Alright then, since you asked so nicely, I'll put in the effort and just go through my entire following!
Keep in mind that some of these blogs may be inactive, but their old works are definitely worth taking a look at!
Not all of them are yandere, but they are satisfying nonetheless, so check them out!
Also, most of these blogs, and blogs in general, write for fanbases with specific characters. I follow mostly people who write either BNHA, JJK, or Haikyu!! So, if you like that, you'll probably like most of these.
Other than that, sorry, I won't be writing anything specific for each blog. I suggest just checking them out one by one. I'll make an exception to my delete later rule and leave this post up for good, so take your time, people!
Hey. Do you have any yandere series or movies or even manga to recommend?
It can be anything from j-dramas to movies.
Thx.
Yandere (& other) Recs
I've done something like this before, but it's been a while, so here's an updated version!
Live Action
♡ FEAR (1996)
Good daddy's girl x orphaned bad boy. It all seems like quite the typical relationship... but then things take a dangerous turn. One of my personal faves.
♡ SCREAM (1996)
There are a lot of Scream movies and series, but this is by far the best one. Also one of my personal faves.
♡ WITHIN (2016)
About a family who moves into a new house, only they aren't the only ones living there...
♡ THE BOY (2016 & 2020)
A nanny and a boy-doll that is neither a doll nor a boy.
♡ THE RESIDENT (2011)
Creepy landlord.
♡ THE BOY NEXT DOOR (2015)
Creepy neighbour.
♡ SECRET OBSESSION (2019)
Girl has amnesia... a guy claims to be her husband...
♡ THE INVISIBLE MAN (2020)
About an ex-husband stalking his ex-wife.
♡ HEARTTHROB (2017)
Popular girl x shy nerdy boy. He gets severely jealous and obsessive, and things take a spiral. Kinda strange ending.
♡ 365 DAYS (2020)
I think most of us know of this one. Not the best plot, but something entertaining to watch. It's kind of giving Fifty Shades of Grey.
♡ YOU (2018)
This one's another obvious one. I don't recall where I fell off. I just remember not liking where it was heading at some point, but season one was good.
There's more I'm forgetting, I'm sure. Feel free to comment or send recs for me to add!
ANIME
♡ DIABOLIC LOVERS
Main character innocent Christian sacrifice Yui is sent to live in a mansion along with six vampire brothers. The dub is highly recommended.
That's the only yandere anime I've watched that I've actually enjoyed.
These next ones are not yandere, but romance, but still...
♡ A SILENT VOICE
Crazy angsty. I cried so fucking much. So good.
♡ OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOST CLUB
Wholesome reverse-harem. Funny as hell. Nothing crazy. One of my personal faves.
♡ LOVE IS WAR
Also funny as hell. A real slow burn.
♡ HORIMIYA
Pure romance, but oh-so-good.
♡ TOILET-BOUND HANAKO-KUN
Main character Nene gets herself indebted to the school ghost. I highly recommend the dub.
COMICS
♡ LADY K AND THE SICK MAN
A broke man moves into a cheap place only for it to be haunted by a sexy ghost. Extremely smutty.
♡ TONARI NO SEKI NO HEN NA SENPAI
Male salesman is yandere for his cute coworker.
♡ KEDAMONOTACHI NO KIKAN: KYOUIZONSHOU KOUGUN
Creepy fanboy stalker kidnaps cute model. Extremely heavy rape scenes, forceful use of toys, and much trauma.
♡ THE DESIRE TO KILL
Girl-with-sex-addiction meets guy-with-sex-addiction. She gets bored and leaves to find love and he doesn't like that too much..
♡ THAT UNEXPECTED SIDE TO MY CHILDHOOD FRIEND - WATCH OUT FOR THE ANIMAL IN HIM!
Childhood friends to lovers. Some wholesome yandere content.
♡ THE TRUE IDENTITY OF THE GENTLE SENIOR IS A YANDERE
Short but really good. Think the title speaks for itself.
♡ MY YANDERE NEIGHBOR or WATASHI NO TANORU NO YANDERE-KUN
Happy ending.
♡ KAEDE, THE YANDERE BOYFRIEND or YANDERE KAREESHI NO KAEDE-KUN
Oneshot.
♡ YANDERE MAHOUTSUKAI WA SEKIZOU NO OTOME SHIKA AISENAI - MAJO WA MANDESHI NO ATSUI
She was his teacher, then she fell under a spell. When she wakes up again, he's older than her and as obsessed as ever.
♡ SAPPHIRE DEW ~INFATUATED GENTLEMANLY BOYFRIEND SEIZES THE INITIATIVE~
Another oneshot.
♡ YANDERE OUJI GA SHACHIKU ONNA NO WATASHI O HANASANAI or THE YANDERE PRINCE WON'T LET ME SLIP AWAY
Short, but good. The title speaks for itself.
The creator, Umekoppe, has a lot of other yandere stories worth checking out. In fact, there's so many, that I won't bother listing them all here. I suggest just scrolling her works instead!
BL ANIMATION
None of these are yandere, but they're really good romances.
♡ MIGNON
Cannot recommend enough, honestly. Don't wanna spoil anything. It's angsty, has beautiful animation, a solid plot, and smut.
♡ CHERRY MAGIC! THIRTY YEARS OF VIRGINITY CAN MAKE YOU A WIZARD!
Idk, silly, but moving.
♡ THE FOUNDER OF DIABOLISM
Holy shit, you guys. So beautiful and fascinating. More plot than romance, but still.
♡ HEAVEN'S OFFICIAL BLESSING
Like the one about, it's got more plot than romance, but still it's so beautiful.
♡ GIVEN
I cried so much. One of my personal all-time faves.
♡ MISAKI AND MIYANO
Just sweet.
♡ BANANA FISH
Drugs, gangs, disturbing shit, but also romance. I cried.
BOY-LOVE COMICS
I find that some of the best yandere comics are yaoi.
♡ KILLING STALKING
It's heavy on the abuse and not so much on the love aspect of things. Be careful before reading this.
♡ LOW TIDE IN TWILIGHT
The best Omegaverse BL I've read. Omega owes a lot of debt to this Alpha mobster. Both angsty and fluffy.
♡ PAINTER OF THE NIGHT
Set in Korea's Joseon Dynasty. It's about a guy who paints erotica getting "kidnapped" by a guy of the upper class who's his biggest fan.
♡ STALKER'S GAME
Stalker x victim. A little strange.
♡ THE WAREHOUSE or GAMGEUMCHANG-GO
Fucked up.
♡ FRUIT OF THE TONGUE
Short. Obsessed orphan boy x good priest.
♡ LIMITED RUN
Not yandere. Aspiring young actor accepts a deal from a rich businessman. Angsty.
♡ CHECKMATE
Not yandere. Still, enjoyable. Dramatic. Revenge story, enemies to lovers.
♡ JINX
This one is still ongoing. But I love it so much, I check every week for a new chapter. Physical therapist x MMA fighter. Angsty.
There's so much more, but these are some of the ones I enjoyed so much that I wrote down the titles. Feel free to drop other recs in the comment section!
can you go into depth why bully x reader is so good?
On The Bully Trope
You know I love doing these…
♡ Bully Trope Dynamics
Alrighty then, before we get into the amateur psychology of it all, let’s get some definition on what the Bully trope is and entails.
And so, first off, we can identify two main types of dynamics in the Bully trope.
The first is the classic Bad Boy x Good Girl:
Here, you have a Bad Boy who’s typically a bit of a misanthropic outcast from the rough side of the tracks that doesn’t seem to like anyone or anything—he’s usually somewhat of a mysterious stranger, but whether he’s a rough and tough type of guy or a full-blown loser can vary. In any case, he’s often portrayed as cynical, uses sarcasm in his speech, and has other dark and cryptic personality traits. He may be academically inclined, despite not caring about school, or he may be failing every class, though this is also something he wouldn’t care about. In newer dating terminology, we might refer to him as a Sigma Male, in that he doesn’t seek acknowledgement from his peers, but sees strength in being a lone wolf.
The juxtaposing Good Girl is typically a well-liked, prim and proper, hard-working star-student with a big bleeding heart and a seemingly perfect moral compass. She isn’t directly unpopular, but she isn’t the prom queen either. She can be a little naive, but she’s not an airhead and will arrest the Bad Boy on his bad behaviour by standing up to him and telling him off—despite being a little scared of him. This is usually why the bad boy is intrigued by her. She’s also vulnerable to attacks from other people, such as verbal abuse from mean girls or sexual harassment from other bullies, thus creating a constant narrative of needing to be “saved” and “protected”—a role which the Bad Boy will assume.
This ship features power imbalances such as relaxed/high-strung, confident/self-conscious, dominant/submissive, naive/cynical, and experienced/inexperienced, favoring the Bad Boy, as well as a power imbalance of rich/poor or good home/bad home, favoring the Good Girl.
Think JD x Veronica from Heathers, David McCall x Nicole from Fear, Damon x Elena from Vampire Diaries, Jughead x Betty from Riverdale, and even Mega Mind x Roxanne.
The second dynamic is with the status reversed, Popular Guy x Quirky Girl:
Here, the Popular Guy, often a jock of some kind or a playboy character, is a smooth-talking narcissist. Typically, he’ll be rich and academically inclined, being the school’s wonder boy. Usually, though, this is a result of hidden pressure and high expectations, where he’ll often have some sort of issues stemming from home, either an abusive father or absent parents, which makes us feel sorry for him and excuse his bad behaviour to some degree. Again, in dating terminology, this would be the classic Alpha Male who strives to be on top of the food chain because he sees strength in ruling over others.
The Quirky Girl introduces a break from all of this. She’ll be a messy character, either nerdy and shy or a strangely confident tomboy, who teaches the Popular Guy that there are other, more important things in life than living it to fulfill other people’s hopes and expectations. She’ll be a kind-hearted, non-judgmental person who thinks and sees the best in people, putting everything on display and inviting the Popular Guy in, only for his shallow ways to get in the way, leading to him betraying her at first. In the end, however, he apologizes and she forgives him.
This ship features a somewhat different set of power imbalances, such as popular/unpopular, desirable/undesirable, and often also rich/poor, favoring the Popular Guy, as well as a power imbalance of free/trapped, favoring the Quirky Girl. Depending on the Quirky Girl being the shy, innocent type, the dynamic will also feature an imbalance of experienced/inexperienced, such as in Bad Boy x Good Girl, again, favoring the Popular Guy.
Think Hardin x Tessa from After, Zack x Laney from She’s All That, and Zane x Emma from H2O. Or, with the genders reversed, you have Styles x Lydia from Teen Wolf.
There’s also a third, more arbitrary trope, similar to the first of Good Girl x Bad Boy, where instead of a Good Girl, you’ll have a Mean Girl.
Here, the “bullying” will go both ways, where you’ll have a narcissistic Mean Girl with similar characteristics to that of the Popular Guy, who thinks her shit doesn’t stink, and a Bad Boy who’ll poke fun at her insecurities.
Think Dan x Serena and Chuck x Blair from Gossip Girl, the song Cooler Than Me by Mike Posner, or the cross-universe ship of Rodrick Heffley x Regina George.
♡ Dissecting The Traditional Bully Trope
The bully trope falls under the broader trope of enemies-to-lovers, which features a classic dynamic of rivalry.
BNHA’s Bakugou and Deku are the best examples I can think of to illustrate this, but we also have Avatar’s Zuko and Ang, Haikyuu’s Hinata and Kageyama, LOTR’s Legolas and Gimli, heck, even Coca-Cola and Pepsi—whom you can find fanfiction and fanart about, just so you know.
Of course, these examples aren’t official ships, but they are highly shipped by each of their respective fandoms. And as well as those, we also have plenty of canonical love stories that showcase a dynamic of rivalry becoming romantic, with popular tropes being workplace competition such as with Brooklyn 99’s Amy & Jake, professional competitors like in She’s the Man with Viola & Duke, cat and mouse like with Batman & Catwoman, or hero and villain such as in Demon Hunters with Rumi & Jinu, among many others.
However, not every enemies-to-lovers story features a dynamic of clear-cut rivals. Still, I’d argue that every enemies-to-lovers, including the bully trope, features two individuals with opposing ideologies, thus making them metaphorical rivals, even without there being anything material or distinct that they're fighting each other for.
In any case, I’d say this push-and-pull dynamic and the idea of how opposites attract, like how yin and yang complete each other, is the first selling point to any enemies-to-lovers story, including those featured in the bully trope.
The second main selling point is the idea that love or “good” triumphs over “evil” and can change someone for the better.
If we strip away the romantic element in the enemies-to-lovers trope, what we’re left with is a redemption story: In the beginning, there’s hostility between the characters, a conflict with a push-and-pull dynamic that creates high emotional tension and hurt. Then, gradually throughout the story, they come to gain respect for each other, where the deeply flawed “evil” character realizes the error of his ways, undergoes significant personal growth, and works to make amends.
In the end, the intensity of the initial conflict makes the eventual development of a positive connection feel more impactful and exciting.
When handled well, the story should succeed in subverting the initial toxic aspects by also having the victim stand up to the bully, leading to a more equal and respectful relationship, and further by highlighting the struggles that both characters face and showing them both come to understand and help each other heal and become stronger.
Again, think Deku and Bakugou, Ang and Zuko, Rey and Kylo Ren, or Rumi and Jinu. This emotional and turbulent journey that the bully undergoes from being bad to becoming good is emotionally satisfying and inspiring to witness, and makes us root for them even when we initially didn’t like them and regarded them as the enemy.
This is what the classic bully trope has to offer. A push and pull dynamic with gradual character development, where the victim becomes their own hero and the bully undergoes a redemption, leading to a relationship based on overcoming and embracing each other’s differences and earning the other’s respect.
However, in my and plenty of other dark bully-oriented fiction, this “I can fix him” and eventual coming together "on the same side" factor aren’t present. And so, if not the victim’s perseverance and the bully’s redemption, what is the appeal?
♡ Reframing or Expelling Trauma
First off, let’s get this out of the way, as this is a point to all dark fiction, and one I’ve already discussed plenty in a previous Helpdesk edition called On Noncon/Dubcon as a Kink, so I won’t go too far into it here. But yes, women, as we all know, are constantly oppressed by men in different levels of extremity, be it through mild comments bordering on misogynistic or sexual, disguised as innocent jokes, to more indiscreet cases of sexual harassment and full-on assault.
Sadly, it’s not odd that we find ourselves often losing faith in men.
At the same time, most of us can’t really bring ourselves to fully hate men either, despite having every right to do so. Still, this leaves a lot of uncomfortable feelings to linger around in our heads, hearts, and stomach—a funny little thing called trauma—and through the outlet of dark fiction, we’re, in a way, exorcising these burdensome emotions.
Specifically related to the bully trope, many women experience these types of situations in school settings with male classmates who’ve made them feel uncomfortable. Here, instead of being an arbitrary source of dealing with our everyday unease regarding men, it’s a chance for victims of bullying to reframe their trauma in a way where they’re in control of the experience.
This is where the degradation kink aspect of things comes to play as well, being called a loser, nerd, bookworm, goodie-two-shoes, etc, as well as being forced to do certain things, can be a way to process feelings of shame or low self-esteem in a controlled environment, which can provide a sense of emotional release.
Of course, the classic bully trope can be a source of this type of therapy as well. However, for those of us who gravitate towards dark fiction, I believe we find the whole fluffy fairytale ending of it all to be unsatisfying, and if not that, then used-up and worst of all, at least to a writer, predictable and therefore dull. Something of which I’ll get back to later in the note.
♡ The High School / College Narrative
When we’re teenagers, we watch a lot of movies. Much of it is action-based, but a lot of it, possibly most of it, especially those movies aimed at girls, is epic teen movies that sell us a narrative of dramatic school life full of romance, friendship, and adventure.
TV shows such as Hannah Montana, Wizards at Waiverly Place, Shake it Up, iCarly, Violetta, as well as the animated ones, Kim Possible, American Dragon, Recess, Ben 10, you name it, plus movies: The DUFF, Easy A, Radio Rebel, LOL, Mean Girls, Pitch Perfect, Clueless, Legally Blonde, High School Musical, and endless others, have all helped shape our view of what to expect from high school and college.
And, of course, high school and college are very turbulent times where we go through a lot. However, I can’t claim it was an epic tale of teen adventure with big professions of love, a crime novel mystery, and a crazy prom night, like in the movies. I mean, where it had its ups and downs, it was normal.
Most of us probably weren't the cute and quiet shy girl sitting by the window or the quirky weirdo who seemed to have her head in the clouds, and if we were, we probably weren't sought out by the school jock or mystery man.
And so, wanting a dramatic collage tale where you’re the centre of attention, admired and desired by the school hotshot or bad boy, isn’t so strange, because it’s been a fairytale you’ve been sold in the most vulnerable and influential years of your life.
Again, this isn’t a point about dark fiction specifically, or the bully trope, but the entire school-setting genre in general.
♡ Ego Boost
Continuing from the last point of wanting to be the centre of attention, there’s more to it: the fantasy of being the chosen special one.
The bully trope, like the yandere trope, has a theme of obsession, where the bully targets a victim, i.e, the reader. This “hunting behaviour” suggests an intense desire for the reader, which can be experienced as oddly flattering—another point I discuss in On Noncon/Dubcon as a Kink:
The needy roughness showcased by the aggressor within a non-consensual sex (or bully) fantasy indicates an intense desire for the victim, which itself is an aphrodisiac of sorts. Here, we find a hidden wish for power, where non-consensual sex (or simply attention, even unwanted) bolsters a woman's feelings of seductiveness and desirability in the way it has the ability to make a man lose his decency and self-control, driving him to commit crimes of passion despite great personal cost. (In the Bully Trope, we could refer to this as breaking character: the Bad Guy going for the Goodie-Two-Shoes, or the Popular Guy going for the unpopular Quirky Girl—both risks to their reputation.)
Put simply, some women enjoy the idea of being irresistible enough to drive a man crazy. The thought of being attractive enough to make a man love-sick is, in this case, a power trip and a turn-on.
In some cases, one might say that this arises from a feeling of undesirability and insecurity in real life. Feeling so self-conscious that we tip the scale completely, turning ourselves into succubi, so that men simply can’t resist.
In other cases, it’s simply an ego boost.
This next-to-last point is further interesting because, in both the Bad Boy x Good Girl and Popular Guy x Quirky Girl editions of the Bully trope, the bully will find the reader to be desirable even when the reader is depicted as a goody-two-shoes or loser, both labels that give them a lower status than the desirable Bad Boy/Popular Guy.
Not only is the reader undesirable in the eyes of others, but in her own eyes as well, only to be oddly desirable to the bully. And this fluctuation from the “surprise twist” of being of a lower status to suddenly achieving a sense of desirability, especially by the bully, who is shown as a dominant and desirable figure, provides an extra thrill to the reading experience, as well as a much enjoyable “feeling seen” element.
♡ The Bad Guy
The danger and discomfort associated with the bully character, paired with his possessive traits, give the reader a feeling of being hunted by him, but at the same time, because you're "his prey", you're also earning his protection from other bullies and mean girls. This makes him a lesser evil of sorts, providing both a thrilling sense of fear and a twisted sense of safety, which makes the reader feel both dependent on and indebted to him. It becomes an unspoken quid pro quo where the bully facilitates the reader's security, and the reader gives him xoxo in return.
This is typically the reason why women find the bad guy attractive in any given genre. The tough, intimidating, confident, and independent image of the villain creates this comforting thought of undivided protection because, unlike the hero, the villain isn’t a diplomat and won’t shy away from confrontation. The idea of having someone stick up for you in any given situation is naturally assuring, and since the villain is driven by selfish desires over a moral compass or thoughts of the greater good, you can be sure he’d really fuck someone up to protect the person he loves.
Additionally, the type of unapologetic confidence portrayed by the villain is further attractive because it suggests competence and the ability to navigate challenges. The same goes for independence, which suggests that he is self-reliant and also makes him feel like he has his future mapped out—another thing that inspires reassurance in the reader, as it allows us to rest easy, knowing he's got it handled.
The same can be said about the kidnapping trope. Life and its struggles are removed, where you're no longer obligated to finish school or work. Yes, you're being held captive, but you're also being taken care of, despite it being "against your will".
♡ The Female Obsession with Innocence
Especially in the Bad Boy x Good Girl edition of the Bully trope, the reader is an inexperienced, innocent, dainty wallflower who knows no ill will. Here, we get an exciting power imbalance, where the reader is the equivalent of a fluffy bunny eating dandelions in a green field, with the bully being a sharptoothed fox hiding in the tall grass.
Now, why in the world is the idea of that appealing?
Well, what it boils down to is the female obsession with being the innocent fair sex and the fantasy of being corrupted by the male gender, of which there are plenty of reasons behind. Again, this is something I’ve written about before in On Noncon/Dubcon as a Kink. Meanwhile, here are the relevant key points from that post:
The bra, makeup, and flattering clothes—we wear them not because they’re comfortable but because we feel uncomfortable without them. And we find the reason here: in our unyielding instinctive pursuit to attract men, we often sacrifice ourselves to see it fulfilled. It’s the same with wanting to be the damsel in distress awaiting the knight in shining armor—we aspire to take on that role because we know acting that way appeals to most men.
And aside from knowing that acting submissive appeals to men and they’re dominant nature, we also know that acting innocent, helpless, and dependent has the same effect, where it appeals to their need to feel needed by us.
Moreover, there are other reasons why women enjoy assuming the role of innocence:
Fantasies of rape (or simply being innocent/submissive) reduce the distress associated with sex (and sexual attention), as it allows women to renounce any guilt they might feel, as they are not, in this scenario, responsible for what occurs. The logic here states that when we are forced into something, we’ll have a lesser need to feel shame about acting out our own desires.
This reason specifically begs another question. Is there a lingering feeling of guilt and shame around female sexuality? To which I say, of course! Women are constantly met with disdain when they're open about their sexual desires. So, we’re left feeling a need to victimize ourselves, where transferring our own sexual desires onto another gives us permission to act them out without feeling guilty or dirty, because, inside this fantasy, it isn’t us committing the indecencies.
Put shortly, women want to be perceived as innocent to hide the fact that we're not, because society, especially men, has a history of shaming women who are sex-positive.
If we think about the school setting, the Good Girl and the Quirky Girl are not slut-shamed or name-called with terms like whore, bitch, cunt, etc, because they don’t utilize their own sex appeal—often because they’re not even aware that they have any. Furthermore, since they don’t weaponize their own sex appeal, such as the typical Mean Girl or Bimbo characters, they’re still seen as innocent victims if and when a guy sexually preys on them, further making the bully feel a need to assume the role of being their guard dog because the Good/Quirky Girl is clueless as to the danger she’s in and simply "can’t protect herself".
This has some Born Sexy Yesterday implications as well—which is another trope we’ve discussed in an earlier Helpdesk Edition. Especially when the Good/Quirky Girl is also a New Girl who’s only just now been introduced to the jungle that is high school/college.
Again, think of Tessa from After, who’s not only a classic Good Girl who’s preyed on by the popular kids, but also the New Girl who needs to learn how to navigate it all for the first time. Not only is she a bunny, she's a bunny placed directly inside the lion's den, like something served up for slaughter.
This creates an overwhelming feeling of uncertainty and vulnerability in the reader. Making it feel strangely comforting when the bully character “claims” them, because then she’s no longer on her own but under his protection.
♡ The Tragedy as Emotional Catharsis
As we established, in dark fiction, the bully doesn’t have a redemption arc like in classic enemies-to-lovers. Additionally, the victim doesn’t undergo a positive character development where she becomes stronger and stands up for herself.
If we want to get technical with some story-writing terminology, this development would be what we refer to as achieving True Self—something I go into detail about in Recipe of a Good Story.
In short, the True Self is when a character overcomes their fears and is the highlight of any story with a happy ending. However, not every story has a happy ending, and in those tragedies where the characters don’t overcome their fears and don’t achieve their True Self, they’ll instead allow their fears to consume them and cross over to the Dark Side. And yes, that is literally what storytellers refer to it as.
In dark bully fiction, the Bully character doesn’t overcome his fears of being alone, being abandoned, being rejected, and being hated. Instead, he’s consumed by those fears, embracing the Dark Side when deciding that the only way he can keep the reader by his side is by ruining their self-esteem and making them terrified of leaving him.
The reader as well, fails to overcome her fears, as she doesn’t stand up for herself, doesn’t make the bully a better person, and doesn’t become his equal, instead she remains spineless, silent, and under his thumb, followed by a psychological shift, where she’ll delve into a state of Stockholm syndrome or some other form of acceptance.
It’s a tragedy, and to some, it’ll feel as though it’s a story left unfinished. This is because stories feel bereft of a conclusion when they’re without a happy ending, much because it doesn’t sit right with us that evil should prevail, and we’re left expecting a continuation where justice is served. Most tragedies, for this reason, end with the death of the flawed characters—robbing them of any such continuation, such as with most Shakespearean tragedies like Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and Romeo and Juliet.
However! Continuation and conclusion or not, during this tragic journey, the reader will have engaged in highly intense, raw emotions like fear, anger, pain, humiliation, depression, conflict, unwanted desire, arousal, guilt, and shame, which provide an emotional release that may not be available in everyday life or other traditional narratives with a happy ending.
This release is referred to as catharsis, taken from the Latin word for cleansing/purification, but is more known for its metaphorical meaning popularized by the greek philosopher Aristotle, who argued that by witnessing characters perform intense emotions, especially in a tragic drama, the audience would experience a purging of these same emotions, and afterward, feel a sense of emotional relief and restoration.
This is similar to my point of Reframing and Expelling Trauma, but a little different in that it isn’t just about dealing with unprocessed trauma, but an undertaking where your emotional bandwidth gets stretched in directions it’s not used to—kind of like getting a message in places that haven't had one in a while.
♡ Fuck the Traditional Narrative!
As I mentioned earlier, we’ve seen the happy ending too many times! Frankly, we don’t want another romcom with predictable, fluffy endings and way-too-good-to-be-true characters that don’t at all reflect real life and the real disappointing and disgusting truth of human nature, both that of our own weakness and the godawful men we have to deal with.
Dark fiction earns a bad reputation for normalizing and romanticizing toxic behaviour. But I see it's the opposite. Regular teen movies are the ones doing this, where the traditional romance narrative not only normalizes toxic male behaviour, but preaches about female forgiveness and how it's a girl's job to save men from their own demons.
Dark fiction can, of course, be guilty of this too, but a lot of dark fiction isn't romantic, but horrific. And for many, swapping out the usual romcom for a horror story is refreshing, as those stories delve deep into the human psyche, exploring complex themes that go beyond conventional romance narratives, as well as the expectations and societal norms those narratives sell us.
Ultimately, the appeal lies in the thrill, emotional intensity, and the opportunity to safely explore the darker, more complex, and bad facets of human relationships and psychology that are often left unexamined in conventional fiction.
♡ Summary
This note ended up becoming a little long, so I figured I’d make a summary featuring some key notes.
♡ Enemies-to-Lovers!
Rivalry: this push-pull dynamic creates tension and suspense
Power imbalances: confident/self-conscious, dominant/submissive, naive/cynical, experienced/inexperienced, popular/unpopular, desirable/undesirable, rich/poor…
Opposites attract: Yin and Yang complete each other; one makes the other better
Such contrasts are experienced as fascinating and exciting
♡ The Bad Guy!
An immoral, selfish, powerful character will go to greater lengths than a moral character when it comes to protecting and providing for you because he isn’t held back by ethics and the idea of a greater good
Character traits like possessiveness, protectiveness, and other controlling behaviour suggest a focused desire, supplying the reader with a feeling of having "undivided attention"
Also, because the reader tends to be of a lower status, the bully is actively risking his reputation by going after her, yet chooses to do so despite that, something which, again, increases our understanding of her value to him
♡ Innocent Victim!
Being the innocent victim creates an escape from responsibility as well as feelings of guilt and shame, as it renounces the reader's control of the situation
Being the innocent victim who, throughout the story, becomes the hero who saves the bully from his own demons, gives the reader an ego boost, celebrating female resilience, through catering to both a victim complex and a hero complex
Alternatively, in dark fiction, the reader can fully plead innocence and even give up the battle completely, which can be experienced as strangely comforting
♡ Reframing Trauma & Emotional Catharsis!
Exploring themes such as bullying can help victims of bullying and similar experiences treat their trauma in a safe environment.
By experiencing an emotional rollercoaster, we have exhausted our emotional capacity and will feel a sense of rejuvenation afterward, like how a good cry can make you feel refreshed.
♡ Happy Ending!
Positive character development
Both the victim and bully overcome their fear and achieve their True Self
The victim becomes the hero who not only learns to stand up for herself but ultimately saves the bully from his inner demons
The bully undergoes a redemption arc, becoming a better person
♡ Tragic Ending!
Escaping the traditional narrative
Negative character development
The victim and bully are consumed by their fears and fall to the Dark Side
The bully depends on his evil tactics to keep control of the victim
The victim gives in, accepting the bully’s abuse
Showcases dark psychology, which, to many, can be fascinating
not sure how to phrase it, but how do you do character analysis for fandom characters when you write? like how do you get a grip on them enough to write them so well even when its not canon at al
On Character Analysis
Thanks! And cool question!
♡ Archetypes
All narratives deal in character tropes and archetypes. Anime especially reuses foundational character roles—such as shonen hero, stoic rival, mentor, etc—paired with very "basic" core personalities.
This means that once you get a good grip on these and learn to recognize them when you're introduced to a new character—paired with their personal specifics such as background history and such—you've already essentially done a character analysis before even officially conducting one.
♡ The Baseline
This might all sound complicated, but it doesn't really have to be. In the end, all you really need is to thoroughly get to know all the characters in one or two animes.
This will give you a baseline to work with.
Shows like BNHA or Haikyuu!! is a great source for this because they have a lot of different characters all interacting in both day-to-day and high-stake situations, allowing you to see different sides of the same personality.
You can, of course, use any anime to create this baseline—so long as you feel you have a good handle on the characters of whatever anime you choose—as once you feel you have a good understanding of these characters, you can then use them as baseline avatars to identify and supplement other characters who're similar.
For example, when I first got into writing for JJK, there was only one season out, which didn't provide a lot of source material to work with. And so, I used the baseline hack: taking BNHA characters, who I was way more familiar with, and using them to familiarize myself with the JJK characters:
♡ Gojo — Bakugou, with Hawks aura
Satoru has Bakugo’s absolute, unshakeable arrogance and the "I am the strongest" mentality. However, where Bakugo's angry and aggressive about it, Gojo masks it with Hawks' casual, playful, effortlessly cool, and lazy aura.
♡ Itadori — Deku, with Kirishima energy
Yuuji shares Deku’s pure and selfless desire to save people because it’s the right thing to do, and since he's "the only person who can". But while Deku is anxious and analytical, Itadori takes after Kirishima's pure, unadulterated "bro" energy instead—sunny, emotionally mature, rowdy, and instantly friendly with everyone.
♡ Sukuna — Bakugou, with AFO aura and energy
Sukuna is basically Bakugo if you stripped away his admiration for All Might, both sharing a violent temper and love for battle. Meanwhile, his presence is AFO—a looming, ancient, god-like tyrant who treats everyone else like ants and speaks with terrifying, aristocratic-type calm.
♡ Mahito — Shigaraki, with Monoma energy
Mahito is pre-nomu Shigaraki—a chaotic, fast-learning child-villain who represents pure destruction and decay. But while Shigaraki is brooding, angry, and sarcastic, Mahito shares Monoma’s energy instead—theatrical, deeply mocking, cartoonishly expressive, and obsessed with petty psychological taunting.
♡ Geto — Shinso, Dabi, & young Aizawa
A naturally protective, intensely responsible young man—Aizawa—whose gross, isolating power—Shinso—and immense psychological trauma eventually burned him down into a cynical, system-hating nihilist—Dabi.
♡ Kenjaku — AFO & Dr. Garaki rolled into one
Kenjaku is an evil mastermind like AFO, but instead of sharing AFO's desire for pure political control, he possesses Dr. Garaki’s twisted, joyful, and highly eccentric obsession with mad science—treating the apocalypse like a fun passion project.
♡ Yuuta — Amajiki, if he was Deku
Yuuta starts off exactly like Amajiki—shaking, terrified of his own power, socially anxious, and wanting to hide from the world. But his core is like Deku's—a wish to protect his friends which allows him to override his anxiety and become an unstoppable powerhouse. As well as possessing more "main-character" energy.
♡ Nanami — Aizawa, with some Iida energy
Nanami is basically Aizawa if he worked a desk job as a corporate slave. They share the exact same exhausted, cynical, "I am doing my job because it must be done" pragmatism. The Iida energy comes through in Nanami's strict adherence to rules, professionalism, and his wardrobe and grooming.
♡ Megumi — Shinso, with Dabi energy
Megumi has Shinso's quiet, tired, stand-offish introversion and tactical mind. However, similar to Dabi, Megumi also carries a dark, deeply suppressed self-destructive streak, giving him an underlying, dangerous, and crazy "burn it all down" energy.
♡ Toji — Aizawa, with Dabi energy
Like Aizawa, Toji is a tired, pragmatic, logic-first fighter. But instead of being a hero, his energy is more aligned with Dabi's—completely detached from family, living in the dirt, deeply cynical, and radiating the aura of a dangerous stray dog.
♡ Naoya — Bakugou, with Overhaul energy
Basically all of Bakugo’s worst traits—the explosive entitlement, the bullying of the "weak," and the fragile prodigy ego—weaponized with Overhaul’s clinical, look-down-your-nose elitism and deep, systemic prejudice. Plus added misogyny.
♡ Choso — Dabi-coded, with Shoto charm and warmth
Dabi-coded in the way of being a seemingly heartless tragedy obsessed with his family. But while Dabi's obsession is hatred, Choso's energy shifts after encountering Yuji into Shoto's quiet, earnest warmth. He also has Shoto's same blunt, slightly socially awkward, but deeply sincere and lovable protector energy once he accepts you.
Anyway!
This is just a very quick and easy way to get a loose grip on a character. Once you start writing them, with this loose identification in mind, the character will start to grow into its own as you get more comfortable with your own understanding of them.
Additionally, once you start viewing characters this way—taking one character and putting him in the shoes of another—you'll find it can be a great source of inspiration as well!
Also! It can be hard creating a story from strach with a character you've never written before. One tip is, of course, to read fanfiction other people have written to see how they tackle it. But personally, I'll find myself swapping out the character while reading one of my old fics.
For example, reading a Bakugou fic as a Gojo fic instead.
This way, you'll understand what you think is similar and different. Which will help you gain better control of the character.
♡ Canon, Fanon & OOC
No fanon or "head-canon" can ever be regarded as actual canon, no matter how many fans agree with it. Only the original source material written or green-lit by the author is canon in the end.
And so, yeah, I've never been too concerned with presenting as canon, as that's not possible or my goal.
Of course, I want my fandom characters to be somewhat recognizable, but at the same time, I find a lot of fun in seeing how far you can stretch that characterization—altering their personality or circumstance to the point it's almost entirely OOC—out of character.
But I only do this with characters I feel like I have a very solid grip on. It might sound pretentious, but for a character to remain recognizable, even after you've changed fundamental parts of them, requires that you know that character through and through to the point where you can surgically remove and switch those things about without completely killing them.
So, I'm not sure If I have any solid tips regarding that, other than to get it clear in your head who the character is to you, and then see what happens when you play it up a bit by giving them different circumstance—such as putting them in a different au, giving them another job, supplying them with a new personality trait, trauma, need, etc—and them see what happens.
can you explain the usage of this —
i don't know what it's called hehe
On the Em Dash
Good question!
♡ What is it?
The em dash is a long dash, typically the width of three regular dashes, and is called the em dash because this width is generally the same as that of the capital letter M.
This guy — for reference sake.
When it comes to functionality, the em dash is similar to a comma, parenthesis, or a colon, and is often used to replace either of the three.
You can use it in multiple ways such as when you want to indicate strong emphasis, interruptions, sudden shifts in tone, or when you want to set off parenthetical information. Additionally, authors who enjoy a more talkative, conversational, or stream-of-thought rhythm to their writing are also big fans of this, and will use it, perhaps a little incoherently and sometimes arguably incorrectly.
Guilty as charged, your honor.
The examples I’m going to use in this text to explain the different methods of when and how you can use an em dash is taken from this fic:
♡ MISUNDERSTANDINGS
♡ Interrupting Dialogue
Classically, when the em dash is used in dialogue, it’s to signal a character being abruptly cut off. Like this:
“That’s not true–”
“Yes, it is,” he interrupts insistingly with another almost theatrical whine.
However, I like to use it further by having it not just signal interruptions but to mimic that broken way of speaking, turning monologues into dialogue. Like this:
“Or, well, it’s not like you don’t talk to me—what I mean is—I want you to include me in, uhm… like… decision-making and stuff–” (...) “I want you to confide in me with your thoughts and feelings and if, you know, you’re struggling with anything—even if it’s just work-related stuff, I just… want to help you like you help me.”
Typically the character is either crying, ranting, or rambling when I do this. Meaning, they're either tripping over their words, or their sentences are interjected with heavy breaths, sobbing, or just awkward cutoffs.
In any case, the em dash is used to signal an interruption or a sudden break.
♡ Parenthetical Info, Typically an Inner Thought
Here, the em dash is, in a sense, used as a stronger comma or like parenthesis to set of clauses of information that the author wishes to give special focus. Like this:
His lip warbles, brows cinched, looking pathetic—and almost, to your utter guilt for even thinking it, a little comical—asking you further sillier questions with his voice in shambles, “So you still love me?”
This type usually comes with a pair of em dashes framing a thought just like with parentheses. Also, just like parenthesis, this framed thought should technically be removable without damaging the grammar.
Try reading the above example without the words inside the em dashes. It’s kind of like the author’s grabbing your shoulder to whisper some gossip in your ear, before moving on with standard procedure.
It can also be done at the very end of a sentence. Like this:
His head lifts, breaths hitchy and heavy, looking at you with enlarged puppy-dog eyes—the type you’d never think to see on him.
Or like this:
You’d heard about getting high off of no sleep, but you’d never actually witnessed it—at least not to this degree.
♡ Introducing Information, or Just a Dramatic Break
Similar to the usage explained above, but here, the em dash is used in place of the colon.
“Yes, I still love you, I never stopped loving you,” you confirm, looking over his harrowed expression—sunken, swollen eyes looking at you in a weary and distant sort of way.
Or like this:
You sigh, feeling good about having cleared that up, but catching his gaze, you realize it hadn’t been all that clear at all—a halfway cocked eyebrow raised expectantly over his eye, silently hoping for a little more context.
The question you might be asking is why we don’t, if it’s all the same, just use a colon or parentheses instead? Well, I think it’s because both of those feel very formal, while the em dash seems more casual.
And though that’s just a theory, it’s still a relevant point, especially regarding the next usage, pertaining to wanting a narrative with a stream-of-thought rhythm.
♡ Sudden Shifts, or Stream-of-thought
Again, this one is similar to the usages above, where the em dash is used to mimic the occurrence of a sudden change of thought.
There’s not many excerpts of this in the example text I’ve used so far. So, I’ll be using this fic instead:
♡ GAMER-RAGE
He thinks back to the last time he saw you. What did you even say? He can’t remember. Something about being tired—something, something—I’m leaving.
Since this entire fic is written from withing someone's head, there’s a lot of examples of the stream-of-thought usage of the em dash. Like this:
And so he finds himself at your place, pressing the buzzer, not knowing if he’s catching you at home—if not, he’ll just try again tomorrow, and so on until he does. He hears someone at the other side of the door—they must be looking at him through the peephole. It takes a while before the locks click and open.
♡ So then… What About the En Dash?
We also have something similar to the em dash, called the en dash, which, you guessed it, is called that because it’s roughly the same width as the capital letter N.
Now, in the UK, they use this just like an em dash, but with a space on each side:
US Style with the em dash: “If anyone can get it—I might as well help myself.”
UK Style with the en dash: “If anyone can get it – I might as well help myself.”
Aside from that, it’s typically used to represent the word to or through when connecting related items. Like this:
Read pages 1–10
Years 2020–2025
Final score 15–10
Flight London–Paris
♡ Anyway, Fuck Them Rules
Honestly, despite what your literature teacher might have said, when it comes to em and en dashes, commas, and colons, you can do what you want because of one thing.
DRAMA.
The dramatic rules of fictional writing state that you can use any punctuation marks to create rhythm in your text.
Now, of course, that doesn't mean you should be using them all willy-nilly, but if you like to use them semi-incorrectly to structure and emphasize your text—more power to you.
As someone who writes horror core smut (or tries to) I'm having trouble with the "Yandre" perspective. When I try and write it out it seems cringe to me, like less of an amateur novel and more of middle school AO3. Do you have any advice on how to make it seem more realistic and less "middle school fan person"?
On Realistic Yandere
Excellent question and something I’ve also battled with!
♡ Empathy vs sympathy
You've already pinpointed the problem!
It's unrealistic.
Not everyone will agree with this, since when you take the unlikeliness out of a yandere character, it doesn’t always feel like a yandere anymore. But I think this "cringe" you're talking about stems from that—the unlikeliness of the yandere archetype in and of itself.
And by unlikeliness, I mean the whole never-ending, unexplained utter craziness of the yandere character.
The fact is that “utter asylum craziness” doesn’t feel very realistic, firstly because it’s a personality that we never come across in real life, and secondly, because it doesn’t work in the long run. And by that, I mean it’s unlikely that an utter-asylum-crazy yandere would be able to pull off a long-term kidnapping, as he wouldn't be able to plan it and would probably get caught by the police before even touching a hair on the victim's head.
I’ve spoken about the Power of Persuasion before, but this is essentially what it’s all about. That feeling of fear you want to inspire in your readers doesn’t take root because the utter-asylum-crazy yandere, though scary, seems rather easy to trick or rather seems prone to fuck up and get caught all on his own. And other than that, the bigger issue is that the utter-asylum-crazy yandere doesn't seem real.
Not only is he not a very convincing villain, he's not even a convincing character.
And so, don’t make him utter-asylum-crazy. Make him normal, with a fucked up view of life.
Write him as normally as you can. A crazy person doesn't do things just because he's crazy. He does things because it's natural for him to do them. Meaning, he has his reasons. Those reasons might seem unnatural to us, but they're normal to him. In other words, a crazy person doesn't acknowledge that he's crazy. He might understand that everyone else disagrees with him, but he'll argue that they just don't understand.
And so, normalize his fucked up point of view as much as you can. Even better, make your reader understand where he's coming from. Make him empathy-compatible.
By empathy-compatible, I don’t mean that your readers should have sympathy for him, but that they’re able to put themselves in his shoes and see things from his perspective, no matter how warped that perspective is. This is something authors get told a lot. Even when you have a villain—unless the villain is some distant foe we never see head-on—you have to make the villain somewhat relatable to the reader.
Again, we don’t have to feel sorry for the villain, but we should understand where he’s coming from. Empathy, not sympathy. Understanding, not compassion.
That’s the fault with the utter-asylum-crazy yandere—he has zero empathic value. No one gets his motives or his way of thinking. No one even knows what he wants or why he wants it. He’s the equivalent of an inanimate object doing something it’s not supposed to—as in, yes, it has a surprise factor, but mostly it’s just confusing and leaves your readers with questions you have no better answer than simply saying “no reason, he’s just utter-asylum-crazy”.
That’s why, and it’s fucked up to say, but the best way to make your character believable is to take notes from real life.
Real men aren’t exactly yandere, but they are way scarier in how they’re narcissistic, prideful egomaniacs who manipulate, mansplain, control, and patronize us by treating us all like needy and naive pussies-on-legs. Like, real men are so scary it’s ridiculous. We don’t need to make the yandere character utter-asylum-crazy, real-ass men are already terrifying.
So, I’d say just take inspiration from every time you’ve been in the club and feared getting gangraped by that shady group in the corner who bought you a drink, or all the stories your girlfriends have told you about their boyfriends strange and uncomfortable behaviour, or any other horror story you hear where a woman has been too scared to leave her husband even when that husband has isolated her from all her friends and family, forced her to quit her job, baby-trapped her, and treats her like his own personal slave.
Like, you don’t need to make up any of the crazy, because believable crazy is way scarier.
For reference, here are some examples of fic's written from yandere's perspective:
Hi marie! Big fan of your work. Ive been a follower since 2024 and i always look forward to reading your new fics!
I myself have been reading dubcon and cnc for quite a while now, but there are some people on tiktok claiming reasons why dubcon and cnc in fanfictions are problematic (for the reason being having a "r4p3 fetish".)
I personally enjoy dubcon/cnc fics, but i was wondering--- what do you think? I personally dont think it should be awfully shamed upon as I am a victim of molestation and SA and those kind of fics help me cope with what happened to me at such a young age.
I hope im not awfully rude for asking this question. Please delete it if it makes you uncomfortable.
Why noncon/dubcon & cnc erotica is problematic
You're question isn't rude at all! It would take a lot more to make me uncomfortable.
♡ Psychological Erotica vs Standard Romance
The noncon/dubcon and cnc genre will most likely always suffer from criticism such as this. But, even though I dislike it, I don't necessarily think that it's entirely a bad thing. Everything should be seen with some amount of scrutiny and be held accountable for its effects and influence.
Horror movies such as the Saw series or Terrifier, among others, indulge in and very nearly fetishize extreme mutilation and gore. War and crime movies, even those that are meant to be docudramas, often romanticize and glorify brutality. While other movies do the same with other taboo themes such as alcoholism, substance abuse, suicide, mental illness, poverty, etc.
This is problematic in the way we see it has a negative inspirational effect, inciting similar activity and the celebration of such activity. Regardless, we continue to explore the dark reaches of human psychology because we have a healthy need and a right to do so. And most of us, at least those capable of critical thinking, are able to distinguish fiction from reality, rendering these problematic tropes as simple thought-experiments—no more, no less, just fantasy.
As a purely erotic and/or psychological horror trope meant to arouse or to be thought-provoking, noncon/dubcon erotica is no more inherently problematic than any of the aforementioned tropes and genres.
It is, however, once noncon/dubcon migrates into standard Romance—a shift we see now more than ever as as a consequence of #booktok trends following Dark Romance—that it is significantly more worrisome, as that's when the so-called normalization, glorification or romanticizing of toxic traits takes place. Packaging harmful dynamics in traditional "happily ever after" romance without nuance, aids in distorting boundaries and providing horrible qualities for women to admire as well as awful role-models for men to aspire to be, especially when it caters to a younger audience through teen romcoms and high-school themes and settings.
Yes, this is problematic.
However, it's not make or break. We just have to be vigilant. As creators and consumers of noncon/dubcon and cnc erotica, we have a responsibility to understand what it is we're actually reading/writing and for what reasons we're interested in it. Romance is it's own genre, as is noncon/dubcon and cnc erotica, and they should be regarded respectfully as such. Meaning, we should be very careful when we borrow tropes from one and mingle them with the other.
That's not to say it cannot or should never be done. Just that when it is done, it should be made very clear, both through content warnings, marketing, and overall representation. And, as these are extremely adult themes requiring an adult's ability to separate fiction from reality, I also think the mingling of these genres should be kept out of teen romcoms, or at the very least be watered down tremendously, or otherwise be retained purely for mature audiences.
♡ For Your Further Consideration
You mention using noncon/dubcon and cnc eortica as a way of coping with past trauma. I've actually addressed exactly this quite extensively in a previous Helpdesk Edition: On Noncon/Dubcon as a Kink, so I'd advise anyone who's interested in more reasons behind why people enjoy the genre to check that out.
In my Helpdesk Masterlist you'll also find related discussions regarding similar topics, such as,
On what benevolent sexism is:
♡ BENEVOLENT SEXISM
On the Born-Sexy-Yesterday Trope:
♡ BORN SEXY YESTERDAY
On aversive vs erotic noncon fantasies:
♡ AVERSIVE NONCON FANTASIES
On the bully trope:
♡ BULLY TROPE
I'm in no way a psychologist, and I would never claim to have any such expertise when it comes to this. Everything I write is purely taken from a standpoint of being an experienced author of noncon/dubcon and cnc erotica, and should be regarded as such. Meaning, take my words with a grain of salt.
How much world building research is too much? The thing I'm writing takes place in a French high school and while I do want it to be fairly accurate I don't want it to be too accurate
On World Building
♡ FMT: helpdesk, writing advice
No amount of research is ever too much.
However, there is such a thing as too much use of said research. Meaning—don't describe everything. A few solid details go a long way, and hit harder than long drawn-out explanations of unnecessary exposition.
Capturing the atmosphere, or the "feeling" of a place is the most important thing.
For me, I always like to think sitcom—keep the locations to a minimal, as well as utilize universal situations and places such as library, cafe, bar and such. Of course, supplement these with needed details to establish atmosphere, but allow yourself to let them do the heavy-lifting for you. At the end of the day, your reader doesn't really care about what art is hanging on the walls. Unless it's important to establish something fundamental about the location.
To keep it authentic, I'd advise you to pick out a French high school, or browse an array of them from the specific area of France your story is set—find out if it's in the city or the country, look at pictures, study the architecture, making note of the surrounding buildings, whether it's stores, apartments, parks, busy streets, or a quiet area. This information has an effect on what your characters do before, after, and during school—whether the grocery store is far away, if they have easy access to local transportation methods, do they live close by and if so does your idea of their living-situation make sense according to the area, etc. Think everyday details.
That also goes for knowing the climate. What's the weather like? How cold does it get? How warm does it get? This effects what people wear and their everyday choices, activity, and overall mood.
If you're looking for more specific details to color your story, I recommend reading local forums and reviews—this way you can get some real solid insight from the people actually living there. For example, find out what students, parents, and teachers think about the school—this'll allows you to gain understanding of that specific sub-culture.
Other than that, I'll warn you against using stereotypes and cliches—they feel cheap, and are a good way of letting your readers know that you don't actually know what you're writing about. You want to keep it realistic, not romantic. Watching some french movies and TV-shows set in high-school could be smart, just for you to get an idea of what student life is like there—make note of what structural and cultural things are different from your high-school, and what things are the same.
Personally I don't like to write things I don't have any experience with. This is something my professors taught me. If you can help it, try not to go too far into the great beyond, unless it's somewhere no one has every been before—like wonderland. Meaning, try to base everything in something you've done or seen. Even if you haven't actually had this or that exact experience in exactly that area for a scene you want to write, you should use somewhat similar experiences you've had to guide you in ways of knowing what a character thinks about, what they notice, and how they behave in that sort of location and situation, etc.
Another thing you should ask yourself is why France? If the story can happen anywhere, you might want to switch location to a place you're more familiar with, unless there's something specific about France you need in order to make the story work. I often write from the American or British perspective, rarely Japanese, as I'm more familiar with the laws, customs, and culture of America and Britain, and find that they have the type of settings I need in order to write the types of narratives I want to write. Most all writing is situational, so make sure you've picked the correct location where such situations can occur.
Last piece of advice, few things should be listed or explained. Of course, when setting up a scene, you're allowed to describe that scene. But after a character is introduced, their whereabouts and such should mostly be conveyed through their day to day thoughts and actions.
Show, don't tell—that's how you do good exposition.
