#I have over 7000 drafts

[asksythe]

Close-up version so we can see all that yummy intimacy! The full version is a bit bigger so I'll leave it below. Commed. Artist: Raccoon Nilh It's completed! I'm so happy with how this piece turned out! Raccoon Nilh did great work! Anyway, this is one of the illustrations for a future fanfic project I have planned. The name is: Pygmalion Gazes at the Stars. To avoid the fate of other stories I have come up but forgot to write down (they faded from my brain), I wrote down this (much truncated) plot draft. The original plan was something like... 7000 words of text over varios plot elements, the overarching structures, how the relationship will unfold, how it will be viewed through the astonishing eyes of Chaldea staff, the implications and fallouts of Daybit's presence, the climatic finale act complete with mad girlfriend Riri riding a motorbike and wielding a shotgun running over Lostbelt 7 to hunt down Daybit in his jeep.... among other things... ...anyway...

Premise

Pygmalion Gazes at the Stars begins as a continuation of canon—a hypothetical extension of Lostbelt 7 ending. In this version, Daybit Sem Void, having been defeated and undone in the final act of his own Lostbelt, accepts Tezcatlipoca’s offer to rewind time. He’s given a single opportunity to try again, to change the outcome, to pursue the answer he never found.

But instead of rewinding back to the start of Lostbelt 7, Daybit goes further. Much further.

He rewinds all the way to the very beginning—before the explosion at Chaldea, before the Lostbelts, before Team A was sealed into the coffins. This time, Daybit evades the collapse of the command room. This time, he does not follow the other Crypters into slumber or betrayal. Instead, he walks a different path.

He joins Chaldea’s new timeline and aligns himself with a girl he once underestimated: Ritsuka Fujimaru.

But his motives aren’t benevolent. This isn’t redemption—not yet. What drives him is an obsession. In his mind, Ritsuka is the one who defeated Ort. The one who overcame the impossible. The one who bested him.

In her, Daybit sees a rival unlike any he’s ever known. So he returns to the beginning—not to save her, not to support her, but to observe her. Study her. Surpass her. To do this, he refuses to take command as the 'Last Master of Humanity,' a title which would have gone to him as a member of Team A and the much more experienced Master than greenhorn Riri, much to everybody's surprise. In typical Daybit's manner, he refuses to elaborate beyond insisting that Riri is the best Master there is (because it's the truth in his mind! He hasn't surpassed her yet)

The rest of Chaldea doesn’t understand why Daybit defers to her leadership. Ritsuka herself is suspicious of his sincerity. But as the singularities unfold and the Lostbelt threat begins to stir once more, an unshakable bond forms—not through fate, but through day-by-day presence. Through belief. Through proximity. Through shared experience.

In trying to surpass her, Daybit begins to understand her. And through her, he begins to understand himself again.

The Pygmalion Effect

The heart of the story lies in the psychological concept known as the Pygmalion effect: when someone believes in you so completely, you begin to rise to meet their expectations. Ritsuka, who starts the story uncertain and insecure, begins to grow into her role because Daybit believes in her without question. That belief changes her. And, over time, it begins to change him too.

This story isn’t just about one person sculpting another. It's about two people who become better versions of themselves through mutual belief. Ritsuka sees through Daybit’s inhuman detachment (in typical Riri's fashion. What's a Cloudcuckoolander Daybit compared to literal BEAST Draco?). She recognizes his pain and loneliness, which even Daybit himself fails to vocalize. In doing so, she returns his gaze with her own belief—that he isn’t beyond saving, that he’s still human underneath.

The Shape of a Life: Daybit, Riri, and the Slow Return to Humanity

One of the most grounding elements of Pygmalion is the day-to-day life that quietly unfolds between Daybit, Ritsuka, and Mash. After the decision is made to support Riri, Daybit quite literally never leaves her side. He insists it’s necessary to observe her constantly in order to surpass her—he must be there at every moment to record her strengths, catalog her missteps, and understand her entirely.

And so, Daybit eats when Riri eats. Trains when she trains. Reads mission reports at her side. They review battle data together, share coffee across the table, and discuss Servant summoning strategies long into the night. Eventually, sleeping arrangements become shared, too—not from romantic initiative, but because Riri falls asleep at her desk too often and Daybit refuses to leave her unattended. In his words: “It is vital to track the frequency and condition of her REM cycles.”

Mash, ever loyal, is often close by. In many ways, this strange trio becomes a unit—Chaldea’s emotional core. Riri becomes something of a pseudo big sister to both of them, despite Daybit technically being her senpai. Where he brings raw analytical ability and bizarre alien foresight, she brings warmth and trust and an instinctive grasp of people.

What starts as Daybit’s obsessive campaign to study and “surpass” her becomes something else entirely. Through Riri’s routines—meals, laughter, arguments, fatigue, quiet joy—he begins to feel again. He starts noticing things: how good coffee tastes after a long mission. How soothing Riri’s voice is when she’s humming without realizing it. How Mash smiles a little more easily when the three of them are together.

Without meaning to, Daybit begins to experience what he lost: a sense of family. And while he would never use that word himself, it takes root in the quiet spaces between battles—in the walk to the cafeteria, the silence before sleep, the shared glance across a crowded control room. For someone so thoroughly estranged from humanity, routine becomes a lifeline. Intimacy, even platonic, becomes a catalyst.

Riri doesn’t notice at first. She simply enjoys the company and tries to take care of both of them. But slowly, through a hundred unnoticed moments, she becomes the center of a new constellation—a small, strange, but fiercely devoted family. In essence, Riri becomes a lens through which Daybit can perceive his own humanity again.

The Alien Within: Daybit and the Question of Intimacy

There’s a specific narrative I want to explore through Daybit, inspired in part by Phoenix by Osamu Tezuka (and its later reinterpretation in Saya no Uta) and my own interpretation of Daybit as a character (which I probably should write out one of these days). It’s the idea of a person whose perception of humanity has been fundamentally altered—someone who no longer sees other people as people. Someone for whom connection becomes foreign and unsettling.

Daybit, in this story, doesn’t simply struggle with love or intimacy; he doesn’t even process it in the same way anymore. He’s so alienated from humanity—emotionally, psychologically, even spiritually—that human urges and instincts don’t quite register as real to him. When he looks at others, he doesn’t see potential partners. He sees something akin to how we might view another species.

It’s not that he can’t form bonds. It’s that he doesn’t expect to or even thinks he needs to. But then, into that distorted landscape, walks Riri.

He doesn’t initially see her as a woman or even a person, but as an anomaly. A perplexing variable that he cannot simulate, cannot solve, like how she even bested him in the canon Lostbelt 7. Slowly, through observation and prolonged proximity, she becomes the exception to his estrangement. Not through any deliberate seduction, but through sheer presence—through being human in a way he had forgotten was possible.

In intimate moments, he doesn’t perceive her body as a biological object. Instead, he processes it through alien metaphor: as glass, as sand, as something granular and collapsing yet beautiful in its impermanence. His approach to sexuality is less instinctual and more cognitive—curious, reverent, disoriented. And it’s through this lens that he begins to re-approach what it means to be human at all.

Ensemble Cast and Ripple Effects

In this timeline, the Crypters begin to survive. Daybit’s interference changes the game. The grand sacrificial ritual behind the Lostbelts starts to unravel. More of Team A wakes up and sees what’s become of Chaldea—and of Daybit.

Many assume he’s running the show, only to be surprised when they realize it’s Ritsuka in charge, and that Daybit defers to her completely.

That confusion sparks speculation. Is Ritsuka a product of mage-breeding experiments? A genetically engineered super-Master? The Crypters can’t believe someone as unremarkable as her could be that good—so they start looking for hidden reasons.

Only Beryl, strangely enough, sees the truth. He knows love when he sees it.

And so begins a chain reaction. The rest of the Crypters start to bond, to grow, even to form their own ill-fated or awkward relationships. Chaldea becomes a strange sort of found family—one with plenty of dysfunction, plenty of arguments, but also moments of warmth and honesty. There's even a light parody thread running through it: "nature documentary"-style commentary on the "mating habits" of socially inept magi.

The Conspiracy: Who—or What—is Riri?

As Daybit continues to defer to Riri and the Crypters begin to rejoin Chaldea, something unexpected happens. Whispers begin to circulate. Because to them, Riri shouldn’t be possible. In canon, Riri's success was chalked up to as nothing more than a fluke and the result of her hiding behind Mash by the Crypters (except Wodime but he didn't exactly share that with the class). But in this timeline, Daybit's presence and continual deference to Riri in battle and in decision making as a Master throws that assumption out the window. Mash's deference can be reasoned away because she was just a fancy homunculus to the mages. But Daybit is considered Wodime's peer. There's absolutely no way Daybit would defer to some unknown neophyte without a reason.

The Crypters know Chaldea. They were the elite. Team A was handpicked by Marisbury himself. And yet here’s this complete outsider—a supposed “average” Master candidate who somehow survived the destruction of Chaldea, succeeded where no one else could, and has Daybit of all people in her orbit, treating her like the sun around which he orbits.

They start to wonder: is she really just a lucky survivor?

A theory takes root. That Ritsuka Fujimaru was never just a random candidate. That she may have been the final product of an off-book genetic engineering project—Marisbury’s last, hidden card. A counterpoint to Mash Kyrielight: whereas Mash was engineered to contain a Heroic Spirit, perhaps Riri was designed to command them. A Master refined at the genetic level, optimized for survival, summoning, and leadership.

The fact that she and Mash are inseparable only fuels the theory. Were they meant to function as a paired unit? A living singularity and its anchor? It makes a certain kind of sense because Mash while she was working with Team A never displayed this level of power, initiative, and agency. She couldn't even manifest her servant power in a controlled manner. But if she's essentially a lock just waiting for the key to unlock her true potential, then Riri's presence and their combined success make a lot of sense. And now, with Marisbury gone, has Daybit—forever the outsider among mages—stepped in to claim the prize before anyone else realized what she was?

Even if the theory is false, it spreads fast. It’s easier for the Crypters to believe in a conspiracy than in a miracle.

An Unconventional Romance

Their relationship is not straightforward. For the longest time, Daybit sees Ritsuka not as a love interest, but as a rival—his greatest adversary. He meticulously documents her successes and her failures, determined to surpass her. His “affection” manifests as an obsessive need to learn from her and record everything she does, including moments as mundane as her falling asleep on the command room desk.

He’s oblivious to the fact that this has long since become something deeper. The Chaldea staff eventually catches on, of course. Some even tries to intervene in an attempt to help the poor, socially inept young man with his massive crush... to no avail. Daybit insists that everything he does is so that he can surpass her one day. What? This journal he keeps to record everything about her, even down to her nap time and favorite food and all the little stumbles she makes? Clearly, these are useful data points and potential blackmail materials to be used to devastating effect. There’s even a betting pool on when—or if—he’ll realize it himself. And naturally, there’s comedic potential here: Daybit sabotaging Valentine’s Day to intercept chocolates meant for Ritsuka, criticizing Servants like Dantes for being “untrustworthy,” and insisting on spending every waking hour “calibrating” with her for “operational efficiency.”

Finale: Conflict and Clarity

Hah! Well, I can't put too many details here because I don't want to spoil the plot, but it will involve an alternate Lostbelt 7. This is where it starts for Daybit (and Riri), and this is where it will end. This is the stage of their showdown... and their first big argument (break up! In typical romantic plot!)

It will be explosive! Action! Speed! Car chase! Guns galore in typical American action romance fashion! The young couple meet in battle to resolve their differences! All that jazz!

The Ending: A Declaration

The ending is, in a sense, Daybit's proposal to Riri, in the usual Daybit's fashion. He tells Ritsuka that she is, and always has been, his greatest adversary. That he wants to surpass her. That he will be there at every stumble, and rise beyond every triumph.

It’s a confession in his own language.

And Ritsuka, with tears and laughter and maybe a few swears, throws it right back at him. Yes, she's going to be his rival! Now and forever! Provided he doesn't mess up again! And no he won't surpass her anytime soon, because she's going to try her damnedest to keep the lead on him.

A Story About Belief

At its core, Pygmalion Gazes at the Stars is a story about how belief transforms people—how seeing someone clearly, and choosing to believe in them, can be the most powerful form of love. It’s about alienation and reconnection. Found family. Quiet moments at the edge of the universe.

It’s not just Daybit sculpting Ritsuka into the savior of humanity. It’s also Ritsuka remaking Daybit into someone who, for the first time in a very long time, looks up at the stars and doesn’t feel so alone.

[dottielovegood]

Beautiful! When can we indulge in some more „Heat“? I am cravibg your fic sooo bad 🥺

Hi!

The next chapter is currently 2034 words long (my chapters are usually 7000+ words). Out of those 2034 words, I would say that 65 % are shit, or not even written in English (my drafts are usually a messy mix of languages, lol).

BUT

Since it's the last day of Elriel month, I'll give you a little snippet of the next chapter. My original plan was to finish the fic during Elriel month, but life had other plans (like a new job that kept me busy + writer's block).

Mind you, I might change all of this when I actually finish + edit the chapter, but for now, this is the first part of the last chapter of HEAT.

Enjoy <3

───── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─────

Mate. 

You are my mate. 

Elain could do nothing but stand there and stare at him as the words seemed to echo between them. She knew what the words meant, of course she did. She had read the books. She had heard the stories. She had laughed at the absurdity of people believing that soulmates were real. Just a few months ago those words had held no meaning to her because she didn’t believe in such a thing.

Mates. 

It was something that only belonged in movies, or in romance novels, not real life. It was a fantasy that was about as real as unicorns. Nuala had even asked her a few weeks ago if she thought that she would find a mate now that she was an omega, and Elain had laughed at the question. Not because the question was funny, but because it made her feel a new sense of panic she had never experienced before. 

What if she did find a mate?

What if she was mated to someone she didn’t know? 

What if she didn’t even like the person?

If mates were real, how would you even know that you were compatible?

The questions she had never before considered had invaded her mind that day and for days after, she had been on edge, especially when she knew that there was an alpha nearby. What if that mate-thingy just snapped into place while she was in line at the grocery store? Could she be mated to an alpha that smelled like sour socks and sadness? Did she have a say in who she was mated to?  Could she say no?

The mere thought of being mated to another person had scared the living shit out of her and now, here she stood, one hand on the doorknob while the other rested on Azriel’s chest. 

Over his heart. 

My mate, he had called her. She waited for the panic to set in. She waited for the questions and the doubt and the shock to bubble up from the depths where she had buried it all. She waited, and waited, and waited, but the panic never came. Azriel’s heart was beating a steady rhythm beneath her palm. A rhythm that matched her own. Home, her heart seemed to tell her. He was home.

[altacctforastarion]

Omg I loved your underdark fic could i request astarion finally proposing to Tav and some wedding day hcs (maybe some night afternsfw)

Love this! I thought about adding a wedding type thing to the Underdark fic but I was worried about how many time skips I already put in it so I’m so glad you requested this!

Terrified that I misunderstood and you wanted a fic about the proposal and just hc about the wedding, but I wrote both in hc format and now I’m very worried, after finishing and rereading your request after working on this draft for quite awhile….so I really hope you like it and I’m sorry in advance if not.

Warnings: nsfw content at the end, 18+ mdni, sickening fluff.

-I think he’d try to feel you out on your thoughts of marriage. Also I imagine it would take someone else getting married or mentioning it before he even thinks about it because that kind of life never seemed to be in the cards until he got with you. So like obvi he wants forever with you but you already agreed to that and you’ve already built a life together, so I don’t think marriage would be a thing he just thinks about? Not like he doesn’t want it or has something against it, but that seems like a mundane “normal people” thing, and he doesn’t tend to think about those things seeing as the two of you saved the world together and rule over 7000 people together.

-But then like someone gets proposed to and you get so excited about their union. Then one of the spawn starts selling jewelry and the two of you go just to check it out and he sees you looking at an engagement ring for just a second too long and it hits him: the two of you aren’t married and you might want to be.

-He doesn’t know how to ask what you think about marriage. Like, dude knows how to seduce 100%, but being soft? Flirting with someone he’s already with? He cant even tell you you’re the only person he’s ever truly cared for without scoffing at you and ending the conversation in the game. This man can NOT ask you about soft domestic things without some internal struggle of how to and if he should do it. I can see him second guessing whether or not you were actually interested in the rings and stressing about it.

-he can’t find a way to ask. He sends a sending spell to Shadowheart, asking her to bring it up to you in a subtle way when you speak out her next. She responds immediately telling him that you’ve already told her you were hoping he would get the hints you’d been dropping.

-Hints? He’s agonized over this for so long and apparently you’ve been dropping hints this whole time? Outraged he asks her if you’d mentioned anything else, and her response is as detailed as she can be with her allotted 25 words, describing a ring that you’d told her about.

-he knows which one immediately. It’s the one you looked at when you were in the shop, and it dawns on him that you let him see you stare at it, hinting at him. He’s an idiot.

-You leave on an errand and he’s running to that store to buy the ring, swearing everyone in the shop to secrecy.

-He waits to propose. He wants it to be perfect for you, and he spends over a tenday planning.

-One night he wakes you up in the middle of the night and tells you he’d like to take you on a date.

-“Right now?!” “Yes, darling, I can’t take you out in the day so now will have to do. I laid out an outfit for you.”

-the outfit is beautiful and all of it is new, it’s nothing you already had in your wardrobe, he’s clearly made notes on what you like to wear and your favorite colors, and when you look at him you realize he’s gotten himself new clothes as well.

-if you try to ask him about it he just shushes you and urges you to hurry up and get dressed.

-He takes you by the hand and the two of you leave the Underdark, and walk in the forest for awhile before he covers your eyes, leading you somewhere else.

-It’s a beautiful clearing on a cliff that he’s decorated with intricate lanterns, hanging them on strings that he’s tied in the trees. He’s laid out a blanket right in the center with very soft looking cushions. There’s also a basket sitting next to the blanket, and gods, it’s a very nice basket, obviously he’s put a lot of thought into everything.

-When he uncovers your eyes he lets you take it all in, anxiously watching you as you look around and only relaxing when he sees the grin on your face as you turn and reach for him. He kisses you soft and loving and then urges you to have a seat, he’s got other things planned.

-He sits next to you and takes your hands in his, and tells you that today is the day the two of you met, a year ago after you crashed the nautiloid. The two of you laugh and talk about that day for awhile, and he tells you that he never thought his life would be this way, but something seems to be missing.

-You ask him what he means and he just kisses you, and you feel a hand leave yours for a moment before it’s back, holding a small box.

-“We’ve already agreed on forever, but I would love to promise it to you, if you’ll allow it.” He says, opening the box and you don’t even fucking look at the ring before telling him of course you’d allow it, and kissing him.

-when the kiss breaks he’s smiling, wholesome despite the fangs poking through, and his eyes seem a bit watery. You look at the ring and it’s exactly what you wanted, perfect in every way, and he times it from the box, sliding it onto your finger. It fits like it was made for you.

-“I hope Shadowheart was right when she described what you’d wanted, if not we can go back, I’ll get you whatever you want, my love.”

-“It’s perfect. All of this is perfect.”

-A lone tear rolls down his cheeks and the barely contained anxiety breaks as he tells you all about the preparations, his panic, running to the store to get you the ring and how hard it was to keep all of this from you. It’s insanely endearing.

- “But enough of that!” he turns to the basket and pulls out champagne and two glasses, opening it and sending the cork flying off the cliff in front of you with a laugh, pouring it in both glasses. “To us, and getting married.”

—

-The wedding takes quite a bit of planning and work, you both want as many of your friends as possible there for it, almost everyone can travel to you, including various npcs you met in the game and have an attachment to, but Karlach and Wyll can’t leave Avernus, and you don’t really have a way to reach Lae’zel while she travels around.

-Until the day of, of course, when Withers shows up as you’re going over final preparations, with two portals, one for Lae’zel and another for Wyll and Karlach.

-Everyone is ecstatic, all back together for a beautiful wedding, not to mention getting to see what the two of you have been up to in the Underdark.

-I think the two of you would go to the spot in the Myconids colony where you’re up high with the sovereign, and I think the Myconids would be happy to fill the space with music. So like you two are up high and your friends/Astarion’s siblings are seated on the mushrooms that work like a staircase, then everyone else fills in at the big opening before you enter the colony in game. Beautiful area and spacious.

-I think Astarion would be wearing an outfit similar to AA’s epilogue outfit, Spawn Astarion’s fit is lovely on him but it’s very much a “I’m comfortable and happy and settled down” look, and not a wedding day look. The colors would correspond with your choice of colors for whatever you wear, I don’t really see him wanting to wear the opposite color of what you wear unless it’s like a black white kind of thing and I just don’t see him in a tux. However it ends up, you both look amazing.

-Gale or Withers marry you, or maybe the two of you just say your vows to eachother and follow the normal wedding format without anyone else up there, I think Astarion would be happy with whatever you want, he just wants to be with you forever and see you happy.

-He cries, you cry, Karlach sobs, and it ends with everyone cheering and some loud music from the Myconids (you can rip the Myconids absolutely loving tav from my cold dead hands. Like they’re just sick af, beautiful living mushrooms that want to live and protect their people, and you come in and say “yeah I’ll fix all of your issues and you will live in peace” and then you move there and make fucking sure they are safe with your army of spawns. They might not be capable of actual love, but they do care about you and they seem pretty agreeable.)

-The two of you dance up there, in front of everyone and I can see him dipping you over the cliff, just for the thrill of danger, just like old times. It’s a perfect day full of love and friends and family.

—

-As soon as you’re back in your room he’s kissing you, pressing you up against the door and telling you he loves you, lips against you neck as he feels your wild pulse.

-I think both of you are giggling when he pushes you onto the bed, and you laugh as you tell him you need to get undressed before he ruins your clothing.

-When you’re finally naked, after quite a few interruptions (he can’t keep his hands and lips off of you, and you’re just as bad as he starts undressing), he pushes you down again, kissing you slow and just feeling your body against his, grinding down on you with slow hip rolls and holding you tight against him.

-He’s telling you over and over that he loves you, how gorgeous you are, how perfect you are, kissing all over your body and not letting you lift a finger.

-He makes you cum until you’re begging for him to get inside of you, and it’s not even intentional, he just wants you to feel the maximum amount of pleasure, he’s just so fucking obsessed with you.

-When he finally fucks you, it’s slow and gentle, rocking into you while he talks to you, promising forever, meaningful words of praise. He kisses you like every second is being savored, like he’s committing all of it to memory.

-When you cum again, he looks down at you with so much affection it hurts, and he stops moving after working you through it, just staring at you, not even caring about finding his own release.

-You push him then, moving so he’s on his back and you’re on top of him, riding him hard, and that’s doing it for him too, seeing you take your own pleasure with his. His hands caress you, gentle, he just wants to feel you everywhere, to worship you, and you give that same attention back to him.

-The two of you just don’t shut up. A million praises and compliments and I love you’s and honestly you might as well just be saying your vows over and over.

-You don’t sleep that night, basking eachother in attention and just staying up talking.

[densewentz]

Dense, it looks like you need enrichment in your enclosure, so I thought I'd let you know that I've gone feral for your Dreamling Dads AU. There's like 3 oneshots drafted on my computer. There's a 20K+ longshot fic worked out in bullet points. There's Kian and Matthew playing pranks on Dream. There's a holiday special with family Christmas Cards. There's eldritch powers. There's quality parenting.

Your Kian took over my NaNoWriMo gosh dang it I was supposed to be working on something else.

And yet. Here I am, with a 7000+ word doc filled with thoughts and ideas about this baby boy and his eldritch dad and his slightly less-eldritch dad.

I really want to post something soon, I'll be sure to let you know if I can actually pencil it in amidst the New Years heyday.

This just literally made my entire day I'm going to weep openly wtf??? Inflicting Kian and his Centennial Dads on this fandom has been such a treat for me, and that you guys seem to actually be enjoying it makes me absolutely feral!! I cannot WAIT to read just, all of that?? That is so wild and I'm going to be champing at the bit now. Definitely let me know if/when you share any of it 💕 Have a quicky 2am sketch as a treat!! (kian thanks u for your love)

[starsfic]

June Commissions Open

Hey there, I’m Charlie!

I’m taking any extra money I can make, so I’m opening 10 commission slots a month.

You can either message me on Tumblr or email me at writingamongthecoloredroses@gmail.com. I find it easier to send it through Ko-Fi, which I’ll send a link to. I will send a finished first draft for the client to look over to see if anything needs to be added or removed. Please keep in mind that there might be a time difference in communication. I will ask for details. If you want a story with your OCs, it will be incredibly helpful to have a description of these OCs.

I will possibly crosspost the commission on Tumblr and AO3, unless requested not to, and you will receive a PDF version of your story. You are allowed to crosspost it yourself if credit is given back to me. I do have the right to deny anything that makes me uncomfortable.

There will be a $5 discount if the story requested is for any of my prior writings.

Prices below:

500-1000 words- $5

1000-2000 words- $10

2000-3000 words- $15

3000-4000 words- $20

4000-5000 words- $25

5000-6000 words- $30

6000-7000 words- $35

7000-8000 words- $40

8000-9000 words- $45

9000-10000 words- $50

10000-11000 words- $55

11000-12000 words- $60

12000-13000 words- $65

13000-14000 words- $70

14000-15000 words- $75

For longer wordcounts we can discuss. There is also a $10 smut charge for smut.

Thank you!

At the suggestion of a commissioner who I refunded because I was uncomfortable with their story (they were super understanding and I’m thankful for that), here’s a list of things I am uncomfortable writing:

Hate art

Rape, non-con, and dub-con

Super massive gore

Incest

Pedophilia

Kink with farting/pee/poop, foot/armpit

[writingamongther0ses]

June Commissions Open

Hey there, I’m Charlie!

I’m taking any extra money I can make, so I’m opening 10 commission slots a month for original works.

You can either message me on Tumblr or email me at writingamongthecoloredroses@gmail.com. I find it easier to send it through Ko-Fi, which I’ll send a link to. I will send a finished first draft for the client to look over to see if anything needs to be added or removed. Please keep in mind that there might be a time difference in communication. I will ask for details. If you want a story with your OCs, it will be incredibly helpful to have a description of these OCs.

I will possibly crosspost the commission on Tumblr and AO3, unless requested not to, and you will receive a PDF version of your story. You are allowed to crosspost it yourself if credit is given back to me. I do have the right to deny anything that makes me uncomfortable.

There will be a $5 discount if the story requested is for any of my prior writings.

Prices below:

500-1000 words- $5

1000-2000 words- $10

2000-3000 words- $15

3000-4000 words- $20

4000-5000 words- $25

5000-6000 words- $30

6000-7000 words- $35

7000-8000 words- $40

8000-9000 words- $45

9000-10000 words- $50

10000-11000 words- $55

11000-12000 words- $60

12000-13000 words- $65

13000-14000 words- $70

14000-15000 words- $75

For longer wordcounts we can discuss.

Thank you!

At the suggestion of a commissioner who I refunded because I was uncomfortable with their story (they were super understanding and I’m thankful for that), here’s a list of things I am uncomfortable writing:

Hate art

Rape, non-con, and dub-con

Super massive gore

Incest

Pedophilia

Kink with farting/pee/poop, foot/armpit

[hardwareabstractionlayer]

(the post editor malfunctioned and after a series of unfortunate events the original ask post is gone, so I had to make this screenshot mockup of the ask, sorry)

Thank you for prodding me to finish up a draft that's been sitting there for an inexplicably long time.

I will divide puns into exact homophones, which are pronounced exactly the same, and near homophones, which consist of the same phonemes with different tones. Though exact homophones are much punnier in speech, Internet jokes rely heavily upon text input and most people use phonetic-based Chinese input systems, meaning their autocompletes will often suggest near homophones and people will use them if they're funny enough.

To make this slightly statistically sound and not just me making up random puns, I grabbed 700k viewer comments from the years NiF was available on Youku, 2015 to 2020 (courtesy of danmu box). These danmu/弹幕 comments are timed to a particular moment in the show so they splash across the screen while you watch.

Let's start with the heavy hitters:

Xie Yu/谢玉 is an exact homophone of xièyù/泄欲, literally discharging desire, which means satisfying one’s lust or orgasming. Xie Yu's name occurs 5000+ times in the comments versus almost 900 orgasms.

Prince Yu/誉王 is an exact homophone of yùwáng/欲王, meaning prince of lust, and a near homophone, of yùwàng/欲望, which means desire (or the chaotic evil penis). The latter is far more likely to be autocompleted and shows up 1500+ times versus 200+ for the prince of lust.

Yùjīn/豫津 is a near homophone of yùjìn, 欲禁, or forbidden lust/abstinence. Because bath towel/浴巾 is an exact homophone and again far more likely to come up first in autocomplete, people overwhelmingly refer to him as the towel. In the comments, bath towel is used nearly 7000 times, 10x more frequently than his actual name, which is made up of two not-super-common characters.

Mei Changsu is often addressed as Su-xiong/苏兄 by Jingrui and Yujin in canon, which is an exact homophone of sūxiōng/酥胸, a literary term for supple and beautiful breasts that might have the same old-fashioned connotation as heaving bosom does in English. I'm going to call him gorgeous tits because he does bear a striking resemblance to the azure tit:

I've seen Chinese MCS fans note this resemblance before, but these birds don't have titillating names in Chinese so you can have this bonus joke for English speakers. Anyways, gorgeous tits are invoked in nearly 6000 comments versus almost 1200 for Su-xiong itself.

Now you can enjoy one of the comments from the above screenshot exclaiming over these names:

浴巾裹着酥胸，泄欲，这都什么什么 a bath towel (yujin) wrapped around gorgeous tits (su-xiong), orgasming (xie yu), what is all this

And the following off-color joke retold many times throughout the episodes:

Why is Mei Changsu called Su-xiong and not Mei-xiong? Because he has gorgeous tits, not tiny ones (Méi-xiōng/梅兄 is an exact homophone of flat-chested/没胸).

Here are some rarer-but-still-good puns:

Gōng Yǔ/宫羽 is a near homophone of gòngyù/共浴, bathing together (cue viewer comments about how she and bath towel belong with each other).

Níhuáng/霓凰 is a near homophone of nǐhuáng/你黄, slang meaning you’re perverted.

The emperor lives in Yǎngjū Hall/养居殿, a near homophone of penis hall since yángjù/阳具 is the yang implement, though it's most popularly punned with pigpen (I wrote about this here if you scroll to the end).

The travelogue Mei Changsu wrote annotations in, 翔地记, is an exact homophone of xiángdìjì/降帝记, or records of subduing the emperor (which I can only interpret as MCS’s Dom Diaries on how to conquer Jingyan).

To conclude, here’s a stacked area chart of the four horsemen of punny NiF names and how often they're spammed:

[when-wax-wings-melt]

Keeper of the Lost Cities: A Love-Hate-Love Relationship, And What It Can Do To Your Psyche 

This is the essay you guys wanted to see after this presentation dropped; to be clear, this is the final draft. The presentation was made from the rough draft, so it's rather different.

Also, the essay prompt was to make it personal. So the italicized bits are where I was trying to do that, and they are both separate and a part of the essay. They break up the flow, but are also a response to the normal bits of the essay. You get it. Here we go.

In total, the Keeper of The Lost Cities (KOTLC) series by Shannon Messenger has over 7000 pages, split between nine and a half books (Book 8.5 was, uselessly, a novella) with a planned tenth coming in late 2024. It’s the kind of series that hooks you the same way a fisherman hooks a fish: with a promise of a treat that goes very, very unfulfilled. This is to say: KOTLC is a good series, at least at first. It’s certainly been my core obsession for a good (or bad) five years. It’s a hook because you can’t escape once you’ve begun. It’s my own personal brand of heroine, as Edward Cullen might say if Bella were a too-long book series that doesn’t resolve any plotlines or character arcs and instead piles more information on top of worldbuilding until contradictions are more plentiful than the packed main cast.

KOTLC is a good series, but the idea of recommending it feels like I’d be violating several articles of the Geneva Convention. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, and yet the thought of it ending is an impossibility on the scale of the apocalypse and I hope (I’d rather) the world ends before this series does. KOTLC is a minefield of sloppy worldbuilding, deeply compelling characters, and---where am i without it?---bits of myself woven into the many, many words, sinking under my skin and revealing what I think I have to offer. 

Sophie Foster is the protagonist of the series, trudging the long, never-ending path to what hopefully will be a happy ending. Like the author, Sophie has blonde hair and brown eyes, making her unique among her fellow elves, who all have blue eyes, including the rare-among-the-main-cast people of color.

There are so many things that make Sophie weird, strange, unique, attractive to every boy who sees her, and otherwise out of the ordinary: for example, she has five special abilities that allow her to teleport, read minds, inflict pain, speak any language, and enhance the abilities of others---i cannot do what she can, but she breathes and i do too---There are certain things she has very much in common with her fellow elves, such as her slender build and flawless skin, but much more makes her, as her childhood bullies would say, “A Special Sophie-Flake.”

Sophie was raised by humans, which not only means that the steadily growing pile of unique traits is now tottering dangerously above my head, but also that she’s clumsy and wildly insecure. This insecurity has a purpose and a source, making it one of the most annoyingly (and terrifyingly) accurate depictions of teenage anxiety in middle-grade media (if I were a vampire pulled from normal vampire lore rather than Twilight and I looked at her, I’d be invisible)---so do you get it? do i? 

which one of us is me---Sophie has intense imposter syndrome, never believing she’s worthy of the overwhelming support, approval, and desire heaped upon her throughout her years in the Lost Cities. In Book One, four teenage boys were no less than obsessed with her, possibly because she, presumably, talked to them sometimes. Valin, a “drooly boy” (named due to his constant drooling, as one might expect), is forced to ballroom dance with Sophie in detention, and later gives her a card and a bracelet professing his admiration. Dex Dizznee manages to sustain his crush until he finally makes his move in Book Six, and is rejected in humiliation after she kisses him to make him realize his feelings aren’t actually real---when I know that he was lying to himself, is lying to himself. truth is a phase and it ends once you hit age eight---After Book Six, only two remain: Fitz and Keefe, each of whom has made their crushes very, desperately, embarrassingly clear to someone who very clearly returns both sets of feelings.

“Sooner or later you're going to have to solve the triangle. Or should we get real and call it a square?” (Messenger Neverseen), notes Keefe, with his usual subtle confession of his feelings---only leaving me with questions: did he want her to know at all? is he chasing the person or the change? the girl or the excitement? the wanting or the wanted?---The love polygon of however many vertices is both acknowledged and not by Sophie— she’s aware of her feelings for Fitz from chapter two of Book One, becomes aware of her feelings for Keefe in Book Nine, and mentally friend-zones Dex every other sentence, even when it’s not really relevant to the rest of her inner monologue. Her inability to believe with confidence that she might be worthy of a crush (or any sort of positive acknowledgment) is layered beneath every thought where she considers the possibility of being liked, and then promptly dismisses it.

---she knows that admitting it means being wrong. i will be wrong, unless i guess right and am big-headed, full of myself. who am i---

Sophie’s oblivious nature stems from her human upbringing, directly resulting from the trauma of developing the ability to read minds at age five. She hears her parents wishing she were normal or better at making friends and fitting in, her sister complaining about her presence, and her classmates at school judging everything she does.

She sticks out like a sore thumb in the human world, only to come to the elven world and be called a freak, malfunctioning, a genetic experiment, and a failure, just when she thought she might fit in---when i am a puzzle piece, a corner without the connection---Her alienation in the human world (referred to as the Forbidden Cities in the series) comes from her level of success, skipping five grades due to her elven intelligence and photographic memory, and getting into Harvard at age twelve.

While she hates the combination of jealousy and admiration she’s constantly showered with there---who hates it and loves it at the same time? isolation and contradiction---in the elven world, she’s hated for other reasons: accidentally breaking laws, making mistakes, or simply being a blip on the seemingly perfect streak the elven world has for peace and security. Is there any mystery as to why she would never believe that people actually, genuinely care for her? She’s formed her protective coating of denial that lasts her through every time Fitz gives her a gift and she convinces herself it means nothing, or every time Dex shows his jealousy, or every time Keefe goes to her before anyone else.

Even when she kisses Dex, after he tells her in anything but words that he likes her, she doubts herself—are two sides of the same coin, where heads is insecurity and tails is egotism. question: who is she?---She doesn’t think he actually likes her, appreciates her, admires her. This doubt works its way into everything she does, every relationship she has, platonic, romantic, or otherwise. Yet again, she shows her status as a reflection---answer: she’s a mirror. i know who i am because she exists---reading into everything and still not believing or trusting that it truly exists outside of her imagination.

Any time Sophie sees a girl she perceives as prettier, more elegant, or smarter than she is, she instantly develops a jealousy complex—relating either to how Fitz acts around them, or how they project the confidence and normalcy she wishes she can achieve---to tell me whether or not i am alone---She surrounds herself with people who are described as incredibly stunning even in a world where every elf naturally matches the ideal Western beauty standard.

Yet she refuses to believe that she, too, might be beautiful, and instead considers herself dull and boring next to Biana, Linh, Marella, and Maruca---(and ten books later, i still do not have an answer)---Even Stina, who has committed the number one crime (it’s a federal offense) of having “a mass of frizzy curls” (KOTLC 164), is considered beautiful when her hair is “tamed” and slicked back. This framing of beauty applies to the boys, too, but none of Sophie’s descriptions are quite as detailed, quite as admiring, or quite as wistful as when she’s describing Biana Vacker’s heart-shaped, perfectly glossed lips---so, yes, i look at her and see myself. is that what i’m trying to say? is that what i am?---

But the queer-coding doesn’t stop (or begin, really) with Sophie’s dedicated denial of both her worth as a human being and her desire to kiss her pretty girl friends. A connection called a “Cognate Bond” is often referred to in the text as the closest two elves can become, emotionally and mentally.

Cognates exist when two Telepaths (such as Sophie) have such a deep and unbreakable trust bond that they become more skilled together than they were apart. In creating and maintaining this bond, they have to complete trust exercises and not hold back secrets keeping them from total confidentiality---she thrives on secrets---Sophie’s cognate is her friend (and love interest, and, debatably, ex-boyfriend) Fitz, whose romantic relationship was in a large part focused on their cognate one. Their trust exercises involve staring into each other’s eyes, holding hands, having matching rings, and Fitz telling Sophie that she’s the only person he can truly trust.

Fitz also asks his father at one point if cognates are allowed to date each other— his father affirms the statement. Notably, Alden has the authority to do so since he himself was a cognate, only undergoing a nasty breakup— sorry, only losing the bond, after his cognate, Quinlin, kept too many secrets. It’s implied that two other characters were once almost Cognates, only to grow too far apart when one of them, Prentice, had his sanity forcibly shattered and was locked in prison, leaving his (gay lover) best friend, Tiergan, to raise his son---while cognatedom thrives on truth, and also regret, and also the denial of both---The choice to parallel Fitz/Sophie, Alden/Quinlin, and Tiergan/Prentice was possibly not a conscious one but it still resonates with hundreds of queer teen readers who look at the portrayal of utter devotion and trust between two men and think, Wow. This is what I see in myself---but without the denial, without the regret, what are we left with? what do we see?

we see the truth.

We see ourselves.

There are so, so many other issues that I could easily delve into in this series (such as the strangely Western portrayal of gender roles, the racism concerning the Song family, irresponsible adults and the ethics of genetic experimentation, the girlboss and cardboardification of quite literally every woman, etc) and just as many things that make Keeper of the Lost Cities worth it (Fitz’s anger, the development of villains, Sophie’s trans-coding, Keefe’s trauma, physical ramifications of guilt, Marella and Fintans’ pyrokinesis/queer-coding, whatever Dimitar has going on, etc).

The series tends to skew to the “not good” side, although on occasion it will topple abruptly into the “incredible work of art and exploration of wildly interesting character dynamics” before rising like an angel back to heaven into its original position as “questionable in terms of taste.” Mostly, what defines KOTLC is how it’s interpreted rather than the content itself. Someone far different (and with far worse taste) than I might see Fitz’s quest for vengeance and call him a red flag in elven form, while I call it a ridiculously interesting exploration of what grief, near idol worship, toxic standards, and guilt can do to a teenage boy past his limit.

But I am not the voice of the fandom (even though I definitely should be). I look at Sophie Foster and see myself, but that does not make her me. These characters always feel so painfully real, desperately relatable, as if Messenger cobbled together a main cast from bits of my life, but they are not. In the end, they are just characters. In the end, it’s just a series made for middle schoolers, in the same way the sun is just the sun, and the stars are just there to twinkle merrily and not to be explored.

(where am i without it? I cannot do what she can, but she breathes and I do too so do you get it? do i?  which one of us is me when I know that he was lying to himself, is lying to himself. truth is a phase and it ends once you hit age eight only leaving me with questions: did he want her to know at all? is he chasing the person or the change? the girl or the excitement? the wanting or the wanted? she knows that admitting it means being wrong. i will be wrong, unless i guess right and am big-headed, full of myself. who am i when i am a puzzle piece, a corner without the connection who hates it and loves it at the same time? isolation and contradiction aretwo sides of the same coin, where heads is insecurity and tails is egotism. question: who is she? answer: she’s a mirror. i know who i am because she exists to tell me whether or not i am alone (and ten books later, i still do not have an answer) so, yes, i look at her and see myself. is that what i’m trying to say? is that what i am? she thrives on secrets while cognatedom thrives on truth, and also regret, and also the denial of both but without the denial, without the regret, what are we left with? what do we see? we see the truth. We see ourselves.

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

i'm having a real like crisis of faith about this project i guess because it's (sorta kinda) original fiction (ish) and therefore in a mode where i don't feel like i have a previous track record of success as measured by work i'm satisfied with and proud of and then also it is as i have mentioned 1 million times sorta kinda science fiction which is the genre i not only rarely read but frequently have a strong visceral aversion to (of course there are sci-fi things that i totally adore but that's neither here nor there). and then also i already did the ugly draft (and it was UUUGLYYYYY) so now i'm like prettying it up while also trying to plug 7000 conceptual holes i've talked myself into thinking about because i couldn't just do a cute fun parody and leave it at that for reasons that remain inexplicable to me, which also i think because of the extreme ugliness of the ugly draft i am being like insanely hypercritical over every sentence as it comes which is actually also probably subconsciously a form of procrastination for dealing with the Concepts (a thing i'm not interested in, which is why i don't read much sci-fi, but which i can't stop myself from thinking about because i've never been a good bullshitter because i'm fundamentally a really concrete and uncreative thinker). and on top of all of this all this effort and obsession is going towards a project where when i think about the best possible version of it (1) i think it kinda maxes out at "okay" and (2) it has a target audience of like nobody or maybe 3 people all of whom i personally know so like i am sweating all this to, what, put it up on substack in 2028? because that's how fucking long it feels like it's going to take? i don't know. i spent like 8 hours today while going about my normal activities quietly in the back of my head being like "maybe the actual problem is that i am stupid and know nothing and have nothing of worth to say." like it's really bad. but i can't stop....... for................ reasons. reasons inscrutable at this point even to me. but i do think at this point the first 3 paragraphs, for at least the next few hours, don't make me wanna jump off a bridge. so that's.... that. that's my prize. dumbest hobby in the WORLDDDDDDDD

[jekyll-doodles]

I’ve been meaning to ask how the whole “making stickers of every Scp” is going. Not because I want to rush you by any metric (it’s over 7000+ entries for christs sake), but I’m very excited to see merchandise for under appreciated characters like 3092 and 6080 :)

That process is still in process. I at least have my redbubble account made (waiting for "classification" or something).

I won't be tackling them all at once, taking it ten at time (the first 9 first for. obvious reasons? I'll tackle scp 001 later.) And maybe add more to each group depending on how that goes.

Still drafting out what style I want to use., both art wise and sticker wise. I have thumbnails for the first few drawn out.

I can't say how frequently I'll be working on it, but the idea is something I'll be able to upload once a month or so on. Depends on how taxing it is, work schedule, etc.

I'm still trying to get through art wips that have been in progress for a while. Other smaller sticker ideas, stex redesigns, au stuff, etc.

My goal right now is to focus on getting those wips done, and getting through the last few months of the school year (i work at a school). That way I can better focus over summer break.

[bonesfool]

hiiiii new Holmes mutuals/followers is anyone interested in maybe being a beta reader for my draft of my audio drama SHolmes adaptation? I'm pretty directly adapting a lot of bits from Doyle's writing (esp dialogue) and I'd love to have someone who is familiar with the source material read over my scripts to let me know if there are any points where its obvious its switching between directly copied Doyle/slightly changed Doyle/original writing

I have 5 episode drafts written so far, which range from 3000-7000 words each, and have 5 more to finish out Study in Scarlet

Basic premise is alternate history version of ACD canon where Britain is losing its grip on its empire (Most notably, lost the second Anglo-Afghan war) and certain technology (notably medical and radio) is anachronistically advanced. I am hoping to explore the portrayal of empire in Holmes stories/Victorian literature, as well as the politics of what became the root of most of the modern crime genre (with a very anti-imperial, abolitionist bent. I also want to explore the class and gender politics of the Victorian era, particularly with regards to the recurring plot elements of secrets, marriage, affairs, and blackmail in the original stories

Watson lost his arm in the war and was given a prosthetic. He was given basically a tape recorder as a therapy device as a replacement for journaling since he has difficulty writing with both his prosthetic and his non-dominant arm. He is being written as experiencing psychosis, as well as what would likely be diagnosed as OCD and PTSD by modern psychiatry

Holmes is a gay trans man who has been living stealth his entire adult life, but spent many formative years working in and around the truth of what the "Bohemian lifestyle" romanticized (poverty, crime, drugs, and sex work). He is being written with the idea that if his character existed in a world with modern day understandings of psychiatry he would be diagnosed with BPD and autism

I have eventual plans for canon Sherlock/John/Mary (this is my husband John and his partner Sherlock), Desi-Scottish Mary, and woman Moriarty

you can see my ramblings/posts that make me giggle and think about Them/and my concept art here

[chatdomestique]

Things I have done since this essay was assigned:

Clean out 7000 unread emails

Unsubscribe from all of the spam emails

Create a Khan Academy account and start learning SQL

Fuck around on Neocities

Replace my broken toilet

Move all my Brindeia notes onto Obsidian

Add several significant details to Brindeia

Improve several of my character and race designs

Sign up for Art Fight

Cancel the Adobe subscription I haven't used in over a year

Consistently take out the trash before it overflows

Watch the entire first season of The Apothecary Diaries

Change the music player and playlist on my blog

Apply and interview for a job (and change my mind)

Buy my first Kirby game

Things I have not done since this essay was assigned:

Write the first draft

[starsfic]

July Commissions are Open

Hey there, I’m Charlie!

I’m taking any extra money I can make, so I’m opening 10 commission slots a month.

You can either message me on Tumblr or email me at writingamongthecoloredroses@gmail.com. I find it easier to send it through Ko-Fi, which I’ll send a link to. I will send a finished first draft for the client to look over to see if anything needs to be added or removed. Please keep in mind that there might be a time difference in communication. I will ask for details. If you want a story with your OCs, it will be incredibly helpful to have a description of these OCs.

I will possibly crosspost the commission on Tumblr and AO3, unless requested not to, and you will receive a PDF version of your story. You are allowed to crosspost it yourself if credit is given back to me. I do have the right to deny anything that makes me uncomfortable.

There will be a $5 discount if the story requested is for any of my prior writings.

Prices below:

500-1000 words- $5

1000-2000 words- $10

2000-3000 words- $15

3000-4000 words- $20

4000-5000 words- $25

5000-6000 words- $30

6000-7000 words- $35

7000-8000 words- $40

8000-9000 words- $45

9000-10000 words- $50

10000-11000 words- $55

11000-12000 words- $60

12000-13000 words- $65

13000-14000 words- $70

14000-15000 words- $75

For longer wordcounts we can discuss. There is also a $10 smut charge for smut.

Thank you!

At the suggestion of a commissioner who I refunded because I was uncomfortable with their story (they were super understanding and I’m thankful for that), here’s a list of things I am uncomfortable writing:

Hate art

Rape, non-con, and dub-con

Super massive gore

Incest

Pedophilia

Kink with farting/pee/poop, foot/armpit

[writingamongther0ses]

July Commissions are Open

Hey there, I’m Charlie!

I’m taking any extra money I can make, so I’m opening 10 commission slots a month for original works.

You can either message me on Tumblr or email me at writingamongthecoloredroses@gmail.com. I find it easier to send it through Ko-Fi, which I’ll send a link to. I will send a finished first draft for the client to look over to see if anything needs to be added or removed. Please keep in mind that there might be a time difference in communication. I will ask for details. If you want a story with your OCs, it will be incredibly helpful to have a description of these OCs.

I will possibly crosspost the commission on Tumblr and AO3, unless requested not to, and you will receive a PDF version of your story. You are allowed to crosspost it yourself if credit is given back to me. I do have the right to deny anything that makes me uncomfortable.

There will be a $5 discount if the story requested is for any of my prior writings.

Prices below:

500-1000 words- $5

1000-2000 words- $10

2000-3000 words- $15

3000-4000 words- $20

4000-5000 words- $25

5000-6000 words- $30

6000-7000 words- $35

7000-8000 words- $40

8000-9000 words- $45

9000-10000 words- $50

10000-11000 words- $55

11000-12000 words- $60

12000-13000 words- $65

13000-14000 words- $70

14000-15000 words- $75

For longer wordcounts we can discuss.

Thank you!

At the suggestion of a commissioner who I refunded because I was uncomfortable with their story (they were super understanding and I’m thankful for that), here’s a list of things I am uncomfortable writing:

Hate art

Rape, non-con, and dub-con

Super massive gore

Incest

Pedophilia

Kink with farting/pee/poop, foot/armpit

[wetcatspellcaster]

Ok, I just. How are we dealing with the fact that Star boy is actually the one 7000 bodies deep. Like in the murdery sense. The Ascendant did call him out directly (you can love the guy who stole 7000 innocentish souls while I have only taken like 50 bad guys out). How do you love this guy? How is there a future there? How do you repent for something like that? (How do you repent for letting it go and loving him anyway?) You're saying the angst is over, but I feel like it's just beginning!

hello anon! thank you for the... question? philosophical musing?

the good news is, this is why Act 3 *begins* with the final confrontation - this is indeed a major portion of the third act conflict, and the main thing that needs to be resolved :)

I'm currently in the thick of drafting so I don't know what the balance will end up falling, in regards to angst versus hurt/comfort. But as hurt/comfort is now an option that's on the table, I simply hope that means less angst than Acts 1 and 2!!!

As I started properly looking into the dynamic Rosalie and Astarion would have in this situation, I became increasingly aware of three things:

Rosalie has had 10 years to come to terms with the fact that the person she loved killed 7000 people. She's so tired and lonely, that she's grieved and come out the other side being like "I'm still in love with him", and accepted that about herself.

This Astarion is being plunged back into the world after the same gap and expecting the same Rosalie of ten years ago... and that Rosalie would punish him for what he did. So that's what he's expecting, and maybe a little of what he wants, to help with the guilt.

Rosalie's resistance in Acts 1 and 2 isn't so much morality as um.... extreme self-denial dressed up as morality? So. Um. Maybe it would've just been healthier to fuck him.

Anyway, I'm still in a soup of trying to find out how to navigate the final act as a result of these realisations. I know what the Happy Ending looks like and I have a rough grasp of how to get there, but this is certainly why I got the fight out of the way early ;)

[gollancz]

This is something a lot of authors sometimes struggle with - their first book they have had ages to write, and edit, and polish, because they HAD to in order to get an agent. And then the agent worked with them some more to edit and polish it, so it would stand out to get picked up by an editor. And then the editor works with them some more to really hone the final product into something phenomenal.

And then book two usually starts drafting somewhere after book one is sent to print, and it comes straight to the editor to do structural edits. No room for years of moulding, and no additional stage with agent (usually, although some authors can do this!). And it can feel wild and rushed and a very abrupt gear-change. PARTICULARLY because the lead times on publication are so long (the ideal final manuscript delivery is 14 months before publication) that if we want book 2 out within a year of book 1, you need to have book 2 finished before book 1 is even printed.

SOME writers can do this!! Miles Cameron, for example, is a writing machine who reliably delivers 2 books a year. BUT he has also written over 50 novels and it is his full time job. Very few authors are full time authors.

In 2022, The Society of Authors published findings that suggested the median annual income for authors in the UK is £7000. The majority of authors on our list have other jobs, and this is true for most authors publishing today.

So writing around a job, and then taking into account any Life Happenings that happen, PLUS the long lead times for books, means that publishing annually can be VERY tricky.

If you want to help authors earn more so they can write more?

Buy their books! I can confirm that hard sales data is pored over when renewing contracts and acquiring books and deciding print runs. All sales through digital retailers, bookstores and supermarkets are tracked by Bookscan, and that data informs EVERY DECISION we make. Editors desperately want to throw money at every book we acquire, but if the data doesn't support it we're limited in what we can do - if we offer far too high and a book doesn't sell enough to clear the advance rate, it becomes a big black hole in finances that can hurt author retention. Keep an eye on deals on eBooks and audio as well - buying cheap on a deal still helps!! Remember, an author won't start seeing royalty income until their advance fully earns out. Pre-ordering books is also a great way to support authors: it helps them chart better on release-week, which can support future contracts, AND it gives future you a lovely present of a book.

Borrow their books! In the UK at least, authors receive income via ALCS and PLR, which gives them money for use of their work and every time a book is taken out from a library. If you're an author who is published in the UK and not registered with ALCS and PLR yet - get on it!

Review! Review Review Review! If you have read a book and loved it, Amazon reviews, Goodreads reviews, and reviews on bookseller websites are incredible resources. The better a book rates on Amazon, the more it gets boosted. (algorithms, grrrr) Equally, if you sign up to Netgalley, we often put titles up there TOTALLY FREE in exchange for honest reviews. All Gollancz's books are listed under our parent company, Orion.

Engage with authors and their publishers on social media! Social media is THE WORST, we all know it. That's why we're here, in this bastion of what can only be termed anti-social media. However, social media is the main resource publishers have for promoting their books because it is FREE and can get to a lot of people. It's also another way of helping us track how excited people are for a book - particularly ahead of publication, when we only have pre-order numbers to work from. Not just watching/viewing but also actively liking and commenting on content about your favourite authors is hard data we can use to help, and - again, algorithms, ugh - the more content about your favourite authors is engaged with, the more it gets recommended to new people, to help them find new readers. It's a vicious cycle, but by god it's one you can weaponise to help your authors. Gollancz's main channel at the moment is our instagram, but we also have a growing tiktok that is being run for the girls, gays and theys by the phenomenal Millie and Corinne. And of course, there's muggins here running the tumblr, but given the nature of tumblr it's mostly feral boosting rather than actual announcements and it tracks very differently. If you are on any of those other platforms, AND we publish anyone you like, this sort of support is a great free way to help boost boost boost.

i think it is unrealistic for fans to expect sequels to be published a year after the first one and also want the book at its highest quality. it's okay to expect a few years in between and i think it weird how much pressure authors face to publish their next book immediately. that's a lot of stress on authors and i think it often leads to books being put out before they are ready.