hi! i'm kat

enby || any pronouns || aussie i am not normal about anything

[artemisoftheheart]

New and updated pinned post!!!

HI! I'm Kat! Some basic info: I am non-binary, any pronouns, I'm from Australia, and I'm 18.

This blog has been about Stranger Things (and particularly byler) for a while, but it'll probably shift to include other interests now :)

Those include... many things, aha. I've been a marauders fan for ages, recently been really interested in F1 (I know, what terrible timing) and hockey (I'm sure these two sports have absolutely nothing in common, mhm), I'm really invested in KCD2 (and KCD) atm, I love DC (specifically the batfamily), I play a LOT of D&D (as both player and DM, and I love in-depth world-building) and I'm a longtime minecraft youtube watcher (in all sectors lmao, dsmp to life series to statesmp and more, really covering all the bases here). I will have times where I obsess over something and then drop it immediately haha, so this will very much become a multifandom account.

Irl fun facts: I don't play any sports, I'm studying investigation to be a PI, and I have two cats.

That's all! :D

[cactusringed]

I think fanfiction as a medium is different enough from mainstream literature in the tools it offers writers that it's a shame that it's not talked about more often. And it's not me saying "fanfic is better than books xD" because that sort of mindset is a symptom of people who aren't particularly well read in either medium. I'm just speaking of like... The little things you get to do with a fanfic that you genuinely can't really do in an original story.

I had a big fanfic in a previous fandom where one of the big reveals was the involvement of a kind of infamous villain, whose presence was built up to and foreshadowed through the whole fic until his reveal without ever mentioning his name, so that the name drop would be a gut punch. It worked especially well because of who the villain was and his presence in that fandom space specifically (it's very complicated) and if it was an original story this reveal wouldn't work at all the way it was written in the fic. Because if you don't have a predisposition to think about that character and his relationship to the hero in a very specific way, then just seeing their name won't do much to you; the reveal and the recontextualisation it pushes upon you hinges on your previous knowledge of the source material.

I think it's an interesting tool fanfic authors are given. One of my favorite fanfic of all time is partially a re-imagining of its source material's canon, and something it does is introduce antagonists much earlier in the story or deepen npcs' stories. It then works to evoke a tragic irony that again wouldn't work if you didn't know the source material, and it's something the author obviously has a lot of fun with.

You could call it cheap or a crutch and I mean, yeah, sure, it is a little bit: the fanfic relies on previously established emotional bonds and stakes to achieve its goal, and in some cases it saves the author from having to 'properly' build up its stakes. But I think it's INTERESTING that it has that tool at its disposal. I think it's a fun thing to play with and I think these built in expectations and emotional bonds are especially why I find story driven aus in particular to be fascinating in the amount of ways you can play with them. You know??

[whetstonefires]

notably, a lot of those methods and approaches show up in the canon of world literature. because rewriting a known story with your own focus and wording has historically been one of the major modes, especially of narrative poetic traditions.

this is one of the better reasons people say that i.e. shakespeare or paradise lost is fanfic--not just 'original concepts are not necessary for literary value' but 'some of the stuff we do in fic shows up here.'

the narrative structure of the iliad is completely bonkers if you don't approach it with the understanding that everyone was expected to already know the Trojan War story, and probably knew loads of versions even, and this was specifically a tragic dramatization of the emotional journey specifically Achilles went on toward the end of it, leading up to his death.

there's non-Achilles parts, as context and to create a well-rounded narrative and probably to appeal to people who just like Trojan War poems and will be mad if their blorbo doesn't show up at all, but this is the wrath and grief of achilles character study piece.

this is perfectly straightforward if you're used to the dynamics of a fandom space, but fairly hard to parse if you're used to the expectation that a writer is a least pretending to be making up a new story.

people still write books by remaking familiar stories all the time, of course, but since this is regarded as lazy and derivative by default, there's a tendency to change things for the sake of changing them as opposed to in service of the actual demands of the story you're telling, which sometimes introduces weaknesses to the work that really didn't need to be there.

remake and sequel films would be much better on average if the scriptwriters and directors were versed in the conventions of canon-compliant fanfiction.

[kiragecko]

I've noticed that a lot of the 'original fic' on AO3 reads more like fanfic than published fiction. I think @whetstonefires has it entirely right - these stories are all exploring a familiar space, even if that space isn't a specific published canon.

There clearest example I've found is 'mercyfic', which follow a specific hurt/comfort formula closely enough that the authours can assume their audience will already know the story structure, and can instead focus their attention on worldbuilding and character work.

I've seen similar things done with post-apocalyptic settings, D&D/stereotypical fantasy, and omegaverse. The stories are structured a lot like fanfic, even though we don't know the specific characters or the details of the world. No establishing scenes. A lot of the emotional weight builds off narrative conventions, and we get dropped into the feelings right from the beginning. We're expected to learn how the authour interpreted their specific character templates as the story unfolds.

I read derivative fantasy as a teen, and hated it. And can see people feeling the same way about a lot of AO3's original fic. But I'm starting to appreciate this method of saying 'I'm only interested in THIS part of the story, and you can fill in the rest yourself - you know how it works.' Especially when the authours treat me with respect, and don't copy-paste all the stuff they don't care about, like most of the derivative fantasy did. I CAN fill in the blanks, so thank you for not making me slog through all that filler!

[artemisoftheheart]

i also think this is why a lot of published fanfics feel out of place.

when you rely on dramatic irony of already knowing preconceived characters and their relationships to one another, it does not translate well to just superimpose another name on top.

if something works well as a fanfic, it probably won't work as a published novel, unless you put in the work to make it so. and even then it loses something in translation due to the change.

on the other hand, prequels do the same thing all the time, foreshadowing events that you already know about. almost a manufactured hindsight.

another feature of fanfiction I find to be similar to this is also in AUs. the 'how to represent events/things that could no longer be plausible, by making them plausible in this setting'. better know by me as the 'Remus Lupin always has a physical disability in non-magic settings, because he's a werewolf' feature. it essentially also means that any major point of conflict will probably have an AU equivalent - and you're waiting the whole time you're reading for each thing to show up.

all in all, i love dramatic irony. truly the literary feature of all time, and the real backbone of fanfic. anyone who doesn't acknowledge fanfiction as legitimate writing is bullshit.

[artemisoftheheart]

in honour of wishbone deluxe I am breaking my unintentional hiatus to say... 'do i dare' brocedes edit when?

[mikeandwillsweddingofficiant]

reblog if you were a will stan before he got conventionally attractive

because i know you were.

[sticklystag]

so i finally watched the snl coming out & lumax sex joke and it was completely tone deaf. say what you want about “it’s just a joke” or “oh it’s snl it’s just what they do” but there is nothing funny about making a joke about a gay character coming out scene in this current political climate, and if they know about conformitygate they’re definitely well aware of the severe homophobic backlash will’s coming out scene got, and making a joke about how long it was it’s just disrespectful in my opinion, this is giving homophobic people more ammunition to make disgusting jokes, and especially with the “i like d” joke, which people on tiktok specifically have made countless of joke variations about it. call me woke idc but i would rather acknowledge how jokes can be offensive and harmful (and don’t say how snl has queer subtexts or made jokes like that before, just because they made some rip-off harry potter heated rivalry (call me even double woke bc why are they giving MORE publicity to a franchise that pays the bills for a terf??) thing doesn’t change that making a jab about a gay character in this political environment is BAD) and if i’m already talking, the joke about max was fucking disgusting, something about misogyny bleeding through the cracks. it was tasteless and weird, and saying how max is “back in a coma” when she and lucas are having sex IS misogynistic, this is a type of joke you hear men laugh about it thinking it’s peak humor. i never thought snl was funny (maybe because i’m not american and this kind of humor was always bland to me compared to other comedy shows) and i’m not even that surprised considering they have made really shitty, tone deaf jokes before but it’s frustrating that gay people and women keep getting made the butt of the joke.

[artemisoftheheart]

I'M REWRITING ST SEASON 5

How Do I Write Birthdaygate?

First option

Second option

Third option

Voting ended onJan 10

FIRST OPTION: HENRY’S TRAUMA SURROUNDING THE CAVE IS SO STRONG THAT HE BLOCKS OUT THE DAY, INCLUDING IN OTHER’S MINDS (WILL’S BIRTHDAY IS MARCH 22ND)

SECOND OPTION: THE MIND FLAYER IS CONFUSING HENRY AND WILL AND CONFLATING THEIR MEMORIES WITH EACH OTHER, THEREFORE MAKING WILL AND OTHERS BELIEVE WILL'S BIRTHDAY IS THE SAME DATE AS HENRY'S (WILL’S BIRTHDAY ISN’T MARCH 22ND, BUT SOME TIME IN NOV/DEC)

THIRD OPTION: OTHER, COMMENT BELOW

[artemisoftheheart]

literally about to rewrite Vol 2 onwards because all I can think about atm is how much sense it COULD’VE made if the Duffer’s weren’t pussies.

the wormhole, blood transfusions, pregnant women, Vecna vs Mind Flayer, the play, the Creel murders, Eddie, CONFORMITYGATE.

pulling up a google doc rn that script is being rewritten SO HARD

[moonfruito]

favourite volume 2 tweets compilation

[artemisoftheheart]

heroes in the fucking credits. what a fucking slap in the face for daring to hope.

i’m not even that mad. just so unbelievably fucking confused. what was the point? what was the actual fucking point of any of it?

eyewitness parallel. korrasami. the painting. The First I love You. one way. blue and yellow.

what was the fucking point? it’s like they loaded chekhov’s gun and shot themselves in the fucking face with it.

i’m not even going to talk about the supernatural plot because THAT is something that I actually am mad about.

fuck you, duffers. fuck you to anyone that enabled this. fuck you to anyone that gave us hope, because god knows why queer people would need hope right now.

[kidovna]

stranger things, first show in history to introduce the cyrano trope and shoot cyrano right in the head with chekhov’s gun

[kidovna]

right, i forgot that if they fired the gun, we would’ve actually gotten some payoff.

[milsmedia]

there's still an entire finale there's still an entire finale there's still an entire finale there's still an entire finale there's still an entire finale there's still an entire finale there's still an entire finale

[low-qualitynerd-deactivated2025]

I fully believe that there were massive last-minute cuts made by Netflix, and the leaked runtimes are one of the biggest clues.

Here are the leaked runtimes:

The Volume 1 runtimes matched the official runtimes perfectly.

But the Volume 2 leaked runtimes are completely different from what we ended up getting.

We were robbed of four movie-length episodes.

Another thing:

Ross posted the official Volume 2 runtimes just TWO DAYS before release. Compare that to Volume 1, where the runtimes were shared over a month and a half in advance.

That timing difference is huge, and it’s hard to believe it’s a coincidence. Something clearly changed at the last minute.

Please spread the word and sign the petition.

MISSION THE GREAT CAMAZOTZ CUT

THE ISSUE: STRANGER THINGS SEASON 5 VOLUME TWO has evidently been tampered with. Allegedly there have been entire plotlines and characters a

Sign the Petition

the unseen footage. Stranger things s5 Vol 2

[delicatetigerobject]

also while we're at it. GUYS. rate episode 7 HIGHLY and make sure to say that u rated it highly for the queer rep. rate OTHER episodes low!!!!!! when u rate ep7 low, u r helping the homophobes get it a low rating, whether u like it or not. PLEASE, just go after episode 6 instead

[artemisoftheheart]

it’s my birthday. it’s my birthday and I didn’t even get a byler kiss.

[gothmikewheeler]

"eyes on me" "eyes on me remember" and suddenly he's 13 years old watching men with guns get torn apart by demodogs and he doesnt want these kids to see that. he doesnt want these kids to remember that the way he does. holy shit. mike wheeler.

[occasionalpisser]

Byler Rain Fight except I ran it through Google Translate a bunch of times

Shout out to Will (Not-Byers) for voicing Will (Byers) HAHSHAHA, ilysm broski /p

[lovelylittlelosers]

and to give my two cents on the will robin tunnel convo: imo robins speech isn't "hey you need to give up that boy is straight" it's more like "hey one of the most important parts of queer self acceptance has to come from yourself and not outside validation. You can't wait for someone else to love you, you need to learn to love that version of yourself that existed before you learned shame." and she's right. that's such an important step and she was right to talk to will about it in that moment.

she's not saying mike is will's tammy. she's explaining how she herself in her own journey got to that stage of self acceptance. and also like from a storytelling standpoint it makes sense to have that scene, like the seed of doubt being planted there is intentional. you're supposed to feel uncertain because will feels uncertain, it's part of the story that's being told i fear. just like how you felt hope when he asked robin how she knew about vickie. cuz in that moment will was feeling hopeful.

[artemisoftheheart]

Will having the same powers as Henry makes so much freaking sense that I'm so mad at myself for not realising it.

It makes so much sense that that's why the cave was introduced. We are going to see Henry in Dimension X being overtaken by the Mind Flayer, directly contrasted with Will being overtaken by the Mind Flayer.

Genius. Somehow I didn't realise that the thing that gave Henry his powers would give the other person it happened to powers.