#also not sorry proper punctuation is for nerds

[oneread]

Ace is hot in the way a friend’s older brother is hot like he’s a few years older and swears and can drive and just go do stuff when you still have to get your parents permission and has online friends who are super cool because you’ve never met them and you look back years later and he really was just a 19 year old dude but when you’re 16 that seems mature and worldly.

Sabo is hot like a particularly competent graduate student that was the TA for your 200 level pre-req university class. Like he’s really passionate about his thesis project and is really nice when answering questions but he’s a little mean to that rude guy who thinks he’s better than the rest of the class and he’s unapologetic because he hasn’t slept right in like three years

Luffy is hot in the way your crush at summer camp was hot. Because you’re in a totally different mindset than normal and you’re sweaty and tired and hungry but you’ve also never cared less what you look like and he gave you a hair tie one time and got the whole cabin to devolve into weird in-jokes that will never hit the same once you go home and you feel like you can want things with no consequences

[toomuchracket]

thinking about office nerd describing an album the same way girlie did with melodrama but he makes her listen to the whole thing and pause between songs to go over each one in detail and she’s just sitting there heart eyed

oh my god he does this like once a week and it's genuinely your favourite thing of all time. while you're still in the tentative dating stage, it's lowkey so irritating because you want to just move over and kiss him SO BAD, but also he's skittish and being very sweet sharing his thoughts with you so you just wait until after you've listened and chatted to him to be like "i really really want to kiss you right now". but when you're a bit more intimate and comfortable around each other, a proper couple? you're on his lap while he talks, punctuating both the songs and his analysis with little kisses, his speech muffled by your hair or neck because he's snuggled up into you so closely while he talks and you look at him adoringly. matty being matty, he always gets a bit shy and blushy and apologetic about rambling once he's done, but you just shake your head and kiss him softly like "don't say sorry, baby, i love it when you yap and get all excited about music like that. i'm learning a lot. and i'm having a lot of fun with you"; he's always lowkey overwhelmed by that, because he thinks he's annoying, but he just smiles and strokes your cheek like "my lovely girl". adorable <3

[lizziestudieshistory]

Let's have a chat about books, reading, and the impact of places like booktube, book twitter, and the dreaded goodreads! I've been mulling on this post for a while and I wasn't sure if I was going to write it. But as this blog is mainly a space for me to work out some feelings, I'm doing it for myself. So sorry for rambling, lack of proofreading, and the ridiculous amount of punctuation, especially parentheses. Feel free to keep scrolling and ignore me!

If you've interacted with me (in real life or online) for longer than about 5 seconds you'll know I like books... In fact "like" is a bit of an understatement... It's one of my defining character traits and has been since I learnt to read. I'm that person who, takes books to the pub and regularly falls over things because they're attempting to walk and read (and have done many times to the great amusement of my so called "friends"!) Yet, recently I've been feeling a bit...odd about my reading, like I'm not good enough to be a proper reader and, after some introspection and weird conversations with my bookish friends, I've pinpointed why. (Hint: it's bookish social media!)

When lockdown started my reading skyrocketed. At the time I was employed as a library assistant and was put on furlough while the library was closed, so I had more time than ever to read and the inclination to do it because I was bored. This led me to reading almost a third more than I usually do in a year, in some months I doubled it reading from 4-6 books a month to 10-13!

In some ways this was great, I was reading more than ever; in others it wasn't because, to be frank, I don't remember a lot of those books well. I can tell you plot and main characters but themes, feelings, my thoughts on them? Not much, for some nothing at all. In terms of quality it was a mediocre year - I actually struggled to find a top 5 list of books because I couldn't remember them and didn't think the quality was worth the praise. I did read some new favourites: Wuthering Heights, Emma, Beren and Lúthien are really the only stand out books, and maybe Rhythm of War for the sheer excitement.

However, 2020 set a precedent for me. I know I can read just under 100 books a year when I usually average 55-60. Rationally, I know 60 books is a lot when I'm a part time student, carer, and tiny business owner! Most days I only get an hour or two to properly sit down read before bed, once I'm finished with all my other responsibilities. But the possibility is still there, and it's starting to eat away at me as I've returned to my very reasonable 4-6 books a month now I'm busy again.

I've ALWAYS been happy with how much I read. But this year I'm not, and it's to do with the simultaneous reading boost and proper discovery of bookish social media. Lockdown gave me the free time to doss about on my phone (my phone and I are the best example of "frienemies" you could imagine!) In that time I found book twitter properly and, actually started watching booktube. I knew both existed but working, studying, and so forth didn't give me the breathing room to properly participate. It made me conscious of HOW MUCH some people read in a year, the boggling numbers and stats some people have around their reading lives. Don't get me wrong, I love a spreadsheet. I've had a spreadsheet for reading since I had to demonstrate my excel skills in Year 9 for a test and created one to track my reading. (I was a nerd, I know...) Point being I like stats, I like reading, both together are great - in moderation.

However, the inbuilt assumptions, expectations, and consumerism around booktube, bookstagram, goodreads, etc. are really unhealthy! It makes reading competitive and a social performance. For some people this works, it works for me to SOME extent. As I've said, I like reading stats and I've kept my own independently of bookish social media since I was 14 (cue feeling old...!) Yet the obsession with how many books you read in a month, is it more than X, am I reading the "right" books and most popular books is insane. And no, no one is doing this explicitly. But the implication is there and there IS a subtext with this unspoken competitiveness. It's not good for me and it's made me, for the first time in my life, feel guilt over what I'm reading or not reading?!

This month (April) has been particularly rough. I've had deadlines and a busy work month which means I've finished three books and a play, and I'm half way through two others. Two years ago I'd have been fine with that, but now I feel like it's not good enough? Why? Because I'm disappointed because I've not read more...

To add insult to imagined, self-inflicted injury, this has been my best month of the year in terms of quality and enjoyment. I've read some cracking novels, an eye opening non-fiction, and had the most wonderful time rereading and annotating Emma. Emma is my favourite novel! I've been wanting to slowly reread it and annotate the story for months! The extent of annotation I wanted to do, not to mention research, means I can't read it fast! Yet I'm annoyed at myself because I've been reading Emma exclusively for 16 days without finishing a book (the fact I know this is...alarming!) I've had the best time, it's been fun, enlightening, and an escape from my fairly boring life. But I'm still frustrated with myself?

So, what does this really mean?

Firstly, I do need to address, privately, my own insecurities and weird relationship with social media when it comes to books. This is a new thing, or a new awareness of it, but it does need some self reflection and rebalancing of my personal priorities.

Secondly, I'm going to avoid bookish social media. Well, mostly. Nothing is changing on here! I'll still be talking about my reading, chatting with people about their own books, and so forth. But I'm abandoning goodreads, book twitter, and booktube. I don't have instagram or tiktok so I can spare myself that palaver at least!

I'm also, for the first time in 8/9 years, going to leave behind my spreadsheet for a bit. I may come back to it because I love looking at my original clunky spreadsheet, how it's improved, and my changing reading tastes (not to mention the alarming number of times I've reread some books, it's honestly a bit embarrassing.) It's got sentimental value! But I need some space to not think about numbers for a bit.

This means I'll mainly be tracking my reading in my journal and returning to the important parts of reading. The books themselves. And my relationship with them: what do I actually think about the media I'm consuming? Am I enjoying myself? Did I take something away from this book? Not just adding them to a list to say "look at how many books I've read!" No one cares, not even me!

Basically, I want to reclaim the love of reading places like twitter and youtube sucked out of me. If you love these places then great! I'm genuinely happy for you, but my personality, mixed with pressures on my time means they're not a healthy place for me.

Anyway, back to Emma because I'm on holiday, it's the ball at The Crown, and I'm in love with Emma and Mr Knightley!

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issues 4&5

its delphi time babey

I'm sorry but drift & co look like such fuckin nerds on their scooter things on the cover lmaooo

oh god. seeing the first page just reminded me of how horribly confused i was for this whole little arc the first time i read it. i was like ok, who are all these new characters, and also why does everyone look so similar

anyways now i now what's going on. i love first aid

love the running continuity of rung being the literal only psychologist on cybertron (except for fr*id but that's later). no wonder everyone's fucked up they all have to share a single therapist 

ok i find it extremely funny that first aid was demoted from doctor to nurse, as if that's a thing that happens EVER - I mean it'd be one thing if first aid was a nurse practitioner (which i doubt is a position that exists here), at least that demotion would make sense, but like...the doctors i work with don't know how to do most nurse stuff (like BP, cathing, vaccinations, hell even using some of the thermometers - that's all stuff nurses/etc do), so demoting one to a nurse would be a disaster (just like promoting a really good nurse to a doctor would be a bad idea). anyways i know I'm being pedantic but it Be like that when you work in the medical field and read something that has medicine-related stuff in it

i love swerve giving ratchet the tiniest free drink ever lmaooo

is that skids being a rowdy drunk in the bg lmaoooo

unironically i love medical statistics. keep it comin

i love magnus’s giant sternal chestpiece thing. its like a bird’s sternum but without the massive pec muscles attached 

i love magnus and rodimus’s dynamic so much

oh pipes....im so sorry but this fun space adventure is going to be not so much fun for you

ratchets ideologies are certainly interesting, and i liked seeing how they changed over the course of the story

drift: why would i be SCARED of the DJD, I've got a SWORD, two swords even,

hvbhajkhfbsdjkf pipes really said ‘oi, you two - what's this, then?’ that's the most british fucking thing, that's literally something i say when I'm doing an overexaggerated british accent, oh my god,

PIPES IS SUCH A TINY DUMBASS. ILY SIR BUT WHAT ARE YOU DOING

aaaand now you're covered in dead bodies, pipes. look at your life, look at your choices

drift epic sword moments

drift confirmed for the kinda weird guy who has katanas that he uses to like, cut up fruit and water bottles in his backyard while rodimus films him

‘i thought i heard...bickering’ lmaooooo

ah, so its covid

this arc is how i feel working in healthcare lmaooo especially now that i probably have covid 

so rewind condensed the entire war into an 11 second long cringe compilation. nice

seeing the mechanical stuff past tailgate’s visor is so cool

poor tailgate, this guy is getting slammed with history from multiple sides. and like, bias is inevitable in ANY sort of recounting of events, especially controversial historical events, so poor tg just kinda has to take it all in and decide who to listen to 

that’s...not really how immunity works, guys. also, you shouldn't be exposed to so much disease with proper ppe usage

is there even such thing as ppe in the transformers universe?? there are fluid- and contact-transmitted illnesses, so there SHOULD be

is there even OSHA in this universe??????? unbelievable 

first aid, holding a giant fucking claw clamp: we haven't tried EVERYTHING............

first aid read a human wikihow article on how to jumpstart a car and took notes 

i love tailgate’s ‘mom says its my turn on the xbox’ pose 

tailgate has a point - he’s from pre-war times, where things weren't as grey so of course he would try to divide the two sides into ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’

CYCLONUS BE NICE DONT HIT UR FUTURE HUSBAND

go get some character development and then maybe you'll feel better

seeing the word quarantine is making me twitchy w/my possible month-long complete isolation quarantine on the horizon

drift pulling his swords on pipes and ratchet pushing down drift’s arms...lmao

poor pipes...even tho this is completely his fault, its still rough

also jesus, pharma and ratchet look so goddamn similar, reading this was so confusing the first time around 

drifts idea of subduing pipes involves turning into a cool car and also posing with his sword

also. never gonna be over drift’s massive thighs. jesus man

ooof now drift has the rona. ouch 

poor drift, his covid realization is getting overshadowed by pharma being flung around

first aid bustin thru w/the epic medical nipple clamps and some Big Boi Backup

ok that's an epic pre-beatdown speech from fort max right there, daym 

im just gonna continue on w/issue 5 now for continuity’s sake. yay!

the cover of tailgate in magnus’s autobot school is so cute

and we open with an incredible shot of fort max str8 up ripping a guy in half. i mean, to be fair, he DID just give an epic speech about how much he was gonna do that, and he certainly followed thru

yeahhhhh, fort max is not doing so well atm

when he puts that dudes head in his chest vent thing and then snaps it shut....man 

also i fucking LOVE when their faces are shaded all in black w/only the eyes/mouth fully drawn...fantastic stuff

ratchet: phew i am not equipped to deal w/this level of Fucked Up Mental Trauma. u good m8?

ratchet is already writing up a referral to rung for fort max as this is happening

drift is just laying on the ground dying like, oh hey yeahh I'm still here too 

i fucking love when punctuation is drawn in story - like here where first aid has a little ? over his head....fav

ratchet holding drifts hand ;_; 

ok tbh ambulon having switched sides 10 yrs ago is wild bc like, 10 years is barely any time for these guys, especially in a war that lasted 4 million years. that would be like a human switching sides in a war like, 3 months before it ends. probably. i sense some math bs, I'm just extrapolating here

all that mexican standoff shit is going down and first aid is just like But That's None Of My Business

ah so ambulon is an asymptomatic carrier 

and there's first aid with the save! iconic

pharma calling ratchet ‘buddy’ hbvakjdsbfhkasdf

ooooh i love that they figured it out - and i love that twist, that transforming is what triggers the start of symptoms. remember when drift turned into a cool car? yep

s/o to Ambulon Transformers for helping me in my medical terminology courses, bc now ill always remember: Leg(tm)

also this explanation makes a ton more sense (in universe, at least) than the whole ‘i guess we as medical staff have been exposed to enough Germz that we’re more immune to this or something’ theory 

ah, i love the meaningless (to me) alien robot medical jargon 

drift and ratchet hhhhhhhhh

‘I'm too wide’ fort max L O R G E

also once again drift is forgotten in favor of a bunch of other dramatic stuff happening vbhjksdfbjhskdf

godddd i love tailgates little flashbacks where we see how Important and Special he is, complete with his ‘bomb disposal’ arm label...augh its so good! 

and tailgate’s autopedia page even reflects his lies! like, did tailgate go edit that first thing upon waking up??? seriously, I'm fascinated by tailgate’s meticulous dedication to his fake life

also the fact that ultra magnus believes everything he read on autopedia is amazing lmao

ultra magnus: you think somebody would just go on the internet and tell lies? 

fuckgin love magnus’s long ass name/title placard 

tailgate hvbahjkdfbjhaskf i mean, he’s gotten the abridged version of everything else, of course he would assume that’d be the case here too...but not on magnus’s watch

magnus cant even say ‘fun’ hvukdasdbjfkjsadf i love my uptight law dad

love rung implying that upon questioning, he would easily divulge a patient’s name and maybe even information about said patient’s treatment while under him....love the disregard for patient confidentiality and hipaa in general 

not that hipaa seems to exist here, at least not in a fully realized form 

also i mean the above genuinely, i think rung’s tendency towards at least slight malpractice is very interesting 

poor red alert....super bad luck that HE was the guy to get roped up in that overlord business 

I'm glad that, at the very least, red alert was able to prove that he was Actually hearing something to rung, rather than get brushed off completely 

god magnus and tailgate’s interactions are golden 

also tg is much more sarcastic/quippy than anyone gives him credit for tbh

‘thought warfare,’ ultra magnus says with complete seriousness. god i fucking love this comic

now i can tell pharma apart from ratchet bc pharma has let his true Petty Bitch nature emerge and you can see it in his expressions

the whole ‘tarn is addicted to transforming’ thing didn't really go anywhere, right? i feel like i noticed that on my second readthru as well 

also pharma is such an interesting character given the context of him like, trying to strike a bargain w/the djd to keep them from destroying delphi, but that arrangement inevitably kinda making him lose it as the situation escalates. he’s also just really entertaining bc i feel like he kins the joker or st and probably gets into really heated arguments w/people on twitter about just abt anything

‘sound bomb’ i love this comic

another important facet of pharma’s character becomes clear around this time as well - how he’s really into ratchet. i also choose to read them as awful exes tbh, it makes their dynamic even more entertaining

‘killmaster, with the wand’ is one of my favorite running remarks lmao

also, was killmaster even a character before mtmte? or, if he was, was he an important one? it would crack me up the most if he literally didn't exist at all, but any way you spin it is still funny 

ratchet’s tiny humansona facing off against pharma is wild

‘I'm miles from anyone i truly care about’ brutal, ratchet, drift is dying like 2 floors away (im p sure)

SUDDENLY DRIFT IS HERE, ACTUALLY 

oh don't worry first aid, that sure isn't the last we’ll be seeing of pharma 

so like, did first aid save everyone by posting that data log to his wreckers fan blog or something? lmao love it 

i love the pretty fucked up reveal of ratchet having stolen pharma’s hands. like, damn dude. 

and that wraps up the delphi arc! our first true ‘arc’ of mtmte, and a fantastic one at that. short and snappy and fresh, with some very clever writing and cool new characters, and a lot of great plot threads to be picked up later. plus, we got to see the beginnings of drift and ratchet’s whole thing (and ratchet and pharmas whole thing). and the lost light gets some much needed extra medical staff, so everyone wins! 

well, we’ll see how fort max feels about this all pretty soon.....

[wickedwitchofthewilds]

Prompt Two: Night on the Town

Pairing: Emma and Jaal

Characters: Emma, Jaal, Liam

Rating: Mature

Fandom: Mass Effect Andromeda

Read on AO3

Emma checked the time on her omnitool for the third time in an hour. The loud music throbbed around her. There were a lot of people crowding the dance floor. Peebee and Liam were a part of that crowd, tearing it up. Emma had declined to join them. She was waiting on Jaal—who was an hour late. They were all supposed to meet up and have a fun time. But he was the only one that hadn’t showed. Emma wasn’t worried. In fact, she had a fairly good idea about where he was. Knowing him, it was the same place she had left him in hours ago—the cultural center. Five more minutes and she was going to go find him.

Honestly, she had hoped that he would show up and hang out for a while and then sneak back to the Tempest while everyone was still in the club. They had barely been alone since defeating the Archon. Someone was always interrupting them. It was starting to get on her nerves. She loved the crew, but every last one of them had the worst timing. At this point, it felt like a conspiracy. She wouldn’t put it past any of them.

Emma drained the last bit of drink still left in her cup. This time she managed to get away without drinking any tavum. Rum would give her a nice buzz without knocking her on her ass. Five minutes were up, and she was going to go looking for her boyfriend. There were some protests as she got up, but she just told them she was looking for Jaal. And then she told them that no, she didn’t any help finding him.

The doors shut behind her and the music was muffled behind it. She didn’t mind. It was feeling a little claustrophobic in there. Guess this was the Nexus’ weekend. Not that there really was such a thing yet. There was still too much to do. Regardless, the Nexus was relatively quiet as she walked over to the cultural center.

She was surprised to find the center largely empty. There was only one person. And it was exactly the person she was looking for.

Jaal was sitting in an alcove near the Asari VI. With as much time as he spent learning about the Asari, he should be close to done by now. He didn’t even look up as she walked over. But the small smile on his face told her that he knew she was there.

“You are early darling one,” he said while she rested her hip on the desk he was using.

Emma didn’t say anything, she just rose her eyebrow. After a moment he looked up at her. It seemed to also be the moment that he realized he was the only one left in the cultural center.

“You are not early…” he trailed off.

She shook her head.

“I am late.”

She nodded.

Jaal sighed. “I am sorry. I was caught up in reading. I lost track of time.”

Emma slid from the desk and into his lap. The chair creaked slightly under their weight, but it held up. Her arms snaked around his neck and she placed a small kiss to his cheek.

“You don’t have to apologize.” She teasingly kissed the tip of his nose. “You are a complete and total nerd.” She kissed the corner of his mouth. “And I love you for it.” Jaal met her halfway for the last kiss.

It was only supposed to be a small kiss. Something to punctuate her point. But they were alone, and Emma didn’t complain when his hand cupped the back of her head to tilt it back. Nor did she complain when his tongue pressed against the seam of her mouth. They should stop now. After all, they were in a public place even though it was empty. The Tempest wasn’t far.

“I can make it up to you,” he murmured against her mouth.

Emma hummed in response. Saying anything would have dragged her mouth away from his. Besides, she had a fairly good idea of how he intended to make it up to her. The hand that wasn’t tangled in her hair, was pressing into her thigh. Emma was glad she had decided to wear the dress Peebee had lent her for the night. When she had tried it on it seemed a little short for her tastes. However, with Jaal’s fingers trailing up her bare thigh, she couldn’t be happier with her wardrobe choice. Every touch sent sparks across her skin.

Emma dragged her fingers down his cowl. She remembered her initial surprise when he told her that it was a sensitive area for Angara. But since it was one of the few places they could concentrate their bioelectricity, it made sense. So, when she concentrated her own bioelectricity into her fingertips to run her hands over them again, he gasped into her mouth. White hot, heat went straight to his core. A sensation that was mirrored in her. This was her favorite part about intimacy with Jaal. Everything was shared between them. It could also make things very intense. She wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Jaal’s fingers brushed against the hem of her dress before slipping underneath the fabric. He inched up the dress, revealing more of her to him. There was some difficulty since she was sitting on her lap. It didn’t stop Jaal from pressing his thumb into her inner thigh. Any rational thoughts left in her mind fled instantaneously. The spark on his fingertips that pressed into her skin traveled inward and her muscles clenched in anticipation. Forgetting they were sitting on a chair, she attempted to part her thighs for him, but she began to slide from his lap. Jaal’s hand abandoned her thigh to wrap around her waist and catch her. It was enough to make them pull apart. They stared at each other, wide-eyed and breathing heavily, before bursting into laughter.

“This is not very comfortable,” he declared.

“No, it isn’t.” She couldn’t stop laughing. “But I am committed to this idea.”

Jaal lifted her from his lap so he could stand and set her down on the edge of the desk. Her legs parted automatically so he could fit between them. Hooking his hands underneath her thighs, he pulled her flush against him.

“So am I,” he murmured, leaning down to graze his teeth against her neck. His hands moved upwards, not to resume pulling her dress up—much to her frustration, but to pull the straps away from her shoulders. His mouth moved down her neck and to her collarbone. Emma’s breath hitched. She just wanted to be as close to him as possible. One of her legs wrapped around his waist to pull him closer. She cradled him in between her thighs.

Jaal was trying to so hard to take his time and pay her proper attention. She just wasn’t sure if she had the patience for it tonight. While he was working her dress off of her shoulders, she was trying to undo his armor. Not all of it. Just enough.

“Hey Emma, did you find—”

Liam’s voice made her slump forward. Her forehead was pressed against Jaal’s shoulder. “You can’t be serious!” she shouted into his armor to muffle herself.

For all his usual teasing, Liam seemed genuinely mortified that he had caught them. He tried to stammer something out.

Emma held up her hand to stop him. “Jaal and I are going back to the ship for the night.” She slid off the desk and straightened her clothing. “Have fun at the club.”

She didn’t want for Liam to say anything. Even if she and Jaal did nothing else, she just wanted to spend some alone time with him. And dammit she was going to. Emma slid her hand in Jaal’s and urged him towards the docking bay. They were going back to the tech lab and locking the door. Either Emma was getting in her pajamas and snacking while watching vids with Jaal, or they were going to have incredible sex, and nobody was going to interrupt any of those things.

[littlemissmeggie]

Fic questions; 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, 31, 36, 37, 40, 43 (least fav story), 46, 47, 48, 49

sorry this took so long! some most of these were really difficult and took a lot of consideration! thank you for sending this, whoever this mouse is. it was challenging and fun.

1. things that inspire you: music. personal experiences. music.2. things that motivate you: music. the @1dbackforyoucollab writing challenge i’ve been participating in the last couple months. reviews and asks and messages and kudos!!! asks like this that show some people are interested in my writing and fics!3. name three favorite writers: i’m not sure if this means, like, published authors or fellow fanfic writers. i’ll go with three published authors—mario puzo, j.k. rowling, and agatha christie—and one fic writer—nautibitz, who most likely none of you will have heard of because she was a spuffy fic writer in the buffy the vampire slayer fandom back in the early/mid 2000s and wrote fics that could have been missing episodes from the show and AUs that were perfect. (her fics were the first fanfictions i ever read in any fandom ever.)5. since how long do you write? i started writing fanfiction almost three years ago. i think i posted my first fic in april of 2016. i’ve always loved to write though. it was usually just fiction that i wrote for myself and never showed to anybody else (or to my old friend tasha).

7.early influences on your writing: mario puzo. a lot of the old spuffy fanfic writers. 8. what time are you most productive? probably in the morning after i wake up and am sitting drinking my morning cup of tea. second most productive time would probably be mid-afternoon on days off.10. how do you do your researches? i mostly google things and make notes in my writing notebooks. i also always have google maps open in a tab so i can find my way around wherever i’m writing. 

12. favorite place to write: sitting in my bed. i can occasionally get a bit done on the sofa. i used to write a bit in the cafe at barnes & noble when i went to take breaks at work but now i’m lucky if i get a proper half hour break so that doesn’t happen anymore.

13. hardest character to write: maybe zayn? probably just because i didn’t get into the fandom until after he left so the only reference i have for him regarding pleasant interactions with the rest of 1d is old interviews and such. but i still don’t think i have a hard time writing him.

15. hardest verse to write: i’d have to say anything canon-compliant. i wasn’t in the fandom until right before made in the a.m. was released so, because i wanted to be as accurate as i could be when writing canon-compliant, i spent a lot of time researching everything 1d and narry that i could. i also didn’t want to seem like a l*rrie so it was always a bit like walking a tightrope to get the right balance of canon-compliant without seeming like a tinhat.17. favorite AU to write: i really loved writing my mermaid!harry AU but i’m also loving this model AU. i don’t think i can choose between them, honestly.20. favorite character to write: i love writing harry but louis may be my favourite. 21. least favorite character to write: probably nick in all the time before i knew you but more because i feel badly making nick grimshaw an abusive, manipulative dickhead than that i dislike the character.22. favorite story you’ve ever written: i can’t pick one so i’ll give my top three in no particular order: a little drop for me, that’s the day i knew you were my pet, and all the time before i knew you. honorable mention to i think i know he don’t love me because it was my first fic and holds a special place in my heart.23. least favorite story you’ve ever written: i’m really having a hard time choosing a least favourite. i really do like every fic i’ve written. i wouldn’t post them if i didn’t. if forced to choose though, i’d say i like tonight you’re mine the least. 25. favorite line you’ve ever written: “Please don’t,” groaned Conor from where he sat beside Bird. “We can choose more than one song on the jukebox, ya know.” (i love the whole scene at the beginning of chapter 3 of all the time before i knew you because harry and bird’s discussion about the superior supergroup is so very much a music nerd conversation i would have with two of my uncles.) if asked again in a few days, i may choose a different one.26. story you’re most proud of: so far, before i knew you. i really am proud of all of my stories—i wouldn’t post them for everyone to read if i weren’t at least mostly pleased with them—but with this fic, i feel my technical skill is at the best it’s been. i also set out to write in the third-person omniscient as well as i could; i think i’ve been fairly successful and have managed to avoid too much head-hopping while still showing the points of view of multiple characters. (i’m sure an expert of any kind would find fault but i think i’ve done it fairly successfully.) i’ve also managed to write my transitions without my least favourite transition tool ******* between sections, which is something i’ve wanted to get out of my writing for the last couple years. i wanted it to flow a bit more like scenes in a movie rather than harsh breaks.28. worst review you ever got: someone commented on an early chapter of my mermaid AU (a little drop for me) saying the story was boring and asking when the narry was going to start. not really a bad review but just an unnecessary comment to leave. i also got a comment on the first chapter of all the time before i knew you that i really didn’t know how to take; i wasn’t sure if they liked the story or not. (i’m not sure if they knew if they liked it or not, actually.) they ended by saying they guessed they would have to wait for another update though so i guess not a bad review, just a weird one.30. hardest part of writing: sometimes it’s really just finding the focus to write that trips me up. other times i get stuck on one scene and because i don’t have the mental ability to skip a scene and go back to it, i get frustrated and can’t write the scene and move on. another thing that makes writing difficult for me sometimes is my obsessive research that occasionally trips me up and makes what should be a short, easy scene to write take hours because i’m researching the menus at restaurants in the area of wherever the scene is taking place and trying to figure out which restaurant harry would choose and then finding out the walking directions to that restaurant from wherever he’s starting.31. easiest part of writing: dialogue. i almost always find that dialogue just flows really easily for me. 36. one-shot or multi-chaptered story? i really love how in-depth i can get with a chaptered story. one-shots are nicer for stories that aren’t spanning a great length of time or don’t require as much background as i like to put into most of my stories. so probably chaptered.37. canon or AU? i preferred writing canon or canon-compliant fics when i first started but i now prefer AUs.40. which one of your stories would you most like to see as a movie/series: a little drop for me as a movie or all the time before i knew you as a series. every few chapters of a little drop and each chapter of before i knew you could be a season of the show. that’s the day i knew you were my pet would be a cute romcom-type movie. (fun fact: i studied screenwriting for a while before going to culinary school.)43. would you ever write a sequel for (insert fic title here): the fic asked was my least favourite, which is (i say hesitantly) tonight you’re mine. and i won’t ever do it but i could see a sequel in which their relationship has changed and niall is the dominant one in the relationship and he isn’t just domming for the night. 

46. share a scene of a story that you haven’t published yet: i posted it here.47. how many unfinished ideas/stories are you working on at the same time? i usually can only manage one fic at a time but i’ve currently got my rarepair fic and before i knew you going (almost) simultaneously. my guardian angel!niall fic has been in the back of my mind constantly for about two and a half years now, though.48. three spoilers for (insert story title): i wasn’t given a fic so i’m going to choose one but i’m not going to say which fic. 😈 1. harry wears only one ring to work and lou notices. 2. niall writes since we’re alone about harry. 3. harry gets a bit wrapped up in himself and doesn’t realise he’s emotionally neglecting niall.49. writing advice: write. read. write even if you’re not happy with it because you can always go back and edit, revise, add, remove but write just to keep up your flow. that said, don’t push yourself to write if you’re really struggling. take a break for a few days, a week, however long you need to reset yourself. read something or watch a television series. do something to get your mind off your story. find blogs and websites about writing to improve your grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, all the technical stuff. set a challenge for yourself for each fic—my current is to write in a (reasonably) successful third-person omniscient point of view—and try to achieve it. then push yourself to do it even better in your next fic. talk to other writers and ask for advice. if outlining works for you, write a good outline.