THG Fan Spotlights

[thgfanspotlights]

THG Fan Spotlights

Get to know the Hunger Games Fandom!

Open to all - authors, artists, creators, & fans of the series alike!

If you would like to be featured, please complete this form. Also consider signing up for a more interactive interview!

Spotlight Masterlist

Aliceinthinkland

Clearedpipes

Darthnell

Districtfourmermaid

Districtunrest

Hutchhitched

Justafewberries

Kipperlillycopperkettle

Lilybird23

Limegreenfrog

LouezeM

Maitaitiu

Ongreenergrasses

Sadcoms

Sangrefae

The-sun-and-the-sea

Thelettersfromnoone

Thesunpersists

Thetwinandpinleftbehind

Tiffynathy

Youreyesholdgalaxies

[thgfanspotlights]

If you’re a minor now, could you do a podcast interview at a later date?

yeah, that would be okay! just sign up then. :)

we have this rule in place because we are essentially facilitating private online conversations between fans, and so we don't want to loop underage fans into that. they are welcome to the spotlight questionnaire, though. we appreciate your cooperation!

[thgfanspotlights]

Hi everyone ! I’ve been looking forward to any new interviews, are there any in the pipelines ?? Still very excited about this project 💜

thank you!! 💜 nothing in the pipeline right now. we'd set a March deadline for the first round of paired interviews but interest seems to have slowed and/or people have gotten busy. submissions will remain open!

excitingly, there has been some new interest in this project! hello, new followers!! 🤗

if you haven't already, please consider filling out our form for the spotlight questionnaire and/or the spotlight interview. then, reach out to me on @marmorealwit or on discord @ gabbie0034 so I can get ya paired up :)

tagging some people below who have already expressed interest in interviews:

@little-de-vil @olyaroo @sadcoms

[thgfanspotlights]

THG Fan Spotlight Interview: Districtunrest & Lilybird23

Conducted 3/9/26. Published 3/14/26 to Internet Archive

Listen to their interview here and follow along with the transcript.

(92 min)

[thgfanspotlights]

@sadcoms | sadcoms | Lucy

What's your THG origin story?

Like many people, it was rapidly growing in popularity while I was at school, so it got recommended to me by several friends. I remember staying up late on a Friday night so I could finish the first book in one sitting, thereby being traumatised by Cato's death at some ungodly hour. The rest of the books followed pretty quickly. Even back then, I was always obsessed with Haymitch, and managed to annoy all of my friends when I declared him and his unnamed girlfriend as my OTP instead of one of the ships involved in the core love triangle.

What are your favorite things about the series?

How deftly the trilogy draws on a mix of history, the entertainment industry, and politics, while still having enough originality and fantasy to make the world feel unique and compelling. It has an ideal amount of ambiguity as well thanks to Katniss' realistically limited narration, so you can still play around with the world based on which aspects of it and its real life inspirations interest you most, whether that be exploring the celebrity culture the victors face or trying to reference Plutarch's Lives as much as possible (guilty). These strengths extend to the characters, where even the less fleshed out ones tend to still feel grounded within the world, so it feels like they could genuinely exist and aren't just there to represent a political view. It's my favourite kind of writing where there's a lot of weight to short, simple lines ("So it's starting again? Like before?") that can really get the gears in one's head turning. Each character has a lot of strengths and a lot of flaws to play with in a world where it's not always clear which one is which, or what starts as one might turn into another, and I appreciate seeing that kind of nuance. At its best, it's a very intentional and thoughtful series, and even its weaker points tend to provide opportunities for meta and fanfic as well.

What’s something about the series that’s stayed with you or become more meaningful to you over time?

I have a better appreciation for how the trilogy portrays abuse and its impact on the characters and their mental health now. Back when I first read it, I was less interested in that link between systemic and individual exploitation, and more interested in having well-paced excitement. All of these characters are incredibly damaged and, being older than a lot of them now, the tragedy of it all has properly hit me. Additionally, I'm much more aware of my own place within a corrupt and violent political system these days, so the series provides a lens through which I can analyse the world and my own beliefs. Naturally, I can relate to a lot of the grief, anger, and helplessness the characters struggle with more than I did initially. I think that mix of personal and political also invites a very broad range of interpretations based on people's lived experiences, so I love when someone else's idea can prompt some self-reflection or even just give me the chance to discover something new to research. I remember reading a lot of THG meta on tumblr in 2012 when the movies came out, so it's fitting I'm still here going through analyses and learning things.

What's something you want the fandom to know about you?

I'm trying to be better about properly getting involved in fandom and I still feel pretty new, but I'm always happy to chat to people, so feel free to slide into my inbox/DMs if you want to. Also, please know that I refrained from answering the last two questions with some variation of "Haymitch" despite it being undeniably true.

When did you begin creating? What inspired you to begin?

My first two Hunger Games fics were originally published in 2012 on ffnet, and while I don't exactly think either of them have held up very well, it's interesting to see that my focus on Haymitch and failed rebellions has persisted in the intervening years. In fact, I pretty much picked up right where I left off, still filling in the "gaps" I wanted to see in the trilogy. This time around, what inspired me was, bluntly, the dissatisfaction I felt after reading the first two chapters of Sunrise on the Reaping. I decided to revisit the trilogy and had barely even started the first book before I'd started writing. Turns out I remembered a lot more of it than I thought I did.

What is your favorite thing to depict in your work?

Any kind of political power play between Haymitch and Plutarch. I think almost all of my fics allude to some kind of animosity between them, if they don't outright show it, and my one and only meta post is a full on explanation for why I treat Haymitch's forced sobriety in District 13 as a murder attempt, which likely would have been initiated by Coin but co-signed by Plutarch. I think his connection with Plutarch is very central to Haymitch's character by the time of the trilogy, and that bleeds into his function in the rebellion and his general worldview. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of the "In books" / "In history books" exchange in MJ. For me, their relationship represents the political crux of the series, where it's connected to just war theory without being an exact copy of the Gale-Peeta spectrum exploration or even the Coin-Snow parallel. From a writing-specific perspective, everything those two characters say has a double meaning, and there's this grudging level of respect that's served side by side with a deep mistrust and plain pragmatism, which makes it fun to portray. They're very (darkly) humorous characters in the books too, albeit in different ways, which I try to incorporate as well.

What’s your personal favorite of your works?

It fluctuates a lot - one day I'll think something is great and the next I'll be deeply embarrassed by it. For the sake of variety I'll say ashes, which was difficult to write, required a surprising amount of writer's block-induced research, and is one I'm still not entirely happy with (though really that's all of them), but nevertheless captured a lot of what I wanted post-war Haymitch to be. Mainly, an ongoing pain in Plutarch's arse. I've grown surprisingly fond of a game of theseus as well.

If you could recommend just one, which would it be?

fuse is probably the best distillation of my core ideas, how I write Haymitch, and his relationship with the main series cast. It's one I'm still very proud of and pleased to have put out.

What are the main characteristics of your favorite canon characters you always try to maintain in your stories?

Haymitch's cleverness and skepticism, his rebelliousness, the uniqueness of his way of thinking, his deception. Plutarch's cunning and his callousness and ambition. Katniss' complexity, passion, strength, and the various contradictions and contrasts of her relationship with Haymitch, though I'm usually trying to make sense of that myself. Cinna's recklessness and accompanying youthfulness, and where that maybe starts to falter or impact others.

Tell us about an OC of yours. What inspired them and what purpose do they serve in your works?

Marti appears in volcanic and is my attempt at portraying the first District 12 victor. Before I realised that fic was going to be 29k words long, she started off as a very thinly sketched and utilitarian character in the background, but by the time I'd finished writing it I was genuinely intrigued by her and her relationship with Haymitch. She was written to essentially be a "normal" victor, in the sense that she's not particularly rebellious or virtuous or even memorable, which was a direct response to canon arguing that all four District 12 victors are special (and, apparently, really into karaoke in some way). It's not mentioned in the fic, but she's from the merchant class and very much enjoys being a victor, or at least tries to, because of the wealth and class mobility it's granted her. She's a foil for Haymitch and an example of the kind of mentor he doesn't want to be, and they have an actively hostile and antagonistic relationship, though in many ways she's more pitiful than sinister. At the same time, I wanted to show that he starts to have more sympathy for and understanding of her as the years wear on and his own failures mount up, which is far more generous than she would ever have been towards him. I'd like to explore her complicity in the Games and its systems of exploitation more, especially as that feels somewhat under-explored when it comes to non-Career victors.

Tell us about your favorite relationship (of any kind) in the series. Why is it your favorite?

Haymitch and Katniss are, for me, the most important and central relationship in the series. Obviously, Prim is the catalyst for the whole series and its driving force, and the Everlark romance is pivotal to the plot and the just war theory messaging. But the communication between Katniss and Haymitch is critical to the construction of each book, from Katniss understanding Haymitch's messages via the sponsorship gifts in the first book and his warning about the Capitol at the end, to "remember who the enemy is", and ultimately, "I'm with the Mockingjay". They're incredibly influential on each other and the loudest voices in each other's heads, even without a head shackle. I tend to compare their relationship to two characters in the film Snowpiercer: everyone else is looking towards the front of the train, arguably even Peeta, but Katniss and Haymitch are the ones looking out the windows, seeing the world outside, observing how it's changing (or how it's not). It goes beyond recognising the Capitol for what it is and instead identifies the broader system of power, one that ultimately ends up replicated by Coin and Plutarch to some extent. Haymitch knows and Katniss learns that you need to do more than just replacing the figurehead at the top. It's why I always categorise them as still being threats at the end of the series, enough that they end up exiled from the Capitol.

Anyone you would like to shout out in the fandom?

I'm very thankful for anyone who's read my fics and even happier if they found me here on tumblr, but a special thank you to Gabbie (@districtunrest) for putting up with my rambling, catching me up on what I've missed in fandom over the intervening decade, and recc'ing me so many good fics (and Kentucky Route Zero, and Old Gods of Appalachia, and finally prompting me to read the Odyssey properly as an adult so I could make more informed Haymitch comparisons). I also have to mention @tw0jamie for suffering through many sleep deprivation-induced rants and half-formed ponderings. A lot of my fics wouldn't exist without her riffing on my impromptu, "Wait, what if?" light bulb moments, not to mention her willingness to read my rough drafts and give me feedback.

[thgfanspotlights]

THG Fan Spotlight Interview: Ongreenergrasses & Thetwinandpinleftbehind

Published 1/22/2026 to Internet Archive

Listen to their interview here and follow along with the transcript.

(58 min)

[thgfanspotlights]

THG Spotlight Interviews

The pairings are in!

We've contacted everyone who submitted a form to participate in the Spotlight Interviews. Unfortunately yet hilariously, @districtunrest got shadowbanned for sending out these messages. Confirm that you received it with @thesunpersists or @mollywog or in the comments of this post, please. If you submitted the form and did not hear back from one of us, let us know asap!

More info on interviews can be found in this Google doc. Our inbox is open if you have any questions or concerns.

We will share submissions as they are received (with the hope that all will be completed by March 2026). If pairings decide to submit a recording, please consider including a transcript or authorizing organizers to run a transcript.

Happy interviewing!!

[thgfanspotlights]

THG Fan Spotlight Interview: Kal-dal-art & Districtfourmermaid

@kald-dal-art interviewed by @districtfourmermaid, 2/8/2026

Kald-dal-art: Hello Hello

Districtfourmermaid: Hi! 

We can start with you, since I already did the form-type thgfanspotlight thing. Do you want to introduce yourself? I know you have a few separate blogs for art and writing and such.  

K: Yes I sure can introduce myself. I am behind the account @kald-dal-art (or @kald-dal-write for just writing) and can just call me Kal. Got into the Hunger Games fandom around 2023 after rereading the series for the first time in like a decade and kind of just been stuck here ever since haha. So yes mostly spend my time drawing and writing fics for the fandom honestly. What about you? You can make a very simple introduction of yourself

D: Cool! Yeah, I’m Maural. I’ve been in the fandom since I first read the series in 2010 when I was 14, but I was not as active on tumblr for a few years and came back to doing more last year. I mostly draw, but I got more into fanfic writing this year, which is part of what’s kept me around the tumblr fandom. 

K: Yes cool indeed, what would you say is the sort of fic you write the most of? In terms of characters, themes and that sort of stuff?

D: Back in the day, like high school-ish, I wrote a bit of District 4 character stuff, but since I’ve gotten back into it, things have centered more on Katniss or I guess Annie and Johanna, a bit. I’ve been writing a lot for a District 2 OC. What do you write about and what’s your AO3?

K: Yes my AO3 account is “littlefroid” I have two currently running fics. One of them is about the oh so infamous 25th Games, because we just know so little about it from Canon, so I thought it would be very fun to explore that concept in more details. With a fic where you follow the POV of 5 tributes from district 2, 5, 7, 8 and 10, so it is a bit up in the air who is going to win the game. Especially because we just don’t know anything around the Victor in canon. The other fic I have worked a lot on is a fic about the two District 6 Victors from Catching Fire, because they caught my attention a lot when I reread the series and I wanted to know their story, and when I looked for fics there wasn’t a lot. And even fics where they were tagged, it was like “they show up like twice in a 100k+ fic” which was a bit annoying. So in the end I kind of though “Hey I can write it for myself then” and the rest is kind of history. 

D: Really making what you want to see! That’s awesome. Few questions on that. Do you think people should have more consideration for how many side-characters they tag in fics? Like a certain presence they should have in order to deserve tagging? And what really drew you to District 6? I love how much attention you bring to those neglected Districts like 5, 6, and 9 or 10. 

K: Yes I would say I prefer when a fic is undertagged over being overtagged. For me I think for a character tag to be warranted, they have to have like an important role in the overall story. Would kind of use like movie/tv show credit logic, especially more so tv show. Like if this was a show would the “actor” get a credit in the intro segment, if yes, than I think it is warranted to tag said character, if not, think it is better to just leave it. Like think for certain character you kind of expect to show up, like if the fic is about the Victors, it makes sense to have some of them just pop up once in a while just to add like “ambience”/”life” into the world of the fic. 

For District 6, I just really like how little we know, and like everything we do know it is very bleak. Like the first mention of the District is that one of their tributes went crazy and ate people in the games, so setting an immediate tone to that specific place. And like the most prominent characters we meet from there are the two Victors who are so haunted/traumatized by their games they are just husks of who they used to and only referred by the drug they are addicted to. So guess I just enjoy the morbid vibes of it…also just like trains a lot ngl. What about you what is your favorite District we don’t know too much about?

D: Drawn to the dark and mysterious! I dig it. Of the less-neglected Districts, I am a D4 person, but I like that there’s such ambiguity in it. Its exact location, the nature of its Career status or program, and the cultural possibilities. Of the more-neglected ones, I think 10 is neat just for the cowboy aesthetic and leatherworking, which I think is cool. 

About your 25th Games fic, do you find it challenging to keep track of so many OCs? What’s your strategy for character-making and worldbuilding?

K: Ah yes for keeping track, I honestly don’t find it too hard, I feel like I have a strong idea on how these characters are like and what their personality/drive is from one another. Also what really helps with the “gimmick” of the 25th Games is that everyone is there for one reason or another so it helps a lot with development when you know WHY they are there and what made people vote for them into the games. I think it would be harder if it was just a “normal” game because like at the age tributes are in the game, they don’t have much “backstory” you can play around with in a way, or at least a lot of it will repeat itself if that makes sense. 

D: Yeah, that makes sense! In the story I’m writing now, there was overlap with the Trilogy’s timeline, and I found it helped to have a structure to follow in events. With your art, I also want to say your style is very unique. The faces have such character and personality. What are your artistic inspirations or what factors went into your style?

K: Like WAY back in the days it was like mostly scrolling through Deviant art that inspired me a lot and also all those “how to draw Manga” books that are out there. Think also like a lot of animation movies in general has inspired me over the stuff, especially stuff like Spider-verse and Arcane. Also a very important thing that helped me a lot is to draw from real life, thinking about how to stylize and simplify this real thing into my art style. Also seen some of your art and really enjoy your Tarot series, what has been some of your inspirations?

D: Thanks! Love those how-to-draw books. I had a couple anatomy ones years ago, but I didn’t keep them with me. My big inspirations are Art Nouveau and Neotraditional tattoo styles. Someone asked about that recently, and I got into it, but I like lineart the most. I just started getting into digital art more, and translating that over has been fun to attempt, haha. You do a mix of both traditional and digital, I noticed, and your digital work looks very similar to traditional. Which did you develop most first and how did you find that translation?

K: Yeah for a very long time I essentially only did traditional art, I got a tablet around 2017 because I was obsessed with all the digital art I saw online, and honestly never got the full hang on it. Like it wasn’t until pandemic time honestly I started to get properly into digital art. One of the things that helped a lot with the transition between the two mediums was that I scanned the sketches I did traditionally and then colored them on my computer later, using multiple layers to not lose the original sketch. Then after a while I got more confident in my line works digitally and then went more into that later. So it is always the tips I give when people ask how to get into digital art.

D: Cool cool. I think the pencil sketch to start is good. I just tried that for another attempt. Here’s one from the suggested questions: What has your experience been like in this fandom? What do you hope to see more/less of in this fandom?

K: My experiences has been very good honestly, I love the people I interact with in the fandom a lot, there is a lot of creative people in here and love to hear their takes around especially worldbuilding for the world of Panem. Guess one of my least favorite things with the THG fandom is how pretentious some people are on there at times. Putting the series on such a high pedestal and act like it is so above getting any sort of normal fandom activity around it. Kind of treating them as like political theories book and like people who love to claim the whole “Collins says she only write when she has something to say” and as far as I can see, she has never said that in her life. So that isn’t all that fun? Do you also have some gripes with the fandom as well?

D: (Snaps) Yes, loving something can include critiquing it, and more people could get comfortable with that. I think that quote came from one of the movie producers saying that about Suzanne in a media spot about Sunrise, which, I’m not sure what exactly was said in that that hadn’t been said already, but that’s its own thing. My fandom experience has mostly been good. My main issue, I guess, is some intolerance for unpopular opinions, but I love the dash I’ve curated, tumblr-wise. 

K: Yes Tumblr is very good when it comes to making a feed where you only see things you want to see from the fandom, so do sometimes get a bit of whiplash when I leave that very curated bubble at time haha

D: So, popping around a little, I’m guessing the female D6 Victor/Tribute is one of your favorite characters, as well as the male one. Who’re some of your other favorites and who do you relate to most?

K: For like the actual main characters, I do love Katniss a lot, she is such a wonderfully realized main character who is a lot of fun to follow in the story. With her very biased narration and mistrust of everything. For other minor characters I like a lot, do enjoy the tributes from the 10th Games a lot when I was into Ballad. Think it made these games a lot of fun to follow because I was invested in the small snippets we saw of them, even if I knew they weren’t going to win the games. Not sure what character I find the most relatable honestly, what about you? 

D: I think that’s changed a lot, or I just move between most-relatables over time or with my mood. In some ways, I do see myself in Katniss and have always connected to her as far as heritage, family (my little brother who’s 4 years younger than me is great), and sometimes personality. I’m more outgoing than her, but she’s very real. And then sometimes it’s been Gale or Johanna or Haymitch, but Annie is probably the other most consistent one. She’s really a bit of a blank slate, since canon was so sparse with her, but the Annie in my head gets me. 

K: Yes do wish we knew more about Annie, seeing as how much of Fanon (and Canon honestly) just kind of treat her as “Finnick’s sad mentally ill GF” but I think she has the potential to be really interesting. I personally find it very boring when people downplay the possibility she could have ever been a career tribute and it’s no way that she even was one. Think that makes her a very static character if that isn’t a part of her story? What is your take on Annie as a tribute in her game? Do you see her as a full on career? Unluckily reaped? Or like somewhere in the middle?

D: I see her as a full Career. I think what makes her story so significant is that sudden switch and disillusionment. I see her as someone who trained and thought volunteering was the right thing to do but learned a harsh lesson about who the Capitol really is and how horrific the Games are. 

K: Yes, like I see a lot of people wanting a book about her games, to get the answers like “How did she turn out this way, like what really happened for her to break this bad” and honestly what we get in the book is like enough for me? Like seeing someone getting decapitated in front of you, and then having to swim for your life is honestly really traumatic in of itself

D: Exactly! Same with how people want a Finnick book. I don’t think we need more detail, and the open canvas is almost more impactful than knowing exactly what happened and how. 

K: Yes, I definitely agree. I don’t see the need for a Finnick book, just think there are too many elements going against the concept in turning out to be a good book, especially in the restraints of it most likely having to fall into the YA genre at the end of the day like the other books in the series. Also do think when a series has to explain EVERYTHING in the world it kind of leads to very convoluted plots and more open to plot holes if I am being honest. 

D: Less is more for that area of things, for sure. So, do you have a certain work or OC you want to talk about in more detail? What/who do you think is your top work/OC?

K: Do definitely see that the 25th Game fic is my most popular work and do love to see how much people love it and it’s characters as I have spent a lot of time on it. I would say I do love all my children on their own, so it’s hard to pick a favorite. One thing I do enjoy in this fic is having antagonists who aren’t Career tributes. I think sometimes the series turns a bit black and white with like automatically assuming everyone from the outlier/non career Districts has to be good people who would never enter the games with wanting to win and is willing to kill people for that. If we do get more books we would enjoy seeing that as a concept and less “full evil” careers.

D: Yes! I’ve had my brain on humanizing Careers more, but I love that idea of casting non-Careers as antagonists, showing how people will do what they must to survive, right? Because I think Careers as antagonists almost puts their viciousness on a pedestal, but seeing that in other District’s Tributes creates more space for horror elements, in a way, highlighting the gravity and tragedy. 

K: Yeah like my definite least fave plot element of Sunrise was the whole mega big Anti Career alliance, it felt so unrealistic to me that not a single person would prioritize their own survival or even think of the possibility that they have to betray the others to not die in the end. Think it takes so much away from the morality of the series that was there previously. 

D: For sure! All that. Because it’s like part of the point is that the real enemy is the Capitol for orchestrating the Games in the first place. It’s a terrible situation to be in, but Tributes who kill to live aren’t to blame; they just want to survive. It raises a question of when violence is justified or necessary and where you draw the line on self-defense, almost. Standing up for oneself and getting your hands dirty, but the tragedy is that the people who are to blame make themselves untouchable, and the people who suffer are equally innocent. 

K: Yes yes yes, it’s one of my favorite aspects of this series honestly. But yeah think it is very fun to explore the world and how previous games must have looked like in the past? Do you have any ideas what a previous game in the past looked like, with either the Victor/Arena/gimmick/etc etc

D: I haven’t considered much specifics on non-canon years like that. In the fic I’m writing now, I incorporated some mutts based on prehistoric animals. They were around during the Capitol Invasion, as Pod traps and in a lab, but the idea was that they were created for an upcoming prehistoric-inspired arena. 

K: Ah very nice, did read Jurassic Park recently, so been into that sort of stuff lately as well. 

D: Yeah, I saw your art about it! Really good! I read the books several years ago and thought the shift from book to movie was pretty good. Anything else HG you want to include in this interview?

K: Yes I would say this has been a lot of fun honestly. Guess we can end on one last question maybe?

D: Bet! Since you first read the books many years ago and then got more into the fandom recently on your reread, what is something that has changed about your feelings or interpretation of the books in that time?

K: Like back in the day I mainly read the books because that was what everyone was reading at the time, kind of think I read the books when I was too young if I am being honest. I remember I didn’t even finish Mockingjay because I thought it was really boring. OBVIOUSLY changed my mind on that now and it’s my third fave now. But yeah I think I appreciate them more now when I was older because I actually bothered to engage with it fully this time around. 

D: Sweet. Some of it does look different when you’re an adult, right? All these kids are babies to me now, lol. 

Rapid Fire: 

Sweet or savory? Savory

Favorite snack? Like potato chips honestly

Favorite drink? Cold water and red bull honestly

Favorite color? Purple and red

Color you never wear? I rarely wear white, gets too easily dirty for me

Morning person or night owl? I am kind of both, depend on the week/month if I am real

Silly thing that makes you smile? Enjoy when people make very misc headcanons around my character. “This character would like this food item” sure what the hell

D: Wow! That is very sweet that people say things like that. Especially if it’s true! 

Great meeting you, and this was a fun chat! :)

K: Yes very fun indeed :) 

[thgfanspotlights]

@darthnell | darth_nell | Lou

What's your THG origin story?

Oh man.. I first read THG around when it first came out I think, right at the front end of

Reaping age (dating myself). At that time (~13 ish) I was mega into reading and would devour anything set in front of me LOL. I think I'd been searching for a different series when I found THG instead (which I ended up liking more LOL). I was always into stuff that was super action-packed and intense and ofc had cool female protags (Katniss beloved<3).

Looking back on it now, though, I feel like being significantly younger than Katniss at the time of reading made her seem more mature (since I, a wise 13 y/o was also so mature and intelligent /lh). The horror of the tributes being so Young didn't really hit until I myself grew up more. I know it was definitely one of my most reread series back in the day, though since I read it on my nook (lol) I never actually had the physical copies until more recently. I also remember being really obsessed with the books and trying to get all my friends to read it, to which some of them were like ugh no. Only for them to recommend it back to me when the movie came out LOL. You can bet your ass my 13 y/o self was MALDING. Anyways we all had hunger games themed birthday parties and at one point made bows and arrows from the sticks in my backyard c: (they were fairly decent ngl. Not accurate by any means, but they worked!)

I was always kinda passively in the fandom since I discovered what fandom was, but had other stronger interests/hyperfixations over the years. I eventually got really into making OCs and devised an AU where one of my OCs went into the hunger games. I thiiink this was around the time that BOSAS was announced. Because the document for that fic was created in 2019 LMAO. I didn't start posting it until much later because ngl, I started writing it mainly so I could read it for myself LOL. I hadn't ever come close to finishing a long-form fic before (always got stuck at chapter 1 😔) so I wrote that one super out of order, and had the majority of it finished before I decided, "hey, I should post this maybe. Could be fun and cool."

And then I just never stopped BJVHDFBHV. Found a really great community on Discord for THG OC stuff and SYOTs (which I now moderate) and it's been a lot of fun! I've written. So much more than I ever thought I was capable of (':

What are your favorite things about the series?

Ough so. I adored Katniss as a protagonist when I first read the series (and I still do). She's just so like. Genuine ;-; as a character and also from a meta standpoint I feel? Like her character never felt forced, and was always really natural. And it really resonated with me. I also really love the series conceptually, and for the most part, how that concept has been explored. Like, the Hunger Games as such an ingrained aspect of society is so so horrifying, and the way that the Capitol citizens are so enamored by it is. Just really fascinating. And it's something that I don't think has ever really stopped being relevant to today's society. ..Kind of a weird thing to say as my favorite thing, but Panem really is just a car crash that I can't look away from 😭

I think the trilogy especially did a great job with its characters and making them all really compelling and creating dynamics that I kept coming back to read and reread over again. (In terms of writing though, I am more compelled by Panem itself - like the trilogy characters to me are so solid that I just don't have anything I feel like I need to add to them via fanfiction LMAO).

What’s something about the series that’s stayed with you or become more meaningful to you over time?

I think the concept of Reaping age is definitely something that's evolved over time for me, especially as I grew out of it. Ig I already said that but yeah. That plus these days I've just put a lot more thought into Panem as a whole and what makes it's dystopian society gears keep turning, and there is just. So much to say about that. The Hunger Games as an institution are just so extreme that they can't not stick with me. Like, the separation between "Capitol" and "District" being so pronounced that it allows the Capitol to basically see those in the districts as less than human. And therefore excuse the violence of the Games as an extension of their "savagery" despite the fact that the Capitol and Gamemakers have deliberately manufactured those circumstances.. (part of that is my own interpretations and not explicitly stated in canon - I think in BOSAS Gaul and Snow envisioned it more as an extension of human nature itself, though the book still went into a lot about the distinction between Capitol and District). Idk. Just so much to think about.

What's something you want the fandom to know about you?

Uhhm. (blinks unevenly) hi. I'm Nell. I like to write. A lot (mainly about my OCs). I draw sometimes also. I love dogs a lot (worked with them for like ~2.5 yrs). I have two astrophysics degrees. I am learning how to make video games (yes I have an idea for a THG one I swear it's good trust me dawg it will take ages though). I lived in France for 2 years. I'm kind of old lmao. Tldr I have way too many random ass skills that I just don't get paid for 💀

When did you begin creating? What inspired you to begin?

I have always been creating stuff but THG related in particular.. touched on it a bit earlier, but it started as an AU for one of my OCs and then sorta. Spiraled. A lot bvhjfdvbhd. Thank you covid. And thank you depression #coping. Umm yeah I have a decent amount of fics, but the most major one is a story that I started at the height of my depression and covid and kinda carried my will to live LMAO. It's finished now!! It dealt a lot with themes of grief and friendship and family and impossible expectations and also gay people. Peace and love.

So yeah pretty much I can't seem to stop getting ideas for new stories and characters and concepts to explore within the world of Panem but I'm just gonna roll with it until I run out of steam (which doesn't seem to be anytime soon LOL). These days I think a lot about the current state of the world inspires me to keep writing. Idk man some stories are fun and whimsical and then some are exorcisms BJHVFDHVB

What is your favorite thing to depict in your work?

CAREERS!!!!!! Sorry. They are just SO fascinating to me. There's a lot that I like writing about within Panem (or, my current evolved version of it), and there's something about the messed up conditions that must be in place for these kids to be training for murder and then pretty much ritualistically sacrificing themselves to the orphan crushing machine (and sometimes being part of the machine before ultimately getting crushed by it) is just really compelling to me. There is just so much in there that really has not been touched on at all in canon - which I'm not really complaining about because I like the freedom to do my own thing with it. Being simultaneously victims and perpetrators of the cycle. Idk. Interesting stuff! I also like writing gore and violence and unexpected acts of kindness and imperfect victims<3

What’s your personal favorite of your works?

True Vengeance: The 151st Hunger Games

This is what I like to call my magnum opus. Or my pet monstrosity. My personal demon. My bbygrill. All the above BJHVFBHV. A recent comment I got called it a centerpiece story for my series, and that's a pretty solid descriptor! It features my protagonist Venatrix Pyke, and is very D2 centered as she's a Career tribute. Whose parents are both victors. This has definitely made her very normal and well adjusted! (lying) I just truly do not shut up about her and I've thought about her every day for the past 5 ish years. Hehe. Come meet my worstie!!! <3

If you could recommend just one, which would it be?

Also True Vengeance: The 151st Hunger Games ..Though. I do know 300k is a Lot bhjvfd if that's too intimidating, I've got a handful of shorter stories on my AO3

What are the main characteristics of your favorite canon characters you always try to maintain in your stories?

crickets chirping

Um. Nothing. No shade to the canon chars, but they appear very rarely in my works 😭 I think the only time I really featured a canon char was Snow, and he was 8 years old at the time. Just a little dictatorlet. That was in my fic that covered the origin of the Hunger Games, and it is not BOSAS compliant because. I think the canon origin of the games is just a little silly. Sorry. Feel free to check out The Reparation Clause if that piques your interest; if not then yeah to each their own vbjhfdvb.

Tell us about an OC of yours. What inspired them and what purpose do they serve in your works?

I will try to keep this brief (1/34543) /j I will actually try SO. For background, my series New Friends, New Enemies is called that because it's set a decent amount of time after the Mockingjay Rebellion failed and the Hunger Games are still going on. A few changes to Panem, not super relevant for the purposes of this question. But VENATRIX PYKE!!! As I mentioned before, she is my princess my babugirl my chew toy<3 She's the protag of my largest fic and a pretty central character to the series! Both of her parents are Victors, and she was raised with the knowledge that she would be volunteering when her time came (whether she wanted to or not) (that part was implied because why would she not want to, right? …Right.?) Ideally, she would've volunteered for the 150th games, but the quell twist that year was only 12 y/os and she was 17, so hers is 151. HOWEVER. Her idiot (affectionate) 12 year old sister decided to volunteer for the quell and fucking died. True Vengeance covers Venatrix's final year in D2's career academy before she volunteers, and then her games. …It also touches a lot on her and her family's grief and how they process that (or Don't. They just do not do a good job at that). That fic (and the following one) show her evolving relationship with the Hunger Games and her own personal beliefs (or the ones she grew up with/was propagandized into, often by her very own parents). Like, growing up, she believed that winning the games was her birthright because of her victor parents; her parents don't want her to die, so why wouldn't they convince her that she can win? Her sister's death really just. Flipped that narrative on its head and no one is happy about it, especially not Ven 😭 Her relationship with her father, Oberon, in particular is a huge part of the fic as well #justlikeherdadbutagirl.

The fic I'm currently working on (cicatrix) also covers her first year post victory (spoilers: she wins). Umm I'm still working on what happens with her after that by which I mean I have lots of plans, too many plans in fact. She does show up in a later fic of mine (year 170) as a mentor to the pov character there<3 So she's still kicking! One of these days (in 2030 or whatever /hj) I plan to write about the 174th/175th games where she sure will be appearing and doing things.

Personality wise, Venatrix is super arrogant when the story starts off. Like she's kind of a bully. (She is still working on growing out of that, it may never happen bjvdf). She's got a lot of deep-set anger that comes to the surface over the course of TrV in some really fun and horrible ways! She can also be petty and hold grudges. Her little sister dying on live TV just also did not help anything. Her good qualities are confidence and sword. She also unfortunately loves her family. Alas. She has a lot of pride that I am constantly hitting with a stick. After she wins, she's a lot more depressed and less confident and burnt out as hell.

As to what the hell inspired her… man I would love to know. Probably depression, idk BVJHBF. I think I really wanted to explore the concept of a victor family (..where not everyone in the family can win) because once it popped into my head I just never stopped thinking about it. Ever. <3

Tell us about your favorite relationship (of any kind) in the series. Why is it your favorite?

In the trilogy… Katniss and Buttercup<3 uh idk. I liked Katniss's relationships with most of the people she interacted with, she's just such a dynamic character like that<3 With Peeta and Prim we get to see her at her best which is ;--; I also rly enjoyed her friendships with Finnick and Johanna.. traumabonding 😭

In my series……… maritrix♥️🦋🐺iykyk

What is a question you wish we asked and what would your answer be?

This is super specific, but it's something I like addressing in my writing.. How would Panem evolve if the Mockingjay Rebellion failed?

Cracks knuckles So. The way I went about this was mostly adding stuff that I thought would be fun first and then coming up with the reasoning later LOL. So I've made D3 the fourth Career district - in my AU, they were integral to the Capitol winning the war, and they won the 76th games; the victor negotiated with them to grant pseudo training status so by the time of my writing, they're pretty well established as Careers! I also thought it would be really interesting to write about like. A very toxic academic culture combined with the kind of culture that comes from training teenagers to murder other teenagers and. Boy is it ugly! 😀 To sort of balance this out, I had the rebellion fail at a time when D13's existence was revealed, so… Guess who's in the Hunger Games now..! Rip D13. They have one (1) victor by year 151 😭

Another thing that's moreso related to Panem's evolution than the MJ rebellion…. they have internet access in the Capitol now. It is highly restricted by location and status, and HEAVILY monitored. In fact, the main reason that it's even allowed is so it can be used by the gvt to basically spy on their citizens. Very much a surveillance state. Like, you can absolutely get "disappeared"/Avoxed for saying the wrong thing on twitter (which is called Jabber LMFAO) (granted, that's pretty severe but like there are absolutely Capitol intelligence agents whose entire job is to scroll thru Jabber marking any flags for suspicious messages and posts). That being said… it also allows the average Capitolite to participate more in the Games and they basically. Have a fandom around it. Think of the worst, most parasocial aspects of stan twitter 😭 Now imagine that but people are literally dying about it 💀 it is absolutely fascinating to write and also harrowing. I have a few chapters in my fics where I coded a workskin to show some Jabber posts and they're. Really something. Also worth noting that victors receive smartphones with internet access upon victory (also Extremely monitored) and their own Jabber accounts (they've gotta change their notification settings so they're not constantly getting bombarded with fan dms and tags and all that). The phones have become pretty important for mentoring (they can send sponsor gifts on the go!), monitoring sponsorship funds, and keeping track of their tributes' status and public reception. And it's also another way for the Capitol to spy on them all the time too #yay ! It's a bit of a commentary on today's world with the internet (and maybe a little bit on fandom culture but also like. Obviously pushed to Extremes). Because internet can be a powerful tool for both resistance movements and totalitarian institutions as well. Idk! (I am also just one person writing fanfiction so like. Obligatory disclaimer that my opinions and commentary are not free of flaws.)

Anyone you would like to shout out in the fandom?

All of my THG mutuals!!! Naming u all would take forever, but I believe Frog, Mait, Pipes, and Blue are on the masterlist for the fan spotlights ! Also of course the SYOT Verses Discord server, like thats my home<3 (if anyone sees this and wants to join, feel free to reach out to me!)

[thgfanspotlights]

Interview Submissions OPEN!

Submit your peer interview to this blog in whichever form you please - an mp3 file, a Google drive link, a copy/paste text of the conversation, etc. If submitting a recording, please include a transcript or authorize us to run a transcript.

If you have trouble submitting, please let us know! We will work with you to find another way to share your interviews here.

We will now post interviews as they come. Our first will be posted shortly. We are so excited to hear from you all!

More info on the spotlight interviews can be found on this post.

[thgfanspotlights]

THG Spotlight Interview: @the-knockoff-gilbert-blythe

conducted by @mega-aulover on 11/26/25

Fandom and Writing

What drew you to The Hunger Games? Was it the books or was it the movies?

It was the books. This was when I was in like fourth grade or so but I had already reread all the American girl doll books and Harry Potter books in my elementary school library so the librarian sort of just gave me the first hunger games book to read so I’d stop checking out the same books over and over again. I read the trilogy between 4th and 5th grade but didn’t get really into the fandom until after SOTR came out

So recently, that's cool. Which of the books from the prequels and the original do you like the most?

my favorites are probably SOTR or mockingjay. those are the ones im always drawn to reread the most, but I really do love all of them

I love Mockingjay too even though it hurts lol, I do also love SOTR. Which is the character you found yourself most enjoying in SOTR?

I tend to really enjoy somewhat minor characters, so I would Burdock Everdeen despite him not having too large of a role

I understand I feel that way about Delly, - she's sometimes villanized though, and this leads me to my next question. What character do you think needs to have a bigger role?

I do sort of have two answers for this if that’s okay? My first answer is that I feel that more of the newcomers deserved a bigger role than they did. I know that some of them did have pretty big roles but some of them are mentioned once and then we know nothing else about them. And my second, less serious answer, is that I think burdock and Blair should've had a larger role just because I love them and because they’re Haymitch’s best friends.

Truth about Blair, I was like who are they? What happened to them? And also about the dynamic between Haymitch and Burdock. Is this how you came to write your stories?

Honestly, the only things i remember about Blair is that he threw a pack of peanuts at Haymitch at the reaping. But regarding the dynamic between Haymitch and Burdock, I really think I can get something from almost any friendship, and another thing about them that caused me to be especially on the haydock train was the fact that they skinny dipped together? And that Burdock kept going over to his house. But me actually coming to adoring their dynamic really came from me obsessing over burdock and just looking through his tag on ao3 and reading the one or two haydock fics published at the time. That, the fact that there are about five haydock authors, and my friends egging me on was what caused to write my haydock fics.

Yeah, those kind of thoughts lead us down the rabbit plot hole...Delly and Gale (hangs head). So how many stories do you have that are unposted?

I have three that are currently unposted. All three of them are haydock as well, but im trying to get one of them out tonight or tomorrow morning.

Rapid Fire:

Sweet or Savory?

Savory

Favorite Snack?

mini pretzels

Favorite Drink?

sweet tea

Favorite Color?

probably purple or green

Color you would never wear?

I like most colors, but probably red since I’m already ginger

Morning person or Nightowl?

It really depends if it’s during the school year or not, but usually nightowl

Class that surprised you?

I recently switched schools so I was told an engineering class was pretty much agriscience so I went into the classroom expecting to be hearing about coal mining and seeds like I always have but then was shocked when the teacher started talking about bridges and things like that

Silly thing that makes you smile?

Whenever I see that any of my mutuals posted literally anything or when older folks call me son or boy. the latter is somewhat rare but I genuinely get giddy when it happens.

Final Questions:

Who was the first tumblr person who befriended you?

@sparklebear11 was my first actual friend on here but the first person i interacted with who I am friends with now is @kathurrrine since we both ran sotr rp blogs

What is the best thing about the HG community?

I think it’d be how different and diverse the fandom can be. And I’m not just talking about the representation there is and people add (which is amazing and I adore it) but I’m talking about how there’s people who have been in the fandom since the day THG was published and there’s people who saw the SOTR teaser and joined less than a week ago, and so much in between and I really don’t see much gatekeep-y ness which i really love. I also love how there’s a ship or a fic for literally everything.

[thgfanspotlights]

Interview Submissions OPEN!

Submit your peer interview to this blog in whichever form you please - an mp3 file, a Google drive link, a copy/paste text of the conversation, etc. If submitting a recording, please include a transcript or authorize us to run a transcript.

If you have trouble submitting, please let us know! We will work with you to find another way to share your interviews here.

We will now post interviews as they come. Our first will be posted shortly. We are so excited to hear from you all!

More info on the spotlight interviews can be found on this post.

[thgfanspotlights]

question - how would you like us to submit the interviews to you? do we post them on our blogs and then tag you? is there another form to fill out with our answers? some unspecified third way? thank you for all your work organizing this event 💜

hi! we apologize for the delay, we are resuming after the new year and will be checking in with everyone soon. thanks for your patience & participation!

we are now open for submissions! submit your interview to this blog in whichever form you please - an mp3 file, a Google drive link, a copy/paste text of the conversation, etc. if submitting a recording, please include a transcript or authorize us to run a transcript.

if you have trouble submitting, please let us know! we will work with you to find another way to share your interview.

[thgfanspotlights]

@louezem | Loueze | Lou

What's your THG origin story?

Well, this will probably differ from many, but I only read the books because of my daughter. One night, when she was around 12 years old, (2008/2009) she came into our living room very excited and said "Mam, I want to read this book, everyone is talking about it. It's called the Hunger Games, and there are two characters called Katniss and Peeta...." and I literally looked up from what I was doing and said "wtf kind of names are those?!?" Anyway, being how I am, I decided to check out this book about these characters with questionable names and read it myself, before I let my daughter read it. And the rest, as they say, is history. My daughter has read the trilogy once, and moved on to other things (she is obsessed with CS Pacat). I, however, became hooked and here I still am!

What’s something about the series that’s stayed with you or become more meaningful to you over time?

I relate very strongly to Katniss, and I didn't figure out why for a long time. But then I realised it was because, like Katniss, I lost my father suddenly when I was quite young (the week of my 16th birthday) and I had to grow up almost literally overnight. I had a much younger brother (just two years old at the time of our father's death) and I had two older brothers as well, but they left home soon after. My mother coped with her grief very well on the surface, and unlike Mrs Everdeen, she didn't crash out completely or neglect us, but she became a shadow of herself for many years after we lost Dad. She said herself she didn't really feel like 'herself' again for at least ten years after. In the interi,m I'd taken on a lot of responsibility for household stuff. I finished secondary school (high school equivalent) got a full time government job at the age of 17 (that I am still employed in, nearly 40 years later) and the rest is history. So you can see why I relate so strongly to Katniss. She is what ties me emotionally to the series.

What's something you want the fandom to know about you?

I have recently turned 56 years old but I am young at heart! I live with my (now 29 year old) daughter and two cats, Magic and Evie. I read a lot of fanfic. :)

When did you begin creating? What inspired you to begin?

This is a hard question! I am not the typical "creative" type. I never wanted to be a "writer". I was encouraged by my friend Alison (author/tumblr name KnottedEnergy) to give it a try, but what lit the spark, per se, was an ask on tumblr about Everlark and a divorce and a lightbulb went off in my head.. That's when I started my fic "Degrees of Separation" (which I'm embarrassed to say is still not complete). Another inspiration for that story was a song by The Script of the same title. It's also loosely based on a friend's real life experience of post natal psychosis. But, I confess, writing my own works is not my favourite part of the creative process. I truly love being a beta/sound board for other writers, much more than I enjoy writing myself. That part of the process where you're bouncing around ideas, working out plots, seeing where a plot bunny takes you - that's what I find the most fun. I love it, and I find it the most rewarding. I also have a little secret - I love to write my own endings to unfinished, abandoned fics just for my own reading pleasure. I have done this for a few - never published, of course, as they are not my stories to finish, but I do find it helps when an unfinished fic is scratching at your brain and won't get out of your head. Write your own ending!

What is your favorite thing to depict in your work?

Angst. I am an angst monster, unfortunately. But it's not deliberate! I just love to twist the knife.

What’s your personal favorite of your works?

My unpublished ones! :)

If you could recommend just one, which would it be?

I suppose it would be Degrees of Separation, as that is my best known fic.

What are the main characteristics of your favorite canon characters you always try to maintain in your stories?

Peeta's steadfast kindness and integrity, and Katniss' quiet loyalty and strength.

Tell us about an OC of yours. What inspired them and what purpose do they serve in your works?

I don't really have any OCs - yet. But I do have another unfinished work (The Long Way Round) that will introduce the character of Professor Fiach Odair, who is Finnick's Uncle. No spoilers.

Tell us about your favorite relationship (of any kind) in the series. Why is it your favorite? 

I love the relationship between Katniss and Peeta, obviously, but I also love the relationships between Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch, Katniss & Johanna, and between Katniss & Finnick. I truly love the idea of the Victors bonding in a dysfunctional, messed up and imperfect family of their own. I do wish we'd gotten more of the Peeta and Delly friendship in canon, too.

What is a question you wish we asked and what would your answer be?

Will you finish your fics? And the answer is YES! I never break a promise. It just might take me a while.

Anyone you would like to shout out in the fandom?

Oh god, so many over the last 13 years! Too many to mention. My ride-or-die for so many years now, @notanislander Titaniafics @jlalafics @katnissdoesnotfollowback AmeliaDay, @dandelionsunset1210 Court81981 Kismet4891 (who was my first beta). KnottedEnergy. @hutchhitched IzzySamson, Atetheredmind, Kris22, @badnovels (who also ran @promptsinpanem ) and of course @thesweetnessofspring to name just a few. This feels like an Oscar speech and I know I have so left many out, I have met so many phenomenally talented people through this fandom that it would be impossible to mention them all. Though I would like to mention those who have sadly left us too soon, BaronessKika, FnurFnur, and Lisa amongst them. 🫶🏼

[thgfanspotlights]

@maitaitiu | maitiu | mait

What's your THG origin story?

When I was 9-10, my mum lent me her copy of the hunger games. She's a very "read and never think about again" type, and at the time I would devour any book I got my hands on that remotely interested me, and HOAH boy did book1 grab me from the get go.

I have a distinct memory of my year 5 teacher asking me if "that book is appropriate for someone your age" and me just going "well my mum gave it to me" and glaring at him. He was a nasty old bully (/srs) so I have no guilt over that.

Anyway. I don't recall when I first read catching fire or mockingjay, but chances are I was equally obsessed with those. I've always loathed the movies lmao. For a while the fixation was dormant, but in about late 2019 it just. grabbed me by the throat again and I made an oc and was hauled back in, only to then find out that a prequel was in the works. do I like bosas? hm. well. <3 sort of. I guess I like parts of it.

What are your favorite things about the series?

JOHANNA MASON!!!

but fr there is so much to love in this series.

I grew up in a very rural small, and honestly quite impoverished (though nowhere near the scale of 12) town in the north of england, and I honestly saw a lot of my own childhood in 12. I would go off to the woods to play with my friend, and we would pick blackberries and climb trees and get covered in mud and stay out way too late... so yeah. I love the natural side of it. I love the talk of plants and foraging and hunting and traditional crafting and cooking and such. things like that are a huge love of mine, and so is MUSIC!!

I'm also a folk musician, go figure, and I've always been interested in folk/oral tradition, and 12 is just swimming in it.

There's admittedly not much music in the original trilogy (thanks to Katniss' own trauma) but the little bits that were there completely captured me. Lucy Gray's selection of songs is easily my favourite part of the bosas book. the old therebefore makes me go CRAZY. I love the mix of original style stuff, and then rewritten existing pieces. It really helps it feel like a genuine folk tradition, where things are constantly evolving and changing and being spun off. Folk music lives and thrives on oral tradition, rather than sheets and staves and written down stanzas, so seeing existing songs from our real present day (such as birmingham jail/down in the valley, rewritten with the 'capitol' jail, instead of birmingham) just helps breathe life into the folk traditions that live in panem (or... 12. since we dont really see anywhere else. but I digress.)

also honestly? the food. I have health issues that limit my diet and energy, but I still love to cook when I can, and holy smokes does this series have a way of coming up with delicious food. I can't even eat lamb but god do i want a huge bowl of that lamb stew every single time katniss mentions it.

What’s something about the series that’s stayed with you or become more meaningful to you over time?

How, even though it's a YA, there's no "good side" or "bad side" the Capitol as a force is foul. 13 as a force is just as awful in different yet similar ways (2 sides of the same coin anyone..?) and everyone else is just a person with all the complexities that comes with that. and I like that not all the surviving "good" victors vote to end the games. Johanna's insistence that they should go on with Capitol kids has fascinated me for YEARS and still does. It's really good at being both about fascism and oppression on a large scale but also the very individual abuse the tributes + their loved ones go through.

And on a less... big scale. I like that Buttercup survives. He would have been an easy shock value kill for the plot. Show how cruel the Capitol (or 13) are. But no... he lives. Idk. I'm a huge lover of cats (grown up with them + currently have 2 of my own and they are my babies and i would do unspeakable things to keep them safe if necessary) so Buttercup living, and staying with Katniss... idk. It just makes me feel hopeful and warm.

What's something you want the fandom to know about you?

i lvoe my cats . they are my whole world.

But also I love OCS!!! I pretty much only write OC fic for this fandom to explore different aspects of tribute/victor/panemian life in general that I feel SC didn't cover at all (or well in a few cases. LOL). Come talk to me about your ocs. Come read about mine on my ao3. please. PLEASE!!!!!!

When did you begin creating? What inspired you to begin?

Creating in general? I guess my weird little warrior cats oc fanfictions i wrote in notebooks when i was like 7 or 8. Digitally writing? a pokemon bw novelisation on my mums laptop when i was 11(i got allll the way to castelia gym before giving up!!! and that is technically the beginning of my longterm pokemon project but... a tale thats for another time and place.)

but POSTING? geez.. I dont know. for a long time, I was writing fic but absolutely petrified to post any of it due to being. basically. bullied by "friends" at the time for the stuff I made. I posted my first fic to ao3 in 2019, when I was 17. It was a pokemon bw2 oneshot. Thankfully I'm a lot less afraid of being picked on for the things i make these days.. I'm not sure what made me want to start writing any of this stuff. The same thing as a lot of lonely kids I guess. Wanting to put myself/characters based off myself into the worlds I loved and just.. finding a place there.

What is your favorite thing to depict in your work?

Gender stuff and disability. SC never even mentioned trans people existing, and theres very little disability rep. Being both of those things, I love to yap and yammer about them til the cows come home. most- if not all- of my protag ocs for the hunger games will have some sort of gendery thing going on, and likely a disability or two (or more) as well. I'm also fascinated by just.. daily life in Panem. people hanging out. what is Normal in different parts of the country.

What’s your personal favorite of your works?

oh god. just out of hg stuff... this might be recency bias, but from the sky down. it was my piece for the SYOT verses' annual victor exchange event this year and i think i did so well with it. i loved writing lovinia so so much.

If you could recommend just one, which would it be?

my current longform wip!!! Clip My Wings and Cast Them in Gold. My protag, Dmitri, is my baby boy idiot son and GOD I love him. He's a deeply lonely rich boy from 10 who is completely ignorant about how the world really works, and basically has the rug pulled out from him when he's reaped for the Games. It's ultimately a tragedy, but there's funtimes and silly things along the way. Plus ! Because I know this'll draw some people in lol- it's a lil bit gay.

What are the main characteristics of your favorite canon characters you always try to maintain in your stories?

johanna being kind of just. mean. and not someone whod be at all likeable irl. but still having this inherent softness to her. idk . idk why i specifically latched onto her (well . i have an idea, but im not going to bare my whole soul here haha) but right from my first read of CF as a kid i was like Oh Yeah Youre My Fav. and she still is to this day! i don't write a lot of canon stuff otherwise, unless you count blight. who i dont. because he never appeared, was mentioned like twice, died off screen, and is now basically just my oc also lol

Tell us about an OC of yours. What inspired them and what purpose do they serve in your works?

Marsh I suppose is a good one for this... he's my first (proper...) HG oc since refixating on it in late 2019-early 2020.

Other than my fascination with Johanna as a character and desire for her to have a "kind of pathetic and socially inept male bestfriend" (this is how i show love to a lot of my favourite characters LMAO), I think a lot of him is borne of my own frustration with being a transman in the UK.

My version of Panemian transgender healthcare is very inspired by the UK's current state- it's very restrictive, sexist, classist, and a bunch of other stupid shit that makes it pretty much impossible to access if you can't afford to go private (which... only very few people can). I'd only recently been referred to the gender clinic waiting list when my interest on THG resurfaced, and with a 5+ waiting list ahead of me (that I'm still yet to see the end of... I've ID'd as trans for over 10 years now and still have no formal "diagnosis" of gender dysphoria. The UK is a fucking hellhole for us transgenderers.). Marsh is reaped for the Games under his birthname and legal female gender marker, he's forcibly outed upon his victory and undergoes physical reassignment surgery while he's in a coma directly after his games-- much of which was without his consent (he jokes to his stylist in the launchroom that "if i win, make sure they cut off my tits", which... they do, but they also give him a testosterone implant [idk if this exists irl but idgaf. capitol medicine innit] and even subtly tattoo his entire body to make his skin look more "appealing". that last one isnt really a gender thing but. yeah.). His post-games interview starts with Caeser forcing him to "come out" live to the world, when he wasn't even ready to come out to his immediate family yet (he only came out to his dad- only living relative- in the post-reaping goodbyes out of fear he'd be buried under the wrong name and gender, and that his dad would never know this secret... plus it'd be awkward for his friends (who knew) to talk to his dad (who didn't) if he died.)

He's the 72nd Victor in my works, though his fic is on an indefinite hiatus since I'm focusing on Clip My Wings + also want to rewrite Marsh's from the ground up.

Still... he's very important to me. While I'm still struggling with the effects of the fuckass way the UK treats us trans people, I'm not in such an immediately transphobic and hostile environment like I was when I was first writing Marsh in 2019-2022. I'm now living independently and straight up do not speak to people who treat me like shit anymore- for trans reasons or otherwise lol

Tell us about your favorite relationship (of any kind) in the series. Why is it your favorite?

Johanna + Finnick... Johanna + Blight... Haymitch and Chaff... I'm just so so interested in Victor friendships outside of Katniss + Peeta. Ofc I love those two (esp Katniss) but it's just so... cool. To see relationships exist outside of the main characters. It really makes the world feel alive.

Anyone you would like to shout out in the fandom?

Everyone in the SYOT verses server!! Nell, Goldie, Phobie, Moose, Miri, Blue, Pipes, Sav, Glory, Linds, Wiki, and so so many more... over the last few years of me being in Verses I feel like I've become not just more confident in my writing but more confident and comfortable with myself. I know I'm not the most active or chatty, but you guys have been so incredibly kind and welcoming and supportive of me, my works, and my irl endeavors (and throughout times I've been whacked with the ao3 author's curse...). I really cannot thank the people of Verses enough for simply being there. <3

[thgfanspotlights]

@youreyesholdgalaxies | @thgfanfictionlibrary | youreyesholdgalaxies | Erin

What's your THG origin story?

I began reading the series after Mockingjay (book) came out. I fell in love instantly and read all three books within a week. I watched all the movies as they were released in theaters. I didn't join the community till mid 2023 but I reread the entire series multiple times a year since their release!

What are your favorite things about the series?

The characters/dynamics are very interesting to me. Being able to see how the characters react to their environment, the commentary on different topics such as wealth differences, morality, and ethics were very interesting to me, especially since it was easy to understand at a younger age. I think the idea of nature vs nurture was very interesting on character development. And of course, I loved the idea of Katniss and Peeta and what that love/relationship signified.

What’s something about the series that’s stayed with you or become more meaningful to you over time?

The complexity of the characters and the relationship between Katniss and Peeta. As I get older with each reread I find new themes and topics to explore. I think I could write multiple thesis about the series and still have more to say!

What's something you want the fandom to know about you?

I run the @thgfanfictionlibrary which I began while needing a way to relax in grad school.

When did you begin creating? What inspired you to begin?

As mentioned above, I created the @thgfanfictionlibrary in mid to late 2023 but I had begun tracking what I was reading in the fandom in 2022 when I first stumbled on thg fanfiction after one of my rereads. I wanted a way to search the fic database in an organized manner based on numerous factors and have a way to spotlight authors as they are the backbone of the community! And I also wanted something to focus on that wasn't grad school at that time 😅.

What is your favorite thing to depict in your work?

Well I have only written (well published) one work for thg. I do love depicting the way Katniss and Peeta love and how that may differ but is equal on both ends. I like the idea of domestically for them, I feel they deserve it.

What’s your personal favorite of your works?

My one and only work is "Fallen Leaves and Blueberry Scones" so that is my favorite.

[thgfanspotlights]

@kipperlillycopperkettle | chemicalpixie | bev

What's your THG origin story?

When I was around 12 (around eight months before the first movie came out), one of the librarians at my local library recommended The Hunger Games to me. It absolutely captivated me and I immediately became super annoying, lol. I like to joke that I haven't thought about anything else since I was twelve, but it's not that much of a joke, to be honest. I still have a small collection of magazines I made my mother purchase for me when the first movie came out. I also made her go to the midnight showings for all the movies with me.

What are your favorite things about the series?

I've talked about this a little bit before, but something that really compels me is the specific intersection between fame and violence and being perceived and exploitation. I've read/watched other pieces of media that explore the same Battle Royale style death game and it just never hits the same for me because there isn't that intersection between fame and violence which is a large part of what specifically compels me about The Hunger Games.

What’s something about the series that’s stayed with you or become more meaningful to you over time?

How old the characters are. I read the original trilogy when I was 12, and characters like Finnick and Johanna seemed like such adults to me — even Katniss and Peeta, at 16, seemed so old. And now I'm over a decade older and all of those characters are younger than me, and it's crazy to imagine I ever thought Finnick was old at 24.

What's something you want the fandom to know about you?

I have a list of name ideas for characters sorted by district with meanings that has at least 100 names for each district. The naming conventions from the original trilogy are one of the most fun parts of the trilogy to me and this list is maybe one of my favorite things I've ever done. Plus it makes it easy to name random background characters!

When did you begin creating? What inspired you to begin?

Honestly, for a long time I didn't know that fanfic was something I could do. Like it never occured to me? And then I stumbled on FF.net and read some fics (not, actually, for THG — I remember the first one I ever read was a 50 chapter fic about Alice and the Mad Hatter from the 2014 Alice in Wonderland) and then I realized that if other people could do that, so could I. I didn't start posting for a few years, though. But my first posted fic was in fact for THG.

What is your favorite thing to depict in your work?

This feeds into my earlier answer about the intersection of fame and violence but I love to write about characters going through the torment nexus that is having to be a Hunger Games victor. Specifically the way the Capitol views them versus the way they view themselves and how they cope with the trauma of both the Games and having to be dragged back to the Capitol every year.

What’s your personal favorite of your works?

My personal favorite of my works is a tie between

"and you still feel cheated when your buzz subsides." aka Haymitch Fic, and "but i've learned how to earn my keep (how to clean my kill)." aka Enobaria Fic.

I started Haymitch Fic after Sunrise was announced and (foolishly) thought I could get it done in a quick 30k or so. It's now 70k and I still have to finish the last 3 chapters. It is, I think, one of my favorite things I have ever written.

Enobaria Fic, on the other hand, is pretty old now (written in 2018) but I think it's really where I hit my stride with the Hunger Games fic, and it's about my favorite character in the series (I think sometimes people think I'm doing a bit when I say this and I am 100% not). I have such a deep affection in my heart for this story and I toy every day with going back and rewriting it because the bones of it are so good, but I feel as though my writing has improved so much since then, and it could be so much better. Maybe I'll do it for the 10th anniversary in 3 years, haha.

If you could recommend just one, which would it be?

I absolutely have to recommend "and you still feel cheated when your buzz subsides." aka Haymitch Fic. This fic is genuinely one of my favorite things I have ever written in my whole life. I have had so much fun working around the canon constraints of the original trilogy as I try to write my version of Haymitch's prequel. I am writing this fic with so much love and adoration in my heart for the Hunger Games trilogy and Appalachia and Haymitch as a character and I hope that shows in every single word.

What are the main characteristics of your favorite canon characters you always try to maintain in your stories?

Complexity. I tend to write a lot about characters from Districts 1 and 2, who are, in canon, a little bit one-note villains. Even Cashmere and Gloss, who are siblings going into the Games together, don't warrant any sympathy from Katniss (which is completely understandable in her situation!) But I think there's an unexplored complexity there, and I always try to make sure that every character I write has that layer of complexity, even if the POV character isn't willing or able to acknowledge it.

Tell us about an OC of yours. What inspired them and what purpose do they serve in your works?

TW: suicide

I have so many OCs with lore I have never published anywhere that it took me forever to decide who I wanted to do, and eventually I decided on Emmy. Emmy Hazelwood (who has been vaguely mentioned in Haymitch Fic so far, though later chapters get more into her lore) is the first victor from District 12, who I created years and years ago before Ballad came out. I created her just to have a name originally, and her role has grown over the years — I think the most important part of her lore now is that her death serves to further punish District 12. She killed herself, and, in an effort to discourage any victors from doing the same, the president decided that the mines were too dangerous for children, thus taking away any advantage that District 12's tributes had in the games. I've had this in mind for ages (long before Ballad) because it's always baffled me that Panem is a-okay with child labor (see: Rue working in the orchards in 11, Bonnie working in the factories in 8) but child labor is banned in District 12, especially when historically, working in mines was a thing children very much did. She also serves an interesting purpose in Haymitch Fic, because unlike Lucy Gray, Emmy isn't erased from history. So Haymitch gets to have very complicated emotions about the victor who should have been his mentor! He's allowed to hate her and miss her even though he never met her and resent her and understand her all at once! And that's something I get more into in the later chapters of the fic.

Tell us about your favorite relationship (of any kind) in the series. Why is it your favorite? 

This is cheating a little bit I think, but I love writing mentor and victor relationships. I love writing dynamics and I am such a sucker for relationship dynamics that don't/can't exist irl (see also The Locked Tomb's necro/cav dynamic). To me, mentor and victor is just such a complicated dynamic — they're kind of like your parent and kind of like your older sibling and kind of like your teacher and kind of like your friend and kind of like your coach and kind of like your therapist and kind of like your buddy in group therapy with you. It's just such an interesting dynamic that's completely unique to each pairing (ex: Mags and Finnick would not have the same dynamic that, say, Johanna and Blight would) and it's always so fun for me to explore.

What is a question you wish we asked and what would your answer be?

Which District is my favorite! To which I would say all of them for different reasons, because I love worldbuilding and playing in the wide open fields of the worldbuilding for any district that isn't District 12. In terms of writing, I think I've had the most fun writing for District 1 and District 2, and I've currently been shape rotating District 4 and District 5 a lot as well. But also I love District 12, because I'm originally from Appalachia, so I have to root for my home team.

Anyone you would like to shout out in the fandom?

All of my mutuals!! I stayed away from the fandom for a while because I think I have some unpopular opinions sometimes, but every one of my mutuals has been so kind and understanding, even if we have differing opinions. On a more specific note, I would love to shout out @lorata for being a massive inspiration to me, particularly in my early days in the fandom. Also my friend Ro who is my main beta @antlerchrist and is nice enough to put up with me dming them at least 10 insane THG related thoughts a week.