#150-200k

[isthequeerbookgood]

Storygraph Goodreads

Short answer: yes… Slightly longer answer: … but I didn't enjoy it

It's taken me a long time to get around to reading any Sarah Waters, mostly because I just didn't feel like I'd vibe with her books all that much. And I was right! I didn't!

Don't get me wrong, this is a well-written book. It's distinctly not a romance novel, though it does have romance in it. Romance, and quite a lot of fucking. Our story follows Nan, a simple oyster-seller's daughter, as she becomes enchanted by cross-dressing singer Kitty and follows her to the glamorous underbelly of Victorian London.

The story is vivid, the characters are complicated, interesting and alive, and the sex is impressively nasty at times. Waters does a great job of showing just how kinky the Victorians could be behind all the repression. It's a great book - so why didn't I enjoy it?

Honestly, I think it was just genre. It's a book set in the real world with realistic (albeit historical) problems. Nan makes a lot of bad choices and faces the consequences. Although I wouldn't say the story wallows, it definitely dwells in her misery, and it's a quite mundane misery. I was compelled enough to finish the book (and I genuinely really liked the ending) but the overall vibe was not for me.

Conclusion: Tipping the Velvet is Good (if you like that sort of thing)

[cinnamontails-ff]

I am 150 words away from making MA land on an even 200k word count. And with the way my brain works, this would feel like such a gigantic win; I cannot even describe it.

[somefanficrecomendations]

Author Spotlight: CatSteppingOnAKeyboard!

Introducing. . . author spotlight! This post will be a roundup of my personal favorites written by this author, instead of a traditional roundup with fics by multiple authors.

Ambrosia and snake oil are sold by the same vendor The Penumbra Podcast, (multi), 180k, Humor, Action & Adventure “Twirl for me, Juno.” “I’ll do it if you close your eyes.” Nureyev takes his hand and makes Juno twirl. The rainbow skirts of a summer dress flare, a yellow cardigan snapping about him, his gold sandals flashing. The effect is of a rainbow octopus flashing its warning colors on the end of Nureyev’s arm. Nureyev catches Juno by the waist “You look splendid.” “I look like I run a mommy-blog.” “I think that’s the point, Juno.” Juno Steel is a lot of things. A happy home-maker ain't one of them, but hey, how hard can it be to play nice for a bit, especially if it means uncovering a source of the cure-mother? Except it's not that simple because nothing ever is in Juno's life. Suddenly he and his family are poised on the verge of an intergalactic conspiracy that pits Juno against old friends and enemies, while the fate of a dying species hangs in the balance. Also some furby nightmare fell out of the vents and Vespa won't let them put it back to the woods.

Ambrosia and snake oil was the best Penumbra fic I had ever read until I read The ballad of Jet Sikuliaq. The combination of action and humor, found family shenanigans, and wacky BAMF's is exactly what got me into The Penumbra Podcast, and it drew me into this fic all the same.

The ballad of Jet Sikuliaq  The Penumbra Podcast, (gen), 120k, Pre-Canon, Heists Before a certain lady detective ever met a certain nameless thief, before a certain mayor ever set a robot plague upon a certain Martian city, there were others being gay and doing crimes in space. Jet; a torn between the cool uncle he is on the inside and the ruthless, blood-thirsty, property-damaging intergalactic criminal with a wicked drug dependency he is on the outside. Buddy; the victim of his most recent bout of impulsive destruction. To compensate for what Jet has done to Buddy's reputation, Buddy recruits Jet for a singularly difficult task: either he kills her father, a notorious prison baron and jackass, or Buddy kills Jet and displays his remains over the counter of her bar next to the mechanical trout that sings 'Sweet Caroline'. Nothing goes as planned, least of all the beautiful friendship that blooms out of this unlikely allegiance.

I have a secret love for pre-canon fics and The Ballad doesn't disappoint. The ballad of Jet Sikuliaq is a quintessential heist fic with reluctant teammates, bizarre humor, and that ooey gooey found family goodness. This fic explores a brilliant depth of emotion with discussions of addiction, grief, and mental illness that are a halfway substitute for real therapy.

There are no wolves left in Ireland  Derry Girls x IT, (gen), 70k, The Power of Friendship, Biblical Horror Orla raises her hand higher. “I’ve been possessed.” Erin rolls her eyes. “No, she hasn’t, Sister Michael. Orla was iron deficient last year- she got a swimmy feeling in her head every time she stood up and she thought that was demons.” “It was demons.” says Orla, evenly. “Oh, and iron tablets made the demons go away, did they?” Her cousin shrugs and thumbs the side of her nose. “Well, I felt better after I took ‘em, didn’t I?” Another Derry, another time, same old Pennywise. Armed with friendship, faith, an encyclopedic knowledge of Catholic heresy and a pitchfork one of them got out of the garden shed, the Derry girls do battle with a clown who really should have known better than to try this shit in Northern Ireland.

This was the fic that got me into the source material. I actually read the first chapter of this fic and then put it down to watch the first episode of Derry Girls. Hilarious, horrifying, and heartwarming, this fic has it all! A definite must read, you only need the bare minimum of familiarity with Derry Girls and even less knowledge of IT to enjoy this fic.

[myfemininedivine]

Can you please tell us what ending you planned for Taste? Always wondered if stupid Eva would have come back in the last chapters and what else you planned. It's my favorite story of yours.

I’ll give a very very bad and horrible run down of the last few chaps I had. I deeply apologize for not finishing, but I’m sure you understand. Still, im so sorry to not finish something I started.

The run down for the rest of TASTE would've been this:

Basically, if we focusing on the main couple..... (not gonna explain the smut but just know ofc it woulda been there)

WE LOVE IN SEPTEMBER:

I wanted to focus on all the miscommunication/horrible commitment issues. Most of the focus is on Lexi’s past relationship (guy basically ghosts her, moves out without comment, had commitment issues, extremely similar to Fezco in some ways except he never quite gets attached to Lexi unless she had other ppl after her; was planning on this guy and Fezco meeting in this chapter — Fezco does not know that this guy is the infamous ex).

You get a glimpse into Fezco and Lexi as an actual pairing, not just sex partners. Lot more domestic. curtains are OPEN. Fezco asks about her past relationship and gets the full picture. He sleeps over at her place most nights. He wants her to know that he’s serious about her, so they redo their entire first meeting. Retrace their footsteps under diff context. They go on an actual date, not just some meet up at the same diner I featured them in. She does meet Ash; some faye interaction. We r finally seeing a revealed business fezco voice!!!! lexi is like oh that's fine af actually.

Fezco does meet up with Eva to completely cut the tie. He feels that the only string between them is the fact that she sort of changed his life — I believe that it would’ve been like this reveal: how he got his job? She was the connect!!! And so he feels obligated to be there for her. From what I remember???). Lexi finds this out through Rue.

So, she inevitably doesn't know how to confront him. It doesn't matter tho bc Fezco tells her the moment that they meet!!!!!!

Anyway!

Rue is still plowing through relationship issues. Lexi meets up with Jules and basically sees the effects of heartbreak and gets some bad after taste of it. Jules reveals that it's not that she doesn't love Rue, it's that she doesn't know if they're ready or if they'll ever be ready. She's struggling with trusting the future. This sucks to Lexi. She trusts Fezco, but she also trusted rue and Jules relationship as it was the only stable relationship she had ever been exposed to. If not them, why would it would for her? (and nothing works out for her fr so it's like.)

Core thing is that Lexi is not really sure if she’s capable of trusting someone. All she knows is that she loves him and love is a fleeting, futile thing that doesn't have reason. Without reason, she goes to Fezco's apartment that same night, totally withdrawn and troubled, and he opens the door, doesn't ask question, pulls her into bed with him. This is where he tells her that he sort of really likes her, and she says that sort of really likes him. At first she's content with just that, but then he says something like 'I sort of really more than like you' and all of these thoughts sort of float and die away somewhere between that.

WE BLEED IN OCTOBER:

Halloween party is held to take place as planned by Fezco and Lexi (trying their absolute hardest to rekindle Jules/Rue) annnnddd Fezco does invite Lexi’s ex without realizing !!! It goes batshit crazy!!!!! Rue and Jules do not interact, Fezco's lead to believe that they're rlly done with each other (plot twist tho as Jules and Rue do reconcile and get caught being steamy in another room!!!!! who woulda thought !!!!!).

Lexi sees her ex, gets into a splat where this man is just DYING to get back w her all of a sudden since he seen Lexi and Fezco being full adults in love and shit. The guy does ask if Fezco is her boyfriend, and she hesitates. Fezco overhears this, basically gets this guy out and the energy between him and lexi just BOOM EXPLODE. They go into a separate room, have bit of an argument because he's confused as to why she didn't call him her boyfriend; she says she doesn't know why she hesitated.

Then, he says, "I love you, do you love me?"

She says yes but she admits to not knowing how to fully allow herself to. This literally KILLS him. Fezco says he's not a science experiment for her to prick and play with, and she either wants him or doesn't. They either work or they don't.

Lexi doesn't respond.

Fezco's distraught but calmly decides to take a break with their relationship at the end of this chapter. He isn't angry, he just really wishes they'd met with different intentions/desires.

WE FEAR IN NOVEMBER

you know how the chapter starts with the month? I was thinking of just being like "November." and then having blank space like BITCHHH LFAOOOOO I thought I was so slick for thinking of starting the chap all ominious with the twilight shit (Bellas depressed era!!!!).

ANYWAY. November.

Set the scene. They don’t talk. It’s hard to do that shit when you’re always 1 degree away from the person and planning a very very very small wedding ceremony that's due in 3 weeks. And the worst part? He doesn’t ignore her. He looks her in the eye, pretends as though they never tore away from each other. like !!!! He has literally no animosity for her and she's so riddled with guilt that she doesn't know how to soothe the fact that they aren't together without being selfish, saying she wants him when she, herself, is pretty broken in some way. but she loves him. she knows it but it's hard to accept that 'this' (her) is all she has to offer. She wishes he’d ignore her. He wishes she had more decency to not ignore him.

Wedding ceremony happens. Lexi IS best girl as Fezco IS best man, and they do walk down the aisle together. very much tension!!!! He tells her that she's beautiful!!!!!!! and she tells him that she misses him, to no response from him as the have to go on and walk in front of everyone. a bit gloomy but Fezco does stay looking at Lexi, and they do have a lil dance moment later in the night.

While everyone is cooling at the lil wedding after party, Lexi confesses to Rue that she always wanted something like that, what she has with Jules. And Rue basically hints that Lexi does even if it incarnated differently. Gives her some pep talk. If Jules didn't confront Rue, they wouldn't have gotten back together vice versa on if Rue didn't ask Jules out, they would've never been together. The chances of finding someone is slim and fleeting, that's why you grip onto the ones that root something into you. Fezco (of course) leaves the party.

Lexi does show up at his apartment later that night. He opens the door, doesn't know what to say but Lexi says that she's not all together, being broken and all. Fezco says that he is too, so they're of the same thing. A beat and then she says I love you and you love me. Fezco nods, says every little piece.

This terrifies Lexi and, in conjunction, terrifies Fezco. but what's worse to her is not being with him. And, thank the lucky stars, as he says some shit like “well I guess we gonna be scared together huh?” And she brightens up and says that she's never been so happy to be scared.

WE TASTE IN DECEMBER:

More of an epilogue. A calm after all that stupid shit.

Lexi decides to renew her apartment lease as does Fezco. They upgrade them friendship bracelets!!!!! Ash got himself a girl, on the phone with Fezco as he's getting ready for a lil party.

Reveal that mans has apartment key privileges!! He's letting himself in her apt and calling out her name !!!!

New years party that will be held at Jules's/rue's place (woop woop), Lexi is late as always but it’s ok bc daddy Fezco is there to joke about her needing to wear heels so she can stop running from him!!!!!!!!!!! They go, separate for a bit at the party where she DOES refer to him as her boyfriend, as he does refer to her as his girlfriend; then come back to the couch where they originally met. Lexi sits first, Fezco finds her this time!!! He jokes about whether she’s still in the streets and she says some cheesy shit like yeah, waiting for you (and we scream TOUCHDOWN!!!!). Fezco and Lexi basically simmer in their seats, smiling and kissing and finally fully engulfed, entwined to the soul.

P.S. Guilty pleasures would've morph into a connection between both characters; more interpersonal things rather than materialistic/celebratory items.

Here’s some of the writing that sits all glum! Hope this explanation gives plenty of closure.

[perfexion]

I’ve been in the hospital since Tuesday and my blood work is getting worse in certain areas and I’m scared

They think I may have an autoimmune disease so that’s fun to find out

I don’t want to die here

Also it’s hilarious cause like, I overall feel better but knowing my organs and blood are doing weird shit is making me panic

Which obviously, makes everything worse lol but I can’t help it. I want to go home. I want to sniff Keikos head. I want this catheter out of my damn arm. And I’m tired of this horrible beige color everywhere

I’m missing Monsterpalooza and hopefully, I live and I’ll be “healthy” so I can go to Midsummer Scream 🤞🏼🤞🏼

Anyway, idk where else to put this so it goes on tumblr lol

[x-enocyon]

4 14 and 15 for Avery from my favorite things asks?

4. Favorite ice cream flavor

Probably rocky road or something like a kitchen sink flavor. He likes dense, rich flavors and loves when ice cream has chunks of stuff in it. Big fan of ice cream with an almost excessive amount of mix-ins.

14. Favorite restaurant (small sushi bistro, upscale steakhouse, crowded sports bar with 59 flavors of wings, etc.)

Small, locally owned taqueria that serves burritos the size of a human baby.

15. An object or memory from their childhood

Probably his dad teaching him how to cut his hair. He keeps his hair trimmed the same way until he’s like. in his 40’s. because it’s both a very efficient haircut and reminds him of his dad.

Honorable mention, I think he’s also very fond of the memory of Wes accidentally kicking him in the forehead and giving him the scar that cuts through his eyebrow.

[chillincreative]

anonymously make an assumption about me and i'll deny it

[sostrangerous]

my most evil and hypocritical trait is that i used to wonder how anyone could write 100k fanfics. and now here i am

[blackbirdprince]

There will be a Coldplay concert in my county next year and I signed up for a pre-sale but like does anybody can help me what prices should I expect?

[charmcoin]

fundraisers for palestine (11/07/24)

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[welcometocaritas-creations]

so i wrote the draft for a Diego/Lila s4 au fic last year

It's about 150-200k in length and it's going to be a while before I can get it post worthy (soooo much editing to do) and I still have my wolfwren fic to finish first. BUT in light of the horror show that was s4, I thought I'd give you guys a sneak peek to cleanse the palette

When I do post, it will be on my AO3 account here . So if you want you can subscribe to me and then when I post it, you'll know :) It's sort of a Lila-centric fic that deals with her trauma and how impending motherhood impacts that and is impacted by it - but obviously Diego/Lila is a huge part of the fic.

So without further ado. . .

. . .

“Gracie. If it’s a girl.”

Diego’s brow furrows. “Wait, really?”

Lila shrugs. “Sure. Why not?”

In truth, she’s a little intimidated by Grace Hargreeves, though they’ve never met. Or at least, she’s never met the version of her that Diego holds up on a pedestal. Half robot or not, Lila knows she was a better mum than she can ever hope to be. That she was soft where Lila is hard, quiet where she’s loud, sensitive where she’s callous. Lila will never be even half as good as her at this mothering bullshit.

But she wants to be.

The name can be a reminder. And, though logically she knows there can be no better reminder than her own flesh and blood child standing in front of her, the deck is stacked against her. So she’s willing to pull out all the stops. Rational or not.

Besides. . . she was Diego’s mum. Gave him a soft place to land growing up. Gave him love when there was none to find.

When they were in the asylum, Diego never had a nice word to say about anyone.

Except for her.

Lila thinks that’s something that deserves to be honored. Celebrated, even. The fact that one of them had a mum growing up that wasn��t complete shit. Even if she was prevented by her own programming from actually protecting her children.

(this, at least, is one thing Lila thinks she can do better. Protecting her child. She’s not a robot designed by her kids’ abuser, after all. She’s also more skilled in a fight than her birth parents. A winning combination, really.

She may not turn out to be a good mum in any sense of the definition but she’ll be damned if she can’t keep them safe.

And who will keep them safe from you?)

Lila’s skin feels hot. And sweaty. Like she’s skipped breakfast. And lunch. And three nights' worth of dinners. “Diego. . . what if we screw this up?”

“Then we’ll do our best to unscrew it.”

She snorts. Laughs.

Appreciates the words more than if he offered an infuriatingly optimistic denial. The reassurance that: of course they won’t screw up their kid, how silly of her to even entertain the thought.

“Unscrew our kid?”

Diego smiles - probably at her laugh - and shifts until he’s seated beside her on the bed, rather than behind her. So she has no choice but to see the earnestness in his eyes. And there is so much bleeding earnestness. She’s not sure how this man ever convinced himself he was a lone wolf. This is a pack animal through and through. “Yeah, listen, Lila. . . we’re sort of stumbling around in the dark here. You’re not the only one who feels that. Who’s scared shitless.” This too is a comfort. “But that’s how I felt with Stan and things didn’t turn out too bad.”

“He was Kugelblitzed.”

“Well, that’s hardly going to happen again.“

She smacks him on the shoulder. “Oh God, now you’ve jinxed it and it’s definitely going to happen again. Are you crazy?”

She could kill him.

Diego grins through a wince, refusing to grasp the grievous error he’s just made. “The point is we’re going to make mistakes. Big mistakes. Small mistakes. Lots of mistakes.”

“Is this supposed to be comforting?”

(Lila knows he’s only slightly less emotionally congested than her but, still, she expected better)

He leans closer, into her space - a dirty move that makes her breath catch. “Your mother and my father made mistakes too. The difference is they never saw them that way. Never tried to fix them. Never learned from them. . . They never tried to do better. To fix what they’d broken. They didn’t want to. . . That’s not us. That will never be us. Because, yeah, Lila we’re going to make a mess of things. A big huge stinking mess. But we’ll clean it up afterwards. And the next mess will be a little less messy.”

“I hate cleaning.”

His eye twitches. “Can you just- I’m trying to do a whole speech here.”

“I know and it’s a surprisingly good one.” Diego’s brow knits together like he’s not sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult. “Maybe instead of trying to save a president by cutting off some bloke’s trigger finger you should just run for office. I think you’d be brilliant.”

“I would suck as president. I’d stab someone within the first hour.”

“Like I said,” Lila wraps her arms around his neck with a grin, “Brilliant.”

(she’d vote to see that)

Diego rolls his eyes at this but rewards her masterful plan with a kiss. “You would make a pretty badass First Lady.”

. . .

[this is just a short excerpt from like the seventh chapter but I figured it would be a nice read after, well. . . everything]

Also here have some Lila and Diego fanart:

[saanphoenix]

If the deal is completed, Kroger would: •Operate more than 4,400 supermarkets, up from 2,700 right now.

•Generate about $208 billion in annual sales, compared to $150 billion.

•Employ about 640,000 workers, up from about 414,000 currently. That would make it one of the 10 largest private employers in the world.

They don't even wanna give raises to the current 414k employees they have now. We don't need 200k more from a competitor they're going to swallow whole so they can raise prices.

They already have hard evidence confirming Kroger raised prices on shit like milk and eggs past inflation prices during the pandemic. Which is illegal, but... Who's paying attention to grocery stores? Not the American public! They think the PRESIDENT is why food prices have gone up exponentially.

*grumbles*

[readyforevolution]

Interesting facts about Sierra Leone

1. Sierra Leone 🇸🇱 is located in West Africa on the Atlantic coast and bordered by Guinea and Liberia.

2. The country takes its name from the Portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra who named the country “Serra Leoa” (Lion Mountains) due to the impressive mountains he saw while sailing along the West African coast in 1462.

3. Archaeological evidence suggests Sierra Leone 🇸🇱 has been inhabited for thousands of years with successive waves of inv.aders as well as immigration from inland peoples making up today’s diverse population

4. Sierra Leone 🇸🇱 is home to 16 ethnic groups. Each group has their own language and traditional attire.

5. If there is one thing that this small nation is blessed with is its rich mineral resource. Sierra Leone 🇸🇱 is famous for its diamonds. Apart from diamonds, bauxite and titanium are also extracted on large scale. It also produces gold and rutile on a large scale.

6. Sierra Leone’s capital city, Freetown, was founded as a home for repatriated and rescued former slaves in 1787

7. English is the official language; however, Krio is the language that is understood by most of the population. Krio is a Creole language, first spoken by descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who settled in the Freetown area.

8. Sierra Leone 🇸🇱 has a simple horizontally striped green, white and blue flag. Green stands for agriculture and the mountains, white for unity and justice, and blue for the aspiration to “contribute to world peace, especially through the use of its unique natural harbour at Freetown”.

9. The Outamba-Kilimi National Park, a tract of savannah and jungle in Sierra Leone, is home to highly diverse wildlife including primates such as chimpanzees, colobus monkeys and sooty mangabeys as well as hippos, bongo antelopes, buffalo, forest elephants and over 150 species of bird.

10. Freetown was home to the first institution of higher learning in modern sub-Saharan Africa after the collapse of the university at Timbuktu. Fourah Bay College opened in 1827 and at the time was the only alternative to Europe and America for British colony West Africans who wanted a university degree.

11. Sierra Leone’s “blood diamonds” helped fuel atr0cities during the w.ar. Blood diamonds, also known as conflict diamonds, were used to fund certain conflicts in Africa

12. Freetown has the largest natural harbour on the African continent. It is capable of receiving oceangoing vessels of all kinds.

Guys let's get our YouTube channel (YT: Historical Africa) to 200k subscribers. Kindly Click on the link to subscribe https://youtube.com/c/HistoricalAfrica

[violetasteracademic]

Just wanted to say that I really love your fics and I don't think you are replaceable! I agree the fandom is so negative.. I've sent multiple asks for more Elriel content and less bashing of Gwyn and Lucien and nothing ever happens. I hope we don't lose you because I love your writing!

Awww thank you anon!!! I've had my anons turned off for a while because it got a little overwhelming, but quietly turned them back on recently because I used to get a lot of really nice comments from people who maybe felt shy commenting directly on my fics or in my comments here, so thank you for this 💕

Don't worry, I pour my whole heart and soul into my fics and I won't leave you hanging! I recently checked my stats and saw that since posting my first ever word on AO3 March 30, 2024, I've posted 186,590 words 💀 and I have about 90k more decently polished on my computer between my four remaining fics and likely 150-200k before everything is wrapped!!

Filtering out the shipwar gives me more energy to focus on my fics. I know most people probably followed me for theory and not everyone reads fics here, but that is where I feel best contributing to this fandom and sharing all the love I have in my heart! It's been especially fun writing my first Feysand and Nessian. I've always found Elriel easiest to write because I can just make up whatever I want for a book that doesn't exist yet 😂 but I've been falling back in love with Feysand and Nessian since working on them.

I also do eventually need to focus back on my personal work.

I assure you I won't leave any fics unfinished, and thank you so much for this kind message! It really means so much to me to hear you guys are enjoying the stories, I genuinely have no words. Fic writing is typically a looooot more work for a lot less engagement, so please know from the bottom of my heart this means so much and thank you for taking the time to say this!

[bropunzeling]

5, 12, 24!

5. first sentence of the fifth paragraph of an unpublished WIP

It’s July.

(😂)

12. a trope you’re really into right now

i have had SUCH a hankering for full-blown aus recently! like i love a canon or canon-adjacent fic but there's just something about sticking your little guys in space or a magical fantasy world or regency england that is really appealing to me rn. something with some decent plot and of COURSE top notch world building and maybe an arranged marriage or two. idk i want one soooooo bad

24. how do you recharge when you’re not feeling creative?

i try to make myself do other stuff! this year has really been a, like, rebase year for me; i'm not writing nearly as much as i have for the past couple years because of work and then wedding planning and because my current concept can be a slog (who decided writing a slow burn was a good idea. who was that loser.). and it's taken a bit to like. remind myself that that's fine? that 2022 and 2023 were honestly unsustainable? that my self-worth does not derive from writing 150 to 200k a year? so ive tried to (a) be gentle with myself and (b) remind myself that there's other things i can be doing to get at those creative pleasure centers. taking up knitting has definitely helped. so has working on reading more. so has playing video games! idk im trying to balance out my hobbies so i don't have that kind of manic sense of being all in on one particular thing (which was writing for a while) and then so i can enjoy writing when i do feel up for it.

[ladysomething]

Well, I lasted three update emails. I was holding out on starting your new fic so I could binge a lot of chapters at once, but after getting the update email today I just couldn’t wait and to no one’s surprise, I loved every minute of it! Such an interesting world you’ve created and it’s only going to get better (for us, for Charles who knows).

I do have to ask since I’m not a fic writer - when you say you’re expecting this to be around 150-180k is that daunting for you as a writer or exciting? Right now you’re averaging around 8,000 words a chapter so with that average that’s around 20 chapters and with possible (please don’t view this as pressure) weekly updates that’s 20ish weeks of fic! I’m always so curious if this seems overwhelming to writers? I know as a reader it’s so damn exciting.

lol can you tell I’m a numbers girl and not a writer?

ah thank you! I'm so glad you're enjoying it, and I totally understand the urge to want to wait. I'm excited you're coming along on the journey anyway!

moving on to your question, I'll try to be succinct but to nobody's surprise I am an absolute yapper so it probably will be a long and winding answer.

I think firstly, you kind of almost explained it yourself, but in the opposite way. I'm a writer, not a numbers girl haha. I personally (though other writers may have different experiences) don't really think about how many chapters it will be, or how many weeks of uploads, so there is really no opportunity for it to be daunting because it doesn't really enter my mind.

The outline I have for this fic IS broken into chapters, but I already am not sticking to it. When I'm writing, I often explore a scene in much more detail (and therefore many more words) that I expected when writing the note for scene. e.g. today's chapter was like "1. Charles goes into pre-heat 2. max claims Charles 3. Pierre shows up" and then it ended up being 10k. I just finished writing chapter 6, which is also at 10k, and I've ended up having to shift half of what I outlined for chapter 6 into chapter 7 because I found a natural end point and I didn't want to end up with a 20k chapter.

so, for me at least, when I write I make a lot of decisions based on my instincts. does this scene need more, or is it dragging? is this chapter complete, or does more need to be added? is there too much in this chapter, and should I split it?

all of which is to say - my estimate of 150-180k is based on how much I have written so far (55k) and at what point in the story am I up to (I honestly don't think act 1 is done yet). I suspect my estimate of 150-180k is very low, and it's not getting to that word count that's daunting, because it's not what I'm actually working towards.

what IS daunting is trying to tell the story itself. are the characters right? are their intentions coming through? am I hiding what I want to hide? do I have a note of plot I've started at the beginning so I make sure I follow it through to the end? working towards answering those questions is what I'm thinking about, and that is always daunting, no matter whether its 10k or 200k (though.... PWP is always fairly mindless hahaha).

but it IS exciting. especially when people love something. I've written a lot of fic in my time, long and short, complete and not complete, and I can absolutely guarantee that the difference between exciting and daunting is how people react. when people love something ... the nerves are there, but they're eclipsed by the sheer joy of knowing you brought a smile to somebody's face with your writing.

not to get sappy, but I whole-heartedly believe that my purpose on this earth is to make people happy through my writing. if I know that I'm doing that, I could write 200k fic after 200k fic and die a happy woman.

I hope that kind of answered your question anon! long and winding, but fairly thorough? haha