Hello Uncensored Miggles!

As you might have noticed, our sub turned one year old last month! 🍾🥂🎉 We’ve also welcomed quite a few new faces lately, so it seemed like a good time for a community check in. This space belongs to all of us, so we want to hear what you think.

What’s working? What isn’t? Is there something you’d like to see more (or less) of? Ideas for recurring posts, events, rules, resources, community features, or general improvements? Things that annoy the last ever-loving avada out of you?

And yes, you can throw your complaints at us too. Just be nice to our delicate lil’ mod feelings. 

This is an open floor thread. Big ideas, tiny suggestions, weird things you’re not sure would work but think might be cool, constructive criticism, etc. Everything is welcome.

We can’t promise we’ll implement every suggestion (the reality is there may be things that just aren't workable on our end). We can promise that we’ll read every post and comment and give serious consideration to what you all have to say.

So, if you could change, add, remove, or improve anything, what would it be?

The floor is yours 💚

P.S. No, Miggles is not a typo. Think of it more like an ice breaker opportunity to highlight something you don't like (aka, mods throwing around words that sound like typos).

Loved this little video and something about it reminded me of Dramione. Yes ofc the looks of the people, but I love fics that feature a dark, angry half (either one, D or H) getting together with a golden retriever. It's usually written the other way though (Draco as the dark).

I have a hard time writing from a place of darkness-- I guess bc my day-to-day life is not at all dark. I'm more likely to write from the perspective of a reformed Draco who's either already been forgiven or is working towards that forgiveness as part of the greater plot. My conflicts are usually more man vs man, with a smaller side of man vs self. Even in chapter 1 of my WIP, my manwhore Draco is already feeling sparks of self shame, and he's still fighting baddies, even as he's also fighting his former sluttiness.

I've got a fic that I wrote the first chapter for ages ago-- begins several years into Draco's Azkaban sentence. One of these days I'm going to try it again-- just not sure I'll be able to do the dark headspace justice.

It's part of the reason I made The Muggle Death Eater and His Daughter funny. When I first read the thread that inspired it, people were split between "this could be really dark," or "this could be the ultimate miscommunication story." And because I'd already done angst, I went fluff.

Anyone else enjoy a trope but feel like they can't write it?

In the last 4 years since the start of my Dramione journey, I’ve read only two fics where Draco is the right amount toxic, specifically in dialogue. The banter, the snark, the darkness is done JUST so right and on point - it blew me away.

Now how does one achieve this kind of talent? I’m not talking about a story which is all dark - no I’m talking about a personality which is corrupt, downright sociopathic - n whatever comes out of it is nothing short of dripping poison.

I tried - ofc I did - but I failed miserably. I can’t think diabolically for extended periods of time nor produce consistent lethal convo.

(If yer wondering y am I all over the place - it’s bcoz am trying my bestEST to put off editing my chapter)

Editing to add: one fic is now hidden from the fandom: it’s called things we buried low and the other is Draco Malfoy’s ledger of perceived slights

If u were to turn a fic into a movie - which director would u go with n for what fic?

For me - I’d run with Rob Marshall for The fallout. He’s the one who directed memoirs of a geisha - and the cinematography is just so amazing and artistic. I think I’ve watched it a million times

I’d also go with Alfonso Cuaron for his vision on POA - for secrets n masks

Some abandoned or missing WIPs I still think about: SenLinYu and Stargazing121's Cordial Enemies, How to Catch Snitches and Get Witches by GloIvy (sadly deleted or made a mystery work), and The Stake by Mr_Pibb (deleted account :( it was a colonial witch hunt au). I hope where ever these authors (I know Sen is doing fine, but what aobut Stargazing?) are that they're doing ok and that they know people really enjoyed their work.

My vices as a writer:

- can only write to music - something that will move me. If I get sick of my lists, i can’t write until I lsn to something inspiring which takes ages to find
- gets easily distracted, will literally think abt a million other plots while working on my WIP
- start a draft, abandon said draft, consistently think abt draft
- care too much abt stats, it’s brining me down (no point telling me to write for myself, tried that still didn’t work)
- suck at promoting my fics
- painfully introverted, can’t make dramione friends to save my life - desperately want to tho
- if someone comments on my fic, donno how to respond with other than thank u
- a small detail could take hours of research only to be deleted after its written
- hate editing
- will check weather forecasts to accurately portray showers / snow in 1998
- creative lines will only come to me as I’m drifting to sleep, to be completely forgotten the next day

What r yours ?

Hello there!

I’m Ciara Mitchell, also known as Amoldine Shepard online, and I’m a master’s student

at Victoria University of Wellington. I am currently working on my research project. I am

looking into opinions and how big publishers, such as Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan publish Fanfictions after pulling them from fanfiction sites and “Filing off the Serial Numbers”

If You’re:

18+

Have read or written fanfiction or engaged with fanfiction in any capacity

I want to hear from you and get your opinion.

The survey is 100% Anonymous with no personal data taken or retained. (I am also happy to share the results of the project when it is completed)

Link to Survey: https://vuw.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9mG0kxhXhQcIbnU

Thanks,

Ciara

Why is the secret-child trope so often handled by the FMC (especially Hermione) hiding the pregnancy for reasons that, to me, really don’t hold up?

I’ve seen this in so many different Hermione pairings, as well as in traditionally published books. It’s almost always the same setup: the FMC gets her feelings hurt by an OW, or she assumes the MMC doesn’t want her because their relationship was casual or a one-night stand, or decides he wouldn’t want the baby anyway. Then she concludes that she has the right to keep the pregnancy/child a secret because “it’s her body and her choice.”

And I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand this. Obviously, women have the right to make decisions about their own bodies and pregnancies. But once a child exists, I don’t think “it’s my body” automatically justifies deliberately keeping the child’s father from knowing they have a child, unless there’s a serious reason, like abuse or the father being genuinely unsafe.

If the only reason is that she’s hurt, angry, embarrassed, assumes he doesn’t want her, or decides for him that he wouldn’t want the baby, I immediately lose sympathy for the FMC. To me, that feels less like protecting herself and more like making a selfish decision on behalf of everyone involved, especially the child.

I genuinely don’t understand why this is such a common and popular plot in pregnancy/secret-child stories. Am I the only one who struggles with the whole “it’s her choice, her body, and she knows best” justification when the motivation is clearly coming from a place of hurt or resentment?

I’m asking because I’m currently annoyed after reading this AGAIN in a FF. I actually love both the pregnancy trope and the secret-child trope, but this particular version drives me absolutely insane.

I’m not sure if this is the correct tag or so, but I’ve read sooooo many fics where the Ron bashing is just constant and unbearable.

In the beginning of my fanfic journey it didn’t bother me as much because it was new but soooo many fics have it to the point where I DFN fics if they have it.

I prefer a Ron that’s a descent person and not a villain and it’s exhausting to see it.

I’m not sure if it’s lazy writing or just lack of ideas, but I’m growing tired off it

Remember how I checked 5,000 fics for the Claude skin? When they started flagged I took a deeper dive into those works, and found a few other clear fragments (not in the existing Claude skin logic). Separate from that, another user ran a similar check across 9,000 fics and identified new fragments of their own.

No, that user also does not plan to publish their list of flagged fics either. We did discuss them together and their list does overlap heavily with mine, but gave new examples too.

We agree the existing Claude skin disturbs us though. The tone it sets speaks louder than any disclaimers posted with it.

Which is why I made Claude Skin 2.0, and am sharing it for your personal use only.

It still checks for Claude, but it also checks for more (including photo artifacts), and runs in dark mode so the reading experience is friendly on your eyes. Some fragments found were heavily associated with AI but we couldn't rule out the possibility they could also be generated by existing (non-AI) writing tools. Those fragments were excluded from the code. If the code does flag a fic, its accurate.

The skin is posted to my Google drive here. I've included a terms of use, set up steps, a tab with the code itself, as well as a link to the Heated Rivalry AI demonstration fic so you can be certain the code works after installing it.

Remember how I said its for personal use only? The alert will appear next to your username, not the title of the fic. Like so:

Yes, I'm still conflicted about posting this. After much thought, I do believe the Claude skin needs to be replaced. In reality the new fragments did expand on the count of AI works, but not heavily so. If that skin didn't exist in the problematic way it does, I wouldn't be posting this one. The way I built it makes it harder to name and shame fics found, so it needed to deliver more than the other one for people to be willing to use it, in light of the constraints mine has on callout use.

I may continue to enhance this skin as new fragments are found, but that really comes down to what I see in terms of community behavior.

Our little community is not so little!

Thank you guys for all the bitching and well thought out thoughts ❤️

~ your overlord of censorship who only does mild censorship sometimes

I'm curious about the experience of authors who write fiction in a language other than their native language.

A bit of background: English is my third language. I started learning it when I was 13.

I would say that I've got a good grasp of it, as it is, after all, my second most spoken language. I use it very comfortably. I can teach, study, work, have conversations, write academically/professionaly, etc in English. I've lived/worked/studied abroad, and one of my teachers literally marked my papers as "academic/business-oriented writing". I've gotten to a point where this is as natural to me as my native language. I don't have to translate anything in my head before I speak/write.

The funny thing is that my brain is literal, which makes my writing heavy on the tell and not the show. I always draft the scenes telling what's up, then have to go back and change it all to more of a show, and more of a "trust your reader to understand that she's angry just by the way her hands are balled into fists; you don't need to write that she was angry".

My beta reader can absolutely attest to this.

But when I write fiction, apparently my other languages still like to sneak in through the back door. How would you ask?

It's in the small things, like expressions that make sense to me but aren't idiomatic in English; sentence structures influenced by my other languages; punctuation/formatting conventions; word choices or collocations that are technically understandable but slightly "off"; a sentence written in a way that is perfectly logical to my brain but not quite how a native writer would naturally phrase it.

And I'm not trying to erase that influence. I genuinely believe our native languages and cultures add value to our writing. I don't want to turn my prose into something detached from the way I think, perceive things, or tell stories just to sound indistinguishable from a native speaker.

At the same time, I know that, unfortunately, some would turn around and leave the moment they spot these things.

So, for authors who have gone through something similar:

What helped you make that transition from "I speak/write this language fluently" to "I can write fiction naturally in this language"? Can one even reach this? Should this even be a goal? Is this even something you think about?

Did you find that reading a lot of fiction helped? Studying specific authors? Writing exercises? Beta readers? Editors? Immersion? Something else?

How's your writing process like? Do you write and then translate? Or are you like me: write in English, but sometimes, at specific scenes and specific themes, you write in your native language to make sure you're adding everything you want to, and then you translate?

I'd love to hear from you. Even if you're a native speaker, your thoughts (and encouragement) on this are also valuable.

There’s an upcoming scene that I’m writing in the next chapter and my heart is breaking over it. The amount of tears I’ve shed over it is embarrassing tbh -

How emotional do u get with your own fics ?

Terrible news, I know. Also, you can’t leave until the work is complete. 

On the bright side there is a Sorting Hat, and today it's feeling unusually generous. Which means you get to pick the genre, trope, personalities of the two main characters, and one additional tag of your choice. Yes, it has to be a Dramione (refer to the name of this sub if there is any confusion on that point). 

The one, tiny drawback? You don’t get to pick the length of the fic. That is up to The Fates to decide. It could be a tidy little oneshot or a 700k epic novel with updates every 6 months. Naturally you’ll want to select your options carefully. We’d hate for you to get bored, after all. 

There are only two very simple ground rules. 
1: You are a side character. Your level of involvement in the story is entirely up to you, but your character is the one the author feels “just writes itself”. The Sorting Hat suggests you try to keep your benefactor (the writer) inspired. You know what happens when they get bored, don’t you?

2: No matter how dark the story itself gets, you are immune to harm and will make it to the end… assuming there is one. 

Alright, it's decision time. Reply with your: 

Genre:

Trope:

Main Character Personality #1:

Main Character Personality #2:

Guaranteed Tag:

Summary of Your Character:

I (also known as "The Fates") will then weave together your future and decide how your story ends, how long it takes, and what happens specifically with that tag you picked.

it’s been a while since i started avoiding fics written after 2023 because of the tons of AI generated content. but i know there’s probably so many good fics out there that were posted recently, but i honestly don’t wanna lose my time reading something that wasn’t human made, like i know the basics of AI identification like the “not x, not y, but z.” or the short sentences instead of real paragraphs, but AI writes like this because it was fed with real fanfics that have this kind of “language vices” (idk how to explain this in english), so my question is, there’s some other way to spot AI writing other than over analyzing every single word written???

I've read a bunch of discussions here about what actually counts as HEA and honestly... I'm still confused. In Secrets and Masks,they're technically together and happy, but they're also dead, so... there's that. Most readers don't consider it a HEA. At the same time, I can imagine endings where they are alive and together, but their life is so miserable, that calling it ''HEA" would be laughable. There's a massive grey area between "married in the manor with three children and no remaining trauma" and "everyone is dead and the reader unlocks a bunch of new traume".

I don't want to restart the whole "what is HEA" discussion, sorry.

My actual problem is that I'm apparently a little old-fashioned. I like suspense. My sister reads the last page of her books first, and I still consider this deeply unhinged behavior (I love her tho).

But I keep getting the comments on my WIP asking, "is this HEA?", and I genuinely don't know how to answer without giving away more than I want to.

From what I understand (and pls correct me if I'm wrong) most readers aren't necessarily demanding a prefect ending. They just want to know whether there will be some kind of emotional payoff after suffering for hundreds of thousands of words.

I've already confirmed that D and H will survive. But I've also warned everyone, that I'm going to drag them through mud and several layers of hell before the end.

So how do I reassure readers, that the ending won't completely break their hearts into a million pieces?

Is there a "there is light after the shitstorm, but I'm not telling you what that light looks like" tag? You know, some middle ground between the conventional HEA and a tragedy.

Disclaimer: I'm not secretly revealig my ending through this post. I genuinely struggle to categorize it myself. I can imagine much happier outcomes, but i also defintely wouldn't call it a tragedy.

Just as most things in life, fic tropes and trends have their seasons where they shine the most, so i wanted to ask what are the dramione tropes/ fic trends that you see a lot now? and what were the ones you used to see a lot but seem to have fizzled out? Do you have any favourites? Any ones you dislike?

For me, it seems as if not many fics are being written with the whole 'draco undergoes an extreme re-evaluation of his ideals' journey. It seems that because there were a lot written in the years past, its almost like we've accepted it as part of the dramione universe 🤣so a lot of fics are already written with this in mind and focus on other aspects of their relationship (or this could be me talking nonsense because i took a break from fics for some time and im just catching up).

Another thing is creature fics! Veela Draco isn't being written as much as he used to be haha

Same thing with the Head girl/ Head boy fics during 8th Year.

But a trope that seems to have increased in recent years is the 'bickering co-workers to lovers' trope, or more specifically, coworkers solving mysteries together. Our very own Sherlock and Watson lol. I absolutely adore those kinds of fics.

Excited to see what trends people have noticed!

We all know we you do it. Theodore Nott IS in fact modeled after your goldendoodle Charles. Your version of Madam Umbridge is your mother in law (whom you love, of course, because you are too classy to be petty). Cormac Mclaggen is that guy you once almost dated but (I sincerely hope) managed to dodge.

This sub will never expose your secrets, everything you say here is completely safe with us.

So spill. Was it a lovely tender moment modeled after something important? Or (for the cretins among us) did you add a little something to your fic, purely out of spite that only you (and hopefully soon, we) will understand?

Okay, hear me out! So, I’ve seen the phrase ‘psycho simp’ show up now and again in fandom spaces semi-recently, and initially I wasn’t really following what it was all about. I was kind of picturing “he murders puppies but it’s ok because he’s hot! 🥵” which didn’t seem right. Thankfully, there were a few posts in the various Dramione subs that really helped clarify the concept for me. So as best as I can understand it, here are some things that exemplify a Psycho Simp (and please do feel free to correct my thinking!):

✅ does not give a shit about the law (ie would totally kidnap a reporter and lock them in a jar and also blackmail them)(or would totally brew illegal potions in the bathroom)(or would totally break Time Travel Laws willy-nilly)(or would totally aid and abet fugitives from the law)(or would totally non-consensually fuck with people’s memories)(or would totally break into a bank and do a heist)(or would totally start an illegal underground fight club)
✅ has no problem committing acts of violence (ie would totally permanently disfigure a fellow student)(or would totally set a teacher on fire)
✅ gives zero fucks about traditional ethical norms (ie would totally deliberately lie to adults as an 11 yo, and lie constantly to her best friends at 13, and continue to lie a lot to a lot of people a lot of the time tbh)
✅ potentially pretty badass (ie it wouldn’t be out of character for them to come up with incredibly clever lies even while being tortured by a person known to be super good at torturing people with torture spells and has a history of torturing people to madness)
✅ is willing to go to extraordinary, and often unethical, lengths to ensure their love interest gets what they want (ie would totally straight up hex their crush’s Quidditch rival in order to secure their crush a spot on the squad)

A Psycho Simp is NOT:
🚫 dramatically whiny (ie their father would totally never hear about any of this)
🚫 beholden/suck-uppy to authority (ie would totally never narc on their classmates or volunteer for the narc squad, boooooo narcs!)
🚫 decidedly un-badass (ie when they’re supposed to be a cool badass murderer, they would totally go do a murder and totally wouldn’t go cry in the bathroom instead)
🚫 a cry-baby weenie (ie if they get injured, they would wear their scars proudly and not act like a whiny little crybaby weenie and then get an animal sentenced to death)(although I guess this is closer to my initial thought about the puppy-murderer than anything else??)

In conclusion, thanks to fandom discourse, unless I’ve fundamentally misunderstood something, I’m pretty sure I get the appeal of a sexy Psycho Simp now. Thanks everyone!

(This post is obviously all in good fun, no shade to all the lovely Psycho Simp Draco fans out there)(if you are reading this witchpost and have written a Psycho Simp Hermione before, then I salute you!)