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pasteljeon · 5 years ago

Text

Shadows (m)

summary | he could love you … if only you’d let him in.

genre | venom au, venom!jk, smut, angst

warnings | tentacle porn, oral (female receiving), edging, guk has a fat cock ana oop, size kink, sexual tension, mating cycles, heat sex (yeah, you read that right)

length | 1.9k

notes | i crawl out of retirement for this one (1) halloween fic that i’ve been dyin to write since forever. and, as some already know, this also just an excuse for tentacle porn. :D happy halloween everyone! wish i could’ve written sth longer, but it’s still midterm season for me & i’m beyond buried in work rn :”( regardless, please enjoy!

“Kook.”

Silence. The mass lying in the middle of the room remained motionless.

You sighed, forehead thumping against the one-way glass. Theoretically, you knew he wouldn’t be able to see you, but he could sense you. Feel your presence.

“Kookie. Please.” Your breath ghosted across the barrier.

The darkness shifted, a tendril reluctantly reaching to seek out your heat, pressed against where your palm was splayed on the other side.

“Miss ___.” You flinched, the monotone voice of your assistant startling you momentarily.

“The next trial begins in ten minutes. Should I bring the volunteer in?”

Her perfectly manicured nails tapped against the sleek black clipboard, sharp eyes unimpressed as they note your affection for the containment within.

Living organisms with compositions so extraordinary they were coveted as a chance to revolutionize humanity. A symbiotic relationship, they relied on molecular bonding with a host to survive. A symbiote. The term alien often whispered with every passing of fluttering white lab boats.

Simply put, they were experiments.

And you headed them all.

You glanced back briefly, only to find he’d already retreated, unmoving once more.

The research facility was intimidating, stripped white walls bare and plain, the building expansive and equipped with the latest technology. Endless floors filled with glass walls lining different divisions.

Within these walls, there was transparency. Outside of it, no one knew much at all.

The guilt chipped away at you slowly.

They were real. They felt. They were very much capable of the same human emotions your species processed. They hurt. Felt pain. Each compatibility failure was destroying them.

There were many that did not survive the crash. All that was left, scavenged from the space outreach initiative, were seven uniquely distinct specimens. All the equivalent of a male.

They all had binary identifications, but you gave them something else. A name.

Namjoon. He was exceedingly intelligent. The first few months had been spent attempting to establish ground communications with them. Namjoon had picked up your language easily, and it no longer shocked you to see a massive dark blob flipping through encyclopedias. He liked to read, consuming pages like oxygen. With every routine checkup, you’d deliver a few novels you’d enjoyed in the past. His upper section of his blobbed body would incline, and you’d imagine he was thanking you.

Seokjin was the eldest of the bunch, as concluded by your preliminary findings of their biological structure. Oddly enough, though it had been discovered early on that their kind could sustain themselves on anything, they still preferred human flesh. It didn’t make them dangerous, necessarily—you could teach them human ethics. For the most part, Seokjin tried not to nip at your ankles when you visited. As a substitute, you taught him how to cook. There was a mini kitchen set up in his quarantine, and some nights were spent with him stretching his mass over your shoulder and watching you work.

Yoongi was, kindly put, lazy. He slept most of the day, scarcely reacted when you tried to interact with him. You did, however, discover he liked music. He got speakers. Headphones made his head hurt, he once signed to you. Noise sensitivity.

Hoseok was so human it hurt. He was energetic, restless. He bounced around his containment. His own version of dancing, almost.

Taehyung and Jimin refused to separate. When you first examined them, you’d nearly mistaken them for one entity. Soulmates, if the concept existed in their world. They shared one cell, liked to tussle and fight one another.

Then there was Jungkook. He was shy, barely moved when you first met. If not for the pulse beneath his silk, there was no sign of life at all. You were endeared as he slowly broke from his shell. He liked you. You knew because you were the only one that could get close, that could touch him without repercussions. He’d killed his hosts, regardless of compatibility, thrice before they paused trials. He hated it more than any of them.

But here, they were safe.

And yet here, they were also being harvested. Used. To become the steppingstone in humanity’s evolution. Time was running out, and the private company that spearheaded the research was demanding results.

Here, they are to become weapons.

And you were going to break them out.

“Kook. Jungkook.”

Your voice was urgent, though steady.

Panic setting in heavy in your stomach when you saw him press himself closer to the wall.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay. I won’t let it touch you. But we need to get out of here, and fast. The building’s going to collapse,” you coaxed. The flames licked your back, warning you of the fire that blazed across the hall.

He quivered, drawing away from your extended hand.

Fire. Bad. Hurts.

You bit back your gasp. His voice was low, a quiet rumble in your head.

You steeled your nerve. “I know. Bond with me.”

He stilled.

And then—mine. You belong to me. We are one.

And you said, “always.”

He shot to you, sinking beneath your flesh and making a home in the beating of your heart.

You disappeared.

As the building burned, so did all the data and files you’d accumulated over the years. The symbiote all dispersed, you having found a suitable host months prior. Some were friends, some were not. But they all cared, and you knew they would find sanctuary in a peaceful life with them.

So you let them go, and turned over a new page.

You monitored your vitals for the first few hours, fearing the compatibility would elude you.

Will not. Belong together. Us.

His thoughts echoed, though always soft.

“Where do you want to go?” You wondered aloud as you fingered the plane ticket in your hands.

Hungry, he said instead. You could feel him gnawing at your liver. “Don’t do that. You might accidentally split it.”

If he had lips, you imagined he’d be pouting.

Where we going? You had the feeling he was trying to read the slip.

“Somewhere cold.”

You hate cold.

“You hate the heat.” The first calls for boarding had you wheeling your luggage to the gates.

Don’t care. As long as we are together. Can go anywhere.

You smiled down at your passport, cheeks warm. “Yeah.”

It took time to adjust to a completely different lifestyle. Your previous line of work had compensated your risk generously, and you’d had enough foresight to invest and save wisely.

Here, you’d picked up a job as a pharmacist at one of the local drug stores. It was terribly mundane, but you found you liked this kind of routine. It was a welcomed change from the scars you’d collected. A sense of normality.

It was October when everything changed.

Jungkook had been restless lately. Distant. Withdrawn.

It’s like he’d curled up in the corner of your mind. Lethargic.

You knew the symptoms.

“Kook.” He stirred faintly at the sound of your voice.

Lover. He rumbles lowly, rousing slowly.

“Your heat. It’s coming soon.” You rolled over, the sheets pooling at your waist. A tendril wraps itself loosely around your calf.

Yes.

“What will you do?”

Another tendril creeps up your stomach, squeezing your breast firmly.

You.

Their heats were intense. Nothing like you could’ve ever imagined. While they only occurred once a full cycle, the need overwhelmed them, made them ravenous and delirious. And a human host? They served as aphrodisiacs. Enhanced the craving until it all but consumed them.

You woke in a feverish haze, a thin sheen of sweat coating your skin, panties shoved aside and thighs smeared with wetness.

“J-Jungkook!” You gasped, back arching as he fucked you harder.

“Love. My love,” he rasped, fingers curling, watching you come undone with dark eyes.

It was also the only time they could fully materialize.

He was ethereal, pupils blown out, a thin ring of gold visible in the ebony that threatened to swallow it all. Completely naked, tanned complexion stretching over corded muscles, he hovered over you, arms braced next to your head. His hair was soft, luscious and long, falling in waves over his forehead. Darkness mirrored his every movement, his true form rippling beneath the surface.

“Want you. Need you,” Jungkook groaned, gaze smoldering as he fisted your sleep tee. “Please.”

“Since you asked so politely,” you managed breathlessly. You took his hand and slipped it underneath, guiding it until he traced the underside of your breast.

He ripped the fabric apart, buttons flying as he shoved the offending material off your shoulders. “Need. Can’t control. Please.”

In spite of the inferno brewing within, he remained your ever sweet Jungkook. The shadows drew closer, the touch soft though frantic, mapping your body in long strokes. He buried his face in your cunt, abnormally long tongue driving you crazy with every lick.

“K-Kook, I c-can’t,” you sobbed, fingers gripping his locks as he coaxed another orgasm from you easily.

His palms, warm and large, spread your legs apart. His cock was intimidating, tip angry and throbbing, a tantalising vein running along the side. He was dripping with something akin to precum, the substance slightly lighter and thicker than the human equivalent.

The dark tendrils snaked around you just as he slammed into you.

Your moan was lost to his lips, kiss messy and wild, your mind blanking with every thrust and the stroke of his tongue. His tentacles tweaked and pulled at your nipples, twisting and teasing, others suckling at your clit while some were wrapped around his length, providing ridges that edged your sensitive core.

“Mine. Mine. Ours. Breed,” Jungkook chanted, the grip of his shadows tightening as if to brand their shape to your skin. It was too much.

“Y-yes, Koo, need you, need you just like this,” you cried out, walls spasming around him as you reached your high once more.

The bedframe rattled loudly, Jungkook’s pace increasing inhumanly as he pounded into you. “N-ngh—ah! L-love, so perfect, made for me. Thank you, thank you,” he moaned, hips stuttering as he came, filling you up hotly. So much it spilled from where he remained inside of you, dripping down your thighs.

His forehead rested against yours as he fought to quell his hunger for just a moment longer. Though his release brought brief clarity, the lust was already beginning to trickle back in. His cock twitched, the ache so profound his shadows latched onto you harder.

Your legs wrapped around his back, eyes soft as you said, “I’m all yours. Don’t hold back.”

Jungkook exhaled shakily. “Make me crazy.”

He nuzzled your neck, even as his dick pulsed, he pushed his nose into your jawline and whispered, “Lover. You and me. Until the end.”

#ksmutclub #ggukienet #networkbangtan #jungkook x reader #jungkook smut #bts smut #smutcentralnet

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bettsfic · 5 years ago

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what do you think are the differences between the skills you need to write short stories (or fic oneshots) vs the skills needed to write, like, a novel? i'm trying to make the transition to longer works and finding myself struggling a bit with knowing if im somehow just accidentally writing something that feels like a really long short story rather than a Novel. if that makes sense

i have So Many thoughts on short stories vs. novels, particularly the Work of novels. i have read a great many lauded novels that feel like long short stories to me, and i don’t think the genres should necessarily be separated by word count but by major beats. but anyway. that’s not what you asked, and that’s probably a conversation for another time.

the shorter the piece, the more you need to inspect and question every single word. that requires a lot of patience and a somewhat myopic lens. every letter, every punctuation, every space and paragraph break needs to be carrying its weight, and if it’s not, it needs to go. this also requires the ability to know what a piece is doing and how exactly to shape your words to make it happen. it’s about intention and control. writing a short story is like carving a tiny figurine; it takes precision.

regardless of length, you’ll be engaging with pace and movement in different ways. in short works, you value brevity; you allow readers to make assumptions. you prioritize summary sometimes over scene. you choose description carefully and have no room for redundancy. pacing is chosen based on container. for example, flannery o’connor’s “a stroke of good fortune” is told in the span of a woman climbing a single staircase. it takes something small and expands it to fit the form. conversely, carmen maria machado’s “the husband stitch” is an entire life told in roughly the same number of words. there’s no room for the kind of detail good fortune has. a short story is like a pint glass -- you can never have more than the glass can hold.

the pacing of a novel, however, is different. if a short story is a pint glass, the novel is a plate -- you can keep piling stuff onto it like a jenga tower. it’s a near-infinite container. pacing is still chosen, but under varying constraints. you have to have to know when to zoom in and write in-scene versus fly above and summarize. how immersive do you want your story to be, how detailed? which details should you reiterate and when? there is far more freedom in the pacing of a novel, but it comes with the burden of a constant choice. and as i’ve mentioned a few times, decision fatigue is a major factor in writers’ block. for every benefit of constraint vs. freedom, there’s a drawback.

the main skills you need to write a novel are discipline, endurance, and a certain nameless expertise that tells you whether or not your idea is ready to pursue. you can write a short story that just doesn’t work, shove it in a drawer, and never look at it again, and it’s not a huge loss. but with a novel, if you’re going to spend months or years on it, it should be something worthy enough to pursue (and of course by “worthy” i mean worthy to you based on your creative and aesthetic interests). there are lots of ideas that i’ve had that i really enjoy on a conceptual level, but something about them either isn’t working yet or it just doesn’t interest me enough to dive into it.

more than anything else, i think that’s what it means to become a good writer. you never really get better at putting words on blank pages. but you do get better at manifesting the things that are happening in your brain; deciding what containers they should fall into (short or long, poetry or fiction or essay); determining when your ideas are strong enough to begin writing, or when you should set them down and think on them a little longer; when a story is complete and ready to publish because it has finally reached the shape you initially perceived it to be; when you need feedback and when you don’t, and which feedback to listen to or throw away. all of these things are just instincts that are cultivated and sharpened over time as you get to know yourself as a writer and the work you do as an artist, and grow confident in the creative paths you choose to take.

but you definitely can’t learn any of that until you start out writing a few short stories that turn into long stories that turn into novels, and then maybe you revise them back into short stories. when you give up on something you love (for the time being!) because you realize you are not where you need to be to write it yet (i have many, many things that i want to write that i can’t write yet because i am not ready to write them). when you get 30k into a novel that you realize isn’t worth your time but then years later you end up taking pieces of that aesthetic and folding it into something else. when you get 200k into a novel that you realize doesn’t work and you put it in a drawer forever. it’s all stuff that gets better and easier and smaller-seeming over time.

what i’m saying is, it’s okay not to be ready to write a novel yet, or ever. a novel is not the end-all, be-all of the written word. i firmly believe you should lean into your strengths, and if that’s short form, then write so much short form you get sick of it. eventually you may find an idea that spirals you into a longer work. or maybe try some connected short stories and see what major plot threads come out of it, then revise it into a novel. in my experience, most first novels are entirely accidental. my advice to you is not to box yourself into containers. let narratives lead you where they need to go and figure the rest out later.

#writing advice #dow20 #Anonymous

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punishandenslavesuckers · 6 years ago

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(For the fic summary post) In lieu of Fjord's confessions to the group in ep 72, a fic following Fjord as he studies and views Caduceus as an inspiration and those feelings as an almost idolization and protectiveness is a concept sitting in the back of my mind since that stream

AO3 Link: HERE

So there’s a bit of protectiveness that naturally generates among their group when Caduceus joins up.

Not a surprise. There’s a few reasonable reasons for it.

A: because Caddy has (if possible) less practical experience than Jester (a literal shut in). B: He’s a cleric and you guard your clerics because they’re the vicious beating heart of a combat unit’s anatomy. C: Molly is fucking dead.

It goes without saying because saying it would be awful, but Caduceus is very literally filling a void left by a violent death in the party and there’s no getting around the associations that come with that. The times that Fjord has accidentally called Caduceus ‘Molly’ out loud: 1 time. The times he’s started to call Caduceus ‘Molly’ and stopped himself: a fucking lot. Honestly, just, an embarrassing amount of times and Fjord would rather not too closely examine why it’s taking him so long to get it right.

“Fjord.”

“Hmm?”

It’s the middle of the night (or whatever passes for night in a city that sees no sunrise) and the interior of their Xhorhasian home is gently lit by the fire-fly glow of magical string lights and the flicker of interior lanterns. Fjord’s been sitting in the main common area, contemplating the falchion blade where he’s laid it on the table so he can stare at its golden gleam in detail and ponder the pieces of the Summer Dance rapier subsumed by the living sword. An echo of Mollymauk’s weapon still in the blade.

Beauregard climbs over the back of a chair and takes a crouched position next to him with her knees drawn up like a monk-ish gargoyle. She glances furtively across the room, then takes an overly casual posture with one elbow on the table to appear casual, but just ends up looking odd half scrunched in her seat but leaning her weight wrongly. She commits tp it though, eyeing him.

“What’s up?”

“Why… why’re you sittin’ like that?”

“I – what?” Beau self-consciously sits up, adjusts her hair, and pats her ribs down for some reason. “I don’t know what –” She shakes it off, annoyed, and yanks the chair around so she can sit backwards straddling it and facing him. “Fuck it. You’re staring at Caduceus. What’s up?”

Fjord blinks. “I wasn’t starin’ at Caduceus.”

“Are you wondering if his face is, like, velvety?” Beau lowers her voice in a conspiratorial way. “Because I’ve totally wondered that. Answer: Yes. Totally. He’s, like, slightly fuzzy all over. I dunno. I think it’s a firbolg thing.”

“What? No.”

He has, in fact, wondered precisely that.

“Well, okay, then that means you’re just staring at him. Unless you were zoning out and he was just, like, there. I’ve done that. Been there.” She nods. “Had to run from the city guard. It happens.”

“Beau, not to be rude or nothin’, but I wasn’t staring at Deuces. I was just thinkin’.”

Caduceus is on the other side of the room sitting with Jester who’s showing him something in one of her sketchbooks. The long blue length of her tail lashes around, flipping back and forth while she gestures grandly at what might just be a collection of smutty looking scribbles from one of Caleb’s smutty history novels or whatever. Cad looks politely baffled.

“I dunno, thought you might be…” Beau pauses as thought to reassess her commentary. “Look, a lot of other shit has gone down recently, but back in the City of Beasts, Cad went down. Like, for real. If jester hadn’t had that diamond…”

Fjord feels a slow tension crawl through him from his belly outward, recalling. “Yeah, that certainly did happen. Uh-huh.”

“Caduceus almost dies a lot and it kinda bugs me since, like, we kinda asked him out there with us after Molly died. Does that bother you? Cuz it kinda bothers—”

“Yeah, it fuckin’ bothers me.”

Beau looks at him. Dammit, that maybe came out a bit quick. Fjord by the nature of his innate half-orcish complexion cannot actually blush, but he feels his face get hot all at once and clears his throat while Beau’s eyes narrow. For all that she’s bad at talking to people, she’s pretty decent at reading them from time to time, not that he’s 100% certain himself what she might perceive.

“You worried about losing him?” Fjord rejoins.

“I was standing right there when Molly died.”

There’s a moment of silence. Beau is staring at the table now, but isn’t seeing it. It’s the first time in – what? – how many months since Mollymauk took his last breath that she’s actually said anything beyond the most basic and brutal facts about it. She drums her fingers on the table after a second of quiet and goes on.

“Yeah, I just don’t want to do that again, you know?”

“Hey, I’m not gonna let anything happen to Caduceus.” A pause. He clears his throat. “Uh, none of us are gonna let anything happen. I think he’s got some big stuff he’s supposed to do, you know?”

Beau nods. “He doesn’t freak you out anymore, Fjord?”

“Freak me out? He never freaked me out.”

“Coulda fooled me the way you kept grimacing every time he, you know, is Caduceus and does something eerie as hell and a little morbid. Because, like, he does that. A lot.”

“Well, sure, at first. But I guess I’m used to it now.”

“Yeah.”

“And it’s kinda nice having someone in the group who seems to have confidence in where he’s going and what he’s doing.”

“Right? He’s so, like, sure.”

“I don’t know if sure is the right word,” Fjord says, shaking his head. “He definitely doesn’t know what’s going to happen next. And the stuff we do scares the hell outta him sometimes. But he just… I dunno. He fuckin’ abides. Bad shit happens and he just… has something else to lean on and he doesn’t know if that something is gonna let him die or keep him alive, but he’d be… fine with it. Does that make sense?”

Beau blinks. “That sounds like a thought that didn’t happen over the course of a short conversation there, Fjord.”

Shit. Fjord feels heat spread through his face but shrugs to hide it.

“He just ain’t scared of the same shit I am, I guess.”

Beau tilts her head. “What’re you scared of?”

Shiiiiiit. Why the hell did he say that?

“Nothing specific. Just saying. Different views on the world and all.”

Beau squints at Fjord. Fjord maintains his casual demeanor with the professional control of a man for whom deception has come as second nature for about half a year now in the company of friends. He puts a real effort into appearing casual, lest Beauregard somehow glean from the angle of his eyebrows the constant underlying current of gut-clenching fear that’s begun to grip him every night.

The nightmares coming faster now and more confusing – the oceans, darkness, Avantika’s laugh interrupted by the crack of her neck breaking, and the sensation that someone touched him while he was asleep. He wakes up certain there’s a rope around his neck or a hand over his mouth, fingers on his tongue, a fist around his throat and bone-crushing sinew wrapped around his wrists, his knees, his chest and dragging him down, down, down fathoms deep until the crush of darkness is so deep he just –

“So Caduceus is hot, right?” says Beau.

Fjord sputters. “What?”

“I’m kidding! Yeesh! Calm down, team leader, or you got that whole ‘doth protest to much’ thing going on.” Beau gets up, grabbing a sitting pitcher of water from the table. “Just saying, you’re staring.”

“I am not staring.”

“Whatever, man. If you want a sweet pink undercut, I’ll bet he’d tell you how to get one.”

“That aint remotely it.”

“I know,” says Beau, looking at him.

She waits.

Fjord isn’t sure why, in that moment, with her staring at him, the random impulse to just tell her comes to him. He almost opens his mouth and forgets Vandren, almost swallows that voice like a pill he’s held under his tongue all this time. But the moment passes even as the pale blue curiosity of Beauregard’s stare holds steady and in the wake of that feeling of almost release, he feels tired.

Fjord sighs. “The truth?”

“Or whatever you feel like telling me. No pressure. You just… seem to be thinking is all.”

“I was thinking that his goddess, Melora, seems pretty cool.”

Beau blinks, visibly surprised.

“Oh, yeah, I guess so.” She grins. “Any goddess that says ‘get high and pray to me’ is pretty cool.”

Fjord glances at Caduceus who’s sitting cross-legged on the floor with their other cleric.

Jester appears to be showing him lewd diagrams, which he’s regarding with the same academic mien that one might regard anatomical drawings of flora. Fjord can’t begin to understand the compound flush of fondness and jealousy that takes hold of him looking at Caduceus; the fact that the closest thing he’s felt to that was when he first met Avantika – this confusion of response.

He realizes now that his impulse toward Avantika was certainly desperate self-defense and attraction, sure, but having more time to study a similar feeling now, Fjord thinks he got it wrong. He didn’t want to possess the person he was looking at or be possessed by them. Looking back now, he wanted to just be her.

He wanted to inhabit the body of someone who knew what the fuck they were after so badly it felt like arousal. So he doesn’t know what to do with the fact that, lately, when he looks at Caduceus he feels the same unformed impulse to occupy the same damn space as him.

The waking fantasy where he crosses the room, ignores the disinterested academic look Caduceus levels at anything suggestive, and finds out exactly what it would feel like – sliding your fingers into unkempt mane of pink, gripping hold, and pressing your mouth against his. Tasting his tongue, feeling that strange and intimate vibration in his throat when he tries to talk through a kiss so you can just swallow that sound.

Fjord doesn’t know what to do with the notion that doing so would tantamount to worship – or blasphemy – but he knows that the impulse is taking root inside him. Sure as a notion to touch something he shouldn’t just to know the feeling of it. He doesn’t know what to do with this raw, ugly ideation.

So Fjord just grins back at Beau.

“I mean, I sure wouldn’t mind that,” he says.

#critical role #fjord #caduceus clay #cr2 #the mighty nein #crfic #fjord is a confused warlock idiot #with a crush #and alot of problems #rae writes #raewrites

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sassysnowperson · 6 years ago

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Total Words Posted 2018: 269,752!

Total Works: 64 works in 3 fandoms (sorta, it was all Star Wars and then I wrote one crossover fic that was Not Star Wars At All and picked up the other two) with 40 different pairings.

As compared to last years: 253,511 words, 25 works, 3 fandoms, 8 different pairings.

Compare/Contrast between this year and the last: Roughly the same wordcount! SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT pairing and work count! I remain Mostly Stuck in Star Wars Land.

Major thing I learned this year: My range! This year I wrote fics from 500 words to over 50k, with wildly different genres, focuses, and narrative goals. In this, I feel like I have to talk about Stone and Sand, my first novel-length fic that is actually one coherent story. Knowing I can do that was...huge, and it’s also the fic I’ve done some of the most worldbuilding on. It’s made me grow as a writer, and I’m tremendously chuffed by it.

Also! I did my first exchange! Now that I’m more aware of exchange culture it’ll be interesting to see how that impacts things.

How I did on my Goals for Last Year: My goal was to write shorter pieces, and I DID! I wrote 27 works that were just around 500 words! I feel like I got better at distilling a scene.

Goals for the Coming Year: Go back to my ongoing series. I hope to update Bodhi Lives (I have...two stories I can tell before IX comes out and I need to figure out how much I’m going to stick to canon in the future universe). I also hope to work on a MASSIVE modern AU that I’ve been picking at, actually get that out into the universe. I’ve also discovered I really enjoy writing fic as gifts, so probably spacing out the longer series with shorter gift works. We shall see.

Under the readmore is a round-up of the fics I wrote in 2018, divided by fandom, then series, and if they’re not in a series, by event, and if none of the above apply, by ship or main characters.

l don’t have a good statistic to sum it up, but the widening and deepening of my fandom friendships has been a continuing joy. Thank you all for being a part of that!

If you’ve been reading my work, talk to me!

What’s been a favorite story? Most unexpected? What was the first thing of mine you read? What are you hoping I’ll write more of in 2019?

Note: Titles are links to the series and works.

Star Wars - New Series

Stone and Sand Verse (Bodhi and Luke’s relationship in a universe where both Bodhi and Jedha live, Bodhi/Luke - 69,410 words)

Stone and Sand - (Bodhi/Luke) (52,318 words) - Bodhi goes back to Jedha, Luke tags along, a love story between two people and a place.

Coming Flood - (Bodhi/Luke) (859 words) - Established Relationship fluff, with some political worldbuilding on the side.

Different Deserts - (Luke & Rey) (15022 words) - Luke goes to Jakku to find a Sith artifact, and he finds a bit more than he expected.

For Those that Read Stone and Sand - A meta for the series, explaining the setup I worked out for how the canon diverged, and some of Bodhi and Luke’s backstory.

Lyra Lives (An AU take on what would have happened if Lyra Erso had decided to stay with Jyn at the start of Rogue One - In Progress, 48,315 words at the end of 2018)

Troublesome as Ever - (Jyn & Lyra Erso, Lyra Erso/Galen Erso) (17189 words) - A retelling of Rogue One, with an alive Lyra Erso.

Traitors and Liars - (Galen Erso & Cassian Andor) (2515 words) - Galen and Cassian have a conversation about the whole ‘That one time I tried to kill you’ thing.

Critical Flaws - (Galen Erso/Lyra Erso/Bodhi Rook) (In progress - 28611 words as of the end of 2018)

Modern Pilots (Poe/Luke as airline pilots, good friends, casual lovers, and maybe something more? - 22,396 words)

Eight Hours to O’Hare - (Poe/Luke) (7335 words) - After eight solid hours of sass from his mouthy first officer, Captain Luke Skywalker takes Poe back to the hotel for a very thorough dressing-down.

Six Hours to La Guardia - (Poe/Luke) (15061 words) - The prequel to the above, showing the first time Poe and Luke spent some time together. You can honestly read these in either order, but this was the order they were written in.

Star Wars - Continuing Series (Started in Prior Years)

Merrick/Draven (Antoc Merrick, fighter pilot, and Davits Draven, spy, are fighting the same war in very different ways - 8,077 words in total)

Who Pays the Cost - (Merrick/Daven & Cassian) (500 words) - Merrick, Draven, and the problem of child soldiers. (Seriously, good Lord Star Wars, there are so many child soldiers in your universe!)

Time Enough for Mourning - (Merrick/Draven) (2191 words) - Sorrow, Joy, and what happens to Draven after Merrick meets his canonical fate during Rogue One.

And in the Morning, Joy - (Merrick/Draven) (1988 words) - I made myself sad so I had to go write a fix-it. Merrick, Draven, and what happens to them during ANH when Merrick does NOT meet his canonical fate.

What We Know - (Merrick/Draven) (2352 words) - The spy and the flyboy consider life after war, and when exactly a war ends.

Bodhi Lives Short Stories (technically two different series because I have DREAMS of expanding and discussing further, but I’m not there yet)

Impending Demise - (Bodhi & K-2SO) (832 words) - Bodhi and Kay play chess.

No Better Plans - (Bodhi & K-2SO) (497 words) - In another universe, Bodhi and Kay become pirates. This one has art because I fell in love with the image of Bodhi with gold and purple hair.

Choices and Changes (My sprawling Modern AU, featuring cops turned nurses and gangsters turned cops, in 2018 I wrote some short stories to better fill in the universe)

Impatience - (Bodhi/Cassian) (1742 words) - A lazy, suggestive morning in bed. There is no sex. This is the most overtly sexual thing I have written that does not actually include any sex.

Friends and Lovers - (Bodhi/Cassian, Background Ahsoka/Padme) (6846 words) - Cassian tells Bodhi a story about what happened during their years apart.

Favorite Cover - (Bodhi/Cassian) (490 words) - Bodhi and Cassian make out in a closet...to maintain their cover, of course.

Year after Year - (Ahsoka/Padme) (500 words) - I loved them so much I had to write their story too, framed through Christmases together.

Star Wars: Events

February Ficlet Challenge - write a different pairing for every day in February! (Note, where appropriate, I grouped the ficlets with their appropriate series, instead of here, though this link will take you to the entire series page)

Additional Note: Each of these ficlets is right about 500 words, so I will not be including a wordcount.

Nightmare Scenario - (Luke/Bodhi) - No power, no heat, Luke and Bodhi stuck in the black.

Good and Bright - (Cassian/Jyn) - Some nights, Cassian trusts Jyn to take control.

The Things You Miss - (Obi-Wan/Chirrut/Baze) - Masquerades are an interesting opportunity.

Knock-Off Jedi - (Cassian/Luke) - They’re about the same height, and Cassian has cause to regret this.

Strange Customs - (Kes/Shara) - What happens to an accidental marriage trope when the people are already married?

Kiss the Sky - (Antoc Merrick/Luke Skywalker) - Merrick, an innocent bystander, gets pulled into the younger pilot’s initiation rituals.

Easy Mark - (Bodhi/Jyn) - Bodhi’s still not sure if Jyn likes him or just thinks he’s an easy mark.

Pebble - (Lyra/Galen) - Superpowered / Fantasy AU, Krennic makes a play for Galen, and very much underestimates Lyra.

Out of Turn - (Leia/Bodhi) - The Death Star is a horrible thing thing to share, but they share it.

Kitchenette - (Wedge/Mon) - They find their peace with each other.

Gentle Grace - (Leia/Amilyn) - There’s not much room for softness in Leia’s life anymore.

Where Did You Get A Ring? - (Wedge/Cassian) - A fake engagement makes for a pretty good cover.

A Pilot First - (Wedge/Poe) - Wedge is a senator now, and there are precious few people in his life that see him as a pilot first.

Explain This to Me - (Obi-Wan/Owen/Beru) - There’s a bleeding man on Beru’s couch, and she would really like to know why.

A Fine Distraction - (Biggs/Bodhi) - After Scarif and the Battle of Yavin, Bodhi and Biggs carry similar scars.

Newest Muse - (Cassian/Poe/Bodhi) - Artist!AU, Bodhi tries his best to steal C. Andor’s newest muse.

Stranger while Slouching - (Wedge/Leia) - Wedge isn’t sure what Leia looks like when she’s actually relaxed.

A Gentle Man - (Bail/Obi-Wan) - Their time together is a fiction, but it’s a fiction they both enjoy tremendously.

To Better Memories - (Wedge/Bodhi) - They experienced the same Empire, very differently.

Teeth Aren't Supposed to Ache - (Bodhi/Galen) - Bodhi gets the flu.

Supposed to be Romantic - (Biggs/Luke) - Luke really doesn’t understand the concept of picnics.

Mine to Claim - (Cassian/Leia) - Fairytale AU, The Princess is in the tower, but nobody is expecting the spy.

Tell Me a Secret - (Wedge/Luke) - Wedge, Luke, and secrets shared through the years.

Star Wars Rare Pairs Exchange - a gift exchange for lesser-written Star Wars Pairings, aka a two-month BLITZ of writing A LOT OF FIC (October and November).

A Body of Unanswered Questions - (Davits Draven/Mon Mothma) (770 words) - Mostly featuring Draven’s existential crisis, also featuring smut.

A Series of Better Decisions - (Padmé Amidala/Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker) (9,211 words) - Revenge of the Sith is less tragedy and more comedy, because Anakin Skywalker is less evil and more of just…a disaster bisexual.

Beyond the Clouds - (Lando Calrissian/Biggs Darklighter/Luke Skywalker) (23277 words) - Luke and Lando are both reeling from the events of ESB, but are slowly building something with each other. The news that Biggs Darklighter, Luke’s childhood love, is alive is amazing news, but it does make their relationship more complicated.

Bury Your Heart - (Leia Organa/Han Solo/Wedge Antilles) (9051 words) - Leia’s heart is torn between her duty and her love, and agrees to an arranged marriage for the sake of Alderaan’s survivors. To her surprise, her old friend Wedge Antilles is on the list of acceptable candidates.

Decent Organics - (Cassian Andor/K-2SO, Lando Calrissian/L3-37) (2541 words) - Snarky droids, and the organics that love them. L3-37 is trying to get under Cassian’s skin, and Cassian enjoys it tremendously.

Hang With You for a Minute - (Bodhi Rook/Luke Skywalker) (3883 words) - Bodhi is trying to get away from a clingy ex-boyfriend, and asks a random adorable blond for help.

Heat Heals - (Finn/Luke Skywalker) (2002 words) - Two kind people find a bit of comfort in each other, and also discuss the cultural construction of the idea of attraction.

Reckless Idiot - (Wedge Antilles/Tycho Celchu) (1530 words) - Semi-Public sex with some Power Dynamics…and also a lot of emotions about pilot lifespans and the worthwhile but difficult reality of love during wartime.

The Survivor - (Cassian Andor/Shara Bey/Kes Dameron) (13,667 words) - Shara Bey drags Cassian off of Scarif, much to his chagrin. And then she and Kes decide to look after Cassian, as they don’t trust him to look after himself.

Waystation - (Poe Dameron/Bodhi Rook) (12,763 words) - Pre-TFA, Poe Dameron’s ship gets…a little bit damaged, and he has to pull into a space station. The mechanic there has a familiar name. It’s on the tip of his tongue. Maybe something out of the stories Mama told him - daring heroes up against impossible odds.

Star Wars - Standalone Fics By Pairing

Bodhi/Wedge

Not Too Much - (4625 words) - Wedge is convinced that he is probably not the best person to be in a relationship with.

Future on the Other Side - (1084 Words) - After Endor, Bodhi and Wedge find each other.

Bodhi/Luke

Kissing Strangers - (1662 words) - Modern AU, Luke regrets helping Leia with her art project.

Good Books and Goodbyes - (807 words) - Reading is distracting, much to Bodhi’s amusement.

Bodhi/Cassian

Force of Nature - (241 words) - Cassian was a force of nature when he kissed.

Bail/Breha/Obi-Wan

Wisdom of the Queen - (1123 words) - Breha decides to spend the day in bed.

Bodhi/Jyn

Alone and Otherwise - (3201 words) - Jyn isn’t sure how to let anyone in, anymore.

Luke/Wedge

Marriage, and Other Unorthodox Solutions - (29,541 words) - Luke is ready to give up on the college of his dreams, because his aunt and uncle couldn’t afford tuition. Wedge has a different, slightly unorthodox, solution...

Bodhi/Han

Sit Down and Buckle Up - (2538 words) - When Han Solo finds himself hit over the head with a blackjack he's got no choice but to turn the piloting of his precious Falcon over to one Bodhi Rook. Bodhi, it turns out, is a very good pilot. Han, it turns out, is really into that.

Gen/Humor Fics

The Glorious Ascension of Emperor Solo - (2170 words) - Han Solo agrees to use the Falcon as prisoner transport, and everything goes horribly wrong...or right, depending on your point of view.

The Definitive Guide to Galactic Wildlife - (1345 words) - K-2SO, who is Clearly an Expert on Organic Creatures, provides the definitive guide to wildlife in the Galaxy Far Far Away.

Shout out to My ONE AND ONLY Non-Star Wars Fic!

Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) / Evey Carnahan (The Mummy)

Set and Osiris - (3313 words) - Evy Carnahan and Diana Prince meet in an abandoned Egyptian temple. It is most unexpected.

OH MY GOODNESS THAT WAS SO MANY LINKS. My hands ache. My eyes are blurry.

If you actually read this far, know that I appreciate you, so much, and wish you all the best. *blows kisses*

#fanfiction year in review #fanfiction year in review 2018 #long post #long post for ts #fic talk #my fic #I always appreciate looking back and seeing what I've done #It's good to take a moment of reflection

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seeroftodayandtomorrow · 6 years ago

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Seeroftodayandtomorrow’s Fic Masterpost

It’s 8 minutes past midnight here, so technically I’m late for PostYourMasterlist day. Here it is anyway.

Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Summary: Kurt's former relationships have not been successful. He thinks he's figured out why; now he goes looking for the perfect guy in an unusual way.

Rating: M

Word Count: 13,031

Tags: Impotence, Slight Non-con

For in my Heart I Carry such a Heavy Load

Summary: Dystopian AU. In a hostile society, two boys find solace in each other's arms. But when circumstances force them apart, will they be able to find each other again?

Rating: M

Word Count: 16,361

Tags: Dystopian, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia

The Endless Tango of Love and Money

Summary: When Kurt Hummel hires escort Blaine Anderson to play his boyfriend at a family gathering, he sets in motion a chain of events that ends up with them living together for a year, posing as boyfriends, and struggling with jealous relatives, dancing, money, and love.Once again inspired by, and very loosely based on a German novel I read a long time ago.

Rating: M

Word Count: 32,998

Tags: Fake Relationship, Dancing, Minor Character Death

The SImple Life

Summary: What if your soulmate is the one person you can't allow yourself to love?

Rating: M

Word Count: 17,342

Tags: Soulmates, Alcoholism, Suicidal Thoughts, References to canonical Character Death, Angst

Mistaken Identitiy

Summary: When private investigator Blaine Anderson is hired to find the missing father of Kurt Hummel, he thinks the biggest challenge will be to keep out of the pants of his gorgeous client. Little does he know how much his personal life will be involved in - and get messed up because of - his new case.

Rating: M

Word Count: 15,309

Tags: Detective Story (sort of), gun use, kidnapping, politician!Burt

Defiance

Summary: Blaine has never found someone he trusts enough to be able to really submit. When he meets well-known Dom Kurt in a club, will they both be able to overcome their insecurities and perhaps find love in the process?Dom/sub story inspired by the 'Deviations'-series.

Rating: E

Word Count: 60,821

Tags: BDSM, Dom!Kurt, Sub!Blaine, Past Abuse

Deliverance

Summary: Sequel to "Defiance", which you should probably read first.

Kurt and Blaine navigate the ups and downs of an established BDSM relationship.

Rating: E

Word Count: 60,583

Tags: BDSM, Dom!Kurt, Sub!Blaine, Established relationship

Klaine Advent 2017: Defiance/Deliverance

Summary: Hopefully 24 drabbles of varying length set in my Defiance/Deliverance verse, in no chronological order. Some may even be set before the beginning of Defiance, or after the end of Deliverance.

Rating: E

Word Count: 10,597

Tags: BDSM, Dom!Kurt, Sub!Blaine, non-graphic depictions of abuse,non-chronological

Endland

Summary: Apocalypse AU

Kurt is a prostitute, jaded from the way his world fell apart. Blaine is a policeman, trying to maintain some kind of order in the midst of chaos. When Kurt discovers something that may cost him his life, he wants to pay Blaine for his protection - in the way he usually does. But as, once again, everything crashes around them, he soon discovers that sex with Blaine can never be just a business transaction.

Rating: E

Word Count: 42,334

Tags: Prostitute!Kurt, Apocalypse, post-Apocalypse

Kurt and Blaine Wake Up Married

Summary: A drunk marriage in Vegas, a divorce temporarily out of the question and his new husband someone he's been a fan of forever: Blaine Anderson's week just got a lot more exciting. If only he wasn't still so hung up on his ex...Inspired by the 'Wake up married' -series by Leta Blake and Alice Griffiths

Rating: M

Word Count: 41,110

Tags: Accidental Marriage, Famous!Kurt, asshole!Sebastian

Love Lessons

Summary: Fake-historical AU. Blaine Anderson, brother to the Viscount Dalton, needs lessons in the matters of love in order to be able to woo the man he loves. Who better to teach him than the rakish young lord Kurt Hummel?

Inspired by a short story by Megan Derr

Rating: M

Word Count: 12,162

Tags: Fake Historical

Locked in Iron

Summary: Kurt can do magic. Iron negates his powers. Sometimes, Blaine needs that.

Rating: E

Word Count: 1,784

Tags: Porn with Feelings, Bondage, Magic

The Prince and the Moon God

Summary: "It is the sole purpose of Blaine's birth. One hundred years will have passed when he reaches his twenty-first year. Then he will be put on a ship, make the long voyage to the Isle, and have his throat cut to make sure his family keeps its power."

Inspired by a story by Megan Derr.

Rating: M

Word Count: 24,682

Tags: Fantasy, Human Sacrifice, Happy Ending

Glee Trek (WIP)

Summary: Space - the Final Frontier. These are the Adventures of the Gleeship New Directions. Its mission: to explore new music, to seek out new choreographies and mash-ups. To boldly sing what no one has sung before.

Rating: T

Word Count: 5,272

Tags: Glee/Star Trek crossover, crack fic

In Carcere (WIP)

Summary: After a prompt on the Glee prompt meme: Blaine locks himself in chastity so he can't cheat on Kurt again

Rating: E

Word Count: 14,882

Tags: Chastity Device, slight Dom/sub, discussions of cheating, post 4.04

#my fic #klaine fanfiction #post your masterlist day

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cyrelia-j · 6 years ago

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My Nanowrimo Challenge

So I’m giving myself a bit of a different challenge for nano because I don’t need to be writing another novel length fic while I have a gazillion wips so, my challenge is

Writing 50k words (or more) to existing WIPs

So here is the master list along with current story status. Shoot me a reply dm whatever to let me know 2 or 3 that you’d like to see an update on and the top I dunno 2-5 (depending on how much story advancement comes from 50k words as much as I go on) will get updated and/or finished come 12/1!

A, Men: a/b/o-ish garashir porn, sequel to “O, Julian” and “I, Garak” (which had Dukat/Bashir also). Currently working on Chapter 3. Up on AO3

A Ceiling of Stars: sci fi au garashir based off a misunderstanding. Working on the main fic. (This one got weird because it started out one way, got mostly written, I had another idea in this world which got 50k written, then I went back to the original haha). Prologue is on AO3

A Gift for my Darling: Garak/Bashir/Parmak super dark twisted mirror universe AU where mirror Julian is a body horror cat slave. Lots of guro shit and porn. Working on chapter 7. All chapters are archived HERE

Cross: Desert Fantasy AU Garak/Bashir/Parmak where Julian was recruited to assassinate Garak- full of intrigue, some sex, and angst. Currently working on Chapter 6. Up on AO3

Deuces: Dominionless garashir AU (with Ziyal/Mardah) where Garak is Ziyal’s adopted father and the two of them stop on ds9 for a month going to Bajor. Some daddy kink stuff and slow build up to the sex. Working on Chapter 8. Only on Tumblr so far and can be found HERE

Eidolon: 1970s AU featuring Jack/Parmak where Jack comes through a wormhold to find Parmak on the other side. Part 1 of 2 is up HERE.

Extraverse stuff: Modern Garak/Parmak/Bashir AU featuring lots of silliness, sex, and pop culture references. The drabble stories appear at random at different periods between 1990 and 2018. Currently working on “Bomb Pop” which will be the latest story in the “modern” era. Series is on AO3

Follow You: You won’t find this anywhere yet but it was the dark version I was going with from “A Ceiling of Stars”. Currently working on this as a separate story.

For the Glory of Morning: Jack/Julian, Jack pack AU where the Jack pack are space pirates with lots of episodic adventures. Working on Chapter 5 as well as a sister story featuring the Cardassian crew led by Garak which has the working title “For the Glory of Night”. Up on AO3

Inside a Dream: garashir (past Jack/Julian and Julian/Sarina), some kelim and also will have Jack/Parmak. Post Canon everything AU where Julian’s mind is broken after Sarina’s death and Garak is trying to bring him back. Working on Chapter 6. Currently up on tumblr HERE

Invictus: Kelim (possibly garashir and parmashir later) PCC AU where Parmak is raising 7 children struggling to survive after The Fire, and Garak comes back to a very unhappy reunion to recruit him for a special mission. a dark au with a twisted relationship between Parmak and Garak. Working on chapter 5. The backstory for this dark universe Kelas can be found on AO3 HERE. This is currently on tumblr HERE

Limitless: garashir epic where Julian was also a sociopath with a split personality from his enhancements and is going to wreak havoc on the station. Twisted mind control dark dubcon story. The first fanfic done for the fandom and is currently being rewritten from the beginning (the technical events will remain the same). Working on both Chapter 9 and the rewrite and this is up on AO3. (You may not want to read yet though since it is crazy long and early chapters are being overhauled)

Lizards Melt in your Mouth: Modern garashir porn AU where Garak is Parmak’s “pet” lizard and Julian has been recruited to pet sit. The main story is done but I am doing a massive edit and am still planning some sort of epilogue/sequel. Working on the edit and sequels. Up on AO3

The New JJ Frontier: Jack/Julian (likely G/B/J) au retelling the series with Jack and Julian as a married augment couple who grew up together in The Institute. Most recent part is HERE with links to other parts

The Power of Three: Modern Garak/Bashir/Parmak porn AU where Julian is a virgin who accidentally summoned two aliens thinking they’re sex demons. Working on Chapter 5. Currently on tumblr HERE

Renegades: Insanely long Garak/Bashir/Dax where Garak finds himself on a tech-less Western world on an undisclosed mission. Working on chapter 52 but I have no idea when I’ll get back to this but I have started chapter 52. Up on AO3

Starboys: garashir and Jack/Julian (with future Jack/Parmak and Garak/Parmak) sci fi su with a cyber/neon/neo tokyo flair where Garak is an agent for the Obsidian Order and Jack and Julian are lovers involved in an Augment theft crew who unwisely cross him. Working on Part 2. Up on AO3

Undertow: Jack/Parmak story set in season 7 heavy into bdsm/praise kink where Parmak is working on adapting the Morphegnic virus and Jack is his assistant dark and kinky. Working on Chapter 7 latest chapter HERE with links to the others

Stories that are technically complete but may have sequels/other parts:

Badhyāmahe: Garak/Bashir/Parmak Gotham/soulmark au where Julian is a doctor at Arkham and meets Kelas Parmak, one of Doctor Strange’s experiments. Working on a sequel. Up on AO3

First Contact: Garak/Bashir/Parmak pre relationship AU where Garak and parmak are both exiled and try and court Julian. Considering a silly sequel. Up on AO3

The Hunted: modern horror garashir au where Julian finds himself in a post apocalyptic world after monsters known as The Hunters attack. Considering a companion piece which is more garashir focused. Up on AO3

Lizard Hooks: Modern Earth AU where Jack and Julan are best friends dating Cardassian coffee shop owners Garak and Parmak. Done parts 1 and 2 but always up for more on this for fun. Currently on AO3.

Rain Inside your Eyes (Brain, Heathen, Breathe): Super angsty Julian character study series focused on him suppressing his enhancements. Considering a last garashir follow up. Up on AO3

Strangers: AU garashir murder porn based off Stranger on a Train. Considering a 4th part featuring Dukat. Up on AO3

So there you have it; questions, update status, want to poke me on one of these just reply, ask, w/e *faints*

#nanowrimo #my wips #cyrelia-j

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shadowsong26fic · 7 years ago

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Coming Attractions!

Because I skipped the last two months, lol...

I mean, this one is not necessarily “coming this month,” since I’ll be travelling for a couple weeks in the middle of the month! So I’ll have time to write, but possibly not brain, and I’m not 100% sure what my internet access will be like, so I’m tentatively saying there will be no posts between the 10th and the 24th/25th. If everything goes to plan, though, I’ll build up some backlog of stuff in the evenings and be able to post a bunch when I get back. But we shall see!

Okay, ever on we go...

Precipice:

So, I’m nowhere near where I wanted to be at this point in the year, lol. This arc has been...hm...not really flowing as much as some of the earlier ones did? I think at least in part because Fluff Is Hard, so that half is taking a long, long time for me to get out. And Saw can be difficult, so that half is also fairly slow-going, too. Arc Seven (which takes place three years later) should go faster. Leia has a Key Milestone to meet, Infernalis has things to do, and there’s a Spoiler that sets up a major plot thread for arcs 8-14.

Which, as a head’s up, will most likely be split off into a separate fic. Which I think I’ve mentioned before, but just to be clear. Partly for length, partly for timing--there’s going to be a fairly long timeskip of six years--partly for subject matter/format because there’s a key Moment that happens in Arc Eight (working title Escalation). Right now, the plan is to title this second chunk Protectors, but I might use Precipice II or something instead, haven’t decided.

So, anyway, fun stuff in the pipeline here! I might do another bonus fic or two at some point. I’m guessing Arc Six will be about twelve chapters in total? Depends on how quickly I wrap up the Saw & Ahsoka & Rex storyline.

Oh! Before I switch topics--on the subject of the bonus fics, having read Thrawn: Alliances...there’s definitely one I want to write, with Padme and Thrawn. But, due to potential spoilers, it’ll be a while. Which...I guess I should remind y’all that I tend to work in a blended/tiered canon, drawing on both Legends and canon content as seems appropriate. Also, I locked my official canon before seeing Rebels, which is why Ahsoka and Rex have pretty significantly different backstories. I draw stuff in from later-released contact as it suits me/the story, if it does not completely contradict what I’ve established for the AU.

(Incidentally, as for drawing in Rebels content/characters, I’m still going back and forth on how much of that I wanna do. As I think I’ve mentioned before, the timeskip between Part 7 and Part 8 includes the entire run of the show, and I already had Thrawn worked into a later storyline, plus Rebels would pretty significantly diverge starting with the end of S1/beginning of S2 anyway, so...there it is. There is something I’m leaning towards using Kallus and Zeb for, in around part 13/14, but we shall see.)

AU Outlines:

Let’s Go Steal a Crossover will materialize at some point, I swear.

Also The Mask of Zorro/California Gold Rush AU Fusion No One One Person Asked For. Which is a very long title but pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. I should rewatch that movie at some point. Not just for this, but because I love it.

Also, having read Alliances, for somewhat spoilery reasons the Pellaeon AU is back in my head with a vengeance. (I mean. Not that it ever really left because it’s a fun and somewhat self-indulgent one I pick at pretty frequently.) Anyway, I probably will write that one up at some point, but holding off for a suitable spoiler moratorium ‘cause some of the stuff that came up in the novel will/should be referenced. (...this AU, for those of you who don’t know, is the one where Gilad Pellaeon impulsively kidnaps a fourteen-year-old, one thing leads to another, and now Thrawn is working with the Rebels.)

Also also, at some point I should update Ventress and Her Tiny Time-Travelling Conscience. Because Past!Obi-Wan, Padme, and Palpatine should probably all weigh in on what’s going down...

Other Existing Fic:

Fingers crossed for Distaff and/or Auxiliaries. Because I am very fond of them, I just haven’t had much juice flowing for them lately, sadly.

Also, eventually The Caladrius? I think/hope?

New Projects:

There are THREE of them! :D Because I clearly don’t have enough going on, lol.

First one is Our Faces Like a Mirror (working title); AKA the first big chunk of a potentially massive “shadowsong accidentally fell in love with Bo-Katan and now feels compelled to tell her story” project. This one covering from the backstory civil war until she leaves to join Death Watch. Don’t want to say too much more, since it might be my BB project for next year.

Second is Bail Unfucks the Timeline (which lacks a working title). It’s pretty much an expansion of the AU Outline version. There’s quite a bit of negative space/gaps to fill in, so we’ll see when this comes in. (It also might be a BB project, IDK.)

Third is Untitled ObiAniDala AU Extravaganza. Based on a prompt from @obianidalasuggestion.

Timeline/dummy summary because I are Clever.

In another galaxy, this would be the year the Clone Wars began.

In this one, it’s the twenty-fifth anniversary of the fall of the Republic.

I’m still poking around at worldbuilding for now. Figuring out where Obi-Wan has been for the past twenty-five years since Bail helped him escape the Temple (and making this suitably distinct from Kanan’s backstory); working out Padme’s timeline; having fun with tiny Anakin and Ahsoka; debating whether to adjust Palpatine’s age for credibility, or have the subplot of him overthrowing Plagueis in the background...

Now, courtship narratives aren’t really my strong suit so I have no idea on timing for this one, either, but I’m having fun building it and it will come eventually.

(Also, it occurred to me--and this isn’t the direction I’m going with it--but this prompt also lends itself to a Dark Trio OT3 fic. Where Obi-Wan the Sith apprentice and Padme the clever politician are plotting to overthrow their mutual Master and rule together, or have already done so, and then Anakin falls into their laps, so to speak...again, not going there because while I definitely enjoy reading Empress Amidala AUs (and occasionally Sith Obi-Wan AUs), I am not at all confident in my ability to write one, and besides I’m having way more fun worldbuilding the other one. Just...IDK sharing as an example of how my brain tends to go off on Tangents, which is why I have many AUs of my own AUs and sometimes updates are slow, lol...)

Original Fiction:

With the help of some challenges on the origfic community I post to, I actually got some stuff done this month! Hopefully will keep doing stuff because I’ve missed by origfic characters the past year or so...

Anyway, that’s what’s coming! What have y’all been up to lately?

#coming attractions #shadowsong26fic #shadowsong writes star wars #shadowsong writes original fic

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scifrey · 7 years ago

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Get To Know The Writer

Get to Know the Writer Tag

Rules (always post the rules): answer the questions given to you, write ten questions of your own, tag ten people.

@rosecorcoranwritessaid anyone who wants to do it can, and it looked interesting.

1.) Where did the title(s) of your latest project(s) come from?

The titles for The Accidental Turn Series were sort of decided by a committee of my agent, my editor, my publisher and me. I’m rubbish at naming books, so through a series of emails a list of about a hundred throw-them-out-there titles were whittled down (mostly by Googling them and seeing if any other book had that title already) to a few themes. From there we narrowed down and named the first book (The Untold Tale, where I had been calling it That Feminist Meta Thingy), and then the other two books dominoed into place after that (The Forgotten Tale, and The Silenced Tale.)

These titles are because in book #1, the fantasy is being told from a side character who in fantasy-novel tropes is often overlooked. In book #2, other fantasy stories start vanishing, forgotten by the readers, and in book #3,someone is trying to silence the writer of these fantasy books forever.

City By Night, one of my novellas, is also being reissued next month. Its original title was The Dark Side f the Glass, which was both an allusion to Alice Through The Looking Glass, as it’s about a woman who falls into a TV instead of through a mirror, and a tip of the head to the song of the same title from the soundtrack of one of the television shows the novella satirizes, Forever Knight. However, my agent thought the reference was too obscure, and after another big round of back-and-forth, it was decided to name the novella after the fake-TV show I made up for the story.

The titles of the to books in The Skylark’s Saga (#1 The Skylark’s Song, and #2, The Skylark’s Sacrifice) are because I do love alliteration when I can get away with it! These are the only titles of the recent projects that I decided on my own and the rest of my team liked! Score!

2.) Do you have any rhyme or reason behind your character names?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. For the Accidental Turn Series fantasy books, I stole a lot of street names or snipped letters out of traditionally “European” names, like Kintyre, Forsyth, and Bevel to make them look suitably fantasy-esque on the page. But when the characters come to the “real world” I made a point of surrounding them with characters who had distinctly non-white, no-European names like Ahbni, Ichiro, and Juan just to really emphasize how much more diverse the “real world” is over traditional fantasy.

In Triptych, every friend who helped me with edits got a character named after them. And in The Skylark’s Saga I got a bit silly - the Sealies all have surnames inspired by pagan gods, the Saskwayins are colors, and the Klonn are plants.

3.) What is your writing routine, if any?

When possible, I like to write at night, in silence, and with only my desk lamp on. I try to keep my desk area very tidy, too, with only notes about the project I’m immediately working on written on my whiteboard wall. I need the only mess to be what’s in my head.

I’m more of a pantser who has, by virtue of writing series, been forced to learn how to plan. But even then, my planning is pretty rudimentary. I often do this in a notebook on transit (I tend to come up with ideas when I’m in liminal spaces), and run that by my editor. If she approves the vague outline, then I often write whatever scene is foremost in my mind - whichever has really grabbed my imagination, and allows me to figure out who my characters are, what the voice is, who the narrators are.

From there I often write chapter one, and then usually skip straight to the climax of the book and write that. This way I know where I’m aiming before I properly knock the arrow. Even if the target eventually shifts, I still have a sense of its shape and location.

From there I tend to skip all over the narrative and write whatever arrests me or I have in the front of my mind. Once that’s done, I go back to the start and begin the process of filling in the gaps. If I get another idea, I’m always happy to jump ahead and do that.

Using Scrivener has made this process a thousand times easier than when I had to scroll-scroll-scroll through Word.

When I don’t have to go to my dayjob, I try to write about 4000 words per day. When I do, I am for 500-1669, which keeps me limber for NaNoWriMo.

4.) Where is the weirdest place you’ve ever written?

I actually wracked my brains on this one, and I was going t say something like “a 400 year old house on the top of a mountain in Japan” or “in the shadow of the Great Pyramids in Giza”, but honestly, the real answer is on my BlackBerry while high off my face on morphine in the emergency room. Apparently I wrote a GREAT short story, which I emailed to all my friends, and emailed them. Without telling anyone that I was in hospital with Organ Death ™. And without remembering at all that I’d done it.

5.) Do you prefer to write by hand or type?

Typing, hands down. I type way faster than I handwrite, and I get frustrated that my pen can’t keep up with my brain. If I get an idea when I’m away from the computer, I usually only jot down enough to remember the scene/idea/mood/exchange without writing it out. I despise having to do the work twice, and that’s what transcribing from paper to computer feels like.

6.) Ideally, where would you like to see your writing take you in five years?

I’d like to break this barrier there seems between me and the Big 5. My agent and I have been working at it, but there seems to be some strange gap. Lots of editors at the Big 5 like my work, but no one seems to want to sign it. I get compliments on my voice, on my word crafting, but no contracts. It’s so frustrating to be so close to the possibility of working with a team with more resources than I have so far.

7.) Which character is most fun to write and why?

Now that Triptych is complete and being serialized on Wattpad, any opportunity to revisit Kalp is a delight. I love looking at the world through his eyes. Olly, from The Maddening Science was a lot of fun too, again because of the way I have to shove aside my own assumptions about how and why the world works and see it through the lens of his own intelligence and lived experience. And Bevel will never not be a hoot, because there’s something just so great about getting to be that crass, and to come up with dirty jokes that fit in a fantasy world.

8.) What advice would you give writers just starting out?

Read widely outside of the genre you want to write in. If you want to write fiction, read non-fic, pop sci, and academic papers. Read the news. Read blogs. Read things that are in your wheelhouse, but then randomly grab something from the library that looks cool. You never know where the next idea will come from. Let your imagination wander.

9.) Do you have any “writing heros”? (This could be published writers or non.)

Anyone giving it a go! It’ hard, and it’s disheartening when people don’t love something you’ve put so much work and heart into. It’’s easy to give up on. Don’t.

Otherwise, I love Dianne Wynne Jones’ blatant subversion of stereotypes and tropes, which has really informed my writing, an Jane Austen’s ability to create such diverse, thoughtful, and complex characters.

I also super appreciate fanfic writers, cause they do it out of sheer love, and work for years to hone their craft. Among my faves are @bendingsignpost @sheafrotherdon, and @madlori.

10.) Tell me about your work-in-progress.

Oh lord, is this a can of worms you really want to open?

The Silenced Tale & The Accidental Collection - books #3 and #4 of The Accidental Turn Series are done. They just need to be line-edited and then the editor can lock the manuscript and it’s out of my hands and into the typesetter/designer’s. (And then of course I need to ramp up to marketing machine.)

Book #3 is the conclusion of a trilogy of books about a secondary character in fantasy epic who becomes self-aware and slips the pages of his book.

The Skylark’s Saga - The two books are written, but one of the relationships is changing dramatically and I need to go in and shift that. I have no idea how much writing/rewriting this is going to entail. However, I do know that I want to get it done by the end of the year. As soon as the manuscript for The Silenced Tale is locked, I’ll be moving onto this.

This duology is a steampunk-adventure-romance book about a girl vigilante and her ornery rocketpack who gets trapped behind enemy lines after being shot down in a dogfight.

The Austen Hollywood AU - I’ve written the first book of the series, and my agent is shopping it now. It’s possible that it may only get signed as a one-book deal, but ideally I’ve developed it as a six-book series (one for each of Austen’s). At some point I’d like to write the first three chapters of the remaining five books, to demonstrate what the voice and tone of each is gong to be like. (Possibly for NaNoWriMo this year??)

These books are modern adaptations of Austen’s work, but they will all intertwine as characters from different aspects of the entertainment industry cross paths, work together, and as they do in the originals, find love and contentment.

The Maddening Science - at some point I’d like to develop my short story of the same name into a full-length novel, but it would take a lot of research on my part, and a lot of buy-in on a publisher’s. I’m not quite ready to tackle this one yet, though I have pitches and synopsizes and the like written.

Henrietta - This idea is relatively new idea, born from watching a documentary and then reading the non-fic biography that inspired it (see, reading outside your genre helps!), but I think I’d really like to take a swing a writing a historical romance based on the life of a certain historical mistress, something like The Other Boleyn Girl. It would take a massive amount of research as well, but I think would be really interesting and engaging. The woman’s life was fascinating.

The Neridis - I wrote this book about four years ago and it’s been trunked. I’d like to pull it back out and give it a spit-polish and a steam-up, then self publish it sometime next year under my erotica pseudonym. It’s a time-travel lesbian romance story that can easily be punched up into erotica.

And of course, there are three other books that are sort of hovering in the back of my mind, but I’m not ready to write them, or even really a pitch for them yet. The vampire one might be a screenplay instead, I’m not sure.

Oh, and I am looking to place a script, too - I wrote it under spec for a company that later decided not to shift from distribution into development any more, so I’m not sure what do with 228 pages of cute lesbian comic-book creators falling love over lattes and superheroes. I keep thinking that it would make a great webcomic/graphic novel, but I have no idea how to find an artist willing to commit to like a 500-page graphic novel, and more importantly, find the money to pay them.

I tag whomever wants to jump in. No pressure.

#get to know the writer #writblr #bookblr #jmfrey #the accidental turn series #triptych #kalp #forsyth turn #kintyre turn #bevel dom #writing #words for writers

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backtomiddleearthmonth · 8 years ago

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Rules for posting on the LiveJournal community

If you wish to post on Back to Middle-earth Month’s LiveJournal community, please read the following rules for posting and tagging your fanworks in the LJ community. Please either leave an Ask or email the mod team at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Posting Rules

For the title of your post, use the format "Fanwork Title by Creator" (e.g., A Story About Hobbits by Middle-earth Fan).

Copy and paste the form below into the body of the post. All fields are required, except for the optional notes. If one or more does not apply, please use "none" or N/A or the like. Using an LJ-cut is also required for all works.

Please include the full prompt, including the path color (this will make things much easier for the taggers).

B2MeM Prompt and Path:Format: Genre: Rating: Warnings: Characters: Pairings: Creator’s Notes (optional): Summary: <lj-cut>FANWORK GOES HERE</lj-cut>

You are encouraged to tag your entry for character(s), genre(s), format(s), and prompt(s). If you don’t, a volunteer tagger will do it for you. (Please see below for more info on tagging.)

If you wish to post a link to your fanwork on another site: you need to fill out the header, but you do not need to use an LJ-cut if you are only linking to your fanwork. Instead, just add the link to your creation after the summary. (If you are both linking to and posting your fanwork here, you still need to use an LJ-cut.)

Explanation of the Form’s Fields

B2MeM Prompt: the prompt the piece was created for, including the path color

Format: short story, drabble, photomanip, poem, sketch, et cetera

Genre: the genre(s) of your fanwork. Please see MPTT’s glossary for definitions of most genres.

Rating: use either the G-NC17, General/Teens/Adult, or General/Teens/Mature/Explicit system. If you are unsure how to rate your piece, the ratings guidelines on Many Paths To Tread or the Silmarillion Writers' Guild may be helpful. (Note that the B2MeM event does not follow MPTT's restrictions on rating or content.)

Warnings: reasonable warnings for content that fellow fans might wish to avoid, e.g., violence, blood and gore, graphic sex, profane language, incest, et cetera. You may also put Choose Not to Warn (CNTW) in the warnings field. Choose Not to Warn indicates that the work may contain anything, including potentially triggering or explicit content; participants who wish to avoid certain content should make their own decisions on whether to read or view CNTW entries.

Characters: a list of important characters featured in your piece

Pairings: a list of any important romantic/sexual pairings in your piece

Summary: a brief synopsis of what the piece is about

Tagging Rules

This year's tagging team is myself, Indy, and our tagging volunteer just_jenni (thanks for joining us, Jenni!). Please don’t hesitate to Ask us or email the mod team at [email protected] if you have any questions about how or what to tag, if there’s a tag you need deleted, or anything related to this subject.

How to Tag

There are multiple different ways to tag an entry on LiveJournal.

1) When you’re about to post your entry, to the right side of the tags field there is a link that says “select.” If you click select, it will give you a list of all the tags in the comm, and you can scroll down and click on each of the tags you want. This may be easier for some people than entering the tags manually, and it means you don’t have to worry about typos or misspellings. (It will even enter the commas between tags for you!) If you click on a tag you don’t want, you can click on the X next to it to get rid of it. If you have already posted your entry, you can click on the “edit entry” button to get back here.

2) Start typing a tag in the tags field, and LJ will give you a dropdown of tags to choose from. However, if there are more than a certain number, only the first ones alphabetically will show up.

3) Type in the tag manually (but please remember to check your format and spelling)!

4) Post your entry and then go back to add the tags by clicking the Tags icon at the top of the entry.

A few general guidelines:

~ It’s necessary to have one standardized form of every tag. LJ doesn’t work like AO3; we have no power to “syn” or connect different versions of the same tag behind the scenes. If one person tags as character:sam and another person tags character:samwise gamgee, LJ treats them as two completely separate tags. So please use the existing form of the tag, if there is one. The list of currently existing tags may be found here: http://b2mem.livejournal.com/tag/

~ Please check to see if the tag you want already exists before creating one. You may need to check under more than one name for a character. For example, if your work includes Elu Thingol, you won’t find him under Elu or Elwë, but there is a tag for character:thingol.

~ Please do not use the tags beginning with [year]. These are admin tags.

~ The formatting is no space between the colon and the subject. For example, character:frodo. The same goes for every tag.

~ Tags are not capitalized. We also don’t use accents or diacritical marks of any kind in tags (ë, ú, and so on), since not everyone knows how to do them.

~ Please check your spelling. A misspelled or misformatted tag still appears in the “available tag” list even if you correct it after the fact and must be manually deleted by the mods. (People can and have used misspellings and misformattings before because they appeared first in the list!) If you notice that you've accidentally created a misspelled or superfluous tag, it's helpful to let me or Indy know so we can delete it.

~ If you are typing in the tags, please remember to separate the tags with commas. If you don’t do this, the tags will merge together into one Frankenstein monster tag. (Don’t worry, the tag mods can fix it.)

~ For those more familiar with AO3 and Tumblr: tagging on LJ is solely for organizational purposes within a community or journal. There is no need for tags such as “b2mem” or “tolkien fanfic” or the like.

~ We tag each entry for prompt, characters, format, and genre.

Details and Examples

Prompt

The prompt tag varies year by year. This year, we are tagging for the path on the game board that your prompt(s) came from: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, or purple. This will usually be the path you're currently following, but some game actions may require you to pick a prompt from another path.

EXAMPLES: path:red, path:yellow

Character

-Please tag for main characters only -- there’s no need to tag for a character who is briefly mentioned or appears in one sentence.

-Please do not create group tags such as character:fellowship, as we prefer you to tag by individual character.

-We do not capitalize characters’ names in tags. We also don’t use accents or diacritical marks (ë, ú, and so on), since not everyone knows how to do them.

EXAMPLES: character:eowyn, character:finwe

(NOT character:éowyn or character:Finwë)

Format

-This is fairly simple. Is your work fic, poetry, artwork, etc.? Please note that all forms of poetry go under format:poetry. Also note that all drabbles and variations thereof (double, triple, etc.) go under format:drabble. (We use the true drabble definition of exactly 100 words.) There is no format:fic tag.

-For fanfic, the format tag is dictated by length. Ficlets are 999 words or shorter, not including drabbles. Short stories are 1000 to 9999 words. (For reference, because we’ve yet to need these tags, novellas are 10,000 to 39,999 words and novels are 40,000+ words.) Chaptered stories go under format:chaptered regardless of the length of individual updates.

EXAMPLES: format:ficlet, format:digital art

Genre

-What genre(s) does your work fall under? If you don’t see one you think fits, please add it.

EXAMPLES: genre:slash, genre:fluff

#b2mem #b2mem 2017 #back to middle-earth month #back to middle earth month

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condensed-theorem-shop · 8 years ago

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Hi, you seem to have lots of opinions on fics (esp. Glowfics) and I'm reading radiance right now. So I was wondering if you have any good fanfic recommendations for when I finish c:

Ooooh okay I can do this :D I’m not sure if you want recs for glowfic or fanfic or both or what, so I’m gonna err on the side of Everything.

Cut for Much Length.

Part 1: Glowfic Collections

If you’d like another big reading project to start on, boy do I have recommendations for you.

Effulgence. I’d describe Effulgence as the paradigmatic glowfic. (Don’t be daunted to the fact that the link is to a ‘how to read’; it is not in fact tricky to read. There’s a series of links on an index page, and you can just read through each in order.) The basic conceit is that Alicorn writes AU versions of Bella-from-Luminosity into tons of different fanfic universes, and then all of them meet up and take over the universe and also cuddle a lot. The exciting other half is Kappa(/Pyth/@shitifindon), Alicorn’s cowriter for Effulgence; Kappa writes various AU versions of the Joker (yes, from Batman) who are fantastic adorable masochists and fall madly in love with the AU-Bellas (“Bells”). The shipping is so adorable. I cannot recommend it enough.

Silmaril. Probably the biggest glowfic continuity (“story spanning a bunch of worlds that meet up”) aside from Effulgence, and (unlike Effulgence) currently updating, so it’s talked about a lot in the community right now. Hence, a good choice if you want to hop right into the discussions. (Please do!!) The writers for this one are Alicorn and Lintamande, the latter of whom writes a fantastic Lord-of-the-Rings setting with a cast of Elves from the Silmarillion who are traumatized and fantastic and huggable.

Particularly Good Threads. Okay, this one is cheating, but it’s worth linking. People on the forum are trying to compile a list of recommended glowfics. Some of them are not necessarily maximally recommended to someone new to glowfic, but people put brief explanations of what they’re reccing them for, so it should hopefully still be helpful.

Part 2: Individual Glowfics

The thing about glowfics is that they tend to spin off each other – Lintamande decides to write her elf characters in space this time, Alicorn has a version of Bella who is male and a demon visit, he ends up interestingly traumatized from that, then Kappa goes “hey can we write about what would happen if that interestingly traumatized Bell met my version of a character from the Vorkosigan Saga who was from a different universe and then met a monument and now travels in a floating canoe,” and you end up with a really fantastic story which no one can make sense of unless they have read, like, a dozen prerequisite threads.

So I can’t just recommend my favorite glowfics, because none of them would make sense; and you can’t really just start browsing through the glowfics on the Constellation unless you’re willing to put up with half of them being nonsensical. Reading through Effulgence will help a lot with that, as will getting familiar with the casts of a few of the more prolific glowficcers (Kappa writes the Joker, Miles Vorkosigan, Tony Stark, and Sherlock Holmes a lot; Pedro writes Sadde, who’s original to him; Lintamande has her various Elves). For the moment, though, here’s some glowfics that require relatively little context.

blood sweat tear: A fairy Bell meets Miles Vorkosigan. Works well without much context because Miles is figuring out what’s going on, so you can figure it out along with him.

in spite of a nail: An episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, if Bella were the Slayer and Kappa’s Sherlock were a vampire.

Lindworm: A classic fairy tale, with Bella as the heroine and a Joker as the dragon.

there’s only so much I can turn into: A good introduction to Sadde, since you’ve read Luminosity already! Getting to know Sadde will make a lot more glowfic accessible. Addy finds a Sadde.

in which a Bell is the second coming of Christ: exactly what it sounds like, and fantastic. No context needed.

Pre-Jump Earth Literature: a good introduction to Miles Vorkosigan, in his canon setting. And you get a gander at the popular Miles/Yvette ship!

Uninvited Guests are Welcome Here: another case where both sets of characters are a bit lost and explaining their worlds to each other, which makes it an excellent introduction to those worlds.

you know what they say about the young: Matilda (yes, from Roald Dahl) appears in Middle-Earth and makes friends with a very tiny Feanor. Excessive adorableness ensues.

A Table for Two: Gregor, the emperor of Barrayar from the Vorkosigan Saga, meets … Hannibal. From Hannibal. It is very satisfying.

More Than One Kind Of Artifact: another characters-explain-their-worlds-to-each-other thread. A Bell from an original world with magic artifacts meets magical-girl Edie and Emily (who are the AU offspring of Magneto and Professor X, but that’s a whole nother thing…)

Part 3: Shameless Plugging

You didn’t think I was going to let you get away without reccing you a couple of my own glowfics, did you? :D

For context: Jean is my spy/revolutionary/actor/bundle of issues/world’s worst planner. Faith is my teenage antichrist who keeps trying to fix the world by taking it over via mind control and otherwise making very bad decisions.

the prettiest song I heard: a Jean in an original universe of Kappa’s gets really, really fucked up, and then falls in love. (So many warnings. So many warnings. I am serious about the warnings. But if you like that sort of thing…)

one for sorrow (two for joy): a Jean attempts to kidnap a prince and accidentally falls in love with him in the process. Hilarity ensues.

don’t let’s ask for the moon: set in an original universe of Alicorn’s, but not much of that actually comes up. (People get magic from eclipses.) Jean rescues Adelene’s character Denice from an institution; there is adorableness.

neither fish nor fowl: Jean and Denice in Star Wars, and this time she is the one rescuing him from himself. Jean does not make a very good Jedi.

Out of the Blue: Faith and Throne’s character Theo explore vampires in an original setting. Mistakes are made. So many of them.

Incipio: Faith and Theo again, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer this time.

Part 4: Fanfic

Taking a break from the glowfic for a while! Here’s some general fanfic recommendations.

At the End of All Things: If you’d like to meet Lintamande’s Elves outside of a glowfic setting, she’s got an enormous (in-progress) story about Elves brought back to life in the modern day! It is fantastic and depressing!

The Stone Gryphon: a serious, historical-fiction take on the Narnia books, and the events in England that happened in between them. Amazing historical tie-ins, and strikes a nice balance in its attitude towards the more spiritual aspects of the Narnia books which I think a lot of fics have trouble with.

The Foodieverse: an astonishingly well-written Avengers AU … in which all the characters are involved in the restaurant industry. Captain America has a food truck. It’s amazing.

Five Places Cinna Came From: a series of Hunger Games AUs, exploring different possible backstories for Cinna and doing a ton of worldbuilding along the way.

Move Fast and Break Things: @ozymandias271’s now-complete Avengers AU, with female!disabled!Tony Stark, adorable!Bucky, and general amazingness.

Steve Rogers at 100: Celebrating Captain America on Film: a story wrapped around accounts of Captain America movies, good and bad, that might have existed in-universe. I am so delighted by this kind of worldbuilding.

Part 5: Original Fiction

You didn’t ask, but I am sharing some online favorites anyway!

Worm: If you have not read it yet, you should! A gritty-superheroes narrative, distinguished from the million others in the genre by the really awesome thought that’s put into powers. Everyone thinks of inventive ways to use their powers and does it. Warning: super long. And depressing. Read it anyway! There are glowfics set there!

Goldmage: An original novel of Alicorn’s! Delightful worldbuilding, sweet and exciting and depressing, read it read it read it.

Elcenia: An immense work of original fiction by Alicorn. Very glowficcy in some ways (and lots of glowfics are set there, so that’s another reason to read it). In the first book, a woman is accidentally magically transported between worlds, and explored Alicorn’s super-thoroughly-worldbuilt original setting while figuring out exciting ways to leverage the contact. Each subsequent book takes some minor character or characters from previous books and tells their story. This has the delightful effect that you can then reread it, and when Random Dude #12 is being grumpy and unreasonable you know it’s because he’s just had his best friend kidnapped and is having to pretend nothing happened as part of an elaborate plot involving telepathic vampires (no, not a real example).

Cordyceps: Another one popular in the same general circles as Luminosity is. Mystery/horror/post-apocalyptic, and marvelous. And depressing and needs a lot of warnings -- you may be sensing a theme here.

Part 6: Other People

Other glowficcers on tumblr who might have recs for you, off the top of my head: @luminousalicorn @kelsbraintumbler @scientiststhesis @curiosity-discoverer-of-worlds @shitifindon @lintamande @aestrix @trickytalks @throne3d @marrinikari @ansiblelesbian @inquisitivefeminist @mischiefmanaged777twoofus @erinflight and I’m sure I’m still forgetting people. They are all way more approachable than you think! At least if you are like me and decide people are scary and unapproachable for no particular reason!

All y’all I tagged -- any other rec ideas? :D

#glowfic #recs

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spectrumtranszine · 6 years ago

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Update: 28 March, 2019

Hi guys. Kai here. As you may or may not know, I have taken over the Spectrum Zine from the original mod, Ali. And honestly? It has been A Fucking Process. I’ve enlisted the help of a few trusted people, including Ardett helping me out with social media, and we are at a point where we are able to enter the final stages of this project and we’re asking for your continued patience and cooperation so we can finish out the project, get you your orders, and make our donation to True Colors.

Okay so the update as it currently stands is:

I got handed a clusterfuck of a zine in dribs and drabs by Ali. Despite repeated requests, I did not receive all the information I asked for. I have still not received much of that information.

Yeah, no, after S8 dropped, I couldn’t look at Voltron without feeling sick for about a month, I’ll be honest about that. And no, that’s not a ship thing. I could give a shit about what ships are or aren’t canon. I mean the characterizations and the million and one ways they abandoned everything they’d built for seven seasons. But I got back into it and I’m not going to abandon a fandom I love because of a silly little thing like Canon Sucking. Since then, I’ve been back to working on this project.

Apparently, the original tumblr page for the zine is gone. I did not do this. I have NEVER had access to this tumblr page. It must have been something Ali, the original project runner, did. I literally even didn't know Ali had nuked the tumblr page until very recently. Ali hasn't spoken to me in months and our last contact was me attempting to get the passwords from them yet again with yet another empty promise.

That said, I have officially GUESSED my way into the twitter account, changed the password, and removed Ali from the recovery info so I have THAT now, at least, as well as the original yahoo email account. I'm going to be posting there starting March 16th.

I did NOT at any point have access to the tumblr page. I have NO idea if anyone sent messages to that page, I have NO way to find that out. (I can only assume any frustrated messages were sent there. Only two people asked about the status of the zine via Twitter.)

Not sure who follows my main but life kind of exploded for me (repeatedly) and I was briefly homeless (again) in January and then was living in a hotel. That said, now everything is settled and our house is continuing in the repair process. We finally got our flood insurance payout from fucking 2012, yayyyy!!

I just got back from Australia for an anniversary trip my girlfriend planned and paid to have me flown to the other side of the planet for.

In regards to my other activities unrelated to the zine, please don’t hassle me about posting a few fics that took me a handful of hours. That's what I do in my sparing PERSONAL time and I have been told EXPLICITLY to continue to do that by my therapist, thank you. I feel plenty of nausea, guilt, and fear every time I post a fic when I have a project outstanding like this but I have been told to not stop doing it. I have posted a grand total of 15,736 recreational words over the last 3.5 months, AKA roughly 15 hours recreational writing time total over the last 3.5 months, AKA an average of 150 words per day broken over the last 100 days. And, again, I’m told to do it by my therapist.

I’d like to share with you guys how much time has been invested in this project:

I've literally been working on this SOLO in terms of formatting.

It took repeated hasslings of Ali to get most of the project pieces.

Once I finally gained access to the email account, I had to download each and every fic and art piece individually. Most of them were not attributed correctly. Almost nobody indicated which pieces were meant to be printed and which pieces were meant to be PDF-only.

Fics:

About half of the fics had to be honestly ripped apart to their bones just to fix and render uniform and readable the formatting because they were submitted as PDFs (note to authors, submit doc files) or with very weird spacing. I’ve seen how AWFUL zines can look when all the fics are haphazard formatting and spacing and it’s not something that anyone ever likes to receive or to see their work as part of.

Several of these fics don’t even have titles (note to authors: please name your fics).

More recently, I recruited my very damn patient girlfriend (who literally bought one of these things) to help me with the fic formatting issue. She has helped me wade through 40,000 words for both formatting and LIGHT beta editing.

40,000 words of fic are in this project. That is literally the length of a damn novel. This is a fucking BOOK.

Editors, professional editors, take MONTHS to go through the edits on something of this length, and that’s when those manuscripts ARE submitted at something vaguely resembling a uniform format. This project… is not. Aphelion utilized an entire team of writers to edit, format, and beta, and it still took several weeks. I was one of those people.

Not to call anyone out, but one fic literally had double or triple spaces between every WORD, not every sentence, every single word, like this. It was 4,000 spaces. Why? W h y. There were still additional spaces that had to be removed BY HAND. (Spacing here is intentional to make a point.)

Every fic also had to be read to check whether it was a SFW or NSFW piece because nobody actually marked their work. If a NSFW piece accidentally got dropped into the SFW zine version, that could be a big fucking problem.

Art:

I had to track down a copy of SAI to get those files converted that were submitted as SAI.

My photoshop corrupted itself so I spent about eight hours scrubbing it off my system and getting it back on.

The art pieces were submitted at TWENTY different dimensions, Only six art pieces were submitted at the advertised 5.5” x 8.5” dimensions of the zine at 300dpi. Another handful were submitted at the right ratio but just the wrong size.

Like, I get it, the submission guidelines were shaky at best but I’m the one who’s been trying to wade through all of this to get it uniform.

This has been a LARGE number of hours investment.

Contributor Updates:

The credits doc was sent out to contributors. They have until 02 April, 2019 at 11:59PM EST to submit any corrections to their credits.

I apologize for the radio silence, but the project Ali landed on me was a god damned CLUSTERFUCK and I have been doing a lot of work on the back end trying to pull this out of the flaming dumpster they tossed it in because I believed in the project, especially in light of everything that has happened in the fandom and it has given me nothing but stress. But I really wanted this zine in my physical hands. I still do. More updates on that below.

So as of some time in the last few weeks, Ali has quite honestly cut and run. It looks like they nuked their instagram, nuked their tumblr (hence the zine tumblr disappearing bc they were the only mod on it), and nuked their twitter, and left me holding the bag on this shit. BUT GUESS WHAT, I’M STILL HERE.

Also, in case y’all were wondering about Ali’s Voltron Calendar project? I literally have one. It’s on my wall. They gave it to me in August when I was in Florida for a con and they promised me to my face that they would get me the information I needed for Spectrum. It was just one of the many times they promised to get me the things I needed and that one was to my face. So to anyone who never got their calendar? They had some number of them printed and then never did anything with them which is somehow worse. I don’t know how many they had printed but I literally have one of these forbidden calendars and they told me they were going to start shipping that week which obviously never happened. So that kind of shows Ali’s follow-through.

It is PAINFULLY obvious that Ali never ran a zine before Spectrum due to a NUMBER of points: Lack of organization, lack of consistent formatting, horrible method for final submissions, underpriced zine and bundle pricing, underpriced shipping pricing (even before the pricing hike), contributor count, contributor discount amount given the zine size, writer max word counts, merch quantity per bundle. Literally, we had two people submit final charm designs when we only have one charm listed on the damned bundle so that’s cool.

I couldn’t even tell how BIG the zine was going to be until many, MANY hours were invested into this project. First, there was the countless hours spent downloading one piece at a time and wading through back and forth emails and trying to make sure no one’s submissions got lost which meant basically going through every piece of correspondence individually. Then, there was cross referencing all of that against the emails and the contributor names. Then, it took getting all of the fic into one file and hours upon hours of wading through and formatting and reformatting and recruiting my girlfriend to help to even get to the point where we could see what final page count we were looking at for fic. Then, there was figuring out how long of an index a project with this many contributors would need and how many pages that would take.

I have reached out to several manufacturers regarding zine and merch pricing and what we can do to get those affordably done. This zine is VERY FUCKING THICK and I AM concerned about pricing, for both the printed zine and for merch. If anyone has any affordable manufacturers you have worked with before, I would be happy to hear from you!

Currently, here’s where we stand:

My investment:

Too Fucking Much Time

A few years off my life

A bucket of tears

I think I’m going to follow in Shiro’s white-haired footsteps from this

Seriously, do I have more wrinkles? I can’t tell.

A lot of love.

Orders:

There are 79 total orders

There are 06 PDF-only orders

There are 18 Print+PDF orders

There are 55 Merch+Print+PDF orders

There have been 5 refunds issued

Contributors make up 28 orders.

Non-contributors make up 51 orders.

Content:

The fics total out to 43,000 words. That's a fucking lot. That's over a hundred pages of FIC, before the artists.

There are 50 pages of art.

The zine is currently 126 pages. I’m fucking with formatting to try to shrink it. That's a big, thick, HEAVY fucking book.Yes, some of this is PDF-only and I am still in the process of tracking down which is which, but it is still a large book.

Finances:

The zine was priced at $7.50 for those who used contributor codes.

The cheapest print edition I can source for the zine currently because of the page count is roughly $7.50 per zine. This is why I am SEEKING SUPPLIERS who can bring in a lesser quote for an 8.5 x 5.5 126 page zine.

If the zine costs $7.50/per to print and contributors paid $7.50/per, this means EVERY contributor copy is an AT-COST copy. Not to mention shipping.

The bundle was priced at $13.50 for those who used contributor codes. This has to include the $7.50 zine. That leaves $6.50 for the bundle merch which I have currently priced around $9. That means $2.50 of every contributor bundle has to come from the zine budget.

International shipping was priced at $7.00 for the zine-only and $12.00 for the bundle. This may be feasible for zine-only orders but bundles will need a shipping supplement to come from somewhere.

At this time, I am proposing:

Creators have until 02 April, 2019 to update credits.

A rough final draft will be released to creators by 8 April, 2019.

Any major corrections to works will be submitted by 14 April, 2019.

Then I move on to handling the orders. For which I propose the following first steps:

Everyone who ordered a copy will receive the PDF edition of Spectrum on or about 28 April, 2019. Refunds will NOT be given for that first $10 per order that is the PDF price so that we can actually manage to donate SOME fucking money for how much work has been put into this zine and to make sure we can pay the print costs for those persons who want a physical copy.

As a Thank You for your patience, everyone who ordered (and contributors) will also receive a bonus mini-PDF of additional zine-exclusive content not posted anywhere else (SFW or NSFW version, to match the order).

Assuming none of the item productions are cost prohibitive, the following will be how the physical portion of the project is handled:

USA people who ordered Print+PDF will receive their PDF and be given the option of:

Option USPrint1 (Default option): Receipt of their printed zine as planned at no additional cost. Customers will have TWO WEEKS from the date of the PDF-containing email to update any addresses as needed.

Option USPrint2: Donation of the additional funds beyond the PDF price ($5.00 print + $5.00 shipping). Again, customers will have 2 WEEKS to select this option via email.

Option USPrint3: Refund of the additional funds beyond the PDF price ($10.00 minus any applicable PayPal fees). Again, customers will have 2 WEEKS to select this option via email.

International people who ordered Print+PDF will receive their PDF and be given the option of:

Option IntPrint1 (Default option): Donation of the additional funds beyond the PDF price ($5.00 print + $7.00 shipping = $12.00). Customers will have FOUR WEEKS from the date of the PDF-containing email to select a different option.

Option IntPrint2: Payment of an international shipping supplement (est $10.00) and receipt of their print zine as planned. Again, customers will have 4 WEEKS to select this option via email.

Option IntPrint3: Refund of the additional funds beyond the PDF price ($12.00 minus any applicable PayPal fees). Again, customers will have 4 WEEKS to select this option via email.

USA people who ordered Merch+Print+PDF will receive their PDF and be given the option of:

Option USBun1 (Default Option): Receipt of their bundle as planned at no additional cost. Customers will have TWO WEEKS from the date of the PDF-containing email to update any addresses as needed.

Option USBun2: Donation of the additional funds beyond the PDF price ($17.00 bundle + $7.00 shipping). Again, customers will have 2 WEEKS to select this option via email.

Option USBun4: Refund of the additional funds beyond the PDF price ($10.00 minus any applicable PayPal fees). Again, customers will have 2 WEEKS to select this option via email.

International people who ordered Merch+Print+PDF will receive their PDF and be given the option of:

Option IntBun1 (Default Option): Donation of the additional funds beyond the PDF price ($17.00 bundle + $12.00 shipping = $29.00). Customers will have FOUR WEEKS from the date of the PDF-containing email to select a different option.

Option IntBun2: Payment of an international shipping supplement (est $10.00) and receipt of their bundle as planned. Again, customers will have 4 WEEKS to select this option via email.

Option IntBun3: Refund of the additional funds beyond the PDF price ($29.00 minus any applicable PayPal fees). Again, customers will have 4 WEEKS to select this option via email.

By following this plan, I hope we can maximize the number of people who can select an option they can be happy with!

If production or shipping of any of this proves to be cost prohibitive once final quotes are in place, options will be adjusted accordingly.

If y’all have any questions please feel free to message either the tumblr or twitter.

Thank you for all your time and continued patience. We look forward to bringing this project to completion.

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