What I Learned Writing 50,000 Words of Homestuck Fanfiction [CC]

[@letstalkaboutstuff]

my argument that fanworks often get you jobs proved surprisingly salient: i got hired to write a route for the homestuck spinoff game pesterquest!!! i got to write terezi, one of my absolute favorite characters in the comic, so please go check the game out. it's only $12 and it's very good. store.steampowered.com/app/1144030/Pesterquest/

[@Eluthane]

I'm new to Homestuck. I started reading it just a month a go. After finishing it I picked up Pesterquest, and I just played the Terezi story. It was brilliant!

[@Erika-gn1tv]

Ashamed of writing fanfiction? I'm ashamed for _not_ writing fanfiction!

[@kurjaesitys]

XD

[@dpaq5885]

God, same here though, I have a lot of trouble to establish a world, and doubt I've been successful so far, but like what Sarah says, you can just work on what you want, jump into it. Sometimes I write lil interactions between my friends' OCs and I have a great time with that, so fanfic seems to be a sort of space I just haven't explored for too long.

[@Copyright_Infringement]

Too real

[@DefaultSeaTurtle]

Wait, actually, can some people just.....Flirt??? Shocked and confused.

[@ShutItKyle]

“Eventually shaves her head into a mohawk and gets a tattoo.” I DID NOT COME HERE TO GET CALLED OUT LIKE THIS

[@QueenKittKat]

*screaming* DANTE'S INFERNO IS JUST BIBLE FANFICTION. Best line hands down. Thank you for that. This whole video was beautiful.

[@jepleure]

Bible fanfic with a hearty dose of hardcore revenge porn (ironic that everyone in the lower levels of Hell are people who were Dante's political enemies, isn't it? ;) )

[@friedrice4015]

My favorite thing about the Divine Comedy is that Virgil's inclusion has like a million layers. I know everyone's favorite hot take is that Dante is just a fanboy, and that's true, but also.....let's chat about Jesus. Virgil is was considered to be One Of The Good Pagans ™, mostly because of the fourth eclogue. It's a poem, which you can Google and read in both the original Latin and translated English. The poem is somewhat vague, but discusses a (male) child who will "end all vices" and bring about a new age of prosperity. He's portrayed as divine. Maybe you can see where this is going. This poem is actually about the hypothetical child of Marc Antony and Octavia (probably, maybe it was about an archetype or even vigils poetry). However, monks after the fall of Rome tended to interpret it as being about Jesus. This is why Virgil was considered Actually Not That Bad, and why he was probably so important to that story. Virgil is a Jesus Buddy, a guy who is involved in the Christian view of the world. He gets to be connected, and therefore a guide.

[@Pablo360able]

It ticks off all the boxes • Using an existing property as the base • Making up a whole bunch of details that weren't in that property and treating them as canon • Self-insert main character (who is also a Mary Sue because the whole story revolves around him) • Revenge porn • Zero plot • Pretentious one-word title (it was originally just “Comedy” in Italian)

[@kryptoonspoopy8536]

TRUE DAT

[@K-bb2bc]

So I started reading the fic and uh. Long story short I might be trans?? Like, reading June’s realization of what she really wants in life made me feel some serious stuff. And I don’t know where this is gonna go, I just wanted to say thank you.

[@antheosenigma]

Your profile pic describes my face perfectly.

[@kabkorange]

yes yes that garnet propic is also me rn

[@astroceleste292]

* PROUD OF YOU!!!

[@jjthepikazard212]

i hope it's going alright

[@alisoncandiloro2947]

Out of curiosity, where did it end up going?

[@ShutItKyle]

Sincerity is radical.

[@HeronHero]

This video rules, thank you for standing up for authentic joy without needing ironic distance from the things you love.

[@oliviasimkinsbullock8421]

+

[@NXTangl]

I mean that's basically Dave's arc.

[@OllieMendes]

I haven't even read Homestuck but this video was very relatable. Especially the part about having angry violent thoughts towards people, especially former friends and family, you just wish would recognize you and validate your issues.

[@-Cosmic-]

bro thats a smuppet in the background , you just gained subscriber

[@epicgamer-ny4fj]

Oh bro it is

[@desreset]

sameeeee

[@edenrav]

All I took from this video is that you have a brain ghost trans vriska inside your head and that somehow makes you a better person and I cant be more satisfied.

[@hadal_hex]

I'm a vriska fictive which means I'm the 8rain ghost trans vriska in a DID afflicted individual's 8rain and I can confirm that I make them a 8etter person

[@Pablo360able]

“Now I'm gonna tell a story about a toblerone.” Most people: “Oh what?” People who saw Neo Yokio: “Oh no.” We lucky few who know and still can speak: “Oh *yes”*

[@Infiniteimpossibilty]

Writing Fanfiction is fun as hell, Its something that I'm extremely proud to do at all and its just, completely changed the way I think about... well, everything. I intentionally take time out of my very busy week to write fanfic because it helps me just... idk it makes me feel good. Fanfic rules. It got me writing again after almost 8 years of just... not writing anything at all ever.

[@letstalkaboutstuff]

your june fic is SO GOOD, i can't wait for the next chapter

[@desflat]

Several times during this, I kept expecting you to reference the meme "Aren't you tired of being nice all the time, don't you just wanna go apeshit?"

[@articunojay]

I haven't read Godfeels, but just a few days ago I decided I was going to write my own fanfiction that included June. I wanted to write something that, as a transfem, would be accurate to my experience. It's nice to see trans characters be happy, but I personally am more interested in seeing them struggle and overcome their problems. I'm only two pages into it and am far, far away from anything June related, but this video is really, really helpful and great and came at the perfect time.

[@abbypernsteiner8093]

So it's been 15 days since you've posted this. 14 days since I watched it. I have had roughly three aborted attempts to read Homestuck and never got super far into it (I think the furthest attempt ending just before Terezi gets John to visit his denizen). I always found the dialogue style super compelling, but found the circuitous storytelling incredibly hard to follow, especially with the attention issues I have. This video prompted me to restart it. 14 days later, I'm on page 4565. I spent one weekend doing nothing BUT homestuck reading. My creative passions, long dormant, have been stirring in a way I'd forgotten they could. I've become INSUFFERABLE to friends with my nigh-evangelistic furor that they need to read it right this instant. I've been writing original fiction for the first time in years with the creative juice its given me, and gods help me, in the year of our lord 2019, I have been seriously contemplating a trollsona design. I don't know whether this is a thank you, or a fuck you, but I guess I'll be seeing you at the other end of this when I'm all caught up and can more coherently engage with godfeels. But thanks for being vulnerable and articulate on a camera in such a way that I got swallowed whole by an esoteric webcomic I guess! Vriska did Nothing Wrong! Edit: Homestuck finished a week ago. Trollsona designed. Godfeels nearly read through and tears shed. Where doing this bro. We're making this happen.

[@NXTangl]

*hapen ;)

[@rumelismorende8177]

The more I see about fanfic, the more I feel like I really missed out by seeing is as "lesser" for so many years

[@nessesaryschoolthing]

I don't know why, but I like the way you let a cut linger a few seconds while the audio from the next plays before you jump to it in the video. I don't even know enough about editing to be sure I described that right, but I know I love good editing when I see it.

[@asocksual4910]

now I wanna write edgy angry jade harley fanfic

[@letstalkaboutstuff]

PLEASE DO

[@cookiebombcasualemail5284]

*dm me link when done, my discord is ℂ𝕠𝕠𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕓𝕠𝕞𝕓 - 𝕊𝕪𝕝𝕡𝕙 𝕠𝕗 𝔹𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙#5481*

[@eelboy3098]

Well?

[@kittyess]

I’ve literally never read homestuck but this rlly hit me and I just want to work even harder on my own writing. I’m also emotional now thanks.

[@cuteghostboy]

omg this is such a good video!! it's cool to see this new Homestuck renaissance where it's being like, taken seriously and shit. I was really passionate abt this dang comic when other folks in fandom would kind of look at Homestuck fans as super """cringe""". although as a consequence I've been really out of the fandom, so seein you tweet about June Egbert all of a sudden was a pleasant surprise. (also godfeels is really good I know that you've probably heard that statement a million times and at this point really rings hollow but I'm not good with words so I just have this overwhelming OH THIS IS GOOD feel waaah) while I was one of those folks for which the epilogue wasn't really my jam, I am glad at all this new stuff we get to play with, and all the new content being made by fans. I think in general fanfic gets characterized as pure wish-fulfillment and while there's a lot of that kind of stuff and it is super valid, theres a whole bunch of fic thats just marginalized fans takin the bones of the thing they like and telling their own stories, with the same amount of nuance and depth as original fiction. and that shits super powerful! I love it! sorry for depositing this fucking book of a comment. but tl;dr VIDEO GOOD, FANFIC GOOD, HAVE A REALLY NICE DAY, BYE

[@endyxander4521]

This made me remember all over again the ideas I had for a transmasc Roxy fic, I still wouldn't know exactly where to go plot-wise, but fuck, Roxy coming out felt like someone staring into my soul and saying "you remember this, don't you?" I understand people thinking it came out of nowhere, but as a transmasculine person who projected their unhappiness and disconnect towards his own gender as "ah what I need is to be more attractive, so guys will like me and I can get married at age 24 and have two kids by age 27" i have very deep and complicated feelings about the candy time-line and mom lalonde in general. Fuck, I feel like a lot of people feel like me being tras came out of nowhere too and that was just another dimension of transmasc roxy that I felt I could relate too. Looking back at my life I see the signs, and some of my friends do too, but I know what other people must be thinking and saying and it makes my blood boil.

[@stevielambert2552]

Honestly transmasc Roxy might be the most personally relateable trans narrative Ive ever read. And same here, it meant so so much to me.

[@gorimbaud]

Fanfiction may be inherently self-indulgent, but that definitely doesn't make it automatically frivolous. Sometimes having a framework already established makes it a lot easier to get ideas out of your head and onto the page. Well, "page". Personally, I've never really managed to write much of it myself, but I've enjoyed plenty. Nah, my poison is more panfandom roleplay, which is basically collaborative longform fanfiction, with additional frameworks and cultures of its own. But the character I stuck with the longest, for about seven years altogether, just because I was fascinated by her issues and flaws in a way I didn't feel like canon adequately examined, was Kanaya Maryam. Say what you will about the undeniably appealing aesthetics of an alien vampire whose lipstick is also a chainsaw, but the fact that she puts forth the front of being a reasonable peacemaker (despite being a bitter and codependent hot mess with a bloody vicious mean streak) meant a lot of the fandom tended to take that at face value. Though that's really true for all of the characters in Homestuck, they put a lot of labor into presenting themselves in certain, straightforward ways, when the internal truth of who they are is hugely dissonant with that presentation.

[@Error403HRD]

Fanfiction taught me more about emotional maturity than my family, school, and society combined. It taught me that crying isn't bad, that anger isn't bad, that the world is not black and white, that sin is arbitrary, that locking your emotions away like I did was damaging, that depression was more serious than I thought, that rabbit holes are not always bad, that people are deep and they have motivations and dreams of their own but really all that matters is what they actually do. That people can hurt you, that family can hurt you. It opened my eyes to everything cruel I've been doing, all the bad things my family did and does, all the ways growing up here has molded me into being someone almost everyone would hate, that being racist and bigoted and homophobic is not and never has been okay. Fanfiction has been more important to my development than I can say about almost everything else. It molded me into a better person. Fanfiction is not surface level porn, some of it can be and it serves it's purpose, but really it provides a way for people to explore ideas, to go down creative rabbit holes, to explore themselves and the characters. Sometimes, the original work isn't even needed, it just provides surface level facts like appearance of characters. I'm a fanfic writer, and I've gone down rabbit holes that include the realistic consequences of Ash's Pokemon Journey, such as PTSD, I've explored headcanons like Black Hermione and the inherent racism in society, I've also written surface level porn, badly written because I'm ace. Fanfiction is a collection of headcanons, creative freedom, what ifs, porn, the butterfly effect, alternate universes, humor, depression, breakdowns, trauma, it's everything coalesced, but since it is everything, people assume it to be nothing more than disgusting porn and it breaks my heart because so much advice can be found in fanfictions, I've found so much joy in this world when my life was a mess, and to see it thrown aside as deranged by the general populace breaks my heart because fanfiction is so much better than its' given credit for. I've read fanfics that explore heartbreak, depression, insanity, trauma, and torture. I've also read simple smut and crack. I've also read ones that explore a first relationship, the beauty of the world, the anxiety of making friends, the beauty of romance, the journey of integrating into a new society, the love of a true family, and the heartache of homesickness. I've read so many fanfics from the Harry Potter fandom, the Linked Universe fandom, the Pokemon fandom, the Four Swords fandom, the Naruto fandom, the BNHA fandom, the fucking TWILIGHT fandom, and every work has something to say. Every work serves a purpose. It takes advantage of canon so it doesn't have to explain what people look like or how the world works because the fandom already knows this. I know of several fanfic writers who don't even need canon because they do everything so well that even if you know nothing about Assassination Classroom you can still follow it. Fanfictions have so much to offer, and I wish more people gave them a chance.

[@sunshine7642]

Yes yes yes to absolutely all of this. I'm a trans man with a good amount of trauma in my backstory, and I resonate with this so much. For me I've always been fascinated with villains, or at least people who have morally grey decisions being made. As someone who's been the victim for such a long time it's just cathartic to be able to write out thought processes of people who do violent things. This same idea has brought me into writing Welcome to Nightvale fanfiction, the first fanfiction I've been writing for years. I've been thinking about this concept a lot and haven't been able to put it into words. So coming across this video was amazing and made me feel super validated. Thank you, and I'll be off to read some fucking awesome June Egbert fanfiction

[@professionalsleeper6281]

This vid just *reeks* with "aren't you tired of being nice?" Energy

[@LauraPlatt]

I love the humour and pacing in your editing in this video! Also gosh this is making me think I need to consume Homestuck finally

[@nataliacloves]

Same, I had friends recommend it over the years but I never read it. Now after watching this, I feel like need to read this.

[@ThatPurpleCreature]

i have just realised that this is from pre-covid, and jesus christ this is a hell of a prequarantine thing to do, i salute you madam

[@malady420]

my best friend shared this video with me 4 days after it came out. this video played a massive part in me realizing i'm nonbinary and not cis. thank you.

[@letstalkaboutstuff]

hell yeah that rules

[@thegeekclub8810]

God, I wish I had your self-confidence. "I’m not ashamed to say it’s well-written" How? How do you do it it? Teach me?

[@letstalkaboutstuff]

you open your mouth and say the words. doesn't matter whether you believe them.

[@numb3r5ev3n]

You are a god tier on a writepage. A writepage is like a rampage but with words in it.

[@numb3r5ev3n]

Also, there is no feeling like having someone draw fanart of your fanfic. I still have the one example that someone drew of mine back in 2008 saved to a backup drive somewhere.

[@SaysThisCat]

“At least she feels enough shame for her pride” was a gut punch. Love your takes. The fear so many feel in indulging their interests and sharing what they enjoy is so stifling and dumb, but still hangs over us when we internalize the contempt we have seen expressed for people’s creative joy.

[@selkiecourts]

this was such a joy to watch! as someone who's recently come to terms with being a trans man and is almost comically sincere in liking the media I consume and create, this really struck a nerve with me.

[@coralinekozun7325]

This is my favorite video I think I've ever seen from anybody. Like legitimatly. I've been rereading homestuck and I to have felt like I'm backsliding in my transition and just...I really needed to here all of this. I keep putting off writing all the things I want to write because I feel ashamed and like it won't be as good as I want but like...fuck it ya know? This was the kick I needed. Thank you so much for this.

[@ItsAllNunya]

I've finished the first of the three parts you wrote, and i have to say. You're a great writer, and you made me cry. Thanks for reminding me that i shouldn't kill myself today.

[@wimbleimble3577]

~~~D E R I V A T I V E W O R K I S V A L I D~~~

[@Doodllama]

This would be a great title for a calculus book

[@legoduckie]

Also all work is derivative soooo

[@cinnamonro3344]

Everytime I watch one of your videos, I end up thinking about it for literal days, dang

[@reg1446]

"the homestuck epilogues came out-" i literally said "oh god" out loud

[@batsandroses]

less than a minute in and i already got slammed in the face by the nycc 2012 homestuck panorama pic that haunts my life (15 y/o me is dead center in the front of it) also the godfeels series ranks in my favorite fanfics of all time since i started reading it somewhere in the middle of the second installment and i just wanna thank you for writing one of the best pieces of homestuck fan media ive read to date

[@averynerdybookworm972]

You wrote that???? Oh my gosh that was the best fic I have ever read! Like not even joking I cried in front of my family when I finished reading it on a road trip! The entire story was so amazing to me because I struggle with the exact opposite problem and somewhat similar to what June struggles with, I get extremely angry and don’t apologize when I’m in the right. Reading something where the character was unapologetically angry for once and the feeling of disappointment when others don’t apologize for something wrong they did was incredibly cathartic to read. This fic caused me to reevaluate a lot of stuff and helped me realize how I’ve treated people in the past. Thank you for writing this it was incredible to read and I’m excited for whatever you write next! (Also looking forward to the podfic as someone who does homestuck voice acting for fun I can’t wait to see your interpretations of the characters voices)

[@dirk6764]

Toby made Undertale in Andrew's LITERAL BASEMENT

[@TheFlameingBurito]

Well... I guess I'm now doomed to finish that Eridan emotional instability fic now. I apologize for the overly personal and probably pretty self-serving novel I'm about to write in your comments section but this video got me in my feelings in a major way. I've been reading homestuck since highschool (I hopped in around 2012, the start of the High Hell years in the fandom ohboy) and didn't write fanfiction until around 2015 when I had landed as a english major in college. I didn't really know why I was so strongly compelled to start and not finish four different attempts to write about this facist fish that rightfully got chainsawwed in half early in the narrative and that had also served as a pretty trasphobic joke of "March Eridan". But something about the fucker stuck to me like glue. Literally, shittiest character especially as a trans guy early in my transition. I was halfway through college when I officially cut ties with an arch conservative evengelical church that I was very active in, that was so controlling to the point where homeschool was expected (I was the public school pariah) and women were literally viewed as less human as men (excluded from leadership roles, I grew up being told I shouldn't bother with college unless it was to find a husband which... that's a yikes from me but also sadly not surprised). I was a very angry kid. I didn't talk much, because I wasn't allowed to talk much, but that just made rage roil. Sometimes I thank the stars I turned out trans because it felt like the massive disassociative wall was the only thing that prevented me from hurting people more than I already did. Recently, looking back at my old fanfiction and reflecting on how much I just glommed onto this excessively flamboyant, outwardly emotional, petty, vindictive, married to a fiction of his own creation fish kid... yeah. Fanfiction is highly personal. I tried not once but four times to write a story where this open wound of a kid so suppressed and warped by how he was raised- I wanted to write an end where he grew up. Where he, like me, had a chance to find the core of his pain and confront it. To confront the damage he's done. To confront the people he's hurt past the point of forgiveness or explanation. To understand some bridges must be left burnt, some crosses you have to bear. To stare back at the wild hurricane and decide, for once even if it might not stay, to build himself some shelter and reset all those broken bones that healed wrong. Just to find some peace. And shove a crochet hook into Cronus's eyesocket. Maybe wear some fucking heels, because my trans masc fish learned that he's him no matter what pieces of cloth are tacked onto his body. I haven't written any fanfiction since 2015 when I failed to complete any of those fish fics. I think it's about time to try for a fifth, maybe there's safe haven in the future yet. But also Eridan is trash and the worst character so probably shouldn't waste my time.

[@loravura4782]

this hit home really hard. i've been putting off a fic about calliope for a few months since the epilogues came out, because they sure made me feel a lot of things about me, and them, and life, and trauma. but.... i think i'll be getting back to writing that soon.

[@exogender7687]

I've been attempting to write stories since I was a kid, but I've never worked on a serious project for long enough to even start working on the actual story. I've had similar experiences with visual art and music making. Until I took inspiration from Homestuck. For the past... ~6 or so months, I've been working on writing solid notes and arcs for a 12-lead, character-driven webcomic with plot elements that are deliberately overcomplicated. I'm not even done deciding on character personalities and stuff yet because I'm putting so much detail into them. There's a couple that I haven't even told most of my friends about just because I'm excited to see their reactions to the plot twists. Someday I hope to know enough about the plot to start work on the plot. I have learned things about myself on this journey. Like why I identify with my nonbinary characters as much as my woman characters (it turns out I'm both of those things). And how profoundly fed up I am with certain political situations that I'm writing my setting around (*cough*centrism*cough*). I went through the most unreasonably hard college semester of my life and it didn't even slow me down that much. It is downright ridiculous how serious I am about this whole thing, and it's all Andrew Hussie's fault. :P XD

[@tulips3179]

That's so cool!!! I would love to read that comic someday!!!

[@Erintoknow]

oh god, the aside about second person as representative of a division from the self and switching to first - like, damn!!!!! i've been writing this one fanfic series in second/third person and couldn't figure out why that in this one bit i felt compelled to switch things to 1st and well damn if you didn't lay it clear for me holy moly anyway, this video is great, i've put your fic on my to-read pile

[@I_SWEAR_IM_NOT_LYING]

Holy fucking shit this is awesome! I LOVE the way you write June, and I really like this video too!! I'm somewhere on the trans spectrum, idk where, maybe i will someday, but jeez!!! This is some how very validating! In a gendery way, in a writery way, and in a homestuck readery way :o

[@pasta3957]

"arent you tired of being nice? dont you just wanna go apeshit??"

[@averytruffelmen6230]

I like that you said "this is MY hole." take my likes, take all of them!

[@breedlejuice8691]

Fanfiction has been an amazing way to work through my guilt about my sadistic urges. I like to explore complicated emotions under thick layers of body horror. It’s really fun and fulfilling

[@QuantumGravy]

Yo congrats on writing the Terezi pesterquest, you did such an amazing job!! Fuck yeah Sarah! Also I’m so glad this video was in my recommended because it got me to read your fanfic and it gave me SO many feels thank you

[@Rolli_Zolli]

The "let's talk about that" gave me flashbacks to Good Mythical Morning, a show that I literally haven't watched in 5 years, so ye

[@dottyContrarian]

omg you're the godfeels author!!! omg! i had seen your mbmbam video a while back, but i never watched this one because i didn't know what homestuck was. i loved it. it was confusing and hard to follow at times, but overall it was great. :)

[@letstalkaboutstuff]

i am indeed the godfeels author

[@frogtossing6449]

this video alone is already so awesome.... i cant wait to read your fic!! it sounds great!

[@plazzable]

I am old school Homestuck reader and recently out trans women and this couldn't been shown to me at a better time. Spent the last 3 days reading all of godfeels and it meant so much to me Thank you

[@ohthewhomanity]

Thank you for everything you said about writing fanfiction. I am PROUD of my fics, and some of them are absolutely the best pieces I've ever written. The "originality" of a story doesn't correlate with its value; we flock to familiar tales, we love to tell and re-tell and adapt and extrapolate, that's just how we as humans interact with stories. And my experience writing fanfiction, getting used to putting stories out there and receiving feedback, definitely shaped my journey as a writer - through an undergraduate degree, to an incredible five months as a writing intern for Disney Parks Live Entertainment (and let's be honest, everything I worked on during that time was fanfiction! And I got PAID and I still can't entirely believe it), and I just got accepted to a master's program in professional creative writing. Writing is writing is writing, and stories are truth and love.

[@WILDTHYME000]

I feel so pumped now to get back to writing! Thanks for this video!

[@uninstallyourheart]

YO I JUST LIKE, READ UR FIC AND.... YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THIS FIC HAS BEEN WHAT I WAS L O O K I N G FOR SINCE I STARTED THE COMIC IN 2014 LIKE HOLY SHIT THANK YO U BRB GONNA GO LEAVE A COMMENT ON PART 2 THAT WAS SO GOOD AAAA

[@alexcarmichael5988]

Woah, I wasnt expecting this video to hit me as hard as it did, Definitly had me realize alot of stuff - and that I should just obsess less on things and just go for it! Thank you for uploading! Also had me reconsider my stance of the epuliogues

[@miahmagick]

Thank you for sharing this. It literally made me cry, and I'm using the same concept now to work through my own trauma.

[@kennedygifford5966]

This was so genuinely awe inspiring. I've always been ashamed of my fanfic but hearing the way you talk about it, and talk about the catharsis that comes from writing derivative work really hit my hard. Thank you so much for writing 51K words of June Egbert fanfic and sharing with us your thoughts 🤧

[@boogerqueen4813]

God this whole video is so affirming and inspirational I wanna be you when I grow up Sarah you are such a goddamn Whole Mood OTL

[@TheKlassykats]

Gotta get me some of that June Eg8ert in my head telling me to be more assertive.

[@levelwhat]

as someone who spends a lot of time writing and reviewing fanficion this was so validating omfg

[@KnuclesCp1]

ok. i think i MAY need to read homestuck now also... god your videos are so good!! they always are so touching and are somehow things i always REALLY need to hear thank you for what you do, seriously your channel and everything UR AMAZING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@corbeau909]

Great video, Sarah! Also, your hair looks cute.

[@luna-c7610]

as someone who does an annual binge of this much writing in the same amount of time, i feel a deep kinship to these struggles.

[@yoyleb1711]

This video inspired me to continue reading homestuck (im on like page 3000 or something) but that aside, thank you. For this video. Ive been recently coming to terms that I'm not cis and its been an incredibly stressful couple of weeks, i know now that im definitely not alone and we can all get through this together. Thank you

[@juneguts]

i can't wait until i start writing again

[@tohruadachi3490]

Guess that fanfic paid off. Also I really liked the Terezi route from pesterquest

[@Liz-Istrata]

It's intensely wild to me that this was a piece of media that I interacted with maybe a month after I decided to crack my egg and start my transition, and how much of it still resonates with me like a year and a half later

[@VeritasUnae]

Deeply personal, exceptionally explained, thank you for this beautiful video.

[@GhostlyBirds]

As someone who wrote an original D&D smut piece for a week, the message of this video really spoke to me. So glad to hear someone so passionate about fanworks and the effect it has on a fanbase as I am! Great video!!!

[@ttlovepie101]

Wait how does dnd fanfic work? Just using the setting for a story?

[@GhostlyBirds]

@@ttlovepie101 Mostly! I have a pair of characters (potentially player characters in game) that are in a pre-established relationship. The races are D&D standard (Tiefling and Half-orc to be specific) and all the rest is original content. D&D is one of the better avenues to make original content in for fantasy settings, as you can mostly take preset concepts and make your own world out of it.

[@lyliux1519]

I think you reminded me that its ok like a thing that you like??? For ages I’ve felt sorta ashamed in a sense??? Thinking that I couldn’t talk about the things that I’m interested about cause I’d be deemed “cringey” or some dumb shit like that. But this video and what you said was like a wake up call, cause what I like makes up a big part of who I am, and if I want to talk about fandoms or make fanart or whatever I can! And anyone who tells me otherwise can, in gentle terms, piss off. Thank you honestly, it put a lot of things into perspective for me :))))))

[@Cam_can]

I love your way of story telling!! The documentary style is so thorough and personal and it’s absolutely beautiful. I can’t get enough of your hs content. Despite not being a trans woman, your transformation really inspired me :)

[@cinnamonro3344]

This is awesome!!! Holy shit, this gave me feels

[@softer_quieter3279]

Thank you Sarah, for being you 💜

[@NikkiLahvU2]

I've never read or seen an ounce of Homestuck and I love this video. Thank you, Sarah.

[@georietaylor6517]

On one hand this video really hit me, as a creative and fan creator and as a mentally ill trans person who has absolutely always used fiction as a way to work through things and then felt ashamed of that. On the other hand I'm just really impressed at the restraint involved in not making the "don't you just wanna stop being nice? Don't you ever just wanna go apeshit?" meme directly.

[@frogfatality9781]

Ma’am this is one of the best videos I’ve ever watched and high key teared up through it, you’re a genius and I’d die for you.

[@bogfrog1234]

Thanks a lot for the bit about violent impulses, as someone who's OCD and has intrusive thoughts, it's hard to not feel guilty about them.

[@just_a_ghost_kid7229]

IVE READ YOUR FIC AND I DIDN'T CATCH ON UNTIL U SAID "VRISKA SERKET" OMGGGG I LOVED YOUR FIC

[@Milo-zo1ee]

Welp about three months ago I watched the first ten minutes of this, was reminded homestuck existed, read it, and became a massive homestuck.

[@Milo-zo1ee]

Now I’m back to finish the video and that’s on procrastination >:)

[@sophiathekitty]

Like all of the Disney animated films were fanfics. Monty Python and the Holy Grail was fanfic. Etc etc etc

[@shawtywiththesolluxpfp618]

Yours is one of my favorite june-centric fics and I had no idea it was you who wrote it! kudos to you :)

[@crossoverqueen1775]

Fuck, some of the things talked about hit hard. Like, realizing that, through writing characters and stuff, certain things that you wish you could be, but aren't. I realized during this that I do that a lot.

[@MD-mh7bp]

aaa I'm so excited that you have a podcast on lls! most ambitious crossover event in history. also this video really made me :'-)

[@413db8]

Oh! I remember reading your fanfic before. It was so good! Good video

[@cherrydewdrops]

You probably already know, but I see homestuck twitter showing your fic love and it makes me so happy. Your work is amazing!

[@erubielhernandez5931]

homestuck can be defined in 1 of 3 ways: 1) "Homestuck is a tale about a boy and his friends and a game they play together." 2) "Shenanigans" 3) "I have no fucking idea what is going on right now"

[@mushykitten]

I don't know what to say aside from thank you for saying the things you said. I loved this video so much, it was truly inspiring and eye opening.

[@hexasept]

I REALLY ENJOYED THIS i think the way you conveyed the necessity of like... actually confronting and addressing our Weird Things was super helpful personally, as someone who's struggled a lot with the way my emotions externalise themselves. it really is so difficult to live life as a trans person finding where the line between being unnecessarily cruel or mean and just sticking up for yourself is - and it doesn't SOUND like it should be difficult, but i find that i grapple with the tension between not having to take shit from people who dont/won't understand and not giving people the CHANCE to do so quite often when i came out to a close friend (who had a lesbian crush on me, just to complicate things further) as nb/transmasc, her dismissal of my experiences hurt so much i couldn't bear to talk to her anymore and it really took a very long time for me to figure out why i felt the way i did (hint: the answer is dysphoria. why is it always dysphoria) also can i just say the way you framed everything was very clear and easy to parse, which i guess sounds like a weird sort of compliment to give since that's sort of like, Communication Skills 101, but i genuinely really appreciated how cleanly structured this was and how well you led into your point :) i have yet to read the bulk of your fic but i read godfeels Part 1 while it was updating back in march and i really enjoyed it, and i just read the junerezi E sidefic which gave me #many #emotions c: am looking forward to reading the rest thanks for the excellent video... it's been a while since something i watched really made me stop and have a solid Thonk about myself like this >:)

[@Atrere]

I'm not quite sure why this is a thing, but it's definitely a Thing. I've been exploring my own difficult feelings about my own personal reality through a semi-Vriska based fanfic. Maybe it's the fact that freed from the responsibility of creating a world, a writer is free to work on characters, and when fanfiction is considered mildly transgressive, crossing the border into fanfiction also fires off a bunch of other impulses. It's kind of awesome.

[@starfinney6308]

I might just revisit my life and times of the wicked witch of the west fanfics I have collecting dust in a doc because of you

[@imlovedavepetab3374]

HOLY SHIT. Around 16:30 when you start talking about telling your story, being an inconvenience, being nice but wanting TO TEAR INTO SOMEBODY. Holy FUCK, I felt that!!! Being trans, you have to be SO NICE to people sometimes. And sometimes you have to BABY EVERYONE AROUND YOU with EVERY LITTLE STEP. HOLY SHIT I AM GONNA STUFF MY NOSE INTO GODFEELS HERE I GO!!!!

[@imlovedavepetab3374]

I’m back!! I’m ruined!!!!!!!! I would never unread this even if you payed me a billion dollars!!!!!!!!

[@orinking8064]

this is very relatable and i've never written basically anything ever. great video!

[@NonApplicable1983]

sarah you are hella valid and i respect the fuck out of you Thank you for making me want to work harder on my own fanfiction!

[@astrostally620]

This video just exudes such raw energy

[@Lovinlifetoday235]

This is my favorite video essay about one of my favorite webcomics that discusses fandom in an academic way, as well as one of my favorite fanfics. This is insane. Thank you so much for talking about fandom in an academic manner, its my favorite thing.

[@katiefrisk980]

i don’t usually say any work of art changed my life immensely, but if there’s one thing that made me come out to myself it was godfeels. thank you

[@goodluckginkgo]

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to comment coherently but I’ll try my best. Hearing you talk about how transformative (eyy) writing fanfic has been to you is so heartwarming and downright INSPIRING. I’m currently writing my BA thesis about fanfiction. It’s been pretty decent actually, it certainly helps that I picked a topic I feel passionate about but your video has reignited that flame in a way- my gosh I’m shaking in my seat. I LOVE this wonderful practice. There is something so earnest and rebellious about fanfic. When the artists of the source texts respect and encourage the practice, it makes it all the more rewarding. Although there’s a very supportive community on Tumblr, people don’t often talk about who writing fic affects their personal life while that’s something I’ve definitely experienced. I love how unabashed you talk about this AS YOU SHOULD. You wrote 50k in 10 days!!! People make a whole fuss out of doing the same thing in a month and dub in NaNoWriMo. What do you did was MASSIVE! Anyhow those are my weird jumbled thoughts. I don’t know if I was able to express it but I really wanted you to know how happy this video made me :) I hope the day treats you well!