Helecthra - Just Some Fanfics And Their Chronically-tired Mum

"This fic was ai generated—" Cool, so lemme block you real quick

It may take me a while to finish writing and publish the 18th instalment of Robin's Blues (I am after all, once again, in exam season) but I will make it up to you all with some snippets of another work of mine!

Behind Blue eyes, entry 1

Alfred both loved and hated his granddaughter’s blue eyes, Thomas’ eyes.

He loved them because they reminded him of the man who once laughed through halls and who smiled like he held all the secrets of the universe.

He hated them for the same reason.

And now, they’re gone.

It should be a relief.

It is a relief.

But it’s also a wound.

Something sacred has vanished.

And Alfred is nothing but pain and reprieve held in the same trembling breath.

Because Thomas is gone.

Because Thomas will never really leave her (him).

https://archiveofourown.org/series/4163446

When I get a nice AO3 comment or Tumblr reblog I have to force myself not to say "I LOVE YOU PLEASE MARRY ME CAN WE BE BEST FRIENDS FOREVER I'M OBSESSED WITH YOU" and instead say "thanks"

I've been thinking a lot about Dick Grayson as I often do. Because like You are ten years old, and you've never really been normal, have you?But normal has never really mattered either. And why should it? You're ten years old, and you can fly, and every night your very existence is met with thundering applause and adoring crowds. You're not normal, but you've never needed to be.

Then it all gets ripped away. The crowds, the lights, and everyone who loved you, all gone the second you hear those bodies hit the ground. You are not normal, and no longer in a way that is okay.

You are eleven years old, and you can fly again. Not on the trapeze, but across Gotham's rooftops. You feel more alive than you have since the circus. Part of you starts to believe that Dick Grayson hit the ground with his parents while Robin flew away. You've done nothing but inhabit a corpse since that night, but behind the mask, you're alive again. Alive. But not normal.

You're in middle school, and the other kids like you alright, but they realize you're not normal. You put on your best act to convince them otherwise. It almost works. You play their games with false smiles. You become known for your charm. But it's hard. You have to make them like you, but not too much. Nice, but impenetrable. You're eleven years old, but you've watched Bruce very carefully, and you know that having people close to you is dangerous. You are not normal and you can never let yourself be.

You're a teenager now, and you spend more time in your mask than out. Dick Grayson has friends, sure, but Robin has teammates. And teammates are far more valuable. You have your Titans, and you finally fit in again. Right? It doesn't matter that they're older than you, but you've trained for longer, or that they have powers and you don't. You're still one of them. And they may not know Dick Grayson, but Robin is more complete, isn't he? Robin didn't die that night at the circus. Robin doesn't have to play normal to fit in. But you're still alone. Or, at the very least, still lonely. Lonely, and not normal. Even among aliens and superheroes.

You're an adult now, and your days with the name Robin seem like a lifetime ago. Dick Grayson still isn't a complete person, but you refuse to be like Bruce and hide forever behind that mask. But sometimes you still feel like you're doing little more than puppeting a shell. Nightwing is more grounded. Nightwing can still fly. You're not normal, and you've come to accept that you will never be, but you wonder if you could have ever been. Was it Bruce that sent you on this path, or did he catch you before you fell somewhere worse? Did Gotham make you like this or is there something in your soul that is just fundementally incorrect? Something that stops you from ever being normal? That makes your smiles false? Morphs your natural charisma into a character you play both behind and in front of the mask?

You will never know. It's one of the things that stops you from ever being normal.

Need you guys to know I am soooo anti generative AI. In case that wasn't clear. It's bad for the environment, unethical, theft, and will never be as freaky as me. It is inferior in every way

Would you like for me to add a Lian's pov for the "I would (only) be your girl" section of "In another life"? I kinda started writing down ideas in an accident and the idea stuck.

I actually wrote a fanfic centered around cabin 7, in which one of the main characters is Lee Fletcher. I already made a post about it, because the fanfic itself spawned from a tumblr prompt whose author I can't find (the post was on Pinterest and it was cropped).

The fanfic is called "Cabin seven's tango" and it is on Ao3, here is its link!

ALSO ALSO

THERE SHOULD BE MORE FANFICS ABOUT THE SILLY BACKGROUND CHARACTERS

CASTOR, POLLUX, LEE FLETCHER, MICHEAL YEW, ETC ETC!!!!

please

This is your periodical reminder to download your favorite fics from ao3 every once in a while!!

Personally, I got into the habit of doing it once a year, when I'm working on my "Favorite" fic recs.

While I'm at it, here's a few tools I use that help greatly with my Ao3 experience!

Userscripts

Here's a few userscripts that I love for Ao3!

AO3: Kudosed and seen history: Highlight or hide works you kudosed/marked as seen.

This is the userscript that helps me the most when making fic recs. While browsing a tag or my history, I can see which fics I've already kudosed and I can decide to skip/hide individual fics (there's other userscripts out there if you want to permanently hide specific tags).

AO3 Review + Last Chapter Shortcut + Kudos-sortable Bookmarks: Adds shortcuts for last chapter and a floaty review box, sorts bookmarks by kudos.

AO3: Estimated Reading Time: Add an estimated reading time to a fic description in hours and minutes.

Calibre

Calibre is an ebook management software. You can download it here. I really love using Calibre to send fics I've downloaded to my kindle, but there's also a function where you can download all the fics in one Ao3 page, or multiple fics URLS, all at the same time. Just last night, I used it to download all my Buddie bookmarks. Super helpful! It also allows me to add my own covers to fics and use them on my Kindle. I love it!

Apparently people who don't have executive dysfunction think that actually working on something is the hardest part of doing something. And that's why they get mad that you call the rest of the project "easy" after you've finally worked through doing the plan and know what to do when you're working.

So when you're through with the epiphany of how to make it physically possible to make the thing you're making, and you're sharing the plan with excitement, because the hard part is over, and now you only have to get your hands moving and do it, they get mad at you like

"it's not that easy! It's a lot of hard work! >:C"

they mean it, because

to them, working is the hardest part.

They don't have to fight their brains to get started. They don't have to fight their way through making the choices, making the plan, making yourself make the thing. People who don't suffer from executive dysfunction think that the hardest part is actually doing the thing.

Idk Who would be interested in this, but I kinda ended up on a creative roll that, instead of bringing forth the main continuty of my series "Robin's blues", ended up exploring a sliding door aka 'What would have happened if, at the wedding venue (described in the first chapter of "of loving Nightwing (Titans edition)", Roy said the RIGHT thing and Dixie decided to take time for herself and heal instead of going on a self-destructive roll?'

The work would explore much of Wally's, Roy's and Lian's relationships with Dixie and would have two different outcomings.

Like I said before, idk who would be interested in it, but I kinda already wrote a LOT of this what if universe and I am kinda curious of the feedback it may receive

https://archiveofourown.org/series/4163446