#at least i have my google doc of little half-finished fics

[tvlandofficiall]

going back over my thoughts once more and i'm so interested in how queen seems to know almost every other major darkner in the game — not just swatch and spamton from her cyber world past and the folks she meets during ch2 like ralsei (for all he slips into the background) and rouxls and lancer, but the old card kingdom court as well. the "how" of how she knows them at all is oft-theorized-on, but what i've been thinking about again is the "who" — what were her relationships like with the old court? how did they feel about one another? how did those relationships play out? how will they continue into the future now that the queen has indeed returned?

[fairsweetlonging]

sooooo i saw @sillygoofyqueer do this and i was curious and wanted to do it too!!🩷

i admit i had a HUGE wattpad fase, it's actually where i discovered fanfiction! it was a high school au and it changed my universe forever. i didn't even think it was possible to do such a thing, my mind was blown.

used ff.net for a little while but hated the way posting works there. plus i immediately got bots in my dms. and ao3 has such an amazing seach system i never wanted to go back.

hesitated at the "wants to be a professional writer" because while i would love to publish a book someday, i'm not looking to make it a career.

template under the cut!

[avtvmnalvibes]

Fallin’ For Ya

A/N: Hi y’all!! This is my first fic I’m posting to tumblr. I have my AO3 account in my bio, and you can find all my previous fics + this one posted there. Shoutout to @dopp-likes-yanderes because one of the asks on their blog inspired this fic this past May, and it’s been sitting half finished in my google docs account from now until today. Thank you for giving me your blessing to post this!! Also note that I’m on mobile so if anything is formatted really weird that’s the culprit. Happy Valentine’s Day everybody!!

CW: female!reader, biblical references, Philip being a Puritan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Philip Wittebane was seething.

His day had started out as it normally did these days. Go to the market, limp about, look pathetic in hopes of finding some abominable creature to trick into being his sacrifice. It had taken a turn for the worse however when the brother’s of that disappointment Blue Fang had shown up and demanded both payment and information, taking his journal and taunting him. He kept up the act, inwardly calculating whether they could be reasoned with or tricked, or whether or not he could kill them without repercussions, when he had been saved by a foolhardy young witch who was oddly eager to accompany him. Her knowledge of the Collector made her easier prey then he ever could have hoped for, and he had decided that things were finally coming up Wittebane, when suddenly.

“…and this is my Aunt uh….Dirtrude and uh-“

“(Y/N) will do just fine, Luzura.”

He felt something creep up his spine, both pleasant and unpleasant, turned his gaze slightly to the side, and felt his mouth fall open.

Caleb was laughing from beyond the grave, he knew it. In fact, if he didn’t know any better, he would say that Caleb had orchestrated this, some supernatural, eternal, annoying older brother ability to push him to his limits. Because there, in front of him, stood the most gorgeous creature he had ever seen in his life. Pure temptation, the likes of which he had only heard in sermons and in his brother’s voice when he talked about her.

Hence the seething.

He listened to ‘Luzura’ chatter on about something about crabs, or toe-gres, or something else of little consequence compared to the emotions he was trying to keep at bay. He was NOT like Caleb. Caleb had been weak, he had succumbed to temptation, fornication, and witchcraft. Philip was a good, God-fearing man, who would take a HUMAN wife, thank-you-very-much and be fruitful with HER.

His internal rant was broken up by a shriek, and he came to as someone crashed into his back. Hands clutched onto his chest and back, perfume filling the air, and he pushed down the sharp, breath-catching arousal that came with the feeling. He turned around sharply, gripping her waist with aggression, hard enough to bruise, and was stopped short before he could react in any way shape or form.

Her kerchief, the one that had been tied round her head, had slipped in her fall, and had revealed her ears.

Her round ears.

He finally allowed the attraction that he had been fighting back to flood his body, and he felt his blood coursing through his veins, warming him and turning his brain foggy as he stared at the woman, the human woman in front of him. The very sensations he had been attempting to drown out just seconds ago were allowed back. The feel of her body, warm beneath his, the scent of her. He had never been so aroused in his entire life, and all he could do was internally crow to his brother, to beyond the grave.

“See? I can only be tempted by a human woman! You who so quickly gave into a mistress of Satan, a follower of the Devil, but not me!”

His focus was returned by the sound of her voice, her face so close to his that he could feel her breath across his face and neck.

“Oh, Mr. Wittebane, are you alright? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to grab you like that, I-“

“Don’t trouble yourself for one second Miss (Y/N), I assure you, I am not in the least bit angry.”

She seemed taken aback at this, and tilted her head to the side.

“….You’re not?”

He grinned, giddier than he ever had as a boy, and wound his arms tighter around her waist, pulling her close to him and delighting in the way her face flushed and breath quickened.

“On the contrary! My dear Miss (Y/N), I have but one question; why didn’t you tell me that you too were human?”

She paled, one hand darting up to cover her ear, and he found that he quite preferred her flustered to frightened.

“I’m terribly sorry for deceiving you Mr. Wittebane but, well…you know better than anyone how hard it can be for a human on the Boiling Isles. Besides, we didn’t know whether you would take kindly to another human…so we elected that it was best to hide it.”

We…we? Oh! Right. He’d been so enraptured that he’d forgotten that they had company. He looked over to their other traveling companions and found that they had reassured themselves of her well-being when he had caught her and had begun to amble ahead, moving slowly so as not to leave them behind.

“I understand Miss (Y/N). You’re quite right of course; I know the trials a human on the Boiling Isles faces all too well. I must confess to being a tad offended that you could think me hostile towards other humans, however the logical side of me understands your caution and finds it prudent.”

She turned her face up to him, her chin resting on his chest as she faced him fully, and he felt something within his chest clench. Dear God…

“Your forgiveness is deeply appreciated Mr. Wittebane.”

“Philip. Please.”

He spoke before he could stop himself, words spilling over his lips, which he clamped shut before any more of the contents of his heart and mind could be revealed.

He saw a flush rise up her cheeks, and felt one of his own creep up to match, heart pounding desperately in his chest she had to have felt it given her proximity.

“Alright Mr.- Philip. Then you must call me (Y/N). No ‘Miss’ in front of it. Just (Y/N).”

He grabbed her hand and raised it to his lips, pressing a kiss to her knuckles and lingering, savoring the moment as if it was the last meal he would ever receive.

“(Y/N)….it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

She exhaled shakily, eyes wide and lips parted, and Philip Wittebane swore he’d never seen a more beautiful sight. Like Adam before Eve, he had never felt such an assured sense of belonging to someone in his whole life.

“Hey, are you guys alright back there? You’ve been standing still for like, 10 minutes.”

He turned his head to look behind him, and saw Luzura staring at them with an expression of concern on her face, Dirtrude next to her still scribbling away in her little notebook and muttering something about ‘Deadwardian Balustrades’.

“We’re just fine Luz,”

(Y/N) called out, and he took a great deal of satisfaction in the breathiness of her voice.

That satisfaction was quickly replaced by disappointment and annoyance as she left his hold and his arms, though he was reassured slightly by her catching his arm as she walked past, holding onto the sleeve of his coat as they walked side by side.

“So…Philip. How much longer until we get to where we’re headed?”

Luzura’s voice piped up. For a moment Philip prepared to create the transportation circle of glyphs, body several steps ahead of him, when suddenly, he did what he was best at; he thought. And in this brief moment of thought, his mind stalling his body before he could move to scratch a single glyph into the dirt beneath his feet, he came up with a plan. It was a little rushed admittedly, and less a full fledged plan as much as it was a little subterfuge that he would use to shape the rest of the events that followed into the result he desired, but still. When the result would be marrying the woman he was increasingly sure was the yoke mate that William Whately had described in his sermon The Bride Bush, how could he resist enacting it?

“Oh dear! The time we spent lingering back there has cost us. I’m afraid we won’t make it before nightfall.”

Everyone’s faces morphed into varying degrees of horror and dismay.

“But it’s not safe to travel during the night! And we’re too far from Bonesborrough to head back now!”

Dirtrude’s voice was shrill with panic, eyes darting around as if she could see imaginary creatures swooping in and carrying them off as they attempted to travel safely. Perfect.

“Thankfully, I’ve explored these stretches of woods many times before. I know a safe place to spend the night nearby. I often find I’d rather risk the cruelty of nature as opposed to that of the townspeople.”

The whole party looked at him in pity, and he felt a thrill as (Y/N) laid her other hand on his shoulder, drawing his attention to her as she gazed up at him.

“How far away is this place?”

“Not far. A little ways behind us, but not enough that we shan’t reach it before the sun sets, and not so out of the way that it will inconvenience us when we get our start tomorrow.”

(Y/N) looked around at her companions, conferring silently with them until she nodded and turned her attention back to him.

“Lead the way then Philip.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Philip wrote in his journal, his work illuminated by the fire they had set for warmth. His description of (Y/N) was coming along nicely, her temperament and mannerisms unfolding easily beneath his pen.

He looked over to his side, and saw her face illuminated by the fire, resting and peaceful.

“Soon neither of us shall have to worry about any danger the Boiling Isles have to offer.”

He muttered, as he began a few detailed sketches of her. Her as she lay beside him now, her blushing as she looked up at him, her face broken out into a smile.

“Bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.”

Never before had the meaning of the Word of God seemed so clear to him. William Whately’s words rang through his head once again, his teachings on the virtues necessary for marriage striking a chord beyond the academic and theological interest he had once observed the sermon with.

“We’ll find our way home (Y/N), don’t fret. Once I’ve rid this world of evil, I’ll be able to take you home to Gravesfield and marry you.”

He blew gently on the ink to dry it, observing her likeness fondly as he turned to gaze upon the real thing. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“Sweet dreams my love.”

[musicalmoritz]

On average how long does it take you to write a fic? I see you post pretty often on ao3 so I was just wondering if you had any tips to write faster? you make it seem so effortless lol/pos

I must confess, I’ve been procrastinating on finishing a fic for a few weeks now…nonetheless I do have some tips!

So the brutal truth here is that when I really want to get something written I don’t sleep LMAO. Usually I’ll stay up until 4:00 AM writing, but I haven’t been able to do that lately because I’ve been trying to prioritize a healthy sleep schedule. It’s better to start writing early so you don’t stay up half the night, that can actually make things more difficult as after a certain hour your brain will just shut off (at least that’s what happens for me)

The length it takes me to write a fic depends on the type of fic, if it’s 3-4K I can usually knock it out in a day or two, unless I’ve been putting it off. If it’s 9-12k it takes me a couple of days, though I have written fics that length in one sitting before. Again, I do crazy work between the hours of 8:00 PM and 4:00 AM. If it’s anything near 20k it usually takes me a few months, especially if I have a lot going on irl at the time. My longest fic was 52k and I pretty much wrote that through the winter. Right now I’m working on one that’s meant to end at around 15k and I already have 12k of it written, but I ramble so it might come out a bit longer

Okay now onto actual productive tips. In my experience, the best way to write a lot is literally just to spill all your thoughts onto the page. Yap like your life depends on it. If I’m writing the character experiencing something I have a lot of opinions on, I’ll spend several paragraphs just talking about that. Some of my best and longest fics come from me straight up venting into a Google Doc. It’s like a diary except no one can tell how much is the character’s pov and how much is me working out my own problems. If you think you ranted too much, you can always go back and delete some later

It’s also good to try and always be writing. One of my Mitsukou fics was written almost entirely between breaks at work. I bring my computer with me if I’m going somewhere over night. I’ll write while I’m waiting for a class to start, and in between classes- especially if I have a long break. I write a paragraph or two on the toilet sometimes. And also be thinking about the characters a lot, I’m hyperfixated on tbhk rn so these little losers are always on my mind; so when I sit down to write, I’ve already written most of the fic in my head. Share your own headcanons and analysis, people love reading that stuff. Don’t be afraid to get creative and take a few liberties, most readers are subconsciously longing for new things in their fics

Also don’t stress yourself out too much about what you post! Fanfic is best when it’s written for your own enjoyment above anyone else’s. Sometimes I get too caught up in what other people will think of my fics and forget I have total control over everything I write. If you worry too much about making your work “perfect,” you’ll never want to write. Make yourself your main target audience, it makes the process way more fun

I hope some of this helped you!! Thank you for your ask, this gave me the motivation to work on my wip. I’m also currently writing fics for every day of Aoinene Week so it’s been busy. A good fic playlist also helps, it helps you better envision the world you’re writing. Recently I’ve been basing my fics off specific music artists which gets me really invested. Happy writing :)

[smaller-comfort]

Actually, do you mind if I ask you for more from the fic game? Because "gotta start somewhere" is probably my favorite of your SoS fics and I'd like to know more of your thought process behind it. So, I choose: ★, ✿, ϟ, and ♫

ahaha I never mind being asked about my writing. that's why 90% of the stories I post have such extensive author's notes on tumblr.

gotta start somewhere is probably one of my favorite things that I've written, and there's a lot of shit going on behind it. I'll try to stay on topic here, but if you want the tmi infodump about the setting, their characterization, and why I wrote it, I can post that, too. This is going under a cut because it's still going to be long, and I'm going to include some cut scene fragments from the scrapfile.

★ what was the scene you most wanted to write in [fic]? what was the hardest scene to write?

Pretty much all of my modern AU stories start out as little scene fragments that live in this giant, out of control google doc, so initially I wasn't actually expecting this to even *be* a fic in the first place. It was sort of just a footnote to myself- chastity devices are a recurring element because I think they're hot, but the in-universe justification started out as a way for them to work around Resh'an's anorgasmia.

So, it started with the post-coital pillow-talk after they have sex for the first time and Aephorul realizes Resh'an didn't come (why didn't he notice *while* they were fucking? plot hole, actually! but he's also kind of dumb). And that conversation is really the core of the story I wanted to tell- I wanted to establish some of Resh'an's issues around sex and relationships, and I wanted to get at that moment where Aephorul realizes his feelings. Everything else built out around that.

The ending was probably the hardest part, because I struggle a lot with endings in general. And it kind of goes back to the whole thing not really being intended as a full story; I wasn't sure where it was supposed to end in the first place. (I realize I say this about a lot of stories but this was also one I didn't think I'd have the courage to finish or post.)

The first sex scene was also very difficult and I put it off for a long time because I wasn't all that interested in writing it. It just didn't feel as important as the things that lead up to it or the things that follow after. I'm pleased with how it turned out, though- it's fun for me to read, at least, even if I didn't have that much fun writing it initially. (Choreographing sex scenes is always a little bit tricky, and I frequently shoot myself in the foot by overcomplicating things.)

✿ did anything major change when you started writing [fic] to when you finished?

The whole thing! That initial, central conversation changed drastically. It got broken up into two parts, which meant I had to write them having sex twice (oh noooo). Resh'an was originally going to handle Aephorul's feelings a little more maturely and not have a panic attack. The ending got rewritten half a dozen times, and the 'boyfriends' conversation wasn't supposed to happen until later on in their relationship.

At one point I had delusions of grandeur about starting the story with them meeting for the first time, and actually attempting to write a long, multi-chaptered, slow burn thing. (You can read some of that here, and also see the original working title.)

Here are some of the ending bits that were cut, and what's left of their original conversation in my notes.

----

(the first part that I wrote, sort of; the actual original got chopped up too much for me to put back together. i still like parts of this better than what's in the final story, but i'm probably not going to go back through and change it. no guarantees, though.)

warning for implied history of sexual assault

----

“No, I didn't come, no, you didn't do anything wrong, yes, this happens a lot. Can you leave it alone, or are you going to get weird about it?”

[snip]

“Look, it's not about you, okay? You were great. You didn't do anything wrong. It was good. Like…really good.” Resh'an's shoulders hunched in a little.

He swallowed. “Then why are you acting like you're mad at me?”

“I'm not mad, I just- fuck.” He curled up, burying his face in his arms. “The sex was great. I'm just a fucking headcase. It's not even about you, I just get- stuck. And most guys get weirded out by it, or they think it's a challenge, even when I say it's fine and I don't want to, they don't-” He stopped, and took a shaky breath.

“Okay.” Aephorul reached out, wrapping one arm around Resh'an's waist and pulling him close again. “Okay. I won't…I won't push. Okay? If you don't want to, that's fine. I just- really, really want to do this again sometime.” Tomorrow morning, ideally. And again, tomorrow night, and the following morning, and- oh, he was so fucked.

“Me too,” Resh'an said hoarsely, and Aephorul let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. “I was just really hoping I wasn't going to fuck this up so soon.”

Aephorul's heart did something painful in his chest. “Same, honestly,” he muttered. “I'm fucking awful at this most of the time. Not- sex. I'm good at that. Everything else, though.” He'd never wanted to be good at this. It had never mattered, before.

Resh'an laughed, a sharp, bitter sound. He uncurled a little, and turned back over to face Aephorul. “It's okay. I suck at this, too.”

[snip]

“I really like you,” he whispered, feeling raw and stupid and hopeful.

“Oh.” Resh'an made a quiet, choked off sound in the back of his throat, and curled a little closer. “Really?”

“Yeah.” He tucked Resh'an's head under his chin and held him close. “I really do.”

----

(post-story ending fragment #1- I wrote this before I finished a lot of the actual story, so now it doesn't fit in terms of continuity/characterization. I actually still really, really love this scene, though, and I'm glad I got to keep some parts of it.) (Aephorul's brothers' names keep changing on me. The two he's closest with are twins, and are maybe 2 or 3 years older than him.)

--

“I'm assuming, since you didn't even tell me until yesterday- you're not out to your family, are you?”

“No. I mean- two of my brothers kind of know. I haven't told them or anything, but- they know.” Aephorul sighed. “The rest of my family has no idea. Honestly, I wasn't ever planning to tell them. It wasn't ever supposed to matter- I was going to graduate and go to med school and then figure it out from there.”

“Sorry.”

“Huh?” Resh'an wasn't looking at him. “It still doesn't matter that much. I mean- I do want you to meet my folks.” He'd already been planning to invite Resh'an to spend spring break with him.

“But you're not going to introduce me as your boyfriend.”

Aephorul sat up. “Is that what you are?” he demanded.

Resh'an was covering his face with his hands again. “I don't know! Maybe? I don't…” he took a deep breath. “I told you, I don't do this normally.”

“I don't either. My longest relationship lasted three months.” And that had been in high-school, with a girl, and Aephorul didn't really think that counted. “Look. It wasn't supposed to matter if I was a fucking queer, because I wasn't supposed to meet someone who made it matter.”

Resh'an dropped his hands and sat up too. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“It means-” Aephorul rubbed the back of his neck. “I don't fucking know. I want to tell [name] about you. And if I tell him, he'll tell Mihail, and they'll both give me shit about it, but they won't tell anyone else. My parents- they're paying my tuition and rent. I can't risk that.”

Resh'an looked away. “I get it- I really do. If I could've done things differently, I probably would have.” He sighed. “You shouldn't risk it. I'm not going to ask you to.”

“I would. If you did ask me to.” As soon as he said it, he wished he hadn't. It was too much- even if it was true.

“I won't.” Resh'an shook his head. “It's not worth it.”

“You are, though.” Resh'an stared at him. Aephorul could feel his face heating.

“You don't…actually mean that,” Resh'an said slowly. “In a few weeks you'll get tired of this and it'll be fun while it lasted, but…that's all there is to it.”

“Okay. You know what? Just give me a list of all the people who've hurt you, so I can break their faces.”

“I'm starting to think you really just want an excuse to punch people.” Resh'an narrowed his eyes at Aephorul. “And, once again, it's a really long list.”

“I promise I don't need an excuse for that.” He pulled Resh'an into a hug. “Look, why don't you work some of that bullshit out with your therapist.” Resh'an groaned and buried his face in Aephorul's shoulder. “And in the meantime- I don't know. I like the idea of you being my boyfriend.”

“I'm not gonna hold your hand on the way to class.”

“Ugh.” He hadn't been planning to in the first place, but now that he was thinking about it, he wanted to. Embarrassing. “Whatever. You have sweaty hands, anyway.”

“I do not- asshole!”

“You know what they say,” he deadpanned. “You are what you eat.”

Resh'an flicked him on the ear again.

-----

(ending fragment #2, because it's cute and i love writing their general physicality with each other.)

---

They got out of bed and got dressed eventually; Aephorul finally got the tangles out of his hair. The coffee was cold by the time they got around to it. Resh'an was quiet in a way that felt fragile and skittish until Aephorul wrapped his arms around him from behind and just picked him up.

“Hey! What the-”

“You have no idea how often I've wanted to do this to you.” Resh'an wasn't that much shorter than him, but he was mostly spindly limbs and nervous energy, so he was relatively easy to haul around.

“Shithead, let me go-” Resh'an wiggled half-heartedly, but now he was laughing.

“Nope.” Aephorul swung him back and forth a little. “Not gonna do that. Forget holding hands, I'll just carry you to class.”

--

ϟ tell me what moment/scene in [fic] made you sicko in the window.jpg to read and i’ll tell you which scene made me feel that way to write

Tell me your sickos.jpg moment! For me it, uh. Was kind of the whole thing. A lot of it was me making a calculated decision to write the sort of thing I would've bookmarked on livejournal when I was 20, which is sort of why it's Like That.

Aephorul's panicked internal monologue at the beginning is so fucking funny to me- it's really just a lot of brute force exposition to shortcut some of that slow burn stuff that I didn't write. I didn't want to start the story abruptly without establishing that 1) they are friends but Aephorul is real weird about everything and 2) that Resh'an is an aggressively nerdy queer extrovert. I love how it turned out, though- and to really get the full effect, you have to imagine a completely expressionless Aephorul sitting there staring at Resh'an with this intense look on his face, while internally he's having a complete screaming crisis.

The bartender did not think they were dating. The bartender though Aephorul was a serial killer. Aephorul is only vaguely aware of how unsettling he is to most people.

I had to rewrite their inital waking-up conversation several times, but I was really determined to keep the "rain check" -> "Hey look, it's raining" bit because I love a goofy punchline. And it helps to establish Resh'an's tendency to retain and repeat the things people say to him, which is important at the end.

It's not necessarily apparent because it isn't something Aephorul is consciously processing in the moment, but all of his little panicked vertigo moments are him being so turned on he can't see straight. So those are all hooks for some porn of self discovery that I want to eventually write. (Resh'an is comfortable with what he likes, for the most part, but Aephorul has really only had vanilla sex up to this point.)

I really loved writing the interlude when Resh'an's alarm goes off; it's an important bit of character building for both of them, but I'm also just fond of the image of Resh'an scrambling for his phone in a panic.

Resh'an's panicked babbling and "but- I want it to mean something" still gets me whenever I reread it. It's the payoff for all of Resh'an's little skittish moments, and the reveal that the pining is mutual, and it's probably my favorite moment in the story. He and Aephorul have opposing character arcs in this AU; Resh'an starts out very fragile and full of sharp edges, but he becomes more confident and secure with himself as he gets older. Aephorul is very sure of himself at this point in his life, but you can already see the cracks beginning to form.

Figuring out how to include the sweaty palms bit was absolutely my most sickos.jpg moment because, as I've said before, I think I am hilarious.

♫ send a fic and i’ll make a 3-5 song playlist for you

ahahaha oh no some of this is just stuff I was listening to in college, and it helps to put my head in the right time period for the story.

Guster - Demons; an Aephorul song, because sometimes he really is that dramatic. There's an a capella cover of this song that I adore but I don't think it exists online.

Thicke - Lazy Bones; this is both of them, really, although theyre both overachieving messes. To really get the full effect of this song, you need to find the Naruto amv that I first heard it on back in 2004. (I am not attempting to find it. It's better in my memory.)

World Inferno Friendship Society - My Brother the Mayor of Bridgewater; kind of a deep cut, but this is a Resh'an song to me, and also a tangential setting reference

Something Corporate - Watch the Sky; mostly another Resh'an song, although it's really both of them to each other, and also one of my favorite songs ever.

Florence and the Machine - You've Got the Love; look I did say I was bad at playlists; I'm not out here trying to do anything original.

[whiteteadreams]

Y(our) Song

Paring: Lee Seokmin x Gn!Reader

Word Count: like 1.7k idk...

Genre: Slice of Life, college AU, fluff

Warnings: i don't think any...like at all except fluff and seokmin is in love love! also not proofread lol

a/n- hihi! so this idea came to me and i had to write it immediately! but dw i'm still working on some requests and the mafia jeongin fic!! also big big thank you to @ofneos for helping me out with some polishing of the fic and talking with me while i added the finishing touches!!

~~~~

He liked you, a lot, and he didn’t even know you, or at least not really. He knew your voice and the personality you put on for whoever listened to you. You didn’t know who ‘whoever’ was, but Seokmin was easily the person on campus who listened to you the most.

Every night that you hosted the campus radio station, Seokmin was always there to tune in and listen to the songs you played and the commentary you made before and after each one played. Your late podcast like music sessions made him feel a little less lonely when he was alone in his dorm at night, which was every night. Your voice filled his chest with a warmth and placed a smile on his face while he typed away at his computer, completing assignments that he held off so he could do them while you spoke.

Seokmin was listening to your calm, soothing voice like always when you said something that caused his fingers that were rapidly typing to come to a stop instantly.

The song had just come to an end when you said, “Alright, this one’s for all the other students who are night owls like me and tune in all the time. Whoever is the first down to the studio and finds the vinyl that holds my favorite song, which I played for you last week, somewhere in the many shelves that hold various records, will win two free tickets to any upcoming concert of your choice.” The instrumental intro of the next song started playing as you finished speaking. “Head over now for that chance to win before you’re out of time, in the meantime, here is Out of Time by The Weeknd”. As your voice was replaced by Abel’s, Seokmin saved the google doc that he was working on and sprinted out of his dorm.

He passed the studio every time he went to his psychology class, so he knew exactly where he was running to. It was about half a mile away from his dorm but the excuse to see and talk to you overcame the sleepiness that fogged his brain.

However, there was several things going through his brain at this time. The main ones were what he was going to say to you, where the radio station was, and what your favorite song was, which was Right Down the Line by Gerry Rafferty, but what wasn’t on his mind at this time, was his speeding footwork.

Before Seokmin knew it, he had tripped on an elevated sidewalk crack and was falling to the ground. His knees and palms luckily took the majority of the impact of his fall. He knew the little stones embedded into his hands would hurt later, but the overwhelming urge to meet you overpowered the pain. Getting up and wiping his palms off on his grey sweats, he started running again.

The streets were empty, absolutely silent except for his heavy breathing. He picked up his pace at the thought of someone else using his fall as an advantage to get ahead of him. Besides the quiet streets, if the streetlights weren’t there, it would also be completely dark. The shops and cafés mixed in within the dorms, classrooms and lecture halls were of course closed as it was 2:52 in the morning, but he saw the one light ahead in the distance, the one he was looking for, the radio station’s light.

He smiled as he didn’t see a group of people crowded outside the corner building, and his smile grew as he saw not a single soul inside the building once he stepped inside. But the feeling of someone beating him there nagged at his spirit. Seokmin was forced to step away from his radio in order to run there, so if someone did happen to beat him there, he wouldn’t have heard your announcement. He was there within five minutes, so he was praying there wasn’t someone right down to street who got there first.

Seokmin didn’t give up though and headed to the vinyl section, you didn’t say CD, you said vinyl and after listening to Right Down the Line several times after you stated it was your favorite, he knew the artist, genre, tone, how it was arranged, everything. Gerry Rafferty is listed as rock, pop rock, folk rock, soft rock, blues rock, and of course, classic rock. Seokmin wasn’t sure which genre you’d have it listed under, but as some of the other radio hosts weren’t as deep into genres as you were, he headed to the classic rock area and went to the 70s section to find City to City, the album it was on.

The albums were in very specific year order, so he grabbed the 1978 handful and looked through them. Chills ran through him as he saw the album art, surely if someone had found it first, you wouldn’t have had time to put it back just yet.

Putting the rest of the albums back in the exact order he found them in, with the exception of the album he clutched to his chest, he walked back to the main area and stood by the booth surrounded by glass that you sat in. He saw you talking into your mic with the words “ON AIR” flashing above the door.

You must’ve sensed his presence despite his silence as you looked over your shoulder with a bright smile and waved at him before holding up one finger to signify you needed a moment. He shot you a shy smile and nodded. You looked back at him and pointed at the album. He held it up, showing you the front before turning it around and pointing at the name of your favorite song. Your smile grew and you gave him two thumbs up. Seokmin’s heart sped up at the thought of making you happy.

His heart was already beating fast from the adrenaline that was coursing through his veins, but you were also much prettier than he had already thought you were. Your photo on the station’s website was the same photo that was on your school ID but the photos that were held in link to your Instagram also didn’t do you justice.

While Seokmin waited for you, he looked down at his hands, careful not to get any blood on what you called a masterpiece. His feet hurt a bit from running in his slides, causing him to constantly switch which foot he was putting most of his weight on. He knew he looked awkward but lucky for him, your back was to him.

“Alright everyone, the contest is over as we have our winner. I’m going to step away for a bit, but don’t worry everyone, I have plenty of late-night jams queued up for all of you. Enjoy!” Seokmin heard your voice throughout the speakers in the station and braced himself for the conversation he was about to have with you.

The booth’s door opened and out stepped you. Your eyes held evident drowsiness, but he could understand as to why, but your voice and spirit was still bright.

“Hi! Well, you won my little competition, I’m impressed that you remembered the song! I’m Y/n by the way.” You stuck out your hand only to be met with Seokmin holding up his scraped hand. “I would shake your hand, but I tripped. I’m Seokmin though.” Heat covered his face as he giggled at himself.

“Aw, I’m sorry! But at least you won, right? About that, what concert are you wanting to go to?” The red on his face spread everywhere visible as he let the words slip out before he could give it a second though. “I actually only came here since it gave me an excuse to meet you.” He looked down at the vinyl in his hand and traced the colorful outline of Gerry Rafferty with his fingernail.

“Oh! Me?” Your words don’t hold any type of mockery, you don’t make him feel embarrassed whatsoever. “No one has ever wanted to meet me, I’m really flattered.” You laughed but it was humble and genuine, full of surprise, but your voice drug on. “But you met me, and it’s been 30 minutes since the contest started and no one else showed up…so do you want those tickets? Any concert you want!”

Seokmin could hear the awkwardness in your voice, unsure about what to do at this point. The confusion was also evident as no one has stuck around this long during a radio involved thing just to talk to you.

“Um, yeah, yeah sure. Do you have any suggestions? Gerry Rafferty maybe?” He looked at you with doe eyes, the concert tickets were the last thing on his mind while you, you were the first.

Looking at him with softness in your eyes, you shook your head lightly and giggled. “Gerry Rafferty died in 2011, but if he was still alive, I would have definitely suggested him. I like Greta Van Fleet a lot and I’ve played them on the station, how about them?”

You looked on your phone for tour dates of theirs while waiting for Seokmin to answer. He laughed and looked around, seeing that he was truly the only person that tried to show up.

“I guess what I’m trying to say, is I don’t care about who I see, I was just wondering if you’d like to go with me to any concert.” Seokmin was cute, that was obvious, and his demeanor showed nothing but kindness and a gentle aura.

“I mean, yeah sure! You can still pick the concert and I’ll get us those tickets!” Seokmin’s smile grew even more, and he bounced a bit on his toes. “Greta Van Fleet is fine with me.” He couldn’t remember the song of theirs that you played but all he cared about was the fact that you liked them.

He couldn't remember how their songs went, or the names of whoever is in Greta Van Fleet, but it all doesn't matter to him. The only thing on his mind is this chance to make you his.

[carpettmuncher]

20 questions for fic writers

thanks for the tag @kvothes :D answers under the cut

1. how many works do you have on ao3? 22!

2. what's your total ao3 word count? 95,931

3. what fandoms do you write for? supernatural. i have one rdr2 fic published and i privately write greys anatomy fic sometimes

4. top five fics by kudos: DSM-V, dawn breaks overhead, a confession; a misunderstanding, i hate you for what you did and i miss you like a little kid, he stares at the stars; they stare back. i find this so interesting because half of these are some of my least favorites lol

5. do you respond to comments? usually! sometimes i forget or don't have the time/energy, but every comment means a lot to me and i try to make it known

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? i usually write fics with happy endings because it makes me happy lol. a lot of my endings are melancholy at best though. my claire study, i'm sorry i'm the one you love is definitely my saddest. needless to say i was going through it at the time of writing. also my entire divorce series which i totally forgot about even writing

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? my first thought was divine intervention and it definitely is happy as a stand-alone fic, but with the context of timshel it's pretty bittersweet. so maybe timshel is the happiest ending? DSM-V is a pretty happy ending too. augh! hard to say

8. do you get hate on fics? i haven't gotten any so far!

9. do you write smut? sometimes, but i feel like it always comes out very awkward and wrong. writing lesbians has helped me fix that lol

10. craziest crossover? my abandoned grey's anatomy/supernatural au is sitting in my dusty google docs

11. have you ever had your fic stolen? not that i know of!

12. have you ever had a fic translated? nope!

13. have you ever co-written a fic before? no, but i think i'd be open to it depending on the idea and the author

14. all-time favorite ship? oh you know.

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will? my robot cas/engineer dean fic... abandoned in my docs

16. what are your writing strengths? i'd say dialogue! i think i'm pretty good at getting in a character's head, and i've been told i write good dean dialogue :)

17. what are your writing weaknesses? actions i'd say. not just fighting scenes but just... what a character is doing. i think i also write too fast-paced which i'd like to get better at

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language? i'm conversational in french but 1) don't write french characters and 2) find translating to be very clumsy. i sometimes translate small phrases into enochian when i write cas, but that too is always frustrating given it's not a real language. in general i often find other languages to be jarring in dialogue. i don't know how to describe it other than it just feeling very forced.

19. favorite fic you've written? can i do top three? i'm doing top three. in no particular order

dead woman, enter stage left: this is one of my favorites plot-wise and just as a character study. though i enjoyed writing it and the ideas i had for it, i feel like i didn't portray everything the way i wanted to and could've done a better job. but i love this one! jo! and my own made-up amara lore!

DSM-V: another big struggle. fun fact i'm currently rewriting it completely. this is another fic where i had a lot of ideas but didn't give myself enough time to completely realize them, and it comes off very rushed and unnuanced. i also hate the way i handled dean's thoughts in the narrative. NO MORE RELYING ON ITALICS! it introduced me to some amazing mutuals and is my major hit, and i love it! it started as a crack fic and no, i still haven't told my therapist about it. amy if you're reading this i promise i don't have secret feelings for you i just thought this was a really funny idea and had just binge-watched fleabag

devotion: nothing much to say it's just hot and emotional and i love the way it came out

20. tagging: @dogearedheart @mythopoetry + anyone else who wants to do this!!! mutuals rise up i love you!

[kipperlillycopperkettle]

wip snippet ask game

was tagged by @grasslandgirl my beloved fellow mutual in long unfinished fics and a million wips <3 thank you so so much for tagging me <3333333 this is also only my fic folder bc otherwise this list would be a million times longer and it's already long enough. also stealing from sav and putting the fandom in parenthesis next to the titles. also i chose not to include the wip titles that got asked last time that i have made absolutely no progress on in the last year and two months because i have made no progress on them and have nothing new to say about them :(

“Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag people! This isn’t just for writing either. Sketch titles? Comics? DnD campaigns? If you have an unfinished project, it counts!”

bad ends for hardwon & moonshine (naddpod)

marvel fic (thg)

bad kids parent issues

never tasted as sweet a poison as you have. (thg)

d20 rarepair zine original (d20, acoc)

i fought and fought hard and i should've died. (thg)

callieder fic (naddpod, c3)

i know there's something waiting for us in the light. (d20, tuc)

penny fic (d20, the seven)

die trying right now. (incryptid)

and it's hard to be at a party when i feel like an open wound. (d20, spyreverse thg au)

delly tribute au fic (thg)

fig & being a tiefling (d20, fh)

the bad kids road trip (d20, fh)

please tell me someday i'll at least be able to sleep. (d20, spyreverse thg au)

thg daemons (thg)

cashmere fic (thg)

the kind of radiance you only have at seventeen. (thg)

i spend nights stitching up the loose threads of my soul. (d20, spyreverse thg au)

patia fic (exu calamity fic)

fate is to all appearance more unavoidable than unexpected. (thg)

evil pete fic (d20, tuc)

we must be killers. (the old guard)

i can take a hit i ain't scared of the pain. (thg)

let's raise a glass to all the people you're not speaking to. (d20, aso)

everyone thinks that they're too young to die. (d20, spyreverse thg au)

pamelia fic (d20, acoc)

haymitch fic (thg)

[first house discord exchange fic] [*this is not the actual name of the doc i just needed to redact it for spoilers reasons bc i can't talk abt it yet] (tlt)

katniss sole victor au (thg)

cytherea and pro (tlt)

only code it knows is rote survival. (thg)

og lyctor secret history (tlt)

caramanda (d20, acoc)

kasya fic (d20, acoc)

my titles are so simple (unless i actually manage to name the fic before i finish it) mostly bc i have a million docs in my google drive and i want to be able to find what i want to write quickly. i say this as though half the time searching a character's name won't get me to the doc i want faster than digging through my google docs but still

tagging: @cav-core, @dubiousfruitsalad, @browncesario, @aberfaeth, @nakdraws, @thelongestwalk, and anyone else who wants to do it (this means you who is reading this) <3333 also if i tagged you and you don't want to do it do NOT feel obligated mwah love u <33333

[too-many-rooks]

Writing procrastination game!

Thanks @lastlymatt for tagging me, I got rambly so I’ll put this under a ‘read more’

Tagging @pigandpepper @known-concepts @countessrivers

1.) what’s the name of one of your wips?

My doc names are usually very boring 95% of the time I finish a fic and think it’s ready to post and realise I need a title. How about ‘Yassen Bedroom Visit’?

2.) Describe a Wip in the format of __+__=__

SCORPIA heir Alex + totally normal kidnapping and drugging in the middle of the night get to safety orienteering exercises = childhood trauma

3.) What tags/warnings will one of your Wips need if you share it?

Forced child seperation?

4.) alternative title to a wip?

I don’t really have alternate titles! Titles tend to come pretty late in the process!

5.) which wip are you most likely to update/finish next?

Probably one of my s3 aus I’ve got brewing, there’s a longer thing I posted the first chapter of today but I also have some one shots, one where Yassen gets wounded fighting off Alex’s enemies and Alex basically has to hold him down to say he cares about him, and another where Yassen comes to chat to him in the middle of the night (while Alex is sleeping) and they catch up.

6.) what is one of your wip’s document title, not what it’s name is but what you have it saved as?

Again, extremely boring. Some examples - ‘Tom/House introduction’, ‘stables’, ‘the ball’, ‘heir apparent 1-9’, ‘hunting’ ‘hostage’ ‘orienteering.’

On reflection, these are very badly organised. But, hey Ho.

7.) post any sentence from your WIP?

Okay this took me forever to decide bc I want to share like, all of my sentences, but here’s a sentence from my SCORPIA heir Alex thing where Yassen just tries to take a day off, but is interrupted by Alex sneaking out of school/the country and mountain his school is on

‘Rubbing his eyes with his forefinger and thumb, he blocked out the little blonde headache sat before him, and sighed, already imagining the state of his email inbox when he got back to his laptop, which he’d sworn would stay folded in its case for the rest of the day.

“And how long ago was this? When should I start expecting panicked calls from your father?”‘

8.) a scrapped idea from your WIP?

Not necessarily a scrapped idea but evidently one I forgot about and rediscovered as I was flicking through google docs - originally a pre-season 3 idea (but could work post s3) where Yassen retires, and decides it’s time for Alex to retire too, even if he doesn’t want to. Very “congratulations you are being adopted! Do not resist.” Meme with Yassen that I’ve seen on here, the bit I’d written was him contemplating the least traumatising way to kidnap him, to make sure they’re a happy family unit post-kidnapping

9.) what’s a story you would love to write but have yet to start?

Alex sees dead people AU - Ian knows, when he dies his ghost becomes bound to Alex, and helps take care of him/watch over him in the field, Alex bumps into Yassen at Point Blanc and immediately recognises the ghost bound to him as his father, especially as he begs the assassin to stop pretending like he can’t hear him for once and let him see his son, to protect him.

10.) how many WIPs are you actively working on?

Four - regency fic, darker Alex s3 au, two other s3 aus I mentioned earlier. Suprised myself by how much of this longer ‘SCORPIA heir’ Alex thing that I’d put off for a while I’ve actually written. That’s one that I really want to finish before I start posting bc I’m bad at doing work without an immediate emotional reward/it’s a longer than anything I’ve written before and I don’t want to give up on it when it’s half published. I had been delaying it till after s3 but maybe time to get to work (will try and finish regency fic first)

11.) is there a scene your struggling to write now?

Oh I mean so many but the most immediate stumbling block is with the regency fic, chapter after this one they go to a ball and that’s almost basically written and so is a lot of the next two chapters but there’s things I need to thread into this chapter that just don’t want to be threaded - I need Alex to start being a bit more suspicious of Yassen, and remember that whole thing about his uncle being murdered now he’s a bit passed the initial princess diaries revelation moment.

I was thinking like Alex waiting up for him on Christmas Eve or something and falls asleep then is woken by Yassen sneaking back in and Alex noticed he’s got blood on his clothes or something and Yassen just shrugs him off and reacts more strictly/authoritatively than he has before. But the scene is a bit sludgy I my mind atm.

12.) Not a question but a second kudos!

[neeseeart]

My BooRai WIP stats

So. As of right now, the number of written BooRai fan works I've published is...... zero. I recently announced my angst fic I Can Stop The World, with another reveal planned in a few weeks, but I've yet to actually publish anything 😭

Last night I was backing up all my WIPs, and I decided to go through and reorganize everything. I moved everything into new folders and checked their word counts. I was a little surprised by the numbers to be honest. Especially when compared to this word count update from 5 months ago: [link]

I thought it would be fun to post my stats so you can see how much I've been working on, even though I haven't started posting yet.

As of last night:

Total number of Google docs: 34 Outlined fics: 21 (mostly longfics) Comic WIPs: 7 Completed fics: 1 (a one-shot I'm not ready to post yet 😭) Ideas yet to be fleshed out: 12 Total BR fanfic word count: 517,362 Words this week: about 25,000

ICSTW (main angst fic, post-canon):

196,871 words 6 docs

SSATSF (Modern AU, upcoming reveal):

125,474 words 3 docs

Folklore AU (started recently):

23,289 words 2 docs

Comics (text only)

80,795 words 7 docs

Reference docs (OC masterlist, headcanons, language dictionary, etc.)

9149 words 5 docs

Okay, pause real quick. The first BooRai fic I started writing is a fluff comic (briefly mentioned here) that I started in late 2022. It was my only project until the day I started writing ICSTW in June 2023. Then I exploded in ideas and here we are. So, if I exclude that first comic's word count of 36,190...

...Then the total word count of BooRai fanfic I've written in the past 7 months is 481,172 words. That's about 2217 words per day, and 15,522 words per week.

Now. This all just a bunch of numbers. Numbers don't mean the fics are any good. I value quality over quantity, so you can see why I haven't published anything yet. The ideas are all there! Tons and tons of dialogue is written. Detailed lore is laid out. Languages have been constructed! But the chapters themselves are not written. I don't write chronologically, and my stories are very elaborate. So even my main two fics, at 196k and 125k, are nowhere near complete. I haven't even finished fleshing out the early chapters 😭

You might be looking at this and thinking like.... "yeah bro you're not gonna finish most of those fics. It's not happening. You're gonna burn out." Mayhaps! I have a tendency to overdo things, and sometimes I overwhelm myself by making things bigger and more complicated than they need to be. But all in all, I like the way I create and I like having a few big projects and lots of tiny ones. I'm deeply invested in my major projects and I really do want to dedicate myself to publishing chapters in the next few months. But if I never finish them, that's okay too! The important thing is to enjoy making the thing... and I enjoy it immensely. Enough to write half a million words in 7 months, apparently

I've talked about my fic content to some irl people and they always respond with: "When the hell do you do all this? I literally never see you writing." In reality, yes they do. if you see me typing on my phone, I'm most likely writing. I kind of high-key spend 100% of my free time drawing and writing now. Which is a miracle after years of art block and creative sterility.

Another reason I wanted to share my numbers is that there are a lot of fellow AuDHD creators on this site, so there are bound to be at least a few of you who work just like I do. If you're one of those people, you probably know that it's easy to feel like the projects will never come to fruition. Don't lose heart!!! You have the strength to finish your projects at your own pace!!! And if you simply lack the will to finish, that's also okay! If you enjoy just writing down ideas without committing to a fully fleshed out work, that's a perfectly legitimate form of art and recreation. Godspeed my friends.

And as for the people who have been supporting my BR art and keeping track of my fic updates... You are the world and I am but a humble bean in service of your fancies. Thank you for your support. Here's a picture of me rereading my WIPs for the billionth time while y'all stand there and wait for me to start posting chapters:

(P.S. I have about 80 fic-related art WIPs on my tablet.)

(P.P.S. stay tuned for my fictional language dictionary!!)

[sardonic-sprite]

I'm Back!

Wow, so Lent is over now, so my tumblr fast is also over and I'm still a little in shock, lol. I had hoped the past six weeks? I don't know, Time is weird, would be more productive but at least I got SOME stuff written/posted. Anyway, I have one more month of school and then fucking FINALS so expect sporadic updates at idiot-o-clock hours of the night, and maybe yell at me to sleep, eat, study, or drink water whenever i do post 😅

I am up to SO EFFING MANY wips rn on so many different fronts you guys have no freaking idea 😭 so here's a status report for EVERYTHING on or going on sardonic_sprite. (Its gonna be a monster post, y'all, bear with me)

in absolutely no particular order:

Wayne4Ham: We have a LONG way to go with this one, so just be patient and I'll slowly but steadily plug on through. Aaron Burr, Sir, should theoretically take me no longer than end of april

Wayne-Crazy: there's like 4 specific requests on it, plus a few 'series' i started, but after those, say 6-7, i'll probably mark as complete and only re-open if someone offers me an idea

Batman Beginners: i'll tell y'all up front, this one will take me forever. i don't even know what all I intend to cover, but know that i'm halfway done with the DITF arc, and it'll probably come out in the next two months

Just A Kid: this was my shits-and-giggles fic that got like 3000 notes in a weekend lmao. it's something i do intend to continue bc its so fun and i enjoy the concepts in it, but i don't have plans to actively write more of it in the immediate future.

Rev Wayne: just gave y'all Jason's fic, so the next probably won't come until late in summer, extrapolating from my few data points. if anyone has ideas for timmy's intro, let me know, i'd love some inspiration

Celeb Batwaynes: reported separate from wayne-crazy for reasons. i think theres like 12 specific requests plus 2 ideas of my own. i may put out a poll for the next one to write, but not until after school's out, because these fics are HUGE time-eaters for me. speaking of, are non-tumblr-users able to vote on polls?

Welcome to Gotham U: this was again, me doing shit bc why not. will probably add more in the style that i first posted, but i doubt i will write any prose for it. if you would like to give it a try, please reach out, i'd love to see what you write!

One Diamond: every time i touch this i make the cliffhanger worse lmao. i finally do have a direction, but execution is gonna have to wait a while.

The Young, Innocent, and Righteous: this is mostly just for me anyway, but i'm just gonna say that i'm waiting until i finish watching miraculous season 5 before i go any further

AS you wish: i have 5 more requests to do and i am so sorry to everyone waiting you do not deserve this lmao. i promise im trying, i love your ideas, it just takes me a really long time to fill in the rest and then actually write it. the next one on my list is particularly hard to pin down and so it's halting the ones behind it to. if not before, then after finals i will sit and bang my head on the keyboard until something good comes out

Light Isn't Fadin': soooooo many people have asked me about this one oof. SOMEDAY, i swear. right now its a huge, nebulous, hulking monster and im sorry it's just not happening yet.

A christmas carol: wait until december. please

Father's Day: june.

A Little Problem: over the summer, i will watch marvel movies until they once again hijack my brain and fuel this to completion. maybe.

easter eggs: how the fuck did i forget this lmao. i'm doing as much as i can in april, but when the month is done, i'm sorry, we'll all be waiting until next lenten season. hopefully it won't come to that.

aaaaand i THINK that's finally it. there's also a bunch of random paragraphs in word and google docs that may appear, not to mention ideas that kidnap me in dark alleys. but i also have like a good half dozen other wips for other places that im trying to attend to, so please be forgiving if it seems like its taking a while to post something as sprite.

as always, i love questions, comments, concerns, even some complaints, so feel free to interact.

See ya when I see ya!

sprite

[branmuffins22]

Moots said they wanna hear about WIPs and I feel like I gotta get this brainrot out anyways so HERE I GO

I've only got three projects I'm actively working on right now, all of which are Owl House fanfics, although I've got ideas here and there for other things (video games I might've made if I weren't so burnt out, ttrpg characters that might need their own goddamn settings and stories to themselves, a Code Lyoko fanfic, music (mostly loads of disconnected song lyrics), 3D avatars, etc).

The Owl House fanfics in question are three(-ish?) fold:

Theseus Who?, a mostly-canon-compliant 5+1 post-titanification headcanon compilation that DOESN'T just let Luz keep her titan form (mostly it's just a bunch of changes along the lines of when Hunter's eyes changed color after Flapjack saved him). - It's actually sort of a tie-in to another, bigger fic I'm writing that's gonna be point 2, so you can assume anything mentioned in this one will happen throughout the timeline of the next one as well. - I've currently already got the 5 written, so now I just need to buckle down and finish the +1, unless I decide to do another sweep of edits (I think the excessive parentheticals might be too excessive). - - I only started it like a week ago, and I've been waiting for motivation to strike again to let me finish it for like half that time.

Masha and the Very Normal Nocedas, a mostly-canon-compliant sorta-multimedia veesha longfic based on the dramatic irony of Masha slowly driving themself nuts trying to piece together what the Deal is with Luz, Vee, and the rest of the Nocedas. - by "sorta-multimedia" i mean its got plaintext segments describing the story, journal segments of Masha recounting events as they remember them and trying to organize their thoughts, chat segments when the characters interact over text, and possibly more if I feel the Need. - I've only outlined the three prologue chapters and the following intermission, only have snippets and vague ideas for scenes for the main bulk of the fic itself, and have only actually written two of the prologue chapters and the intermission. - - won't start posting it until I at least get the third prologue chapter done, so I've got a usable buffer. Hopefully that'll be sooner rather than later.

The Overthinker AU (or "The Artificer AU"? name is also very much a work in progress), a canon rewrite that I think I'll actually split into a bunch of shorter "episodes", so I can appropriately tag each one, rather than tagging one monolithic fic with Everything Under The Sun. The basic premise is "what if The Owl House, but there's more time", both in the meta sense of "not bound by the 20-minute TV episode format" and the diegetic sense of "the broad-strokes plot of the show will happen over a longer in-universe period of time" (though I'm a bit stuck on just how much more time I want to give em). - for the most part, I wanted to put more emphasis on Luz's magical development, and extrapolate a somewhat wider magic system out of what we see in the show, but I also want to go into more detail on how her actions affect those around her, even outside of all the friends she makes (stuff along the lines of the little things the crowd mentioned while protesting Eda's petrification at the end of season 1). - I'm almost (reluctantly) thinking of pulling a Grapes of Wrath with it, structure-wise, by having main plot/character development chapters alternate with shorter intermissions focused on magical exploration, worldbuilding, and so on. - this project is currently just the scribblings of a madwoman in my private discord server and three wildly unfinished fics in my google docs folder - - one of these fics is Something Like a Bible, which is essentially a condensed version of the entire broader project, boiled down to bare plot and occasional commentary. Like a series outline and a plot synopsis rolled into one, though perhaps not quite the series bible it claims to be. - - - honestly I REALLY aughtta work on this one some more, just so I can get most of the Big Ideas out of my head and share them with people. - - the other two fics are currently untitled snippets of scenes from the project, one a sentimental/instructional note from Eda to Luz, and the other sort of a ragefic twist on the ending of Thanks to Them. - this project is gonna include tons of ideas from and allusions to other fics which inspired it/me, such as The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled by IdeaHunter, All that's at Stake by The_Lampman, and Decorative by TheTokenAro, to name a few. - I could make a whole post about this project on its own (and in fact, I have before), talking about all the little changes I'd make, the developments I'd include, the more sweeping changes, the additional themes I'd toss in, and so on, but there are some I REALLY don't think fit well into the "rambling tumblr post" format (and/or just don't want to spoil yet), so I shall Abstain (for now :P).

[gingerbreadmonsters]

hiya! im a very big fan of ur fics, ur writing is like omnomnom!! i rerereread them so often ive basically memorised half of them (especially get in loser i love it so much especially the little almost asides freelancer has like certain moments where its like not quite breaking the fourth wall theyre like. brushing it with the tips of their fingers). IDK sorry to ramble but; may i request directors commentary on either kingdom come (why those four, of all people?) or one more paradox (incoherent wailing, from me). thanks!! have a nice timezone :]

im so sorry. IM SO SORRY ITS SO LATE 🫠🫠 i have not been well for a little while and i've been rushing around trying to get shit sorted for the start of term, so it's all just been a bit of a mess

i've done kingdom come for you - i do hope that's alright! and a lovely timezone to you, too 💕💕

why those four? to be totally honest, it’s just because they’re hot lol 🤩🤩 it is a long-held hc for me that gavin and vincent deserve to be besties, and the gn gals and i were chatting on discord about fl, gavin, lovely, and vincent going on a double date and all being so handsy with each other that it was impossible to tell who was actually going out with who?? so i just kind of jumped into a new google doc and mocked up a very short sequence based on that conversation, which ended up being used basically verbatim as the opening to kingdom come - it’s up to the bit where freelancer says “I think you can manage that, can’t you?”!

can’t lie, it was both more and less difficult than i expected? it was hard because obviously i couldn’t really describe freelancer or lovely’s bodies in detail - it’s hard enough with just one listener in the scene! plus, keeping track of four different people in something as descriptive and physical as a sex scene is always a nightmare. you have to keep track of (and describe!) what everyone is doing all at the same time without getting too repetitive, make sure that it’s clear who is doing/saying what (very complicated when two of them use he/him and have the same, uh, hardware, while the other two are in they/them and can’t have their bodies described basically at all), make sure that the positions you’re describing are physically possible and actually sexy… it’s a lot!

gavin and vincent are so fun to write, though, so that more than made up for it - both of them just seem to… talk? like, if any other fic writers are reading this, please do let me know if this also happens to you - but whenever i write them, they just spout dialogue like it’s going out of fashion, and i end up just being dragged along through the scene however they want, rather than how i planned it 😭😭 so yes it was tough, but a lot of fun to write - although i will say that there was a rather embarrassing incident regarding the dialogue [head in hands]

so, in order to make sure that my dialogue sounds at least faintly realistic and isn’t too stilted, i generally tend to read it out loud to myself? like, verbatim? hearing it in my own voice helps to figure out if it sounds too unnatural, which i am aware is also why sometimes my characters will say something that’s a bit too british for the source material, but whatever. 

the important part is that i was living in halls (student accommodation) when i was writing this fic, and the soundproofing on my door was… not excellent?? i had just finished ‘dialogue testing’ and opened the door to go and get a drink of water from the kitchen, when i ran face-first into one of my flatmates from the bedroom opposite mine, who had clearly been standing there waiting for a friend and had obviously just HEARD ME saying all of this… needless to say he did not make eye contact with me for some time after that and we do not keep in touch lmao 

all four of them make reference to the events of this fic being one of many, um, dalliances - this is really just because i think it sounds like the sort of thing they would do! they all seem like they would be good friends - you already know how i feel about gavin and vincent, and i reckon lovely and freelancer would get on like a house on fire. let them have a rapport! let them go on cute double dates and take holidays together and plan surprise parties for each other! this is my agenda! the whole vibe of this fic was intended to be satisfyingly filthy yet still very very sweet, and i think it works? i certainly hope it works? it is a CRIME that we have yet to have a canon audio with gavin and vincent together :((

[gay-jesus-probably]

So I haven’t really done any serious writing in years - turns out a significant part of my writing process was ‘writing fanfic while bored in class’, and being done with school ruined my whole system lmao. I had an idea for a fic last week and did a bit of writing for it. It was honestly just a handful of random scenes I wanted to get out of my head, I figured there was no way in hell I’d ever put them together into a coherent narrative.

Buuut then I got a little confused about the sequence of events, so I did a bit of brainstorming on the overall plot, and had to write it down to sort things out, and I automatically broke that up into chapters as I went. I do this with a lot of ideas though, so that still didn’t mean I was making a complete fic.

Aaand then inspiration slapped me in the face a few days ago, I wound up completely reworking a section I’d gotten stuck on, and then the second take worked absolutely perfectly, I was able to connect it to the very first scene I’d written for the fic, and then before I knew it I had a chapter that was completed, revised, and it turned out SO GOOD. The scene I was struggling with came out perfectly, I realized my problem was trying to drag it out for too long so I cut it down to being just what was supposed to be the first half and it flew from there, I even wound up realizing I’d set up some damn good symbolism and contrast between characters and it worked so well it’s going to be a recurring theme for the rest of the fic. I fucking love the chapter so much, I absolutely want to post it right now for people to read...

The only problem is that I finished writing chapter 2.

And not only is the first chapter not done, but also like the entire first half of the fic is pretty dark, so I really don’t want to end up abandoning the fic halfway through if I do post it, I want the recovery arc to be there too. So not only do I need to finish the first chapter to start posting it, I want to have the other chapters done too so I can make sure it gets finished. At the very least I want to have a scene ready for each chapter before I start posting. So that’s... a lot of writing ahead of me. And, as previously mentioned, my old writing system is lost to me.

So I’ve wound up breaking out the ol’ NaNo rules for myself. I’ve got the whole fic in my head, I just need to start typing it and let things happen. I’ve got the whole thing in a single google doc so I can just scroll to work on random parts, and I’ve been aiming for 2k+ words a day. Going well so far! It definitely helps that now I’m on a keyboard that isn’t completely fucked; trying to write on my old laptop after the backspace started sticking was Not Great, so I’m glad that’s over with lmaoo

[goddesspharo]

if i may: ✦ and ♡ [any fic you’d like]?

✦ what was your easiest fic to write & your hardest?

I'm going to go with the ao3 era because I'm definitely not looking through LJ. Although I will say I was certainly more prolific re: volume in those halcyon days, particularly for Gossip Girl and House (of all things!...as if I was not obsessed with that show for at least the first two seasons) - God, that perfect storm of excellence that the S2 finale with House getting shot leading to Cuddy and Wilson putting House in a Ketamine coma without his consent and then S3 beginning with him running??? CHEF'S KISS. Even though that show went batshit crazy later on, the mileage from some of those storylines was highway level. This show was at its best when everyone around House was doing ethically dubious things in an attempt to get him to stop doing ethically questionable things. 

But to answer the actual question: I almost never think any fic is easy while I'm writing it and questioning my decision to write anything at all, but some involve less hair pulling than others. There was a period after The Batman where I got into a nice little groove (after not writing any fic for a good five years, apparently) of feeling like the floodgates opened and I wanted to write tomes, which probably has more to do with loving Matt Reeves' distinctive Selina voice. (The effortless baby to this hot mess of a socially awkward dude she met four seconds ago works only because Zoe Kravitz has confidence for miles.) I think living in a rhythm where the minute's working overtime was relatively easy to write (and shorter after the two previous 10k+ fics I'd written) - it felt easy, breezy while I was writing it and I had a good time. 

I'm always inclined to say that the hardest fic is whatever I'm currently working on because it's not over, but in this case, I'm going with against the grain of dystopic claims. As a person who almost never posts WIPs, I'm not sure why I decided a Top Gun Maverick apocalypse AU was the perfect time to start, but I probably would've relegated it to languishing half-finished in my google docs if I hadn't posted it as a WIP so maybe past me knew the only way to get it done was to have external accountability? It was hard to write because I vaguely knew where I was going with it when I started writing it and then had to actually follow through with PLOT that made sense and couldn't go back and change things that I had previously set up. It did force me to make an outline for the current WIP just to avoid that JJ Abrams life, you know?

♡ pick a fic and I’ll pick a comment that made me really happy

Any time a person comments on fic, it makes me happy. There's nothing like that rush when you get one of those [AO3] comment e-mails because it makes you feel like you're not screaming into the void! Of course I agree with the adage that you should write for yourself, but you're also to an extent writing for others (or else you'd never post it, right?) so it's nice when you hear something back. Then it becomes a game of catch instead of throwing a baseball into a tornado and hoping that it'll return someday. I love when people leave lengthy comments with pull quotes and how things made them feel or why certain bits worked for them, but it's also really nice when you get a comment years later with people telling you they still love something you wrote. (Those comments where people are talking about re-reading your stuff? LOVELY.) All of this is a long-winded way to say that if you've ever commented on anything I've written, know that it has probably made me really happy even if it was a sentence. 

[ask me about fic!]

[amrv-5]

⛔️ and 🤲

Hello!!!!!!!! & thank you so much for the ask!!!!!!!!! answers below the cut because Long. And also a little discussion of NSFW fic ideas. Aough.

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

Yeah Several Unfortunately. Sometimes an idea Seizes you... and then it Unseizes You. I had a bodyswap au for Beejhawk that I never finished, umm. Oh god I also started a fic where BJ finds out about Hawk's canonical pregnancy kink but I couldn't finish it because jesus christ. I mean really. I had a fic focused on Trapper at home post-war, thinking that Hawkeye had been killed in action due to a returned letter.

Also, not sure if this counts, but I had a whole scene I chopped from Nothing is Real (Nothing to Get Hung About), my fic where there's dubiously magic things going on. I loved it, but decided it didn't fit and so cut it out entirely. It lives sad and untouched in a google doc covered in virtual dust.

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

Gladly I Love To Share

another hit of my sillyinsane modern AU, which doesn't work except when it does?????

“Directly? No. They paged you at the desk six times at least,” Hawkeye said. “I thought you left an hour ago or I would’ve woken you up. I answered the fifth page. I was in the middle of supervising an angiogram for one through four. Peg called me your work wife, by the way.”

“Jesus,” BJ said, a sharp ache taking up residence behind his eyes. “Do me a favor, write me a scrip for some Xanax or something.”

“What’s in it for me?” Hawkeye asked, only half-listening, staring down at his pager in one hand and his phone in the other. “Hey, remind me which of these can bring me a sandwich off the internet, and which tells me my patients are toast?”

“I’ll prescribe you a round of Percs. Or maybe order you a back brace,” BJ said, and slid Hawkeye’s phone out of his grasp. It was unlocked, and open to the Wikipedia page for ‘BLT.’

BJ snorted, and then failed to suppress a laugh. 

“What?” Hawkeye asked him, visibly exhausted. He grinned, and then started to laugh, too. “What, what?”

“Nothing,” BJ said. He gave Hawkeye his phone back. “Let me know if you manage to precipitate a sandwich. Your methods fascinate me.”