A feeling that I could relate to. There is quite literally a key scene in the movie that stayed with me for a long time: Don't you just take the past and put it in a room in a basement and lock the door and never go in there? That's what I do. In case you want to look for this moment, it's in its entirety on YouTube.

When I discovered Severus Snape, I was thirteen years old. I don't recall what primarily drew me to him, but the Alan Rickman factor certainly played a part in it. Anyway, what I distinctly remember is my puzzlement about so many people mooning over a terrible person like him. Back then, I did not fully grasp the apparent appeal of a troubled man in black clothes. I just thought: If people can love him, they could love me. Several months followed in which I actively tried to make myself even more miserable, just so that, "logically", someone would finally feel the need to help and "heal" and love me. That never happened, of course, but even years after I'd still wait for that special person to come into my life and magically fix me with their love and kindness. At a certain age, I started resenting myself for this need, for my stupidity and for my weakness. I never really stopped wanting to be saved, however.

What, to me, is interesting about Kylo Ren is the following: I can see quite a lot of myself in both the canon (mainly his relation to Snoke, the conflict between Light and Dark) and the fanon version. The fanon version, needy and emotionally stunted sub!Kylo (it's not the only version, of course, but it seems fairly popular), is basically a simplified model of the distorted picture my brain presents me of myself every day. Very needy, easily "too much" with everything I say or do. Someone who people barely tolerate and never like. Someone who should apologize for being "difficult" at every turn. Every social interaction, even this comment, is tinged and soured with that self-image and feeling of deficiency. It is not only that distorted image, however, I am socially awkward and probably a cliché woobie and I've needed a good hug for the past two or three or ten years. So, yeah, fic!Kylo, in his different forms, sometimes acts as a proxy as he fills two very conflicting needs: The need to feel deserving of kindness (woobie-self) and the need to be treated poorly (a projection of self-hate).

On an intellectual level, I recognize that Finn might also be a character that fits me well, but he's so universally loved and seen as a hero (an opinion which I share: he's wonderful) that he just seems to conflict with every concept I have of myself. I also hated how Snape was later "redeemed" in the HP books because I've never seen him as a hero or "the bravest man [Harry] ever knew". People who prevail against evil forces do speak to my sense of morality and justice and can inspire me. Yet, they don't speak to my - admittedly very limited - life experiences. I need to see people struggle and fail, people not able to break the cycle, not able to make good decisions for themselves, people just keeping on to keep on, doing the best with the shitty hand they've been dealt. Characters like me. Or villains. Because I just don't see myself as a good or even "normal" person. When you get told enough times that you're none of these things, it gets ingrained and can easily become your one and only truth.

I'm not a model survivor, I know. I feel for and identify with fictional characters who are morally suspect or just plain vile. Maybe I'm so out of touch with my emotions that it doesn't even register anymore, who knows? Maybe I'll hate myself for it in a few years and will look back to this comment with embarrassment. What my life has taught me, however, is that everything that somehow helps me to get by counts in the long run. Would I have preferred to be better, wiser, more heroic, a cinnamon roll, as a child, a teenager, an adult? Or to be able to identify with that sort of character? Yes, of course. But there's already so much sorrow in my life and I won't regret poorly adjusting to circumstances I mostly had no control over. In a sense, I find, you cannot really grieve about something you never stood a chance to obtain in the first place. Living a better, worthwhile life, after all these years, has become one of those things to me. An illusion, a distant chime in the dark, something only others know how to do and to dream of.

Much love to all of you, irregardless of where you stand on this subject.

Again, sorry for the TL;DR, especially to the anon I replied to.

DISCUSSION/OFF-TOPIC POST

Avatar AU

Re: Avatar AU

Re: If you had to

Re: The Atlantic article on Reylo

Re: If you had to

Re: Avatar AU

Re: Avatar AU

Biggest Turn Offs (sexual or non-sexual) in Fics?

Re: The Atlantic article on Reylo

Re: The Atlantic article on Reylo

Re: Biggest Turn Offs (sexual or non-sexual) in Fics?

Re: Biggest Turn Offs (sexual or non-sexual) in Fics?

Re: Biggest Turn Offs (sexual or non-sexual) in Fics?

Re: Avatar AU

New canon question

Re: Biggest Turn Offs (sexual or non-sexual) in Fics?

Re: Biggest Turn Offs (sexual or non-sexual) in Fics?

Re: Biggest Turn Offs (sexual or non-sexual) in Fics?

Re: Biggest Turn Offs (sexual or non-sexual) in Fics?

Re: Avatar AU

Re: The Atlantic article on Reylo

Re: The Atlantic article on Reylo

Re: The Atlantic article on Reylo

Re: The Atlantic article on Reylo

Re: The Atlantic article on Reylo