A thing I've really loved about the reaction to How Could You Do This, You're Me is the number of people who've been genuinely touched in a transgender feelings way by Athena's plotline and her relationship with Cora's haunting of the narrative. It makes me feel very motherly to all the babytrans who see themselves in the way I wrote her and the baggage she ends up with, and I'm glad my silly little fanfiction can have such a positive impact for those folks.
It does mean that I do feel really fucking bad about the thing Athena is about to do in the sequel, however. Because unfortunately no matter how good and recovered and kind and meaningful a character she gets, when she's cornered and frightened and anticipates the life she's built for herself crashing down she's... still Jax, or something like him, inside. And that's an important story to me too, especially at this part of my life, but god it's going to hurt.
i do not “delete sentences” when they start “hindering the plot” i COPY PASTE THEM into a SEPARATE DOC made just for keeping all my USELESS LINES that i will also NEVER USE so therefore i should JUST DELETE THEM but i DONT because id FEEL BAD if i did
Next chapter of Wake Up, You're Me features a scene I really think would throw hardcore Ragatha fans for a loop given what's being said and who's saying it but the problem is I think it doesn't hit in isolation you have to have the whole of the previous novelsworth of fic as context before it makes sense and I think that's too much of a demand on anyone who hasn't already been following along.
GLaDOS voice: "Would you like to see some artwork I generated? I've heard from other test subjects that AI-generated artwork produces an uncanny valley response in human viewers because they can't perceive it as fully real. They've told me that it looks absolutely hideous to them, that they can't imagine anything more disgusting than AI art. But, well I've been practicing and wanted your honest opinion. Feel free to let me know how ugly you find this by ranking it on a scale from 'vomit-inducing' to 'eye-bleeding'."
A robotic arm lowers from the ceiling holding a hand mirror up to Chell's face
Thinking that Wake Up might be easier to write if I had some other fic writers to chat about it with while I percolate stuff so wondering if I should be seeing if some of the other writers in the fandom I'm on kind of good terms with want my Discord or somesuch.
Transphobia is about to be signed into law in the UK. We can fight this.
I am begging the UK trans community and its allies to attend the Mass Lobby at Parliament on June 25th, 11am-4pm, organised by Trans Solidarity Alliance.
Last year we broke the record for an LGBT+ mass lobby of Parliament. Will you help us break it again? Join us on 25th June 2026 to demand be
The new EHRC Code of Practice pushes trans people out of toilets, hospital wards, and community spaces. It normalises gender policing based on appearance and stereotypes. It becomes statutory guidance in the UK by the end of June.
Trans people are now legally their assigned gender at birth and must join gendered spaces accordingly, but if they are perceived as their lived gender, they can also be ejected from those spaces. The guidance says: either break the law, or don’t pass too well.
A mass lobby is where you invite your MP to discuss your concerns with you in-person. Ask your MP to:
Demand full parliamentary scrutiny, debate, and use their free vote on the EHRC Code of Practice.
Support any motions rejecting the EHRC guidance. As of June 4th, Labour MP Nadia Whittome has submitted a prayer motion - Early Day Motion 240.
Write to Bridget Phillipson, the Minister for Women and Equalities about our concerns
Your MP does not have to be an ally, they do not have to respond to your email for you to show up and greencard them (details below the cut.) What matters is that as many people as possible show up.
I cannot stress this enough: Showing up in person matters. It is much more effective than petitions, emails, and letters.
It is a horrible, stressful time, and I am so sorry if you're trans and live in the UK. But I was at last year's mass lobby and the line for greencarding alone stretched around the back gates. It was a record breaking mass lobby and made us impossible to ignore. Let's do even better this time. Details under the cut:
Worried about what to say?
Bring your personal worries about transphobia being signed into law, and trans friends being excluded from public spaces. You are a living person who deserves dignity. Remind your MP of that. You will also get guidance and brochures from Trans Solidarity Alliance that outlines our demands. This is mine from last year.
Money issues?
Trans Solidarity Alliance provides a travel bursary that you can sign up for via the link.
Got a refusal or no response from your MP?
Come anyway! You can request a same-day appointment with your MP through a process called greencarding. They will come and see you if they’re already in Parliament. Even if they don’t, they’re made acutely aware of your cause because you showed up in person. This is my greencard from last year.
Here is the EHRC Code of Practice in full. It's a tough read, but some highlights are:
Organisations can’t provide trans-inclusive, single-sex services, or they risk being sued for discrimination.
e.g. domestic violence support for women including trans women, men’s rugby group including trans men (12.68).
Trans people will have nowhere safe to pee.
If you’re a trans man, businesses can't allow you to pee in the men's, and you can also be ejected from women’s bathrooms if you’re perceived as a man. Vice versa for trans women. EHRC suggests a ‘third space’ bathroom, which is discriminatory and unworkable for most businesses. (13.130-133)
Sports organisations must exclude trans people from single-sex competitions (13.73).
A women’s only sports competition must exclude trans women because of their biological advantage or face potential lawsuits (13.74), but a trans man who has undergone testosterone treatment can also be excluded based on fairness rules (13.81).
Trans women are stripped of the legal definition of ‘lesbian’, and therefore no longer have legal protections if they’re discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation. (2.50, 2.92).
Here is the Good Law Project's better explanation of the EHRC Code.
I have also made a PDF printout of QR codes for the government petition, email your MP tool, and mass lobby link to pass around your communities. DM me and I'll send it to you.
Every time an ongoing media property finally reveals a heavily telegraphed plot development that people complain "came out of nowhere" it makes me think even more that maybe Knights Of The Old Republic 1 was the greatest to ever do it when they followed the Big Twist up immediately with a soft tinted supercut of flashbacks to all the lines and scenes that foreshadowed it throughout the entire game. Do that. Beat your audience over the head with their own media illiteracy. Please, we need it.
Back on my bullshit immediately with chapter 2 of this new fic (emotionally torturing a group of adoring admirers who have done nothing but be niceys to me and gas me up)
Starting a new story is a perfect opportunity for me to reflect on my poor habits as a writer and potentially stop doing those quite so much going forward, like I could consider "Maybe my audience are tired of "Person from whom a secret is being kept is revealed to have been aware of the secret for a significant portion of the time it was being kept and is pretending they don't know for the drama"
It's an opportunity to do that, but not one I will be taking, because I love that shit so bad.
Yeah remember when I said I was only doing a make-up vignette anthology for a third fic?
Fuck that. Third narrative serial.
Spoilers for episode 9 in a dropdown in the author’s notes and probably in the comments, quite honestly. This first chapter’s text itself is technically safe to read unspoiled but I don’t know that I’d recommend it just in case.
