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Shuckling Til Sufferage

@bumpyfrog / bumpyfrog.tumblr.com

Writer, folk punk, mountain goats stan, Jew. Bisexual married man
30, yikes
๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๏ฟฝ
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cher3pakhi

just remember, one day you're going to open tumblr and the crabs will be raving like they never have before

We will meet here again on that day. This is my sacred promise to you.

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ot3

to be honest there has never been a fictional character iโ€™ve actually wanted to date. like. i want them to date each other. i donโ€™t want myself as a person to be involved in this scenario whatsoever. what would i add to this narratively? whatโ€™s my thematic purpose in the narrative? immersion breaking. 

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reblogged

I should be able to both read for 8hrs a night and sleep for 8hrs a night. That I cannot is very rude and, frankly, poor design.

me ๐Ÿค the 4.3k of you who reblogged this

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velvetys

Sorry itโ€™s early but you really canโ€™t use fanfiction terms in a non fanfiction context like if someone is trying to sell me a book to read and they tell me thereโ€™s an enemy to lovers I would be annoyed because why are you spoiling the story lol

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azurebluuu

sorry op this is kind of a tangent but this is why i hate how booktok has not only affected how ppl talk about their fave stories, but how it's basically gnawed its way into how publishing companies promote books. it basically encourages authors to build their entire story entirely around marketable tropes so that they turn more of a profit

"it has enemies to lovers!" "it has friends to lovers!" "this is a slow burn!" WHAT IS THE PLOT??? what makes your story unique?? why should i read it??? describing your story entirely in tropes and fanfiction terms makes your story sound extremely uninteresting lmfao.

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nerdgul

Fanfiction is for when you want to read familiar characters in a setting where you already know what's going to happen. I care about this coffee shop au because I already love these characters and just want to see them in fun familiar situations

Books are original content for new stories new characters in new situations. Why should I care if it takes place in a coffee shop? Give me a reason to love these characters!

@greaseonmymouth we shall have a summer wedding

Hello, bookseller here!

Do you know how many times a day Iโ€™m asked specifically for things that are considered here as โ€œfandom termsโ€ when really theyโ€™re just beloved tropes seem in all forms of publication, from massive giant publishers to frickin Wattpad?

I am asked for enemies-to-lovers, fake dating, second chance love, mafia romance, professor/student relationships, grumpy/sunshine, golden retriever/black cat, shifter romance, and so much more. Every single day. They are tropes and are not just fandom verbiage. Yes, adding โ€œAUโ€ to the end makes it fanfic, but the reason those AUs exist in the first place is because the trope already exists outside of fandom.

I love fandom, I love fanfic, but neither would exist without these stories that make us interested in them in the first place, be they book format or some other form of media or presentation. Like stated above, Coffeeshop AUs would not exist to the extent they do now without stories already taking place with coffeeshops or bakeries or florists or tattoo parlors or whatever else.

And not just because more and more fanfic are being rewritten as original stories in their own right.

Tropes existed long before modern fanfic did. Theyโ€™re tropes for a reason. And these tropes are beloved by readers (and viewers etc) of all kinds, and these tropes are what Iโ€™m asked for because people know what sort of pairings they like and they go for that.

And sure, maybe fanfic becoming more popular and talked about means that people are more likely to reference it when looking for traditionally published works to read, but it doesnโ€™t diminish either side to do so.

Fanfic readers talk about reading the same two people falling in love over and over again and being happy about it, or talk about what their favorite tropes and AUs are, but as soon as someone tries to find that same trope elsewhere suddenly itโ€™s bad?

To go all the way to the start of this, saying something is โ€œenemies to loversโ€ does not ruin the story. Because thatโ€™s not the story, itโ€™s only part of the pairing and character dynamics. And unless it is a Blind Date With A Book deal, where tropes ARE what sells it, no bookseller is going to just point to a random book and say a trope and nothing else about it. The tropes add context to the plot and characters; they donโ€™t act as a synopsis of their own.

Also, tropes like that are usually mentioned in the summary itself, so how it could ruin the story for you I have no idea, unless you like to go into books completely blind and knowing nothing about it. Which is a valid way to read books, but then you wouldnโ€™t be having these conversations to begin with.

These terms and tropes and pairings originated in traditional publishing but shifted to fanfic and became popularized in fandom spaces, but they are not fanfic/fandom terms. They are story terms.

Yes, you will have simple stories written just to get a cutesy trope out. But fanfic writers do that too. Literally PWP exists and we applaud it. Sometimes people just want something simple or specific without being bogged down with gratuitous plot and thatโ€™s okay. Thereโ€™s plenty of stories out there with gratuitous plot and these tropes too.

Fanfic and traditionally published books are not enemies. But now youโ€™re really making me want to write a simple story with no real plot thatโ€™s enemies to lovers between them. Because itโ€™s cute and itโ€™s fun and thatโ€™s okay.

I donโ€™t know how I deal with less pretentious people working in a brick and mortar bookstore than I do interacting with tumblr users sometimes, but itโ€™s the truth.

Just because youโ€™re not interested in stories marketed a certain way doesnโ€™t mean there arenโ€™t those who are. Whatโ€™s that saying again?

Donโ€™t like it, donโ€™t read it.

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velvetys

Sorry itโ€™s early but you really canโ€™t use fanfiction terms in a non fanfiction context like if someone is trying to sell me a book to read and they tell me thereโ€™s an enemy to lovers I would be annoyed because why are you spoiling the story lol

Avatar
azurebluuu

sorry op this is kind of a tangent but this is why i hate how booktok has not only affected how ppl talk about their fave stories, but how it's basically gnawed its way into how publishing companies promote books. it basically encourages authors to build their entire story entirely around marketable tropes so that they turn more of a profit

"it has enemies to lovers!" "it has friends to lovers!" "this is a slow burn!" WHAT IS THE PLOT??? what makes your story unique?? why should i read it??? describing your story entirely in tropes and fanfiction terms makes your story sound extremely uninteresting lmfao.

Avatar
nerdgul

Fanfiction is for when you want to read familiar characters in a setting where you already know what's going to happen. I care about this coffee shop au because I already love these characters and just want to see them in fun familiar situations

Books are original content for new stories new characters in new situations. Why should I care if it takes place in a coffee shop? Give me a reason to love these characters!

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bumpyfrog

I mean like, โ€œenemies to loversโ€ does tell you about the plot in a concrete way and is not generally a spoiler. Itโ€™s also just a romance novel trope. Quite honestly a lot of โ€œfanfic tropesโ€ originate in romance novels (although romance books certainly mirror fic trends). Or just from fiction in general because tropes have existed since apes began telling each other stories.

I also find the trope marketing extremely annoying because I find all advertising annoying. But it does make sense.

The trope list is just a way to get eyes on books. Itโ€™s a quick and easy way to say Book Contains Scenarios that you may or may not find compelling. Only One Bed. โ€œWho did this to you???โ€ Found family. If you tend to like these things in a story you can click on the ad to find out more. Itโ€™s like the inverse of fanfic. Itโ€™s not โ€œI like these characters and want to see them in various situationsโ€, itโ€™s โ€œI like these situations and want to see them with various charactersโ€.

Why should I care if itโ€™s in a coffee shop? The setting is some of the most basic information points about the plot of a book. The back of the book and the advertising are just marketing, they arenโ€™t the place for in depth character analysis.

Writers have built their works around marketable tropes since commercial fiction has existed. Any used bookstore you can go to is saturated with mass market paperbacks: romances, westerns, mysteries. Sci fi, fantasy. Etc. Most of these are probably not very good. Cheap, disposable fiction is nothing new. Again, especially when it comes to genre fiction. For every Genre Defining Masterpiece you have 25 moderately talented but unremarkable writers churning out pulp. This years A Court of This and That spicy enemies to lovers fae romance is the bodice ripper of yore.

Itโ€™s nothing new, itโ€™s not ruining literature and as always youโ€™re gonna have to read a bunch of kinda mid books to find the ones that truly appeal to you.

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charlott2n

mental health checkpoint! when you consider your leitmotif from the past 7 days, was it more often (A) Triumphant (B) Tormented (C) Aggressive (D) Defeated (E) Melancholic (F) Absent

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