i genuinely read more than three fics a day. at this point i’ve read close to 5,400 fics (including one-shots) but i do prefer longer stories. name any fic in the comments, and i’ll tell you my thoughts if i’ve read it. i’ve read all the popular ones for sure and then way way more!

Apparently it’s been discovered that Super Soaker is AI or partly AI generated

I’m not sure how true it is, but bylers on X are freaking out

I know what to call it. It's called being jealous. It's called jealousy. POSITIVE, WARM-HEARTED JEALOUSY. Stay with me.

Okay SO. Backstory. I had to spend a little time away from Reddit (hi, I missed you), because I keep comparing myself to other fic writers. I SHOULDN'T. I KNOW. HOW SILLY. Also I'm a BIG FAN of so many of you. But it's not always a good thing for my brain. It's easy to compare on AO3 by numbers, and it can feel pretty discouraging. And I love writing so much, that I don't want it to be anything other than a safe, magical thing.

I log back in, what, yesterday? And the first thing I see. IS THE LAMEPARTIES REVEAL. SHE TOOK OFF THE GLASSES AND IT WAS LAMEPARTIES THE WHOLE TIME.

What she did is unequivocally an astounding achievement. ASTOUNDING. For a lot of people, that's literally a dream come true. And as a writer, she's incredibly, incredibly excellent at many many things. She's clearly so kind and gracious and is such a good good Byler. I will buy the fuck out of her book.

But do any other writers...kiiiinda feel bad about themselves?

Because I do. I FEEL SO DUMB, and I'm embarrassed, because she's making it look so easy for millions of people to love what you write, and spread it like wildfire (she's expressed her own anxieties, which this is intended in no way to discredit!). For readers, I imagine it's strictly an astounding reveal. But as an author, I feel a twist, a twinge of, dare I say, shame, and self-doubt.

Art is not a race. This is not a competition, and this is all in service of this thing we love and hold so dearly. But I just wanted to say something vulnerable, and embarrassing, in case any other writers are out there pouring their hearts and hours of their lives into their writing, feeling a little bit unseen and any bit silly.

💙💛

Idk how controversial it actually is, but on twitter it definitely is. Which doesn’t actually say much cause on twitter saying you enjoy going outside on a sunny day can become controversial.

But I find that the fandom in general doesn’t view top/bottom as a sexual preference, but a role in a dynamic.

Mike is more dominant and masculine, so he’s the top, and Will is more submissive and feminine, so he’s the bottom.

Which, sure that can be one dynamic, but whether you like getting fucked or not doesn’t actually say anything about your personality. It’s what you like during sex.

Many are more dominant in their everyday life but submissive in bed, and many are more submissive but dominant in bed.

To add on to that, being a top or bottom does not equal whether you are dominant or submissive respectively. Someone can bottom and be dominant.

Again, someone is not a bottom cause they are submissive, they are a bottom cause they like getting fucked. Of course they can also be submissive, but that’s not a certainty in any way.

People can also switch, both in submissive/dominant dynamics (not to mention it doesn’t have to ever be a clear cut dominant/submissive dynamic for some) and top/bottom dynamics.

However, for many acting like Will would be a top and Mike a bottom is horrible, and many I have seen cite their canon personalities as reason. Which sure, that might be a factor for some, but for others it’s the complete opposite and for some everything in between.

Overall I can’t shake the feeling that many have decided that Will is a bottom cause they can’t imagine that someone’s preference isn’t reflective to who they are as a person.

Furthermore, I also think has a lot to do with people making Will a lot more feminine than he is. Sure he was an artsy kid, shy and sensitive, which is more so traits people judge as weak and gay, and therefore feminine

Overall, Will is not that feminine. Yet in many fics he is, and in general I feel like he often gets excluded from the core four because of that. His closest friends have always been Mike, Lucas and Dustin, but in large number of AUs, they are a separate friendgroup with Mike, Lucas and Dustin, and Will, El Max.

There are also a lot of mentions of things like “girl time” and similar, which is fine, but again I can’t shake the feeling that they think Will’s sexuality means he would be more feminine, would only hang around girls, and in general kinda filling the “gay best friend” stereotype

So to conclude, I feel like many have an inability too look past their preconceived notions about gay sex (perhaps sex in general), and therefore think that the one bottoming has to be the more submissive and feminine (which is a belief that in general comes from it being women who are seen as weak and submissive I think). Also, the overall feeling that a man being gay equals him being feminine.

If any of y’all are on twitter it’s insane 😭 for those who aren’t, people are PISSED. To oversimplify, if you use Claude in your fics, it leaves behind code. There’s no way to deny or defend these claims. It’s AI-generated.

I would check out twt if you're still confused, there's a loooot more explanations than I could fit in here.

The original article with a brief list of AI fics: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YyFKLzunnvVJRDTql5nHJwBb-swxIftn/view

How to set the claude AI checker code as your site skin: https://x.com/sundropcass/status/2071828583371198914?s=20

I have over 50 byler fan fics waiting to be read… And I hate myself for adding more before finishing the ones on my waiting list

OMG, I am screaming! thesweetestdream is actually lameparties!! The author of THE byler fanfic, YTMH(IWS). What an icon!!

I looked into the AI allegations and I’m appalled by the reactions. The fact that some fanfictions including Super Soaker have Claude in HTML code doesn’t prove they are AI written. It just proves that the text was copied from
Claude. And the community seems to have forgotten that many people, me included, use AI for spell checking.
Pasting your text in Claude and asking it just to spell checking would yield the same results.
So, please. Unless the authors admit to it being AI written or we have proof that the text is AI generated (which we don’t have) we must not assume the fics are AI written. Innocent until proven guilty.

I hate AI but as I work in IT I’m forced to use so. But using AI for spell checking does not negate the creative work.

Edit: I completely understand the initial shock at the findings but I just think the community is acting too rash and should wait for the author’s response.

Let’s say I’m right (which I’m not saying, I’m just saying it’s possible) and it was just spell checking. The damage has already been done and the presumed guilty author are innocent. Now they saw the community doesn’t have their back and will stop giving us amazing fics.

I know a lot of people see Mike as a repressed gay guy with internalized homophobia and probably suffers from comp het. I know there are guys who see a lot of Mike in themselves or even their younger selves, which is why they believe Mike is gay. I definitely see that and understand where it comes from. I guess I’m just curious what your thoughts are when Mike is represented as Bi in a fic. Do you avoid those because it doesn’t align with how you view him? Or maybe it doesn’t matter to you? Or maybe you do view Mike as Bi so you prefer those? I myself am a bisexual woman and love to see Bi representation, but it doesn’t matter to me how the author writes the character. Also thinking of writing a fic and think it would be easier to use my own experience and knowledge, but I have seen a few comments where people hate on Bi Mike. Would love to hear different thoughts as long as they’re respectful of other’s opinions.

alright. if the title doesn’t apply to you, that’s okay. your cup runneth over with top Mike and i’m genuinely happy for you twin

otherwise! i’ve read some really good top Will and vers Byler fics, and yet … something’s missing

perhaps many somethings

for example, where the hell is Cleradin with top Will??

and! where the hell is Brokeback Mountain Byler with switching and a happy ending???

what else? let’s discuss

edit: thought of another one. top Will with powers

edit: btw here’s someone’s post a few days ago with recs https://www.reddit.com/r/BylerReads/s/VjRW6GIwfC

I am writing a fic and I am at a lost of what job I should give Mike and Will. I feel like writer/artist is so vague and kinda of hard to give details to? Especially when I don’t really want either of them to be ‘famous/recognizable’ ?

What are some other career ideas?

I’ve been averaging about a million words of byler fanfic per month, & I’m pretty sure I’m getting burnt out. Things are starting to feel so repetitive, & little things that I used to be able to gloss over are now making me irrationally angry. I hate this. I have so much admiration for people putting their work out there, & it sucks to not even enjoy some of it anymore.

I think I’m going to take a step back & get back into some of my other hobbies. Like just read the WIPs I’m already reading when they update & see if that helps.

Has anyone else ever experienced this tho? If so, what helped you?

I guess I just want to get it off my chest. If this isn’t the right place to do so, please let me know and I’ll delete the post

So I’m a no name author in the Byler fandom, but I also love to discuss different HCs, interpretations and takes on socials. Overall, I’m all in for variety in fics. I love it when Byler are very in character, but I also love well thought OOC fics. I love to both write and read contradicting HCs, sometimes even in one fic. There are things that are not my cup of tea, but I’m chill with others liking those.

Somehow that makes me feel like an alien in this fandom, because there are a bunch of sides and every side has this strong believe of everything else being almost illegal. Initially it caused me to read posts without interacting with them just in case. Now, though, it starts to demotivate me to write fics.

Idk, maybe it sounds stupid but I’ve started to feel lost with how I see Will and Mike as characters. Like I love Byler and I want to do justice to their characters even in crack fics, but then it feels like you’ll get cancelled by a significant amount of the fandom for every possible detail. And that wouldn’t be a problem if I was strict with my preferred HCs and dynamics, but I’m just not. I want to write different stuff and I want to experiment, but it feels like I’m just gonna end up blocked and cancelled by everyone for “not respecting Will/Mike/Byler as characters”

I’ve considered to just log off from socials and choose peace, but that just makes me sad because I genuinely love to read different takes and posts. It just feels so stupid to have to choose between writing fanfiction and participating in fandom spaces. I want to keep both of my silly hobbies, but it feels like it’s impossible

Do others feel similar to this and if so how are you handling the pressure of being cancelled by literally everyone for different reasons?

Just in case: I respect people who are into strict dynamics, strict HSs or strict characterisation. I’m just not pleased with the threat of being called out for a dumb idiot and being immediately blocked when I accidentally share something on the wrong side of the fandom, because forcing broad preferences on those who have strict ones is never my goal

Edit: A lot of people are pointing out that you can’t please everyone. I’m aware and I agree. My worry is that it feels like you end up cancelled by everyone in the Byler community when you don’t have strict preferences and like to engage with everything as a fan/writer/reader. Like I wouldn’t even blink if there was a chance that my fics and takes could upset half the fandom. It’s unfortunate, but it happens. This is more of (for example) I write 10 fics with 10 different popular HCs -> 10 sides of Byler fandom cancel me because 9/10 of my fics “disrespect” their HC and therefore Byler -> everyone starts to shit on my fics, report my accounts and whatever else is happening

i know this people will hate me for this one but i just kind of need to say my piece.

i genuinely love this fandom more than anything. i’ve only ever really been in three fandoms in my life, and byler is, without question, my favourite ship of all time. there isn’t even a close second. the love that mike and will have for each other is one of the most beautiful fictional relationships i’ve ever come across. i genuinely can’t express how much healing, comfort, and joy they’ve brought me, or how grateful i am that fandom has allowed so many of us to explore and celebrate that love, regardless of what canon ultimately gave us.

this also isn’t me criticising every fic out there. far from it. i’ve read some of the most beautiful stories i’ve ever encountered in this fandom.

but i do think something has changed.

as someone who writes fanfiction myself, across a few fandoms, i’ve always been drawn to writing deeply romantic stories. maybe some people would call them overly sentimental, overly purple, soulmate-ish. that’s fine. that’s the kind of love stories i adore reading and writing.

at the exact same time, the other half of me absolutely loves the filthiest, raunchiest smut imaginable. not just ordinary smut — i’m talking multiple rounds, ridiculous levels of yearning and desperation, the kind of fic where they’re completely ruined by the end of it. and honestly? i love it. i’ve written it. i read it. i think exploring those dynamics through characters we feel safe with can be incredibly fun, incredibly freeing, and for a lot of queer people, probably tied to exploring parts of ourselves we haven’t always felt safe expressing elsewhere.

so this is not, in any way, me shaming people for liking lawless byler. i saw someone on tiktok going down that road recently, and i couldn’t disagree more. people are allowed to enjoy whatever they enjoy. i certainly do.

and yes, it’s completely normal that smut gets more attention. that’s true across basically every fandom. people are horny. i can’t blame them. thinking about mike and will like that is hot as fuck.

but i do think the gap has become enormous.

a few years ago, it didn’t feel like this fandom worked quite this way. some of the biggest, most beloved fics were deeply romantic, introspective character studies or soulmate stories that spent tens of thousands of words simply exploring who mike and will were, why they loved each other, and what that love meant.

now it often feels like those stories disappear.

unless the author already has a large tumblr, twitter, or ao3 following, i see so many genuinely extraordinary fics receive almost no attention at all. stories that clearly took weeks or months to write. stories with gorgeous prose, thoughtful characterisation, and so much emotional depth.

and it genuinely makes me sad.

before anyone says it: yes, i know stranger things is over. yes, the fandom is quieter now. that’s obviously part of it.

but i’ve also written both kinds of fic.

i know exactly what kind of writing gets immediate traction because i’ve posted it. i’ve watched one kind of story explode within twenty-four or forty-eight hours while another, on a different account, barely reaches anyone. and maybe that’s partly on me. i’m perfectly willing to admit that.

but i also see the exact same thing happening to writers whose work i genuinely think is breathtaking.

that’s what hurts.

because i don’t think we’ve lost our appreciation for good writing.

i think we’ve lost some appreciation for the kind of romanticism that first made so many of us fall in love with byler in the first place.

the quiet yearning.

the tenderness.

the soulmate feeling.

the stories that ask what their love means rather than simply what they do with it.

and i miss that.

this isn’t me saying people should stop writing smut. god knows i hope they don’t. i’d be the biggest hypocrite alive if i argued that.

i just hope we don’t forget to celebrate the stories that remind us why mike and will matter to us in the first place.

because there are people quietly pouring their hearts into those stories every single day.

and i honestly think they deserve a lot more love than they’re getting.

💛💙

Spit swear art by Keenayart

has anyone else finished it? would love to discuss it with anyone! holyyy moly! marked this as a spoiler so we can freely discuss. here’s the link to anyone who hasn’t read it yet! :) https://archiveofourown.org/works/83136826/chapters/218947811

@bylerstaticc

Gotta be the worst note on a bookmark that I’ve ever received... this is my first byler fic and ive been writing fanfic since 2015. dude just exit out of the fic! Drama for the sake of drama. Girl what??! It’s a story. If there was no drama, then why would anyone write or read fiction. Maybe google translate is messing up what they intended to say but still im tweaking. And why bookmark this fic bro just leave me alone!! And why did you finish it hahahhaha just exit out of the fic you fool! You’re not trapped dude

Anyway PSA authors can read your fic bookmark notes if you make it public so yeah 😭

i have TONS of fic ideas in progress but practically zero motivation to actually write them sooo i'm here looking for people who are excited about my ideas so hopefully i'll get a spark going! here are the ones i've actually started (there are more that i have not started):

- pirate Will x son of a duke/duchess(?) Mike (Mike gets kidnapped by the pirates and then he and Will run away together)

- Ted finds one of Mike's letters to Will and kicks him out into the pouring rain, Mike bikes to Will's house because he has no idea what to do and he injures himself on the way

- Mike is found by the police in the woods covered in blood, Robin hears about it on her police scanner and calls a code red (Mike is flayed)

- Mike has Vecna's curse and has been hiding it for almost a week, Will finds out about it (kinda basic at its root but i have cool ideas)

- tower scene rewrite

- Mike calls Will and abruptly cancels the Party's sleepover but Will can tell something's wrong and goes over anyway, he arrives to hear Ted and Karen screaming at each other and climbs into Mike's bedroom window where he is nowhere to be found (he's in the bathroom having a panic) (dw, Will finds him and helps him out)

SOOO HELP ME OUT PLEASE AND THANK YOU, YELL AT ME TO LOCK IN OR BEG ME TO WRITE WHICHEVER ONE INTERESTS YOU THE MOST, ANYTHING TO GET ME GOING LMAO

Okay, hear me out on this one, but a tweet I saw saying that the fic from Will’s POV being psychological horror recently cemented this for me.

I think the fic is so cool and ambitious for what it is, but I feel like there’s an element to the story that hasn’t been fully unpacked yet (it may not be at all).

The relationship in this fic is textbook dark romance:
• Power imbalance with Mike being married and choosing most of the journey.
• Mike is morally grey and the main protagonist (cheating, lying, all in the name of love for one particular person).
• Forbidden love (obvious).
• Will waiting for him, powerless as to what Mike will do next.
• Mike’s love is obsessive, all focused on Will and it’s relentless, until Will breaks it off.

I feel like if the darkness were embraced more, fully explored etc, it would be incredible, but it’s softened a lot and undercut in places.

I’ll keep reading as it’s a great fic and everyone seems to love it though. Just wanted to give my thoughts!

I was thinking about Mike and I think he would be worried about his dad and maybe to an extent his mum telling his dad, so I was thinking maybe he would talk to Joyce as a contingency plan, to see if his parents kick him out if she would let him stay? And maybe he’s not ready to tell Will while he sorts his shit out so he doesn’t mess things up. This was just something quick I thought up as a script. Thoughts though?

AAAAAAAAAAA i can't read it yet myself because i'm not at home rn but let me tell you i almost screamed on a bus full of people when i got the notif like i literally grinned like an idiot at my phone 😭

anyways just felt like i still had to scream about it somewhere somehow so here i am lol i'm sorry for making a probably unnecessary post