Heading is my blog in a nutshell. Fanfic writer and admirer. I'm Xanoka on AO3 and fanfiction.net.
Here be politics and fandoms and other serious business.
‘Brooding person who only feels safe enough to let the mask slip around Sunshine person’ is alright, but we really do not see enough ‘Sunshine person who only feels safe enough to let the mask slip around Brooding person’.
Representation, I think, should be seen more as a question of what stories are being told, not simply what the dramatis personae looks like. A story about, for example, gay-coded characters acting in opposition to a heterosexist society, even as villains, can have more possibility, and more resonance than the story of an explicitly gay cop learning to love themself as gay and happily join the state in brutalizing those who’d act against it. I suspect personally that the positioning of Representation as a matter of a character existing in and of themself was very much a conscious and corporate attempt to defang the idea, to move it into the most vulgar interpretations of identity politics, allowing a corporate monopoly to be lauded for Good Representation in telling a story about how lovely the systems that grind up people being Represented to truly are.
A lighthouse monster, to greet all the ships at sea!
This delights me.
[Description: Several drawings – a line drawing, a sketch, and a colorized final – of a lighthouse on a small island on the sea. Beneath the waterline, the viewer can see that the lighthouse is actually the top of an enormous fish with a massive open maw filled with razor-sharp teeth.]
Whenever I see someone refer to “Victorian era-” for places outside the UK I’m tempted to start saying shit like “Han Dynasty era Rome”, “Soviet era Australia” etc
“Welcome to Soviet America, home of the McDonalds and Cocaine Cola. Long live Comrade Reagan.”
The Civil War, or as I like to call it, Late Tokugawa Period America
I know this is a joke but this helps me put a lot of historical periods into perspective.
[ID: a digitally drawn two-panel comic. / Image 1: Text reads: “How I expected using a cane would feel:” Panel depicts a miserable person in tattered clothes, hunched over a cane and shaking as she walks. / Image 2: Text reads: “How it actually feels:” Panel depicts the same person, now standing tall and wearing flowing wizard robes and a long white beard. Her cane is at her side, glowing with magic, and she looks confident and powerful. /End ID]
Ooooh, can you do one for wheelchairs except it’s a throne? Because I definitely feel like I’m cruising around on a throne.
How I think a wheelchair will make me feel:
How my wheelchair actually makes me feel:
That’s it! That’s it exactly!
I haven’t gotten a wheelchair yet (blargh hoops) but I’ve rented and used scooters at places and
how you think it’d feel:
how it actually feels:
If I may add,
How I thought forearm crutches would make me feel:
How forearm crutches actually make me feel:
[ID2: A woman sitting in a wheelchair at an airport looking at something in her lap vs a video game character with purple hair leaning back casually while flying around in a throne-like one-person open craft.
ID3: An old man on a mobility scooter vs a person in racing gear and a helmet whizzing by on a four wheeler.
ID4: A person with forearm crutches staring off into the sunset vs an anime character standing on rock outcrop wielding two swords.]
This!!!!! This is what young disabled people should be exposed to. We are powerful! Fantastic! Hot and cool as hell!!!! Use your mobility aid and discover your inner badass.
three days ago I got an ao3 subscription update email and the author’s note on the chapter said they’d come back and written chapter ten SIXTEEN YEARS after chapter nine was published, so, never fear to hit that subscribe button folks
It took Stephen King 26 YEARS to write the next chapter of one of his Dark Tower books
LEAVE THAT COMMENT. Even if the fic is old. You never know who’s listening, or if your words are exactly the little push that author needs to take a trip down memory lane and remember all the wonderful things that inspired them to write the fic in the first place. Think about it, Reader. YOU could be the person that RESURRECTS THAT FIC!
We accept all kinds of creations as fills! Here’s a couple examples of the kinds of content you can make:
fanfiction
fanart
moodboards & picspams
gifs & graphics
fanvideos
fanmixes
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These are by no means the only media we accept—feel free to get as creative as you want!
What’s the minimum word count/etc. for a fill?
There isn’t one! Feel free to create as much or as little as your heart desires.
What kind of prompts can I expect?
We have several categories of prompts which participants can opt into/out of receiving. They are:
Episodes - what it says on the tin! (e.g. Go for Broke, Gore, The Ladder, etc.)
Characters - characters and groups of characters (e.g. Francis Crozier, Erebites, Neptune, etc.)
Objects - items that bear relevance to or are mentioned in the series (e.g. Cairn, Lemon Juice, The Dress, etc.)
Settings/Events - both canonical and general (e.g. King William Land, Christmas, Divine Service, etc.)
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What will the cards look like?
Great question! Here’s an example:
What’s the deal with the Free Space?
The free space is there to help you get a bingo! You still need to post a fill for it, but the only requirement is that the fill be Terror-related; there is no prompt.
Can I combine my fills with other challenges/bingos?
Sure! As long as the other challenge has no problem with it, and you adhere to our guidelines for posting (tagging our blog, including relevant information, etc.), go wild!
Can I fill two prompts with one creation?
No, sorry! We ask that you create a new piece for every prompt/square. The only exception is multichaptered fic; you’re welcome to make each chapter a separate fill, if you so desire!
I don’t know if I can finish my card. Can I sign up for one anyway?
Please do!! While we’re sure some people will plan on getting one or more bingos or even blacking their card out, this is first and foremost meant to be a fun way to inspire more terror content. Even if you think you’ll only fill one prompt, or aren’t sure you’ll be able to fill any, we encourage you to give it a shot anyway!
Can I get a second card?
Yes! As long as you’ve achieved at least one bingo (one horizontal, vertical, or full diagonal line), you’re welcome to request a second or even third! The form for an additional card request can be found here.
Can I use an old card?
Yes! We have two options for this on our sign-up form. You can either let us know that you don’t want a new card and plan to solely use last year’s prompts (obviously, you’d still be welcome to ask for a second card at some point, following the standard rules), OR you can request a 2020 card and let us know that you plan to use your old card as well, as a second card of sorts.
Do I need a tumblr to participate? Can I post to twitter? AO3?
You don’t need a tumblr to participate! That’s why we offer the option to receive your card via email. You’re more than welcome to post fills to twitter (our twitter is @TheTerrorBingo—tag us or use #TheTerrorBingo), Ao3 (our Ao3 collection can be found here), or any other site of your choosing!
What’s the schedule?
Sign-ups open on November 1st and will remain so for the length of the creation period. Once you receive your card, you can start posting your creations! We’ll be accepting fills until March 31st; you’re welcome to continue to post fills after that time, you’re welcome to continue to post after that time, but there’s no guarantee we’ll see or reblog them.
What do I mean by those things? Let’s start with #1. The Death of the Author is a type of literary criticism, the extreme cliff notes version of which is that art exists outside of the creator’s life, personal background, and even intentions. I’m using it slightly differently than Barthes intended, but that’s okay, because the author is dead and I’m interpreting his work through my own lens.
In fandom, the author is dead. In fact, the author was never alive in the first place, not really. The author has only ever been the idea of a person, because unlike published fiction, the only thing we know about a fanfic author is that which they choose to tell us about themselves.
Why is that important?
Because it might not be true. Hell, that happens in real life with published authors, who have SSN’s on file with their publishers, who pay taxes on the works they create and have researchable pasts. If the author of A Million Little Pieces could fake everything, why can’t I? Why can’t you? Why can’t the writer of your favorite fic in the whole wide world?
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: “you can only write about [sensitive subject] if [sensitive subject] has happened to you personally, otherwise you’re a disgusting monster that deserves to die!!” Or maybe “you can only write [x racial or ethnic group] characters if you’re [x racial or ethnic group] otherwise you’re racist/fetishizing/colonizing!”
You can play this game with any sensitive subject you can come up with. I’ve seen them all before, on a sliding scale of slightly chastising to literal death threats.
Now, I could tell you that I’m a white-passing Latina whose grandmother was an anchor baby. I could tell you that I speak only English because my family never taught me to speak Spanish, something which I’ve been told is common in the Cuban community, though I only know my own lived experience. I could tell you that I’m mostly neurotypical. I could tell you that I’m covered in surgical scars. I could tell you lots of things.
Are any of these true? Maybe! I could tell you that my brother has severe mental development problems, so uncommon that they’ve never been properly diagnosed, and that he will live the rest of his life in a group home with 24-hour care. Is that true? Am I allowed to write about families struggling with America’s piss-poor services for the handicapped now?
Am I allowed to write about being Cuban? After all, I did just say that I’m Cuban. But is it true? Can I instead write a character that’s Panamanian? Maybe I really am Panamanian, not Cuban. Maybe I’m both. Maybe I’m neither. Maybe I’m really French Canadian. Should we require people to post regular selfies? I can’t count the number of times I’ve had someone come up to me speaking Arabic, and I’ve been told that I look Syrian. What’s stopping me from making a blog that claims that I am Syrian? Can you even really tell someone’s race and ethnicity from a photo?
Am I allowed to write about being a teenager? Am I allowed to write about being a college student? Am I allowed to write about being an “adulty” adult? Can I write a character who’s 40? 50? 60? How old am I?
All of this is to say: you can’t base what someone is or is not “allowed” to write about on a background that may or may not be real. No matter how good your intentions. And I get it - this usually comes from a place of well-meaning. You’re trying to protect marginalized groups by stopping privileged people from trampling all over experiences that they haven’t suffered. I get that. It’s a very noble thought. But you can’t require a background check for every fic that you don’t like.
If you say “you can only write about rape if you’re a rape victim,” then one of three things will happen:
Real survivors will have to supply intimate details of their own violations to prevent harassment
Real survivors will refuse to engage and will then have to deal with death threats and people telling them to kill themselves for daring to write about their own experiences
People who aren’t survivors will say “yeah sure this happened to me” just to get people to shut up
Has that helped anyone? I mean really - anyone??
So now let’s get to point #2: is your baby in the bathwater?
If your intention is to protect marginalized people from being trampled upon, stop and assess if your boot is the one that’s now stamping on their face. Find your baby! Is your baby in the bathwater? Which is to say: find the goal that you’re advocating for. Now assess. Are you making the problem worse for the people you’re trying to protect? Does that rape victim really feel better, now that you’ve harassed and stalked them in the name of making rape victims feel safe?
Let’s say you read a fic that contains explicit sex between a 16 year old and a 17 year old. Is this okay? Would it be okay if the writer was 15? 16? 17? Should teenagers be barred from writing about their own lives, and should teenagers be banned from exploring sexuality in a fictional bubble, instead of hookup culture? Is it okay for a 20 year old to write about their experiences as a teenager? Is it okay for a 20 year old to write about being raped at a party as a teenager? Is it okay for a 30 year old? How about a 40 year old? Is it okay so long as it isn’t titillating? Is it okay if taking control of the narrative allows the writer to re-conceptualize their trauma as something they have control over? Is it okay if their therapist told them that writing is a safe creative outlet?
Is your author dead?
Is your baby in the bathwater?
Now let’s take a hardline approach: no fanfiction with characters who are under 18 years old. None. Is the 16 year old who really loves Harry Potter and wants to read/write about characters their own age better off? Should they be banned from writing? Should they be forced to exclusively read and write (adult) experiences that they haven’t lived? Will they write about teens anyway? Should they have to share it in secret? Should 16 year olds be ashamed of themselves? Should we just throw in with the evangelicals and say that the only answer is abstinence, both real and fictional?
Let’s say that no rape is allowed in fiction, at all. None. What happens to all the hurt/comfort fics where a character is raped and then receives the support and love that they deserve, slowly heal, and by the end have found themselves again? Are you helping rape victims by banning these stories? Are you helping rape victims by stripping their agency away, by telling them that their wants and their consent doesn’t matter?
Is your baby in the bathwater?
Fandom is currently being split in two: on one side, the people who want to make fandom a “safer” place by any means necessary, even if that means throwing out all of the marginalized groups they say they want to protect - and on the other, people who are saying “if you throw out that bathwater, you’re throwing the baby out too.”
The whole point of fandom is to be able to explore all kinds of ideas from the safety and comfort of a computer screen. You can read/write things that fascinate you, disgust you, titillate you, or make your heart feel warm. This is true of all fiction. People who want to read about rape and incest and extreme violence and torture can go pick up a copy of Game of Thrones from the bookstore whenever they want. Sanitizing fandom just means holding a community of people who are primarily not male, not straight, not cis, or some combination of those three, to higher and stricter standards than straight white cis male authors and creators all over the world.
There is nothing you can find on AO3 that you can’t find in a bookstore. Any teenager can go check out Lolita, or ASOIAF, or Flowers in the Attic, or Stephen King’s It, or Speak, or hundreds of other books that have adult themes or gratuitous violence or graphic sex. The difference is that AO3 has warnings and tags and allows people to interact only with the types of work that they want to, and allows people to curate their experiences.
Are these themes eligible to be explored, but only in the setting of something produced/published? Books, movies, television, studio art, music - all of these fields have huge barriers to entry, and they’re largely controlled by wealthy cishet white men. Is it better to say that only those who have the right connections to “make it” in these industries should be allowed to explore violence or sexuality or any other so-called “adult” theme?
Does banning women from writing MLM erotica make fan culture a better place?
Does banning queer people from writing about queer experiences make fan culture a better place?
Is M/M fic okay, but only if the author is male? What if he’s a transman? What if they’re NB? Who should get to draw those lines? Should TERFs get a vote? What if the author is a woman who feels more comfortable writing from a male character’s perspective because she’s grown up with male stories her whole life, or because she identifies more with male characters? What about all the transmen who discovered themselves, in part, by writing fanfiction, and realized that their desires to write male characters stemmed from something they hadn’t yet realized about themselves?
How can we ever be sure that the author is who they say they are?
Who is allowed to write these stories? How do we enforce it?
Is it better for none of these stories to ever exist at all?
Theme
3:22pm
July 13, 2021
60,351 notes
