There's just so much to be mined in the intricacies of the age of chivalry for Sanji, who you're right, is just so so devoted and romantic and clad in layers and layers of artifice already, he's the perfect knight. And I love whenever people make Zoro a prince aha the contrast is too good!

THIS! I actually have an old abandoned WIP where Zoro is a gay prince, Sanji is his loyal knight and childhood friend, & they make a pact that when Zoro is inevitably married off, Sanji will be the queen's devoted lover instead - which for Sanji is also a way to pour out his love for Zoro by proxy

Basically "the character would not say that" but "the character would not fuck like that". Should've just led with this tbh.

I dunno... I just feel like people started writing advice on how to "tell" when a fic author had never had sex (or that kind of sex) before, but now we have a new problem where fics all reproduce the exact same advice on how to write these sex scenes, so it STILL feels virginal. If I'm making sense.

Real people have awkward clumsy sex. They use sub-optimal lubricants. They rush in without "proper" prep. They might not need "proper" prep. They frot and scissor. They miscommunicate their needs. They do all the things you've been told "real" (gay) people don't "actually" do.

I don't know if I'm conveying myself well here but there's nothing interesting (or particularly sexy) about a sex scene that grinds to a halt so that the writer can turn to the reader and say "don't worry, I've read the critiques, I'm not one of THOSE writers. HERE'S how you have gay sex:"

It just feels like the pendulum has swung too far. Yes we were all tired of reading yaoi in the 2000s where the top deflowered a virgin dry but "the pain was worth it". That doesn't mean every sex scene now has to follow the same rules and order of preparation to be Good, Realistic (Porn) Writing.

Not to get too many people upset with me, but if you write fanfiction and are also an adult with a healthy appetite for masturbation... you can just try butt stuff for yourself. That is an option you have. You can see what is actually necessary and what doesn't work.

Thank you! I really truly appreciate hearing that! 💛

This was my thinking! They had over 7,000 bookmarks, how is it useful to bookmark fics you thought were mid? 😭 I guess people have different reasons for using bookmarks, like an AO3 Goodreads, but doesn't it say right there when you bookmark a fic that people can see your tags 😅

Reading entire multi-chapter tens-of-thousands-of-words-long fanfics, leaving zero comments, then publicly bookmarking them as "okay" feels wild to me but maybe it's normal and I'm out of the loop!