#after i finish the 5+1 fic that lays the groundwork

[rainintheevening]

How Qui-Gon saves Anakin (and the Galaxy): Part 1

Haven't even finished the fic, but have so many more thoughts about my Qui-Gon is Obi-Wan’s Father AU. Mostly about what happens after as we get into the movies, like in TPM.

-Qui-Gon saying something to Shmi about knowing what it's like to let go of your son for his sake, and wanting your child to grow up strong and safe.

-Obi-Wan still being thrown by Qui-Gon saying he'll take Anakin as his padawan, but during their argument before takeoff, Qui-Gon pointedly calls him 'my son', which always settles something in Obi-Wan whenever he's wound up, and it works this time too. Qui-Gon makes sure Obi-Wan knows that padawan or no, Obi-Wan is his son, and nothing will ever change that.

-Obi-Wan screaming, "Ada!" when Qui-Gon goes down under Maul’s blade.

-QUI-GON SURVIVING. Because I'm writing this story, not GL.

-But barely, and as much as they manage to fix or replace most of his damaged organs, he's never going to fully recover.

-Obi-Wan gets knighted once Qui-Gon is able to perform the ceremony, but that takes a few months, and that is actually good time for Anakin to acclimate to Temple life.

-Obi-Wan takes Anakin as his padawan, and it is actually kinda perfect? Cause Obi-Wan has his dad to get advice from, and Anakin has a grandpa he can safely vent to when he's frustrated.

-Qui-Gon hates being permanently injured, but that's less about the constant pain (which they say he'll have to deal with to some degree for the rest of his life), and more about the loss of mobility. It takes him a year or two to really come to terms with that, with not being able to just get up and go ever again.

-Anakin learns a lot from watching Qui-Gon deal with that, and seeing the man he considers a hero struggle both physically and emotionally.

-Obi-Wan has his hands full, but he doesn’t deal with any of it alone. Yaddle, who's always been a great friend of him and Qui-Gon, is particularly lovely with helping him find a fair balance between working with Anakin and taking care of Qui-Gon until his dad is mostly self-sufficient again.

-After losing his temper with Anakin one day, and very quickly apologising, Qui-Gon takes some advice from Obi-Wan and gets more honest and open with Anakin about when he's having bad days. This leads to Anakin making it his mission to give Qui-Gon as many good days as possible.

-Qui-Gon finally accepts his condition when the healers warn him that the 'spare parts' will only sustain him so long, and his days are numbered. When he realises that if his injuries are bad enough that he will never recover, he probably should have died on Naboo. But for whatever reason he's been given extra time. Extra time to see his son grow as a knight, to contribute to Anakin’s education, to have more tea with his friends. Extra time to lose himself in the Archives and be dragged out, blinking like an owl, by Jocasta Nu telling him his boys are looking for him and the reason he's feeling faint is because he hasn't eaten all day. Extra time for the three of them to end up cuddled together in the same bed when Anakin’s had a nightmare, and Qui-Gon's feeling the pain, and Obi-Wan is kinda overwhelmed with how much he loves his dad and his kid and he just wants them both to be okay. It's a gift, Qui-Gon discovers. A painful one to be sure. But a gift nonetheless, and he's going to make the most of it.

-He definitely enables a lot of Anakin’s mischievous pranks and more unorthodox ways of blowing off steam. But he does his best not to undermine Obi-Wan’s authority as Anakin’s master.

-When Anakin gets into his particularly rebellious and moody teens, Qui-Gon helps pull him out of spirals by telling all sorts of stories from when Obi-Wan was a padawan, embarrassing ones especially, and stories from his own apprenticeship. He never tries to teach Anakin anything in those talks, especially seeing as how one of Anakin’s complaints is about Obi-Wan making everything into a lesson. But it really does help Anakin, makes him think, and see his master as more approachable, less perfect.

-It comes on toward ten years since finding Anakin, and the Battle of Naboo, and Qui-Gon is being more and more intentional with the time he does get to spend with Obi-Wan and Anakin. He gets the feeling he doesn't have more than half a dozen years left at the most. He's trying to make sure his boys will be ready when he dies.

-Aaaaaand then we get the Clone Wars.

-And my plot brain goes bonkers with the possibilities.

[fleurdeneuf]

tv show quiz

I was tagged by @joi-in-the-tardis, @blueboxesandtrafficcones, and @onthedriftinthetardis.  Thank you! :D

Pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions. Don’t cheat. Tag 10 peeps.

Doctor Who

Killing Eve

Life on Mars

Gentleman Jack

Father Brown

1. Who is your favorite character in 2?

It’s a tie between Villanelle and my boy Kenny. 

2. Who is your least favorite character in 1?

Umm....River Song and Madame de Pompadour....aka bad writing.

3. What is your favorite episode of 4?

Probably episode 8?  The happy ending after all of that angst!

4. What is your favorite season of 5?

Hmmm....I do like season 1 because I love Susie and she leaves after that, but they’re all good.  I do prefer the earlier seasons with Lady Felicia though (I love Bunty too, but LF is my fave).

5. Who is your favorite couple in 3?

Haha, there aren’t many to choose from!  But definitely Sam/Annie, even though I wasn’t sure for most of the time whether I actually shipped them, or just BroTP....but by the end I shipped it.  :’)

6. Who is your favorite couple in 2?

Eve/Villanelle (to the surprise of no one!)

7. What is your favorite episode of 1?

Dagnabit....ok, um, probably Rose?  Just the perfect opener!  But I also love The Unquiet Dead and Dalek and POTW and....

8. What is your favorite episode of 5?

IT’S A COZY MYSTERY SERIES WITH SEVEN SEASONS.  HOW CAN I PICK ONE FAVORITE EPISODE.  It would be much easier for me to list the handful of episodes that I DON’T like.  So, I’ll just say, generally speaking, my favorite eps are the ones where Father Brown says something beautiful and compassionate about God and love and makes me cry (this happens a lot).

9. What is your favorite season of 2?

I love both seasons so far, but I’ll say season 1 just by a hair...because of the originality and laying the groundwork.

10. How long have you watched 1?

HAHA....I started watching DW in 2007-2008?  I don’t remember exactly, but shortly after I finished grad school and moved home again, which was summer of 2007.  Let’s see...I was caught up just in time to watch season 4 when it aired in the US, which google helpfully tells me was April of 2008, so yeah, I would’ve started season 1 in late 2007 or early 2008 probably.

11. How did you become interested in 3?

I probably first heard about it when I first joined tumblr, especially from UK friends and Simm fans ( @flypup especially ;) ), and it was on my radar/in the back of my mind for a while, but I never got around to watching it.  And then I got Britbox and it was there, and then I fell into last year’s Simm Spiral (TM) and then @chiaroscuroverse suggested watching it, and then we did! 

12. Who is your favorite actor in 4?

Suranne Jones??? Sophie Rundle??? Both?????

13. Which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?

HOW DARE.  OK, I’m most obsessed with 2 right now, but 1 has been in my heart for more than ten years, and I’m currently rewatching 5 and it’s bringing me lots of happiness and good feelings, so I say: ALL OF THEM.

14. Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3 ?

.......1.  Because I’ve seen every episode and serial ever made, whereas 3 has only 16 episodes. :p

15. If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

Well, I’m partially Ann Walker already, so...

16. Would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

No.  (Unless Sam ended up in 1830s West Yorkshire, rather than 1970s Manchester???)

17. Pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple.

Oh goodness....of course I’m suddenly forgetting all of the fic ships I’ve ever read....OK, I’m gonna go with amberfocus’s Pete’s World OT3 from Wolf Moon and Hunger Moon: Mickey, Suzie, and Jake.  She really sold that relationship, and I hadn’t even seen Torchwood yet at the time. :D  Runner up goes to Jack and Martha.  I have a soft spot for them as friends (I love how much Jack adores her), and I could see, given the right circumstances, that turning into something.

18. Overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5?

3!  An original and amazing storyline that ends at the perfect point, and is open to interpretation.  5, as mentioned above, is a cozy mystery series, and as such, it doesn’t really have big plot arcs; the episodes are pretty self-contained.

19. Which has the better theme music, 2 or 4?

2, OBVS.  Have I flailed about the perfection of KE’s score and soundtrack lately?????  Perfection.

Tagging: @sorrynotsorrybabyx, @deartimekeeper, @ciara-jane, @naughtylupine, @wholockgal, @asthewheelwills, @pinchtheprincess, @stoprobbers, @turnswithus, @tinyconfusion  (no pressure, but @ and tag me if you do it!)

[alivingfire]

Annual Writing Self-Evaluation 2016

i’m gonna try and do this thing! i was tagged by @a-writerwrites, @mediawhorefics, @afirethatcannotdie and @churchrat. 

1. List of works published this year:

Hiding Place (technically, last chapter and epilogue posted in january) Inconceivable Anonymous Said Oh Glory Been Together Since Way Back When Tumblr fics series (6 total) Day 1: So It Begins (from the 30 days of smut) True Love’s Gold Play the Odds

2. Work you are most proud of (and why):

i mean. here’s the deal. hiding place is like... my everest. it’s my starry night. i put so much of myself into that damn thing, and the process of it 100% changed me, my writing style, how i view the fandom as well as the band. it will be my best accomplishment (even though there are definitely things i would go back now and change in it) until the next time i write a 365,000 word ode to two boys in love. 

but, also, researching and writing oh glory in four days was also pretty cool. 

3. Work you are least proud of (and why):

hmm. maybe my chapter for the 30 days of smut, just because i feel like i could’ve been more adventurous with it. i felt like -- just based on my own personal thoughts -- i sort of had a duty? as the first author to lay as much groundwork as possible for the why, and that ended up taking away from the actual sex of it all.  

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

this was actually really tough, and i just spent a good hour and a half digging for some quotes that aren’t stop-on-your-heart depressing that stuck with me after i wrote them. so here, from my least angsty fic - 

This is where Harry should be kissing someone he’s only known for a couple of hours, someone pretty with a bright smile who makes his stomach flip when their fingers touch. It could be something new too, maybe if the kiss was good Harry would ask for a date, or a phone number; maybe if the kiss wasn’t that memorable they’d stay friends. Either way, a memory made, a New Year celebrated, a firework of lips and smiles fizzing between him and someone bright, sparkling, new.

Instead, he’s kissing Louis.

Not that Louis doesn’t sparkle; Louis shines, Louis is what the moon gets its light from when the sun doesn’t want to do its job. Louis melts the frost off the world, Louis is the burnished gold of old London and the shiny silver of chrome and glass.

And it’s not that Louis isn’t new, because Louis is ever-changing; Louis is the pattern of the stars in the sky night after night, Louis is tie-dyed freedom, reckless waves against a shore, no beat of the drum the same.

It’s just that this kiss is something new but something old, too. It’s twelve years of friendship with a new sharp edge. It’s a glass mirror broken into new shapes, a mosaic of what was and what is and what will continue to change.

5. Share or describe a favorite review you received:

okay i was looking forward to answering this part. one of my favorite people of all time, kyla @greenadidasjumper, went through and basically live-commented her thoughts on every single chapter of hiding place, usually spanning multiple comments because they were so long. i tried for a while to go through and answer her questions and reply to what she said, but i ended up just reading them over and over and forgetting to answer so now they’re just there in my inbox for whenever i’m sad 💕💕

6. A time when writing was really, really hard:

i always have a tough time jumping into something new after i’ve wrapped up a project, and i think the hardest one for me was after been together since way back when. for some reason (maybe because it hit so close to home), that was the hardest fic for me to move on from, and it took a good month or so for me to even be interested in trying anything new. 

7. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you

most of hiding place, lol. i would start a scene with no clear path and it would usually end up a lot angstier than i’d originally intended. i was also pretty surprised by how much i put into the OCs for been together, they were a lot of fun to write. 

8. How did you grow as a writer this year:

well, that’s a good question, lol. i definitely think i’ve found my ~voice, so to speak, and i’m honing in on how i want to write as opposed to what i think others want from me. i’ve also discovered this year that the stuff of mine people tend to like the most are the things i speed-write, which is fascinating because those are the pieces i usually end up doubting the most; either way, i’ve definitely gotten better at churning out 20-30k in a week or so. 

9. How do you hope to grow next year:

i’m still trying to strike that balance between narrative voice and character voice, so that’s a big thing for me (especially since my next big project will rely a lot on changing POVs). 

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

ooh, well. i’m forever inspired by other authors, and anytime i find a fic that catches my attention it’s like lighting a fire, so whoknows, dolce, zarah (😞), claire, addy and lexy, @a-writerwrites, @lululawrence, cherrystreet, j, @mediawhorefics, @waytoomanypeopleintheaddisonlee, ellie, @thedarkestlarrie, @banana-louis, @loveloveolivia, @churchrat, @lucystarkid, @juliusschmidt, - i could go on for days, you’re all huge inspirations and i sorta love you all to bits, even if it’s from afar sometimes. also @ravenclawisak was a massive massive help during the final sprint of hiding place, and in fact you can blame her for some of the more Extreme Angst in the final chapters.  

11. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:

it’s actually really funny, looking back, how many fandom interests leaked into the stuff i was writing when it was being discussed -- like when a new famous friend is introduced to the fandom or an old theory or famous story is brought up and discussed. like, for instance, true love’s gold would’ve been massively different if it hadn’t been for harry’s another man shoot. 

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

reach out to other writers. honestly, i love having a network of authors i can go to with any questions about writing or formatting or even plotting out new projects and throwing headcanons around. authors are also the biggest allies you could ask for when it comes to hyping up your stories; get you someone who’ll reblog your fic post everyday because they’re so proud of you (but you have to do the same for them!! be a good bro). 

13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

the angel and demon au is going to be a doozy, so that’s one for sure. once that’s finished, though, i have my sights set on basically a whole list of things that’ve been in the back of my mind for months. ALSO idk if j @paynner is ready to go public with this but let me tell you people we have Planned Some Things and it might take us years to do it but when we do it’ll rock some worlds. 😇

14. Tag three writers whose answers you’d like to read. ;)

j have you done this??? you totally should so @paynner... and i’ll add my two coffee girls @coffeelouis and @coffeehazza 😘

*All answers should be about works published in 2016. Also, you can skip any questions you hate or don’t want to answer, but please leave them on the list so that others can do them if they want. :)