[Contemplation] Archive of our Own fanfics
Remember the time when the year 2018 came and I had no posts on new Kdramas and movies and sht? Well you see, I found a gold mine named archiveofourown.org (ao3) and it contains few of the best fiction of BTS I ever read and I tell you they're not just fangirl stories - they're more than that - they're like professional authors with ready-to-publish manuscripts. They're that good. So yeah, I've been doing nothing but reading for the first 7 months of the year and I just realized now, why not promote the best ones I've read?
So here I am and I will be doing fanfic reviews for those beautiful stories. But before I jump to my fanfic reviews, I just have a few warnings/notes/realizations here and there:
1. Anything not Male-Female relationships disgust me before but after reading ao3 stories on BTS, it became everything I read about. Male-Female, Male-Male, Male-Male-Male, etc. Exploring and accepting uncommon/disturbing themes widen my understanding and love. I accept everything-as long as it caters to my taste for stories.
2. When I was reading back in High School with TVXQ, Super Junior, BoA, Sechskies, Shinhwa fanfictions, everything were all fluff and sweets and lovey-dovey. But when I started reading now, everything is about SEX. SEX. SEX. I have encountered a few one-shots which still contains fluff, but most stories still contains SEX. I was culture-shocked at first because it's not something I commonly read-especially when authors over-visualize the whole scene- and it kinda made me uncomfortable. And come on, underage people also read stories so why full blast of sex scenes??? Eventually I treated it as Sex Education so I won't feel too guilty reading it. Problem solved.
Ps. I even tried searching for new TVXQ fanfics but all of them also contain sex wtf.
3. They also contain a lot of Disturbing themes: Violence, Drugs, Torture, Blood, Gore, Explicit Sex, Explicit Language, Rape, Dom/Sub, Hybrid, Alpha, Beta, Omega, Addiction, Mental Problems, Suicide, Death, etc. YES, THEY ALL HAVE THAT. I read a couple of gang fics back in the day and those were hella slick and impressive. Upon encountering gang fics at ao3, they were still awesome BUT TOO GRAPHIC. TOO MUCH DETAILS. Like I told you in #2 about over-visualizing, they also do it in violence and torture. If you have a wild imagination: READ WITH CAUTION.
4. Writers are getting better and better, even in Wattpad (this is real bc i srsly hate authors of wattpad before) and I'm proud that I get to see author's works who, not only share stories, but also makes sure that the readers learn something in return. It may be a practical way of how to differentiate different kinds of drugs or to understand authentic feelings of mental problems from the characters' life. They also got various writing formats that's very clever. No offense but a lot of fanfic writers put published novelists to shame when it comes to structuring plot and developing characters with unique writing styles. Not to mention they give us their stuff for FREE?? Fanfic writers are literal gifts and we need to appreciate them more wtf
5. Reading makes me want to write again. I know I abandoned writing like 8 years ago, but i still write things on my notepad and keep it there until it's time. I'd like to do, if life permits, a TVXQ fanfic with BTS in it. It may or may not be a fangirl story but I'll make sure it will have a heart and be the best version of my works. But until it's not happening, I'll hold onto that dream.
So there you go, my contemplations after arriving at archiveofourown.org. The main goal of this post is to begin my journey of fanfic reviewing-with given cautions-to showcase the craftsmanship of these awesome authors' works that people need to read. I hope from this, you'll be able to harvest more knowledge and enjoyment like I did. But most importantly, to fangirl on BTS and ships. hehe
Please do visit the website: https://archiveofourown.org/