Mia

gojo doesn’t know how to hold a child normally

9 years

Me on Tumblr app after finally reaching the end of a long post I wasn’t interested in:

Pro-tip: Press J and it’ll skip to the next post :)

Me on Tumblr app trying to find the J button:

untoasted, toasted, burnt 🍞

*doesnt understand a post*

*looks at notes and tries to find comments*

*still doesn’t fucking get it*

full offense but none of you would have ever survived fanfiction.net in 2009

remember when writers had to be all like: “omg omg lemon starts HERE” y’all are lucky that ao3 has tags and filters you can set

Sometimes shit was marked “lemon” and it’d just be them making out, and sometimes they’d just start pissing on each other

No rules, no laws, you took your life into your hands opening fics

A/N: this contains SLASH, that means TWO MEN, if that makes you uncomfy, DON’T READ!

A/N: please don’t sue me, o anime overlords, I’m not making any money off of this! I’m just a broke student! I don’t have any money!

A/N: I totally wrote this while high off 10 Red Bulls wheeeeeee!!!!!

A/N: COMMENT if you want me to continue the next chappy!!!

No, no, no

remember when there’d be interactions with the author and the characters?

InuYasha: I don’t get why I have to be here for this

A/N: Because it was in your contract!!1!1 *revs chainsaw*

OH GOD I REMEMBER THOSE TIMES

I’m…

I was that person who had the characters interact with me in the a/n

I was “disclaimer: I don’t own this but I wish I did lulzzzz!”

"your password is weak" well so is my memory so plz let me keep it

umm i need reassurance that my presence is wanted but i can’t ask for reassurance because that’s really Embarrassing and it wouldn’t feel genuine if i asked for it

when theres about to be drama in the group chat

Who the fuck makes tea like this?

i do when there’s about to be drama in the group chat

every day i am percieved™️

There is a reason for this though!

The original tweet summarizes it pretty well. Fanfic tends to be popular among certain types of neurodivergent people (aka people most likely to read excessively as a child, and have burnout as an adult) for the same reasons that we tend to hyperfixate--neurochemical signaling (I hope I'm using that phrase correctly). What I mean is, for people who are really dependent on changes in dopamine/serotonin/neurotransmitter levels, who have low levels or wonky neural reward systems (perhaps the most common types of neurodivergence)...people like us rely on dependable external sources of those neurochemicals. In order to function, we spend a lot of our free time trying to level out our brain chemistry using things that can reliably bring us a steady stream of joyful moments (rewards) without costing too much of the mental effort that is already in short supply. 

significantly: the investment of reading has to be balanced with a steady "return on investment"--and this return has to start fairly quickly. because again, we don't have a lot of attention/energy to invest on tiring things. we have perpetual "low batteries" in that regard.

that doesn't mean these stories are “simple,” or that they lack complexity or value--only that the reward has to come in short regular intervals, and it has to have a low "upfront cost.” which is why fanfic stories are so perfectly formulated for neurodivergent readers--they are often beautifully written, but skip a lot of the upfront costs (of introducing new characters, of world-building, of getting the audience emotionally connected to the story elements).

the nature of fanfiction is that the reader has a pre-existing relationship with this world and these characters. that--combined with the shorter average length of fics--means that fan fics very quickly start "rewarding" the reader in a way that traditional fiction struggles to. that's not a bad thing! and maybe it's something more traditionally published writers should be paying attention to.

Fanfic, as a genre, has been uniquely helpful and accessible to many neurodivergent readers who would otherwise struggle to immerse themselves in stories. I'm glad so many of you have found a way to love and enjoy reading again! The important thing is that you are spending time inside stories you love--the way those stories are published or presented to the world is just one detail.

ZhonglixLumine? anyone?  OwO

who miss gen? me. It’s me. 🥺

i see no difference

Now let us take a moment to contemplate senku’s face after someone else says some mushy shit vs. his face after gen in particular says some mushy shit