#but the best thing about fandom imo is when people take canon events and spin them in such a way that they click

[lazuliquetzal]

me reading the comics post and ur tags fr like *brings you a microphone* how do u feel about the shit tim's been put thru?

I'm assuming you're talking about my "everyone needs to do a 1-year stint in comics fandom before doing a different fandom" tags. My genuine opinion on the shit Tim's been through?

I think it's hilarious. Tim Drake spent much of his Robin Career being the cool, relatable, 90s nerdy teen. He chugs energy drinks. He skips school. He skateboards. He's the main character of a 90s teen sitcom. It is immensely funny to me that this theoretically-on-paper normal, oddly charismatic nerd loses most of his closest friends, his father figure, his title, the trust of his family, etc etc within the in-universe span of, what, a year and a half? Like it is SO funny to me that the universe just decided out of the blue "yo we gotta shit on Tim Drake RIGHT NOW" and then it happens in rapid and dramatic succession.

And keep in mind Tim is already unhinged (NOBODY NORMAL WOULD EVER DO THE FAKE UNCLE THING) so the fact that he he decides to go all in into an edgy new persona is like, comparatively reasonable and normal. But he's so uncool about it that he reuses another one of Jason's castoffs and doesn't change the name, because the idea of someone calling him something other than 'Robin' makes him want to curl up and die. It's the funniest, most dramatic way to do a cry for help.

Don't get me wrong, it's also extremely sad. However, I am a firm believer that things can be very sad and very funny at the same time. That's life, babey.

Within the context of my "everyone needs to do a 1-year stint in comics fandom" tags, the way I pick and choose my Tim canon is that I pile on every single ridiculous, over-the-top, dramatic and sad event, smash them all together, and shove them at a boy whose coping mechanisms start at "lie your ass off" and end at "blow shit up." This creates a very sad character. It also creates a very funny character. Yeah, giving Tim the love and support he needs is great, but also making him do increasingly elaborate cries for help without realizing he's crying for help is even better.

Anyway, Red Raven by PlotlessWanderer is the greatest Tim Drake fic of all time.

[singingwordwright]

Annual Writing Self-Evaluation

*All answers should be about works published in 2017.

1. List of works published this year:

NON-SHADOWHUNTERS

Celestial Bodies (Yuri!!! on Ice, a WIP from Yurio’s POV trying to illustrate a headcanon I had about Yurio, ended up on indefinite hold because the new SH season began and ate my brain.) 

SHADOWHUNTERS (TV)

Episode-based speculations, missing scenes, codas, and fix-its:

Of Laughter and Lima Beams, 2x07 missing scene attempt #1

No Half Measures, 2x08 coda

Breathing Room, 2x09 extra scene

Life Support, 2x10 missing scene/coda

Things We Think We Know, 2x07 missing scene attempt #2 and possibly the point at which I truly accepted I couldn’t smut anymore

No Stay of Execution, 2x12 what-if/coda that went to an unhappy place

One Memory, pre-2x15 what-if/speculation

In the Glow of a New Day, pre-2x18 speculation on Magnus’s greatest fear (or his unwillingness to go there) based on the sneak peek.

Midnight Oil, 2x18 coda

AUs

Alicante Hall, college AU written for the Malec Secret Santa exchange

Magic and Mass Effect, just what it says on the tin, Mass Effect 3 crossover on indefinite hold because the One Easy Answer universe ate my brain

One Easy Answer, marriage-of-convenience AU. Canon-divergent beginning at 1x12, offering a look at what season 2a might have been if Magnus hadn’t interrupted Alec’s wedding (but Alec called it off on his own) and thus the events of season 2a weren’t influenced by Alec and Magnus’s developing relationship. When they come together post 2x10/2x13 they enter into their politically motivated marriage to try to prevent war between the Downworld and the Clave.

A Separate Peace, sequel to One Easy Answer that got way more canon-divergent, focusing on giving the characters far more agency and filling a lot of plot holes. Covers the events of season 2b from the premise that Alec and Magnus have gotten married and are trying to unite the Shadow World, but pressure on multiple sides may destroy what they’re trying to build.

2. Work you are most proud of (and why): Definitely A Separate Peace. First because it’s the first actual novel I’ve written in, like, three years, and also because it’s the most tightly-plotted piece of work I’ve ever done, and that includes my professional published novels. It just came together so well and while it might not be the greatest craft-wise because I’m out of practice (so. many. dialogue. tags) it was really a truly excellent piece of storytelling, IMO.

3. Work you are least proud of (and why): Probably one or both of my 2x07 missing scene fics. I’ve been an erotic romance author in both fandom and professionally for 20 years, so the discovery that I just can’t (and don’t want to) write smut anymore is a really hard pill to swallow.

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

“Yeah, but he wasn’t entirely lying,” Jace said with a shrug. “Clary and I do share the same blood, in a way. And those first few weeks, it’s like we needed to be close to each other, to, I don’t know, figure out the abilities the angel blood gave us. And once we’d done the work we had to do, we didn’t need to be with each other like that anymore. So maybe that’s why we felt that pull toward each other, and we just didn’t know what other context to put it in, you know?”

“I really don’t,” Alec said, shaking his head.

“Look, I love Clary. I do. I’m gonna love her the rest of my life. I just apparently don’t want to…be with her like that.” Jace shuddered. “To be honest, after the first few weeks, it sort of started making my skin crawl. And she says she feels the same.”

“Wait. Wait.” Despite his best efforts, the first snicker slipped through Alec’s nose. He covered his mouth to try to hold back a bark of laughter, but it wouldn’t be contained. The rest followed, pouring out of him in a torrent of amusement while Jace looked on in disgust.

“What the hell? Are you drunk?”

Alec flapped a hand at him. “No! Wait wait wait!” Alec gasped, clutching at his sides as he slid down the wall, fighting for breath. “Are you—are you—telling me—”

He couldn’t even manage the words. His ass hit the hard, dirty concrete of the sidewalk and he pressed his face to his knees, shoulders jerking convulsively.

“—After all you two have been through—” He snorted and that just made him laugh harder, his head spinning with oxygen deprivation. Finally, he managed to wheeze, “—That it’s like kissing your sister?”

That set him off again, the peals of his laughter echoing off the walls of the nearby alley. If a demon came along now, he was a dead man, because he couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak. His stomach was starting to hurt and he still couldn’t stop.

Jace gave him a withering glare. “I hate you,” he muttered, and stalked away with Alec’s howling laughter chasing him.

A Separate Peace, Chapter 8

(Okay, look, I’ve ALWAYS struggled with writing comedy, so this was a major achievement for me. Also Jace/Maia is way more awesome than Clace so I was pleased to have found a way to walk Clace back and make way for different ships for Clary and Jace.)

5. Share or describe a favorite comment you received: I love all the people who leave me feedback, especially the ones who leave feedback with each and every chapter, but I really have to say, @lyannastarkweather was my MVP for A Separate Peace. Every single chapter she just left these beautiful, long, thoughtful comments and they were such a joy to read.

6. A time when writing was really, really hard: Did I mention the fact that I can’t smut anymore? So pretty much any sex scene or almost sex scene in my fics was like pulling teeth. I ended up fading to black a lot.

(Also, pretty much everything that happens from Chapter 13 to the end of A Separate Peace made me cry. A LOT.)

7. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: Maryse Lightwood. I haven’t written much from her POV, only Midnight Oil, but her development in A Separate Peace was a joy to delve into.

8. How did you grow as a writer this year: I wrote both heavily plot-driven stuff and comedy, which are two things I’ve very much struggled with. Usually my books and fics have been more about character exploration, so that was really an accomplishment for me.

9. How do you hope to grow next year: I hope to keep improving on those fronts, and also to find more of a balance between character exploration and plot movement, because I feel like I went a little too far in the plot direction in A Separate Peace.

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc): @roseglass was a champ for beta’ing basically a novel and a half worth of fic that I sort of volunteered her for. The conversation went something like this:

Me: I’m thinking of writing a marriage-of-convenience AU Her: I think that’s a fine idea Me: Okay, I’m doing it and it’s all your fault for encouraging me therefore you have to beta it

I’m lucky she didn’t tell me to take a flying leap, tbh. Of course, after 30 years of friendship “a flying leap” would probably involve a lot more f-words and more anatomical specificity.

@faejilly @janoda @actuallyredorchid @ladymatt @blj2007 and @lyannastarkweather  @nancyloumm @s-erendipitiness @champagnemagnus @nanf1c @ketzwrites @beatperfume @nanichick5 @247malec @sharona1x2 @rayofsunshinemaiaroberts @lecrit @irina-something @blav527 @uniqxfuera @a-rosewood-by-any-other-name @michellemisfit @rutherinahobbit @djchika @immortal-husbands @bane-of-brooklyn @accal1a @ohfreckle

were all tremendously friendly, supportive, responsive, inspirational, are people i want to get to know better, and/or are just positive people at a time when I needed positivity in my life. (forgive me if I’ve overlooked anyone; i know there are others I’ve had meaningful interractions with this year, I’m just not remembering everyone.)

11. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: well, Mouse in One Easy Answer/A Separate Peace looks like my cat (who also looks like Alberto’s cat Stella.)

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: it’s okay to step back, take some time, and come at it again later when you need to.

13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: I really cannot wait to delve into the sequel to A Separate Peace. There’s something gonna happen in there that’s gonna make a lot of people happy.

Tag writers whose answers you’d like to read. If I’ve already tagged you, consider yourself tagged here. Hell, if I didn’t already tag you, consider yourself tagged here.