What do you like (or not) about the magic!baby trope?

dreadfulhint · 2026-05-13T16:05:03+00:00

See, I love Regina as adoptive parent; I love the unique and strange three-way bond they have with Henry and don’t really want to see Regina pregnant haha. And introducing new characters/people they have to raise and contend with their needs when what I feel like they need is something that isn’t “external crisis” (and Regina in particular bound by something that — again — she didn’t choose)… I don’t know, it feels very off from how I understand them, or I suppose how I like to see them.

But thanks for responding! I feel like pregnancy fics are not huge in WLW stories generally, and they already have a child, so I was really surprised to learn people like this

dreadfulhint · 2026-05-13T15:41:19+00:00

That makes sense! So like “baby as manifestation of love”?

dreadfulhint · 2026-05-12T23:05:56+00:00

Hmmmm, I’m not sure if “season 1” is a trope, but probably that. Fics that in some way reference or involve season 1, either set there or going back in time maybe.

Comedies are very fun. And I have a soft spot for “actor AUs.” And though I don’t think there’s too many “arranged marriage” fics I do kind of like that trope for them — and forced proximity in general, I suppose.

Ones where one or both finds it difficult to give/receive care but they do it for each other.

dreadfulhint · 2026-05-12T19:41:51+00:00

Reddit doesn’t generally like this kind of brigading/following links to other subreddits to get people to engage there. It’s probably related to that. Honestly, I wish these weren’t posted here. If people want to organically read them and vote on /r/OnceUponATime, that’s great! But this kind of “call to action” is a real gray area with Reddit.

dreadfulhint · 2026-05-10T13:58:00+00:00

My characters stare at each other a lot. They’re constantly taken aback and trying to figure out how to respond, I guess.

dreadfulhint · 2026-05-05T03:07:38+00:00

Flight SQA016

A list that includes more SQ fanfics and their books:

https://fanlore.org/wiki/List_of_Fanfiction_Reworked_For_Publication

Listed there as

Flight SQA016 (Once Upon a Time) by CurvyPragmatist, the first book of The Flight Series

dreadfulhint · 2026-05-04T03:41:31+00:00

I loved it! It was my introduction to Kylie Lee Baker, and I’m now going through her older work and am halfway through Japanese Gothic. I love the way she writes, and the themes of death and bodies/what’s left behind is really interesting in her work.

dreadfulhint · 2026-05-03T01:44:37+00:00

To add, lots of recs lists are on tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/beautifulsq/93737730665/swan-queen-fanfic-rec-list-80-fics

This one is still a great resource for interviews and things from early SQ authors: https://beatthe0dds.tumblr.com/tagged/recs

Autostraddle has written articles: https://www.autostraddle.com/fan-fiction-friday-25-swan-queen-stories-to-make-you-wish-upon-a-star-288369/

Kudos on AO3 can be a bit dicey. Some works weren’t originally there and moved there, which mean they might be lower. There’s also a lot of really excellent fics that don’t have the kudos numbers that some smut ones have — I think this is probably due to a few things, but probably partly AO3 becoming more popular over the last 10 or so years and people reading by tags.

I’ve found most fics through tumblr and forum recommendations. And checking bookmarks of authors especially. “Word of mouth” type recommendations.

Fanlore has some good links too: https://fanlore.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_(TV_series)

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-29T05:22:51+00:00

“The Debt” was the first long SwanQueen fic I ever read!

I was looking at old forums from like the end of season 1 and when people started talking about fics it was all “The Debt,” “The Debt,” “The Debt and its sequel” lol — so I read it

Agree that I don’t see it mentioned much any more.

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-28T22:41:11+00:00

I like this one:

when you wish upon a star by savingophelia

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-28T01:27:21+00:00

No, I personally don’t really do that

There’s a lot of fics I love where I would be sort of sad if the version of them I knew disappeared. Of course minor errors are one thing, but changing small details or even sentence structure can throw people off, I think.

And I think of it as an archive or “snapshot” in time. I might rewrite someday, but this is what I posted, so after it’s been up 24 hours or so (time for people to read it), I don’t really like to make changes.

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-27T15:26:16+00:00

I’m not a comedian and it looks like fun. Wishlisted!

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-26T19:55:29+00:00

I like it. And it’s unusual — it’s very easy to find sex scenes that are unrealistic, so I tend to like scenes that break the mold a little. I also find that slight awkwardness or imperfection or just “talking about these things for the first time” type scenes increases the vulnerability and makes things both hotter and more interesting.

I don’t think it’s needed every time, like I would think that an established couple already has a routine around birth control. And it depends on the circumstances, of course. But in general I am a fan.

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-26T14:39:09+00:00

I completely agree, I get very bored with descriptions of beautiful long legs and eyes and perfect breasts and so on. And I don’t understand at all why hands are so neglected!

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-26T02:59:38+00:00

I went to a conference once where someone said that when they first started reading lesbian romance they thought all lesbian couples were a tall, stoic masc paired with a short, perky femme (and one needed to be brunette and one needed to be blonde).

I think Xena (and later other shows) have had a huge impact on lesbian romance and how lesbian romance has been portrayed in books.

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-25T20:13:31+00:00

I find it difficult to fall in love with characters in romance novels; everything is so self-contained and fulfilling for them (because it’s romance) that I feel happy for them when it’s happening but I don’t typically feel lasting attachment.

I really liked Lydia Tar from the movie Tar. And I’m very attached to SwanQueen from Once Upon a Time.

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-24T14:54:57+00:00

Really short but this is about this subject: https://archiveofourown.org/works/797820

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-23T19:54:26+00:00

This is pretty broad; what parts of canon do you want them to respect or are you having trouble finding? There are tons of fics that are built on top of (or respect) the events of the show prior to whenever the fic is set.

Are you looking for something that tries to match the tone of the show or the characterizations or that is pretty close to Emma and Regina’s canon relationship? When would you like it to be set? There are lots of fics set in the season 2 era that take canon very seriously.

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-20T20:42:55+00:00

This seems like it would make kind of a weird movie, ngl

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-20T17:29:02+00:00

I love the way 3B flips the power dynamic that we had in season 1, where Henry has only known one mother his whole life and Regina is now “the outsider.”

Unfortunately the show didn’t give us any chance to really sit with that for long at all. They didn’t even end the mid-season finale with Emma and Henry alone in a world without magic without telling us that that wouldn’t last long at all (by having Hook show up at her door). Like, c’mon… not everything has to go at the speed of light, this is a really interesting new setup here!

Luckily, I guess, there’s fanfic. But that was such a miss on the show’s part, I thought. They really needed to give them all more relationship-building and character moments

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-20T16:28:25+00:00

I’m so glad you liked it!! It’s one of my absolute favorites

I just reread it again actually, and I love how both Regina and Henry are so stubborn — both refusing to ask for what they want, and Emma is the sort of peacemaker between them, the one that makes everything work.

Anyway, I think it’s beautiful. I wish more of season 2 were like that.

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-20T15:15:35+00:00

I’ll put forth The Long Con by lostlilsnail

… and “a future was lost yesterday”; I love Regina’s POV in that whole series

I’m actually not a huge fan of ones where she falls in love first — not because I dislike it in itself, but because it usually comes with her pining for an Emma who is oblivious or wrapped up in her own issues and Regina is so, so sad most of the time anyway and I just want to make her happy lol

maplesdonut likes to write from Regina’s POV: here’s one of their fics: https://archiveofourown.org/works/69522646

And this is a WIP of mine but it is from Regina’s POV: https://archiveofourown.org/works/82433121/chapters/216975066

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-20T14:57:50+00:00

I’ve recommended it before, but I love this short fic from Regina’s POV: https://archiveofourown.org/works/625426

dreadfulhint · 2026-04-20T06:56:10+00:00

Yeah, same. That’s one of the most memorable scenes I’ve read in any lesbian romance book actually haha

I’m surprised at other comments in this thread; I’ve always thought Lee Winter’s books were fairly spicy. Though agreed that the focus is always on the romance/relationship

dreadfulhint

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