Why do MIDZYs continue to only write angst? I have never seen a kpop fandom so willing to write their faves into extremely traumatic and depressing situations with no light at the end of the tunnel. I know that fluff isn't everyone's thing, but neither is angst and I wish more MIDZYs understood that.
Artistic freedom is important and you're allowed to write whatever you want... but that also means that it's up for criticism and interpretation.
The sheer NUMBER of AUs I've read on Twitter, AO3, and Wattpad is, by all metrics, unhealthy. Which means I've seen so many of these fanfics that I feel like I have a nice grasp on how most of these AUs will go.
Let's start with my personal favorite: Ryujin and Lia centered AUs.
JinLia is alive in these AUs for only 2 reasons: either A) these writers actually like this ship and want to see them thrive or B) this ship is only a medium some shoddily written angsty plot where Ryujin is whisked away by Yeji while Lia is left to sob into dirt until she realizes that she's actually straight.
Needless to say, I think we can all agree that the latter is the most popular. It's beyond disgusting the amount of fanfics and one shots where Lia is suddenly this evil entity that uses and abused Ryujin, only for Yeji to step in and make everything better. Rarely is it ever done with grace either. Do you know how fucked up it is to constantly see your fave being treated like the "other woman" who's evil... all so that this Ryujin and Yeji ship can sail? It's very telling when the ship sails off of crumbs but the moment Lia, or any other less popular member, is involved it's considered controversial and angsty.
Which leads me to my next point:
It's *PAINFULLY OBVIOUS* when Lia and Chaer are thrown to the side for your ships. Don't tag something "ITZY" and then leave out 2 members just so you can ship the two most popular members together. I don't know if y'all actually watch ITZY content but, um... Yeji and Chaer have more content than Ryujin and Yeji. Same with Ryujin and Lia. It's weird that y'all do badly want to put ChaerLia in a corner so that your sunken ship can pretend sail in these AUs.
Now, I know it's not that serious, but the way some of these stories are written... it's clear as day that some of y'all genuinely dislike Chaer and Lia simply because they "get in between your favorite ship". Y'all describe Lia and Chaer in some of the nastiest and most vile ways and then try to pass it off as their "characters". Like, no, it's pretty blatant what's happening here.
Lastly, STOP PUTTING YUNA IN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS WITH HER UNNIES. She's literally 16 and a KID. Yes, 2shin is fuckin weird and anyone writing smut involving Yuna will be blocked *immediately*. Yuna is still a kid and I've literally only seen ONE AU appropriately handle romance with her involved. Yes, even if you're a minor writing AUs, this is still wrong.
So don't ask me to read your AUs if you're only a one trick pony who refuses to actually grow as an author.
-xoxo, Eri
