when you finally realize the quicker, more effective way to queue things after two years of scheduling every post you make and you have to reevaluate all your life choices
The boxes with blue squares around them (in addition to the yellow) are ones I had an extra note one.
For the first ("made a HTTYD OC") I can really only say 'technically' since my OC is also a Hetalia fan-character who represents the universe of HTTYD. (It's a very complicated crossover AU, maybe I'll talk about it one day.)
For the second ("read the HTTYD comics") I can't say I've finished them. I've only read a couple of books and couldn't get my hands on any others. However, I think it still counts?
For the third ("played with HTTYD themed toys")... does it count if I made them myself? Or rather if my sister made them? (Ha ha twin moment.) I'm saying it counts.
Also, I didn't box this one at all, but for the "cried to the HTTYD soundtrack one" I can say that I technically have? I don't want to count it though because the reason I was crying was because of the very sad Pokespe fanfiction I was working on lol
Blank one below the cut, though it's super pixilated and grainy.
The response about the old hetalia fandom is awesome and well articulated, thanks. I think your writing had remained standout and unique (to me), perhaps BECAUSE you stay away from the rest of the fandom
(Cont.) I’m a huge history nerd, but I tend to be more into 178th century-present times. What do you love about your favorite time periods? What made you love them? And how does that translate to your writing?
Thank you! I’m glad it came across as well-articulated because by the time I’d finished writing it I was like “did I just write 2000 non-fic words on Hetalia again, why do you do this to yourself.” And I’m glad my writing stands out :D
Under a readmore again because I can’t... keep things short.
As for your questions! Hm. Like I mentioned in the post my BA was in history & classics so I’ve pretty proficient in a very wide array of time periods, and it’s really hard to pick specifics because I love so much about all of them. I’m a classicist at heart even though I’m not doing my MA in it and even though I don’t write any Hetalia fics re: ancient history, but one of my favourite time periods from Late Antiquity onward would have to be the 15th and 16th centuries? I love the transition from medieval to early modern a lot, and a lot of my fics (esp my recent ones) derive from these periods, because I love how everything shifts and reforms? It was in many ways the dawn of a new era, so to speak, and from a character standpoint it’s lovely to explore and delve into. As for what made me love them that’s Hard because literally all my life I’ve loved history, and I’ve been fortunate enough to be part of a family (and an elementary school) that encouraged that from a very, very young age (I was in love with history by the time I was six years old at least, because once I learned to read I was hoarding history books in my desk--no joke). I’ve branched out to a lot of different time periods in my life and am lucky enough to be someone who can sit down and hold her own in discussions about multiple time periods, because I never believed in focusing on just one thing, because I never had just one interest. And I’m proud of this because it gives me a background and perspective a lot of my peers don’t have. I love them because I just... do. It’s fascinating, and I think history is very important and wish it was valued more by people.
I think it translates into my writing quite a bit. You’d never know because I write very few fics focusing in on England, but one of my best time periods is actually Tudor England, which is how I branched into the Habsburgs, because even though scholarship tends to ignore England’s antagonistic relationship with Spain in the 16th century, it played a major part in their development. I think it also helps me build atmosphere when I write? Because this was very much an era of Kings and Emperors but because of the transition from medieval to early modern it was so very different than what it was before. The world was changing and new powers and laws were coming into play (ex. England’s entire political and aristocratic system was changed under the reign of Henry VII and, to a lesser extent, Henry VIII) and the networks of alliances could be very complex (and v/ controversial, like when France allied themselves with the Ottomans because they hated and feared the Habsburgs and their hegemony more than the prospect of allying with--[16th century European gasp]--Muslims). You also had the religious conflicts, which I haven’t touched explicitly but there are references to it. A lot of my earlier Hetalia fics were more 18th century, for sure, and I do know quite a bit about the 17th and 18th centuries as well, but I love the 15th and 16th centuries. I love the politics of it all, the shifts, the emergences. I tend to view history as a giant spiderweb, and I love following the strings to see how everything is attached. Plus this was before nationalism was really a thing.
(And okay I do hate writing about nationalism. So much. I also hate early modern philosophy.)
But yeah it definitely informs what I write about and helps me build an atmosphere. I tend to get indignant when things I consider important are passed over too (such as Spain and Austria’s canonical marriage, which I have as lasting 200 years, though I don’t think Himaruya ever commented on the dates--regardless, I have the dates I prefer and will absolutely back it up with citations and history if I have to) and that also influences my writing, but to be honest a lot of it is “I’m in a 16th century early Habsburg mood right now, let’s write some of this!” I have a 10k FrUK fic that I haven’t finished or posted which is mostly just Historical Indulgence: A History of England, the fic. I write about the things I find really interesting and the dynamics I find interesting, which is really the short answer but the best way of describing it? I write about it because I love it. I’m interested in it because I love it. I view the characters and events as multi-faceted things. To me, these characters are living palimpsests and I try very hard to make sure that that element/view is always present somehow, because that’s where the depth and the strength of these characters comes from. They are the living embodiments of history, their every actions informed by past events, and that alone is enough to make me love them in turn.
