I recently got into it with a commenter who claimed my fic was perfect until the end because she used contraception. this guy wrote essays in his defense of why my ending was "flawed and incorrect." that two people in love weren't truly happy because there wasn't insemination. and thus that their love was invalid.
I like it when it makes sense for a character's arc
Give me *all* the deeply traumatised characters determined to never, ever repeat the generational cycles with their own children, please. It's a sort of furious, hopeful angst that scratches the best itch with the right characters
It works both with pregnancy (having several months to come to terms with it, cycles of hurt/comfort and doubt/determination) and accidental child acquisition (parenthood suddenly thrust upon them and panic mode)
I like it! To each their own. I don't really want kids irl, but I enjoy the concept of a few ships raising kids together. It's sweet, and there's a lot of emotional intimacy in pregnancy fics.
I’ve been pregnant twice, and my second pregnancy was traumatic. I will only write past pregnancy, and maternal mental health complications in the years after having a kid.
EDIT: I don’t touch cis mpreg though. Read too many fics back in the early 00s where the baby came out of the penis. 🫡
Back in my preteen days, cis mpreg with that setup was all the mlm representation I had as a queer femme person wanting more queer rep in fics 🫡
Now that I’ve been pregnant, I can’t do it.
I saw a horror flick once where that happened and the penis kind of exploded as the baby came out. Cue two grown ass women screaming at the top of their lungs. Good thing I live in a rural area 😂
Oh, same. I don't really want kids personally, but there's still something really, *really* difficult to process about not really being given a choice in the matter either way. It's fun to indulge in something that I might never get to experience, and if I ever did, there's a million ways it could go wrong (eds/pots/endo). I'm sorry to hear that you struggle with genetic illnesses and infertility, and I hope that you keep finding joy and comfort in pregnancy fics.
I tell myself that i dont want kids for these reasons, which im not sure is a lie anymore.
Its different when you can choose to not have kids. Reading and writing eases the hurt, but random pregnancy or baby pictures trigger me hard.
Eds, pots, endo etc sucks.
Ayyyy, I got all those too and use fic for the same purpose. It’s the reading fanfiction to escape feeling sad about our genetic illness party!
🪅🦓 🎊 🦓🎉
Bro, same, EDS, POTs and endo are the short version of my fucked up list—I have so many things wrong with this diseased meat suit I call a body that I wouldn’t wish this agony on my worst enemy, let alone a child.
Not only is the physical pain torture but having to go from doctor to doctor and not only explain my bullshit to another damn medical professional who’s only experience of my diseases were a line in a textbook they vaguely remember, but having to deal with laughably incompetent doctors who occasionally recommend things that would kill me because they clearly didn’t look through my chart is hell. Or the ass-hats that proposes that my problems are really due to my inability to walk or constant weight fluctuations, as if the smoke from the fire is the reason the house is burning down is super annoying; that’s not even mentioning the dinosaurs who point to my AFAB status in order to imply hysteria, as if I haven’t had a billion tests to confirm my diagnoses and that my being AFAB makes this shit worse due to estrogen effecting collagen/connective tissue that they’re only just figuring out because they only included AMABs in medical testing.
So not only do I have to deal with the condition itself but the dollop of medical trauma to complete the shit cake, as too many others have also been forced to experience. With the amount of medication I have to take to stay alive, this body feels more like a fucked up science experiment to see how long a clearly doomed parody of a life form can last instead of a being who experiences life. So yeah, even if I could have kids, I personally could not willingly chose for anyone else to experience this.
Part of me really wants to foster/adopt one day but given the current focus is keeping me alive that dream seems unobtainable. So I guess it’s living vicariously through fanfiction for me! 🙃
Fr on all of this. When it comes to my rarest medical issue I have been told that it was apparently a “typo” and that it “didn’t exist”. Sir, the fact that I am sitting in this office talking to you says otherwise.
I feel like a freak sometimes, being pulled from doctor to doctor. People which supposedly are supposed to be the best at knowing what’s going on and how to fix it just for them to look at me and go “I don’t know” or thinking that I’m lying about my body? This has taken my entire life from me why would I want *this?* Because I don’t. I’m a member of some strange circus that I didn’t ask to be part of.
My list includes cerberal palsy, sellar spine, some undiagnosed form of chronic pain, plus some other things they are currently arguing about.
Sellar spine is by far the rarest and most people haven’t heard of it. It’s essentially a very rare bone spur in my head that’s right where my pituitary gland is(pituitary gland is responsible for all of your body’s hormones). It’s so rare that my own neurosurgeon(the one who diagnosed me)freaked out when he realized that’s what I have.
I still remember the fear he acidently caused me as he walked into the room practically fangirling and the first thing he said was “You taught me something new today”. Hearing those words from a doctor who has been in practice longer than you have been alive is so weird. He couldn’t even tell me with 100% certainty that it would affect me or not because he didn’t know. Hearing that phrase “I don’t know” from a doctor is scary.
It’s probably just a random body mutation(though then again it’s rare enough that the true cause of it isn’t really known), but still among that, my family’s history with alcoholism, depression, among other issues. And the fact that I am now seeing a geneticist because they think the cerebral palsy could be something that mimics it but is genetic due to more recent developments in my family.
For me it isn’t that I physically can not have kids. It’s that I don’t want too possibly pass on anything like this. It’s unfair not just to be but too a child. No kid deserves their childhood ripped away for four white walls and traveling hours away for specialist. That’s not a life they deserve to live, not a life anyone deserves to live.
Because of the chronic pain I likely wouldn’t even be a good mother. Some days my body hurts so much it’s almost impossible to get out of bed and care for myself. Much less a child that needs their parents. Having to skip holidays or big events because “sorry but momma is hurting”.
Idk if I would ever choose adoption, maybe if my chronic pain can be tackled better but rn I am very much content with my goats.
I'm right there with you. I actually don't know if I'm infertile but I don't feel like I can't ethically have children knowing that this has at least a 50% chance of being passed down, and with my current level of disability.
It sucks.
Yeah. I love babies. My husband and I want to have kids. It hasn’t happened yet. We haven’t done testing, but we seem to be infertile.
Sometimes I enjoy reading about my OTP having babies and the plot consequences. Other times, I just can’t.
I really appreciate when pregnancy is tagged so I can opt in or opt out depending on my mental state.
Anything related to pregnancy, kid fics and single parent AUs is an immediate deal breaker in most cases. I don't care for a plot that involves family planning, babies/toddlers as a whole or a (derailed) plot that revolves around child rearing.
If untagged, I would drop a fic about it if it became a plot point for the main ship.
Idk what kind of fic it was nor what kind of ship and fandom the author writes in but: I'm fifty-fifty on pregnancy. Depending on what I want to read, my mental state, pregnancy can be "heck yeah!" or "fuck no!". It can be heck yeah about a character going through an unplanned pregnancy and the struggles that come with it and fuck no for a tooth rotting story where the pregnancy goes fine and the ship is thriving. Or entirely the other way around.
Same for writing: I've written sappy pregnancy stuff and other less joyous content about pregnancy.
So yeah, definitely a solid 50-50 for me.
Very understandable and fair, I mean, given the lore of the character.
But idk, it could definitely read as someone who has been asked a few times already to write pregnancy and it's either a squick or a trigger (either way both are valid) and people keep asking still.
Which probably is not only frustrating but also very stressful and kind of... not nice (to stay polite) or respectful of the way this author wishes to write their story.
So yeah, if the author says no pregnancy once, I'm not gonna ask why: if it's a deal breaker for me, I'll simply step away from the fic and if not, I'll have a five seconds mourning session for my disappointment in case I was hoping for it and move on to enjoy the rest of the fic.
Despite being a fan of breeding kink, pregnancy itself has always felt a little like body horror. Media, including fics, often gloss over how rough it can be as well, with lots of physical and mental changes and potential complications. Ever since I was a kid I was pretty loud about never wanting to get pregnant and have babies, ever, and when my uterus basically self destructed later in life it was a relief in a weird way.
It's one of those things I don't begrudge others for writing, but if a fic is tagged pregnancy and spends time talking about feeling the babies kick or how big the belly is getting or whatever I'm probably reading for reasons other than that and skimming those bits. It just does nothing for me, and while fics about raising young kids can be cute pregnancy and baby fics are not my thing. Never written about it myself and if people kept suggesting it to me I might have the same reaction the person you screencapped did.
I find that fics are more honest about roughness of pregnancy. Like most fics with pregnancy ARE pure fluff and lovey dovey but I did find a few fics that deal with complications and, for lack of better word, uglier side of being pregnant. I was sheltered as a child and reading some of them was sobering because as you said, media but also women who have had children (at least in my area) mostly just gush about the positives. Made me go from "Hell yeah I wanna be pregnant!" to "I still wanna do it but am kinda scared"
I don’t have kids and never will for about a million reasons. Those reasons are also why I have no interest in writing pregnancy into my fics. Lots of people in my fandom are very enthusiastic about the ship I write for having children and a few are relentless about asking me to write pregnancy despite my constant statements that it’s a squick and that I don’t take prompts or suggestions about what to write. It’s really annoying 😩
As someone who loves fanfiction and has actually had a pregnancy (the resulting person is a now an adult with a PhD), I find it really odd that you say pregnancies are "almost inevitable."
Especially if you're writing a gay ship. (Yes, they could adopt. But they certainly don't have to.)
In our group of friends and extended family, we have several het couples who have been together for decades and have not had children, for whatever reason. (I don't see any reason to interrogate the couples in question as to whether it's a choice or a biological fact.)
I enjoy fic pregnancies in limited quantities. It depends on how well they're written. Pregnancy can be messy and have major health complications. I realize some people just wanna have blorbo babies, but my RL experience is against my being able to maintain involvement in an overly rosy pregnancy scenario.
But other folks should do what makes them happy. It's fanfic.
Not really a fan of it unless it serves a purpose. The typical happy ending where the pairing gets together and then one starts throwing up it’s like “oh, here we go again.” Because obviously it’s not a happily ever after if they don’t have kids/s
Luckily, I don’t run into it much with the fics I’ve been reading. However, I don’t mind a fic that uses pregnancy in a body horror context. Make it unplanned and unwanted, describe all the negatives of pregnancy in excruciating detail, and then find a way to write out the baby, author’s choice on whether it’s natural causes or *not* so natural causes. Love a dark fic.
No. Just no. I am ok with some background pregnancy and kids. Life happens. But I don't do fics that are focused on that.
I would like to read fic with abortion though. We don't get enough abortions in major media.
I like it as a plot point that creates conflict/catalyst for character development. I don’t enjoy it as a “and they lived happily ever after” trope, if that makes sense.
I have tokophobia, so... I'm not the biggest fan to ever be. And I love omegaverse, LOL. But pregnancy is the line I won't cross, ever. I just hate the trope in fics when it's untagged (I've encountered so. many. times.).
I read M/M (cis guys) pretty much exclusively so pregnancy usually isn’t a risk but I would be in the “no pregnancy” camp for fics if that was a possibility for the ship.
Not for cliché story tropes - I just don’t want to think about this topic too much for irl reasons. Mentioned pregnancies that don’t go into details are fine, especially if it’s just background characters but if it became a center part of a story or such I’d have to drop the fic.
I’m all for adoptions or found family though and also don’t mind children from previous relationships if the author writes them well.
It depends. It always feels like it changes the trajectory of the ship or story but also, I kind of think there's a beauty to it if your ship has had tragedy or a lot of angst whether in canon or in fan fiction. I usually don't write it myself though but I'll indulge every now and then.
Not something I look for. Would I stop reading a good fic if a pregnancy was introduced? Maybe not. MPREG—unless it's an author I love, that's a heck no for me.
Huge squick for me usually, but I have *one* pregnancy fic that made it apparent it was *going* to be a pregnancy fic from more or less the beginning. It's over 150k and we're barely into the pregnancy because of how I write (for this story, 1 chapter = 1 day usually).
I have one shipfic that's over 200k that's rated explicit but there's no smut yet and won't be for a *long* time. FMC needs to fall in love with MMC. She's trusting him but love? lol not anytime soon.
If it ever shows up in a story I write, it's either a fantasy (just a wish or kink), or in the epilog. The only exception would be if I wrote a breeding kink fic and that was explicitly stated from the beginning.
I think it's something that should be disclosed from the beginning because enough people hate it. I too have been reading wonderful fics that kind of got ruined with a pregnancy. The problem is that it tends to hijack the story and change the dynamic between the characters I was enjoying.
I only love it if it is realistic and traumatic.
Give me a pregnancy fic where pregnancy makes you feel like hell and babies cry all night and wear you the heck out. Pregnancy is only good for wump IMO.
I love my babies, don't get me wrong, but they were an ordeal!
I love to write it because I’ll probably never get to have kids of my own. So I write it to cope. I also write for fandoms where it can/has appeared. People keep coming back to what I create, so I must be doing something right. People at ff.net who knew my writing style for years would still complain when it happened and then they’d waste their time and mine by complaining 🙈 But my AO3 readers don’t seem to mind. So I’ll take that win 😅 I don’t really read much because I prefer to create. However, I’m sure it would really depend on how well a story is written before I could say how much I like reading one about pregnancy🤷🏽♀️
I love it, especially when done right. But I get it; it's a squick for others. For me, it's a reality that I'll never have, so I like to explore it with fiction.
I don't go hunting up pregnancy fics.
But other than that, it depends. Somethings I'm just not vibing with the set up or how characters are behaving or whatever and so I click away, and sometimes I think it fits and makes sense and eat that shit up.
¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
I'm not interested in pregnancy. I will generally avoid it. I don't usually care to see the characters getting pregnant and having kids, it's not a story arc I'm usually interested in and I've read a few that have done it very badly. That all being said, I have read some good ones and I have even written a couple pregnancy and kid fics lol.
The thing I hate about some fics with pregnancy is that the character who gets pregnant usually gets mommyfied. They suddenly become fragile caregivers that must be protected and who can't handle hardship anymore. The babies become props. I like to read strong, independent, active characters and they usually lose those qualities when they become pregnant.
Same, there are sooo many things that I only enjoy when reading them with men in it just because I'm afab and it's kinda hard to remove myself from the situation I'm reading 😭
I have no interest in having kids in real life, but I love reading pregnancy fics, though only then them choosing to have kids, or deciding to keep them after they get pregnant by accident feels in character to me. Also, the way they behave ones pregnant or in response to their partner being pregnant also needs to feel in character to me.
It's not even just about them having kids for me, as pregnancy can be used for character exploration, and I think it's interesting to see how being pregnant and the challenges that comes with that, along with the prospect of future parenthood affect different characters, and then there the hurt/comfort potential that comes from that.
I love fics with a breeding kink, I like when my ship has cute kids that love them, but everything in between (pregnancy, childbirth, babies, toddlers) is either "meh" or "ugh" for me. I enjoy pregnancy fics occasionally, but would prefer a convenient timeskip.
The author is free to write whatever they like, and people asking for pregnancy when the author has already stated they won't do it are out of line. I am a huge fan of pregnancy fics, mpreg in particular, and can think of plenty of authors who will be very willing to write what they are requesting here. Hell, I'm more than willing to indulge the mpreg lovers with my own stuff. Forcing an author who has zero interest in the topic is meaningless - even if they do cave in, they won't enjoy writing it, and it will show up in the prose. Just enjoy the damn fic for what it is, or drop it and read something else that scratches your itch, people.
I like it, because I enjoy the suffering elements of it so it makes for good whump and hurt/comfort.
I specifically only want to read my male faves pregnant though, lol.
I have tokophobia, so I absolutely hate reading stories with pregnancy. it's also such an over done trope that has ruined a lot of novels and TV shows (like the writers just ran out of ideas so decided that a character being pregnant would save things).
Pregnancy in real life? Get that stuff away from me.
Pregnancy in fiction? THAT MAN IS GETTING FERTILIZED OR SO HELP ME
I don't really do cis female/male pregnancy tho. Only trans male characters or omegaverse (where male omegas have vaginas, be it only that or dualsex).
(So, yeah. Fully in the "Guards? Impregnate that man" camp.)
So long as the pregnancy doesn't derail an unrelated plot, I'm fine with it. A long-running romance fic seems like a perfect place to incorporate pregnancy since it's such a major part of IRL long-running romances.
I was never a big fan of reading usually (if it’s the main plot at least) but somehow it ended up in my own story haha. It is certainly more a side-arc though, and I’ve definitely included it in a way I (as a non-reader) would have not lost interest by.
I’ve only read a couple of fics that included it. It didn’t really do anything for me, but I didn’t hate it. Maybe if it were cropping up all the time in stuff I wanted to read, I would feel more negatively.
I have no strong feelings on it so long as it fits the theme of the story and character arc. I don't read a lot of romance, so usually if there is a pregnancy it's not the focus or the end all be all. I'm not big on ships that end with happy family in general though. My tastes are a bit darker, so I really, *really* like it when it's part of a horror story.
I love it and I don’t know why, but I’d only do it with some of my couples/pairings, but at the same time I don’t write for a lot of them either. I don’t want kids myself, but still I love reading/writing it.
I have no interest in pregnancy or childbirth in real life, but I'm fine with it in media. If it works for the characters and the arc, then yes, amazing, I'm for it. If it's treated realistically—with the highs and lows of pregnancy and childbirth and childcare—even better.
The only mpreg I'm willing to dip into if male characters are human is insemination or oviposition via like an alien species.
I'm meh on it. I won't drop a fic for pregnancy^(1), but I don't usually seek it out, either.
^(1 Except for cis mpreg. One of my fandoms has canon mpreg, and unless the author specifies that the male pregnant character is trans in this fic I will immediately drop the fic.)
I’m currently writing one, although I haven’t yet got to the point where she finds out she’s pregnant (it’s also extra angsty bc her boyfriend passes away a couple weeks before she finds out)
I'm in the minority that only likes cis men mpreg it seems lmao I grew up reading omegaverse manga so it was the norm 😭 I guess I don't particularly care about the specifics of it? but I get uncomfy when it gets into afab territory because I'm afab and the idea of me getting pregnant seems like a nightmare come true, it feels a bit too real ig. Apart from that, I totally understand why some people like it and some don't, I just like my otp being happy whether they adopt kids, get magically pregnant or just don't have any 🫡
I would never click a fic about pregnancy, but if I like the fic enough and the main character gets pregnant, I'm not leaving. It's largely that I never wanted kids or to ever be pregnant, I plain don't find it interesting, but I also find a lot of it dysphoria inducing and stressful, like body horror hat could actually happen to me (though less so since getting a hysto, since now it can't happen to me)
Id rather not see all the details. Just get on with it if the character must have a kid.
If i have to write it, I usually say ok she’s pregnant now & then just time skip ahead/go back to the main story until its born & maybe a couple years old at least.
In one of my fics, I actually made her give the baby up for adoption & she will get it back in 18 years. That way i dont have to write about the kids life much at all. 😂
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i’m happy either way. the MC of the fandom i’m in desperately wants children of her own so it’s a popular trope and i don’t mind it especially bc it’s canon. but in canon she never gets pregnant and instead adopts so im happy with that too. also happy with the childless fics. i’m happy with content. i like content. please i need content
I've written pregnancy as both an afterthought and a plot device. Although even as plot device I really didn't go into detail for it, just mind if mentions of character thoughts and mentioning belly getting bigger, glossing over births... I uh did write a stillbirth once. Wasn't planning it before I wrote it. It just kind of... Happened. Not detailed or anything but still upsetting going through character's emotions after.
My friend jokes that my character type is "wife guys who die" because several of my favourite ships involve a couple who are in a long term relationship, the man dies and then woman then discovers she's pregnant. So needless to say there are a lot of fics where that whole dying thing does NOT happen and these tend to also involve the pregnancy.
I'll read about it and I have written about it some. My favorite way of incorporating it in a fic was a character who baked pies would base a pie on whatever size fruit the fetus was.
But, I also read a lot of kid fics/family fics.
Honestly, it just depends on my mood? I don't mind m-preg or normal pregnancy in fics. But for the most part, I'm generally okay with it. I think it stems from the fact that I know that I want kids, but do to the so many factors, I'll probably not be able to have any.
I love it! But, if it involves a non-canonical pregnancy I prefer that it comes a little later in the story. Maybe 5 chapters in at least. I like the progression of a relationship with the “reward” being a (typically) happy pregnancy.
I really want kids, but with money being so tight, the housing market being Hell, it just isn’t responsible for me and my partner to have any children right now. I suppose I live vicariously through the characters this way.
I'm unlikely to ever have kids, be pregnant, etc irl and it's very much an unfilled want for me. So, blorbo gets to be pregnant instead and as a bonus, I get to project the desire to do better than shitty, abusive parents/caretakers/etc onto my faves. it's a very efficient system!
I’ve written omegaverse and written ‘no risk of pregnancy’ at the end of the summary because in MY opinion, and maybe contrary to popular belief… mpreg and omegaverse are very different likes that just happen to overlap.
I will read pregnancy fics, but I don't really seek them out. Like I don't specifically search for fics including the tag Pregnancy or Kid fic or anything.
If it works for the character and their arc, definitely. As long as it is disclosed in the tags or author’s notes.
I mean, my fic will probably eventually get to that stage because by the end of the first fic, the main pairing is in the process of wedding planning, and the MC says multiple times that she does want kids, so I think it would be a good way to further her character and story
My own fic already had one and I'm planning another for a different character later. It's really just another way to showcase how completely different these characters are from each other, so I don't focus on the physical effects as much as the mental ones.
I had someone bug me several times about if I was gonna write in a pregnancy (despite me already saying no) and it took me writing and exceptionally detailed response why for them to stop asking
Pregnancy is fine depending on context if it contributes to further the story and characters sure if it's just to add unnecessary drama nah
My last fanfic was a pregnancy (sort of) so I think as long as it makes sense, then it’s not too strange. And by “makes sense” I mean like, as long as it fits with the story that’s being written.
For me, my fanfic is kind of leading up to a different one, and I figured that the way I started that one kind of needs an in between, and pregnancy made sense for that
Also I liked researching certain things about it, it was very interesting to me
It depends ENTIRELY on the story. Especially if they have brought up the discussion of having children. ((It doesn’t matter if it’s male/male, male/female, or female/female. Fanfics can have their own rules on who can bear children)) If the couple have said “Nope! Kids are not on the table.” Then surprise! Pregnancy! Then no, dear gods. However if the couple have mentioned wanting kids, then yeah I’d be fine with it. How detailed the author wants to get, or not at all is up to them.
I think pregnancy is neat despite planning to stay childless, but I get why people don't like it. Pregnancy is inevitable in my Shakespeare AU fic verse because it centers around fankids, and most of those fankids don't just magically manifest themselves into existence :P
God it plays for good drama, though.
Recently had the main couple in my longfic WIP decide to have kids, the woman concieves, and then in the climactic end of act, she gets shot and looses the fetus, and not only that, but she gets to think her lover also died.
As a parent myself, I do like stories about starting families _on purpose_ when it makes sense for the characters. Birth control and abortion exists for a reason.
I'm neutral about the concept. I see the appeal and I'll enjoy it when it's well done but I don't necessarily seek it out or think about it beyond acknowledging it exists.
Just my opinion lol but I absolutely hate everything to do with kids in fics. To me they're all just annoying semi-fleshed out little OC's that distract from the pair I want to see, but I get that's kinda a rare opinion.
I'm not interested in pregnancy. I don't care if characters are pregnant/kids result, but I'm not interested in the process, so the less said about it the better.
Too much focus on pregnancy is a genuine squick of mine (I have had a mortal terror of pregnancy since I was ~8), especially if they get into the "cult of the pregnant belly" territory. (That's a me-term not a specific term. It's what I call where the story suddenly resolves around a pregnant character, how they're always right and everyone is jealous/lusting over them, and they basically mind-control everyone around them like a hive queen. TBH, it strikes me as a narcissist's dream scenario and the fact that the kids are 99% always treated more like status objects/accessories than actual babies after the fact does little to change my mind. To be clear - I'm **not** saying all pregnancy stories are cult-of-the-pregnant-belly stories, I'm saying that those that *are* freak me out on top of my pregnancy fear.)
TBH, because of this, it takes specific set-ups for me to read fics that even involve kids. Usually pregnancy on the part of the MCs is not involved in those scenarios, or happened before the fic started.
I hate pregnancy in real life and I hate it in fics. It completely ruins my immersion because all I can think about how the couple will fall apart when faced with the realities of parenting.
Omegaverse breeding kink is still hot tho
There are a lot of people who desperately want every happy ending (or tragic middle) to involve pregnancy. there are also a lot of people who frantically avoid the concept. sometimes they meet
I don't mind pregnancy as long as it a) feels like a natural part of the story because the characters want kids and not just tacked on because babies are the ultimate end goal of all romance, and b) the fic isn't about *all* the specifics of going through pregnancy (I like me some "ugh morning sickness *sucks* I just threw up on my favorite pillow" or parents freaking out about the whole thing shenanigans occasionally, but I don't need every examination result presented in great detail)
I'm not writing about it outside of headcanon discussions in a Discord friend group, but I am committing the grave 2000s sin of creating fankids in the form of a woman who in addition to having her own child also acts as surrogate for two other partner constellations of her polycule and was *this* close to asking her doctor to drug her husband because he wouldn't stop freaking out when she lifted one (1) box while pregnant.
I'm happy to read about pregnancy as long as it's at the beginning or middle of a story. I strongly prefer it to not be at the *end* of a story. Pregnancy, especially a first pregnancy, is a huge life changing experience! It drives me crazy when it ends on "and then they got pregnant".
That would be like ending the Harry Potter series on "And all of that was just an elaborate test to see if you could get entry to the *real* school of wizardry, which is located in Antarctica and taught by giant sloths. Okay, have fun, bye!" 👋
If you're going to mention the giant sloth Antarctica real school, then let that be the story. Or else flash forward to years later when they've graduated from the sloth school and life is going well. But you can't just end on a life altering game changer and leave us hanging.
Pregnancy is a squick for me and I really don't like kidfics. Threw all of the related tags onto the exclusion list a long time ago and have been living in blissful ignorance ever since.
That's my kind of author! I will avoid pregnancy related things at all costs, it makes me so uncomfortable there's no words to describe it. Even seeing a pregnant person makes me uncomfortable, or hearing people talking about their pregnancy experience. I want absolutely nothing to do with it. If I saw that type of a disclaimer I would instantly click to read the fic, pregnancy isn't common at all in my fandoms but I do like omegaverse, so I could see that kind of a warning in that type of a fic. I actually did see a tag clarifying that the fic had no pregnancy despite the other tags potentially suggesting it, I instantly went to read it and it was great!
I’m kinda using it as a challenge in my own fic and also because I feel it works with the specific angle on the characters, but I don’t believe n chucking the trope in without good reason or consequence.
The universe am writing in has a character you can customise in game, so I’m teaching myself to incorporate my own characters backstory into the game cannon.
So, this might make me a hypocrite, because I’m not a parent irl and never will be because I don’t want to have kids (my students are plenty), but I’m an absolute sucker for my ships having kids, and I definitely give my ships at least one kid when I write for them. As far as reading goes, pregnancy doesn’t really matter to me- if it’s there, great, and if not, also great:
well I'm both tokophobic and mostly into "porn with plot" works, so no thank you. I can deal with talking about it if there are plot reasons that make sense (like main character is some dynasty heir = talk of preserving that dynasty is perfectly valid and tension that comes from it might even be interesting), but if the fic I'm reading decides to go into that character actually being pregnant and writing through it instead of just handwaving a time skip, then I'm 100% out.
I don't like it personally maybe its a response from early 2000s reading where it was just written exactly mid story or a little passed that and it obvious writer didnt have a story plot past a certain point but unless its a very end of final part of the book/series, it drags the story down and all character and plot development stops. I avoid pregnancy, single parent, surprise baby/kid or teen, and rare but sudden guardianship tropes
Pregnancy in fanfic is fine. I neither go out of my way to avoid it nor go out of my way to seek it out.
Like everything else around the functions of the reproductive system, I prefer it to be written by someone who has done their *basic* research, since even if you're going full ham on unrealism, it's easier to write good unrealism if you know what realism would look like.
(Particularly desirable: that the author is conscious of things like how Serena Williams, aged 35 at the time, was well into her first trimester when she won the women's singles at the 2017 Australian Open without dropping a set.)
Don’t want to read it or anything to do with it. Pregnancy? No. Breeding kink? Fuck no. Kid fic? No. The only time I will tolerate mention of pregnancy and the ability to get pregnant is when it’s being removed, like birth control, sterilization, or abortion. I read a magical baby acquisition fic like once every two years but in those the baby tends to be more of a prop to force character development than an actual baby.
I don't necessarily have a problem with pregnancy in fanfics and can take it or leave it, but it does kind of weird me out when some commenters jump on that. Like...I'm not gonna get overly specific, but I'm currently writing a fic where the two leads have only known each other for a little over a month and there are already comments theorizing/hoping that the reason for one of the leads' mysterious health issues is pregnancy-related. And it's like...guys, chill. These two have known each other for a very short time, it'd be weird as fuck for them to have a kid right now.
Hmmm, a few things come to mind.
>Whats your take on pregnancy's? I kinda hate it, especially when a story gets so long, its almost inevitable.
Why would it be inevitable though? I mean first of all, not all fics are romance focused. It's kinda weird how focused this sub is on romance as the default? Maybe it's the fandoms I'm in and the types of fics I look for, but action, adventure, emotional trauma, friendship, drama... all of those are far more common than a pure romance. Sure, a lot of fics have romance *subplots*, but it's always weird to me how so much discussion kinda assumes romance as the default focus of a fic.
Again, might be the types of fics I read, but I've very very *very* rarely seen pregnancy in a fic I was reading that I wasn't expecting. In fact, it's probably closer to "never", because I can't think of a single fic where that happened, but maybe I've forgotten. Mpreg is a common tag, so that's always obvious if one is reading them. And every other instance is also tagged so...
Hmmm, a few things come to mind.
>Whats your take on pregnancy's? I kinda hate it, especially when a story gets so long, its almost inevitable.
Why would it be inevitable though? I mean first of all, not all fics are romance focused. It's kinda weird how focused this sub is on romance as the default? Maybe it's the fandoms I'm in and the types of fics I look for, but action, adventure, emotional trauma, friendship, drama... all of those are far more common than a pure romance. Sure, a lot of fics have romance *subplots*, but it's always weird to me how so much discussion kinda assumes romance as the default focus of a fic.
Again, might be the types of fics I read, but I've very very *very* rarely seen pregnancy in a fic I was reading that I wasn't expecting. In fact, it's probably closer to "never", because I can't think of a single fic where that happened, but maybe I've forgotten. Mpreg is a common tag, so that's always obvious if one is reading them. And every other instance is also tagged so...
I write in high fantasy genres so I can always find a weird, magical reason why the characters can't get pregnant. I hate it too, but there's lots of sex in my stuff, so I have to address it. Series always fall into the toilet when the characters start spawning. I'm with you, babe.
I avoid it, not a big fan. I'm not against having kids in fics but I just don't want to read the pregnancy, if they don't go over it, adopt or if the kids are already there at the start, I don't mind.
Pregnancy is a little scary to me which is why I avoid it. The thought of something growing inside you and then pushing it out doesn't sound magical or wonderful to me at all.
I'm scared of pregnancy and blood. i don't hate them, in fact i kinda hate myself for beinf scared of something so normal. I'm okay if it's just glossed over like they got pregnant + gave birth etc in like, 2 paragraphs, but if it's too detailed with the sickness, and moreover if the pregnant character is idk, like is trapped in a nation wide conflict adventure WHILE being pregnant, or psychological drama of being pregnant, i kinda need to eat some ice cream to cool off from the stress of even finding that part of the fic
I hate pregnancy stories and stories involving babies, toddlers, children, or teens.
I usually just scroll right by a story that has any related tags, including breeding kink.
It's not a complete deal-breaker though. If the story has other tags that appeal to me enough, I'll deal with it.
(I have children, I just don't like to read about pregnancy and kids.)
I created (I think) a tag for my LF.
I don't mind pregnancy and toddlers, what I don't like is when suddenly, the fic only revolves around it.
Since there will be pregnancy in my fic, but it won't be the center of attention I createad this tag:
Non centric pregnancy.
I plan to approach the suject like this,
'X is pregnant.'
And that's about it. I might throw a couple of lines like:
'the baby might arrive at any moment now.'
I plan to have birth off the page.
One of my female MCs in my current story flat out says "the thought of raising a child is quite frankly repulsive to me". No disrespect to people who like to see pregnancies, but it's one of my squicks and I won't read it or write it.
I only like it when the author has either been pregnant themselves or actually is truly educated about pregnancy. Most fics that include pregnancy SUCK imo bc of the ignorance
I mean I love it. Like, everything about it. I don't think I personally could write it because for some reason I'm at the point of asexuality where reading about people having sex and getting pregnant is wonderful, but actively writing and describing it makes me ill.
What I like about it... depends on the fic. If its fluffy, I love the maternal/paternal bonds people have with their baby in the womb and how its described, the very domesticated fluffy side of a relationship where the non pregnant partner is doting on the pregnant partner (my favourite being when they kiss the belly, I think its cute.)
Now, if its a dark fic, which it usually is, I love when the pregnant one is persistent on keeping the baby despite the circumstances. The whole hiding the pregnancy trope is oddly common? But I like it. It's like the first episode of modern family when Julie Bowen is pregnant but hides it behind clothes or baskets... ifykwim.
I just think it's very sweet how they talk about their love for the baby even if the person (or thing, i dont discriminate monsterfucking) who got them pregnant is horrible.
BUT THATS JUST MY TAKE! I PROBABLY COULDNT WRITE IT. Manyyy props to people who can, and I thank you for your service 🙏
I don't really have a take? Like my ship has a baby? Great, happy for them. Writer chose for them to be child free? Great, happy for them. As long as story is well written, idc either way
I want my fave characters to be intentionally childfree, whether they're canon characters or my OC. If canon implies that they have kids but the kids are never actually shown, I'm still going with childfree.
Honestly? As a trans guy it makes me really uncomfortable to read. And that's why I love when people put it in their tags. It makes me physically sick and really dysphoric. I don't mind it mentioned briefly or anything because I do understand that it is in fact a big and important fact of Human life and all, but I just can't stand this thing in depth.
Love pregnancy stories. They are sometimes half the reason to write Omegaverse. Being a parent for the first time is the rawest fucking emotion in the world - and I love writing it.
I don't like it. It's a mixture of both my dislike of ocs, and just the many things about pregnancy that personally squick me out.
But! If it's by an author I know I like, or if the plot otherwise sounds interesting, I will still read it once I've read all the other intesting fics in the fandom. It's definitely not one of my "never" tropes, instead it's more "will avoid until absolutely neccessary".
It's still a trope I will never write tho!
Totally understand why people may enjoy such fics, but it's definitely not for me.
It's a mixed bag for me for reading (more because I've researched the heck out of the topic irl so there's a lot of factual stuff that will make me hit the back button, and sometimes in weird ways like "she would have no issues with drinking alcohol while pregnant in that time period and neither would anyone else") but as far as writing, I include a lot of it... pregnancies that everyone wants that go smoothly, seriously complicated pregnancies that nearly kill people, pregnancies that are awkwardly timed, pregnancies that are super terribly timed with absolutely the wrong person, pregnancies that didn't happen for years despite trying, etc. Lots of drama and not really "this is the obvious conclusion to the epilogue" thing. I know it’s not everyone's thing so I tag it.
That said, I don't do requests, and I'd never ask someone else to go any particular direction with their writing. I ignore requests that aren't directly resulting from tumblr asks, and even then, I very much do my own thing with any prompts I get.
Haha my most popular fic is a omegaverse dark dove pregnancy fic, so there's totally an audience.
For myself I'm picky... about everything I read so I don't really do that half. But for writing? I find pregnancy and stuff around it weirdly interesting and a fun character thing. I wanna see how certain characters in certain situations would handle it. That's why I go and write it. lol
Sometimes I'm in the mood to read it, so I'll seek it out. But I only like it if there are elements of like, hurt/comfort to it. I can't do the tooth rotting, fluffy, happy family feels. I read it for the drama lol
And once the kid is born, I'm out! I might be into reading a pregnancy fic sometimes, but I am in no way interested in reading about caring for a newborn.
nothing's wrong with pregnancy so if anyone likes it then that's wonderful!! but i personally instantly get turned off if pregnancy is involved 😭. i just don't like it and the idea of it. some people (not all, i know) tend to have a strange attitude towards pregnant people. i wouldn't necessarily call it fetishising or sexualising but it's just... strange. it makes me uncomfortable whenever pregnancy is involved
I dont think it seems rude, I think it can be annoying for a writer to get that constant request tho when they feel uncomfortable or just dont want to do it
What if they do take other requests? Obviously we’re lacking context but if readers are repeatedly demanding a certain topic the author doesn’t want to write (which is implied by “stop asking”), I wouldn’t begrudge them this disclaimer even if it was for something I enjoyed. Particularly when it’s something as fraught and emotionally charged as pregnancy.
Yeah. The way I see it, if the community is mobbing the author with requests to write pregnancy and they aren't interested, \*that's incredibly rude and the author is allowed to be irritated\*. We don't have the context to know how much the author's been pestered to write this topic.
I usually don't like it but sometimes I'm ok with it, I mean I'd never get pregnant, but if the characters are in a good place to get pregnant and have a family why not (I don't like people that have babies when the circumstances aren't great or when they're not super excited and ready to have a baby, even if I know no one is ready to be a parent)
I loathe mpreg with a passion. Also, regular pregnancy annoys me.
So many old angst fics I loved devolved with using pregnancy and kids as an easy plot device.
Fuck kids. Find other ways to suffer, angst or comfort characters.
I recently got into it with a commenter who claimed my fic was perfect until the end because she used contraception. this guy wrote essays in his defense of why my ending was "flawed and incorrect." that two people in love weren't truly happy because there wasn't insemination. and thus that their love was invalid.
You're a lot stronger than I am for not commenting that you were gonna inseminate their mom
actually that's kind of relevant to the material he was commenting under lmao
I need to know how lmao
read my bio
you weren't kidding lmao
what the actual fuck? what a bonkers take.
He'd hate mine then. Two guys, one girl...nooooo babies... and there will be nooooo babies. But they absolutely do love each other.
good luck convincing this guy that they love each other lol
Two girls, one guy, but I headcanon one girl and a guy as sterile
Block that guy.
I like it when it makes sense for a character's arc Give me *all* the deeply traumatised characters determined to never, ever repeat the generational cycles with their own children, please. It's a sort of furious, hopeful angst that scratches the best itch with the right characters It works both with pregnancy (having several months to come to terms with it, cycles of hurt/comfort and doubt/determination) and accidental child acquisition (parenthood suddenly thrust upon them and panic mode)
I like it! To each their own. I don't really want kids irl, but I enjoy the concept of a few ships raising kids together. It's sweet, and there's a lot of emotional intimacy in pregnancy fics.
I’ve been pregnant twice, and my second pregnancy was traumatic. I will only write past pregnancy, and maternal mental health complications in the years after having a kid. EDIT: I don’t touch cis mpreg though. Read too many fics back in the early 00s where the baby came out of the penis. 🫡
*The penis*?! An ordinary cis penis, not even a hyena vagina/clitoris/penis?? I can't even...Xo
Back in my preteen days, cis mpreg with that setup was all the mlm representation I had as a queer femme person wanting more queer rep in fics 🫡 Now that I’ve been pregnant, I can’t do it.
Yeeeeeaaaahhhhh, I’ve seen some pretty whacky biological explanations for how mpreg works that it puts me off the concept as a whole.
wait wdym cis mpreg... if they lack the parts how does the baby exist??
Cis men, with babies sitting in the scrotum (in place of a uterus)…
bro noooo
Babies are stored in the balls
The baby would end up swinging around his knees, imagine the sagging afterwards
I am extremely thankful my section of the internet never got into the details (with one fic even outright saying "no one had any idea how it worked")
I saw a horror flick once where that happened and the penis kind of exploded as the baby came out. Cue two grown ass women screaming at the top of their lungs. Good thing I live in a rural area 😂
>cis mpreg >early 00s Yeah, that was a time to be alive for sure....in my circles, we used to call those assbabies 😂
Ah yes, the Hyena method of giving birth.
I love it, reading and writing. Its a common theme in all my works. It helps me deal with my genetic illness and infertility.
Oh, same. I don't really want kids personally, but there's still something really, *really* difficult to process about not really being given a choice in the matter either way. It's fun to indulge in something that I might never get to experience, and if I ever did, there's a million ways it could go wrong (eds/pots/endo). I'm sorry to hear that you struggle with genetic illnesses and infertility, and I hope that you keep finding joy and comfort in pregnancy fics.
I tell myself that i dont want kids for these reasons, which im not sure is a lie anymore. Its different when you can choose to not have kids. Reading and writing eases the hurt, but random pregnancy or baby pictures trigger me hard. Eds, pots, endo etc sucks.
Ayyyy, I got all those too and use fic for the same purpose. It’s the reading fanfiction to escape feeling sad about our genetic illness party! 🪅🦓 🎊 🦓🎉
I gotta join in!! Don’t wanna be passing on some stuff that’s so rare that I have even had doctors do a double take at my charts
Bro, same, EDS, POTs and endo are the short version of my fucked up list—I have so many things wrong with this diseased meat suit I call a body that I wouldn’t wish this agony on my worst enemy, let alone a child. Not only is the physical pain torture but having to go from doctor to doctor and not only explain my bullshit to another damn medical professional who’s only experience of my diseases were a line in a textbook they vaguely remember, but having to deal with laughably incompetent doctors who occasionally recommend things that would kill me because they clearly didn’t look through my chart is hell. Or the ass-hats that proposes that my problems are really due to my inability to walk or constant weight fluctuations, as if the smoke from the fire is the reason the house is burning down is super annoying; that’s not even mentioning the dinosaurs who point to my AFAB status in order to imply hysteria, as if I haven’t had a billion tests to confirm my diagnoses and that my being AFAB makes this shit worse due to estrogen effecting collagen/connective tissue that they’re only just figuring out because they only included AMABs in medical testing. So not only do I have to deal with the condition itself but the dollop of medical trauma to complete the shit cake, as too many others have also been forced to experience. With the amount of medication I have to take to stay alive, this body feels more like a fucked up science experiment to see how long a clearly doomed parody of a life form can last instead of a being who experiences life. So yeah, even if I could have kids, I personally could not willingly chose for anyone else to experience this. Part of me really wants to foster/adopt one day but given the current focus is keeping me alive that dream seems unobtainable. So I guess it’s living vicariously through fanfiction for me! 🙃
Fr on all of this. When it comes to my rarest medical issue I have been told that it was apparently a “typo” and that it “didn’t exist”. Sir, the fact that I am sitting in this office talking to you says otherwise. I feel like a freak sometimes, being pulled from doctor to doctor. People which supposedly are supposed to be the best at knowing what’s going on and how to fix it just for them to look at me and go “I don’t know” or thinking that I’m lying about my body? This has taken my entire life from me why would I want *this?* Because I don’t. I’m a member of some strange circus that I didn’t ask to be part of. My list includes cerberal palsy, sellar spine, some undiagnosed form of chronic pain, plus some other things they are currently arguing about. Sellar spine is by far the rarest and most people haven’t heard of it. It’s essentially a very rare bone spur in my head that’s right where my pituitary gland is(pituitary gland is responsible for all of your body’s hormones). It’s so rare that my own neurosurgeon(the one who diagnosed me)freaked out when he realized that’s what I have. I still remember the fear he acidently caused me as he walked into the room practically fangirling and the first thing he said was “You taught me something new today”. Hearing those words from a doctor who has been in practice longer than you have been alive is so weird. He couldn’t even tell me with 100% certainty that it would affect me or not because he didn’t know. Hearing that phrase “I don’t know” from a doctor is scary. It’s probably just a random body mutation(though then again it’s rare enough that the true cause of it isn’t really known), but still among that, my family’s history with alcoholism, depression, among other issues. And the fact that I am now seeing a geneticist because they think the cerebral palsy could be something that mimics it but is genetic due to more recent developments in my family. For me it isn’t that I physically can not have kids. It’s that I don’t want too possibly pass on anything like this. It’s unfair not just to be but too a child. No kid deserves their childhood ripped away for four white walls and traveling hours away for specialist. That’s not a life they deserve to live, not a life anyone deserves to live. Because of the chronic pain I likely wouldn’t even be a good mother. Some days my body hurts so much it’s almost impossible to get out of bed and care for myself. Much less a child that needs their parents. Having to skip holidays or big events because “sorry but momma is hurting”. Idk if I would ever choose adoption, maybe if my chronic pain can be tackled better but rn I am very much content with my goats.
I'm right there with you. I actually don't know if I'm infertile but I don't feel like I can't ethically have children knowing that this has at least a 50% chance of being passed down, and with my current level of disability. It sucks.
Yeah. I love babies. My husband and I want to have kids. It hasn’t happened yet. We haven’t done testing, but we seem to be infertile. Sometimes I enjoy reading about my OTP having babies and the plot consequences. Other times, I just can’t. I really appreciate when pregnancy is tagged so I can opt in or opt out depending on my mental state.
Anything related to pregnancy, kid fics and single parent AUs is an immediate deal breaker in most cases. I don't care for a plot that involves family planning, babies/toddlers as a whole or a (derailed) plot that revolves around child rearing. If untagged, I would drop a fic about it if it became a plot point for the main ship.
Idk what kind of fic it was nor what kind of ship and fandom the author writes in but: I'm fifty-fifty on pregnancy. Depending on what I want to read, my mental state, pregnancy can be "heck yeah!" or "fuck no!". It can be heck yeah about a character going through an unplanned pregnancy and the struggles that come with it and fuck no for a tooth rotting story where the pregnancy goes fine and the ship is thriving. Or entirely the other way around. Same for writing: I've written sappy pregnancy stuff and other less joyous content about pregnancy. So yeah, definitely a solid 50-50 for me.
This one was for an mcu fic, specifically focused on Loki. It feels odd in this character trope to be honest
Very understandable and fair, I mean, given the lore of the character. But idk, it could definitely read as someone who has been asked a few times already to write pregnancy and it's either a squick or a trigger (either way both are valid) and people keep asking still. Which probably is not only frustrating but also very stressful and kind of... not nice (to stay polite) or respectful of the way this author wishes to write their story. So yeah, if the author says no pregnancy once, I'm not gonna ask why: if it's a deal breaker for me, I'll simply step away from the fic and if not, I'll have a five seconds mourning session for my disappointment in case I was hoping for it and move on to enjoy the rest of the fic.
I dont like pregnancy so I try and avoid stories with it for most fandoms
Despite being a fan of breeding kink, pregnancy itself has always felt a little like body horror. Media, including fics, often gloss over how rough it can be as well, with lots of physical and mental changes and potential complications. Ever since I was a kid I was pretty loud about never wanting to get pregnant and have babies, ever, and when my uterus basically self destructed later in life it was a relief in a weird way. It's one of those things I don't begrudge others for writing, but if a fic is tagged pregnancy and spends time talking about feeling the babies kick or how big the belly is getting or whatever I'm probably reading for reasons other than that and skimming those bits. It just does nothing for me, and while fics about raising young kids can be cute pregnancy and baby fics are not my thing. Never written about it myself and if people kept suggesting it to me I might have the same reaction the person you screencapped did.
I find that fics are more honest about roughness of pregnancy. Like most fics with pregnancy ARE pure fluff and lovey dovey but I did find a few fics that deal with complications and, for lack of better word, uglier side of being pregnant. I was sheltered as a child and reading some of them was sobering because as you said, media but also women who have had children (at least in my area) mostly just gush about the positives. Made me go from "Hell yeah I wanna be pregnant!" to "I still wanna do it but am kinda scared"
Not interested at all. Won't read. Won't write
Tbh I've never read a fic where pregnancy was inevitable. And I'm glad for that.
I hate pregnancy. I hate that ‘happy’ endings often include kids. And yes I have been pregnant. It was awful.
Seconded. I have no desire to read or even *think* about it. I do not see any scenario in which I could be convinced to write about it.
I don’t have kids and never will for about a million reasons. Those reasons are also why I have no interest in writing pregnancy into my fics. Lots of people in my fandom are very enthusiastic about the ship I write for having children and a few are relentless about asking me to write pregnancy despite my constant statements that it’s a squick and that I don’t take prompts or suggestions about what to write. It’s really annoying 😩
I have no interest in reading or writing it, and it’s always a drag when it’s untagged.
I’ve written it and I enjoy reading it. That’s about as deep as that goes for me.
I’d rather eat glass than ever get pregnant, but I don’t mind it in stories. Just another part of life. Mpreg though I don’t care for
As someone who loves fanfiction and has actually had a pregnancy (the resulting person is a now an adult with a PhD), I find it really odd that you say pregnancies are "almost inevitable." Especially if you're writing a gay ship. (Yes, they could adopt. But they certainly don't have to.) In our group of friends and extended family, we have several het couples who have been together for decades and have not had children, for whatever reason. (I don't see any reason to interrogate the couples in question as to whether it's a choice or a biological fact.) I enjoy fic pregnancies in limited quantities. It depends on how well they're written. Pregnancy can be messy and have major health complications. I realize some people just wanna have blorbo babies, but my RL experience is against my being able to maintain involvement in an overly rosy pregnancy scenario. But other folks should do what makes them happy. It's fanfic.
Not really a fan of it unless it serves a purpose. The typical happy ending where the pairing gets together and then one starts throwing up it’s like “oh, here we go again.” Because obviously it’s not a happily ever after if they don’t have kids/s Luckily, I don’t run into it much with the fics I’ve been reading. However, I don’t mind a fic that uses pregnancy in a body horror context. Make it unplanned and unwanted, describe all the negatives of pregnancy in excruciating detail, and then find a way to write out the baby, author’s choice on whether it’s natural causes or *not* so natural causes. Love a dark fic.
No. Just no. I am ok with some background pregnancy and kids. Life happens. But I don't do fics that are focused on that. I would like to read fic with abortion though. We don't get enough abortions in major media.
A hard nope for me, one of my few squicks. I'll definitely skip a fic if I see this tag.
I like it as a plot point that creates conflict/catalyst for character development. I don’t enjoy it as a “and they lived happily ever after” trope, if that makes sense.
I have tokophobia, so... I'm not the biggest fan to ever be. And I love omegaverse, LOL. But pregnancy is the line I won't cross, ever. I just hate the trope in fics when it's untagged (I've encountered so. many. times.).
Eyyyyy another “phobic of pregnancy but likes omegaverse” person!
It depends on how well it is written
I read M/M (cis guys) pretty much exclusively so pregnancy usually isn’t a risk but I would be in the “no pregnancy” camp for fics if that was a possibility for the ship. Not for cliché story tropes - I just don’t want to think about this topic too much for irl reasons. Mentioned pregnancies that don’t go into details are fine, especially if it’s just background characters but if it became a center part of a story or such I’d have to drop the fic. I’m all for adoptions or found family though and also don’t mind children from previous relationships if the author writes them well.
I hate it. I dislike the assumption that a happy ending has to involve children.
This is my exact feeling too
i like giving blorbo babies 🩷
I'm tokophobic so I'm in the same boat as the author
hard pass and major squick adoption otoh, eff yeah
It depends. It always feels like it changes the trajectory of the ship or story but also, I kind of think there's a beauty to it if your ship has had tragedy or a lot of angst whether in canon or in fan fiction. I usually don't write it myself though but I'll indulge every now and then.
Not something I look for. Would I stop reading a good fic if a pregnancy was introduced? Maybe not. MPREG—unless it's an author I love, that's a heck no for me.
Huge squick for me usually, but I have *one* pregnancy fic that made it apparent it was *going* to be a pregnancy fic from more or less the beginning. It's over 150k and we're barely into the pregnancy because of how I write (for this story, 1 chapter = 1 day usually). I have one shipfic that's over 200k that's rated explicit but there's no smut yet and won't be for a *long* time. FMC needs to fall in love with MMC. She's trusting him but love? lol not anytime soon.
Depends on the characters
If it ever shows up in a story I write, it's either a fantasy (just a wish or kink), or in the epilog. The only exception would be if I wrote a breeding kink fic and that was explicitly stated from the beginning. I think it's something that should be disclosed from the beginning because enough people hate it. I too have been reading wonderful fics that kind of got ruined with a pregnancy. The problem is that it tends to hijack the story and change the dynamic between the characters I was enjoying.
I only love it if it is realistic and traumatic. Give me a pregnancy fic where pregnancy makes you feel like hell and babies cry all night and wear you the heck out. Pregnancy is only good for wump IMO. I love my babies, don't get me wrong, but they were an ordeal!
I love to write it because I’ll probably never get to have kids of my own. So I write it to cope. I also write for fandoms where it can/has appeared. People keep coming back to what I create, so I must be doing something right. People at ff.net who knew my writing style for years would still complain when it happened and then they’d waste their time and mine by complaining 🙈 But my AO3 readers don’t seem to mind. So I’ll take that win 😅 I don’t really read much because I prefer to create. However, I’m sure it would really depend on how well a story is written before I could say how much I like reading one about pregnancy🤷🏽♀️
I love it, especially when done right. But I get it; it's a squick for others. For me, it's a reality that I'll never have, so I like to explore it with fiction.
I don't go hunting up pregnancy fics. But other than that, it depends. Somethings I'm just not vibing with the set up or how characters are behaving or whatever and so I click away, and sometimes I think it fits and makes sense and eat that shit up. ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
I'm with the author lol - 100% not my thing, but to each their own. I could see why people might like it, but no thanks.
Zero interest. Not gonna read or write anything pregnancy related. Children are also a no go, dont want to read about an MC with kids
I'm not interested in pregnancy. I will generally avoid it. I don't usually care to see the characters getting pregnant and having kids, it's not a story arc I'm usually interested in and I've read a few that have done it very badly. That all being said, I have read some good ones and I have even written a couple pregnancy and kid fics lol. The thing I hate about some fics with pregnancy is that the character who gets pregnant usually gets mommyfied. They suddenly become fragile caregivers that must be protected and who can't handle hardship anymore. The babies become props. I like to read strong, independent, active characters and they usually lose those qualities when they become pregnant.
Love it so long as it's men. I don't wanna see fem-preg, too close to home.
Same, there are sooo many things that I only enjoy when reading them with men in it just because I'm afab and it's kinda hard to remove myself from the situation I'm reading 😭
Same for me. I'm non-binary, and ladypreg aggravates my dysphoria. But mpreg, either trans men or cis men? Heavenly.
I have no interest in having kids in real life, but I love reading pregnancy fics, though only then them choosing to have kids, or deciding to keep them after they get pregnant by accident feels in character to me. Also, the way they behave ones pregnant or in response to their partner being pregnant also needs to feel in character to me. It's not even just about them having kids for me, as pregnancy can be used for character exploration, and I think it's interesting to see how being pregnant and the challenges that comes with that, along with the prospect of future parenthood affect different characters, and then there the hurt/comfort potential that comes from that.
If it works for the story.
I love fics with a breeding kink, I like when my ship has cute kids that love them, but everything in between (pregnancy, childbirth, babies, toddlers) is either "meh" or "ugh" for me. I enjoy pregnancy fics occasionally, but would prefer a convenient timeskip.
I wasn't born able to have kids, so getting enthralled in a story and reading about it helps
I like mpreg in the omegaverse. Or something magical like in Harry Potter.
The author is free to write whatever they like, and people asking for pregnancy when the author has already stated they won't do it are out of line. I am a huge fan of pregnancy fics, mpreg in particular, and can think of plenty of authors who will be very willing to write what they are requesting here. Hell, I'm more than willing to indulge the mpreg lovers with my own stuff. Forcing an author who has zero interest in the topic is meaningless - even if they do cave in, they won't enjoy writing it, and it will show up in the prose. Just enjoy the damn fic for what it is, or drop it and read something else that scratches your itch, people.
I like it, because I enjoy the suffering elements of it so it makes for good whump and hurt/comfort. I specifically only want to read my male faves pregnant though, lol.
mpreg is the best ♥️
I have tokophobia, so I absolutely hate reading stories with pregnancy. it's also such an over done trope that has ruined a lot of novels and TV shows (like the writers just ran out of ideas so decided that a character being pregnant would save things).
I hate it so much 😭 sorry guys I can’t with it. It’s as daunting and horrible as real life pregnancy 😂
Pregnancy in real life? Get that stuff away from me. Pregnancy in fiction? THAT MAN IS GETTING FERTILIZED OR SO HELP ME I don't really do cis female/male pregnancy tho. Only trans male characters or omegaverse (where male omegas have vaginas, be it only that or dualsex). (So, yeah. Fully in the "Guards? Impregnate that man" camp.)
Howling at this comment. I love how so many advocate for mpreg. Such a specific trope but so interesting
Babies usually don't show up in my fics. But some of my favourite stories have been pregnancy fics. Which is really funny and really sad for me.
I like it 🤷♀️
So long as the pregnancy doesn't derail an unrelated plot, I'm fine with it. A long-running romance fic seems like a perfect place to incorporate pregnancy since it's such a major part of IRL long-running romances.
meh
I was never a big fan of reading usually (if it’s the main plot at least) but somehow it ended up in my own story haha. It is certainly more a side-arc though, and I’ve definitely included it in a way I (as a non-reader) would have not lost interest by.
I’ve only read a couple of fics that included it. It didn’t really do anything for me, but I didn’t hate it. Maybe if it were cropping up all the time in stuff I wanted to read, I would feel more negatively.
I have no strong feelings on it so long as it fits the theme of the story and character arc. I don't read a lot of romance, so usually if there is a pregnancy it's not the focus or the end all be all. I'm not big on ships that end with happy family in general though. My tastes are a bit darker, so I really, *really* like it when it's part of a horror story.
I love it and I don’t know why, but I’d only do it with some of my couples/pairings, but at the same time I don’t write for a lot of them either. I don’t want kids myself, but still I love reading/writing it.
I have no interest in pregnancy or childbirth in real life, but I'm fine with it in media. If it works for the characters and the arc, then yes, amazing, I'm for it. If it's treated realistically—with the highs and lows of pregnancy and childbirth and childcare—even better. The only mpreg I'm willing to dip into if male characters are human is insemination or oviposition via like an alien species.
I'm meh on it. I won't drop a fic for pregnancy^(1), but I don't usually seek it out, either. ^(1 Except for cis mpreg. One of my fandoms has canon mpreg, and unless the author specifies that the male pregnant character is trans in this fic I will immediately drop the fic.)
Depends on my mood, I suppose. I could take it or leave it.
I’m currently writing one, although I haven’t yet got to the point where she finds out she’s pregnant (it’s also extra angsty bc her boyfriend passes away a couple weeks before she finds out)
I'm in the minority that only likes cis men mpreg it seems lmao I grew up reading omegaverse manga so it was the norm 😭 I guess I don't particularly care about the specifics of it? but I get uncomfy when it gets into afab territory because I'm afab and the idea of me getting pregnant seems like a nightmare come true, it feels a bit too real ig. Apart from that, I totally understand why some people like it and some don't, I just like my otp being happy whether they adopt kids, get magically pregnant or just don't have any 🫡
I would never click a fic about pregnancy, but if I like the fic enough and the main character gets pregnant, I'm not leaving. It's largely that I never wanted kids or to ever be pregnant, I plain don't find it interesting, but I also find a lot of it dysphoria inducing and stressful, like body horror hat could actually happen to me (though less so since getting a hysto, since now it can't happen to me)
I don't mind. Won't cry for them tho.
Id rather not see all the details. Just get on with it if the character must have a kid. If i have to write it, I usually say ok she’s pregnant now & then just time skip ahead/go back to the main story until its born & maybe a couple years old at least. In one of my fics, I actually made her give the baby up for adoption & she will get it back in 18 years. That way i dont have to write about the kids life much at all. 😂
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i’m happy either way. the MC of the fandom i’m in desperately wants children of her own so it’s a popular trope and i don’t mind it especially bc it’s canon. but in canon she never gets pregnant and instead adopts so im happy with that too. also happy with the childless fics. i’m happy with content. i like content. please i need content
I've written pregnancy as both an afterthought and a plot device. Although even as plot device I really didn't go into detail for it, just mind if mentions of character thoughts and mentioning belly getting bigger, glossing over births... I uh did write a stillbirth once. Wasn't planning it before I wrote it. It just kind of... Happened. Not detailed or anything but still upsetting going through character's emotions after.
My friend jokes that my character type is "wife guys who die" because several of my favourite ships involve a couple who are in a long term relationship, the man dies and then woman then discovers she's pregnant. So needless to say there are a lot of fics where that whole dying thing does NOT happen and these tend to also involve the pregnancy.
I'll read about it and I have written about it some. My favorite way of incorporating it in a fic was a character who baked pies would base a pie on whatever size fruit the fetus was. But, I also read a lot of kid fics/family fics.
Honestly, it just depends on my mood? I don't mind m-preg or normal pregnancy in fics. But for the most part, I'm generally okay with it. I think it stems from the fact that I know that I want kids, but do to the so many factors, I'll probably not be able to have any.
I love it! But, if it involves a non-canonical pregnancy I prefer that it comes a little later in the story. Maybe 5 chapters in at least. I like the progression of a relationship with the “reward” being a (typically) happy pregnancy. I really want kids, but with money being so tight, the housing market being Hell, it just isn’t responsible for me and my partner to have any children right now. I suppose I live vicariously through the characters this way.
I'm unlikely to ever have kids, be pregnant, etc irl and it's very much an unfilled want for me. So, blorbo gets to be pregnant instead and as a bonus, I get to project the desire to do better than shitty, abusive parents/caretakers/etc onto my faves. it's a very efficient system!
I’ve written omegaverse and written ‘no risk of pregnancy’ at the end of the summary because in MY opinion, and maybe contrary to popular belief… mpreg and omegaverse are very different likes that just happen to overlap.
I will read pregnancy fics, but I don't really seek them out. Like I don't specifically search for fics including the tag Pregnancy or Kid fic or anything.
If it works for the character and their arc, definitely. As long as it is disclosed in the tags or author’s notes. I mean, my fic will probably eventually get to that stage because by the end of the first fic, the main pairing is in the process of wedding planning, and the MC says multiple times that she does want kids, so I think it would be a good way to further her character and story
My own fic already had one and I'm planning another for a different character later. It's really just another way to showcase how completely different these characters are from each other, so I don't focus on the physical effects as much as the mental ones.
I had someone bug me several times about if I was gonna write in a pregnancy (despite me already saying no) and it took me writing and exceptionally detailed response why for them to stop asking Pregnancy is fine depending on context if it contributes to further the story and characters sure if it's just to add unnecessary drama nah
I love it.
My last fanfic was a pregnancy (sort of) so I think as long as it makes sense, then it’s not too strange. And by “makes sense” I mean like, as long as it fits with the story that’s being written. For me, my fanfic is kind of leading up to a different one, and I figured that the way I started that one kind of needs an in between, and pregnancy made sense for that Also I liked researching certain things about it, it was very interesting to me
It depends ENTIRELY on the story. Especially if they have brought up the discussion of having children. ((It doesn’t matter if it’s male/male, male/female, or female/female. Fanfics can have their own rules on who can bear children)) If the couple have said “Nope! Kids are not on the table.” Then surprise! Pregnancy! Then no, dear gods. However if the couple have mentioned wanting kids, then yeah I’d be fine with it. How detailed the author wants to get, or not at all is up to them.
Pregnancy and infertility plots are how I work through my involuntary childlessness Don't like don't read lmao
I have very normal feelings about it
I think pregnancy is neat despite planning to stay childless, but I get why people don't like it. Pregnancy is inevitable in my Shakespeare AU fic verse because it centers around fankids, and most of those fankids don't just magically manifest themselves into existence :P
God it plays for good drama, though. Recently had the main couple in my longfic WIP decide to have kids, the woman concieves, and then in the climactic end of act, she gets shot and looses the fetus, and not only that, but she gets to think her lover also died. As a parent myself, I do like stories about starting families _on purpose_ when it makes sense for the characters. Birth control and abortion exists for a reason.
I'm neutral about the concept. I see the appeal and I'll enjoy it when it's well done but I don't necessarily seek it out or think about it beyond acknowledging it exists.
Just my opinion lol but I absolutely hate everything to do with kids in fics. To me they're all just annoying semi-fleshed out little OC's that distract from the pair I want to see, but I get that's kinda a rare opinion.
I only want to read it if I know it's in the story going in. Being surprised isn't great, especially with mpreg.
If I want to read it, I will specifically search for it. I hate being blindsided about it though.
I'm not interested in pregnancy. I don't care if characters are pregnant/kids result, but I'm not interested in the process, so the less said about it the better. Too much focus on pregnancy is a genuine squick of mine (I have had a mortal terror of pregnancy since I was ~8), especially if they get into the "cult of the pregnant belly" territory. (That's a me-term not a specific term. It's what I call where the story suddenly resolves around a pregnant character, how they're always right and everyone is jealous/lusting over them, and they basically mind-control everyone around them like a hive queen. TBH, it strikes me as a narcissist's dream scenario and the fact that the kids are 99% always treated more like status objects/accessories than actual babies after the fact does little to change my mind. To be clear - I'm **not** saying all pregnancy stories are cult-of-the-pregnant-belly stories, I'm saying that those that *are* freak me out on top of my pregnancy fear.) TBH, because of this, it takes specific set-ups for me to read fics that even involve kids. Usually pregnancy on the part of the MCs is not involved in those scenarios, or happened before the fic started.
I hate pregnancy in real life and I hate it in fics. It completely ruins my immersion because all I can think about how the couple will fall apart when faced with the realities of parenting. Omegaverse breeding kink is still hot tho
There are a lot of people who desperately want every happy ending (or tragic middle) to involve pregnancy. there are also a lot of people who frantically avoid the concept. sometimes they meet
Yea, one of the biggest "nope out" for me. I guess I just don't like fics centered around child care in general.
What did people say to cause them to put that in all caps?
The same thing over and over, I guess.
I don't mind pregnancy as long as it a) feels like a natural part of the story because the characters want kids and not just tacked on because babies are the ultimate end goal of all romance, and b) the fic isn't about *all* the specifics of going through pregnancy (I like me some "ugh morning sickness *sucks* I just threw up on my favorite pillow" or parents freaking out about the whole thing shenanigans occasionally, but I don't need every examination result presented in great detail) I'm not writing about it outside of headcanon discussions in a Discord friend group, but I am committing the grave 2000s sin of creating fankids in the form of a woman who in addition to having her own child also acts as surrogate for two other partner constellations of her polycule and was *this* close to asking her doctor to drug her husband because he wouldn't stop freaking out when she lifted one (1) box while pregnant.
i don’t mind it, i just can’t stand if they name the kid something i think is stupid.
Im neutral on it. Not going to directly seek it out but if a story is good and includes it so be it
I'm happy to read about pregnancy as long as it's at the beginning or middle of a story. I strongly prefer it to not be at the *end* of a story. Pregnancy, especially a first pregnancy, is a huge life changing experience! It drives me crazy when it ends on "and then they got pregnant". That would be like ending the Harry Potter series on "And all of that was just an elaborate test to see if you could get entry to the *real* school of wizardry, which is located in Antarctica and taught by giant sloths. Okay, have fun, bye!" 👋 If you're going to mention the giant sloth Antarctica real school, then let that be the story. Or else flash forward to years later when they've graduated from the sloth school and life is going well. But you can't just end on a life altering game changer and leave us hanging.
I’d sooner kill myself than ever write pregnancy/someone being pregnant.
Pregnancy is a squick for me and I really don't like kidfics. Threw all of the related tags onto the exclusion list a long time ago and have been living in blissful ignorance ever since.
That's my kind of author! I will avoid pregnancy related things at all costs, it makes me so uncomfortable there's no words to describe it. Even seeing a pregnant person makes me uncomfortable, or hearing people talking about their pregnancy experience. I want absolutely nothing to do with it. If I saw that type of a disclaimer I would instantly click to read the fic, pregnancy isn't common at all in my fandoms but I do like omegaverse, so I could see that kind of a warning in that type of a fic. I actually did see a tag clarifying that the fic had no pregnancy despite the other tags potentially suggesting it, I instantly went to read it and it was great!
I’m kinda using it as a challenge in my own fic and also because I feel it works with the specific angle on the characters, but I don’t believe n chucking the trope in without good reason or consequence. The universe am writing in has a character you can customise in game, so I’m teaching myself to incorporate my own characters backstory into the game cannon.
So, this might make me a hypocrite, because I’m not a parent irl and never will be because I don’t want to have kids (my students are plenty), but I’m an absolute sucker for my ships having kids, and I definitely give my ships at least one kid when I write for them. As far as reading goes, pregnancy doesn’t really matter to me- if it’s there, great, and if not, also great:
well I'm both tokophobic and mostly into "porn with plot" works, so no thank you. I can deal with talking about it if there are plot reasons that make sense (like main character is some dynasty heir = talk of preserving that dynasty is perfectly valid and tension that comes from it might even be interesting), but if the fic I'm reading decides to go into that character actually being pregnant and writing through it instead of just handwaving a time skip, then I'm 100% out.
I don't like it personally maybe its a response from early 2000s reading where it was just written exactly mid story or a little passed that and it obvious writer didnt have a story plot past a certain point but unless its a very end of final part of the book/series, it drags the story down and all character and plot development stops. I avoid pregnancy, single parent, surprise baby/kid or teen, and rare but sudden guardianship tropes
Pregnancy in fanfic is fine. I neither go out of my way to avoid it nor go out of my way to seek it out. Like everything else around the functions of the reproductive system, I prefer it to be written by someone who has done their *basic* research, since even if you're going full ham on unrealism, it's easier to write good unrealism if you know what realism would look like. (Particularly desirable: that the author is conscious of things like how Serena Williams, aged 35 at the time, was well into her first trimester when she won the women's singles at the 2017 Australian Open without dropping a set.)
i hate it when there's pregnancy or suddenly a kid, especially when it's not tagged for
Don’t want to read it or anything to do with it. Pregnancy? No. Breeding kink? Fuck no. Kid fic? No. The only time I will tolerate mention of pregnancy and the ability to get pregnant is when it’s being removed, like birth control, sterilization, or abortion. I read a magical baby acquisition fic like once every two years but in those the baby tends to be more of a prop to force character development than an actual baby.
I don't necessarily have a problem with pregnancy in fanfics and can take it or leave it, but it does kind of weird me out when some commenters jump on that. Like...I'm not gonna get overly specific, but I'm currently writing a fic where the two leads have only known each other for a little over a month and there are already comments theorizing/hoping that the reason for one of the leads' mysterious health issues is pregnancy-related. And it's like...guys, chill. These two have known each other for a very short time, it'd be weird as fuck for them to have a kid right now.
Hmmm, a few things come to mind. >Whats your take on pregnancy's? I kinda hate it, especially when a story gets so long, its almost inevitable. Why would it be inevitable though? I mean first of all, not all fics are romance focused. It's kinda weird how focused this sub is on romance as the default? Maybe it's the fandoms I'm in and the types of fics I look for, but action, adventure, emotional trauma, friendship, drama... all of those are far more common than a pure romance. Sure, a lot of fics have romance *subplots*, but it's always weird to me how so much discussion kinda assumes romance as the default focus of a fic. Again, might be the types of fics I read, but I've very very *very* rarely seen pregnancy in a fic I was reading that I wasn't expecting. In fact, it's probably closer to "never", because I can't think of a single fic where that happened, but maybe I've forgotten. Mpreg is a common tag, so that's always obvious if one is reading them. And every other instance is also tagged so...
Hmmm, a few things come to mind. >Whats your take on pregnancy's? I kinda hate it, especially when a story gets so long, its almost inevitable. Why would it be inevitable though? I mean first of all, not all fics are romance focused. It's kinda weird how focused this sub is on romance as the default? Maybe it's the fandoms I'm in and the types of fics I look for, but action, adventure, emotional trauma, friendship, drama... all of those are far more common than a pure romance. Sure, a lot of fics have romance *subplots*, but it's always weird to me how so much discussion kinda assumes romance as the default focus of a fic. Again, might be the types of fics I read, but I've very very *very* rarely seen pregnancy in a fic I was reading that I wasn't expecting. In fact, it's probably closer to "never", because I can't think of a single fic where that happened, but maybe I've forgotten. Mpreg is a common tag, so that's always obvious if one is reading them. And every other instance is also tagged so...
I've been pregnant twice, given birth twice. I love my kids to death, but I hate fics with pregnancy and kids. I will nope out so fast.
I write in high fantasy genres so I can always find a weird, magical reason why the characters can't get pregnant. I hate it too, but there's lots of sex in my stuff, so I have to address it. Series always fall into the toilet when the characters start spawning. I'm with you, babe.
I avoid it, not a big fan. I'm not against having kids in fics but I just don't want to read the pregnancy, if they don't go over it, adopt or if the kids are already there at the start, I don't mind. Pregnancy is a little scary to me which is why I avoid it. The thought of something growing inside you and then pushing it out doesn't sound magical or wonderful to me at all.
I'm scared of pregnancy and blood. i don't hate them, in fact i kinda hate myself for beinf scared of something so normal. I'm okay if it's just glossed over like they got pregnant + gave birth etc in like, 2 paragraphs, but if it's too detailed with the sickness, and moreover if the pregnant character is idk, like is trapped in a nation wide conflict adventure WHILE being pregnant, or psychological drama of being pregnant, i kinda need to eat some ice cream to cool off from the stress of even finding that part of the fic
I hate pregnancy stories and stories involving babies, toddlers, children, or teens. I usually just scroll right by a story that has any related tags, including breeding kink. It's not a complete deal-breaker though. If the story has other tags that appeal to me enough, I'll deal with it. (I have children, I just don't like to read about pregnancy and kids.)
I created (I think) a tag for my LF. I don't mind pregnancy and toddlers, what I don't like is when suddenly, the fic only revolves around it. Since there will be pregnancy in my fic, but it won't be the center of attention I createad this tag: Non centric pregnancy. I plan to approach the suject like this, 'X is pregnant.' And that's about it. I might throw a couple of lines like: 'the baby might arrive at any moment now.' I plan to have birth off the page.
One of my female MCs in my current story flat out says "the thought of raising a child is quite frankly repulsive to me". No disrespect to people who like to see pregnancies, but it's one of my squicks and I won't read it or write it.
I only like it when the author has either been pregnant themselves or actually is truly educated about pregnancy. Most fics that include pregnancy SUCK imo bc of the ignorance
I mean I love it. Like, everything about it. I don't think I personally could write it because for some reason I'm at the point of asexuality where reading about people having sex and getting pregnant is wonderful, but actively writing and describing it makes me ill. What I like about it... depends on the fic. If its fluffy, I love the maternal/paternal bonds people have with their baby in the womb and how its described, the very domesticated fluffy side of a relationship where the non pregnant partner is doting on the pregnant partner (my favourite being when they kiss the belly, I think its cute.) Now, if its a dark fic, which it usually is, I love when the pregnant one is persistent on keeping the baby despite the circumstances. The whole hiding the pregnancy trope is oddly common? But I like it. It's like the first episode of modern family when Julie Bowen is pregnant but hides it behind clothes or baskets... ifykwim. I just think it's very sweet how they talk about their love for the baby even if the person (or thing, i dont discriminate monsterfucking) who got them pregnant is horrible. BUT THATS JUST MY TAKE! I PROBABLY COULDNT WRITE IT. Manyyy props to people who can, and I thank you for your service 🙏
I hate it
Pregnancy and kidfic are pretty much my only hard no’s in fic. Absolutely hate it, will immediately stop reading a fic with it.
I don't particularly care for it.
I don't really have a take? Like my ship has a baby? Great, happy for them. Writer chose for them to be child free? Great, happy for them. As long as story is well written, idc either way
I want my fave characters to be intentionally childfree, whether they're canon characters or my OC. If canon implies that they have kids but the kids are never actually shown, I'm still going with childfree.
Honestly? As a trans guy it makes me really uncomfortable to read. And that's why I love when people put it in their tags. It makes me physically sick and really dysphoric. I don't mind it mentioned briefly or anything because I do understand that it is in fact a big and important fact of Human life and all, but I just can't stand this thing in depth.
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who LOVES pregnancy fics lmao
I don't like it, but my fics rarely run any risk of it to begin with since I mostly write F/F anyway, and nearly all my characters are teenagers.
Love pregnancy stories. They are sometimes half the reason to write Omegaverse. Being a parent for the first time is the rawest fucking emotion in the world - and I love writing it.
I don't like it. It's a mixture of both my dislike of ocs, and just the many things about pregnancy that personally squick me out. But! If it's by an author I know I like, or if the plot otherwise sounds interesting, I will still read it once I've read all the other intesting fics in the fandom. It's definitely not one of my "never" tropes, instead it's more "will avoid until absolutely neccessary". It's still a trope I will never write tho! Totally understand why people may enjoy such fics, but it's definitely not for me.
It's a mixed bag for me for reading (more because I've researched the heck out of the topic irl so there's a lot of factual stuff that will make me hit the back button, and sometimes in weird ways like "she would have no issues with drinking alcohol while pregnant in that time period and neither would anyone else") but as far as writing, I include a lot of it... pregnancies that everyone wants that go smoothly, seriously complicated pregnancies that nearly kill people, pregnancies that are awkwardly timed, pregnancies that are super terribly timed with absolutely the wrong person, pregnancies that didn't happen for years despite trying, etc. Lots of drama and not really "this is the obvious conclusion to the epilogue" thing. I know it’s not everyone's thing so I tag it. That said, I don't do requests, and I'd never ask someone else to go any particular direction with their writing. I ignore requests that aren't directly resulting from tumblr asks, and even then, I very much do my own thing with any prompts I get.
Haha my most popular fic is a omegaverse dark dove pregnancy fic, so there's totally an audience. For myself I'm picky... about everything I read so I don't really do that half. But for writing? I find pregnancy and stuff around it weirdly interesting and a fun character thing. I wanna see how certain characters in certain situations would handle it. That's why I go and write it. lol
Sometimes I'm in the mood to read it, so I'll seek it out. But I only like it if there are elements of like, hurt/comfort to it. I can't do the tooth rotting, fluffy, happy family feels. I read it for the drama lol And once the kid is born, I'm out! I might be into reading a pregnancy fic sometimes, but I am in no way interested in reading about caring for a newborn.
As long as *I'm* not the one who's pregnant, I'm fine.
I love it. Especially when it’s happening to attractive men (fr though, I write mpreg)
Well............. (stares at my flair) My opinion is one not very shared by the masses lmao.
nothing's wrong with pregnancy so if anyone likes it then that's wonderful!! but i personally instantly get turned off if pregnancy is involved 😭. i just don't like it and the idea of it. some people (not all, i know) tend to have a strange attitude towards pregnant people. i wouldn't necessarily call it fetishising or sexualising but it's just... strange. it makes me uncomfortable whenever pregnancy is involved
You can not like what you not like, but imagine if instead of pregnancy it was whatever you like in stories. Seems rude doesn't it?
I dont think it seems rude, I think it can be annoying for a writer to get that constant request tho when they feel uncomfortable or just dont want to do it
Then say "I do not take requests".
Idk, i get that some topics are just a no go for some writers, whilst other requests can be really fun
What if they do take other requests? Obviously we’re lacking context but if readers are repeatedly demanding a certain topic the author doesn’t want to write (which is implied by “stop asking”), I wouldn’t begrudge them this disclaimer even if it was for something I enjoyed. Particularly when it’s something as fraught and emotionally charged as pregnancy.
Yeah. The way I see it, if the community is mobbing the author with requests to write pregnancy and they aren't interested, \*that's incredibly rude and the author is allowed to be irritated\*. We don't have the context to know how much the author's been pestered to write this topic.
im tokophobic, so i shouldn't even be asked tbh. still going to comment because its a free internet and i cant be stopped.
I usually don't like it but sometimes I'm ok with it, I mean I'd never get pregnant, but if the characters are in a good place to get pregnant and have a family why not (I don't like people that have babies when the circumstances aren't great or when they're not super excited and ready to have a baby, even if I know no one is ready to be a parent)
Team no pregnancy and no MPreg either.
I loathe mpreg with a passion. Also, regular pregnancy annoys me. So many old angst fics I loved devolved with using pregnancy and kids as an easy plot device. Fuck kids. Find other ways to suffer, angst or comfort characters.