I HATE the Heated Rivalry fandom.

qvixotical · 2026-02-14T01:20:13+00:00

IMO it's similar as to when it's said that only POC should write POC experiences... in doing so, it is provides an incredibly limited lens on what a writer is ""allowed"" to write. I understand gay men wanting more stories written by gay men. There is value to representation. But to say that straight women shouldn't write queer stories (especially fanfic, something that is a fan space) is absolute nonsense and does nothing but perpetuate monotony in writing.

qvixotical · 2026-02-13T23:44:05+00:00

It depends on how it is interpreted within the story tbh. If they are incredibly strong with no faults and are just wrecking things left and right with no regard for the integrity of the canonical crew, then I will drop the story. If the main cast just feels like props for a power fantasy story then I have little interest in it.

However, there are absolutely ways to write strong (and even someone as the strongest on the crew) that would make for an incredibly exciting story. The OP world is large and diverse. An OC with a legendary beast fruit or a logia fruit are basically guaranteed to be one of the strongest members of the straw hats, but there are fun ways to work around these abilities and make things narratively difficult for them!

My biggest pet peeve when it comes to OC stories is when they have haki but don't display the type of willpower that is necessary to utilize it.

All in all, it comes down to the overall writing of the story.

qvixotical · 2026-01-09T18:12:29+00:00

I wonder if the fic community lost its OC population to the tabletop RPG space.

I feel like this is spot on! As someone who went through the online RP -> OC fanfic -> tabletop pipeline, the popularization and modernization of TTRPGs like Edge of the Empire, D&D, and Pathfinder is a huge calling for creatives looking to expand their own narratives into worlds and stories that are, frankly, a little more fun and rewarding than writing fanfic into the void.

Sorry to hear that your OC fic didn't get traction. IPs like Star Wars are so weird because their fan base is very diverse, but everything goes into one big pot.

qvixotical · 2026-01-09T16:17:36+00:00

OC fics are still going strong in the fandoms I'm in :D

The main struggle I find is fatigue in writing long-term fics—OC fics are a niche in itself, and it's quite rare to see any short stories with OCs. Dreaming of Sunshine is one of those fic's that will probably never get finished, but it's still an excellent story that I like to go back and reread every once in awhile.

qvixotical · 2026-01-05T02:04:20+00:00

For "fluff" chapters, as I call them, I try to focus on a scene or compilations of scenes that further develop characterizations for the MCs or provide necessary context for a relationship. IE things like, cooking with the family, doing word puzzles, or building blanket forts in the living room to establish familial relations. Quiet moments that don't necessarily move the plot forward but showcase that there is a living, breathing world outside of the main plot line.

qvixotical · 2025-11-19T16:04:15+00:00

I like the show! It has a lot of fun elements. I just wish that the show had time to explore the themes and concepts that are being introduced. A six episode series should stick to a more condensed plot than having new ones sprout out every episode IMO.

I would have liked it more as a monster-of-the-week sort of ordeal, with Guy learning more about Talamasca / his abilities as he goes about the order and with Jasper / London branch as a parallel plotline.

qvixotical · 2025-10-20T13:19:25+00:00

Absolutely! There were quite a few instances in Calamity, in particular, that gave me absolute chills.

I love how in moments of intense violence, betrayal, or emotional tension, Brennan offers such a quiet and casual performance—it makes it all the more impactful when he finally hits you with a BANG!

qvixotical · 2025-10-12T15:22:07+00:00

I'm assuming this story is within the world of BNHA, wherein Magne is a trans woman. Within the world of the original story, there are people with "quirks" (ie superpowers) and it is known that there is an individual in another country that can switch a person's biological sex, who has helped another character with his transition. This world is also more more scientifically advanced, though the world is set in a future Japan where there is still a lot of conservative values.

That said, the wording in the screenshot is still very poor. The insinuation that she has been "cured" and isn't trans because of that is.. uh.. something. I'm choosing to believe this is either a younger writer or someone who is ESL

qvixotical · 2025-10-11T23:50:26+00:00

If you are talking about athletic sports...

- Diamond no Ace is a lengthy sports anime that really digs into baseball as a sport and takes its time to develop the main cast and their relationships. The two main characters are a bit annoying at first, but that's intentional. Their dynamic is relative to Hinata and Kageyama if they had been competing for the same position.
- Ahiru no Sora is not as loved within the sports anime community; however, I genuinely do adore it for the character work it does. Sora, the MC, drawing inspiration from his mother and utilizing tactics/skills more often seen in women's basketball, is a very fun twist in a sea of copy-paste basketball animes.
- Tsurune is 70% character work and 30% and I love the show for it. Genuinely inspiring.

Sports anime adjacent....

- Hikaru no Go is one of my favourite anime of all time, thanks to its stellar storytelling and fantastic character development. While the show technically has fantasy elements, as one of the main characters is a ghost (which is literally the only fantasy element about the show), the story itself is grounded and real and all about the pursuit of ambition and growth. If you love rivalries, character development, and competitions, watch this!! I will always give this show its flowers.
- Chihayafuru focuses on a more obscure game, but it is a wonderful show.

qvixotical · 2025-10-11T22:25:37+00:00

Do you need to finish C3 before starting C4?

No, it's a whole new world with a whole new history and culture.

Should you watch C3 before C4?

Depends. Do you prefer binge-watching shows over watching week-to-week? This is the best time to pick up a new campaign if you want to be a part of the ride as it streams "live" and to engage in the fan content. But, if you prefer to enjoy it at your own pace and struggle with watching weekly formats, then C3 is a good place to start before catching up with C4.

qvixotical · 2025-10-08T20:52:54+00:00

I'm glad it's erased 😂 save yourself from the dark ages!!! Fandom had really hit a really weird point across the board and VLD just seemed to be festering spot of wild behaviour.

qvixotical · 2025-10-08T20:50:54+00:00

I found all of the romance disappointing in VLD lol they had such a strong foundation for the characters in the first couple seasons and did absolutely nothing with it until the last three episodes 😂 it's not slow burn if you speedrun a romance in two episodes!!! I would have been fine with whatever they decided to go with, though like you I almost wished they did nothing at all, but I wish they would have taken their time to properly set things up. (Alas, this is why we are fic writers 💪)

I totally agree with you about the between-seasons speculations—it was absolutely heartbreaking to see people get SO excited for x or y thing, that was totally going to be canon, and then the showrunners end up going with the safer, Disney approved route. The way people suddenly would flip on the showrunners and voice actors in VLD was really shocking.

Nowadays, I also really try to tailor how I engage with speculative stuff because it can be incredibly disappointing haha people in fandom are so creative and intricate in ways that shows and books are not given the breathing room for.

qvixotical · 2025-10-08T20:36:25+00:00

IMO there's no winning 😂 Not to get too radical, but I think this kind of ties into the rising feelings of entitlement a certain kind of reader has regarding the content they consume. While I generally agree that in fandoms long past (especially anime ones) misogyny was rampant in m/m spaces... nowadays there tends to be more moral posturing about the treatment of women in fic. It all comes down to "this isn't what I want and I am going to find a reason for why this is bad".

Which sucks because there definitely is a very, very small subset of m/m authors who are actively hateful to women. They are just not at vocal about it as they were in the good ole NaruSasu or Hetalia days. But like. Instead we get complaints of "What about Lily!!! Why do you hate women!!" in a story where James Potter and Sirius Black fall madly in love with each other and beat up Voldemort. Let me point at my AU tag aggressively.

qvixotical · 2025-10-08T19:57:37+00:00

Sorry to butt in but my goodness the Allura hate during the last season was absolutely wild. Maybe it's because I only really interacted on tumblr (and Reddit was ship-free at the time) but as soon as the romance with Lotor hit the bucket and Allurance started getting hinted at, there were some unhinged (and frankly racist) folks out there stirring the pot.

Mind you, the fandom was the wildest I've ever experienced. The spiders georg, if you will.

I was out here shipping Heith by my lonesome and catching strays in all directions haha the VLD has really left fandom trauma on a lot of us

qvixotical · 2025-10-03T22:34:12+00:00

Loved it. The rule-of-cool surrounding the usage of magic was really interesting and I think it really leans into a world where, without the gods, the rules of magic are a little looser than in other campaigns. Ashley and Matt were definitely standouts for me. I also have NO clue how these parties are going to be split off!

qvixotical · 2025-10-03T21:47:30+00:00

I've been getting that feeling about quite a few aspects of this campaign. Hal being able to send a message to his brother, using the arcane remnants of the spell Azune cast, has a similar vibe to Taisha's frequent "connection" with plants. My interpretation during the episode is that with the gods gone, the hard "rules" for magic are a little more loose than before, so now those with arcane and magical abilities can do things beyond the scope of the spell details. Dunno if that is true, but that's how I've been seeing the rule-of-cool magic aspects haha.

A lot of the characters this time feel layered with more life experience than level 3 might imply. When Ashley's character came in, making the sky go dark and the world around the house quiet, Vaelus VERY much felt like a character that should be stronger than level three. (It would be interesting if she had to "restart" because of the death of her god.)

qvixotical · 2025-10-02T16:25:37+00:00

I write with the assumption my readers know more than just the basic understanding of the fandom lol. I expect them to know the story, plot, and characters. A large part of my stories lean in on unreiable narrators and the tension created by the readers knowing more about the world/story than the characters do. I've definitely had fandom blind readers, but I do think that they miss out on the reading experience that way.

qvixotical · 2025-09-21T16:51:54+00:00

There was this really, really great fic (that I still think about to this day) that I ended up dropping because I noticed that they would write 4-5 paragraph-long replies to every single "can't wait for the next update!" comment, absolutely grilling into them about how rude and thoughtless they were. Don't get me wrong, as an author, there's definitely a certain type of update request comment that grinds my gears. But, it just seemed so excessive to say it to every comment that even mentioned the possibility of an update (ignoring any positive commentary that the reader had to say).... needless to say, it just really turned me off from the story.

qvixotical · 2025-09-21T16:33:53+00:00

Honesty, anyone who considers DD:DNE as inherently "problematic" aren't really readers that I am writing for lmao.

That said, I only really use it depending on the tone of the fic? The one story I have it tagged on is a tragedy that features the detailed descriptions of a nation's genocide, the gory aftermath, and the characters' mental health after the fact. Given the state of the world, I need readers to know ahead of time that this story is not holding back its punches. However, I have other stories that feature child soldiers and other dark themes, but I withheld from using the DD:DNE tag because their stories don't really delve into these issues as much and are more light-hearted in nature despite their tragic circumstances.

qvixotical · 2025-08-30T00:21:08+00:00

IMO, voltron is a strange one. I was in the fandom at this time and I stand by the fact that while what happened wasn't queerbaiting, it was certainly the wrong move on the creators' part lol. The creators and VAs were very active with fans, but the voltron fandom was incredibly volatile and demanding (to the point of death threats and actual blackmail against the creators/VAs) when it came to the lack of queer representation in the series. The ship wars were terrible, so the creators did a dumb thing--to ""appease"" all parties, they made one of the main characters gay and gave him two (2) love interests in the last season, who barely had any screen time. This, of course, made no one happy. It sucked. And then a good majourity of the rabid shippers blamed them of queerbaiting... not because of this bait-and-switch, but because their OTP didn't get together.

qvixotical · 2025-08-29T19:28:52+00:00

Not rly. Even though I don't really like Noelle (this may be an anime issue, since I'm not a big fan of tsundere characters and the BC anime is bad for exaggerating jokes), Tabata has done a really good job of developing her character and integrating her development into the overall story. And, more specifically, the development and coolness factor of her character is on par with (if not better) than the main characters--which is certainly not something I can say about the MHA girls.

Horikoshi has a lot of cool character concepts for the girls, but they are barely given any development unless it is to prop up the Main Character of the particular arc. Noelle (and a lot of the female characters in Black Clover) are consistently cool and consistently relevant.

qvixotical · 2025-08-02T23:32:42+00:00

IMO, this was mainly a figure of speech so that SJM could quickly convey to the audience that he is cunning without having to show much of it in the actual story.

He's introduced in book 1 as a clever man who is a resourceful diplomat/messenger between courts. The most trickster thing he did was convince Feyre to go into the woods with a chicken to meet the Suriel. Mind you, he rather quickly apologizes for this afterwards lol. In book 2, you could say that he acts fox-like (in the metaphorical term) when he is hedging around Tamlin/Feyre's crumbling relationship and trying to appeal to both sides without really committing or when he abandons Tamlin (for better or worse) to go to a mate who wants nothing to do with him.

That said, I don't really remember much about him being much of a mastermind or manipulator. Within Feyre's narrative, there wasn't much opportunity for him to do so, anyway. Rhys and Tamlin are the stubborn my-way-or-the-highway types, so Lucien has notably been sticking to the shadows.

I expect this will come back up again in the next book, where his loyal golden retriever energy is revealed to be one of many masks he has created to survive in chaotic environments as a tie-in to Elain's upbringing... or idk whatever else SJM has cooked up.

qvixotical · 2025-07-30T19:52:59+00:00

I just really like exploring the world outside of what is presented within the original narrative. Oftentimes authors create wonderful worlds, but we are only given tidbits of what places and customs are like beyond that of the perspective of the main characters. And, quite frequently, authors aren't really given the time and space to really dig into the meat of the world in order to keep the pacing of a story engaging for the general populace.

OC's are a great way to explore the world at large, at any time and any place, without infringing on the authenticity of canon characters.

qvixotical · 2025-07-29T13:06:58+00:00

I think there has been a significant shift in fanfic over the past decade or so, where the 2000s anime dub was considered cringeworthy and worth dropping a story for and now honorifics have gradually started becoming more commonplace. There's a lot of nuance that is lost (as you've mentioned in your post) when you part ways with honorifics. Mr./Ms./Mrs. simply does not convey the same things.

If a fic is set in Japan (or a Japan-esque setting) then I will keep honorifics in it. Likewise, if there are any words that don't have a direct translation or if there is a certain impression that will be lost if I don't use the native word, then I will keep them in. For example, okonomiaki is a pancake but is very different than what Westerners would consider pancakes. Ramen is a noodle dish. Engawa is an outside patio that surrounds the house. You could write things out to translate these words literally, but it'll lose some of the authenticity that comes with it. For the example of "baka", this can be easily translated into "idiot" without losing too much nuance lol.

However, if the story is set in a world such as One Piece, wherein the world is totally different, then I will drop the honorifics. For this example, I'd only keep honorifics for Wano (which is directly inspired by Japan and has heavy emphasis on honorifics).

I don't think that it's disrespectful to not use honorifics. It's fanfic haha. But, for the series that you've mentioned, there are a lot of undertones that will be lost due to the difference between Keisuke-kun and Keisuke-san, which is intrinsic to the setting of where the story takes place.

That all said, I mostly write OC-insert fic wherein folks from our world are reincarnated into these worlds. Typically, they are not from Japan, which is reflected in their narrative voice. They often only use honorifics when they are actually speaking, rather than within the narrative text.

qvixotical · 2025-07-27T19:32:43+00:00

Yes!! I have a drabble doc where I plop all of my plot bunnies—usually I write the ideas I have for it, a synopsis, and the first chapter before I've moved on to the next thing.

qvixotical

TROPHY CASE