It's good to have a good radar for insanity. I have it. My intuition is always right and I follow it. My friends have all been at not time been like "hey lighten up" only later on say. Yeah you where right. It's about aura for me. If I can't look you in the eye comfortably then it's a wrap. Michael IRL on the other hand has attracted a shit load of insane people in his life. 

I guess the old adage "Hindsight is 20/20 " really means a lot. 

As for trama being a trigger on its own is not enough, your right but when you factor in all the environmental stuff like socioeconomic status,  jealousy levels, pride etc it can create a cocktail none of us want to take a sip of. 

Yayyyyy!!!! I can't wait to see what you come up with for "When the dog bites" it will be interesting to see every ones take on this topic. 

More soon!! <333

I like H/C. I like seeing Michael vulnerable, it makes him human. It gives me those awww moments where I just want to hug him and console him. I'm over the amnesia... There are some really good stories that include that, but it's already been done ALOT so unless you've got a different more creative way of using it, I'd leave that alone.

Rape, domestic abuse from the OG's EX... over done. Michael being the constant savior. I've already spoke my mind about that. 

I will say though that Exes do play a HUGE role in people's lives especially if they've spent a long time together or have kids. OR it's Michael Jackson that they dated. I imagine all of his exes wanted him back and the chances of him being stalked by an ex is equally high! I mean unless he's just an average Joe in the story... and even then, most AU stories depict him as this highly attractive sex God that every woman wants. 

but I'm with Coco on the jealous, crazy ex drama. I enjoy it. Yes, there are other ways to add events to a story to make it interesting without including this drama, but it's also hard to avoid it because it is so prevalent in real life.

I've had two crazy exes, AND have been a crazy ex myself. I've been cussed out by my partner's crazy exes and everyone I know has dealt with the same drama. It's part of breaking up and moving on. Exes don't just poof, evaporate into thin air. I think its more rare that two people just happen to mutually decide to form a clean break. 2 out of my 7 relationships were clean breaks. 

One in 6 women are stalked in the United States, btw. Stalking can be defined on so many levels. From following someone religiously on social media to actually following them around in real life. The stalker ex boyfriends... It happens more than you think and I'm sure it'd be even more likely to happen if your man finds you with Michael Jackson.

Hurt and comfort is probably my favorite genera to read and write. I find it so relateable since everyone's experienced some kind of hurt. I agree that writers can totally take it to the extreme with rape,amnesia and crazy exes. I may have written one story awhile back that over did it with the hurt and comfort. It's embarrassing to admit but we all learn. I especially like to explore the emotional aspect of hurt comfort that I think a lot of writers don't focus on.

Author's Response:

I like to think that you are right about "We all learn". Some people learn very very very slowly, some don't really learn, and some learn and become better writers for it.

Cool chapter(s)! Good stuff here, good stuff. 

I've always wanted to write a sci-fi/fantasy fic. They seem like they'd have the potential to be so sweepingly huge if done right. I don't know if MJ woud be the best fandom for it, though. I don't even know if I've ever seen a sci-fi MJ fic (I'm sure there are and I'm just blind, of course.)

H/C is a hard one for me. My limits are pretty low, tbh. I adore The Accused, for example, but there are definitely times where I have to skim/read with my eyes like half closed because the hurt scenes are just too much for me. That doesn't mean they're bad though! I've said that many, many times to CaptainEgo/Skywriter. I think it proves just how good they are that they illicit that type of response from me.

I really enjoyed your don't section of this past chapter. H/C has a tendency to come off campy if not taken in doses, I think. If a story tries to include too many of the "common threads" that you mentioned, it gets really bogged down and unrealistic. I prefer if the author really develops and focses on maybe 2 max 3 of those ideas. Any more and it just becomes a soap opera.

On the other hand (this just came into my mind right now, so sorry if it doesn't make sense) stories that aren't specifically H/C stories have a tendency to rely on only 4 major forms of drama: cheating, pregnancy scares, random deaths, and breaking up. What do you think is the difference between supposedly non-H/C fics that use H/C qualities instead of the common "romance genre" tropes and a straight up H/C fic? Where would you draw the line?