#I'm cowriting with someone else

[namesarehard123]

Today was the first day of Journalism bootcamp and I'm already so excited for Newspaper to start!

We learned a lot of stuff, but especially stuff about interviewing and it's just

I'M SO EXCITED

[velnna]

Do you have any tips for co-writing? I'm working in two projects with different friends and it feels weird bc we have different working styles and I really don't want to accidentally take over the project but both of them are a bit more passive in their input

I really want to work *with* them so any insight on the projects you've co-worked in would be appreciated!

Hmm to be fully honest I'm not huge on cowriting - didn't even think I'd enjoy it until the latest comic project started taking shape. I can collab with people but if I'm responsible for any of the writing there's areas I tend to need more control over, lest I lose interest in the work as a whole.

The main reason I've accomplished a good synergy with my cowriter for ThUG was a sort implicit role delegation? We both respect each other's areas of interest and expertise, and bounce ideas off each other but won't step on any toes. He's very into the sort of bigger picture of the world, map making and politics, specific types of characters and tropes, while I'm more into smaller scale character arcs and interactions, the magic system and the entire art direction side of things. If there's anything we disagree on, we rework it to reach a satisfying conclusion or cut it out altogether. There's also the added "advantage" that as the creator with the most involvement (in the sense that I do all of the art and detailed writing) I get the final say and don't feel like I'll ever be at risk of losing interest or passion in our shared project due to someone else's decisions.

I'd say if you don't feel that sort of synergy it might not be the best idea to try and cowrite anything big or that'll take you a lot of time? Unless it's something you can work through with your collaborators (maybe try and come up with concrete roles or a system that allows all of you to feel rewarded)

[oscconfessions]

Coming OUT as a Samuel Thornbury arm rider(NOT dick rider that feels wrong to say that)

I swear to god people will shit so hard on his writing (imo) only because Tpot 8 wasn't rhe most amazing and perfect episode(or post split but I'll talk about it later). You all will see a tpot episode you loved and go "OHHH MY GOD BEST IN THE SERIES!!!! CARY AND MICHEAL COOKED!!" and whilist usually they are a BIG part of why the episode is so god(credit where credit is do), Sam will be the one to write it. You all will talk about how well writeen a tpot episode is, or how fun was that episode to watch and never give him credit for writing him.

Why do you all hate him? Because he wrote a good Chuck of post split? Look I barely finished post split, I didn't like it at all. But that was 3 years ago you realise writing can improve? Don't get me wrong it wasn't good(imo) I'd say it was shit, but do you want JNJ to hire people based on "OH! you did a Poopy episode once, were gonna have to remove you from this communtiy forever!" I know this might sound Wild but writing a shitty season of a bfdi isn't a warcrime.

Do you all hate him because he gave tpot a plot? No hate to Cary I do enjoy his writing, but tpot 4 -tpot 6 are honeslty kind of bland. Like full on regression to the first season of bfdi. Cary can write good modern bfdi episodes, he has enoguh whimsy to do so. However tpot 4-6 feel like filler to me, they aren't filler but they feel like it. I don't want to sound rude but as the biggest object show bfdi should at least try to standout/live up to your Legacy. (Basically I wouldn't shit on a smaller object show for having this format) instead of having a filler full on season. I also think it dosen't align with their vision for tpot. But eh I won't go too deep because I feel like Cary and Micheal are aware of this, and that's why they gave the writing Staff to someone else. (Also I feel Cary knew his wiritng wasn't suting tpot, since it was ment to be the more serious show. Like Sam did not stab Cary and Micheal 40 times and force them to make him the writer for Tpot, that's kind of not how projects work guys)

Going back don't a lot of you LOVE satomi for bfb?(Dgmw I love satomi for bfb too) But why is Sam suddenly this iredemmable writer for DARE putting plot in your bfdi!! (That's not say satomi dosen't have her detractors but they are on reddit I don't think satomi is a r/bfdi reddit user b) MOST OF THEM whilist kind of annoying don't go out of their way to Harras satomi(from what I've seen))

Be cirtical all you want but don't harass him for it! IF this matters to you THIS MUCH go and take a shower and watch something else then bfdi/object shows or watch a smaller object show. If you can't praise another bfdi project without feeling the need to mention him in a negative light YOU MIGHT BE OBSSED WITH THIS MAN, if you can't help but think about how much you hate that guy and his writing 24/7 you might need to touch grass and watch something else (adventure time is really good! I recommend it.<3). If your going to harass somebody over a show about A ice cube who seeks revenge mabye you should step away from the keyboard and find a different way to get your rage out.

Quick "Notes" incase anyone takes me out of context/makes assumptions aboit me:

It's perfectly FINE to dislike Samuel Thornbury's writing or him as a person whatever reason you have! It's perfectly normal to be critical of public people! I'm slightly cirtical of a few of the Bfdi writers/team memebers myself. BUT DON'T HARASS THEM, ESPICALLY OVER THE WRITING OF ALL THINGS.

I am not saying he should be the only writer! Or that he is the only good one. I'm all in for more people writing main episodes or more episodes with cowriters. I thoguh the new tpot 10-11 were amazing and those episodes had 4 writers! Shit the newest tpot ep was enjoyable and it had 2.

You can be critical of post split, Just don't blame EVERY single issue with it on him yada yada.

I don't know Sam personally, I do not have a parasocial relationship with him. It's just some of you are wayy WAYYY to harsh/weird when it comes to critizing him. And I think that kind of vaugeposting only makes the communtiy worse/dosen't help anyone

Thank you<3

(Sorry for grammer mistakes, also tell me if I got any info wrong this is ask on a ask blog I'm not doing the work to check if I got every small detail right. on this to watever mod reads this I'm so sorry)

.

[swan-lite]

Dang it, okay, I have thoughts

James Somerton made an apology video in which he says "I'm sorry" several times but

Couches it in a pity party

Does not directly address any of the people whose work he stole by name

Never uses the word "plagiarism," instead referring to his theft almost exclusively as "citation errors"

James discusses how many videos he and his team were releasing and the frequency of releases as if someone was pressuring them to release a high volume of videos, as if to say it isn't his fault that there were quality problems

James offers to make his videos public again and add "citations" in a pinned comment or in the descriptions as a means of crediting the people he stole from

He also insists that some of the videos won't need these citations because some of them were his own "original work"

(In other words: that he has nothing more to hide)

James states that he isn't bigoted against ace folks, bisexual folks, trans folks, or women and that the several disparaging remarks he has made against these communities in his videos were not written by him

Because we have receipts for several of these remarks thanks to Harry's (hbomberguy's) video on James, we know that they didn't come from the articles and books he was stealing from, so if James didn't write them then the only other person who could have was his cowriter Nick

James then immediately says that he's not trying to blame Nick

James does not try to explain the ace/arophobic, biphobic, transphobic, or misogynistic remarks he has made on his Twitter or Patreon accounts

James mentions - and seems genuinely bothered by - the "people online" who are spreading lies and misinformation about him

Finally, James discusses future projects he would like to work on

He then deleted the apology video

Harry states near the top of Plagiarism and You(Tube) that "When someone more competent than Filip uses [his] techniques in a subtler way, we can recognize them for what they are."

This is not competent. It's not even subtle. James's career was so thoroughly eviscerated literally overnight that this is the best he can do, and it's not even good.

James says that he's sorry, but doesn't actually explain what he's sorry for. He doesn't admit to, or take responsibility for, the extent of what he actually did. In this way, he can now say when confronted that he apologized. But with the wording, he still manages to avoid actually taking ownership of his actions. In other words, it's using passive language to imply that what he has done just happened. He definitely didn't sit down and choose to commit extensive plagiarism - of course not! What really happened? *shrug* Anyway, sorry for it.

When iiluminaughtii (henceforth referred to as Blaire) tried to explain the many times in her video essays she has misspoken or misused words, she played it off as a byproduct of the amount of "work" she churned out for her fans. James is trying to do the same thing here, only it is deeply ineffective. It's quite upsetting to me to think that some of his fans - young queer folks who are probably used to having to make themselves small - might on some level fall for this trick. The idea is to make you the viewer feel guilty for the demands you have placed on this creator, when in reality this is a grown adult who knew exactly what he was doing.

I'm not going to spend too long on this next point. If you've read this far, you're probably invested enough to be well aware that James has used the trick of burying a citation under a mound of text no-one will read many times. It's the same trick Blaire used, and the one The Internet Historian used as well after he was caught.

James stops short of making a "Colombo villian speech" in this apology video. He does, however, take the time to say that he has nothing more to hide. Again, if you've watched Harry's video, you know this literally always means that the person who insists they have nothing to hide is absolutely hiding something else. Whether this is more plagiarism or some other skullduggery we haven't yet found out about, I'm sure it will come to light eventually. I'm honestly surprised and a little disappointed that James tried this tack. Obviously he's thought better of it, since the video is gone now. But I would think a grown human who has just been the subject of an hours-long piece of, frankly, journalism would know better than to say something like this.

With the comments about his bigotry, James is trying to simultaneously redirect attention and perform allyship by saying "Look, I have an asexual friend! Who may or may not be public about his sexuality at this time!" This is the kind of thing I think a lot of us in the queer community are used to - supposed allies downplaying microaggressions by pointing to folks in the ally's proximity who happen to have an identity that they are being accused of speaking badly about. "This one person can stand to be around me, so clearly I can't be all bad." Personally, as someone whose racist parent tries consistently to downplay their own racism by pointing to me, their mixed race child, I can tell you that this is always misleading. In this case, I feel comfortable saying it's intentional. James tries to excuse the bigotry that "ended up in the videos" by saying that he didn't have time to edit the scripts properly. He doesn't seem to realize that time constraints often make people much more honest. In reality, this is James trying to make excuses for the bigotry he put in his videos because the time constraints he put onto himself made it much more difficult to disguise how he really feels.

James then directs some indignation at the people who are online discussing what he did. I would interpret his discussion of his income as an oblique reference to Dan Olson's thread about his recording equipment if I had a degree in literary analysis. My degree is not in literary analysis, so I'll leave it there. Ahem.

James makes reference to future projects he hopes to work on, as if this endeavor has in any way preserved or helped to bolster his shattered reputation. Jessie Gender makes a great point in saying this feels like a promise of work we could get out of him if we all just collectively decide to ignore all the harm he has caused. And James has caused harm. Whether he meant to or not, given the sheer magnitude of his plagiarism, there is absolutely no doubt that he has caused significant harm to a community he claimed to defend.

I want to spend a moment on something others have already pointed out. Actually, Harry pointed this out too. If James's theft were in any way defensible, he would have defended it. He would not have gone to such great lengths - up to and including deleting videos - to hide it. He wouldn't have used Nick as a shield, he wouldn't have outright lied in his livestreams, and he wouldn't have deactivated his Patreon (before reactivating--y'know what, this post is long enough, we don't need to get into that). James lied and dodged and beat around the bush for years BECAUSE he knew what he was doing was wrong. I had a justice studies professor once tell my class that nobody wakes up in the morning and decides to be A Criminal. People make choices, and choices have consequences, but most people don't choose consequences. People choose the thing that benefits them and consequences follow. James made a long, long series of choices, and I would like to remind everyone that they always had consequences. Even before Harry's video came out, James was facing consequences. Those didn't come from nowhere, they came from the people he was hurting. He knew about them, he just didn't stop because of them. He stopped because he literally couldn't keep going anymore.

Finally, James deleted his misguided response to the multitude of accusations against him. I don't think I need to explain to anyone what that indicates.

I would like to finish by saying that nobody should be harassed. Nobody should be bullied, or dogpiled, or doxxed. Nobody should wake up in the hospital because their dad realized he needed to call an ambulance. James's life is undoubtedly in a really difficult place right now, and while he absolutely deserved to lose his career, that's all he deserved. I hope he regains his health, I really do.

And I hope Harry and his team don't feel any responsibility over this. It seems easy from the outside to believe they wouldn't, but I also know that if I had just released a 4-hour long video detailing someone's fraud and then found out they had been in the hospital because of an incompleted suicide, I would feel pretty conflicted about a project we know Harry already felt conflicted about.

I hope Harry and his team are doing okay, and I hope James starts doing okay soon, and I hope James realizes this was the wrong damn time to try to release an apology. It was a bad apology.

[emwheezie]

Do you have some fun facts about Enzo to share? Just wanna to know the guy a bit better.

This is Enzo Vincenzo! I've gotten a TON of asks about him, but was waiting to finish some art and work his story/character a bit more before answering! He's a character we thought up in 2014-15ish, but only recently worked in depth on his development. Pre apologies here, I'm longwinded when talking about my characters! (also it is 3:13am and I'm feeling silly)

Enzo is a secondary character in the comic, friend of the main character kind of deal. My cowriter and I love Enzo and are very happy that everyone else seems to like him too! We are making sure to develop all our characters as much as the two main characters so that we can create as rich of a story/universe as possible. (like we have so much content you could pick any random minor character and be like "them. make a spinoff about them" and we could just do that immediately we have so much content my brain is going to explode)

Enzo and Lennon are high school buddies who met sophomore year, shortly before Lennon dropped out. (peep the bottom art of them from their HS years)

Him and Lennon are big into movies. They binge watch them over the weekends or when he's convinced by Lennon to skip classes for the day.

Enzo loves to draw, especially dragons and horror related stuff. He posts his drawings on DeviantArt where he met xXHexiLexi328Xx and fell in love with her. She's also an artist who loves to draw super kawaii anime chibis magical girls and pokemon stuff.

No one thinks Hexi Lexi is a real person. Everyone's like "awh poor Enzo, still single...you'll find someone, buddy." But she's real and from Arkansas. (like that state even exists?)

Enzo loves knives. His favorite one is a switchblade engraved with the name "Colleen." He found Colleen at a Goodwill while he and Lennon were looking for parts to build a "Saw trap." (you know, from the Saw franchise) Enzo thinks he's Billy The Puppet from Saw...I mean, high school Enzo kind of had the same poofy hair and I'm not gonna be the one to tell him he didn't look like that puppet.

Somewhere along the way, early in their friendship, Lennon is convinced Enzo killed his parents. Lennon's never seen Enzo with his parents so I guess that's the only solution, right? It becomes a longstanding rumor/joke... and Lennon's like wow Enzo that's so cool I'm friends with a literal murderer. (Lennon is dumb).

Enzo once wanted to become a priest but then he remembered he was evil.

Enzo is Albanian-Italian and grew up in Cambridge, MA living with his parents and grandparents. His parents are super religious people who work at the restaurant his grandparents own, located in the North End of Boston.

It's a joke that Enzo's like never heard a music once in his life before meeting Lennon who introduced him to guitar. (He's rhythm guitar in Lennon and Tony's band Poison Boy Club)

I feel like I've said a lot of words and stuff. I feel like there's more but it's now 3:40am and my brain is mush. OH later on, Enzo really hones in on his art skills and gets into tattooing, earning himself an internship at a local studio.

Overall, Enzo's a cool, confident dude who's a little scary in a "big guard dog" type of way, but he's a loyal friend and does his own thing and he's with that.

[ceilidho]

this chapter is at 7.4k and there's no end in sight and i'm slowly losing steam lmao. sometimes i wish i had a cowriter so someone else could just tag in and finish it

[aristocratic-otter]

Ten Questions for Writers

Thank you @artsyunderstudy, @facewithoutheart and @nausikaaa for the tag! So, it's that time again, huh? Well, some things have changed since I last did one of these, so here goes.

How many works do you have on AO3? 35 but one was a group fic (Birthday Man). So technically 34.

What’s your total AO3 word count? 957,040 - 39,132 for birthday man (not going to try to figure out how many words my chapter in that fic was) = 917,908. So close to that million words!

What fandoms do you write for? Carry On only.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Always. I can't say my responses are always inspired because, just like in real life, sometimes I just don't know what to say. But I always reply, because I know for myself how hard it can be to write a comment, so I want to honor that. That, and I'm really truly grateful for everyone who takes the time to tell me what they liked about my work!

Have you ever had a fic stolen? No...my fics are pretty long and specific, it'd be really hard to pass something of mine off as someone else's. I know it hasn't happened on AO3, though I can't speak to Tumblr or other platforms, since I don't spend much time there.

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, Birthday man, of course. And the Star Trek Redemption series is a lovely collab with many talented people. But also, I consider all of the many artists I've worked with co-authors, because so much of what I write comes from bouncing ideas off of them and being inspired by their art. So I'm considering @krisrix, @ivelovedhimthroughworse, @frjsti, @moments-au-crayon22, @artsyunderstudy, @alexalexinii,

@steppjes, @letraspal and @cutestkilla as cowriters

7. What’s your all-time favourite ship? The one and only OTP, Simon and Baz

8. What are your writing strengths? Hmm...I think I'm good with blocking, because I visualize my stories in my head before I write them down, so I'm good about knowing where characters are in space at all times. I'm also pretty good at characterization? And while my fics aren't usually laugh-out-loud funny, lots of comments point out things that are amusing, so I guess I write humor fairly well. Definitely good at scientific background stuff, of course. I don't know, other than that.

What are your writing weaknesses? Plot, plot, plot...not that I don't write decent plots. I think I do. But it can take me hours of dwelling on how to get characters from one plot point to the next. I tend to plan a fic in broad outlines and leave out minor details, and then I get bogged down in the details later. Other than that? I have trouble with witty banter. I can do dialogue, but I struggle with, for example, coming up with amusing insults for Baz to use on Simon. It just doesn't come naturally, because in RL, I'm the type who thinks of the witty response hours after the conversation ended!

Oh, also I suck at continuity. I constantly have to go back and read earlier chapters because I can't remember what I already had a character do or say.

First fandom you wrote for? CSI is the one I'll admit to.

I have no idea who's done this, so I'll tag: @cutestkilla, @carryonsimoncarryonbaz, @angelsfalling16, @palimpsessed, @bookish-bogwitch,

@best--dress, @emeryhall, @hushed-chorus, @prettygoododds, @larkral

[jattendschaton]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you so much @ladyofthenoodle for tagging me! I love being part of things 🥺 <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

On my main account there are 37 publicly posted

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

Main account has 207,377, but if I included the other account and my unpublished stuff it's 280,000+

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Miraculous Ladybug, but I have dabbled in others!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

honestly it was embarrassing to list these out :'):'):')

Out of the Closet Dropping All Pretenses On Open Secret electrify me, i'm dying to burn knowing you

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

Most of the time I do! I dont tend to respond to rude comments anymore and sometimes I dont know what to say, but I try to respond to most comments!! I feel so lucky to receive any of them, I just want the commenter to know how much I appreciate them <3<3 There has been at least one time when I was so overwhelmed with a lovely comment that I never responded because I just liked looking at it so much 🙈 but that person was also a friend of mine so I did express to them privately how much their comment meant to me

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

For published fic, definitely whistle stop. I have written a lot of other angsty stuff though that will never see the light of day </3

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

I feel like after a certain point, they're all kind of equally happy in their endings, but I guess live chat? I dont know though, I really dont tend to reread my fics

8. Do you get hate on fics?

ajskdljkl yes I have gotten hate on fics before

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

Nope!

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

I dont think I've written anything that would classify as a crossover

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! I don't think the translation is up anymore but it was like my second or third fic and I was over the moon that someone liked it enough to put in the time to translate it!

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

Not seriously. I've been part of a few projects where we were going to cowrite a fic together that never ended up getting finished and I've set up a document to cowrite a fic with a friend that we never did anything with :/ I'd love to co-write a fic though, I think it's so cool when people collaborate like that!

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

Lovesquare and original ot4 of Alyadrininette <3

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

As far as published works from my main account there are a lot :') but the one that hurts the most is probably Where the Devils Are rip

16. What are your writing strengths?

I don't really have an answer for this!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

asjdjkl if I dwell on this too long I will never write another sentence so I'm also going to skip this one!

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

I think it's really cool when other people who are multilingual do it! I've dropped a word or two in when it felt right, but otherwise I personally stay away from writing it because I lack the knowledge to do it justice. I do sometimes make up languages for magic purposes, though!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

First fandom I published fanfic for was Miraculous Ladybug!

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

asjdklf ahhhh I have no response to this because I dont reread my writing. I think probably the closest thing I have to a favorite at any point in time is whichever one I wrote the most recently

tagging: @rosekasa @marimbles @picayunearts @emsylcatac @anna-scribbles @talkstoself (no pressure to anyone tagged if you dont want to do it of course, I'd just always love to see more stuff about your writing!) and anyone else who'd like to participate! I know it can be kind of sad if no one tags you in one of these things and you wanted to do it so just let me know and I will add you <3

[iamamythologicalcreature]

I'm-Not-Going-To-Count-These-Sentences Sunday

Thank you @aroace-genderfluid-sheep and @hushed-chorus for the tags! (Guess what hushed-chorus I did that thing we talked about.) Also thank you to everyone who has tagged me on other WIP-days! I really appreciate it <3

So... I'm not counting sentences this time. I write long sentences, and I make rabid use of sentence-extending punctuation. And I have this thing about posting excerpts that are semi-contained in some way. Plus it's going to take me forever to get this fic posted, so I gotta give ya'll something. THUSLY: Here have a bunch of words.

(I really should have pinned my bi-weekly updates on Wednesday, but OH WELL.)

Context: Baz POV, with Agatha in the chapel after midnight, being 17 year olds. Simon is out of the picture after Baz kinda sorta stole his voice with a tape recorder in fifth year.

“I never thanked you for saving me,” she said, with just a little too much effort at nonchalance. “You did, actually,” I said, not slowing, or sparing her so much as a glance. “You might recall how you resembled a hypothermic beached mermaid? You were quite free with your gratitude once you caught your breath. It was all very melodramatic.” There was a brief pause - possibly an attempt to work out whether my description of her was complimentary or not. Either way, it didn’t deter her. “I never got to thank you the way I wanted to,” she said, a hint of a whine working its way past her shoddily built facade. I didn’t answer right away as I fought down a sudden surge of irritation, one that threatened to trigger my more destructive tendencies - self-destructive, perhaps, but not exclusively so. The only thing worse than being considered a villain was being cast as a tragic hero - someone only misunderstood, just waiting to be saved. “Basil—“ she began, apparently ready to try something else. I stopped short, forcing her to halt both her forward movement and that regrettable demonstration of poor judgment. We were at the entrance to the chapel, now, and it was easy to crowd her against the cold statuary. “How exactly did you want to thank me, then, Wellbelove?”

Later it's entirely likely these two are going to put special effort into trying to forget any of this ever happened, because teenage mistakes are brilliant like that. You're welcome, Bazatha.

Also, super stoked to be working on a couple @caught-on-tape-fest podfics as well as cowriting with @ileadacharmedlife for the @carryon-reverse-bang. Wheeeee I can totally do this all! >.>

Tags/Hellos under the cut! (BTW regarding tags - I'm often unable to browse tumblr, so if you've posted something creative Sunday/Wednesday/for the hell of it, please feel free to tag me so I see it!)

Thanks for the tags over the past couple weeks @aristocratic-otter, @whatevertheweather, @brilla-brilla-estrellita, @ileadacharmedlife, @prettygoododds, @cutestkilla, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe, @tender-ministrations, @ic3-que3n, @artsyunderstudy, @youarenevertooold, @ivelovedhimthroughworse - I love love love seeing what everyone is up to! (Sorry if I missed anyone - apparently tags don't always work? Sigh.)

Tags and hellos also to @fatalfangirl, @katmiscellanious, @shrekgogurt, @rimeswithpurple, @alleycat0306, @ebbpettier, @supercutedinosaurs, @nightimedreamersworld, @thewholelemon, @theearlgreymage, @bubble-gumhead, @raenestee, @jasonfunderberkerthefrogexists (thanks for the extra notes XD), @ionlydrinkhotwater, @erzbethluna... And anyone else who wants tags, please let me know! Or just tag me! I love them.

[swashbucklery]

For your fanfic writer asks! 1, 3, and 9. Because I like your squidgy heart!!

What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year? How did it turn out and would you do it again?

Hmm, I think the thing that I did the most for the first time this year was - how do you put it, playing with other people's toys. I've done writing collaborations and cowriting before, and with the right cowriter I find it a truly magical process every time, but it's usually come from a place of the two of us spitballing about a common universe or premise and generating it collaboratively. This year was the first time I tried writing in other people's worlds where the other writer had done the building and premise-setting and I was given kind permission to step in and riff on it or write a divergence from it.

I think I did this the most with your AU worlds, with my NCI tie-in fics ((307) temporary redirect and (208) already reported) , and obviously Kinkverse with The Pieces and The Discovery, as well as if this room was burning (i wouldn't even notice)

It was a tremendously fun thing to do, that was - like quite nerve-wracking, because it takes a lot of bravery to write an AU and then a lot of trust to let someone else play in that little private world, and I always worry about doing justice to that world and treating it kindly and respectfully. But the rewards were so, so lovely. With the right writing friends, absolutely I'd do it again.

2. What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer?

I think - I didn't learn a lot that was new about my writing process specifically, but this year was really about re-awakening and re-affirming things that I knew worked for me before, that I hadn't been able to access. I write best writing whatever my capricious little heart wants, and I write best and most happily leaning into the weird nooks and crannies of my creativity. Having creative spaces where indulging in this found me like-minded people and community was a beautiful gift, and that combined with dialing down on the work pressures of the pandemic helped my words to flow so much more easily.

3. What fic meant the most to you to write?

Oh, hands down hands down over salt sea and flowerdeep fields and the whole ensuing OT3verse.

So like. Not to get Too Real or Too Personal but also that's kind of the point, I was Essential, Like So Fucking Essential, from March 2020 to - like I'm still in that essential job and the pressures that existed in 2020-23 are ever-present so I don't want to use past tense but also if I mention my work people appear to like, complain about their own personal and entirely unrelated bugbears and I don't want that but basically: it sucked. I am sure many non-essential people also had shitty times but I had a shitty time that was quite specific and isolating and I hope that 2024 is the year society reckons with that. And I achieved new tiers of life stress, tiers I did not know existed. I felt stress and then unlocked the secret back door of stress, transcended into Ultra Stress and that's something that can't *not* be transformative, despite all the coping strategies in the universe.

Late 2022 for me was the year of finally having enough breathing room to be like, okay, how can I claw back my personhood from this weird merging of personhood and occupation and societal role obligation and isolation that has flattened my entire life. So there was a lot of life stuff that I did as part of that, but the one result was that I had brain space to actually consume pop culture again. I joke a lot that I'm still at 2020, pop culture wise, and I think I will be for a while still, but - I had time, and I watched Willow. And it was the perfect combination of like. Right show, right story, right characters, and my heart having room to love stories in the way I used to love stories, before all of that happened to me. And the thing that it unlocked, specifically, was - the idea of the grand quest, and the richness that would be in the journey home. The idea of a journey home as a way of giving these characters a soft ending, and having it parallel the soft ending that I was cultivating for myself, and suddenly having that burning need to write a big fucking story. But, more critically, having room in my life that I actually could put that big fucking story to words. I thought salt sea would be maybe 10k, and I was a little overwhelmed about whether I could write something that long after a long break in writing longfic, but I kept plotting, and I taught myself scrivener to organize my thoughts, and every day I wrote a little bit and every day I remembered how much I loved storytelling, and writing, and diving into fantasy worlds. And every day this story got bigger and more mine and more complex and I reached out to fandom friends to ask for cheerleading and they were wonderful and gracious to me and then when I finally posted it, new people were curious and interested and that felt like a miracle. That story is a little slice of my heart, and getting it out there and completed and going on that journey was I think the most important thing about it. But the fact that now I've written even more in that world, that other people are curious and excited and pleased to hear about that world with me, is a gift that I can hardly express all of my gratitude for.

[lennon-cuddlywump]

I'm not going to defend hurting him, what I did was wrong and I am sorry. I'm not making this post because I want to, but someone else wants me to do so. I met him back when I was 17 and we used to chat on Wattpad about The Beatles and what we liked about them, after a while we started our first cowrite which involved a lot of sex scenes.

It went on for a while, some days talking and others cowriting, that was when he started to talk about his kinks. He would bring up liking them and I was uncomfortable, but I didn't say anything about it. I never brought up that I was squicked out because I didn't want to judge them for what they liked. Eventually it was moved from Wattpad to Discord, he would bring up his family life and how he felt alone.

Immediately afterwards he would ask to cowrite something to get his mind off of it, I never said no because I felt bad for him. I felt that if I refused anything or brought up how uncomfortable I felt that I would worsen how he felt. I'm not using that as an excuse, if i had known sooner how traumatic this was, I'd have never agreed to any of this

We were four years apart that time, I wasn't an adult until August, months after we met and started the cowriting. Overtime he would bring up his family issues more and I felt more like his therapist than his friend. I felt like I was obligated to do whatever he asked because I felt bad about his life, I was uncomfortable but never said a word about it.

As I said before, I am not going to defend what I have done. Unintentional or not, I hurt him and I am truly sorry. I only want to wish him the best of recovery and for his life to improve.

I'm going to go now

[oh-snapperss]

you once held my hand

hi guys! the resistance au is BACK. thanks for getting etho through round four! this is a cowrite between me and @babygirlbdubs:)

now go vote etho round five<3

Words: 2540

CW: None other than being emotionally heavy

Read on AO3!

Note: if you haven't read the rest of this series, you can do so here.

Inhale. . .

The air is damp and cold as Etho sucks in a sharp breath, waking from troubled nightmares— or... did he even dream at all? He blinks the sleep from his eyes, lifting a hand to rub at them in the hopes of clearing his waking haze.

Rolling over onto his back, he stares at the ceiling, letting his senses awaken and take in the world around him. It's dark, save for the low flicker of a lantern reflecting on the deepslate walls and ceiling. Just enough light to see the cracks and striations he's memorized.

drip... drip... drip...

As his hearing returns, that's the first thing to wash over him. The endless methodical drip of time. Sometimes he marvels at how finely tuned it is to count the seconds. This morning— is it morning?— he doesn't think about it at all. Not when the soft sound of someone else breathing catches his attention next.

With a jolt, he sits up on his cot, the thin blanket pooling in his lap as his eyes seek out whoever has surely been watching him. Ren? Scar?

No.

His eyes fall upon something lush and green and... glimmering with diamonds.

Bdubs.

Etho glares at the kingmaker, his upper lip curling beneath the mask. Bdubs shivers in his sleep, curling the cloak tighter around him with a soft whimper. Etho considers waking him for a moment, demanding to know why exactly Bdubs is even here. Why he's sleeping outside his cell.

Of all the dumb places to fall asleep...

But the prisoner remains quiet, watching his captor in silence.

I wonder when the last time you got to sleep even was.

Sighing softly, Etho settles against the wall, eyes trained on Bdubs. The cloak causes something in his stomach to churn, each diamond reflecting the flickering lantern— calling attention to the lavish gifts the king has bestowed upon his architect. Etho can’t help but tear his eyes away to stare at the wall instead.

He should wake Bdubs. He really should. Bdubs has no place down here, and it’s clear he’s freezing. Yet… There's a part of Etho that is glad to see Bdubs resting.

You’re an idiot.

With a sigh, he listens to the drip…drip…drip… from the corner and the soft sleepy breaths of the man outside the bars. If he closes his eyes, there's something familiar about it. It's almost like the soothing tick...tick...tick... of a clock on the nightstand, and the rise and fall of Bdubs' chest as he curls in Etho's arms. It feels like a lifetime ago that he held Bdubs like that. He shouldn't long for it, not when Bdubs has betrayed him like this. And still...

He lets himself get lost in the memory, submerging himself in the warmth and comfort of a soft bed and an endless love. It's almost enough to blanket the chill of his cell.

...

"Etho...?" comes the murmur.

Etho jumps to attention, sucking in a sharp breath as his eyes, wild, dart to the source. Bdubs is sitting outside the bars, twisting to look blearily into the cell. Pulling a leg up to his chest, Etho glares at the kingmaker. His hand reaches up to check that his mask is still properly covering his face. Silence hangs between the once-lovers until Bdubs decides to speak again.

"You, um... You were humming." He stares at Etho as if trying to read every subtlety in his half expression. "Woke me up. I'm not complaining, though, hah..." A half-smile tugs at his lips, though it weighs with insecurity.

Etho's brows furrow and his eyes narrow. He doesn't know why Bdubs would lie about that, but he hadn't meant to hum. He hadn't even realized he'd been humming like he used to. The bit of hope in Bdubs' eyes makes Etho's stomach churn.

Now isn't then.

He won't hold Bdubs and softly sing gentle melodies anymore. He won't lull him to sleep or soothe away his nightmares. This is them, now— a set of thick iron bars between them.

"What are you doing here, Bdoubleo?" he asks, tone sharp. There's a bit of satisfaction in the way that hope in the kingmaker flickers.

Bdubs shifts, moving to stand and properly face Etho. "Can I not visit?" The challenge is weak and falls away as Etho scoffs.

"You didn't get my message?"

"I did, but—"

"Then you know I don't want you here."

Bdubs shifts his weight between his feet and glares at the floor, crossing his arms with a huff before looking back up at the prisoner. "Well, I can go where I please!"

Etho groans in frustration, tilting his head back against the wall as he drops his leg back down, foot stomping against the deepslate floor. "Why are you here?!" he snarls, glaring at the moss-laden man.

He sees the way Bdubs flinches at the snap, but where he expects there to be that fiery anger he knows so well, there's just hurt.

"It's a full moon," Bdubs offers quietly.

Etho glowers at him for a moment. "Right." He hauls himself to his feet, standing in the middle of the cell, staring out at the man he would've given everything for, once. "And you... what? Needed to come sleep in the cold prison? Needed to know I was locked behind bars?"

"Etho—" Bdubs sounds shocked, and his expression says the same. "You-You know the moon..." He glances away again, and Etho crosses his arms. drip...drip...drip... "I wanted— I needed—"

"Needed what?"

Bdubs falters, looking at Etho with hurt in his gaze. He takes a soft breath and mumbles, "I needed you."

Etho lets out a sharp breath of laughter, the words feeling far too sweet for all that Bdubs has done to him. He supposes he shouldn't expect anything better, considering it's what Bdubs has done all these years.

"You needed me?" he asks, though it sounds more like a condescending statement than a question.

"Of course," Bdubs mutters, as easily as he ever has.

Something clicks in Etho as he stares at the kingmaker, decorated in diamonds and loyalty.

"It's always just whoever can give you what you want, isn't it?"

Bdubs stares at Etho, and something in Etho feels satisfied at the clear hurt on Bdubs' face at his barbed words. So he digs in. Twists them with all his own hurt and fury, just to get it out— to get it somewhere other than where it curls tight and festers in his chest with every moment he's alone.

"Right now, you want whatever you think I can give you." He gestures to Bdubs' cloak. "But it's clear what you really want, isn't it, Bdubs?" The grit of the floor crunches beneath his boots as he crosses the cell to wrap his hands around the bars. There's a new kind of coldness to his gaze as his most recent realization plays over like a mantra in his head.

He never loved you.

"You want power, and riches, and attention. Diamonds. The ear of the king. To be his treasure."

Bdubs flinches, opening his mouth to cut in, but Etho keeps going.

"I think I've finally figured it out— the real Bdoubleo. You go wherever someone can buy you. It took me a while to realize why you ever kept me around if that was the case, but I figured that out, too." His grip tightens on the bars, and for a moment he feels like a caged animal. Maybe he should. "Everyone else leaves you when they're done with you. Once they run out of things to give you, or they've gotten bored, they leave you. Scar did it, Ren certainly will.

"And then you come crawling back to me because I'm there. Always waiting for you to decide I'm good enough again."

Something sparks in Bdubs' eyes at that, and Etho knows he's hit a sore spot. Good.

"If you think you can come here now and expect me to comfort you, you're wrong, Bdubs. I trusted you. Do you realize that— really realize it? I trusted you based on nothing but your word." A cold, single-syllable laugh cuts through his mask. "Stupid, huh? I should've known it was all a game years ago."

"It's not a game—"

"Oh, stop pretending, Bdubs!"

The pair stare at each other for a moment, Bdubs' face twisting into something between disbelieving hurt and bitter anger. Etho's face only matches the icy cold freezing his words over.

"All you do is pretend! You pretended to love me, you pretended to care, you pretended you would ever keep your promises. Why should I believe anything you've ever said to me?" He shakes his head, the words almost snarled as he continues. "And now you come back to me about this damn moon. You've been on about this all season, just to make me feel guilty, and for what? If you want comfort, go to Ren, I'm sure he'll hold you while you pretend to cry."

Bdubs is crying even now. Quiet tears rolling down his cheeks as he stares at his prisoner. Convenient, Etho thinks. Letting go of the iron bars, he takes a half-step back.

"Stop crying. You never needed me. Get over it."

The pair stare at each other, the tension between them taut until Bdubs finally speaks.

“Are you-are you kiddin’ me?” Bdubs feels a shattering in his chest, and realizes he’s shaking all over. “Etho, I-” 

He swallows back a sob, before it wrenches out of him anyway. He can feel Etho’s incredulous stare–he doesn’t care he doesn’t care Bdubs was alone he hates him–and he can’t help but see the way Etho’s hands are steady. 

He deserves this anyway. 

“I waited for you,” Bdubs whispers, and with each word he can feel his heart twisting into a thousand pieces. 

Etho scoffs. “Don’t-”

Bdubs cuts him off, months of frustration and fear and heartbreak rising to the forefront of his mind. It’s a full moon outside–it’s no surprise memories of a dance alone are his first thoughts. “I did!”

Etho’s mouth snaps shut, although Bdubs is pretty sure he’s stopped speaking more from fury and an inability to speak from indignation. 

Because how DARE Bdubs be upset? How DARE he feel hurt from Etho’s actions, even though…. 

“I waited for you, and you weren’t there.” 

Silence.

“End of the world, and… and everyone else left. They tried to convince me to go,” Bdubs chuckles without humor. “They told me, they said ‘Bdubs, get outta here! There’s nothin’ for you!’”

Deep breath. 

“But I said ‘no! No, I better stay here, I’m sure it'll be fine!’ and they all thought I was goin’ crazy, but what could they do?” 

Etho scoffs, one hand running through his hair in frustration. “That’s-”

He’s not finished, and he doesn’t let Etho start again. “Tango knew the truth. I… he tried to save us. End of the world, and he was tryin’ to save it anyways. I told him not to come back. Moon was way too close ‘n all.” 

There’s a heavy silence. Bdubs sniffles and hates how pathetic he feels. 

“And they told me to leave, they said to get out of there an-and…”

Etho’s shaking his head, pulling away from the bars and Bdubs’ desperate, pitiful recount. He paces the cell, before dropping back to the floor of the cell, knees to chest as if to protect himself from Bdubs’ words. Just like when Bdubs needed protection too. 

“But I didn’t! I waited! I said, no, no, Etho’s comin’ home and I gotta be here!” 

Etho said to stop crying. 

So he squares his shoulders, and stares directly at Etho. “Because you promised me. And I trusted you, and waited, and waited. And the sky.. The sky started to fill up with that damn rock instead of daylight and I stayed anyway, cause you promised you would be there, and… and yeah, I knew you wouldn’t be, because you never are, but I was really hopin’ that just this once you would keep your word.”

This time, Etho makes no attempt to interrupt. Maybe he’s not even listening. 

“I dunno why. Because you-you’re never here! You always just take off and come back as you please, and I-”

Stock still, Etho shows no sign he’s listening save for the slight incline of his head.

“I needed you.” While Bdubs takes a breath, trying to calm himself, comfort himself, he hears a familiar drip, drip, drip not unlike the ticking of his clocks. 

It steadies him more than he’d like to admit. 

“I danced.” 

“What?” Etho finally responds, voice scratchy.

“I did, I put on our song and everything. Thought it might help, or distract, or anything, really?” It’s hard not to lose control again, and cry all over his cloak. “I thought… figured if you weren’t gonna be there, I could at least pretend, since that’s all I had.”

(He ignores the fear and panic rising at the mere memory.)

“And them the moon came crashin’ down, and it hurt, but I tried… I just thought about you.” His face is burning under Etho’s gaze, and part of him wonders why on earth he thought baring himself like this to Etho was a good idea when Etho so clearly doesn’t think it hurts him. 

And yet, Etho actually… he seems as close to breaking as Bdubs does, eyes glimmering in the way Bdubs has only seen in moments recently. For every shuddering breath Bdubs takes to keep back the tears threatening to fall, Etho’s chest rises steady, too uniform to be anything but forced control. When he speaks, it betrays him. 

“Go upstairs, Bdubs.” 

Before Bdubs can stop it, a single rogue tear falls down his face. It’s as if he were split in half–one part of him begging to stay anyway, to only be with Etho, or maybe stay from spite. The other half…it’s what Etho wants. And he doesn’t deserve your presence anyway. 

“Fine.” He turns on his heel, gathering his cloak to himself and decidedly not imagining it to be Etho instead, in a kinder lifetime. 

He doesn’t look back, not even as he trudges up the steps and faces the cold moonlight above. 

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Etho sleeps fitfully after that, dreams of a moon larger than life bearing down on him. The apocalypse was always said to be terrible, but part of it is beautiful, if only in the way all endings are. Somewhere in his dreams, a jukebox plays, a melody created for him and–

“Bdubs!�� he calls, and even as the world explodes into fire around him, he thinks he catches a glimpse of his lover in the distance, dancing alo-

“Etho, wake up!” 

He blinks, the cold cell quickly coming into existence around him. A rock juts uncomfortably in his back, and he starts to squirm away from the offender, when he realizes who is standing before him in the dim light, hand outstretched.  “Come on, let’s get you out of here!” Grian grins wickedly, spinning a ring of keys on his finger. “I think a certain resistance–which I’m not part of, definitely not–wants you free.”

[foibles-fables]

fanfic writer questions

Thanks for the tag, @uhhhyaenbyjade!!

1- How many works do you have on AO3?

Sitting at 79, currently!

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 363,375

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Like, ever? Lots of them over the past twenty years, hahah. Currently it's mostly Horizon that's got me by the throat, but I've also put out a couple one-offs for Stray Gods and Control over the least year. Besides those, I'd say my main claims to clownery would be Legend of the Seeker and Warrior Nun. I'm also finally dipping my toes into the ATLA scene after missing the boat for way, way too long.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I'm gonna remix this question a little bit and pick the top one from my an amalgamation of my five most prominent/recent fandoms, since otherwise Warrior Nun dominates due to sheer fandom size-- 1- Because the Light Is Close (Warrior Nun) 2- The Weight of Us (Legend of the Seeker) 3- rest like you belong here. (Horizon) 4- brave this time (Stray Gods) 5- dream geometries (Control)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I do!!! Gotta lavish my genuine gratitude on you lovely, wonderful, amazing folks who take time out of your day to read and hype up my silly writing.

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

Oh hmmm. If we're talking recently (like, written since 2010) it's gotta be so i'll stay half away (Horizon). That comic, man. lmao. lol. OH! Or waiting through daybreak (Stray), because that cat game is an emotional wrecking ball

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

TOO MANY OF THEM, LATELY? I feel like I need to dive back into a bittersweetness era, because wouggghh have my endings been tooth-rottingly sweet. Recently I'd pin this title on entering light (Horizon).

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not directly on the fics or to my face, which is nice.

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

Hell yeah! Overwhelmingly sapphic, usually of the more esoteric variety re: language. Using sex as a character study is my passion.

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

Not in many, many moons have I written a crossover. And the only time I ever did, it was from two shows in the same universe, lmao.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge, thankfully!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

For the first time recently, yes!!! So freakin cool! Check out this Mandarin translation of eye for eye, tooth for tooth (Control).

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

Not a fic, but I gotta thank Meg for being my cowriter on Talanah's FOTH path!!!!

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

don't make me choose between Cara/Kahlan and Aloy/Talanah. please

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

Sorry to that one early Warrior Nun fic I left hanging after a single chapter

16. What are your writing strengths?

Emotional immediacy, prose-craft, evocative syntax, lyricality

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

MY SPEED. OUGGHHHH. Also I am actively trying to get better at dialogue, along with location/setting descriptions

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

I'd tackle it if it fit the scope of the fic, and only with the guidance of someone fluent in said language!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Written for and posted? The Xenosaga series at age 11, baybeeee. I wrote plenty before that without posting, however.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

This legitimately changes on the daily. It's impossible for me to choose, so I'll just toss out if you held yourself up to the light (Horizon) as today's contender.

No-pressure tags: @mehoymalloy @tjerra14 @finrays @sssammich @askweisswolf and anyone else who sees this and wants a go! Just tag me as your tagger!

[soaps-mohawk]

i just found your Cherry Red Crimson Blood fic yesterday, read it all, and was so sad when i got to the crossed out "next". i only know these characters because a friend posts about them rather frequently, so i've read a couple really good fics about them. this is the first i've found on my own and my goodness, it's so good. i don't know much about a/b/o stuff, though i've helped cowrite at least one fic with it. not that i dislike it or anything, just not something i think to seek out. all that was my very long-winded way of getting to the fact that your writing does enough explaining for someone not thoroughly versed in common a/b/o dynamics and lore. just enough explanation for it to make sense but not so much that it's distracting from the story. you also do a very good job with characterization. like i said before, i kinda know the boys, but i still get confused on who is who sometimes, but you've done a wonderful job showing who they are, and not just for the people who already know them well.

tldr; your writing is incredible and i very much look forward to more.

🥹 This is so sweet I'm literally crying over here rn 😭 (happy tears, happy tears.) I love hearing about how people have stumbled into the fandom either by chance or thanks to someone else. It seems to be very common lol.

I just love omegaverse so much. I think it's so unique and there's so many takes on it and everyone does it differently. It's one of my favorite things to world build (if you couldn't tell 😅) because there's so much creative liberty for it. I have left a few things a little ambiguous for a reason (we'll be getting into them in more detail later) but I try to offer as much of an explanation as I can in the moment.

Aah no this is so sweet. Y'all anons are gonna make me run out of tissues here it's been like a love fest recently. 💚💚

[tunemyart]

I was tagged by @wistfulwatcher in 20 Questions for Fic Writers - thank you!! <33

How many works do you have on AO3?

47

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

408,521

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Actively, right now? It's Cabenson all the time. I have a crossover with Elementary in the works, if it counts? Historically: Xena: Warrior Princess, Olivia (1951), Star Trek(s touching on Voyager, Picard, and Discovery), Wicked, Once Upon a Time, Rizzoli & Isles. Waaaaay back in the day historically: A TON of Wicked, smattering of The X-Files, Battlestar: Galactica, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Stargates SG-1 and Atlantis, Doctor Who, Bones.

Oh. Also Star Wars EU as a wee child.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Presque Vu (R&I)

all the sacred boundaries we've overgrown (OUAT)

The Nature of Work Wives (R&I)

the undoing and the reweaving (XWP)

The Thing Called Future (OUAT)

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

Yeah!! Posting fic is all about the positive human interaction for me! Obviously comments are life, we all know this; but also I have irl friendships that started in the comments of my fic because I responded. You never know who you're going to meet or in what capacity.

tl;dr if someone feels compelled enough by something that came directly out of my brain and my soul to engage tangibly with it - you bet I'm going to respond, barring irl complications.

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

Hmmmm so I have been accused of being something of an angst queen, but I also like a happy ending after the angst. I think the angstiest contenders are more ambiguous, and are probably:

no one else can break my heart like you (Wicked) - because we all know what's coming in Act II

Chrysopylae (Voyager/Picard) - because I really don't think many things about Seven and Janeway's relationship can ever truly be resolved

do borg dream of individuality? (Voyager) - see above, where Janeway is starting to intuit this

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

I think The Thing Called Future (OUAT) is a pretty classic happy ending! So is all the sacred boundaries we've overgrown (OUAT). Both are in the right fandom for it!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I've been very fortunate to get very nice, genuine folks and exactly one person I'm choosing to believe was having a bad day and taking it out on me.

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

Y-yes? I guess it depends on your definition of smut. There's sex for sure, but the focus is more on the emotions while it's happening than on graphic descriptions of what's happening or how it feels. Most of the time it's baked into the narrative and telling the story. I think I've really only written one or two PWP, and they're in XWP fandom.

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

Not really! As mentioned I've got the SVU/Elementary crossover in the works, but for the reason that time and location align so incredibly perfectly. I also had a XWP/Wonder Woman crossover I wrote on a prompt (an amazon matter) and that was a lot of fun, but probably also not crazy.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not word for word or reposted.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but it would be cool!

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

No, but @90stvqueen and I have talked about cowriting prompts before!

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

Oof. I feel like I should say Xena/Gabrielle here, but Gelphie is my OG (shoutout gateway lesbians!)

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

hahahahaha pass

16. What are your writing strengths?

This is a very reflective question! I guess I'd say emotional reflection + revision/distillation. Give me an inch I'll write you a mile, and then realize I need to revise it to something closer the inch you'll actually read or the conversation the characters would actually have.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Action, movement, and description of setting. Wait, no, are they sitting/standing in some nebulous, blurry-edged space having a conversation again???? nooooooooooooooooooooo

I'm working on it, and I'm proud of what my efforts are yielding, but also: ughh

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

It's a nice idea, but imo it distracts so hard from the flow of reading. One or two words where the reader can figure it out in context, or where the reader probably knows what it means, is great! Adds color and flavor! Entire lines that require footnotes… personally, I'm never going to look those up.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Star Wars EU! Luke Skywalker/Mara Jade OTP!

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

I don't know if/when my answer is going to change from The Wide Orbit (SVU) - genuinely I think it's the best thing I've ever written. A lot of work and revision went into it and I think the final product shows it. It is precisely the story I wanted to tell in precisely the way I wanted to tell it. I just reread it and am still so delighted with it.

tagging in a no-pressure way: @chthonic-cassandra @chainofclovers @90stvqueen @cargopantsprentiss @butchcraftmacncheese @neornithes @dadrielle

[sinclairwantstohelp]

Hello folks. I've been trying to plan out production for the next year of my show. The last two years, I've written and produced every aspect of the show and only just moved to full cast during my most reason set of stories. Unfortunately, as I'm working on putting together next season, I'm realizing that it's getting unfeasible to do a set of three anthology stories while I'm also working on the next multi-part story, especially when I'm also going to be spending a lot of next year taking big steps in my real life. I really want to give the show at least one more year to connect with audiences, but it's probably not gonna happen unless I find some help. If anyone is familiar with the show, or is even just interested in doing some writing/cowriting with someone else, let's chat. Thanks.