#I think the longest story I'd written for this was only 10 chapters and it wasn't even done because I suck it better if you things

[grey-gazania]

20 questions for fic writers

Yoinked from the lovely @sallysavestheday and @melestasflight!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 65, though one is a compilation of unrelated short pieces.

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 199,601

3. What fandoms do you write for? Mostly Tolkien, though I have a few older bits and bobs from other fandoms hanging around.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? In terms of kudos, my various Kidnap Fam stories are overwhelmingly my most popular:

A Stitch in Time (Elrond's life as seen by a quilt)

And They Looked Up and Saw a Star (Early-days Kidnap Fam WIP)

Root and All (Kidnap Fam feat. Maedhros, Elrond, and botany)

Speak No Evil (Kidnap Fam feat. Orkish lessons)

Little Drop of Poison (Kidnap Fam feat. injured Maedhros and healer Elrond)

5. Do you respond to comments? I try to respond to them all, but sometimes my responses are very late, especially if the comment comes when I'm having a depressive episode or a chronic illness flare-up.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Leaving aside unfinished multichaps that will have angsty endings but haven't gotten there yet, it's probably either The Hearts of the Eldar (the Third Kinslaying and all that it entails) or Pain Unbearable (Maedhros' death).

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Probably Half Past Ten in the Rose Garden (Caranthir/Caranthir's Wife engagement rom-com). Still debating whether I should add another chapter or wrap it where it is.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Only ever on fics featuring Fingon's wife. Some people get real heated about those.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I don't, nor do I read it. It's very much Not My Thing. I think the closest I've come is The Bed We Share (Fingon/Fingon's Wife, Fingon/Maedhros), which does have a sex scene, but it's not particularly detailed.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? No, though I do enjoy reading them on occasion. I'm going to take this opportunity to recommend Evidence by Camwyn on FF.N, which is the single most delightful crossover I've ever read. (Silmarillion/Discworld)

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! A kind reader translated Root and All into Russian, where it seems to have been moderately well-received, at least from what I can tell using Google Translate.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nope. I suppose I'd be willing to give it a shot, but I do have Very Strong characterization opinions that might make it difficult.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Maedhros/Fingon! Though Elrond/Celebrian and Caranthir/Caranthir's Wife are close seconds, and Glorfindel/Erestor and Legolas/Gimli are very old and longstanding favorites as well.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Things ain't lookin' good for The Longest Journey I Have Known (Fingon's wife and Celebrian travel to Valinor). I am Extremely Stuck.

16. What are your writing strengths? Worldbuilding, character dynamics, and description.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? PLOT. God, I am so bad at come up with interesting plots. Also probably pacing, I need to improve in that respect.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I do it rarely -- in fact I think Maps might be the only Silmarillion story where I've done it. I included a Quenya translation of part of a Yiddish folk song, and in that case I had help from the Lizard Council, and particularly from the esteemed and dearly missed Darth Fingon, who looked over my translation and corrected a few errors.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Star Wars, back in, uh, 1999, I think? I've been doing this for a good 25 years.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? Girl, that's like asking a mother to choose her favorite child! But if I absolutely must pick, it's probably The Flight of Birds, which features Elrond, newly arrived on Balar, dealing with his conflicted feelings about his mother.

Tagging @thelordofgifs, @vidumavi, @cuarthol, @swanhild, @leucisticpuffin, @emyn-arnens, @polutrope, @welcomingdisaster, @zealouswerewolfcollector, @that-angry-noldo, @thescrapwitch, @spiritofwhitefire, @swanmaids, @hhimring, @elfscribe, and anyone else who wants to share -- @ me and say I tagged you!

[elephant-in-the-pride-parade]

10, 13, 24 for the writer asks, please!

Thank you for the asks! im sorry it took a while to write a response to these!

From these asks

10. What is the longest amount of time you’ve let a draft rest before you finished it?

This is not hard to answer, but it is embarassing.

8 years and still going.

I started writing Age of Aquarius Part 2, the second in my "holy god i didnt anticipate how long this would be" post-canon series in.... 2016. it ran right into the Americorps and grad school years of my 20s, when i was working and studying so much that i wrote the least of any other time in my life. and then in that time I rediscovered Star Trek, discovered Trek fandom for the first time, and the sheer amount of engagement i found there really inspired so much fic that i had to follow that impulse. it has been amazing. i have gotten so so so much better as a writer thanks to the range of writing ideas ive been driven and challenged to attempt, and have found such a robust community too. Al that writing experience and experimentarion made the work i have been able to put in on Age of Aquarius (and Sailor Moon H) so so much better.

but Aquarius has languished for it. and my small but amazing community of Sailor Moon friends is the only reason ive kept writing it - for them, because theyve been with me so long through everything and I know how much they love it.

I entered the WIP Big Bang with Aquarius this year. im not sure if i will finish it in time for the end of the challenge but i know what happens in every chapter and slowly but surely im making progress. That is nice to feel 🥰

13. a fandom you’re thinking about writing for

I've never written for Star Trek Strange New Worlds or for RWBY. And I only wrote a little for Madam Secretary. All three have really compelling characters I'd love to sink my teeth into given the right time and the right idea. Especially RWBY if it never gets a new season, I have been yearning to see what happens in Vacuo and after the Wonderland arc and if the canon doesn't continue now that Rooster Teeth has folded, i would feel really motivated to try to imagine an ending for myself

24. how do you recharge when you’re not feeling creative?

Books and Video games. Both ways i can enjoy a story i didnt have to create myself. or doing something physical instead that lets the creative part of my brain rest. I'd also travel more if i could. it's a great way to find new things that inspire you!

[beri-allen]

fic tag game

got tagged by @burntblueberrywaffles. thank you <333 doing this while i'm in a good mood lol.

How many works do you have on Ao3? 31 published ones (i have deleted at least 1 and orphaned 4 or something).

2. What's your Ao3 word count? 161,653 in total.

3. What fandoms do you write for? wednesday (the latest one), some kdramas, and i have also written for ouat and hannibal. back on lj, i used to write a lot for house md.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Slow, Long, and Excruciatingly Painful (Wednesday (TV 2022))

You Have Shrunk to the Size of My Thoughts (Wednesday (TV 2022)) 

I Predict a Riot (Wednesday (TV 2022)

Stop (Wednesday (TV 2022))

I Carried You for Aching (Crash Landing on You) 

5. Do you respond to comments? yes! comments always make me happy and i appreciate readers who take the time to drop comments, so i want to take the time to respond to them.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? maybe... Stop (wednesday)?

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? omg, i just realized most of my fics end happily, so idk what to pick lol. but maybe either I Carried You for Aching (crash landing on you) or Magic Hours (memories of the alhambra) because they're both fix-it fics where i resurrect a character from literal and figurative canon death lol.

8. Do you get hate on fics? i'm not sure i can call it a full-on hate, but someone got snippy under one of my "wednesday" fics once. i already deleted it because it made me upset but i still remember what it said and who it was from because i'm a libra and petty, lol.

9. Do you write smut? What kind? when i think smut is needed in a story, i will write it. not an expert, though, so i tend to write super vanilla smut scenes lol.

10. Do you write cross-overs? no, because i don't really read cross-overs, so i don't write it.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated? yes. my old house x cameron (house md) fic that was posted on lj got translated to italian.

12. Have you ever cowritten a fic before? no.

13. What WIP you would like to finish, but doubt you ever will? i talked about it before. the first line is still incomplete, and it goes like this:

"Three goddesses walked into a cave. The monster who lived in it asked,"

the monster is tyler galpin. i doubt i will ever write it because i don't have the motivation right now and i need a lot of motivation to write it, because the story is supposed to be kind of... filthy lol.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? oh, oh, dear. umm. for now, i will choose philip x elizabeth from "the americans" because the show is already ending and it's a happy one, sort of.

15. What are your writing strengths? i'm basing this entirely on comments i got, lol. i think it's my prose? feel free to refute this, lol.

16. What are your writing weaknesses? i can't write long fics. so far, the longest one i've written "only" has 7 chapters.

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? why not?

18. First fandom you wrote for? ig the first one i religiously wrote for is house md (house x cameron). but the last time i checked on these fics, i completely, utterly forgot the plots etc lol. i don't think i want to associate myself with them anymore.

19. Favourite fic you've ever written? maybe i will choose my wednesday x tyler "practical magic" au, I Put a Spell on You, because it's my longest one so far and i'm proud to have finished it. and not sure it's my favorite, but Oh God, I Think I'm Falling (wednesday) has the longest smut scene i've done so far, and i had fun writing that part, so. 

20. What fic would you want to rewrite one day? none, i think.

i'd like to tag @badmoodbatflowers, @cosmic-lullaby @nouklea, @transitat, @therulerofallpotatos & of course anyone who wants to do this.

[tnc-n3cl]

Fic Author Interview

Thanks for the tag @unmaskedcardinal!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Five although one of them is really a rough draft of another fic.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

264,548! (There's way more on the way though...)

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Amnesiac Hero's Quest (T, BotW AU covering when Link leaves the Great Plateau until just after freeing Vah Ruta (and Mipha), 14 chapters, only finished fic so far) 50 kudos.

Link's Story: Finding Hateno Village (T, BotW AU, pretty much what it says on the tin, Link leaves Kakariko going towards Mt. Lanaryu by mistake and tries to find his way to Hateno Village. This is the one that spawned TAHQ, oneshot, the first thing I posted on AO3.) 21 kudos.

Shifting Tides of Fate (M, BotW AU picking up where TAHQ leaves off, Link and Mipha head to Rito Village to save Revali and free Vah Medoh, 6 chapters posted, WIP) 11 kudos.

The Ballad of Kass (M (originally T), BotW AU starting a week or two before the start of TAHQ, Kass sets out to find Link to fulfil his promise to his teacher, and his sister Kalia tags along. Second thing I posted, kind of the backbone to the whole The Realm Walker saga at this point [cause it intersects with the other stories so I have to time things out carefully], 15 chapters posted, WIP) 8 kudos.

The Tale of the Realm Walker (M, Wind Waker & Twilight Princess sequel with a ton of nods to the rest of the franchise (a LOT of ALttP). Chronologically the first story in TRW Saga, but I'm effectively telling it as an in-universe tale in BotW times, and it's the most recently posted fic of mine on AO3, only 2 chapters posted so far, WIP) 2 kudos.

The first two fics for sure got hit by the kudos bug a while ago. Kudos Georg I guess... Given that they've been up the longest I can see why they've got more than the others.

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

Yes! If someone took the time to comment on my fics then I'm going to say something back. I'm am very much here for the community aspect. Even though I may not always comment on something I've read (or art I've looked at).

5. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Well the only one with an ending so far is TAHQ and it's fairly happy. Hm... How to not spoil plans? If it was finished then The Tale of the Realm Walker would be the answer. I'll uh... leave it at that...

6. What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

See above, The Amnesiac Hero's Quest.

7. Do you write crossovers?

Not anymore, I had some batcrap insane hypothetical video game ideas that were crossovers, but those have all mostly been tossed. Though I did salvage plenty of ideas from them. The Realm Walker Saga itself came from a LoZ/Final Fantasy crossover, "Project 47" as well. Untitled Castelvania Fanfic Project... Untitled Front Mission Fanfic Project...

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No.

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

No.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but that'd be pretty cool.

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

No, but one of the stories in my Trek fanfic got an editor. Went by the username of USS Da Vinci (IIRC) on Subspace Comms Network (SCN, a now defunct Star Trek and Sci-Fi forum I was on).

13. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I guess Revalink. Or Picard/Crusher?

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

At this point I've more or less made my peace with the death of my Trek and Stargate fics. Do I think about them still? Yes. (I'd give my aliens with the space whale ships Discovery style spore drives... Maybe throw in a Kelpian character or two...) (Had a blast rewatching most of the Ori arc of SG-1 not that long ago...)

15. What are your writing strengths?

Action scenes, quirky humor (I make myself laugh at least), describing what characters are doing in a scene.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Scenery porn. I so rarely mention time of day or anything. I have to really sit down and focus on all that, so lately I've just been hammering out an arc and then going back and fluffing all that up in edits. (Although I am particularly proud of a few scenes in The Ballad of Kass and Shifting Tides of Fate.)

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

I actually tried this with a little teaser for my Castlevania fic idea. The scene takes place in Austria so I decided to have the opening few lines be in German then switch to English, cause while I did take a couple classes in college, I don't know nearly enough to write a whole dialog chain. So throughout the little snippet there'd be a German line or two. Used Google translate for things I didn't know, but it was giving me something weird for "My name is..." [Also stared at Google Maps of Graz for HOURS picking locations, even though the fic is set 1,071 years in the future after a society ruining cataclysm... I must have some accuracy!]

I have made up words for fics. I've got 11 whole alphabets for the Avestrens (bird people) in "Project 47" and a handful of words. A handful of Rito words. Back in my Trek fic days I was writing in script format and would just put things like [Cardassian curse] rather than trying to come up with something.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Star Trek, it was script based and set 10 years after Voyager's return from the Delta Quadrant. Multiple spinoffs were planed spanning a period of 50 years. (I had started writing the sequel before finishing the first fic, and wrote a little bit of some of the other spinoffs.)

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

I can't really think of anything. I'd like to do something with my Castlevania or Final Fantasy ideas but I'd need the right mood or inspiration to get anywhere. I'm not much of a shipper to be honest, at least with canon characters I guess? I like making my OC's kiss...

20. What's your favorite fic you've written?

Oh that's hard! The initial version of The Tale of the Realm Walker has a special place in my heart, but gods it's all walls of text! How did I ever keep track of everything?! The Ballad of Kass is a place for me to go nuts with Rito headcanons and have fun with the birbs until I can get the Revali centric fics really going. I'm proud of actually finishing The Amnesiac Hero's Quest (I love moment where Link finally meets Purah and is convinced that there's something in the water in Hateno that makes everyone a weirdo and she put it there. He's getting his red string and nails ready...).

I guess just for semantics sake, since "written" is past tense, I'll go with TAHQ as my final answer (this time around) since it's finished.

No Pressure Tags: @critical-birb, @zeawesomebirdie, @readwritebeawesome

[whoseafraidofliloleme]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Saw this and decided to do it myself... Obviously no one tagged me. As I carry on procrastinating the final chapter of HYGTG, lemme do this 😂 Also gonna change from AO3 to Tumblr 😊.

1. How many works do you have on Tumblr?

I've got 21 works, majority of them are Enhypen smaus and then there's the few one shots/Imagines. And my longest fanfic which is Invisible a Han Seojun fanfic.

2. What's your total Tumblr word count?

So this is just counting Invisible and the one shots Ive written, 41k... Majority of that is Invisible

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Kpop, specifically the group Enhypen. I add Harry Potter into that.

4. Top five fics by Notes?

Invisible at the top with the masterlist having 649 notes... Ngl seeing this makes me want to rewrite Invisible...

Unexpected Partners has 468 notes. Which makes sense, my Jungwon fics tend to be quite popular.

Peace has 365 notes. This was my first Enha & Harry Potter fic. I do love this one.

You Belong With Me has 337 notes. Another Harry Potter AU with a Jungwon redemption arc...

The Second Choice has 307 notes. Another Jay smau but this one is a Office Au with a toxic bestie.

Honestly apart from Invisible and Unexpected Partners being top 1 and 2, I wasn't expecting any of the other ones on this list.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yep, I wish I got more comments but I always reply to the comments I do get.

Shout out to @shinkenprincess-oh for always commenting <3

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

I am very much against angsty endings. Happy endings all the way.

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

All my fics have happy endings so I don't even know which one has the happiest ending...

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Havent gotten any yet and I dont want to get hate either please.

9. Do you write smut?

Nope and I never will.

10. Craziest crossover?

I guess constantly mixing Harry Potter with kpop is as crazy as my crossovers get.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Thankfully no but I'd like for it to not happen.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope but I am open to it if anyone interested.

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

Nope, that would be interesting to do though.

14. All time favorite ship?

Okay so thats a hard one... I'm gonna go with my top 4.

Harmione {Harry Potter and Hermione Granger}. I am a diehard Harry and Hermione shipper. I just love them so much.

Olicity {Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak}. I was shipping them from the moment Felicity was introduced on the show.

Damianette {Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Damian Wayne}. All my knowledge of DC has come from reading Maribat fics and I do not regret that in the slightest.

Rogan {Rory Gilmore and Logan Huntzberger}. They will forever be my ultimate ship. In my headcanon they ended up together happily ever after.

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

Its more like whats an idea that I actually want to write... Its a hard one cause I have so many ideas running about in my head that very few of them actually make it to being published...

16. What are your writing strengths?

I guess coming up with backstories for my characters? Making people care even though you are only seeing the story through texts and tweets? Character development and growth?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Haha... Everything?

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I think its quite interesting but I would like a translation somewhere so that I at least know whats been said. Unless its important to the plot then its fine.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

Technically it was Pixelberry Choices Mobile Games stories(? dunno what else to call them) specifically I wrote for High School Story and High School Story Class Act. I have since deleted those fics from my tumblr and Wattpad, they are still on AO3 but I've orphaned them.

Invisible my True Beauty fic is the one that I count as the first fandom I wrote in.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

I legitimately cant pick one, so shameless plug for whoever comes across this to check out my Enhypen Masterlist and True Beauty Masterlist.

Whoever wants to do this, go and have fun cause I have no idea who to tag...

[sarandipitywrites]

saran's year of writing (2023)

hey y'all! saw a couple posts like this floating around and thought i'd hop on the train, because this year has been WILD for my writing (in a really good way). let's start with the bullet points version and i'll put the details under the cut. here we go:

I JOINED WRITEBLR

shared snippets of my work with other, actual humans!

made friends?!

started (and finished!) draft 2 of Dead Roots, Dark Water

wrote 1 short story for every week in october (that's 5 stories in a month! that's great for me!)

first NaNoWriMo in 10 years (and i finished it!)

drafted and re-drafted The Art of Empty Space

started draft 3 of Dead Roots, Dark Water

details, links to projects, me getting maybe a tad too personal, and those all-important wordcounts under the cut:

I JOINED WRITEBLR

i just realized i only started participating at the beginning of october, but it feels like i've been hanging out with you all the whole year 😅 maybe that means i should cut back a bit? nah...

really though, this year was the year i started taking my writing more seriously (not in a 'gotta get published' kind of way, but in a 'writing makes me happier than anything else and that's enough reason to set aside time and energy for it without feeling hella guilty' kind of way) and seeing you all posting your work and being so positive and encouraging to each other was what helped me get up the nerve to join in. and i can say without a doubt that it's the best choice i've made all year. y'all are such a supportive community and i've never once felt like i was encroaching or didn't belong here (and for me, that's really saying something)

so i guess what i'm getting at is: THANK YOU! i've loved reading your snippets and projects this year, and i'm way more confident in my own than i've ever been 💜 y'all are good peeps

Dead Roots, Dark Water

word count (edited and written): 187,789

that's a lotta words! DRDW is both my longest work wordcount-wise, and the work i've dedicated the most time to... probably ever. and i'm SO happy with it, it's a little concerning (/positive)

DRDW is now on its THIRD draft, and (assuming i don't do a massive re-edit) should be ready to start posting in 2024! *excited screaming* i've never released anything i've written in its entirety (the snippets i've been posting are actually a lot more than i've ever shared before), so this is MASSIVE for me and i'm both excited and terrified! overall, though, it's a very, very good thing

Short Stories

this october, i decided to challenge myself to do several things i don't ever do: write short stories; write them on a timeline; and share them. and i did! i wrote one short story for each week in october, and posted them here. they're far from my best work, and due to the timeline, they never could have been my best, which oddly i think helped make it easier to post them? they were also the first pieces i shared here (or anywhere)! they're not awesome, but i'm proud of them and i'm proud of myself for sharing them

NaNoWriMo and The Art of Empty Space

i've done nano once before, ten years ago. i was in college and had a lot more time then (and a job where i could spend the entire day just writing - i didn't know how good i had it), and even so i remember struggling to reach my word goal. but by the power of writing everything in wingdings so i can't second-guess my word choices, i made it this year! and even though i decided to challenge myself by writing a romance-heavy project (something i've historically avoided because IT'S HARD FOR ME, DAMNIT), i love AES and its characters and that feels fucking awesome.

even though my brain decided to spring a surprise plot restructure on me and now i have to rewrite like half of it. it'll be better for it, though, so it's all good 🥲

What's Next?

my plan for early 2024 is, of course, going to be to work on draft 3 of DRDW with the hope of getting some chapters posted (they are LONG, so i'll probably post to tumblr in chunks and the full, unbroken chapters on Ao3 due to formatting). once that's ready, i'll be able to return my attention to AES and getting draft 1.5 all written up. i've mostly figured out where the plot's going there, so it'll just be writing it up to figure out the gaps. if i'm able to write something for november again next year (which i really hope i will; nano did some great things for AES), it'll probably be one of the other Jak & Daxter fics i have kicking around in my head, because i am Obsessed (and switching it up between working on fanfic and original fic seems to work well for my brain).

i've been not super active here for the last month or so because Real Life Work is kicking my ass, but hopefully that will calm down and i'll be able to do more of what i want: writing wild shit, reading your wild shit, and screaming about it together 💜

good vibes and best wishes to everybody in the new year 🥂

[oodlyenough]

fic 20 questions

1. how many works do you have on Ao3? 127...! I have had the account since 2009, lol.

2. what's your total Ao3 word count? 707,519

3. what fandoms do you write for? Generally I only write for one at a time, which is currently Ace Attorney. Not counting the odd one-offs for ask memes over the years, the other big ones were Arcane, Borderlands, Doctor Who and the wizard books.

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

Commutative Law (Arcane)

Window of Opportunity (Arcane)

Where the Air is Rarefied (HP)

Prestidigitation (Arcane)

Contingency Planning (Arcane)

Lmao, 4 of 5 written in 2022. You can see the power of writing m/m in a popular new fandom VS my entire other library at the time. Admittedly at some point I made a concerted effort to try and knock HP down from top spot, which was successful. For now. Jayvik fandom has quieted down a lot.

5. do you respond to comments? Yes. Sometimes it takes a while because if it's a particularly thoughtful comment I try to give a particularly thoughtful reply, and it can take time to gather my thoughts.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I'm going to discount oneshots because the tone in one-shots tends to be more consistent throughout the piece rather than being about the "ending" yknow.

So probably King and Country, a Doctor Who fic cowritten with @go-ldy way back when. Technically a happy ending if you factor in immense amounts of off-screen couples therapy lmao. But we had originally written something much simpler and happier, and it didn't fit the story at all, so we went back and wrote something heavier for the closing chapter, which is why it sticks in my mind.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I think probably Anachronism, the 95k Borderlands epic. I had always had a rough image of the four main characters happy together by the end, and it was also my swansong in Borderlands fandom, so I wanted it to be an optimistic, happy ending (especially in contrast to whatever the hell is going on in the canon there now lmfaoooo). Plus the rest of the fic was quite angsty, and the ending was hopeful and happy.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Not in recent memory. Once upon a time I got a couple disgruntled comments in Doctor Who fandom, and perhaps funniest of all found people complaining about my fic on LJ in French, unaware I read French.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Nope I'm a big baby who gets too embarrassed. I've written some pretty soft-focus M rated stuff but nothing I think could rightly be called smut.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? I wrote a short joke crossover between Doctor Who and Inspector Spacetime, the Doctor Who parody from Community. I don't think that one made the leap from Teaspoon to AO3 actually.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, a number of times. It's very flattering. Mostly Borderlands fics and mostly into Russian iirc, but there's been a few over the years. Sometimes people ask, and I say "sure, drop me a link!" and I never hear back, so I'm not sure if they forgot to link or just never finished translating to begin with.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? My longest and best DW fics with @go-ldy way back when! Not so much since.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? I'm gonna be real it always just feels like whatever I'm into at the moment. And, actually, not necessarily something I write fic for -- like Pricefield is an all-timer for me, easy, but I have never written fic and I haven't read all that much either. If I were narrowing to tree, one of "each" lol, probably Doctor/Rose, Pricefield and Narumitsu.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Don't have any. I know I will never finish them (RIP Fixer-Upper and Silly Love Songs) as I've lost interest in those fandoms.

16. What are your writing strengths? I'd like to think I am good at packing emotional and/or character beats into a concise scene or story. Adding missing scenes or elaborating on canon scenes to give some additional depth or meaning without really deviating from the source.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Definitely plot. I will get stumped on the technicalities of things for ages -- I might know an emotional scene I'd like to write, but hell if I know how to get them there. It's why I primarily write one-shots. Also I struggle with any kind of scenery or set description.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I avoid it as much as I can. (Which so far has been entirely, lol.) I don't speak any other languages well enough to write dialogue in them and feel awkward relying on Google translate or hitting up random friends to do that work for me. I am more likely to use the "said something in [language]" approach.

19. First fandom you wrote for? I actually can't be sure but I think it was 101 Dalmatians. The animated one. When I was like, 7.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? I'm gonna cheat and do one per fandom:

Anachronism (Borderlands) -> biggest, most complicated, plotty fic I have ever written, with four main characters and every combination of relationship between them as the focus. Took 3 damn years. Very proud of it.

Unravel (Ace Attorney) -> total recency bias here but I'm very happy with it and it scratched a very particular itch for me, fleshing out a relationship and characters that exist mostly in the fringes of canon, something I used to do lots of but haven't in recent years

Contingency Planning (Arcane) -> an emotional sucker punch fic in my humble opinion, happiest with it

Out of the Howling (Doctor Who, with @go-ldy) -> actually I had a hard time picking a DW fic. But this was our last together and most complex, so it wins. Also the Master is fun as hell to write.

I am supposed to tag people! I am not sure who else has already been tagged. Do it or don't, I'm not your boss, happy new year 🎊 @annalyticall @heavybreathingcatt @sandboxer @mutxnts @tinsnip @tlonista @themirokai

[grandlovescheme]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @luthien-under-bough, thank you! I love talking about fics and the process of how I write them, so this was fun to put together :)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

28

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

459,900

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Now exclusively House of the Dragon, specifically Daemyra

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

High Hopes

Let's Ignite Under the Ember Skies

You're Ripped at Every Edge (But You're a Masterpiece)

If I Could, I'd Get You the Moon

The Dominoes Cascaded in a Line

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

Yes, I try to always respond, even if the comment is to an older fic. Sometimes I'm overwhelmed or don't even know what to say when someone's being way too kind to me lol, but I always want to let people know I see them and appreciate them so much.

The only time I don't... is when I see someone's binging my whole fic, so then I only respond to the last comment, once they're all caught up.

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

This is easy, as I only have one fic without a happy ending - All and Then Most of You, Some and Now None of You. I love daemyra too much to not give them HEA as much as possible

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

This is hard to pick... Because all of my fics, apart from that one, end teeth rootingly sweet 😂 Perhaps Dominoes. Or perhaps fighter!au, which you guys haven't read yet but it's very fucking happy!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Sometimes. Though it is much much better now that I disabled anon asks.

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

I do! What kind I write... Hmm, tbf I think I write pretty vanilla stuff, even if I do try to explore some kinks here and there when it fits the story and the characters. I guess my kind is focusing on the feelings most of the time, and the emotional connection.

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

I don't, or at least I haven't yet. We'll see if muse ever strikes this way!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of, so hopefully not

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

A few times in a different fandom

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

No, not yet, but I'm definitely open to the idea. I definitely wrote a bunch of stuff based on my fandom friends' crazy ideas and prompts with their help, so that's halfway there, I guess

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

No couple had ever taken over my life and thoughts the way Daemyra did, so, the answer is clear!

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

Soulmates AU? I was once so excited for it, wrote a bunch of notes and even the first two chapters, but now I'm kinda... not feeling it :(

16. What are your writing strengths?

I spent the longest on this question. I think it's the emotions I try to convey in my fics, good or bad.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Now this is much easier. Plot! Intrigue! If you guys haven't noticed yet lol, I write fics heavily focused on romance only, and the development of Daemyra's relationship, because I just can't pull off anything more than that.

I'll probably never write a fic where people will wonder what'll happen next, what that and this means, what this person's motivations are... Because I'm unfortunately not wired that way. But I learned to accept that, and I have fun writing my silly romances with no real plot <3

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

I've done it myself a few times and I like to see it in other fics, too. Especially in HV it's delicious to see in the canon-verse. Though I always struggle with how to write the translation - right next to it, in cursive, in brackets, in the final notes?? That's always a head scratcher

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Eh, probably Twilight? I don't remember writing anything before that, so must be it

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Probably still High Hopes, even after all this time 🤍

This was fun! I'm tagging some of my writer friends if they wanna join and haven't yet, @ar-feyniel, @eschercaine, @calenlily, @fiora-miriel and anyone else who wants to! :)

[yallemagne]

Writer Asks

Tagged by @bluecatwriter

I think I've done this one before!! There's more questions this time, but this is an interesting blast to the past to see how I've changed.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

59 works

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

300,805 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now, Dracula. In the past: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Jesus Christ Superstar, Sanders Sides, Castlevania, Elisabeth, etc.. If you fuse the fandoms that intersect it's about 18 fandoms.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Orice (Dracula, Jonathan has A Time; unsurprising, it is my longest by far)

When Providence Favours Witches (Castlevania [specifically Netflixvania], Trevor gets adopted by Lisa; also not surprising, very popular fandom)

Lückenbüßer (TF2, Trans Scout talks to Ally Medic; shocker!! that's a single-chapter fic!!)

Pseudo-Asthma (JJBA: Battle Tendency, Joseph has a heart-to-heart with his mom; woah! that was only 3 chapters!!)

Bewitching (JJBA: Phantom Blood, Dio genderbend; of course, I can never escape it even if it is a hiatus fic)

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

Yeah, sometimes even if it is just to say "thank you!!" I like to talk about my writing a lot and comments are the place I get to go into detail about my thought process.

6. What's the fic you wrote that has the angstiest ending?

Vulture in Saviour's Robes, I had people yelling at me for this one (in a good way), so it's really no competition, huh.

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

It's gotta be one of the one-shots iojegp. To suggest a less well-known one: A Pitiable Performance, J&H and Dorian Gray crossover, Utterson and Lanyon go to see a play and Sibyl Vane is the lead actress.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not much. Oh wait--- oijegpioerg trauma engaged. Orice got a LOT of hate at some point, someone in the fandom really wanted me dead so they rallied a bunch of people against me. My crimes were: 1. writing a Jonathan POV story 2. supposedly writing Renfield to be a bad guy. None of it reached my comment section thankfully, but when I found out I was very paranoid that someone would dox me over fanfiction.

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

For a period of time, I swear that was all I wrote iojgepri. My specialty is dom/sub with plenty of aftercare, though I've also written some dubious consent stuff. Silver Crystal Carousel (Dracula, John/athan dom/sub) is my most recent smutfic, it was so hard to get back into the dirty groove especially since I was writing in first person.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Yeah, but not much. I get plenty of ideas for crossovers, but they're pretty difficult to write.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah. I'd say lost and you'd say love was translated into Russian and posted on ficbook.

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

Same answer as before: Only one (The Apostles), and it was mostly a self-imposed research project with my friend. They did the research, and I wrote the incorrect quotes and a short Jedas one-shot.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

How could I possibly choose. If you go by fic count it's Jesus/Judas ijopegij. I'd say... JonMina and JonEri. I really like writing already established relationships.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but don't think you ever will?

So many. So many of them. There's some that are barely started!!! To name one y'all will be familiar with: the continuation of An Odd Doctor.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I've been praised for my characterization a lot recently!! Specifically with VH in Orice, I've gotten a lot of compliments on his characterization being complex. I'm really happy about that.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Everything-- *gets shot* I don't know how to articulate!! Sometimes I get ideas and I try to write them, but it's all in pieces, and I don't know how to fix it into a fully-fledged narrative.

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

I have gotten help with that in the past for Lückenbüßer. I don't do it often, it is difficult to pull off in a way that doesn't take the reader out of the story. I suggest a translation key in the notes. If you aren't familiar with the language and don't have a buddy who is, I'd say it's perfectly acceptable to write the dialogue in your native language and put it in italics.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

There is no way of knowing, truly. On ao3, Greek Mythology and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood. Why both? The Daffodil's Echo was written first but The Shocking Absence of Grief was posted first.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

How does one choose!? I'm very proud of what I've done with the Orice series. Of course, it's not done tho. I'm very proud of finishing Perfidy (Elisabeth and Rudolf crossover)!

Get your ass over here @fitzrove!! You too @company-and-co!!

[simplylove101]

FANFIC TAGGING GAME

I got tagged by my lovely bestie @backtothestart02. Thanks for thinking of me, hun. <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3? - 11 (and at least 4 on ff.net, though I had a few I deleted as well, including my longest story on there out of embarrassment lol)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

168, 530 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

On Ao3, it was strictly Gertchase from Runaways (Marvel) but I've also written for Gossip Girl & Harry Potter as well.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Most of them are my earlier stuff but there's one that was more recent that people seemed to like my take on a scene. 1. A Place Isn't Home - it's my baby, my first dip into writing fic in YEARS & for a ship that I'd only just gotten into. I put a lot prep & care into it beforehand so I'll always be proud of it considering it's centered around one trope - sharing a bed. lol 2. Lost Moments - doesn't surprise me now since there were lots of missed opportunities for good Gertchase content in S2 so I just had to do a missing moments fic for them 3. Over & Over Again - inspired by the Runaways promo team releasing the first few minutes of S3 before the season dropped & gave me the opportunity to write in Chase's pov which I love since it's easy for me. 4. Maybe I'm Falling - based on the teased bed talk with Gertchase before S2 dropped (which is still a cute scene) but I kinda prefer my version lol And 5. It's Your Call - my two different takes on Gertchase's S2 kiss scene written right after the trailer had been released. And guess what? Neither one was at all like what we got. lmao

5. Do you respond to comments?

Most of the time. Considering kudos are usually the only way I know if people are liking a fic by me, getting any comments on one is kinda a big deal to me cuz I love getting them. lmao

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

Angstiest ending... Well, even when I write angst, there's generally some kinda hope since I like to write angst with a purpose even if it cuts hard. But since you were my home but now i'm (so) lost is about Future Chase reflecting on Gert's death & deciding to save her, I guess that's the automatic answer. But also, Lost Moments technically since it ends with Gert deciding to get over Chase after his betrayal (I was proud of that chapter tbh)

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

Ummm, basically the majority of them are happy like I said. lol Maybe I'm Falling is the purest tho since the whole thing is fluffy. hell was the journey but it brought me heaven was pretty cute too imo.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not on Ao3 since like I said, I hardly get comments as it is. But on ff.net... Trust me, I got some flames. It wasn't pretty. lol

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

Before I wrote love doesn't know what distance is, the answer would have been a hard no. Mostly because I would always chicken out before I even got started. lol Somehow I convinced myself to get it a proper try on that fic and I didn't hate it??? Do I think I'm the best at it? Still no. But I'm not as scared now. It's pretty basic but at least I did it. lol

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

Not with my Gertchase fics cuz I suck at that kinda thing but during my Harry Potter days I used to experiment with AU ideas that never went too far before I deleted them. I remember I was gonna use a Real World (yes, the reality show lol) concept for a Harry/Ginny fic that never made it passed Chap 1. lmao

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of...

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

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

Nope.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Oh, this is so hard these days because younger me would always say Chuck/Blair and they are still up there.... I think Cole/Cassie from 12 Monkeys might be my most epic ship tho, despite me never having written for them before (I wouldn't know where to start tbh) And my heart will always belong to Ron/Hermione too. I love Gertchase but at the end of the day they might actually be more of a top 10 ship for me, I just am able to be inspired to write for them.

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

The ultimate WIP for Gertchase for me is a post-canon fic that initially was gonna be just a simple proposal but then I wanted to include other stuff like Gert getting pregnant, etc. so it could be a mini fic. But I've just never written it because of lost inspiration (the real life drama of the cast did kinda taint the show a bit at one point but also, the fandom's pretty dead too) That said, never say never. Maybe one day I'll do it. There's scenes I had written for it that I still have somewhere so it's possible. We'll see. lol

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. lol I know it is because that's how I start writing my fics. I tend to write scenes out like a script first because it's how I'm able to start visualizing the rest of it. Rarely does a fic of mine not start with a quote or at least a train thought by a character. I also like to think that when I do write angst I'm not afraid to go for the jugular so to speak because it's meant to hurt BUT I do always want it to have a purpose and move the story along. Also, apparently when I'm really feeling a chapter I'm not afraid to have a big word count. I can't help it. lol

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

The actual writing process. lol It doesn't always come naturally to me. I don't usually write anything all in one go unless I'm truly feeling it. Also, descriptive stuff. There's a reason why dialogue is my strength. It's writing around all that I struggle with a lot.

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

Um, it's intimidating. lol I did consider doing it a few times because Gert is fluent in Spanish & she was supposed to tutor Chase for it so I always thought it would be fun to tease that in a fic or two but never did. I don't want to get the translation wrong.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter. Because I was obsessed with Ron/Hermione. And yet if you looked at my old ff.net account you'd assume it was Harry/Ginny because I deleted all my RHr related fics. lol

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Omg, the hardest question. lol Most of them are all my bbs for different reasons. I do think my mini The College Woes trilogy is some of my strongest work to date tho because all of that is pure me going for it since it's all post-canon. I did research and had fun with the process.

Anyway, I don't really have anyone to tag myself because I don't know who follows me and wants to answer these questions but hey, if you write fic and see this, consider yourself tagged! Also, even tho I haven't written in a while & might never again in the foreseeable future, if you like Gertchase, my A03 account is When_the_Day_Met_Night21 :)

[umbracirrus]

20 Questions for Writers

Tagged by the lovely @thequeenofthewinter to answer some questions, and I will leave an open tag to anyone who wants to answer to feel free to say that I tagged them 💛

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I have three, at present - I have posted many a fic to AO3 over the years, but with my current account, just three.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

70,506 at present

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Elder Scrolls at present, though only have Skyrim posted at present - hoping to get something for Oblivion posted soon though! I've also recently dabbled in writing some things for BG3, and also Stardew Valley (though I don't think that any of them will be posted unless I find myself very satisfied with how they end up). Historically, I've delved into and posted Fire Emblem (primarily Awakening/Fates/Three Houses because they were the main games I had played), and even further back (back when I first started writing fanfic when I was about 12/13! I just realised I've been writing fanfic for half my life writing that out!) Pokemon.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

As I only have three fics posted on AO3, I can only do them, but in order: 1. The Perfect Storm (it's my main and longest fic to date, so unsurprising) with 117 kudos 2. Purity (a Vilkas/Dragonborn oneshot) with 17 kudos 3. Seeking the Sun (prequel to The Perfect Storm which I started on after it!) with a mere 2 kudos.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Where I can string together a coherent thought, and if I remember (and I am terrible at remembering!) I try to!! But I do read every single one, even if I don't remember to respond.

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

Now, as I haven't finished any fics (as of yet) beyond a few oneshots, I will have to base my answer on some plans for the few fics which I have planned out, and I believe that the story with my Hero of Kvatch Aelia is most likely to have the angstiest ending. She throws away her entire support network, including friends and family, to wallow in her misery and grief in the Shivering Isles, descending into madness, because all she wants to do is bring Martin back.

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

I really want it to be The Perfect Storm! I haven't planned out the ending for it yet, but I want it to be happy. However, I shall delight in stirring the pot and make Elyse and Balgruuf work for that happy ending, you hear? 😂

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really? The closest thing to that which I got was being told that my writing was 'too dramatic'... Shame that I love writing me some drama. Dramatics can be taken from my cold, dead hands.

9. Do you write smut?

Yeah, though I don't think that I've posted any of it yet.... I still need to actually finish the smut which I was writing for my birthday. My birthday which was over a month ago. Ooops.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Nope. I just don't really like them. It's something I've always got to filter out when reading fics.... The closest I'd get to writing a crossover is, say, references to stuff from Oblivion in a Skyrim fic? But would that technically even be a crossover, if they're both Elder Scrolls? Though they are separate games....

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Again, no, not that I know of...

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Does it count if I tried co-writing a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fic with a self-insert shiny Eevee with a ff.net friend when I was like 13 that we never posted???? If not, no!

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

Honestly... I think it might be the fic based around Elyse's parents, Ingja and Edwyn, which I've only posted the first chapter to here on Tumblr. I know their story - it's all very firmly in my head, and is set to be referred to across Seeking the Sun and The Perfect Storm, but I simply don't think that I would be able to finish it... Plus I like keeping Edwyn's fate very vague. Though Ingja dies, because Elyse will meet her in Sovngarde when she goes to fight Alduin, what happens to Edwyn I've left ambiguous, hence why I don't think I would be able to finish it. He simply leaves one day and after sending Elyse a handful of letters he disappears. It gives me opportunity to maybe bring him in at some point down the line in The Perfect Storm... I kinda want to write a scenario where Balgruuf meets Edwyn now. Damn.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I'd like to say dialogue. I don't like putting dialogue into a fic unless I can mentally hear the line in the character's voice, if that makes any sense? If I can't hear it, or can't imagine a character saying it, I won't include it. But in addition to that, a lot of my scene-building and whatnot comes from using dialogue as a baseline. Obviously there are times where that isn't the case, but I do love writing little conversations to push a scene along.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I do believe that just as it is a strength, dialogue is also a weakness! Sometimes, I find myself over-relying on dialogue simply to 'fill space'. Where something like non-verbal communication, or environmental descriptions or even a change of scene would fit better, I'll just throw in some dialogue in the same way that I add cheese to meals - in overabundance! In addition, I would say that finding a way to bridge scenes together is another weakness of mine. I can have a chapter mostly complete, but without that one last bridging moment - often simply a sentence or paragraph or two which can join two scenes together - I simply cannot bring myself into completing it.

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

Now, in terms of reading it, I find it really cool as long as some sort of way to translate it is available! In that vein, I do sometimes use some of the dragon language in my fics - mostly when a dragonborn is communicating with Paarthurnax or Odahviing - and I'll have a full list of translations to include in the end notes. On that note, I swear that I have https://www.thuum.org/ open in a separate tab almost constantly when I'm writing just in case!!! I've always found that most useful when trying to include the dragon language.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

That'd probably have to be for Pokemon Ranger Guardian Signs, though none of those fics were ever typed up (I think???). I still remember excitedly pulling the odd page from school exercise books to staple together whilst scavenging for pens to write me some more Pokemon Ranger fanfic.......

20. Favourite fic you've written?

The Perfect Storm, absolutely. Though I do sometimes think of going back to work on/improve some of my earlier chapters in the fic, in particular surrounding Elyse's experience in Windhelm because I'm not as in love with that as I once was. My love for Balgruuf (and Elyse, and the two of them together!) fuels my love, favouritism, and bias towards the fic.

[wistfulweaverwoman]

💞

thank you for the ask @thesweetnessofspring!!

💞 = what's the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

Well I for sure look to achieve a balance of all of these things, but I think the most important is the technical stuff. As a reader I will absolutely stop reading a story (fanfic or published book) if the basic sentence structure is off. I find it very off-putting, because instead of being able to immerse myself in the work I am constantly pulled out with having to work out what the author actually meant. So I end up not even getting to any of the other stuff on the list that the author may or may not have done well.

My first goal as a writer is to make the words flow well together, and the second is be as clear as possible to avoid confusion. The other stuff is really important too, though I really like nuance and adding in lil nuggets of information in bit by bit, because I really enjoy that as a reader.

As for the figurative language, I hesitate to go overboard with it because one of the first writing tips I received was to not write something in 10 words if I can concisely express the same thing with 5 words. I've always instinctually saved figurative language for more emotionally charged moments.

This is something that I wrote back in 2014 as a new writer (The Awkward In-Between) and while I'd change it a little I think it's a decent example of what I mean by saving the more poetic language for emotionally charged moments:

Looking up at Peeta, it's as if Katniss has never truly seen him before this moment. Like a moth, her silver eyes are drawn in. His hair has dried haphazard and wild, and the sun, now directly behind his head, haloes his curls, setting them ablaze. The mesmerizing azure of his eyes are intense as the blue center of flame. He is a vision. Her sudden terror isn't that his fire would ignite her, but that his own light would be snuffed out, and she'd be forced to flit around in the dark forever, his loss leaving her an empty shell.

I also see it as a finisher, something I often add in the editing process, though there are some things I see long before I get to that chapter that haunts me till I write it out, like this example.

For my latest fic, The Apothecary's Daughter, I've gone through the process of plotting the entire story out, in three acts, using a specific method. I love writing and I actively want to improve my skill in crafting good stories, so I challenged myself to write this fic as if I were writing a novel. While the main plot points are simple and echo bits of cannon, there is a much more complicated subplot that's only been hinted at so far, that I feel wound be a lot more difficult to pull off if I hadn't already plotted out the basic story with bullet points first. After I'd divided up the basic story into three acts I further divided each act into 9 chapters (like THG books). And then I plotted out each chapter. Some chapter bullets have a lot more details than others, but that's okay because I've gotten more ideas as I've written each new chapter and in fact had to move some plot points to future chapters to accommodate them.

A month or two back I read through my outline and went back to the structure I was following because I'd moved stuff around and the story flow felt off. The I fell into a hole of rereading all the articles (I have some of her books too but I was too lazy to get one off the bookshelf LOL). While I'd originally planned for each act to be 9 chapters I discovered that while this method worked for SC (she's a master) that for me this shortened what should be the longest part of the story (act 2) and made the other two acts much too long. The formula should be approximately 25%/50%/25% for the 1/2/3 acts, respectively. I really took the time to understand the difference between plot points, pinch points, and the center point, and the purpose for each.

If anyone is looking to understand the technicalities of plotting I highly recommend checking out that blog and her articles.

As for the characters, those are for sure incredibly important too... but since I'm writing fics right now and have not dipped my toe into OCs I don't have to worry about creating characters, just making sure I keep my characters as close to cannon as possible, which is only possible through character analysis, which I have been doing for THGs characters since before joining the fandom back in 2014. The most consistent feedback I receive on my cannon divergent fics is that my characters are some of the most in character representations that the reader had read. I am very very proud of that, honestly, because it's not always easy to suss out meaning or intention with the POV of a person that's not always specifically aware of those things themselves.

Character in my AUs are going to be in varying levels of OOC because they've had different experiences that cause them to feel and react differently than they would in a cannon divergent fic. Part of that comes from identifying what it was in the characters background that lent to a specific trait and either changing those circumstances, or starting the fic at an earlier age, like in The Shape of Us.

World building is super fun for me. Sometimes I pull from my other fics, like some of the merchant culture I'm exploring in The Shape of Us . Sometimes I already know ahead of time when I'm going to add something in, and sometimes I'm writing out the chapter and need to give some context to something that's been plotted. And while I'm following an outline I still end up adding things to the story spontaneously, like the bath scene I wrote in the last posted chapter of The Apothecary's Daughter.

[greatprotector-if]

Hii, I want to make if game but I'm kinda slow writer. Also I have never written so many words like other authors and it's a bit paralyzing. Do you have any advice how to deal with it?

anon i am so sorry this is 100% just rambling. the TLDR; my advice to you is this: comparison is the thief of joy. i know it's hard not to compare yourself to others, it's a super natural instinct for most of us, but seriously, as long as you're doing the best that you can, it doesn't matter how much or how little everyone else is doing. try changing your scenery! write in a different location! write using different materials! don't even bother with proper grammar and punctuation or whether things sound good or make sense for your rough draft. just write. Don't go back and fix things. and it might suck and you might just end up having to rewrite the entire thing in the end but at least now you know what not to do! and i am wishing you the absolute best in all your if writing endeavours <3

i'm fr just a guy so i'm so sorry if this advice is shit. i'm not a professional. idk if you came to me just because you saw the "slow writer" in the intro post and you saw a kindred spirit, but just in case you are not aware.... i am such a slow writer and i'll be so honest when i started tgp by far the longest thing i'd written was 11k words and it took like... 10 months to finish. usually the stuff i wrote was 500 words in Total and i was also the type of fanfic writer on wattpad who'd post three chapters and then never touch the book ever again

so, not a great foundation for a game that requires this level of commitment, and i knew that!! but i dunno i was so excited about the idea and the characters and i felt like i needed to share it with the world so i just went fuck it and started. when i first got that intro post up i had nothing but a handful of characters, a vague idea and a dream.......

basically what i'm trying to say is. I get it.

and my advice to you is: just do it LOL just write your if game!!!

it will be scary and impostor syndrome is SUCH A BITCH. you will encounter authors who will write like 100k words in the time it takes you to write 5k and THAT IS OKAY. I FEEL THIS EVERY DAY. BUT YOUR WORTH IS NOT BASED ON HOW MANY WORDS YOU CAN WRITE IN AN HOUR, SO TRY YOUR BEST NOT TO BE TOO HARSH ON YOURSELF. COMPARISON IS THE THIEF OF JOY. if your best one day is 15 words and they aren't even good words? that's fine. at least you're getting something down. you are doing the best you can in that moment, and that's what's most important!!!

ALSO WRITE WHAT YOU WANT TO WRITE. you cannot appeal to everyone. there will be people who simply will not enjoy your game and you know.. we ball anyway because there will also be people who LOVE YOUR GAME JUST AS MUCH AS YOU DO, IF NOT MORE. i find that a lot of the time i'm stuck because i'm so worried about catering to my audience, and while it's okay to be conscious of these things, don't let it paralyze you. do not make your story about a bunch of bullshit you don't care about just because it's popular or something or you will just Never progress because you don't care about writing it. those days i shit out 1k (WHICH IS A LOT FOR ME IN ONE DAY) are because i'm like JUMPING OFF THE WALLS EXCITED ABOUT WHAT I'M WRITING ABOUT. WHO CARES IF WHAT YOU WANT TO WRITE ABOUT IS CRINGE (cringe culture is dead anyway) OR SUPER NICHE OR WON'T GET YOU A MILLION FOLLOWERS IMMEDIATELY. i mean don't get me wrong validation feels so good i'm a bit of an attention whore myself but also you deserve to create things that make you feel good, and this is what sustains a long-term project. You know? You feel me? You pickin up what i'm putting down? plus there will always be other people who vibe with your story, no matter how much you think you're the only one it appeals to.

but just in case you aren't just here for incoherent moral support, i would highly recommend straying away from plain old google docs or whatever it is that you usually use to write and trying new things! pen and paper??? pen and Cardboard box (this one works really well for me for my art block for some reason LMAO)??? write while sitting on the stairs instead of at your desk??? stimuwrite 2.0 (i cannot recommend this enough the bubble wrap sounds are sooo good)???

also. remember that rough drafts are just that: Rough Drafts. just write!!! maybe it'll turn out great, but maybe it'll be complete shit. maybe it'll make you want to throw up just reading it back. DON'T DELETE IT AND WORRY ABOUT HOW TO MAKE IT SOUND BETTER. I DONT CARE IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY USED THE WORD "JUST" 3 TIMES IN 1 SENTENCE. AS LONG AS YOU GOT THE MESSAGE ACROSS ENOUGH FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND IT YOU'RE GOOD TO GO.

ok sorry i am mildly sleep deprived at the time of writing this i'm so sorry if i literally just didn't answer any kf your questions at any point in here. i have no idea what i'm doing i just roll with the punches!!!!!!

[whitherwanderyouspirit]

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @pinkytoothlesso11! Thank you! This looks fun!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently only 11.

2. What's your total A03 word count?

61,178...feels like it would be a lot more! I do have several un-posted WIPs and unfinished chapters, so I'm guessing that's why my brain is doing a double-take.

3. What fandom's do you write for?

Currently, only Trollhunters/Tales of Arcadia. I have an unfinished WIP for Hocus Pocus that I've been chipping away at since last Halloween, but it's far from done. I tend to kind of zero in on a single fandom at a time, for the most part. I've been part of a lot of fandoms in the past though, so there's every chance I could jump over to another and drop a fic at any given time.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Locked Rooms

Media Consumption

Snippets, Snails, and Trollish Tales

A Measure of Intellect

Sketchy Antiques

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

Many times yes, sometimes no. If I'm not responding to a comment you left on my work, I'm either struggling with social burnout or I've waited so long to respond that I feel like it would be...awkward. I am thankful for and genuinely appreciate all comments though! Sometimes, I just don't have the spoons left over at the end of the day.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Blood and Frost, which is located within Snippets, Snails, and Trollish Tales. If only because it's left intentionally unclear within the narrative whether or not the monster is the protagonist's deceased and reanimated wife or just a doppelganger. I'm not a big fan of raw angst or whump. A dash, just enough to pull the heartstrings is good, but I've dealt with enough trauma in my life that I don't read to intentionally induce negative emotions.

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

Probably Locked Rooms. It's not an end all to solve to Barbara and Walter's notable relationship drama, but it's enough of a milestone that at least one of them probably felt major relief from the outcome. Underneath the pain from the blunt-force trauma to his skull.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thankfully, no. I'm very relieved that this fandom seems to honor the concept of "don't like, don't read."

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

Generally, no. I'll get suggestive and imply or tease certain inevitabilities or outcomes of what the characters intend to do, but I just can't stay engaged enough with smut to write it. I don't have a problem with smut at all, and will read it if it involves characters I ship, but I don't really get anything from it. I'm asexual, and I tend to just zone out during those scenes. I think it's a part of a healthy relationship when both parties clearly want it, so I think I'm generally clear that, yes, these two are fucking. I just...get too bored with it to write it.

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

I would with the right motivation and time, but not yet. I do read them though, if I like both fandoms.

Having come into the ToA fandom from Danny Phantom (I kept seeing that meme about good series that have "wtf did I just watch" endings and figured it was worth watching), I have brainstormed out scenarios where Vlad gets his ass chewed out by Barbara on the importance of reciprocated feelings and for being a stalker. Not motivated to write it at the moment, but it's fun to visit.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I'm aware of, but I've considered translating my own for language practice. I'm fluent (albeit out of practice) in Japanese in addition to English.

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

No, but I'd be interested in collaborating if the story premise peaked my interest!

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

All-time? Oh man, I tend not to rank things like that, to be honest. My current fixation is Stricklake. Longest ship...probably Touya/Yukito from Card Captor Sakura? I was really hoping the CLAMP would explore more of their relationship in the current follow-up series but, alas, Nakayoshi has the final say I guess (because you can't convince me that CLAMP, the queens of smut doujin and shipping crack that they are, didn't want to pimp out their power couple as much as possible).

I'm admittedly not big into shipping in the grander scheme. It's less common for me to get into a ship than, say, some other aspect of a story or character. It happens, but it's not the norm.

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

I am entirely too much of a perfectionist to never finish my WIPs, even if they seem to be taking forever for me to update. If I've posted it, I plan on finishing it eventually.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I'm good about keeping characters in-character, from both an action and a dialogue perspective. Also grammar. Generally, I think my pacing's usually okay, though sometimes I think I draw things out too much.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I have the hardest time figuring out what idle background actions are going on during dialogue-heavy scenes. This is responsible for 75% of my writing delays, lol. You would think that as someone who got their writing start in text-based role play, I would be a master of fluffing up the spaces between to up my wordcount, but not anymore! Gone are the days when I could churn out multiple 500+ RP posts. To be fair, though, I think I've finally eliminated all my more damning writing tells from those days, lol.

Figuring out how to do this better though is something I'm actively working to improve.

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

I try to stick to what I know, or get at least a little familiar with the language so that the characters sound natural enough. I will fall back on the protagonist not speaking enough of the foreign language to understand, and thus not translate it directly.

I generally won't create languages or conlang for fantasy races. I don't have a problem with them, but it's an effort that I often just don't have the energy to undertake. When writing starts to feel like work for me, the writer's block tends to set in quickly. I try to avoid that.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Published or no? Published: Tales of Arcadia/Trollhunters. Unpublished...Probably Animorphs. And by "unpublished," I mean it's probably handwritten in pencil in a leftover marble notebook from middle school.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Currently, A Measure of Intellect. I enjoy exploring the modern fantasy aspects of ToA that would theoretically occur post-reveal in Arcadia Oaks. It's an aspect of modern fantasy that I think often gets overlooked because the reveal is often designed to be set as the ending of a series. It's always been my favorite part to fantasize about though--how the mundane world and fantasy can intermesh and interact.

If I can ever finish In Betweens and move on to post-Trollhunters works set in that series, I think some of the things I'd like to write would be my favorites. I just need to figure out the details of this plot and get it done...

[winterrose527]

2022 end of year fic review

Tagged by the ever lovely @vivilove-jonsa - thank you & happy new year!!!

what's your ao3 account?

Winterrose527

2. how many words did you write in total in 2022?

According to AO3 759, 719, though admittedly I think it is significantly less (maybe more accurately around 500,000), because I finished up a longer story in 2022 that had been around in 2021.

3. how many fics did you publish in 2022 // multi-chapter vs. one-shots?

26, all but three of them were multi-chapter

4. what was your longest-fic // shortest fic?

The longest fic was We Could Be a Little Something which is approx 200,000 words, but a good chunk of that was written in 2021. So exclusively 2022, I would say A Sweet Distraction at approx 70,000 words.

The shortest was my ONLY foray into another fandom, which was for Emma & Cnut from Vikings Valhalla. It's called A Worthy Adversary and it's a petite 269 words.

5. what was your most popular // least popular?

Most popular from a kudos perspective solely written in 2022 was A Lifetime Sentence, but I'd say most consistent engagement was In Their Nature.

Least was probably one I deleted...

6. what fic didn't perform as well as you thought it would?

A Tell-Tale Buzz, I thought it was the right kind of chaotic and got some lovely responses but overall I think people weren't interested

7. what fic performed way better than you thought it would?

I'll say all my forays into writing Joncella. There is such a lovely, loyal group of readers in that fandom and they have graciously followed along with my stories when I've gotten bursts of Joncella inspo, in whatever direction that may be.

8. what was your favorite fic you wrote in 2022?

I think it will ultimately be All the Same. It may be my favorite version of Robb I've ever written, and it's got some tried and true staples of my writing - cozy Sunday family meals, adorable kids, and some necessary healing - but in my opinion it's also some of my best writing and exploration of the various dynamics as I've done.

9. what was your favorite fic that somebody else wrote in 2022?

I have to shout out my lovely @sansastarkr who posted her FIRST fic on AO3 this year drowning. It is filled with such soft yearning and delicate nerves but also with fun, and with deeply likable, tangible versions of Jon & Sansa.

10. tag your friends so they can play as well!

tagging @thistle-and-thorn @woodswit @themockingpoint and whoever else would like to do it!

[fountainpenguin]

Fanfic meme: 8, 16, 20

[Current Ask game]

8. What’s the oldest (longest since last update) fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)?

I made a significant amount of progress on both The Beatin' Path and Lions Under Palm Trees before I faded from writing Total Drama, and some of my favorite scenes I've ever written are in those 'fics, but were never posted. I delayed mainly because writing those meant skipping past my unfinished 'fic The Lyin' Queen, which came chronologically earlier but which I was struggling with.

I like Staci as a character. I think she's goofy and confident. She was fun to write, but I was going to do this big twist reveal where you find out at the end that she has short term memory loss, and the entire story was written so that you just thought she was a little spacy until then. I wrote the prequel to Lyin' Queen (Life of a Loser) in two months or less, so I was young and ambitious and wasn't prepared for how much work Lyin' Queen was... and it only grew more difficult as I continued through school.

I'd like to get back to these stories though because sincerely they have some of my all-time favorite scenes and I still think about them a lot. Leonard is like, my all-time favorite Total Drama character and he was eliminated second in Pakithew and first in Ridonculous Race, which means it's Leonard time ALL the time and he's the best.

Will there be an audience for these stories almost 10 years after I stopped writing them? Idk, maybe not... but when I think about how Leonard is fantastic, and how many scenes I never shared with the world, I am filled with love... (for Leonard).

Throwback to 2015-2016 when I was still posting mainly on dA and I used to type with the manual italics:

Also to this day, Topher is still hands-down one of the best examples of a manipulative slimeball character I have ever seen in my life and I love him too <3

16. Have you ever stopped writing a fic/for a fandom because it wasn’t receiving enough attention?

I don't think I'd put it all on not receiving attention, but I did put No Anesthetic aside partly because it wasn't getting as much positive feedback as I hoped and partly because of criticism I received (not in the visible reviews portal, but elsewhere) that kind of hurt.

Honestly Youngblood is the only part of Danny Phantom that truly captivates me (though I do have a fondness for a few of the other ghosts), and I just didn't have the drive to carry that story through a wave of criticism when I had the alt option of writing for Fairly OddParents in a fandom that was much more welcoming to my ideas.

I don't want to make it sound like that's the only reason I stopped on this 'fic. There are a lot of scenes in No Anesthetic that are kind of info-dumpy and drag on, since Youngblood is learning about the Ghost Zone for the first time. I was juggling school, life, and other 'fics and the info-dumpy nature of this story made it more of a chore to write. It just didn't feel worth it because it was more work than my other stories, I didn't feel like anyone was enjoying it, and it was one extra thing I had on my plate, so I stopped.

Now that it's been 6 years, I'd like to rewatch Danny Phantom and maybe go back to this story someday to see if it sparks something in me. I like my worldbuilding ideas for the Ghost Zone, and like the TD 'fics above, I had a lot written. Here's one of my favorite WIP scenes:

But also, my draft has a lot of missing scenes, and the story hangs in fragments because it doesn't really "go anywhere" and the plot is just a found family story without a lot of direction, so it would take a lot of revisions to make it less info-dumpy and flesh it into something with proper story beats. I might go back to it someday, but probably not any time soon. Or if I do go back to it, I might cut a lot of the plans I initially had and turn it into a shorter piece with just a few chapters instead. We'll see.

20. Have/Would you ever rewrite a fic? If yes, would you take the original down?

When I'm finished with Origin of the Pixies and Frayed Knots, I'd like to go back and clean them up a little. There are little lines here and there that bother me, and I used to spell out large numbers instead of typing them as numerals, there are info-dumpy moments, stuff like that. I force myself to keep moving forward because I'm worried that if I get nitpicky, I'll never finish, so just remember that you're reading stuff I started in 2016 and it is technically in a draft state /shrug.

I've not rewritten a 'fic before, but I do have some pieces from 10 years ago that I'd like to write with more sensitivity knowing what I know now. As one example, there's a 'fic I wrote that I never moved from dA to FFN because the relationship between those characters moved from platonic to romantic after one forced the other into a kiss. I didn't understand consent back then and media had shown me that people often liked surprise kisses and enjoyed platonic relationships that suddenly became romantic.

I played with those characters for a while before I discovered the concept of asexuality and realized that I headcanoned this character as ace. I no longer wanted that forced kiss to be associated with my storyline, so it still exists on dA because I don't like deleting 'fics, but I didn't move it to FFN with the others.

There's also another 'fic I wrote where it's pretty obvious that I didn't understand how the legal system works, so I didn't move that one over either because I don't think it's very good. I also have other 'fics on a site that's not AO3, FFN, or dA, but I posted under a different name back then and while they were fun, they were populated with OCs and I don't want to unbury them.

I have no interest in rewriting those old 'fics, but the general idea of "There are sensitive topics I didn't treat in the most sensitive way 10+ years ago" and "I really didn't understand how the adult world works" remains. I'm glad I've been writing for so long, but I do hope I never end up in a situation where someone wants to hold up my old stories as an example of what I believe now, because I was young and have a lot of old stuff I don't want to delete because this is my writer's journey and I don't want to throw it away /shrug.

This is the last Ask for this Ask game that I have in my inbox, so I'll wrap up the questions here unless anyone wants to send in more tonight. Thanks for the interest!

[Current Ask game]