dragonlady7

is the damage, there's a lot of bycatch, bycatch destroys ecosystems, witcher eskel, aro eskel, i wouldn't be so stung if it weren't all theoretically in the name of inclusivity, that really personally hurts

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I think I’ve mentioned on here before how I had an idea for an Eskel-centric fic in which I could explore my headcanon that he’s aro. (Oh yes, about a month ago I posted about it here https://bomberqueen17.tumblr.com/post/637063423992184832/youve-mentioned-that-you-might-make-eskel-aro-so .)

Well, I saw a post ages ago that there was going to be an Eskel Big Bang event, and I got all excited about it. Because, I mean, this is a thing I’m going to write anyway; I don’t have extensive experience with fic events but I always wish I could participate in them. And this is so, unusually, perfect for a Bang– it’s going to be 20k at least! It’s a complicated long story! It’s in continuity with my other stuff but not directly, it’ll have its own storyline.

So I was pondering about that in the back of my head, as one does, apart from the various other distractions of the season (and my own personal stuff, alas, thanks by the way to everyone who’s been supportive), and I’ve worked on dropping a few advance hints in the chapters of the Keira/Lambert/Aiden thing https://archiveofourown.org/series/2048918 I’m currently working on, to set it up when I get around to it–

and I’d been thinking I should go sign up, and then I saw the FAQ post they just put up about it.

Months after announcing this as just a general Eskel-centric Big Bang, they’ve now put out rules that ban certain types of content. Like, outright ban! Not just make sure you tag, not hey we’re gonna separate by rating– no, absolutely can’t be entered into the event. Here’s the post https://eskelbigbang.tumblr.com/post/639172965356978176/rules-and-faq, and here’s the relevant quote:

The following content will not be allowed in the Big Bang:

- rape/non-con * - *graphic torture * - *incest - underage - hard kink

So that’s a bit of a shock, in an un-themed event, to have so many content restrictions. If they’d said from the beginning that this was a fluff fest or something– but it’s just being presented as a normal straight-ahead character-focused event.

Here’s the thing. I’m not particularly a darkfic writer? I write hurt/comfort, mostly, with boatloads of Found Family feelings, as much angst as I can cram in without breaking anybody permanently, and happy endings. That’s what I do. The plot outline I’ve got for this fic is, like most of the stuff I do that’s not AUs, is stuff that’s pretty similar to the canon. It’s going to involve Eskel getting terribly injured, and there’ll be a succubus as a major character, and there’s going to be a plot point involving rescuing a child from sexual abuse. Dark stuff! I plan to tag the heck out of this fic! But it’s all pretty similar to things that happen in W3 and in the books.

I can’t… have these canon-similar events in this bang. I couldn’t even just do a straight retelling of canon events, in this bang. That’s not allowed! Succubi are dubcon by their very nature (which the mod clarifies https://eskelbigbang.tumblr.com/post/639370836817690624/its-unclear-what-you-mean-by-dubcon-one-person in another ask answer). Gore’s not allowed, which– I mean– this is a game where a common fight-finishing move is dismemberment, and a man’s head explodes onscreen in the Netflix adaptation. I’m planning on dealing realistically with the aftermath of a brain injury. The accidental child acquisition hinges on rescuing her from abuse. The succubus needs to be a succubus to be the character that she is and for the plot to work.

I can’t write any of that for this. Maybe I could argue some of it in, maybe I could argue that since the abuse of the child is mostly offscreen– but it’s not entirely, the succubus is a witness, and she needs to be for it to work– it’s complicated. I can’t reliably pick out the forbidden content without hamstringing the entire plot.

What it comes down to is, it’s not worth the risk. I can’t commit to working with an artist, and then get myself into the structure of this event, devote hours, days, weeks of my time writing this fic, only to have the mods decide that I need to delete or rework some part of it, or decline to let me post it, possibly screwing over whatever artist I’ve matched with– not for fic I’m writing for free and in my own time.

So I can’t write this fic for that event.

I mean, I was going to write it anyway, but I’d been letting myself look forward to maybe, for once, actually getting to participate in one of these here events that everyone else seems to do. Working with an artist– what a treat that would be! Being a part of something–

Well. It’s not to be.

I’m disappointed, really. It wouldn’t sting so much if they’d said from the beginning that this was going to be G-rated or fluff-only– but it’s not, they’re still presenting it as a straightforward character-focused event.

I suppose the part that’s the most irksome is that they’re justifying having such extreme content restrictions that the canon material itself could not be included by saying it’ll be “more inclusive”, when like. Basically everyone I know in this fandom is excluded by this!

Including the original author.

:( does anyone know any artists who want to work on a project with me (Your picture was not posted)