#first drafts of my fic tend to be mostly dialogue not really sure why i write like that

[littlestsnicket]

witcher wip amnesty 2023

summary: there was a post going around ages ago about an AU where geralt went to get jaskier before A Grain of Truth, so he's there when geralt refers to nivellen as a friend. and i had a 'oh jaskier would not react like that' moment and started writing fic. and then i thought 'do i really need to rehash why i think large parts of fandom are misinterpreting jaskier and geralt's fight on the mountain?' and i thought 'no' but it turns out i already had.

word count: .8k

[also on ao3]

I know someone nearby, an old friend

“Geralt, it’s fine. It was a joke.”

“It’s not fine,” Geralt growled.

“You don’t need to get all self-flagellate-y. I said it’s fine.”

“I’m not self-flagellate-y. That’s not why it’s not fine.” Geralt deliberately did not comment on Jaskier’s tendency to make up words, he did not want to give Jaskier the opportunity to derail the conversation.

“I said it was fine.” Jaskier’s voice dropped to a lower register. He was actually angry. Geralt wasn’t backing down on this though. 

“You do this to me all the time.”

“Well, I am a bard and you are an emotionally constipated Witcher. I’m allowed and you’re not.”

“Jaskier, shut up and let me finish.”

Jaskier’s face scrunched in exaggerated displeasure, but he sat there studying Geralt with uncomfortable intensity for a very long moment. 

“Geralt.”

“What?”

“I’m trying very hard here, but you’re going to have to actually say something.”

“Fuck,” Geralt sighed and pressed the heels of his hands into his browbone before forcing hmiself to speak. “If you hadn’t had some doubt, if it didn't weigh on you in any way that I kept denying we’re friends, would you have left or would you have squawked at me about being a needlessly cruel Witcher and talked in circles until I was too irritated to be properly mad anymore?”

“Oh, that’s...” Jaskier trailed off looking away.

“You mean more to me than I know how to say.”

Jaskier’s mouth quirked like it always did right before he said something he thought was funny but was actually incredibly irritating. But his expression shifted the moment his gaze settled back on Geralt. Geralt could see the gears in Jaskier’s mind downshifting as he forced himself to properly engage with the conversation they were having. It had taken Geralt a very long time to understand that, for all his fast talking and nearly uncanny observational skills, it sometimes took Jaskier a while to really process and integrate new information. 

“I know. And you’re my best friend.”

Jaskier dropped his gaze to stare at his hands, fidgeting with his fingers. Geralt was privately glad he did, Jaskier’s intensity discomfited him as much as he also craved the attention.

Suddenly, Geralt found himself fixed with Jaskier’s blue eyed stare, “Do you really think that little of me, that I would let you get away with that for decades if it bothered me?” 

Jaskier’s smile went wobbly but sincere. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. I guess I shouldn’t claim it wouldn’t have made any difference to have that reassurance of you having said it, but it wasn’t that. I made it pretty clear you were really hurting me and you just kept going. And I—I get it, I’m not mad anymore, but I can’t just let you do that. Yen hurt you, and you—”

“I wasn’t—”

“No. Yennefer reminded you how easy it is to hurt someone who cares about you and you decided to deal the decisive blow first before I could hurt you too. It’s not fine, but I do understand. You haven’t lived this long by ignoring potential threats.”

Geralt sighed. Sometimes Jaskier was impossible, mostly because he was right. 

“Why didn’t you tell her you didn’t wish for that? You didn’t wish for that, did you?”

“No. It wouldn’t have mattered.”

“Exactly,” Jaskier replied, his voice pained. 

Geralt, unsure what else to do, rested his hand on Jaskier’s shoulder. 

“Just, you know, do better next time. And for what it’s worth, though I made no secret of how much I hated her, I am truly sorry the two of you won’t get a second chance.”

They were both quiet for a long time, at least by Jaskier’s standards, before Jaskier did the imitation of a hyper-alert squirrel he did when his attention caught on something he was uncertain about. “You know, I don’t like this place. There’s something off about it. It’s... creepy? But not in an oooo spooky old house way. You get used to that. This gets worse the longer I’m here. It’s... whatever is in the ceiling is not a cat.”

Jaskier was right. Geralt refocused all of his senses. Cats did not make subtle clicking noises. He remembered the barefoot prints vanishing suddenly in the snow. “It’s a bruxa. We have to get to Ciri. Now.”

“Tell me what you need me to do,” Jaskier said as he tailed Geralt down the hall.

“Go with Ciri and get to Roach. Watch out for her. She doesn’t trust me yet and might not listen.”

“Ok. Yes, easy. This will be fine,” Jaskier mumbled to himself. Geralt didn’t snap at him to be quiet like he once might have. He was used to Jaskier, his murmuring wasn’t distracting as much as it was a reassuring reminder that he was there.

[mell0bee]

YESSSSSSSSS WRITING TAG TIMEEEEE EHEHHEHEHEHHEHEEEE

1, 5, 12, 16, 19, and 20

P.S: check more of your asks!!!! >:3

YIPEEE thanks kiki sorry it took me a bit to do this

1- the last sentence you wrote

“Oh my god, her voice must have risen like, three octaves when you smiled at her. “

some luz dialogue from luz & hunter’s guide, talking about willow to hunter, lmao

5- first sentence of the fifth paragraph of an unfinished wip

“The gods of the pantheon seem to have their doubts, not seeing the greatness his uncle does in him.”

wow i had to pull this one from the VAULTS. i don’t actually have any current wip drafts (just a ton of loosely planned ideas) so this one is from like 2022. it’s an owl house mythology au loosely based off of hades (the video game) in which the golden guard gets reincarnated over and over and tries to escape. i like the concept but have no idea what the plot would be so on the shelf it will sit until i figure that out

12- a trope you’re really into right now

hmmmm not really a fanfic trope but ive been thinking a lot about crouching moron, hidden badass. specifically the variant where a character is deliberately hiding how badass they actually are by acting like a moron, at least partially. invoking this trope is like, how to make that character my favorite character 101.

as for fanfic tropes. uh. a favorite of mine that never gets old is childhood friends to enemies to friends to lovers. so many of the ships that have been giving me brain worms throughout the last 5 or so years fall in this category. *cough* sashanne *cough* narumitsu *cough COUGH* catradora. it’s the layer of being previously childhood friends and having that past pure and unconditional friendship. and then having that all torn apart and then rebuilt again. S-tier drama.

16- favorite place to write

99% of my writing is done in my bed bc im paranoid that if i wrote at my desk my parents would be able to see because they tend to randomly barge into my room. when im at college i tend to write a lot less but at least i can do it at my desk lmao

19- the most interesting topic you’ve researched for a fic

for ‘the girl, the cat, and the black hole calamity’ i went down quite the rabbit hole of archaic and modern physics concepts like entropy, black holes & atomic decay. it was very fun and absolutely none of it ended up in the fic because i was like. why would 13yo anne care about this nerdy physics stuff lmao

i also have researched a lot (A LOT) of archetypal literature, historical figures, jungian psych, & various myths (specifically irish myth) which is on paper for the persona 5 swap au fic that im never gonna write buuuuut mostly was out of my own curiosity. when i was first learning how to write i read up on archetypical literature and campbell and stuff quite a bit so it was very fun to revisit. also this swap au lives in my brain rent-free. it would theoretically be a longfic covering the events of the entire game but i can’t do that. but im gonna have to do SOMETHING with it considering the sheer amount of effort ive put into the planning and reworking all of the main cast’s personas to the point where im pretty sure ive put more thought into my picks than the original p5 writers lmao

20- in what year did you publish your first fic?

cannot be bothered to find the exact year but i know i was 13 so probably 2016 or 2017. yknow what’s funny is i spent most of middle and high school thinking that when i got to college i’d stop writing fic and doing fandom stuff in general and yet here i am, going into my senior year of college, still on the same fandom clownery that i was 8 years ago. lmao.

[empressofthewind]

8, 11, and 14 for Unholy? 👀❣️

EXCELLENT CHOICES!!!! Thank you very much <3

8. Did you cut something out of the outline or an early draft? What was it and why did you decide to cut it?

I was SO sure that this one was fairly straightforward but looking back through my google docs, I found 6 different drafts of it lmfao. The earlier drafts were mostly just alternate versions of the dialogue exchange leading up to the smut. I won't share every single iteration, but here is one deleted scene (I tend to write dialogue first and fill in the action later, so this is just a skeleton):

11. What was the most challenging aspect of writing it?

Writing the smut is usually the hardest part by FAR but - although I might just be misremembering - I really don't recall struggling with the smut in this one as much as I usually do. On the other hand, the aforementioned dialogue exchange gave me absolute hell. I decided very early on that the kiss would happen immediately after that conversation, so getting from the awkward, contentious dynamic they started with to something charged enough that they might want to go [REDACTED] in a church was a real challenge.

14. Talk about the fic’s opening scene & how you approached it.

To be so real and honest, the first ~800 words or so were written long before the rest of the fic, and it kind of feels like a fever dream??? I wrote it all in one sitting and I was very happy with how it turned out first go, so it didn't need many tweaks before the final draft. I started it in late October last year with the intention of posting it for Kinktober, and all I had planned was that it was an AU where they happened to run into each other at Wammy's House after the Kira case, and that they would hook up in the chapel behind the orphanage. I think I realised pretty quickly that it was going to end up longer than I had anticipated and I wouldn't finish it in time to post it for the event, so I ended up ditching it for a while until I had a hankering to touch it again in March.

~

ask me things :-)

[speedytherandom]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by @satans-poptarts

1. how many works do you have on Ao3? 24

2. what's your total Ao3 word count? 41,008

3. what fandoms do you write for? Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, The Kane Chronicles, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, and The Trials of Apollo-- mostly. I have also written singular fanfics for a couple of other unrelated fandoms.

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

Keeping Up A Shrine (Sadie Kane character study, basically)

Just Some Saturday in September (Valgrace domestic fluff)

A Harry Potter fic I’d rather just forget about.

The Unfortunate Issue With Having Cooler, Older, and Hotter Siblings (Owl House-- Amity thinks Luz likes one of the twin)

The Flour Fiasco (Ruegard fluff fic)

5. do you respond to comments? Almost always!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Bone by Bone (PJO, everybody dies) because that’s just straight up the angstiest fic I’ve ever written in general.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Honestly? I have no idea. Most of my fics have relatively happy endings. I’m gonna say... Lasting Moment (Pipabeth, alternate universe) because it’s the one that is the most happy at the end compared to the beginning.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't yet and I’m really happy about that!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I haven’t yet but idk, maybe someday when I feel more confident with my abilities.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I don’t write crossovers. I don’t have any good reason, I simply haven’t.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I hope not.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have not but if I’m ever bored enough and have the inspiration I could translate perhaps a drabble or two into German or Portuguese.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not really. Like, I started one with my friend but it is not finished. Lemme just say, very difficult to co-write fanfic.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Based on ones I’ve written I’d say Pipabeth as I enjoy writing them but honestly? Despite writing a majority ship-based stories and really enjoying them, I’m not a huge shipper in general. I’m rather neutral on ships for the most part.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have no published WIPs, mostly because I need to have the fic at least 75% of the way done to even consider publishing it, but I’ve had stuff in my drafts forever. I’ve got the one where the PJO kids are doing Spamalot, the Piper Friendship Fic, the Valgrace College AU, the one where Piper is just jealous of Percy, the Fierrochase beach fic. And more. So, so many more, so if you’re interested...

16. What are your writing strengths?

No clue. Does being really happy with most first drafts count?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Commitment. I usually have larger ideas than I know how to portray and I tend to rush the ideas that I have which is why most of my fics are pretty short.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

With the languages I speak I haven't done this in a fic yet, but if the opportunity ever arose I’d be very excited. Plus, I have done lines of dialogue in Portuguese for an original short story (unpublished).

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oh. Ew. Harry Potter :( It doesn’t exist anymore nor do I know what it was about but I can guarantee you it was the first.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I’m not really sure. I don’t really remember how much I like things I’ve written. I’m just gonna suggest some I really like and haven’t mentioned instead of one favorite: Wedding Dances (Sadie/Lacy future fic), Red Means Power (Heathers fanfic), and The Worst Possible Time And Place (Rachabeth as superheroes).

I’m not sure who writes fic that hasn’t been tagged already. If you do... this is fun!

[wordsinhaled]

It's a long list of writer asks so I asked a bunch: 4, 6, 15, 16, 29, 30, 50, 73, and 77

hiii TJ thank you so much for the ask (and have i mentioned i love your writing? <3)

4. How do you choose which fics to write? i pretty much write what i feel most inspired to at any given time, or whatever the words come for in the moment.

6. What's the last line you wrote?

[Dream] was, Hob thought, nothing if not noble, and had the tendency to treat Hob a bit like something he did not quite believe to be everlasting, or his to keep. But Hob was nothing if not stubborn, and foolhardy enough for ten men, and he worried sometimes, too, that Dream was ephemeral. So in the end he could understand it, and they were a lovely balance, really.

15. What's your favorite time to write? i feel most inspired in the evenings! and that usually tends to correspond to me having time to write, so... nighttime.

16. Do you write by hand, on your phone, or on your laptop? usually on my laptop but sometimes in the notes app on my phone if i really feel like i need to get something down and can't be on my computer. almost never by hand because it feels too slow for me (though i do other longhand writing/journaling, just not fic writing)

29. What’s something about your writing that you’re proud of? i'm usually proud of my dialogue or imagery, and also when i'm able to capture a certain moment/atmosphere that makes me really happy <3

30. How much do you edit your fics?  Do you edit as you write or wait until you finish the first draft? edit as i write in almost all cases but sometimes i have to put a fic down or it goes on the back burner and i end up coming back to it so it kinda turns into a draft? and then i rework bits of it. but idk, the longer between me coming up with something and me getting it out there the less likely it is to see the light of day so i try not to do too much drafting

50. How would you describe your writing style? oh gosh, i don't know, actually? i'm not sure how it's perceived vs how i would describe it lol

73. What do you tend to get complimented on the most about your writing? i think mostly how it makes people feel or specific imagery?

77. Why do you enjoy writing fanfiction? i enjoy seeing if i can capture a fragment of the glorious music video of my blorbos that plays in my head :P (usually not quite but i try)...

[nottonyharrison]

writing tag game~

thank to @ejunkiet for the tag!

how many works do you have on Ao3? 

102, some of which are art or multimedia compilations

what’s your total Ao3 word count?

365,868. Over 120k are from this year 😬

aaand now for the cut

what are your top 5 fics by kudos? (I’m not going to include anything mediavengers related in this as they’re mostly not fic and when they are it’s metafiction)

Not Allowed (888) MCU, Tony/Steve, Tony/Rhodey an ancient rule63 Tony fic that barely scraped over 1.5k words and I can’t believe people still give kudos to from time to time because I was a Bad Writer™ back then

A Bit of Reciprocity (868) Good Girls, Beth/Rio

The Flood I Saw Just Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (624) Good Girls, Beth Rio, the infamous pegging fic

Hazy Shade of Winter (599) Good Girls, Beth/Rio

Officially/Unofficially (588) MCU/HP crossover, Hermione/Tony. Again, no idea why people still read this and kudo it occasionally. Have definitely considered orphaning it.

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try and respond to every comment, I tend to go through once every week or two and do them all at once. Sometimes I just mark them as read if I have no response (or am not sure how to infer what the commenter’s saying which has happened a couple of times recently), or if it’s just like ‘I love [ship]’ or someone’s comment on a character that has nothing to do with the fic itself because... IDK as much as I try to appreciate every comment that type more just get my hopes up when I see the email notification and then I’m like oh. No actual comment on the fic then. Cool.

what’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Well this is an exercise in fic deep diving! I have no idea, really? Definitely something from ye olden days.

Recently,  Equilibrium

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

How long is a piece of string?

Errrr... I was going to say Good People, but then I remembered about  Stop, Reset and was like... yeah that one

do you write crossovers?

I’ve written a few, all for HP fic exchanges.

have you ever received hate on a fic?

Oh yeah. I was on FFN for years, of course. Always to do with ship wars.

More recently, I had a lot of hate over The Pegging Fic, and just a bunch of other generalized anon trash in my inbox every now and then.

do you write smut? if so, what kind? 

Nah, never 🤣

I have no idea how to quantify the kind of smut I write. If anyone has any idea, let me know.

have you ever had a fic stolen? 

Lol, no I have not had that honour. You have to actually write things people want to read for that to happen.

have you ever had a fic translated? 

Yes! Someone translated a flash fiction I wrote years ago into Russian. I think it’s in the MCU A-Z somewhere? IDK it was years ago.

have you ever co-written a fic before? 

No, I think my writing style would be too contradictory for the vast majority of fellow authors.

what’s your all-time favourite ship? 

This is a joke question, right? I’ve been in fandom for over 20 years come on!

what’s a wip that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? 

Dark Angel 2031, hands down. All my other WIPs that are abandoned are marked that way and I have no intention of ever revisiting them

what are your writing strengths? 

IDK... just general prose, I guess? And the ability to get it (mostly) right on the first draft and only needing a few edits.

what are your writing weaknesses? 

Keeping focussed, overuse of the word ‘just’, word repetition, impatience when it comes to posting, post-posting anxiety

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I hate this as a reader, so I don’t do it in fic unless it’s a widely known word or phrase (whether it be IRL or in fandom). I’d rather put “how are you today,” they asked in French, than have someone need to read a translation in a footnote.

what was the first fandom you wrote for? 

The Fandom that Shall Not Be Named

what’s your favourite fic you’ve written? 

Probably Of Duty, just because it’s so intricately plotted and I’ve worked so hard keeping the continuity while foreshadowing a bunch of stuff, and kept up with the character threads despite them beign spread out across the galaxy.      

tagging - anyone who wants to share! Consider yourself tagged! Plus a few extras who I’d love to hear from @purgetroopercody @voxmyriad @parkotedarasuum @countessofbiscuit @ct-1994 @medievalraven @indiana-jackson

[beloved-child-of-the-house]

Fic Writer Questions! (you can find me here on AO3 if you're interested!)

tagged by dear @theburialofstrawberries mwah!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

112 yowza!

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

750,421 kinda tempted to go delete one word so it can be 750420 which is a far more Pleasing number

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

12ish but some of them overlap: BBCS/Sherlock Holmes/ACD (these are all different bc my bbcs fics are not the same as my own modern fem Sherlock Holmes adaptation are not the same as my ACD Holmes fic; Good Omens; Harry Potter/The Werewolf Draco Malfoy Cinematic Universe; Captive Prince; The Hobbit; Fleabag (it was a crossover with BBCS but Fleabag is the perspective character so it still counts as a separate fandom imo); Doctor Who; The Office; Parks and Rec; Broad City (one a piece for those last 5 but I AM going to write a Parks and Rec polycule fic for @gaykagome)

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

They're all Good Omens fics from the 2019 Summer of Good Omens! Susceptible to Summer, Fragments Shored Against My Ruin, Something So Magic, Enter Serpent, and Anything We Like

All of those have over 2k except the last one, but average engagement for me is like 400 kudos or so

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try! It depends on what's going on with me. Sometimes I just don't have the energy, and I figure people would rather I spend my brain power on writing new fics than on writing replies to comments. Wish I had a fave button tho so I could let people know I read and reread comments, because I do!

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Oh I wrote this ficlet series called A Chemical Defect about John and Sherlock's relationship in s3 of BBCS, and it's WILDLY unpopular. People don't read my fic to cry sad tears I guess! John and Sherlock are having an affair in the story, and it ends with the implication that their relationship is unsustainable and that Mary knows about it anyway. I intended to come back to it after s4 and write a more optimistic ending but LOL! Didn't have the heart.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I know this answer is kinda up my own ass, but like. I think stories that feel true to life sort of feel like they end on a beginning if you know what I mean? You don't really consider a chapter of your life closed until you look back on it from the next? SO that said, I think I'd have to say that it's my big BBCS serial The Only One in the World. I spent 2 years writing it, and it ends with John retiring from medicine to solve crimes and write books full time.

Could also be my WDMCU (werewolf Draco Malfoy cinematic universe) series Moonrise, which starts with Draco isolated in his abusive mother's house, trying to cope with lycanthropy essentially alone and ends with him in love and surrounded by found family in a cozy cottage in Hogsmeade, having gotten some lycanthrope rights legislation passed after working at it for years and talking to Harry about whether they want to have kids. Oh man I feel warm and fuzzy just thinking about it

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I have written one crossover. It's BBCS/Fleabag, because me and @loudest-subtext-in-tv were laughing about how John seems like one of the horrible guys Fleabag sleeps with basically out of self loathing, so I wrote this fic to make Nattie laugh, and you should read it bc it's so good and so underrated.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not really, but people don't seem to know that authors can read bookmark tags unless you private the bookmark, and someone once put in the bookmark tag on one of my fics 'writing was meh but it was okay.' Okay so why bookmark it then??

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Fuck yes! I'm not sure what 'what kind?' means? People fucking? Sloppy, silly, and awkward, with lots of laughing. I also really like writing afterglow scenes which are even sillier and gigglier and often involve one character cooking for another. Food as love language is a very distinct pattern of mine tbh

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of, but occasionally I'll write a post on here where I make some elaborate head canon, and I'll see people in the tags talking about how they want to write fic of it, and it makes me breathe fire out of my nose like a dragon like PLEASE DON'T. The WDMCU came out of a ficlet post I made on here like a year before I actually wrote the 60k series so like!!! Please don't do that!

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! To Russian and I believe Chinese. Not my entire oeuvre but a handful of BBCS and Good Omens fics

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I wrote a fic inspired by an RP I did with my gf right around when we met (actually now that I think about it, it's two fics), and I waaaaaaanna do a WDMCU collab with my beloved Sally @clytemenestras at some point if he has time bc he inspired me to even write werewolf draco with his original lesbian werewolf story

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

favorites are hard for me? I always think I'm currently doing my best writing lol so I'll say drarry

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I don't post fics unless theyre finished, so I don't have any WIP up on AO3, but I did intend to continue with my fem Sherlock Holmes series, Your Many Tendencies. I just haven't been in a Holmes mood for a long time. Maybe I'll come back to it idk. This particular series is honestly very unpopular? People will just straight up say they don't read femslash, and it hurts a lot. This series feels really personal too, bc it's about a Black autistic nonbinary lesbian, so it does hurt my feelings that no one seems to care, yknow? I mean the people who read it are extremely kind and thoughtful in their engagement with it, but it has vastly less engagement than my m/m fic, and that's painful. It gets literally 1/10 the attention my fics usually get.

16) What are your writing strengths?

Almost all of my writing is romance, but I tend to write concurrently about recovery and found family, and I think I'm very good at doing that in a way that connects with my audience. I once had someone ask if they could use my words in their wedding vows, and I've had people tell me they started doing things with their spouse that my characters do with their partners in order to express love. I think about that all the time. My Impact. It makes me feel like I have a real duty to my audience yknow?

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

This question is hard for me like I've been writing so long and so much that I'm literally always happy with my final draft! It's always exactly to my taste, yknow? I suppose I could say that my fics tend not to be terribly plotty but so WHAT? That's beside the fuckn point for me. Plot who? I don't know Her. Also honestly like. Stories feel more True to me when they aren't ruthlessly devoted to plot bc like life isn't like that yknow?

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

If you're not fluent in that language, get a beta who is!!!!! That said, I have written scraps of very simple dialogue in French using mostly Google Translate (sometimes I check w Sally bc he speaks French but I am usually too impatient), and I am perfectly well aware that I take my life in my hands each time!!! Also don't do that bullshit thing where it's in italics? That shit is weird and exoticizing. Just write it in quotation marks like normal dialogue.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

BBCS babey back in 2012. Ended a 5 year dry spell for me after I got my writing degree.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Hmmmm I think it's probably gonna be the fic I'm working on now that I haven't posted yet, but I know it's called Names for a House, and here's a tiny bit of it

Thanks again Shreya for asking me to do this bc I really love talking about myself. I tag @the-moon-loves-the-sea, @clytemenestras, @tomiano, @gaykagome and @totallysilvergirl

No pressure <3

[fancytrinkets]

writing tag game

Thank you for tagging me @johaeryslavellan!

How many works do you have on Ao3?

31

What's your total Ao3 wordcount?

246,241

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The top 4 are Good Omens fic followed by one Dragon Age 2 fic from years ago: 

The Angel Line (humor) (Aziraphale/Crowley) 

The Naked Truth (humor) (Aziraphale/Crowley) 

Obliviate (romance, bittersweet, happy ending) (Aziraphale/Crowley) 

The Last Battle (humor) (Aziraphale/Crowley) 

In Good Hands (humor) (FHawke/Varric)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I didn’t used to respond to every comment back when I started posting, but now I reply to everything. I just love the whole commenting process. I like talking about the world I’m writing in with other people who love it, too. I am always SO EXCITED to see the (1) notification for my ao3 inbox. And it is unbearably wonderful to see a (2), (3), or more at a time. I’ve noticed I’m usually equally excited if it’s a comment on my fic or a reply to a comment I’ve left on someone else’s fic. (Sometimes I experience a mix of appreciation and disappointment when it’s a new comment for me if I’m expecting a reply back from another writer about their fic. That’s such a strange feeling and I wonder sometimes if other people get that, too.)

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Oh, I don’t really do angst. And probably that’s not what people want from me anyway, judging by how many of my top fics are humorous.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I mean they all have some degree of happy ending, so I’m not sure how to measure them against each other. For some of them, the happy ending is also a ‘happy ending’ if you know what I mean..

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've written?

I don’t. Unless you count the silly stories my friends and I wrote for each other in high school? We definitely had some X-Files, Lord of the Rings, vampire universes intersecting with each other, but I can’t really remember a lot of that because I was 15 then and now I am 40.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I haven’t. I’m very glad about that. 

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Oh, yes I do. It’s the loving, vanilla kind mostly. I am willing to read more adventurously than I’m interested in writing.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No. I mean I hope! If I have, I haven’t realized it!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! A bunch of my Good Omens fic has been translated into German and Russian, which is so cool. I love that people translate fics. I can’t read either of those languages, so I can’t personally vouch for how the translations turned out in terms of mood and tone and pacing with the word choices used, but that’s part of the beauty of being in fandom spaces where everyone is coming in with their own talents to share and develop. Translation is an art that needs to be practiced and no two translators will approach a work the same way. 

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have not, though it was something I was interested in — and seriously considering — with a wonderful, talented Good Omens writing friend before I kind of lost all my steam for Good Omens writing.

What's your all time favourite ship?

Whatever ship I’m into at any give time. So that means right now it’s Dorian/MTrevelyan from Dragon Age, but who knows what it’s going to be in 5 or 10 years...

What's a WIP you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Oh, I have a Good Omens fic set in 1885 that stalled out because I was doing too much research and not enough writing. I’m not sure if I want to finish it, though. I just put a lot of outlining and drafting time into it. And then I just lost momentum. I doubt I’ll ever come back to that and I’m okay with it. 

What are your writing strengths?

I’m good at dialogue. I also think I’m good at keeping an eye on the pacing at the scene level — speeding things up when I need to, slowing things down when it’s called for. And I am REALLY good at editing. I don’t hang onto stuff that doesn’t fit just because I like it. I have removed thousands and thousands of words of writing I really love just because it’s not quite where things need to go. I find that fun. I always save what I cut and sometimes reuse it later.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Sometimes I really struggle with character voice. While dialogue is a strength in general, that same thing can be really tough when I’m not hearing the voice of certain characters the way I’d like to. I also think a potential weakness is how I don’t like putting characters through deeply traumatic experiences. I like caretaking and treating the characters I write with gentleness. It’s deeply enjoyable for me, though perhaps it’s not always what makes a story satisfying. 

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I don’t do it. My native language is English and my two learned languages —Spanish and French — are so long abandoned that it would be difficult to get any of it back. So I tend not to include other languages because I don’t have that expertise. When I’m reading a fic in English — because that’s all I can read well — I always appreciate footnotes with translations for the parts in a different language. I don’t tend to have the sustained focus to go back, copy-paste, and Google translate everything. So anything that isn’t translated in a footnote is just content I miss. That’s totally fine if the writer isn’t writing it for me — if they want to add extra layers of meaning for multilingual people. But if the writer wants everyone to know, then please, yes, put the footnote in!

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

The X-Files with my friends in high school, but while there was an internet back then, none of us had connected computers, so these were just stories we wrote for each other.

What's your favourite fic you've written?

I don’t know if I can pick one! I like most of what I write even years later, but I don’t know how to stack them against each other. Some are serious while others are funny, and even cracky — some stick close to canon, while some are deeply transformative and weird. They all feel so different to me. 

Right now I am really enjoying my Dragon Age Inquisition work-in-progress, Bold Indeed, a Trevelyan/Dorian romance that deals with: love, friendship, loss, gentleness, justice, what we owe each other (yes, I thinking of you, Chidi from The Good Place), what it means to become a ‘good’ murderer as part of your job, how easy it can be to fit within authoritarian structures, how difficult it can be to push against and overturn an established order, the inadequacy of kindness — but also the potentially transformative power of kindness. And all of that is tucked into the story of a mature and gentle romance between two people who are each going through a process of personal growth and change. Anyway, it’s a weird writing project, but I love it despite my occasional anxieties about whether I am a deeply bad person (hah, yes, I know how that sounds, but I also feel it seriously sometimes). 

[mithrilwren]

Fanfic ask game for procrastinating on writing, which as of this week is actually accurate, since I’m finally writing again! (or, more specifically, editing what I wrote two months ago so I can get back to writing.)

Tagged by @essektheylyss! Thank you, this is exactly the kind of activity my brain needed tonight.

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

72! I was hovering at 69 for quite a while, sad to break the streak haha

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

~550K, which is somehow both more and less than what I expected

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Many, lmao. According to my Ao3 (omitting any blanket tags) I’ve got 22 there, plus at least two more over on ff.net from back in the day, and probably a couple more just on Tumblr. Most of them I’ve only written one fic for, though. I think the only fandoms where I’ve written more than one are Critical Role (35), Supernatural (15), Haikyuu!! (3), The Exorcist (2), Dimension 20 (2), and Yu-Gi-Oh! (2)

4) What are your top five fics by kudos?

Pick a Number, Any Number

Surprisingly, my number one is NOT a Critical Role fic, nor is it even one of my longer multi-chapters! It’s actually a one-shot I wrote for Haikyuu!! back in the day that took off far beyond what I expected. I wrote it for DaiSuga week, which was a ship I (to be completely honest) wasn’t even terribly invested in, but I had a fun idea and people seemed to like it! (It’s also much fluffier than what I usually write, which might be part of its broader appeal ;))

A Winter’s Ball

Unsurprisingly, the next four are all CR ;). This one was a M9 x VM crossover that I primarily wrote between the hours of 3-8am over the course of two insomnia-wracked nights and honestly, I think it shows in its uncharacteristically unstructured format (compared to my typical style, which tends to favour shorter scenes with very intentionally-placed breaks between, as opposed to scenes that flow into each other without pause). That’s not to say I think it’s a bad thing! The story, which follows Beau as she drifts through a party in Whitestone and observes the interactions between the various guests, actually flows better without that kind of interruption. This was also my first Beaujester piece. I started writing it right before Beau’s confession aired, and published it the week after, which definitely pushed me to make what had been only subtextual in the first half of my draft into the emotional lynchpin of the story.

Only the Nightingale Sings

I’m really glad this one still ranks as high as it does, because this story is absolutely my pride and joy. At one time (though I’m not sure that’s true anymore) it was the longest gen fic in the fandom, which is pretty cool! Plot-heavy, twist-heavy, angst-heavy, with seven points of view to follow and multiple interwoven storylines, it was a beast of a thing to write, and took almost exactly a year to finish, but the long process was oh-so worth it. Literally nothing makes me happier today than seeing a new comment or kudos on this story.

Closer Still

One of my earliest shadowgast fics, this one asks the question “how can you make the ‘stuck in an elevator trope’ fantasy?” The answer is, as always, demiplanes. This fic, perhaps more than any of my other shadowgast fics, is interesting to revisit, because it was written before the ep 97 reveal, but literally everything Essek does in it would suggest otherwise. It reads like I already knew he was a spy working with Trent, and yet I was firmly in the “Essek is NOT the spy” camp at the time. Gotta chalk that up to Matt telegraphing his growing guilt into the preceding episodes - even if I couldn’t see it, it was clearly there.

your dust from mine

My other novel-length CR multichapter, this fic brought me so much joy in the otherwise bleak summer of 2020. Most of my best memories of those four months come from working on this story. A Fjorclay adaption of The Goose Girl (my favourite fairytale) this story is about healing, growth, and figuring out what happiness means to you. While I know most people don’t read stories for this pairing anymore, for obvious reasons, I still cherish your dust from mine for how much of my heart I poured into it, and I look back on it with a huge amount of fondness.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do my absolute best to respond to every comment someone leaves on a story of mine, even if it occasionally takes a month or two. Replying to comments is one of my favourite parts of the fic-writing process - it gives me a chance to revisit peoples’ kind words and (often, incredibly insightful) observations, and I hope it also shows how appreciative I am of each and every one. 

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Though I write a lot of angst, I honestly tend more towards bittersweet endings than straight-up sadness. The only one I can really think of is What You Own - mind the tags if you follow the link, this is definitely one of the gnarlier things I’ve written for CR - whose ending is, admittedly, bleak. But this story so far removed from canon that I don’t think it’s the kind of angsty ending that lingers with you, as much as it packs a punch and then lets you go on your way.

7) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I tend to enjoy thinking about crossovers moreso than actually writing them. I’ve brainstormed a few, but none have ever made it much farther than the first page.

8) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

A few times! Not often, thankfully. Only one time in particular really sticks out to me, mostly for how it rocked my confidence in a way that I don’t think any comment could now, since I’ve had a few more years to build up faith in my own writing.

9) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Very, very occasionally.

10) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I hope not! 

11) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

12) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Oh man, back in the Glee days... yeah. Yeah, I have. Nothing that ever got published, though ;)

13) What’s your all time favourite ship?

Not sure I have one! Ships come and go with the seasons, and sometimes they’re best left in the era you found them.

14) What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

The Shadowgast figure skating AU. It’s never going to happen, but I wish it had.

15) What are your writing strengths?

I would say probably structure, in terms of constructing narrative arcs and through-lines. I’m organized with my writing in a way that I am in few other areas of my life, haha. I’d also say my sense of place - I think I’m pretty good at constructing living, breathing settings and exploring how my characters interact affect/are affected by them.

16) What are your writing weaknesses?

I have a tendency to be wordy (which you might surmise from the length of this post, lol) and repeat myself, usually by going over emotional beats that don’t need the extra reinforcement. On the other hand, I tend to underexplain certain elements (particularly, important plot details in fic, and character motivation in original writing), which can lead to confusion.

A couple years ago I would have said dialogue, but I’ve put a lot of practice into it and I honestly think I’ve improved a lot, which is pretty cool!

17) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I’ve never done it myself, and it’s not generally my favourite thing to read (like @essektheylyss said, it makes me hyper-aware that I’m reading words on a page, especially if I have to follow a footnote somewhere). That said, I’ve definitely also seen it used effectively, so I think it’s more down to whether it suits the particular story!

18) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Yu-Gi-Oh!

19) What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

As mentioned above, Only the Nightingale Sings.

[herenortherenearnorfar]

Thanks @aipilosse for the tag! My AO3 account (this one at least) is a bit less curated than most. I’ve been using it since the age of 16 and have gone through the requisite teenage interests and then some so some of these answer will be a blast from the past.

How many works do you have on AO3? 

75

What’s your total AO3 word count?

Just over 500k

How many fandoms have you written for and what a they?

According to the drop down menu, 27! A lot of them are overlaps but I’ve still covered a lot of ground over the years. Niche YA, children’s movies, non-niche bestselling YA, Star Wars, anime. A few things I’m still interested in, a few I’m not. Sometimes I get a little embarrassed that there’s a paper trail of all my old fascinations but it is nice to have an archeological record of the last few years.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

For It Shines Bright and Never Changes, a 90k Kubo and the Two Strings AU from 2016-2018. My longest and most popular story. I’m actually proud of the planning that went into it.

Aftermath of an Announcement, a frankly kind of shoddily written Steven Universe fic that I remember writing at midnight on the couch outside my bedroom in England. Inexplicably recommended on TvTropes, which might explain the ridiculously disproportionate attention it got?

Regina, a decent little SvTFoE story that got some very good abandoned artwork. Thoroughly disproven bu the rest of the show, I think? I never finished watching it.

The Most Valuable Resource. Probably what my Silm friends know me from! Sauron and baby Celebrimbor in Angband at the very beginning of the first age. I fell in love with writing Sauron in this, he’s a rather delightful awful.

Obsidian Sister, more cartoons, more sibling relationship drama, lots of hopeful worldbuilding for something that I kind of lost interest in. A good read on review though.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes! I love comments and getting replies to them so I always try to respond. My only regret is that it can sometimes take me too long to get people their responses. @everyone I am sorry!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Probably my most recent one? I do tend to lean towards canon compliant vignettes when I’m bored and those can be bittersweet at best but not outright tragic. In most stories there’s a seed of hope, however deeply buried it is.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

No crossovers that I can recall. Keep in mind that I’ve forgotten a good portion of that 75 fic backlog.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

A few times but it was mostly confusing? I simply didn’t know what to do with it. It’s like being handed a dead lizard by a cat, yes, you’re very proud of this but I’m not sure where it’s supposed to go.

I did once spend several paragraphs defending Elwing in the comments of a story I’d written about Elwing.

Do you write smut? if so what kind?

Not attached to this fake internet identity I don’t.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes, one of them showed up on Wattpad once? I only found out because I was googling a nice fic rec someone wrote for the same story. In the end I didn’t do anything about it. Maybe my entire oeuvre is on Wattpad but I doubt it because I stopped writing Avengers fanfic a very long time ago.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Several of my Silm fics have been translated into Russian. It’s a privilege every time and I love going and seeing the final result!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No. Used to do a bit of silly RP when I was younger but it’s not quite the same.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Hmm, I like Silvergifting quite a lot but I have a weak spot for trios. They feel more harmonic. Eonwë/Elwing/Eärendil is probably my favorite Silm ship, for example, though I’ve only written the one story for them. If we’re talking favorite of all time then I suppose we’d have to go back to the basics. Nancy Drew/Bess/George.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Often by the time I exert the energy to put something down on paper I’m already pretty committed to finishing it? A lot of my drafting goes on in my head so I only have a few WIPs in type from the past year and only one that I think I can discard as abandoned. It’s a Micheal and Sasha Magnus Archives Spirally self delusion and dreams story.

What are your writing strengths?

Decent worldbuilding and turn of phrase? I know I can make a sentence hit, which is good. And I am quite proud of some of my backstory work and research, including some hard scrabble conlang despite my absolute lack of a linguistics background

What are your writing weaknesses?

Too bogged down by melodrama, too many runon sentences, poor grammatical skills. Also I struggle a lot with giving characters distinct speaking voices; they all end up sounding like me which is no good. I’d like to be better at descriptions as well.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I swap my standards around depending on the feeling of the story and the concepts I’m trying to convey to the reader. Fëa might work for a short specialist one-shot about Gondorian scholars discussing elven concepts but then in a story from Celebrimbor’s perspective I’d use the more generic “soul”. Formality, familiarity, ease of access to lay Tolkien readers, the perspective of the characters and what their “native tongue” is keeping in mind that most of the Silm+ is designed as a translation. There are lots of factors. Same goes for a story with terms in Chinese or another extant language.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

On this account? A book about teens and magic. Online? The 39 Clues, a co-written boook series for middle grade children. Ever as a human being? It depends on if you count when I was very small and would lead my sisters in games where I was Aragorn niece and we were fighting at the Battle of Pelennor Fields.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I’m fond of The Thousand Stories, for all that it’s experimental and indulgent. It was a chance to really explore stories about stories and what else is fan fiction for?

It looks like just about everyone else has been hit so @ameliarating and @feanorianethicsdepartment do feel welcome to take a swing if you’re so inclined.

[michellespenscratchz]

Tagged by @frankenjoly. Don't mind if I do. ;)

what's your all-time favourite ship?

I guess at this point Rhysha is the one I've made the most content for, but I also used to ship Jesse/Jane (Breaking Bad) and Iorveth/Saskia (Witcher). I guess the more, um, incomplete a ship feels in canon, the more I feel the need to fill in the gaps myself.

how many works do you have on ao3?

66. To be fair most of them are short drabbles from when I would do Ask Prompts here on Tumblr.

what's your total ao3 word count?

90,157.

what are your top five fics by kudos?

Mostly Borderlands, but it seems whenever I do dip my toes in Legend of Zelda it goes over pretty well.

I Thought We Were Friends, Borderlands

Silent and Still, Legend of Zelda

The Tale of the Risky Venture Launch, Borderlands

Target Audience, Borderlands

A Father's Love Never Dies, Legend of Zelda (Huh, really? Wasn't expecting that.)

do you reply to comments, why or why not?

Oh absolutely. When someone doesn't reply to my comments, I assume I'm annoying them and I usually quit reading the fic. 😬 I want to be sure to communicate that will never be the case with me.

fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

That'd have to be a tie between Apology Girl's Dues (Breaking Bad) and Carried Home To You (Game of Thrones). Both are about a dude mourning his dead lover, imagining she's there, and then realizing she isn't.

fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I'd have to go with I Thought We Were Friends, because it's about a moment in Borderlands 3 that made me especially happy. (The footer notes of the fic elaborate on this.)

do you write crossovers?

In the "Handsome Jack goes through a time warp and meets Robert Edwin House" way, no. In the "Cast of this franchise re-enacts Charles Dickens' Christmas Story" way, yes.

have you ever received hate on a fic?

A fic, no. Rhysha art on Instagram, yes.

do you write smut? if so what kind?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Mine tends to stay pretty vanilla. It's an escapist thing for me as an Ace.

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of, but then I used to be on DeviantArt, so anything's possible. Haven't checked in on the ones I orphaned on AO3, either.

have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope. Wonder if I should?

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not unless you count the Zelda RP I was in on GaiaOnline for most of college. But I would be open to a collab. :)

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Oh, so many. Every time I get a sweet message on Saovine Convoy I feel a pang of guilt for abandoning it and tell myself I'll come back to it. Then I just, y'know, don't.

what are your writing strengths?

Character authenticity. YMMV on how well I pull it off, and some characters are trickier for me than others, but I always make a real effort to make sure all canon characters sound as in-character as possible. Having someone tell me "I actually heard that in their voice" is my favorite compliment to get. <3

Also, Canon Compliant fics. I will sift through tons and tons of lore to find the tiniest, most obscure, forgotten details to build on before I go completely off script.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Staying on task. And also, I'm trying very hard to break myself of editing while I write. I need to just be okay with the first draft sounding like a ten year old wrote it.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I had Felix speaking Pig Latin in The Stars Align And Stuff. So, there's that.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

I got in trouble in fourth grade for submitting a "Buttons and Mindy" fanfic as a class assignment, because the teacher thought I was plagiarizing the actual cartoon. Funnily enough, it was a fic of them as mermaids, and then later on there really was an actual Animaniacs episode where they were mermaids. Oops. :P

As for the first fandom I actually submitted fic online for, that would be Invader Zim. (I had a bit of a goth phase.)

what's your favourite fic you've written?

I have very fond memories of Deja Vu (BrBa) and Saovine Convoy (Witcher). It was a different time in the early 2010s. Readers would have whole-ass discussions about the fics and about the fandom in general right there in the comments, and I was living for it. :D

Tags: @laianely If you feel up to it.

[rockinlibrarian]

Fic Writer Review

@pixiedane tagged everyone on this, and considering I've been wallowing in my sudden Being Into Fanfic lately (though to be honest I've been READING a lot lately more than writing), see this link, I figured I'd take her up on the challenge. You, too, may take ME up on the challenge if YOU have been writing fic!

how many works do you have on AO3? 19. That's much less than @pixiedane! I'm a baby fic writer!

what’s your total AO3 word count? 66,239

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they? There are technically seven listed, but "Marvel Cinematic Universe," "The Avengers (Marvel Movies)," "Captain America (Movies)," and "Agent Carter (TV)" all apply to the same fic, so really just 4. But that doesn't count fandoms I've written but not completed (and therefore posted) for. So there are more to come. Maybe. Sometime.

what are your top 5 fics by kudos? *

"On the End of Endgame," 51 kudos, because I'm right and Marvel doesn't understand their own time travel rules and 51 people KNOW it!

"The Puppy-Fly Effect," 39 kudos, because it's Back to the Future, the most mainstream property I've written for! So people see it and say, "oh, I've actually seen that one" and they're more likely to read it!

"The Invitation: an Epilogue," 22 kudos, which is pretty good since this is my newest fic on there. It's a Howl's Moving Castle (BOOK, PLEASE, OBVIOUSLY) epilogue, so considering it's not a RECENT thing it just keeps getting slow and steady readership. I myself have been reading a lot of Howl fic lately, and people are getting comments on their decade-old stories from me now, so I imagine this one also will slow and steadily keep accumulating hits and kudos.

"Kerry and the Meaning of Life," 20 kudos. I'm honestly not sure why this is, by far, my most kudoed Legion FX fic. It's the first one I ever wrote, and got me started on the whole writing-the-entire-Loudermilk-coming-of-age rabbit hole I fell into to begin with, but I've only improved over time, I think, but even after I'd posted other Loudermilk backstory I think is objectively better, this one still gets the most!

"Syd's (Third) Childhood Begins," 15 kudos, because when people finish watching Legion FX the NATURAL move is to seek out fix-it fic. I wouldn't say this is fix-it really as much as ensure-the-ending-is-actually-happy-it, but I did use the "fix-it" tag, and at least one of the commenters DID say they immediately came on AO3 "looking for pretty much exactly this"...

do you respond to comments, why or why not? Absolutely, because I know what it feels like NOT to get comments, and also what it feels like to-- I don't know, I just get paranoid, if people don't respond to me, I think stuff like "Did I say something wrong? Do they not care about my opinion? Am I invisible?" so I'm Do Unto Others-y about it, even if all I can think of to say is "Thank you!"

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? Well, I haven't actually posted (read: finished) the ending yet, but it's definitely "Exploration of the Astral Plane," because that's just Legion FX canon. No spoilers, Oliver Bird starts out the show having gotten lost decades ago, and this is the story of HOW he got lost, and his friends didn't KNOW if they'd ever see him again, so the paragraphs I've written of the end do make me quite teary! The fic's really fun despite the canonically sad ending, though, honest!

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written? I have not written one YET, if I recall, unless you count the several mildly interconnected IPs involved in the Pipeweed Mafia Stories, which isn't even posted because I feel uncomfortable posting Real People fic online, but crossovers are fun and I really enjoy reading them, especially when the writer successfully blends things together while being true to the characters. Just today I read a hilarious one blending The Good Place and Harry Potter!

have you ever received hate on a fic? Gosh, this is such an ironic question. I wouldn't say that I WISH I received hate on a fic, but my fics aren't even NOTICED enough to receive hate! I already feel paranoid-- Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, you know how it is-- when I don't receive LIKE on a fic! It's LIKE receiving hate for me, because my brain goes into "Does nobody like it? Does nobody care? Are they all too nice to say it's terrible?" mode, so, yeah.

do you write smut? if so what kind? Absolutely not. My demisexual self hates reading it, definitely not writing it. I struggled enough writing just a taste of what a horny, slutty teenager who-talks-too-much Oliver Bird would have been in this AU, and that's mild!

have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of. That would really suck, wouldn't it, if someone stole my work and ended up getting MORE LIKES AND COMMENTS THAN ME on it.

have you ever had a fic translated? Also not that I'm aware of, and if I'm not aware of it but it happened I guess that would answer the "stolen" question, too.

have you ever co-written a fic before? Ever in my entire life, I feel like I must have, but not anything I've posted online then

what’s your all time favorite ship? Hmm. Honestly, there are ships I defend passionately if the topic comes up, but I'm not sure I have a favorite just on my own. Especially as I hate smut, so I avoid seeking out specifically shipping stories. But, since I have been reading a lot of HMC fic lately, I should mention that Howl and Sophie ARE one of my absolute favorite fictional couples, but that's just how DWJ wrote them, and I can tell you unfortunately that not all fanfic writers QUITE nail that chemistry...

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? Speaking of The Good Place, I really do wish I could write the novelization, and maybe I'd write some pieces of it longer than the few paragraphs I have written? But I doubt I ever will, let alone to the point of FINISHING...

what are your writing strengths? Fanfic wise, I like to THINK I understand the characters very well, at least! Writing in general? I think it's just my quirky voice? I'm the only me.

what are your writing weaknesses? Oh, very much FINISHING. But beyond that, it's pulling teeth to get me to fill out the story sometimes. I tend to draft with dialogue, and then I have to go back and fill in what's actually happening AROUND the dialogue, and sometimes I'd rather not.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? At first I was like, I don't KNOW any other languages well enough to do this! And then I remembered the Firefly fic I have mostly written but not completed yet, and you know how in the show their speech is peppered with random Mandarin phrases? My husband has the Firefly RPG book and there's an appendix of Mandarin phrases you might hear in the Firefly universe, and I DID incorporate a few of those phrases into my dialogue, just from that appendix and it's probably horrible, but it fit the universe...

what was the first fandom you wrote for? EVER? The earliest I'm sure about is the Ducktales fic I found in an old Girl Scout manual that I must have written when I was 11 or 12. The first fandom I ever posted on AO3, in response to an exchange, was Legion FX of course, but that wasn't until the ripe old age of 40.

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written? I'm going to give this one to "Two (or Three) Mutant Freaks Against the Fourth Grade" just because it has gotten the least number of hits of ANY of my posts, INCLUDING THE PLACEHOLDER WITH NO WORDS IN IT, so it needs more love. And it really is one of my favorites, because it's just a sweet little story about nerds making friends, and I love rereading it.

*This made me curious which fics got the most kudos comparative to their HITS, because the Endgame one has WHOA more hits than any other fic, but it's over a thousand, which doesn't make 51 kudos look so good anymore. Percentage-wise, it's less than 5%, which seems to be where most of my fics hit when you do the math-- between 4% and 8% kudos-to-hits. The exceptions, jumping up to about 18% each, are the BttF and HMC fics, and, curiously, my beloved childhood friend AU mentioned in the last question-- it may have the least number of HITS (22), but that helps the math when you consider it's got 4 kudos. The HIGHEST percentage kudos-to-hits is its sequel, the childhood-friends-as-teenagers-AU fic mentioned in question 5**-- it's got 6 kudos and only 29 hits, so that's about 20%! Apparently people LIKE when I have to write a sex-crazed adolescent boy. COME ON, people! (The story is actually about Asexuality so I guess it really isn't people just wishing I'd write smut).

**Oh, I just noticed the numbers renumbered themselves when I put bullet points in the middle of the original question 3 there, so this is actually the answer to question 8? But it SAYS FIVE.

[morningsound15]

hi! i’m a major fan of yours across several fandoms (bechloe, fuffy, hermione/anyone 👀) and i’m always really impressed with your ability to jump around fandoms while telling these very complete stories with awesome characterizations. any chance you’d be willing to share what your process is like for preparing to write a story? thank you for sharing your work! really enjoy it.

asks like this are so so sweet! compliments AND writing process questions at the same time is just *chef’s kiss*

i got a similar question to this in a comment on one of my stories a few weeks back, i hope you don’t mind that i’ve lifted some of this from that answer!

when i’m starting a new fic, these are the 3 basic things i focus on (not always consciously, this is just how my brain works):

characterization (who is the story about/why is the story being told)

plot (what story is being told)

and form (how is the story being told)

(this is long! more under the cut)

CHARACTERIZATION: the first thing i do is try to get a feel for how the characters think and speak. so the first thing i’ll write is usually something light and banter-y between two main characters. i find that story beats, reactions, emotions, etc. (all important parts of scenes) flow from me much more easily if i have a good feel for the characters and how they interact with each other. for example, the first scene i record in a voice note on my phone or dump in a word document might be: character A and B are eating breakfast the morning after sleeping together for the first time. they haven’t talked about it yet. they are trying to hide what they did from the other people in the room while trying to subtly see how the other one is acting

writing a scene like this would help me figure out a few important things about my characters, like how they interact with each other when they need to be covert (are they embarrassed? flirty? ashamed? cold? nervous? blushing?), how their friends might or might not pick up on their dynamic, and most importantly it lets me practice the pace of how the characters speak and the basic nature of their conversation styles with each other (do they crack jokes, are they unnecessarily cruel, do they openly flirt, is there a competitive undertone, exasperated fondness, etc.?).

people should be able to understand everything important about your characters from the way they speak and hold themselves in a scene. having the characters’ voices, rhythms, and interpersonal banter down is really important in making sure that whatever is happening in your story is compelling. if the characters feel real, the plot will feel real, and you can hook people into reading stories for fandoms they otherwise wouldn’t.

PLOT: this is kind of cheating, since i GUESS technically ‘plot’ is the first step to preparing to write a story, but to me, the most fundamental thing you need to have down to write fic is an understanding of the characters. you can use whatever tried-and-true soulmate/fake dating/bed sharing/alternate universe tropes you want, but the thing that makes or breaks a story is its characters, so that’s why i put that part first.

but okay, talking about plot. for me what comes first is less ‘plot’ than ‘situation’. 

here’s an example: i decided a while back that i desperately want to write a sansa x margaery hogwarts au. has it been done before? yes. does it sound fun? yes, and also, i love writing hp universe, and i love sansa stark. but the idea’s been done before, so what am i hoping to write that contributes to the genre/trope? what’s my hook? what’s my angle? what’s my read of the characters and how do i want to get them together?

i settled on this: Sansa is the first Stark in five generations to not be sorted into Gryffindor.

suddenly bam, i’m off and running. i’ve got a story universe, i’ve got a couple of characters whose voices i’m starting to settle into, i’ve got a whole cast of characters i have to suddenly squash into this alternate universe, think about what roles they should play, how THEY should speak and interact. suddenly i’m drafting scene ideas to make sure that i highlight the sibling dynamics i want between the starks, the tension between sansa and arya, sansa’s alienation and the family’s pride.

the next step is thinking about story beats. what are good tropes in hp universe stories (spell casting scenes, hogsmede scenes, quidditch scenes) -- how can i write some of these with a new fun twist? similarly, what are good tropes in romantic stories (jealousy/pining, being forced to work together when you don’t want to, romantic rivals) and how can i use these characters to pull off these tropes in a way that feels natural and novel? and of course, hugely important — when should the characters kiss for the first time? (every story’s gotta have a good first-kiss scene.)

.

i like my stories, generally, to have 2 main plots going: the romance plot between the two main characters, and the maintext plot/situational hijinx they’ve gotten themselves into. figuring out how to weave those storylines together (and ideally to have the Big Climax Scenes Converge Somehow) is tough. so i write in bursts, jumping around between chapters and paragraphs and scenes, cutting whole sections and shuffling them around constantly.

FORM: the first drafts of my chapters are mostly dialogue; i go back in and add actions and internal monologue as some of the last things that i do. scene transitions are also some of the last things i write, or beginnings/endings to scenes. that’s just a personal preference.

i don't tend to write linearly. i guess you could say i write in a vignette style; that’s why most of my fics are organized with individual scenes divided by a textual break, rather than long continuous stream of consciousness/linear time. this allows me a lot of freedom in my writing; if something isn’t working at the end of a scene, or if i can’t figure out a way to transition between moments/times of day, i can just add a text break in. easy as pie. it keeps my stories tighter (lol i know they’re so long who am i kidding) and lets me move things along.

while i jump around a lot, writing scenes that strike me when they strike me, filling in the gaps here and there as i go along, i do like to make some important decisions early on. i think about tracing the arc of the main relationship — are they interested in each other right away, what are the obstacles to them being together, is there going to be an issue with sexuality/queerness or is that a non-issue in this universe? — stuff like that. i think really important scene ideas to have early on (if i’m writing fic, obviously this applies strictly to writing fanfiction romance stories, which are already pretty trope-filled (that’s not a read i love tropes)) are the scenes that Change the direction of the story: the get-together scene and the plot climax. having an understanding of how those crucial scenes are going to play out means that i can make sure that all the writing before those scenes is building in the correct direction.

that doesn’t mean i stick to my outline, or that i’m afraid to change things up! on the contrary. i like to have an idea of where my story is going to end up as i'm writing, because then i can shape the characters and let them grow in a way that naturally arrives at the conclusion. but of course the conclusion is usually just an idea, a vague notion (‘they break out of the curse dimension’ or ‘they’re going off to college uncertain but hopeful’). i avoid writing the end of the story until the very end because the natural conclusion changes as my story goes through more drafts and i get a better feel for the characters. i also like to see how the readers are reacting to the story, what they're noticing, what questions they still have that i need to answer, if there are any scenes that aren't coming across the way i want them to, that sort of thing.

.

and one last note for fic writers -- this is what i always think about as i’m writing/about to write a story: why am i writing this story? what am i trying to say, how am i trying to better understand the characters or deepen my understanding of canon with this? am i adding to canon or just repeating it? is this personal catharsis, meaningless smut, a bittersweet fix-it?

readers are smart, and most importantly, they’re fans! they’re coming to fic from consuming the original product! they don’t want what they’ve just seen regurgitated to them. take risks in your stories! know the characters, dig deep into their relationships and get inside their heads. if you’ve got the characters down you’ve got everything you need to write a good fic.

mostly i just hope people come away from my stories satisfied by what they've read.

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you all know me, i write for any fandom i want to with no rhyme or reason. i have a lot of ideas and varied interests. but i don’t speak a TON about my role as fanfic consumer, so i wanna do that.

fanfiction, for me, is a way of better understanding these things that i love. i come to fanfiction after i finish a show or video game, if i’m revisiting childhood movies or books. ao3 is one of the first places i go after i finish watching something, because i am enchanted by the way fans take characters that exist and with just a few twists of a word or a look, they change the meaning completely, elevate canon, or flesh out side characters that basically had nothing going for them. and because when i finish something i love i don’t want it to be over. sometimes that means i write, sometimes that means i read, but i always go to fic. i love it, it’s comforting and beautiful.

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phew! that was long-winded. thanks for the ask!! sorry for the word vomit

(also yes hermione/anyone aka hermione/happiness)

[coffeebeannate]

Taken from @werebearbearbar

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works (fics, art, edits, etc.) you’ve created this year and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world in  2020. If you don’t have five published works, that’s fine! Include ideas/drafts/whatever you like that you’ve worked on/thought about, and talk a little about them instead! Remember, this is all about self-love and positive enthusiasm, so fuck the rules if you need to. Have fun, and tag as many fellow creators as you like so they can share the love! <3

I started writing fic years and years ago. And have done so in other fandoms before taking a long hiatus from the writing world in general. I stuck with written roleplay only. For  what I assume to be around four or five years, I did not write a single fic. (I also wrote short stories in childhood, teen years and young adult years)

(I want to point out though that this absolutely does not negate roleplay writing, and that writing with another person, or in a group is a lesser form) My break from fanfic came with one of the worst periods of my mental and physical health, and everything I had written was purged from my Ao3 account in a single night.

I started writing for The Old Guard in August, and below, are the things I like a lot that I’ve written for it. To do this, I decided to use the criteria of ‘fics I like the most’ instead of what seems to be the most popular to read. For me, if I really love a piece of work, I recall the creative process fondly, and have lines and bits of dialogue I truly adore within it.

1. Precision Mission Fic. Gala. Post-Movie. Current Group (Nile, Andy, Joe, NIcky)

Rated  M (Mature) 4846 words

My second fic for the fandom that I published, but the first I actually conceptualized. This one is just..so special to me. I have phone notes typed at five am. I can recall the excitement as I was so eager to share this story and get it off the ground. I wanted to see this complete so bad. I loved nearly every second of writing it, and it’s always going to hold a special place in my heart as a result. There’s so much overdone clothing talk and I can only think of it with fondness. 

Excerpt:

None of them are comfortable. Except Joe, it seems.

Joe makes it look easy. Simplistic, even, judging by the way he effortlessly glides and charms his way through the expansive ball/congregating/entertaining room. Something that never failed to fascinate Nicky was the way Joe could integrate himself almost seamlessly into any scenario, situation, or environment. Neither Andy nor himself had that ability. Not when it came to cavorting, anyway. Nicky more quietly reserved, Andy lacking in the ability to care enough to fake it.

Nile seemed to be more in the middle. She did not appear overly comfortable with the mingling, but she had enough personal grace and adaptability to make it seem somewhat effortless to have a decent time.

All their eyes remained sharp on the surrounding area, awaiting the arrival of their target. And for all his schmoozing, Nicky knew Joe’s surveillance was tack-sharp, multitasking to a degree no one he was currently conversing with could have possibly noticed.

“You going to move at some point, or have you taken up permanent resident status here?” Nile asks, appearing at his side where Nicky has spent the last half-hour molded to the furthest left corner of the solid black bar. “I know you have an excellent view, but.”

Nicky snorted, though only Nile could actually tell, “Why waste a good opportunity?”, momentarily ceasing his Joe watching to stare back into the depths of his glass, which currently contained some horrifically shocking pink abomination, Nicky’s second drink, since he was letting the bar tender dictate them, too utterly distracted to care what was touching his lips, and curious with the way the bar tender had delighted in being given free reign to make whatever he desired.

To be fair, it didn’t taste that bad-something frighteningly sugary and weirdly noxious smelling, but it’s not exactly ‘crime against humanity’ levels of alcoholic nightmares.

--

2. Old

Post-movie. Current Group. (Andy, Nile, Joe, Nicky) Mortal Andy. Character study.

Rated T (Teen and Up Audiences), 2903 words.

My first attempt at Andy-centric writing. Andy is a character I consider a challenge to write, and that makes me want to write her more. This fic centers mostly around her and the others trying to come to terms with how much has happened, within day to day life and taking the comfort that they can in one another.

I really like this fic. A lot. Sure it’s short. Sure maybe not much happens, but Andy’s character fascinates me, as does her relationship with her family.

Excerpt:

Old.

Old

Old

So motherfucking old.

Someone is calling out to her, her hearing and senses long fine-tuned to knowing. It’s Nicky- she can easily pretend she can’t hear him, he knows when she doesn’t want to talk to anyone, after all.

She’s being petty, and she knows it’s unfair. That the nearly untouched plate and nights spent not sleeping gives them reason to be at her. But facing them with that fact feels about as ideal as jumping into a flaming volcano right about now. They’re just worried. It makes her stomach turn, sour and vicious. Venom in the gut, acid in the heart.

Said volcano would be kinder.

--

3. Spice it Up (Or Not)

Joe and Nicky. Pre-Movie. Fluffy Lovings

Rated: E (Explicit) 3030 words

This one was just fun. I am such a sucker for banting, and the most established of established relationships that Nicky and Joe have going on. This one is indeed not safe for work, and honestly, the opening paragraphs are what came first, and I actually had to build the story around it.

Something that I think makes this fic fun to me as well is that, just because something that sounded like a good idea fails, it doesn’t make it an ending. Healthy communication, knowing each other..it’s so blissful to think about.

Things aren’t always perfect, but that’s okay. And it’s not always a threat. Oh and because this is me, what was supposed to be fairly light hearted gets all sappy and reflective mid-way.

Excerpt:

He knows Nicky in every way. He knows his scent from battle, from sex, from showers and from sleep. He knows his eyes in darkness, in light, in dread, excitement and worry. He knows his grief, his love, his sadness, and adoration. Excitement, passion, fear, and pain.

He could count each tear that Nicky has shed, could recall each tone of his voice in every language they know. From the first he heard to the current. The sweet harmony of song and the rough gasp of drunk intoxication. He’s heard him yell, heard him scream. Heard his shouts and his cries.

He knows how Nicky tends to favour his left shoulder even though there’s no reason beyond psychological to do so. A spot Joe stabbed so long ago. So far back in another life. He knows how he likes to pause and do surveillance before they enter any new location. Knows he likes vehicles that move fast and has a fondness for roller coasters.

He’s seen those hands, so large and skilled break bone, wield a sword and cut vegetables and fruit. Seen them card through his hair, felt them map out each knot and ridge in his spine and ribs, felt them so deep inside himself he can taste it. Rolling into it. Demanding, needing.

“Yusuf.” Nicky’s not calling him back, Nicky’s just as far gone. So often they seem to share thoughts.

Nicky knows Joe in all ways and more. Knows that Joe still sometimes seems to speak ancient by-gone languages in his sleep. Knows that he tends to carry the strongest personal scent in the dead of night. That no shower, no soap, no life experience or battle has truly ever masked the delightful musk he has to himself. There could be a cologne out there that would modify it, and Nicky would bite and lick it away. Demanding and asking, why take this from me? How dare you try to alter what I know and love so furiously?

--

4. Touch Before Heart

Historical Kaysanova. Early Years. Pre-Movie. Getting to Know Eachother.

Rated E (Explicit) 5030 words

As is pretty obvious by now, I write a LOT of early years Kaysanova. A lot. I am addicted to it.

This one..I love it. This might be one of my favourite pieces of writing of all time. If I was doing these numbers strictly in order preference, then I’d put it as number one I bet.

I think the summary I made for it sums up well just how much I love it. And maybe why.

The first moment they’re able to have a bath, they resolutely do not look at each other. Picking opposite ends of the small stream bed, backs turned to one another. A strange show of both trust and distrust; their backs were exposed, but it was up to their tentative mutual agreement to not partake in the opportunity to stab each other for it.

The..idea that they had so much to learn, so much to understand. So much confusion, anger mistrust..I just really really adore this fic and I think I did a good  job with it.

Excerpt:

He curses in unison with Nicolò, both holding fast and steady as the thing finally rights itself, Nicolò letting out a slow, shaken breath of relief.

“Are you alright?” Yusuf asks, both to break the silence and mend the irritating gap they’ve created for themselves.

“Better. Thank you.”

Yusuf wants to scream.

He wants to grab Nicolò, shake him until he can do nothing but give him answers.

Why do you drive me to the brink of madness?

Why do I know your touch, but not your heart?

Why do you tempt me, consume me?

What does it mean?

Why are we here?

Why!?

It is an unfair desire; he’s hardly given the man any more clarity.

--

5. Curated

Post-Movie. Current Group (Nile, Andy, Joe, Nicky)

Rated G (General Audiences) 1807 words

Alright, I admit it, I had trouble picking number five. I picked Curated because it’s just..so fluffy. But it’s so sweet I always feel so sugary when I think of it. The softness that I tried to convey, and I think I succeeded.

Nile is another character that fascinates me, that  I just do not explore enough, and this is all the comforting goodness I could ever hope to create.

Excerpt: 

She’s grown used to the easy intimacy they all share, but the sight before her, Nicky’s eyes half-lidded, face a perfect serenity she rarely see’s on it, Joe lost, far-away in reciting but still wholly present, creates an odd, near-throbbing ache in her chest. Something powerful and raw. It’s hard to imagine that people who have been alive this long can be this content.

Everything they’ve seen, experienced and done. All the stories they’ve regaled her with. All the prep, the anxieties, the concerns, and curiosities. None of it seems to exist in these moments. Joe speaking in a language the world might think dead, the true master of softness within the room.

--

And there we have it! I have so much more I want to write, I have so much more I want to explore, and I thank you all for sharing in these journey’s with me. May there be more writing in our future!

[cadantine]

i saw this on twitter and wanted to do it even though i don’t show anyone anything i write anymore

1. fav kind of fic to write: hurt/comfort sibling gen or queerplatonic friendship

2. hardest fic to write: i’ve spent the last 3? months trying to nail down a scene about navigating unrequited romantic feelings in a queerplatonic friendship and balancing fear of romance/hurting someone who loves you that you can’t love back in the same way while also desiring closeness that goes beyond traditional friendship and fear of abandonment/growing resentful despite how overwhelmingly positive a friendship has been in the past. it’s hard because i don’t know how to articulate it myself, so it’s gonna be a rough process. but i think i’m finally getting somewhere

3. easiest fic to write: when my pov character has motivation for a goal. that is. genuinely the best tbh

4. fav story i’ve written: uhhh i didn’t work on it this year but 60k legalpunk wip is still. really really good even in horrible first draft format. this year? prob the like 800 words in zeroworld au where the blue butcher is introduced. because that was all i wanted out of it, i realized after i wrote 8k leading up to it

5. do you write chronologically or jump around: usually chrono because the story grows as i go but i should try jumping round more if only to get down dialogue

6. have you deleted a published fic: sure tons of homestuck stuff. i should prob remove more but i sort of just. don’t actually remember most of what i wrote

7. best writing advice i’ve received: write. do it.

8. worst advice: i don’t really remember at this point. i’ve gone through a lot of phases over the years

9. have i collaborated: i did once but nothing came of it

10. how many wips i have currently: uhhhh i guess 2? legalpunk and the thing i’m writing now. well i’m actually about to start a new one but that shouldn’t take long

11. story i’m most proud of: legalpunk is just really good. it’s everything i’ve ever wanted to write and i’m glad i picked it up again. i will get back to it eventually. i was real close a few times this year but i don’t mind letting it sit a bit longer

12. fav story of another writer: oh idk man i don’t read a lot of fic and i very rarely reread

13. best review i’ve gotten: like comment? it’s been years since i shared anything man

14. worst review: i was young and they were right

15. sequel/prequel to someone else’s fic: i don’t read a lot of fic. i think the closest i can come to is the 7k of abandoned tpp napoleon fic i wrote based on oldenne’s half A press abe fic where alice contacts him across QPUs which. was mostly just that i loved that concept and also alice

16. do i reread my own fic: that’s literally why i write it. i will forget everything unless i write it down. it’s me desperately trying to give my life the feeling of continuity in the wake of memory loss

17. do i want to be published: eh i don’t really care. my grandest wish is to finish something large and then bind a hard copy for myself

18. fav char to write: gonna be honest, the aro one. if i’m writing a lot of a char i’m probably reading them as aro

19. least fav char to write: uhhhh i don’t really write chars i don’t like? i don’t have to. but every time i see this question i think of that vriska fic that was like pulling teeth but is still to this day very well received. sometimes when it’s really hard it just means it’s a complicated subject

20. do i set deadlines/goals: not really, i do tend to use tpp runs as artificial deadlines just as soft motivation but also to enforce breaks to let my mind rest

21. 3 fav fic writers: i genuinely do not read a lot of fic unless i’m procrastinating

22. a trope i want to try: idk i’m pretty comfy. i was working on a hanahaki earlier but got kinda squicked because i was leaning too hard into human lung parasites to compensate for the aro romance panic. i might go back to it after i can articulate things better. also i learned about some copepods that infest lizard lungs so that’s exciting

23. a trope i’ll never write: a lot of common fic tropes are kinda alienating to the aro experience so. several. not that i hate them i just don’t find them interesting in the slightest

24. how long have i been writing: idk man i barely remember how old i am at this point. just memory loss things

25. some influences on my writing: i need to read more books. i just read a lot of biology articles these days. but music is a big thing

26. hardest part of writing: writing

27. easiest part: rereading the good bits

28. best part: reading it a year later when i’ve forgotten everything about it and it’s brand new. also, the 50k build up finally leading to my two big reveals in legalpunk was an incredible feeling

29. plot of a wip: legalpunk is i guess three people in limbo cut every corner to win a legal case that will reclaim them their lives and spark revolution. also pov char painfully accepts that people care about him despite everything

30. something unique i bring: the aro experience babey. gen for the gen god

[frick6101719]

Fanfic writer asks 4, 6, 8?

Thanks for the ask (and also the list--this one is so fun!)

4. How does your writing happen? Do you visualize scenes playing out in your head, or do they come out in words as you type?

Pure madness, mostly? I think usually I know the very broad strokes of a chapter before beginning it, but then the actual leg work will vary depending on the perspective. With first person I tend to let the character take it away, and in that case writing definitely feels more like letting their thoughts and observations on what’s going on decide the direction and the details of my writing. Which can definitely get out of control sometimes with super-long chapters and first drafts that need a fuck ton of work. With third person it definitely feels more scene-focused and visual, more like I’m describing what I’m seeing, which I think is why I like it more for one-shots as it keeps things from getting out of control and imprecise. 

6. When you write emotional scenes, do you feel what the characters are feeling?

Almost never, no. I definitely enjoy myself when writing angst waaayy more than I should--like the angstier the scene the giddier I’ll feel like some kind of fucking sadist. I think that has more to do with enjoying writing when it’s easy and angst has always felt pretty easy to me. Sad scenes I guess I do sometimes feel a bit down about, but really I’m not a very emotional person so the fact that I don’t get emotional when writing is no surprise. 

8. What are three things you’re proudest of when it comes to your writing? Dialogue, descriptions, humour, romantic fluff, kisses, action, pacing, worldbuilding, setting, anything! Even small things like sentence structures and the way your characters banter counts!

Okay this is actually so much harder than I thought? I like my writing but I’ve never really broken down what I think I do especially well, so this is tricky. 

1. This one was actually easy--I really like how I write banter. I’ve gotten to do a lot of this in IMKM because Caer never met a button she didn’t want to push and has a hard time not getting the last word in in every situation... which is always a blast. Her conversations with her brother the morning of the Reaping were a lot of fun, and a lot of the back-and-forth with Cato I’m proud of because I think it’s entertaining to read while also establishing the complications of their relationship. 

2. Worldbuilding would have to be another, but I’m not sure if it’s that I think I’m proud of this so much as I’m obsessed with figuring out even inconsequential details and devote a lot of energy into making worlds make sense. It’s why I love meta so much, because sometimes there are parts of canon that don’t seem to make sense but I want to make them make sense. 

3. This one isn’t on the list but I think I’m pretty good at coming up with something unique to write about, whether canonically or not (I’m not joking about the Rural Ontario au again I swear). This may not always be a good thing, since it does mean I’ve devoted an obscene amount of time and energy to a fic with a fairly small readership because it’s so niche, but I feel like I’ve done a good job of coming up with a unique and compelling premise and running with it--boldly where no man has gone before, you know? I’m happy because it’s something I wanted and I created it, and the fact that somehow there are other people who didn’t think the idea was too outlandish and have loved it too is just beyond fantastic ♥ 

Thanks again for the ask--this was such a nice distraction from actually writing the fic I’m ranting about! ☺