If You’re Still Doing The Requests, Could You Perhaps Make A Ford And Mabel Bonding Somehow? I Love

My readers making connections and going crazy with the deep lore of my writing

Me who planned nothing and just typed out whatever random string of words my brain whispered to me today

a little late but HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIZAWA!! (ashido is the only one who’s brave enough to hug him, fight me)

When I say “Fanfiction is free” part of what I’m saying is yes, you did not pay for the thing.

But I saw a comment from someone that made me realize the rest of the intention behind these words is being lost.

Fanfiction is provided for free, but it is not produced for free.

Authors pay their effort, including physical and emotional and mental. Authors pay their time, in planning the story (mental time) and writing the story (physical time). Sometimes it’s less than an hour for something quick and dirty, like askbox prompts. Sometimes it’s years of their lives in epic fic hundreds of thousands of words long. Authors pay additional time to alpha read their own stories, trying to make sure that they’re free of SPAG errors and make sense and sound good. Beta readers pay their time and effort alongside the authors for editing the stories. Authors pay for posting their stories with all of the anxieties that come from allowing their work - which to this point they have invested all of the above - into the public eye because while it has certainly cost them a good amount to produce the story, fandom history has proved that many other people out there enjoy fanfiction, and authors believe that at least someone else will enjoy their story, too.

What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” is that it costs the writers a lot of something in order to produce it. A lot has already been paid into a piece of fanfiction by the time it is available for readers to read. The expense of fanfiction creation is, by and large, resting squarely atop the shoulders of writers.

What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” is that readers don’t have to pay the cost of creating fanfiction.

What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” is that readers don’t have to pay in anything - not time, not money, not effort, not anything - in order for fanfiction to be created. It’s a donation. It’s a gift. It’s available for you to take or leave, at the expense of someone else.

Writers have, for a very long time, requested donations of one thing as remuneration for everything they put into making fanfiction: comments. Authors have asked, in so many different iterations: “If you have consumed what I have labored and invested in to create and if you have found any enjoyment in it, please tell me, so that I can recharge enough to do this again.” Some of them may recharge on critical comments, but most of us don’t because we’ve already paid everything we want to pay to create the story.

What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” isn’t just that it doesn’t cost you any money. I am saying “Please respect the time and effort you didn’t have to pay into creating this thing you enjoyed, by respecting the individual creator’s requests.”

What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” is “be kind to authors, they have paid a lot for this gift they’re sharing with all of us, and they deserve to feel like it was worth it.”

What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” is “please don’t charge authors more time and emotional effort than what they’ve already provided you at no absolute cost.”

I’m not saying any of this to argue. It’s a fact that authors pay into providing fanfiction. They do it for fun. They do it out of love. They do it because they enjoy writing. No one is making them do it. No one is paying them to start or finish the story. That doesn’t mean it’s not WORK. And the only return they get on what they put into the story is the kindness of strangers that invest a little bit back by leaving a nice comment. That is why they stay, that is why they do it again, that is why we have fanfiction.

What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” is “please don’t be the one charging authors so much more that they leave.”

What I am saying when I say “fanfiction is free” is “please keep it that way.”

It’s an AU of the story where Robin is a regular human lmao but yes the irony is retroactive. She was originally a bird but I couldn’t figure out how to make the feathers work, so I figured I’d just make her into a cat.

In Ford’s defense, he needed to leave that dimension ASAP because of Bill, and Bieti was… well. Permanently indisposed, shall we say, for the same reason.

Robin was five at the time and all of three feet tall, so Ford figured he could stow her in a backpack until she was big enough to keep up on her own.

At fifteen, she still sometimes climbs up onto his back, just to hang out. Because Ford has a hard time saying no.

(Bieti named her Robin because birds are much bigger in her native dimension, and robins are known to carry off small to medium sized mammals. It’s a nice strong name, her daughter will grow up to be a good predator.)

I think it’s absolutely hilarious that we both managed to independently come up with the idea of “Ford needs an alien spouse and a half alien daughter”. Like get that monsterfucker an alien wife/husband and make sure he can be the girl dad we always knew he could be. Superb.

I just scrolled all the way back to 2018 on your account and I'm disappointed to realise this is not something you've posted. Presumably.

I do agree though that Ford gives off girl dad energy in an unexplainable way. He's so babygirl that he needs an actual baby girl.

He also deserves to just have an alien spouse. Reward the monsterfuckers for once, y'know?

So, fun fact!

Aizawa has expelled 154 students before he got 1-A. Assuming that he doesn't expel the recommendation students (long shot, I know), he's been teaching for nine years, and that's assuming he's expelled nearly every student he's got. Including recommendation students in the expulsion ceremonies, he's been teaching for eight years, still assuming he's expelled nearly every student under him.

Now, I can't believe that there were that many "unworthy" kids in each previous iteration of 1-A, so he's likely been teaching probably closer to twelve years to account for that many expulsions - aka pretty much right out of high school himself, since he’s thirty at the start of canon.

Aizawa. Honey. Please. Take a break. You need sleep.

By reading my works you are signing an agreement that if you put my works through AI or repost my works or anything like that, i get to hunt you for sport

Pro Heroes.

I regret to inform you that the story is still in the infodumping to a friend stage, but yes! Wifey is cat alien named Bieti, their daughter is Robin. Ford loves his little girl and gets to take her with him on his multiverse travels, because separating them makes me sad lmao

I’m doing *so* much world building though for their native dimension. So much.

I think it’s absolutely hilarious that we both managed to independently come up with the idea of “Ford needs an alien spouse and a half alien daughter”. Like get that monsterfucker an alien wife/husband and make sure he can be the girl dad we always knew he could be. Superb.

I just scrolled all the way back to 2018 on your account and I'm disappointed to realise this is not something you've posted. Presumably.

I do agree though that Ford gives off girl dad energy in an unexplainable way. He's so babygirl that he needs an actual baby girl.

He also deserves to just have an alien spouse. Reward the monsterfuckers for once, y'know?

I'm stealing this from Twitter

Here's the link

I am a high-definition gateway drug body double!

I JUST READ MOONFLOWER AND IT IS A MASTERPIECE ♥️

Thank you!!!! I’m super glad you liked it! Chapter 23 is about half way done, so sit tight! ;)