Okay so this is a little rant I guess.
MAJOR DISCLAIMER: I am not attacking anyone directly, these are just things I've wanted to say for a while and they are my own little thoughts from my little pea brain so pls don't hate me lol.
SMUT
First of all, I wanted to address the ongoing need for smut in fan fiction as well as the reaction when said smut is not delivered.
I love sex, don't get me wrong. I love sex with men, sex with women, and sex with nb baddies. I love reading about sex. I love when sex furthers the plot of a story. I love when there isn't sex for the purpose of sex.
The most common thing I see that people don't like about Turned is the lack of smut. When I started writing this story, I was a little middle schooler and knew I did not have the emotional or sexual intelligence to properly write it. Props to people who have been able to do this at a young age though, I will give credit where credit is due.
I made Turned with the intent of developing an original character with depth and the range that the Harry Potter characters had. My goal was to introduce the character and tell the story surrounding her time at Hogwarts. I didn't want to create a smut fic just for the sake of having smut. Even if I did, it would have made the story EXPONENTIALLY worse because I wrote the majority of it while I was still basically a child.
I probably could write about sex now in a mature way that fits into the story, but I am glad that I didn't spread harmful sexual practices because I was misinformed. That is a whole other issue on this platform, and I will probably dedicate a whole other chapter to talking about how consent and stuff is dealt with in fanfic, but for now that's my two cents on smut.
SANITY AND "STUPIDITY"
So I think this topic is most relevant to Tom Riddle and Draco Malfoy fics because they are seen as "darker" characters.
A big aspect of Tom Riddle fanfics is his sanity, or lack thereof, and I love when it is developed properly.
What made me want to talk about this is how I have noticed that people in, not just Turned but other TR fics as well, forget the degree of his insanity and display that in victim blaming.
No character is perfect, I know that for sure; Elizabeth Maryn was not placed in Ravenclaw for a reason, and I intentionally made sure that she didn't come across as someone she isn't. She is a girl with a traumatic past, secrets, and clear attachment issues. Despite her past, she still seeks out relationships and wants to maintain positive connections with people.
Tom Riddle is a character who will see all of those traits and decide to take advantage of them. He is smart and calculated, and I wrote their story in such a way that demonstrates the truth in a toxic relationship. Elizabeth senses that what she has with him is bad and sees the signs that he is using her, but is ultimately drawn in anyways. Manipulators are excellent at making their victims seem stupid, oblivious, and responsible for what happens to them.
I just feel really passionately about this and will defend Elizabeth Maryn to my grave. I think we can all relate to her in one way or another, and I didn't want her to be this omnipotent person that knew everything because that just isn't realistic. She is a teenage girl at the end of the day no matter how many other things define her, and I know that my broken teenage self would probably have not acted differently than her.