#again this is more of a oneshot au than a fanfic proper

[perpetualexistence]

Coils and Toils

Alenoah Week Day 3: Role Swap / TDWT Ending Rewrite

I decided to use woah-i-am-here's roleswap Alenoah for my funky little AU for today. The personalities are based mostly on their AU, and most of Alejandro's backstory is as well. Noah's I took more creative liberties with. It was a bit hard to translate that one over with this being a naga AU.

Because this is me, I couldn't help but make this a tiny bit dark at the end. So I'm just going to put a content warning for murder here to be safe.

Alejandro and Noah are fine! ...Someone else, not so much.

Alejandro is forced to go on his family's annual hunting trip. It's a week-long 'bonding' activity. He really doesn't care for it. He knows it's just an excuse for his parents to brag about traveling the world and conquering nature. José always turns it into this big competition that no one asked for, gets their parents praise, and rubs it into Alejandro's face. It's predictable, it's annoying, and it's bound to drive Alejandro up a wall.

The instant they split up, Alejandro focuses on putting as much distance between himself and the rest of his family. He's not going to hunt a damn thing. He'l just have 'bad luck'. It's an excuse he's used before, but it's not like they can truly make him do anything. He turns off his walkie talkie, the only thing that works in these godforsaken woods, because otherwise he'll have to hear his brother incessantly praising himself for each kill he bags. He has a bag of supplies, GPS included, and a gun. He'll be fine.

As he walks through the woods, he starts to notice strange markings on the ground. He'd mistake them for signs of animals having passed by. Except this looks wider than something like a bear having pushed through some brush. He climbs up a tree to get a better vantage point. From here, he can notice that it looks more like something large was dragged through the woods. The concerning part is it was dragged continuously. As if whatever was doing the dragging was having no issue in doing so. Despite the thing being as wide as train tracks.

That's when he heard the rustling. He couldn't tell where it was coming from, but it was getting louder.

Climbing down would attract too much attention. He could only cling against the tree as tightly as he could, and hope whatever it was didn't look up.

"Oh. You're new." said the voice that came from his right.

He dared to turn his head. He met the gaze of two slitted pupils.

Alejandro was over 12 meters off the ground and he was directly meeting the gaze of another.

He looked down to see the torso of the giant he was now looking at connected not to legs, but to a snake's tail.

He's grateful his instinct was to cling tighter to the tree, and not to loosen his grip.

After Alejandro successfully doesn't faint, the two get into proper greetings. Noah's incredibly polite, and is clearly doing everything in his power to make himself come off as careful about the height difference as possible. He's controlled in every action he takes.

...Too controlled for someone currently claiming that he's lived by himself in the woods his entire life. If he had, then he probably wouldn't know to control his volume or have anything resembling manners.

Alejandro calls him out on this, which shocks Noah for a bit. Not only that Alejandro found him out, but also that he'd have the courage despite Noah's size advantage. Alejandro realizes he might have screwed up hard, except Noah laughs and lets some of his mask slip.

He tells something closer to the truth this time. He's from the fae realm, and got cursed to look like this. He's trapped in these woods, serving as its guardian. Meaning he does need to know why Alejandro's trespassing.

Now it's Alejandro's turn to start lying his ass off. He knows about the fae thanks to reading, but he has no idea how much is true and how much isn't. He doesn't know what answer is acceptable, what answer will get him killed, and he doesn't know if Noah can read people.

He admits to being on a hunting trip, but he hadn't killed anything yet as his priority was finding somewhere to make camp. He didn't know he was trespassing, and wants to ask proper permission to stay in the woods for a week. He says nothing about the rest of his family because he knows that they've certainly killed animals by now.

Noah chooses to believe him. And because Alejandro did ask nicely (though with a bit of sarcasm since he couldn't help himself), Noah will let him stay. But he's only allowed to hunt what he needs to in order to survive. In return, Noah will promise not to hurt him. He'll even make a fae bargain, so both are bound to keep to their deal.

Alejandro doesn't really have much choice but to accept. Not that he planned to do any hunting anyways, but he has to go with this now or risk Noah catching wise. Noah lets him know that if Alejandro needs anything, Noah'll stay around here to make himself easier to find.

So Alejandro is allowed to leave to 'go find a place to make camp'. Which means returning to his family's camp and checking that Noah isn't following him. At least he's too loud to get away with sneaking up on the human.

Still, now Alejandro is going to have to convince his family not to go near the area Noah is in. He can't tell them Noah exists. They'll think he's finally lost it. Instead, he settles for committing to heading in that direction when his family splits apart to hunt each morning.

He doesn't have to actually go anywhere near Noah's slithering grounds. He just needs everyone else to think he's going there.

...Yet, Noah has been the most interesting thing that's happened to him in quite a while. The only other person who has proven to be an intellectual match to Alejandro is Jose. And he's insufferable. Noah is dangerous, certainly, but he isn't hard to be around. So long as Alejandro is careful about what he says. Besides, if he can keep Noah occupied, then he'll know that the rest of his family is safe.

This has absolutely nothing to do with how attractive Noah is or how his laugh made Alejandro melt like butter.

So he goes back to Noah the next day and says he wants to know more about Noah.

"Sure, I'm an open book." Noah replied. "You're as open as a mouse trap." Alejandro retorted.

This gets another laugh out of Noah, and the two begin to bond.

Over time Noah reveals that he hates the outdoors. He misses being small enough to read in peace. Not that he even has any reading material on him. But Alejandro does since his original plan had been to find a spot in the forest to read the entire time. So he pulls out one of his books and offers to read it aloud to Noah.

"Is that the only one you have?"

"I thought you were desperate enough to read anything."

"I just want to know what my options are. I don't want to read anything trashy if you're holding out on me."

This would be enough to make Alejandro snicker at how spoiled Noah was acting. He might have been imagining things, but he swore he saw the tip of Noah's tail flicker in delight at the sound.

Alejandro found himself going from keeping a respectable distance from Noah to leaning against the naga's coils.

Alejandro would begin to open up about his family. How he tires of playing second fiddle to Jose, and how his parents do everything in their power to encourage him. They put on a show for the world to see that Alejandro is 'lucky' enough to be a part of. He tried to show Jose up, once upon a time. But loss after loss whittled away at him. Until there was nothing left but a bitter, snarky teenager who would rather stay in his room than deal with anybody. Still with the knowledge of how to charm and fight, but none of the motivation.

It would lead to Noah opening up about his own family. He came from a line of powerful fae. Having eight siblings in the fae realm meant they were constantly fighting for everything. He was last in line to inherit anything by birthright. If he wanted anything, he'd have to fight for it. As the youngest, Noah could never hope to win in a battle of strength. He adapted to winning battles of wit instead.

He didn't care that he had to fight dirty. He never got a fair chance in a fight with his siblings. Why should he return the favor? The only way he'd beat his siblings is if he performed just a minor coup, so he did. Or well, he tried. He underestimated his parents' ability to catch on to his tricks.

So they cursed him. "You'll live as you truly are in the wild until you learn the sanctity of a life." Rather shitty of them to exile their own child instead of acknowledging the environment they created in the first place. But, oh well. Noah's here now. ...and it feels surprisingly refreshing to let his guard down and tell someone else this.

Alejandro is reminded that he should in no way shape or form trust someone who tried 'a minor coup' on his own parents. ...But it is nice to have Noah agree that Alejandro's parents and brother are in fact terrible. He'd been around so many sycophants to the Burromuerto name, he thought he must be the mad one for thinking ill of them.

Sadly though, the week is up before they know it. Alejandro is going to have to go back home, and miss his new boyfriend. Alejandro finishes reading the last book he brought over so Noah can have a proper ending. At this point, he's grown so comfortable with Noah that he's nestled in between Noah's loose coils. Noah could kill him easily anyways, so why deny himself something so warm and cozy?

By the end, Noah gifts him the largest moose he can find. It'll be rations for the road, plus the antlers will make for a good hunting trophy. He knows it's gauche but his options for giving gifts as a giant snake thing are limited.

Alejandro suspects something's up by the look in Noah's eyes, but doesn't say anything. Rejecting Noah's gift would be a terrible idea if fae work how he thinks they work. He could just bury the gift when he's far enough away from Noah. He can't imagine anything good would come from bringing this to his family.

...Yet he's so tired of them. He feels more comfortable with a stranger he's only known for a week than with his own family sitting down for dinner. That stranger could squeeze him to death without a second thought and he'd still trust Noah more than he would trust Jose not to find an excuse to shoot him in the head when he's in a mood. So you know what? Whatever happens to his family will just have to happen to them.

He takes the gift back to his family so he can actually win at something for once. Jose tries to play it off, but it is the biggest thing hunted, so that's what the Burromuertos decide to eat as their final meal here before heading out.

Alejandro, not trusting Noah, wisely waits for everyone else to eat the food first. He gets away with it because the second they take a bite, they're hooked. They're scarfing the food down like animals. He pushes his portion into the fireplace. He's grateful he did when his mother starts coughing, then gasping, then choking for air and foaming at the mouth. Soon followed by his brother, then his father.

Noah said his new body reflected his true self. Alejandro isn't surprised that means he's a venomous snake.

Noah slithers quietly behind him. He's genuinely happy that Alejandro did survive this. Because if he didn't, Alejandro wasn't the type of person Noah thought he was.

"If you hadn't found a way around it, then you weren't worth all the time and effort I put into you. And that would have been such a pity, truly."

Noah knew Alejandro was lying about being by himself the whole time, and that it was probably because his family had been hunting without his permission. Fae rules said he had to do something about it, and from how Alejandro described them, there was absolutely no reason to let them live. Alejandro getting caught in the crossfire was a calculated risk. 'Noah' couldn't harm Alejandro, but that isn't to say one of his gifts couldn't.

However, he genuinely thought he had done a great job of gaining Alejandro's trust. He believed Alejandro had no idea the gift was a trap, or at least didn't realize it until later. To find that Alejandro actually did know that the gift was tainted from the beginning, and that he still chose to give it to his family? He's delighted. Especially when Alejandro admits he's not that worked up about their deaths as he feels he should be. And when Alejandro pulls one last contigency:

Noah never gave an end condition to when he could harm Alejandro. So as long as Alejandro only hunts for food and not for sport, Noah can't cause any direct harm to him, ever.

Noah could of course try to find another work around to get rid of a final loose end. But he's much happier to offer him a place in the woods for as long as Alejandro wants. And he wants to start dating Alejandro properly. Alejandro has nowhere else to go, and he's much happier here than he's ever been. So he agrees to the home, and to being Noah's boyfriend.

Noah takes care of Alejandro, and Alejandro works on a way to break Noah free from his curse. 'A life' could just mean one person specifically after all. So if Alejandro just makes sure that person is him, he'd be set for life.

Everyone else?

Not their problem.

[tamlinweek]

Tamlin Creator Appreciation: Fanfiction Authors

Thank you all for your submissions for your favorite Tamlin creators! In the lead up to Tamlin Week (June 18 - 24, click here for prompts and rules!), we wanted to take a minute to highlight some of the amazing authors who have written Tamlin stories in the past. Here are some of the submissions we received, listed by ship, with some honorable mentions:

Tamlin/Briar:

a quiet, distant treasure (when you rise) by @yourethehero​

Rating: Mature, Words: 12k (multichapter, ongoing)

Summary: The truth is - Tamlin knows he failed. He knows he  could beg, and plead until the sun burned its last flame, and it would  get him nowhere. There was only the future, the one he could build for his Court, and for this child.

“I love their fic! It's such a unique take on Tamlin's redemption arc and the interactions between Tamlin and his adoptive daughter are very heartwarming”

Tamlin/Briar Honorable Mentions:

A Dream of Roses by @isterofimias

A Court of Love and Healing by @readingwritingwatching​

Tamlin/Feyre:

I Will See You Again by @goforth-ladymidnight​

Rating: Teen, Words: 2k (oneshot, complete)

Summary: ACOTAR AU - Mere days before the seven times seven years are up, Tamlin decides to send Feyre back to the mortal lands. A glimpse at what might have happened if Feyre had opened her heart and said those three little words that held more magic than she thought possible.

“This creator is AMAZING, BRILLIANT and a great addition to the pro Tamlin community!”

Tamlin/Lucien:

lovely and lonely by @praetorqueenreyna​

Rating: Mature, Words: 24k (multichapter, ongoing)

Summary: "In hindsight, Lucien thinks he fell in love with Tamlin the moment he first laid eyes on him." *** Lucien Vanserra must come to terms with his sexuality, and his complicated feelings for High Lord Tamlin.

“My favorite takes of the characters and Tamlin specifically by far.”

Tamlin/Nesta:

My Sun Shines Upon Me by @toast-com​

Rating: N/A, Words: <200 (oneshot, complete), Summary: N/A

“Her creativity and descriptive writing.  Tamlin creators, I am high-fiving all of you.”

Tamlin/OC:

Hyacinth by @suckerpunchfemale​

Rating: Mature, Words: 90k (multichapter, complete)

Summary: Hyacinth, known as Cin, has seen the once thriving and prosperous Spring Court fall into ruin and lawlessness due to the absence of their High Lord, Tamlin. But after two years  of waiting and hoping, Cin has had enough. Can these two trauma survivors,  Cin and Tamlin, save each other and their home?

“I don't usually reach for fanfics with OCs, but you can't help but root  for Hyacinth (aka Cin) as she tries to fix the very broken Spring Court  in the wake of the war on Hybern. What I like about SPF’s portrayal of  Tamlin is how she doesn't shy away from showing his suffering, but she  doesn't let him wallow in his misery, either. He made mistakes, but he's  not the villain here. It's a good and proper redemption arc! :D”

Tamlin/Rhysand:

A Court of Lies and Resurrection by @ashintheairlikesnow

Rating: Explicit, Words: 193k (multichapter, complete)

Summary:  AU: Feyre is dead, torn apart by Amarantha when Tamlin did not send her away in time. Tamlin, forced to submit to Amarantha's terms, finds  himself looking for help (and finding affection) in places he never expected.

“IT IS THE TAMSAND MULTI CHAPTER FIC!!!!! Their fic actually opened my eyes to Rhys potential post Amarantha which I didn’t realize was POSSIBLE”

Thank you so much to everyone who participated! Look forward to more pro Tamlin content by our wonderful contributors in June!

[katkat030]

YOU HAVE A FANFIC????

GIMME GIMME GIMME

(a man after midnight--)

You are in for the ramble of all rambles >:D

Okay I am smiling from ear to ear right now prepare for me to talk (type?) your ears off

it’s. yeah it's Ethubs. (ding ding! you got it *finger guns*)

I'm writing a fic based on the DBHC au (Detroit Become Hermitcraft au) story/comics by Shepscapades here on Tumblr! If you're not familiar with it, I highly recommend you check it out! I have SUCH brainrot and the storyline and art are so compelling.

Here's the masterpost if you wanna check it out once I'm done rambling!

I also want to stress this isn't my au - only the explanation and snippets of my little story is my own work. :) All credit goes to Shepscapades for all that and the brainrot

- DBHC spans Hermitcraft (seasons 8 and onwards) and the Life Series (note that all androids were absent from Third Life due to not being created yet)

- It makes use of the android mechanics from the video game Detroit Become Human <- don't worry about that part just yet though :)

- Most major post-Season 7 events seem to still be canon here, and there's a lot of other things going on in each of the androids' - and hermits' - lives (and trauma. </3. yeah. Etho and so many others are Going Through It), often as a consequence of those events.

Anyone new to the au should probably have a look at this illustrated guide post You don't have to read all of it, but I strongly suggest at least checking out the "Guide to Androids", "Deviancy" and even the "Interfacing" sections for proper context!

rambles under the cut >:) I promise I'm keeping it to a minimum. and then some snippets!!

(edit: the cut isn’t cutting, I think)

BASICALLY At some point around Season 8, Xisuma designs androids (like Mumbo, Etho, Impulse and Doc) to assign to some of the hermits (Grian, Bdubs, Pearl and Ren to name a few) for help with everything from building to terraforming. Everything goes relatively smoothly, up until... the androids begin to deviate. <- hence why I linked this post earlier!

This isn't entirely necessary for anything other than understanding the characters and the overarching narrative a bit more, but if you do want further context + cool art + a small break from my rambles, here (1), here (2) and here (3) are really good comics that sorta explain how DBHC Ethubs' relationship starts, and here (4) is the first part of Etho's first deviancy! uh. So like things happened here. Don’t worry about that being labelled first. Or it not being at all normal for an android to deviate twice. Or what situation caused it. Uh. Yeah. :’)

Otherwise you're welcome to just read on!

I'm writing an incredibly fluffy (and there's angst now too hehe) oneshot on the two of them.

They've been planting saplings for Bdubs’ Season 10 forest (Etho was originally designed to help with terraforming and that, after all) and it's late afternoon, so, Bdubs being Bdubs, he's tired.

And tired people are clingy, they let their guard down a bit, they start giving in slightly to things they don't have enough energy to fight.

Like the urge to reach out and go hey, come back, I actually want you to play with my hair, I want you to lie with me in the sunshine, I want to listen to the sound of your android heart (thirium pump) because it's a reassurance that even though my eyes are closed you're still nearby, I want you here, and I'm going to hang on to you because I don't ever want you to leave again.

I half-wrote that little summary of my fic a little while back as a proof of concept but. Yeah.

This is Bdubs talking, if it isn’t clear:

>:) Not sure if you're familiar with how Bdubs' Last Life ended, and how it could have been avoided. Or how much I'm allowed to say on what happened afterwards until we cross over into spoilers territory. But uh. Yeah. Normal and fine and not at all insane over this. <- that's a blatant lie

Don't worry though!! I said fluff for a reason; I don't think this quite crosses over into "crack treated seriously" territory (only saying that because I'm sorta working on something Ethubs-related that 100% DOES hehe) but the second half is panning out to be incredibly silly. I just think they deserve it after everything they've been through (this post makes me all levels of insane.)

Aaaaaanyway, snippets :D

Something I want to add: he isn’t entirely human. Like as much as he acts and feels and functions like one… yeah.

Tired 👏people👏give👏into👏things👏they👏don’t👏have👏the👏energy👏to👏fight

Bonus: a friend tried grabbing my phone from my hand while typing a little while ago and… this happened

OH I nearly forgot! It has a title :)

“home, home again (i like to be here when i can)”

song lyrics from Time by Pink Floyd (beware loud bells until about 40 seconds in)

I’ll publish it on ao3 under katkit03 when it’s done! May cross post it to tumblr for convenience :)

please lmk what you think, this is my first time writing a fanfic!!!

[organchordsandlightning]

1, 12, and 25 for the end-of-year asks?

from the fanfic end of the year asks

favorite fic you wrote this year

probably a dead tie between The Catacomb Killer and the Lighthouse series! (jay I know you plan on playing DE at some point so I'm giving no spoilers)

For the former, Catacomb was a fun challenge because it was the first time in years that I wrote a proper case fic. it was also canon-compliant and extremely detail-oriented (i probably had a couple hundred screenshots saved from the game for lore tidbits). Alternating POV between [REDACTED PROTAGONIST NAME] and Kim in the style of the game - [REDACTED PROTAGONIST NAME] typically has 24 'Voices' or impulses (Logic, Authority, Encyclopedia, Volition etc) guiding him, which led to me creating Kim's own 24-Voice thought cabinet, writing an appendix for it, and providing a lore-appropriate reason for why Kim would be thinking in that way. I'm really proud of how it turned out, in the end.

Lighthouse series .... my baby. my love. my darling. typically I don't go for stories that erase grief and bring people back from the dead, but I really love playing with the concept of people being at the total mercy of gods ... but also, that the gods don't understand them in return, and sometimes these playtoys are more than they bargained for. also allows me to explore a ton of different headcanons for Arthur's ghosts, and delving into Arthur's feelings of guilt/responsibility and John's desire to live a mortal life again. the series in total is absolutely the longest thing I've written and I hold it near and dear to my heart.

12. favorite character to write about this year

tough question! I'm leaning towards John Doe from Malevolent, if only because exploring his how would a former god navigate humanity angle has been really interesting (also biasing, because he's the one I've written most recently!). Runners-up go to Herbert West (fundamentally a Bad Person) and Jon Sims (got to explore his grief a lot this year, that was fun)

25. a fic you read this year that you would recommend everyone read i asked tumblr and they said it was ok if I put a few @bluejayblueskies 's lovely Modern Jarthur AU, Whisky Old Fashioned Sour - an exceptionally fun modern AU that's wonderfully IC

(also in general, everyone's malevoween entries were great)

@magnetarmadda 's really fluffy JonMartin piece, And There's You - a lovely take on 'what if Martin was Jon's biro awakening' @fruitviking's The Practicalities of Vampirism in the 21st Century - a really fun and witty vampire!Jon Jmart!

Others whose tumblr usernames I do not know: Godlizza's The Couple Down The Street - a middleaged!Danbert AU that does some phenomenal storytelling work, reads like a fun mystery to pick apart.

Idiopathicsmile's Tables and Chairs - a Eugack oneshot from six years ago, brilliantly cute and in character.

and likely a lot more! alas, my brain rarely focuses on reading, but I do try and sit down and push through!

[purpleyin]

2020 Fic Writer’s Year In Review

So 2020 in review because I like doing stats, there’s something comforting about working them out for me. Even if 2020 was not all that good a writing year.

I actually started writing this post in February but I stalled at the whole favourite lines part because I like to link to the fics and so it sat in my drafts for aaaaagggges and I’m finally getting to it again in May!

For anyone who got tagged in this post and is wondering why, that’d be because there’s a section way way down in the post for ‘Writers You Should Read’ where I am reccing you. :)

Word count written: 90,283/104,000

Word count for posted stories: 63,662/156,000     

Number of fics: 34  - I included fics/fic chapters and ficlets I do with moodboards if they were about more than 100 words

(I also made 5 fanmixes + 1 fanvid)

Fandoms written for (for posted works): The Flash, BBC Sherlock, Legends of Tomorrow, Stargate Atlantis, HP Series, Uncharted

(for the vid - Mass Effect: Andromeda + Game of Thrones for 1 fanmix)

Shortest Story: If I only count fics that have dialogue that’d be the snippet of Killergold Jurassic Park AU I did for Femslash February, at about 300 words.    

Longest Story: “A Matter of Time” my angsty/whump Hartmon timeloop fic I did for the Hartmonfest exchange, that’s about 8.5k words.

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted? 

So I did decently by my writing goal, 90k out of 104k, even though that wasn’t much compared to the previous year. I thought I’d done less, because I didn’t feel very productive, but I guess half my problem was writing things that didn’t get finished. I was hoping to finish more WIPs in general from prior years too and so get more posted than I written but I didn’t really manage that, oh well. I have 35 new WIPs awaiting finished from 2020. No clue if that’s better or worse than last year, may need to start keeping track of them somehow.  

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write most? The Flash was my most written for fandom to no surprise. Most written pairing was Savisnow but Hartmon almost beat it out in 2020, very close with both at around 17k words each. Genrewise it was largely angst and whump as usual.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?

For pairings - I would have to say either McKay/Sheppard/Weir or Coldvibe.

McKay/Sheppard/Weir I didn’t expect because it’s such an old fandom and I was only into it in passing. Somehow I had a resurgence of squee for the fandom and a moodboard plot bunny that demanded to be more so ended up a ficlet. It was more not!fic than proper fic but I unexpectedly enjoyed making it.

Coldvibe was another I didn’t expect to write anything for. Moodboards, yes, and I did a fair few but actually writing a snippet with dialogue in it to go with my Elseworlds AU I wouldn’t have predicted at the start of the year I don’t think.

Genre - I definitely had a higher than usual fluff % though, it’s becoming easier to write with practice I suppose. I never expect fluff! I certainly also didn’t expect to write 2 quarantine/lockdown fics...

Fandom - unexpected was Game of Thrones. Because what I made was for Braime, which I love but I’ve otherwise only lurked in that fandom.  I did a fanmix and a moodboard with short blurb and that was more than I thought I’d ever do.

Did you take any writing risks this year?

I branched out into several pairings I’d not written full fics for before (Snowest, Westhallen) and I started posting my Savisnow multichapter even though it’s WIP slow posting and hardly going to be popular because it’s niche.

But probably the riskiest fics felt like ones that I wrote where I was worried what if I got wrong somehow (like my Iris with mirror powers oneshot or Hartmon ASL day fic) or that were very heavy emotionally like my Hartmon quarantine fic.

Do you have any fanfic or general writing goals for the new year?

Finish more already started fics! Literally that is the main goal this year. Start less stuff, finish more old stuff. I need to be more disciplined. I may not always feel like writing a certain thing but with so many WIPs there should be something I want to make progress on surely no matter my mood.

I also still have 4 bingocards to do - Bad Things Happen, DCTVGen, Hartmon (overdue but eh, if I post stuff it’s still good to do) and WIPbingo now.

From the past year of writing, what was your...

Best story of this year: I think my Westhallen ‘it’s the little things’.

Most popular story of this year (by kudos): This is hard to say when the top fic is “Why Should I Trust You” that is multichaptered and cross year so I can’t tell how many kudos it got last year specifically...it has 166 total. Otherwise, for new fics in 2020 it was ‘with one’s own hand’ a Hartmon fic with 44 kudos.

Personal favorite: It’s so niche but my Savisnow Valentine’s fic is my fave.

My favourite fic to write: The 2nd chapter of One Way Or Another. It was also tough to write but the not quite Frost!Caitlin back and forth with Savitar was strangely satisfying to write out. Also I cackle at the end of chapter angst.

Most fun to write: Definitely my Coldwestallen fluff/teasing heatwave ficlet.

Story with the single sexiest moment: Alas I wrote none this year on my main account and only 1 on my secondary PWP account so there’s no true competition there.

Most “holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you” story: Honestly can’t think of one, wasn’t really a darkfic kinda year. The few Savibarry things I created (a fanmix and 2 moodboards including a short ficlet) are probably the most likely to fall under that category for the pairing alone.

Most challenging to write: The Hartmon timeloop fic, because the plot needed to be good enough and getting pacing right was hard too.

Funniest fic: I don’t do funny much but I’d say the heatwave ficlet again.

Fluffiest fic: My Westallen coffee shop AU probably? Or the Westhallen fic.

Saddest fic: This one is hard to judge. I suspect One Way Or Another is overall saddest, because Savitar, but the Iris has powers one is fairly sad too given her inevitable trauma from being in the Mirrorverse. My Uncharted fic ‘Slip of the tongue’ is also post-breakup so quite morose/regretful.

Fic I’m proudest of writing: Probably the Hartmon quarantine fic, ‘Between Hope And Fear’ because it was a hard subject to deal with for me emotionally at the time. It was cathartic to write but then it looks like from the response that it resonated with several people so I was glad to have been able to write it.

Least popular fic: Going by kudos or hits, my Uncharted fic with only 4/35 but it is a tiny/kinda dead fandom. My Iris fic also was next least popular with only 9 kudos & 52 hits - I’ve only written for her a handful of times as I get a little nervous about if I can write her well enough and I never know if some Iris fans might avoid me due to ship wars.

Biggest disappointment: I wasn’t disappointed in anything I posted but I was least confident about my Snowest fic, ‘Love isn’t a science’.

General writing reflections: I should try and do more variety. Experiment more. Let myself write more shortform stuff again. I get a lot of grand ideas but I need to accept not everything can be long fic. It’d be nice to have some stuff somewhere between longfic and moodboard blurbs as those seems my current two extremes 90% of the time. I should probably worry less about fact checking canon stuff and handwave things more.

Writers You Should Read: My answer wasn’t initially gonna be much different than last year and I’d generally say check out my bookmarks on AO3.

But then I thought more and realised there’s definitely some other writers I found in 2020 and a few others I want to mention.

@voldiebuns has lots of great short fics I enjoyed a lot when I hadn’t many spoons to read fic.

@violetteatime writes great Hartmon.

@astrid-goes-for-a-spin I really enjoyed their Iris and Westallen fics.

@dance-is-life27 has some lovely Snowestallen.

@finalfantasyx writes very thoughtful Snowbarry that is also Iris-friendly.

Check out @tygermine if you want humourous/fluffy Dramione and she also has a lot of Merlin fics.

@jessequicksters is a great writer and got me reading some Flash pairings I’d not considered before.

@secondratevillain has a lot of fab Rogues fics.

@joanthangroff for great DCTV gen in particular. 

@letmetellyouaboutmyfeels who has such great Timeless fics, especially for Garcyatt, but also has started writing great Witcher fics too.

Favorite character to write: I think this year that’d be Hartley, but Savitar is still up there for the same odd reasons as before.

Favorite opening lines:

I don’t think I have any favourites for this.

Favorite closing lines:

A break that created something else, each shard a possibility, a new path to see herself another way.

- from After Image (Iris, The Flash)

Because words are her thing and all Rodney really needs to understand is he doesn’t have to be perfect, he can just be, the same as John is with her. That’s all they really need.

- from my McKay/Shep/Weir College professors AU ficlet (SGA)

It’s her turn to blush then, and that brings out a smile from Barry that makes all his previous smiles seem dull in comparison.

- from my Westallen Coffeshop AU (Barry/Iris, The Flash)

Other favorite lines:

'I can do that' and 'We ought to be able to manage it' and so many variations of those have been uttered by him over the years. All permutations on the theme of him not exactly promising to borrow/beg/steal an object for the client themselves per se. 'I could do that for you', with the words 'I won't' left off.

{...]he blames Elena for her moralizing him – changing his perception from shades of grey to a stronger contrast.

- from Slip of the Tongue (Nate, Uncharted)

there's nowhere to go. Except there's that tug inside her, like a whisper of gravity, that says, there's here.

- from After Image (Iris, The Flash)

Hunter, who turned out to be less bring-home-to-your-mom material and more of a wants-to-take-you-home-in-the-trunk-of-his-car kinda guy.

- from my Snowbarry Little Shop of Horrors AU (Barry/Caitlin, The Flash)

But it makes Cisco swallow hard because that isn’t the Piper outfit he’s most recently seen Hartley in. This is the outfit he made for Hartley, erased from existence like every other part of their friendship.

- from my Hartmon Alice in Wonderland Fusion (Cisco/Hartley, The Flash)

[irkenheretic]

okay i promised id do it and im doing it: Explaining The Plot Of That AU I’m Vague About: The Post

(as i was preparing to write this i actually got my 250th follower, which slapped)

so i’m just gonna start with the simple version, which is this: it’s a rebel AU which primarily centers around the tallest, who are both defective. they give up on trying to make any meaningful changes as figureheads, and instead direct their attention to being involved with the “neo defect revolution,” or NDR. they do manage to make one change as tallest- there is a garbage dump planet turned into a sanctuary for defectives (who in this au are executed once discovered,) and eventually enough of the populace finds out about it that the tallest have to deal with it. they finesse their way into kicking it out of the empire, so now it’s its own planet with its own rules, governments, and most importantly, immigration policies and protections

a lot of stuff happens and it’s gonna be structured using arcs, and each arc has a separate protagonist/deuteragonist/tritagonist lineup (but that doesnt mean the same lineup won’t be used multiple times!) and yes the insane list of OCs are for this au alone: some arcs are very OC-centric, some have OCs as supporting characters, and a couple are all-OC or mostly-OC. 

its going to be very longform and it’ll span from the tallest’s elite training days to twenty years after zim arrives on earth. (the 20 year gap btwn zim arriving on earth and the story proper isnt as tightly plotted as later tho.) the point is to see how a revolution on the scale of the NDR works, who was fucked over by defact laws, who was fucked over by other laws, etc. theres a lot of lore and a lot of headcanons i made for this AU and even a conlang. i am a being of hubris. itll be a series of fics, some multichapter and some oneshots. 

the series as a whole is gonna be called Invader Zim: Annexed or just Annexed for short. its a pun on an irken word that sounds similar but means the exact opposite. i am not explaining more bc itll be explained in the fic itself. but thats why the tag for it is #anx lmao

i didnt mean for this to be as long as it got but under the cut im gonna breakdown some of the early arcs:

so it all starts with a fanfic called Love Is The H-Word (no the “h-word” isn’t “hell.) it centers around red and purple as elites-in-training, who do a little whoopsie and have an egg. purple doesnt wanna smuggle it into a smeetery, bc then he’ll never see it again, so they go to the defect sanctuary (still a part of the empire at this point.) purple knows he’s defective while red has a hard time accepting that he is as well, due to events from his past. but being around all these other defects are starting to wear down his denial, and the fic is all about that. it also sets up some plot stuff, like how defects adopted a self-identifier in the word “heretic,” hence the sanctuary being named, “heretirk.” (hey look my url!) (no, the “h-word” is not heretic, either.) 

i dont wanna say what happens in that fic bc spoilers, but stuff Happens. its also when we meet some ocs that end up being important, and the existence of others are foreshadowed. this is also where we meet the tallests’ future advisor, rarl kove, for the first time, as a local who decides to keep them company. purple bonds with kove due to their shared interest in politics, while red reluctantly bonds with titch, a young irken (a smeet in heretirken standards, an adult in imperial standards- did i mention he and red are roughly the same age? lol) who is interested in military stuff and thrill-seeking and general destruction. titch is pissed because he claims his father is stealthing on devastis as a military commander, but won’t let titch sneak in as a soldier, as titch is deaf. 

(fun facts: in the au, “titch” is regional slang for “a little bit.” ironically, titch the character is above-average in height.)

due to titch’s deafness, he developed “gesturespeak,” irken sign language, so he can communicate. this existing becomes important later

a oneshot called invade the system is right after h-word in publishing order. it details zim’s exploits in leaving foodcourtia, where he was assigned and infiltrating the invading academy he eventually graduates from (in this au, zim is too short to be an invader, which sucks because the hight minimums for the military are really short to begin with lmao)

the fic chronoligically after H-Word focuses on red and purple being back in their platoon on devastis, specifically red navigating his training and his relationships with two defective platoonmates, pon and zi (who are in h-word a little,) after the realization that he too is defective. it also focuses on how the irken military works, and how they train their soldiers. 

the first arc overall focuses on red and purple going thru training and such, and ends after they graduate and are on the field, working to get commander rank. (they planned to gain commander rank then leave and go back to heretirk to train an army there, as heretirk has.... no army.) in the middle of this, they’re pulled out and told they are to become the next tallest. they debate over staying and taking the job or just running to heretirk, and they ultimately decide to stay.

the next arc i call the “bridge,” tbh. its less tightly plotted than the other arcs; fics are spread apart from each other chronologically and all that. it spans the time after the tallest being appointed to a little after zim arrives on earth. it also has a couple of anthologies focusing on imperial defects- each chapter is a new character. these guys are all important and the easiest way for me to introduce their backstories without cluttering everything up is anthology style, lmao. other things that happen are a look into how the tallest work, eventually culminating with the resolution of the tallest having to Deal With Heretirk, tenn’s rescue from meekrob, and zim on earth obtaining a half-irken smeet named pip due to stealing an Unethical Science Experiment from dib (which is pip.) the bridge is basically just. “heres some stuff that happens between point A and point B so when we get to point B you’re not confused as all hell.” 

the next arc focuses on zim. in the first fic, pip is sick and zim is trying to get into his neighbor’s pants, to cope. this basically sets up that zim in this au has no idea how to find personal fulfillment in living- he’s only OK if he focuses on pleasing someone else, be it taking care of pip or doting on the neighbor, some rando human named piqu (pronounced,��“peek.”) this is mainly a cute romance story with the underlying veneer of “a child is slowly and painfully dying” in the background. fun! 

without spoiling the circumstances, zim and pip end up on heretirk, which at this point is its own independent planet. pip is in the hospital for most of it so zim has to do his own thing. computer fans rejoice bc hes basically zims dad at this point, who tells him to go outside and get some fresh air and talk to the locals instead of schmooping or screaming in anxiety. im sneakily introducing more characters like ini, the “next-gen zim;” a short bio-engineer (she works on PAKs) who was constantly passed over by everyone because they dont trust someone that short or they dont trust someone that spazzy, even though shes actually brilliant. also her brother mo, who’s a pilot that NOBODY will teach military-class ships to (at this point, HTK has a population of ex-military that had their old ships, but still no formal army) because he doesnt talk and they think hes “slow” as a result. for the curious, he is physically able to talk most times, he just doesnt like it. zim ends up teaching him how to fly military-class which ends up being important laterrr

(haha ini and mo. wheres meenie and minie? ILL GET TO THEM)

no really, theyre quadruplets. named ini, myni, minie, and mo. these are real characters. 

minie isnt introduced till later. shes too cool to be the side character in someone elses arc. she is feel uncomfortable when we are not about her.

myni is busy palling around with pip and pip’s friend “elly” (real name elevenn, with two N’s.) elly is a half-meekrob War Crime Baby and tenn’s smeet. he has vision problems (he can “see” energy signatures of things, as opposed to conventional sight. everything is monochrome and he has to really focus to see like, words on a paper. also fuck tablets) but the trade-up is telekinetic powers (that he cant use too much or his brain will melt. fun!) this isnt relevant until the arc AFTER zim’s, where they end up poking around a historical site due to myni’s interest in that kind of thing, and they find logs of an old revolution (that was actually pretty successful in their goal, before they were caught and executed,) that lead them to a man named lefy. he helps with revolutions and helped these guys, and the trio go to seek him out; myni because he wants to impress his parents with helping them, pip because after they’ve recovered enough to walk around and do stuff, feel like they need to justify the choice to save their life and make their dad proud and all that, elly because he doesnt want pip to get hurt and die. And thats where the stuff REALLY starts happening and i cant tell u more sorry

this seemed kind of disjointed but thats bc i cant really be too detailed otherwise id like.... spoil it lmfao. but thats the summary of the first few arcs.

[ashiiblack]

Year in Review 2019

Total word count: 

Total fics written: 24 (a LOT of these are less than 1k)

Fandoms written in: BNHA, Yuri!!! on Ice, Harry Potter, Free!, and MCU

Chronological list of fics (in the order posted on AO3, not written)

Romance at the Roasted Bean (Harry/Draco, T, 1k) - Draco has a secret admirer.

Start With a Cold Brew (Victor/Yuri P, E, 5k) - Coffee Shop AU (this was technically written in 2018 but was in its exclusivity period for Victurio Anthology)

the music plays bitter, plays sweet (Harry/Draco, M, 1k) - Angsty with a hopeful ending of Harry’s marriage to Ginny ending.

The Taste of Something Different (Harry/Draco, T, 1k) - Harry is getting increasingly frustrated with his Auror partner’s inability to get him the right food.

Shining Bright (JJ/Yuri, T, 5k) - Five times JJ fails at asking out Yuri and the one time he succeeds (another 2018 fic in exclusivity for YOI Litmag).

The 80th Floor (Kirishima/Bakugou, M, 1k) - A deleted scene from the BNHA movie answering the question of how krbk ended up on the 80th floor.

Scars You Can’t See (Kirishima/Bakugou, G, 300 words) - Kirishima trying to comfort Bakugou after Kamino.

Strawberries (on your lips) (Kirishima/Bakugou, T, 900 words) - Studying with Kirishima turns into something unexpected.

The Bakugou Problem (Kirishima/Bakugou, T, 2k) - The Bakusquad decide to get Kirishima and Bakugou to date. Chaos ensues.

Fate Can Suck It (Kirishima/Bakugou, T, 3k) - Soulmate AU

I’ll unfold before you (Kirishima/Bakugou, E, 2k) - Post BNHA movie (and a sort of sequel to The 80th Floor)

Morning Light (Kirishima/Bakugou, T, 400 words) - After their first night together, Kirishima wakes up with Bakugou in his arms.

the fear of seeing death without ever loving you (Steve/Tony, E, 3k) - Steve returns the stones to their proper place but can’t help but see Tony one last time.

Truths in Letters (Harry/Draco, T, 5k) - Harry and Draco participate in a Guess the Penfriend inter-house unity game with interesting results. Epistolary fic written with just_another_loser.

Win-Win (Kirishima/Bakugou, E, 1500 words) - Bakugou likes that Kirishima can take his blasts. Kirishima just likes Bakugou.

Dare Me (Kirishima/Bakugou, T, 1500 words) - Uraraka gives Bakugou a dare. Eijirou isn’t sure what to think of it.

First Date (Kirishima/Bakugou, T, 1k) - Going from best friends to boyfriends isn’t the smoothest transition, but Bakugou and Kirishima make it work. (fun fact - this fic is based on @icicle33‘s Sims characters).

so good to be yours (Makoto/Haru, E, 2k) - Makoto visits Sydney while Haru is at a training camp for the Olympics. While things are awkward at first, they find their rhythm together again.

The Note (Kirishima/Bakugou, T, 1500 words) - Kirishima leaves a note to Bakugou on his desk confessing his crush to him. Humor and misunderstandings ensue.

everyday i want more of you (Kirishima/Bakugou, T, 2k) - Seven somewhat connected 300 word drabbles written for Chill November. Basically all krbk fluff.

Out of the Slipstream (Kirishima/Bakugou, E, 15k) - The professional road cycling AU no one asked for but I wrote it anyway.

Beauty, Like the Night (Iida/Aoyama, M, 10k) - A classic example of having to write the fic you want to read. Iida has a crush on Aoyama but it isn’t proper for a future hero to lust after his classmates.

Spark (Endeavor/Hawks, E, 2k) - When what Keigo thinks is a casual hookup suddenly becomes something more.

There’s also a week’s worth of BNHA Fluff Week Drabbles I wrote in June.

From my past year of writing…

My best story of this year: Honestly, probably my Stony fic. I was so raw after Endgame and this fic was screaming to be written. My most popular story of this year (by kudos, comments or notes): Stony again. One of those rare times I agree with stats.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: Take a chance on The Note? It’s only 1500 words. Most fun story to write: Beauty, Like the Night. Iidayama is my favorite rare ship and I fucking love Iida so much. Hardest story to write: Probably my cycling au. After thinking about this fic for so long, I really got in my head about it and didn’t feel like anything was good enough. Biggest disappointment: My drarry fics have been pretty off as of late. It doesn’t help when I have krbk basically always on my mind. Biggest surprise: Fun fact - I’m not a big fan of soulmate au tropes so I was pretty surprised Fate Can Suck It was so well received lmao. Honestly though I’ve warmed up to the genre since I wrote this one.

Most unintentionally telling story: Probably Stony again. I usually self insert into Tony but this time I went way into Steve.

Favorite Opening Lines: “We have a problem.” The Bakugou Problem

Favorite Closing Lines: “For now, they can sleep.” the fear of seeing death without ever loving you

Reflection time Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted? I wrote a lot less. My goal was 100k and I ended up just shy of 65k. What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January? BNHA/Kiribaku/Endhawks. I fell pretty hard for krbk at the end of the first season then came the sports festival and their beautiful ship moments just kept coming. Endhawks I have no excuse other than they’re hot af together and so much opportunity for angst with feelings. What’s your own favorite story of the year? Dude idk. A lot of what I wrote was fun ficlets. I’m gonna have to go with either my cycling AU or iidayama. I know I said I struggled with the cycling au but I’m fairly happy with how it turned out. Did you take any writing risks this year? Not exactly. The Stony was definitely different from my usual style. Do you have any fanfic goals for the new year? Gonna shoot for 100k for 2020 again. I’m doing the Tododeku Big Bang and then I have two Kiribaku ideas I’m going to write. One will be a oneshot and the other will likely be a longer fic. I’d also like to do some sort of drabble event because I really enjoy the challenge with a limited word count.

Decade wrapped

If you’re still with me, I want to briefly reflect on my decade of fanfiction. I’ve been writing fic since 2002 but I fell in and out of it through high school. I didn’t really get back into writing until 2010 toward the very end of college. I met @icicle33 thru ffnet at the end of 2011 and she introduced me to LJ events and fests and exchanges and my writing style developed a ton. I fell out of it a bit in the middle of the decade but came back in full force in 2017 (thanks again in large part to Icicle), especially once I joined YOI fandom. In this decade, I’ve written/posted roughly 600k words (I feel like the distinction is important because I also have about 100k of unposted WIP/outline/nonsense). I’ve made friends, enemies, laughed, cried, met multiple fandom friends irl including my darling @phaytesworld and Icicle, modded and written for zines, and so much more. Writing has always been a way for me to explore a different side of myself, to play in a sandbox with no stakes. I can’t imagine where I would be without it. Here’s to another 10 years and you can bet in 2029 my old ass will still be writing. Should the world have ended by then, you can find me in hell writing porn.

[bytheangell]

what does writing means to you? I see that you are so passionate about it and are constantly doing it even in small doses, almost everyday, etc. What does it means to you? Do you ever get stressed about it? How can you juggle that and alongside life in general? I'm curious about you, Elle. Where do you get all this motivation, inspiration? Do you consider yourself disciplined about it?

Alright, so to start, I love that you sent this in, Anon! I can’t imagine I’m interesting enough for anyone to be genuinely curious about?! But I appreciate that you are and I love getting personal asks as much as I love rambling about Shadowhunters, especially when they’re about writing!

Writing means everything to me, at the risk of sounding dramatic. It’s always been that One Thing I knew I was pretty good at. I love to read and write from a young age, always writing little stories or keeping a journal, and I guess it’s been a constant in my life for as long as I could remember. I joined fandom forum RPs and wrote there even when I wasn’t doing original short stories, but I wrote those on and off growing up, too. It’s always been an escape, cheap and easy to turn to whenever I need it, or a way to vent, or a way to sort through thoughts muddled in my head. I love writing. It is, by far, my favorite thing to do in my free time. 

That said, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t ever get stressed about it. I write for fun, yes, and I write the things I want to write because I love them. But sometimes the words just won’t come, or I’ll let myself get distracted and not write as much as I want to that day, or not finish things as quickly as I’d like after I start them, and sometimes I let that get to me no matter how much I try not to. I just hit the one year mark of writing fanfiction. I’m still getting used to the idea that there are people actively following what I put out there, or waiting for the next bit of a series. That anyone might specifically like my writing. Sometimes I let the prompts sit too long and I feel super guilty about it. Or have more ideas than I could ever reasonably get to, but feel unreasonably upset over not just having unlimited writing time. Sometimes I have to remind myself I’m allowed to do other things like watch tv or nap after work, that I don’t have to be writing every free second, even though there’s always something I could be working on. And OOF the stress of something not going over well. Is it me? Is it my writing? Or a poorly executed concept? Or bad characterization that’s missing the mark and failing? What am I doing wrong? 

Thankfully, those sorts of moments are definitely in the minority for me, and far less common now than they were when I first started. I’m more confident in my writing now, but more than that, I’ve stopped focusing so much on writing what I think other people want to read and just started writing what I want to write, even if it’s not a popular character or expected pov. And honestly? I think that shift has made all the difference throughout the past year. (Of course, that doesn’t apply to prompts, which is obviously writing exactly what someone else wants to read xD Which I LOVE getting, because someone out there specifically wants me to write a thing they’re interested in? What?! That’s like the ultimate compliment

I’m glad you called it ‘juggling’ writing with life in general, because it sure isn’t ‘balancing’ fhdas;fj;askl. There’s a lot of sleep deprivation. I never end up having a job with normal hours, so I’m either working weird swing shifts or tons of overtime, but to fit in the spurts of writing I’ve gotten used to lately I pretty much average 4-5 hours of sleep a night. #Priorities. I’m not the most social, so coming home and writing for an hour or two a day after work is a great way for me to unwind. I wish I was more disciplined about it, but really it just comes and goes in spurts. I try to write every day when I can but sometimes I’ll go for days without writing anything new, and others I’ll end up with a few thousand words in a couple of hours. I keep meaning to get into more of an proper habit of it, but I’ve never been good with things like ‘I’ll write from 6-7 am every day’ sorts of writing schedules. It always just happens when it happens  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

As far as inspiration, obviously right now a lot of the coda and scene fill/povs I’m writing are taken directly from the show. I can’t help but hit the end of an episode and immediately think, ‘what would I want to happen next?’ or ‘I have a lot of feels about that one particular moment let’s elaborate on that’ or ‘what can I picture -insert character here- doing next’, and playing with things from there. A lot of it is also things I wish I saw more of in canon and willing them into existence. As far as AUs, a lot of it comes from bouncing random ideas off of friends, off of discussions on twitter or tumblr, or seeing something in a show or movie and going ‘THIS DYNAMIC, YES’.  I pull some stuff from real life, too. I did a Malec oneshot recently set with a literary magazine that stopped allowing anonymous submissions, totally a thing my lit mag did in high school. Most of it just sort of… happens. It’ll just be a random idea out of nowhere. I wish I had a better explanation. I’ve always been good at making up stories on the spot, taking one small idea, or sentence, or feeling, and turning it into something more. It almost never ends the way I meant at the start because I have a very fluid writing style and almost always just have the vaguest concept to start with and no solid ending, leaving the things I work on entirely adaptable or changeable along the way. 

And last but not least, the motivation. A lot of it is just the desire to get the ideas in my head down on paper (or, you know, google docs). I like to share ideas I have with friends because their excitement over them is a huge motivator. The positive reactions I get on the writing I post time and time again is always amazing, and while I don’t write for the kudos or likes, knowing that what I’m doing is something others enjoy is always a great motivator to create more. I’ve also come across some amazing writer friends in the fandom since I joined. Chatting with them about the ups and downs of writing fanfic, seeing the amazing content they create and being inspired not just by their writing and ideas but also their attitudes and encouragement has made all the difference over the course of this year. The Shadowhunter Fanfic Nexus is an amazing group of talented writers that was kind enough to take a chance on adopting me pretty early on. They’re always willing to help with details or to run ideas by or listen to me keysmash in frustration when things aren’t working. There’s nothing like a group of writer friends to listen to you go ‘WHAT ARE WORDS WHY DO I EVEN BOTHER I’VE NEVER HAD A CREATIVE THOUGHT IN MY LIFE’ and meet you with both understanding and the reassurance that you’re always your own worst critic and you’ll get there in the end. 

And there you have it! A little glimpse into my writing mindsets, I guess? That got more than a little rambly, sorry! I hope it was even remotely the sort of things you wanted to know and that you aren’t full of total regret for ever asking in the first place now that I wrote a small novella about myself here, xD. But you’re definitely right, I’m very passionate about writing, and I never imagined it’d be something so well received by others and I’m thankful for the opportunity to share it with so many other people!

[couchpotatoaniki]

Thank you @atozfic​ for the tag. Also, I’m not surprised by your answer AT ALL, especially from how much you hate on ateez & pe, but you are a wonderful writer sO HAVE SOME CONFIDENCE-- /g

For the original post, click here

"Which of your own fics do you like and dislike most, and why?"

OH BOI, OKAY. So, I'll be splitting this into two--fanfics that I've uploaded on all platforms (and am most likely in the process of transferring over onto Tumblr), and fanfics uploaded on Tumblr only.

✍︎ Fanfics on Tumblr:

☞︎︎︎ Like

For me, it'd have to be my headcanon story line for both BTS and ATEEZ 'cause they're essentially the same. I mean, they're not even proper full-on fanfics, but I'm so in-love with the storyline, how I've chosen to present it, the versatility of the entire concept (since they're literally just a bunch of headcanons but still tied together neatly by an overshadowing plotline). I also like how it challenges me as a writer since I do my best to never repeat the same story (and the situations and context between them help make it easier for me too). Really, it's a way to flesh out my creativity without having so many stories/series I need to keep up with. So, in short, I just love my Stories From Alternate Universes Series.

☞︎︎︎ Dislike

Pretty much everything--jk jk. If I had to chose one, then I'd say it would be my Jungkook fanfic, Gentleman. Idk why, but this was the most disappointing one for me. Initially, I adored the concept (if you know me, you'd know I'm an absolute sucker for the Greek/Roman mythos (since sources show that the story of Cupid (Greek name Eros) and Psyche is strictly a Roman myth) as well as writing some twisted shit) but this felt very... underwhelming. First of all, I don't think it was executed as well as it should have been, making the whole thing seeming very... bland. In fact, it was not only bland, but it was sTUPID. Going back and re-reading it gave me a nasty case of cringe and I truly am sorry for all of those poor saps whose eyeballs had to read it 'cause it was tRASH. Secondly, I'm not a very good smut writer, or even a suggestive one at that, so the ending was not only very basic and (again) stupid, but it was also just very bad writing. Don't try to justify this fic, 'cause in my eyes, you never will. IT BELONGS IN TARTARUS--

✍︎ Fanfics in general:

☞︎︎︎ Like

SWEET ESCAPE oh my god, I love Sweet Escape so much. If you've had a glance at my masterlist, then you'll find the blub/synopsis/description/whatever else you wanna call it. But the basic idea of this mini-series is that it's about being transported to an unknown land (in this case, a land of sweets), with a heavy influence of Alice in Wonderland themes (I say 'themes', but it's essentially just an AU). Rereading it, I like how I've paced myself, how the characters have developed a lot better since there's a lot less pressure to cram it all in. If you've already noticed, I don't write more than 8k in one chapter--this is because I prefer writing series rather than oneshots; it's more my style to break things up into small posts with many chapters than one massive post. I don't have the attention span or the patience to do it all in one go, which is probably why I prefer my series/mini-series than my oneshots.

☞︎︎︎ Dislike

*sigh* Oh, Silence and Observation, the bane of my existence. This one's also a Jungkook fanfic, which is a probs not a coincidence since in my other platform, there was a lot of pressure to write JJK ff. I mean, there still is here, but I care a lot less now. As you can probably tell, I don't do well under pressure, so trying to get perfection from me will most likely result in a hot mess. On top of that, it was one of the first ones I ever wrote so it was gonna be trash from the get-go with my lack of experience. Now, this one mentioned language barriers, which isn't really addressed in fanfics, so I wanted to have a crack at it: angst-style ('cause how else was I supposed to? Fluff???). Obviously, since it was one of my first ones, I was more concerned about the getting across the angst than I was writing it well and portraying it properly. So yes, all in all, it was pure garbage and deserves to burn in Hell. Whether I'll actually rewrite it will deffo be a matter of internal debate, but I doubt it'll happen. AND WHAT'S WORSE, IS THE FACT THAT IT GOT MORE READS AND COMMENTS THAN ANY OF MY OTHER (MUCH BETTER) ONESHOTS so I pretty much have the same issue as Hyde (the person who tagged me). It feels like a punch in the gut :((

Also, special shout-out to Talk, my Jongho fic, which was basically me angsting over my own situation and feelings towards a certain person (they were absolutely 'pErFeCt' in everything except their personality)--and the writing wasn't even any good. It was basically just a shitty rant, and I am 99.9% sure that won't ever see the light of Tumblr.

Tagging (y'all don't have to if you don't want to 💜💛💙): @lovesanmotion @xjoonchildx

[xuaryxth]

☆Namjoon Soulmate AU Part 6/7☆

Setting the phone down, you let a small smile take over your features. You knew you should have probably texted the group again; hear more about the Soulmate Systems the boys were in, but you just needed a moment to take it all in. Namjoon wanted you to come back to Korea to spend time with him during his downtime. Not only would you get to spend time with your soulmate, but with people you loved and supported for years.

01 || 02 || 03 || 04 || 05 || 06 || 07[END]

So the next part miiight involve some writing rather than just texts… I did a tiny bit of that here in this part… I’m really iffy on actually writing again as I haven’t written proper fanfiction in years... and I find my own writing to be all over the place because of how my brain spews ideas and sentences... I’m also terrible when it comes to editing my own writing soooooo yeah... 

I’m also thinking of doing a series or at least oneshots for the other members... Not too sure about that... since some would be texts and others would be actual fanfics...

《Requests are open.》

[commodorecliche]

Lindsey do you have advice for 1st time fic writers? I have ideas but I don't know where to beginning and it's honestly a bit scary

Gah I’m so sorry you had to wait, but I wanted to make sure I could give you a proper reply! 

I totally understand it being scary! It really can be intimidating jumping into writing. But here a couple things that might help you along: 

1. Write. Literally, just write. No matter what you think of your own writing, no matter how you think it compares to other people’s writing, no matter if you struggle or if it comes easy: write. You’re gunna write some stuff that’s great, you’re gunna write some stuff thats not that great. We literally all have written a huge mixture of great and shitty stuff. And it’s okay. But always keep writing. If it’s bad, it’s bad, so what? Write more and make it better. Remember that no matter what you write, even if you think it’s bad, someone out there is going to love it. So write the thing. 

2. Know the characters you want to write. This is a biggie in fanfic - you gotta have at least a decent grasp on the characters’ basic traits before you write them. Because if you don’t, it’s going to stick out like a sore thumb. So look back at the source material, take note of the characters - how they act, how they speak, what they say, who they’re close with, etc... - and roll with it. 

3. Have a plot already in mind. Start out with the idea you want to write. The more you can plan out to start with, the better. (Note: This doesn’t always work for everyone. Some people are more chaotic writers, who like to plan as they go. Which is totally fine. I tend to be a mixture of a pre-planner and a plan-as-you-go writer tbh. But I think when you’re first starting out, it’s helpful to give yourself an outline, a step-by-step of your plot and how you want it to progress.) 

4. Start small and attainableFrankly, when you’re starting out, it’s best to write about stuff you know or are at least somewhat familiar with. And it’s best to start off kind of small. I personally wouldn’t jump into a massive multichapter fic about astrophysics on your first attempt. You’re welcome to try, if that’s what you have in mind, but smaller goals like oneshots and ficlets are easier to attain. Write about things you like, things you find interesting, things you understand. Then as you get more adept with your characters, you can branch out to bigger and more diverse projects. 

5. Stay focusedA big issue I see in a lot of new writers, especially new fanfic writers, is the wandering mind. You really don’t want to include anything that isn’t actually important or relevant to your characters or the plot. A bunch of superfluous content will really only make your readers lose interest. If your plot or overall themes would be literally unchanged if you took out a section of the fic, then take the section out, because all it’s going to do is detract from the piece as a whole. This is also important for continuity. There’s an issue I like to call the Disappearing Horse, where a writer will bring up something (like a horse), only to forget about it very quickly and never mention it again because it ultimately didn’t serve a narrative purpose. If you don’t need the horse, don’t bring it out of the stable. If it doesn’t matter to the plot or the themes of the piece, then don’t bring it up. 

6. Formatting/Spelling/GrammarPlease please, this isn’t about being a stickler, this is about ease of reading the fic: please make sure that your fic is properly formatted. Make sure your dialogue is properly spaced, make sure your grammar is correct, that things are spell checked. 

7. GET A BETA READERSeriously. Literally everyone needs a beta, no matter how skilled they are. Have someone read your work, and they can look for grammar/spelling errors, formatting errors, continuity errors, awkward or weird phrasing, etc... 

8. Practice your dialogue aloudI do this all the time. Speak your dialogue aloud, act like you’re having the conversation with yourself. It’s the easiest way to find out if your dialogue is natural or realistic. Nobody wants stilted dialogue, and this is a quick and easy way to avoid it. 

9. Show, don’t tell. Avoid adverbs where you can. Adverbs are very alluring to writers - they’re a quick, easy way that we can describe something that’s happening. But they’re also pretty lazy and tend to hinder your writing’s flow. You are better off showing your readers rather than telling them. An adverbs tells the reader what’s happening, whereas active and descriptive verbs show a reader what’s happening          Example: Don’t: “She walked slowly along the beach, happily enjoying the sea air.”Do: “She moseyed along the water’s edge, taking her time to enjoy the sea air.”You see how the second sentence is much more vivid? It shows the audience much more about the scene rather than just flatly telling us “she’s walking slow and she’s happy”. 

Note: I highly recommend you check out the Hemingway text editor. It’s a very useful tool that can pinpoint issues with your writing such as overuse of adverbs, long/run on sentences, difficult phrasing, etc... 

10. Literally everything is derivative, so don’t worry too much about your ideas not being “original enough”Look, this is fanfic. The concept itself is derivative. Fanon is also a big influence on fanfic. So some of your stuff is obviously going to take some tropes or ideas from other things. And that’s okay. Build on those tropes and make them your own. (Note: obviously don’t copy people. this is more about when you feel like an idea of yours has already been done. It’s okay if someone else has done that AU you were thinking of - their AU is going to be different from your AU, your AU is going to be yours. so go for it!) 

11. WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE I know I said this already but write. And post what you write. You’re going to love writing sometimes. You’re going to hate writing sometimes. You’re going to go through spells where you feel wholly uncreative. You’re going to have times when you literally feel like a fountain of ideas. Creativity comes in seasons. Write as they come and as they change. No matter what, you’re going to get better, and no matter what, even if you think it’s bad or that no one wants to read it, you’re going to write something that someone out there is going to love. SO WRITE!! :D 

Ahhh that’s all I can think of off the top of my head! I may think of others later and add to this post. But if anyone else has any other tips, please feel free to tack them on. 

[reyskyber]

Fic tag game (?)

I was tagged by the ever-lovely @stardust-blake (Thank you!! This was fun!! I’m sorry this took so long, I’ve been at uni and just got back to my laptop.)

1. what is your most popular fic by kudos? comments? bookmarks? are they all the same?

Most popular is Begging Me to Beg for You for all three (idk why, it was so bad omg)

2. do you have a favourite of your fics? if not, do you have one you’re most proud of? why?

I think my favourite fic to write was Season’s Greetings, because the idea came to me from pretty much nowhere and it was just cute and fluffy.  But the fic I’m most proud of is IDGAF because I never actually intended to write it, and it was my second smut fic but I just felt like it actually worked that time?  If that makes sense. I didn’t want to go and hide in a corner after I published it like I did for BMTBFY.

3. what fandom/ship (if you write for more than one) is your favourite to write for?

I think bellarke are my favourites to write for, just because it’s the easiest for me.  With dramione, it always felt like the fandom was so big, and everyone only ever read works from a handful of readers (I know in actuality it’s not like that, but at 15 it felt like that).  And I am never going to attempt a Jon/Dany because the game of thrones/ASOIAF universe is so big I don’t even want to think about it, which is why I ended u writing Kit/Emilia instead, which does make me uncomfortable now and I wouldn’t write it again.  I just wanted a Jon/Dany modern AU without having to know the ins and outs of how Winterfell worked etc.

4. do you have any fics that got more popularity/attention than you expected? if so what were they?

BMTBFY.  I should have seen this coming, since it was a smut fic, but I sort of just wrote it and left it and now it has over 5k hits which I wasn’t expecting at all.  And I actually don’t think this fic is any good so I’m still shocked when I see people reading it/leaving kudos.

5. where do you get your ideas/inspiration from? do you have a fic that you feel is particularly unique in that area?

Almost every single fic I have written is because of something that has happened to me in my real life (except the canonverse ones obvs).  But Season’s Greetings was inspired by a text message I saw where their friend mistakenly thought they’d called them “honey” when they were asking for honey flavouring.  The inspiration for Winter Winds was me stood outside my work waiting for a lift off my mum thinking “wow I wish one of my friends would drive past and pick me up.”  But then that seemed weird to write so I changed it to what it became.  And That’s a Wrap was me wrapping my family Christmas presents for about three hours straight thinking I should monopolise it, alas someone stole my idea. As for unique fics, I’ve got one coming that feel unique, but I’ve only been reading bellarke for a few months so idk if someone’s already written it yet.

6. do you have a favourite character to write POV for?

I like to switch, just to give the full view of the situations.  But I’ve always naturally slipped into Clarke’s POV (I think that stems from YEARS of reading every single fic from Hermione’s POV and being completely thrown when I read anything from Draco’s so now female POV just feel natural? idk).  

I think I’m more like Bellamy in how I react to situations so that’s a bit easier to write, but I think I talk more like Clarke than any other character, so her dialogue is easier to write?  In all honesty, I just write whatever I think of and do a lot of editing later so I don’t really take much notice of what I’m feeling when i’m writing.

7. what’s your favourite side pairing to include?

I’ve not had much change to write anything including a side pairing, but I love Lincoln/Octavia and Miller/Monty or Miller/Jackson (I just need Miller to be happy okay?)

8. do you have a fic you feel is underrated in comparison to your other fics? or you just wish more people would read?

I just wish everyone who read BMTBFY actually went and read IDGAF because it was actually a lot better (in my opinion, and my sister’s.)  But I don’t have that many fics published so?

9. what’s something you would go back and change in one of your fics?

hahahaha everything.  I once wrote a dramione fic that I’m scared to go back a look at.  But tbh, I will eventually hate anything I’ve ever done if I stare at it for long enough, so there’s a lot I’d change and it’s nothing major, just scenes that could do with rewriting or something.

10. what is your favourite sort of comment to receive on a fic?

Any comment.

11. what are your favourite genres of fic to write? (e.g. modern au, hurt/comfort, fluff, angst, etc.)

I think I feel most comfortable writing Modern AUs, as long as I never try and emulate any kind of US culture (bc I know nothing), but fluff all the way, I can’t write angst for shit.  So fluff all the way.

12. what are your favourite tropes to write?

Gotta love a good friend to lovers trope.  I’ve not written many tropes yet, but hopefully I’ll get inspired and get chance to work on some stuff.

13. do you write fics similar to what you enjoy reading or completely different? both?

hmm sometimes.  I mean, I enjoy writing modern AUs, but that’s a very broad topic and I’ve read a lot of AUs. I generally avoid reading anything with Clarke of Bellamy dying and I don’t think I could write that, but tbh I’ll read almost anything but I’m quite picky about what I write.

14. what’s your writing process like?

If it’s something I want to be good, I’ll write it out entirely by hand and then type it up.  And I almost always have to write everything in chronological order and then work backwards once the bulk of it is there.  Editing takes me forever though.  I need a lot of tea and music and usually take about 15 minute breaks because I’m easily distracted.  But if I’m writing a scene that I can feel rather than just see in my mind’s eye then I cannot stop writing it until it’s done.

15. multi-chapter, oneshot, or drabble?

Back when I first started reading fanfic a drabble was 100 words or less, but now it seems to be more?  So I’m gonna say a drabble (anything up to 5k) is easier for me because I can write it in a day or two and then edit it quickly.  But I like writing one-shots too. And I’ve never done a multichapter so idk.

16. if someone was only going to read one of your fics, which would you want them to read?

This is a tough once, because I’d want them to read the one I’m writing now because it’s actually a proper fic instead of a drabble.  But I’d say any of them, they’re all quite similar (sort of).

Is there anyone left to do this that hasn’t?  Idk who to tag?  If you see this, consider yourself tagged!

[porchwood]

Gadge Day Reflections: My Journey with Gadge

This might be a bit of a rambling mess (I’m running on so much anxiety and so little sleep), but here goes:

I’m the kind of girl who sees romantic ships everywhere - the stray word, the slightly too-long look, the almost-unnoticed touch - and pounces on them. Which is why it’s rather painful to admit that I didn’t see Gadge as a ship till it started cropping up in the fanfics I read, and even then I didn’t understand where the pairing had come from. (This was circa 2012, by the bye. All three books were out and the THG movie was in theaters.) I remember wondering at one point why people would ever put Madge and Gale together and being mortified that Madge bringing the morphling after Gale was whipped hadn’t given me proper shipper pause. It wasn’t so much that I’d overlooked the scene or its significance; rather, I identify strongly with Katniss and she hated the implication (made by Haymitch, who I’ve never been able to stand) that something might be going on between Gale and Madge, and somewhere between that and the wretched post-whipping Galeniss, the notion of any sort of relationship between Gale and Madge vanished like wisps of vapor. After all, Madge was Katniss’s friend, so it made sense (to me at the time) that she would make a courageous gesture to help Katniss by helping Gale.

At this point in my little shipper head, Gale was little more than an obstacle to Everlark, especially since I was still in that purist “T-rated canon post-MJ fics only” stage, which meant at the very best, Madge might show up in Katniss’s nightmares. My very first fic - which started as a joke with my sister and quickly turned into a legitimate premise - was Something Good: a gender-reversed (canon post-MJ) Everlark story loosely based on The Sound of Music - naturally, with no Madge whatsoever and Baroness!Gale as a major obstacle.

And just before I could post the first chapter of that fic, in a twist that even I couldn’t have predicted, I was unexpectedly, abruptly, intensely inspired to write an Everlark version of “East of the Sun and West of the Moon.”

“What has this to do with Gadge?” you may ask. For starters, it was the first time I had to be a grown-up and write Gale (in spite of my feelings) as Katniss’s friend, however briefly, as they part in the woods in Ch 2. And then I wanted Madge to come over and say goodbye in Ch 3, which meant that someone had to go and tell her that Katniss was leaving. And that’s where all the trouble started. ;)

Gadge exited Stage Left of the WtMiverse at that point (some four years ago) but they were still dancing around the fringes of my fics, for those with eyes to see. I’d discovered a passionate fondness for AU!Gale, who was easy to make a relative of Katniss and therefore no longer an obstacle-to-Everlark, so I had no trouble writing said Gales as attractive and deeply fascinating (i.e., the gamekeeper cousin in The Threshing Floor and Eomer!Galen in The Steward and the Bow-Maiden), but of equal importance, I think, was the fact that I was starting to envision and even imply Gadge relationships on the fringes of those fics. In Threshing Floor Haymitch accuses Peeta of never noticing Wessex girls till Katniss showed up in the field and makes a special note of “Viscount Undersee’s girl [riding] across your field in her petticoat at Midsummer,” which I always assumed was something to do with Hawthorne the gamekeeper (be it to impress him, get his attention, or meet him for a lover’s tryst), but as I never went back to write the epilogue I’d intended, the question was never answered. Bow-Maiden was supposed to have an epilogue too (”The Bride of Ithilien”), in which a Tolkienesque wedding night would be preceded by Eowyn!Katniss receiving new bride counsel from Queen Anniwen and - guess who? - Madriniel, princess of Dol Amroth and new wife of Eomer!Gale. (Heck, somewhere in there I was determined to write my own version of Marion Chesney’s delightful Six Sisters series, in which Regency era social divide!Gadge was very much on the docket, particularly as Madge would be the only one with prospects for a decent society marriage!)

And then a whole dump-truck of very bad life stuff happened to me (there’s no other way to say it :/) and all things writing fell away for a very long time. I managed to produce a little more WtM from the mire but trying to write anything at all was like trying to walk on a broken leg. (It still is, for the majority of the time. :( The prolific enthusiasm has never come back.) But some way, somehow, from the depths of that morass, I got an impulse to write Six Months to Strawberry Time, or rather, what I thought would be the entirety of the fic: one quick spiky Gadge oneshot to show Madge becoming Gale’s hunting partner (something I’d intended for the WtMiverse almost from the beginning but which wasn’t supposed to come up till Everlark visited the district in spring, by which time Gadge might also be in a romantic relationship...). 

I felt pretty good about the oneshot (for so I thought it would remain) and figured I’d leave the fic in-progress in case other quick oneshot-esque chapters presented themselves...and then this July, as I was trying desperately to work on Honey-God (and binging on adaptations of Jane Eyre, for which we might be partially able to blame my roommate), Strawberry Time suddenly roared to the forefront of my mind in thorough, lavish detail and demanded to be written. Which put me in an awkward place all around, but these were the only words that had come to me in many months and so of course, I had to chase them.

Three months later Strawberry Time is sitting at just under 40,000 words (and counting), and I can only be grateful to the Gadge devotees for letting me crash their party so late in the game and apologetic to my Everlark readers, to whom this fic (and especially my Gadge Day queue) must feel like a massive betrayal. I most assuredly didn’t plan to start a massive multi-chapter Gadge fic but I’m curiously glad that I have - in part to finally explore these characters and their dynamic (and let me tell you, having to write Gale honestly telling Madge about his feelings for Katniss was hard as nails) but also because opening the door in the other direction - into Twelve rather than the woods - has provided a delicious opportunity to follow all the parallel rabbit trails, from Primko’s windowsill courtship to Rooba’s mythical bacon buns. Strawberry Time has already given me opportunities to drop hints about future (and significant past) stuff in the WtMiverse that would never have fit into WtM itself, and of course we’ll soon have Gadge kisses (and very possibly Gadge smut ;D) as the icing on the strawberry cake.

Will I ever write Gadge outside of the WtMiverse (ex. Jane Eyre, Beauty and the Beast)? I truly have no idea. Depression is relentless and brutal, and I had to claw my way to the surface just to produce this Gadge Day queue. But Gadge presents a delicious dynamic all their own (as do Marko/Prim and Jack/Raisa, if you’re me :D) and once they’re a part of your shipping lineup, you start getting besieged by plot bunnies you would never previously have thought twice about - bunnies that could be made to serve other pairings but into which the perfect pairing fits like a key in a well-oiled lock. Which gets you wondering if maybe you should start spending more time with that pairing that fits so well into all these wonderful plots...

I know this isn’t really a “why I ship Gadge” piece - I tried to write one such and this is what came out, and I’m far too tired to try again - but I really hope it will suffice, if for no other reason than to begin to explain to folks following me why I crawled out of my dark hole and spent an insane amount of hours tagging and scheduling over 100 Gadge-centric posts for the blog I haven’t worked on in many months. Thanks for letting me ramble. *hugs*

[nightglider124]

Baby girl

Sup, m’lovely!

Oh-ho-ho… a breakdown?

Absolutely. Actually, chopping it up into an organised answer with paragraphs might help me with my own process. Planning can be such a headache and it only gets worse if everything is a mess and a half.

Ahem.

Please stand by for a long ass but hopefully helpful post.

Physical Planning

By this I mean, when you actually use a pen and paper to bullet point and jot down your idea; whether it be a basic, rough draft or a deeply descriptive plan. But, it’s that very first step after an idea pops into your mind.

When inspiration knocks. Answer the damn door, you fool. Don’t tell yourself, “Oh, I’ll write it down later. I’m sure I’ll remember.” Spoiler! You won’t. I am fairly certain I am not alone when you tell yourself that and merely minutes after, it’s gone without a single trace. Then, you’re left with that pointless frustration at yourself for not remembering and it sucks. So, to combat that, always write an idea down straight away. Whether it’s on paper, a napkin, a sweet wrapper, your hand; it doesn’t matter. Just get the brief idea down somewhere to jog your memory later on when you go to write it up as a proper idea. With this, smartphones can be your best friend because the universal ‘Notes’ feaure that most of them have can come in real handy for this. Have an idea? Note it down in your phone to reference later on. Main point here is, get your idea down somewhere. You’ll kick yourself if you don’t.

Label your ideas. You don’t have to have a solid, concrete title for your story which means you also don’t have to definitively label your quickly written idea. Use a keyword that has some meaning to your idea. If it’s about… watching a sunset for example, just call it, ‘Sunset’ for the time being. This is just another way to keep things a little more set out and organised. It just really helps to label them so you don’t get confused over what you wrote. Many times have I written an idea on a scrap piece of paper at school or work, shoved it in my pocket and pulled it out when I got home, forgetting what it is and seeing no title so I’ve ended up chucking it in the bin. Labels are your pals. Embrace labelling your ideas. 

Keep them separate. It’s just good common sense to keep multiple ideas serparated from each other. Don’t note down a bunch of things about one idea on the same paper as another because odds are, ya’ll gon’ get confused as fuck. Also, it doesn’t hurt to write them in different coloured pen so you know they have nothing to do with each other. Keeping ideas apart is just yet another way of ensuring you are being as organised as you can for your own sake. Messy ideas and confusion are not the ones. 

Write them out properly. So, you’ve got your McDonalds napkin with your idea on it stuffed in your pocket and you’ve just got home. Time to write out on a fresh, normal piece of paper. You don’t have to do this but I prefer to have fresh versions as my phusocal copies of plans rather than whatever shred I wrote it down on in my moment of inspiration. This way, you can pinpoint more parts of your idea and expand and add details and make it more than just a passing thought. This is when you can write it up as an actual plan. 

Keep them neat & tidy. Guys, you’ve worked hard to make up your written draft; the least you could do is keep it nice and tidy. Don’t crumple it, don’t put holes in it, don’t let anything spill on it, don’t let it get ripped. Keep it clean. I recommend using plastic wallets as this is what I do. I pop my paper plans in a plastic wallet and then place a sticky label on the front of the wallet, again, so I am aware of which idea is which. Keeping your written ideas in a wallet will keep them fresh, clean and smooth. Perfect for when you want to go back and read over it or write it up elsewhere but I’ll get to that.

Keep them in a folder. Folders and organisational objects are a godsend. I don’t know why you wouldn’t store ideas in a folder of some description. Mine is red and actually one I used in high school for English class but now it stores any and all, properly labelled, story ideas. Have a gander.

There are original and fanfic story ideas in there so it’s a good little thing to have on hand if you’re trying to be focused and organised. It just keeps everything in it’s place which makes it so much easier for you. Life, for real, save yourself a headache and get yourself a folder. It helps a lot.

Keep them in a notebook. If you don’t like the idea of having a big ol’ bulky folder sitting on your desk or whatever, opt for a notebook that you just keep close to hand. Notebooks are wonderful and can act as both your initial scrap orrr you can write pages and pages of plans. They’re flexible. I use notebooks all the dang time. I keep them in the drawer beside my bed usually so that if I wake up with an idea or something; bam! There’s my notebook. Seriously. I have like 5 active notebooks that I just grab.

See? 

The Harley Quinn one is probably my most frequently used. I love my notebooks and they can be a good alternative to a big folder. But, they can also be great as material for initial ideas. Personally, I will get an idea and grab one of these babies and go to town, writing my ideas and plot points and what I want to create. After, I’ll tear the pages out and staple them together. Then, I’ll tuck them into a plastic wallet and pop that in my red idea folder. It’ll stay in there until later when I have the time to sit at a computer and write it up. Don’t know notebooks. They’re fabulous.

Store the notebook or folder safely. The whole reason you’re writing in a notebook or storing them in a folder is for safekeeping. Don’t ruin that hard work by leaving your stuff around to be thrown out or lost. Pop it in a place that you remember and is some place you look at all the time. Personally, I keep my folder in the drawer beneath my bed so that it’s within reaching distance when I get the urge to write up and/or expand on ideas. I mean, maybe I’m a little on the crazy side but I love things being organised; especially my ideas and stories. There are so many damn ideas; I need to lock them up somewhere other than in my head.

Digital Planning

This is definitely a personal choice but I deeply believe it’s better to have a digital version of plans for quick referencing, rather than shuffling through papers in order to write up a story. 

Now, say you’ve got three story ideas written down on paper. They’re safely stored and tucked away but you want to transfer them onto your laptop.

Word is your friend. It really is and so much better since the olden days with that godforsaken paperclip who always tried to help but was absolutely rubbish. I use Microsoft Word to write out any and all plans and chapters and oneshots. I sometimes use Zenwriter which is a cool and fairly cheap program out there which really aids a writer in forgetting the outside world and focusing on what they’re writing. Unlike Word, Zenwriter gives no distractions. As it is full screen software, it hides any buttons or toolbars for you to do a random Google search about why they’re called socks and not foot gloves. I recommend Zenwriter to all writers. It’s great they do a free trial, I believe so I’d defo tell people to give it a go at the very least.

Anyways, you have three physically written ideas. Get three Word documents open and transfer your papers ideas to each document. This is going somewhere. I promise.

Save each idea as something memorable. Labels, labels and more labels. Just like the paper version, you don’t need to have a concrete title in mind for the story idea yet. But, I usually title my plans as followed, ‘Title - Plan’. Simple yet effective. You can’t just save the file as a bunch of random numbers and letters. If you do that, there’s no point as you’ll most likely forget and lose it, not realising it is right in front of you because you’ve titled it something random.

If you’re organising plans for fanficition in particular, I would also put into a title if it’s an AU story. I do. A normal universe plan will be, ‘Title - Plan’ whereas an aulterante universe story plan will read like, ‘AU - Title - Plan’. Just little things to help yourself out is all it is, really.

Save all files in one location on your computer. So, you’ve copied your 3 paper written ideas to 3 separate Word documents and are in the process of saving them under appropriate titles. Where do you save them? Documents? Pictures? Music?

Personally, I keep everything to do with writing in a folder, accurately titled, ‘~Stories~’. This contains literally everything. Plans, stories; everything to do with writing is in this folder. This folder is also kept within Documents; a local and familiar section of Windows explorer. Please see below:

Good. As I said, for the moment, we’re just keeping all 3 ideas together so that we don’t lose track or anything. Of course, you could title your main folder as something else but this is how I label my folders.

Be extra and sort them out. You’ve got all 3 documents in your ‘Stories’ folder and you’re that much closer to being an organised genius. You’re not yet finished, however. Once inside of my ‘Stories’ folder, I have 8 folders. I know; you’re probably convinced I’m too into this organising thing but it helps me so, points for Night.

Let’s analyse my folders, shall we?

Counting The Days - Pretty obvious, no? Because I have big plans for this series and I plan more than one story and because it’s my long-time story baby, it gets its own folder. I’m still in the process of cleaning some of these folders up by the way guys so, it does take some time and a lot of patience. Just as a heads up. Anyway, this folder will eventually be moved to that, ‘TT - Stories’ folder which we’ll come back to shortly.

Other - Anything that I’m not sure where to put so it goes in this folder so think of… a miscellaneous folder. Any random bits that you know are connected to stories somehow would go into this one. 

Prompts - These vary to meme types on Tumblr to requested ideas. This folder is literally for any written thing telling me some little ideas to inspire more or to simply give me something to write.

TT - This folder is actually a Night folder. It’s literally a Teen Titans folder full of comic panels, episodes, clips, screen grabs, fan videos etc. It is literally a content folder. This acts as an inspiration folder. It helps me get into the right mind-set to write about my fave hero dorks. This is very, very helpful for me and like I said, you don’t have to make this kind of folder but it’s a nice aid.

TT - Oneshots - This folder is for completed oneshots that have been posted online.

TT - Plans - This folder is where I keep all the story plans.

TT - Stories - This folder is where I store all finished stories that I have written through the years. Inside this folder, there is a folder for each story I have written with all chapters in the correctly labelled folder. 

Writing Help - This folder has pointers for polishing my writing skills. It’s full of piece about grammar and spelling and all that jazz. Very helpful.

Yet more folders. We’ve reached this part; you’re spoilt for choice on the golder front. You’ve got 3 separate ideas. saved under good, memorable titles and inside of your ‘Stories’ folder. You would then drag them all inside of the folder labelled, ‘Plans’ or whatever you decide to title it. I’m a stickler for a range of folders. So, inside my ‘TT - Plans’ folder, there are 4 folders. Again, I’m splitting these up a lot because that’s just how I am but you don’t need to if you don’t want to. Organising stories and plans is completely up to the individual. This is just a guide and reflection of what I personally do.

Here comes the analysis train again.

Additional for ANY plans - So this folder is for any additional documents I’ve written up that help and support my plans for specific stories as in character bios or big events that need to happen or anything like that. This folder goes for all plans; active or not.

Plans - ACTIVE - This folder is for story plans that I am currently focusing on and have a real focus on for the future. They are plans I know 100% that I will turn into a story.

Plans - COMPLETE - This folder is for plans of stories that I have already finished writing. Not necessarily needed but I like to keep them because I’m just a hoarder to be honest. 

Plans - STORAGE - This folder is for plans that I don’t really know if I’m ever going to bother going further with but also plans that I can’t quite part with yet; just in case I get the urge to pursue and expand on some of them. There are some plans that you look back on and think ugh god no’ not doing that and you just delete them but there are a few that remain in the grey are so instead of chucking them or forcing yourself to complete them; make a storage folder. You can always go back to these if you run out of active ideas anyway.

So, this is where you can deviate to how you like but I think having about 3 folders like this really helps you to differentiate between all your wonderful ideas. Then, all you have to do is move your 3 documented files into whichever folders you like.

It’s completely optional for you guys to write up plans like this. As in, it’s up to you whether or not you want to do both a paper version and digital version. I like to simply because I’m extra. I find it really helpful to have a digital version but I keep the paper versions too as backup. As we all know, technology likes to fuck us over from time to time so having a hardcopy is always a smart move.  Before I did this, I can’t tell you how many plans I lost. Like I said though, it’s up to you how you store and organise plans. This is just my process.

Actual Planning

Considering we’re already talking about how I store and organise my plans, I thought why not share my process of actually writing a plan itself?

Title and Summary. This is the very first thing I do. I will usually write my makeshift title or solid one if I’ve already got one in mind from the get go. I will then follow it up below with a brief summary containing multiple keywords; just so from a quick glance, you will remember what this idea is about. It’s a nice way of not having to read through some big fat plan without knowing what the idea itself is. Summary and then in depth version is my way to go, anyway. 

List your characters. Again, optional. I like to do: Title, summary and characters. I literally write a name, age and small bio just to help me out a little. I does help; believe me. It’s like… are they normal universe characters? Are they AU characters? Are they an OC? I usually place this just after the summary and before I go in depth with the actual plan.

More detail. This is where the real part comes in. This is the point where I usually write a full plan. I usually set it out by pinpointing the main events in my story. I will always plan it in chronological order and insert anything I miss in the right order. I wouldn’t try setting a plan with the main events of your story being all over the place, if I’m honest. Itjust makes it confusing and frustrating. This will normally be done in theformat of bullet points and small headers, but I’m flexible and I don’t do thisevery single time. Like I said; it’s down to the one writing the thing.

Expand. Alright,so you have 10 points that will act as 10 chapters, for example. At this point,expand. Go through each point and write more into it. I’ll admit, sometimes Icould very well copy and paste from my plan into an actual chapter; that’s howmuch detail I put in. Anything memorable you want in a specific chapter;whether it’s a gesture or dialogue or whatever, now would be the time to notethat in. Just expand enough so that you have a thorough understanding of what’sgonna go down in each and every chapter. You don’t want to finish off a plan,without it being very detailed and get completely stumped midway through yourstory because your plan wasn’t prepared enough.

Edit accordingly. Changethe font, colours, size, boldness or italicize until your heart’s content. Thiscan be a really helpful technique for some writers. I personally, don’t reallychange it from standard black coloured font set at default of ‘Calibri (body)’.But, I know some people find it better to work with bright colours etc. Again,do what helps you.

Add in images or short clips or references. I do this a lot with images. If I’m going to bedescribing a dress that one of my female character choices will be wearing, Igather up a bunch of images from google to help when the time comes to write itup. This goes for clips and references too. If there’s something you wanna addin that you’ve been inspired by; paste that in there. Anything that benefitsyou in the writing process, lock that down into your plan. It really will makeyou breathe a sigh of relief later on.

Use available tools. So,if you’re writing on Word - which I suggest as I personally do use Word a hellof a lot to write chapters and plans - make use of the cool features on here.There’s a nifty tool where you use ‘New Comment’ and ‘Reviewing Pane’. This isan absolute life-saver. 

Alrighty, so you’ve got your three chapters.This is just an example, I don’t think I’ve ever written a three chapter story,haha. Anyway, imagine there is more writing and they’re separated a littlemore.

Start by highlighting the first chapter. Once you’ve done that, go ahead and click new comment up the top. Don’t forgetthis tool is found under the review tab of the upper toolbar.

After doing this, you should see it do thismagical thing here. It might not turn it red; if it doesn’t, do not freak out.Word gives you an assortment of colours that you unfortunately cannot changeyourself. The colour is automatically chosen. Anyway, click in the littlecomment box and type ‘Chapter One’.

Then, go ahead and do this for the other twochapters and label them as well. Just like before. After, click that button uptop titled, ‘Reviewing Pane’.

Finally, the ‘Reviewing Pane’ will pop up onthe left hand side of the screen. If you click any one of the red bars, it’lltake you directly to that chapter. This is absolutely amazing when you have asuper longwinded plan. It saves time scrolling and scrolling through the entiredocument. I strongly recommend doing this.

Remember to save. Don’tbe a dummy. Continuously save and don’t always rely on Word’s auto savefunction. As I said, technology can be a bitch so try to be ahead of it at alltimes. As already stated earlier on, you’ll want to title it well. Nothingrandom as you’ll lose track of it. And then, all you’ve gotta do is sort yourplans into your folders.

—

So, that is all! This is everything I canpossibly think of that I see during my planning process. I hope you guys findthis helpful and like I said, it’s down to you to find a way to organise yourdocuments in a way you like. If you’re one of those people that find order inchaos and absolute mess, then I salute you as I could never do that. I’m a bitof an organising freak once I get going.

Find your pace and find your process. Thank you @fireflyxrebel for the question. This was actually really fun to breakdown forya’ll.

Much love!

[aizawashoutah]

i was tagged by @bandaged-chessmaster​ thank you

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

my anime pseud i came up with around the time bsd s2 was airing & i really love odasaku and so yeah that’s how i got odasaku

my main username is my all time fave ship 

(the rest under the cut)

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos)

Something Always Brings Me Back To You  subscriptions: 148, kudos: 424, hits: 10632, bookmarks: 105

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

for my odasaku pseud it’s an icon i made of aizawa, i chose it because he’s my current fave and I needed a new icon and then for the main username it’s just a misc icon i made a whilst ago

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

anyone really, if you commented something that made me smile or laugh i probably remember you 

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

all of the fics i’m subscribed to tbh

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

bookmarked: 71 subscribed: 13

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

Soulmate AUs (i think i’ve written 4 fics and 2 originals works)

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

Subscriptions: 183 (really??? honestly shook)  Bookmarked: 218

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

no not really 

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

Writing more, not repeating the same words over and over, having a proper update schedule rather than whenever i want

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

depends on the fandom, overall i think i probably write more for rarepairs/less popular pairings 

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

36 (23 anime fics, 11 live action fics, 2 original works)

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

That haven’t been published? 1 oneshot, 3 potential chaptered fics 

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

if i don’t write them down i’ll forget them so i usually write them down on paper

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

nope

16. How did you discover AO3?

tumblr 

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

god no

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

i don’t actually i usually just call them “my readers”

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

@lovingnikiforov​ encouraged me to write anime fics, so i wouldn’t be writing any anime fics if it wasn’t thanks to her, you the real mvp 

when it comes to my liveaction fics i got an idea one day and was like yeah i wanna write this. But i also didn’t have an ao3 account at the time and had to do that awful waiting even tho my oneshot was done lmao

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

Write what you want to write, if people don’t like it ignore them (unless what you’re writing is harmful to people). Not everyone is going to like your writing or your idea, doesn’t mean that your idea or writing is bad it might be that you have different tastes. Don’t let mean comments discourage you. Write for you. 

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

Depends, usually i have a certain idea or i’ve written random scenes in the future but on the most part i figure it out as i go. But I am getting better at planning now.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

haha haha ha... yeah... i read them, took them in, and didn’t really do anything with them tbh 

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

I don’t write smut because it makes me uncomfortable. From stuff I’ve actually written sometimes I find kissing scenes hard to write like figuring out where to put the characters’ hands. Usually I have 1 character put their hand on the other’s cheek but then i’m like ???? what about the other ???? what about the other character’s hands ??? 

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

After All This Time (shin.iida fake dating au) Shin.Iida week BKDK wip #2 (villain!deku au) BKDK wip #3 (bkdk team up to save all might au) And potentially a YOI fic but I’m not sure about this one yet. 

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

Not usually but I did when writing sabmbty

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

No but I should

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

GOD YES

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

Anime: Something Always Brings Me Back To You because it’s my first completed work in 5 years and i really did love writing this one

Also Night Full of Terrors  as this one was also kind of challenging, getting to truly understand aizawa’s character, how he would react given this situation and how, if this happened in canon, how it would affect his character. 

Piece by Piece as it’s my first bkdk piece (pun not intended lmao) and i'll always write bk apologising to dk if the circumstances are the same as canon but this one really delves into bk’s apology. 

And lastly P.S. I Love You because it’s probably the fluffiest thing i’ve ever written and it’s just cute.

Live Action: Feelings on Fire because it was the most challenging thing I’ve probably written and I’m proud with how well I ended up writing Jaime’s character.

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

Hmmmm probably one of the ones I haven’t posted (it was a vigilante!deku au) because it didn’t really flow well but i might come back to it later 

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

i don’t know tbh, i hope to have written more of my own original works, maybe even have that completed. Hopefully have completed at least one more chaptered fic. 

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

Dialogue probably. Also writing cliffhangers (i love writing cliffhangers)

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Writing descriptions of places. 

33. Why do you write?

Because it’s what I love to do and it’s a way I can express myself as I find it hard to express myself with spoken words I can do it better with written words through characters.

i tag: @hajiiwa and anyone else who wants to do this

[percontaion-points]

Star Wars Fanfics (2/23/21)

Only Star Wars fanfics. New stuff is marked with a NEW before it.

Tied Tight by riot3672 Description: Rey and Kylo are enemies, but their force bond remains. And, late at night, the constructed hatred slips into idle conversation, memories, musings, and questions raised between the two of them. One night, when the sexual limits of the force bond are tested, there's no going back... Words: 6295 Timeline: Post Last Jedi Pairing: Rey/Kylo Rating: Explicit Warnings: Masturbation and sex

The Falcon's Cockpit by Naatta Description: Reylo oneshot that's been stuck in my head since I saw the Last Jedi. Rey find Kylo poking about in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. Takes place some time after the events after the force-bond has been more solidly established. You know you wanted this. You're welcome. Words: 4211 Timeline: Post Last Jedi Pairing: Kylo/Rey Rating: M Warnings: Sex and angst. So much angst.

Quid Pro Quo by the-reylo-void (Anysia) Description: They stay balanced in all things. Even their hurt. Words: 788 Timeline: Post Last Jedi Pairing: Kylo/Rey Rating: T Warnings: Some minor mentions of nudity, angst

you've helped me find my way (through the wild and wonders) by TheJGatsby Description: The Force Bond doesn't go away, after Crait. "I don’t understand why you refused me. You don’t have to be lonely anymore, Rey, you know you don’t, you know I want you with me, so why?” “Because you haven’t changed,” she says. “Because you’re still ruled by fear, and hate, and anger, and I can’t- I can’t.” “If I change?” he asks, breathless, eyes wide. “Then will you come to me?” Words: 9135 Timeline: Post Last Jedi Pairing: Ben/Rey, minor Rose/Finn Rating: T Warnings: None????? It's pretty clean in comparison to most of the stuff I like to read.

Desert Flower by GrotesqueEnchantment Description: The dreams started coming to her when she arrived on Ahch-To. Words: 1173 Timeline: Post Force Awakens, but now AU to Last Jedi Pairing: Kylo/Rey Rating: T Warnings: Some minor touching that could maybe be viewed as sexual if you squint, but that's about it

The Proper Instruction by TheUniverse_Smiles Description: Loosely based on Elena and Zorro's fight scene from The Mask of Zorro “You’ve improved,” he said suddenly, earning a perplexed look from the scavenger, but no response. He pushed again, “But only just. I’m pleased to see you’ve been training, but it’s a shame that you’re not receiving the proper instruction,” he jabbed, and Rey practically growled, “I have been receiving the ‘proper instruction’,” She gritted out, their proximity making her apprehensive. It gave Kylo a chance to study her face as she seethed; she really was beautiful when she let anger color her cheeks and light her eyes, “There is nothing you could teach me that Master Skywalker can’t,” she asserted, and his lip curled at the honorific tacked onto his uncle’s name. But the opportunity to push her buttons arose again, and he couldn’t resist the temptation, “Oh, I don’t know about that,” he countered, leaning in dangerously close, “I can guarantee my instruction would be much more…” his gaze dropped down to her lips, then flickered back up to her eyes “…thorough,” he let his voice drop an octave as the word rolled sensually off his tongue. Words: 9443 Timeline: After Force Awakens but now AU to Last Jedi Pairing: Kylo/Rey Rating: M Warnings: Smut, and lots of it

i heard your castle sighing by bam_cassiopeia Description: There is a tale told in the furthest reaches of the empire - once upon a time, the story starts, a long time ago, when the empire was young, and far, far away, there lived an orphan girl named Rey, a bright star alone in the neverending sandy wastes of the Jakku Marches, and there was a dark shadow they still call Bluebeard, the Lord of Ren – the monster who enforced the will of the emperor, leaving a trail of tragedies in bloody footsteps… Words: 8267 Timeline: It's a weird fairytale AU set in space Pairing: Rey/Kylo Rating: It's not rated, but if I had to give it one, I'd say T Warnings: There's some violence, heavy implications that Kylo and Rey have sex following their marriage, but that's about it

Nine Lives by on_my_toes Description: The new barista at Jakku Java is going to give Ben Solo a god damn heart attack. Multi-chapter coffeeshop AU with plot because I am the trash of the thing. Words: 55,557 Timeline: It's a coffee shop AU that morphs into... not that after a while Pairing: Rey/Ben, with a side helping of Poe/Finn There are also some OCs for both Rey and Ben for a while, but they obviously break up. Endgame is Reylo Rating: T Warnings: Child abuse, alcoholism. some make outs It's also pretty long, so keep that in mind

Counting Cards by AstridMyrna Description: Ben Solo checks his mail expecting nothing but bills and junk, and is surprised to find a Christmas card--only, the card is addressed to his new next door neighbor Rey. Words: 5708 Timeline: It's a weird slice of life Christmast story. It's cute enough to be a proper Halmark movie, if you ask me. Pairing: Rey/Ben Rating: General Warnings: Enough fluff to rot your teeth

A Brief Equinox by dustoftheancients Description: In saving Rey, Kylo Ren has been captured by the resistance. She tells herself that it doesn't matter. should stay away from him. She wants to stay away from him. And yet - she finds herself drawn down the steps, down to his cell. It's like being drawn towards a hurricane. Words: 10,390 Timeline: Post Force Awakens but now AU to Last Jedi Pairing: Kylo/Ren if you squint I guess? Rating: Teen Warnings: Some violence and talk of torture, but nothing that you wouldn't see in any of the movies

Where there's Smoke, There's Fire by on_my_toes Description: Of course a fire would break out in Rey's apartment building the night of her biochem final — and of course she would end up running out into the sidewalk keyless in her pajamas, right next to the most obnoxious frat party in the world. At least it can't get any more embarrassing than this ... that is, until her TA Ben Solo shows up. One-shot, based on a Tumblr prompt. Words: 9791 Timeline: It's a college AU with sprinklings of a disaster movie Pairing: Ben/Rey Rating: General Warnings: There's a gross frat boy in the first chapter who won't take a hint, and some embarrassed touching and stuff, but that's about it

/r/ camgirls by TheMiddleEast Description: The website wasn’t threatening, and if the video didn’t load, it would just look like some sad relative of vimeo. But the video did load, and he didn’t check how long ago the cross-post was submitted in the reddit thread, but he connected as soon as a slender hand started pulling at the waistband of a pair of sheer black panties. or porn aficionado Ben Solo finds a cute girl streaming in his hour of need Words: 6541 Timeline: It's a camgirl AU Pairing: Sort of one-sided Rey/Ben Rating: Explicit Warnings: Masturbation, watching porn, Ben gets a little bit creepy in thinking about Rey

Good Opinion by hormonal_trashbag Description: "My good opinion once lost is lost forever." -Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice “Will you allow me my freedom if I consent to marry you?” He blinked, startled by her question. “You cannot be serious. Regardless of what my mother may want, we have no need to marry.” The flickering candlelight cast wild shadows on her lovely face. There was something absolutely untamable about her, something he could never touch should he want to; Ben found that he decidedly did not. She was fierce and unforgiving as the sea, and he could not fully comprehend the twist of desire coiled in his gut at her unmoving gaze. Her response was simple. “Is that really true?” Words: 7469 Timeline: It's a historical romance AU Pairing: Rey/Ben Rating: Teen Warnings: Ben starts to think... husbandly thoughts about his bride after they're married, but everything fades to black before anything interesting actually happens

Wolf at the Door by Shadowlass Description: Wolves took many forms, Luke Skywalker warned her. Rey had spent her life escaping from wolves, but now she wasn’t so sure she wanted to run. Written for the Reylo Fanfiction Anthology, and inspired by Little Red Riding Hood. Words: 16081 Timeline: Post Force Awakens but now AU to Last Jedi. It's also got a Little Red Riding Hood twist Pairing: Kylo/Rey Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic sex

A Man Called Winter by ReyloTrashCompactor (NextToSomething) Description: The girl didn’t dream. Perhaps it was because she needed more to fuel nighttime sojourns than fantasies of a full belly, of escaping the desert. Perhaps she exhausted all these dreams years ago, falling to sleep in the soft embrace of hope and waking in the hard grip of reality. Or perhaps dreams simply could not permeate the armored shell she slept inside, those rusted walls resistant to blaster fire as well as the simple comfort of imagination. Maybe this was why, on a particularly stifling night, when sleeping on her gritty pallet in the too-still air finally proved unbearable, and she had rucked the mess of salvaged pilot seats and threadbare blankets into the sand outside her door, that he came to her first. She laid under the stars, straining her exhausted body for a cool breeze, and found sleep. And he found her. Words: 15,956 Timeline: It's a Hades/Persephone AU with a Star Wars twist. I guess sort of AU to Last Jedi if you squint? Pairing: Rey/Kylo Rating: Mature Warnings: Sex, fingering

Janus by englishable Description: She moves into the apartment beside his, with her flowers and her singing and her brisk optimism, and Ben Solo knows himself just well enough to realize that a person like him really shouldn't have anything to do with a person like her. His good friend Snoke, of course, has other plans, because he gets a certain enjoyment from watching Ben - Kylo Ren, rather, as he calls him - screw things up. Which Ben inevitably does: but that's not where he wants them to end, and maybe Rey doesn't either. Words: 48,055 Timeline: Slice of life AU, I guess? Pairing: Rey/Ben Rating: Gen Warnings: Possible PTSD, drug use and abuse and the resulting recovery This is pretty long, which is fine, but the author decided to put all of it into THREE chapters, so it's a bit on the tedious side to read

Tithe by PoetHrotsvitha Description: From the blazing heat of Jerusalem to the wind of the Scottish Cheviot Hills, Rey has followed Master Luke over an ocean. He has promised her the gift of reading, but occupied with border skirmishes, she has largely been left to sew and brood. Restless one morning, she ignores Master Luke's instructions and leaves the castle to explore. Once in Carterhaugh woods, she incurs a debt to a figure trapped between two worlds; although she doesn't know it yet, he is running out of time, and she may be the only one able to bring him back. Words: 10,020 Timeline: It's a Fae/medieval AU Pairing: Rey/Kylo Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic sex

Ileenium Manor by WaterlilyRose Description: Rey decided she hated Lord Benjamin Solo before she even met him. So when he comes to take his rightful place as heir to Ileenium Manor where she works as a maid, it will test Rey in ways she couldn't have imagined. Words: 109,079 Timeline: Victorian AU Pairing: Rey/Ben, minor Leia/Han, Hux/Phasma (which 100% makes sense in the context of this specific story, don't worry) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Sex There's a lot of little typos, the kind a spell-check doesn't catch because they're technically not WRONG, just not the correct usage of that word/the word the author was looking for It's also hella long

Stripped [Down to the Bone] by EllieCarina Description: "Show your face, she thinks and tilts her head. He remains impassive, which strangely irks her. She shouldn’t care, so she flicks her fingers harder against her skin and moans when her vision blurs from the touch. She bucks up her hips and arches her back, not because it feels so much better but because it’s what they want to see. With this though, she must have slipped from the view of the masked man because he rocks forward in his chair. She looks at the visor again, seizing him up, and narrows her eyes at him." In an unforeseen change of events, Rey has wound up in the Red Light District of Coruscant. Kylo Ren winds up in the crowd one night and things happen. Shameless smut. || Canon-Divergent. Words: 11928 Timeline: It's a little canon, but instead of Rey being a scavender, she's a stripper/prostitute instead Pairing: Rey/Kylo is the main one, but Rey does have sex with Hux Rating: Mature Warnings: Obviously a lot of sex, but there's some implications that it's a little less than consensual. Also there's a lot of talk about Rey taking some sort of "horny" drug before she needs to get to work.

Hard for Justice by Eskayrobot, Poaxath Description: Rey keeps getting pulled over by Officer Kylo Ren. What's his deal, anyway? Words: 14,418 Timeline: Cop AU Pairing: Rey/Kylo Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic sex

The Life Expectancy of a Goldfish by sadboykylo Description: Ben Solo is severely allergic to animals but it will not stop him from frequenting the pet store Rey works at. Words: 10,167 Timeline: Pet store AU Pairing: Rey/Kylo Rating: Explicit Warnings: Sex

Ohio Blue Tip by stargirlshalo Description: Ben Solo is a man of few words. He’s a bus driving poet, or a poet who happens to be a bus driver. He walks to work every morning, listens to Hux complain, and knocks back a beer at the bar every night. But this week, a new girl rides his bus. And for her, he can’t help but break his routine. A Paterson AU Words: 10,095 Timeline: Bus driver AU Pairing: Rey/Kylo Rating: Teen Warnings: It's so fluffy you gonna die! Some minor mentions of adult materials, but it's pretty clean

Cupid Painted Blind by Reylotonight Description: Ben Solo never expected to fall in love with his English partners adopted sister, but then, when did his life ever go to plan? A story of high school romance, interfering mothers and a missing cat. Words: 15,324 Timeline: High school AU Pairing: Kylo/Rey, Minor: Poe/Finn, Phasma/Paige Tico Rating: Teen Warnings: Some high school related shenaigins, including a party with liquor

The Knotting Shop by crossingwinter Description: Ben realizes upon entering the shop that he had gotten the complete wrong impression from the name of it. What the fuck sort of shop calls itself The Knotting Shop if it’s not about, well, knotting? The answer, apparently, is a knitter with a sense of humor. An Omega, by the scent that seems to have landed in every colorful ball of yarn in the shop and which hits him right in the groin. Words: 15,400 Timeline: It's an ABO AU set in a knitting/yarn shop Pairing: Rey/Ben, minor Finn/Rose Rating: Explicit Warnings: Sex, sex, and so much sex that I have a lot of questions...

Down the AU Rabbit Hole by radioactivesaltghoul Description: Kylo, in his desperation to make Rey talk to him again, stumbles upon an old ritual that predates the Jedi and the Sith. But he didn’t read the fine print when he invoked it, and next thing he and Rey know, they’re being dumped from AU to AU, with no way of getting back to their universe, and they seem to be the only ones aware of the problem. First stop? New York City, 2018. Check the tags for AUs included as they're added. Words: 91,783 Timeline: It's a long series of AUs that takes our heros about five years to get back. It does start after the second movie, however. Pairing: Main: Rey/Kylo But if it's a young character in the new trilogy, they will be paired up with everybody else throughout this. However, as soon as you get used some weird pairing, the AU changes and then there's some new pairing that you need to get used to. Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic sex Beyond that, there's mostly just a lot of weird pairings and Rey and Kylo reacting to the various strange sitatuions that they've found themselves in.

LucasLand by SageMcMae Description: “My mother mentioned you're a fan of Kylo Ren,” Ben remarked. “Why is that?” Rey almost tripped over her own feet. “Oh, um, well he’s my fantasy,” she replied quickly. “Your fantasy?” Ben questioned, arching a brow. “I mean,” she shrugged, feigning indifference, “he’s a dark knight. The ultimate bad boy. He’s every girl’s fantasy.” He bent down so close that his forehead was nearly touching hers. “You know Luke based Kylo Ren on me, right?” “Yes,” she breathed. “Does that mean I’m your fantasy, Rey?” Rey accepts a job at Skywalker Ranch to track down the elusive author, Luke Skywalker and discuss plans for his next installment of the Blue Harvest saga. While there, she meets Ben Solo, Luke's nephew and the real life inspiration for her favorite character. But where does fantasy end and reality begin? Words: 16,767 Timeline: It's a meta AU where Luke is the author of a famous sci-fi series, loosely based around his family Pairing: Rey/Ben, minor mentions of Han/Leia Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic sex

Respite by WaterlilyRose Description: Ren had heard all the warnings. Taken all the relevant classes. Been through all the background checks. It was part and parcel of becoming a teacher apparently. He'd sat at the back of the classroom, trying not to roll his eyes, as a woman with all the charm of a serial killer droned on about codes of conduct, red flags and how temptation could destroy the most promising career. Teenagers were to be treated like a different species if Ren or any of his fellow teachers were to maintain a happy life. He'd been twenty-four, hot on the heels of pursuing a Masters degree in English and fresh out of his anger management courses at the insistence of his mother. He felt calm and confident. Almost cocky. The idea that he would piss away his entire life for the sake of some doe-eyed teenager twirling her hair was almost laughable. Six years later, he would be wiser. Six years later, he would find out temptation weren't short skirts and batted eyelashes. It was in the form of hazel eyes, an eager mind and a smile that could soothe the ice burn on even Ren's soul. Words: 58,883 Timeline: Student/University teacher AU Pairing: Rey/Kylo, background of Han/Leia and Hux/Phasma Rating: M Warnings: Masturbatory fantasies, sex, mentions of having sex with those that you probably shouldn't but it's really legal I promise

The Witch in the Wood by HarpiaHarpyja and Inmyownidiom Description: As a knight errant of the kingdom of Alderaan, Kylo Ren has traveled the country, completing quest after perilous quest in search of redemption for the dark deeds of his past. When an evil witch captures the princess of a neighboring kingdom, Kylo reluctantly accepts the burden of rescue with the assumption that it will be a simple task. It is not. For the creature that lives in the woods is not a monster at all. Since her mentor died, Rey has lived in the witch’s tree and uses magic to maintain the balance of the forest. Her life is practical, repetitive, and simple—at least, until a wrathful knight thunders through her door and levels a sword at her throat. Yet something within the knight calls to her, a buzz beneath his skin that she recognizes. Without a doubt, he is not who he appears to be. Words: 138909 Timeline: Medieval forest witch AU Pairing: Rey/Kylo Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic sex

Consequences by Mortisha Description: COMPLETE: A mother reaches out to her son and finds the strength to keep on living to see him come home. The foretold Dyad in the Force finds the strength to make a stand and change the course of their futures forever. What will happen when mother and son reunite? Will the prodigal son be executed for his crimes, or will he be acquitted? This story is a TROS fix-it that aims to be as canonically accurate as possible but with two deviations – General Leia Organa-Solo lives, and Ben Solo lives. Words: 74711 Timeline: A TROS fix-it fic. Don't read unless you've seen that, because some stuff wouldn't make sense (Or don't... I'm not your mother.) Pairing: Ben/Rey It's listed as Finn/Rose, but that pairing literally never came up, so? Rating: Teen Warnings: Some violence, but it's on brand with the rest of the franchise

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday by CaliforniaQueen Description: Celebrating finishing school and getting a teaching job, Rey Jackson and her friends go out for a night of drinks and letting their hair down. When she meets the beautiful stranger at the bar, she decides tonight she's going to break a rule and be the bad girl for a change. Their one night together turns out to have disastrous consequences for everyone involved. But is being tied down as bad as Rey thinks it is, or is she just afraid to let herself be happy? Words: 64757 Timeline: An AU where they're teachers but also kind of a "Knocked Up" AU (do people even remember that movie?) Pairing: Rey/Ben, minor Finn/Poe and Rose/Hux Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic sex, both Rey and an OC deal with child abuse; Rey's is mentioned as having happened, but the OC is more front and center but she has a happy ending!, premature birth but it also has a happy ending

Improbably, not Impossible by AmberDread Description: Victorian AU After a difficult start in life, Rey has the good fortune to be engaged by Lady Solo to work at her country retreat in the lake district and serve her son, Lord Solo. Upon her arrival though, the situation is rather different to how she imagined it and the man she is to work for? Well, he seems absolutely beastly. Words: 73029 Timeline: Victorian AU with a werewolf Pairing: Rey/Kylo Rating: Teen Warnings: There is some mildly suggestive dreams. And then at the end, after shifting back, the now-human werewolf is not wearing any clothes. But other than that, this is insanely to character of Victorian times

1NEW1 The Street Rat & The Scoundrel by Lula_Landry Description: Rey is a street rat and scavenger with no money, parents or resources. Just when she thinks things couldn’t get any worse, something outstandingly awful happens. Rey catches the attention of Kylo Ren, a powerful man with everything she lacks: wealth, family and influence. How does a garbage picker from a backwater outpost become entangled with a scoundrel prince from the most powerful dynasty in the galaxy? Worst. Day. Ever. Or... maybe not. - Where Ben shows Rey a whole new world and she decides to save it. Literally. “Now when did you last let your heart decide?” - Aladdin in Aladdin Words: 76814 Timeline: It's an Aladdin AU, but it's still set in the general Star Wars universe. ...Just read it, okay? It'll make sense once you get going Pairing: Rey/Kylo Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic sex, the usual nonsense with Snoke being evil and manipulating Ben since he was little

1NEW1 Charmed by Mae2d2 Description: Rey has always hated Ben, and it’s always been easy to hate Ben. But at the beginning of sixth year Ben is suddenly tall, handsome, and when he’s looking at her like that she can’t help this fluttering feeling inside. It definitely didn’t help that when she first saw him she had worn the one skirt that had shrunk in the dryer... Ben was trying hard not to think about Rey all summer, but when she showed up wearing that skirt, now she is all he can think about. And he’s having an incredibly hard time pretending to hate her. Especially now that they’re partners in Charms. Words: 27124 Timeline: A Hogwarts AU. No Harry Potter characters actually appear Pairing: Ben/Rey Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic sex

1NEW1 Forged In Fire: Wayfaring Stranger by TristenCrone Description: Rey has never felt like she belonged, reliant on her guardian and tired of being alone, she longs for her true home. She stumbles across an injured man named Kylo who will change the course of her life and destiny forever. She can't help but wonder if he is all that he seems, or if something else lies behind his scarred visage and haunted eyes. Words: 25424 Timeline: It's a weird ancient Greek AU and a surprise AU at the very end Pairing: Rey/Kylo Rating: Teen Warnings: Graphic violence and death, but the death works out in the end so everything is okay. Sort of.

1NEW1 Out on the Moonlit Floor by SpaceWallfeHouseTM Description: Ben was born with a peculiar ability — anybody he kisses will instantly fall in love with him. He’s never wanted to kiss anyone as much as he wants to kiss Rey. But he can’t kiss her because he knows her love wouldn’t be right. Wouldn’t be real. Wouldn’t be true. Words: 20750 Timeline: It's a modern AU but with a curse

Pairing:

Rey/Ben

Rating:

Explicit

Warnings:

Graphic sex, minor mentions of bisexual Ben

1NEW1 Words Unspoken, Thoughts Unsaid by steadfastStar (girl_in_a_dream Description: Rey and Ben form some dubious ideas about each other after various encounters on the train. Ben thinks Rey is pregnant. Rey thinks Ben is a virgin. They’re not. *Now with epilogue!* Words: 23090 Timeline: Slice of life AU, I guess Pairing: Rey/Ben Rating: Explicit Warnings: Sex, goofy awkwardness