#fic author ask game

[archivewriter1ont]

from the fic writer asks: 14. where do you get your inspiration?

not from the ask game, but if you don't mind, how do you keep character voices consistent (both internal and spoken)? completely get if you don't want to answer. just wanted to say i always admire how you write the batch :D

Aww thank you! ❤️❤️

Inspiration is a slippery thing, I guess. I used to think that I had to wait for the right idea to come along, or that if I made myself sit down and write x amount of words a day, it would make my writing sound dull and cracked, like cement that someone forced to set too quickly. Then I actually made myself sit down and write 1500 words a day over a holiday break from work, and a funny thing happened...it worked. Not only did my writing not sound like a bunch of words plastered onto a page against their will, but I also came up with some brand new, good ideas for that particular story simply because I would run into a plot hole or a new scene I hadn't thought about a ton and say "Hmm, what goes here?" So I am now of the opinion that inspiration is kind of like luck -- does it exist abstractly? Yes. Does it sometimes strike out of nowhere? Absolutely. But does it pair well with preparation and discipline? Without a doubt. That said, small details or even big things DO sometimes just appear. With my Bad Batch fics, this is totally true. I live with my siblings at the moment and some of the batch snark is literally lifted from life 😂. Other times it's just me, going about my day, doing my boring work paperwork or washing dishes or something and suddenly an idea or plot twist just bam sledgehammers me in the face. So I guess inspiration is also violent? 😁😂

Keeping Character Voices Consistent:

I think the best thing that has helped me with this is running the scenario or dialogue back and forth in my head (or out loud...depending on who's around) until I know for sure that's how the character would do it. For instance, Crosshair doesn't even whisper like Echo does. Echo might say "Hey, cover me." Crosshair's more of a "Try to make sure I don't get shot in the back." (And yes, italics are necessary for this dude. I use them to the point of exhaustion for his dialogue.) Douglas Preston is one of the best authors I've read when it comes to keeping in mind who knows what when, even after someone else in the story has figured something out. His thrillers' chapters often swap quickly between POVs and while it's kind of jarring at times, it works because he makes sure you know what the character knows. I just finished Still Life with Crows about an hour ago, and noticed this with one of the final scenes. The audience knows the names of three of the police officers because they just introduced themselves to Pendergast in his previous POV chapter, but Corrie has been absent for that chapter (stuck in a cave with a murderer--no biggie) so she has literally no clue who these people are. WE do but she doesn't, so the chapter is written from that perspective of incomplete knowledge. It also helps that my perfectionist twin is my editor and beta reader so she picks up on ANYTHING that might be giving away too much or might be out of character. 😁

[cypanache]

for the fic writer asks: 5, 12, 19

5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write?

So this is incredibly dangerous with me because the moment I say I will never write something … I wind up eating my words (see Prodigal, which was something I literally said I’d never write)

But I’ll give you two AUs which are a long way off from ever being more than a discord campfire story. One Obidala and one more Obianidala -adjacent both inspired by Cyrano de Bergerac which is my favorite play, but wildly different in tone.

Obidala — Think 90s romcom mashup of with a bit of You’ve Got Mail, a bit of Cyrano, and a sprinkling of Sabrina, where Anakin is a self-made mid-90s Silicon Valley whiz kid and Obi-Wan is his long suffering CFO/COO/fixer. Enter Padme as the journalist/tastemaker Anakin needs impress for ‘reasons’ and winds up blowing off. So Obi-Wan being the fixer he is … fixes it (a little too well), writing Padme a thoughtful apology in Anakin’s name and arranging for a behind the scenes look at the company’s operations, etc. Anakin runs into her and is instantly head over heels and asking Obi-Wan’s help because she’s totally out of his league. Padme is impressed. Anakin is smitten. Obi-Wan, who is just trying to keep this deal together, is slowly losing his mind … and his heart.

Obianidala adjacent — a totally different vibe let’s go to a Padme lives style AU set in a sort of vague post-wwii England (or something similar). Where Anakin was a pilot/double agent for the wrong side who died in dubious circumstances. Padme is his pregnant widow who has been left without his pension or answers. And Obi-Wan … is the “professor” (read ‘spy’) who Padme tracks down after she finds a half written love letter from her husband addressed to him … and Obi-Wan in his shared grief for the man they both loved and both feel betrayed by winds up inviting her to stay. And Padme, having nowhere else to go, does. Only the longer she lives with him, the more she gets to know him, comes to care for him, the more she can’t quite shake the feeling that there’s something vaguely familiar about the way he talks, the words he uses, the phrases, the passages he picks out to read …

12. Do you have a playlist for one of your current WIPs?

I have a playlist for every WIP that isn’t just a one shot. But by far the most carefully curated is the one for A Trap of Your Own Making, which was developed with the help of the amazing @vic3456 who is my musical soulmate. And if listened to in order will follow the arc of the entire story

19. Give us a small teaser from one of your WIPs

Here. Let’s do Wires. Which is a modern post RotS Padme lives au. Where the Jedi are cops and Padme is an ADA. (Think law & order meets Star Wars). Because I’ve talked about this a bit and everything else gets a little complicated to share.

nine months after mustafar

“Anakin’s going to ask for custody.”

“He can’t.”

It’s a stupid statement. And not just because Padme has spent the past nine months coming to terms with the fact that Anakin is apparently capable of more than she ever wanted to contemplate. She knows how this works, knows how her life will be viewed by the court compared to his. No current means of income, being investigated for ethics violations, with a support network that primarily consists of, well…

She glances over Mon’s shoulder to where Obi-Wan is currently walking Leia, while everyone pretends he can’t hear every word of the supposedly privileged conversation going on at the kitchen table …

… Best not to bring her ‘support network’ up at all if she can help it.

From the look on Mon’s face that’s not going to be an option. Knowing Anakin, his old training officer’s name is probably right at the top of the petition.

[bitegore]

14

why are the numbers yelling at me LMAO

Anyway i already answered this somewhere so i'll just copy paste that, i think it was a long screed about the value of narration

Ive seen so many. Probably "show, don't tell" applied strictly, though- narration is not the enemy. No one reads A Series of Unfortunate Events and goes "wow, I wish Lemony Snicket would shut the fuck up and just show us the story" and stories with bland narration are boring because they're bland, not because of the presence of narration. Telling is a useful tool and one you should keep in your arsenal. Like- even telling-exposition can be made fun. You can tell things and make them more fun than showing them. A scene where Jimbob Sidecharacter puts butter on toast and eats it to show he is acting like a Normal American Man is boring; the narrator simply saying "Jimbob Sidecharacter was a normal american man. He prided himself on being the most ordinary person he knew. He religiously toasted his bread on the stove and ate it with butter every morning, since that was what normal people did, and he went to his job in one of six identical suits he owned so that no one would think he were so unusual as to have fashion sense.In every way, Jimbob Sidecharacter tried so hard to be ordinary that it unsettled anyone who spent too long around him." THAT'S FUNNY! That's interesting! If your story is about Jimbob Sidecharacter's weird hyperconformist nonsense or something, sure, then you can show us that, but you don't have to! And it's not going to be as interesting! Showing is for scenes that matter. Telling is for facts that no one wants to suffer through experiencing. You do not need to show us the characters taking a piss, or going to work every single day, or any other inconsequential thing that doesn't matter. Show us the scenes that matter and that are interesting. Tell us, in ways that are fun and/or funny, the things that aren't or don't. If i have to sit through one more bullshit paragraph about how this person takes their coffee or three and a half pages of characters eating bread and cheese like they do every day i am going to scream.

[doverstar]

Fic writer ask: 13, 17, and 22!

THANK YOU! So much! 13. How much planning do you do before writing? Every single multichapter fic I ever write has a separate document called [Title Here] Notes. So tons of planning! I work out exactly what I want to happen in the fic, why I'm writing it, the theme of the fic, how it will happen, and what I'm trying to communicate with it. Then I do a pre-write for every chapter! And I make a playlist because when all else fails muse-wise, music does it for me every time. 17. What's something you've learned about while doing research for a fic? When I was writing Chasing the Light, I learned way more about bullet wounds than I ever wanted to and ended up using very little of it. I also researched the healing properties ice might have for that fic. I did research for a Doctor Who fic once where I learned about butterflies and their markings and why. And with The Things That Should Not Be, I drowned myself in 80's research. I'm not quite old enough to remember all that, so I both googled and asked people who were and got gobs of info on slang, pop culture, and common pastimes of the day. Fanfiction might be mainly self-indulgence, but I still want to write something believable (to a point), otherwise it's no good! 22. Do you know how your fic will end before you start writing? Yes! I never start anymore if I don't know how it ends. Back when I was 12 and writing Phineas and Ferb fanfics, I wrote without knowing exactly how anything would go and just let it play out. As I got older I realized I wanted to do things differently. Every fic has an exact ending, and it only changes if the characters/theme show me it should. But as long as I have a general idea of how it should end, I can write the rest.

[practically-an-x-man]

OC/Ship Ask Game: Firsts

We're back with another super-long ask game! Send a number + a character/ship for a description of their "first"... plus a couple questions for the author as well :D

If you reblog, please send asks up and down the chain for reblog courtesy! It's not a requirement but it does make things more fun for everybody 😊

____

For the Character:

First big aspiration (i.e. what did they want to be when they grew up?)

First time meeting their best friend

First opinion of school as a kid

First time experiencing grief

First time breaking a bone

First time they realized their "calling" in life

First time they experimented with their personal style

First time they took a risk, or the biggest risk they've ever taken

First time living away from home

First time adopting/taking care of a pet

First "big purchase" they ever made on their own

First time leaving their home country

First time being drunk/high

First time facing their fears

First thing they remember feeling proud of

First thing they remembered feeling ashamed of

First favorites - favorite color, animal, movie, etc.

First example of real character growth along their journey

First time they felt rejected by another character

First time they felt accepted/welcomed by another character

First major change in their life, and how they dealt with it

First introduction in their story (share a snippet or description)

First display of their powers or abilities

First major loss/failure in their story

First major success in their story

____

For the Ship:

A. First meeting B. First impression of each other C. First physical contact (handshake? hug? something else?) D. First kiss E. First time meeting the other's family F. First date G. First time seeing the other one sick/injured H. First time sharing a bed (non-sexual) I. First time sleeping together (sexual) J. First concert/show/festival they attended together K. First fight L. ....And the first time they had to make up M. First time they introduced the other as their partner N. First road-trip/vacation together O. First double-date with another couple P. First time seeing the other all dressed up Q. First act of non-sexual intimacy (e.g. washing the other's hair, taking a bath together, sharing food) R. First time cooking for the other S. First anniversary + how they celebrated T. First time dancing together U. First pet names/nicknames they give each other V. First time they felt insecure/jealous, and how they worked through it W. First time they realized their relationship is endgame... or isn't X. First major hardship they got through together Y. First time living together Z. First time they said "I love you"

____

For the Author:

🐣 - First piece you ever wrote (share a snippet or description)

🥹 - First time describing strong emotions, and how you've improved since then

🎬 - First fandom(s) you wrote for, and if you still write for them

💀 - First time writing character death, and how you felt about it

🤝 - Favorite "first meeting" scene you've written between two characters

💋 - Favorite "first kiss" scene you've written between two characters

🔥 - First time writing romance/spicy scenes, and how you felt about it

🌍 - First attempt at worldbuilding, or a notable piece of worldbuilding you're proud of

🐉 - First genre you wrote for, and if you still write that genre now

🖌️ - First character you created, or first character you wrote for

🤩 - First big inspiration for writing (an author? a piece of media? a plot idea?)

🕷️ - First time writing something that scared you, and how it went

📝 - Pick a character: first draft of that character + the final version of that character

🏳️‍🌈 - First queer character/story you wrote

🤖 - First nonhuman character you wrote

🪶 - First longform/multi-chapter piece you've written

✒️ - First shortform/oneshot you've written

🪢 - First time writing a crossover or gift fic

🤯 - First story that gained traction/attention, and how it made you feel

📦 - First story that really took you outside your comfort zone

📖 - Piece you'd recommend as a "first piece" for a new reader to enjoy

‼️ - Free space! Tell us about a notable "first" in your writing journey!

[its-all-papaya]

about the kiss prompts. I'd love to read about landoscar for 5 *and* 6 - a kiss where it hurts and where it doesn't hurt. I think that would go amazing together. I was thinking about the emotional kind of hurt but please do whatever feels right :)

heyyyyy this is like. not the emotional kind of hurt. but i saw everybody writing kid fic landoscar on the feed and i had to join in or die, so have 1.5k of fluffy, sappy singledad!lando.

send me a ship and a number and i will write a kiss

5. where it hurts & 6. where it doesn't hurt | landoscar | 1.5k

Lando’s been in love with Oscar for months already the first time he hears “I love you.”

It’s the kind of late-summer hot that burns off in the early evening, leaving you shivering and wondering when it started. Lando’s in the kitchen at his sister’s place, elbow deep in dishwater, as him mum prattles on about the very expensive wedding of the daughter of a neighbor Lando doesn’t remember from his childhood home.

“Personalized, engraved wine glasses,” she’s saying as he hands off another plate he’s rescued from the murky bottom of the sink so she can dry it. The window in front of them is thrown open so they can keep an eye on the backyard, where the rest of the family is nursing the last of the drinks they’d opened with dinner. Tied off to the fence posts, Lando’s niece’s birthday balloons float gently with the breeze that carries the sounds of a half-dozen conversations in for them to gather pieces of. If he listens hard enough, Lando can pick out his favorite accent from among them, several ticks off from the rest of the crowd’s English. It’s warm in Lando’s chest, the way Oscar has settled so easily today. He hadn’t been worried, but it’s the first time Lando’s brought him around to a whole family event like this – all three of them, Lando, Oscar and Emma – and everything has gone so remarkably smoothly.

“Insane, isn’t it?” His mum asks, drawing Lando’s attention back to the kitchen.

“Extravagant,” Lando agrees to appease her. He’s only halfway through sponging off the next handful of silverware when his focus is snatched right back up by the familiar, gut-tug sound of his daughter crying.

“Shit,” he says then as he scans the backyard through the screen to seek her out among his various relatives. It figures that she’d be fine all day while Lando was around, and the minute he’d ducked in to help with the washing, she’d find her way to trouble. His mum’s already handed off her dish towel for Lando to dry his palms with and he’s half-turned towards the door, cutlery abandoned back to the suds, when he finally spots Emma. She’s just reached three feet (on the small side for three-years-and-a-few-months old, but that was always going to happen with the genes Lando’d given her), so it’s mainly her curly head he can see as she runs back from the swings towards the patio, where the adults are all gathered.

“Gonna-” Lando hooks a thumb over his shoulder for his mum’s benefit, eyes still trained on his girl. Emma hits the group and skips right past the lost look he’d been expecting when she realized he wasn’t there, though, skips right over missing Lando and straight ahead to-

“Oscar,” she whines, arms outstretched and voice high like it gets when she’s upset. Lando watches from the kitchen as his boyfriend kicks off the wall to kneel next to her. He’s got half a beer still in one hand, but the other goes to Emma’s back as she falls into his shoulder. Lando’s heart feels racing and stopped all at the same time as he watches Oscar murmur to her, too low for him to hear across the garden.

It's a minute before she’s coaxed back up out of his chest. Her face is still red and teary, nose twitching, but she offers her hands out when Oscar asks for them. Lando’s stopped moving completely, frozen with the dish towel wrapped between his fingers.

“Can I see?” he picks up from the distance. Oscar smooths his thumb into the middle of Emma’s hand until she flexes her fingers out for him, displaying palms full of grass bits.

“Fell,” she gets out between little hiccupping sobs. Oscar sets his drink aside so he can tug her closer without letting go of her hand.

“Well, that’s no good. Can I help?” he asks and it’s soft, it’s tender, it makes Lando himself want to cry for an entirely different reason.

She nods. Her head falls sideways, back onto Oscar’s shoulder, as he brushes the dirt and grass away. Then he purses his lip to blow the last of the dust off and smacks a kiss right in the center of her hand, playing it up loud enough to make Emma smile about it through the last of her tears.

“Oscar!” she says again, all giggles this time. Lando’s heard Oscar laugh about the way Lando pronounces his name, but it’s only when Emma says it, his own accent in miniature, that he sees what there is to grin about. She seems to be mostly cured of the panic, but in the next moment Oscar scoops her up anyway, settling her on his hip and checking that she’s chilled out as he returns to his conversation. Everything keeps moving around them.

“So,” Lando’s mum says. He jumps a little, having forgotten where he was.

“Um.” Lando says back. She’s smiling like a maniac at the side of his head. “I’m gonna-” he repeats, same thumb motion as a minute ago. He departs for real this time, though, depositing the towel back in her hands as he goes.

“Hey,” he breathes out when he’s reached Oscar’s corner of the patio. He’s not sure where to put his attention first, honestly, a little overwhelmed, so he curls a hand around Oscar’s hip with one hand and tucks Emma’s hair behind her ear with the other. “All sorted?”

“All sorted,” Oscar agrees. He tilts his head to meet Emma’s eyes, eyebrows raised like he’s waiting for her to sign off as well.

“All better,” she confirms. She doesn’t reach for Lando, though.

Oscar’s gaze is still focused on her when he says, “Just wanted a little cuddle before going back to play, right? Nothing serious.” He shifts Emma slightly in his arms and she turns her face into his shoulder for a second, like she’s embarrassed he’d tell on her that way.

“Good plan,” Lando says, tucking her hair back once again.

“Just like dad,” Oscar adds, and Lando definitely can’t find room inside of himself to be embarrassed – not with the way his chest is all cozy, like a dryer-warmed blanket.

“Oscar gives a good cuddle,” he agrees instead.

There’s a beat of silence: Lando looking at Oscar, Oscar looking at Emma, Emma looking back and forth between the two of them and the swing set, where her cousins are still playing.

“I’m ready,” she decides finally. She plants her palm on Oscar’s opposite shoulder and leans back in his arms so she can look him in the face instead.

“Great!” Oscar says.

“Emma,” Lando says, “say thanks to Osc, yeah? For fixing you up?”

“Thanks, Oscar!” she chirps, agreeable. Then she smacks a kiss against his cheek, a match to the one on her own palm, and says, “I love you!” as he sets her down, easy as anything.

Like she’s said it a thousand times. Like it’s not anything, like it’s just a fact of her life.

Lando watches her run off with a hand on his own cheek, half over his mouth. He knows he must look insane in one direction or the other, the way his eyes are watering and he’s smiling to hide how his heart is beating triple-time inside of his chest. But Oscar just slides an arm around his waist, drawing Lando in close to his side.

“Sorry if that was-”

“No,” Lando stops Oscar before he can even start. “That was, like…” precious, Lando thinks, more than I ever expected.

It's just... there were days after Emma’s mum was gone, when he was alone with his baby, that he’d stayed up at night and stared at her even after she’d finally gone down for him; days where he’d wondered whether either of them would ever get to say the words to anybody else. There were moments, nights, weeks on end where everything felt scary, and the thought of bringing a whole extra person into their lives was impossible to entertain, more work than it was worth no matter how badly Lando yearned for it. And there were times with Oscar, even, early on, where Lando had hesitated against his lips mid-snog on the couch and despite all the burgeoning something in his own heart, thought: selfish.

He’s never felt further from it all, though, watching Emma jump from the apex of her swing’s trip up towards the sky. She’s never been afraid for long. Comes by it honestly, Lando thinks as he buries a smile against Oscar’s shoulder.

“That was…?” Oscar prompts into Lando’s hair. He’d pressed a kiss there a moment ago and never moved.

“That was really important,” Lando settles on, still misty eyed.

Oscar’s palm does a quick pass up and down his spine before wrapping back around to squeeze Lando in half a hug, “Okay, though? I didn’t overstep or anything?”

“No,” Lando’s laughing then, still a bit wet, as he dislodges Oscar’s chin from the top of his head, “Can’t believe she loves you, holy shit.”

Oscar smiles down at him, “Just like her dad?”

“Just like her dad,” Lando confirms, then presses his own sweet smile right into Oscar's lips.

[stardustndreamsofsilver]

Fic Writer Asks

Thought it would be fun to make one of these myself

🫓 What is your most popular fic?

🥘 What category do most of your fics fall under?

🍲 When did you start writing and why?

🍱 Do you read your own fics?

🍛 Have any comments, tags or reactions to one of your fics every made you laugh or cry or both?

🍜 Do you ever feel pressured to write?

🍠 How long does it take you to write one of your fics or a chapter/part?

🍢 Have you ever gotten hate on a fic?

🍣 What helps you focus or get in the mood to write?

🍥 What's your favorite fic you've written?

🥮 Do you have any writing milestones you're working toward?

🍡 Which of your fics was the most emotionally difficult to write?

🍘 Is there a fic or idea for a fic that you've abandoned?

🍙 Is there a fic you wish had gotten more attention?

🍚 What genre do you have the toughest time writing?

[mothmage]

brienne and jaime are both just so gender. like you have one of the most beautiful knights in the realm, fair and golden-haired, who looks in the mirror and sees his twin sister, who has always done her bidding and centered his life around hers, who doesnt know who he is without her, and then you have the maid of tarth, the ugliest woman in westeros, who’s always been too big, too tall, too bulky, dreamed of being a knight while stifling dreams of being loved, being thought beautiful, who thinks her only good quality is her skill with a sword and even that has been an embarrassment to those around her, an oddity, something to laugh and jeer at. i just — it isnt even that they subvert stereotypes, its that they both allow each other to be nothing more or less than what they are, and everything that entails

[hailsatanacab]

Your Favourite Author's Favourite Fic

in no way is this me sneakily trying to get fic recs out of people, but here's my new tag game!

Rules! When tagged, reblog with the fic you've written that you love the most

Not the fic with the most kudos, or the most comments, or the most hits, but the fic that you're the most proud of. I'm talking about the story that kept you up at night, the one that you still think about, the one that you wish more people would read

So, it's time to show off! I strongly encourage - in fact, I demand - that you give yourself some compliments, a well-deserved pat on the back, and tell us all the reasons why it's your favourite!

Then tag five people and make them go through it, too 🥰🩷

I'll tag @wolfjackle, @tourettesdog, @gilbirda, @die-erlkonigin6083, and @thewritingowl to get us started, please and thank you!!

[archivewriter1ont]

17. talk about your writing and editing process

Thanks for asking!!

To begin with, "process" is much different than "organized method." Which is good, because if writers had to be super organized about how they wrote I wouldn't be a writer. I am "organized" with my documents, with a monstrous number of folders and subfolders, but I don't usually plan out too many things other than a brief outline. I write rather quickly -- most times on my hour lunch break, I end up with about two thousand words -- and don't have to edit a ton because after writing so many papers for college on a time crunch, I've learned how to edit as I go. Usually, Grammarly (no AI enabled -- AI is not welcome in my house nor writing) is good enough for a spell check and then I'm done. The hardest part for me is actually writing, especially when I feel like I have a great idea and am afraid that what I write won't live up to the image I have in my head. But once I get started on the story or scene it ends up flowing smoothly. There have been a few times I've gotten stuck but in those cases, I reread the entire work up to that point, or maybe go read some of my completed stuff to get the juices flowing again, and normally I can claw back those reins and get back on the right path.

[cypanache]

18, 22 & 27 for the Fic Writer Asks

18. What’s one of your favorite lines you’ve written in a fic?

This was challenging. For two reasons: 1) when I don’t hate my own writing I actually like quite a bit of it; and 2) often what I particularly like about a line isn’t the specific line but the way it builds on things layered earlier in the scene or even 3 scenes ago so it doesn’t translate well to being excerpted. So I had to look awhile to find one. But I do really like the last two lines of the first chapter of A Trap of Your Own Making. Not because they're a particularly brilliant piece of writing, but because they set the tone. They tell you exactly what this story is. It's a love story but it's not a love story. It's a tragedy within a tragedy, it's already happened, you can't change it:

This is how they fall asleep. Anakin tucked safe in the space between them. Missing each other by millimeters. Unable to reach out, incapable of turning away.  It's a pattern they’ll repeat for the rest of her life.

22. Do you know how your fic will end before you start writing?

So when I go to write the first section I usually have the broad brushes of tone (happy, sad, bittersweet) and the general direction of what’s going to happen. And then by the time I’m a chapter or two in I can probably tell you how the final scene will look if not the final line. I think for every WiP I have in progress right now I know, if not the closing line, at least an anchor line of dialogue that I’m writing toward.

Now sometimes that does change on me but when it does it’s because I’ve adjusted the end. I never go back to not knowing how it will end. So once you get past one or two chapters I’m always writing in a very specific direction to a bit of anchoring dialogue

27. Is there a fic you were nervous to post/share? Why?

Oh Trap, hands down. Star Wars is a huge fandom with a long history, a complicated “canon” and many people with lots interpretations and opinions. I was taking a not terribly popular pairing and looking to slot them right into canon. To conceive of an interpretation of the universe where everything happens exactly as shown and Obidala was a great unseen tragic love story that played a driving role in those events. That felt somewhat blasphemous to both the larger SW fandom but even to the smaller Obidala community where I hadn’t really seen an interpretation like this. (Trust me if I had I would not have taken this crazy project on). So I had no idea how it would be received, if people would tell me I’d gotten the characterizations all wrong, had completely missed some important part of canon … just flat out hated it? I honestly didn’t know.

But you’ve all been so kind. I’ve been overwhelmed by how pleasant and welcoming this little corner has been. So thank you all.

[cyber-skeletons]

um um top 5 fics? (other people’s)(megop if you want smthn more specific but doesn’t have to be)

^ Me diving into my bookmarks to dig up only the finest, filthiest robot kink fic imaginable. Beautiful art below the cut.

#5: Belong To You by AndromedaPrime — MegOP, Cyberverse, E, breeding/cumflation/pregnancy kink, them being generally soft and silly. Never fails to knock me on my ass <3

#4: Flash Point by lastSaskatchewanPirate — MegOP, IDW(?), E, mating cycles/in heat breeding fic character study???? made me go fucking insane and feral for like a week

#3: Treading Water by goresque — Rung/Megatron/Rodimus, IDW, E, BDSM/Master/Daddy kink. NOT MEGOP???? I know, I know, but This fic, this fucking fic, holy fucking shit. I adooooore realistic BDSM. Honestly the entire series this fic is from is a gold mine, but this fic especially is one I treasure because it's messy and mistakes are made and people get hurt. You so rarely see people writing BDSM scenes going wrong and this one is done with such immense love and care.

#2: Waiting at Eternity's Edge by Silver_setting_sun — MegOP, IDW, E, set in a universe where both Megatron and Optimus are exiled from Cybertron in the aftermath of the war. This fic was a spiritual journey and a love letter of characterization that I hardly noticed the sex. Absolutely fascinating, rewarding, and fulfilling.

#1: Pay Unto Evil by lord_squiggletits (megatrons_mouth_laser) — MegOP, IDW (again, wow) & Shattered Glass, M, set in a universe where the Shattered Glass Autobots get swapped with IDW1's Autobots during the height of their respective wars. Literally one of the most gorgeous stories about healing, ethics, recovery, redemption, and restorative justice we've ever read.

[annabawritersdream]

✍️For the oc ask thing.

Hi and sorry if it took me so long to answer your ask! I took a Tumblr hiatus and then it was hard to think of a specific character to talk about...I literally have so many, which can be a good thing...but a bad one as well.

Ask from THIS ASK GAME (I need to start referencing everything since it takes me ages to reply)

The character I'm talking about today is...Finnas!

Finnas

He was born in TA 2977 in Dol Amroth, the eldest son of well-to-do family. He was never a noble, but his family didn't lack money and that money enabled him to travel extensively as a young boy and to get familiar with most cultures in Middle-earth. At a very young age, he learned to travel and survive on his own. He learned to hunt and sail and worked several jobs (carpenter, blacksmith, farmer, stable boy etc) while simultaneously learning languages and customs that were not his own. He kept a notebook where he dutifully and systematically jotted down all that he learned and, for a long while, he only spent money in quills and ink. He rather enjoyed his nomadic lifestyle, but he eventually returned to Dol Amroth to tend to family matters and organize his father’s funeral. Since he was now the head of family and in charge of his younger siblings, traveling was no longer an option for him and, after a period of self-doubt, mourning and depression, he was employed as an assistant shoemaker. He worked there for a while and struck up a friendship with his employer, who was also the owner of the shop. This shoe-shop was a “high-end” place and many people among thr highest ranks of the nobility bought their footwear there. One of the shop’s regulars was Húrin the Tall, Warden of the Keys, who, at the time, was desperately in need of a tutor for his young daughter Morwen. This whole thing about Finnas traveling, attending his dad’s funeral and being employed in the shoe shop takes place years before the War of the Ring and won’t be featured in LOI directly, but only through conversation or maybe if/when Finnas ever reminisces on his past. It’s mainly just for me to have somewhat of a reference and to give the character some sort of a personality and Finnas has plenty of it.

Lord Húrin takes notice of the young man who is trying to sell him a new pair of leather boots and, as he is intrigued by him, soon starts questioning him on his life and an on several other matters that have nothing to do with shoes. He understands that Finnas is wise and learned far beyond his years and offers him a tutoring job in his household. Finnas is hesitant as his formal education is fairly limited and he supposes his teaching methods would be unconventional and not suited for a highborn lady. Húrin though is more stubborn than he is and eventually Finnas accepts the job without even meeting Morwen first. You may wonder how Finnas was persuaded to accept the job. Want the unfiltered truth? He did it not for prestige, but for money. He thoughts his siblings might need it, so he said yes, although it was not what he really wanted. He moves into Húrin’s mansion almost at once and starts tutoring Morwen. Morwen is one of Tolkien’s scrapped characters and since she was originally supposed to marry Éomer, I think she might be Lothiriel’s age? Maybe a year older or younger? Maybe a couple years younger? As I have mentioned earlier, this whole thing takes place years before the War of the Ring and children normally started being tutored at five or six? Finnas might not be Morwen’s first tutor anyway, but I doubt I will have her be born before TA 2999. I don’t even know if she shows up in LOI, so I really don’t know anything about her as of now. I only know Finnas tutors her for a long while and she makes remarkable progress studying with him. As I am typing this, I think Morwen has what we today would classify as ADHD so I assume she struggled retaining information and found it hard to stay focused during lessons. Finnas manages to build a relationship with her and the fact that she sees him as unconventional and “weird” compared to other tutors actually helps her. He tutors her for quite a while (until her teenage years) and, by then, he has become the talk of the town and he’s one of the most sought-after tutors. As such, he becomes extremely wealthy and begins building a network of important acquaintances. During the War of the Ring his number of students is significantly reduced and when the war is over and Aragorn is made King and things go back to normal, noblemen—especially the newly-created ones—requests for tutorship come flocking in again. A few years pass (five or six) and he is hired by a certain Steward to oversee his young and extremely bright daughter’s education and that is how Finnas enters Enna’s life. She is a little happy baby then and she doesn’t know what fate has in store for her yet. She is just this tiny little perfect lady who desperately wants to learn things. She does most of the work herself and Finnas is impressed by her self-discipline and her ability to retain complicated information. He admires her intellectual curiosity and proudly tells Faramir shes the best student he has ever had. He actually kind of feels useless because he feels like Enna could as well study on her own. He guides in he right direction. tells what is important for her to remember and praises her. That’s about it.

As he did with Morwen, he tutors Enna (and later Elboron) for a number of years and Faramir grows to value and respect him immensely. At the Steward's suggestion, Finnas is offered titles and lands, as Faramir plans to have an opinionated and intelligent ally in the King’s Council, someone that both he and Aragorn can trust. Finnas rejects the offer as he is disgusted by the corruption and the general attitude of the nobles. He was never interested in wealth and power, he only wants to support his family and share his knowledge and what he's learned with others. He would do it even if he wasn't paid, I suppose. He wants to help and be useful to his community and his kingdom, but he's been around too many high-borns to know that morals and values don't matter to them and he’s afraid that being granted more power than he actually needs—and he needs and wants none—will eventually cause him to fall down a rabbit hole of greediness, cynicism, ruthlessness and general unhappiness and he doesn't want that to happen. He's content with his life and doesn't want any more trouble. He's probably Enna's most trusted ally and a good friend to her. He basically acts as her confidant and he'll basically fill the void Faramir leaves once they stop talking. Yes, for those of you who don't know, Enna and Faramir will grow apart later in the story, but no spoilers for now. Trust the process and trust in me (hopefully). Finnas essentially replaces Faramir and becomes a father figure to her.

He will serve Enna as her main secretary in both Lebennin and Ithilien until he retires due to old age. Even when he does retire, he keeps in touch with her and advises her. He's extremely protective of her and fights for her at any chance he gets. He's never been married—he’s too much of a free spirit to get married—but I think Enna will try to set him up with some lady regardless (possibly Ivonneth). His nephew works for him as an assistant secretary and will fully take over once Finnas retires due to old age and gout. Yep, his father died from gout and he inherits it. I think he will still outlive Enna though and him attending her funeral will probably be his last public appearance.

Fun fact: due to his travels, his accent is a bit all over the place and baby Enna was initially very confused by it stares at him with a confused and adorable judgy face.

Finnas’ nephew (I haven't picked a name yet, I only know it starts with F) is a poet who has a major platonic crush on Enna (a bit like the Dante/Beatrice dynamic if you know about the Divine Comedy) and spends most of his times writing rhymes about her instead of fulfilling his secretarial duties. Finnas wants to him to become more responsible, but the guy is a dreamer and not cut out for an actual job. He loves literature and poetry—he doesn't claim to be a poet though—and would happily survive by reading books if it were possible. As far as names go, I thought of Faras, Finbor, Finbar…

I already have a Findor (another one of the newest OCs that I haven't included in the Tumblr character profiles—I have too many Gondorian OCs and I need to rearrange things before add him and the others), so I suppose I'll need to get creative.

Thank you for the ask!

FANCASTS

Anthony Brophy as Finnas

Jamie Thomas King as... Finbar? (The nephew)

(That's literally his face whenever Enna glances at him.)

[iamnotthenewwriter]

Asks Open!

I’m open for any ideas/prompts/suggestions you guys might have!

Please motivate me to write something fun!

[piningpercussionist]

transfem scott getting lots of support from ramona and kim in the early 2000's when shit's very taboo but they all 3 have a fire forged bond and lord if they aren't going to make sure they're all as happy as they can be because they've come this far and I dunno it just makes me happy all three of them

YES YES YES

It makes me very happy as well,,

Like I've said before. General Trans Scott enthusiast here- I love the idea of their little support network *violent coughing* I (we?) mean polycule *violent coughing* so fucking much.

Ramona I think has a bit of a more gentle hand with reassuring Scott with gender issues, but sometimes she just can't help herself from some pointed banter or teasing- how could you with someone so dense? (Said w affection)

And then Kim I think is more blunt. But like, in a good way mostly, you know? The kinda blunt that makes you snap to attention and go "Oh. Yeah that was silly of me." And if Ramona's started some sort of banter? Kim is SO piling on. Maybe sometimes she's a bit TOO blunt with it- but it's only because she's so firm in her support. She wants Scott to Get It Together- and be happier for it. So if some ribbing now and again is in order, then goddamnit she will do so! Anything to crack that shell.

And ohhh can you imagine how they would react to some transphobic bullshit?? Unholy terror would be driven into the offender before they walk off with an absurd amount of coins between them. I can feel it in my bones. Scott doesn't even have to lift a finger (if the transphobe is even noticed/processed at all, bc I honestly can see Scott just. Not realizing someone's being transphobic.) Kim giving someone a lashing with her tongue as distraction and then Ramona coming in with the hammer- BAM! Free Money! Paying literally with your life for your transphobia. A Better And Just World.

And of course (transfem Scott more specifically, here,) the way Scott would start to flourish under their support... cagey and maybe a little (perhaps a lot-) resistant to start- but Kim's blunt affirmations and no nonsense attitude for bullshit (which is what Scott insisting on "being cis" would be, c'mon now,) and Ramona's also low bullshit tolerance but less Stabby (bc I won't lie, that's probably how Kim's comments would feel,) assurances? Ough... My Heart... Be Still-

I would Kill for them, Your Honor-

(Ran out of tags so putting this in the body of the post- I am SO tired someone pls sound off if this isn't as coherent as I am hoping this is. I WAS trying to nap and get the extra sleep I desperately needed but the writing bug... it Bit Me.... only a little but enough to stop that process-)

[violent138]

🍑🍎🍍 for the ask game!

Hello friend, thanks for the ask! I won't answer peach as it's being answered elsewhere but:

🍎 Is there anything you straight-up won’t write?

Hmmm. There's a lot of stuff actually... (but first and foremost zero hate to anyone that does, it's fiction and everyone's free to do as they please). But any tentacle stuff is a no go. Also I for some reason cannot get behind Mer/Selkie AUs (but I do love marine science!). There's stuff on a more serious note too, but I'm way too sleep deprived to trust myself to write it down here.

🍍 What kind of AUs do you like? Are there any AUs you hate or just generally have beef with?

Alright I have to come clean, I detest coffee shop AUs. It's silly but I tend to like characters who have a weird life experience or powers or an identity that is exceptionally impressive (and I tend to try and be loyal to canon characterizations). So Barista Clark Kent is not something I can get behind. Now fire fighter Clark Kent absolutely. Spy Clark Kent works too. But not the coffee shops ones, or the high school ones with no powers.