#Anyways I've mentioned this au to one of my friends but for those I haven't told about this

[themintman]

N e ways here's Jack's actual design for the au I posted about the other day lmao

Love this sorrowful lizard.

[hollow-lime-green]

Fanfic Writer Interview

This looks fun!

How many works do you have on AO3?

55!

Which is not what is listed lol. This is maybe a good time to mention that I actually have a side PWP AO3 although I haven't used it in a while, and haven't written any PWP for JJK. So only go check it out if you like FE3H rarepairs or Hades, I guess.

And if you do the math between my two accounts, you still won't get up to 55 because a few of those are actually posted anon. I did some kinkmeme fills for the FE3H fandom and while I'm not ashamed of the content lol, I did those as more of a writing reset thing and they're not as edited/polished as I would like? So I just don't want them under my real accounts.

Your top 5 stories by kudos/likes:

So first, just, full disclaimer - kudos is not a good stats metric to judge your fics. Kudos amount is not sensitive to quality, it is sensitive to fandom size, fic type (pwp vs plot-driven, oneshot vs multichapter, au vs canon), rating, and length. Please god do not ever judge based on flat kudos.

A better metric (which by the way you should still not care about metric when you do Enjoyable Hobbies) is hit:kudos ratio, which I find is almost always around 10:1. If I want to see how well a oneshot does, that's a good metric. Repeat readers can't give repeat kudos, so that metric is useless for multichapters.

Anyway this is why it's good to comment on the fics that you like - the nice words people say to you are infinitely more valuable and better than numbers. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

A Real Breakthrough - Arcane Jayvik, PWP, 4.3k Set in S1 Act 1 (so no spoilers for S2)

Yeah so this is my most kudosed fic and it is not even close. I love this fic, I snapped with this fic, however it is also the only thing I have ever written for Arcane so it's like this one massive outlier on my AO3.

2. it's not gay unless the domains touch - JJK Stsg 40k

It's a little surprising to me that this one has so many more kudos than 2sorcs, but that has more to do with a.) if you like 2sorcs you'll go back and read domains, whereas you may read domains and not go on to 2sorcs and b.) fandom life cycle and when domains was coming out vs 2sorcs coming out after JJK ended

3. Bend the Knee - Hades Thesterius PWP 3.6k

Ahahahaha i forgot about this fic, I did snap with it though. I will play Hades 2 when it actually full releases and then I'll probably be insufferable. Hades fandom was very very fun and friendly, especially the Thesterius subsection. It may have been the nicest and most accepting fandom I've been in.

4. two sorcerers chillin' in a hot tub (five feet apart cause they're not gay) - JJK Stsg 115k

she's up there! she's on the board!

5. The Torment of Stillness - Hades Charmes PWP 4.4k

good for her, I didn't realize this fic had done so well

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i really try to respond to all my comments, or if someone writes a bunch I'll respond to them as a group. I struggle to write comments myself, even when I absolutely love a fic, so to me it's no small thing when people take the time to comment, and responding is a way I can say 'thank you' and 'hi yes i am a real person and your effort has made me tangibly happy'. plus like, we're all doing this for community, and community only happens when we actually talk to each other. interaction is the life blood of fandom, and it's how you make friends :)

What���s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

weelllll I don't really write sad endings tbh. and maybe that's giving away the game a little bit with FIYM but I promise it's gonna be a tough road to the happy ending there. so if i had to pick one, it would be a Satoru POV piece but it almost doesn't count to me because those aren't exactly 'endings'. for that, I'd probably say the uncertainty principle (JJK STSG 1.4k) is the angstiest. it's also not really a plot story, so not really an ending, but I think 'angstiest character study' still counts.

by my definitions though, I am going to nominate Swan Song (FE3H Balthuri, 9.4k) This one is more full bore angst, although I think the ending is... optimistic? I really like this fic, although it is for a tiny tiny niche ship.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

uuuuuuuhhhhhhhh. how do you even measure happy? also i don't have a lot of longfics with 'endings' because i'm a piece of shit with abandoned wips (i am so sorry FE3H)

I'm going to say Limitless (Hades Patrochilles, 1.1k)? It's not a lot of plot to be ending but I think it's probably the most feel good? Second nomination to Condemned (Hades Thesterius, 7.5k) which has a little more plot.

Do you write crossovers?

not exactly. I write AUs, but I don't generally cross characters over, which I feel like is more of what 'crossover' entails. No hate, just not something I feel particularly compelled to do.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

nope. literally never. it is extremely rare on AO3 (in my experience) unless you are dealing a Really Big Ship and you run into people with extreme T/B or characterization preferences. I have seen friends get hate, esp in Big Ships in the FE3H community, so I know it is a real thing that exists, but I have fully dodged it.

the closest thing I've ever gotten is someone being like "ew, you wrote Ares/Dionysus?? that's incest!"

but all you can do with that is laugh, because... my brother in christ, do you know Greek canon?

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

yep. lots. I don't know what 'what kind' means, but I write all kinds. with and without plots, with and without inhuman genitalia, with and without consent.

i currently only have mlm and mlmonster posted, but i have written (and not been happy enough to post) wlw and het. hopefully that eventually changes, because I do feel bad that I don't have more equal opportunity smut out there. women are great we love women. i just don't feel like I write wl well enough yet.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

i don't think so!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

i have had someone ask, i don't know if they ever posted, it is still an extremely high compliment and it makes me smile that someone even wanted to do it.

i have had a fic recorded, which is definitely my peak (The Prince of Roses, FE3H Ashedue Sleeping Beauty AU 1k/6min). that was so cool. podficcers are very cool, they are doing god's work, and I would totally do it if I didn't hate my voice.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

no, and I think I would be a nightmare to work with, because I am very particular about everything.

however, i love love love collabing with artists and I have done that several times. and I would love to do more!

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

FE3H Balthuri. It's so niche but it's so good. Balthus has a lot of depth to him if you look past the surface. And Yuri's backstory is an incoherent, impossible spaghetti bowl caused by the creative team not being able to say no to any single idea. love them.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

The Lion of Kupala - Balthuri Canon Divergent AU 30k Political Intrigue

i think my plot ideas for this fic were very interesting, but the amount of effort I put into the atmosphere building and stuff was burning me out compared to the size of the community. and I would expect the fandom for this ship is basically dead these days so if I did go back to it, it would be a pretty solitary labor of love. I am unlikely to finish my Ashedue fics either, but I am significantly more likely to finish those because there's more potential that people might cheer me on and help me get to the finish line for that ship.

What are your writing strengths?

comedy, apparently! i didn't really write comedy until JJK, so that was kind of a surprise.

i would probably say characterization too. different reads on characters are (or, can be) equally valid because you're working with limited text. I think the key is staying consistent.

i'm very good at dialogue matching if there is a good enough sample size to draw from, which I don't think there is for lots of manga. i don't think my dialogue matching is good for JJK, especially with the translation from JP making some of the ENG sound unnatural in the actual manga. but I think for my other fandoms, I did pretty good

What are your writing weaknesses?

action for sure. and people are very nice to me about my action scenes, but they are for sure the hardest pieces for me to write and they take a long time for me to conceptualize and wrangle into coherent words.

these days, atmosphere has been a weakness too, I think. i used to really focus on that in my writing, but it has been more fun to be a little more dialogue and plot driven vs super rich moments. that's part of why I burned out on some of my FE3H fics. it takes a lot of mental energy for me in the writing process to constantly check in on scene setting/atmosphere.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

clarity is the most important thing - your reader should understand what you are saying and be drawn into the context of the world. sometimes writing dialogue in other languages adds, sometimes it subtracts. does the character understand that language? if so, they should hear it in the reader's language so that is understood. if they don't, then it should be given outside of the reader's language. and in that case, you should always have your specific translation in the end notes (if you want the reader (not the character) to know what was said), or you lose some clarity/intent.

What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Chainsaw Man.

when i started FIYM, the other Big Project I was looking at was a multipart 'X Lives and Here's Exactly How it Could Work in Canon". but i didn't find the ship very compelling and it takes a lot for me to write gen because I find the community is better/more active for ship fics. so we went with FIYM even though my idea was less fleshed out (narrator: that would soon change).

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

string theory (JJK, stsg, E, 17.4k)

which is funny because it's the only piece of FIYM that was totally unscreened by betas, it took the least time to write (proportionally), and I wrote it when I was probably at my lowest with anxiety, sleep deprivation, and stress.

actually right before I started therapy lol.

'tortured artists' or something like that

Ty for the tag @marichild <3 Tagging: @detta-pica @fireflywitch @ anyone else who wants to do it :))

[itsgirlcraft]

Ehhh I'm bored so have my Humanoid Beast AU

Soooooo...tbh Sabre's beast form is kinda like Indigo's Flesheater AU, just like- the body shape idk.

I can't believe it took me like 2 and a half years to get good enough at anatomy to successfully draw him, lol. I've legit had his design rotating in my mind forever hah

Anyways- actual au timeeee- so this is basically just a "what if Sabre's chicken onesie was part of his body" plus college au.

Several of the Steves are students, but under the guise of human forms, except for a couple. Rainbow Steve is actually human...sort of. When he was younger, he was brought to the Steve Realm (as in the Steve Saga Origins era) to take on the role of hero. It played out much like your average preteen fantasy isekai book, more or less, but still follows the og story. Most of the og Steve Saga isn't included here, at least not at first.

Rainbow kept his powers when he finally returned home, and they grew with his human form. His Steve form stayed mostly the same, never losing his bright colors. Thanks to him, those native to the Steve Realm were able to come to earth. Like the Galaxy family, at first, it's only Time, Galaxy, and Elemental.

But Sabre is more than just a human with feathers. Starting in middle school, he grew wings, which he could make vanish. But when he didn't fly regularly, they would get bigger, more antsy, and would reappear more. But eventually something different happened, after they grew to their largest after a long week in high school.

His body, his bone structure, it shifted around into something entirely different and animalistic. His final form is a sphinx-like harpy-ish creature, based on a chicken. For a while, he couldn't control this at all, only going on flights regularly would let him transform back. Stress makes it worse, so you can imagine how finals week would go :') Rainbow and Lucas are some of the only people he's shown/told this to, and Rainbow entrusts him with his own secret.

Eventually, though, the Galaxy family was over at his dorm when he transformed in the middle of the hallway, and got stuck. Galaxy was able to teleport him out, though he had to prove it by teleporting a fork over by a lake first XD

Later on, at a party, the one person I haven't mentioned yet accidentally reveals himself. The Guardian had found an ancient portal which took him to earth (sound familiar?) But it broke as soon as he'd gone through, and was not familiar with the human world - he hadn't been involved much in SSO. So he found himself drawn to the college nearby, and found that - as long as he hid his eyes and wings beneath his cloak - he could blend in quite easily.

He kept to himself, staying in the back of classes and simply learning quietly. But his first attempt at socializing didn't work out so well, because when someone knocked his hood off, he panicked and accidentally revealed his true form. Sabre forced his own wings to grow so he could cover them both, and Galaxy teleported them both away.

It turned out that Galaxy and the Guardian were childhood friends, and that Galaxy was an expert in portal repair. The group went over to the portal, practically in ruins, and Galaxy fixed it. But some drunk partygoers had come into the ruins, and so they rushed through the portal. But the surprise guests had come in sooner than expected, and one of them went thru on a dare. Galaxy shut it off just after he saw them, trying to keep more people from getting in.

And now we're back with the star-rats :) The Guardian finally got a chance to just relax, finally back home again, and talk with people. But it didn't take long til something strange happened. Sabre had never forced his wings to grow, and now, here in a world of magic, he was suddenly transforming! But even worse, he was growing bigger, so much so he ran down to the bottom of the temple to avoid breaking something.

Rainbow went down to calm him down, but Sabre was already spiraling, feeling the same he did when he'd first transformed. Oversized and Wrong in all the worst ways. His beast form would've felt less uncanny if he was unrecognizable. At least then he could pretend this wasn't him. But now - being as tall as a skyscraper - he felt tiny, everyone's gaze drawn right to his giant, lumbering form. It was all too easy to accidentally hurt someone in his smaller form, and now it was even easier. He didn't want to risk it, and tried to make himself as small as possible. And he wasn't even home! He was too big to even fit in the portal anymore, he wasn't sure if he'd be stuck here now. Would flying even reverse this anymore? Would he be stuck as a giant forever? It was just too much.

[nutmeg-mayonnaise]

I think you mentioned in one of your older posts that Trucy starts her own family in your AU at some point? Are there any details you can share? Trucy being a mother, and Phoenix, Edgeworth and Maya being grandparents, sound like fun ideas to explore.

Hello, friend! It's actually funny, I could've sworn I spoke about Trucy's fankids in more detail than "they exist", but I guess I haven't!

Anyway, here are her twin boys!

Their names are Ace and Jack Hyde, but they perform as one person named "Janus Gramarye" on stage. Their father is a Troupe member named Timothy "Tim" Hyde, and the gag with him is that despite how much Trucy talks about him, Phoenix has never seen him--not even at their wedding--so he thinks Trucy made him up.

Trucy and her show are on the road quite a bit in the AU, and since the AU is focused on the Mayonarumitsu family, there's not too many details about Trucy's family other than what I've shared above.

When Trucy's family is in town, it's not a given that Maya and the Fey girls are in town at the same time, so she sees them even less than she sees Phoenix, Edgeworth, and Gregory Wright. Trucy was far too old for Maya to adopt her when she and Phoenix had to marry to appease Kurain Village Customs to have the kids, so Maya is not technically her parent. Regardless, Trucy does start calling her "Mama" once Gregory was on the way and her twins call her "Mama Maya".

They call Phoenix "Grandpa" (obviously), and Phoenix always felt strange being a grandfather especially since Trucy's twins were born when his and Maya's youngest was only six years old. They also call Gregory "Uncle Grey".

Edgeworth is a little more distant, but the twins still call him "Papa Miles" regardless. He doesn't really see himself as their grandfather, but it's not something he will dare tell them straight to their face. He tries his best to be family, though.

Thanks for the question!

Some info about how I haven't been active lately below the cut! :)

Hello friends! I know I haven't posted in a couple months, and I still have a few asks that haven't been answered. I'm sitting on a pile of WIPs for artwork I want to have with those asks, so I'll get to them eventually!

I've been really busy with work this summer and I've spent most of my time with the AU writing that same fanfiction I mentioned before--the one that details how the OT3 went from where they were at the end of "Spirit of Justice" to being parents together. I wound up rewriting most of it and I'm very pleased with how it's turning out so far, and I can't wait to share it!

I'm not sure how often I can post since I'm still very busy, but I want to try do maybe make more simple artwork to post and answer asks so I could be more active! We'll have to see what happens!

Thank you all for your love and support for the AU. Your notes, kind words, tags, and comments all make me smile!

[sungbeam]

𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐔𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐎𝐂𝐎𝐋 — teaser!

nonidol!kevin moon x f!reader

another summer break, another annual trip to the lake! except, it seems like when you and kev get there, you'll have to make some tweaks to the original rescue protocol.

▷ genre, teaser warnings. childhood friends 2 lovers, fluff, summer break au/college au, hurt/comfort, humor, implications of motherly meddling and matchmaking

▷ projected release date. october 10th/11th

▷ estimated word count. 20-26k

this is the sixth installment of the love in unity series! rescue protocol takes place after all the events of the main storyline, and you shouldn't need to read any prev fics to understand this one. any prev yns will be referred to as _!yn

a/n: i swear i'm (half) alive 🧍🏻‍♀️ but yeah, i've been punching out words lately and it's probably a bad idea to post this at the end of the weekend when no one will see it, but thank u again @justalildumpling for being my hypewoman ily

TEASER BELOW THE CUT (APPROX. 500 WORDS)

“It’s a warm morning out,” your mother murmured, then quickly added, “hey you.” She knocked her hand against your arm.

“Hm?” You asked as you finished up Alice’s braid and tied it off with the blue Cinnamoroll hair tie she’d chosen. You patted her back with your hand. “You’re done.”

Your little sister hopped to her feet. “Thanks!” She dashed away and out of the room—to where, you had no clue. You figured she knew where the food was if she was hungry.

You angled your body to squish your side against the couch cushions and face your mother. “What were you saying?”

“Ah, I was going to talk to you about the Joshua Hong boy.”

Joshua Hong. You didn’t realize you could hear a man’s name so often within twelve hours.

You made a gesture with your hand. “What about the Joshua Hong boy, Mom?”

“Well, isn’t he a handsome one?” She asked you enthusiastically, straightening. It was alarming how bright her face just got. “I spoke to his mom while Kevin and I were walking just now, and he’s only a few years older than you, you know.”

You heard a metaphorical record scratch. What? There was so much in that one sentence that you needed to unpack. You raised your hands to signal her to pause. “Wait, since when do you and Kevin take walks together?” What could they have been talking about? You knew Kevin was an exceptional conversationalist, but never in your time at the lake had you known of this interaction.

Your mother blinked. “Oh, we started the tradition when you didn’t come up with us that one year.”

“Tradition?” So this happened more than once? You didn’t know why you were so scandalized by this information—it was just Kevin after all. You knew your parents, and even your siblings, were all fond of him—of course they were. You were arguably even more fond of him, but that wasn’t the point. You hoped she hadn't said anything about you and him as an item at any point in time… you trusted that Kevin could handle that though; that was what the pact was for, after all.

“Why are you making such a big deal out of this?” She arched a brow. “But anyway, yes, so we bumped into Josh’s mom on the last leg around the lake, and she mentioned that he’s majoring in chemistry and planning to go into medicine. You guys might have something in common."

You pursed your lips. Perhaps the two of you might have something to talk about, but your track was pre-veterinary rather than pre-med. There was probably a middle ground though... Maybe you were just being stubborn.

“Just make friends or something,” she said to you while standing up from the couch. “You need more of those.”

Your eyes shot wide open. “Hello? Mom?” Now that was simply uncalled for.

She chuckled impishly as she walked away and disappeared down the hall, leaving you to yourself. You were lucky neither of the twins were here to hear that burn.

a/n: if i am being so fr i don't even really like the part i chose for this lol but i haven't written the juicy parts yet 🤕 so stay tuned pls ... haha

permanent taglist: @flwoie @vatterie @seomisaho @hqrana @ja4hyvn @tinkerbell460 @kaaimins @hyunjaespresent-deobi @otterly-fey @zzoguri @floatingpluto @winterchimez @ethereal-engene @gyulfriend @polarisjisung @jaehunnyy @shakalakaboomboo @loveliestfelix @bless-311 @zhaixiaowen @leaz-kpop-life @amourdsr @pxppxrminty @kqyutie @sseastar-main @kxthleen14 @fluorescentloves @mosviqu @justalildumpling @jaerisdiction @super-btstrash-posts @jundundun @http-gyu @mvvnsseul @outrologist @vernonburger @maessseongs @ericlvr

[nevertheless-moving]

Hi! I love your writing snippets - have you thought about posting them on ao3

Thank you!! Yes, I have thought about it, for sure! I'm nevertheless_turtle on ao3.

(I have... six fics, all of them star wars, half of them unfinished, last one updated in January 2022. Unless someone decides to put a million dollars in my kofi jar, this is for Fun, so unfortunately once the hyperfixation fades...it fades*.

:( star wars back and forth tumblr fics with star wars mutuals my beloved... murderbot discord i loved collaborative storytelling with ya'll and i miss you...i don't know how to make friends on the internet i just talk blorbos in situations and my blorbos drift over time... hello stormlight archive fandom)

! anyone want to talk about putting my type of blorbo, which when i check my notes is a pathetic wet person who is very good at killing but somewhat tries to avoid it, if you want to talk putting someone like that in a Situation, Hey! i may or may not be your person. this ask is really getting away from me i might be tired from walking a bunch of miles today...

*i do historically cycle back around to fandoms! i was lurking on tumblr for over a decade before i posted anything and there was definitely a cyclical nature to it! i consistently knit furiously for 3 months and then take a 4 year break! star wars fics wait for me!

aNYWAY writing fic directly into Tumblr adn/or Discord or if i don't have internet connection then a fuckin shitty notes app appears to be the Key for me?? like i tried fic writing before that in Word or Docs and it just didn't go?? idk! I think it's like the comic sans trick.

wait i still haven't answered the question.

you know, the thing is, when i write a snippet at the end of 5 paragraphs of background meta for an au, or a literal bullet point list, i'm not really sure how to post that to ao3. can you post chatfic and bullet points to ao3? it feels weird? idk. real question for the crowd in the midst of an extremely incoherent ask answer. let me know what you think!

me to myself: the question. scroll back up. what was the question. myself to me: that was answering the question! somewhat!

Right now a bunch of fic writing is churning around and out of brain, and circumstances have aligned for better or worse such that i have time and mental energy and ideas to write. we'll see how it goes. Once I get a bit more posted on tumblr i'll probably put things together and either make seperate works for different aus, or a masterwork of different tumblr aus that i don't think i'll develop further. i may turn some of those bulletpoint lists into cleaner fics for posting, making my earlier point moot.

some of my aus i already have a bunch written on my phone over meals or stopped in the middle of a side walk or on bus and train rides (why would an ELEVEN HOUR TRAIN RIDE not have an outlet to charge my laptop??). so. if i clean that stuff up ill probably post it to tumblr, then immediately notice the spelling mistakes, edit, then post to ao3.

a perfect system.

for my most recent snippet, well, that's actually self contained (not an au that requires 6 paragraphs of background to understand the snippet) and not a chat fic, so i WAS thinking i would just post it to ao3 soonish. i asked in the tags if anyone felt like betaing for ao3, i am wildly but unquestioningly assuming that the sorta individual who would want to beta a fic for me are reading the tags on my tumblr fic post. if anyone likes betaing stormlight or is interested in betaing a specific au/fic idea i've mentioned, hit me up.

TLDR above, tumblr is a for fun rough draft looser writing form place for me. ao3 feels like its asking for a bit more polish and structure. i have writing bees in my brain right now so i'm slightly more focused on that then editing, but if anyone feels like doing some form of beta, reach out and we can chat about it. regardless, i will clean up at least some of my recent snippets and post to ao3 eventually.

[riddlerosehearts]

HII ITS IDIAVIL ANON AGAIN!!! i wanted to respond to the post u made in response to my ask... I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND NOT BEING ABLE 2 WRITE FICS LIKE!! ive been creatively writing for years and when it comes to stuff im rlly passionate abt i can become super duper creative. my struggle with writing fanfic is finding the time and motivation, plus my adhd makes it difficult for me to focus, BUT IVE BEEN DOING BETTER RECENTLY!!! im kinda familiar with wicked? i saw it on stage back when i was just a wee lad but i dont remember much of it (i honestly think i fell asleep ;-;) but i've been wanting to watch both the play and the new movie, i just haven't gotten to it yet. i will definitely keep this in mind as i watch both!! a few weeks ago i actually watched jennifer's body for the first time, i'd been wanting to watch it but then i saw someone mention a jennifer's body idiavil au and oh my gods i literally couldnt stop thinking about it. i've definitely kept that au in mind, and i will do the same for the wicked au!! when i do eventually watch wicked i'll probably send another giant yapping paragraph in ur asks abt it... ALSO PLEEASEE I WOULD LOVE LOVE LOVE TO HEAR MORE ABT UR AU IT SEEMS SO COOL!!! also. hercules au. oh my god u get me. i'm not exaggerating when i say i've thought abt the idiavil meg and hercules parallel at least once a day for the past like five or so months. i NEVER stop talking to my friends about it EVER. i was actually on a disney cruise (twas a family trip) about a month ago and they had a giant tv above the pool, they showed a movie every fifteen minutes (after the movie prior had ended) and WHEN I TELL YOU I FREAKED OUT WHEN I SAW THEY HAD A SHOWING FOR HERCULES. AND I HAD TO RESIST FROM STIMMING (i get embarrassed when i stim in public bc i dont like being looked at or percieved like ever) DURING WONT SAY IM IN LOVE LIKE THATS PROBABLY MY FAVORITE DISNEY SONG OF ALL TIME OH MY GOODNESS. I WOULDNT STOP TEXTING MY FRIEND AND TALKING ABOUT IDIAVIL. also i did see ur response and oh my goodness i think abt it so much. ill probably share the keychains and playlists off anon later... also i LOVE the fact u keep ur pins of them next to each other... my birthday was actually a while ago (oct 28th) but the art has been delayed bc shes been busy which idm, shes putting a ton of effort into it. ill also probably share that off anon whenever its done!! alr im gonna wrap this up, i do have a few things i have to get done soon but i'll try to send in those playlists and pictures of the keychains b4 i go to bed tn!!

hi again haha!! whenever you watch the wicked movie i really hope you enjoy it! just keep in mind that they kind of, extended every single scene in act 1 to make it 2.5 hours long (when the whole stage musical with both acts combined is that length), so it's only a part 1 and we won't get part 2 until next year. which admittedly DOES bug me but i still loved the movie anyway. if you want to watch the stage musical after that, well, the people who record bootlegs usually ask you not to put them on youtube but people do anyway AKJDGJFSG. so you can probably find one easily enough! it's my absolute favorite musical! when i went to see it live in april, i kept thinking "well, vil does share glinda's love of fashion and her popularity and ambition, but he's different from her in a lot of ways too! for example, he doesn't believe that popularity is the only thing that really matters, and he would never sacrifice his own morals and ideals to achieve his goals... oh... wait..." and then i realized that the whole plot of book 5 is that vil kind of DID do all that! that's the whole tragedy of it, that he overblotted because he DID start to think that his hard work was meaningless and that he SHOULD resort to any means possible to be the most popular at the expense of his moral compass, and he thought of himself as ugly for doing so! he COULD have ended up basically alone, being praised by others around him as beautiful and good while inside he secretly believes himself to be wicked, just like glinda if his friends hadn't done everything to stop him from poisoning neige.

and idia may not be an animal rights activist like elphaba, nor is she an otaku LOL, but elphaba grew up lonely and ostracized because of her green skin and idia's family curse forced him to grow up isolated on the isle of woe and have blue fire for hair. she's a caretaker for her disabled sister whose father blames her for her condition, and idia has a robot brother whose death he blames himself for. elphaba is jaded and sarcastic and abrasive and deeply insecure, and who else fits that description? the only issue is that idia is far too pessimistic about the future to decide to do what elphaba does in defying gravity on his own, but i think in an AU he could be pushed to do it. also there's this part in wicked where after glinda and elphaba get back from a big dance at the ozdust ballroom glinda says "was that your first party?!" and elphaba deadpans "does a funeral count?" and i can just so clearly see that with idia and vil AFKJDGHF. there's so many other scenes too that i just see as being perfect for them.

as for fiyero i had two ideas here: in the actual musical, there's a love triangle in which elphaba and fiyero ultimately end up together but as i mentioned i would want to give my AU a happy ending and make vil and idia end up together in it. so i would do one of two things: 1) cast kalim as fiyero, because he literally just fits the role perfectly. fiyero is a foreign prince, and look at the lyrics to dancing through life and try to tell me kalim wouldn't sing this. but i don't ship kalim with either vil or idia, so in this scenario i'd probably cut the love triangle and have him somehow end up as their bestie who supports whatever insane gay thing those two have got going on. imo kalim really does fit fiyero better than anyone else and this idea is just so funny to me. or 2) cast rook as fiyero, keep the love triangle, and have it end in polyamory because even though i've never even considered shipping rook with idia i do ship rook/vil and i think this would be hilarious as an AU. also, there's a scene in wicked where glinda and elphaba are hanging out and glinda is like "let's tell each other our best secrets! i'll go first! FIYERO AND I ARE GOING TO BE MARRIED!!!" and since they've just started dating elphaba is like "he's asked you already??" and then glinda goes "oh no, he doesn't know yet!" and imagining vil saying that about rook just makes me laugh so hard.

OKAY. so there is an incomplete summary of my thoughts on a vilidia wicked AU!! honestly i don't really watch horror movies so i haven't seen jennifer's body but if i ever do watch it i'll have to keep that AU idea in mind. as for the hercules parallel idk if you've seen this post of mine but it makes me so happy every time someone likes or reblogs it because then i get to think about them again. hercules/meg has always been one of my favorite disney couples so when i saw this happen in book 6 i was immediately just. doomed to be insane about vil/idia forever because are you KIDDING ME?? also your birthday is right after mine omg, mine was october 25th!! so a late happy birthday to you, then! one last thing i'd like to say in this already way too long response is that i have two sets of floyd and riddle nuis--listen, they're my other favorite ship so i bought the first ones online and then saw more at a con i went to and couldn't resist--and i'm going to be getting idia and ortho nuis for christmas. hopefully soon i'll be able to get a vil nui as well so i can keep him right next to his boyfriend and his film club buddy/future brother-in-law 💙💜

[fivie]

There's a thought about umw that I've had for a long long time and since I didnt exactly have anywhere else to out it I thought I'd share it here.

It's about Montparnasse, or rather, the apparent lack of him and where oh where is he.

Now, obviously, there are many les mis characters who aren't in the story, it makes perfect sense, eg. javert who is implied once or twice but isn't actually mentioned.

But anyway, while thinking about umw my thoughts often turn to R's life before the story. I mean, it has been many centuries and while I can imagine it Nit Being Much, there had to be Events to fill the time, right? Some people he met, some historical events he's witnessed, etc etc.

I've always imagined imagined Grantaire to have met Floréal some time in the 1600s or 1700s and them being very loose sort of friends. Acquaintances is a better word maybe.

But the one concept that cannot for the love of everything leave my mind is Montparnasse sort of being there, throughout the ages. At first I thought, a fallen angel maybe? But that doesn't seem to fit him at all, and the idea that I arrived at was that Montparnasse was a Reaper. I'm going to be serious, I haven't been keeping up with spn for several seasons now and my memory of the lore is very fragmented so I'm not sure how it holds up canon-wise, but it seemed neat to me. He accompanied R during the worst of times, when he witnessed the most deaths, wars, revolutions, massacres, the sort of atrocities that made Grantaire so cynical and distrustful and That Way in general. Maybe they became sort of friends. Maybe Montparnasse was the Reaper intended to bring the kids from Smoleńsk across. Who knows. Maybe the whole theory is bullshit and he's either some rando doing Crime around Lyon or he doesn't exist in the universe at all, but it's still fun to think about.

Anyway that's all I hope it's at least a bit entertaining 🙌🙌 + tysm for all the hard work on the fic it's taken up at least 85% of my brain at all times for thr last 2.5 (maybe more?) years<33

Ooh that's a cool idea! It would have been fun to have a Reaper character in UMW, especially since humans can't see them (unless they're dying or, y'know, dead) so it would be someone only Grantaire could interact with. Or maybe Jehan can perceive Reapers too, which would add a tasty Romantic quality to his abilities – he sees dead people and also the embodiments of death itself 💕 also I imagine a Reaper, a keeper of the Natural Order, would have a thing or two to say about resurrected-ghost-Feuilly 😂

I actually do have my own UMW version of Montparnasse, since he was originally meant to feature but got cut due to the story already spiralling madly out of my control without me adding even more characters and plot threads. I think I wrote about him in a post once but it was like a bajillion years ago so for funs let me tell you about him here:

He IS some rando doing crime around Lyon!! (Or possibly Paris, I never 100% decided.) He's sort of like a dark mirror of Jehan; he's human and also a psychic, but much less naturally powerful, and has started dabbling in witchcraft and other unsavoury things to enhance his abilities. He's wildly jealous of Jehan's powers and also considers Jehan to be an idiotic waste of those powers because he won't use them for his own gain. He comes from a much bleaker background than Jehan and had to fend for himself from a young age, and so has become very adept at using his abilities to manipulate people and is now a very successful and wealthy con artist. He's not 'evil', which is a pretty strong term in a world with demons etc, but circumstances have molded him into a person who does not trust others and is very out for himself, and his psychic abilities make him somewhat arrogant and he considers ordinary people to be inferior and fair game for him to mess with.

As you can see my personal take on Montparnasse is a bit darker than the pure neutrality of a Reaper-type character 😂 In this AU I envisioned him as kind of the same type of character as Spike from Buffy, in that he starts out as a legitimate threat and thorn in the protagonists' sides but reluctantly develops into an ally as time goes on.

However I know that fandom interpretations of Montparnasse vary wildly and all are valid, and since he's almost definitely never going to actually show up in UMW, please have fun imagining whatever version of him you enjoy most!! I just also have a lot of thoughts with nowhere to go and will take any opportunity to share 😂

[cuips-not-cute]

20 Questions for Fic Writers!

thanks @toburnup, @numinosmoon, @pearynice, and @morningberriesao3 for tagging me, y'all are the coolest<3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

nine!! but one of them is my darling friend @lollaika's amazing fic, The Agony Of A Loving Gaze, of which i am merely the artist

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

269,805. whew.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

stranger things at the moment lmao but i've written for good omens and our flag means death before, too

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

he could be brave, blood is an aphrodisiac, honeyed affection, cyclical, and lover, be good to me.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

yes i do!! i'm horribly, horribly behind atm but i will catch up!! love engaging with people who like my stories, and i've made some fabulous friends thru ao3 comments, too<3

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

don't think any of mine?? big fan of happy endings

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

gosh i don't even know they all pretty much have the "and they lived happily ever after" vibe at the end i'm a sucker for sweet stuff what can i say??

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i've gotten a couple weird comments from peeps who don't know how to read tags but those go straight in the trash, good vibes only

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

me?? smut?? never!!! lmao i like it all, the kinkier the better. one of my most proudest smut scenes i've written involved some super sweet fisting. i love stuff that's fucking depraved but still with a good undercurrent of softness. love it when they're gross and in love

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

i haven't!! generally can only focus on one fandom at a time so i don't know that i ever will but i love a good crossover fic

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not as far as i know!! just waiting for the day that i see my art on like pinterest or smth, tho

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

no but gosh that would be SO COOL!!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i have not!! love beta'ing and being a soundboard for all my super cool and talented writer friends but i write so erratically that i doubt i could co-write with someone

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

...steddie. i'm so embarrassed but i love them. ineffable husbands is SUPER close behind, tho

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

hmm, had a kooky tentacle porn oneshot in the works but that always gets put on the back burner while i'm writing a multichap thing...and i seem to always be writing a multichap thing. maybe one day

16. What are your writing strengths?

oh smut, probably. my fav thing to write , too, so it makes sense. tho i've heard from multiple sources that my kiss scenes are good, but those usually lead up to the smut anyways lololol

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

hmm, scene transitions or points where i need the mood to shift dramatically. usually skip around those and write them later during the second draft

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

it's cool!! i'm lame and don't know any other written languages so i prolly never would do it for fear of mistranslating smth but it's neat to see, especially when it's the author's native language

19. First fandom you wrote for?

technically i think way back when i worte a lil thing for the gemma doyle series, did not think of it as fanfic at the time, tho

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

cyclical!! that one was a BEAST but i'm stupidly proud of her. as it is a time loop fic it was THE angstiest thing i've ever written but i had a great time making it.

honorable mention for my current wip, tho, which will be a steddie sex tape au chock full of pining and porn. hopefullyyyy the first chapter will be out soon (!!!)

tagging the lovelies: @lollaika @jhrc666 @steddielations @thefreakandthehair @phantom-organism and @wormdebut <3<3

[whispering-about-loki]

Hello 😊 I saw you reblog the a "get to know your writer" post and wondered if it was ok for me to ask a few questions? If so, I'd ask 1, 7, 16, 25 and 56?

Absolutely! Let's see....

1 . Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

Honestly, multi-chapter! I actually find it really, really hard to write a one-shot. I mean, I can do it, and certainly have done it... but my plots usually tend to get away from me and branch out here, there, and everywhere! The only problem is, I also don't tend to finish those multi-chapter monsters...

7 . How do you choose which POV to write from?

It depends on what story I am trying to tell. If I want some details to go unknown to a character for mystery's sake, I will write in their POV; or I will write in the POV of the person who has the most emotional stake. When I am writing a ship fic, I often try to write from both POVs (alternating from chapter to chapter) to compare and contrast how they are coping or what they are thinking. The challenge there is to get the "voices" right, though.

16 . How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

Far, far too many to count! In way too many different fandoms! Of the stories I haven't posted a word on yet (as opposed to current WIPs that I have up at AO3), there's at least one Lokius AU, a couple Bagginshield angst pieces, three gen TMNT fics, and a couple of random ideas that I have yet to fix a fandom to.

25 . What fic do you wish you got more of a response on?

Oh, gosh. It's weird, but although I absolutely love getting comments, I don't often push for them because I don't want to seem... needy, I guess? Back in the late 90s and early naughties, it was actually a lot easier to get responses to fics. The fandoms were smaller and everyone knew everyone, so the stories would be passed between friends online... so now living in the age of kudos is actually a bit disorienting. Of course, the fics that don't get responses are usually about pretty obscure people or situations. Like Afterimage (a short Hobbit thing about Nori as a child), The Touch Of Rain (about Cobb Vanth), and When She Loved Me (an imagined backstory about a character that was only in the TMNT Adventures comics... and when I originally wrote and posted that one twenty-some years ago, it got a much better reception). I do notice that gen stories tend to get swept to the side in favor of ship-fics, though, which always seem to get some kind of response.

56 . What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

Actually, what I mentioned up in #7 about finding the right voices. I think I do okay with getting into characters' heads and making them each sound individual. Again, like I said... it isn't always easy. I'm currently writing a chapter in a story... and in this chapter a character is in medical distress and we are seeing it from their POV. Problem is, two chapters ago there was a different character in medical distress whose POV I was writing from... and in both instances the characters are waking up from being treated. It's taking a bit of juggling to make sure the second one and the first one are different enough so people don't think, "hey... I've read this already!" It helps, I guess, that one of the characters is more skilled in medical concerns, so they are more calm about the whole thing while the other one was in full panic mode.

Anyway, thank you for this! It was fun!

[squarebracketsmileyface]

BE SAPPY AND WEIRD ABOUT YOUR PROJECT!!! YOU DO DESERVE A HAPPY ENDING!!! AND YOU DESERVE TO TALK ABOUT THE WAYS YOU REALIZED THAT YOU DESERVE IT!!! ARRRARARA YOURE MY FRIEND AND I LOVE SEEING MY FRIENDS HAPPY

I will CRY /threat

Also I took this as an excuse to ramble, because actually thinking about it, damn this fic has done a lot for me. Like this is dramatic as shit but genuinely writing this fic has changed my life in such a good way. You don't have to read all this lol, it's a mess and weird and ended up extremely long, it was just nice to put it down in writing cos it's been meandering around in my head for a while but I haven't spent much time thinking about it in a coherent way and it was nice to get all my ducks in a row with it all

God though, this fic has helped me figure out so many things, and it's so important to me. Like half of what it helped me figure out isn't even things I could put into words properly, like I can't bullet point most of those things, they're just weird emotional things that are just there.

Anyway, back to my dramatic ass "this fic changed my life." Like just for one I've made friends because of it which is amazing, but also like, just the things this fic has helped me process and understand? Like idk they feel like they shouldn't mean that much and should be fairly inconsequential, but they just aren't? Like the whole "hey maybe I can allow Lark to have a happy ending in an "everybody lives" au of this AU" kinda came about at the same time as I started to really settle mentally into my relationship with my boyfriend and stopped feeling that vague threatening feeling of "this is going to hurt like a bitch when something goes disastrously wrong and ruins our relationship, whether platonic or queerplatonic, forever". Like I started really properly feeling and believing "hey maybe it won't go disastrously wrong and he is just a very lovely guy who absolutely won't turn around and be evil and purposefully hurt me at some later date" instead at around the same time I was like "hey maybe Lark's relationship with Tim wouldn't fall all the way the fuck apart and maybe she'd actually get to raise her kid and be a good mum with a good partner and live a nice life where everything would turn out fine in the end."

And also like, another thing this fic helped me figure out a bit is like, just people mentioning how much the way I write Jay makes them think he'd have bpd in this au? Like I think you were one of the first people to mention that and honestly it's put so many things in perspective for me about just, the way my brain works that I didn't have an explanation for before? Or I did, I tried to explain it with Autism but it didn't quite fit perfectly. And like, I still don't know if I have bpd and I probably won't for a long while, but I write all my characters as me in some way, and Jay especially started out as basically just a self insert wearing a terrible wig and those mustache glasses. But from what I've looked into about bpd now it does seem to fit pretty well, especially the parts people have talked about with like, "very intense but unstable relationships with others"? Thankfully I'm better about that now than I was a few years ago? Tho sometimes I still get scared I'm about to become obsessed with my boyfriend in that way that ruins my relationships with people 💀💀 And the thing with like acting really impulsively? Though I've gotten better at stamping down every rage fuelled "hey you should throw this water bottle at that person's broken arm because they hurt you" type impulse since I was a kid. I now know how not to just lash out and harm people way more than they've hurt me, even when it's all my brain can think to do. So like?

Sorry anyway 💀💀💀 that was such a weird ramble to go on. But speaking of obsessions that ruin relationships

I haven't really talked about it much on here, but when I was 16 I was in a sort of similar place to Jay with Alex, not the friends with benefits bit (though yeah there were a few Very Interesting sexual things going on there that I'm definitely not gonna talk about in anything but the broadest strokes 💀) but definitely the "I'm going to string you along because I like you back but you like me way more than I like you and i dont know how to deal with you, so ill have my fun then ignore you the rest of the time," kinda stuff. And like, I was still pretty angry about that when I started writing this fic and it actually kinda helped me feel less angry at the guy? Because at first Alex was at least loosely based on him and the feelings I had about all that (and then later on Alex became a bit more Also Based On Me like Jay is lol). Like, in my case it was apparently a lot more that guys fault than it ended up being with Jay and Alex? I just kinda assumed it was entirely my fault for not texting him first enough cos I was terrified of annoying him by acting as clingy as I felt 💀 but apparently my guy was just actually a little shitty? (again, not gonna go into that here, it's a mess 💀), but like, for at least some of the less Actually Pretty Fucked Up things he did I kinda got to understand where he was coming from through thinking about Jay and Alex and thinking about Alex's pov. Like, he wasn't trying to be cruel, he just didn't like me as much as I liked him. I got obsessed with him and he was just there for some casual sexting and flirting etc lol

But like, yeah. This fic is so important to me, especially Jay and Tim's relationship. I haven't been thinking about that quite as much recently because I've been focussing on If It Ain't Broken and Jaylex, and I might not even get to focus on it in exactly the way I want to for the next Jam fics in the series, but like. Jay's hang ups over Alex and feeling scared that "what if Tim is just the same" is loosely something I've struggled with too. I'm better with it now than I was a year ago, but even so, every now and again not getting a reply to a message pretty much straight away can send me careening down "oh my god I've annoyed him, oh my god he's not going to talk to me for two weeks straight" street lol. Plus other weird hang ups that Jay most certainly doesn't have 💀

My boyfriend puts up with so much, he's wonderful, ily Vin if you're reading this.

Hell, even the way Jay and Alex end up leaving things at the very end of If It Ain't Broken is actually kinda similar to how stuff ended with me and my guy, I didn't even think about that till now. Alex is just gonna go off with Amy out of the blue and Jay isn't going to know what to do, even though he sort of saw it coming? Like he could kinda tell something was up but he doesn't want to accept it because like "oh well it's probably nothing maybe Alex is just busy. And my guy just texted me one day to say "How do you feel about me? Hmm? Oh yeah? Cool I no longer like you, actually, yeah sorry, I know you think you're in love but. Yeah I've been talking to someone else for a couple weeks now so I think this is the end of our little thing. Bye" lmao. I didn't even realise I've planned the Jaylex 'break up' to parallel that 'break up' 💀 tho honestly Jaylex's 'break up' will probably be slightly nicer on them coa Alex is going to move uni's and they're not going to see each other. So no panic attacks on sight for those two, lucky fucks.

[togeqii]

I meant K-Pop!! I haven’t found any good K-Pop fics lately and that’s why I wanted your recs lol sorry for the confusion :)

omg! yes i can definitely recommend a few good fics haha i haven't been an avid reader for a while but i Do have a few notable favorites! i'm kinda just taking this from my rec tag on wuahae lol but . i'm ngl all the fics by these authors are so good like if you like the writing (You Will ....) you should def check out their other fics in their masterlists! also if you like the fics pleeeaaase leave feedback in their askboxes or in their notes :( i know it would mean a lot to them because it always means a lot to me!

eat, play, love by @husbandhoshi

e2l romcom au .... really Reads like a romcom i can talk at length about this fic but also lily is just a great writer . it's just good fic!! the perfect amount of funny with a touch of angst and as always Real Genuine feeling . will always rec this one <3

gold rush by @dkfile

exes-to-lovers mingyu it is just SO scrumptious .... ci masters the art of the small town nostalgia haze and the dynamics in this fic are just MWAH . conflict is perfect, characterization is perfect ... if a fic is named after a tswift song you just know it has to be good!

parallels & almosts by @httplastic

vernon friends to lovers! it's almost wong kar wai esque the way peach writes their prose ... so so pretty. always so meaningful i loved reading and analyzing their words trying to dissect metaphors and double meanings :") the type of fic where i read and i go "i wanna write like that!!!" one of the top fics i'll go to when i wanna read a nice comfort fic in winter <3

those are the most recent ones i've read but here are a few honorable mentions from fics that were released a while ago but i think about almost daily . fics that rewrote my brain chemistry .

the times we couldn’t say goodbye (the times i loved you most) by @/husbandhoshi

SORRY this is another one by lily but its the one that made me follow her.... she just gets the Hoshster im sorry ..... also this fic deserves like 10 million notes with how it made me feel . fantasy au where hoshi is a wizard and yn is the innkeeper and even though hoshi isn't someone who Stays you're always going to be the one he returns home to . GUNSHOTS .

just us and the moon (till the sun starts waking) by @97-liners

THE FIC THAT MADE ME START CARATBLR ....... actuallyyyy just read all of jackie's fics 😁😁 i feel like i rave about this fic every chance i get but its deserved idc idc i come back to read it regularly . yn in this fic is so real like the me of last summer was bawling her eyes out because of how peeled i felt reading it...... anyway its fwb!woozi and Obviously that means don't read this fic if you're a minor but . but .... i became a changed woman after i finished it . Again the perfect amount of humor + angst + Implied smut without feeling gratuitous or out of place . my hall of fame for realsies.

other people's weddings by @neonunau

ok i Just checked after going back to link this fic and i saw its at 2k notes?!?!? deserved /srs . but Again it's giving romcom ... its f2l seungcheol but the way mads depicts him is SO chef's kiss. like if lily gives him the insufferable former frat boy energy with dusty cheeto fingers then Mads writes him as Sufferable college friend cheol. the yearning is so real from him . he holds your purse . swallows his feelings it practically gives him And you (the reader) constipation but every court needs their jester and he's happy to provide ..... not to mention the side characters are so funny its insane. humor is perfect . romance is perfect . writing is perfect ..... its just good fic!!!

[a-force-dyad-in-space]

A Fanfic Update

Hey guys, I thought I should give you an update about what's going on Ongoing-WIPs-wise just in case you've had some worries.

The short of it is that the writing juices haven't flowed well for a while now and I'm trying to get them back but it is a struggle. I've worked a bit on this fic or other but haven't made significant progress in a few months. I absolutely hope that will change soon but I unfortunately can't force it. It doesn't help that I'm going through some stuff IRL right now that I have to take care of (I am unfortunately an adult who has to do adulting and pay bills and shit 🥲). I try not to be too stressed out about it, but the more time passes the more the anxiety sets in. Wish me luck. 💪🏻

Anyway, here's a fic-by-fic overview, split up by fandom.

THE UNTAMED

The Angsty SongXue Fic — I'll be honest, I've written a little bit since I last updated you guys but I still haven't finished the buffer chapter (at this point I'm thinking about posting chapter 51 even though 52 isn't done yet), so nothing really new here. I really want to get back into a writing flow but so far it hasn't really worked. I am still working on it, though, so don't worry, I'm not going to drop it.

The It Follows AU — I'm ashamed to say I didn't even realize I posted that fic almost two years ago and I still haven't written the second half. I'm so sorry it's taking so long! I definitely still want to finish it! I might rewatch the It Follows movie before I do that, though.

The Observer Series — Oh yeah, remember that smutfic series I started a few years ago of which I've only posted part 1 so far? Yeah, I still need to work on that. I did write chapter 1 of part 2 a while ago, so it's not like it's forgotten, I just need to get my ass up and write the rest of part 2 before I can post it. 🙈

The Color Rush AU — Okay, technically I haven't posted that one yet but I did share a snippet along with a gifset a few years ago, so you guys know it exists. I haven't worked on it in a long time, though, and I don't know yet when I will find the spoons to continue writing it but I'm still intrigued by the premise and want to give it a go. Thank you for your patience!

The Somewhat Sweet, Somewhat Angsty XuanXian Fic — Again, haven't posted that one yet but I've been posting about it, so you guys know it exists. Nothing new on this front. I did want to rewrite the whole thing because I wasn't really happy with the way I wrote it thus far, so I'll probably go back to it at some point and do that, I just don't know when yet.

WORD OF HONOR

The Xie'er Deserves the World Fic — Listen, guys, I love this fic so much, I just haven't worked on it in a while. I'll probably re-read what I've written so far and go on from there, I've just been struggling with the latest chapter ever since I started writing it years ago. It's not dropped, though, I will get back to it! Pinky swear!

SAILOR MOON

I've mentioned here and there that I'm working on part 1 of an epic that is based on a doujinshi I started when I was 13 or 14. Unlike my other WIPs, this one really is 100% self-indulgent to the point where I don't even care whether people will read/like it once I post it when it's completely done. I'll just put it out there to make my teenage self happy because this story has been simmering in my head for over 20 years, and so that my IRL friends can read it if they want to. So, this one will be a long way out, but it exists. I'm only really mentioning it because I've mentioned it a couple of times before and because it's the fic that's been on my mind the most lately.

STAR WARS

You didn't think I forgot about TROBS, did you????? I did work on several beginnings of a draft during NaNoWriMo last year and I'm getting more and more of a clear picture of how I want it to go. For those unfamiliar, TROBS (or The Rise of Ben Skywalker, though I already changed the name of the fic again) is my attempt at an Episode IX fix-it fic that essentially replaces TROS. This one has been simmering in my head since early 2020 and I really want to get it out of there and onto the page for catharsis. I've even held off on reading any other TROS fix-its because of it, even though I've heard there are some really amazing ones out there (and I can't wait to read them once I've gotten my own out of my damn head). I really need to finally finish that beast. Wish me luck. 🥲

UNPOSTED WIPs

I still have so many notes for other fics (mostly for The Untamed) that I want to write at some point. Will I be able to get them all on the page? I honestly don't know, but I'll see where they take.

Anyway, that's all!

[nerves-nebula]

I know we're on an Abe train (train running him over repeatedly) BUT I'm here to appreciate you mentioning Raph deals with cannibalistic intrusive thoughts. (tw for that here lol)

I too struggle with very similar intrusive thoughts, usually about blood and flesh, but sometimes I get very strong intrusive thoughts about drinking blood (and biting people, but that's probably more common?)

When I was like 9+ I used to watch videos of surgical procedures to help deal with it, because while I was 9-14 or so it really peaked, before I learned to deal with it more. I distinctly remember having one video of a hand dissection that I used to watch to help me fall asleep on an old IPod Touch I stole from a family friend that had forgotten all about it. There was one of a heart removal and dissection and I used to watch hunters break down dear because youtube was age-restricting my ""comfort"" videos

Anyways I don't wanna take up tons of your time telling you how I struggle with cannibalistic intrusive thoughts, but I really appreciate the representation!

<- obligatory mention that I have no urges to actually hurt people or kill people and haven't done anything to other people, though I've drank a bit of my own blood before (being quirky, also it was barely any)

oh that's great, thank you! I'd never considered that as a coping mechanism, would you mind if i gave that to Raph? I think he'd feel really guilty about using those videos to comfort himself and that could be fun to play with.

thanks for telling me you appreciate it too, I've got a lot of little things going on in this AU but i do wanna get back to the intrusive thoughts eventually. make a few comics about them & what not.

[piedoesnotequalpi]

12, 17, 18, 29 for the ask game! - @pigeonwit

Hi Pidge :)

12. How many WIPs do you have in your docs for next year?

I've had to be very careful about WIPs due to working on How It Will Be! So in terms of WIPs that actually have things written, there's HIWB (of course) and a Sprace meet cute one-shot inspired by this swing dance video I've seen floating around tumblr. I have documents with some planning notes, but I haven't actually started writing those, and some of them are Bachelorette AU tie-ins that I can't really write until HIWB is done. I still need to write my exchange and mini bang fics, but those don't have documents yet (😬)

17. Your favorite character to write this year?

Race! I've given him a lot of roles--a depressed, somewhat emotionally constipated professor (in a fic I ultimately hid on AO3 (I can dig up the tutorial on how to do that for anyone who wants it)); Jack's scheming best friend/roommate (Take the elephant by the hand); an offputting not-quite-human (Still Through the Leaves); and of course the over-the-top Bachelorette host. It's been cool to figure out how his personality traits manifest in each AU, and I am very excited to make him go through some stuff in the next couple chapters of HIWB.

Honorable mention to Crutchie, because while he cares a lot about his friends he is also a menace, which is always entertaining. In the Much Ado-niverse, he has a very specific way of talking (gratuitous fancy words, mostly) that I really enjoy writing, but given his different background/career choices/interests in HIWB I didn't think it made sense to carry that over.

18. The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

I don't know if it's trouble necessarily, but out of all the non-POV characters in HIWB, Albert has consistently had the most going on behind the scenes, as it were. But because he isn't a POV character, everything we know about him comes exclusively from dialogue and how the POV characters interpret his actions. Figuring out what he was thinking/feeling in the more emotionally charged scenes while also figuring out how much of that he'd want to reveal (and what characters figure out) was definitely an interesting process. I rewrote the scene in the Reykjavik chapter where he and Charlie first kissed at least 3-4 times because I was so worried about getting it right.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

There are a lot of one-liners that I really like, and there's a scene early-ish in HIWB where Jack is being a bi disaster about Davey and Katherine that I think is fun, but my favorite has to be the opening of chapter 8 in the now-hidden fic I've referenced. Race is a trans guy in that AU, and he spends some time before he realizes that he's trans questioning his sexuality, and this scene is the aftermath of some of that pre-transition questioning going slightly sideways. Anyway, the scene is under the cut (Race is referred to with she/her due to the scene taking place pre-realization):

After Race broke up with her girlfriend, she went back to the half of a duplex that she shared with a couple perpetually absent medical students and shut herself in her room.

Dating Amelia had been–Not an experiment, Race reminded herself. You really thought you liked her. Amelia was also a PhD student, luckily in the robotics engineering department and therefore far enough removed from Race’s statistics program for them to have space post-breakup. They were friends, and Race had enjoyed spending time with her–except for the small problem that she’d eventually realized she wasn’t actually attracted to her.

Jack and David coming out senior year had turned out to be a catalyst for the rest of their friend group. Sarah had announced she was a lesbian part way through college, and Albert and Finch had both come out as gay and ended up in an on-and-off friends with benefits situation that Race tried to avoid knowing the details of. Charlie had said a couple years ago that he was still figuring things out, but between his friends, job, and disability rights activism, he thought he was probably too busy to date anyway. Even Spot and Katherine, who’d spent most of their lives struggling to fit the pictures their parents had of them, had come out to the general public via Facebook post on the same day in the fall. Which left Race, theoretically the token straight of the group, who was read as a lesbian even more now that she’d cut her hair short, donated the last dress and underwire bra in her closet, and wore as much L.L. Bean clothing as she could get her hands on.

She had thought that maybe she’d missed something along the way, that she really was secretly bisexual and had been in denial the whole time. She was sure she was interested in men–she’d had a few boyfriends in undergrad, and then there was the yearslong, semi-latent crush on–

No.

Race swallowed, staring vacantly at the collage of pictures she’d hung on her wall. There was her with Jack and Medda at her college graduation, her and Albert and David at a surprisingly quiet beach on the Cape, a picture of her undergrad dance troupe performing, and right in the middle, a picture of her sitting on a couch–she didn’t even remember where it was taken at this point–next to–

There was a chance that she just hadn’t found the right person in Amelia. But Race didn’t want to date another girl, knowing that she probably would just end up discovering she wasn’t attracted to them in the first place.

She and this theoretical girl deserved better.

[idoodlestuffsometimes]

I just looked at your Owl House AU and I didn’t know that you had described the pictures already, I’m visually impaired and I never got to read a comic before. And you let me do something I always wanted to do. I love how you describe it and I would like to make comics too, I was wondering how you script them to describe them like you did?

oh my gosh!!!! This makes me so happy, you have no idea! I'm so glad you were able to have that and that you enjoyed it! I often don't really know what I'm doing, but I've tried to make these in such a way that as many people as possible are able to read them. (this is also why I avoid anything too inappropriate and mark anything that might be so, because the Owl House is ultimately a show targeted at kids, and even though Tumblr is aimed at an older audience, I would like those here to be able to share it with younger friends and family if they want.)

I haven't been sure about my image descriptions though. I've been fumbling my way through them, clueless and sometimes a bit dispirited because I wasn't sure if they were actually useful to anybody or whether I was doing it all wrong. Tumblr also makes it tricky for me because, on PC, long ALT descriptions have a tendency to run right off the screen and I have no idea whether screen readers can see them, or how read-aloud tech works at all. I'm extremely glad that it worked for you.

It does concern me that you couldn't tell at first that there were descriptions attached though. Is it easier for you if I write them under a read more instead? Also, if you use a screen reader, how do paragraph breaks work for you, because some of my descriptions include them and some don't, due to the off-the-screen issue I mentioned before. Also, if anyone else would like to pitch in and let me know whether they read the descriptions, ALT or otherwise, when the images aren't loading or something, please do!

As for the scripting in the descriptions, I try to describe things in the order that you would look at them if you were looking at the composition (not just the order of panels, but also the order you would see the parts of the image and dialogue inside the panel, according to visual hierarchy.) I also tend to think more in terms of how I would describe what's happening if I were writing a fic, even though I'm describing an image, and so I try to write in a way that reads smoothly like I'm telling a story, while also balancing the inclusion of visual details that impact the mood and understanding of the viewer. I'm fortunate to have studied both creative writing and visual storytelling, so the two are a bit married in my head. Ultimately I'm trying to use the description to tell the story rather than to describe every minuscule detail (other than the ones that help tell the story and set the mood).

Anyway, I'm so glad you liked it! Please never hesitate to ask me for a description if you ever run into an image here on my blog that hasn't been described and that you would like to see. Feel free to mention it in the replies or shoot me an ask, and I will reply privately to let you know when it's updated.