I saw that too. But the gif (it seemed awfully big for a user icon) was just too distracting for me to gaze at the teacup pictures long enough for it to bug me. So I guess you and I both have a problem with things on that page, just not the same problem.

The problematic thing isn't that tumblr entry, so much as the entire tumblr (which I'd never heard of before 4 minutes before making that post, nor the martin+freeman+is+a+hedgehog tag which is all over tumblr, per se, but just the random not too infrequent comparison posts that would float up my feed, and then be followed by just a hedgehog doing the backstroke in the bathtub and people complaining about invading Freeman's privacy, and by that point my brain has bought in and thrown away the keys.

What about the hedgehog's privacy? Will no one think of the hedgehogs?

They need us more than we need them,

Wait, what am I even saying anymore?

Ok, I think I see now. That is not right like a thing that is not. Right. And I think I am rather glad that I have not been exposed to it enough to really have my brain get too into it.

I was talking with my beta about stopping my own fic mid-planned-outline just to give myself time to come up with more plot to frame the relationship stuff in. She made me feel better by pointing out that plot was Hard, and that's why most fics just focused on the relationship stuff and ignored plot (i.e. Fluff). So now I'm curious as to whether this is the real reason there is so much plotless fluff

So now I'm curious as to whether this is the real reason there is so much plotless fluff

I think that might be the reason for some of it, but I also think that some plotless fluff is written primarily for wish-fulfillment or self-comfort.

Speaking of plotty fic, I have noticed a trend (at least on AO3) in one of my fandoms for plotty fic to involve a whole lot of telling and not much showing. Maybe it's just me, but it feels like stories are edging closer to synopses.

Speaking of plotty fic, I have noticed a trend (at least on AO3) in one of my fandoms for plotty fic to involve a whole lot of telling and not much showing. Maybe it's just me, but it feels like stories are edging closer to synopses.

Plot IS hard. When I was writing my monster plotty fic, "show, don't tell" was something I frequently reminded myself of. Yet, so much of the plot was driven by wacky psychological stuff, it was hard to find the line between describing though processes without doing too much "telling" and finding some way to "show" the introspection. And the characters kept doing unexpected things...

Yeah, fluffy banter is soooo much easier.

I don't find plot all that difficult, to be honest. Actually, one of the reasons I rarely finish anything these days is that I'll start with something PWP, and wind up with a novel's worth of plot to justify it in my head, become more interested in the plot, and I just don't have TIME to write long things.

Speaking of plotty fic, I have noticed a trend (at least on AO3) in one of my fandoms for plotty fic to involve a whole lot of telling and not much showing. Maybe it's just me, but it feels like stories are edging closer to synopses.

Drives me nuts, and you are not wrong.

Irritatingly, I pretty much know the plot of my stalled fic, I just can't convince myself everyone's acting like themselves while I tell you what it is. So I'd much rather just describe the premise at this point than make it an SPN story with resonance.

But that's just me.

Reading a plotless story with just the feels is easier to do than a overly plotty story without enough relationship--in SPN. Because the show is predicated on a relationship, but not all shows are. Even if you're not a shipper, most people are there for one of the interactions, as well as (or instead of) the business (vs family).

I used to read a lot of case files before I got properly shippy and they almost turned me off fic, because they paid lip service to plot, and did it really badly, but were just vehicles to serve up identical relationship dynamics every time (thank you Korotny). I'd rather a story not pretend too hard, so I know what I should be expecting, and whether I should bail.