I'm Yana or Lusya (pronounced exactly like german ja in both cases). I'm bilingual (rus+eng), I understand Bulgarian but not great at writing. I'm currently learning Spanish.
I like food and animals!
I selfship with Banica Conchita (my sona's name is Lucia Menconi). I don't mind other pairings or anything, anyone who loves Banica is encouraged to interact. I've liked Banica for over 10 years, and I selfship since 17.05.2025!
I do not tolerate any form of discrimination and xenophobia, rudity, aggression and judging people for harmless tastes and interests.
Otherwise I'm very nice and would love to talk about shared interests.
Basic Fandom Etiquette Everyone Needs to Remember:
Creators do not owe anyone content. Do not ask writers when they will update.
If an author did not ask for [negative] criticism , do not give criticism.
Read the tags carefully before reading a fanfic.
If you ignored the tags and were upset, that is your responsibility, not the creator’s.
Disliking a ship does NOT give you the right to attack people who enjoy it.
Do not tell authors or shippers that their ship is “disgusting,” “wrong,” or “shouldn’t exist.” Shipping fictional characters is not a moral failing.
No one is obligated to justify why they ship two fictional characters.
Headcanons are PERSONAL interpretations, not universal truth.
Dark themes in fiction do not equal real life beliefs or intentions.
Leaving kudos or short positive comments genuinely matters.
Not every fanwork is made for you, and that is okay.
Scrolling past content you dislike is better than engaging negatively
Enjoying a fandom later than others does not make someone less of a fan.
Disliking a fanfic does not entitle you to announce that to its creator. Sending hate comments to authors is NEVER justified, even if you disliked the work.
I read this as a reblog and, I don't want to start a big thing with the OP so I've just copied the text - my thoughts are below the cut. Since this landed in my orbit I haven't been able to write a damn word on any of the three WiPs that are open. Hopefully, getting this written will free RAM and let me get on with what I want to be getting on with.
I did not write this:
I think fanfic as your primary writing and reading background really sets you up to fail because there’s so many inherent crutches to fanfic. You don’t have to make characters enjoyable because the work’s already been done, you don’t have to describe appearances or locations or motivations because the work’s already been done, conflicts come pre-established and relationship dynamics have already been laid out. And none of this is a knock on fanfic, I am not saying fanfic is bad. But if that’s all you’ve written and largely all you’ve read then I think it’s gonna be a rough transition to original fiction, and I think you need to take some time first to familiarize yourself original works again.
My thoughts below:
This bothered me on a lot of different levels so, I'm not sure how coherent this is going to be ... hang on ... this got long and was a bit of a bumpy ride.
First: Define "fail".
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote:
To laugh often and love much;
To win the respect of intelligent persons
And the affection of children;
To earn the approbation of honest critics
And to endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To give of one's self;
To leave the world a little better,
Whether by a healthy child,
A garden patch
Or a redeemed social condition;
To have played and laughed with enthusiasm
And sung with exultation;
To know that even one life has breathed easier
Because you have lived
This is to have succeeded.
If you enjoy both reading and writing fanfic and that's what you want to do - how are you setting yourself up to "fail"? Fail what? Traditional publishing? Original works? Are you failing if you aren't able to monetize your writing but you're actually *enjoying* it? Original works are great but they're not the only "acceptable" works. I write, not to make money, but because my soul demands that I do so. I POST my writings in the event that someone else might find it enjoyable or comforting or get *something* from what I've written.
Second: I've read A LOT of fanfics. And a lot of them could easily become original works by simply CHANGING THE CHARACTER NAMES. I've actually written one and I'm in the middle of writing one now - change the names of the main characters and you'd never know it was fanfic because they're AUs. The world the characters exist in, isn't the one we're used to so the world has to be built/described.
Third: We don't write fanfic because of the "ease" of using the "inherent crutches". We write fanfics because we want to watch the same two idiots fall in love over and over - in any timeline, any dimension, anywhere. We like exploring the different ways our idiots meet and fall in love. We write it because we didn't like what we saw on screen and thought "I can fix this". We write because we didn't see something we wanted to and think "I can fix this".
You do have to write appearances/descriptions/motivations - especially if you're writing an AU. You do have to establish relationship dynamics. And conflicts. Unless you're writing the same exact story as was on the screen, you put your own spin on things and your own spin doesn't work if you simply lean *exclusively* on what's there. At the very least, if you're writing a canon-compliant fic, you have to expand on what's established if you want the reader to engage - otherwise, they might as well just watch the media it started out as.
Fourth: As I've said - I've read a lot of fanfic. I've also read a lot of different original works. My tastes run toward mystery and fantasy but I've also read Harlequins and pulp magazines. I will read just about anything that strikes my fancy. I have never been drawn to wordy/overly-descriptive works. Joyce Carol Oates is considered one of the best writers of our age - and I cannot stand her works. I HATED Nicholas Nickleby (Charles Dickens) - I remember exactly ONE thing from that story - Crumpet Wars. It was the entire second chapter and was never (in my memory) mentioned again. That kind of thing frustrates me as a reader.
As a writer, I don't put a lot of descriptions in my works. I give bare bones and leave it to the reader to fill in whatever they want. "He was a tall, thin man with graying hair cropped close, wearing an expensive navy suit" <- not really descriptive but that's what I write. Is he white? Black? Asian? What color are his eyes? His tie? His shirt? You fill in the blanks. I see one man, you see another and, honestly, it ultimately doesn't matter to the story. I *as a reader* don't want to get bogged down in descriptions that go on for three or four paragraphs. I have found it tedious to read the SAME description in five different paragraphs. "The house smelled of burnt toast and regret" ... "the smell of burnt toast hung in the air, punctuating the deep regret" ... I've put aside more than one book (and fic) for that reason.
The character descriptions could fit a million different people. There are *millions* of people who fit the descriptions. Physical and character traits.
The above person said "I'm not saying fanfic is bad" ... yeah, you are. Maybe not in those words but, you are. (and I saw a reblog or a comment that said "I am saying fanfic is bad")
I've read published novels that are awful. 50 Shades of Gray is (IMO) a terrible series of books. It misrepresents BDSM in so many ways, it's insulting (a friend read the first three chapters and warned me off them). Those books started out as fanfics of Twilight (also horrible stories IMO - I couldn't get past the first five chapters of the first book).
I've read fanfics that are soul-crushingly beautiful. I've read fics that have a good story but the writing sucks and I've read fics with wonderful writing but the story sucks. One of the Xena fanfic writers went on to work as a writer on Xena. There's a Brittana writer who changed the names and self-published for Kindle. There's a Xena writer who changed the names and sold her stories in paperback.
I spent a lot of years being embarrassed because I'm a fic writer. I get the "why don't you write something you can get published" line all the time. I don't write to make money. I don't have the attitude/ambition for traditional publishing or the energy/marketing skills for self-publishing. Do I think I'm not good enough? Nope. I know I've written better fics than some of the published stuff out there. And I'm okay with that.
I also find it amusing - we see "film adaptations" of various books but, really? What are "film adaptations" other than a screenwriter's fanfic? A director's "take"?
I have said this and will probably say it again: The best writing advice in the world isn't any good if it doesn't work for you.
And, also - the worst fanfic you write yourself is better than the best original work written by AI.
Anyway.
All of this merely represents my thoughts/opinions - worth about what you think they are.
Fuck I think I got shadowbanned by tumblr... I filed a report already but it sucks so much, modern social media is so complicated to use tbh... Random shadowbans are the reason I couldn't use twitter, but twitter doesn't even have a proper support feature
Fuck I think I got shadowbanned by tumblr... I filed a report already but it sucks so much, modern social media is so complicated to use tbh... Random shadowbans are the reason I couldn't use twitter, but twitter doesn't even have a proper support feature
(this came out of a conversation in the comments on a previous post about an author threatening to stop updating a fic because of lack of engagement)
So there’s this idea that fic writers should write for themselves and not care too much about stats or engagement,
and i totally get the sentiment behind that. if writing becomes entirely about stats and external validation, something important does get lost - creative freedom and joy, conviction in your own writing
but i also think:
“i write for myself, but i post for others.”
because posting fic is not only self-expression. it’s social. ao3 is called an archive, but emotionally it often functions as a community space.
people post for connection, for participation, for others to bear witness to their pain and trauma and grief,
and i don’t think most people are asking to be admired so much as acknowledged. there’s something deeply human about wanting another person to encounter something that mattered to you and go:
“ok, yeah, I see what you were trying to say. I see you.”
especially because fanfic is often people processing very real feelings through fictional characters at a safe distance, one step removed,
and then uploading that deeply personal thing into a shared archive and hoping somebody else might connect with it.
And i think that’s why it hurts so much when you summon up the courage and post a fic into the void and you get nothing back,
*gently takes your face in my hands* hey. remember that fandom is for fun. if you're not having fun it is ok to step back. if you're intentionally making it unfun for others it is ok to step back. none of this is real. go sit in the sun and smell a flower. i love you.
Today we want to say thank you and congratulations to one of our beloved guests, @hffghhf, for submitting over 458 headcanons to our establishment! This is an impressive number and, in my experience, the first time someone ever contributed this much to a headcanon blog.
We appreciate you and hope you will like the awards we prepared for you. Keep being creative!
“I want to write a fic about this but I don’t think anybody will be interested in it” ummm hello excuse me ma’am what do you mean you don’t think anybody will be interested in it??? YOU. YOU ARE INTERESTED IN IT???? write it because YOU are interested in it and YOU want to write about it. fanfic writing should always be first and foremost about YOUR enjoyment, not other people’s.
he would not fucking say that, but with disability.. he would not fucking be able bodied. sick n tired of characters walking away from multiple life changing injuries without a scratch. let’s get some natural consequences in here.
give that knife/sword fight survivor nerve damage. give the character who was shot in the gut a stoma. give that fire survivor lung damage and an oxygen cannula. give that leg injury survivor a cane. give that starvation survivor gastroparesis. give that spinal injury survivor a manual chair or powerchair.
while we’re at it, give your characters congenital disabilities too, just because. give them intellectual and development disabilities. give them acquired and postviral illnesses. dare to make somebody bedbound. for me.
My first work on A3 format & my first time working with water (I draw with different pencils including watercolor ones). The illustration is inspired by Ivan Bilibin's works & slavic fairytales in general. You may have already seen Bilibin's works but I advise checking them out either way!
If you're wondering about squirrels here, I changed Gumillia's species as chipmunks don't appear in Slavic fairytales. They do appear in folklore of indigenous people of Siberia and Russian East, so you may except another AU from me, haha...
I don't know if I can post nudity here, hope I don't get banned lmaooo... Some process under cut
