The annual Creative Writing collection has landed on campus - and we are sure the SU are in for an interesting one.
It is now a tradition for Creative Writing students in UCD to grace the rest of the student population with a collection of their best work. This year, writers have been working tirelessly to produce a body of work that would top the award-winning collection And Then I Woke Up in Newman. And they may as well have succeeded in their endeavour. Perhaps also as a way to make UCD students aware of who is supposed to govern them, this year’s collection is entirely dedicated to the six Sabbat officers - in the form of fanfiction.
An attempt by Gen Z students who spent too much time on Tumblr in 2014 to convince the broader public that fanfiction needs to be elevated as a “proper” literary genre, Daddy I’m in Love with a Sabbat is a thrilling - if at times unhinged - effort at creative writing. By this, we mean that it takes an incredibly imaginative mind to write reader-insert one-shots about Marc Matouc.
To write this collection, creative writing students asked for suggestions to the rest of the UCD student body. While reader-inserts turned out to be the most popular stories, there was a spike in interest on slash fanfictions about Sabbats and College Officers. Graduate officer Marc Matouc was the main protagonist of these stories, partnered with this year’s Business college officer Simon Van Beek. While these stories often entail the well-known “enemies to lovers” trope, stories set in alternate universes (AUs), such as Hogwarts AUs or Spy AU are equally as prevalent. In one of the most popular instalments, the Sabbats are reimagined to be crew members on a spaceship and unlikely allies Marc Matouc and Simon Van Beek, in forced proximity, have to band together to solve the mystery of a blind passenger - and learn how to love each other in the process.
UCDSU President Martha Ní Riada is the Sabbat who inspired the most reader-insert fanfictions. Notably, her most recent haircut inspired several stories, particularly amongst female contributors. Ní Riada’s buzzcut has a particular role in AU stories: in fact, teacher/student and mentor/mentee reader-insert take up one third of the entire collection.
Campaigns and Engagement Officer Mirana Bauer comes in second as the Sabbat who inspired most reader-inserts. Instead of AUs, there was one recurrent trope that characterised fanfictions about Bauer: “sport rivals to lovers.” One of our editorial team’s favourite scenes sees Bauer applying eyeliner to a gender-neutral reader in a dressing room after a competition. We’ll leave the rest of the scene up to your imagination.
Proving that creativity truly knows no bounds, a special addendum to the collection details the love stories of two very unlikely protagonists - the large Bluebird coffee cup that can be found outside of Newman and the recently emerged giant Pot Noodle cup that slurps at innocent passers-by from the top of a bus stop outside of the sport’s centre. We Found Noodles in a Hopeless Place (Newman) details the ups and downs of their courtship ranging from an initial rivalry, pining from afar, to eventual romance while presenting readers with a whirlwind of emotions, and drama. It explores themes such as childhood trauma, identity formation, found family, and trust and takes a surprising turn into an exciting chase after Slurpy’s mysterious disappearance from its seat atop the bus stop, only to leave readers in suspense with a gripping cliffhanger.
If this has sparked your interest, the full Daddy I’m in Love with a Sabbat collection will be available with the University Observer’s Election Special - so keep your loins girded.