#also the way I use half of these to make up scenarios about my blorbos

[ascensabyss]

when u get this, list 5 songs u like to listen to, publish. then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers or moots (positivity is cool) 💖

Aaahh thank you so much for the ask😭🤍

This turned out to be really summer themed but it is my favourite season after all:

Take A Slice by Glass Animals - my favourite Glass Animals song and a perfect summer song! It’s so sensual and I adore how they go absolutely feral in the live version! I can’t wait to hear it live later this year (wavey davey you better not skip that one!!)

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out by Rick Astley with Blossoms - this is a The Smiths cover they did at Glastonbury last year and it just makes me so happy! The smile on the drummer from Blossoms and the crowd, this is the beauty of live music and what concerts are supposed to be like!

Darkness At The Heart Of My Love by Ghost - "when the summer dies / severing the ties / I’m with you always" this is my favourite Ghost song and on constant repeat at the end of summer when I’m starting to feel that sadness about the colder months and my seasonal depression creeping in.

Friday Afternoons, Op. 7: A New Year Carol by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - this is a two part song from the "Challengers" soundtrack. I usually listen to it in a dedicated playlist on repeat but Part 2 is actually my favourite part of the Song. The mix of the synth with the ocean sounds at the end is the perfect music to listen to at sunset while thinking about life.

Changes by Empire Of The Sun - this song makes me feel like I’m soaring through the sky and on a deeper level makes me think about how it’s never too late and that there are second, third, fourth, how ever many chances to make positive changes in your life. Also in the MV there are these cute alien creatures, love the little guys!

Also throwing in a bonus because I love talking about music:

Ocean Man by Ween - Not only part of the soundtrack of the best movie ever made which, of course, is "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" but also just a feel good song that makes me want to dance!

[ohwell-itsme-but-danganronpa]

Everybody loves Makoto/ Kokichi's crush (saiou endgame)

Clown_Chaoticz: Everyone once in while I wanna put Ouma in the "had a passing crush on makoto" pile, in like a hopes peak scenario It lasted like 3 days and he was very weird about it. He looks back on it in shame Just cause I think it's really funny

Sini: Makoto seems so boring but is so sweet, cute, and has his interesting moments, making the fact that he’s also so normal fascinating

Clown: He's also just so incredibly empathic. He really does try his best to understand the people around him Makoto pats his back a little too nicely and kokichi starts avoiding him like the plague

Sini: That’s literally how Mukuro falls for him He was the only one who smiled at her and wanted to understand her. Who saw past her So yeah, makes sense the same would apply to Kokichi

Clown: Makoto really do be everyone's first crush/j

Ves: makoto gives him one of his eight jackets on a cold night (shuuichi vc) i'll never be good enough for ouma-kun….i just don't have enough jackets…! cute boy….physical contact….genuine attempts at understanding…..

Clown: He can throw him into the wildest situations and Makoto never holds anything against him, he's used to weirdness Unfortunately Makoto sees him as like, one of those neighborhood kids he gets along with

Ves: NOOO HE WOULD hits him with the Brotherly Hair Ruffle and kokichi has violent flashbacks to his crush on rantarou why does this always happen to him

Sini: Wait……..looks at Makoto and Shuichi……He has a type Kokichi when protag energy Man, he and Shuichi are both losers. Falling for people who are nice to them lol

Clown: Shuichi would probably also have a passing crush on Makoto thinking about it ashsbsks

Ves: SNDJBHFG EXACTLY….(1) ounce of compassion and they're FALLING he spends time around him bc of kyouko and is like Oh………..he's so nice……………

Beez: makoto gets every single person in hpa to fall in love with him speedrun any%

Clown: Okay, gotta saiouify this. Shuichi and his genius detective skills catches wind of Ouma chucking himself out windows anytime Makoto so much as steps into the same room and gets roped into the wildest confession scheme Makotos luck fucks them over so much it's almost impossible, then shuichi starts to catch feelings when Ouma explains why he felt anything in the first place. Shenanigans

Sini: Even Junko loves him Especially Junko, actually

Me: real, for Junko he's basically her irl blorbo, she wants to put him in situations

Clown: Okay, so thinking about how Makoto somehow rizzed his way into having half his class fall in love with him. Kokichi ends up on that list. Makoto in his empathic nature is just, easy to get along with, and more so, even with the more unpleasant people in his class, he considers all of them friends and makes an effort to keep this. Not because he lets himself get walked over, but because he thinks everyone he talks to has a part to them worth knowing. He extends this same thing to Ouma, which leads to the budding of ✨️ a crush ✨️. And Ouma does what he does best and explodes. He's a little weirdo about it, peeking at him from around corners and scrambling away on all fours/j when Makoto approaches him. Maybe during one of his escapades ouma climbs out of a window, scaring shuichi who's out there for whatever reason. Shuichi puts 2 and 2 together and Ouma threatens to end his life in the aftermath. Shuichi, also knowing Makoto, decides to encourage Ouma to confess. Which obviously leads to Ouma roping him into helping him, "Thats a great idea my little helper!" "What." Boom shenanigans. With the bonus of Shuichi getting to see the evasive completely human part of Kokichi. All it takes is Ouma offhandly explaining how Makoto makes him feel like he's worth knowing, and he's smiling genuinely. Then shuichi goes "Uh. Oh."

Sini: YES! I LOVE THIS SM! I can’t help but think Kokichi bumps into Mukuro when he’s spying on Makoto, cause she’s doing the same lol

Hina: Is Shuichi now stuck being his wingman

Clown: Shuichi is being forced to sit on his bedroom floor as he presents plan after plan yes

Beez: shuichi wingmanning for kokichi while having a fat crush on him is always so fucking funny

Sini: He has thoughts about sabotage but could never go through with that. He’s not the greatest jealous type

Hina: Wait What happens if he does confess to Makoto Please say he’s talked to Makoto more than like. Once.

Ves: makoto lets him down gently i imagine or mb just. gets with someone else before kokichi can make his move

Clown: Makotos luck nerfs any planning and he walks off obliviously with shuichi and ouma collapsed on the floor in the background

Sini: Bro gets with Kyoko or Byukuya or both and Kokichi and Mukuro cope together lmao

Beez: i mean if its both kyoko and byakuya whos to say he wont just . add kokichi and mukuro to his harem too

Sini: Mukuro maybe. But Kokichi no chance

Hina: Okay but Beez that just gives me the image of Makoto saying yes to everyone He can’t turn someone down

Me: combine them, it's 37th attempt, finally everything goes according to plan, Makoto says he just started seeing someone yesterday

Hina: No Makoto says yes Me: shut up Hina: WDYM I WAS GONNA MAKE IT BETTWR ITLL BE FUNNY I SWEAR Me: no, go to hell, Shuichi is comforting Kokichi now [this is playful. but, reader, ahead of you are two paths]

Hina: Makoto dates everyone. While secretly trying to match make them with other people. He can’t say no but… he can convince them to break up with him for a better partner

Me: that would be fucked up for him to do tho like, as a person

Hina: We are ignoring the fucked up nature This is for comedy purposes

Me: I can't, it's ooc and messing with everyone's feelings, it's gonna hurt people more than rejection

Hina: (Nah but you seriously don’t have to go with it, I just think it’s funny) Alright fine Makoto can reject him I still want him to play matchmaker though

Me: also, with it already being a polycule, his partners getting with other people would not get Makoto out of the mess he made I mean, I guess some of them wouldn't be okay with poly, like, Byakuya probably draws the line at sharing with Kyoko, he won't compromise with 10 peasants

Hina: It was more him trying to get them to understand that the traits they like about him are things they can find in other people and that a puppy crush on him isn’t going to be the fantasy relationship they’re imagining

Clown: There's also the option of Makoto and shuichi friendship. Where Makoto encourages him to confess and shuichi is wracked with guilt lmao "I'll cheer you on!" Shuichi:[grimacing emoji]

Me: man, I just wanted Shuichi to hold a crying Kokichi, pet his back in soothing motions while holding back his own feelings because it's the wrong moment to bring up why Kokichi is wrong in his dramatic woes about love

Hina: I mean that can happen But does Kokichi know Makoto like. At all?

Ves: theyre casual friends not SUPER close but they know each other!! i don't think kokichi gets crushes on strangers

Me: okay, tbh, I imagined it more as a "Makoto saw him seeming upset once and tried to cheer him up" kind of thing but that came from the fact that when it started you said he had the crush for whole 3 days so I imagined that this scenario was just snowballing from that, keeping it alive because Shuichi encouraged him to pursue it, so he got to notice more things and most likely talked to Makoto more times in the process

Sini: Shuichi unintentionally made it worse for both of them

Hina: Does he actually even like Makoto then?

Me: yeah, he ends up liking him more instead of getting over & it's Shuichi's fault, (or you could say he just has rejection sensitive dysphoria and that's why he gets so crushed) or maybe he's overdoing the dramatics so Shuichi comforts him because he's in too deep he was dragging Shuichi along to all those over the top plans for none of them to work out, he has to seem appropriately upset for the level of effort, even if it was just a little crush, he deserves a hug anyway, lets himself have it he has a back list of things to cry about, great opportunity to catch up

Clown: YESS At some point comes the question. Were his feelings even that serious?? Or did he just get fixated on the planning part? Either way it doesn't feel good to have it all in shambles.

Ves: makoto just can't stop being viewed as a symbol instead of a person huh he's just kokichi's idea of Boy Who Is Nice To Me

[Kai brought up issues with Kokichi crying over a 3-day crush] Me: I mean, after all those plans it was way more than three days, and it is likely he would be exaggerating, not even just in the last option I gave, I just agree that he does play up his negative feelings to distance himself from them

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

Writing asks: 10, 11, 38

10: Top three favourite fic tropes

Transformations - Vampires, alien goo, zombification, demonic corruption, dragon mode, I eat this shit UP! Day fucking one my mom asks little 3 year old me what kinda imaginary story I wanna play and I am immediately transforming motherfuckers into various animals, monsters, and strange shapes. I've been on my freak with this since birth.

Omegaverse - I've only half written the one fic for it myself, but I find A/O/B very fun and extremely gender affirming. I could honestly rant about the appeals of this one for a while, but half of it would be NSFW and the other half would be railing against one specific anti-omegaverse argument that genuinely makes me want to fist fight people lol, so suffice to say, I do really like it.

Edgy Panic Button Powers - uhhh so idk what the proper name for this would be, but I'm talking like superpowers that are overwhelmingly powerful, but have some kind of cost that necessitates that it can only be pulled out in absolute emergencies, and I want that shit to be edgy as all hell. Ichigo's Hollow mask thingy is a good example of this. Rin from Blue Exorcist doing his demon thing is another great one. Alucard's control level zero (might be getting that name wrong??) from Helsing Ultimate OVA. Dante's Devil Trigger and Jason's All-Blades could be the same kinda sauce with the right tweaks. Bonus points if the Edgy Panic Button is a transformation.

...Just realized this one isn't exactly a fic trope, have another one

Only One Bed - something about this one strikes just the right balance between fools getting put in awkward scenarios against their will and character choice. The bed forces temptation, and it's up to the characters and their own foibles as to who breaks how. Have yet to write this one yet, but it will happen someday, mark my words.

11: Three tropes that are fine but overrated

continuing the trend of only half staying on topic, some of these are more like tropes of unknown rating that don't jive with me? I have a hard time saying something is getting undue praise, but I tried

Soulmate AUs - I think they're simultaneously underrated and overrated. They get treated like they're THE exemplar of romantic storytelling in fanfiction, especially in terms of talking about hating it and wanting it subverted into dust because it's supposedly this hollow hedgemonic whatever, when really like... It is not the core and pinnacle of pure romance, nor is it emblematic of what's wrong with the kids these days. It's just a trope, with narrative strengths and weaknesses the same as any other trope. It's fine.

coffee shop/flower shop/mundane job AUs - These are simply incompatible with me. I do not like normalcy; normalcy does not like me. I have a really hard time imagining my weirdo blorbos being so normal without exploding out of their own skins trying to find something more. Tim and Jason would attempt to throw hands with everyone and God in every world I think, but at the same time, maybe I kinda get why people like it? If I wrote the same kind of slice of life fic about Jason and Tim working together as assistants in a necromancer's lab I'd really like it. I can respect a trope that's comforting and has a routine that puts the characters in proximity with a craft they can mutually share and have passion over. Still feel like it's kinda over-done tho

Wing fics - I am way, way too anal retentive about speculative biology and speculative anthropology for 98% of these, which prefer to focus on using the wings as thematic and emotional indicators. I get why they're popular, they're cool and lend themselves well to dope ass art, but also they do sometimes make me want to scream about wingspan ratios and improper joint placements.

38: "This never happened" fix-it fics or "this happened but" fix-it fics?

"This happened but" all the way. I find taking the concepts that didn't work in comics execution and improving upon them to be a fun challenge. I firmly believe that with effort and care, you can make a good story out of nearly any starting concept, and there's a ton of advantages I have as a reader/fanfic writer that the original comic writers didn't have (like hindsight and a lack of executive demands), so idk I pretty much always feel like I can take the comic's basic beats and figure out a way to improve it.

I'm also just way more forgiving than a lot of other comic readers I think? Like I have gone on record as a defender of both Brothers in Blood and Pill Helmet Jason and some of my first comics ever were Lobdell's Red Hood and the Outlaws new 52 stuff and that somehow didn't turn me off of comics lmao, it takes a LOT to make me say "this is too garbage for me to want to use any of it". I enjoy going into comics looking for stuff that works or could work better if ___.

The only "this never happened"s I really go for are the ones that are like specifically in service to keeping a character's cool magic power or transformation curse or whatever intact. Like if the story's happily ever after involved the main character no longer turning into a sicknasty demon form when mad, I will hate that enough to pitch it out entirely lol

anyhow, thank you for the ask Laufire! I might send u some questions back as revenge :3

[safyresky]

Fic writer asks 4, 11, 18, and 19? :D

Oh boy oh boy oh boy! What a fun distraction for the looming desk shift! 🥳🥳

4. Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

Literally anywhere. My brain is just constantly churning out scenarios and making little stories as I go about my day. It can be anything from a typo, like FROG warning instead of FOG warning, to seeing a trope or idea someone talked/posted about and going hmm. I wonder how this would work with THESE blorbos...

And also in nature! Like, if I'm on a drive and stop by a waterfall or trail or garden or anything like that, ideas aren't too hard to come by! they just kind of SPAWN. Beaches are NOTORIOUS for this (when I'm not sleeping on them lol).

11. Link your three favourite fics right now

So I am admittedly much less of a fic reader these days 😳😳😳 so I don't really have THREE fave fics rn, but a handful of goodies I recently read, as well as mother fucking MILLER'S LAW!

Miller's Law by @kscribbs has been on LOOP in my BRAIN since it went up in March and I am OBSESSED. I can't stop thinking about it. It CONSUMES ME. I want to do art about it. That's how bad I have it! K is HUGELY talented and I have such a strong urge to know EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING going on in ML 😍

I've been enjoying Chance and Choice by @lmelodie! The way they have magic working in the fic is like. I am ENTHRALLED with it. I am so afraid for Lucy and what's gonna happen next, it's DELIGHTFUL. The OCs are all so FUN! Half of them live rent free in my brain. It's GREAT.

I'm slowly making my way through a Good Omens fic called Reviews of AZ Fell and Co Antiquarian and Unusual Books and by making my way, I mean reading very, very slowly. It's a two parter (I think) and I'm STILL on part one. But it's delightful!

OH and I read a really enthralling Critical Role fic the other day for campaign 3, it was a long oneshot and I was HOOKED. It's called Capable, Exalted: A Primary Source History of the Ruidian Solstice and my GOD was I HOOKED. It had me by the THROAT! THE THROAT! PLUS THE DOODLES????? IT WAS AMAZING. New fear unlocked: Imogen doing some uh. self sacrificing BS whenever they get back to the Malleus Key 😵😵😵

18. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

Usually during the writing! I'll put in a placeholder until the title hits me, and generally that tends to happen about halfway through writing. I come up with titles by vibes?? Like, I'll write a chapter and usually base the chapter title on an event that is happening in it, OR the most mundane thing mentioned in the chapter (see: Jacqueline's Cat and Fae Brand versus Second Chances or Whiteout!)

SOMETIMES the title hits me right away. Like with Fog Warning. That one was like. BOOM. RIGHT THERE. Same with Frostmas, that one was ALSO like. Right there the MOMENT I started writing it! And when it's a good title, my GOD does it HIT

19. What is the most-used tag on your ao3?

Definitely OCs lmao. That and redemption arcs!

[flowerslut]

H, I, Y and Z for your letters 🤠

G my beloved I knew you’d come to rescue me in my eleventh hour… i’d kiss u on the mouth about it but I don’t want you covid-stricken (again) 😔

H: How would you describe your style?

LMAO of course you hit me with the question I always have a hard time answering right out of the gate. bitch (affectionate).

girl I don’t knowwwwwwww

I don’t intend for all of my stories to be as angsty and dramatic as they end up being, but I really gravitate toward writing really emotionally charged stories. I’d consider them fairly accessible though, (which I take a teeeeensy amount of pride in) because I feel like not getting too purple or too descriptive makes it easier to reign in a wider group of readers who, like myself, might find that distracting or boring. it definitely may bite me in the ass at some point, but as long as I have their attention and their emotion invested in the story, I find I can sort of ~get away~ with not needing to be as descriptive as others. not that I don’t get descriptive or purple at any point, but I’ve found a good balance with the set up and execution of my funky little plot points—I almost always have some sort of heavy build before you get that emotional payoff, but I’d like to think it’s worth it for the reader 😵‍💫

also I’m a big third person limited girlie. I pick a blorbo and we go on their funky little nightmarish adventure with them

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

oh man yeah I don’t currently have any guilty pleasures since I haven’t been reading too much fic recently (I mean it when I say I’m fucking picky) but an old guilty pleasure for SURE (and for some fandoms, still is) is accidental pregnancy fics LMAO (girl don’t you say shit). of course since that’s a nightmare in any twilight scenario that I’d ever care to read about that’s nothing I would ever read in twilight (or employ for writing purposes either) but for a lot of my old ships… whew boy… that’s some spicy drama… I cant get enough lmfaooo 🫣

Y: A character you want to protect.

I’m part of the gaara defense squad in naruto. like fuck off leave my boy alone he’s been through enough (you’ll never see me putting him through it in fics on my LIFE you won’t). but as for twilight? I don’t typically feel the need to protect any of them (I literally put my favs fucking Through It constantly) but I will happily join/create the tanya defense squad. lord knows she needs some protection from the rabid edbellas that villainize her in 93% of all fic (don’t anybody @ me about this. I’m right)

Z: Major character death—do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can't tolerate?

as someone who HAS written a major character death in a large story (sorry changing skies readers, but it had to be done) I would only employ it if the story absolutely called for it. I hate reading a story with a plot that calls for a high death rate but the author just… spares all the mains (I’m glaring at you, duffer brothers) so it only makes sense to use it to keep things more “realistic” and to keep the stakes high. I’ve used it before and would I use it again? probably, yeah!

I do draw the line at killing off half of my ship. the main reason (or at least, 99% of the reason) that I read or write fic is for pairings. I am a shipper through and through and I am that PROUDLY, so the idea of just axing half of what I’m even reading or writing a story for is just… utterly unappealing to me. I’m here for their journey. and sure, sometimes those journeys don’t end “well” but it’s so intensely rare that I’ve ever read a story that kills half of the reason I’m reading that story in a satisfying way. (also if you come at me for “welcome to hell” don’t even bother. that was a practice in TRAGEDY you FOOLS)

[nazumichi]

okay that being said, couldn’t stop thinking about shirou and marie going on a date in marie’s boat. she sees him stressed out and is like “babygirl don’t stress yourself out that’s my job let me treat you to a night of relaxation” and the night of relaxation in question is marie leading him down to the docks where he steps on seagull shit on the way to the boat, almost fell into the water cause she didn’t tie it that well, and then there’s just one table with a bath and body works candle and food that she bought with his credit card

also was thinking about that “she’ll make him pay her for any little thing” stuff you always talk about and also that demon gf post (u know the one) and just her bandaging up his wounds after he gets into a fight and him being like “what? you’re doing this for free?” and she was so freaked out because the injuries looked really bad but she has to keep her cool and is just like “mm, you can pay me…with a kissie” for jokes but he DOES give her a kissie and then it just becomes a habit for them when they do get together

hi hi hi this is cringe i don’t know half of what i’m saying sbsksbsosb

PULLING MY HAIR OUT BECAUSE YOU LITERALLY WOULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT I HAD ON IT BEFORE MY TABLET WAS WIPED….. also woaw blorbo swap

ok so like. He would rather die than say “date” he thinks it’s immature and childish and stupid and bla blah blah but that’s sort of what it IS. Like my dream scenario is “if this helps me lose the headache and stop you from complaining then fine, we’ll do it” and they do but literally nothing is normal for either of them. “Oh that guy over there tried to kill me yesterday.” *spittake*

of course it’s not going to be normal in any way, and it helps him get over the awkwardness of “oh this is a date. with *marie*” which doesn’t help the headache but hey he’s used to this, used to a tense and more violent situations. She’s not gonna lose sleep over anything that strays from blueprint of an outing, once they get over the awkward “ok she helped me yesterday, I can do this for her” and “ugh if it stops shirou from looking less dead than usual—”

omgggg… kissie…. like yeah throw yourself into dangerous situations means more money for me, but SLOW DOWN NOT THAT DANGEROUS— core. Her token excuse is “well if you die I don’t get paid do I?” “You could find another job… you’re resourceful, I’m serious. What’s stopping you?” “…… ok so don’t think about that too hard—”

idk idk I just like to think they’re both a little awkward around each other a little freaked out by the prospect of….. anything actually. Babygirl you are looking so awkward and fatigued right now ❤️ So don’t get mad but this isn’t a free outing btw—”

[ask-the-wordsmith]

Do you have any advice on writing crossovers?

Ah, definitely! There are two main types of crossovers: characters from universe A meet characters from universe B (e.x. "The Avengers meet Harry Potter & friends"), and characters from universe A are inserted into universe B (e.x. "The Avengers are students and go to Hogwarts). Usually a "crossover" is used to denote the first one, and the second is referred to as an "AU," but I'll touch on both!

Characters From Different Universes Meeting

The main appeal of this sort of crossover comes from the character dynamics; i.e. the simple pleasure of all your blorbos, waifus, and skrunklies interacting. The bulk of your fic (or RP) should be showing off how characters who could never meet in canon would be best friends or worst enemies.

I thought I'd written about character dynamics before, but no, my old advice is either like... "just do it" (which is TERRIBLE advice) or "have variation" (which only applicable to groups). So, here are a few universal points to start finding dynamics within pairs!

"What do they have in common?"

Shared interests

Similar goals

Similar backstories

Similar experiences

"What do they have that's different?"

Clashing morals

Clashing personalities

Different cultures

Different strengths

For crossovers specifically:

Outside perspective on an established dynamic (an excuse for someone from universe B to comment on the relationship between characters in universe A)

Setting up pairs or groups based on similarities (e.x. "all the young shonen heroes teach each other their dueling systems") and then usually having them talk about the other group in private (e.x. "all the young shonen heroes talk about how cool their mentors are")

CONFUSION OVER DIFFERENT MAGIC SYSTEMS. Please please please I am begging writers to not gloss over the part where they go "wow you have magic here?" "yup!" "cool!" WHEN LITERALLY HALF THE FUN OF CROSSOVERS IS THE CHARACTERS LEARNING ABOUT EACH OTHER'S WORLDS. So here are bunch of different emotions they can have other than just saying "cool!" and moving on.

Confusion ("wait, what's a Pokémon? how is it different from a Digimon? huh??")

Misunderstanding ("wow hi there, little guy! what kind of a Pokémon are you?" "poyo! :)" "I've never heard of a Poyo before!")

Anger ("you're telling me there are cool animal-human hybrids and people are prejudiced against them?! where I come from, being unique like that would make it so easy to get a job!")

Introspection ("I never thought about furry racism that way before. I guess I just grew up with it.")

Admiration (okay, yes, SOME characters would see a witch casting magic and just go ":OOO cool!" but if you're going to take this route, at LEAST have them explain why they think it's cool— "in my world, people can only bend ONE element unless they're the Avatar. you're telling me here, ANYONE can be the Avatar?")

Characters From One Universe Being Inserted Into Another

In scenarios where only one set of characters is being put into an AU where they belong to a different universe, there's a lot more wiggle room depending on what you want from your AU, but the biggest tip I can give is:

Decide how closely you want to stick to the original story.

Hint: it should not be 100%! I once read a crossover fanfic where I literally felt like I was reading the script of a certain movie, but all the character names had been swapped out for different characters. Literally why make an AU? You've added no value to either story.

On the other hand, I've also seen "crossover" AUs that strayed so far from the source materials that they may as well have been original stories. This is okay if you're aware of it and it makes you happy, but do realize that most people reading a crossover AU want to see you actually USE the setting from one universe, and characters from another, to tell an interesting story. If the Avengers go to Hogwarts but then they decide they don't like the system of the four houses so they run away to the woods to start their own school, with magic folk AND muggles, and there's a side-plot about them trying to bust an underground smuggling ring... you've kind of stepped away from the whole purpose of a crossover AU putting them in Hogwarts.

[lucky-draws]

do you have any tips on coming up with fic ideas? i write maybe one or two short chapters then give up bc i dont know where to take the plot. how do you keep it going so long?

ooh hello!! good question,, it's difficult to say definitively "this is how to come up with ideas", since they sort of just happen naturally i guess, but hopefully i can try to say some things that might help you,, (this answer will probably get very long and waffly, and i apologise in advance LOL. actually, ill put it under a read more, i guess.)

I suppose I would say firstly, I think it helps when writing fics (or any kind of story) to have a plan or a clear idea in your head of what you want to write and how it will end up Before you actually start writing; you don't have to have it all planned out to the exact detail but at the very least having an end goal in mind, or a definite theme or idea that you want to get across, can help you to know where you're going as regards the plot. (I know this doesn't solve the problem of having an idea in the first place, but having an idea of what direction you want to go in, where you want it to end up, before you begin, makes you less likely to get stuck half way through and not know what else to write I guess.)

I started out by doing short fics, with no real plot to speak of, just snippets/short scenes; and then eventually after getting more confident with writing and also getting more into the series/characters I then started trying longer fics. Don't feel bad if all you can write is short stuff for now; quality not quantity and all that.

And I guess this is an obvious thing to say, but to keep a fic going for longer you need more stuff to happen!! lol. It could take place over a long time, over different places, there's probably going to be some kind of Event or incident it all revolves around; having some kind of fight or conflict will expand it because you can think about how and why the fight happens, what's the aftermath, the resolution. You could think about is there a certain atmosphere you want to create; something summery, something scary and gloomy, etc etc; and therefore what kind of things can happen within this setting? If you have some characters who maybe don't like each other at first, then can you think up a plot where some kind of extreme situation or a series of situations forces them to work together, get to know each other, etc, things like that? Are you going to build up to some big Thing or some Realisation happening at the end? It doesn't necessarily need to take place over a long time; it could be a 'one day in the life of [x character]' kind of thing, but perhaps it's a terrible horrible no good very bad day, and a lot of shit goes down.

Honestly, if you're really stuck for ideas, there's no shame in going for the really clichéd fanfic tropes like, idk, "there's only one bed" or "tattoo artist and florist au" or whatever, because it at least gives you a starting point; you can expand upon it in your own way, and you can think of ways to subvert the trope etc. Even things like the '5 times they almost [x] and one time they actually did' or whatever can be a good template, because you're forced to think up six different scenarios.

I don't know what media you're writing for, but are there any gaps in the canon that you could use fic to explore? Characters that never canonically interacted but plausibly could have done, and so on? That's part of the reason for some of my writing, exploring stuff that was only referenced in canon but was never actually shown.

Tbh, my ideas often start from just single sentences or lines of dialogue which come to me randomly during idle pondering of the blorbos; I might start out with just one or two scenes that I can imagine clearly, or a spicy conversation which I think will be good, and then it's like the plot and everything else kind of gets built around, or builds up to that moment.

I guess I'd say don't sweat it too much if you're struggling to keep fics going; like everything it takes time and practice, and sometimes you just can't force an idea to happen. I've had a fic in mind for ages that I've only just got around to planning out properly; it was just a concept and a handful of imagined paragraphs without any real details/logistics as to the plot, but eventually it took shape.

This has been said before by countless people but it's pretty much true I think, and that's the fact that in general, the best writing advice is to just read lots xD Whether it's books or fanfic, read a lot and read a variety, and subconsciously you'll start to get more of a feel for how stories take shape, what kinds of things you can do, what kind of style you can write in, and so on. I remember that I was struggling a little when I first started doing fics with my writing being too wordy, too long winded; but I started reading a collection of very short stories by an author with a very concise style, and that gave me a bit of a lightbulb moment; I started to get more of a feel for how to keep things more direct, but still retain enough substance.

Tbh, I will say also that I feel like for me, with metal gear solid, it's just fortunate that there's a lot of scope to write abt stuff in this series, like there's a lot of things I want to write about; I've never really written fic for any other fandom fgjjgkg it's just mgs that has like. driven me to start writing fanfic properly, I just have some extreme brainworms for these characters. Honestly I would love to write like, original fiction some day but I would have no idea what to write about or what kind of plot...so yeah, you're definitely not alone when it comes to scratching your head for ideas.

I don't know if any of this has been helpful at all; I can at least say, ending on a positive note, that the fact that you've managed to write anything at all, even a couple of short chapters, is no small feat!! Writing just a single paragraph counts for something. Keep on keeping on, etc!!! Even if you ended up giving up on a fic, someone will surely still get some enjoyment out of the one or two chapters you did write. People are generally hungry for content!!

I guess that's all I can think of to say for now; drop by again if you want to ask anything further, anything more specific, whatever. Good luck in all your fic writing endeavours!! o7 <3