#chapter 1 has 4 scenes so I should probably just focus on working on the finale oTL

[little-hermit-crab56]

I've been writing for a while so I thought I'd share some writing tips I've learned along the way.

1. Never sacrifice the flow for a quirky line.

That bit of dialogue or flowery paragraph you really like but it kinda disrupts the flow? Scrap it. I know it hurts, but you need to. If you really want to keep it, find somewhere else to put it where it actually fits in.

2. Dialogue is a dance.

Dialogue should go at the pace of an actual conversation, back and forth with little breaks and pauses. Add as little dialogue tags as possible while still making it clear who is speaking. You can also describe what is happening during a pause in the conversation rather than saying they paused, unless the pause is important.

3. Show don't tell is a guideline, not a rule.

Show don't tell is a very useful guideline, but if you're ALWAYS showing it can get exhausting to read. Skip the boring bits and just tell us what happened, then we can get to the good stuff.

4. If it's boring to write, it's probably boring to read.

If you can cut out a whole scene with little consequence to the story, you probably should. As I said before, you don't always have to show us, you can always tell us.

5. Everything needs to have a purpose.

I know there are probably lots of interesting or cute scenes where your characters are just fucking around, but if it doesn't develop character, relations, conflict, or plot, why should we care? Definitely still write them if they make you happy, but if you're gonna add it to your final draft, make sure it matters.

6. You don't need to explain everything all at once.

I know it feels tempting to put all the lore, and all the character's intentions, and reasonings into the first few chapters, but please refrain, you can reserve that for your character and worldbuilding sheets. Instead, take the time to let us get to know the characters, and the world, in the same way we'd get to know a real person. Make your exposition as seamless and natural as possible. It will take practice to know when to reveal information and when to let us wonder, but you'll get there.

7. Write in a way that comes naturally.

I know you probably have an author you wanna write just like, but that is unlikely to happen. Embrace your natural writing style and perfect it, rather than trying to be something you're not. Writing is an art, you need to find your own style and polish it as best you can.

8. Try to make us feel connected by cutting out certain words like "felt".

"Chad felt like a glass of water." Can be replaced with, "Chad was thirsty, so he reached for a glass of water." Both sentences tell us Chad wants a glass of water, but one makes us feel more connected to Chad than the other. Though both sentences have their time and place, you want to make your audience feel as close to their protagonist as possible. Make them feel like they're there, rather than just an onlooker.

9. We don't need to know every physical detail of your character.

I know you probably spent ages creating the perfect characters and you want to give us the perfect image of what they look like, but it can get monotonous and boring, why do we care that your character has brown eyes unless the colour has some sort of significance? Try to list off only the most notable features of your character and put focus only on the relevant details. Sometimes you can even not describe them at all and throw in little bits of information about their appearance for the audience to put together. We read to imagine, not to have a perfect image painted for us when we could be getting to the plot.

10. You're allowed to be vague.

Allow your audience to assume things, with some things you can just be lazy and let your audience's imagination do the work for you. Of course, don't do this with important things, but you can save so much time you might've spent researching an irrelevant topic when you can just be vague about it. You don't have to know everything you're writing about, so long as you know the bits that matter.

11. Writing is a skill that takes practice.

Don't be so hard on yourself if your writing is a bit cringe, we've all been there. The important part is that you research how to get better and keep writing those super cringe chapters. One day you'll reread something from a while ago and realize you're actually not as bad as you thought.

12. Leave your work to rest.

I know you wanna start editing right away, but once you've finished, leave it for at least a month. The longer you leave it the better, but that depends on your attention span. A month to six months is good if you're really impatient but want a good result. If you keep writing in that time your skills will continue to improve, then you'll be editing that draft with fresh eyes and fresh skills.

And if you're a fanfic author, I usually leave my chapters for a week before editing and posting.

Hope this helps anyone struggling, I thought this might be especially relevant now with nanowrimo.

I recently realized how much knowledge I've been accumulating over the years, I definitely have more but this is all I can think of for now.

I'm no writing guru, but if anyone has anything they're struggling with, I can do my best to help you out, so dont hesitate to ask questions.

[rainsinheaven-if]

☆彡Progress Report # O1

Hello! This is the first progress report for my upcoming IF Rains In Heaven. These progress reports will be posted periodically (either once a month or once every two months) to update everyone with how writing and coding is going.

☆ Deadlines and Goals Summary ☆

Current Word Count: 6.1K Prologue Progress: 99% completed Chapter 1 Progress: 50% completed Writing Completion Deadline: December 31st 2024 First Demo Completion Deadline: End of March 2025

Keep reading for a detailed report

☆ December progress ☆

As of today, I have written 6.1K words for both the Prologue and Chapter 1, unedited and uncoded. I'm almost done writing the scenes where MC first meets and gets to know Ethos, Oliver, and V. I should be about 50% done with writing Chapter 1.

Outside of story writing, I've been making changes to the personality and behavior statistics I plan on implementing for the MC. The statistics are now more aligned with traits someone may develop as a result of childhood trauma and abuse. I've also edited the story outline, moving certain scenes that was supposed to be in Chapter 1, into their own chapter. This was because I believed Chapter 1 would be too long if I inputted what was planned instead of splitting it. Now, Chapter 1 and 2 will be set when MC is 5 years old - the start of everything going downhill - and Chapter 3 will time skip to their current ages where MC is 20 years old. I am also contemplating make a small change to m!Y's name so that instead of Yaran, it would be something like Yale. Not sure yet though.

For the remaining half of December, I will continue to work on writing Chapter 1 and also placing the final touches to the UI on twine (i.e. saves, accessibility functions etc.) so that I can work on coding more freely in January.

☆ Goals for the New Year ☆

Coding of the prologue and Chapter 1 will (hopefully) start in January and last until the end of February. I do have classes then so the amount of work I put into coding each day will be limited.

The goal is to have the demo out and running by the end of March, but my personal target would be beginning or mid-March. I have no set date yet.

I'm also deciding whether to ask for beta-readers. I've never been confident in my writing and it would be helpful to have some people identify errors that I missed.

☆ Chapter 1 Teasers ☆

Chapter 1 (and 2) will officially introduce you to 4 out of 6 romantic interests, though that is not the main focus. These two chapters will mainly be focused developing skills, formulating opinions, detailing appearances, and the downfall of your relationship with your family.

Chapter 1 specifically, will be quite a rollercoaster. It starts happy and pure, but the ending turns dark and heartbreaking. You might be in for a ride!

☆ Final Words ☆

In the meantime, I will be answering any asks about the story and/or the characters. Some asks will take longer for me to respond to but I'll be sure to answer all of them, even if it's to say “I can't give you an answer that won’t spoil the story”. I'll also try to start posting character profiles for the characters. Probably starting with Nolan. Let me know what information you want to see about the characters!

Thank you for all the love I got in the past couple weeks. It hasn't even been a month and we’re at 400+ followers! I’m happy to know that many of you are excited for my IF and I hope I reach everyone’s expectations. Just a reminder though that this is my first time doing something like this (creating an IF) so please be patient and kind with my work.

Hope everyone has a happy holiday!

Dated: December 14, 2024

[mer-acle]

Alright, since I'm super active on AO3 again recently I thought I might as well do a breakdown of my work :)

My current fandoms are Marvel (MCU) and EPIC the Musical

The characters you are almost certain to meet are Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), Clint Barton (Hawkeye) and Athena (Goddess of Wisdom)

Okay let's have a breakdown (epic people you'll have to scroll)

The Spy and the Assassin

This is a series about the backstory of Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton, starting from childhood and catching up directly to Iron Man 2.

This is the most "inspired by visual media" of my works. Parts of it is written in Script form and the chapters are meant to be 25 minute episodes of a TV show that would run for three seasons.

It's MCU phase one compliant and takes some inspiration from the Avengers Assemble TV show canon (mainly for Clint's backstory)

Good for: People who like Phase 1 best, and who wished for a more comprehensive Black Widow origin (this is 500k words type comprehensive)

Coming back for you

What about another Black Widow origin, but Phase 2 compliant this time?

When writing The Spy and the Assassin, I did my best to adhere to the superhero genre, so you could feasibly believe this was a true prequel

For this one, I took more liberties, and focused more on hurt/comfort.

Laura and Cooper are in this, and so is a Budapest scene bc how couldn't I?

Again, technically Phase 2 compliant if you tweak the timeline just a little, but still no Black Widow (2021) to be found.

Good for: People who enjoy hurt and comfort with a focus on recovery and healing. People who like Laura Barton XD

One I will break, the others I will tear apart

Technically a sequel to The Spy and the Assassin, but stands on its own.

In about 2014, Steve, Tony, Clint and Natasha are kidnapped and imprisoned by a smug and sadistic asshole named Victor.

His plan: Torture one of them, watch the others break apart from guilt and anguish. And he chooses the one who has already endured more pain than anyone ever should to be his sacrificial lamb.

This is unapologetic Nat Whump. Like, there is intense physical and psychological torture in this. Nobody except Victor is having a good time.

(This is my favorite fic I've ever written)

Good for: People who like their whump and like it brutal. People who agree with me that Nat is the best avenger

The time they broke me

A retelling from Natasha to the team of what happened in The Spy and the Assassin. That's it. People enjoyed it for some reason lol.

Good for: People who want a Natasha backstory but want to know how the Avengers would react.

The Avengers Scenes

A series of deleted/extended scenes for the MCU. (Yes Natasha is in all of them)

------------------------------

Okay Epic friends, now for you

All of my epic fanfic is gathered in the Warriors of the Mind series, but I'll introduce you to the episodes.

In general, I know what you are like, those of you who liked the Wisdom saga will probably read anything with Athena in it atm

The Reunion Trilogy

(Work 1-3)

After the Events of God Games, Athena's first meetings with Odysseus, Telemachus and Penelope respectively.

Light h/c and lots of cute moments

Hermes presents: God Games

(Work 4)

Hermes explains our favorite wet man Odysseus what went down during God Games, things are appropriately chaotic.

Later, Athena receives a prayer

You can go home now

(Work 5)

Athena goes to free Odysseus instead of Hermes. H/C ensues cos guess what she's injured actually

Has two separate endings, one with Hermes and one with Apollo.

The one who makes her kingdom fall

(Work 6)

What happened on Olympus after God Games. How did the players treat their injured sister afterward.

Apollo, who always wanted a relationship with her

Hephaestus, who has known her the longest

Aphrodite, who has seen a different side to her

Ares, who deep down knows he never hated her

And Hera, who starts to believe she's done wrong by her

And all concludes with a crazy divine council meeting.

Goddess and Man

(Work 7)

A reflection by Athena on the times Odysseus called her "Thea"... And how she starts to think he didn't mean "goddess", but something more endearing.

Athena deals with feels. In the end she gets to confront them in person.

Ichor is not meant to fall like rain

(Work 8)

Athena meets her father for the first time after God Games. It's... Complicated.

Note: Winged Athena

Still watching over you

(Work 9)

A thunderstorm hits Ithaca. Both Athena and Odysseus may have some PTSD about that type of thing.

Also honorable mention of the absolute legend that is Eurycleia.

Fighting to be loved

(Work 10, in progress)

Athena is pretty badly hurt. The royal family of Ithaca tries their best to help her.

(FW this is whumpy as all hell)

A warrior's refusal

(Work 11)

Odysseus has decided not to go to war. Now he just has to tell Athena...

[tookishcombeferre]

Full disclosure I think this has sat half-edited in my drafts for like a week at least.

But, I'm so happy I took my time on it. I think the beats of the chapter hit nicely. The foreshadowing for 4 chapters down the road is doing what I want it to do. So, I just wanted to make sure things were doing what I needed them to before I posted it.

For tumblr folks, I can write a bit of an extended author note. Which is always fun.

About the plot chasm: In the first iteration of this story, there was going to be an entire espionage sublot that involved Hexley Hall. However, in order to spark that, something really devastatingly sad had to happen. I didn't like that. So, after about five minutes of thinking about it, I scrapped it. However, I REALLY wanted my espionage subplot back because going full Mission Impossible into Hexley Hall just seemed like too fun of an opportunity to pass up. Also, the magic involved in that subplot still existed in the plot I currently was writing, and I suddenly realized I had no plans to resolve that. Therefore, I decided, I'm filling my plot chasm with an appearance from Greylock near the final climax of the story. Not revealing anymore details about that. But, he's well more involved now that I'd initially planned on him being because I had a plot chasm the size of the Grand Canyon that only Greylock could solve. As for the potential one-shot: I've been doing a lot of of work on lore for the Tri-Kindgoms and the Minor Kingdoms for this story and for its prequel. Specifically, I've been developing lore for Corinthia (which is where I hc that Winifred came from based on her design.) I was thinking about writing something set during the ep. Mystic Meadows set from her perspective that has something to do with the lore of that Kingdom and her powers of minor divination. Not sure if I'll do it, but if folks are interested, I'd consider writing it. Some of the stuff I'm thinking about putting in the one-shot are going to come up in the fic, some of it might not? I dunno. (I gave Cedric and Cordelia middle names in my head, and it's my personal opinion first name was Goodwyn's choice second name was Winifred's. So, this would touch on that.) Other notes: I really don't have much other than what I put in the author's note. I often write in "Acts" like a play. I'd say, as it stands, this story has approximately 3. Act 1 was for exposition. Act 2 is about relationships. Act 3 will be about magic and then will also resolve the whole story. This chapter is kind of the transition point that sets up that transition between exposition and the 2 different longer acts that each have their own climaxes and resolutions. That's not to say you won't get details about magic AT ALL in this next part, you will. But, the primary focus in this next section is on relationships, and all the lore tidbits you get are at the service of fostering connections between characters. As for things that are coming in terms of stuff getting "dark," this will probably come up again in a later author's note, but there's a scene I'm writing that might just hit me different because the feelings in the scene keep hitting a nerve based on something that happened to me a little over a year ago. So, like, do *I* think it's dark because it hits in a personal place, or is it actually dark? I always err on the side of caution in those matters. So, like I said, just pay attention to the TW's and you should be fine. So, yeah, that's what I've got. Cheers, Pip 💚💜

[howdy-folks-its-showtime]

It's Showtime! - June 2024 Devlog

Howdy! Cobalt here, for another devlog over It's Showtime. This month was actually really swell, especially since I got more of my adhd meds recently. So I should be getting way more done in the coming months, yippee!

Programming wise, not a lot was done this month I've mostly spent it changing a few things about the way the map is built. Particularly I'm gonna need to rebuild most of the first floor. However in the long run it should be for the better, for stuff like performance and making it easier to add more to it. I also just needed a break after all I did last month. I have created things like the base for the main menu, a proper testing room and a lot of coding for the cut scene system though!

Writing wise, a ton of progress was made. Most of the major writing for Chapter 1 is done! Or at least on a great first draft. So very soon Chapter 1 will be done writing wise. [For the record currently the in depth writing for Chapter 1 is 7,122 words long] Chapter 2 also had a significant amount of its in depth writing done, almost all of the 'intro' is written out but obviously I'm trying to focus more on Chapter 1 right now. Speaking of the other chapters and such. Chapter 2's summary is almost done, with some things just needing some elaborating or bridging with other parts of it. Chapter 3 has 3 thousand words written in its summary currently, so a lot of what goes on in that chapter has been written out. I recently had a ton of revelations about what is going to happen in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 has also had a lot added to its summary. Sadly, writing wise, I simply cannot reveal much more without getting into spoilers.

I've also been learning Blender a lot lately. I'm working on a few models, none of them for It's Showtime quite yet. [well besides the walls and floors for the first floor] However soon I'm gonna be trying to make Henry's first model and animations for the game. Probably won't be the final one used for the project, or even the one you'll see upon chapter 1's release, but we'll see. Sadly, a lot of this process is simply tutorials and looking things up, then double checking those things to make sure they can be used in Unity, aren't performance heavy and will work with the systems I've already got in place. Art wise, me and my partner have gotten a lot of fun concept art done.

We've also started a sketchbook purely for Encore! related drawings. We've got so much fun stuff to show you guys when more is done, but for now, I'd love to show off a proper look at Henry's design.

Here we have Henry's reference, specifically for his in-game appearance.

The sketchy reference made for modeling him out. Yes, he is tastefully nude in this appearance. That's just the way it has to be.

Then finally a rough run cycle I animated to show off his character and as practice for when the proper 3D gets made. I'm really proud of how this came out and I hope it gives you guys a good idea for what to expect from him character-wise. As always, feel free to ask any questions about this project and its story if you'd like. I'll do my best to answer them without giving too much away! See you next month!

[riotbrrrd]

For the Fanfic/Author ask game, 1 (any scene from CQVLM from any other pov you want please), 4, 8 (for the secrets that you keep...), 17, 19 and I want to ask more but we can save it for another day.

Write a scene from [ce que mangent les monstres] in another character’s POV

I’m doing this one in a separate post if you don’t mind

 4. What are some words or phrases you feel like you overuse?

I was happy because for most of ce que mangent I managed to keep the voice efficient but I can feel that I have been slipping back into describing too much, in the sense using too many comparisons and repetitions to fluff up what I like instead of letting the words have immediate impact. It’s probably not been helping the writing of the last three chapters. 

8. What is your favorite line/section from [the secrets that you keep]?

“the mortification of violated intimacy” for example is a good example of a string of words that goes straight for the kill. More sentences should be like this. 

(Also I'm still very happy about "the violent beating of his heart can close his Eye shut for at least a second" because that's also good wordplay on the eye thing, good visual cue of what's going on, good transition from one emotional state to another, all in one!)

17. What is something you recently felt proud of in your writing ?

Honestly just the consistency. It’s going, it’s kind of good, I make regular progress, I don’t stop to think “wait, actually, my lore doesn’t work this way” every seven paragraphs. Actually I’ve learned to efficiently think “shhhhh if you don’t put a spotlight on it no one’s gonna notice that this bit is weird” and it has felt really good. 

19. How do you get over writer’s block ?

I go back to the notebook!! I take all my notes and make all my plans in usually one notebook (sometimes it's a bunch of loose sheets in a binder but you get the idea) so that when I set to write I only open the one word document I need and look away from the screen everytime I need to think. That helps with focus, but it also helps with block: if something isn’t working on the screen, it means I have to go back to the paper, rework the plan, refine the subsection I’m in, re-read the initial thought.

fanfic author ask games

[morningstargirl666]

THE LITTLE WOLF UPDATE

It's here. The new improved chapters 1-3 have posted. Read The Big Bad Wolf's prequel from the beginning here. Chapters 4 & 5 should be posted a week from now, either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, depending on when I finish it.

Think of it as my little gift to you all - I hope you all have a Merry Christmas (or a Happy Hanukkah!). And for those who don't celebrate either, then Happy New Year!

If you want more details on all the changes I made to The Little Wolf, read below. It's not too spoil-ery but it's not exactly spoiler-free either, so by all means come back later to see if you found all the changes I made! Extra kudos to those who notices them all.

Over 20k+ of brand new content. This includes two new chapters (chapter 2 & 4 respectively) and around 20 or more new scenes to devour across the entirety of the fic.

Original scenes have been tweaked and expanded upon, with longer conversations or scenes between characters.

All punctuation, grammar and spelling has been proof read repeatedly. I won't say it's all perfect, because I've probably still missed bits, but its in a much better state than it was before. Dialogue grammar in particular has had a complete overhaul, which should make everything much easier to read.

Each chapter has song lyrics at the beginning, fitting the vibes or themes of the chapter. This is a part of a playlist that I will share in Running With Wolves after completing the editing to The Big Bad Wolf (which has it's own share of songs, compiled with a mix of the music I listen to while writing and music I feel embodies each chapter).

In a similar thread, new timestamps have been added whenever there is a time or location jump. Again, this is a change that will be happening to The Big Bad Wolf as well to make flashbacks clearer. Upon completion of TBBW's edit, a timeline will be added to Running With Wolves so you can see all of the events that take place in the series in chronological order.

Historical accuracy has been given a bigger focus. Obviously, there's still a need for suspension of disbelief (vikings never travelled that far south in America, horses weren't introduced to America until the 1500s etc) as I'm no history buff and I personally believe you can allow a little leeway for sake of creative freedom. However, that said, I've tried to right the most egregious wrongs by Julie Plec: the white washing of the native Americans, the almost European-Christian culture of the Mikaelsons' village (views on bastards, women like Rebekah not carrying arms and being all innocently feminine even though they were warrriors too in viking culture, lack of historical accuracy in settings/costumes/props etc) and of course, the complete lack of explanation behind how the vikings arrived in Southern America. Hopefully it should feel more alive, and I'll probably add even more in the final FINAL edit that will happen once I've finished TBBW.

The Little Wolf's main focus is Klaus' characterisation arc. However, in this rewrite, all the Mikaelson siblings get more screen time and you get their characterisation arcs in the background, as a treat.

Henrik is much more fleshed out as a character. He's mischievous and playful, a lot like Kol, with other attributes from the other siblings thrown in. He's also got more Youngest Sibling energy, just as the other siblings have Middle Child/Eldest Child energy, because in a fic about family, really that's the most important detail of them all.

I've delved deeper into Mikael and Esther's treatment of Klaus and how it wasn't much different to how they treated the other siblings after all. Don't get me wrong - in my mind Klaus was dealt the worst of Mikael's physical fury, but I don't believe 'he was singled out' is as black and white as the show would lead you to believe. That's not how abusive households work.

Talking about Klaus' characterisation, think of this fic as the death of Niklaus Mikaelson, leading to the birth of Klaus, The Original Hybrid. The Little Wolf leading the way for The Big, Bad Wolf. You'll get innocent baby boi Niklaus of course, but that same innocent kid has a feral side. When you become a vampire, it heightens who you already are and Klaus - he had that fury and violence in him all along, and it wasn't just because of the wolf.

In a lot of human-era Originals fics and the actual shows, when they're turned into vampires its all very planned out. Idk, like Esther and Mikael are evil villains twirling their moustaches? Turning their children into vampires, its all very pre-meditated, oh the horror and everything. And although there is elements of that in this rewrite (they ARE shitty, evil parents after all) I tried to do something a little original myself. In this fic, more focus is given to the family's grief and how Henrik's death becomes the shatterpoint for EVERYTHING. His death causes every bad decision made by the family from that moment on. It's less of "I planned to make my children the most powerful beings to ever walk this earth" and more of "I tried to save my children and didn't expect ANY of this so wtf do I do now, another bad decision? Yeah let's do that". You feel me? Hopefully that comes across anyways.

Okay what haven't I mentioned yet... WEREWOLF LORE. Yeah that's been expanded on and fleshed out some more. You get a glimpse into my take on how the werewolf gene is triggered, along with a coming of age ritual, general culture, outsider prejudice against werewolves etc...Klaus' views on them is much more explored, especially in relation to his heritage. Kinda playing with the idea that him being a bastard was never the problem to Mikael or Klaus - it was him being a werewolf.

Since I started re-writing this I watched way too many of Mike Flanagan's series'. So I kinda went all 'Midnight Mass' on the Mikaelson's village. Oopsies.

In a similar thread, the raven from the Fall of The House of Usher left a bigger impact on me than I like to admit. That's something so sexy about an omen of death okay leave me alone I NEED THE FORESHADOWING

There's probably more, I'm disclaiming that now, but I've forgotten. Go forth and devour my lovelies ✨

[kalispitronhibernation]

Oooooh I'm always interested in peoples structure and outlining process so 👀 22?

ah thank you for this question, i looove talking about structure and outlining! under a readmore bc this answer is loooong

22. describe your writing process from start to finish.

most of the examples here r from telemachus' detachment, bc i am very proud of that work, and i also did a LOT of work for it, because i was going through a slightly insane period and focusing on that really helped me kept going.

usually, the writing process for me starts off with a single piece of dialogue / scenario. i half-remember a tennesse williams quote where he's talking about how he starts off w a single "luminous image", and it's kind of like that. something just occurs to me and sticks. it then has to be sufficiently emotionally complicated / interesting for me to want to write it out. weirdly what became telemachus' detachment started off with a scene of stewy in a hotel room in hong kong watching kendall's s2 finale speech on TV.

i will usually then write down a lot of random scraps of dialogue / tiny bits of action in one word doc, in a vaguely ordered fashion but mainly as they occur to me. then they start to cohere, and that's when i start trying to pull it together into an outline. for shorter stuff, i probably won't outline, bc it can be done in one push - or if i do outline, it's basically a few bullet points to get the structure down on paper. for longer stuff, i find that i need to know where i'm working to or i'll lose focus / enjoyment and drift away from it. usually the outline will morph into a very very loose first draft - including little bits of dialogue, etc.

HOWEVER. this outline is like - never what the actual writing ends up being. i always think 'no this time i really will stick to the outline' and then during writing it massively changes. so, for example, here's an outline of telemachus' detachment during the writing process: everything after the ch.3 bulletpoint was abandoned bc it didn't feel right.

"Ch.1 finished for now

Ch.2, college + Logan forcing K.’s hand; focalise that all through the K. & the fact of hiding: make it about the twin poles of shame & love

Ch.2: Frame it by opening w/ the board meeting, Roman / Shiv; then end with Stewy watching the interview, and then flashback to Stewy’s reaction – just, here, to being broken up with

Ch.3, KenFest + Ken’s wedding – mirrors of each-other; how did Stewy cope with all of the hiding? End ch.3 with the confrontation about the interview; this moment of hope that Kendall will be free.

Then the drowning; Jess calls Stewy and he ends up at the hospital; he refuses to have any part in the siblings’ plots; Roman calls him a parasite and Stewy doesn’t care, he just wants Kendall to be alive.

Flashback; the various times Stewy has waited in hospitals

Ch.4: Logan dies / Dodds confession – Kendall is dragged back in; Stewy becoming an accessory on his side; he keeps loving him, he can’t not, but Kendall is changing – every dream of escape calcifying."

when i know roughly where i want the thing to go, i then have a checklist - this needs to happen, these people need to have this conversation, and i just work through that - not necessarily in order. though, for telemachus' detachment i would basically only figure out what the next chapter should be when i finished the first one.

there are then 3 very important word documents!

1 is simply the draft - i will usually split this up into smaller ones / chapters for ease and manoeuvrability. i tend to have a "Actual Thing" doc, so i can noodle around in other documents & draft stuff out without feeling the pressure of having it contribute to the whole thing, then will assemble it together.

2 is a 'deleted bits' draft. i find this so so important, bc it is a lot easier to simply cut and paste something away than it is to delete it from the face of the earth. also i will sometimes come back and rescue things from this document.

3 is a running commentary - this is where i keep notes to myself, outlines, and also what i'm going to do next. i like to try and follow the advice that you should always stop working in the middle of something that's going well, bc you will want to come back & do it the next day. always leave yourself a clear goal / target for the next time!! i like externalising a lot of my thinking.

this does mean i end up with a lot of word docs for one thing. i just counted and there are a total of 34 docs in my folder for telemachus detachment.

in terms of the actual writing, i tend to write dialogue first, especially if it's fic for a TV show. i find getting the rhythm of dialogue right tricky & v important! i sometimes write random dialogue that's nothing to do with the story just to get into the voices. i'll then go back and fill in everything else. if i'm writing something, i tend to become completely and totally obsessed w it, and think about it all the time, i quite often end up writing scraps of dialogue in the notes app on my phone, and then fleshing them out later.

if it's fic, i tend not to edit massively once it's got to the stage of actually being assembled in that final doc - it's probably already been through a fair amount of revision to get to that spot, and i really only have so much time and energy. i have no idea how to explain when something feels done apart from that it just clicks into place, and feels right. i work very much on a vibes basis, and i think i've read enough that my vibes r fairly well honed!

anyway this is very long but thank you again for asking!! i love to ramble about this

[sanctuaryoftheodd]

Chapter 4: Princess Bon Bon Sunshine

I am Princess Bon Bon Sunshine, the most important person you've ever met. The true hero of this story. I don't know who you've been reading about until now, but I'm certain all of them are complete losers and not as worthy of your time as I am. Not that you are worthy of MY time, but I'm kind enough to allow you to bask in my presence for a while.

I've spent most of my 28 years of life striving to be the ideal princess. I paid an astronomical amount to the best spellwriters to maintain my beauty, cutting out everything imperfect about me. I've taken the best tailors in the multiverse under my employ. I've driven entire species to extinction to get the best beauty products. All that effort, all that money, all those lives lost, it was all worth it to have this reflection looking back at me.

That long wavy blonde hair, those beautiful violet eyes, those luscious red lips, ahhhhh!! If only a prince can find me right now! He would fall madly in love with me instantly.

But alas, I'm still lacking a prince. And now I must continue waiting in my tower.

...specifically, I mean the tower in my Fortress-grade Berry Blitzkrieg Battle Cruiser. My father has tasked me with the troublesome task of conquering the dragons. My time is worth too much to be sent out into the boonies to kill some worthless lizards. However when I said that to daddy, he just shakes his head and gives me a long speech about how I failed to get him an heir and how I'm draining their budget dry. What did he expect from me? Of course I'd spend 1/10th of the treasury on spellwriters so they can make it so I don't need to poop anymore. Have you ever heard of a princess wiping her own ass? UNTHINKABLE!

Ugh! This is so pointless! I've been here on this freaky assed planet for over three years! I have to stay secluded to the airship fortress because none of the bases have any of the basic necessities! Like flushing toilets and hair salons.

"Excuse me, Lady Sunshine?"

My assistant, Lexine, suddenly chimed in. What could she possibly want?

"In your narration, you talked about hating the fact the bases lack flushing toilets literally one paragraph after you mentioned having your ability to poop removed by spellwriters. I feel like that may be a contradiction."

Well, points like this is why I will be docking my assistance's pay.

"You don't pay me."

Will you shut up already? I'm in the middle of narrating my own life here!

"Speaking of which, maybe you should set the scene? Your audience would appreciate having something to imagine."

I SET THE SCENE WHEN I FEEL LIKE IT! DAMMIT!

...Fiiiine, I'll set the scene, but I'm doing it for ME!

I'm in my royal work study, which is only slightly smaller than the royal game room, and significantly smaller than the royal bedroom. (I have to have room for my quadruple queen sized bed after all.) Anyways, I try to spend as little time in this room as possible.

The room was designed to look like a work area, with bookcases lining the walls and filing cabinets. None of the books were manga or anything, they were like, legal books and shit. Or at least I assume that's what the books are, they exist solely for the work aesthetic. I sometimes will do sexy photo ops in here to give off the impression that I'm more busy than I really am. Nobody suspects a thing.

Anyways I was busy stamping my signature on forms relating to the war. They have a whole stack for me to do, probably because everybody hates me for some reason. I eventually gave up and made my assistant do the stamping.

I shift my focus on the war updates. As per usual, morale is on the rise, they are making excellent progress, and they should be ready in two weeks. They've been saying the same exact thing for three years now. I'm beginning to think they are deliberately wasting my time. I've complained to daddy about all this, but he just gave me the whole spiel about how wars take time to prepare and mobilize. I still don't see why we can't charge right in and get it over with!

After I checked all my updates, I got a little bored and went on Mutter. I posted one of my brilliant Haikus earlier today. It perfectly encapsulates my feelings of loneliness and desperation that I still haven't found my perfect boy toy yet.

Most of the responses were praise. Sycophants. Suck ups. People who will say anything to get into my good graces. My kind of people!

However, then I saw it. The one post that would haunt me for the rest of my days. The one so horrible that I only could stare agape as the world faded into grey around me.

ANOMALY!

Back when she was living under the male identity of "Nameless," I caught her sleeping with my mom. Not only did I have to live with that image burned into my brain, but it was a pain to cover that all up so my father didn't find out. Cheating was unforgivable for all of my father's wives. Even as the only heir he managed to produce, I could very well have lost my status as a result.

Ever since then, she's been a thorn in my side. She started trolling me on Mutter, and that's when the most indefensible thing she's ever done happened.

"HOW DARE SHE SUGGEST I CAN'T COUNT!" I yelled out. My assistant stopped what she was doing and turned to look at me, crooking her brow.

I got up and paced my office, my assistant giving me the side eye the whole time. I didn't care. Someone was doubting my intelligence on social media! That is what's important here! I can't let this slide again! She needs to be dealt with once and for all!

I responded to her Mutt with a promise of JUSTICE! Then I bolted from the room and briskly made my way to the treasury.

I flung open the door to the treasury, slamming it against the neighboring wall. This makes everyone's eyes dart directly at me, halting their progress in counting gold coins and matter vials.

"We must buy Mutter!" I shout to the stunned accountants.

The only way I can enact justice is to find her exact location. If I owned Mutter, I can simply get her location from that.

One of the accountants nervously approached me. "Your highness. I'm sure you have your reasons, but Mutter is worth more than you can afford."

I snorted. "My net worth is like 40 billion, I can afford it."

"B-but milady, that's 40 billion in assets, you don't literally have all that money."

I sharpen my gaze "Are you saying I can't count?"

The man trembles at my fury. See? This is how it should be.

"We-we'll get right on it, lady Sunshine!"

[skyward-floored]

Thanks @zarvasace! :)

1. How many works on AO3? 58! Though taking into account things like whumptober collections and other oneshots... the actual number is definitely over 100, possibly close to 200 XD

2. Total AO3 word count? 738,361!

3. Top 5 fics by kudos:

Brethren in a cradle, about the chain accidentally acquiring a baby is first, which is kinda cool because it’s probably one of my more self-indulgent fics? I’m just happy other people like the idea as much as I do :)

Because They Aren’t Suffering Enough in Canon (Linkeduniverse Whumptober 2022) is second, which I personally consider to be one of the best whumptober years I’ve done, so I’m happy to see it up here :)

Accidental domestication is third, which is just about the chain having encounters with wolves that should not be as nice as they are XD It’s silly and honestly a bit cracky, but it’s got a little whump in there too so it’s got something for everyone I guess!

Fourth is Always Darkest Before the Dawn (Linked Universe Whumptober 2023), more whump! There’s some good fics in here, some of my favorites honestly, and several with multiple parts so I think that keeps people coming back to it. I guess lol.

And fifth is actually Troubled Waters, which I’m kinda surprised about? I like some of the other mer legend fics I’ve done better XD Though when I wrote it, there were only a handful of mer Legend fics out there, so I think it filled a niche.

4. What fandoms do you write for? Pretty much just Zelda these days, though I started with ninjago!

5. Do you respond to comments? I try to but I’m so forgetful 😔 at this point I have so many I haven’t responded to I doubt I’ll ever catch up, but I try to keep up with them at least a little bit.

6. Fic with the angstiest ending: Probably this one whumptober fic where I ah... killed Epona. It’s vey angsty. Very.

7. Fic with the happiest ending: ...most of them? XD I usually try for a happy ending in my fics, or at least a satisfying one. It’s not technically finished yet, but I think a Royal Castletown wedding probably has the most triumphant one.

8. Do you get hate? Only from a bot one time. I’ve had some odd comments before, but nothing truly hateful.

9. Do you write smut? nooooope.

10. Do you write crossovers? Do AUs count. Because if so then that’s a resounding yes. Otherwise, no.

11. Ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge, and I hope it stays that way.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Again, not to my knowledge. That’d be neat though!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic? Sort of? I’ve had people help me with fics, and I’ve helped them in turn, but I don’t know if I’ve ever done anything that could truly be called co-written.

14. All-time favorite ship? Zelink, to nobody’s surprise I’m sure. It’s really like ten ships in a trench coat though, and I like some kinds more than others. Skyward sword is my favoritest :]

15. WIPs you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I have this one fic about Time and Legend being captured and tortured while the rest of them think they’re dead that’s like 3/4ths done, but I really don’t know if I’m ever going to finish it up. I should probably post what I’ve got so people can at least read the first four or so chapters, heh.

16. Writing strengths? Hm, I feel like I’m pretty good at dialogue? And fight scenes give me grief, but once I sit down and focus on them I feel like I can write a pretty good one.

17. Writing weaknesses? Descriptions 😩 I feel like I never know where to put them, like no matter what I do it seems like it’s interrupting the flow of things, and I really have to fight to fit them in in a way that makes sense.

18. Thoughts on mixed language dialogue? It’s fine? I don’t really know enough other languages to enjoy it, but it’s fine. It’s not quite the same but I’ve written a handful of things with some random non-English words, though only one published thing.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Warrior cats, which consisted of about two handwritten pages and then I gave up and never wrote anything fic-like again until I was 18, and wrote a ninjago fic. And then started writing lu stuff. And then I was doomed for life XD

20. Favorite fic you've ever written? I can’t pick, good grief! I mean I’m fond of all my Incredibles au stuff, my mermaid legend fics are fun to reread, all my whumptobers are crazy to look back on, kitty wind is silly but angsty, hdw I’ve had lots of fun with plot and stuff... but I probably have to say brethren in a cradle.

I had the idea for it during the worst summer of my life, and part of what kept me going was that urge to share the silly idea I’d started to write, and the fact that other people also love it means so much to me. I love going back and reading the chapters of it I’ve managed to publish, and just working on it in general. It’ll always be special to me.

No pressure tagging @telemna-hyelle @hero-of-the-wolf @wolfwarden @adrift-in-thyme @only-lonely-stars <3

I have been tagged by @batrogers!!

1. How many works on AO3? 241

2. Total AO3 word count? 1.25mil. Almost to my 3rd AO3 anniversary :D (that's around 1,170 words every day for three years, not counting nonpublished words! Proud of that rate, even if it's slowing.)

3. Top 5 fics by kudos:

Status? about Four. I think this one hits the sweet spot for a lot of people: not too long, a bit angsty, but sweet.

so i admit that the mud didn't do much for me, about Hyrule. Actually the first fic I ever posted on this account, it's silly and I'm surprised to see it so high

incandescently happy, a post-LU happy ending. Posted little chapters every day for like a month which kept it in people's feeds so I think that's why it's so high

what is a stump supposed to do, a random Hyrule & Four one, honestly baffled why it's up here

Rise and Shine and Fall, my successful (by that I mean actually wrote and posted every day on schedule) Whumptober 2022 extravaganza compilation. I posted it all in one work, so it's higher than most other whump fics of mine, but there's a lot in it!

4. What fandoms do you write for? Zelda. In the past I wrote a tiny bit of Danny Phantom and a fair amount of FE3H!

5. Do you respond to comments? Always!! I admit to being SO VERY BEHIND right now, a couple months' worth. I'm trying to keep up on new ones, but I've had some beautiful wonderful readers going through my catalog and I can't always keep up!! XD

6. Fic with the angstiest ending: I don't write a lot of negative endings, so I think this badge goes to Counterbalance, my LU Darks AU. I'm actually fully in love with this fic, it's probably the best mix of silly and angsty I've ever written. It's full of what are essentially OCs but they're all my babies and I love them.

7. Fic with the happiest ending: incandescently happy, post-LU. The whole fic is essentially a fix-it ending, though LU doesn't have an ending yet. XD

8. Do you get hate? A couple silly comments trying to tell me I'm doing things wrong, but not really no! Oh, also can't forget the ask I got that was "Remember that Jesus is your first reader." I think that was meant to be passive aggressive but there's a chance it was meant like, genuinely? Not sure.

9. Do you write smut? Nah. And I don't plan to. Not my thing! Closest I get are vampire bites XD

10. Do you write crossovers? I swear I've done more but the only ones on my AO3 are a Vidow fic done in an original world (Nothing New Under the Sun (crystals, dumplings, jewelry)), and Blood-Sucker's Guide to High School, a Vidow retelling of a very fun vampire novel.

11. Ever had a fic stolen? Nope, but I did have one of my Vidow fake fic book covers stolen for someone's fake fiverr listing. Got it taken down with a DMCA but I was like, why

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not to my knowledge.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic? Oh plenty. @enrolio and I spent most of 2020-21 lockdowns and beyond cowriting, mostly original stories (1.7mil) but a lot of fic, too (nothing published, but almost 400k worth.) We're currently in the process of working on a big epic original fantasy series, though that's a long-term project. @batrogers and I have done a few alt-POV-type projects too, which have been super duper fun!! Hope to do more.

In that vein too, I feel like the Bad End Links kind of qualify here—so much of the characters and their stories were brainstormed collaboratively and so many friends have contributed details and fics and art, it feels like a fun group project! I've really enjoyed working on it. :D (the encouragement and hype for it also helps a lot!! I'm really hoping to finish this big project out!)

14. All-time favorite ship? Ahhhh a harder question than you'd think, tbh, even if you're limiting it to fic. I've written the most for Vidow, and they're definitely up there (same with Fourdow though I've done less with them.) I do have to admit that Linhardt/Byleth might take the cake, though. They were the first ship I was ever actually obsessed with, and the first romantic pairing I wrote in fic.

I just really adore Linny in general, and I love how the pairing continues and closes off some of the themes in the Crimson Flower route of FE3H. That's the only route where Byleth doesn't become archbishop-slash-dictator, and I think choosing to live life in a small cottage, not particularly contributing too much to the government, builds nicely upon the themes of becoming human and choosing your own destiny, themes that are really missing from the other routes.

15. WIPs you want to finish but doubt you ever will? My old AO3 account (a couple FE3H fics and not much else) has a series where I wrote the beginning of a fic and then had several different endings planned, each a different ship with Linhardt, but I only ever wrote one. I'd love to read the rest but I have too many other fics calling my name!

16. Writing strengths? Um... Volume and speed? Also AUs. I think I can call myself good at fitting characters into new settings. Also fight scenes are fun and I think I do them well.

17. Writing weaknesses? I feel somewhat weak in the plotting and style realms.

18. Thoughts on mixed language dialogue? You can't count on a reader to know not-tagged languages, so that has to be accounted for in the text.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Danny Phantom, in high school or maybe just after. That's late for a lot of fic writers but... there are reasons for that, and a different discussion!!

20. Favorite fic you've ever written? This is an extremely rude question, because I love so many for different reasons. I write things I want to read!! Counterbalance (for the tone) and Blood-Sucker's Guide (for the finished novel plot) are up there but I linked them above, so I'll take the chance to call out a different few—Marvelous Misadventures is way up there, a Wind-focused modern with magic AU. I promise I'm still working on that last chapter (and the epilogue), I just gotta throw everything else aside one month and buckle down. Maybe June, I don't have any fic events planned and 06/23 was the last update. I think some earlier chapters need a refresh as well, once I have the ending written.

I'll also toss White Walls (medwhump, "non consensual body modification: the fic") into this category for how long it is and how proud I am to have finished even a collection this long, and a long walk, a Linked Nexus fic where I did so much math and had so much fun with it. :D

Tagging: @silvrash-797 @toyouhellohowareyou @nopenototdaysatan @skyward-floored :)

[exilethegame]

Writing Update (11/13/22)

Hello everyone! I'm actually quite happy since I reached my writing goal for this month and was able to write 22k words in time for the chaos that is the end of November. I'm happy with everything that's been written, and the more I write, the more Chapter 5 feels like proper ending to the demo of the game (and first act of the plot).

As of now, Pt. 2 of Chapter 5 is 46k words in total!

I likely won't be able to get much writing done looking forward with the amount of school work that will be coming my way, but we'll see! As of now, the Amilia + Vethna scene is done which means the check-in scene is 1/3 done at 25k words. I have Syfyn + Nikke's dialogue to write next, followed by Sabir.

These scenes are always the most grueling to write because I'm basically just rewriting the exact same scene over and over again three-five times over again for all the different affinities MC can have the characters. The good news is that Vethna + Amilia's scene was the most complicated of them all, so everything by comparison should seem pretty easy.

I have one other scene that's also pretty boring (it's the introduction to the hobbies) as it's the same thing of writing the same scene over and over again but slightly different. However, everything else should be pretty easy + fun to write.

There are two scenes where MC picks a companion to speak to, but it's limited to those MC has high affinity with. So, even though I need to write 4-6 variations of a scene, they'll all be completely different since I don't have to worry about rewriting scenes for mid to low affinities. Instead, I can just focus on MC's personality and dialogue choices, which is way more fun to write (and when things are fun, I'm usually way more productive).

I'm notoriously bad with word estimates but I'll try and make one anyway (if not just for giggles). I think the second part of Chapter 5 will probably be around 150 - 200k words, which will make Chapter 5 as a whole ~400 words in total. It'll be interesting to see if the game hits the 1 million word mark by the time I finish or not, but we'll just have to wait and see... 👀

That's all for now. Thanks for reading! :)

[midnight-dreamerness]

Savior

Chapter 1: Brother’s Best Friend

(This is NOT my gif. Credit to the creator <3)

series summary: when your protector returns, he finds you broken and abused and helps you climb out of the darkness

chapter summary: you never thought you would see him after the funeral, but here he is.

pairing: Jay Halstead x Reader

warning: small mentions of smut(nothing major), mentions of abuse, mentions of death, mentions of blood

word count: 2.3k

A/N: Not sure how I feel about this first chapter...let me know what you think! Also some of this may be confusing but it will get cleared up as the story goes on. Also I barely looked over this for mistakes, so sorry in advance <3

~

You met him in college. He was the popular football player, wanna be NFL. You were the book work that didn’t need any distractions. He was sweet and caring but cocky. Somehow he convinced you to go on a date with him. Everything was going great, but then he hurt his knee during a football game. Then he changed.

At the beginning it was just a couple of harsh words here and there. He would apologize after.

“I’m sorry, honey,” he would say, pulling you close. You got used to it, to the words, the hateful glances he would send ever so often.

His future as a football player was no more. He ended up working in an office, but it wasn’t enough for him.

The first time he hit you, he had come back from the bar, drunk and angry. He had met up with his old teammates, got plastered, made a scene, and got kicked out of the bar. He apologized that morning, crying for forgiveness. And you forgave him. You stayed, even when the abuse continued and got worse.

The worst part is, you blame yourself.

I shouldn’t have tested him and I wouldn’t have to cover the bruise on my jaw with a pound of makeup.

And now, almost 3 years later, you're still making excuses for him. Every hit, every slap, every kick to the ribs, every busted lip or bruised jaw, it was always your fault. It didn’t matter that you did everything he asked. He always found something to punish you for whether it was leaving a dish in the sink, not having dinner ready for him when he got home, forgetting to pick up something for him at the store, or something simple like not making the bed. It was always something.

Kade wasn’t always beating you. He had good days too. You glance down at the ring on your finger, finding it out of place. It didn’t fit right anymore. It didn’t look right on your hand. Truth be told, you didn’t want it there anymore. But what were you going to do? He had mentioned time and time again that if you were to ever leave, he’d kill you.

The elevator dings, indicating someone had come up. It gains your attention, pulling your eyes from the files you were currently going over familiar. His familiar face pulls at your heart and your mind flashes with memories. You couldn’t believe your eyes. Your brother's old best friend is walking right up to your desk, a smile that somehow still makes you weak at the knees, stretched across his face. His eyes shimmer with glee, like he recognized you the instant your eyes met. The familiar ocean blue pulls you in and you're drowning in them all over again.

The gold star hanging from his neck has your attention, a grin appearing on your face. He’s always been a protector. You remember when Danny, your brother, had left, leaving you behind while he fought wars overseas. Jay was a year younger, so Danny had made him promise to look after you. He made him promise to protect you. And he did, until ultimately the year following, he left too.

He approached the desk, shaking his head while letting out a laugh.

“I couldn’t believe it. Miss Hawkins, secretary to the multimillionaire Reese Connor,” he teases, placing his elbows on the counter, intertwining his fingers together. You shift your weight from one foot to the other, trying to ease the pain from your side. He’s bigger since the last time you saw him, it must be four years now. You were barely 22 when he showed up to your front door, holding your brother's dog tags in his hand and tears in his perfect blue eyes.

“Me? Let’s talk about you, Mr. Detective. I heard you’ve been kicking it in the Intelligence Unit.” You laugh, leaning over to shove his arm. He chuckles but something catches his eye. There’s red marks around your neck. You didn’t notice where his eyes trailed, so busy looking over what you could see from your stop behind the counter.

His shoulders were broad, more so than last time it seems. His jaw, not as sharp as it once was and he was no longer clean shaven. His five o’clock shadow runs across his jaw and the lower part of his cheeks. You remember all the complaining he did when he was younger about how he could never grow it out probably and opted just to shave it so your brother would stop teasing him relentlessly.

There’s still freckles running over his face in the most perfect way, trailing down his neck and down under his shirt. There’s a scar leaking out from his olive green shirt that is partially covered by his leather jacket.

You shake your head, looking back into his eyes that hold a different emotion you couldn’t pinpoint, and sigh. “What can I do for you Detective Halstead?” You grinned teasingly. His smile reappeared in a matter of milliseconds.

“I need to speak to Reese involving a case I’m working on. Is there any way I could speak to him?”

You purse your lips, looking down at your watch before replying, “He’s currently in a meeting, it should be over in about ten minutes if you wanna sit and wait?” Jay nods. You smile, pointing towards the chair behind your desk.

He rounds your desk and takes a seat only a couple of feet from your chair, which you sit back down in. You try to ignore the burning in your cheeks. This feeling takes you back to when you were fifteen. A young and naive teenager who thought she was in love with her older brother's best friend, who was 4 years older than you.

“I can see your cherry red face and your facing away from me.” His comment only made it worse. You groan, closing the file and turning to him.

“You haven’t changed have you?” You ask, crossing your legs. It gains his attention immediately. His eyes trail down to your ankle, a large bruise covers the area.

“Well it seems you got more beautiful since the last time I saw you,” he stares, leaning back in his seat. A sting punctures your heart, sadness attempting to creep over you. You push it away, laughing.

“Yeah well it’s been a while since then.”

“You know, I can still remember those boy band posters hanging in your bedroom. And those pigtails you wore everyday in middle school.”

Groaning, you reply, “I hope you don’t still see me as that clingy preteen.”

“I think you know I don’t see you that way anymore.” You knew exactly what he was hinting at, and if it could get any worse, the burning in your cheeks intensified, the ache between your legs reminding you of how good he made you feel and how no other man, even Kade, could make you feel the way he did.

You suck your lips into your mouth, trying to hide your smile.

“What are you here for?” You find yourself asking, picking at your nails, attempting to change the subject before you say something you shouldn’t.

“I’m afraid I can’t answer that.”

Jay lets out a chuckle, making you glance back up to him. He’s shaking his head with a grin. You pout, turning back to your desk.

There was a slight pause as you tried to focus on your work, but you could feel his eyes on you, like he was trying to figure you out after all these years.

“Those are some nasty cuts on your hands, butterfly. What happened?” The nickname brought back so many memories of you and your brother. Tears welled in your eyes but you forced yourself to focus on the question, nervousness sitting in your stomach.

“I broke a plate washing dishes.” The lie fell smooth from your lips, dripping with innocence. A sound leaves his lips, like he didn’t believe you.

“Your eye?”

“Walked into a wall.”

“What about that bruise on your leg?” Looking down, the bruise now visible on the back of your leg you hadn’t noticed this morning while getting ready. You whipped around in your chair to look at the detective coldly.

“I fell.”

“I know you're clumsy, sweetheart, but not that clumsy.” Jag leans over, his forearms leaning against his thighs. “What about the red marks around your neck? Or the bruise on your shoulder that I can see through your white blouse.”

You curse yourself for being so careless. If Kade found out someone was questioning you, a detective and a friend no less, he’d kill you.

“Are you interrogating me, detective?” You ask, looking at him sternly. You intertwine your fingers and sit them in your lap. You watch him cross his arms over his chest, his muscular biceps, bulging through the sleeves of his jacket, gaining your attention. Gulping, you adjust your crossed legs desperate for the little pressure it gives. You hated that he could make you this desperate. Despite being angry, you could tell he knew the effect he had on you. He was going to use it to wiggle the information out of you.

“Does he do it when he’s drunk, sober, or both?”

You narrow your eyes, recalling the times you could smell it on his breath and the times you couldn’t. It seemed like it was worse when he was sober, when he was drunk he was sloppy. You glanced down to your lap, trying to keep the tears at bay. You didn’t need his sympathy. You didn’t need his help. You were a grown woman and you didn’t need your dead brother's best friend looking out for you anymore. You no longer needed his protection.

Luckily you're saved by a man approaching your desk from the direction of Mr. Reese’s office.

“Thank you, Miss Hawkins.” The man slaps the desk before continuing towards the elevator. You rise from your chair, motioning Jay to follow you down the hall towards your boss's office.

“That’s a pretty bad limp. You should get it checked out.”

You stop in the middle of the hall and turn to him, annoyed at this point.

“Detective-“

“What happened to JJ?”

Your eyebrows pull together as you run your hand over your face, a sigh escaping your lips. “Jay, I know you promised my brother you’d look out for me, but I’m fine.” You try to reason, even grabbing his arm and giving him a smile.

“I’m not doing this because of Danny, sweetheart. Believe it or not, I care about you,” he says, stepping closer to you. You gulp, pressing your hands to his chest. He had you against the wall now, his arms on either side of your head, trapping you.

“Jay, please. I’m engaged.”

Jay pulls back abruptly, giving you a shocked look but there was anger in his eyes.

“You're marrying that bastard?” He lets out a sarcastic laugh, shaking his head. You move to touch him, but he moves from your grasp.

“Take me to Reese.”

You look down, nodding before continuing on towards your boss's office. You knock on the door, waiting on the okay before walking inside. Your boss sits at his desk and was previously focused on his computer but his attention is turned to you.

“A Detective Halstead is here to see you.”

He flashes you a smile before motioning him inside. You let Jay pass, taking in a sharp breath as his body brushes with yours.

Once you're outside and the door is shut behind you, you lean against the wall, trying to calm yourself down. Ever since he came back from his first tour, to spend some time with his family, your feelings for him became much more than some school girl crush. You saw him in a new light. He was more than your brother's best friend, more than that guy who looked after you ever so often. He was a man and you, you were a woman. You had hoped for so long that he would see you differently. He did, but the time for you and him had passed.

Your little moment was ruined by the sound of a voice, “Who the hell was that?” Your head snaps towards the end of the hall. Kade’s friend Nathan stands there, a glare set in his eyes. You can hear your heartbeat in your ears as your breathing becomes unsteady. You're stuttering out incoherent words but he’s already pulled out his phone and dials a number while walking in the opposite direction of where you're standing.

Although filled with fear and worry, you continued working, distracting yourself and praying that he’ll let it go, or at least listen to you when you tell him you didn’t say a word to Jay. He knows Jay, and when he finds out that it was him who you were talking to, it’s going to be ten times worse.

Your attention is once again drawn to him as he walks up to your desk from the direction of the hall. He slides a card onto the table towards you.

“I wasn’t there for you like I promised you that day. I failed you, and I failed him. I know the signs. When you're ready to get out, call me. I won’t let you down, not this time.” You watch him walk away, heart sinking into your stomach. You want him to come back, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to call out to him, or to trust him again.

Before he enters the elevator, he gives you another look and adds, “You’re strong. Remember that.”

He gets into the elevator and he’s gone. You picked up the card, looking it over. He reminds you that not every man is as awful as Kade. But he has his claws dug into you so deep, you can’t even trust Jay, the man who protected you when your brother was away. You don’t know what to do without Kade. You love him.

He’s going to change, you tell yourself. You only hope you’re right.

_

A/N: Okay can i just say how sorry i am for how long it took me to post this story :( Not gonna make any promises but chapter two should be out Friday or Saturday. Thanks for the support. If you want to be added to my taglist let me know!

[danimia]

I do actually! I'm not sure how much of my personal writing technique will translate for you, and I am not a professional or accomplished writer, so caveat lector. In my latest work I've actually been having the opposite problem, though, which has been pleasantly surprising to me since I've historically had trouble making up word counts, like you 😅

I'll note that my writing style is closer to pants-er than planner; I know what the whole overall plot arc is, and I know what big events need to happen between here and the end of the story, but I don't have any idea how long it's going to take to get there. I just finished writing a scene in chapter 6 that I figured I'd have gotten to by chapter 4, but my characters were just too busy.

These are my touchstones:

Avoid jump-cuts. You know what I mean; you finish writing one scene, and then you want to write the next one, so you write a pithy scene-closing line, put a big horizontal rule in there, and then you set the new scene. Unless you're doing first-person perspective-switching (which nearly always does require a jump-cut), they're usually unnecessary; bridge your scenes using words, not lines. You can do that over any length of time: "We spent the next three years doing just that." You can do that when switching characters or locations: "Meanwhile, back at the ranch..." You can do that when switching emotional tone: "It was hard. Brutally hard. Even the hardest day eventually passes, though, and before I knew it, I was walking into the office the next morning with a smile on my face." I'm writing my current work with the goal of zero jump-cuts other than between chapters (and often not even then). You probably don't need to go that far, but I've been finding it good practice. And sometimes, the bridging text I write in place of a jump-cut also prompts a new mini-scenelet. Win-win!

Keep a model of the world in your mind. Whether it's visual, textual, or emotional, whether it's in your head or you mock it up by moving objects around on a table, remember that there is, almost certainly, something going on that isn't the action you're focusing on. Even if you're alone on an alien planet, the wind might shift, or a cloud might cover the sun. Remember that the outside world exists, and every once in a while, remind your reader of that too.

Keep the pace smooth. Reread your chapter from the beginning every once in a while; if you can't trust yourself to actually read it properly without skimming, then read it aloud, even if it's just to yourself. The emotional tenor of the scene should progress smoothly up and down, unless you're purposefully setting up a twist or something, which should obviously be rare. Don't take the reader from a slice-of-life moment directly to a world-saving triumph, because that will feel jarring; if possible, try to keep the reader's state of tension at roughly the main level as your focus character's state. When you reread your chapter, if it feels like a windfall or a disaster come out of nowhere, add some foreshadowing to lead into it. Give the reader enough time to join your character on their emotional journey.

Use words to measure time. This can be tricky, but in the same way as you want to keep your reader at the same tension as the character, you want your reader to keep up with the action, and you want the action to keep up with your reader. Decide on a pace for your book, for when your camera is at its closest and you're describing blow-by-blow action, and try to keep that pace as consistent as you can. For a fast-paced action story, you might try and get as close to a one-to-one timescale as you can; going dialogue-heavy can help with that, since the quoted parts of spoken dialogue are, by definition, at a 1:1 timescale with the action. My book is much more cerebral and contemplative, so I'm tending to go way slower than that; I haven't measured it or anything, but I'd guess my timescale is around 5:1. In other words, when I read five minutes of text, it represents an in-world timespan of around one minute, on average. That means I end up breaking up dialogue a lot; there will be a few lines of rapid back-and-forth, and then my character will think about what that means for a paragraph or two, and then she'll say her next line. One thing that means is that if you're zoomed in close and your character starts an action that's supposed to take a while, try not to let them finish that action in the same paragraph. Give your reader something to look at while the character is busy doing the thing. If the action is interesting enough, you can just describe the whole action itself, but that only works the first time. If your character has to shut down four field generators to let the rebel army through, you can tell your readers all about it the first time, but if they're all supposed to take the same amount of time, there should be the same amount of text in between starting and finishing, even if the text isn't directly related. "It took just as long the second time. I couldn't help but remember how my parents..." "The third time was no easier, but at least it was more fun; they'd put the generator in a bouncy house, and it turned out the dark lord has an adorable giggle." "As my hands performed the same task for the fourth time, I finally felt like I was getting the hang of it. This whole mission had been..." That does mean adding filler here and there, but filler isn't a bad thing! Use it to flesh out the world by looking at your world model and thinking, "what could possibly be happening nearby?" Use it to give a lore dump, or to move a character from place to place. If they were sitting on their sofa and shopping Amazon on their phone, have them taking the bus to work, and use the transit time to show how long the shopping is taking. If you're stuck for what to write for filler, then

Remember that your (human) characters are human. Most of your nonhuman characters are too, for that matter, at least in behavior. People get bored. People shift position. People wander off, and daydream, and their stomachs growl, and they think about what they haven't had to eat today. (Oh wait, no, that's me. I should probably...eh, I'll finish the post first.) One of my favorite things to do when coming up with something to fill space or time is to read through the chapter (or at least the scene), figure out how I'm feeling about the story at that moment, and then figure out how to give that feeling to one of the characters. If you're thinking "ugh, I just wanna get to the fight scene already," then make a character impatient with how long something is taking. If you're looking at this and thinking, "okay but nothing's happening" then make your character bored, maybe have them comment on that to someone else, and then they can talk about it. If things are happening too fast and you don't have enough words to make it feel like things are lasting long enough, have your character get overwhelmed with how fast things are happening. That keeps the character off-balance, but it gives the reader a chance to catch their breath. It takes the feeling the reader was already having and says, "Yes, that's a good feeling, here, I'll show you who's feeling it. Now, moving on."

I hope this helps!

As a writer with adhd,

How do you write decently sized chapters for a book?

Like I’m talking about chapters in published books (and some fics tbh!) that are easily like 20 something pages long.

And trust me I know that this is probably just due to a lack of experience on my part, but I genuinely wanna know how you can fill so many pages and still make it entertaining for the reader? Like I wanna have that skill so bad.

In short, does anyone have any tips?

[jujywrites]

Author Self-Interview

fdgdfgdfgdfg how long has this been here, @mricg i’m sorry, i’m not dead XD

Name: JujY

Fandoms: Primarily Fruits Basket, To the Moon, and Undertale. Secondarily Attack On Titan, Chihayafuru, Yuri On Ice, Legend of Zelda. And a lot more fandoms I’ve written like one thing for.

Where do you post: AO3 as JujYFru1T(RPF/vids/misc) and SapphireOcean (fictional fandoms). FF.net as SapphireOcean (my first fanfic account, now a mirror). Tumblr as JujYwrites— a few one-off drabbles don’t make it to AO3 but I try to keep them exact. …I should probably update my fic page oops

Most popular multi-chapter fic: Guess I’ll go with hit count for these questions~ This one is tricky bc a lot of my multichaps are ficlet collections. And my one true multichap (Sugar and Spice, an Undertale fic) is less popular than those.... so that’s that! a smile that melts everything away, my perpetually ongoing paean to Furuba’s KyoxTohruxYuki, my favorite ship in the universe.

Most popular one-shot: to your recklessness and pleasure, an Aruani PWP that I wrote... 7 years ago wait WHAT that’s impossible DDD:

Favourite story you’ve written so far: i agonized over this one i gotta say. but I keep returning to Always Falling Down, a To the Moon fanfic which is incredibly id-ficcy. and I get to say it’s a canon-adjacent AU because small fandom = small canon ^w^

Fic you were most nervous to post: no contest!! winter covers everything, a Yuri On Ice canon-divergent AU. A: I focus on a minor female character, B: I break up not one but TWO canon ships, one of which is THE ship for the fandom... and C: make that ship polyamorous with the minor female character. I. was. TERRIFIED. but instead it’s been silent, and the few comments I’ve gotten are so wonderful and kind ugh ;_; (and i love that fic universe and i’m gonna write more, now that I know the fandom isn’t inclined to hateread and flame... knock on wood everywhere buhuhu-)

How do you choose your titles: a lot of times they’re based off song lyrics. But when lyrics don’t feel right I try to pick something that relates to the fic, sometimes in a painfully obvious way bc I’m not good at titles >w

Do you outline: sometimes I’ll do mini-outlines for a certain scene, but.., yeah no I’m kind of a pantser and often just forget that outlines are a thing that might be useful??

Complete fics: I have three complete multifandom collections (2 for ficlets, 1 for drabbles), one complete multichapter fic, and 61(!! what!!) complete oneshots-- 4 of those in one fic, a shipweek.

Do you accept prompts: Always, yes, send away. My openness to prompts is probably to my detriment!!! Bc there are some embarrassingly old asks that I’m still gonna answer!!!!

Upcoming story you’re most excited to write: I’m working on a idficcy Yukyoru WIP that’s got me all soft. And actually working on two RPF WIPs for two different big bangs (yes, tiny rareships again, as is my wont in fictional fandoms~ 

I tag: @improbabelle @stevie-rin-hargreeves @kaeldra but no obligation as always. and, yknow, anyone else who wants to!!

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. The trial happening right now bothers me because we get to see how Thanatos and Echo reacted to this, but Demeter and Persphone don’t know and I know why they don’t know yet. However you think that would tie some more stuff up together

It was Minthe, Thanatos and Thetis who whistle blew on Persphone. Meaning Thanatos would probably be called to trial and would have to face persphone and I would hope say something to her BUT I kinda doubt that’s gonna happen.

But the other thing to this Minthe is a plant who can’t testify. Are hades and Persphone hide the fact she’s a plant and pretend she’s missing or are they gonna say “yeah I still don’t have control over my powers but I’m queen now” HOWEVER I truly believe RS is just gonna not address these two plot points until way later.

FINALLY Eros and Psyche KNOW the last person Daphne was seen with was Apollo, did they chase after her after he got shot by the arrow? We don’t know. We don’t even know what they’re doing about Psyche. Did Eros and Psyche even see the Daphne tree? Are they going to try and sneak in to tell Persphone?

I know the plots gonna focus more on HxP secret marriage at the court trial rather than the actual consequences and the fact people are turning into greenery left and right. (It’s not Persohones Faullt Daphne is the way she is but RS needs to focus on other plot points I feel)

2. like, age gaps, height differences, and power imbalances dont always have to be bad, the issue to me is that the way rachel does it is hyper-focusing on how young, small, and child-like/unexperienced persephone is compared to the old, giant, and all powerful/mature hades is like ... yeah obvs people are going to find it creepy? how would they not?

3. i honestly cant stand the "theyre immortal gods the age gap doesnt matter!!" agreement because like??? ok??? then she could easily be 300 years old then? she shouldnt be so borderline underage then?? like the immortality aspect actually makes the age gap worse, not better??

4. i realize getting nitpicky over unimportant characters in lo having american names is a bit dumb, but it does speak to just how lazy rachel is and how little care she has for greece and its mythology. there are countless english names that are also greek, yet even that's asking too much of her. percy jackson isnt a perfect series, but even the characters (who are in america) have greek influence and meanings put into their names and characterization, something rachel doesn't even attempt to do.

5. ok but thats a good point, because rachel seems to be taking physical wounds to matter more over the mental ones, when thats not how trauma works. her writing on zeus is reflective of her writing minthe, where she confirmed she has a severe untreated mental illness and that's linked to her evilness, and thus what she should be punished for. meanwhile persephone own mental issues can be bastardized as a "yass queen" thing?? somehow?? its just bad writing all around.

6. i kinda wish lo fans would listen to their own logic and give the same leeway to the other characters. theyll scream from the rooftops that hades and persephone and hera can be awful people all they want because thats ~realistic~, meanwhile minthe and zeus and everyone else are held to such extremes they can never meet and are hated and despised for nothing in compared to hxp or hera. either hold your faves accountable or let off on hating characters who do the same as them.

7. i see a lot of lo fans excuse how everything drags as "thats how a slow burn works" and its like ... no? because most of that slow burn isnt even hxp, its rachel forcing in more plots we dont need, and when its hxp, you look at the timeline and how they act and its actually neck-breakingly fast? like if as much time had past in LO as irl time then yeah, four years is a slow burn, but its only been maybe a month in comic? so its not slow for them at all, but it's a drag for the readers.

8. See, the difference between Lo!Hades and Punderworld!Hades is that PW!Hades has so much personality, he and Persephone are literally bustling with life (even though one of them rules over a realm of dead XD) AND their interactions are so cute with their awkward attempts at flirting and failure at doing so. Persephone is still somewhat sweet and “pure” but she’s also a bit of a spitfire, she’s not easy to surrender, she has wants and dreams and that little differences makes her character likable!

We NEVER get to see anything like that with LO!Hades and Persephone, we don’t see them have these sweet interactions, these heart-fluttering moments, because there’s no base or foundation for those sorts of moments! It’s always these very out-of-character unrealistic scenes expected from a married couple, but they just met! It doesn’t feel natural, it feels forced and rushed and so slow at the same time.

Although Punderworld makes Demeter overbearing, i love her characterization i really do, waAAAY more than LO!Demeter, because we actually understand her reasons for her overprotective behavior and we get to see her in a more sympathetic light/manner in the newer chapters, we see her as more than “mean mom hates bf”

9. Daphne and Thanatos were adorable. Like, Daphne was a sweet, caring girl with genuine interest (and power/agency) and Thanatos was a shy, awkward guy who was just doing his best (and not pressuring her). They weren't perfect, but it was something! Why couldn't LO be about them?

10. What I find funny is that Minthe and Thetis have a more defined friendship than Persphone and other female characters.

Minthe and Thetis ARE TOXIC don’t get me wrong but both characters are aware of each other’s motives. Minthe knows not to trust Thetis fully and is straight with her on her opinion of Thetis. But the readers clearly know their relationship as well as the characters.

Persphone is in gray areas with most her female friends. The beginning of the story we are lead to believe Artemis and P are besties with the dress sharing and the way in P’s mind they’re holding hands with Hermès. But clearly now their relationship is a question mark and they’re both more detached than we thought. Artemis was just being nice to P letting her stay with her because they’re both in the TOGeM but they’re probably more like acquaintes at best.

Daphne and P we know they’re friends but P isn’t straight with her. Like Daphne is P’s only named friend, but did P think of her as the other overbearing nymphs? We don’t know because they’re all pink and some of them are dead. Despite being told they grew up together we don’t even know much about their relationship what do they like about each other? Does Daphne agree with Demeters parenting or P’s need to leave? When did Daphne get to move to Olympus? I feel like the plot just says “these two characters are friends “ but doesn’t elaborate much. Why did P let Daphne in her room at Hades mansion and not the other nymphs? P told Daphne that Apollo is dangerous, but it was a little too late. Also why didn’t P have her phone number when she got to Olympus? Wouldn’t she know to contact her on insta or something? P was like “omg I know no one except Hermès “ but that’s not true! Daphne! I could go more but I think we get the picture that Daphne’s plot point is having the readers be told Persphone has friends but she doesn’t but she does.

Were shown that P and Meg are getting along because P was nice to Meg, despite Meg being silently jealous of P, but what about Meg now? Is she ever gonna tell P that she’s jealous of P that she had a mad crush on Hades, even her journal? Or is that all gone now? Does Meg even matter any more or is she now here just to support HXP?

[knickknacksandallthat]

Has flavors of fall been completely written? And is there a chance you'll post an early chapter just cuz 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

Also are there any other fics you're working on?

Love your work so much! You're probably my favourite author no exaggeration!

Hello Anon! To answer your question first, yes! It has been completely written! (Well...okay, okay...it's mostly written lol. I'm still having fun adding things into the epilogue chapter - but the MAIN plot and chapters have all been written 😉)

Will I post a chapter early? hmm...maybe not early this week BUT...you might get an extra chapter around Christmas. (But shhh...don't tell anyone!) Happy to partake in the tradition of giving this season! 😁 (And happy holidays to anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas too! Whatever your reason for celebrating or not celebrating this season, I hope you have a wonderful time! ❤️)

And just because you asked so nicely, anon, here's a little sneak peek into works I have in my in-progress list!

1.) 12 Day Program for Courtship - So as promised to anyone who read the 12 Days to Woo a Minyard, this guy is my main work rn. I'm busy outlining and writing to see what shenanigans I can work up between Kevin & Aaron. (And oh man...so far...beautiful amounts of hysterical and cringe...can't wait lol!) The gist rn, though, is that Aaron is torn between going to some medical training program or the *lacrosse training camp the team does each year during the summer. He has 12 days before the deadline is due and has to pick one of them, so Kevin is determined to convince him of which option he should clearly choose. But things aren't as easy as they seem - because Kevin has a rival in Katelyn, who is just as determined to get Aaron to go to the medical training program instead. It's a fight to the finish, with the prize being...lacrosse, right? Because Kevin cares so much about the team and Aaron can't afford to be so far behind. Not because he'd miss Aaron and can't bear the thought of being without him this summer. Not because they've been getting closer lately and Kevin is suddenly feeling strangely attached. Not because his eye starts to twitch whenever he sees Katelyn and Aaron sitting close to one another in the campus coffee shop. Nope. Not at all...

*me forgetting that this au is a No Exy AU, LOL!

2.) The Stray (We'll see if this title sticks) - another Andreil fic set in a universe where Andrew/Neil meet for the first time in an apartment complex and rub each other the wrong way. (No, not that way, get your heads out of the gutters guys! 😉😉) Cue the slow getting to know one another, learning to trust, and a couple of secrets along the way. (And some annoying Riko appearances, booo). I've got some scenes written for this one but holding off so I can focus on #kevaaron. (Completely outlined though).

3.) To Win the Heart of a Prince (Title TBD) - fantasy AU for Andreil this time where Andrew is to be crowned King and must choose a prince for a husband from one of the neighboring kingdoms to form an alliance. Cue lots of angst, trouble from the Moriyamas & Wesninskis, secret identities, romance, and a little background jerejean. (Completely outlined in a fit of inspiration last week LOL)

4.) Roommate AU (Title TBD) - Andreil universe set in college where Neil is kicked out of his childhood home and starts living with Matt, Kevin, Allison, and Andrew. But Neil has never been out on his own before and feels the weight of college, his part-time jobs, and the frequent calls from his father and stepmother slowly crushing him. Good thing he isn't distracted by anything...like his mysterious and slightly odd roommate...who grows more and more interesting by the day. (I have plans for this to be a three-part series, actually, with it mostly outlined).

The above will all be multi-chapter fics, but I might throw in a oneshot here and there along the way. (Depends on how frustrated I'm feeling with my multi-fic at the moment lol!)

And aww, thank you so much as well!! Such a lovely compliment! I'm always so happy to hear someone is enjoying my work, so I so appreciate you reaching out and letting me know! Thank you, anon! 😘❤️🥰 (And I hope something piques your interest above!)