#amilynh

[wily-one24]

10 Characters, 10 Fandoms... let's go!

rules: list your ten favourite characters from ten separate fandoms then tag ten people!

Tagged by @evergrove <3

Olivia Benson (Law and Order:SVU)

2. Emma Swan (Once Upon a Time)

3. Jane Rizzoli (Rizzoli and Isles)

4. Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars)

5. Amelia Sheperd (Grey's Anatomy)

6. Debra Morgan (Dexter)

7. Samantha Waters (Profiler)

8. Cordelia Chase (Angel)

9. Eleanor Shellstrop (The Good Place)

10. Kaylee Frye (Firefly)

Tagging: @dahllaz, @eoangstlover56, @motherconfessors, @singwhenyoucantspeak, @the-silence-in-between, @cooper214, @sparklyunicorns, @amilynh, @detritusanddross, @alpineh,

[yhamh]

Tagging @dannypinot @jetslay @ourheroregina @amilynh @rgrdsalxndra @eoangstlover56 and anyone else who wants to join

[lajulie24]

For the ask game?

27. How long did it take to write Won’t Do? Describe the process. (Since it’s still in process, maybe how long per chapter?)

27. How long did it take to write One Half Won’t Do? Describe the process. (Since it’s still in process, maybe how long per chapter?)

*laughs maniacally for a moment*

So, One Half Won’t Do was originally born from an idea I had in September 2019. Yes, you read that correctly. Four years ago. I can’t believe it either sometimes. So the story of writing this fic (so far, it’s not done yet, hopefully I will get the next chapter done soon) is the story of several things, in part that whole global pandemmie thing really making it difficult to concentrate or get much writing done for a long while there, but mostly the story of a pretty good idea for a oneshot completely breaking containment.

(Apologies in advance, I get kind of wordy when I talk about these things. If it threatens to get super long I’ll put some of this behind a cut.)

So anyway, at that time @hanleiachallenge was doing a monthly prompt, and people would write fics inspired by that prompt and they would reblog them. Kind of like HanLeia Week but a monthly single prompt thing. The prompt that inspired this fic was “tropes.” My fic tends to be fairly trope-y anyway, so I was looking for something different, and came up with, what about fake marriage with a bit of a twist? Usually when Han and Leia have a UST-filled time because they are pretending to be a couple but (ostensibly) aren’t, it’s the outside world who is fooled by the ruse and notice what a great couple they make, but all their friends back at the Rebellion know they’re not REALLY an official couple. What if, instead, Han and Leia had gotten fake married for a mission, but for REASONS even their closest friends didn’t know it wasn’t real, and totally bought that they’d really gotten married? And maybe they had to keep pretending for a while? So really the first thing I came up with was Chewie and Luke assuming they really HAD gotten married and being royally pissed off that they weren’t included and had to find out from rumors on base.

I talked with fellow writer @amilynh and bounced some ideas off of her, and she helped me think through an actual reason why they would keep pretending once they got back from the mission, and how they would end up on the mission in the first place, and how to include Chewie and Luke being surprised but then make it so that they could be part of a very tiny circle of beings who knew the truth. And I started writing, and it was going great…and I got my first clue that this fic was going to expand. I wrote about Leia and Han on the actual mission where they get married (or their aliases do) but Leia started having a lot of feelings about being dressed in wedding attire and cultural traditions and the like.

So that fall I think I finished most of the first chapter as well as some scenes that ended up later chapters, although at that time it was all one big chapter. I thought it was just going to be a long one-chapter fic. But I was realizing that I didn’t have the scenes I wanted quite filled out enough to actually finish and post it yet, and I did have a sort of natural stopping place that was pretty much ready. So I asked some other writer friends (including @graciecatfamilyband) what they thought, and I was kind of itching to post something anyway, so when they said “you should post the first part and make it a two-chapter fic” I listened. That was winter 2019-2020.

Each time I have posted a chapter of this fic, I have thought, “the next chapter will be the last, I will finally wrap it up then.”

Some scenes I wrote pretty early on haven’t shown up until much, much later in the fic — for instance, some version of “Han does a desperate search of the random junk in his ship storage because he told the Rogues he gave Leia a Corellian wedding stone and now needs to show them the stone” was written around the same time I posted the first chapter. Other things, like a scene with Rieekan telling Han that his bounty recently went up, weren’t written until very soon before I posted that chapter.

Chapter 1 was probably the most straightforward writing experience; subsequent chapters have taken a while because I would have 80-90% of the chapter written, but there was just a scene or a few that I needed to connect things and have a satisfying narrative, and writing those last few scenes would take me a couple of months (off and on). I had the concept for “the Rogues want to throw Han and Leia a wedding reception on base” pretty early on, but it took a while to connect that to the rest of the story and lead into why that would come up, and I ended up editing it a lot.

I have at least some of the ending already written. I know how this fic ends. The tricky part is getting from where I am to there. Perhaps in the next chapter? (See above GIF.)

Anyway, the good news is that I really enjoy writing this one, and already have a good start on the next chapter. And the encouraging comments and support do really help with the motivation! So thank you.

Thank you for the ask!

Questions for fic writers

[eoangstlover56]

Getting a review from @amilynh is like your favorite professor you look up to reflectively analyzing your work because they’re proud of you and you may or may not get an A but you learned some new stuff because she points out things I hadn’t thought of and they are long and well thought out reviews ❤️❤️❤️

do u ever get a comment on a fic thats just so sweet that ur like Maybe slaving over 24k of fanfiction was worth it for user SprinkleTrashcan2012 to leave a three paragraph comment

[hanorganaas]

Leia. J. When words aren’t enough.

Takes Place in the Legendary Heroine Verse: 

“Han,” Leia said soothingly running her hand down Han’s back.

The nights following the incident on Bespin, the moment where she was so close to losing him. He frequently woke up from nightmares. She would wake up abruptly to see Han sitting on the bed sobbing with his hands threaded into his hair. 

It was hard for him to speak. Hard for him to breathe and it often broke her, but just like he was so often strong for her when Leia was dealing with her trauma she had to be strong for him.

“Look at me,” Leia said firmly. His red tear filled hazel eyes met hers, “You’re safe.”

But simply telling Han he was safe wasn’t enough. He needed to know he WASN’T back there. So the moment he acknowledged her, even if it was a silent and sheepish stare, she pulled him close. She let him settle into his head into her lap as he so often loved.

“That’s it hotshot you’re not there,” She whispered, “you are here with me.” 

She let the moments passed as she ran bestowed affectionate touches he loved in hopes to soothe him. But with each lazy circle on his back and smooth glide through his soft locks, the tears and the tremors died down.

She wished there was more she could do. She wish could go back in time and prevent what happened on Bespin from even happening at all. She wished could tell him everything was going to be okay when danger still lurked in the shadows.

But to be the one to wrap him in love above the darkness was enough for her. 

Minific and Drabble Prompts. 

[roane72]

amilynh replied to your link: “Instagram post by Georgia Tennant • Oct 13, 2019 at 3:33pm UTC”:

Wait...did they have TWINS????

I don't think so? Left is Michael Sheen, whose partner just had a baby like, two weeks ago, and right is David Tennant whose wife just had a baby today, apparently! :)

[taraljc]

I want to say it was called thistlecroft but I'm not 100% sure. @amilynh might remember better than I do.

popping in from the renaissance/medieval post from like 4 days ago. Sorry. Hi. That's the duck. That photo you posted. I spent many a far too early morning in that yard and that was before we painted it and so probably before my time there but only just, but i'd recognize the fence and the shop in the bg anywhere and now i'm sitting alone in my apt in mn smelling cinnamon almonds and listening to the court of common pleas from the other side of the building and oh so desperately missing randall t and his sideways grin as he mussed my flatcap and minding the step from inside where the fridges and nessie were and the duck itself was slowly sinking into the ground because it was still just a garage that someone dumped and left and standing with my cast mates looking as sad and pathetic as we could after lunch at our guildmaster (sue at the time, later my own mother,) hoping she'd let the three of us take on the revelers in a game of stool ball to defend st. lawrence's honor where someone would inevitably get injured. disapproving looks from t. stacy hicks if we hiked our skirts up high enough to run (this was, naturally, back when i was still deep in pretending to be a girl because y'know, *life*,) and then taking meatpies up to rick and chris in the serenghetti and spending some time with st. mike's concocting Plans what eventually ended in four ducklings with soot goatees and twirly mustaches engaging in impromptu land naval warfare. how dare you hit me with so much nostalgia it hurts in a post where i completely clicked on all the read mores half expecting the beige paperback we got at BAPA detailing all the things we needed to know to be decent period actors. i still have mine, y'know? currently it's packed in a box because i'm moving house next week, but i know exactly where it is and this... oh tara. i've never so much as skimmed your blog before to my knowledge and you have skewered me but good. please forgive the typos. it's 4:30am and i am deep in my feels all of a sudden.

My Emma and I worked at the duck from 1997 to about 2001 and I share your feels! I don't even think we were the guild of St Larry's yet I think we were just an offshoot of the Revellers back when Katie and Ralph ran it before they got divorced? and then we had TJ and the lovely man from court whose name I can't remember sort of as co-guild leaders but Karl was still doing the duck sort of separately?

for what it's worth, we are the ones who started bringing hard boiled eggs, pies from the Middle East Bakery, and started selling to everyone with a pass not just the Revellers Guild and not just the actors but the shoppies and the grounds crew and everyone.

and I absolutely 100% remember the Duck slowly sinking into the ground. I think the fence was a new addition? The innyard in the back I mean that fence was a relatively new addition. And I do remember the tables because I want to say Enzo built them (before he and Sue were fight cast they were Revellers) and then we stained them and waterproofed them but they weren't that great and so they were slowly turning green by the time I left?

Anyway yes, that is me in that outfit and so if you were fed by me I probably would remember you! My faire name was Fionnuala Ní Loughlin and my husband Liam was a dead sailor.

(We were also almost single-handedly responsible for Susan who was not yet Susan Scot Frye banning us from scaring the shit out of the patrons by crying during the 3: 30 melee.)

I miss Randall too, so much. and Enzo and Marc LePescu who ran The Forgery and so many others that we've lost over the years.

[teddythecat1234]

14. Are you psychic in any way? 35. Have you ever tried archery? 37. Favorite swear word (auf Englisch und/oder Deutsch)? 66. Do you like long or short hair (on yourself and on others)? 67. Can you name all 50 states of America? 96. How did you get your name?

Thanks! Sorry, I almost overlooked this...

14. Are you psychic in any way?

No.

35. Have you ever tried archery?

Yes, at school.

37. Favorite swear word (auf Englisch und/oder Deutsch)?

(Admit it, you only want me to teach you German swear words, am I right? 😉😅)

Okay, I usually go for the classics, whenever I feel the irresistible urge to swear, like Scheiße (shit), Mist/Bockmist (dung), (verdammte) Kacke, 'So ein Hühnerdreck!' (The family friendly version, chicken poo, maybe 😂)

Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not that creative when it comes to swearing...

66. Do you like long or short hair (on yourself and on others)?

I don't have a general preference for other people's hair; that kinda depends on the person in question. 😉

For myself I've tried different lengths from down to my waist to really short and have finally settled on shoulder length.

67. Can you name all 50 states of America?

Uugh, honestly? No.

96. How did you get your name?

My name is Maren. My mom wanted a short name that's difficult to shorten or turn into a silly nickname. She also wanted it to be rare and to sound nice with my last name. Well, the 'rare' is debatable, but the rest worked out fine. 😉

[knightedrogue]

amilynh replied to your link “Clay and Pearl: Specter, a star wars fanfic | FanFiction”

::flappy hands of joy::

Yay yay yay yay!

[samantha-carter-is-my-muse]

amilynh replied to your photo “Helen Magnus and Charlotte Benoit discussing lemurs is too hot for...”

You KNOW what lemurs are like...

Ahhhh, so that’s why! Silly me :D

[onlymorelove]

You know what? You'll write again. You love it. It's part of you. For the past three months, both your mind and YOU have been busy with other, more urgent things. Processing and coping and adjusting are mentally and emotionally exhausting. I believe you'll get there. It's terrifying...but I believe it won't last. ...It didn't for me, even though it felt like it would.

Thank you for caring.

[lajulie24]

The Dark Side: Two Sides

So, the lovely @amilynh and I were chatting about our extreme hatred for Palpatine, like you do, and got into some consideration of how Palpatine got the way he is, which led to a whole discussion of the nature of the Dark Side. In particular, I observed that Palpatine’s cold calculation is pretty different from what we’re led to believe is the path to the Dark Side, that anger and passion and extreme emotion. But of course, what we’re told about the Dark Side is largely filtered through various Jedi and Sith who are not exactly unbiased about the whole thing.

Luke's experience of the Dark Side as “cold” in the cave on Dagobah implies that there are maybe two different brands of going to the Dark Side, so to speak. One is letting your passions and your anger rule you so much that you take down everything in your way, like a tornado of fury. That’s where Anakin is in ROTS--he’s been traumatized, groomed, and never learned or had access to more productive ways of dealing with his fears and emotions, and he’s just been given free license to roll with all that anger and fear until it spirals.

The other route to the Dark Side is to close yourself off from all feeling, so that emotion is something completely outside of you, something other (weaker) people experience, but not you. You understand feelings in a detached, theoretical way and are able to manipulate others via their passions and feelings, but have ceased to access any yourself. Attachment, feeling is a sign of weakness and something you look down upon in others. I think this is Sidious’ brand of the Dark Side--

Luke: Your overconfidence is your weakness.

Sidious: Your faith in your friends is yours.

Sidious even kind of tutors Vader in this after he turns--contrast the wildly emotional Vader who attacks Padmé and is practically sobbing as he attacks Obi-Wan against the cold calculation of Vader in his battles with the Rebels.

Given this, it’s even more amazing that Leia never turned to the Dark Side, because she could easily have fallen into either cavern--given into her fury and pain on one hand, or completely shut herself down on the other. Thanks to the people who loved her (Bail and Breha, and later Han and Luke), and importantly, her willingness to let those people in, she was able to avoid both dark paths.

[otterandterrier]

Reviews!

Technicolour beat

@luv15 said: 

Lovely. Please continue.

@lajulie24 said:

“Nothing to remind her, except the void” and “binding her galaxy together” — so beautiful, poetic, and true.

Northern wind

@lajulie24 said:

I love this ficlet— you’ve managed to mix the serious conversation about killing Jabba with a scene that is both heartfelt and full of their personalities and humor. “Serendipity and anger” - perfect!

@yoyomarules said:

"Han gave her a lopsided grin, a little sad, a little ironic, curling around his teeth." Ah, that's such a good, clear description! I love this and would be so excited to read more of your take on what happened in this time period!

@amilynh said:

Oh, I LOVE it.

@graciecatfamilyband said:

‘S not as easy to kill as you’d think.’

‘He wasn’t.’

Amazing.

I also love the- I don’t know how to say it- contrast between serendipity (the prompt for this scoundressaturday) and anger at the end.

@ewokkey said:

So good! I always wanted to see Han's reaction to finding out his girlfriend killed the guy who's been haunting him the past few years and this was SO good and how I imagined Han would react. I love how you write Han being so touched his friends all came together to save him even though he's not able to articulate it perfectly - so Han.

Thank you all!! Having these scenes written down is definitely motivation to finish writing a longer story for both, so thanks for the enthusiasm ✨ @ewokkey aaah yes, I wanted to include the “wish I could have seen you” line because, as opposed to the fuckboy idea that Han would kill to have seen Leia in the bikini, I think he would have been really excited to see her strangling Jabba, like “😍 that’s my girlfriend!!” also yes I have a very soft spot for Han “omg these people risked their lives to save me, guess they must really like me” Solo

[jedifest]

I'm SO EXCITED! I'll have my spring break from school/teaching AND uni in time to use that time to write my stories!!!! Thank you for organizing! -Amilyn

We’re excited that you’re excited! It’s always a pleasure to host these things!

~Mod I

[hanorganaas]

amilynh replied to your post “reylos are attacking poe again, now saying he committed genocide. “poe...”

Poe did, indirectly and accidentally, get half the Resistance shot out of space. And...that's awful...but he made a mistake....and HE DIDN'T KILL THEM: the First Order (AND KYLO) killed them.

As you pointed out, it was a accident. And theres a huge difference between accident because of a mistake made in the heat of the moment and purosely killing people like Kylo did. 

I also like that we see Poe making Mistakes cause its the same reason I love John Sheppard from SGA, he’s not perfect.

[roane72]

Trope: Pretending to be married in the suburbs.

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |