#I imagine Luz is reading word for word exactly what she wrote

[crimeronan]

hi!! sorry if this has been asked before but i wanted to know if u had a specific editing process? ive read before that u edited ur fics for 6-8 hours and wanted to know what those hours consisted of, technically speaking, if its not too much trouble!!

hello!!

this is a really good question. i want to do it justice but breaking down every single detail of my editing process would take a VEEEERY long time. so i'll give more of an overview

some fics have a Much more involved editing process than others. so i can walk you through what both "processes" look like, step-wise. my most involved process produces the best work but is also the most time-consuming and exhausting.

to start, though: you gotta understand my first draft process. because whenever i tell other writers about how i draft, their responses range from "that's insane" to "that's so smart" to "that's insane. again."

i don't reread anything when i draft.

and i mean Anything. i don't reread a single sentence. i don't reread my phrasing as i'm writing it. i don't even check to make sure that my sentences make sense.

i just write out the entire story as i'm hearing / imagining it in my head. whatever moments, beats, dialogue, Whatever is most important to me. i don't edit as i go, i don't look back. if i can't think of details or lose my flow, i put [add X here] and keep going.

i usually have a bullet-point outline before i draft -- that's my scribbled concept sketch. my first draft is the equivalent to the slightly less scribbly concept sketch. it takes a MAXIMUM of one-third of my entire writing time.

the other two-thirds (or more!) are editing.

so basically. editing is where i reread what i wrote, identify weak spots and pacing issues, revise my dialogue, improve my metaphors, bulk up my imagery..... it's like doing all of the painstaking lining and coloring and shading of a very involved art project.

with my Most involved editing process, i open a new document beside the first draft. i write an entire second draft from scratch, using my first document as reference. that lets me keep all the important beats, rearrange stuff, go more in-depth with detail, etc. THEN i reread that second draft and do all of my fussing.

with my less involved editing process, i just reread and edit the first draft instead of creating an entire second draft. i also do fewer editing passes.

(the involved process includes editing the whole document once, putting it down for a few hours, then starting over from the beginning and editing the Edited Version all over again.)

it might be easier for me to show you the differences in fic quality, for you to get a sense of how the editing process affects things.... rather than trying to describe exactly what i look for / change / do / etc.

so. here's three recent (ish) toh fics

humans are friends. AND food - no editing.

why did love put a gun in my hand (and all other parts of this series) - basic first draft editing.

what we are is the sum of a thousand lies - 2 to 3 full drafts per chapter, 3 to 5 editing passes per chapter, ~30,000 words of outtakes beyond that.

with that vampire AU fic (#1), you can see that it's short, it's quick, it's silly and fun. it's not emotionally deep. it doesn't make much sense. it's very clearly based on Vibes instead of a fully considered story.

the princess luz fic (#2) is Significantly more involved. the increased detail here is partially because this is a horror series instead of a stupid humor romp, but the principle is the same.

all of luz's internal narration about her fear, the pacing of her interactions and confrontations with belos n hunter alike, the ugly body horror and the way she comforted the dying grimwalker... that's all from the editing process. the bare bones were there in my first draft, but my edits were where i got to make things Effective.

basically, i wrote the horror story the way i saw it in my mind. and then during the edit, i could ask questions like - what would make this worse? what is she really afraid of? what is the most LUZ reaction that she could have in this situation? what's the most effective way to show the differences between this luz and canon luz, and the similarities? etc etc etc. all those little details!

then you have wwaitsoatl. which is by Far the most energy-intensive fic i've ever written. that's part of why updates are so sporadic despite there being well over a thousand subscribers at the moment (FAR more than any of my other fics have ever had).

the reason that this fic requires so many drafts and editing passes is because of the sheer complexity of the characterization. the plot is pretty generic, as toh fics go - hunter gets kidnapped away from the castle and learns how to be loved, this fic has been written 100000 times before in 100000 different ways by 100000 different authors.

BUT. every single one of the four narrators in this particular story is unreliable in different ways. every single one has different priorities, motivations, baggage, feelings, levels of emotional intelligence. all four of them are in massive conflict with one another.

the conflicts Between the characters are similarly complicated, so i have to spend a LOOOONG time on all of the dialogue & interactions. these guys do a LOT of projecting, and arguing, and talking at cross-purposes, and making incorrect assumptions, and lying, and obfuscating, and on and on and on. clear communication is basically impossible.

the internal narration also requires a similar level of care. hunter and darius in particular have incredibly challenging POVs to write because all of their narration is tied up in denial, self-delusion, and facades.

hunter's nightmares, cognitive dissonance, and slow breakdowns take Hours And Hours And Hours to get right. same goes for darius's feelings and the things he says and the things he Doesn't say. i literally study every single individual sentence and rewrite it like 15 times, then study every individual paragraph and rewrite and rearrange them like 15 times. and if a scene isn't working, i cut it entirely, even when that adds up to 30,000 words of outtakes.

it's my most ambitious fic by a longshot and i'm confident in saying it's my best work to date. but hoo boy, it is WORK.

so. that's my editing process, basically! and how my editing process changes my final product.

[3laxx]

Bring It Home

The sadness stayed, especially when her gaze fell onto the bucket list she had written for Luz and herself, still without a title. With the sleep still in her eyes and her fingers slightly uncoordinated, she added Emira’s title on the head of the paper, before getting herself dressed in her school uniform, getting ready for the day. Another day without Luz.

---

Amity vows to complete the bucket list Luz and her created.

I couldn't help myself! In this fanfiction, the part 3 of the Home series, I'll focus on Amity working down the bucket list she and Luz had talked about. This will be multichaptered and I'll keep the chapter length around 2k to 3k words to keep it short and bring the point across. Anyone not wanting to read any point of the bucket list will be welcome to skip whichever they wish x) I didn't want to make it one big story with like 10k words because I wanted to make the bucket list therapeutic for Amity and with that, work through a lot of feelings. Jumping between happiness and devastation didn't fit into in-chapter jumps, so I'l make multiple little Oneshots and put according warnings in front of each should heavy topics be addressed. With that, have a lot of fun reading!

Ao3 / FF.net

---

Sighing, Amity tapped on her desk with her pen, furrowing her eyebrows as she tried so desperately to remember what should be on their bucket list.

During Luz’s last moments, they had talked about what they had wanted to do in their lives, and it only seemed more than fair for Amity to fulfill luz’s wishes for her. They had talked about doing them together, after all, and she was almost sure Luz would want her to work down a bucket list.

First, Luz had said that she wanted to be a real witch, and Amity remembered telling her to check that one off. It was too easy, though. What made someone a real witch? She’d have to ask Eda about that.

The tapping on her desk irritated her after a few moments, so she stopped. It was too easy, just accepting that she was a real witch already like Luz had been. She didn’t want to make this point easy for herself. Luz deserved the effort for her to find out what a real witch was and how to achieve that dream of hers.

She had also wanted to read the new Azura book. Well, Amity would have to wait until it came out in a few weeks but she’d read it for her, out loud, every evening, and imagine Luz would join into her squealing when hopefully, their favorite ship would get together.

Luz had also mentioned sky diving and skiing but Amity doubted that these were real wishes of her to put them on the bucket list. She had probably just wanted to fill her list. Nonetheless, Luz had said it and Amity would do these things for her.

It had been a week now, that they had ceremoniously burnt Luz’s body and sang her into the sky. It was forbidden to bury people for the human tradition Luz had told her about, since the Titan’s magic tended to resurrect buried corpses as zombies. Burying her would’ve been a safety hazard to the Isles. But luckily, Luz had told her of this other human tradition to burn people, and even if that seemed barbaric to her, if it was Luz’s wish, so be it. Usually, the Boiling Isles funeral tradition demanded the corpse to be boiled by the sea, but Luz had mentioned that someone she had known had been burnt, too, so they had decided to honor this tradition.

It had been a nice, small ceremony, with no big speeches and just a lot of mourning. They had all supported each other, even Boscha had shown up and hugged Amity tightly after the fire had burned down, leaving just a pile of ashes of their friend.

She had mentioned wanting to skip school. Luz had been on board and Titan, if it would make her mother explode, Amity would skip school for Luz.

The human had wanted to do her bucket list as well, so she had jotted down her own wishes as well. The next had been Luz’s suggestion, but honestly, she actually wanted to smash stuff for once. Maybe she could find some junk to blow up or something. Maybe even an old chair from the manor. Amity was sure they had at least some ruled-out furniture in their attic.

The next point was harder to fulfill.

Amity had hoped she could somehow get Luz to make that wish come true for her, and if she was being honest, it had been a pretty poor attempt to somehow get her feelings across. She was almost glad Luz hadn’t jumped on this, even if she had later realized that this was due to her dying, unfortunately, and probably not wanting to promise her something that would give Amity false hopes.

If she had even wanted to kiss her. Even if Willow assured her that Luz would have.

Tapping on her desk again, she narrowed her eyes. What had happened after that?

Looking over her list again, and the notes she had jotted down around it, she grumbled. Her memory had always been really good, but it was hard to see through the haze of emotions to reliably recall the painful memory.

 -        Be a real witch (what’s a real witch? Ask Eda)

-        Read the new Azura book (Maybe Hecazura will happen!!)

-        (Sky diving and Skiing – I’ll do it, not the priority, though)

-        Skip school (Which lesson would be best to skip?)

-        Smash stuff (Check attic)

-        Kiss someone

 What else was there?

And who would she kiss?

Shaking her head, Amity grumbled, then she tapped her pen again before leaning back and closing her eyes, resting her head bent back on the backrest of her chair.

Luz had asked what she could do right now, as the moment of her death had drawn closer. Amity had been so distracted by her stupid homework. What had she said to her? Right, that she could scream.

Cringing, Amity opened her eyes again and jotted it down. Screaming.

Telling that a dying person had probably been the definition of putting her foot in her mouth.

 -        Scream (wow)

 What else had she suggested to Luz? Right, write a poem. Groaning, Amity put that down as well. She couldn’t have thought of anything better to tell her? Why did she have to say these random things? Amity was maybe kind of into drawing, but otherwise, her artistic side had come a bit short until now. She wasn’t poetic, and she sure wasn’t going to be good at writing a poem. While she wrote it down, her eyebrows soothed, though, and she breathed out. She wouldn’t have to be good at it. She would just have to put the effort in, the result didn’t have to be perfect. This was Luz’s bucket list, not an exam she had to pass.

She was sure Luz would’ve loved whatever she would’ve written and had her read it. She probably would’ve tried helping her. It didn’t feel good being left to her own devices, but she’d be damned if she didn’t at least try her best.

 -        Write a poem (for Luz)

 She doubted the next one had actually been on the bucket list, but her heart broke all over when she remembered Luz’s voice thinning, getting blocked when she choked it out.

 -        See her mother (Name? Camille? Camila?)

 She had sounded so sad. Amity hadn’t understood why she had been so sad over this. Well, sure, the connection to the human realm had been severed and she was pretty sure Luz had been homesick and was missing her mother a lot, but she hadn’t ever experienced Luz so sad over this. More hopeful, and self-assured that she’d find a way back.

It hadn’t been until she had sung with the others around Luz’s funeral fire that she had understood she had been so unbelievably sad because she knew she’d have to wave that dream goodbye.

She hadn’t realized what Luz had realized at that exact moment.

That she’d never ever again see her mother.

Amity would have to make sure she’d see Luz’s mother for her, even if that meant that she’d have to deliver the sad news.

Sighing, she then remembered the last thing they had talked about. Changing people’s lives, dancing, being home.

Her vision was clouded by tears when she jotted the last point down to her bucket list.

 -        Make a legacy

 Luz had thought about what her legacy had been. And Amity had provided her some answers, thinking it was a joke but she knew exactly what Luz’s legacy had been.

She had been the most extraordinary girl she had ever met.

And Amity knew exactly that to preserve her legacy, of all her actions and thoughts and wishes, would be to meticulously write about Luz’s journey.

She’d have to work together with everyone on this, maybe even her mother if she ever found a way to the human realm in Luz’s name, but she would try her damn best to make sure Luz’s legacy of being the most awesome person would be carried on.

Maybe someday, another human would stumble across the Boiling Isles, and reading about Luz would give them the time of their lives. Or maybe, a young witch would have trouble performing magic and become the most skillful witch of their class once they’d discover glyphs that Luz had cultivated.

And maybe a young demon would wish to be a witch and Luz’s story would inspire them to become a witch. A real one, whatever that meant.

Smiling, Amity looked over her list, adding some more notes here and there, before underlining the actual tasks on her bucket list, then she frowned when her gaze found the head of the page.

She’d have to find a title for her mission. Luz had loved finding titles for missions, she thought to remember.

“Bucket list” just didn’t seem to cut it, exactly.

Mash their names to personalize their list? No, that’d come off as kind of pathetic. Besides, even if she did have a crush on Luz, making them a shipping name just kind of took it too far for Amity.

Trying to get into Luz’s enthusiasm, she pointed her pen to the sky, trying to impersonate Luz’s impression of Azura whenever she would pretend to get into one of her great speeches.

“Luz’s awesome wish list!”, she whisper-exclaimed, but slanted her lips, still looking up against the wall. No, that wasn’t it.

“Luz Noceda’s last-”, she immediately interrupted herself. She’d just make herself cry if she in any way acknowledged that these had been Luz’s last wishes. Besides, Amity’s bucket list was in there, too. It was kind of unfair to dishonor Luz’s wish to do both their bucket lists together. Huffing, her arm sunk and she pursed her lips, clicking her teeth together. Her growing fangs kind of caught in her lips so she stretched her lips by opening her mouth and then rearranging everything so her fangs wouldn’t bother her too much.

“… Amituz…? Hm.”, furrowing her eyebrows again, she looked back down to her list. What even would their mashed names sound like.

“Nocight.”, she shook her head. Taking their last names just made it worse, “Luzity?”

Sighing and leaning back, she once again grumbled and looked back to her bucket list.

“Lumity?”

The voice that most definitely wasn’t hers almost made her jump right out of her skin. Whipping her head around and dropping the pen, she shot a glare to the door, where her older sister was standing. She had apparently snuck to her room and eavesdropped on her trying to come up for mashed names for her and Luz. Huffing, Amity crossed her arms, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart.

“Emira! What’re you doing here?”, she snapped and her sister, weirdly not wearing a smug grin, let herself in to join Amity on her desk. Taking a look at the list sitting in front of her, she placed a soft hand on Amity’s shoulder and for some reason, the younger Blight couldn’t bring herself to snap at Emira more or hide the list.

After a moment, her sister turned to lean against the desk and look at her, her concerned gaze searching Amity’s face.

“… You okay?”

Shrugging, Amity sighed and looked over the list again, before meeting her sister’s gaze.

“I don’t know…”, she hesitatingly said and because Emira wouldn’t say anything more, she started to elaborate, “… I-… I remembered that, when Luz and I talked, she wanted to do our bucket lists together. So I wrote down what I remembered us wanting to do, still. Now I need a title.”

Her sister slowly nodded, before looking over the list again that was to her side, propping herself back on her arm when she turned to read it properly. Amity could see the slightest of smirks when she read – what Amity assumed – was the kiss part. She decided against commenting, though.

“So you thought about shipping?”

Huffing, Amity shook her head.

“These things are both of our requests, I just wanted to mash our names to make sure it was-… Expressing the bond.”

With an honestly serious expression, Emira gave her a nod. Apparently, she agreed.

“I’d go with Lumity.”, she quietly said, before looking back to her younger sister. The youngest Blight looked so tired, so matured through what she had seen going down in just the last week, “What about keeping it simple, ‘Lumity’s bucket list’? I think that’d be neat.”

Humming, Amity looked back to the list.

“You don’t think it’s kind of weird for me to use a shipping name on this?”, she quietly asked, before feeling Emira taking her hands and coaxing her to look at her, smiling.

“No, not at all. This is a very important thing for both of you. I think it’d only be fitting for you to mash your names. I say using a mashed name is more than fitting for both of you dorks.”

Sniffling, Amity nodded, lowering her head, She hadn’t even noticed her tears welling up. Quickly, Emira slipped from the desk and leaned down, wrapping her arms around Amity’s shoulders. The younger girl sunk into the embrace and melted into the warmth her sister was providing. They stayed like this for a moment, before Emira kneeled down and leaned back, reaching up to catch a tear rolling down Amity’s cheek.

“Take a break, hm? We could go to bed early, so you’ll be rested for tomorrow.”

Slowly, Amity nodded and got up, along with Emira, wanting to head to her bed but Emira caught her hand.

“Wanna sleep in my bed? We could cuddle a little?”, she softly asked and Amity actually couldn’t believe her for a little moment. The twins had really changed since Luz had come along, and she supposed Emira was serious about this offer.

Affection had never been a priority in a Blight’s life, but apparently, she seriously wanted to start making it a priority now. Amity felt herself hesitating, but her sister’s sincerity made her consider.

“… Yeah?”, she found herself asking and Emira nodded, smiling.

“We can get Edric to join us. You know my bed is big enough.”

This prospect actually made Amity shiver in, whatever it was she felt. Anticipation, excitement? Surprise?

She didn’t even feel herself nodding until Emira was already grabbing her pajamas off her bed and pulled on her hand. Letting Emira guide her out of the room, she followed her down the hall and they entered the twins’ room. They had refused to get separate rooms from each other and had instead opted for a study for themselves, but they had never wanted to sleep apart from each other.

Edric was already in his bed and dozing away over a book he was half holding still. Helping her still stunned sister, Emira and Amity changed into their pajamas, before the older girl went over to her twin’s bed and kicked the frame.

“Get up, we’re gonna cuddle.”, she barked and Edric shot up, his hair sticking out in different directions. Amity had to giggle at him seeming so dumbfounded, before he pushed aside the book and got up, yawning. Emira ushered Amity into her bed, which was indeed big enough to hold all three siblings, before taking her place next to her and pointing their sleepy brother to the other side. A moment later, Amity was cuddled into a warm cocoon of family, both her siblings tightly embracing her as they had adjusted the blanket over all three of them.

Softly smiling, Amity felt herself slipping to sleep, contently sighing. Edric was breathing into her neck and Emira was softly brushing through her hair, scratching her head, and tightening her grip around her little sister’s waist. Amity had never felt as content and warm and protected as she felt right now.

Curling into her siblings’ arms, she snuggled her nose into Emira’s shoulder and smiled to herself.

She could definitely get used to this.

This night, she slept better than any other night before. Cuddled into her siblings’ warmth, she was calm enough to sleep through the night and wake up rested, for the first time in a week.

The sadness stayed, especially when her gaze fell onto the bucket list she had written for Luz and herself, still without a title. With the sleep still in her eyes and her fingers slightly uncoordinated, she added Emira’s title on the head of the paper, before getting herself dressed in her school uniform, getting ready for the day. Another day without Luz.

It hurt slightly less than the first day in school without Luz, but she wouldn’t be able to get used to this yet. Not having Luz in school was still a very weird experience for her, and having to realize over and over again that she would never come back was even harder to do. It had just become sort of normal for her to deal with the pain until the day ended, the pain of not hearing her voice calling for her, of not feeling her presence next to her in lessons, of not smelling the lemon shampoo she used and of not smiling at her genius ways of utilizing magic the way she needed with her limited glyphs.

After making sure she would have everything for the day, Amity grabbed the bucket list as well, folded it neatly, and put it in her bag.

She swore she’d do everything in her power to fulfill Luz’s wishes of completing their bucket list.

---

Let me know if you liked it and if I should open suggestions for you guys?

[na-na-namine]

For fanfic ideas, maybe Willumity book club? I just imagine Luz and Amity getting to gush about Azura to their girlfriend, perhaps even inviting her to Amity's little hideout?

This turned out very different than what I originally planned - it’s way more Willow/Amity than Lumity or Willumity - but I hope y��all still enjoy it!

It’s been a couple years since I wrote fanfiction, so criticism is very much welcomed ^^;

---

Uncertain Flutters

I was shocked Willow had even wanted me back in her life, but I guess anything is possible with Luz in our world. That lovely human brightened up our lives on so many occasions and I don't know how I could ever repay her.

Said human is late, however, so tonight it's just me and Willow within the library walls.

"I never took you to be such a troublemaker, Ms. Amity Blight," Willow teased. "Sneaking into a library at night is not exactly top-student behaviour."

"I have my secrets," I remarked, trying to ignore the flutters in my heart. "I had hoped you would find out eventually.”

Willow glanced away from my direction. "Hmm, you didn't exactly make it obvious."

I knew she didn't mean anything by it, but my mind couldn't help but feel a sting of bitterness from her words. I tried (with little avail) to shove this uncertainty aside, but we had already arrived at the Romance section.

"So, your secret hideout is behind here?"

"Yes." I reached out for one of the shelves to run my fingers along the spines of the books. I looked back at Willow with a smirk. "I bet you can't find the lever."

"Oh please, Ammy," Willow rolled her eyes as she casually pulled at the book titled The Lone Witch & Secret Room. The shelf unclicked itself and moved aside to reveal my not-so-secret-anymore hideout. "Subtlety was never your strong suit."

I chuckled in agreement. "You know me too well, Willow."

You don't deserve her.

I immediately squashed the thought from my head, perhaps a second too late because Willow was already inside and admiring my hideout.

"Wow, this place is so nice!"

I grabbed myself a cushion to sit on while I watched Willow walk around in awe. The next little while would have me either satiating her curiosity or overcoming my desire to shower her with kisses.

I knew things weren’t as they used to be, so I often tiptoed around my feelings as if they were eggshells. We were childhood friends turned enemies, enemies turned acquaintances, acquaintances turned to friends once more, friends turned...

What were we now? She, I, and Luz were all supposedly girlfriends, and yet this uncertainty threatened to drown out the flutters of my heart. When it's just the two of us, we'd both dance around topics; dance around each other. In this way, we were closer than before, but not better.

"Are these the Azura books you and Luz are always going on about?"

Willow's words snapped me back to reality. I turned my head to see Willow walking over with one of my Azura volumes in hand.

"Yeah," I answered, gesturing her over to the cushion beside me. After she got comfortable, we opened up the book together. "This is one of my favourite volumes. Here, Azura finally confronts her former best friend turned arch-nemesis and tries to bring her back to the light."

"Sounds like a lovely story," Willow giggled before giving me a warm smile. The flutters were threatening to burst from my chest.

"You-you think so?" I stammered, avoiding eye contact as I flipped to the first page. "Some say redemption stories are overplayed."

I barely managed to read out a few sentences before I couldn't make them out anymore, which was not entirely surprising as it was difficult to see through blurry eyes.

"Ammy?" Willow's voice was gentle and filled with concern.

I looked up to a washed-out visage of Willow, which cleared up when her hands wiped away my tears and caressed my cheeks.

"Ammy, what's wrong?"

She was so beautiful.

The flutters in my chest burst free along with my tears, and the next thing I knew Willow's arms were wrapped around me in a warm embrace.

We stayed like that for a while, unsure, and not caring for how much time I spent as a sobbing mess. After what seemed like much too long, I found myself relaxing and melting into Willow's arms at last.

"How do you feel?" Willow asked softly. Her hands were making steady strokes over the small of my back, but I didn't mind at all.

"Embarrassed," I muttered into her shoulder, hoping she wouldn't notice how flustered I was right now.

Willow simply giggled and pulled me in tighter. "Thank goodness. I was worried I might've done something wrong."

I shook my head, pull back so that I could face Willow properly. "It's not your fault, Willow. It never is."

Be honest. Don’t run away.

For once, my mind isn't trying to kill me and I thank the Isles for that.

"I... I feel like I don't deserve you," I confessed at last. My hands fell to my sides and I turned away from her face.

Moments passed by with neither of us having said anything else, and I worried that I might have said too much. I tried to get up, but a strong grip held me back. She pulled me in and I let her, her face suddenly so close to mine as she placed a hand on my cheek.

"Maybe you don't." Those words pierced me harder than any spell or demon, but before I could even react, Willow's lips were pressed against mine and took my breath away. When she pulled away, she had that wonderful, warm smile once again.

"But I give myself to you, regardless."

I let myself go. I showered the adorable witch before me with so many kisses, she could only giggle helplessly into the cushions.

"Hey, you guys!"

A loud voice froze the two in place.

"I am sooooo sorry I was late! But I just had to finish my latest masterpiiiiiiiiiii- oh."

A flabbergasted Luz was standing near the doorway (with what appears to be her latest piece of Azura fanfiction on hand). Her timing was as impeccable as ever.

"Am I, uh... interrupting anything?" she stuttered. It was so cute how incredibly confused she was right now.

Willow and I exchanged smiles before we both turned to Luz with open arms.

"Ohmygosh yes!" Luz squealed and immediately leaped onto us. "Cuddle pile!"

What followed was a night full of laughter and kisses with the two people I love most. In that night, I have never felt more certain.