#found this half-written in my google docs and decided to finish it lol | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

tiredassmage · 2 years ago

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17,20, and 30 from the creator asks :)

Thank you, friend! <3

17. What are some tropes and dynamics found in your wips?

Specifically in my wips, hmmmm.... Well, I do have to say I think I've revealed my weakness for the mentor-type relationships and while I don't think I have anything actively in the pile that chases that dynamic, I expect it won't be going anywhere any time soon - both in that I definitely want to explore more of Tyr and the mentor figures in his life and his potential for sharing that experience forward.

Currently, I'd say the biggest one is the developing ride-or-die Savosta has built up with Rhystyl. I have a snippet of a piece started that's meant to retell their time in carbonite as a shared sort of hellscape dream-land (the base idea being that, even if Savsota's head is where Valkorian decides to kick his feet up, both of them are experienced with Vitiate's influence, so it'll still affect and connect them both) and I'm hopeful that I'll be able to finish that one off sometime because it lets Savosta shine in a role Rhyst has traditionally taken for him thus far: the calm in the storm, the support when everything else is going wrong.

Fun fact: while I was writing sacrifice, part of my hold up was trying to determine if there was something other than friendship developing between them. The opportunity for it was absolutely there and I couldn't ignore it, but it just didn't feel right and I did sort of hesitate to leap on the possibility because I didn't want to overplay something. Ultimately, I found Savosta like me: somewhere on the ace spectrum! It was most important to me (and Savosta) to build a friendship - that's not something he's properly had in a really long time. KOTXX really seals their friendship as inseparable and there's absolutely love there. They're best friends who go through a lot together and I, ironically, haven't written a lot of characters that share marginally in the experience of asexuality with me, so it's kind of an exciting thing to have discovered and decided. I wanted that friendship and that journey of healing, self-discovery, and self-love to remain focal in Savosta's story and friendships can be just as vital to that. It makes the most sense for him and for the kind of story I hope to see him through, I think.

20. What story are you proudest of? Why?

Not to reuse, but partially sacrifice, for actually finishing that idea from start to posting. Version history of that on Google Docs tells me I spent about a month and a half with it and I'm incredibly pleased with how it turned out. Savosta finally getting one of those moments to really connect and... I guess not necessarily feel positively, given the stress of the situation, but to go through a moment with him where he engages his emotions in a way that accepts them and acknowledges what him and Rhyst have both been through is really gratifying. He started as this character that was mostly motivated by the achievement hunt for DS5, to be honest, and then I... grew attached. And I genuinely decided "I want to see him succeed and I want to see him heal." So, it's... kinda heartwarming to have that go full-circle, at least in my head. There's a lot of other stops along the way in him and Rhyst's story I still want to tell and explore, so, hopefully, I'll be able to continue to create and share those in the new year. <3

Also, greedily picking another, imbalance was such a fun exercise, so honestly thank you for enabling that, lol! I'm proud of this one because of how thoroughly it shows of Tyr's more Cipher side. I've explored a lot of his sort of struggle and his connections, I think (and I hope its at least sort of showed, lol), but I hadn't really showed how Tyr worked as Cipher Nine. imbalance shows where he's willing to cross lines, where some of his willingness to compromise himself and ideals crops up when he's on a job. Yes, it's been incredibly important to me to show his very small inner circle, the very few people with whom he tries and tries (and fails, sometimes) to be an at least more honest version of himself - more honest to himself about everything he's been through, but to really feel the ease of the shift he makes when he works is so fulfilling. I feel like it added some much-needed weight to my musings about his inner workings and how he feels being a Cipher. He is, in fact, rather good at his work - if not in the most traditional sense. (I'm still reeling from Watcher Seven going for the fucking throat intentionally or not after... everything that happened, okay? Yeah, maybe he is mentally unstable and you're not helping!!!!)

30. How are you doing? <3

Okay, I know I got all sappy on my New Year's post unexpectedly, but WWWWWW. Really. Really. I just want to say that our friendship was a highlight of the last few months of '22 and I'm just. <3 I treasure it. And you're a joy to see in my notifications. Keysmashing, etc etc

aH. Okay. Uhm. Otherwise, I have survived my first week back to classes for spring semester and I am! Hopeful and kind of excited again. I was a bit nervous given how stressful last semester was (generally a poor semester for me as far as time management, etc), but my classes so far seem cool and interesting - I'm doing primarily just elective credits to satisfy eventual hour requirements for graduation this semester with the idea of hopefully being kinder to myself than last semester's schedule, so I think it'll be nice. I'm excited to be back with the campus group I joined last semester.

Overall, pretty good. I'm looking forward to it and I think it'll be a really valuable and informative semester!

#answered #dot talk

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zukos-tsungi-horn · 4 years ago

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Rating: G

Summary: Zuko doesn't want to look like Ozai. After he botches his own haircut, Katara has a unique solution. Soft Zutara hurt/comfort/fluff oneshot, set 4 years post-canon

Word Count: 3499

XXX

His fingers tremble against the hilt of his dagger. His other hand is braced against the sink, where long black strands stand out starkly against the white marble. He should turn the faucet, wash them down the drain, like he wishes he could wash away this impulsive, rash, stupid decision.

At least Uncle is away, visiting the Southern Water Tribe on the Fire Nation’s behalf. If he were here, he would know exactly why Zuko had taken the knife to his long hair. Of course, it won’t grow back fast enough to hide. Agni, it won’t grow back fast enough for him to wear his crown. How is he supposed to attend the council meeting tomorrow? What will his advisors think when they see his hair chopped short and uneven?

He knows what they’ll think. He looks like—he looks like Azula, in those moments before their last Agni Kai.

He looks mad.

A mirthless laugh escapes his lips as he looks up to meet his reflection.

“Better mad than…”

He watches his face break, and looks away from his own weakness.

Better mad than a copy of my father.

His reflection is his own. The resemblance to Ozai can never quite be erased—it’s chiseled into his nose, his chin, the flecks of brown in his gold eyes. But with his hair cropped above his shoulders again, it’s less overwhelming.

He peels his fingers from the sink to brush his scar. That should have been enough of a mark to separate himself from his father.

But when Azula’s wide eyes looked at him...

“This was stupid. I’m not… I’m not Ozai,” he whispers.

He knows this. He’s been running the Fire Nation for four years now. His people respect him. The world respects him.

But he can’t forget the look in his sister’s eyes yesterday, when she took her first steps outside the rehabilitation center. When she saw him in his full Fire Lord regalia for the first time, his crown secured tightly in his topknot.

When she broke for just a moment, and thought he was her father.

Water drips from his eyes into the sink, trailing down to wet the clumps of cut hair clogging the drain. He’s being stupid. For all he knows, Azula said that just to get under his skin. She’s said worse things when he’s visited her in the center. But he really thought she was ready. The doctors said she wasn’t seeing things anymore…

But even if her moment of weakness was a hallucination, the reflected glimpses Zuko caught from his right eye weren’t. At least, he’s fairly sure.

He’ll know if he keeps seeing them now, he supposes.

He’s still trying to gather the strength to clean the sink—and the floor; he had more hair than he’d realized—when a knock at the bedroom door startles him. An undignified, strangled sound escapes his throat.

“Go away!” He shouts at whoever it is. He’d specifically asked his attendants not to disturb him when he turned in early for the night. An early rest was supposed to calm his irrational thoughts.

Instead, he’d caught his reflection in the bathroom mirror, and the dagger had been in his hand faster than he could think.

And now he’s here, hunched over the sink, shame and weakness etched into the sharp curve of his shoulders. Some of his cut hair clings to the fabric of his nightrobe, settles in his hood. No one should see the Fire Lord like this.

“Hey, I didn’t come all the way from the South Pole just to get yelled at,” an unmistakable voice filters through the thick wooden door. His eyes widen, snapping up to meet his reflection.

Maybe he really is going crazy. There’s no way.

More to confirm his sanity than anything else, he rushes out of the bathroom, crosses the bedroom in a few long strides. Flings open the door before he can talk himself out of it, before he can imagine what she’ll think if she really is there.

And there she is. Katara, standing taller than he remembers in a newer incarnation of her old blue tunic. Her long hair is braided down her back, and her lips are pursed in a narrow frown that softens at the sight of him.

“Zuko?” She speaks first, because he’s still too busy staring. Two years of letters are nothing compared to actually seeing her face. She’s always been beautiful, but now—

He winces. Now he remembers exactly how pathetic he looks.

“Are you… are you alright?” Her brows curve upwards in concern.

He’s not sure any amount of lying will convince her. If she can read his worries between this lines in his letters, she’s sure to see it in his disheveled appearance.

“What are you doing here?” He gasps out.

“Surprising my best friend, I thought,” she retorts before shaking her head. “Sorry. Uncle Iroh told me you’d want to see me, but if you don’t—”

“That’s not what I meant.” He shakes his head quickly, sending loose strands of hair fluttering to the ground. He’ll need to brush the chopped ends out if he doesn’t want to shed like Appa for the next few days. “I just… you didn’t tell me you were coming.”

She smirks in a way that’s very unfair to someone who’s already questioning his lucidity.

“That’s what makes it a surprise, silly.”

“Right.” He rubs the back of his neck. Sheds some more. He knows she’s seen him worse—Agni, she’s seen him in his old half-bald phoenix plume—but still he wishes he’d had time to prepare for her. Maybe it would have strengthened him long enough to weather that brief moment of weakness.

“You never answered my question, either,” she says quietly. Her hand reaches for his shoulder, brushing black strands from his sleeping robes, and he flushes at the contact. It’s been too long since he’s seen his friends if a simple touch like that feels foreign.

(Foreign, and wonderful, and if she’s a hallucination, she sure is a detailed one.)

“I… what?” He blinks.

She sighs heavily. Whatever she was asking, that was apparently the wrong answer.

“I asked if you were alright, but I’m going to take that as a no. You’ve been holding out on me.”

Oh. He must have missed that while she she was brushing him off.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says anyway. He just might have lost all coherent thought when he met with Azula earlier today, or right before he took the dagger to his hair, or when he first saw Katara. Regardless, he doesn’t want her to worry.

She looks him up and down, an appraising expression on her face. It’s too late to stop her from worrying, then.

“I didn’t just wake you up, did I? Your hair is still damp.”

“I’ve been awake,” he grumbles, but feels grateful she only points out that his hair is damp, not that it’s… frankly, a complete wreck.

“Well, if you’re not going to bed now… would it be alright if I come in?”

He isn’t used to the amount of hesitance in her voice.

“Of course.” They’ve just been standing in his doorway, where anyone passing by could see. Not that many people would be passing by this time of night, in this wing of the palace. The only other visitor he would expect would be Uncle, and apparently he’s sent Katara in his place. Odd, but Zuko supposes he can hear about his trip over morning tea.

(And he won’t complain about delaying his explanations for his hair a little longer.)

There’s nowhere to sit except on his bed. Maybe he should have thought that through, but thinking things through is clearly impossible today. He perches on the edge of the mattress, nodding his head for her to do the same. She leaves a small gap between them. He knows that shouldn’t disappoint him, but it does all the same.

“I’m sorry,” he begins, running a hand through his too-short-just-right hair. “I’m really glad you’re here. Honest. I just haven’t been… it’s been a rough day,” he admits quietly. There’d never been much point in lying to her. “I’m sorry you have to see me like this.”

“Zuko,” she says quietly. Her hand rests on the soft duvet, fingers inching closer to his, but not touching. “It’s times like this when I need to see you.”

“What? So you can heal me if I hurt myself?” He asks dryly. Come to think of it, the back of his neck stings. Maybe he did nick the skin there.

“No—I mean, I would, of course, but—spirits, I’m your friend. Do you really think I wouldn’t want to be here for you?”

She has a point. It would be an insult to her compassion to push her away now.

And he doesn’t want to.

“Sorry,” he mumbles. “I didn’t want you to worry.”

“Of course you didn’t.” She lets out a breath, a half-laugh, and slips her pinkie over his. The touch is so light it might be an accident, but it still grounds him.

She’s here. She’s real.

“Azula thought I was Ozai,” he blurts out. His gaze tears away from their brushing fingers, to the fist clenched in his lap. “She was supposed to be released from the rehabilitation center today, and I swear she’s lucid now, and… it’s stupid.”

“It’s not stupid.” Her hand finally squeezes his. It’s like that one action draws out his tension, siphons it away. “You’re worried she’s right. That you look like your father.”

He flinches at hearing her say it out loud. She’s always been able to see right through him, but it’s still better than having to explain it himself.

“I don’t want to be anything like him. I don’t want to keep looking over my shoulder every time I pass a mirror, thinking he’s—thinking he’s there.” He winces.

Stupid. Pathetic. All the ways Ozai used to make him feel… apparently still does make him feel.

She just nods, though, as if that’s the most reasonable thing in the world.

“The haircut will help. It suits you better, anyway.”

He turns to stone when her fingers comb through the jagged ends. She must realize it, because she pulls away.

“Sorry. I just—saw some bits still stuck in there.” She blushes.

“I don’t mind,” he croaks out, throat suddenly dry. He clears it with a cough. “Actually, would you… would you mind fixing it up for me? I couldn’t see the back very well.” Not that he’d been really looking when he hacked it off.

“I’d love to.”

He feels like a little kid again, sitting cross-legged at the foot of his bed after providing Katara with the necessary supplies. Her bare feet swing down on either side of him, bracketing his shoulders.

“Hold still,” she says when he squirms, “or you’ll be getting a taste of stinky waterbender feet.” She wiggles her toes next to his face, and he laughs.

“Better than stinky earthbender feet.”

He’ll never forget waking up with Toph’s feet in his face, demanding that he carry her on his back. It was what he deserved after burning her soles that one time, but she still reeked. He was half convinced she smeared them with mud beforehand just to mess with him.

Katara goes silent. Was he joke that bad? Or maybe she’s just realizing how much of a lost cause his hair is.

“Katara?” He asks.

“Sorry.” She starts brushing out his hair. Each stroke sweeps away some of the worries crowding his mind. “I was just thinking… it’s been a while since I heard you laugh.”

It’s been a while since he has laughed. Katara and his friends always brought out the best in him.

His eyes slide shut as she combs away the snipped remnants. He shouldn’t get used to this. She’s just doing him a favor, that’s all.

(Even if she did want to touch his hair more often, she can’t. She won’t be staying in the Fire Nation long.)

(She never does.)

Scissors snip in his blind spot, right next to his bad ear. He suppresses a flinch. The one nice thing about keeping long hair was that he didn’t need anything sharp near the scarred half of his face.

“Your hair is so soft,” Katara says enviously. “Is there some kind of secret washing regimen for Fire Lords?”

“I just use whatever my attendants set out for me.” That probably sounds spoiled, doesn’t it? It’s not like the palace servants will allow him to go out with his hair unwashed.

Agni, even they are going to kill him if Katara can’t get his hair under control.

“Well I’m stealing it.”

He grins at that, though he should be intimidated. It’s hard enough to resist touching Katara’s hair as it is. Any softer, and it’ll practically be a magnet pulling him towards her.

Bits of hair fall on his shoulders, litter the red towel spread beneath him. He’s surprised she’s found that much to cut. He doesn’t have a mirror right now, so he can’t check to see how it looks. He’ll just have to trust her.

Luckily, he’s still used to that.

“Thank you, Katara.”

“Don’t thank me just yet. I might still give you a warrior’s wolftail by accident.”

He smiles, picturing it. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. The looks on the council’s faces would be priceless.”

She laughs. “You could start a new trend. Bring Water Tribe fashion to the big city.”

He’d like to bring more of the Water Tribe here than just that. But he knows he can’t ask Katara to stay. He’d said it right all those years ago: she rises with the moon, and he rises with the sun. They share the sky for just long enough to catch glimpses of her, before she disappears back to the bottom of the world.

He’s spent too long in the theater scrolls again, if he’s waxing this poetic. Better turn his thoughts to more practical matters.

“Would a wolftail be able to hold up my crown?”

“Theoretically,” she says between snips. He doesn’t flinch at them anymore. “But, I mean… were you being serious?”

He blushes, suddenly unsure. After all, he’s not a Water Tribe warrior.

“If I’m allowed to,” he admits quietly. “I don’t know what the rules are, if it’s like a phoenix plume, or if I have to be judged worthy to—”

A loud snip, and a chunk of his hair falls to the ground. She curses under her breath; it almost makes him laugh. She’d never been one to curse when they’d traveled together.

“I don’t think I have much of a choice. I cut this part too short; I’m not sure anything else will work now. I’m so sorry.”

He risks a glance over his shoulder. She’s biting her lip, glaring down at her scissors like they should glue his hair back together.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, Katara. You really couldn’t make it any worse.”

“I could’ve made you bald.”

This time he does laugh. “Well, you didn’t. But even if you did, I wouldn’t be upset. No one could say I look like Ozai anymore.”

Her brow creases in pity. It’s not what he wanted—he’d been trying to reassure her.

She reaches down to brush his remaining bangs away from his face. The touch shocks through his system like ice.

“You’re nothing like him,” she says softly. “I wish I could make you see that.”

His lips won’t move to speak. Some incoherent noise might have passed through them, but Katara doesn’t point it out. She just combs his hair back, and removes the tail of her own braid to bind his hair at the back of his skull.

“Almost done.”

He has to face her for this last part, where she shears away the hair along the sides of his head, above his ears. It’s difficult to look anywhere besides her blue eyes. He tries to, though; he doesn’t want her to feel him staring.

“Is this weird?” She asks, her hands steady as she sends bits of hair fluttering down to his shoulders.

He almost shrugs before realizing it might mess her up. “Yujin—one of my attendants—usually cuts my hair for me. She’s great, but… I like this too,” he admits. “You’re very talented.”

“Thank you, but that’s not what I meant.” She smirks.

“Then—what did you mean?” His brow furrows.

“You’re kneeling.” Her eyes flicker down to his legs, which are tucked beneath him. “I just meant, since you’re the Fire Lord, you probably don’t do this much.”

“How else were you supposed to reach my head?”

She pulls the shears back and laughs. When her eyes open again, they’re soft as water.

“You haven’t changed. I didn’t think you had, from your letters, but it’s still good to see.”

“Thank you?”

“That is a compliment, I promise.” She smiles, coming her fingers through the ends of his new wolftail. It feels thicker and stubbier than a phoenix plume, and a little itchy on the sides, where his hair is much shorter now.

Hasn’t he changed? He never felt like he was going this crazy before. But strangely… after sitting here with her, he finds some of his worries aren’t as loud. Maybe it’s that he can’t see long strands of black hanging in the corners of his vision. Maybe it’s some kind of waterbending healing she worked in while his eyes were shut. Regardless, a new energy fills him as he accepts her hand and rises to his feet.

“Come on. Let’s make sure you like the Water Tribe look. If not, we can always do you up like an Air Nomad.”

He winces. “I don’t think I could pull off a shaved head as well as Aang.”

“I’m pretty sure you could pull off anything,” she mutters.

“What was that?”

Her eyes widen, and he has to hide a smirk, even if he knows it’s not true. He sure didn’t pull off the shaved phoenix plume. But it’s still flattering that she thinks he could.

“Let’s just get you to a mirror.”

She drags him to the corner of his room, where a gold-rimmed standing mirror reflects their forms. Even trusting that she did a fine job, he finds himself afraid to look at his face. It took him years to be okay with seeing his reflection at all, to not flinch at the wrinkled red skin on his left side. Lately, it’s the unmarred side that causes more problems.

But he does look up. And he looks… nothing like he expected.

A wolftail lies closer to the back of the head, unlike how a phoenix plume would sprout from the middle. And this wolftail in particular is barely long enough to stay in Katara’s hair tie. His black hair sprouts up like a tiny circle of grass. The ridiculousness of it almost makes him laugh.

“You like it?” She asks when she catches him smiling.

“I love it.” His hair might look a little silly, but he’s not lying.

Now, instead of thinking of Ozai when he sees his reflection, he’ll think of her.

“Thank you so much, Katara.”

He folds her in a hug. By the time he worries about it being too much, she’s already squeezing him back, burying her face into the crook of his neck. The scent of her hair wafts up to him, salty and sweet. Why did she ever want to borrow his hair products? Hers feels soft as a turtleduck against his cheek.

“I’m always here for you, you know. Next time, ask me before you go swinging your knife around, alright?”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he says carefully, “but you’re not always here. And I don’t expect you to be. You have family, and friends, and obligations…”

“Zuko.” She tugs on the collar of his robe until he looks down at her. “You’re one of my friends. So for now, get used to it.”

He blinks. His heart picks up a stuttering rhythm, one he hasn’t felt since the day he lay in the palace courtyard, pulsing with lightning.

“You—you’re staying?”

“I’ve already talked it over with Uncle. He said there are some rivers that have dried up, and I might be able to help divert water to towns that need it. Besides, the South Pole has so many waterbenders now, I was starting to feel redundant.”

She’s staying. At least for a little while, she’s staying.

He hugs her again. He couldn’t have stopped himself if he tried.

“Looks like I was missed after all,” she laughs.

He smiles against the top of her head.

“Always.”

XXX

The next morning, he arrives at the council meeting with a crown in his wolftail, and a waterbender’s palm in his hand.

#zutara #zuko #katara #atla #atla fic #fic tag #tali writes #yeah its been 84 years #found this half-written in my google docs and decided to finish it lol

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carbootsoul · 4 years ago

Text

i was tagged by @katarahairloopies!!! thank u :mwah:

name: leo! @/zeitgeistofnow on ao3, @lazypigeon & @timetohope on here, altho i’m considering uh switching back to not having an art blog :/ i have to think abt it.

fandom(s): ace attorney is my main one rn bc i’m replaying the games with a friend of mine and it’s reminding me how invested i am in the characters!! a lot of my recent fic is atla stuff, altho i’ve been distancing myself from the fandom bc i’ve kinda exhausted my interest in it. finally i’ve been reading a lot of mp100 fic but i don’t think i’ll ever write for it. i just love how dumb all the characters r (with the dubious exception of ritsu)

where you post: ao3!! tbh i always get suprised when people say they write/read fic on any other platform like i haven’t messed around w wattpad or ff.net since middle school... catch up........

most popular oneshot: going just by “one chapter” as the definition of a oneshot, the firestarters, bc it’s fluffy and modern au :) i wouldn’t necessarily call it a oneshot tho bc to me a oneshot shows like, one scene? so like by my definition and your sweet sweet sun makes me crazy (i wanna lay you down and see how you amaze me is my most popular!! (also @ kit u thought UR fic titles were unnecessarily long??? i’ve hit the ao3 LIMIT for characters in titles. it’s about the aesthetic

most popular multichapter fic: sdkjflakjlkj it’s two crowned kings; and one that stood alone, which is a w359 fic i wrote back in late 2017. it’s literally the last fic i haven’t orphaned from when i actually wrote podcast fic (i have 4 other podcast fics but they were all borne out of nostalgia and written after i stopped participating in the fandom). i rewrote all but the last chapter? the last two? about a year ago and i fucked up halfway through so like chapter 6 and 7 are repeated and there’s something missing but i’m too lazy to fix it. no one’s going to read it now anyway :) it WAS the top minlace fic for a little while tho which i take great pride in.

favorite story you’ve written so far: oh that’s a hard question akfsldkfj i honestly like most of them!! and i write a LOT so there’s a lot to choose from. tonight, we are young is def one of my favorites- it was fun to write and i got to explore the ways zuko and yue r similar, which i LOVE to do outside of a zukka/yukka view. you can lean on my arm as you break my heart is one that i’m really proud of? the whole “cooking as an expression of bato’s love” is definitely some of my favorites. a lot of my ace attorney fics would be categoried as my favorites if i hadn’t improved, too, if that makes sense. like they’re no long my favorites because i can see where my writing is shitty and it bothers me, but if i had written them a month ago they’d be my favorite.

fic you were nervous to post: figures 1-5: killing gods def!! it’s a lot more purple-prose-y than most of my fics and it was also written before i’d kinda like emersed myself in the atla fandom so i didn’t have as good a grasp on the general understanding of zuko’s character as i do now. tbh it’s one i’m rly happy w tho!! i have a few people leave really nice comments on it and rereading them makes me really happy. also it was the start of me hating the position of fire lord and being at least passively anti-it in my fics.

how you choose your titles: they’re almost all song lyrics!! only 14 of my 50 words AREN’T song lyrics and about half of those are from before i started writing ace attorney fic lol. sometimes i go into a fic with a song in mind for the vibes and then i usually go with lyrics from that (like in ‘cuz we’re the greatest /they’ll hang us in the louvre), but otherwise i usually pick an artist i’ve been listening to and go through their songs until i find a lyric that fits. sometimes the lyric doesn’t even really fit the fic and i just chose it at random or because i searching up the word “fly” in my spotify library or whatever. honestly i like coming up with titles? i know a lot of fic writers hate it but being able to just use song lyrics is v soothing for me and while i know that most people won’t search out a song just bc it’s a fic title like.. seeing that the title of a fic is a hozier lyric does affect how i read it and i kinda like that.

do you outline? i outline my long form/multichaptered fics with varying strictness. usually anything over ~8k will have some kind of outline. sometimes i go into it with every single scene planned out, sometimes it’s just notes on the side of the google doc that say “it's about MORE family. about how it's not betraying your existing family to find more” and “scenes i want to include: [...]” and “vampires... ngl kinda hot.” i’m trying to outline super strictly less bc i’ve found it’s less fun? but i do try to keep a plot arc in mind. since most of my fics are more character-driven than plot-driven, that usually just means keeping track of what character development i want to happen or what is motiviating the characters.

complete: um everything posted on ao3 i guess. also the MULTITUDE of orphaned fics out there asksfjldkj i always click ‘leave my pseud on’ so if u look up my username you see all of my fics and then a. lot of other ones.

in progress: - a fic titled ‘dad phoenix’ that is actually just a no DL-6 au with defense attorney miles edgeworth and single dad bartender phoenix where neither of them want to date for A While but phoenix gets wrapped up in one of miles’s cases. it’s about family. it’s about writing teenagers. it’s about the background franmaya which is ALWAYS what i’m here for in wrightworth fics - a franmaya werewolf/vampire au because i’m ~gay~ and love rivals to lovers and also franziska and maya both being angry their older brothers r dating each other. - my secret santa fic!! which i can’t talk about much but it does feature toph and zuko and also piandao and jeong jeong???? idk where they came from but they are Part Of The Fic Now also i forgot iroh existed for half the fic and wrote piandao as zuko’s father figure and now i’m in too deep. - a 5+1 bakoda fic (maybe a bato/hakoda/kay fic??? i need to decide. that’s part of why this fic is still incomplete bc i can’t decide which relationship dynamic i prefer) that’s 5 times bato said he loves hakoda and one time hakoda said it back. possibly i have already written him saying i love u back and i need to change the title a little. - retail au klapollo where klavier works at an overpriced boutique and apollo comes in to buy earrings for nahyuta’s birthday. klavier gives him a punch card (one that the store doesn’t actually offer anymore as a bid to get apollo to come back) and all of apollo’s family come in to use the punch card and also give klavier variations on the shovel talk/find out if he’s actually into apollo. - a LOT of atla fics that i don’t think i’ll ever finish :(

coming soon/not yet started: - i want to write some blackmadhi bc they’re.. cute..... and it’s a good excuse to also write athena and i love her - my stuff for yueki week!!! i have NOT prepped enough but hopefully i’ll remember in time! i wrote the prompts in a way that kinda set up stuff i’ve already wanted to write (don’t look at me lol) so hopefully i’ll get at least two or three fics finished in time. - i want to rewrite the wrightworth fic i have about them not getting married bc it was interesting and i like what i wrote about but i think i could have written it better and made it more interesting. rewriting fics is hard tho bc i’m never sure if it makes sense to just edit in the new work or to repost it? and then if u repost it do u delete the old one? conflicting so i might just not

do you accept prompts? totally!!! a disclaimer tho i’m not super into writing atla stuff anymore (most of the atla stuff i’m still writing is something i made a commitment to finish) so if your prompt is an atla one i probably won’t do it :/ basically anything else is fair game tho!! podcasts/aa/sa/uh i don’t remember anything else but like if you search a fandom on my blog and come up with more than two posts about it chances r i’d be happy to write fic for it!

upcoming work that you’re most excited about: oh huh i mean probably the no dl-6 au!!! it’s the longest ace attorney fic i’ve written already and since it’s wrightworth it’ll get more attention than any franmaya fic i write. my standards r so high now tho after getting to much feedback from atla fans... love u all... obviously i have no choice but to pressure my atla mutuals into playing ace attorney. pls ask abt it bc i WIll Give You A Sales Pitch about why you’d like it in relation to atla

tagging: i’m not rly tagging anyone!!! @deadflora if you still consider urself a fic writer also consider urself tagged! also any of my other mutuals who write fic i just can’t think of anyone rn

#leo.txt #thank u!! i think i wrote a lot for this lol #but literally ive been so bored i don't have anything better to do

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colubrina · 7 years ago

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Hi. I'm late to the "writer's ask" game, so as I keep losing track of which ones you've answered: I CHOOSE THE ONE'S YOU HAVE'E ANSWERED YET 😂🖤

THAT IS NOT FAIR! I ADORE YOU SO FINE BUT YOU ARE CHEATING!!! ALSO THANK YOU.

3. What is your favorite/least favorite part about writing?Favorite: The thrill of the good phrase.Least Favorite: Having people send me nasty, anonymous comments. I get it. You didn’t like it. Shoo.

4. Do you have any writing habits/rituals?I’m pretty flexible. In winter I write on the heater, but I’ve written via dictation, handwritten in a tiny notebook, brought an iPhone and bluetooth keyboard to type at an ice rink...

6. Favorite character you’ve written?Probably Amaryllis, who was the princess archetype in an original book I wrote that has been soundly rejected and insulted by everyone who has read it except for three people. And this is why I will love @itisariddle, @turbulenthandholding, and @unknown-authoress forever...

7. Favorite/most inspirational book?How can I pick just one?

8. Do you have any writing buddies or critique partners?I am so lucky that a bunch of people alpha read my last book. @turbulenthandholding, @itisariddle, @breenieweenie and @slytheringxbadxgirl all read the whole thing and shared their impressions. They are angels. I left the critique group I had set up for trust reasons. 11. What are you planning to work on next?I am revising That Damn Novel 2 (TM) and hope to start querying in late spring or summer. In fanfic, I’m trying to finish everything before I start anything new.13. Describe your writing processOpen laptop. Start typing.

14. What does it take for you to be ready to write a book? (i.e. do you research? outline? make a playlist or pinterest board? wing it?)I generally have the first scene very clearly in my head, and just wing it from there.

15. How do you deal with self-doubt when writing?Poorly? I am never not beset by the surety that I am not good at this, that my work is shit, that I should stop inflicting it on people.

18. Tell us about that one book you’ll never let anyone readI don’t have one of those lol. I show my trash to people.

19. How do you cope with writer’s block?I usually have so many projects going at once that if I am not sure what happens next in one story I can work on another.

20. Any advice for young writers/advice you wish someone would have given you early on?You can do this. Your contributions have merit. It will take longer than you want.23. Most anticipated upcoming books?The next chapter of The Prisoner by @nerysdax

24. Do you remember the moment you decided to become a writer/author?No27. Every writer's least favorite question - where does your inspiration come from? Do you do certain things to make yourself more inspired? Is it easy for you to come up with story ideas?I have more ideas than I have time. 29. Is writing more of a hobby or do you write with the intention of getting published?I want desperately to be published lol32. On average how much do you write in a day? do you have trouble staying focused/getting the word count in?Right now my goal is 1,000 words/day. It’s a pretty relaxed goal so it’s not an issue.

33. What’s your revision/rewriting process like?Well, with this book I did some revising as I wrote the first draft as things became obviously flawed so badly they needed to go. I then did a full revision where I read through a hard copy once, then read it through again and made notes ONLY about plot issues. I then went back and revised each chapter using my notes and the notes my wonderful alpha readers had left in the google doc they’d read. Then I printed a clean hard copy and am currently on my first of three passes through looking specifically at each major character. When that’s done, I’ll put those edits in, then start looking at each chapter in the Hemingway app. There I’ll read it out loud to find clumsy phrasing and bits that don’t flow and also use the app’s highlighting to catch overuse of adverbs and complicated sentences I should revisit. Finally I’ll read ANOTHER hard copy.

All of this, of course, is subject to change as I go.36. Post a snippet

37. Do you ever write long handed or do you prefer to type everything?I am pretty flexible and work both ways depending on where I am.

38. How do you nail voice in your books?I am not sure I do.

39. Do you spend a lot of time analyzing and studying the work of authors you admire?Yes

42. How many drafts do you usually write before you feel satisfied?What is ‘satisfied’?

43. How do you deal with rejection?I complain to @turbulenthandholding and/or @itisariddle they say the people involved are fools. Rejection is really awful. I’m not going to lie. And the path to traditional publishing is mostly rejection, sometimes form letter rejection and sometimes lovely rejections that compliment you but still don’t want your book. In the last half of 2017, when I was querying Mags, I got 63 emails from agents telling me they weren’t interested in my book (and 56 agents who used the ‘no response means no’ method of communication.) It hurt. It helps to have good friends who care about you and are rooting for you.

44. Why (and when) did you decide to become a writer?I don’t think I ever made a conscious decision on the matter.

48. Do you prefer to write skimpy drafts and flesh them out later, or write too much and cut it back?I would prefer to write too much and cut back. What I do is write too little and have to flesh out.50. Do you share your rough drafts or do you wait until everything is all polished?I share my rough drafts with my glorious alpha readers.51. Are you a secretive writer or do you talk with your friends about your books? I could drone on all day but I try to not to avoid being a self-involved bore. I generally assume my talking about my books is boring and tedious and if people endure it it is because they are polite, not interested.

52. Who do you write for?Primarily for me to control my anxiety.

53. What is the first line of your WIP?I’ll pick Unlikely Brothers to share: When Aurors and inspectors and Order members arrived, they found James and Lily Potter horribly dead, Sirius Black laughing with the hysteria of the mad, and no trace of Voldemort.55. How do you manage your time/make time for writing? (do you set aside time to write every day or do you only write when you have a lot of free time?)Because I don’t have paid employment it’s reasonably easy to find time to write. I try to treat it like it is my job and sit down to do it each day.

from writer asks (no more please)

#writer asks #faeriefully

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