#fic guide

[twotangledsisters]

The Search For The Celestials - Fic Guide

Just published the final chapter of the current fic, next up:

Lots of arcs to this one! I'm hoping some of said arcs are short... it's not my writing experience so far though.

[silver-heller]

Hello! Can you introduce us to/explain the Mordecai x Silver series you have? Thanks!

Absolutely!

Guns & Flowers

This is the main series. It has all the lore I've made for the characters, canon and otherwise, along with the main fic, Silver Bullets & Black Dandelions. The side fics aren't necessary and it's fine to just read the main fic, since a lot of the info is repeated there, but, I will say Prophetic Bubbles does give a lot of context in some ways.

For more information you can visit my blog about it @guns-flowers. That blog is also open for questions of any kind, such as just curious questions, navigation questions, or lore questions.

Yellow Flames & Green Vapor

This is the sequel AU series, staring off from where the main fic left the characters, hence why Silver Bullets & Black Dandelions is the first entry. Everything revolves around the main fic, essentially. As far as I am aware, there will be no multi part fics and just one shots in this series, unlike the first.

Mordecai x Silver Fics

These are just the general, funny, cute, or emotional little one shots I make for the pairing that don't perfectly fit into or aren't overly important to the tight, main AU story. If you want to see their dynamic but don't want to read a huge fic/series, there are plenty of bite size fics for you here to enjoy!

See this post for which fics most follow or fill in AU canon. The others are mostly just for fun.

Thanks for asking, I hope that clears things up!

[the-widow-sisters]

Hey, I was wondering what's the best way to read all of your stories?

Awesome question!!! 💖💖💖 All you have to do is go to my AO3 page and in the series, just start from the beginning of "Widow Sisters and Many Marvelous Women: Restoring Our Broken Hearts" and it's pretty much in chronological order 🥰 I’ll link the series here!

Thank you so much! If you have other questions, please never hesitate to ask! 😊

[stump-not-found]

early days shenanigans

shameless fic plug

[stemmmm]

if you havent read my wife's gf fanfic WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!

(no sound)

[ahhhsami]

A Simple Trick for Fic Writers

Hey, if you're a fic writer and a character speaks in a different language, you don't just have to add the translation in the notes. Use the following HTML coding to add 'text on hover' to the word(s). If the reader is on a computer they can hover over the text to see the translation.

<span title="This is the text in the box!">This is the text that shows in your fic!<;/span>

Here are some examples from a fic on my AO3.

This coding here <span title="a fool, idiot (lit. emptyhead)">Eyn utreekov&lt;/span> will show this on hover.

This next example shows that you can add a lot of text. The formatting is the same as above.

PS: When doing this, there may be spacing issues, but you can edit the text through AO3's html or rich text editor. From there you can add italics (like I did), bold, etc, and fix any weird spacing issues. Just be careful not to delete the coding that you worked so hard on 😂

[milktrician]

doodles for Shang Qinghua's Reincarnation Survival Guide while im free from classes for a bit

[justaz]

magic reveal where arthur doesn't say a word and starts walking away and then merlin is at his heel calling for him, pleading with him to talk, to let him explain everything, begging for him to turn around and look at him, his voice breaking with grief. arthur has never been able to deny merlin anything and turns but he is still hurt and angry and merlin can see it in his eyes before he even opens his mouth to spew accusations. merlin stands, demure, as he shakes his head yet he doesn't say anything - fallen silent under arthur's rage. arthur walks away and around a corner, merlin doesn't follow. merlin breaks down into heartbroken tears and sobs and arthur is just around the corner, leaning on the wall for support, and listening to merlin fall apart.

[lily-on-the-fence]

oh to be a shivering little floret in my Mistress's vines~

all drugged out and soft on Class A's

suddenly my mistress chuckles "oh pet! We haven't given you your Class G's yet today have we?"

And she holds her flower just above my arm, just barely touching skin

"Do you want them, petal? Why don't you take them?"

and I try to lift my arm up so the needle breaks the skin but then my Mistress's writhe underneath me and I fall, useless and limp against them again.

She looks at me with so much love and asks "oh pet, what's the matter? I thought you liked your new body?"

All I can do is look up at her and whisper "please..." my whisper drawing out into a whine as my Mistress shudders and plunges herself into me, flower petals wrapped around my arm so I couldn't shake it even I wanted to, pumping me so full of girl juice.

"What a good little pet, begging so sweetly," she croons. "You're going to be such a good little girl for me~"

[bones-of-a-rabbit]

im starting to realize just how much of my art of the boys, but especially Moon, is just "pov his ass is NOT listening" with them giving the biggest stupidest puppylove eyes in existence and y'know what. i gotta wonder, maybe this is it. my biological niche. my Place In The Grand Scheme. and y'know what i ain't even upset

[pygmi-cygni]

writing tip - research

research is one of the pillars of writing. a poorly researched fic, essay, short story, novel, etc is immediately apparent because of several things:

lack of depth

stagnant plot or development

confusing or inconsistent setting

it doesn't matter what genre you write, if it's original or fiction, whatever. you need to research. depending on the relevance of your writing, the depth of research may vary, but it needs to happen. you do not know everything.

Fantasy

I see a lot of writers and authors use fantasy as an excuse to avoid research. Shut the fuck up. Every good fantasy is based on a real ocurrence or social dilemma. That's why we like it so much.

'but pygmi, fantasy is made up! it isn't real!'

SHUT UP. Even if you don't realize it, your story will have elements that readers are intimately familiar with. If you flub something, it will be noticed.

Besides, just because you make stuff up doesn't mean you can be inconsistent. You'll just have to fill in the cracks with made up stuff, which will even out to being about the same amount of effort. Pick your poison, either way you're gonna feel it.

Research is not everybody's favorite. I like it, personally, I think it's like going on little side quests for knowledge. But I understand if you wanna skip all the business and get to writing your baby. No shame.

Let me give you some pointers to make sure the time you spend researching is relevant and well spend.

Lists! God I love lists. after you have outlined your story and your characters and everything, make a list of all the things you need to have a deeper understanding of. This means determining priorities. - How important is The Thing? Will it majorly affect plot or character development? Is it a focal point of the setting? If the answer is yes to any of those questions, it's important. research.

Big picture, little picture. How important is The Thing (again)?. How much detail do you need to know? Especially when it comes to royalty or a hierarchal system, I see research being misguided. There are so many nuances to royal interactions that I could give a rat's ass. Big picture, general outline. I don't need to know everything, just basic courtesy, terms of address, appropriate convo. done. but if your MC is a coroner? might wanna put more detail into that; you'll be talking about the job a lot. determine how much the element will affect your story and go from there.

Don't fudge it for the plot. You'll have a preconceived notion of a certain job description, and then research it and think 'oh that's actually boring.' Don't muddle up the rules just to fit the aesthetic. It's sloppy, and your readers will notice.

To practice researching, pick your topic and after learning a bit about it, try teaching a powerpoint to your parents or friends. if you feel comfortable enough with that knowledge to do it successfully, I'd say you have a good enough understanding.

Setting

researching location is a big one that often gets overlooked. You don't always need to memorize maps, but get a general idea of the city/country layout so when you say "they drove 20 minutes from A to B" it makes sense, rather than having a reader think "Uh, A to B is closer to four hours, wtf?"

if you are making up your city, make a list of important streets and locations in relation to each other. This will help you keep it straight and organized in your head.

Get a feel for flora and fauna. Palm trees don't grow in Alaska. Don't write an Alaskan city with palm trees.

Weather? what's it like? Let me tell you, Portland doesn't get higher than 102F. rainy, cloudy, all that stuff.

Atmospheric details really add a lot, especially if your audience is from that location. It adds another layer of relatability. Also, use weather/plants/animals to your advantage! symbolism, possible curse, all that stuff.

Eras

Oh my god stop fucking this up. Baroque, Elizabethan, Edwardian, Middle Ages ARE DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER. STOP SLAPPING FANCY CLOTHES ON PEOPLE AND CALLING IT THE OLDEN DAYS.

get an idea of when electricity was widespread in homes. when was the refrigerator invented? did they use the word 'hella' in 1950? this kinda stuff is important for not breaking the illusion of a time difference. If you are writing a period piece and someone is chatting with a neighbor like it's 2015, we'll have some questions.

Unless it's doctor who. you guys can do literally whatever.

Plot and Character Development

If plot and characters are poorly researched, you are limiting the opportunities for growth. In researching your MC's occupation, you may discover a cool side effect that connects to a plot device. Stagnant, stale characters can be spruced up with a more developed backstory.

All in all, research is really important for your story. regardless of how professional it is, tumblr or the new york times. Do your research. As a writer, you are representing the community in your own way. Do us proud.

xox love you

[twotangledsisters]

Duty and Family - Fic Guide

New fic out tomorrow! Yay!

I'm really starting to struggle with creating guides that don't contain an excessive amount of spoilers as the two final arcs with their names revoked indicates.

It used to be so easy as arcs were representative of episodes and had semi-contained stories, but moving forwards it's more of a continuous story and the arcs just make re-reads and finding stuff easier...

But yeah, I'm doing what I can XD

I am very excited for some of the scenes in this upcoming fic and look forward to sharing :D

[ashroomancer]

Babe, you've got to stop calling edibles class A's no one knows what the fuck you're talking about!

[densewentz]

Take Your Kid to Work Day (with Dream's decidedly more alarming version of an artist rendering their kid's drawing)

[stump-not-found]

AND IT'S POSTED!

Stan and the kids fall through the portal, and find themselves stranded in the Nightmare Realm, with some d-bag named Bill Cipher. Thank god Ford comes to save them, right?

...Right?

[seaghosst]

i don’t know why i’m on my underdeveloped au bullshit today but i am. wojira duo roadtrip