#I have so many unfinished drafts SOMEWHERE

[ninadove]

Returning to my hometown (the Professor Layton fandom) for Christmas (Spotify Wrapped drabble ask game) only to accidentally bump into my first love (writing Clive) and rekindle our romance (writing Clive, but like. MORE)

[wipbigbang]

2024 WIP Big Bang Schedule & FAQ!

Schedule

All times are by 11:59pm PST. Convert time zones.

Sign-ups Begin- April 15th Sign-ups Close- May 21st Check In #1- May 22nd Check In #2- June 15th Snippets Due- July 1st Art Claims Begin- July 17th Check In #3- July 22nd Check In #4- August 6th Rough Drafts Due- August 15th Posting Claims Begin- August 23rd Posting Claims Ends- September 1st Final Drafts/Art Due- September 7th Posting Starts- September 8th

FAQ

What is the WIP Big Bang? Good question! This is a Big Bang with one goal in mind: to clean out your fanfic drafts folder. These are stories that were unfinished for whatever reason, that authors returned to and completed, and the art that goes with them!

Do I need a Livejournal/Dreamwidth/AO3/etc. account to participate? No! You don’t have to have an account on anything to participate, though you will need to have somewhere to post your finished work. Having one or more accounts will help for you to follow what is going on with the bang (we crosspost to Dreamwidth and Tumblr and heavily use our Discord server at the moment), but they are not required to participate. You can always leave comments anonymously or with an opensource ID.

How many fics can we sign up for? We absolutely don’t mind multiple sign-ups. I know one year someone submitted 50 fics to finish, and got at least half of them done. We just ask that when you sign up with more than one fic you give each fic a unique user ID (please do not use the same ID for all your fics...it’s important to have different IDs for the check-ins).

Will I get emails about the bang? We do send out some emails, mostly for snippets and art claims and to ensure communication between authors and artists, but please do NOT rely on getting an email to remind you of due dates. We currently do not keep an updated email list of participants, so we only send individual emails as needed rather than mass emails.

However, email is the fastest way to communicate with the mods. If you have any questions or are having trouble communicating with your artist/author, please do email us! We will do our best to respond quickly.

What do you mean by minimum word count to enter? This is a WIP Big Bang, therefore we ask you to have at least 500 words of your story drafted when you enter.

Can an outline count towards those first 500 words that are needed at sign up? We have admitted work on an outline before so yes, if your outline is fleshed out enough to cover a 7,500 word+ fic, we’ll allow it.

Are multi-chapter fics allowed? Yes, multi-chapter fics are allowed and even more so encouraged if your fic is lengthy.

What about fics that are already posted on ao3 in part? Do those qualify for the bang? It's okay if you have posted a few chapters of your fic already (you never know when the muse deserts you, after all), we just require you to refrain from posting more until posting begins here. All we ask is that you not post any public updates to the fic until September 1st (or August 1st with the mod’s okay). We don’t want you to lose kudos and comments so don’t worry about pulling the fic down, just hold off on updates for now.

Is there a minimum word count? 7,500 words for each finished fic, but the sky's the limit, right?

I see that the fic minimum is 7500 words and that published WIPs are acceptable - but what if the WIP I’m considering is already more than 7500 words? Is the expectation to add an additional 7500 to it? No. You can add as much or as little as you need to finish the story, though we do expect at least 1,000 or so new words if your WIP already meets the word count.

What happens if an author finishes the fic they signed up with but it’s less than 7,500 words? The intent was to go over the minimum but once they got into it the story was shorter than they thought and stretching it out would make it less good. Do they have to drop out at that point? By all means, we want your stories to feel as natural as possible, and if it’s under 7,500 words you may have two options:

1 - Drop the fic for the main BB event, post it now, and wait to post it to our AO3 collection in February when we run our International Fanworks Day celebration of finishing fics that are less than 7,500 words when finished. There’s no art for the fic, but bragging rights are posted to the communities for a week.

2 - If there are enough fics that fit that category, we can do a special day of posting the fics, but you’ll have to forgo art for the fic. I, as a mod, would probably pick November 30th for the posting day, as it’s the last day of posting for the bang and I don’t think anyone will mind more than one fic that day. You can post bragging rights to the community and share the fic with everyone.

Is there anything not allowed? As long as you wrote it and you want to finish it, you're welcome to participate. RPS/RPF is fine. Incest pairings are fine. Things like that I know have been hinted at in questions asked and as long as you tag for them, we’ll allow it. Also, canon settings with mostly OCs is allowed. We just ask that it be tagged properly with any content warnings you would deem fit and be given the appropriate rating for the level of sex/violence there is in the fic. Just bear in mind that while original work is allowed you may not get art for it.

I have a fic I wrote a few years ago, but only the first couple chapters are posted on AO3 because I was never happy with the rest of it and knew it needed major revision. Is that something I could use for WIP Big Bang? The entire fic has been posted, but only on one platform, and it would be rewritten for AO3 and WIPBB. I think revising a fic for posting would work, as long as you have at least 500 words done, will have 7,500 words at a minimum when it’s done, and are planning to add more to the fic. Simply rewriting what you have would be a gray area, but if you’re going to take stuff out and add new scenes, either in the old scenes place or on its own, you should be fine.

What's the etiquette around OC-centric stories? Ones that are set in a well known fandom and use several characters, but still lean a lot on original characters? Are they discouraged, or fine? Based on my own personal experience making art for a story that had a heavy OC presence, it’s not something we discourage at all, but be forewarned when it comes to the art accompanying your fic your artist may not be able to incorporate the OCs into your art. Not everyone makes art of a hand-drawn or digitally drawn nature, so it helps if you have people for face claims ahead of art submissions, and you and your artist communicate regularly. You can also end up with art not featuring the OCs at all, just the canon characters, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Your other options are to bring in an artist you trust with your vision of your OC or to make your own art (we do allow that, we just need to be told during the check-in before art that you’re bringing in your own artist if you go that route, or that you’re doing your own art…there will not be a need to sign up in the artist’s sign up, however), or to opt-out of art entirely. So there’s plenty of options to call on when it comes time for art.

What are 'check-ins’? These are a way for us to see what you've been up to and for you to make sure you're still on track. It will give you a little nudge/reminder if you need it, but they are not compulsory. Basically a form is posted that you fill out with your user ID (unique for each fic) and a checkbox to let us know you’re still participating, plus a section for any notes for the mods.

How are the check in IDs used? They are solely for the mods organizational purposes. Each ID being for a separate story allows us to keep all the information you submit during check-ins and for snippets in one line on our spreadsheet. You don’t have to share your check in IDs with anyone else if you don’t want to.

How much progress should authors be making between each checkpoint? (Percentage-wise from our estimated total wc, I guess?) Ideally, with each check-in, you should be at least 25% closer to finishing. The end word count only really matters in that the fic needs to be at least 7,500 words when done, so it’s more your progress towards finishing that should be measured, not so much the word count.

What are the snippets requirements? In order to allow the artists to make art for the story they claimed, we require you to supply three snippets from your fic, between 500 – 1500 words each. The snippets will be sent to the artist after they have claimed your story. They're to help the artist match your story for artwork the best way he or she possibly can. It’s helpful to choose scenes or parts of scenes that you feel best represent your fic, but don’t feel like they have to be perfect to be submitted. Along with the snippets, we will send your artist the basic fic info and your email, so the two of you can collaborate more if you would both like.

What are the rough drafts requirements? For the rough drafts, stories should be at least 80% complete. You will not have to turn them in to us, just assure us that you are at that point. Anything less is at the discretion of the mods and those authors should speak to one of the mods asap.

What is, and do I need, a beta? A beta is basically a person who goes over your work to make sure that there are no spelling/grammatical errors and they can even be of assistance in helping you with story lines, etc. It is highly recommended that a beta looks over your work before posting. If you are having trouble finding a beta, try this post.

Where can I post my fic/art? Stories and art can be posted to your own personal journal, Tumblr, ff-net, AO3, or wherever you like. For those of you with AO3 accounts, we will set up a collection that will go live on the day of the posting. If you don’t currently have an AO3 account but would like one, you can contact the mods for an invitation code to see if they have any available. You can also add yourself to the AO3 Invites Request queue.

What does posting look like? Do we have to post the whole thing on the day, or can we stretch it out between when posting starts and our date? I’ve had a few longfics get killed by big bangs forcing posting to happen on a given day, and would prefer to avoid that if possible. For most fics, posting to AO3/FF.net/other places will be allowed to start in September and you can stretch it out as many posts as you want as long as the complete fic is up by your posting date (and posting dates go from September 8th to November 15th with two weeks for emergency posting). However, you can send us an ask/e-mail about posting as early as August if you have an extremely long fic/something with a long posting schedule. Mostly what we want is the fic to be completely up on the website of your choice by your posting date, and I know some people don’t want to overwhelm their readers. So we want to work with writers to give them ample time to post the story up to their posting date.

Now, as for posting to the communities, you get to choose which day your link to the story and bragging rights are posted, and as I said, we have a range of dates from September 8th to November 15th with two to three stories posting a day. If for some reason you miss your posting date, you have until November 30th to post to the community, during the two weeks of emergency posting, with a possible extension after that due to the amount of participants needing to post later. So hopefully there should be plenty of time to get a longfic up and posted to the website of your choice and our BB.

Will the three snippets per story we have to send in be the ones we want the artist to make art for? Or can it just be random snippets and then later the artist and I can check together to see which scenes would work best for art? So ideally, you and the artist will be communicating once you’re each sent each other’s contact information, and you’ll give your artist a chance to read all that you’ve written at that point. That’s what happens in most cases. If your fic gets picked by an artist and they don’t work with you, then the snippets you sent will be what the artwork will be based on. It’s a good idea to know that, while most of the time the artists work closely with the authors, there are a few exceptions to that.

How do I know when to post? Posting will be tiered; you'll each get your own posting date that you and your artist will decide on together. There will probably be four fics, plus art, posting per day between September 8th and November 30th. The post with date claims will go up on August 23rd and you'll have to choose your date by September 1st.

Posting of chapters on AO3 or your own blog (or wherever you usually post) generally starts September 1st, but you can post earlier (as early as August 1st) if you let us know you have a long story. However, posting has to be finished by your chosen posting date to the comm. One of the things we're hoping to do with the posted dates is to give everybody on the comm a little bragging time in the spotlight. You know, "this story was incomplete for this long, but I finished this sucker." If you don't have time to post your bragging rights to the communities on your chosen posting date, you can queue up a post ahead of time and we can post it on the date you picked or you can email us your bragging rights and we can post by proxy for you. Either way works for us. Art will be due on the chosen posting date to the comm.

What am I posting to the Livejournal/Dreamwidth/Tumblr community if I’m posting the fic elsewhere? You’ll be posting what we call bragging rights. It’s a small form you fill out and post to the community with a link to your fic (we’ll enable moderated posting to the Tumblr, Livejournal and Dreamwidth communities for members on August 8th). We will post a template for posting artwork and stories to the comm closer to the posting date.

Is there a minimum/maximum requirement for my art? There is no strict minimum, but we do ask artists to remember that the authors are writing a minimum of 7,500 words and your artwork should reflect that. You can do anything you like, including banners, wallpapers, icons, mixes, vids, gif sets, picspams, etc. Suggested guidelines for art are 500x500px (or equivalent of smaller pieces like banner + spacers, cover + icons, etc.) for traditional art, digital art, and manips; 2 minutes for vids; 10 songs + cover art for mixes; and 6 images for gif sets and picspams. We also ask that when you are in contact with the author, you work with them to see if there is anything specific they would like (i.e. a wallpaper, book cover, etc.). The art is your work, but having ideas doesn't hurt!

What are 'art claims'? The claims are when anonymous summaries of the story go up for artists to choose from. Artists sign-ups and art claims are the same thing; we use one form for both things, and that way the authors don’t have to sign up for an event they may not end up participating in. It is based on a 'first come, first served' basis and artists may choose up to three potential stories (in case their first choice is unavailable). If there are more stories than artists, there will be a second round of claims wherein artists may choose a second story to work with. And on until all stories are claimed for art.

If a fic up for claiming is rated explicit (R, NC-17, etc.), please only claim the story if you are over 18 years of age. Some authors may be uncomfortable working with underage artists on explicit works. We do not verify ages in any way for the bang, so this is solely on the honor system.

What do I do if I have problems or concerns about my author/artist? Sometimes authors and artists do not get along and this may cause problems with working together. If this happens to be the case with you, please email the mods and we will try to do what we can so that everyone has a chance to have fun at WIP Big Bang!

If you have not heard from your author/artist in some time after trying to contact them, you can reach out to us via email and we will try to get in touch with them for you.

Can I get an extension? Community extensions may be given in the event that the majority of the authors/artists need one. They may also be given individually under certain circumstances, but this must be discussed with the mods and will only be a short extension for posting. If you are certain that you won’t be able to finish your story in time, please let us know by July 13th.

Can I swap out a fic if my muse abandons it again? When you sign up, you give us the information on the potential fic(s) you want to write. If, say, one fic isn’t working but one you didn’t sign up for is, you can switch them out while letting the mods know if you need to change a user ID you used. It is absolutely okay to switch fics all the way up until snippets are due. By then, we hope you’ll have however many fics you plan on doing to at least 80% completion since rough drafts are due not much later. Just drop an email to the mods at wipbigbang@gmail.com with the new information (title, fandom, etc) and if you want a new sign in ID or plan to use the same one for the fic you’re replacing it with.

Can I drop out? We have high hopes that everybody who signs up can actually finish the round and share in the joy of the reveal with us, but real life can unfortunately get in the way and we completely understand! If you feel like you just cannot finish in time and no amount of assistance from us can help you, just let us know by August 13th (if at all possible).

Is it possible to be banned? We do have a banned users list. We hope to use this to encourage participants who are having issues to communicate with the mods. We want to help you! The way the ban works is that participants, either authors and artists, will be banned for dropping out without notifying a mod. This means that anyone who has not posted or talked to a mod by the time the posting period ends will be banned. Dropping out is not in and of itself a banning offense, so please do not panic if you have to drop out! We understand that there are many reasons you may need to drop, and we want to work with you.

Bans will last one round or until the issue is resolved, whichever comes first. To resolve a ban, authors will have to finish and post the story they signed up with and artists will have to finish and post the art for the story they claimed. Three bans will result in a permanent ban from the bang.

Are we allowed to participate without joining the Discord? Absolutely! The Discord server is optional, as just another way to interact with your fellow writers and get updates on important dates. It’s not mandatory you join, however.

I was just wondering if there’s any way to enter the bang anonymously? Like would it be okay to put our work in an anonymous collection on ao3 or something? Unfortunately, I can’t think of a way for that to work. The collection that we use is moderated but it’s not anonymous, and there are the bragging posts that you post on your posting day, which you would have your username on whichever platform you use.

I was just wondering whether I'm sworn to secrecy on which fics I'll be finishing up, or if I can shout it out to the world? No one is sworn to secrecy once they’ve signed up (aside from posting new parts to fic that’s already up somewhere…we ask that you refrain from doing that until at least July 1st)! We will be running Word Wars, where you can add more to a fic in a certain amount of time, and Whine Bars, where you can complain or ask for help or whatever else you feel like talking about when it comes to struggling with a fic, all after sign-ups end on a weekly basis, plus there’s the Discord server for chatting with your fellow authors and artists.

I have a question/concern that’s not mentioned here. If you need help, you can always contact a mod and we will do our best to make sure that you get your story/art finished. The best and fastest method of contact is through our email, wipbigbang@gmail.com.

[yourfatherlucifer]

Shark Bait (Hongjoong)

Shark Hybrid!Hongjoong x Mermaid!Reader

Summary: Living in a world full of different creatures and humans, some mixed together, creating hybrids. You were just a mermaid though, an ancient tale from the sea. He was something every human feared, even merfolk feared. But you fell in love, how could it be so forbidden?

Warnings: Talks of species violence

AU: Hybrid

Genre: Fluff

WC: 900+ (unfinished)

Rated: PG-13 for violence

Nets: not tagging because I didn’t finish this story and I just want to get it out of my drafts.

“Mom, look at this thing I found! It looks like it was from the pirate era!” You shoved a goblet in front of your mothers face, “Must be some kind of cup?”

You pulled it back to examine it further. Your mother shook her head.

“Y/N, we talked about this, I understand you like your scavenging, you’re an adult you can do as you’d like, but please, take it somewhere else.” She folded her arms.

“I don’t like those human objects. They just bring misfortune.” Her tail swayed behind her.

You had rolled your eyes at him before clutching the found object to your chest, “And what misfortune do you speak of mother? It’s a cup.”

You loved living in the ocean, though, you had no idea what land life was like anyway. Still, you loved the shiny sea life, the coral, the seaweed, the little treasures you’d find at the bottom of the ocean.

Some you’d even bring to your little siblings, they’d love the gifts. Sometimes they’d even wanna go on a journey with you, but you or your parents would never allow it. They were still very young and there were dangers that lurked in the waters.

Despite being friendly with the sea life, there were still some that didn’t like you. The sharks for example, especially the great whites. They loved to harass the merfolk.

So you had to be careful when investigating ship wrecks, making sure there were no bodies. You always felt bad for the humans who got lost at sea, so you’d guide them back. However, there were always the bad humans, the ones that would try to capture you for your body, to take you as a trophy or a ‘pet’.

That didn’t stop you from loving your life and exploring. Your parents considering you to be adventurous, they always worried about you, scared you’d get hunted by a shiver of sharks. You never did though, you were always careful.

Your mother scoffed at you, she was almost seething with anger, "It doesn't matter, Y/N! You are always going into the dangerous waters without thinking! Just to get your stupid trinkets, that we have no use of! What, what are we gonna do with a goblet!" Her arms thrown up.

You couldn't understand why your mother was being like this, you were always safe, nothing had happened, ever.

“Y/N, please. Just listen to me. Your step father and I care for you and are worried of your adventures,” you could feel the ‘air’ turning somber, “I’ve never told you what actually happened to your father.”

After so many years, she was finally going to give you answers? And for what? Just to stop you from having fun? It isn’t right. You never grieved your fathers death, because you never met the dude. So what does his death have to do with anything?

Your mother took the goblet from your hands and brought you inside your cove home, "Listen, your father was the same way, he loved his little adventures, just as you do. That's where you got it from," she took a deep breath, "He'd always bring me little presents when I was pregnant with you."

She smiled as she recalled those delightful memories.

"But one day he didn't return. He was with some buddies, on yet another adventure for me presents. He wanted to some stuff for you to have."

You could see her emotions unraveling but continued to listen, "When he didn't return for hours, I was so scared. Then his friends came here. Without him."

"They told me they were attacked by sharks. Your father was the only who didn't make it. Said he distracted the sharks so they could get away."

At this point your mother had tears streaming down her face, even if you couldn't tell with the water.

When she wiped her tears away, she stared at you once again, "That is why I don't like your adventures. These attacks on our people are getting too common. I don't want to lose you, Y/N, you're all I have left of your father. I hated those trinkets after he passed."

-

Even after the talk with her, I still didn't care, I didn't know him. I was always careful anyway, never once have I come across a shark, maybe a nurse shark but they're friendly. It was the great whites, goblin sharks, tiger sharks and other sharks that were aggressive.

I had found another shipwreck, ways from the last one I discovered earlier, this looked fairly new, couldn't know exactly when it sank though.

It was a smaller boat, looked like one those humans partied on, what did they call it? Yacht, I think? Wonder how it got sunk.

Humans could be idiots when it came to anything.

I wedged myself inside, careful not to catch my tail on anything. There were a few shiny things, a small rectangle about the size of my hand, I think the humans called these phones, not too sure. It was useless underwater, so I just placed it back where I found it.

While searching for miscellaneous objects, I didn't realize the boat had been swarmed by sharks. My predator.

Once I had stopped searching, I turned to make my way out, only to be met with huge jaws, razor sharp teeth, and pale gray skin. A great white shark. The King of the seas.

I swam back further into the boat and in response the shark mauled the small entrance with its mouth, trying to get to me. Oh my god, I should've listened to my mother, now I am going to die just as my father did.

I cried out in fear, I didn't want to die.

As the shark approached me, something pushed it out of the way, I could hear shouts, "Back off! Didn't I tell you to stop killing the mermaids!"

You poked your head out in confusion, what was going on?

The figure swam up to me, I could finally figure out its features. It was a boy..about my age. He’s beautiful. However, he adorned a fin on his back and razor sharp teeth.

He held his hand up to me but I slowly swam back into the boat, “Hey! Wait, it’s okay! I’m not going to hurt you.”

He smiled, “My name is Hongjoong, I’m a shark-hybrid. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna do anything, I just wanna be your friend.”

UNFINISHED

[puffin-smoke]

puffin saw something that pissed them off, and started thinking. we've had things that have been outright stated not to be canon, things that wouldn't "make sense" in the universe or things that Erik has told us can't happen. But me, I think that's bullshit. So here's-

How a Ghost might Work in the Redactedverse!

But Puffin, I hear you ask, how would that make sense? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of the river? And what about those 1500 dead by the Inversion, where are their ghosts? Where is Gabe's ghost and can I fuck him? All this and more will (probably) be answered on this post.

Imagine me this, an illusory. Bright-eyed, bushy tailed, and hanging out with their friend at the E&E Games. They love their friend, more than anything, they'd gotten through the worst times in their life with their friend at their side. Through thick and thin. They'd do anything for them.

Imagine the illusory and their friend as the shades come pouring into the stadium. Running for their lives, only to be trapped by the wards. The two get separated, lost in the crowd surge. And the Illusory, trying to find a way back to them, encounters a swarm of shades. They try to fight them off, but can't. They fall, and as they feel claws and shadow sink into them, as the light fades from their eyes, they think of their friend.

They needed to protect their friend.

But they couldn't. Their body went limp, their eyes dull. They were dead.

Halfway across the stadium, sits their friend. Huddled in a corner, trying to hide from the shades. They can hear more coming, the shrieking getting closer and closer. Their terrified, they need to run, but where to? Nowhere was safe.

Then they see something. The flash of a smile, the frayed sleeve of a well-loved hoodie. Their illusory stands before them, extending a hand. The friend grins and goes to take it- but it's like trying to grab air. They're not there.

But they can still help. The illusory guides their friend away, to a place less populated by shades, somewhere safe. And after the Inversion, they stay. They appear in the friend's apartment, following them around and giving them little tidbits of advice. Small things, like where to go get coffee or not to get lost, to big things. To big things. To not go down that alleyway, to run when that knife came down on them. To get out of bed, to get moving, to stay alive. Their very own guardian angel. A ghost of their best friend, with unfinished business.

Its not a ghost, its moreso a projection. One last illusion, conjured by their friend, with one final goal. Complete with their memories.

So, it's easy. To get a ghost you need unfinished business, and a way they can interact with the living world. This can work with almost any magic type, if you're creative enough.

Give me someone who feels a wall of heat appear whenever they're about to do something stupid.

How about someone who hears a constant wailing, that seems to follow them from building to building.

An abandoned restaurant where dishes go flying off of shelves, anyone entering is bullied out by gusts of wind.

A murderer who gets caught in a storm, who could almost swear they could see a wraith forming of rain and mist.

People's last wishes are given a chance to come to pass. Help the people they love, take revenge on those who wronged them. They can only be created through sheer force of will, explaining why there aren't very many of them, why they've been confined to folktale and the like.

All this to say, I don't know. This is mostly just me dumping random thoughts into a post that may never leave my drafts. The point is, canon is what you make of it. And I should go to sleep. Gnight.

[cupcakeslushie]

sorry for nagging you but i wanted to ask if you have some tips on making comics. I’ve trying making many comics but i always lose motivation and can’t seem to get past even the first panel sometimes.

I did make a pretty long post here, with some advice for starting out! But that’s more technical I guess, and it sounds like maybe you’re looking for some motivational advice? So in addition to that post, I’d say…

Don’t look at these panels where you’re stuck as failures. Look at them, instead, as first drafts!! Keep the early planning stages loose, so it doesn’t feel like an arrow to the heart if you have to make changes. Many artists need to see their thoughts collected somewhere before they can refine things and move on to the next stage. Another big thing is learning to be okay with throwing those drafts away when they become more of a roadblock than a step towards that awesome, final version you’ve got knocking around in your head.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spent an hour plotting the composition of a panel…or maybe I’ve gotten too focused on the little details of a character’s expression, but the rest of the shot has just….idk died. I’ll copy and paste what I did like, and delete what’s not working or I’ll completely start over, no fuss. Wipe my hands of it and refuse to look at it as a failure. If I drew it once, I can draw it again! Practice isn’t time wasted, it’s time invested into growing! Drawing is drawing!

It’s always good to look back at your work, so you can see your improvement, but only focusing on your unfinished pieces might be doing more harm than good.

And maybe, you don’t have to draw a full 10 page comic from the get go! Try experimenting with shorter form comics! You can tell quite a number of stories in just a few panels! Learning the ins and outs of something new is a lot easier to accomplish when it’s done in smaller increments. That way you can have that feeling of success more often and it’ll motivate you into not giving up!

When I started EW, I was doing parts in like, one or two pages! Because I was still nailing down the comic techniques I wanted to employ. I was gathering brushes and learning how and when to use them! Learning how to create compositions that worked around dialogue bubbles! All the boring parts of comic creating lol. But then, the more comfortable I became with those techniques, the less time they took, and I could really go wild with the creative aspect! Now my updates are much longer!

It’s just a process. But at some point, all the advice and resources in the world can only help so much. You have to be willing to put in the time!

I’d say it’s kinda similar advice they give when you start working out. When you’re first starting, and you try to do more than your body is comfortable with, you’ll be in a lot of pain and won’t want to continue. It’s easy to give up if you’re not seeing results and you feel like you’re wasting your time. But if you start in a reasonable place, and let yourself learn as you go, then you can gain good habits and it’ll get easier!

And only then, when it’s easy, that’s when you challenge yourself! Not when you’re already struggling with just starting! Or it won’t be fun and all of your drive will disappear!

And that’s really what you’re doing this all for, right? For fun!

[flowersfortheghost]

list of ghostflower headcanons♡

♡

(bc my school wifi sucks, the draft didnt save correctly and accidentally posted it. so if u saw that post, u didnt. i think it only had like 1 note so im good but i freaked the hell out when i saw it was posted bc it was very much unfinished. so yeah, that.)

these sillies have taken up my mind so much, i dont think its okay. i was in math and i just thought about them and got so happy. i just make so many headcanons for them that i decided to make 1 long post about it. kinda a part 2 of a headcanon post i made like 2-3 months ago. enjoy the silliness :D

♡

their first kiss was pretty awkward. gwen wanted to make the first move but failed because shes too short to reach miles. she had to stand on her toes to reach him. (bonus: she uses her ballet shoes to reach miles' face)

gwen will always fall asleep when she's cuddling with miles. she keeps asking for cuddles and miles is like "gwen, love, you're going to fall asleep again." and she responds with "i wont this time." 5 minutes later, shes asleep.

♡

♡

gwen is like a cat with separation issues. she hugs miles so tightly any time he leaves when they are done hanging out.

♡

gwen always keeps a few sets of spare clothes at 1610, just in case her and miles decide to hang out without all the spidey stuff.

♡

gwen writes songs about miles. hobie and pav once found it and hobie's like "oh, i know who this is about" and pav is like "this is so sweet!"

♡

after miles met gwen, the song sunflower just has way more meaning to him. it reminds him so much of her, that whenever he sees a sunflower he thinks of the song, that leading to him thinking about gwen.

♡

cat lovers. both of them. they talk about getting cats if they one day move in together and they feed stray cats on the streets together (i drew a terrible comic for this its on my tumblr somewhere).

♡

both of them are just a blushing mess when they first start dating and do small gestures. like they hold hands and both of them are just blushing like crazy.

♡

miles always kisses gwen before they sleep, and gwen always kisses miles when they wake up.

♡

they share their money like a married couple. like gwen pays miles back for a coffee he got her like 3 weeks ago.

♡

they both have little creative work sessions together. like gwen is writing songs about miles and miles is drawing gwen. the few times they share what they make of each other

[ladysternchen]

What is canon in Tolkien's universe? How to deal with the History of Middle-Earth and Tolkien's Letters

One last post before Tolkien Meta Week is up!

What is canon? Yes, we all know the correct (as in-'nobody can disagree with that') answer is 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings', because that is what Tolkien published himself.

Is it, though?

I would tend to answer no- not only because excluding the Silmarillion from canon would be utterly ridiculous (like, folks, Tolkien worked on it his entire life!), but also because Tolkien wrote things in both the Hobbit and LotR that don't make any sense within the wider lore. That 'dwarves helped Thranduil build his halls' passage is probably the most obvious example.

It is completely natural for an author to use their ideas in different ways than originally intended, especially if they think that they will never publish all their works. But we do have the Silmarillion now, and so can hardly take the 'Thranduil's halls were built by Dwarves' for canon, even though it is written in the LotR.

So we can likely agree on the fact that the Silmarillion is canon, even if it wasn't published by J.R.R. Tolkien himself. But Christopher knew his father's works like no other, perhaps, and I am very sure that he knew both Middle-Earth and his father well enough to capture the spirit.

But what with all the other works, then? The notes, the stories, all that we know now was 'The History of Middle-Earth' and the 'Unfinished Tales'. Everyone who ever tried to work with them as canon knows the problems that come with that attempt.

The thing is- these are completed essays and stories as well as background information Tolkien wrote down for himself and -probably worst- notes. Writing is a complex process, especially when there is such extensive worldbuidling behind the stories as there is with Tolkien's legendarium. There is the forming of one's own style and the lack of selfsame in the beginning, which results most often in a form of copying the source of inspiration, there are first drafts, plotlines that are thrown out, re-written or added, those thrown out sometimes entirely disregarded or else used in other stories, gap-fillers that only wait for a better idea,... you get the point.

Today, in the age of the vast majority of writers working with computers, these byproducts get mostly lost. No-one will know of an author's sketchy beginnings, of the many failed attempts to develop a character that seems natural and is really its own thing and not a trope or overly inspired by a RL person or other fictional character. Not many keep their disregarded ideas somewhere, those that did not work for that story and are not loved enough to keep for the next.

With Tolkien's works, we have those notes. Papers, sheets of paper, random notes scribbled in the margins- thanks to Christopher Tolkien, Carl Hostetter and co, we do have these notes. There is just one major problem with this: we have no way of knowing which of those were disregarded, and which of those Tolkien really intended to end up in the Silmarillion he never was able to finish. It is not even possible to say the younger the notes are, the more accurate, because sometimes, the first ideas stay the best ones.

So are those notes canon? Hardly, most of all because many of those openly contradict the published works. But can we then just disregard them? No, we cannot, or at least not easily.

What we end up doing with all the background information is up to each reader themselves, so what I write from now on is only my very own approach.

I like the HoME and UT for seeing where a character may have come from, or what ideas Tolkien might have had. And those parts that fit well with both the published stories and my headcanons, I take as canon 😅. And it is also fascinating to see how Tolkien developed his style.

(btw, little anecdote there, because it still gives me goosebumps- Elu Thingol was 'my' elf from the start, the character I identified with, and from early on, I imagined and read him very differently from how most within the fandom read him, and I wrote him like that in my fanfics as well. One of those traits that Elu had in my head was a dislike to force his decisions on others, and yes, I explicitly wrote this in one of my stories, even though I knew that many would read this as totally out of character. No, I had not read NoME then. And when I did, and read the 'I can but choose for myself' I sat on my bed shaking. Now, the rational part of my brain knows perfectly well that this was purely co-incidence, and that there are far more other passages in HoME and NoMe and so on that actually contradict my take on Elu Thingol, but still, that moment was totally magical for me. And that's why I really love those works, even though they are not what I would call canon)

That still leaves us with Tolkien's letters- and they are even more complicated to incorporate into canon or disregard as non-canonical than the HoME. On one hand, they are not a story, they were never meant to be published, we are often missing the other half if the conversation or the general context, but on the other hand, Tolkien often did referred to text passages, and explained his intents and ideas. And -most-importantly, the letters were written by him, the words not edited (the context is another story here).

Do I therefore take them into canon?

No. For one, they are as his notes- ideas that were in his head in that moment, without us having any clue of whether or not Tolkien later liked them or not. For another, by selecting which letters were published and which were not, the publishers intended of painting a certain picture of Tolkien. We are simply missing too much context to put those letters to any meaningful use on our quest to learn the truth about the lore we love.

@silmarillionwritersguild

[starlitiris]

“Lilacs” ~ Painter x Reader (Part 1)

Part 2

warnings: angst, character death, mildly descriptive graphic imagery, grief, panic attacks(?)

beginning notes: thank you to cavern-creature for giving me the idea to write this! i’m not too happy with the pacing, but oh well. more notes will be at the end of the story.

word count: ~2.1k

~ 🪻 ~

It’s a beautiful spring day. The sun is high and shining bright, nary a cloud in the sky. The weather was perfect! Or so Painter had been told. He couldn’t feel the temperature himself, of course. He couldn’t feel the soft, gentle breeze brushing over his monitor, either. Or smell the floral aroma coming from the field of flowers him and his friends were in. A beautiful shade of purple surrounded the three on each side. Painter, his creator, and you.

He watched you run out into the field, his creator electing to stay behind so he could set Painter up on the crate they always bring. You came to halt, turning to face the wind, and held out your arms to feel it. The breeze, the sun, the flowers grazing your calves. It was bliss.

You looked amazing. The sunlight shone on your face, highlighting all of your beautiful features. Your clothes, moving with every gust of wind that rushed by, framed you perfectly. Your smile was as bright as always. You looked perfect. You are perfect. Painter was sure of that.

“Hey, stand still!” The AI called out to you. “I wanna capture you just like that!”

You giggled. “Just like this? Are you sure?”

“Exactly like that,” he reinforced, the sweetest smile painted on his screen.

“Okay, but try not to take too long! My arms are gonna start hurting if I have to stand here for hours.”

“I won’t take THAT long! Just hold still, I’ll paint you first,” Painter responded, wiping his page clean to start sketching you.

“He has been getting faster at this lately,” his creator adds, resting his elbow atop the computer.

“Yeah, yeah,” you roll your eyes, even though you’re still smiling. “Let’s just hope he’s fast enough,” you tease.

“Hey, you can’t rush perfection!” He tells you.

You laugh. Banter with Painter is always light and fun. You’re impressed that he already has a really good outline of you done. You’ve seen him paint a hundred times over at this point, but watching his process never ceases to amaze you. It’s kind of mesmerizing. You love it.

You love him. And he loves you all the same.

One of the cameras Painter is connected to picks up on motion somewhere in the blacksite, pulling him out of his daydream. He groans and sets his unfinished drawing of you aside as a draft. Back to work.

Urbanshade just sent down a few more teams of expendables, it would seem. What a drag. At least Painter could try to have some fun while he stalls them.

He doesn’t bother with actually watching them – it serves him no real purpose to do so. He just goes off of motion sensors and does what he can do in any given room the suckers wander into. Luring Z-96 around with the PA system, activating turrets, pissing off Eyefestation when it’s near enough. Fun stuff.

He giggles to himself knowing one of the active teams was just fooled by a false door.

“Moronsss,” he says to nobody.

Things continue this way for a while, like they always do. As the night progresses, all the EXR-P teams are gradually killed off. All but one, that is. That’s all thanks to him, as well as the many other dangers this place has to offer. The motion sensors indicate that the remaining team is down to two expendables. They won’t last long. Painter is certain.

Only one expendable enters the next room.

See? He knew it.

And, would you look at that. This room has turrets in it! Might as well put this poor sap out of their misery. He activates the weapons.

It’s one of the long rooms that has a large window peering out into the ocean, equipt with three turrets to cover nearly every inch of the area. Well, they used to cover every inch. But that was before panicked Urbanshade employees set up tables and lockers for protection. Now they could only scan most of the room. Oh well. The tables and lockers didn’t save those workers, and it certainly won’t save this prisoner.

He takes note that the expendable made it to a safe spot in the center of the room. Barely, though. A laser on one of the turrets grazed their ankle before they made it to safety. The weapon was alerted for a brief moment, then went back to rotating around the room when the person was out of sight.

“Ugghhh,” Painter dramatically groaned in his cage. How annoying. At least this idiot still has the other half of the room to get through.

The expendable warily leaves the comfort of their safe spot to move forward. They only make it a quarter of the way to where they’re aiming to go, though, before being harshly informed by a loud beeping that they didn’t time this correctly. They take a few bullets to their right arm and leg while hurrying back to where they had just been hiding.

“Ngh, dammit! F-Fuck, fuck, fuck…” they curse.

Huh. That voice sounds… kind of familiar to Painter. Weird.

He decides not to waste much time on that thought. There’s no way he could possibly know this person, and he needs to focus.

He has a job to do.

Kill the expendables. Stall for time.

He waits while the bleeding criminal braces themself to make another run for it. They certainly don’t seem to be in a rush.

“Cooome ooon, stop wasting time! You’re just gonna die anyway!” Painter complains, once again to nobody but himself. He hasn’t been talking to these losers as much as he normally would today. He didn’t even feel like taunting them. He was in a sour mood. They interrupted his daydream.

“God, how am I going to do this…?” He hears the person ask themself.

They sound familiar. So familiar. It’s bothering him now. He can’t hear them all that well because of the audio quality and their quiet volume, but there’s something about that voice…

Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Get rid of them.

The expendable is on their feet again. They steady themself against the locker they’ve been tucked behind, and take a deep, shaky breath.

They hold.

They wait.

And they run as fast as their aching, wounded body will let them.

They shout when a bullet pierces their shoulder, and drop dead in front of the unopened door as they’re shot down.

And that’s the last of the EXR-P teams until Urbanshade sends more down in a pathetic attempt to retrieve their precious crystal.

Suckers.

Finding himself with nothing to do again, Painter tries to go back to his daydreaming. That wonderfully beautiful face, amongst that beautiful purple field, underneath the beautiful beating sun. But he finds himself distracted by that voice again. He tries to brush it off and forget about it, but it’s bothering him. Like an itch that won’t go away. Now that he thinks about it, it sort of sounded like…

No. That’s impossible. You were on the surface somewhere, safe and sound. Blissfully unaware of the horrors taking place at the bottom of the ocean. Unaware of the horrible things Painter is doing for the sake of freedom.

You are safe.

Hell, you might even be in that field at this very moment. It may be cold out this time of year, but you three used to agree that it was gorgeous there year-round. That’s why you all would visit it all the time.

That’s probably where you are. Yeah. In the field. Waiting for purple to blanket the ground once again.

… But even knowing that, he can’t shake the anxiety building within him. Just the thought of you ending up here somehow, let alone being killed- by him.

But it’s not you. He knows that. And just to prove to himself that it isn’t you, he’ll go look at the corpse through a camera near the door so he can see that it’s clearly… not…

…

He has to stare for a while to fully grasp what he’s seeing. He shows up on the sign next to the door.

That wonderfully beautiful face.

You’re paler than he remembers. Likely due to the fact that all of the blood that should be swimming through your veins is now a massive puddle on the floor. Your eyes, once bright and warm, now look dull and lifeless. Your face holds no emotion. Blood has seeped out of your nose and the corner of your mouth, contributing to the pool of crimson surrounding you.

You’re surrounded in red.

You should be surrounded in purple, but all he sees is red.

“... No…”

Painter doesn’t want to believe what he’s seeing is real.

“No… no no no.”

All of his anxiety is replaced with panic.

“Y/N! Y/N, wake up!”

He can’t accept that you’re dead. He won’t.

“Y/N, please! I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to! Please!”

He can’t lose you too.

“Please!!”

His voice cracks as if he’s crying.

And he is.

That’s not something he wanted to know he could do.

He starts to desperately alert to Sebastian that something is wrong. Painter can’t do anything for you himself, but his friend can. He can help. He can fix you.

Painter keeps begging for you to wake up, telling you help is on the way. Minutes feel like hours while he waits for Sebastian to arrive at the scene.

When he does arrive, he bursts through the only door in the room not marked by the navi-path.

“What, what?! I’m here, what happened?!” The man shouts, looking around to try to see what the fuss was about.

“Sebastian! Help them, please! You have to help them!” Painter pleads.

“Help who??” Sebastian asked before noticing your corpse on the floor in front of his friend. “Uh…”

“Hurry!! What are you waiting for?!”

Sebastian slithers over to you, a look of uncertainty plastered on his face. He barely recognizes you as one of the expendables that was in his shop not that long ago.

“Uh… Paint? I don’t really know what you want me to do here,” he admits.

“Help them! You have medkits, don’t you?! Use them! Use anything!! Just save them, please!!” Painter cries.

“Why, though? It’s just an expendable, you’ve done this plenty of times-”

“They’re not just an expendable, they’re my friend! I knew them before I was brought here- just, please!! We don’t have time for this!!” He shouts, frustrated that Sebastian isn’t doing anything to help yet.

“You… knew them?” Sebastian asks, now with a look of concern.

“Yes, why aren’t you doing anything?!”

“... Paint…”

“Do something!!”

“Paint.”

“They’re dying!! I can’t-”

“Painter.”

“I can’t lose them, too! I can’t! I can’t- I can’t be the reason- please!”

Sebastian frowns. It hurts seeing his friend in such a state.

“Why are you looking at me like that?! Please…!”

“Painter.”

“Stop saying my name! Why- why aren’t you doing anything?!” Painter sobs.

“They’re gone. There’s nothing we can do for them.”

“No- you’re not even trying! How do you know that if you haven’t even tried?!”

“Look at them, Paint. They’ve lost way too much blood to be saved.”

“That’s not true!! It’s not true! It’s not…” he trails off.

Sebastian remains silent. He patiently waits for his friend to process that you won’t be waking up.

It takes him a while, but eventually Painter is able to speak up again.

“Oh god…” his voice shakes. “Oh god… I killed them.”

Sebastian sighs.

“I killed them. Sebastian, I killed them. I killed my best friend. Oh, god.”

Sebastian carefully makes his way around your body to gently pat Painter’s screen while he continues to weep. He repeats over and over to himself that he killed the first person he ever loved, as if saying it enough times would somehow make it hurt less.

He did this to you.

He couldn’t bear it.

Painter was an inconsolable mess. But even still, Sebastian would stay with him for as long as he needed. He doesn’t mind putting off whatever he was doing before this to be there for his only friend.

Expendable or not, he sincerely wishes he could bring you back for Painter.

He doesn’t believe he and his AI companion can afford to lose anymore than what they have.

Reality was cruel. It proved itself to be, every goddamn day.

What Painter wouldn’t give to see you in that field again. The sunlight shining on your face, highlighting all of your beautiful features. Your clothes, moving with every gust of wind that rushed by, framing you perfectly. Your smile, as bright as always.

Surrounded in purple.

Lilacs were always your favorite.

~ 🪻 ~

ending notes: according to multiple sources, lilacs often symbolize joy, youth, the impermanence of youth, and first love. though, one source also says that lilacs can symbolize old love, stating that victorian widows would often wear them as a sign of remembrance.

Since this didn’t follow the suggested prompt exactly, I’ll likely write a less-sad part 2 for this. Let me know if you would like to see it! (It’s actually out rn if you wanna go read it, it’s linked at the top of the post! <3)

Thank you for reading.

[doraambrose]

Woah!! I LOVE your Jason and Dick drawing!! Especially Jason's pants and how you used black and white!! And blue and red stand out perfectly, making the drawing super interesting to look at. Dick may have a bad hair day, who knows, but his pose gives you the perfect 'oh, he's a superhero' feeling. I like how you made Jason keep his fingers away from the trigger and the guns pointed to the ground. Goes to show Jason has amazing trigger disciplin. The dude doesn't just break in somewhere guns blazing and shooting anything that moves. Unless that's the plan.

But it's really funny how Dick is perching on his younger brother's back. Or maybe on some brick wall behind Jason that his fridge figure just hides. Anyway, looks amazing!! Thank you!!👍👏👏👏

I applaud your skills!!

Omg thank you so much this made my day!! I love your analysis of the poses. I appreciate it because it took me so long and so many tries to find the right pose for each of them lmao. And I'm glad you like the black and white. I can do skin colors too, but you mentioned you liked my Batgirl drawing so I wanted to do it in that style. My post seemed to have glitched because when i saw it just now, it seemed like the unfinished draft and not my final draft. But I basically put in more about why I picked the poses and styles I did and I put in my references.

Basically for Dick, I obviously wanted to use Bruno Redondo's style, but I found the perfect pose from artist Kenneth Rocafort and I added some of my own style too. Here's the references I used. I didn't crop any images to give credit because I used images from Google

For Jason, he was tough. It was really hard to find a pose that I liked and went well with what I had planned for Dick. I also wanted to use his half mask and hood look because I'll admit that gotham war and Red hood The Hill has made me into it lol. So it was difficult to transfer a pose style using his helmet design to the style I wanted to use. Here are these references:

Luckily, my original post included the materials I used so I don't have to retype that lol, but anyway, I'm really glad you like it!

Feel free to send more asks and commissions, I promise it doesn't usually take this long lol!

Thanks friend!

[generalllimaginesss]

Beyond

Based on Leon Bridge’s song “Beyond” (one of my absolute favorites). I have so many unfinished drafts, so I decided to go ahead and finish this one. It’s probably terrible, badly proofread, etc., but, if you can, enjoy it :)

btw just about everything in here is completely made up from my imagination, so I’m sorry if there are inaccuracies or anything of the such.

Warnings: cursing, anxiety, birth, slight NSFW (not very detailed though), probably loads of other things but this is all my corrupt brain can think of as of right now

Don’t want to get ahead of myself

Feeling things I’ve never felt

It’s kind of hard for me to explain

Her personality and everything

Brings me to my knees

Jack Hughes was normally one of the most confident individuals. Not in a cocky or arrogant way, but in a way that he knew what he was capable and had to offer, and there wasn’t much that could waiver that feeling.

As soon as Dawson Mercer brought his sister to one of the team’s formal dinners since Ryleigh was out of town, every bit of confidence that Jack had faded into a puddle of self consciousness. He had always prided himself with being smooth with the ladies, but Y/N Mercer was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on. Her beauty didn’t stop at her looks though, no. She had this ability to captivate Jack, almost trance like. Jack was hanging onto every word of hers, and laughing when she would be quirky or funny.

Jack had never felt this way before. Every time him and Y/N would make eye contact he would fidget with his button up, run his fingers through his hair, and he even caught himself biting his nails a couple of times. Nico picked up on this behavior immediately, and really everybody else that knew Jack did too. This was so out of character for the man, so it was easy to connect the dots to the new girl in the room. Nico decided to rescue his friend from himself, pulling him to the side, away from everybody, and checking in on him.

“Are you ok?” Nico asked, forcing Jack to turn his back on Y/N and pay attention to him.

“Y-yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” Jack feigned confusion, but immediately began to grin. He knew he got caught, and couldn’t help but feel like this was such a boyish crush.

“Yeah that’s what I thought,” Nico chuckled. “Get it together or else she’s going to think you’re crazy,” Nico gave him a little liquid encouragement from his flask that he kept in his suit jacket and pushed his friend back to where the beautiful Mercer was standing.

Once the conversation was dying within the group, and Y/N had gone to get a drink, Jack followed. Y/N’s back was turned to him, so he gave her shoulder a feather tap with his finger. Jack subconsciously had moved over a bit, causing him to be out of view from the direction in which he tapped. Y/N looked over the original shoulder, and then to the other to see Jack. His face was beet red and he let out a nervous laugh.

“Sorry, um, I’m Jack, but you probably already know that since Dawson is one of my friends,” Jack was looking everywhere except Y/N’s face while he fidgeted his fingers. He was so absolutely mortified of his behavior, but as soon as Y/N opened her mouth his eyes shot up to her. Her voice was angelic, calming and he could sit and listen to her read a phone book.

“Yeah I’ve definitely heard some interesting stories about you. Not too bad though,” she giggled and Jack could feel his heart flutter.

“At least they’re not too bad, haha. Um, I just wanted to ask if you maybe would be available to go get lunch somewhere, or dinner. Really anything that works with your schedule,” Jack rambled on. His teammates, including Dawson, were watching the scene go down. It was absolutely painful watching the always confident professional hockey player melt into a puddle of goop before Y/N, but Dawson couldn’t help but feel a little pride that his sister was the reason.

“Yeah, that would be nice,” Y/N replied with a smile.

“Awesome! Yeah just let me know when, or I’ll ask you and see what works,” Jack felt a little weight off of his chest and turned to walk away.

“Oh, you’re number?” Y/N asked and Jack could feel his cheeks heat up. How stupid did he have to be to forget to ask for her number?

“Yeah, sorry about that,” he apologized and handed Y/N his phone so that she could type in her number. He then sent her a text message so that she would have his. They exchanged smiles, but kept distance for the rest of the night. Jack reunited with Nico and Dawson, finally feeling like he could breathe again.

“That was painful to watch,” Nico laughed. Jack flipped him off and looked at Dawson, who sported the biggest grin on his face.

“I don’t know what the fuck your parents did to create her, but that is a literal angel. Can I please take your sister out on a date?” Jack breathed out, eliciting a laugh from his two friends.

“Yeah, bud. Don’t fuck it up though. You think she’s an angel now, but you don’t want to get on her bad side,” Dawson admitted. Jack smiled, so excited to get to know this mysterious girl that has him absolutely folding.

She shines me up like gold on my arm

I wanna take it slow but it’s so hard

I love to see her face in daylight

It’s more than just our bodies at night

But she’s really temptin’ me, ooh

It had been a solid 3 months since Jack and Y/N had started going out. They didn’t wear a label yet, and the thought of rushing whatever this was absolutely terrified Jack. He had been on the bad end of many relationships, but none of them felt like this. Y/N accompanied Jack to many NHL events and awards, and everybody always commented on how happy the boy was. He couldn’t take any credit though because it was all Y/N.

After he had gotten over his initial nerves, it was like the two had known each other their whole lives. They connected on such a deeper level than just “liking” each other. It was like everything in the universe drove them together. So much so that the physical aspect of what they had was no match to their emotional and mental connection.

Jack wouldn’t lie, there were several times where Y/N would wear things that just made him feel THAT way, but he always managed to keep those feelings in check. The two had kissed, but that’s as far as it had gone so far. That is until their date to the lake.

The annual Hughes’ lake house vacation was in full swing, and this summer Jack decided to invite Y/N. He had planned a romantic date for the two: a picnic on a blanket by the water at sunset. He had packed sandwiches, wine, a homemade charcuterie board, and candles. This girl really had him in the palm of her hand. He was willing to do anything to express the love he felt for her.

They didn’t dress up, both wearing their swimsuits, and that was the problem. Y/N kept glancing at Jack’s body, almost hungrily, hoping he wouldn’t notice. However, when she wasn’t looking, Jack was biting his lip and trying to keep his friend under control.

The dinner went smoothly, and the sunset was breathtaking. As Y/N started to talk about the beauty of the sunset, Jack couldn’t control himself and smashed his lips on hers, his hands cupping her face gently while her hands went to his sides. He laid her down gently, supporting his weight with one arm and letting his fingers caress her skin with the other arm.

This wasn’t like any other kiss that they had before now. The passion that exuded from their bodies was far too great to be confined into a simple kiss. Things got heated to the point where Y/N lost her top in the middle of things. Jack wanted so bad to continue to show her with his mouth how much she meant to him, but he couldn’t help but think that she deserves better than having this moment in the dirt by a lake.

“Y/N I can’t let this be our first time. I need this to be perfect, and getting dirt in places where dirt shouldn’t be is not how I want to remember this,” he panted out. Y/N was slightly disappointed, but her heart grew when she realized that Jack was absolutely in love with her. She smiled, placed a peck on his nose, and placed her top back on.

The walk back to the house was about 10 minutes, and they never let their hands fall apart. They laughed and shared longing glances as they returned to the rest of the boys.

Do you think I’m being foolish if I don’t rush in?

I’m scared to death that she might be it

That the love is real

That the shoe might fit

She might just be my everything and beyond (beyond)

Space and time in the afterlife

Will she have my kids will she be my wife?

She might just be my everything and beyond

“Dude there’s no way you two have been going out for almost 4 months and still haven’t had sex,” Trevor was absolutely shocked. He knew his best friend like the back of his hand, and he didn’t think that Jack had gone 1 month, let alone 4, without sleeping with whatever girl he was with.

“Man, you don’t get it. This one is special. This one deserves for everything to be perfect before she gives herself to me. I can’t let it be in some hotel room that we’re at during the season. Like she’s actually got me thinking about waiting until we’re married,” Jack admitted. He just couldn’t ruin this relationship with her.

He finally asked her to be his girlfriend a few weeks ago, and everything was going so good, but there still wasn’t a time where he felt was perfect for them to take that next step.

“Woah there buddy, marriage?” Trevor’s jaw fell open as he grabbed his phone and turned the speaker button off and put it to his ear.

“Yeah, Z. She’s perfect. There’s never going to be anyone that makes me feel the way she does,” Jack smiled at the thought of building a future with such a special woman. It terrifies him to no end to know that a single person has this sort of effect on him, but he just began to embrace it eventually.

“Do you have a time frame for marriage?” Trevor asked.

“I don’t want to rush things, but I’ve already bought a ring and I’m thinking about doing it when we go home for Christmas,” Jack admitted.

“Oh yeah, no rush, just planning on getting engaged this year, already bought a ring, but no rush,” Trevor mocked, “You’re so fucking whipped, it’s disgusting,” Trevor groaned.

“Nah, Z-Man. I’m so fucking in love,” Jack chuckled on the other end of the phone thinking about his girl.

“Yeah, whatever, shut the fuck up, lover boy,” Trevor was slightly jealous of Jack’s relationship. He could only dream about finding somebody he could love as much as Jack loved Y/N. As much as he was jealous, he was just as happy to see Jack be so happy.

The two hung up the phone and Jack went to admire the ring. A part of him wanted to pop the question tomorrow, but the other part wanted everything to be planned out and perfect. He also was trying really hard not to rush into a marriage, which was a terrifying feeling. Holding yourself back from taking the next step and committing your life to somebody that you are absolutely in love with…there’s no other feeling like it. Jack wanted her for the rest of his life, but he had about 8 months to plan for the most important question of his life.

I wanna bring her ‘round to meet ya

I think you’d like her kind demeanor

I know that Grandma would’ve loved her

Like she was her own

She makes me feel at home

The first time that Jack brought Y/N home to meet his family in Michigan was nerve wracking at first, but turned into memories that he would treasure forever. Luke knew Y/N, but the rest of his family hadn’t gotten the chance to in the 5 months that they had been dating. Schedules were difficult to work with, but when the first opportunity to hop on a plane with Jack to Michigan arose, Y/N jumped on the idea. If his family was anything like him, Y/N would love them.

Jack, on the other hand, wanted them to love her as much as he did. Not that he didn’t think Y/N was good enough for his family, she was perfect. He was scared that his family would be too picky. They expected a lot out of each other, and Y/N was perfect as she was. He just wanted them to see that.

Once they reached the Hughes’ home, Y/N was beaming, and Jack was admiring her giddiness to meet everybody.

They grabbed their bags, and Jack went through the front door. There was a chorus of “Hellos” and hugs before Jack finally took a deep breath in and out.

“Mom, Dad, Quinn, this is Y/N. We’ve been dating for about 5 months now,” he smiled at his girl who was going to hug everybody. God, he loved her so much, and he soon would find out that his family adored her as well.

Later that night, after everyone had ate dinner Jack got the opportunity to sit down with just his mom. They talked about how his life was going, the things he would change about his approach at hockey for the next season, and they finally got on the topic of Y/N.

“So Y/N? How serious are we talking here?” Ellen flashed a cheeky grin at her middle son. As much as she loved him, she knew he held a reputation as a slight player. She was honestly surprised that her son had a relationship that had lasted this long.

“Don’t freak out on me, ok? Let me explain,” Jack began. Ellen looked very confused, but nodded for him to continue.

“I’ve bought a ring,” He stated as Ellen still looked confused.

“Like a promise ring?” She genuinely didn’t think that it was a possibility for him to have bought a wedding ring, like the thought never registered with her until Jack began to rub the back of his neck and began to explain.

“Not exactly. I bought a wedding ring a little while back. But I’m not planning on proposing until around December,” He explained as Ellen’s eyes grew wide and she sucked in her lips, biting them to hold back a miniature freak out.

“Honey, I love you so much. I admire the heart you have and how you love others, I truly do. But what the hell are you thinking? Do you know how much can happen in 8 months? What if she gets cold feet or wants to break up?” Ellen was whisper-yelling at him, trying her best to prevent the others from hearing Jack’s little secret.

The truth is Jack knew his mom had a point, but at the same time nobody truly knew how close Jack and Y/N were. They spent every free moment together and supported each other in all that they did. He just had to trust himself, which is what he had been doing this whole time and it’s paid off so far.

“Mom, I just know that’s who I’m supposed to marry. She’s kind, thoughtful, so selfless. Like when I think about my life partner, there’s nobody else that could possibly fulfill that role. When I think about the person I want my kids to learn from, Y/N is the only person that I would trust to help raise our kids with determination and morals. Please just trust me,” Jack was practically begging his mom.

Ellen couldn’t help but smile at the young love. The mom part of her was petrified that her son would get hurt, but watching Y/N treat them with respect and kindness backed up her son’s words about the girl. She had also never seen her son like this, so he had to be telling the truth.

As she got up from the couch, she ruffled her sons hair and kissed his forehead. “You’re crazy, but I love you,” she whispered in his ear, causing Jack to smiled up at her.

“Love you too, mom,” he blushed at the thought of Y/N Mercer turning into Y/N Hughes.

I give up, I’m in love cryin’ out to you

Oh me, oh my I can’t explain

She might just be my everything

The eight months that followed after his chat with his mom flew by, and now here everybody was gathered at his grandparents house on his dad’s side. Even though his mom’s side was Jewish, his dad’s side still celebrated Christmas with them being catholic. He had made sure to find time and communicate that with Y/N so that they would be making the get together with one another.

He wanted to make sure that Y/N had met everybody in his family before committing to a life with him. He didn’t want to propose in front of everybody, but he definitely needed a little moral support from his immediate family.

Without any doubt, his entire family adored Y/N. She got along with all of his cousins and aunts and uncles, and his grandparents went on and on about how she’s too good for Jack. He fell even more in love with her, if possible, when he caught her playing Barbie’s with some of the younger kids. He pulled his brothers to the side while Y/N was preoccupied to let them in on his plan.

“What I’m about to tell you two must stay between us. The only other people that know is Y/N’s family and mom and dad, ok? Well, and maybe Trevor, but that’s besides the point,” He began.

“I’m asking Y/N to marry me tonight. I’ve got it planned where we’re going to the dock where I’ve got people setting up marquee letters, there’s going to be fireworks and there’s flowers leading the way down there. I’m so fucking nervous right now, like almost as nervous as I was the first time I met her. Please just talk me down,” he rambled on.

Meanwhile his brothers were in shock. They knew that their brother was in love, but it had only been about a year and a half since the two had gone on their first date.

“Look I know you need words of encouragement, but what the fuck, Jack? Why are we just now finding out?” Quinn was the first to speak up, slightly hurt that he was just now hearing of this, but he soon could see how much this meant to his brother, so he warmed up to the idea.

“I needed it to be kept absolute secret. Y/N couldn’t even get a feeling that it was somewhere on the horizon,” Jack explained.

His brothers talk to him for about 30 minutes before people were starting to leave the get together. Jack noticed this and gave a glance to his mom for their family to leave. Jack and Y/N hugged everybody goodbye and drove back to the Hughes home with the rest of his immediate family. They made it there, Jack texting all of the people involved in the proposal eagerly, making sure everything was going as planned.

As they all got out of the vehicle, Jack took Y/N’s hand, smiling at her.

“Why don’t we take a late night walk by the lake? Just a quick one?” Jack asked. Y/N was a bit puzzled, but pulled her jacket tighter and following her boyfriend.

The two talked, walking slowly towards the frozen water. Y/N’s laughter and constant gazing at Jack distracted her from that of the marquee letters for as long as possible until the lights caught her attention and she realized that she was walking on rose petals. The words “Marry Me?” shining through the cold Michigan night.

Jack’s hands were sweating despite the freezing temperatures, but he continued to lead his girl closer to the lights with her hand in his. He could hear her sniffling and glanced over to see tears steaming down her face.

Once they reached the wooden dock, Jack grabbed her other hand and turned her body towards him.

“Y/N Mercer, you’re my absolute best friend. You are the only person that I truly feel this type of love for. I miss you the second I’m away from you, and I count down the minutes until I can see you again. I’ve truly tried to do everything right in this relationship, not rushing things, waiting until marriage, and I just want to be able to spend all of my waking moments with you. I can not bear to think of a life where I don’t have you, and I can’t help but feel like everyday I’m not married to you is a day I’m losing with you,” With that he pulled the Tiffany blue ring box out of his jacket and got down on one knee.

Y/N was almost sobbing at this point, her hands covering her nose and mouth as she watched her best friend on one knee. He truly had done everything right, and it wasn’t even a question if she would marry him.

“Y/N Mercer, will you do me the absolute honor of taking my last name and being my life partner?” Jack asked.

Y/N managed to nod her head, but she didn’t think she could form the ‘yes’ if she tried. She was practically bawling and Jack was infatuated with her.

“Is that a yes,” Jack chuckled and began to put the ring on her finger. She nodded feverishly and leaned into him as he stood up. They shared a passionate kiss, the only thing that could distract them from this moment was the fireworks over the lake and the cheers from the house.

“Oh my God I love you,” Y/N cried as she laid her head on Jack’s shoulder and admired the fireworks.

Once the show had ended they made their way back to the house where they were not only greeted by the Hughes, but also the Mercers. Jack’s brothers and Dawson hugged him and the moms hugged Y/N. Y/N truly couldn’t think of better person for her. She loved his family and him. She couldn’t wait to share a last name with her soulmate.

Space and time in the afterlife

Will she have my kids?

Will she be my wife?

She might just be my everything and beyond

Jack and Y/N had an engagement that lasted 6 months. They both felt like they had just enough time to plan their dream wedding and not feel rushed. Their wedding was absolutely stunning. The cake, the venue, her dress…everything was better than imagined.

Nothing topped the moment, however, when Jack saw Y/N in her wedding dress for the first time walking down the aisle with her dad. Jack’s breath hitched and he felt tears stinging his eyes. He tried to keep it together, he really did, but when Quinn gave his shoulder a squeezed, and Jack looked over at tears in his older brother’s eyes, he began to let his tears fall as well.

Y/N was absolutely stunning. Jack truly didn’t understand how he had managed to not only catch her attention at that party so many months ago, but how in the world had he kept her.

Her dad had announced that him and Y/N’s mom were giving her away and he turned to hug Jack. He gave him a squeeze and whispered in his ear before letting go, “We love you, Kid.” Jack nodded and thanked him.

The ceremony was stunning, and their vows were endearing.

“Jack Hughes, before we get to the sappy stuff I just need to let everybody know how we happened,” Y/N chuckled, her voice hitching when she glanced at him, a tear streaming down Jack’s face.

“Jack Rowdy Hughes was an absolute mess the first night I had met him,” and with that everybody laughed, especially the Devils players that were there to witness the tragedy that was a love stricken Hughes Brother.

“I had always heard stories from Dawson about how bold and straightforward you were, but that night I feel like I knew who you were immediately. You were a man who’s heart held so much love that you couldn’t contain it. I’m so happy and blessed to say that you haven’t wavered, but gotten stronger in your love. You have showed me what true love should look and feel like, and there will never be another person like you. I promise to love, support, and cherish you until my heart stops beating. I promise to calm you down when you chew the ref out for bad calls, and to love you even when you are missing a few teeth. I can’t wait to begin this life with you as your life partner,” Y/N concluded, squeezing Jack’s hand as he composed himself enough to begin his vows.

He had been skeptical at writing his own vows, but in this moment he knew exactly what to say.

“I really wasn’t expecting you to out me like that, but I can’t say anything because it’s true,” He laughed, causing a chain reaction in the wedding guests.

“Y/N Mercer, I knew you were going to be my wife the second I laid eyes on you. I didn’t know how, or when, but I knew that when I envisioned my future, you were there at every important moment. If I’m being honest, I bought that ring a little over 3 months of dating you. Nobody understands me quite the way you do. Sometimes we don’t even have to tell each other how we feel, it’s merely a look and we know. I promise to always put you first. I promise to love you with every single fiber of my being. My life has been filled with so much love and joy since knowing you, and I can’t wait to feel that for the rest of my life,” Jack concluded.

The two exchanged rings and the priest prayed over the two.

“It’s with the utmost privilege that I pronounce you man and wife. Jack, you may kiss your bride,” And at those words Jack smiled at his new wife and planted a loving, eager, tender kiss on her lips.

———

After the wedding, the two could not get enough of each other’s bodies. Waiting for over a year to have sex had built up so many thoughts, and needless to say the two were always busy. After Trevor and Caufield had walked in on them in the middle of it, it was a known fact to knock before coming into their house.

The two weren’t planning on kids anytime soon, but honestly they weren’t trying to prevent it. Money wasn’t an issue, Y/N had landed and job where she could work from home, and they had just recently adopted a puppy that kept her company when she missed Jack during the hockey season.

After feeling like she had the flu for what felt like two weeks, she finally did the math of when her last period was and began to freak out. As soon as she possibly could, she ran to target and bought a variety of different tests, knowing that she was going to take so many of them to be sure whether she was or wasn’t pregnant.

She took about 4, leaving them face up on the bathroom counter as she walked out. She couldn’t possibly just sit there and wait for the results. After her timer on her phone had gone off, she nervously made her way back to the tests. She felt dizzy as every single one indicated that she was, in fact, pregnant.

Jack wouldn’t be home for another 3 days, so she successfully managed to keep her mouth shut about it while she came up with a way to tell him. She managed to get an appointment with her OBGYN and took home the sonograms that were made, the baby so tiny it was hardly noticeable.

She picked out a cute onesy, took a fresh pregnancy test, and placed the sonogram all carefully into a gift bag and left it out on the counter when Jack got home. He curiously walked over to the back and looked at Y/N.

“What’s this for?” He questioned, causing a smile to inch onto his wife’s face.

“Just open it,” Y/N replied, to which he raised his eyebrows cautiously and carefully removed the paper.

The first thing he saw was the onesy, so he was a little confused. But when he saw the sonogram and the test he snapped his head toward his wife.

“Are you serious?” He didn’t think that she would joke about this, but he was in complete shock.

Y/N nodded and made her way to him. They both had tears glistening in their eyes as they embraced. He pulled away from Y/N slightly and looked her in the eyes.

“I’m actually going to be a dad, and you’re actually going to be a mom?” He already knew the answer, but he just needed to hear it from you again.

“Yes, my love. We’re going to be parents!” Y/N squealed.

———

Telling everybody was one of their favorite parts about the pregnancy. Getting to see everybody so excited, and seeing all of the love that was shown to their new little family was amazing.

As soon as Y/N had a visible bump, Jack was obsessed with it. He would rant to it about stupid calls during a game, he would attempt to sing to it, and he would pepper it with kisses all the time. Sometimes he would accidentally let a few curse words slip to it, earning him a thump from Y/N, but she secretly enjoyed seeing him so fascinated with it.

When the bump grew bigger and Y/N struggled with back pain, he would hold her belly for her while she enjoyed the pressure being taken away slightly. As much as she enjoyed feeling the little kicks and flutter, the little one was running out of room to move around, causing mama to struggle with the basics like breathing and walking.

Y/N was at 39 weeks and was feeling absolutely miserable. She felt bad because she was quick to snap at Jack, but he knew it was only because of the life growing inside of her.

The Devil’s had just made it to the playoffs, but had a few days between their next game. Jack was weary to leave the house, even if it was to go practice. He was scared to death that he would somehow be late, or miss his baby’s birth.

After coming home from a pretty intense practice, he found that Y/N was walking laps around their house.

“Babe, you ok?” Jack’s concern seeped through his voice.

“No. I need this baby out. I’m losing my mind,” she groaned. Jack chuckled at this.

“Can we please have sex? I have tried everything else and it’s not working. I’ve tried exercise balls, walking, spicy foods, literally every single thing. I made a list from TikTok videos of things that can induce labor and none of it is working. What I haven’t tried is sex, though,” Y/N rambled on as Jack slowly made his way to his wife. He smirked and grabbed her hips as he led her to their bedroom.

Yeah he was tired and sweaty and actually disgusting, but if Y/N wanted to have sex then that’s what he was going to do.

After undressing each other, Jack laid on his back and had Y/N straddle him. They were extremely limited in the positions they could do, but being on top was equally enjoyable for both of them.

Y/N let out a low moan as soon as she felt him inside of her. She sat still for a few seconds, adjusting to Jack, but then began to bounce up and down.

Jack helped out when he could feel her slow down, supporting her under her thighs and giving her an extra push.

When they swapped positions to doggy style, it didn’t take long for Jack to feel close to the edge. Just as he was about to get off, he felt liquid drip out of Y/N as she let out a hiss.

“Babe that’s a little rough,” she groaned.

“Y/N I think your water just broke, holy shit,” he tried to stay calm, but he was freaking out.

Y/N wasn’t in any significant pain, it just felt like the Braxton Hicks contractions she had been enduring for a few days, that is until she felt a searing pain shoot through her.

“I think we need to go to the hospital,” She announced and Jack immediately got together the hospital bag. The car seat was already in the car, and they were off to the hospital.

They kept track of how far apart each contraction was, and it was averaging about 3 minutes.

Once they got checked into a room, Y/N was able to relax, following all of the steps of her birthing plan.

Jack watched in complete awe. He admired the strength that his wife exuded. She was incredible.

With each contraction, Jack made sure to let her squeeze his hand as tight as she needed to. He tried to help her control her breathing, and all he wished was for the pain to go away and for their baby to be here already.

When the time came to push, he could tell that Y/N was a little scared.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” she cried to Jack. Jack rubbed her shoulders in reassurance.

“Babe you are so fucking strong. You didn’t come this far to back out. You can do anything, especially bring our baby into this world,” he encouraged her. That’s all she needed in order to do just that.

With 4 pushes later, the sound of crying filled the room along with tears from Jack and Y/N. Jack couldn’t help it, he started to sob with Y/N as soon as he saw the baby’s tiny figure. Sure it was a little gross looking with all of the goop on it, but he didn’t care. It was his family that they had built together.

“Congratulations you two! It’s a baby girl,” the doctor announced as he placed the baby on Y/N’s chest. Jack wouldn’t mind being a girl dad, he was ecstatic.

After Baby Hughes was cleaned off and the nurses and doctor checked Y/N out, the three of them had their own time together, alone, for the first time.

“So we do know what we’re going to name her, right?” Jack questioned. The two of them had discussed names for a while now, but Jack honestly couldn’t remember what was decided.

“Ella Dawson Hughes,” Y/N announced. Ella came from Ellen, and Dawson was obvious since without him none of this would be happening.

“Absolutely perfect,” Jack managed to croak out.

After a few hours, the two decided to allow visitors to come in and see the baby. The families were first, followed by just about the whole Devils team, then came the various other NHL players like Trevor, Jamie, Caufield and Turcotte. It was such a beautiful thing to watch these tough athletes turn to mush around such a tiny human. It was even more heartwarming when they hugged Y/N and Jack, filled with so much pride for the two of them.

When the last of the visitors left for the day and it was just Jack holding a sleeping baby Ella, and a sleeping Y/N, he let more tears fall. As much as he had loved his wife, nothing could have prepared him for the surplus of emotions his heart was going through watching his best friend become a mom, and seeing the result of their love coming into fruition.

Baby Ella scrunched her nose, letting out a small cry.

“It’s ok, my love. Daddy loves you,” he let her grip his finger and rocked her slightly, lulling her back to sleep.

This was his life, and he was totally in love with it.

[thearcanecat]

Hey Arc! If you dont mind, would you share some of your head canons for Miss Holloway or maybe Hatchetfield in general? /nf

Also just wanna say that I really love when you add on to my random idea posts, its really fun! 💜/p

Oh dear I have so many and they are not well organized. Let's start with the timeline. All of this is subject to change as well but I've actually been pretty consistent within my fics. Dates and names from her past and such should line up between them.

1776: The United States of America was founded.

October 31st, 1795: Holly-May Logan (Holy, holly berry, bitterness, month of May: hollow, lowland) is born.

1795-1810: Lives somewhere in the south because of the accent. Born Holly-May Logan. (land by the road, courageous fighter) She is feared because her red hair marks her as a witch/unlucky/cursed somehow. The Waylon family her mother is from has a history of magic although they do not know about the Lords. After her father’s death (probably due to something magical, maybe accident spell from Holly gone wrong?), they move to Nantucket, Michigan at the request of her Aunt. Holly's mother is resistant to this but widowed woman with a daughter being called a witch she really needs the support.

1810-1825: Holly-May Waylon gets adopted by her Aunt, who kept her maiden name even after marrying the mayor. (Magic runs through the female lineage). Holly’s mother doesn’t like magic as it has caused her much pain. Holly learns about magic from her Aunt against her mother’s wishes. She meets Willabella who is experimenting with lightning and keeps lots of journals. Willabella had emerged from the Woods many years before and was adopted by the Waylons. She emerged covered in mud, gaining her last name Muckwab. (Kinda Adam/first one created from mud/clay general folkloric motif.) She is disliked by the people who suspect her of magic. Willabella often debates religion with people and interrupts church, not helping her public perception in a very Christian town. Only the Waylon’s power keeps her safe. Her experiments succeed one night and 5 lightning bolts strike simultaneously, tearing into the fabric of the world. This allows Willabella to enter Nightmare Time and meet the Lords in Black. She devotes herself to them as they promise her respect and power. She experiments more, murdering children as their blood gives her writings power and are necessary for some of the spells. She creates the map and learns more about the Lords.

1812: Willabella has a child out of wedlock, further distancing her from the town. Father is a Hatchetmen with the last name Forrester, this eventual turns into Foster. (Potentially closer to her execution. She got pregnant specifically to delay her hanging. I was doing math with her children to get the Foster sister to be the proper amount of greats but I don't remember what my conclusion was so I'm not going to mess with it right now.)

1824: Willabella drafted a spell for immortality, which she is halfway through performing in the middle of the smaller island (what will become Waylon Hall), but it is unfinished before she is caught and executed by the Hatchetmen. The spell required blood which the hanging did not provide. The Waylon’s manage to escape by blaming Willabella as a witch. In her capture, large portions of the Woods were burned to the ground. The Men rename the island to Hatchetfield, after the new land. The judge plants three of the Villagers who showed signs of the Gift next to Willabella’s grave. They grow supernaturally fast to become the first of the Witchwoods. The Judge is a distant relative of the Metzgers.

1825: The remainders of Willabella’s cult join together to survive the Hatchetmen’s scourge. They ask the Lords for help and sacrifice Holly-May, their prodigy witch, to Nibbly in order for their safety. She is killed with the Black Blade. However, this is performed over Willabella’s incomplete spell in the Nibbly altar. Holly dies and the sacrifice is complete, saving the Church. A bit of blood drips in just the right place, completing the spell. The page in the Black Book changes from Willabella to Holly. (Could also be blood somehow perfectly landing on the hair to color it? But I like the idea of the Book having a life of its own. Like Willabella could write on it and only certain things would stay.) Lords offer Holly immortality in excahnge for what she cherishes most, her legacy. The Hatchetmen plant Gifted souls including Holly’s mom.

1837: Michigan state is founded.

1825-1840: Miss Huckleberry (sweetberry) Holly-May wakes up permanently 30, alone in the Nibbly altar. She is alive but some things are fuzzy. She wanders the Witchwoods for a few years, slowly going crazy. She hangs out with Chumby. This is the first true unexplainable event. (Referenced in KT) She likes the Huckleberry plants but feels they aren't quite right. She also likes the Hickory trees. (I have so many H*y names and I will shove all of them in here.) She wanders and meets a Stockworth son. They are a rich family who supported the Waylons in exchange for their magical knowledge. Duke is distantly related to them, he doesn't know this, but his name is a call back to the Stockworths being Dukes/Duchesses. The Stockworth son convinces her to rejoin society where she immediately gets swept up by the surviving members of the Church again.

1840-1855: Miss Hickory (tree) Going by Hickory as the records are muddled along with her memory, she quickly rises through the ranks to become a leader of the Church. The Church recognizes her as a reincarnation/gift to return for the first sacrifice to Nibbly. Most of the other members like her Aunt have died. She rebuilds it and secrecy becomes less key with members returning to high positions of power. This attracts the attention of the Hatchetmen who attack several of the members. Throughout this she realizes the extent of her memory curse.

Next few decades are basically just her learning more magic.

1855-1870: Miss Holleday. Pokey focus. Continues trying to build relationships despite memory deal. Learns her hypnosis and mind control magic.

1870-1885: Miss Hollisey. Blinky focus. Perfects more rituals in the Book and ends up leaving it in the hands of Willabella's grandaughter who manages a variant of the immortality spell with Webby's help. (Something with my Foster math again.) She has a more passive role in this identity, watching from afar and departs from the church for a while.

1885-1900: Miss Holloday. Tinky focus. She's a news reporter and investigates various goings on around Hatchetfield. Has a vision of the future where the world in overtaken by the Lords with her help. Starting to have doubt about everything.

1900-1915: Miss Hollowey. Nibbly focus. Agatha and Matthias marry and come to power within the church. Matthias becomes the mayor. Hollowey helps out and provides him with information that will be passed down to future mayors, along with information on how to contact her. This is what allows Solomon to reach her later. She reveals the map and the Black Book. The Waylons build Waylon Hall, the old schoolhouse, a mill, the Hatchetfield Gazzette and the Starlight Theatre at the locations marked by the map. Holly panics as they approach Waylon Hall, associating it with her first death. She leaves the Church with the goal to learn more about Webby and why she is so different from her brothers.

1915-1930: Miss Hollyday (holy day) Wiggly focus. Hollyday tries to enter the Black and White to reach Webby, however she is intercepted by Wiggly. He says that she has promise and takes her under his wing, the first true disciple since Willabella. He tries to turn Hollyday against Webby but that just makes her more curious. The Youngs are married and Mr. Young becomes the new leader and holder of the Black Book. Seeing the negative side effects of Willabella’s granddaughter's immortality they opt for stealing life instead. Webby finally reaches out to Holly and hides her from Wiggly.

1930-1945: Miss Hollaway. Webby focus. Webby brings Hollaway to Clivesdale, which she hates but it is out of the Lord's center of power. She explains that her mother the Spider Goddess used to rule to Black and White before being overthrown by the Lords who took her in. They claimed Webby as a sister but she began to see their flaws. Webby no longer trusts them and transfers her Gifts to Pamela’s Aunt, rather than Willabella’s granddaughter who has become corrupted. Holly is gifted a fraction of Webby’s power in a spiderweb in a jar. (one of the artifacts she has in KT). Webby teaches Hollaway the Witch in the Web song, reinvigorating her love of music.

1945-1960: Miss Honey. Return to Hatchetfield, avoiding but watching the Church. The First Honey Queen Pageant occurs and she realizes people are still being sacrificed to Nibbly. She mentors Pamela’s Aunt into her powers with Webby as a guide. Another girl, Rosemel Waylon who is very similar to Holly, becomes jealous and competes against her for Honey Queen against Honey’s wishes. She is chosen and killed before Honey can help, becoming the first of the 3-girl creature. Honey’s Nightmare Time becomes the Starlight Theatre, where the sacrifice took place.

1960-1979: Miss Holleway/Miss Honesty. Continue to mentor Pamela’s Aunt (Selina) and Mother, both growing into their powers. As Miss Honesty, she feeds information to the Hatchetmen like Bob Metzger and Emma’s Great Grandfather. One of the Hatchetmen is shown the Black Book and driven insane. He makes some of the marks within the Book (mostly the mad scribblings) and records some of the spells like the Ritual of Soul Transference, eventually becomeing Tape Voice. Pamela’s Aunt is overridden by her power despite Holly and Webby’s attempts to save her. She becomes the 2nd girl. Pamela’s Mother becomes afraid of her power and is traumatized.

1979: Pamela Foster is born. The Hatchetmen attack the Church of the Starry Children at Waylon Hall. They murder them all but the immortality spell is triggered. Holleway is able to destroy most of them but some escape, like Sheila Young. As the year turns to 1980, Holly is finally free of the Church. She steals the Black Book.

1980-1990(?): Miss Heavenly. Finally free of Hatchetfield she ventures out through the world as a touring musician. Some song ideas are from Webby. She finds a passion for the 80s and writes Run Away With Me. Throughout her travels she meets Wilbur Cross and learns of PEIP.

1987: Professor Henry Hidgens is struck by lightning and foresees the events of the split timeline. He carves a version of Pokey and the Lords which Harmony keeps. (strange carving in KT) While in the throws of Pokey's power he persuades Holly to do one last show in Hatchetfield.

Casey is a fan and while performing at the Starlight, Pokey tries to initiate the apotheosis. Holly manages to escape and resuce Casey too, but they are caught and killed by Hatchtmen afeter. Holly comes back, Casey doesn't. 3rd girl.

1990-2005: Miss Holliway. Back stuck in Hatchetfield she decides to help PEIP as an informant before climbing the ranks to General, despite being young (or is denied a title?). She avoids revealing too much information, warry that they will be influenced by the Lords, but this makes some others suspicious of her. When she learns that they are building a portal she is initially wary but comes to see it as an opportunity to free Webby/destroy the Lords. She volunteers to go in but is dismissed as she is known to lie/hide information and Wilbur is trusted more. (I think PEIP and Wilbur specifically hid this info from her because they knew she would be mad) Wilbur enters and returns as Uncle Wiley, the next true disciple of Wiggly since Holyday. He is freed from the curse and knows Holly-May’s history. Holliway tries to keep the timelines together, even as black and White energy rips it apart. Holliway leaves PEIP to John MacNamara, Wilbur’s mentee. Leaving her identity behind also wipes PEIP from the memories of the President and his cabinet as the government had been pushing them to create weapons. John’s views on the universal truth of love and the strength of the human heart are secured. A lot of his quotes are from Holly such as “time is a pressure thread in the fabric of the universe” and “I can show you the path but only you can walk it” His reliance on it helped Holliway forgive herself and work to move forward. It is troubled by Wiley but eventually John pushes through to become the leader PEIP needed.

1998: Holliway helps Pamela Fosters, whose Gifts are beginning to overtake her. She is able to help her suppress them but not before Pamela is addicted to several drugs and generally very mean.

October 17th, 2004: Holliway helps Ted Spankoffski, now the Homeless Man. She gets the timeline back in order and prevents it from breaking although the strain will make it weaker. He gives her the Bastard’s Box. (KT artifact)

October 5th, 2005: Hannah Foster is born, the most powerful psychic mind in history. The seams holding together the universe are broken and the timelines split. This is actually Webby's doing, not Tinky or the Lords. She is the one who always had control of the multiverse. By splitting it apart she hopes that she can win in just one universe, and then make that the main one. The Lords attention is split, allowing her to get away with more things, but the veil between worlds is also loosened allowing them to make worse apocalypses.

Apotheosis 2005-October 2018: Miss Holloway. Owns Miss Retro’s and is killed by Wiley.

Black Friday 2005-2015: Miss Holloway. (sunken road: leader) Owns Miss Retro’s and helps a young Ethan Green escape Wiley as he prepares for Black Friday. Lex is involved as her power peaks in 2015. While applying for a job they stumble across protype Wiggly dolls and in the ensuring scuffle Ethan is banned from Lakeside Mall. Holly gives him the Magic Hat before she is killed in the duel with Wiley by the Black Blade. The Black Blade, being made by the Lords, is able to kill her. Lex and Ethan forget most of the event because of the memory thing.

Nightmare Time 1 2005-2020: Miss Holloway and Duke, owns Miss Retro’s and helps Duke, now a social worker. She kills Wiley in the Starlight with the Black Blade. She enters Hannah Foster’s Nightmare Time in order to exorcize Willabella Muckwab, destroying her for good.

Honey Festival NMT2 2005-2020: Miss Holloway. Owns Miss Retro’s and helps Duke with Rose. She was initially nervous about helping kids since the last three died but Duke convinced her that she’s a good witch. After dying to the Killer Track and returning, Duke demands answers but forgets their conversation. After destroying the Killer Track, Duke's memories are wiped once again.

Nerdy Prudes Must Die 2005-???: Miss Holloway. Gets killed by Wiley and Solomon inherits the book, sacrificing his wife to gain power.

Honey Festival NMT2 2020-2035: Miss Holiday (holy day) is a guidance counselor at Hatchetfield High. She meets Duke again.

PEIP Character interactions

Holliway & John A teasing and joking relationship built on trust. They poke fun at each other all the time and function more like peers even though Holly’s a higher rank than he is. She teaches him a few things, especially if Wilbur got something wrong about the B&W that she can correct John’s knowledge of, but isn’t his main mentor. Holly encourages him to ask out Xander and John in turn teases her about Wilbur and is the person to point out he has a crush on her. Holliway respects him, and knows he’ll be a better leader than the General, and is sure to leave rememberable documents recommending him for promotion after she leaves.

Holliway & Xander An academic mentor relationship. Holliway is Xander’s mentor and teaches him all about the B&W. Together they create the foundation of knowledge that the entirety of PEIP is built on. They nerd out together, finishing each other's sentences when they’re on the same brainwave and filling up blackboards with theories and equations. They go through chalk so quickly they got called out at a budgeting meeting for it. Xander learns about magic, and has a small touch of the Gift. The first day they met to talk about the B&W, Holliway told him that magic isn’t always logical and breaks its own rules and Xander was like that’s just how theoretical physics works. Xander admires Holloway’s knowledge and listens to all her advice, perhaps a little too strictly. The General dislikes him for his closeness with her.

Holliway & Cross Rivals to lovers. Holliway disliked Cross when they first met, because he came off as trying to help a damsel in distress. Will liked her immediately and her dismissal of him just intrigued him more. The General told him to keep an eye on her, purposefully seating them next to each other and assigning them on missions. Will kept annoying her, asking her questions about her past and pointing out when she was lying, though whenever he hit a real boundary he backed off. After Holliway realized he had on crush on her, she told him to stop it, which he didn’t. He started flirting more openly until she finally gave it. He’s good at breaking through the walls she’s built over the years. Of not trusting or caring because everyone will just forget and it will hurt again. It’s not the most functional relationship. Holliway is so lonely and desperate for a connection that she puts up with a lot once she admits to herself that she likes him. And Will is more enamored with the idea of her, as well as being pretty flighty and disloyal. Like he definitely still looks and flirts at other women, though he wouldn’t actively cheat on Holloway while they’re in a relationship. He’s one of the few people to make her laugh and they jokingly steal stuff from each other all the time (the jacket.) He doesn’t listen to Holly’s advice though, which gets him in trouble numerous times, most vitally with the portal. He has a million different nicknames for her, and she calls him Will sometimes.

Holliway & Scahffer They don’t interact much, but find solidarity as the only two girls. Schaffer has been at this much longer, and knows how to subvert the General, important knowledge she passes on to Holly. Schaffer can come off as unemotional or uncaring, something Holly respects in her but Schaffer dislikes. Schaffer corners her one day to tell Holly she can care for people, even in this line of work. Holly refutes this and Schaffer tells her about her partner who died in the line of duty, but that she never regretted it. They trauma bond a bit. Holly starts to open up more.

Holliway & General Oc to be an oppositional force to Holly. They hate each other. The General is very distrusting and fearful of magic. He sees it as an evil to be rid of, not a tool that depends on the will of the user. He is rude and dismissive of Holly, withholding promotions and ignoring her ideas, even when they are prove to be very right. Holly hates him because he hates her, although he words hit closer to home than she likes to admit, paralleling her own concerns over her morality and past. The General purposefully subverts her when it comes to the portal. After the portal, while everyone is still reeling, Holly seeks him out hiding away in his command room. She has a chance to kill him, but chooses not to, instead pointing out how his actions endangered the whole company before making him resign.

Holliway & Douglas Sr. Holly met Doug first out of the group. In her new life she wanted to help people, and had a few run-ins with the Sheriff. Douglas had been given a very vague talk about how if he saw anything strange or unusual he should call this number (connects him to PEIP). He figured out what they actually were pretty quickly because Hatchetfield is such a hot spot for magic. Holly mainly worked at base, but kept in contact with Doug, helping set up sensors and giving him advice. He in turn shows her what a good cop could be, again paralleling witches. (Still acab we’ll get into it at Duke’s backstory) Duke doesn’t factor in much, besides the sense that Doug cares very much for him. They spend a lot of time together, which Will jokes about, though this doesn’t actually become jealousy until Wiggly turns him insane. Doug and Holly save a kid together, maybe Pamela?

John & Xander They love each other. John is pretty outgoing and reckless, which Xander helps to reign him back in. Xander is more quiet and needs John to tell him to take breaks or get him out of his shell. They both can talk for hours about the subjects they care about. Xander can be pretty anxious about his position and place in PEIP, and John helps reassure him that he belongs. Xander in turn reassures John about his decisions and helps take so much guilt off his shoulders. They both know they could lose each other in the line of duty, which puts a damper on their relationship, but they would rather have each other than not.

John & Cross Mentor-mentee relationship. Cross mentors John and teaches him everything he knows. This goes beyond PEIP things, although Wilbur’s advice on dating and such is unreliable at best. John looks up to Wilbur, but can also admit his flaws. Cross can be harsh when John messes up, but always forgives him, though not before John understands consequences that could result from poor decision making. Cross is pretty casual with John, joking with him, though it is always clear he has the higher rank.

John & Schafer John heavily respects Schafer. She usually runs in different circles from him but is well trained in combat and Cross pulls her in to help train every once in a while. Schafer offers him advice about dating within the agency, and is up front about the risks he is taking. She is straightforward and to the point, which John prefers. After the portal and John starts rising the ranks, Schafer becomes his new mentor until he outpaces her, at which point she becomes his second most loyal supporter (behind Xander of course.)

John & General John admires the General and looks up to him. He sees him as the epitome of what a PEIP agent should be. He’s a little blind to his flaws, or is quick to make excuses for him. The General likes John the most out of the new recruits, giving him preference in training and mission choice. The General sees himself in John and marks him out for promotion. The General does his best to turn John against Holly, but never really succeeds. John thinks too highly of everyone the whole “strength of the human heart.”

John & Douglas Sr. Don’t interact much. A few check ins, where they get along well. Both struggling to do good in an institution that doesn’t always support that. When John does become General, he is very inspired by Douglas and takes a lot of his leadership to heart. John learns about holding his values even in hardship, when to fight and when to spare, how to deal with bad coworkers. Douglas helps point him in the right direction and tells John that he hopes he never had to kill a single person.

Xander & Cross Xander is a little awkward around Cross. Like meeting the parents. He doesn’t quite get Wlbur’s teasing as a love language. He recognizes it's in good fun, but doesn’t feel it. Cross thinks Xander is cute, and a good fit for John, but doesn’t see him as an equal. Cross sees Xander as the bookworm, a scientist that will never see active duty, and underestimates his combat capabilities. Xander tends to avoid Cross and when they do talk be very professional.

Xander & Schaffer Introvert buddies. They get along surprisingly well. Schaffer understands all Xander’s technical stuff and can give good input. She’s usually in charge of checking his numbers. Xander respects Schaffer and she teaches him his combat skills. They are usually very quiet together, communicating through body language or their own code language they accidently developed. They are frequently partnered on projects and are both relieved when that happens so they don’t have to talk to someone they don’t know.

Xander & General Xander can see through the General’s bullshit but isn’t in a position to do much about it. Whenever possible he subverts the rules and keeps Holloway afloat with what’s going on, but he can’t ignore a direct order. Xander illuminates some of this to John, who recognizes and accepts it, though he still idolizes the General to a degree. Xander advocates for magic and has done several powerpoints on its benefits, none of which changed the General’s mind. The General dislikes Xander because of this, but has to admit he’s the best theoretical physic he’s ever had. He disapproves of Xander’s ideals, but doesn’t see him as a threat.

Xander & Douglas Sr. Xander interacts with Douglas the most out of the PEIP agents. He helps set up sensors round town and is responsible for the briefing about who to report weird happenings from. Douglas was like who the hell is this when he had his briefing but after his first encounter with the supernatural came to respect Xander. Xander likes Douglas. They listen and communicate well. Xander met the young Duke a few times.

Cross & Schaffer They both know of eachother but don’t work together that often. Schaffer dislikes Wilbur’s casual attitude and can see that he’s susceptible to bribery and corruption. Cross knows Schaffer could beat him up so he stays away. It’s a little bit of fear, but also she kinda freaks him out. Like he knows she knows something about him that even he doesn’t know.

Cross & General Cross and the General get along well. Wilbur is good at sucking up to authority and got on his good side early on. The General gives Wilbur the most important jobs (portal) which he does with pride. Wilbur doesn’t mind the General’s morals. He definitely subscribed to them until he met Holloway, at which point he ditched them at the drop of a hat. When the General tells him something confidential, Cross listens and keeps it secret. One of his jobs was spying on Holloway, and the General is convinced Wilbur is just really committed to the bit.

Cross & Douglas Sr. Cross and Doug don’t interact too much. He mostly gets reports and hears that Holloway likes him. He teases Holloway about a crush, which she shuts down real fast. He’s not really jealous of them until Wiggly makes him. There’s a mutual respect for the other’s position, but after they talked for the first time, Douglas disliked him. After the portal, he is Cross’s first mark. It’s a trial by Wiggly to see if he will kill someone on the same side. And Douglas knows a lot about Hatchetfield and was working with Holloway to strengthen the Web.

Schaffer & General They don’t like each other. Schaffer used to be the agent he trusted to get the job done until Wilbur came along. Then he dropped her. Schaffer knew him from before he grew fearful of magic (insert tragic backstory here. Maybe Schaffer’s partner died here?) but that’s no excuse for his actions and she tells him that a lot. The General knows she’s a good combatant, and often sends her on long and dangerous missions. Schaffer does these to protect the country, not for him.

Schaffer & Douglas Sr. They have never met. Schaffer’s heard of him because she’s heard of everyone. She knows he’s got a good heart and asks Holloway about him on occasion. Douglas does not know she exists but occasionally he gets a message from PEIP that Schaffer wrote where she usually rewards him for doing a good job.

General & Douglas Sr. Also a weak connection. The General knows Douglas as one of many names of informants. Douglas knows vaguely of the top dog at PEIP but doesn’t like him based on the stories he gets from Xander and Holloway. He thinks it’s a disgrace of the job but understand how one could come to those assumptions.

Holliway & Carlo (this is the name I decided Charles Coven is going by when he works with PEIP) They don’t get along. Carlo sides with the General, sucking up to power. He sees magic only as a tool and Holliway as a loaded gun to be treated with caution. Holliway can tell Carlo is thirsty for power and an easy target for the Lords. She makes an effort to keep him out of things, but he always worms his way in regardless.

John & Carlo John tries to get along with Carlo but they don’t know each other well. John tries to give a little smile and wave, but is usually ignored or treated as lesser. Carlo sees John as a little brother and rides his coattails when it’s helpful and ditches him when it’s not. Carlo doesn’t respect him much and John is kind of confused by his demeanor and eventually starts ignoring him.

Xander & Carlo They interact the most out of the main cast & Carlo. Carlo tries to befriend Xander, who sees through him immediately and calls him out on it. Carlo tries to play it cool, but Xander still dismisses him. Carlo sees Xander as a weak link and an easy target to get information out of. Xander proves a more difficult target than he expected, but Carlo is still able to sneak a few materials out, which he uses to create the bottle imps.

Wilbur & Carlo Wilbur and Carlo recognize each other as schemers and have an unspoken agreement to stay out of each other's way. Wilbur inadvertently keeps Holliway and co safe by claiming them as his. Carlo respects this, though asks Wilbur for some clearance to hidden areas. They have a mutual respect but are always trying to screw each other over when possible withholding information and making deals.

Schaffer & Carlo Schaffer also sees through Carlo. She warns the General about him and is dismissed. They don’t cross paths often, but when they do, Schaffer points out any inconsistencies in his stories and is ruthless about it. Carlo dislikes her because of this and often shit talks her behind her back, which she is well aware of.

General & Carlo The General respects Carlo and brings him on board for the portal project. Carlo thinks the General is a coward and that magic is a tool, not something to dismiss entirely, but sucks up to him because he knows the General is the only one preventing him from getting kicked out. The General thinks Carlo is like minded, and generally praises and rewards him even when he doesn’t deserve it.

Douglas Sr. & Carlo They have never interacted. Carlo was an informant but from a different city. He respects the position but would think Douglas is easy to exploit. Douglas would see through him and ignore him.

ID Numbers - based on the Stith Thompson - Motif Index of Folklore

Wilbur: D1310.10.1. Magic apple gives supernatural knowledge. Holly: G220.0.1. "Black" and "white" witches. Malevolent and benevolent. John: B147.2.1.2. Eagle as omen of victory. Xander: J1291.2. Theological questions answered by propounding simple questions in science. Douglas Sr.: A1101.1.1. A1101.1.1. Reign of peace and justice (under certain king). Schaffer: J674.1. J674.1. Wild-boar sharpens tusks when no enemy is in sight. Tells fox that when enemy comes there are other things to do. General: K1088. K1088. Dissension aroused in army by casting suspicion on general. A general destroys everything except what belongs to the general of the enemy. Thus he brings about suspicion that the two leaders are in league. Carlo: G514.0.1. G514.0.1. Demon must bring treasure to those who have released him.

Duke's Backstory: After his father died he got disillusioned to the police force, realized that no matter how much good his father tried to do it was overshadowed by his support of a corrupt system + the murders on his hand. He went on an apology tour to victims families that was not well received. (Teenage boy randomly knocking on your door to remind you that his dad killed your love one.) He started volunteering at charity events and got involved with Bill's church. (before it went all chastity and abstinence) Bill was a helpful mentor to him as Duke started to have more questions about what makes people turn to crime in the first place. Seeing and helping people in rough times increased his compassion and wish for everyone to be treated with human dignity. He has a degree in sociology and master's in social work. (There's more of this in my Holloweane 36 Questions AU whenever I have time to finish that. Winter break, hopefully?)

The Blade of Truth: Webby showed Holly how to make them and each require a secret to be sacrificed for its construction, something that the maker can never say again or else the blade shatters. This is perfect for Holloway. It can also be helpful in combat where you stab someone and then say the secret while it’s still in them, sending shrapnel deeper into them. When Holly worked at PEIP she left them a few blades. My design for them is all in contrast to the Black Blade: guard facing down, vines rather than thorns, a moon instead of a star.

Willabella's tree: Gnarled roots extend from a bulbous center. No leaves hang from its crown of branches. It is not natural. Nothing grows near it, except the apples that grow for its branches, never ripe and always rotten. A hollow in the center is swarming with spiders whose web spans across it. Several scars are evident from where the Hatchetmen, once they realized their mistake, tried to cut it down. From its branches hand charms of protection and containment that replace old ones of worship. It grows behind the old Waylon Hall, over the sight of Willabella’s execution. Like the Hall, many rumors swirl around it and foolish children often dare each other to touch the bark.

Lords as sets of 2

Wiggly & Pokey: Most powerful and have their own dedicated musicals, playful Blinky & Nibbly: physical forms, Watcher World and sacrifice, sensory mouth and eyes, Sniggle gets a song (so does Wiggy’s) Tinky & Webby: animal based, time and space/universe

Random Headcanons

John majored in Philosophy.

Gary Goldstein is the most corrupt lawyer in Hatchetfield. He helps Roman Murray cover up the riches he received from Nibbly, which is how Linda found him. He also helps Sheila cover up her age which is how Sherman knows him.

The Hatchetmen founded Sycamore High so as to avoid the Church at Hatchetfield High. Timberwolves are a sign of the Hatchetmen and symbolize guardianship while Nighthawks symbolize the church in the darkness and camouflage.

The Obnoxious Teen is actually different versions of Pete after an encounter with the Bastard Box.

Apples. Wilbur has an apple representing the Tree of Knowledge (one Adam and Eve were told not to touch). Holloway took the one from the Tree of Life (got her immortality). Just a fun visual for when both make their deal with the Lords.

Wilbur has stolen every part of his denim outfit. He shoplifts, steals from the lost and found, borrows and then never gives something back etc.

A bunch of retro games from Pizza Pete's have an unbeatable high score by an HLY.

There is a rival Italian restaurant to Pasqualli's that all the teens hate on principle. It's been vandalized several times.

Liz Cunningham and her husband have a Romeo and Juliet love story of learning to love across the town rivalries.

Hatchetfield has a higher crime rate than most major cities in the US.

[wipbigbang]

WIP Big Bang 2023 Round Schedule & FAQ!

Schedule

All times are by 8:59pm PST. Convert time zones.

Sign-ups Begin- April 1st Sign-ups Close- April 21st Check In #1- April 22nd Check In #2- May 15th Snippets Due- June 1st Art Claims Begin- June 17th Check In #3- June 22nd Check In #4- July 6th Rough Drafts Due- July 15th Posting Claims Begin- July 23rd Posting Claims Ends- August 1st Final Drafts/Art Due- August 7th Posting Starts- August 8th Posting Ends- October 31st (the last two weeks are reserved for emergency posting)

FAQ

What is the WIP Big Bang? Good question! This is a Big Bang with one goal in mind: to clean out your fanfic drafts folder. These are stories that were unfinished for whatever reason, that authors returned to and completed, and the art that goes with them!

Do I need a Livejournal/Dreamwidth/AO3/etc. account to participate? No! You don’t have to have an account on anything to participate, though you will need to have somewhere to post your finished work. Having one or more accounts will help for you to follow what is going on with the bang (we crosspost to Dreamwidth, Tumblr, and sometimes Twitter at the moment), but they are not required to participate. You can always leave comments anonymously or with an opensource ID.

How many fics can we sign up for? We absolutely don’t mind multiple sign-ups. I know one year someone submitted 50 fics to finish, and got at least half of them done. We just ask that when you sign up with more than one fic you give each fic a unique user ID (please do not use the same ID for all your fics...it’s important to have different IDs for the check-ins).

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However, email is the fastest way to communicate with the mods. If you have any questions or are having trouble communicating with your artist/author, please do email us! We will do our best to respond quickly.

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Can an outline count towards those first 500 words that are needed at sign up? We have admitted work on an outline before so yes, if your outline is fleshed out enough to cover a 7,500 word+ fic, we’ll allow it.

Are multi-chapter fics allowed? Yes, multi-chapter fics are allowed and even more so encouraged if your fic is lengthy.

What about fics that are already posted on ao3 in part? Do those qualify for the bang? It's okay if you have posted a few chapters of your fic already (you never know when the muse deserts you, after all), we just require you to refrain from posting more until posting begins here. All we ask is that you not post any public updates to the fic until August 1st (or July 1st with the mod’s okay). We don’t want you to lose kudos and comments so don’t worry about pulling the fic down, just hold off on updates for now.

Is there a minimum word count? 7,500 words for each finished fic, but the sky's the limit, right?

I see that the fic minimum is 7500 words and that published WIPs are acceptable - but what if the WIP I’m considering is already more than 7500 words? Is the expectation to add an additional 7500 to it? No. You can add as much or as little as you need to finish the story, though we do expect at least 1,000 or so new words if your WIP already meets the word count.

What happens if an author finishes the fic they signed up with but it’s less than 7,500 words? The intent was to go over the minimum but once they got into it the story was shorter than they thought and stretching it out would make it less good. Do they have to drop out at that point? By all means, we want your stories to feel as natural as possible, and if it’s under 7,500 words you may have two options:

1 - Drop the fic for the main BB event, post it now, and wait to post it to our AO3 collection in February when we run our International Fanworks Day celebration of finishing fics that are less than 7,500 words when finished. There’s no art for the fic, but bragging rights are posted to the communities for a week.

2 - If there are enough fics that fit that category, we can do a special day of posting the fics, but you’ll have to forgo art for the fic. I, as a mod, would probably pick October 31st for the posting day, as it’s the last day of posting for the bang and I don’t think anyone will mind more than one fic that day. You can post bragging rights to the community and share the fic with everyone.

Is there anything not allowed? As long as you wrote it and you want to finish it, you're welcome to participate. RPS/RPF is fine. Incest pairings are fine. Things like that I know have been hinted at in questions asked and as long as you tag for them, we’ll allow it. Also, canon settings with mostly OCs is allowed. We just ask that it be tagged properly with any content warnings you would deem fit and be given the appropriate rating for the level of sex/violence there is in the fic. As of the 2023 round, original work is also allowed; however, we recommend you bring in your own artist or forgo art for an original work.

I have a fic I wrote a few years ago, but only the first couple chapters are posted on AO3 because I was never happy with the rest of it and knew it needed major revision. Is that something I could use for WIP Big Bang? The entire fic has been posted, but only on one platform, and it would be rewritten for AO3 and WIPBB. I think revising a fic for posting would work, as long as you have at least 500 words done, will have 7,500 words at a minimum when it’s done, and are planning to add more to the fic. Simply rewriting what you have would be a gray area, but if you’re going to take stuff out and add new scenes, either in the old scenes place or on your own, you should be fine.

What's the etiquette around OC-centric stories? Ones that are set in a well known fandom and use several characters, but still lean a lot on original characters? Are they discouraged, or fine? Based on my own personal experience making art for a story that had a heavy OC presence, it’s not something we discourage at all, but be forewarned when it comes to the art accompanying your fic your artist may not be able to incorporate the OCs into your art. Not everyone makes art of a hand-drawn or digitally drawn nature, so it helps if you have people for face claims ahead of art submissions, and you and your artist communicate regularly. You can also end up with art not featuring the OCs at all, just the canon characters, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Your other options are to bring in an artist you trust with your vision of your OC/make your own art (we do allow that, we just need to be told during the check-in before art that you’re bringing in your own artist if you go that route, or that you’re doing your own art…there will not be a need to sign up in the artist’s sign up, however) or to opt-out of art entirely. So there’s plenty of options to call on when it comes time for art. What are 'check-ins’? These are a way for us to see what you've been up to and for you to make sure you're still on track. It will give you a little nudge/reminder if you need it, but they are not compulsory. Basically a form is posted that you fill out with your user ID (unique for each fic) and a checkbox to let us know you’re still participating, plus a section for any notes for the mods.

How are the check in IDs used? They are solely for the mods organizational purposes. Each ID being for a separate story allows us to keep all the information you submit during check-ins and for snippets in one line on our spreadsheet. You don’t have to share your check in IDs with anyone else if you don’t want to.

How much progress should authors be making between each checkpoint? (Percentage-wise from our estimated total wc, I guess?) Ideally, with each check-in, you should be at least 25% closer to finishing. The end word count only really matters in that the fic needs to be at least 7,500 words when done, so it’s more your progress towards finishing that should be measured, not so much the word count.

What are the snippets requirements? In order to allow the artists to make art for the story they claimed, we require you to supply three snippets from your fic, between 500 – 1500 words each. The snippets will be sent to the artist after they have claimed your story. They're to help the artist match your story for artwork the best way he or she possibly can. It’s helpful to choose scenes or parts of scenes that you feel best represent your fic, but don’t feel like they have to be perfect to be submitted. Along with the snippets, we will send your artist the basic fic info and your email, so the two of you can collaborate more if you would both like.

What are the rough drafts requirements? For the rough drafts, stories should be at least 80% complete. You will not have to turn them in to us, just assure us that you are at that point. Anything less is at the discretion of the mods and those authors should speak to one of the mods asap.

What is, and do I need, a beta? A beta is basically a person who goes over your work to make sure that there are no spelling/grammatical errors and they can even be of assistance in helping you with story lines, etc. It is highly recommended that a beta looks over your work before posting. If you are having trouble finding a beta, try this post.

Where can I post my fic/art? Stories and art can be posted to your own personal journal, Tumblr, ff-net, AO3, or wherever you like. For those of you with AO3 accounts, we will set up a collection that will go live on the day of the posting. If you don’t currently have an AO3 account but would like one, you can contact the mods for an invitation code to see if they have any available. You can also add yourself to the AO3 Invites Request queue.

What does posting look like? Do we have to post the whole thing on the day, or can we stretch it out between when posting starts and our date? I’ve had a few longfics get killed by big bangs forcing posting to happen on a given day, and would prefer to avoid that if possible. For most fics, posting to AO3/FF.net/other places will be allowed to start in August and you can stretch it out as many posts as you want as long as the complete fic is up by your posting date (and posting dates go from August 8th to October 16th with two weeks for emergency posting). However, you can send us an ask/e-mail about posting as early as July if you have an extremely long fic/something with a long posting schedule. Mostly what we want is the fic to be completely up on the website of your choice by your posting date, and I know some people don’t want to overwhelm their readers. So we want to work with writers to give them ample time to post the story up to their posting date.

Now, as for posting to the communities, you get to choose which day your link to the story and bragging rights are posted, and as I said, we have a range of dates from August 8th to October 16th with two to three stories posting a day. If for some reason you miss your posting date, you have until October 31st to post to the community, during the two weeks of emergency posting. So hopefully there should be plenty of time to get a longfic up and posted to the website of your choice and our BB.

Will the three snippets per story we have to send in be the ones we want the artist to make art for? Or can it just be random snippets and then later the artist and I can check together to see which scenes would work best for art? So ideally, you and the artist will be communicating once you’re each sent each other’s contact information, and you’ll give your artist a chance to read all that you’ve written at that point. That’s what happens in most cases. If your fic gets picked by an artist and they don’t work with you, then the snippets you sent will be what the artwork will be based on. It’s a good idea to know that, while most of the time the artists work closely with the authors, there are a few exceptions to that.

How do I know when to post? Posting will be tiered; you'll each get your own posting date that you and your artist will decide on together. There will probably be three fics, plus art, posting per day between August 8th and October 31st. The post with date claims will go up on July 23rd and you'll have to choose your date by August 1st.

Posting of chapters on AO3 or your own blog (or wherever you usually post) generally starts August 1st, but you can post earlier (as early as July 1st) if you let us know you have a long story. However, posting has to be finished by your chosen posting date to the comm. One of the things we're hoping to do with the posted dates is to give everybody on the comm a little bragging time in the spotlight. You know, "this story was incomplete for this long, but I finished this sucker." If you don't have time to post your bragging rights to the communities on your chosen posting date, you can queue up a post ahead of time and we can post it on the date you picked or you can email us your bragging rights and we can post by proxy for you. Either way works for us. Art will be due on the chosen posting date to the comm.

What am I posting to the Dreamwidth/Tumblr community if I’m posting the fic elsewhere? You’ll be posting what we call bragging rights. It’s a small form you fill out and post to the community with a link to your fic (we’ll enable moderated posting to the Tumblr and Dreamwidth communities for members on August 8th). We will post a template for posting artwork and stories to the comm closer to the posting date.

Is there a minimum/maximum requirement for my art? There is no strict minimum, but we do ask artists to remember that the authors are writing a minimum of 7,500 words and your artwork should reflect that. You can do anything you like, including banners, wallpapers, icons, mixes, vids, gif sets, picspams, etc. Suggested guidelines for art are 500x500px (or equivalent of smaller pieces like banner + spacers, cover + icons, etc.) for traditional art, digital art, and manips; 2 minutes for vids; 10 songs + cover art for mixes; and 6 images for gif sets and picspams. We also ask that when you are in contact with the author, you work with them to see if there is anything specific they would like (i.e. a wallpaper, book cover, etc.). The art is your work, but having ideas doesn't hurt!

What are 'art claims'? The claims are when anonymous summaries of the story go up for artists to choose from. Artists sign-ups and art claims are the same thing; we use one form for both things, and that way the authors don’t have to sign up for an event they may not end up participating in. It is based on a 'first come, first served' basis and artists may choose up to three potential stories (in case their first choice is unavailable). If there are more stories than artists, there will be a second round of claims wherein artists may choose a second story to work with, and on and on until all stories are claimed for art.

If a fic up for claiming is rated explicit (R, NC-17, etc.), please only claim the story if you are over 18 years of age. Some authors may be uncomfortable working with underage artists on explicit works. We do not verify ages in any way for the bang, so this is solely on the honor system.

What do I do if I have problems or concerns about my author/artist? Sometimes authors and artists do not get along and this may cause problems with working together. If this happens to be the case with you, please email the mods and we will try to do what we can so that everyone has a chance to have fun at WIP Big Bang!

If you have not heard from your author/artist in some time after trying to contact them, you can reach out to us via email and we will try to get in touch with them for you.

Can I get an extension? Community extensions may be given in the event that the majority of the authors/artists need one. They may also be given individually under certain circumstances, but this must be discussed with the mods and will only be a short extension for posting. If you are certain that you won’t be able to finish your story in time, please let us know by June 13th.

Can I swap out a fic if my muse abandons it again? When you sign up, you give us the information on the potential fic(s) you want to write. If, say, one fic isn’t working but one you didn’t sign up for is, you can switch them out while letting the mods know if you need to change a user ID you used. It is absolutely okay to switch fics all the way up until snippets are due. By then, we hope you’ll have however many fics you plan on doing to at least 80% completion since rough drafts are due not much later. Just drop an email to the mods at wipbigbang@gmail.com with the new information (title, fandom, etc) and if you want a new sign in ID or plan to use the same one for the fic you’re replacing it with.

Can I drop out? We have high hopes that everybody who signs up can actually finish the round and share in the joy of the reveal with us, but real life can unfortunately get in the way and we completely understand! If you feel like you just cannot finish in time and no amount of assistance from us can help you, just let us know by July 13th (if at all possible).

Is it possible to be banned? We do have a banned users list. We hope to use this to encourage participants who are having issues to communicate with the mods. We want to help you! The way the ban works is that participants, either authors and artists, will be banned for dropping out without notifying a mod. This means that anyone who has not posted or talked to a mod by the time the posting period ends will be banned. Dropping out is not in and of itself a banning offense, so please do not panic if you have to drop out! We understand that there are many reasons you may need to drop, and we want to work with you.

Bans will last one round or until the issue is resolved, whichever comes first. To resolve a ban, authors will have to finish and post the story they signed up with and artists will have to finish and post the art for the story they claimed. Three bans will result in a permanent ban from the bang.

Are we allowed to participate without joining the Discord? Absolutely! The Discord server is optional, as just another way to interact with your fellow writers and get updates on important dates. It’s not mandatory you join, however.

I was just wondering if there’s any way to enter the bang anonymously? Like would it be okay to put our work in an anonymous collection on ao3 or something? Unfortunately, I can’t think of a way for that to work. The collection that we use is moderated but it’s not anonymous, and there are the bragging posts that you post on your posting day, which you would have your username on whichever platform you use.

I was just wondering whether I'm sworn to secrecy on which fics I'll be finishing up, or if I can shout it out to the world? No one is sworn to secrecy once they’ve signed up (aside from posting new parts to fic that’s already up somewhere…we ask that you refrain from doing that until at least July 1st)! We will be running Word Wars, where you can add more to a fic in a certain amount of time, and Whine Bars, where you can complain or ask for help or whatever else you feel like talking about when it comes to struggling with a fic, all after sign-ups end on a weekly basis, plus there’s the Discord server for chatting with your fellow authors and artists.

I have a question/concern that’s not mentioned here. If you need help, you can always contact a mod and we will do our best to make sure that you get your story/art finished. The best and fastest method of contact is through our email, wipbigbang@gmail.com.

[babyseraphim]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @emryses, thank you for always tagging me in such fun things!!

1. How many works do you have an AO3? 11

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 122,112

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I write pretty much exclusively for Dead Boy Detectives, but I have a oneshot for Marvel from 2017, and an unfinished AU for Critical Role that I'll probably never go back to

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

By Lantern's Light

my healing needed more than time

foolish flame

The Case of the Selkie's Skin

Overloaded

5. Do you respond to comments?

I do when I have the time and energy. All my free time is kind of eaten up by writing the fics themselves, so unless the comment is really long or really funny, I usually don't respond. But I appreciate every comment just the same, they are what keep me motivated to write

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

I honestly don't really do fics with angsty endings? Because all of my fics are super angsty in general, so I like to end things on a positive note. I guess the closest would be The Case of the Selkie's Skin because there's not really any closure there, they just move onto the next case. But even that one still has a cathartic ending.

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

foolish flame for sure. A lot of my fic endings tend to be bittersweet in some way, but this one was a pure fluffy ending

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nah. I don't think I've been regularly posting fics long enough for that.

9. Do you write smut?

I have written smut exactly once, and while it was a really cathartic/rewarding experience, I don't know if I'll ever do it again. It's a little too far out of my comfort zone.

10. Do you write crossovers?

No, crossovers aren't really my thing, though I have toyed with the idea of writing a dead boy detectives/pushing daises crossover just for the hell of it. But it probably won't ever make it onto paper.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

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

No, and the idea of it kinda scares me lol

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

Literally changes day to day. I think kirk/spock is the one that will truly own my heart forever, but payneland really is the perfect ship for me (hence all the fanfiction)

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

The Case of Eros's Arrow, which is sitting with 4 chapters on AO3. I still like the concept of it, and my OCs in it, but my writing has changed so much since I started it and I just don't really feel connected to the work itself anymore. Which is a shame, because I left my readers on a total cliffhanger. Whoops.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I do alright with descriptive prose (or I enjoy writing it, at the very least). I'm also good at worldbuilding and coming up with fun/creative plots.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Transitions between scenes, and general construction of dialogue (though I've gotten better at dialogue over recent months). I can also get a little ramble-y when it comes to introspection, though I'm usually pretty good about cutting it all down by the time the final draft is done.

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

I don't have many thoughts on it. I only speak english, and the only language I've ever used in my fics besides english is Latin (for magic purposes).

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Supernatural, I think? It was OC fanfiction, I still have it floating around this blog somewhere

20. Favorite fics you've written?

dye it all, rosary I think is my favorite right now. I don't know what the fuck I was on when I wrote that fic, but I wrote chapter 1 in one sitting, and then chapter 2 over the course of a few months. It turned out so much better than I ever could have hoped, and I just truly love it so much.

I also love my healing needed more than time because it has all the stuff that I love in it (magic, lesbians, dogs, kids, and other fun stuff to come). I'm also just really proud that I've managed to stick with it as long as I have; it's the first piece of writing over 14k that I've ever written in my life.

I tag: @many-gay-magpies, @deadtwinksdetectiveagency, @williamvapespeare, and @the-ipre!

[hermitknut]

20 Questions for Fic Writers Tag Game

@birdylion tagged me :D

1. how many works do you have on AO3?

56.

2. what’s your total AO3 word count?

440,219

3. what fandoms do you write for?

There've been quite a few over the years. Currently Goblin Emperor (slightly on the back burner while I unkink my writer's block) and Hands of the Emperor (just started dabbling, nothing posted yet). Before that Merlin, Green Rider, Realm of the Elderlings, Doctor Who, and Harry Potter predominantly, with little dips into Discworld, Sherlock, Sweep, Supernatural, Percy Jackson, Lady Trent, Life on Mars, Old Kingdom, Life on Mars, and MASH. I have some Narnia stuff kicking about in my drafts somewhere, and while I've never posted it I've been writing Animorphs fanfic for years.

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Stairs Beneath the Heart: Goblin Emperor, a series of vignettes that runs parallel to the canon that I posted through the start of the pandemic and really enjoyed. It was the first time in ages I'd had a regular posting schedule, and the first time ever I'd had that much fandom attention on something I was writing - everyone was so lovely <3.

Take These Tower Stones: Goblin Emperor, the sequel to the above, a much more coherent and consistent story which everyone was again really supportive of <3

What Friends Are For: Discworld; Angua gives Vetinari the shovel talk. There's a big disparity in the stats between the previous two fics and the rest, so these last three were a surprise to me! I'm glad people liked them though :)

Fire in the Night: Merlin, somewhat angsty nightmare/comfort oneshot. Again, surprised to see this one so near the top, but pleasantly so.

The Michen Emperor: Goblin Emperor again, currently the bane of my existence because I can't seem to finish it (I will eventually, just need to unstick my brain). Really appreciate all the love people have shown it. Basically, what if canon but with smol!Maia.

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

Probably either Take These Towers Stones, or Red Sky (which is a tiny little snippet of fluff).

8. do you get hate on fics?

I've had a few shitty comments, and mostly I've just deleted them. I've never had any extended hate campaigns or anything, just people who mistakenly thought their dislike was worth expressing.

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

Occasionally; usually though not always queer, normally pretty tame. I read smut usually without worrying about the warnings, but I'm a bit too shy to comment on it, and I think that extends to my writing, haha. Maybe I'll get the hang of it some day :)

10. do you write crossovers?

Nah, for some reason they don't work for me at all - almost a squick, I don't read them either. The closest I got was considering a fic where the characters from Green Rider had diplomatic contact with the characters from the Chronicles of Ixia series, but I never ended up getting there.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don't think so - I should probably put in my Ao3 that people are welcome to if they like, I keep forgetting. I'd be honoured if anyone wanted to.

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

Nope; I'm very picky and not good at compromise, though it's something I'd like to work on one day. It'd have to be very low stakes and with someone very patient!

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

Lines of Silver and Gold (Realm of the Elderlings) is probably my oldest fic that is both posted and unfinished, and I have no current plans to work on it. I'm hoping that one day I'll be able to come back to it, but that book series was my thesis topic and unfortunately I rather burnt myself out on it, so it might be a long while.

The Queen Rider series was originally going to have two more fics, but those have been scrapped; fortunately it resolves quite nicely as is. Maybe I will put up a little misc fic with what I do have of the rest some day.

And on a more positive note, my Animorphs fic - it was originaly going to be a full written-through story spanning a considerable post-canon period, but unfortunately I lost the original in a harddrive failure and while I rewrote some of it I rather lost my enthusiasm for it. However, I have been reconsidering lately and might post what exists as a series of loosely connected vignettes; we'll see.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue is what I find easy and what I've received the most compliments on; I think this is because a lot of my fic is drafted "out loud" before I get anywhere near setting it to page, so the first iteration is often predominantly speech. I'm also often told I'm good at mimicking the tone of the canon, if I'm writing for a book fandom.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Research (I'll do it if it's something that will otherwise potentially hurt people, but other than that I have neither the effort nor the inclination), and making things messy - that is, I tend to tidy things up a lot and I'm not good at letting my characters get things wrong/communicate badly/etc. Good for fix-its, less good for creating challenges in the story.

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

I am depressingly monolingual so I don't do it in my fics; as to what everyone else does I think they should have fun and do whatever they like, I suppose. Not enough knowledge to have more of an opinion than that.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter was my gateway fandom.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Ohhhh tough one. I'm immensely proud of the Keystone series (The Stairs Beneath the Heart and Take These Tower Stones), so they're solid candidates, but I also really like The Shadow of the Mountains (Lady Trent) and Miracles (Realm of the Elderlings), the latter of which contains possibly my favourite line of prose I've written.

I'm tagging @the-tao-of-fandom, @pipuhattar, @alittlefellowinawideworld, @nonasuch, and anyone else who'd like to answer!

[heatherthetiredwriter]

20 Questions for Writers

Thanks for the tag @autumnwoodsdreamer <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently just one! I've got two others sitting around in drafts but I've not published them

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

8,742

3. What fandoms do you write for?

My one fic I've published is a crossover for three fandoms, Big Hero 6, Tangled: the Series, and Tales of Arcadia: 3 Below. So I guess I write for those three. And my other two unpublished fics are for Frozen and How to Train Your Dragon. DC as well kinda.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Well I've only got one so the list is just

A Game of Keep Away

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I love comments and try to respond to them as soon as I get them! They make me so happy! Though... I do have a problem with... comments.... that I know come from a specific person being on multiple accounts that I try not to engage with too much.

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

So A Game of Keep Away is again the only one I've published and its got a LOT of angst and much more to come-- but my unpublished Frozen fanfic probably has the angstiest ending of them all

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

It's not really spoilers, especially since I haven't written it all yet, but A Game of Keep Away will have a happy ending! My unpublished, unfinished httyd fic probably has the happiest ending, but that fic is like never ending I swear---

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Never hate, which I'm glad for. I've had grammar police. But I don't mind them cos "dang it, how didn't I catch that?" My problem, again is mostly with the one specific person who comes and finds my fic no matter where I post it and comes at it with this energy that I do not enjoy. I am glad this person likes my fic but my goodness I don't need that energy in my space when I'm trying to write 😭

9. Do you write smut?

Nope.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Yes! I already mentioned my only published fic right now is a crossover! I love writing crossovers!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I've had so many things stolen off of Wattpad. So. Many. Stories. Oh my goodness.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I'm aware of!

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

I am currently co-writing a fic with my boyfriend and our other friend, its called The Last Bat and I am just remembering its also on AO3 I think and that means some of my answers might be incorrect bc I didn't take into account that fic but I don't care cos its not on my account its on his

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

How could you ask me to choose between my favorites like that??? But it might have to be one from How to Train Your Dragon? It was the first thing I really got into. I remember shipping Hiccup and Astrid so hard. And Heather and Fishlegs as well. So maybe one of those two.

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

My httyd fic... It's too big of a fic to actually write I'm pretty sure. I might could make it smaller, but I'm certain it would take years to actually write out. I think currently it sits at seventy-five chapters? or something like that? But those were twelve year old me chapters and so I would want to re-write them and make them better.... and then I'd have to continue the story.... Like in my head, I'm fond of the story because it was my first ever fic, and because it was a way I connected with my now dead great-grandmother when she lived so far away from me (yes, I did get my great-grandma to sign up for a wattpad account when I was 12), but I don't know if I have the stamina to keep that up again. Plus this was the fic that kept getting stolen. I'm sure its floating around the internet somewhere, despite the fact that I took it down from all my platforms.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I've been told I'm really good at getting into a characters head. And I'd like to agree. Once I'm in, I know their everything. What they eat for breakfast. What color their socks are. How they'd react to the stupid trolley problem. So I never have any problems showing how a character reacts to something. How it makes them feel.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I definitely could be more descriptive. I've noticed I've only ever been descriptive with a character once and that was just because I was so into her head and I knew that instead of focusing on the dangerous missions she was on, realistically she'd be like "Oh I wonder what kind of fertilizer they are using for their poppies? They are beautiful!" So since then I've been trying to paint a visual picture better. Something that I am finding to help is figuring out my setting beforehand and like mixing ambiance players to give the right vibes. Then it tends to come easier. But its something I need to work on for sure.

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

In the wise words of @autumnwoodsdreamer "One word: italicise." But also yeah I'll mix in other words. I've done a lot of dragonese for different httyd things. Elvish too.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

How to Train Your Dragon

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Its not published anymore, it didn't survive my personal purge, but it was a crossover between httyd and the hobbit movies. One of my ocs antagonists from my httyd fic got teleported into the hobbit movies and fell in love with Kili. Who then of course dies at the end of the movie and she steals his body and does the whole viking burning boat funeral to try and send him to Valhalla. And then she comes back to her world and the main fic and is like "Imma be a better person so I can be with Kili in the afterlife :)" It was so cringe, but I was free and innocent and thought it was the coolest thing ever and I wrote like I was the most talented person in the world and honestly 12 year old Heather was onto something bc I'd like half of her confidence

No pressure tagging: @susanshinning @rachelbethhines shooot im trying to think of people I know that post on ao3........ if you post on ao3 then please feel free to join!!!!!

[dearfuturehusbandblog]

ZMAN CHEIRUSEINU aka "I'M the terrible communicator!?!?!?!!"

Dear Future Husband,

I hope nobody ever quizzes me on this blog because there are so many things that I've started and stopped writing that never got posted that I literally never remember what I've actually put here...

Not that that's really fully relevant to what I was thinking about writing now, but I currently have two unfinished posts in my drafts folder (amidst 25 others that will probably never get posted) that are just a recap of this year so far.

Because I'm just a kid and life is a nightmare.

Explaining what's going on right now is kind of problematic because I haven't provided the lengthy backstory yet (which is one of the drafts I have yet to finish...)

Suffice to say, MotherLivelyHeart is being a nightmare to me again.

I think I've shared before that MLH and I share a vehicle? If not... yeah, we share a car. I'll have to look through my posts to see if I've explained that situation before, because that's one more thing to check off the "my life absolutely f*ing sucks" list.

Usually this isn't the worst thing in the world because we operate on different schedules and there isn't much crossover when it comes to who needs the car when, and when there is I usually drop her off somewhere, do what I need to do, and pick her up after.

For the record, I HATE when she offers the opposite because I have a history of being abandoned in places waiting for her to pick me up and it gives me such severe anxiety.

So last week on Sunday I asked MLH what her plans were for the next day. I asked this because I overheard a phone call she received on Friday from the dentist's office about an appointment she had on Monday at noon that she hadn't told me anything about and I knew if I was going to ever find out she was going to take the car, I would have to be the one to ask her. So I asked. And wouldn't you believe it, she had a dentist appointment on Monday at noon! Shocker.

Now, I'd been out of work since the beginning of January (again, details will hopefully be in another post) so I had a lot to take care of at work last Monday and I told her that.

We agreed she would have the car for her appointment and I would take the car to work when she got home.

Come Monday afternoon, suddenly everything has changed.

You see, her boss called in sick and she had the day off because she has a specific job that requires her to work alongside her boss and if he doesn't work, she doesn't work.

So she had the day off. Joy.

Of course, did she tell this to me directly? No.

Did she message me this information? No.

I'm just supposed to approach her and ask, "hey, did your boss call in sick and give you the day off?" I guess.

So she went to her appointment and ran some errands and called me while she was still out. Apparently some specific water bottles she can only get in like two places were available at one store about 20 minutes away from our house and she placed a pickup order so she could get them before they were sold out. The order had to be picked up between like 2:30-3:30pm and she called me at around 1:30.

Great.

She picked a pickup time that was directly during the time I was supposed to be at work.

Which she knew.

Because I told her this literally the day before.

So I told her fine. She should do the pickup order and when she got back I would take the car to work.

"Well, I also wanted to go swimming."

*Deep breath* Ok, what time is swimming?

"From 2-9pm."

At this point I didn't know how long I'd be at work because one of the things I had to take care of could be like 4-6 hours and I didn't know if there would be enough time when I was done to get home and let her get to the pool with enough time to swim before they closed.

"Ok, well why don't you go swimming, do the pickup order, and then I'll take the car to work?"

"Well, I want to come home and eat something first."

Ok. So now, what was supposed to be my time to take the car is going to be "stolen" by her coming home (15 minutes), eating something (15 minutes), going to swim (40 minutes), getting the pickup order (30 minutes), and coming back home (20 minutes).

This is TWO HOURS off of my time.

WHICH I HAD TOLD HER I NEEDED LITERALLY THE DAY BEFORE.

So she came home, ate something, and changed into her bathing suit. She left around 2pm for the pool.

I assumed at this point I'd hear from her around 3:30pm that she was around the corner.

But 3:30 came and went.

4:00pm came and went.

4:30pm came and went.

5:00pm came and BigSis messaged that she would be done at work in an hour and could either of us give her a ride home?

MOTHERF@*$%^#$ER

So it's been three hours without an update from MLH, but then she responds "I should be on my way back from the pickup order then."

EXCUSE ME!?!?!?!

She left for the pool at 2pm. THREE HOURS have gone by and she hasn't even gotten the pickup order that was supposed to be picked up between 2:30-3:30pm!?!?!?!!?!?

But she tells me that I'M a terrible communicator.

I was supposed to get the car by 1:30pm latest. It was now after 5pm and I STILL hadn't gotten to work yet.

As much as I hate when she offers to drop me off at work so she can take care of things that will take a few hours, SHE DIDN'T EVEN ASK ME THAT. She made it seem like I would have the car all afternoon to take care of what I needed to at work. And when her plans shifted, she made it seem like I'd have the car by 3:30pm latest.

And let me remind you THAT I TOLD HER THE DAY BEFORE WHAT MY SCHEDULE WAS SO THAT THIS S*** WOULDN'T HAPPEN.

But I'M the terrible communicator.

At that point I was so frickin annoyed already. MLH messaged me "should I get her or just come home" and I was so peeved I said "just get her because if you come home and I take the car I'm not picking her up."

She didn't respond to that message.

Great.

No thumbs up. No "ok." Just nothing.

Then at 6:12pm I get a message from her "car's downstairs in front."

So no message from BigSis that MLH had picked her up and they were heading home. No "we're around the corner." No nothing except over an hour later "take it."

BUT I'M THE TERRIBLE COMMUNICATOR!?

At that point it was too late for me to do some of the things I needed to take care of for work because, again, I was supposed to have been there FIVE HOURS EARLIER. And a friend messaged and asked if I could go with her to Costco, so I said to hell with it and I went to Costco with her.

While I was at Costco I messaged both MotherLivelyHeart and BigSis about what I was getting so we were all on the same page. Included in that message was eggs because, well, I was getting eggs.

I got home at like 10pm and MotherLivelyHeart and BigSis were already asleep. I made a couple of mini salami kugels with some spinach that oddly floated to the top, waited for them to cool, tried 1/4 of one before sticking them in the fridge.

Next morning I open the fridge and there's a new carton of 1.5 dozen eggs. Because apparently MLH went to the supermarket early in the morning and got eggs because "we were out."

DESPITE ME LITERALLY MESSAGING THE NIGHT BEFORE THAT I WAS BUYING EGGS AT COSTCO.

Oh, but it gets better. Because the salami kugel I had tasted the night before was missing.

BigSis was working from home so I asked her about it and she said she had no clue.

So I asked MotherLivelyHeart about it, thinking maybe it slipped out of the fridge, smashed, and she threw it out.

But no.

Guess who ate it.

Yep, the woman who has been suffering from gout and avoiding meat for the better part of a year.

The woman who saw it in the fridge and said to herself "oh, that's one of the broccoli kugels LivelyHeart made for herself for Shabbos that she said wasn't good. I guess I'll eat that for breakfast without asking her if she really doesn't want it because although she's on a weird diet right now, there's no way she's made a meal plan for herself that includes this food item she made for herself."

Because, did she message me to ask if she could have it?

Nope.

Did she knock on my door to ask if she could have it?

Nope.

Halfway through eating it she realized it was salami.

And she still finished the whole thing.

And still at NO POINT did she message me AT ALL to even tell me that she ate it.

I had to find out by inquiring OF HER.

BUT. I'M. THE. TERRIBLE. COMMUNICATOR!?!?!?!

I shouldn't be mad.

It's just food, after all, right?

Except that it's not.

It's a frickin pattern of carelessness and disregard for me as a person.

And I'm so frickin sick of it.

I'm so damn tired.

It wouldn't have killed her to ask.

It wouldn't have killed her to apologize.

And what I haven't really explained here (because again, that's in a draft post) is that I've been on an elimination diet since January 1st which has cut most things from my available food selections.

But is she on an elimination diet?

Nope.

So we have a HOUSEFUL, a PANTRYFUL, and a FRIDGEFUL of food she can eat.

And she chooses the ONE thing I made FOR ME.

Which she KNEW I made for ME.

Instead of the MYRIAD OF THINGS that she can eat that I can't.

Which means that she's not only taken a meal from me, but now I'm at a food deficit from the fridge while she lives in abundance.

BUT. I'M. THE. TERRIBLE. COMMUNICATOR.

So let's leap forward to today.

Today was Shabbos mevorchim. Pesach is in two weeks.

And MotherLivelyHeart decided we are going to change over the kitchen two weeks ahead this year.

So she scheduled her cleaning lady to come tomorrow (Sunday) to help clean the kitchen so it can be turned over.

Did she take into account that this would be motzei Shabbos and that we'd have to make Shabbos and that would involve dirty dishes and use of the stove/oven and pots and pans?

Yeah, no.

Did she take into account that the way she wants to clean the oven requires the oven to be self-cleaned before and after which takes a good several hours and creates so much smoke that we'd have to keep the windows open and also it's like 40F right now and she also wanted to go to sleep early because the cleaning lady is coming at like 8am?

Yeah, no.

BigSis went over the oven cleaning thing with her and she exclaimed "are you kidding me?! Then why am I having the cleaning lady come tomorrow?!"

BECAUSE YOU SCHEDULED HER WITHOUT CONSULTING US.

BECAUSE THERE WAS NO COMMUNICATION.

DO YOU SEE A FRICKIN THEME HERE!?!?!!?

Oh, but there's more. Because there's always more.

Thursday was another nightmare day for various reasons. One of which was that I ran errands with MotherLivelyHeart.

She scheduled an appointment for smackdab in the middle of the time I told her I'd be working.

YES. AGAIN.

And she wanted to drop me off at work and pick me up when I was done.

Well absofrickinlutelynot, thankyouverymuch.

I was supposed to work until 6pm.

I had told customers I would be available until 6pm.

Her appointment was scheduled for 6pm.

So of course "I need the car at 5:30pm."

She wanted to drive me to work earlier so that she could take the car at 5:30pm to her appointment that wouldn't be done until 7pm and then come get me an hour and a half after I was done working.

But I was supposed to trust that she wouldn't run errands or dilly dally around and that she'd actually get me at 7:30pm, which we know is never the case.

So I told her no, I'd be taking the car to work. But I would notify the customers I'd only be there until 5:30pm, at which point I'd get her and drive her to her appointment. Then while she was in her appointment I could do the Shabbos shopping, since it seemed pointless to have to wait for her to come home again before I could go out and shop.

For various reasons, we had three stores we needed to go to, one of which was about 20 minutes in the opposite direction of where her appointment was. I figured I could go there first, then on my way back to get her I could run by the other two stores, get her and then we'd go straight home.

But no.

Because it was raining and people apparently don't know how to drive in the rain. So despite me taking the highway, which should have cut like 10 minutes out of the ride each way, it took me about 30 minutes to get to that first store, which I was in for maybe 10 minutes, and as I was checking out MLH messaged "my appointment is almost over, where are you at?"

So all I had time for was turning around and going straight to get her.

Which, fine, whatever.

One of the stores we went to literally just for chicken.

And it was chicken for her because she wanted a specific type of breaded chicken for Shabbos.

So I figured I'd run into the store and grab it while she stayed in the car.

But no.

Because while I was unbuckling, she was unbuckling. Because she decided to come in.

So she went to look at side salads and I went to the chicken section where I waited but she never showed up.

Then I get a message from her.

"Where are you?"

Excuse me???? WHERE ARE YOU, WOMAN???

I told her I was at the chicken section waiting for her and she said "I already checked out. I'm going back to the car."

WE LITERALLY WENT TO THIS STORE TO BUY HER CHICKEN.

SHE CAME IN WITH ME.

PRESUMABLY TO BUY HER CHICKEN.

But she's checked out already!? WITH WHAT!?

Oh. Apparently something to eat. Because she's hangry.

Which she, OF COURSE, DID NOT TELL ME.

Fine. Whatever.

So I bought her frickin chicken.

And then on the way home she got mad at me about three driving-related things that were out of my control (like the car started making a weird noise that might be the muffler, and there was a huge pothole I couldn't avoid, and I was coming to a stop at an intersection when some lady rounded the corner quickly and we barely missed colliding...) which resulted in her yelling at me that she hates the way I'm driving.

So, yeah, that was a fun ride home.

*EYEROLL*

Anyway, on the way to her appointment she said "we never worked out a Shabbos menu."

I told her the same thing I've told her almost every week over the last three months: I'm eating differently from you guys, so you just tell me what you want and I'll grab it from the store, because I already have set aside what I'm going to eat.

And she tells me "my boss has off tomorrow, so I can cook."

Which is perfectly fine in my eyes because I'm still recovering from an injury (again, that's one of the drafted posts...) and I also had a horrendous cold for the previous two weeks so I'm still trying to get back to baseline. Any pressure off me is appreciated.

We basically worked out that for shabbos we'd do a big soup for Friday night (which I would make), then she wanted chicken (obvs) and I had bought green beans at Costco I told her she could have, and then Shabbos lunch would be fish and salady stuff.

Well, Friday rolls around.

The day already sucked because I tried adding some vegetables back into my diet during the week that are apparently problematic for my digestion. Fun.

But then MotherLivelyHeart decides to stick to her arbitrary Pesach cleaning schedule which says to clean the milchig dishes she's had piling up all week. So of course she decides to do this at like noon and doesn't finish the job and there are still milchig dishes in the sink at 3pm when I need to go in and make the soup.

Add onto that, one of my "chores" is the pareve dishes, some of which have been piling up too and also need to be done, which she feels the need to remind me of, despite her milchig dishes still filling the sink.

So I go in around 3pm and just start cooking, using the small bit of counter space that's available to me.

She decides that's the perfect time to finish the milchig dishes.

FINE. WHATEVER.

She gets them out of the way and reminds me YET AGAIN about the pareve dishes.

FINEWHATEVER.

So around 4pm I'm back in the kitchen, doing the pareve dishes, of which I only got about half done because it was causing pain and I still had to cook.

So I pivoted and did the soup.

But nothing else had been cooked yet.

So I made the green beans.

And I had to separate the soups so I could add things to theirs that I can't eat.

At this point I'm still annoyed from her the day before, my insides are so unhappy with the newly tested foods, I'm in pain from the injury, and I'm trying to cook for Shabbos.

Around 6pm I asked BigSis if she could help with the chicken. She was like "I STILL HAVE TO SHOWER!!!" As though she didn't have all day for that and somehow me needing help is my fault. She said "if you had asked me like three hours ago I could have done it."

Except that three hours ago, the milchig dishes were still filling up the sink, so.... what exactly do you expect from me!?

Sometime a little earlier when MotherLivelyHeart had been in the kitchen it was clear I wasn't doing so well and she asked what was wrong and I described the pain and she was like "I'm sorry" and then disappeared.

So then she gets a "20 minutes to candle lighting" alarm on her phone, and she's been trying to light early in zchus of the hostages and chayalim, so she calls out "20 minutes to licht benchen." Which I responded to but she didn't hear, obviously, because she yelled again "LivelyHeart, did you hear me!?"

To which I responded an annoyed "YES!!" and she was like "you don't have to talk to me that way! I clearly didn't hear you. And BigSis and I can make Shabbos on our own, you know."

Which, MYGODWOMAN. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO.

My responsibility based on our conversation was the soup.

ZE HU.

SHE was supposed to do the chicken and the green beans and whatever else they wanted.

So now she's annoyed at me because I'm annoyed at her for not doing the thing she was supposed to do, but I'M the one in the wrong.

FINE. Whatever.

In the end I didn't do the chicken.

I literally didn't have the strength for it, let alone the energy.

Not that it was really missed at the meal, but she was a bit annoyed and gave me that same "BigSis and I can cook for Shabbos on our own, you know." To which I responded "You said you were going to cook." I literally don't even remember what her response was.

Well, fast forward through Shabbos to tonight because I asked her if she wanted the chicken for melava malka or if we should stick it in the freezer for a week since it's KFP.

She wanted it for melava malka.

Which, fine, whatever.

I told her if she could bread it, I would cook it.

She got gloves, she got bowls, she got the chicken, and she got eggs.

She did not get the other ingredients she needed for the breading. Or a plate to put it on. Or a fork.

She sat down at the table and then asked me to get the other ingredients.

Which, fine. Whatever.

I got an interesting piece of mail that I'll discuss in another post when I know more what's going on with it, but it basically called my attention to research something. So I was on my computer off to the side while she was breading the chicken.

The next thing I know, she's frying the chicken.

I went into the kitchen and asked her why she was frying it when I told her I would do it for her since cooking usually exhausts her, and she got all frustrated and exasperated at me and said something like "I DON'T HAVE ALL NIGHT TO WAIT FOR YOU."

And I was like, "what are you talking about!? I was waiting for you to finish breading it! you didn't tell me you were done!"

Which just pissed her off more.

BECAUSE. I'M. THE. TERRIBLE. COMMUNICATOR.

But this is the time of year we celebrate freedom, right?

This is the time of year we thank Hashem for rescuing us from a horrible situation.

Well, where's mine?

We're supposed to celebrate every year as though WE ALL left Mitzrayim.

As though we were ALL saved.

But I am not saved.

I have never been saved.

The stupidity I've just described above is just a piece of the insane patterning of my entire life.

I have no escape from this nonsense.

And I'm just so done with all of it.

I want it all to be over.

I want it all to go away.

Where's my freedom?

Where's my salvation?

I really have to finish those other two drafts, because this isn't even the clearest picture of what I've been dealing with since 2024 started. It's barely April and I just want this secular year to be over.

There are a couple of people who have suggested guys to me over the last several months and, although they're not really what I'm looking for, right now I just don't have the emotional energy for a new relationship. I'm just so burned out from this one that I deal with every frickin day of my stupid life, which of course I can't even tell these people.

So... dear future husband, I hope you can hang in there, because I don't know when I'll be ready for you.

But maybe by then I'll be a good communicator.

-LivelyHeart

And now for the story after the story:

So, after that disaster of a drive back from the store on Thursday night, we got home around 8:30pm and although she got something small to eat from that second supermarket I knew that MotherLivelyHeart hadn't eaten anything since lunch so when I made dinner for myself I made a second bowl for her. I brought it to her and she said "oh... you didn't have to do that." Not a lot of enthusiasm there.

She didn't eat it for about a half an hour, by which time it was probably cold, and the next thing I knew, she was in bed going to sleep without another word about how it was.

Now, I don't demand praise or feedback for anything I cook, but she usually makes a comment about whatever I make, so I found it odd that she was silent on the matter.

On Friday I went to ask her about something else and while I was talking to her I asked how her dinner was the night before and she said something along the lines of, "it was... interesting. ground chicken just doesn't cook well, it's not your fault. you prepared it well, it's just not that good. ground turkey is better."

No "thank you," no "it was sweet of you to think of me," no "I appreciate the effort especially considering that you're working through the pain right now."

Just meh.

I love when I'm appreciated.