#I have had a rough outline of this in my drafts FOREVER | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ilici · 2 years

Text

coming home.

Summary: Y/N heads home with her uncle, only to find out the football team will be staying with them.

NSFW MINORS DNI !!

Warnings: Mention of knife play, knife play, choking, ropes, blindfolded, some surprises.

Word Count: 4540

shift in point of views, when the point of view is changed, the color of the text will change in the first word. I will have a parenthesis of the color that is chosen for those who are colorblind and may not be able to view the color.

Color Code:

Green - Dream

Blue - George

Orange - Sapnap

Purple - Karl

Yellow - Punz

Pink - Reader

Red - Third Person

(Pink) Shifting around, attempting to get a better look at my hip in the mirror, I flinch once my hand makes contact with the healing 'KJ' that was carved into my skin.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." Punz's voice sounded muffled, and I could only nod.

Feeling my body being lifted up, I could somewhat make out the outline of George from my blurred vision as I was being carried somewhere.

Hearing the sound of water, I was gently placed into a warm tub, as all five men got to work cleaning me up.

Sapnap was washing my hair, Dream was getting the bandages and ointment ready for my hip, and Karl was scrubbing off some of the dried cum, and washing the rest of my body.

Once I was finished, Dream put the ointment and bandage on me, while Punz made sure I peed.

George now had me bundled up in warm towels he put in the dryer to make them warmer for me.

While I was in the bath, George even made hot chocolate for everyone and put on a Christmas movie.

Getting dressed in Sapnap's clothes, Karl carried me into the living room. Setting me down on the couch, George put a blanket on me and handed me the hot chocolate. Dream played the movie, and I spent a couple more hours there.

The aftercare was amazing.

Shaking my head, and putting another bandage on it, I huff quickly getting dressed. Letting my hair air dry, as I was too lazy to even bother with it.

"Y/N!"

Looking at the closed door, that slightly muffled the voice that yelled.

"Yeah?"

"Your uncle is here!"

Running my fingers through my tangled hair, wincing once they got caught in a knot.

Opening the door I smiled at my uncle, who only scolded me for taking forever to get ready.

"It's not like you have a wound to tend to."

I muttered under my breath, Karl's face appearing in my mind.

"What was that?"

He asked, and I only shrugged my shoulders, acting as if I said nothing.

"Let's go. We have guests waiting for us."

Halting my stops, I look at him my eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"What?"

(Orange) "Please just shut the fuck up."

I groan, refraining from banging my head against the window of the RV, as Dream and Karl scream at each other playing Mario Kart on their switches.

"God shut up!"

Punz yelled, throwing one of the couch pillows at Karl.

Karl let out a grunt of disapproval before his mood changed as he flipped Dream off.

"Suck on that you fucker."

Dream only retaliated by punching Karl's arm harshly.

"And you say I rage."

I whispered under my breath, looking up at Y/N's dorm door.

"So why exactly are we at the girl's dorms?"

George asked, and I looked over at him as if he were stupid.

"We're picking Y/N up, you idiot. The coach was telling us he was picking up his niece the entire time we were loading up."

Punz explained, hitting George every time he said a new word.

(Red) Everyone quickly stopped talking, once Coach walked into the RV.

"You guys are acting weird."

He muttered, shaking his head sitting down in the drivers seat.

Y/N finally walked in, her midriff visible, a little part of the bandage visible to those who looked close enough, or studied her body.

Karl instantly spotted it, a smirk played on his lips, as he scanned her body.

"Boys, this is Y/N. She is my niece, she is a Senior here."

This caught everyone's attention.

They all sworn up and down she was younger than them.

"You all probably remember her when I sent her to give you guys the rough draft."

"Oh, I definitely remember that."

Dream spoke up, a playful smirk on his face.

Y/N looked at all of them, her eyes lingering on Karl a little longer once she remembered the injury on her hip.

Giving them a small smile, she turned around sitting in the passenger seat trying her best to ignore their existence.

"When did you even get this thing? And why?"

She voiced out, busying herself with her phone, scrolling aimlessly through TikTok awaiting her uncle's answer.

Without answering, her uncle only glanced at her as he turned it on, lightly pressing on the gas to exit the dorm's parking lot.

"Well?"

She pressed, shooting him a glare.

"I got it about two weeks ago, I figured why not take the boys on vacation and also train as well. With you coming along, I figured my van wouldn't fit everyone."

He finally answered, and she nodded leaving it at that.

"Ow! Get back here you punk!"

Was heard, before Punz was basically on top of Y/N, giving her a goofy grin.

"Settle down!"

Coach yelled while Sapnap tugged on Punz's leg, attempting to pry him off.

"Do you mind getting off?"

She voiced, shoving him off of her, while Sapnap dragged him behind the curtains of the cab.

"Do you mind going to settle them down?"

He asked her, and she rolled her eyes following in behind Punz's disappearing head.

Once she was in view, George cleared his throat.

(Blue) "You lot are basically children, aren't you?"

I heard Y/N speak, and looked down at my hands that were gripping Karl's hood to keep him from attacking Punz.

Watching her eyes scan the scene, Dream dropped Sapnap, as Punz groaned once Sapnap fell on him.

"Pretty sure children can't fuck a senior in college."

Sapnap spoke up, his voice muffled in Punz's back. Shaking her head, and rolling her eyes she walked over grabbing Dream's wrist, along with mine pulling the both of us to the back.

As the three of us stepped over the two on the floor, I kept throwing Dream a confused glance, one that he'd return.

"What do you need?"

Dream asked before I could.

"If you two do not tame those three out there, I will be pissed, and so will my uncle. I want to at least sleep on the drive there."

She said, sternly, as if we were being scolded.

"How long is the drive anyways?"

I asked, rubbing the back of my neck taking notice that she has yet to drop our wrists.

She merely glanced my way, before looking over her shoulder.

"About six hours. Why?"

She asked, finally dropping our wrists, adjusting her skirt, and attempting to hide the bandage, that slightly, just slightly blended into her skin tone.

"If you're trying to hide that, why wear whatever this is?"

Dream spoke, grabbing the thin cloth that she called a shirt.

Slapping his hand away, she scowled, "It's called a crop top. It's long enough to hide everything unless I raise my arms."

She defended, while Dream and I hummed before walking around her.

As I was on the side that her injury was on, I purposely wrapped my arm around her waist, dragging it along until it left contact with her.

(Purple) Watching where George and Dream came from intently, I smiled brightly when she came back through.

She looked at Sapnap and Punz who were now settled down, busy playing whatever game they were on the switches.

As she was about to walk past me, my body instinctively reacted.

"Yes?"

Blinking, I realized I had grabbed her wrist halting all her movements.

"Oh- Uhm. Want to watch this movie with me?"

I asked, my face turning red.

Watching her look around, George was on his phone loudly scrolling through TikTok, Dream was trying to convince the coach to let him have one of the beers from the fridge, while Punz was laid across Sapnap both focused on their games.

Hearing her sigh, I gave her a look of hope, and she rolled her eyes giving in.

"There isn't any place to sit. You're in the weird recliner chair."

She pointed out, and I shrugged letting her wrist go before patting my lap.

"But my uncle--"

"But nothing. He is driving, Dream is now in your spot, and George is on the little space left on the couch since Sapnap and Punz are taking up the rest. Nobody is going to pay any mind to it."

I reassured her, and she nodded before hesitantly sitting down. I grinned, rotating the chair towards the direction of the table where my laptop resided.

"What movie is it?"

I hummed, helping her adjust to her level of comfort, my arms now wrapped around her waist and my head resting on her shoulder.

"It's not actually a movie, I just say that because I binge this series for hours. It's Total Drama Island."

She nodded, as I unpaused the movie.

(Yellow) "Bro. Look."

Patting Sapnap's chest, as my head was in his lap, he grunted and looked down at me to see where I was pointing.

Both of our eyes traveled to where Karl and Y/N were watching something on his laptop. No sound was heard from the laptop as they both had his AirPods in.

"Damn. Lucky bitch."

Sapnap whispered, "Seems innocent though. They're both watching something. Let's leave it be. Plus her uncle is just behind those curtains."

He dismissed it quickly.

I rolled my eyes, "They could be watching porn."

Sapnap smacked my head and whispered under his breath.

"Shut the hell up."

George spoke up, and I tilted my head back to look at him.

"What?"

"One. You're distracting me from my video and I have earbuds in, two not everyone is horny like you."

He rambled, and I laughed.

"You finally have earbuds in after having to listen to your loud shit."

(Red) Everyone was now in their own world. Dream was helping his coach with directions while also keeping up a conversation, George was in the bathroom for more privacy, and Sapnap and Punz were knocked out snoring ever so slightly.

Karl and Y/N were on season 2, and they still had about 5 hours left of the drive.

(Pink) "Karl, I have a question."

He hummed, letting me know he was listening.

"Why didn't Bad come with us?"

I asked, and he looked at me, now that we were now in a new position.

"He was going to come, but he decided to stay behind and fix up the locker room for us. Something about a smell that was lingering."

He explained, rubbing my bare legs that were thrown over the edge of the chair.

I nodded, "There was a smell. So I understand."

Chuckling, we turned our attention back to the show.

Growing bored, I glanced around us and bit my bottom lip.

Karl and I were basically alone. George was nowhere in sight, Punz and Sapnap were dead asleep, and Dream was still in the front.

Turning to look at him, I gave him a small nudge on his shoulder.

"What's up?"

He asked, keeping his attention on the screen.

Leaning forward to whisper in his ear, I grin.

"We're alone if you think about it."

He looked around, noticing how it was practically empty.

(Purple) Smirking, my mind instantly thought of multiple things.

"Do you know how to be quiet as well as you know how to whisper?"

I asked her, and she gave me a confused look.

"Don't you think we could have a little fun while watching this? We can even make a bet."

This piqued her interest, and she was now all ears.

"Cockwarm me, whoever makes a sound, wants more, or moves first loses. The winner gets to leave a hickey anywhere on the other."

Watching the gears turn in her head, she grinned nodding.

Helping her move back into her original position, I lifted the back of her skirt a bit.

"Thong? How risqué."

I tease, and she smacked my leg in rebuttal.

Lifting her up a bit, I moved my sweatpants down until I pulled my cock out.

"No boxers? How risqué."

She teased.

I rolled my eyes, and moved her thong to the side, already feeling how wet she was. Biting my bottom lip, I helped her slide onto me. We both held back a groan, and she shuddered.

"Good luck."

I whispered, unpausing the show.

Turning our attention back to the show, Y/N was biting her bottom lip roughly.

(Red) To others' eyes, it looked like Karl and Y/N were still watching TDI normally.

But one person knew what was happening, and they couldn't wait to bust them.

They wanted to join in on the fun.

(Yellow) Looking up at Sapnap, I slowly raise up carefully not to wake him. Scratching my neck, I look at Karl and Y/N smirking.

Y/N was barely moving her hips, and I saw Karl grip her waist roughly. She winced from the pain, more than likely from the wound.

"You lost. But don't worry. It'll be double the punishment."

Karl whispered to her, maintaining eye contact with me.

Gesturing to the bedroom, Karl lifted Y/N up before putting his cock away and Y/N looked at me with a red face.

I tutted and shook my head grabbing her wrist and leading her to the bedroom as Karl paused his video and followed behind.

"You both are horny fucks."

I said throwing Y/N onto the bed, her skirt flying up to her stomach. I instantly looked at her thong which was now damp.

"Yet so am I."

I growled out, motioning Karl to barricade the entrance.

"I'm going to devour you."

I told her, and she whimpered quietly.

Grabbing her plush thighs, I pulled her towards me roughly.

"I've been waiting to do this since you got in this damn RV."

Pulling her thong off of her body, I stuffed it into her mouth as Karl now joined us on the bed.

Looking over my shoulder, I see he put the curtain down, and hooked it onto the closet doorknob.

"Be quiet for us."

Karl told her, and I scoffed at how sweet he was being with her.

Rolling my eyes, I started nipping at her thighs, working my way up to her pussy.

Karl on the other hand was leaving hickeys all over her breasts.

Finally making it up to her pussy, I gave it a long lick before devouring it.

(Blue) Walking out of the bathroom, I saw only Sapnap dead asleep on the couch and no sign of anyone else.

Walking towards the bedroom, I heard muffled noises, and I smirked.

Trying to open the curtain, which refused to open, I glared at it before crawling under finally making it in.

"Thought you could have fun without me?"

I asked, and Punz just simply flipped me off continuing to eat her out, as Karl looked up at me shrugging.

"You were in the bathroom."

Scoffing, I crawled over to the bed taking her thong out of her mouth and sticking my fingers in her mouth instantly shoving them down her throat.

Hearing her gag on them, I smirk.

"Want to suck me off?"

I asked, and she eagerly nodded with glossy eyes.

Pulling my sweats and boxers down, I pull out of fingers and replaced them with my cock.

She instantly started sucking, and I leaned my head back in bliss.

"Sapnap should be waking up soon. Dream will be the only one that won't join us."

I told them, and Punz laughed into her pussy, causing her hips to buck up.

"Seriously?"

"Told you."

I muttered, petting Y/N's head and looking over at Sapnap who had an obvious tent in his shorts.

"Feel free to join."

Karl said, now kissing all the hickeys he left.

"Dude, Dream is going to be pissed."

Watching Y/N orgasm once more, Sapnap pushed Punz away.

(Orange) "Damn. How many times did she cum?"

I asked, seeing how fucked out she already looked.

"I counted five times."

Punz said, and Karl furrowed his eyebrows.

"I counted seven."

He said, and I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever. I'm going to fuck her anyways. Karl, did you pack that tie you were talking about?"

I asked, and Karl nodded walking over to his luggage that was under the bed pulling out a green and black tie.

"Seriously? Harry Potter-themed tie?"

George said, pulling his now semi-limp cock out of her mouth as some cum spilled down her chin.

"Shut up. It matches one of my outfits."

He said defensively.

Taking the tie from him, I handed it to George who looked down at her.

"We're going to blindfold you. Is that okay?"

Watching her nod, I strip off my shorts and boxers, lining my cock up before slowly pushing in and groaning out.

"Be a little quieter, just because they have music blaring doesn't mean they won't hear."

Punz said, throwing a pillow at me.

(Pink) Losing my vision, I reach for something as I adjust to the slight burn of Sapnap's cock stretching me. Feeling someone's hand interlace with mine, putting me at ease.

Feeling Sapnap pullout, he rammed back into me. Arching my back a hand from another direction covered my mouth muffling the loud moan.

"Quiet."

They warned, and I nodded at Punz's demanding tone.

Keeping their hand there, the other hand that I was digging my nails into was rubbing their thumb over my hand soothing me.

"Be a good girl for us."

Karl muttered, and I kept holding back moans, letting some slip through into Punz's hand.

After what felt like forever, I finally felt myself coming close.

"Gonna cum? I can feel it."

Sapnap said, speeding up his thrusts.

Nodding vigorously, I dug my nails deeper into the other person's skin when I felt myself cum.

Sapnap came inside of me shortly after and pulled out shoving his cum back into me.

"Smile for the picture pretty girl."

Sapnap mumbled.

Feeling all the weight from everyone getting off the bed, my mouth and hand felt empty.

Finally feeling the tie being taken off, I adjust to the lighting and look around.

Everyone left besides Punz.

He helped clean me up and changed the bandage for me.

Since my skirt had some cum on it, I had to change into a pair of my sweats instead.

Walking out with Punz, I sat on the couch letting Sapnap rest his head on my lap as he handed me a switch.

"Let's play a game."

Actually Dumb (Blue): Send the pic

Simp (Purple): ^

Dom Daddy. (Green): What pic?

Fuckboy 2.1 (Orange): Load Image

(Green) Looking ahead at the road, I pulled my phone back out after a couple minutes and opened the chat.

Clicking on the image, I nearly choked on my spit.

"Excuse me, sir."

I said, before walking out and glaring at everyone.

Y/N and Sapnap were playing a game together, and Karl was on his laptop, while George and Punz were smirking up at me.

"You guys think this is funny?"

I whispered, walking towards them.

"You chose to sit with the coach. Not our fault. Can't go up there and simply say, "Hey want to fuck Y/N with us?" Now, can I?"

Punz said shrugging, while Y/N and Sapnap paused their game everyone's attention turning to me.

Running my fingers through my hair, I threw one of the empty juice boxes at Punz.

"Just wait till we get there."

I said pointing at them, my eyes locking with Y/N's.

"Yeah yeah, whatever Dream."

Sapnap mumbled, unpausing his game.

Walking back up to the front, I sat down cursing under my breath looking at how many miles we had left.

"What was it?"

"Sapnap couldn't find the beers."

(Red) Sleeping the rest of the way there, Y/N was picked up by Dream per the Coaches request, and was brought into what was another house beside the one their coach went into.

Placing her down on the bed after finding the bedroom, Dream sat down on the rocking chair waiting till she woke up, a harsh glare on his features.

Losing his patience after a simple four minutes, he climbed atop the bed and wrapped his hands around her throat.

"Wake up princess. My turn. This time, a pea isn't gonna be what's bothering the princesses sleep."

Waking up startled, Y/N looked up at Dream and instantly whined once she realized his hand was choking her.

"Look who decided to finally wake up."

"You gonna be good for me? Your uncle is right outside setting up everything for when the boys and I practice."

Nodding her head, Dream scoffed, tightening his grip.

"Words."

"Yes."

Dream finally released her throat, and grinned to himself.

"I have you all to myself. I was assigned to keep you company until you woke up."

This made Y/N shiver, knowing they were actually alone.

"Turn over, let me take these off."

Taking off her sweats, he helped flip her over, forcing her ass in the air and making her arch her back.

"Already wet. Cute."

Y/N whined, gripping the pillow that was under her, and dug her face into it to muffle any of the sounds that would escape her soon.

Not even bothering to move the thong, he stripped over his clothes and gave her no time to prep before slamming into her. Y/N let out a muffled scream tears already pouring down her face.

Gripping onto her ass, he pounded into her, each thrust stretching her out.

"This is what you get. Punished, all because you were a whore who couldn't wait."

Y/N kept her moans muffled in the pillow, as she was already on the verge of collapsing from the amount of pleasure.

Making sure to hit the same spot over and over, Y/N quickly milked his cock, and Dream gave her no time to ride out her high as he aimed to make her overstimulated.

Going numb from the pleasure, Y/N could only make sounds that were incoherent, and sentences that made no sense whatsoever.

Feeling himself growing close, he reached around rubbing her clit so she would cum again once he did.

"Cum with me, pretty girl."

Y/N collapsed, and Dream, followed allowing himself to go deeper in this position. Causing him and Y/N to cum at the same time. Slowly pulling out, he cleaned himself and Y/N as she fell asleep from the overstimulation.

"Looks like I'll be needing to keep you company even longer."

Waking up once more, everyone was now in the room.

"I told you she sleeps a long time."

Dream spoke up, and she attempted to raise up but was refrained from her wrists. Looking over confused, her eyes widened at the sight of handcuffs.

"What?"

She asked, attempting to pull herself away from them.

"That won't work pretty."

Punz said, and Y/N groaned looking at them.

"What now?"

She questioned, and sighed giving up.

"Well. Your uncle went into town to get supplies and food, but he said the nearest town is about a forty minute drive. You also owe three people rounds."

Whining, she looked around as Karl climbed on the bed.

"You won't be needing these."

He said, cutting her clothes off with the same knife he used.

Shivering at the cold air on her bare skin, the cold metal not helping any.

"I think a cute little scar right on the side of your boob would be nice. Don't you think so too?"

Involuntary shivering, she bit her lip nodding.

"Yes, I think so."

Karl laughed happily, as he angled the knife this time cutting into her skin with more precision than last time.

Closing her eyes in slight pain, she leaned her head back feeling blood trickle down her body.

Feeling it being wiped away, she looked down seeing what he carved in her skin.

'PKSDG'

It followed the curve of her boob, being small enough to be hidden if she were to undress in front of someone.

"Perfect."

Trickling the knife along her bare body, he tossed it away and looked up at her.

"Can I fuck you now?"

Y/N nodded her head eagerly, completely forgetting about the others in the room.

Karl aligned his cock to her entrance, and slowly sunk in.

Both moaned at the feeling, Y/N leaning her head back in bliss.

Bottoming out, he pulled out before slamming back into her, causing her back to arch and her wrists to pull against the handcuffs.

The slight pain in her wrists were forgotten from the pleasure she was receiving.

"Fuck--"

She moaned out, while Karl kept his pace somewhat slow with rough thrusts.

Still being new to sex, Karl couldn't last long like the others. Filling her up with his cum as she came with him, she whined as he pulled out only to quickly be replaced as Punz slammed into her, throwing one of her legs over his shoulder.

Karl moved over to the side, kissing along the mark he left behind, as she was moaning, growing sensitive from Punz.

"Punz-- Holy shit."

She moaned out, before he was pulling out slowly.

Looking up at him confused and discomfort from feeling empty he only glared at her.

"Take the handcuffs off of her wrists."

He demanded, and Sapnap quickly took the handcuffs off of her wrists, allowing her to rub them a bit to soothe the small ache.

Picking her up, Punz set her on his hips, before entering her again but not moving.

Looking up once she felt the bed dip from a new person, George was now in front of her.

Aligning his cock, he slowly slid in, his and Punz's cock rubbing against each other stretching Y/N out even more.

Y/N moaned out in pain, leaning her head back against Punk's shoulder.

"Move."

Dream said, and the two listened as they began thrusting up into her with a rhythm.

Y/N was a mess, she had her eyes closed, her mouth was open yet no sounds were heard.

"Done fucked her dumb."

Sapnap muttered, shaking his head.

Feeling pressure, they both quickly pulled out as Y/N squirted everywhere.

Once she finished, they reentered her, Y/N letting out a strained moan digging her nails into Karl's thigh.

"Come on, one more time for us."

George told her, and Y/N was trembling, her whole body shaking.

Pulling out once more, she squirted one last time as both Punz and George came on her.

Collapsing against Punz, she passed out from exhaustion.

"I'll get the bath running."

Sapnap spoke up, and everyone started tidying her up, as Karl carried her and placed her in the tub.

"Maybe we should start going easy on her."

Karl said, looking at her going in and out of consciousness.

"She can handle it."

Dream said, as he rummaged around looking for ointment and a new bandage, for both wounds.

"She doesn't have hot chocolate but she did have white mocha mix and an espresso machine."

George told them, while they all nodded.

"Movie?"

"I put on Horton hears a Who."

tag list.

@schaarfyx @choclate32 @asherssick @tommyinnit-kinnie @saahmi

611 notes · View notes

a-pale-azure-moon · 1 year

Text

WIP Wednesday

It's done.

There will be revisions and tweaks to make between now and when I post it in a few days, but I have finished the final chapter of Someday We'll Shine Together. At long last, it is complete.

I'm struggling to distill all of my emotions into words at the moment. This fic has been a part of my life for about three years now. I'm feeling accomplished and proud of myself for really and truly finishing it despite the fact that when I first had the idea, I was convinced this was another of those fleeting inspirational flashes that would never go anywhere and would forever languish in my WIP folder. I got very attached to this story in the process of creating it, and I got even more attached to it when it was one of the things that helped see me through a very difficult time in my personal life. As such, I'm also grieving that it's over and that I now must let it go. Sure, it'll always exist for me to revisit whenever I want, but that feeling is never the same as the one derived from actively working on it.

While I'm still digesting all of these emotions, here's a rough timeline and some background of the fic's development, so you can all see how I finally got to this point. This is pretty personal too, because the two are irrevocably intertwined. (Content warning: death/grief)

Summer 2020: Initial inspiration hits after I rewatched Utena during COVID lockdown.

Fall 2020: Brainworms are on-and-off active, writing short blurbs in a Google doc when they come to me, but there's no true shape to the whole plot yet, it’s just random scenes. It's more or less still strictly a 3H-esque retelling of Utena, and I'm not expecting anything to actually come of these blurbs.

Winter 2020: More blurbs trickle in here and there. The story in my head is starting to divert more drastically from the show.

February 19, 2021: Draft of the pivotal scene at the end of Chapter 15 written. I remember the specific day for this because I wrote it the same day we put down our dog, Clancy. (Writing emotional scenes often helps me process my own emotions.)

April 11, 2021: Creation of my dedicated author's notes file to keep track of the various threads and ideas I'd come up with, especially the backstory about Faerghus and how Dimitri became the Lion Prince. I filled it in like an extended summary or wikipedia entry about the 'verse and the overall plot of the story. I jotted a lot of stuff down between April and June as the brainworms really got to work again.

Summer 2021: I'm starting to entertain the idea of actually seeing this project through. Chapters 1 and 2 are drafted over the summer months, but I hit a block and the self doubt comes roaring right in to deter me. A LARGE part of my struggle with getting this fic out of development hell was me being unable to get out of my own way. Every stumbling block I hit (especially early on) was an invitation for my inner critic to resume browbeating me into giving up this “stupid” idea.

September 2021: I finally make up my mind that I'm really going to do this, and I spend the next six weeks ironing out the bumps in the plot and making a chapter-by-chapter outline highlighting the key scenes/plot points/character beats within each one. I organized the various blurbs I had into chronological order and put them under the correct chapter headings. I also started thinking of the best way to get myself to see this project through, as well as what would be a realistic timetable for its completion. I estimated that the final length of the whole thing would be around 350 pages or roughly 150K words. (This is hilarious to me in hindsight. I severely underestimated the scope of this fic!)

November 2021: I try to do the NaNoWriMo challenge (50K words in a month) to draft as much of the fic as I can. I "only" produce about 35K words in the end, but it was enough to draft Chapters 3 and 4 and write at least one decent-sized blurb within each of all of the remaining chapters.

December 2021: I took a short hiatus from working on SWST to finish Beneath the Ethereal Moon. When that's done, I went over my outline yet again to refine it further and then cleaned up my draft of Chapter 1 with an eye on posting it after right after New Year's. I determined that posting (and writing) one chapter per month should be doable, especially since I have a generous buffer to start with.

January 2022: I get a bad case of cold feet/anxiety and don't post Chapter 1. I'm having trouble getting a feel for Chapter 5 and fail to finish it before the end of the month. (This naturally doesn't help alleviate my self-doubt or silence my very loud inner critic.)

February 2022: Cold feet strike again and I fail to post Chapter 1 a second time. I'm still stuck on Chapter 5 (though I've at least made some progress), and while I'm extremely aware that I'm being my own worst enemy, that doesn't make it any easier to beat back old habits.

March 2, 2022: In the wee hours of the night (it was after midnight), I finally posted Chapter 1 and went straight to bed after. I slept terribly of course, haha.

I wish I could say "and you know the rest from here," but that's not true. Posting Chapter 1 was a huge mental hurdle cleared, but there were other things going on behind the scenes that almost derailed this project for good. The timing was such that if I were more prone to hubris, I'd think that the universe itself was testing my resolve. Or possibly mocking me.

On March 3, 2022 (yes, the day after I posted Chapter 1), my father was admitted to the hospital with a debilitating pain in his lower back. Initially, we thought it might be a flare up of his sciatica or maybe something like a kidney stone, but the truth was far worse. What he had was a spinal epidural abscess caused by a bacterial infection in his blood. He was transported to the ICU of a larger (further away) hospital once the severity of his condition was discovered, and he was pumped full of massive doses of antibiotics. Thanks to that, he stabilized, but what followed after was a long period of uncertainty as he would start to make gains only to suffer a setback. Even once the infection and his pain level were under control, he'd been so severely sick that the bacteria had ravaged his various body systems, leading to issues with his kidneys and his heart.

For 91 days, my family and I were stuck on a wretched rollercoaster of getting hopeful (he was transferred to a rehab facility three different times when it looked like he was improving) and then having our hopes dashed when something would happen that would see him sent back to the hospital (falling out of bed, chest pains, difficulty breathing). Hope began to fade in mid May when he was transferred back to the ICU due to diastolic heart failure, which caused his lungs to fill up with fluid. They tapped his lungs thrice, removing at least a liter of fluid each time, but they kept filling up again despite all the diuretics the doctors were giving him. Then his kidneys began to shut down too. We kept hoping right until the end, but he passed away on June 1, 2022, the day before what would've been his and my mother's 49th wedding anniversary.

(Proof that real life can be even crueler than fiction.)

I was only able to continue updating SWST while my father was sick because of that buffer I'd had, and I very nearly deleted the story from AO3 altogether after he died. I remember ruminating about how futile it was to continue with this project; I'd written almost nothing while he was sick, so my buffer was now gone and I questioned whether or not I'd be able to write, let alone write consistently, with the promised months of grief and general upheaval ahead. Even writing a story that I had, to that point, been passionate about felt utterly pointless.

It was strange though. I woke up on June 2nd thinking that maybe I should go ahead and post chapter 4 anyway, since it was already done and it was one of the chapters I particularly liked. So I did. And in the following days, we had my father's funeral and a part of me felt like I could breathe again. I was grieving yes, but the constant daily stress and uncertainty from his illness was gone, and I think that freed my creative drive to start working again. I remember the first day I sat back down at my computer with the intention to write and how much better I felt in general after I got some words onto the screen.

It's hella ironic that I planned SWST with grief and loss as major themes and it turned out I'd be processing such things myself while writing most of it. I know my own grief affected the story, though it's impossible to say to what degree; I get a lot of catharsis in general from writing emotional scenes, so I tend to go hard on them regardless. It didn't change the plot or direction of the story at all, since that was already planned, but it's certainly safe to say that I channeled a lot of my own feelings into some of the most intense moments. The ending of Chapter 9 stands out in particular as something that felt like it was coming straight out of my own heart.

Even on the hard days when I was feeling too overwhelmed and/or the words just weren’t coming, this story gave me a reason to keep going. Just keeping the goal in mind and reasserting my resolve to be consistent and see this project through to the end helped me cope. It both kept me grounded and helped me process what I was going through and it gave me something to look forward to when I uploaded each chapter and anxiously waited to see what the readers would think.

I started this fic as a means of testing myself: testing my commitment to writing consistently, to finishing a long-term project, and to getting over at least some of the many, MANY mental hurdles that have held me back from writing for way too long. I knew that this story would always be near and dear to me if I managed to finish it, but it became even more precious than I ever could’ve imagined back in 2020. It hurts that I must say goodbye to it, but…it’s forever mine. I can say with my whole chest that I MADE THIS THING and I’m so very proud of it! <3

#my writing #swst #wip wednesday #personal

14 notes · View notes

geekyzelda · 1 year

Note

Sending u this ask because I desperately want to hear about your post-apocalyptic septimus heap au 👀👀👀

OK. It's been forever but I finally went back through the draft and here is a rough summary.

I was initially calling it the Film Noir AU because I wanted that context to flavor the tone of it. I had 23 pages written out and no outline. Whatever is left has long been lost in my brain.

Here we go:

Picture this: The castle is in ruin. The walls crumbled, people evacuated, and a Darkeness settled over the place like none have seen before.

The Darkeness is controlled by the (slightly more competent than canon) Custodians and is inhabited by all kinds of ugly, creepy creatures.

Our Main Character: Toddhunter Moon, around age 15, arrives at the abandoned ruins of the Castle searching for answers.

Her whole village fell pray to a smattering of Darkeness and she followed rumors and stories south to this place. All she knows is she must find a man named Septimus Heap to help her. Some shop owner along her journey planted the idea in Tod’s head that Septimus is hiding in the Ice Tunnels.

Todd slips into the Darke Castle ruins and is immediately attacked at the hands of a group of Things. They’re making plans to eat her when a young, blonde, green eyed man steps in to save her. He calls himself Sum.

Todd begs Sum to help her find Septimus Heap. After he says no too many times, he agrees to help her find the ice tunnels on the belief that anyone who’s still willing to save the Castle from its downfall will be hiding in the tunnels.

On their way to the ice tunnel entrance, Sum explains the Castle is under a Darke Domain. No one’s positive how it started, but people speculate it was through the actions of a dumb kid. Tod explains she knows absolutely nothing about Magyk.

They reach the Tunnel entrance inside of an old row house (It was Marcellus’s house. In the actual writing I was trying to be clever and imply Marcellus died when the domain took over by saving Sep’s life somehow).

Sum takes Tod into the Ice Tunnel, they stand under the entrance, see it’s uninhabited and mostly caved in and Tod agrees to leave because she’s skeeved out. As she goes to climb the ladder out with Sum behind her, something grabs her ankle and pulls her deeper into the tunnels.

Sum chases after Tod and finds a ghost sucking the life out of her. Sum threatens the ghost but it doesn’t stop feasting on Tod. Half-conscious, Tod watches an incredible amount of purple power flow from Sum. As she passes out, she hears him say something about “angering the seventh son.”

More under the read more

Some time later, Tod wakes up wrapped in blankets. Sum and a new person, Beetle, are arguing about whether or not Sum should have saved her life at all. Beetle is Upset at the amount of power Sum used and is concerned the Custodians will find them.

When Sum sees Tod is awake, he makes her eat a bowl of bland soup and leaves her in Beetle’s care while he leaves for the vault to search for something. (“Why are you going to the vaults?” Beetle asked with suspicion in his voice as Sum stood with a puff of dust. “To search for my long-lost love for you.” Sum winked at his friend.)

Alone, Beetle tells Tod they’re in an office in the old Manuscriptorium. Beetle’s known Sum for years, but befriended his brother first.

Yes, Sum has family, a few brothers. No, he hasn’t known where they are since the Domain began. Me? My mum lives in the port. Far as I know she’s safe. Dang kid, you really know how to endear yourself to a person through a single conversation.

“Can you do Magyk like Sum?” Beetle snorted and said, “No one can do Magyk like Sum.” “What do you mean?” “I mean, no. I can’t do Magyk. It’s an acquired skill.”

Beetle and Tod are bonding when Sum bursts into the room yelling that he’s going out. He won’t answer questions of where he’s going and won’t let either of them come along.

When Sum’s gone, Tod suggests they follow him. Beetle protests saying he is here to protect the manuscriptorium. “If I go down, this place, and most of the Castle’s history, goes down with me!”

Tod leaves the office, meanders through a dusty and decrepit Manuscriptorium and finds the front door. Outside, she realizes she has no idea how to follow Sum when Beetle opens the door behind her. He hands her a tracking charm and says he’s going with her. The tracking charm works for Tod (Obligatory Wow she’s got Magyk! moment) and they’re off!

We switch to Sum’s POV. He is running around the Castle towards the Palace. Dodging custodian guards, he is searching for Dungeon number one on the hope that the answer to the Darke Domain will be in the dungeon.

Fortunately, Sum finds the door to the Dungeon using Magyk. Unfortunately, the Magyk tips the guards off and they catch Sum outside the door and march him off to a meeting with the Supreme Custodian.

I deadass used the phrase “Take him away boys.” I assume I was tired when writing this.

Beetle and Tod happen to be watching from a rooftop above when Sum is captured. They make a plan to follow the guards and see what they can do to free Sum.

Sum is taken away to the Supreme Custodian in the palace. Beetle and Tod manage to sneak in and are listening to the conversation through a crack in the crumbling wall.

The Supreme Custodian threatens Sum for messing around in a place he doesn’t belong. Sum says the custodian is the one who doesn’t belong and the custodian fires back, “Funny for you to say seeing as it’s your fault we’re here, Septimus Heap.”

Tod leans too heavily on the brick wall they’re hiding behind and crashes into the throne room with Beetle tumbling in behind her.

A fight breaks out. Septimus uses Magyk to break his manacled hands and teleports himself, Beetle, and Tod out of there.

This is where the writing I had ends but I had a little bit more planned.

Sep takes them back to the Mauscriptorium where Tod confronts him about lying to her about knowing Septimus Heap.

Sep comes clean and admits to letting the custodians into the Castle and allowing/causing the Darke Domain to settle in.

At some point in this conversation, a sound comes from outside the building. They look out to see a knight of some kind walking unnaturally down the street.

The knight stops in front of the Manuscriptorium and Sep is called out to battle.

An ~intense Magykal battle~ ensues and Sep manages to take out the foe. In the fight, he realizes there’s a person under that armor but they’re moving unnaturally like a puppet.

Sep knocks the helmet off and realizes he’s battling Marcia. Right as he makes a killing blow.

She comes to her senses after the final blow and says something dramatic. “You better save us. I’m proud of you. It’s not your fault.” All that good stuff.

Somehow, the story *resolves* (This is where my draft ended.)

The crew finds Jenna in Dungeon #1 and her release helps fend off the Darkeness.

Merrin was the one who brought in the Darkeness, not Sep, which the audience would learn through some form of dramatic irony.

The Heap family has been hiding out at Draggen island all these years and are alive and well

The Darkeness spread to Tod’s home via the tunnels and when it’s banished from the Castle, Tod’s home is saved too.

Spitfyre was in there somewhere?? Controlled by the custodians maybe? I’m not sure. All I have is one vauge sentence and a 5+ year old memory of wanting to include him.

Funny quotes:

Tod: “Fine. I may be young but I have sailed on my own to another country. Can you say that?” Sep: “No.” Tod: “That's what I thought.” Sep: “I can say I've flown to another country though.” Tod: “What?” Sep: “What?”

Tod: “I'm 15. Would you stop treating me like I don't know anything, please!” Sep: “Well, I'm older than 15 and I do know everything. So, compared to me, you really don't know anything.”

Tod: "It’s not every day you have someone save your life.” Sep: “With the way you act, I’m surprised I’m the first person today.”

Beetle: “By the sound of it she was going to get herself killed before you intervened.” Sep: “What else was I supposed to do, let her die?” Beetle: “No-” “Because that’s where she was headed, Beet. Death.” “I understand that, but-” “I couldn’t just let another kid die, Beetle. I couldn’t.” “I know-” “I can’t believe you would even suggest-” “Are you done with the guilt trip? Yes, I am glad she’s alive, sheez.”

#septimus-heap #septimus heap #geeky gets an ask #do you even remember this ask? It's been 80 years #geeky writes #kind of.#listen I have the opening solid and decent writing.#the rest of the 20 pages are crap.#and very first draft.#geeky speaks

15 notes · View notes

emberlyric · 3 months

Text

July Goals/Summaries/Statuses

June got skipped, it was a hectic month half consisting of traveling, and while this is late I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things so here we go...

I am officially working on *two* stories at the moment, here are their summaries:

Soulbind - my YA fantasy story. In a world where the gods and goddesses choose each individual's magical attunements based on the strength of their life-bind, Jory is a soulbinder, a unique and rare attunement random given not by any gods, that steals a sliver of another's life-bind - usually those the soulbinder is close to. Soulbinders are shunned in most societies, and Jory's home nation of Losyros is no different. Bitter and arrogant, but cunning and analytical, Jory bides his time, running cons in lower Siolyn, the capital of Losyros. But Jory gets an opportunity from the prince and becomes the prince's Kingsworn, an ancient role reserved only for soulbinders. Everything falls apart when Jory is kidnapped by the Ashborne, the champion for the goddess Gholgane, who wants Jory unbound at once. Now Jory has to rely on his wits, his best friend Nahia, and Prince Cydri to rescue him before he is lost to them forever.

Anomaly - my YA sci-fi/superhero story. Lian, a poor anomaly from District Lacerta in Layer Comet, discovers he is a Class A anomaly - an anomaly with superhuman abilities, in his case super speed. Class B anomalies have been around for centuries, and the Pyramid harvested augmentations from them. Augmentations, or just augs, were simple modifications that non-anomalies used to make their lives easier, such as enhancing memory, sight, reflexes, etc. Lian tries to keep his status as a Class A a secret - society is not reacting well to the discovery of these more powerful anomalies - but he is captured by the Zenith Order, who claims they want what is best for everyone and to keep them safe. A scientist named Rosmyle experiments on Lian, hoping to understand anomalies better. Things turn around when Lian manages to escape - and takes six other traumatized anomalies with him. Now they have to survive a chaotic and prejudiced Layer Comet to make it to an area of the Layer where anomalies can live in peace.

Statuses for these stories:

Soulbind - have a really solid first draft that got stitched together from other possible drafts lol! I now also have a complete online and understand what the first draft is missing, as well as an almost complete series outline for five possible books in the making. It has been really fun getting back to these characters. Jory <3 you are such a little shit.

Anomaly - hit some snags here. I did finish a NaNo rough draft for it of 100k words, but found some problems with it after reviewing it. Realized the premise for the laboratory arc wasn't as interesting as it could have been - basically, initially it had the anomalies surviving within the laboratory, but it would be more interesting if they were already escaped, on the run *from* the scientists and the evil Zenith Order. This way we see more of the Layer and they have more room to grow as individuals rather than being cooped up in the lab. Jaith's arc is unchanged and will remain parallel during the laboratory/escape arc. Meanwhile the outline for book 2 is just sitting there, waiting for me to tackle it again lol.

Goals -

Get a solid start on Anomaly's second draft. Maybe 10k each words for the Laboratory arc and for Jaith's arc - that would be perfect and make me feel much better about these second drafts

Add in the missing scenes for Soulbind and begin to edit it as a whole. Soulbind seems to be going much better than Anomaly at the moment lol!

Get some character design sheets done. I keep putting this off, but It would be *really* helpful if I could do this to introduce my characters and get some comics/reels going. I think I could get Jory, Nahia, Tadani (the Ashborne), and Jaith's all done without issue as their designs are pretty well finalized. I would do Lian and I probably should, but the problem with him is that while is book 2 design looks like this:

His book 2 design is just..some kid lol, it isn't very interesting. Yet. I'm just not sure what to do add to it. But I'll figure it out!

Sooo that's what's going on with my stories! Thanks everyone who has stuck with me <3 I really appreciate the support, hopefully you're looking forward to more updates soon.

#emberlywrites #writeblr #oc #writing

4 notes · View notes

ceph-the-ghost-writer · 1 year

Text

Writing Log Aug. 23

This seems like a fun and neat habit that the more responsible writblrs I follow have. So let's give it a shot.

Word Count Roundup

Apophenia Rewrite Attempt #1: 10,521 (like 3k more than the original! :O)

Phagophobia Rough Draft: 39,714

The Primrose Path: 7,291

Target(s) of the Week

Finish sketching out final chapters of Phagophobia

Write a little bit of Primrose Path. Something. Anything. It's been too long.

Some spoiler-y rambles for Apophenia/Phagophobia under the cut

What I naively believed would be just a little polishing or adding a few scenes to Apophenia has completely changed the entire story. Oops. This isn't a bad thing, mind you. It just means there was a lot more work to be done than anticipated.

Renato's motivations have been the biggest driving force behind all the changes. Ever since he stopped just wanting to drink Isaac dry I've had to come up with a lot more complex worldbuilding and personal history. His cruelty towards Isaac in the rewrite comes from his job as one of the Unseen Hand's thugs. As does his guilt when he realizes he grabbed the wrong agent.

This revelation is rapidly setting in on Part 5 of Apophenia. After escaping from the shapechanging ouroboros, the boys have holed up in a motel room while Renato calls for backup. Which is where my outline went careening off course yet again. Rather than let Isaac go for various reasons (one of them being so Apophenia can link up with what I'd written for Phagophobia), Renato has decided to hold on to Agent Soto. It looks like they'll be going on a messed up roadtrip a lot sooner than expected.

Which means most of Phagophobia is moot. I mean, the general shape of some events will remain (Kinslayer showing up to bail Renato out, Renato going to Dorian for help, etc.). But pretty much everything is going to have to be redone. Again, not a bad thing. I can already see a lot of ways this will improve the story.

In light of all this, I've gone ahead and replaced the next chapter or two of Phagophobia with simple explanations in brackets. I simply don't want to spend time on writing out scenes I don't have clear motivations for. However, I am writing the final scenes of the story. While these may completely change in the future as well, I think the general concept is solid enough to give it a try. Anyway, I'd like to at least say I brought Phagophobia to some type of conclusion before continuing with any more rewriting.

Or outlining rather. Which, if you couldn't tell, I'm terrible at.

Anyway, have the first tidbit of that final scene.

They took him out to the woods to die. Isaac wondered if it was meant as an extra layer of cruelty or just the most practical place to murder somebody. Maybe a little of both, he decided. Zamora sat with him in the backseat, gun in her lap, while Quinn drove. The sound system remained off. Nobody talked, not even to gloat. Isaac wished he could come up with some last words. An epitaph that would haunt them forever. Empty fantasies, of course. At best, the enforcers believed they were doing the Coven, the world, a favor. At worst, they just didn’t care. No matter where their reasoning fell, he was trash to them. Something to be buried and never thought about again. So, he stared out the window at the dark trees flashing by and didn’t waste his final breaths. “Seatbelt.” Isaac started at the voice. His eyes darted to Zamora, then Quinn, but neither were looking at him. He tugged on the strap across his chest. The connection point. Both secure.

#writblr #writing process #dysthanasia #all I can do is keep trying #I'm bound to learn my lesson someday #maybe

7 notes · View notes

citylighten · 1 year

Note

Hello! I've been reading Sink or Swim, and I am absolutely enthralled in the depth of your writing. Which brings me to my first of several questions... How long have you been writing? I find Pietro's backstory personality very complex. How he presents himself... Handles obstacles... It's intriguing. How long did it take to create Pietro's... well... life? Did you have to do a considerable amount of research? And for my last question, how long does it take you to caption a scene? Are you editing the dialogue right until you post?

HELLO~!

First off thank you for this message! I'm very happy you're enjoying the story!

In regard to your first question: I began writing at a young age. So young, that my earliest memory of writing is sitting on my grandmother's lap and telling her exactly what to write down in Microsoft Word. (I figure these were probably stories about Simba the Lion) Eventually, I told her I wanted to figure out how to use Word on my own and the rest is history. But yeah, I've always been big on writing and reading, there was always a story of some kind in my head. By the time I was ten, I was on FF.Net posting very shitty fanfics. But that's the thing about writing, you know? The more you do it, the more you read, the more you even do something like observe films and shows for the narrative value rather than strictly looking at it as entertainment the better of a writer you become. I also made the decision back in high school to become a journalist (something I don't think I want to be anymore, but I digress) still, having the responsibility of writing about real events, or about real people, definitely influenced my writing, as well. Especially when it comes to the way people speak or may explain something.

Admittedly, writing a story in the mafia genre isn't easy. A lot of research is involved (ranging from reading biographies to just watching films, but I also love the video game Mafia because their worldbuilding is pretty good😂) and I often take mental notes of things so I can understand/apply similar topics with my characters.

In regard to your second question: We've hardly scratched the surface of who Pietro is as a person! I planned to do a few edits of him as a kid as well as a "mini-story" of how he ran away from home at sixteen but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Pietro is a very new oc - he was made this year, so understanding him/developing him has been a push-and-pull process. Before Sink or Swim started, he was originally meant to be way more antagonistic, but then I found myself liking him. I thought of Pietro and Rosie hooking up and the drama that could entail of, but then I thought, "what if this guy cared about her?" And boom, I found myself jotting out a bunch of outlines and concepts.

However, because Pietro isn't born in America...er, Simerica, I've found myself reading about Sicily a lot. Since I view that as the real-world counterpart to Tartosa. The norms, the lives of farmers, the way organized crime functions there because Pietro's family suffered greatly due to the local mob. But that's all I'm saying about that!

In regard to your third question: Captioning a scene can take forever. I'm not sure why because all I do is copy-paste pre-written text. But the time it takes to write out a scene can vary depending on its length, relevancy, and tone. Small talk is horrible to write, just plain horrible. Banter is usually quick. But when you have scenes like Rosie reading Pietro's email - that took forever because not only am I writing out Sheila and Pietro having a serious conversation, I had to write out the details of the email. Similarly, in my last post, when Pietro more or less confesses that he's an affiliate of the mob: that conversation took three rewrites before I felt it was good enough to put on caps. The first conversation draft was rough, I kept zoning out. The second was a little easier, but I found myself rearranging the conversation to better flow. And the third edit was the easiest because it was like I was 'smoothing' things over and ensuring the flow was decent. Sometimes though, once I paste dialogue onto a cap I do slightly tweak it to correspond with the expression the sim has. But again, thank you for all these questions! I enjoyed answering them!

15 notes · View notes

ladyinbooks · 8 months

Note

i just devoured all of ur works and they’re AMAZING (like ‘i’m seriously considering learning how to book bind so i can have physical copies’ level amazing). i can’t stop rereading them. i just had a four hour flight and all i did was reread icarus burning on it. also your love in chains au (jay being a prisoner but STILL in charge? chefs kiss) and anything to do with samiel/jay/pallas (i get it pallas) are especially interesting to me with how they change the main story dynamics while still keeping true to the core of the characters. your writing is honestly incredible and ill read anything you write forever. i can’t wait for more of rarely pure and going down (hades and persephone references?? hello)

Ahh, oh my gosh - what a lovely message! Thank you! ❤️❤️❤️

Firstly, I'm sorry but I was grinning so much when I read that you'd spent your four-hour flight re-reading IB. I mean... honestly, that's just so lovely. (And the idea of someone loving it enough to be reading it on a plane just makes me mind-bendingly happy - you have no idea!) I have a similar length flight tomorrow, and now I'm going to spend most of it grinning to myself thinking someone chose to spend their time travelling by reading something I wrote. (Sorry, I can't explain it, but it just has really made my day to know that.)

The Love in Chains AU still sits frequently in my head, and the dynamic is exactly as you described. I've had a rough little draft in my 'random stuff' folder for a while now, that I think I need to tidy up and post. Basically a tiny sequel where everyone thinks Samiel is the most dangerous man in the room and... mm. No. It's the man who comes in halfway through the meeting, distracts 'the most dangerous man in the room' and then quietly derails the whole operation. Jay vs. Samiel in this scenario is... well. I have a whole lot of thoughts about Jay weaponising affection against Samiel in a viciously calculated way, purely so he can continue to undermine Samiel's rule. (And, let's be honest, there's also a part of him that very much loves the idea of having that power over the 'most dangerous man in the room'.)

I'm glad someone else is on team Pallas! (I have such a soft spot for him. He's such a poor bewildered sweetheart! 😂)

The good news is that there is - at last! - more Rarely Pure. I've got another 30k written, so I'm happy I can start posting again now. Which means there will be a chapter up this Sunday.

As for 'Going Down', it's still next on my list, and I'm quietly picking away at all the angst and drama in an outline. (Poor Jack. I'm enjoying making him suffer!)

#lady replies

5 notes · View notes

d3c0mp0siti0nn · 2 years

Text

First Draft/Central Idea

So originally this was just a little one shot thingy I wrote back in January on the 23rd but I ended up falling in love with the idea and it went from this to a huge writing project with 4 parts, and currently 15 chapters [I haven't made the outline for part 3 yet lol] it has two endings and a reversed ending. It's embarrassing that it's a self insert but oh well. Like I said, I wrote this back in January and it was just a little thing that I wasn't gonna post and it ended up turning into something so much bigger- it's more of a central idea and I had to change it a bit to make it line up with the current story so I'm sorry if it doesn't make any sense. Personally, I think it's bad. I think it's probably the worst and most embarrassing thing I've possibly ever written lol [Again, apologizing for the bad writing, I didn't expect to post this and thought it was just gonna sit in my Google docs forever but I edited it this morning and thought I would share it and see if ppl wanted to know more ab the story.] [[Sorry if it's out of character or anything I haven't actually *played* Ragnarök yet and am going off of videos and fanfics I've seen lmao]]

Word Count: 3,116

Miles doesn't really remember how he ended up in this sort of predicament. Where he currently was, he was laying down in his bed and next to him was a shirtless Heimdall with his back facing Miles.

It was…certainly odd. He hated Heimdall, he was the right hand man to Odin, who ruined his entire life and yet…he couldn't seem to actually spark any hatred for Heimdall no matter how hard he tried. He was still sorta in denial, but deep down Miles loved Heimdall's beautiful fluorescent purple eyes. He wanted to braid his hair and run his hands through it, they looked soft. He wanted to connect all his freckles with his fingers and name the ones that resembled constellations. He wanted to be there for him when he was having a bad day. There was so much Miles wanted to do with Heimdall, he wanted to show him gods can be kind.

Yet- Miles still really doesn't understand why he feels this way, or really how he ended up here. All Miles remembers is being in the tavern as drunken Thor talked about nothing important but Miles stayed feeling the tiniest sliver of pity for the man. Miles was only in Asgard because of Atreus, they had recently become close and this gave Miles a chance to search Asgard for something, anything to break the curse put on his family.

As Thor continued to go on and drown himself in mead, Miles’s eyes drifted around the room. They eventually fell upon Heimdall. He was sitting on a bench with a fur thing over it. He had a book in one hand and an apple in another. Miles turned his gaze back to Thor, thankfully he had passed out on the table. Miles got up, grabbed his cane and walked behind where Thor sat and gave him two harsh pats on the back. He made his way out of the tavern to go explore Asgard, it had been almost four hundred years since his last time there so there was bound to be new things. Even if Miles didn't wanna admit it, Asgard was sorta beautiful. It was weird because it felt so warm here, yet out in Midgard it was Fimbulwinter. It was obviously Odin's magic, but still.

As Miles walked around Asgard he just took it all in, the beauty of life, the way the breeze made the trees and grass dance– just everything. Miles came upon a towering, beautiful tree. It seemed familiar, like he has seen or heard about it before. Miles limped around the tree running his finger over it, observing it. Then he felt something rough under his fingers. It was a heart carved in the tree. As cute as that was it was kinda rude to the tree. Oh well. Inside the heart was "H+M"...ha that's a funny coincidence. Miles's eyes traveled down a little bit and they had more. "-Heimdall (for if he stumbles upon this he'll know it's me)"

Miles made a "hmm", "I wonder who *he* is?" Miles whispered to himself as he made his way around the tree. There were so many carvings, one said- "Am I stupid to like someone so below me?" Yup that was Heimdall alright. "Who could this possibly be about?" Miles wracked his brain for anyone who Heimdall might’ve taken an interest in and yet he came up with nothing. The carvings were very old, they must've been when he was pretty young. At the front of the tree there was a tiny piece of rolled up paper in a tiny little hole in one of the branches. Miles pulled it out and unrolled it, it read:

*"It seems as if things never change. It's been 384 years since I last saw or heard anything from or about him and yet I still feel myself drawn to come visit the tree. I have a feeling he might stumble into my hand soon. I wonder if he's seen this tree? It's all futile to l̶o̶v̶e̶ like such a pathetic god like him and yet I do. He's so below me and yet I feel a strong urge to see him. The one thing I hope is that he doesn't find this.*

*-Heimdall"*

Miles laughed a tiny bit at it. The thought of Heimdall being head over heels for someone was certainly amusing. Maybe Miles could use this against him the next time they had an argument. Miles plopped down at the front of the tree, it was a good sitting spot. Miles grabbed his book and started reading

About an hour later he heard footsteps coming behind the tree. He didn't really feel like looking so instead he just decided to let them find him. The footsteps were slow and gentle he heard a small little laugh to the right of him, where the heart and initials were. Huh, it was Heimdall. I don't think I've ever heard him laugh normally - Miles thought. Heimdall heard it and sorta stomped over to Miles. When he saw who it was he froze and his purple eyes went wide. "What are you doing here?" He spat out. Miles briefly looked up from his book. "Reading. Am I not allowed to read here? Is this your tree or something?" Heimdall looked to the tiny hole that had the note, it was still there and seemed untouched. Heimdall sighed in relief, though it came out more of a huff. Heimdall started to walk away when Miles, still looking at his book, said- "Who's M?"

Heimdall stopped in his tracks. "What." He said with a slight annoyance to his tone. "Who's the other person you carved your initials with?" Heimdall rolled his eyes and took a peek in Miles’s mind, he thought Miles was just playing dumb but he wasn't. He genuinely didn't know it was him, he had even read the note and yet still. He's so dumb - Heimdall thought. "That's none of your business." Heimdall said as he stood proud. "In your note you said you haven't heard from him in 384 years. You must've written that 11 years ago. Is this 'M' person dead or something?"

Heimdall rolled his eyes yet again. "No." Miles made an 'Ah' sound. "It's kinda funny thinking about you falling for someone." Miles said as he laughed a tiny bit while he flipped the page. "I mean the Heimdall falling for someone. It's fucking comical." A tiny part of Heimdall was a bit annoyed that he didn't realize it was him. Miles got up and put his book away and grabbed his cane which he had propped up on the tree. "I'll leave you alone now. Don't worry I won't tell anyone or anything. The fact that you have feelings is between me and you." Miles giggled a tiny bit before he limped off.

"Wait." Heimdall said. Miles turned around. "Did you say something?" - "Come back." Heimdall said a bit harshly. "Okay…" Miles walked back up to where Heimdall was. "What is it?" Miles said as he stood there, waiting for Heimdall to respond.

"It's you." He said blankly. Miles cocked his head to the side a bit. "What's me?" Heimdall groaned. "You're 'M'. The H and M in the heart stand for 'Heimdall and Miles'. I carved it when we were young. The other carvings I did 11 years ago." Miles laughed. "Ha. Yeah right. Funny joke, Heimdall." Miles looked in Heimdall's eyes as he laughed. Eventually Miles’s laughing faded. "Oh…you're– you're serious?" Miles nervously laughed. "I'm gonna go to uhm- to bed." Miles said as he limped away despite it being mid-day.

Once Miles made it back to his bed he threw off his shoes and immediately just fell on his bed. He laid on his back as he recalled what just happened. He wasn't quite sure how to feel. The right hand man to the man who stole everything from him had feelings for him…?

When Miles and Heimdall were 15, they were practically attached to the hip. Miles had heard of Heimdall, but he had just lost his family barely a year prior and he was vulnerable. Then Heimdall came along, and he was sweet and caring and it seemed like they were made for each other. Miles ended up foolishly falling in love with him. Somewhere deep down, Miles knew exactly who Heimdall was- but he was far too blinded to realize. Eventually, word got around to him and he was informed of who Heimdall was. It was terrible. He felt like such an idiot for not realizing sooner. None of it was real- what Miles felt for Heimdall was real but Heimdall's 'love' and 'affection' was all just a facade, something to pull in him closer and give him a false sense of security. So Miles, 16 and hurting, moved to Alfheim and told no one.

Miles had written something for Heimdall he was gonna send his way as a sort of explanation but he just never did. He was far too upset and didn't think Heimdall really *deserved* an explanation.

Miles flipped through all his memories with Heimdall from when they were young. They were nice. Miles never had the chance to make memories with someone close to him, given that as some cruel punishment Odin erased his family's memories of him all together. So with Heimdall he was able to make lasting memories with someone, ones that wouldn't be erased and thrown away as if they meant nothing.

He felt his eyes fill with tears just at the thought of his family. They were the only people to ever unconditionally support him and love him. He was called weak and useless and thrown away all the time simply because he couldn't do what the other gods did. He was cursed to live in the body of a woman with the soul and mind of a man and even though his family could never fully understand it they were there for him when it got hard and they helped him through it for 14 years. One day Miles got fed up with Odin's torture and went to see him. It ended in him going on an insane rampage, tearing down building after building, statues of the "great" Aseir gods, fighting Baldur, Thor, ect just quite literally tearing Asgard to shreds.

It's actually a surprise that Heimdall still felt the way he does after all that. Even after Miles tore down the place he loved so much and had such pride in, he still loved him. It was funny, really. The two of them were in a similar situation when it came to each other. They should hate one another but they couldn't bring themselves to even dislike them.

A light knock on his door made him shoot up. "Come in!" The door slowly opened, it was Heimdall. Miles laid back down. "Hi." Miles didn't know what else to say because he still wasn't quite sure how he felt. His brain, his mind knew that he was also in love with Heimdall but he just couldn't admit it. Heimdall sat at the edge of Miles’s bed. The both of them just sat there in silence, breathing in sync.

Miles eventually got the confidence to look at Heimdall. When he did his hair was all messy and his braids were kinda undone. He was sweating slightly. He must've been practicing sparring.

*I wanna braid his hair.*

Heimdall tensed up a bit and Miles could swear the tips of his ears were red. Heimdall scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Go ahead." Miles sat up and rose an eyebrow. "What?" Heimdall waved Miles off as he undid his hair. "Go ahead. Braid my hair. It's all you've been thinking all day." Miles looked at Heimdall with a quizzical look. "I never said- ooohhh." Miles inched closer to Heimdall. "Are you sure you're okay with a pathetic god like me who's so below you braiding your perfect hair?" Miles had a joking teasing tone that just had a huff from Heimdall in response.

Miles got behind Heimdall and grabbed a comb from his nightstand and gently ran it through his locks. It definitely wasn't Miles’s first time braiding his hair, infact they had braided each other's hair about a millions times when they were young. Although it was probably a lot harder for Heimdall to braid Miles’s hair on account of it being so long, but still, it was nice. That was one of his most precious memories Miles had. It was a good day, it was warm and had a light breeze. It was spring and the trees were so bright and vibrant. Miles and Heimdall had always met on a huge fallen tree in the middle of the Midgardian forest. The tree was covered in moss and Heimdall's hair always seemed to get messed up on his way climbing the tree, so Miles would always braid it. Miles had a tiny suspicion that Heimdall would mess up his hair before climbing up and just blame it on climbing to get Miles to braid his hair. Almost half a thousand years later, Miles still doesn't know the truth.

"Sorry if it doesn't come out very nice I'm a bit rusty, it's been a while." Heimdall didn't say anything as Miles started the first braid. Miles wasn’t sure if he was doing it on purpose or not but Heimdall was really leaning into Miles. Almost fully laying on him but sitting up just enough so it wouldn't make his hair look weird. "Hey Heimdall, can I ask you a question?" Heimdall hummed "When we were younger and we would meet on the tree, would you mess up your hair before climbing up so I could braid it."

Heimdall tensed up. "Why would I ever willingly mess up my hair just to get you to braid it? My hair always looked horrible after you braided it, I had to rebraid it everytime." Miles laughed. "You suck at lying." Heimdall just huffed as a response again.

A while passed and Miles was finally finished. "Okay, I'm done." No response. "Heimdall?" Miles looked down at him…he's asleep? When did he fall asleep? Sure he was quiet but he doesn't normally speak much when he's not gloating. He seemed to be sound asleep too. It had been so long since Miles saw his face so relaxed. Him and Miles used to lay down on the soft moss of the tree and just stare at the clouds. The few times Miles turned his head to look at Heimdall he always looked so peaceful in the blinding sun. His favorite times were when it got dark and cloud watching turned into star gazing. Even when Miles thought he couldn't get any prettier, the light from the moon made his face glow like bifrost. The moonlight highlighted all his best features, which was his whole face but still.

Miles watched with great interest at the mundane rise and fall of Heimdall's chest. His face was blank but it held so much emotion. He truly was the most alluring person he had ever seen. Maybe it's the nostalgia rush from pondering the past but Miles swore he felt 15 again. He felt as he did everytime he was just hanging around Midgard and Heimdall appeared to brighten his day. He felt as he did that one time when he opened the door to his little wooden cabin and saw a tiny box on his porch and once he opened it, it was an onyx stone bead bracelet with a silver square with the dagaz rune on it. He wasn't entirely sure what that feeling was but it was a weird one. It made him dizzy and euphoric, as if he was floating. It made him have a funny feeling in his chest and stomach. It was weird but not unwelcome.

"Your thoughts are so loud, do you know that?" Miles snapped out of his thinking and jumped a tiny bit. "Hmm- they are? Sorry." Miles played with Heimdall's braids a little. "I'm done braiding your hair, by the way." Heimdall got up and instead of leaving he took off his shoes and his shirt and plopped down in Miles’s bed. "What are you doing?" Miles said as he sat next to him. "Going to sleep." Miles laughed.

"Yeah I can see that, my question is why are you sleeping in *my* bed. You have your own bed." Heimdall didn't respond. Miles shrugged and laid down next to him and opted for staring at his back. Miles sheepishly reached his hand out to his back and started connecting his freckles. After a few minutes of lightly running his finger along Heimdall's back, he spoke. "What are you doing?" Miles continued to connect the freckles to one another. "Making constellations." Miles circled a few of his freckles. "These few look like Grus." He circled a few more. "And these here look sorta like Andromeda." He tapped a few more of them. "This one is Lacerta."

Heimdall just hummed. He had his back turned to Miles so it wasn't very clear if he was drifting to sleep or just didn't know what to say. Miles peeked over his shoulder to get a better look at his face. He was smiling, he tried to act as if he wasn't when Miles looked but he was. Miles turned back over on his back and yawned. After a few minutes he heard light snoring coming from Heimdall, it was cute. He tried to go to sleep but he couldn't, after longer than he'd like to admit of tossing and turning he just draped an arm over Heimdall's torso. He was a bit nervous because he wasn't quite sure how Heimdall would react, or if he'd even like it.

Heimdall grabbed Miles's arm and pulled him closer. That's how Heimdall always was though. He was never scared to speak his mind or anything he just believed in actions speaking louder than words. When they were younger, Heimdall always seemed to give Miles something as an apology rather than just saying sorry. Whether it was something as easy to find as some pretty flowers or something like a new knife made by Sindri, that was always his way of apologizing and showing he cared without having to say it.

It was going to take the two of them a while to get used to this, there was gonna be a lot to work out but it was worth it. Because in the end they had each other, and even since they were young that's all they ever needed.

8 notes · View notes

quaranmine · 1 year

Note

13 and 39?

13. Describe your writing process from idea to polished

idea: probably something i either woke up in the middle of the night to desperately type into my notes app or an epiphany i had while driving at 80 mph on the freeway

tentative outline: probably created mostly while i was driving down the freeway (im serious. my best work occurs while commuting)

actual written outline: me trying to transfer all ideas i came up with in the car before i forget them all. alternatively, i might be staring at a google doc on my screen for like four hours in despair. or i am putting sticky notes on the wall

at this point i might make what is either a mistake or a genius move and start writing from some point in the beginning and decide i'll figure out the rest later. if i do not have an ending decided at this point, the fic will probably be stuck in wip hell forever. if i do have an ending planned, i have a chance.

(firewatch au is an example of a fic i started without having the whole plot worked out, but had a clear vision of where i would eventually end up. it's easier to fill in rising action than it is to fill in the literal climax/resolution of the story....)

i also dont like...write rough drafts. i just basically write fully formed fic and edit as i go. there is rarely many grammar edits or changes i need to make to a scene. i will, however, rewrite and rearrange scenes that aren't working, but this is a more rare part of the process. this is probably why i can never top 3k words in one day even if i write for hours

if i can get a detailed outline, i can create polished work really fast. again, firewatch au (and htbhab!) are both examples of fics where i had a solid plan and was therefore able to EASILY write every day. my unnamed listener!jimmy last life-evo wip was doomed from the start because i had no clue how to resolve the conflict i'd created, and thus it never moved past chapter 2.

39. Weirdest character concept you’ve ever had

i want to do this question justice but unfortunately it's midnight and my mind is completely blank oh nooooo

#quara asks #if i come up with something later i will update the last one

4 notes · View notes

short-circuit-the-great · 4 months

Text

You Didn't Ask And I Answered: A Long Ass Post, Part 1

Questions are from this post. It is an ask game. I answered every single one unprompted. If anyone actually reads this post I will be impressed.

do you know how you want the story to end when you start, or are you just stumbling through the figurative wilderness hoping to find a road? It depends on the story. For all of my fics, I know the ending. For a lot of my books, I know the ending. For one particular project I am thinking of right now, I'm making that shit up as I go.

talk about a notable time a narrative or character has looked you dead in the eyes and said “fuck your plan, here’s what we’re actually doing.” SPIDERSILK SAMURAI. FUCKING SPIDERSILK SAMURAI. Pulled out so much hair over that fic. I'm proud of it but none of the characters stuck to the outline I had.

on a scale of 1-10 how much do you enjoy incorporating romance into the average story? 10, but it's a very specific kind of romance. They need lots of time, they have to have lots of banter going on, and some other stuff I can't put a name to. Read my shit, there's a very specific way I write romance.

what is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread? I don't know what a "plot bunny" is.

have you ever made a playlist about something you were writing as an elaborate means to procrastinate when you could have been actually writing and if yes drop a link, son Crossfire's playlist

do you have any kind of consistent writing schedule or just hoping for the best? I write every day.

tell us about the plot of the first fanfic you ever wrote Immortal being reflects on life and death.

what’s your relationship with constructive criticism and feedback like? do you seek it out? how well do you take it? Don't like it.

in an ideal world where you’re already super successful and published, would you want to see a tv or movie adaptation of your work? why or why not? TV show. Animated.

at what point in the process do you come up with titles, and how easy or hard is that for you? Early. Fairly easy.

what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general? I look things up as needed.

do you ever have trouble focusing on writing? how do you get around that? No.

talk about a writing experience that has pleasantly surprised you. No idea what this question means.

what’s your worst writing habit? Can't proofread.

where do you share your writing? AO3.

where is your favorite place to write? Library.

what is your favorite line you’ve ever written? "It won’t be the same, but I’ll keep you close forever, and we can run along the river in our memories, hearts and souls entwined."

what is your most and least favorite part of writing? Like writing fights. Hate proofreading.

what are some books or authors that influenced your style the most? Masashi Kishimoto, Akira Toriyama, Hideaki Sorachi, Hirohiko Araki, Chris Bradford, Chris d'Lacey, Jeff Kinney, others I am forgetting.

what is your favorite trope to write? Found family.

pick a writer to co-write a book with and tell us what you’d write about. @mecha-milkers and I would write about unspeakable cosmic horrors.

describe your writing process from scratch to finish. Hallucinate, fight god, black out, stare at the finished product, hit post.

how do you deal with writers block? Change the last sentence and move on.

on average, how much writing do you get done in a day? Several pages if not many. Not counting.

what’s your revision or rewriting process like? You guys revise? The first draft is the only draft. I have been reworking some of my older stuff (books) but don't have a process for it.

do you like to write one-shots or series, and why? Series, more time to develop stuff.

do you share rough drafts or do you wait until it’s all polished? 28. And who do you share them with? I share them with friends.

handwritten notes or typed notes? Keep notes in brain.

give us a spoiler for one of your stories. Bad guy helps good guy.

most inspirational quote you’ve ever read or heard that’s still important to you. "Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are--it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can GET hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done."

tell us about one of your characters who’s an absolute joy to write Kusunoki Masashi from Our Samurai Souls--he's been through it all but still keeps his head up.

do characters influence your writing style? Yeah they running the whole thing.

do you start with the characters or the plot when writing? They come together, they tell me what to write. Half the time they're the ones writing it.

how do you name characters and places? They tell me their names, they tell me their world.

tell us about a character who’s very different than you who you love a whole lot Yuki from Our Samurai Souls. Despite what he's been through it's very peaceful in his head.

do you base your characters of real people or not? If so, tell us about one. I have a character in one of my old books (not a fanfic) that is based on someone I've heard a lot about but never met. I drew a lot of inspiration from the descriptions and stories I've heard to create this guy.

when creating characters, what comes first: appearance, backstory, motivation, personality, something else? They come in as whole people, I don't know how to explain it. Aside from a few cases (see above) I've never sat down and thought about making a character. They come to me.

how many stories do you work on at one time? Five to ten.

are you an avid reader? I try, it is hard for me.

best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten. See earlier about "I don't like feedback."

#spaceship radio #ask game #fic writing

0 notes

snaurus · 2 years

Text

NOTICE: Progress Report on The Middle

I haven't done a lot of posts like this, only one-offs whenever I reach a large or interesting milestone, but I'd like to change that! I'm very invested in my projects, more so than ever - and I'm especially excited to talk about this one. It's grown substantially since my initial concept and hey, maybe someone will benefit or enjoy getting to learn about the behind the scenes aspects of what I'm doing.

To really understand, though, I have to explain the convoluted writing process I've concocted over the years. It's not always consistent between ventures, but the best way I've found to write my stories are:

1. Notation - This is when I'll jot down random bits. Interesting dialogue exchanges, ideas for scenes, inspiration from the source material or something else. Nothing is usually longer than a couple words or a short sentence, maybe a brief paragraph at most.

For The Middle, this was easy. I essentially did this at the same time as its predecessors. In fact, the sequels were a part of this process, too. Anything to do with the series was done; I avoid differentiating and limiting my creativity if I can help it. That's not to say everything is planned out in its entirety, but I guess I try not to worry about "finalizing" so much as what I want to include. I mean, if an aspect doesn't fit in one part, I can always move it to another, right? Or scrap it altogether and re-use it in another story that's better suited.

2. Outline - I start organizing what I've been cultivating for the story. I have severe memory problems, so when inspiration strikes I have to drop everything and log it somewhere, else I lose it forever. Sometimes I use a journal next to my bed, a notation app on my phone, scrap paper at work, or whatever program I have open on my computer at the time (e-mail, notepad, word doc, etc.). My stuff is scattered everywhere in a jumbled mess, so I gather everything, put it in order, and make it cohesive. Although, I always seem to find something I wrote for a story hiding somewhere unexpected afterwards...

For the most part, The Middle was done at this stage at the time of posting The Beginning because the "meat" of the interactions I wanted Din and Luke to have were delegated here. In a way, I kind of worked backwards in the series since I had many concepts for them together and less for when they first met. 😅

3. Rough Draft - Basically, I expand on everything. I add descriptions, I add more dialogue, I add more action, I add, add, add. I typically keep it in a bullet format, and never worry about the finer details at this stage. Grammar? I don't know her. Canon? Pft! I'll research that later, it's future snarechan's problem. I also tend to work in one document (to more easily find references) and take advantage of any "comment" functions to include non-story related content (translations for words, reminders, etc.).

This is the stage where I'm at with The Middle. To put it in perspective, its outline totaled 60 pages or roughly about the final length of Din's POV in The Start. Several major scenes toward the end aren't written yet and two sub-plots have been cut so far, but the rough draft has still come to a whopping...91 pages. 😳 Or put another way, I hit 91 pages last night and I'm currently on page 29 of the outline (almost the midpoint).

So yeah! All that to say this sequel is turning out to be triple the size of The Beginning and its companion piece, The Start. To be honest, I'm kind of flummoxed at myself. I've never written something this extensive before! Hitting a story that will be over 100 pages has always been a dream of mine, and not only am I going to meet that goal, but I'm gonna shatter and surpass it. If the story reaches a length longer than the total of both its prequels, I might just faint, lol.

But what's next after I finish this rough draft? Well, if I complete it this year like I'm aiming for, then in 2023 I will do...

4. Re-Writes - This is where the real magic (and torture) happens. With the rough draft document on one side of my screen, I have a blank one on the other and I literally re-type everything in a technical format. Spacing is enforced, research is conducted, editing is done. This is probably the lengthiest and hardest part because of how sheer-ly time consuming it is. I've lost whole weeks to fact checking, acting out scenes in real life, reading dialogue out loud for clarity, discussing options with friends, and whatever else I can do to ensure that everything makes sense. It's not uncommon for me to do re-writes of the re-writes, either.

5: Final Draft - Similar to the above, the now individual chapters are on one side of my screen (usually after a short break to refresh) and I re-type everything in a blank document. It might sound excessive (because it is), but it's the only method I've found that's provided me the best results. In the past, I've made minor or no changes at all. Other times, I scrap whole paragraphs, catch several errors I missed previously, and so on. It can be hard to tell when a story has reached its peak, but the most common is when I'm just sick and tired of looking at it. If even after a couple days all I have left in me is to glance over it for obvious mistakes, then I'm probably as done as I'm going to get. 😝

That said, while the hardest and most challenging hurdles are ahead of me, I feel super pumped and positive about my developments thus far. This story is really shaping up, and I can't wait to be able to share it with everyone next year! With this lengthy explanation out of the way, I'll try and keep all of you in the loop as to how this and my other projects are going! I've got some other stories planned, but I want to make a separate list pertaining to them when I have the energy.

#NOTICES #my writing #snarechan's writing #the middle #the timeline (jedi-mando au)

1 note · View note

isfjmel-phleg · 3 years

Text

Clothing in the Psmith series

With Psmith being who he is, there are numerous specific references to clothing through the series. These serve not only a humorous or aesthetic purpose but play a number of different thematic roles throughout.

For Psmith, who always has something of the theatrical about him, clothing can be a sort of costume or performance. At Sedleigh, he makes a point of visually distancing himself from the other boys through his immaculate attire. “Do I look as I belonged here?” he says when Mike asks if he too is new to the school. He keeps up the performance wherever he goes, ensuring that he always visually stands out (or that his appearance disarms those whom he wishes to underestimate his intelligence). After losing his money, he continues to dress as he always has, leading others to assume he’s well-off, and although he does correct misconceptions if they get in the way of, say, his intent to apply for a job, it’s likely that he deliberately chooses to continue to project this image. Anything else would be too much of a comedown for a Shropshire Psmith. He carefully selects his attire around Eve--openly admitting that he’s worn his best suit when meeting her at the station in order to impress her. He makes her stop and wait while he dons the correct pale flannels (a summer suit) for their row on the lake--changing his costume for the new scene and possibly setting off her ensemble if she’s wearing the black dress again. (And note the colors he chooses: the stark black and white of various suits, lavender gloves, pajamas in blue and sea-green. Cool tones that complement dark hair and a fair complexion. He knows what he’s doing.)

Eve too knows the importance of a well-selected ensemble, but her deceptively opulent hat and dress are more of a reflection of her personal desires and aspirations (and lack of impulse control!) than a part she plays for others’ benefit.

But clothing can also be a weapon. Psmith frequently uses interactions with his attire as a deflection mechanism when uncomfortable in a conversation--dusting and inspecting and polishing to avoid having to look someone in the eye. He’s used a dressing gown cord as a literal weapon and “faultless evening dress” to silently taunt the sloppily-dressed Bickersdyke. In New York, when Psmith’s hat takes a bullet and his trousers get ruined with mud in a street shootout, he uses this to emphasize his grievances (and deflect from the seriousness of what’s actually troubling him) and keeps pushing the issue of the perpetrator’s need to pay for the hat--and gets his reimbursement plus the solution to the tenement problem in the end. When called upon to deal with a flowerpot-throwing Baxter, Psmith carefully chooses to meet him in pajamas with a white rose in the buttonhole and a Homburg, with a golf club in hand, solely for the purpose of...I don’t know, weirding him out?

Elsewhere, Mike’s first appearance to Sedleigh in cricket attire makes an intimidating statement to his opposition since he’s so clearly in his element while thus dressed.

And finally clothing reveals character through a contrast of public attire versus private. Psmith brands himself with a specifically magnificent look when appearing to most people. So it’s a surprise when, in Psmith in the City, after he’s been overdressing for work and going out in evening clothes, he emerges from his room at the end of a rough day not in a majestic Chrestomanci-esque dressing gown, but in pajamas and an old school blazer--the Edwardian equivalent of a hoodie and sweatpants. Alone with Mike, he’s free to let his guard down and set aside the need to impress; in private, he’s not an otherworldly aristocratic being but a teenage boy seeking comfort. This side of him is strictly for the home; it’s particularly embarrassing in New York when he’s dragged to the police station in “sea-green pyjamas with old rose frogs,” which is “not the costume in which a Shropshire Psmith should be seen abroad in one of the world's greatest cities.”

But then there’s the Turkish Baths, a public setting that requires the most informal attire of all. In contrast to the hauntings at the club in evening dress, Psmith’s penultimate confrontation with his nemesis Bickersdyke is conducted in towels. The narrative calls attention to this detail, including Psmith’s admiring himself in the mirror. Despite the vulnerability of this attire (especially in a culture in which one normally wore what we would consider a lot of clothes at almost all times), Psmith is perfectly comfortable in it, powerful even. Armed with blackmail information, he doesn’t need the concealment of his typical costume to maintain the upper hand and make Bickersydyke feel insignificant.

Yet another reason we need a good film version of this series: the costuming would be amazing.

#Psmith #Psmith Pseptember #Eve Halliday #Mike Jackson #I have had a rough outline of this in my drafts FOREVER

26 notes · View notes

weaverofthreads · 4 years

Text

On the process of writing a novel...

Ok, so this began as a DM to a very dear friend who had said they were super excited to work on a novel of theirs that they'd abandoned for years, but they felt a bit lost when looking at the project again. They had "too many characters, too many intrigues" and they didn't "know how to create order" for all their ideas. They didn't know "what to keep, what to remove, what to change" and wanted to know if I had any tips.

I began to reply in messages and then realised I needed to make a whole post out of it, so here it is! All 3k words of it. This is for you, darling! I hope it helps.

Things I found extremely helpful when planning my novel for NaNoWriMo this year, after also taking some time off from it.

Most of this comes from Alicia Lidwina’s Four-Part article on her NaNoWriMo prep process, and setting up a writer’s notebook, for 2018. You can find the link to the first part here and I highly recommend you check out the whole series of articles for a more in-depth read.

Content of this ‘essay’:

Preparation, Groundwork, and Materials

Project 'Stats' & Overview

Mood, Moodboards, and Key Imagery

Things to Consider, and Important Bullet Points

Get to Know Your Characters

Chronological Order

Tangential and Preceding Events

Basic Premise, Plot Definition, Sub Plot Ideas

List of Locations

Scenes

Chapter Outline

NaNo Plan

Additional Notes and Tips for Writing

Ok. Let's begin.

First of all, I'm not saying that this is the only way to write or organise a novel. It can be tackled in as many ways as there are writers in the universe. This is just the method I used to get my ideas crystallised and organised.

Preparation, Groundwork, and Materials.

Take your preparation seriously. I bought a cheap but still nice A4 sketchbook with blank paper for maybe £2 at the local hobby store, and used it solely for the purposes of being my Novel Notebook. It doesn’t have to be a pretty, perfect, Aesthetic(TM) journal at all. Its function is to act as a route-guide through the process.

I bought a cute sticker from Etsy and used it as the front cover design so that I liked the book and that it felt a little bit special, without being too intimidating to put a mark in. Then I left the very first page blank, and opened it to the first double page. On the left, I wrote ‘Contents’ and then moved on to the right and wrote ‘Project Stats and Overview’.

I used a pen that was comfortable to write with, which for me was important. I’m a very tactile person, and having nice paper and pens (not necessarily fancy), made the process feel good.

Project Stats and Overview

This is the bare bones of the book, and includes details such as:

Project Working Title: (in my case it’s Weaver of Threads)

Targeted Wordcount: (to give yourself an idea of the scope, but it’s not necessary. For me it’s 50-100k)

Genre: (for me, fantasy)

Series: (will it be one book or more? For me, probably more than one, and at least two).

Inspiration: (here you can jot down all sorts of things which inspire your world and your writing, and it can be anything. In my case, I began with “density and lore, and feeling of being grounded in a real world from LOTR and Tolkien.” And I went on to include other writers and novels in the fantasy genre, as well as elements from our own world, such as Mongolian herding communities and way of life, the history of the Persian Empire, and Renaissance Florence!).

Project Timeline: Give yourself a structure, and be realistic. If you know you’re a slow writer who’s prone to distractions, be generous, but if you’re someone who responds well to short deadlines, tighten the time frame up a bit. I said “November 2020 - November 2021 for the whole manuscript” because I know I’m a procrastinator who gets dejected if they shoot past intense deadlines….

Editing Deadline: December 2021-January 2022. I know I can edit fairly quickly, so I made this one much shorter.

Main Requirements Prior to Starting: What do you need to get sorted before you can get going? It could be purchasing a laptop or figuring out a magic system. In my case, it was the latter.

What Happens in your novel?: This is not ‘what do your characters do?’, but what, in one sentence, actually happens in the book. For Fellowship of the Ring, you could say ‘a diverse group of people assemble and set off together with the goal of destroying the Ring’. LOADS more stuff actually takes place, obviously, but that’s probably the key thing that happens in that book. So, write the same thing for yours. I’m not going to tell you what happens in mine, because that would spoil it :).

That took up the first A4 page of my writer’s notebook, and after that, I moved on to Mood and Key Imagery.

Mood, Moodboards, and Key Imagery

On the left hand side of the page, I wrote down the words and concepts that sprang to mind when I thought of the novel itself. These were in no particular order or placement — just a random cloud of ideas in a rough column on the left hand side of the page — and they included: history, mystery, love, friendship, betrayal, nostalgic, homesick, sense of belonging, sense of place, searching, closeness, secrets… etc. etc.

Then on the right hand side, I wrote down five key words that I wanted to associate with the novel. These would form the ‘visual aesthetic’ in the background of my mind, and could be very easily expressed with a moodboard.

This same process (writing down words and creating a moodboard) could be achieved on a website like Pinterest. Take your time with it, find the right visual clues that really match the essence of your story, and create a final mood board with a limited number of panels that will be your novel’s ‘true north’ when it comes to feelings. If you're artistically inclined too, you could draw sketches of things relevant to your world too.

While this stage is really important for solidifying the feeling and mood of the novel, don’t get stuck here and spend forever procrastinating on Pinterest or whatever. Once you’ve crystallised that ambiance, it’s time to move on. It’s also perfectly fine to come back to this at a later stage if you find yourself running out of inspiration or drifting a bit. Daydreaming, drawing, mood-board-ing are all great ways to work on your novel on days when you don’t feel like writing.

Things to Consider:

Alicia Lidwina asked herself some questions which helped me get past the ‘block’ that I’d created when thinking about the novel, and those were:

What scares me about this story? (in my case it was the scope of it - it was easy for me to get lost in over-thinking tiny details and get too overwhelmed to handle the big picture)

What will readers take away from it? (in my case, I hoped that it was a sense of friendship, people from desperate cultures finding common ground, and a sense of being grounded in a real, tangible world.

What is its selling point? (essentially, why would an agent/publisher choose yours over the next one in the pile?). Don’t be bashful about this. This is your notebook, so if you’re proud of a feature or aspect of the story, write it down. In my case, there is no ‘Big Bad come to destroy the world’, no Chosen One who is the only one who can stop it. There is an antagonist, but it’s on a personal scale, and that’s the selling point. It’s about two people going on a personal journey to uncover a lost piece of knowledge that’s arguably not all that world-changing on its own, but which means the world to them.

What will be the three biggest issues in writing the first draft? Identify the three biggest roadblocks, and then take a bulldozer to them. For me, it was time management, getting mentally stuck, and the sheer darned effort of it becoming overwhelming!

Important Bullet Points

These are five key facts about your novel, distilled from the sections above. They include: What’s at the heart of the story? How long is the story? What’s the narrative focus of the story? What are the maximum number of main characters? And the maximum number of supporting characters (this obviously doesn’t mean you can’t have other, less important characters too!)?

Relationship between the two main characters is forefront

50-100k words

The novel’s focus is on the characters’ main goal (had to be more vague here so I didn't give it away)

2 main characters

3 supporting characters

If you find you’ve got too many main characters (not necessarily a bad thing to have a lot of characters - look at A Song of Ice and Fire after all!), then figure out whose story you want to tell here. You can always write another story with other characters in a connected novel, or a sequel. You don’t have to tell everything all at the same time.

Speaking of characters…

…Get to Know Your Main Characters:

Here you can write character sheets for each of your main characters and cast. There are hundreds of these templates available on the internet, asking questions like ‘how would your character react to [insert event]?’ etc. to get to know your character. If this isn’t your thing (it isn’t mine) then at least write down some useful information about them. Rough height and weight, hair, eye and skin colour, general temperament, and any other defining physical or mental traits.

Next came the Chronological Order

This does not have to represent the final order of the novel’s structure, nor the order in which you write the manuscript, but you need to know what happened within the timeline, and when, in order to be really clear when you’re telling the story. You can write the manuscript out of order, and you can tell the story with flashbacks or in a different order, but you need to have the underlying chronology securely in place so that your writing makes sense and so that you don’t confuse yourself or the readers in the process.

Preceding and Tangential Events

These don’t need to be in the novel itself, but it may be important to define the sequence of events that also led up to the moment where we pick up your story, and what is happening elsewhere so that you can be sure of these too. In my case, I defined the events that concerned one of the supporting characters’ lives so that I knew how and why they were at the point they are in the story. It relates directly to - and heavily influences - the events of the novel, so I needed to have this person’s history nailed down as well, even though I don't tell it all explicitly in the book (because that would be unnecessary and a bit dull).

Basic Premise, Plot Definition, and Sub-Plot Ideas (plus writing a synopsis)

Alicia Lidwina defined the story premise helpfully with the following formula:

Story Premise = Main Character + Desire + Obstacle

Pick a different colour for each of these components, and write a short paragraph to explain them in the context of the novel. Alicia Lidwina used the following:

[Main Character] “Harry, an orphan who didn’t know that he’s a wizard, [Desire] got invited into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and wanted to live his school life to its fullest, [Obstacle] but a certain Dark Lord who killed his parents is trying to rise into powers again and kill him in revenge.

Do this for your novel, and keep it really short.

Plot Definition: This is even shorter than that! It’s a single sentence!! It’s most closely tied to the desire of the character, and lies at the heart of the story. It’s most likely a distilled version of the ‘what happens in the story’ from the Project Stats page, so check that to see what you wrote there.

Sub Plot Ideas

Five bullet points (no more) for things that are happening concurrently and which are related in some way to the main story. For me, Kae and Tomas are doing their research, so that’s the main theme, but beneath that there are a few other related incidents.

Writing a Synopsis - developed out of the points in this section, and includes:

Who the main character is

What the stakes are (the story premise is your guideline)

What the main plot line is

How the MC resolves the problem in the main plot line

How the book ends.

List of Locations

Start with the main ones and add to it as you go on. Write a little bit of information about them so that you have something to refer back to. I also drew a big old map which I found very helpful and also really fun to do.

List of Scenes

It’s very important to map out every single scene that happens in the novel. Use your timeline to help with this, but remember a scene is not necessarily a chapter. You can have more than one scene within a chapter, but try not to have too many.

I used small post-it notes (sticky notes) and wrote down things like “M joins K’s clan at the fire and K learns about magic” and “K studies at Citadel, intro to Citadel, magic, and characters” as separate scenes. Once you’ve written down everything that is going to happen (this will take some time! Get a drink and some snacks ready, and go slow), you can stick them into your notebook in the order you’d like to tell the story. Some chapters may have just one scene, while others may have two or three. I didn’t have more than two in any of my chapters, and actually ended up splitting some scenes that I’d made too vague in this section into more chapters. It doesn’t have to be set in stone, but it will form a road map.

Additions and Notes:

I left a section of the Scene Outline bit of the notebook blank for things to add in as I went along. I haven’t used it yet, but I might.

Chapter Outline

I arranged the scenes into the chapters already by sticking them in order, but you could do a chapter outline separately after this. It’s up to you.

NaNoWriMo plan:

I did this back in October, and wrote down the main goal for nanoprep, which was to finish the background info. Breaking that down further, I listed - magic (how does it work exactly), geography, and politics.

After that, it was just a case of writing the 1667 words a day. *spoilers, I got distracted and didn’t do NaNo this year* . What I should have done, was break it up into chunks and write down my goals so that I had something tangible to use as a road map, and I will be doing that now for the novel as I take it up again outside of NaNo. Having check boxes and manageable goals really works for me. Find what will work for you, and if it turns out not to, adapt!

Some final pointers and tips:

Set regular goals for yourself. Whether you work by saying ‘I’ll write 1000 words a day’ or ‘I’ll write something every day’, make a structure for yourself. If you slip and miss a day, week, or month (I didn’t meet NaNo this year because I chose to work on another project instead *slaps forehead*), don’t beat yourself up. Writing is a craft and it takes a long time and a lot of discipline to master a craft.

Your first draft does not have to be good. At all. Your first draft is just words on paper. A first draft is the block of marble taken from the quarry, and subsequent edits and reworking is the process of carving the sculpture itself. The editing that is done by the publisher or the professional you employ to edit it for you later, is the final polishing. Don’t be demoralised if the block of marble seems very rough when it first lands in your studio. That’s ok!

Take regular breaks. Writing is hard work, and most people can’t concentrate on something successfully for longer than 55 min's, and if you’re doing that, you’re already doing really well. Personally, I’m at 15-20 on a good day. Write in little sprints of ten minutes or so, and then get up and stretch, look out the window, maybe leave the room, come back in with a fresh approach.

Stretch your hands, and wear wrist braces when you work. Seriously. I gave myself tendinitis on my first major project, and couldn’t use either hand properly for weeks. The ones I have are these, and they allow me to work safely for much longer.

Keep hydrated. Have a bottle of water on the desk in front of you between your arms as you type and sip it, otherwise you’ll forget. 2 litres a day is usually recommended, but know your body and drink accordingly.

Treat yourself. Whether that’s something as simple as a decadent hot chocolate after your first chapter/chunk/sprint is done, or a new notebook or a pen or that sticker set you wanted on Etsy or literally anything nice, reward yourself for the hard work you’ve put in, with tangible things you can look at or experience and say ‘I have that because I did the work’. It’ll help with your sense of achievement, especially if the project is a long one.

Join a local writer’s group for feedback. With the current Covid-19 chaos, this is probably not possible right now, but getting constructive feedback on your work from someone who hasn’t been cocooned in the project in the way you are, but who respects you as a writer and wants to help you grow, will be invaluable. It’s too easy to exist in a little isolated bubble and think you’re doing ok, when in reality you could be creating bad habits which will be difficult to break later. By these, I mean things like ‘filler words’ you don’t realise you use, or other pit-falls it’s easy to tumble into when you can’t see the wood for the trees…It’s intimidating, and it might take some courage to work up and do, but I promise it’ll help you grow. You don’t have to do what the people suggest, but it’s great to get outside opinions all the same.

Submit work to writing competitions. This will help with showing agents and publishers later down the line that you’re not only committed, but hopefully talented, and will help you to push yourself. Use the world of your novel for the setting, and get to know it by writing short stories on the competition’s theme set there.

Read. Read the writers you admire, and read them ‘actively’ - figure out exactly what it is about ‘that’ sentence that made you shiver, and use the same techniques in your own work (don’t plagiarise, obviously, but if it was alliteration that made the sentence work so well, use it yourself! Perhaps it was the metre of the line? Great, now you know a rhythm that will drive a sentence forward or slow it down etc.)

Enjoy it. If you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, it’ll show in the work. Take a step back if you start floundering, and ‘interview’ yourself about why it’s not fun any more. Refer back to the sections in the notebook that helped to clarify the plot/process, and see if you’ve wandered away from them. Make yourself answer questions like: ‘What is the main reason I don’t want to do this?’ ‘What is the character’s motivation?’ ‘Should I scrap this section?’ (don’t delete it, but cut and paste it into another ‘scraps’ document, and then start afresh from the last place you were happy with. Nothing is wasted - it all goes into building the world and getting to know the characters, even if it doesn’t get explicitly told in the finished product, so don’t be afraid to do that last bit).

Good luck!

I hope you found this helpful, and if you have any questions or things you’d like to add to this, please feel free to send me an ask here on Tumblr.

If you’re a new writer hoping to get an agent or publisher, you might also find this post on ‘talking to a published author’ helpful or interesting.

If you would like to keep up to date with my own novel’s progress, you can follow me here on Tumblr, as well as on my writing Instagram @rnpeacock

#writing #writeblr #writing process #how to write a novel #novel writing #nanowrimo #national novel writing month #writing a book #writing advice #author #authors on tumblr #how to structure a book #long post

136 notes · View notes