What are some do's and don'ts of writing Zucest fanfiction?
01 - Don't treat the incest as a problem that needs to be fixed. Don't make one or both of them adopted, don't make them step-siblings, don't make them unrelated, and ESPECIALLY don't pull the old "they were separated at birth and don't know they're related/don't see each other as siblings." It breaks the entire dynamic for the sake pearl clutching, and if you don't like the dynamic or cest part of Zucest, why bother writing the ship at all? It's a feature, not a bug
02 - Don't make one of them the Generic Villain while the other is the Spineless Victim. They're both messed up, they're both sympathetic, they're both weird about each other. It's okay for them to fight, cross lines or for one to temporarely have the upper hand, but Zucest is about power struggle and codependency. If you try to make it one-sided, TRULY one-sided, you break the dynamic AND the characters. What's the fun in that?
03 - Don't turn them into a different set of incestuous siblings. Doing a Lannister or Andy and Leyley inspired AU is one thing, but at the end of the day, the characters still need to be recognizable. Zuko has far more morals than both Jaime and Andrew (combined). Azula is not as insane, chaotic, dumb and impulsive as Ashley or Cersei (and she's not an evil seductress like Cersei). You can put them in different situations, incestuous royals hiding an affair, modern AU trapped in a tiny appartment, but you can't fully rewrite their personalities.
04 - Don't give only one of them agency to move the plot forward/have an arc/pursue the relationship while the other is just a glorified emotional crutch. That's boring, out of character, and makes the romance impossible to believe because WHY would anyone (especially someone so driven) be interested in someone so passive and useless?
05 - Don't blame everything on one of them. They both fucked up, they're both flawed, their history is complicated. No, having them be genuinely sorry and apologize each and every time doesn't magically fix that, it makes it extra unfair that fuck ups from the other sibling aren't ever acknowledged or taken seriously.
06 - Don't sideline them for a different ship (especially if the ship in question is Ozula or Urzuko or any other Firecest ship). Don't tag the damn ship if the story is barely about them together, it's mostly about them with other people while having a past affair/weird emotional incest dynamic that never actually turns into proper incest/are just using each other as a proxy to fuck a different relative.
07 - Don't try to mask the incest with "close familial bond" while one or both of them is TECHNICALLY in a relationship with someone else that they never turn to for help, or affection, or support, or discussing plans for the future. Pick a lane, are they really being just friends OR are they clearly a couple? Are they actually in a relationship with other people OR do they just use them as "beards"? (It's okay if "their appropriate relationships" being fake/hollow and unsatisfying is the point to set up proper Zucest that will then replace it/break it up)
08 - Don't take a different character (Aang, Sokka, Katara, Lu Ten, etc) and rewrite their personality completely until they turn into Zuko 2.0/Azula 2.0 so you can write Zucest without admiting it's Zucest. Once again, pick a lane. If you genuinely want Azulaang, Zutara, Sokkla, whatever, then write those dynamics - aka accept that those characters aren't really rivals of either of the Fire Siblings, are not as ambitious or cunning as them, are not as trigger-happy as them, are not as stubborn as them, don't know each other as much as them, and sure as hell don't care about the Fire Nation in particular in the way Zuko and Azula do. Don't turn Zuko and Azula into different characters either (*side-eyes "How I Became Yours" for turning Azula into Yue).
09 - Don't make an OC that is clearly just Zuko 2.0/Azula 2.0 to ship zucest without having to admit it's Zucest. Much like in the previous exemple, everyone can tell, just rip the band-aid off already.
10 - If you write zucest, DON'T DELETE THE FUCKING FIC, PLEASE!
01 - Be accurate to the characters. It's okay that Zuko is impatient, honorable, filled with guilt and rage and a complex over needing to be the Good Guy even when he does messed up things. Is okay if Azula is still a bit manipulative, spoiled, racist, desperate for validation and bratty. It's okay that they're obsessive, clingy, childish, stubborn, cunning, ambitious, HOT, all of it. If people didn't want to see that, they wouldn't have checked the tag. You're not pushing people away by acknowledging their rough edges, you're making your fic BETTER by embracing it and having fun with it
02 - EMBRACE THE CEST! No apologizing, no self-flagelating, no compromising, no forced "bad ending" to pretend it was "a lesson", no guilt, no "barely disguised fetish", none of that nonsense. You're writing incest. You're doing it because it's fun, hot and, yes, CUTE. Don't turn the fluffy fic into angst or the porn into drama if the story doesn't need it. Let them be shameless, let them be adorable, let them be weird, let them be happy, hell, let the incest NOT be taboo every now and then. Own your kinks, own your hobbies, own your damn story. You don't owe anybody an explanation of why there's Zucest in the Zucest fic.
03 - Ignore the fear of being "cliche." Yes, there's tons of versions of "Bedroom Scene, except they fuck", doesn't mean we don't need one (or several) more. They're cliche for a reason, it's GOOD, it works and people like it. Not a single writer writes stuff exactly like someone else would, your take WILL be original, new and interesting on the basis of no one else could have seen inside your head to write it that same way (plus, if it wasn't, it's like getting a second slice of a really tasty cake - GIMME, GIMME!)
04 - Remember, you're writing a story, not a psychiatric evaluation, or a checklist, or a PSA, or the longest fic ever just for the sake of being the longest. Caring about quality is one thing (a very good one at that), but being PRETENCIOUS will get you nowhere. Don't force yourself into a box. Don't add tons of political intrigues and rewrites of the entire show and tons of arcs going on at the same time if you don't actually care. If you'd rather just do a cute slice-of-life/smutty one-shot or series, do it. Fandom and fanfic is meant to be fun, you don't need to take yourself too seriously. It's not a job, it's playing with dolls. You're allowed to just make them smooch and call it a day.
05 - If you DO have tons of more theme/plot-heavy ideas instead of just feeling like writing some fluff/smut, by all means, GO FOR IT. If you are genuinely passionate and want to explore how their romance would affect everything - the family dynamic, their friendships, the Fire Nation's politics - embrace it.
06 - MAKE IT HOT, especially if you're writing smut. Once again, if people didn't want to see it, they wouldn't have checked the tag. It's a romance. They SHOULD be made stupid by their sibling's good looks, they SHOULD be into each other, they SHOULD be getting handsy and freaky, they SHOULD be in each other's business (cuddling, sharing the bed, being "too close", bathing together, etc) even when not actively having sex because duh, they're in love and in lust. Let them make some Fire Babies. (And let other characters find it hot too, get rid of the catholic guilt)
07 - Accept the kinks and freudian bullshit, it is the backbone of this ship. It's as much of a feature as the incest itself, stop trying to "correct" it as if it's a bug. You don't need to be into every single kink under the sun, but don't ignore the elephant in the room. You signed up to write two freaks going at it, commit to the bit.
08 - Let the other characters react to it in a non-moralistic way. Aang is not going to say "I can forgive you playing a role in genocide, but I draw the line at incest", it's not believable, he doesn't even do nuclear family and he's a very forgiving person (especially towards his friends). Iroh would forgive pretty much anything from Zuko. Mai and Ty Lee knew these freaks from childhood. ROYALS DO INCEST ALL THE TIME. They don't have to "get it" or like it, but it's okay if they do, or if they're just indifferent. Taboo can be fun, but don't use the characters to virtue signal.
09 - They (particularly Azula) WILL make it a weird race/class thing, especially if their nation has a history of incest in your fic. Same for them making it a weird narcisism, codependency thing. Incest opens all kinds of cans of worms, that's the fun of it. No matter how redeemed the both of them are, they'll still find a way to creep everyone out.
10 - Write. Just. Fucking. Write. You got an idea that sounds fun, or hot, or that goes well with a canon scene, or that is inspired by a fic you liked? WRITE IT! Give the ship the love it deserves.
It's "Dum-Dum" not "Dumb Dumb", Azula is saying it like a little kid that can't pronounce it quite right (just like with "Zuzu"), that's the whole point, get it right.
