#Miraculous established Chloenette AU

[k7l4d4]

Hello all! This is my brand-new Chloenette AU that I'm posting over on Spacebattles. I'll be posting it on AO3 as well later (after I get back from work), but for now? Spacebattles exclusive! This AU is basically me taking the idea of Chloenette being an established couple and applying it to the canon show, more or less. Plus or minus a few tweaks to keep the writing internally consistent. Chloe is still her bratty self from Season 1, but Marinette is unaware of this. When the truth eventually comes out... THAT'S when things get interesting!!

[lemuriancutie]

Miraculous Established Chloenette AU for nanowrimo

In case you didn’t see my post yesterday, I’m planning on writing Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction for National Novel Writing Month (nanowrimo or just nano for short) this November. My goal will be a story 50k words or more written just during November. I will not immediately be posting chapters to my ao3 account, since the goal is to write, not necessarily to write well. I plan on editing my story afterwards and hopefully posting chapters during the month of February, 2021. But what I REALLY want to talk about here is what my story is actually going to be about!

So pretty much since Day 1 of watching Miraculous I’ve been Chloenette trash. I can’t help it! The enemies to lovers trope is a weakness of mine, and the more I sympathized with Chloé as we saw glimpses of her backstory and why she became who she is in the show the more I wanted to see her end up happy! Plus, I’m all about that femslash. I admit that, especially as of the end of Season 3 things don’t look great, but I’m still holding out hope. But, while a would enjoy writing a good canon compliant redemption story for Chloé, I had an idea for an AU a while back that I’m going to be exploring.

Basically it’s the same world as the one we know from the show, and everything was the same up until shortly before the start of the show. On Marinette’s first day of school that year she did not meet Master Fu. Ivan did not become Stoneheart. No one was akumatized. Things went on without superheroes and supervillains for a number of years.

Now, where my story actually starts, Marinette is attending university, and she and Chloé have been dating for a while. She comes into her apartment one day and Chloé is there, having let herself in with her copy of the key. This is normal for them. But then Chloé asks what’s in the fancy box. Marinette is confused until she sees a fancy wooden box on her table. She opens it and out comes Tikki, who’s somewhat mortified that the newly chosen Ladybug wasn’t alone when she opened the box, but at this point it’s too late to be concerned about that because she can sense the miraculous of the butterfly being misused for evil and someone is about to be akumatized!

This AU sees Marinette and Chloé in an established relationship (how they started dating and how Chloé developed in the intervening years will be revealed in the story), and Marinette becoming Ladybug when a fair bit older, with Chloé knowing her secret identity from day 1 (so none of that “hiding my identity from my significant other” drama). Furthermore, it’s not just that things waited a few extra years before kicking off. There are reasons why Gabriel Agreste didn’t become Hawkmoth in this version while Marinette was still in collège, and reasons why things have finally started to happen.

There are, of course, plenty of other changes too. After all, everyone is at least four years older than they are when the show starts (still not 100% decided how long after this takes place, but at least four years). Characters from the class are now working on higher education or starting careers. They’re all different from the versions of them that we know, but still hopefully close enough that it feels true to their characters and not like I’m just sticking canon names on OCs. I am also going to try to stick as much as possible to characters who do already exist in canon. Definitely all of my most important characters are already from canon, but may not be filling the kind of role you would expect them to.

This story will largely be a fluffy and self-indulgent work to show Marinette and Chloé being adorable girlfriends, but I do hope it will have enough plot, drama, intrigue, and action to keep others invested in it. The only ships I know for sure at this point I’m going to include (and can mention without giving anything away) are Chloé/Marinette and Juleka/Rose. I may decide during my prep this month on other ships that will be there at the start, and either now or as I write it I may decide on other ships to develop throughout the story. Some ships that you see may or may not be end game, but I promise that the Chloenette and Julerose are. That’s not to say those couples won’t face problems, but if you want to read it because of either of those ships you don’t need to worry about me pulling the rug out from under you and ruining those.

I also will not engage in character bashing. Yes, Marinette is with Chloé rather than Adrian, but that’s not because he was secretly a jerk, or evil, or anything like that. He’s a very nice, talented, young man and he will be playing an important role in my story. Chloé has been thoroughly redeemed from her bullying ways (though she’s still sassy and sarcastic). Even Lila, while I won’t be ignoring the kind of character she was and I’m not (currently) intending to give her a redemption arc, that’s more just because I don’t have plans with her rather than any intent to bash. If she does become important in the story she will be dealt with as a very flawed, but still very human character, and redemption or not I won’t be bashing her character. (I’m just not a fan of character bashing, especially since whoever you bash is probably someone’s favorite character.)

You may discover one or more characters serving as villains who weren’t villains before, but trust me when I say they all have their motives and reasons and even if they never get redeemed no one has been made a villain just because I don’t like that character.

That’s all that I can really say now. Partially because I am still in the planning stages of this story, and partially because I don’t want to give everything away. I hope Miraculous fans out there take interest. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what I’ve said so far. Excited? Worried? Anything you want to talk about, be it suggestions, hopes, fears, or just encouragement I welcome.

[bugaboosandbees]

Reine Ruse AU

Reine Ruse AU

Welp, hello all. I’ve been a wallflower in the Miraculous fandom since it got started. I haven’t really written fanfic or published AUs or head-cannons online since middle school, but things this season have finally pushed me to the point where I guess I’m writing again. I’ve been so inspired by @imthepunchlord , @apex-primus, @gale-of-the-nomads  , @zoe-oneesama, @lenoreofraven and @miraculouscontent that I guess I’m here with my own post-chameleon salt au.

Buckle up kiddos, here we go.

So I’m calling this the Reine Ruse AU. I’ve started writing a fic, but finals are coming up so I might not really get to sink my teeth into it for another month or so. Basically, here’s what goes down.

-During Chameleon, Chloe makes it clear that she doesn’t trust Lila and attempts to call the class out for being hypocritical. It obviously doesn’t go well, but Marinette hears and it surprises her.

-Chameleon follows pretty closely after the Queen’s Battle arc and Heroes’ Day, so perhaps Chloe has been noticeably trying to be a better person and Marinette/Ladybug has been keeping an eye on this and can see her trying.

-A few weeks have passed since Chameleon and Lila keeps escalating. The seats never got switched back, so Marinette is still stuck alone in the back of the room. She’s having a miserable time and she really needs to talk to somebody about things. She doesn’t want to bother her parents because they’re really busy with things in the bakery and she doesn’t want to trouble them. She obviously can’t talk to Alya about things right now as she’s still firmly on Lila’s side. Tikki is wonderful support, but she’s a tiny god and despite her many years of life and experiences she just doesn’t really understand. Frozer happened pretty recently in this AU, maybe even after Heroes’ Day. In any case, Frozer and Glaciator are pretty fresh in Marinette’s mind and she really loves her partner as a friend, but she’s getting a bit concerned about looking to Chat for support as Ladybug. She really doesn’t want to believe it, but some of his past behavior is making her question if he’ll think she owes him something if she relies on him like that.

-She’s not getting enough sleep and is spending a lot of time running over the rooftops with no particular destination in mind as Ladybug, just trying to forget what’s going on. She’d never admit it, but sometimes Tikki’s reassurances can get to be too much when it’s plain that no one else is there for her and she needs support but not that kind and she just wants to be alone.

-One night her feet bring her to the rooftop of the Grand Paris Hotel. It’s raining and she’s been running around for hours and she’s crying and tired and she doesn’t know why she’s here, but she starts thinking of how much better Chloe has gotten and even if she doesn’t like Marinette, she adores Ladybug and goddammit she just really needs somebody right now.

-Before she can second guess herself, she’s knocked on Chloe’s balcony door.

*snippet from what is already written*

The last thing Chloe Bourgeois would have expected when she woke up that morning was for Ladybug to knock on her balcony door in the middle of the night. Nonetheless, she was nothing if not adaptable, especially for her idol. She adjusted her silk pajama robe and ran for the door to let Ladybug in.

“Ladybug! It’s so good to see you? Is there an akuma? Do you need my help? Did you stop by to say hello to your favorite civili---” Chloe cut herself off. The darkness had prevented her from noticing it, but the light that spilled out of her suite made it abundantly clear -- Ladybug was crying.

“Can I come in?” the heroine’s voice was unusually small.

Wordlessly Chole moved out of the way. Ladybug took short, sad steps past her, pausing listlessly when she reached the middle of the room.

Oh god, what was she supposed to do?! As far as Chloe knew, there was no established protocol for dealing with crying superheroes bursting in on one in one’s pajamas. And that didn’t even touch the fact that Ladybug’s eyes were so much more blue this close and Chloe was in her very short and very thin pajamas. She shook her head. It was apparent that Ladybug needed her, and if Queen Bee couldn’t help, then Chloe Bourgeois would have to do. She hesitantly walked over to Ladybug.

“Do you want to talk about it?” The words were uncharacteristically quiet and soft. Chloe rifled through her memories, desperately trying to remember how Adrien’s mother had consoled her after so many tears in her childhood. It hurt, to think back to then, but if anyone was worth it, Ladybug was. Ladybug believed in her when no one else did and she’d never admit just how good that made her feel inside.

Ladybug turned towards her, tears still leaking out of her large, bluebell eyes. Without warning, she shot forward and wrapped her arms tightly around Chloe, breaking into incoherent sobs. It felt like forever before the spotted heroine stopped shaking like a leaf, tears drying to sniffles. Chloe awkwardly kept rubbing circles onto her back the whole time, hugging Ladybug as best as she could even as her mind whirled at a hundred miles an hour. What in the ever-loving-fuck was happening? Who could have made Ladybug so upset? It was a good thing she didn’t have her miraculous or she’d venom whatever bastard did this to her… Then again, she could probably still claw someone’s eyes out outside of the suit as well… No, Ladybug needed a shoulder to cry on, not a homicidal sometimes-superhero on the warpath.

Chloe took a deep breath in and maneuvered them so that they were sitting down on one of the plush sofas in her suite. She moved to extricate herself from Ladybug and dammit if the way she tried to cling to Chloe with a small whimper didn’t give her feelings.

She awkwardly cleared her throat. “You need to stay hydrated. You’ve been -- I’m going to call for some refreshments. Did you want anything in particular?”

Ladybug wiped her eyes on the back of a spotted glove. “Cookies, if you have them,” she said quietly. “I’ve been out for hours, I need to recharge.”

Chloe nodded, not quite thinking of the magnitude of that statement and picked up the phone at the side of her bed. She didn’t even wait for whoever was on the other end to say hello. “Yes, I need a mug of warm milk and a plate of cookies as quickly as possible. Understood?” She hung up as soon as it was clear that someone had heard her and went back over to Ladybug. “It should be here in a few minutes.” Ladybug nodded silently.

Chloe sighed and braced herself. Clearly, Ladybug needed someone to talk to and for some unknown reason, she’d come to her of all people, so she was going to have to do her best. This really wasn’t her strong suit. “Alright,” she said briskly, breaking the silence. “As many lovely qualities as I have, I have to admit that I’m wondering why you came here tonight. Clearly, you’re upset. Why not talk to that mangy alley cat about it? Or a friend from the other side of the mask? As much as it pains me to admit, I haven’t been… the best person in the past. It seems like there’s someone out there who could give you a hell of a lot better advice about whatever it is that’s bothering you.”

Chloe didn’t miss the way Ladybug flinched, first when she brought up Chat Noir and then civilian friends. Oh, something was definitely going on and somebody was sooooo going to pay for this.

Ladybug twisted her hands together. “I…. I can’t,” she said. “I… I don’t think I have any friends outside of the suit anymore.”

“What happened?” Chloe questioned, trying to make her voice as quiet and reassuring as possible. It felt like squeezing into a too-small shirt, but it must have worked because Ladybug continued.

“They betrayed me.” Her voice broke. “Rena Rouge, Carapace, I knew them both as civilians… I trusted them with the miraculous because they were my best friends. But they took the word of someone they barely know over me and they hate me.” She paused. “They were all I had. Before this year, I didn’t have any friends at all. They were my very first.” A watery smile broke over her face and vanished. “I tried so hard to be a good friend -- I didn’t want them to leave me alone again. I was just trying to protect them from being deceived and manipulated… Oh god, it hurts. It hurts so much.”

Fat tears rolled down Ladybug’s cheeks and Chloe’s heart about broke in her chest. If there was one thing that she understood so very well… She scooted closer to Ladybug and wrapped the heroine in as tight a hug as she could manage. She could feel as the shoulder of her robe was dampened by Ladybug’s tears.

-Needless to say, Chloe really comes through as a friend and confidant to Ladybug that night. Marinette doesn’t really plan to go back, but it felt so good to be listened to and seen for the first time in a long time that she just keeps dropping by Chloe’s balcony.

-Ladybug and Chloe get closer and Marinette is able to hold herself together better now that she has someone. Not that anybody really notices because she’s a bit of a social pariah, but she’s much nicer to Chloe at school.

-I can’t decide if this AU is gonna be romantic or platonic Chloenette, but maybe Chloe has been a (somewhat repressed) gay mess for Ladybug the whole time and shit her school nemesis is also kind of cute now that they’re not constantly fighting oh no. Alternatively, we get some A+ female friendships.

-Either way, Ladybug is a pretty much nightly visitor to Chloe’s house at this point. They paint each other's nails and watch TV and there is some altogether wholesome interaction. Chloe is proud that she’s managed to bring Ladybug’s smiles back and starts to gain confidence in what she’s able to do to make things better by herself, on her own power and without a miraculous.

-Things are kind of improving. Lila is still being awful, but it’s much easier for Marinette to deal with her now. Ladybug and Chat Noir’s partnership is still kind of strained with his flirting, but they’ve been managing. Ladybug has kind of just been ignoring the problem and Chat Noir because she doesn’t know how to handle it and she really does care about him and doesn’t enjoy breaking his heart. She just needs to find some way of communicating to him that she feels like he’s disrespecting her, but the akumas have been getting more intense and she can’t risk another repeat of Frozer if she confronts him, so she doesn’t really know what to do.

-Eventually, the Lucky Charm says that they need back up. The fox makes the most sense to take, but Marinette just can’t trust Alya anymore. There’s really only one person that comes to mind.

-“Chloe Bourgeois, this the miraculous of the fox. It grants the power of illusions. You will use it for the greater good and return it to me when the battle is finished.”

-And finally, we get to the point of this entire rambling mess as fox!Chloe, or Reine Ruse appears. I think that her suit would use brown as an accent rather than black like Rena Rouge’s so it could incorporate some gold piping as sort of a subtle shout out to her past as Queen Bee. Chloe is a sleek, sleek fox. I also totally have an image of her having like 9 real fox tails that spread out behind her like the skirt of a ball gown or something (she is both regal and dramatic as fuck). She can also move them and as she becomes more involved with the miraculous squad she likes to wrap them around Ladybug especially when she gets cold in the winter.

-Reine Ruse absolutely kills it as a hero her first time out. Chat’s like “wow, it’s like you’ve done this before!” Chloe, who has listened to how much grief and indecision that this cat is causing Ladybug is 100% not happy with Chat Noir and pretty much straight up ignores him. If she speaks, she’s probably passive-aggressively sassing him.

-Hawkmoth is sending out progressively more akumas and they’re stronger too. It gets to the point where the lucky charm calls for help during every fight and it’s getting really hard to escape to get the backup Miraculous. Marinette has a talk with Master Fu about Chloe and the fox, sticking up for Chloe and how much she’s grown and making a case for her to be a permanent member of the team. It takes a bit of convincing, but Master Fu eventually comes around.

-“Chloe, you can’t be Queen Bee anymore… But you’ve come such a long way since we met and I would be honored if you would fight by my side as Reine Ruse, permanently.”

-Chat is grateful for the help but has no idea what he’s apparently done to get on the new heroine’s shit list. The first time they patrol alone together, she gives him a thorough verbal lashing about how he’s been treating Ladybug and doesn’t leave until she’s sure he understands.

-Adrien begins to rethink his life choices. Plagg attempts to help as best he can.

-Maybe Chloe rescues Marinette as Reine Ruse or she decides to try to get closer to her in her superhero form because she thinks that she’s totally blown it in her civilian form. Marinette who knows what is going on is just so happy and proud of her best friend/maybe-future-girlfriend.

-Give me a Chloenette love square pls

-Obviously, Alya isn’t happy when there’s a new fox hero. She probably gets akumatized over it, let’s be honest. At least it’s a better reason than getting mad because some middle schooler says he could outrun a panther.

-Lila is probably able to manipulate this situation somehow. She might not even know she’s doing it. Alya asks why Ladybug didn’t pick Rena Rouge and Lila says that Ladybug was just being a bitch or something, idk.

-Chloe thinks it's weird that Alya is so up in arms about this. Maybe this is the start of her figuring Marinette out.

Gosh, this post got so freaking long. I might add more later if anyone is actually interested, lol. I was thinking that the miracusquad in this AU would eventually include bee!Kagami and turtle!Luka as I don’t think Alya or Nino would reach the point that Marinette could trust them with miraculouses again. She might forgive them, but trust is a fragile thing.

Thank you all for listening to my ranting. I hope that this was somewhat coherent. I’m sorry that it’s so long and so rambling, but I really haven’t been involved in fandom for a while. I’ll try my best and I hope to improve in the future!

[fueledbysprite]

abandoned wips masterlist

so not too long ago i did an insta poll asking if i should expose all my abandoned fic drafts cause i mean it’s not like theyre ever gonna see the light of day otherwise. i was going to do it when i hit 3k kudos on ao3 and i did so i suppose it has come time for me to expose my mistakes

for obvious reasons, don’t repost these (idk why anyone would lol) but if you really like one of these and want to see it continued, just hit up my ask box and i may or may not consider~

Miscellaneous Fandoms:

Ninjago: Zephyr - a Morro backstory fic bc the hageman bros refuse to feed me more content of my son. barely started it but yknow its there

Miraculous Ladybug/BoBoiBoy: this failed attempt at a fanginette fic bc @secretagentspydetectiveninja got me invested even tho writers block is a binch hahshs

BoBoiBoy:

kokotiam gang angst that reminded me i cannot for the life of me write emotional angst (or any angst for that matter oop)

ramenzo (and kaifang) angst that i churned out on a saturday afternoon on a writing spike instead of doing homework bc I Do Not Control the Writing Juice

au where bbb is a forest guardian(?) and fang just wants away from Society (same fang same) i will probably be yearning for woodland aus till the day i die bc who *doesnt* wanna ditch everything and go live in the middle of the woods amirite?

ramenzo n boifang water fight bc you cant convince me these idiots dont get up to ridiculous shenanigans on their downtime

abandoned draft for the sequel to the og ramenzo fic (dont bother reading it literally nothing happens i swear)

i literally don’t remember where i was going with this i think it was supposed to be fang introspection but idk??

uhh kaifang with ramenzo vibes i think this was gonna be? i genuinely don’t remember anymore oop-

RAMENZO IN QUARANTINE yes this one was regular au (i mean duh) and it’s a shame i never ended up finishing it-

i am actually goboifang t r a s h...until i realized im going to have to make all the food by myself and i never learned to make food :’)) (fr if anyone provides me with any kind of fanon gbf content i will love you forever pls)

this...exists even tho i honestly prefer it didnt but ramenzo is ramenzo n ramen has freckles i will fite u on this (dont read it pls)

if anyone wants ramenzo crumbs (and i mean that quite practically) then feel free to consume the Specks

dont read this pls im begging just dont lets yeet it into the void it doesnt exist~ I Do Not See It

update: i discovered this uhh kaifang post-bora ra incident thing in my other drive

Miraculous Ladybug:

okay forewarning there are wayyyy too many of these so im skipping the ones that are sequels/dependent on other fics for context just to spare myself from having to sort through this mountain

i was planning to participate in chlonath week 2k19 (unfortunately for chlonath nation I Do Not Control the Hyperfixation oop) if you want context then ask

marcnath crumbs thats it thats the doc

oh look allya is self projecting again (writing is still pain) (marcnath)

for the one who requested chloenette with the dialogue prompt i am so sorry

idk why this feels like something ive posted before but then again all lovesquare is the same to me (dead) so who knows im not gonna bother checking hshsh (marichat)

chlonath go to comic con or sth idk chloe is tsundere as always (or would have been anyway if i ever ended up Finishing this)

i *think* this was based on a @terrible-miraculous-ladybug-aus post but heck if i remember now- (lukanette??)

i have absolutely no recollection as to where i was going with this but if anyone finds the concept interesting then by all means go ahead n snatch it- (manon finds the miraculous i guess?)

this is a great. opening. to a chloe fic. that doesnt exist. oof :,)

caline bustier’s home for orphans amirite (i mean she basically already adopted the whole class so)

im genuinely not a fan of the jealous!lover trope but someone in the marcnath server wanted some at one point so i. attempted. and failed but you know thats to be expected at this point :’3

oh look allya is projecting her writing struggles onto marc again is anyone surprised?

theres probably a museum brotp story in here but it doesnt exist and at this point it never will rip

oh good lord not this again i genuinely managed to forget about it for a while until now-

i just read the first line and im already reeling what the heck is this nathanette(??)

WHY IS THERE MARICHAT IN MY WIP FOLDER WHAT

allya stop projecting onto emo weebs challenge failed

i really wanna know where the context for chlonath skiing trip came from i literally have 0 recollection of this at all??

YO I ACTUALLY REMEMBER THE CONTEXT FOR THIS ONE anyway nath n aroace!alix arranged marriage au anyone?? well too bad cause i abandoned it oop-

ahahahahahahaha wdym i wrote 7k of chlonath and then ditched it i would never do that lmao-

i think this was a hunger games au uh

something something marcnath

marcnath angst i guess? *allya pls stop trying to write angst we’ve already established that is not a thing you can do*

something something chlonath

im never gonna forgive @powerdragonmoon for the fact that i thought “beecock” while glancing over this to figure out wth was going on. cholaon works here too tho so that is what i shall call it //sideways glare at moon

take your otp. now put them on a trampoline. but heaven forbid you ever finish the fic- (chlonath if it wasnt obvious)

nathanette doll au from forever ago with @lotus-duckies that was a real concept its a shame i have 0 commitment

i wanna call this lukanathanette but i honestly don’t remember where i was going with it so idk

hi uhm what is this and why is it so depressing allya fr quit self projecting on emo tomatoes oml

chlonath established relationship i guess??

museum brotp go skating?? is that what this is?

how much chlonath do i hAVE also chloe u tsundere

nathaniel is Yearning n tbh i dont blame him cause same (ft. marc)

i could swear this was gonna be luklonath (chlolukanath??) but i wouldnt be able to remember-

if anyone can figure out what’s going on with marc pls tell me bc i dont-

cholaon but theres no context

Oh god im finally done good lord that’s all of em i hope i never have to look at a mlb doc again in my life anyway pls be grateful n enjoy the crumbs n stuff thanks i sacrificed my sanity for this-

[lemuriancutie]

Another Miraculous Update

So here we are (at the time of my writing this, not publishing this) at the tail end of day 8, and not only am I doing well, I’m a full week ahead of where I need to be for the 50k word count, having just hit 25k!

So, while I have just hit 25k words, and could therefore be halfway through my story, if I had to guess I’d say I’m actually closer to being almost a fourth of the way through. Maybe. If I’m lucky.

I have covered most of the important plot points that I wanted to put in to establish the ways that this AU is different from the Canon storyline. So while that sounds like all stuff I’d have put in at the very start (and to some degree it is) keep in mind that it’s enough initially to establish the concept, and trickle out such backstory throughout the story rather than begin with the info dump from hell. So I’ve actually been doing that, so I’m maybe farther than that would imply. Maybe I’m even farther than I think?

I am trying to use the canon characters as much as possible, as I believe I said in one of my pre-November posts, and that’s been working out so far. However, I was kind of hoping to have introduced more of the characters from canon by now and shown where they are. For example, I do have plans for Juleka and Rose. I said before November even started that they were one ship I could promise you to be in the story and not be undone by the end of it. However, I’ve yet to really introduce either of them.

But, just for a bit of a preview so that if some of you are hoping a favorite character makes it into my story, I’ll go ahead and let you all know some of the characters that have gotten into the story already.

Chloé and Marinette are obvious, and while Chloé is not (at least at present) in possession of a miraculous, really the two of them are my undisputed main characters. I’ve also introduced Tikki of course, since Marinette is still Ladybug. But, as far as more secondary characters go, I’ve at least briefly introduced Alya, Mylène, Alix, Adrien, Gabriel, Nathalie, Jagged Stone, and Penny. There are more, but I need to keep some secrets.

I do have, so far, exactly one named OC, but you don’t need to worry about that character being some kind of replacement main character or anything like that. She’s currently only 3 years old, so barring some kind of time-travel shenanigans or magical aging or a huge time skip (none of which do I have any intent of doing) she’s not likely to have much of a role beyond maybe being akumatized once or something.

Another thing of note is that I just finished my first explicit scene. When I put the story on AO3 it will certainly have at least an M rating, but I might go E. If the scene I just wrote gets included it will be E, without doubt. However, scenes that push it over the edge might get cut, edited to be less explicit, or put aside and released as an E rated aside, with authors notes in the main story telling you ‘if you want to read the scene in it’s entirety go to chapter x of the side stories’ and a similar note in the side stories saying when in the main story that scene takes place. Anyway, I’m not entirely decided yet. But the scene in question is a Chloenette scene, so if you like that then look forward to it probably being included entirely either in the main story or side story.

With that said, I don’t really have much more that I want to update here, or even could without giving away story points I’m hoping to keep secret until you can read it in the story itself. Wish me luck with the rest of the month/story, and look forward to my next update.

[lemuriancutie]

Miraculous Nano Progress

So I’m writing this after having finished up for day 2 (even though this post will come out on the third) and I’m almost at 10k words! Exciting! I’m enjoying my story, and there’s some things that I can go ahead and talk about without spoiling anything for any future readers of mine.

I have a very distinct idea about Chloé as she exists in this AU versus in the canon. She’s had a lot of character growth and changed a lot. But I still want it to seem like Chloé, not like an OC that I slapped her name onto. And I was worried that if I couldn’t get across her “Chloé-ness” right away that people might not give it a chance to see why she’s changed to be the way she is now.

Fortunately, I don’t think that’ll be a problem. As soon as I started writing her she really just seemed to come alive to me. Not only that, but she was a sassy bitch! I think it felt very natural for her, and I was able to portray that this is Chloé and she’s certainly that same character that she’s always been, she’s just been allowed to grow in a different direction. Her sass, while it can certainly come off as rude, is really used to look out for the people she cares for now. She’s not mean without reason, but if she has reason to think you’re going to be bad news for one of her friends she will unleash her mean side.

I have also finished a few key scenes that I was very much looking forward to reading. I’ve now written out Marinette’s first time meeting Tikki and becoming Ladybug, and the first akuma fight of the story, as well as a very significant scene for Adrien. I also got a scene between Marinette and Chloé that I hadn’t thought about beforehand, but it turned out to be a very important scene for establishing Chloé, and especially the relationship between her and Marinette. Some good feels happening there! (At least I think so)

Now, if anyone reading this post is looking forward to reading this story when I eventually release it on AO3 there are a few things to keep in mind. One, this is a nano story. I’m going for quantity over quality right now. I want to hit 50k words in 30 days, and I’ll worry about whether or not those words are any good later. Two, that means that I’m going to be editing this significantly before it sees AO3. So if it comes to AO3 and you don’t find this “significant Chloenette” scene in the first 10k words then don’t cry false advertising. Maybe I moved it somewhere else, maybe it ended up getting cut despite how important it feels right now. Just about anything could happen!

Finally, I just want to note my plans for putting this out on AO3 (or re-note them if I already mentioned? I don’t recall if I have yet). So I hope to complete this story in November. However, it could turn out that this story is longer than 50k, and longer than what I write in November. In that case I hope to keep my momentum going into December and finish the story before it’s too far into December. Then I’m putting it down for at least a month. I’m not going to look at it at all during that time. I believe that February is officially National Novel Editing Month (to help those who wrote in November). I may start editing before that, or I might not. February though I will definitely be working on my editing.

Once I’ve started editing I have two options, and I’m not sure which I’ll go with. One is that as I edit I release edited chapter throughout the month. This has the advantage of getting the story out sooner and getting encouraging feedback. Or feedback that might help with the editing, like if readers feel that a specific character doesn’t really sound natural or like themselves then I can focus on that as I continue editing. The other option is to wait until I’ve edited it entirely, and then parcel it out, releasing a new chapter every couple days. That has the advantage that if something comes up and I end up not finishing the editing in February I’m not leaving everyone waiting forever for the next chapter. I’m not promising anything until it’s all ready to go. But that would mean that there’s a minimum of changes I’d be making even if reviewers think there’s something that could be improved. That way does also allow me to better look at the story as a whole to decide if scenes should maybe to moved, cut, or added to, rather than “well, that scene was in the part I’ve edited so it definitely goes in that chapter that’s coming out next.” Both have their pros and cons. Maybe if you are reading this and have a preference you can let me know in the comments to this note?

As it is I’m leaning towards having the entire thing edited before I start posting, but my mind could be changed.

Anyway, that’s my update as of day 2 of nanowrimo! I don’t plan on doing updates here on my tumblr every day, but every now and then I’ll try to make note of how things are going. Hope people are looking forward to my story! Wish me luck!