Use Volume, Not Violence

she/her | 29 | autistic | queer probably reading fanfiction destiny in real life; recklessandlazy on AO3

[azaablue]

the best fanfiction you've ever read was written by a woman in her 40s before she made dinner for her kids. it was written by a teenager after school when they should've been studying for a history test. and a barista came up with the idea while they cleaned the espresso machine and busser fact-checked it on their break and the post-doc edited between writing grant proposals and the nurse apologized for typos in the notes after a long shift and behind every drabble and one-shot and multi-chapter fic there is a person with a wonderful and interesting and chaotic life and it is such a privilege that we get to be apart of it because they decided to do this thing we all share, for fun.

[leech-mother]

˖.𖤓 ݁٠࣪˖˚⋆

[recklessandlazy]

And if I said this was robindie…

@batsbratsandbarbedwire ? 👀

[batsbratsandbarbedwire]

[recklessandlazy]

ANYWAY yall look what my friend made 🥰

[batsbratsandbarbedwire]

how u gonna dislike nancy but write about the racist lmao

Whats really funny about stranger things is its a predominantly white rural town in buttfuck nowhere in the 80s. If you think any of them would be as progressive as theyre written in the show and in fic, like, lol okay. Like even Reagan signs in yards and is canon.

I think theres a lot to be said about what being raised in an abusive, catastrophic environment does to a person and what they parot and how they have to grapple with that. I spent the first however long of my life in a cult who preached homophobia, had to grow up and get out of it to figure out who I even was let alone how that was okay. Growth is possible, especially when you leave toxic environments. And I wont ever live a life where I dont believe that.

With that being said, he aint racist in my story. I have stories where he is and its condemned. Joy of fiction, I can make anyone into whoever I want them to be.

And its free content you dont have to engage with. Im a rando on the internet you dont have to engage with. Write whoever you want to write about. Read about whoever you want to read about. Its like so great that were allowed to do that, ya know.

I hope you have a nice night! A great week, really. Its super rainy where im at, and I like that. I hope youre enjoying wherever you are, too.

[recklessandlazy]

If I may add more thoughts, re: this is my best friend and co-creator you’re coming for, I kind of just think this is a boring criticism and, frankly, kind of misses the point of fanfiction. I’ve never met someone writing fanfiction or reading fanfiction who says things like, “I love everything about canon characters and plot so much that I consider them set in stone.” Like, I’m reading fanfiction for one reason: I want more of the thing I see in a character or story or world that makes me feel something. What does that look like for me?

It looks like just about anything if the storytelling is good enough!

I’ve read fic where Robin Buckley is a bad, terrible, unforgivable friend. I’ve read fic where Steve’s parents are actually fantastic people. I’ve read fic where Jonathan and Argyle and Nancy and Barb in a goddamn polycule. I’ve read nasty smutty threesomes with Tommy and Carol and Steve. Are any of those things canon? No! The point of a fanfiction is to be a good fucking story. What does a good story need? Characters that serve a specific purpose for the author. And guess what? The author can make that character and their purpose whatever the fuck they want—because they’re writing fictional stories about fictional people that no one is making anyone else read.

So—first of all, there’s that.

Second of all, I think we as humans evolving in the world need to remember that to write fiction about something or someone does not endorse a person or action. Also, just because someone writes a character doesn’t mean you’re supposed to like or sympathize with them, either! Like, am I supposed to like the protagonist in John Updike’s A&P? Because frankly, I think he’s a creepy fucking loser! And guess what? There are people who disagree with me and there are people who do agree with me—and none of that (necessarily) means shit about Updike. (Now I would like to say here that I don’t know anything about Updike in particular—my POINT is that someone’s fiction should not be the end all be all of how we understand them.)

Finally—I grew up in the American Deep South. I worked long and hard to understand race and misogyny in America, to make sense of my place as a brown queer disabled woman, to understand what I had had normalized to me, and also what I /actually/ believe to be true about the world. And, frankly, thank god I was doing all that at a time when the internet was not quite yet the end all be all of existence for other people—where you could listen and learn and evolve and become better without having every single part of you scrutinized for public consumption. I think we are only as good as we allow others to be, and so we must be willing to give them grace and kindness and opportunity for change if we want to be given and capable of the same. The idea that we might not explore that in story form just seems like uninteresting and disengaged storytelling, frankly.

I encourage you to walk away from your panopticon, anonymous. The world and its people are so much more complicated and interesting than you might reduce them to.

[recklessandlazy]

happy (kinda really) late birthday! :)

Omg! Thank you so much!! Genuinely means the world to me. 🥹

[recklessandlazy]

hi it’s my birthday :)

[recklessandlazy]

One time @batsbratsandbarbedwire said to me

“You don’t think we’re in love, right?”

And then, before I could say anything, they said

“Well, we are very romantic.”

[kassy-djomunson]

bfs with matching slutty waists

[batsbratsandbarbedwire]

Robin and Andie in 15.2 are so soft and so important to me. The prettiest soulmates in all the land.

We kind of flipped them on their heads from how I usually write them, switched their dynamic, and its fun and exciting and new.

@recklessandlazy captured Andie so well. Nailed Robin. This is who they are in 15.2. If you want to see who they are and where they're at in the sandbox, here's fucking art.

Hope anyone is as desperate for more Robin/Andie content as I am. Thank you for loving an oc who's so special to me.

[recklessandlazy]

Hiiii Bats is being nice because I’m all drama. These are stories we write together and collaborate on constantly. Anything good from the sandbox comes from both of us (though to be clear the bad stuff comes from Bats 😇 ). But we talk a lottttt about other soulmate pairs in this verse and it’s so much fun to take a peek into the lives of one of them. Thanks for reading :)

[recklessandlazy]

Stephenie and Chrissy sucking Jonathan’s dick is so BORING you bunch of fucking losers Jonathan sucks so much lol

[recklessandlazy]

Like Chrissy just say you hate women 🤪

[recklessandlazy]

Stephenie 🤢

[recklessandlazy]

Stephenie and Chrissy sucking Jonathan’s dick is so BORING you bunch of fucking losers Jonathan sucks so much lol

[recklessandlazy]

Like Chrissy just say you hate women 🤪

[recklessandlazy]

Stephenie and Chrissy sucking Jonathan’s dick is so BORING you bunch of fucking losers Jonathan sucks so much lol

[recklessandlazy]

Oh my GOD can someone tell Caitlyn Carter I love them!!!!!!?????????

[batsbratsandbarbedwire]

15.2 Andie, our art history major smartie pants babycakes.

[recklessandlazy]

obsessed with your story btw so freaking good you and @batsbratsandbarbedwire are killing it and l have been so inspired with so many naughty ideas, ask Batsy I've sent them a quite a few

Oh thanks! It’s been such a fucking blast collaborating with them on this. As writers, and probably a little bit as people, Bats and I kind of complement each other perfectly. Like, picking up the pieces the other one drops—the sock that falls out of your arms when you’re bringing a load of laundry to wash, kind of thing. But really they deserve all the praise and credit, I’m just happy they let me play in their sandbox. Glad you’re liking 15.2!

[batsbratsandbarbedwire]

In honor of the next chapter of 15.2 (that you'll see in a few days, we dont rush magic) have Eddie tattoos 😇

[batsbratsandbarbedwire]

15.2 Eddie has my heart.