#gemma talks WIPs

[gemmahale]

Started writing something about Dom Soap being a herding dog (if we insist on applying the dog metaphor to him.)

A hand on the small of your back, maybe your hand wrapped in his, at worst his hand on the small of your neck to guide and direct you. He doesn't need to nip at your heels to get you to go where you should.

A nip at your earlobe followed by a growl of "Behave yerself" just barely above the din. A soft kiss along your jawline to apologize; to anyone else it looks like he's telling you a secret, but you know it's a reminder that he is in charge and you'd best listen.

A pinch - maybe the inside of your thigh or arm, or the soft, cushiony part of your hip - when you step outside of pre-determined bounds. A reminder that he's here to protect you, even if you can't detect the threat yourself.

He's subtle in the way he displays dominance. He knows his job is to protect and keep you in line, and he intends to do at least that much. He'll showboat in other areas (and does). But this power exchange between the two of you is his.

....I lost the dog metaphor there a bit. Sorry not sorry. Yes, you'll probably see a lot of this in Museum Muse. Maybe Brix. Bite me. (I'll like it.)

[gemmahale]

Thank goodness for this post because I just had to go back and change 4 paragraphs to the right tense.

Better 4 paragraphs than 4 pages.

You should only write in present tense with extreme caution.

not because it's bad or anything but because if you do it even once you're going to be editing the bits where you shifted tenses out of your writing for the rest of your life

[pfhwrittes]

Talk Shop Tuesday:

What piece(s) has (have) been most influenced by friendships you've formed here, and how is that reflected in your work?

hi gemma, i love you 💜

(and heads up, this is going to get long)

oh boy, so many of my fics have been inspired by my friends here!

it's absolutely mental to me that i started this blog because i wanted to yell at @391780 on tumblr instead of in her ao3 comments. so i think we can all say thank you to the lovely early for being my entry point into the cod fandom (her work The Arrangement was one of the first fics i read in the fandom - and one of the fics i've mostly recently re-read. i finished it up around 7.30 this morning).

in fact the entirety of the Retail Hell AU was inspired by this ask which came off the back of a post of hers talking about john price working in retail post-141 life.

in fact, a lot of my Masterlist is the result of me going "EARLY I'VE HAD ANOTHER IDEA!!!" in her DMs. she has my eternal love and gratitude for being such a fantastic writer and cheerleader for my writing.

next up, the lovely @kaadaaan is the sole reason i have so many john "soap" mactavish is a Certified Freak posts in my Here Be Kink Masterlist (heed the tags with that one, it's 18+ for a reason). most notably my most recent fics featuring slightly pathetic!johnny x pervy housemate!reader (part one and part two or on ao3 here).

vi is the WORST for letting me run my mouth on her posts or in her DMs. i have a whole document of notes on how i want to expand those fics into a truly depraved universe (rip to kyle, he's about to get put in the middle of the weirdest threesome of his life while simon slowly loses his mind over the fact that his stolen t-shirt is now a cum rag for the most disgusting couple he knows).

then there's @syoddeye. i found For the Record on ao3 and fell in love with the way they write the messy reality of living with addiction and being kind of stalled out in your life. it dragged emotions i hadn't felt for years out of me and i think as a result it's given me the courage to be vulnerable in my own writing in a way that i wasn't confident enough to do when i first started writing for the fandom.

it's really fucking scary to leave parts of yourself in your writing, intentionally or not, but the fact that they continue to pour love on my kyle x transmasc!reader fic from my Binders and Boyfriends series and have called it a comfort fic just means the absolute world to me.

and finally, there's you cariad! yes that's right, you of @gemmahale fame! you have been one of my biggest and brightest cheerleaders for anything involving our beloved kyle "gaz" garrick. it has been an absolute joy to yell in your DMs over The Contract (and some other stuff 😉). i would apologise for going "wait, what about if we did THIS...?" and accidentally turning our lovely self-contained demon au into an entire universe BUT that would be a lie. i am deeply in lesbians with your brain and ideas.

i can't pinpoint a specific fic (aside from some still unseen stuff) that you've had the most influence over but much like sy has, you've encouraged me to trust my instincts with my stories. oh and to never ever scrap a single piece of a wip, just to put it in the odds and ends section at the bottom 😉.

special shout outs go to @greatstormcat, @mortuarywriting, @dragonnarrative-writes, @eilidh-eternal, @ceilidho, @secretsynthetic, @sentientcave and so many other fantastic people that i've seen pop up in my notes just to cheer me on and grace us all with their fantastic writing. every single one of you that i've mentioned (and some people that i'm sure i've forgotten) have encouraged me to keep writing, or to be conscientious and considerate in regards to keeping this little corner of the fandom i inhabit a diverse and welcoming space to ALL readers. from the bottom of my very mushy heart, thank you 💜

Talk Shop Tuesday

[justahappycloud]

thank you @duquesademiel bestie for tagging me and giving me the chance to say "i'm back, baby".

The Rules: If you're tagged, make a new post and share one or two sentences (or lines for artists) from your most recent unposted WIP with zero context

“Right,” Gemma narrows his eyes. “Okay. Sure. Let’s pretend I believe we’re talking about your goat here. What exactly are you talking about?”

tagging @enchantedlandcoffee, @wishingforloushair and @babyhoneyheslt because i lost track of them and i wanna know what y'all are writing T-T

[builtyouahousefromabrokenhome]

WIP title challenge

Thank you so much @littleobelia for tagging me in this challenge!!! ♥♥♥

Show the titles of some (or all!) of your current WIP docs! Let people send you asks about them, if you dare 👀

Currently my only actual WIP that exists in a document is ALIWC :3 I have some loose ideas floating around in the back of my head, that may or may not become fics some day. But knowing myself I'll end up writing something completely different, and maybe just incorporate little pieces from these loose ideas here or there ...

1. A Life I Would Choose

2. Uni AU or something else where Harry would be starting out in life and close to Gemma: Louis is Gemma's friend, Gemma is worried/annoyed that Harry only wants to hang out with her and her friends all the time, instead of making his own friends … but he just wants to see Louis!

3. They meet at a sex addicts treatment/anonymous meeting, finally have someone that matches their freak, and live happily ever after??? (Probably someone else could write this better, but it's based on a funny and endearing real life story ♥)

4. They Were RoomFlatmates

I'm happy to talk about ALIWC if anyone wants to, while the loose ideas are much too loose to talk about yet :3

[gemmahale]

Granted, I'm slow on the updating because of how I've chosen to approach publishing, but yeah - full time job and actively writing. (Close to 140K this year.)

Reblog if you are employed / have a full time job and are a fanfic writer who still actively writes and posts new chapters / new works.

My friend says you can’t be an adult, have a full time job and be a fanfic writer at the same time, because you’ll have to sacrifice your writing, fandom activities, for your career. And I just… don’t think that’s the case? At all? Unless I’m missing something? Unless I’m doing it wrong by being employed and still writing fanfics?

[kingsofeverything]

HIIIIII please to share about the ouija wip!! 😀

Hellooooooo! That’s one I started for the 666 fest last year and didn’t finish because I wrote too many words 😆

Basically Harry and Gemma are messing around with a Ouija board and Harry’s moving it and messing with Gemma and describing the spirit they’re talking to and then Harry meets Louis and Louis is that spirit/guy

[gemmahale]

Do I need another long-form, half-baked fic idea? No.

Did I start a new document this afternoon? Maybe.

[parmahamlarrie]

Happy December! Once again, I had no time to read, but here is what I enjoyed most when I did manage to find some time!

Dicked Down in Europe || @greeneyesfriedrice || 40.4k Canon, Established Relationship, Travel I can't really read WIPs but I read this as it was posted and has such fun with it!

stay another day or two || trackfive || 17.6k Canon, Hurt/Comfort, Sick Fic, Christmas I've been reading this whole series, a wonderful time! x

and marshmallows || @briannamarguerite || 10.7k Strangers to Lovers, Professor Harry, Mentions to History, Christmas

The leaves are buried under six inches of white || loha28 || 8.7k Married H&L, Chef Harry, Christmas, KidFic

Sweet Talk || The_Dizzy_Pixie || 8k Talk Show AU, Canon, Humor, Fluff This was SUCH a unique premise! I've never seen anything like it!

when did I first know? I always knew || @payne || 7.7k SHIALL, Christmas, KidFic, Side Larry, Side Ziam I don't know if I've ever rec'd a non Larry fic (just felt not what this list was for?) but this one... blew me out of the water. I loved it. So... enjoy! Plus, Larry is there and they're adorable.

it's so sweet, knowing that you love me || moonsongouis || 6.3k Established Relationship, Fluff and Smut, Idiots in love

A Boyfriend for Christmas || chelseafrew || 5.5k Christmas, Fake Relationship, Gemma's Brother Trope

Mistletoe Cove || @wabadabadaba || 4.8k Enemies to Lovers (light), American AU, Winter

I gotta get better! || @dystopianharry || 4.5k Soulmate AU, Online Dating, Kink Exploration

To boyfriends everywhere - Fuck you || Rosa_000 || 3k Canon, Drunk Harry, Established Relationship, Humor

Advent Drabbles || @berzerkshires || 2.5k Canon, Christmas, Fun/Fluff/Humor/Mild Smut The only advent fic I could keep up with! And I thoroughly enjoyed every word!

Kitten Around || @homosociallyyours || 2.3k Established Relationship, New Pet

written all over your face || rebarboa || 1.6k Established Relationship, Canon, Humor and Smut

Gray hair is our forever || @beardyboyzx || >1k Established Relationship, Fluff

[gemmahale]

Oooh this seems fun!

From The Contract. (I wanted to share more than one sentence, so have a snippet.)

“Lin, what the hell happened to you?” Lin looked up in the mirror, catching her coworker Kayla’s eyes. “Took a spill on the tube, got my coffee all over myself.” She frowned at the sink as water rushed over the coffee stained fabric. “Trying to get as much of it out as I can before it sets.”  Kayla nodded, coming over to look at the damage. “Shit, was that the whole mug?” “More or less,” Lin responded, turning the water off.  Kayla finished washing her hands, drying them off with a towel. “You okay otherwise?” Lin nodded with a shrug, “Yeah, it wasn’t too bad of a tumble, just embarrassing. Someone was kind enough to help me up, get me sorted.”  “Oh good.” Kayla turned to leave, before hesitating. “Oh, Dustin was looking for you. Something about checking his reports?”

I had to go through 4 WIPs before I found "turn" - not return, not Turner, not nocturn, not turnip - augh.

This week’s word is…

✨ TURN ✨

Find the word in any WIP and share the sentence containing it. Reply, reblog, stick it in the tags, tag us in a new post, or keep it private. All fandoms, all ships, all writers welcome.

[seriouslysam8]

7,8,19 for the writer's ask!

7. Post a snippet from a wip.

“How’s school going?” Sirius asked.

Harry smirked, his right shoulder shrugging. “Can’t be worse than last year.”

Sirius shorted. “I don’t think anything could be worse than last year.”

Harry chuckled. “I don’t know, I mean the year Voldemort lived in Quirrell’s head was pretty bad. Or perhaps the year when the Chamber of Secrets was opened and the Basilisk was petrifying all the Muggleborns was worse. Then there was the year that a supposed mass murderer was trying to kill me. Or, you know, the year I was entered into a deadly tournament against my will.”

Sirius shook his head. “I don’t know. I think mass murderer year was my favorite.”

Harry grinned. “Yeah, that was a pretty good year. Probably my favorite so far too.”

8. Post an out-of-context spoiler from a wip.

“Where is my son, Euphemia?” Walburga asked, her chin jutting up.

Euphemia blinked at Walburga, her limbs twitching with very carefully controlled anger. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

19. Do you enjoy creating OCs or do you prefer to stick solely to canon characters? I like canon characters. If I’m writing an “OC,” I like ones rooted in canon like Demelza or Marlene. It’s easier and more fun for me to just expand on characters than it is to write entirely new ones. But I do enjoy Tegan and Sutton and Niamh and Gemma.

[avatarskywalker78]

Side OC Masterlist

OC Creator Bingo 2023 was great fun and I’m already keeping the main OC masterlist up on my pinned, but it has also inspired me to finally make a list for side OCs!!! Again this will be an in-progress thing and more will be added later!

Main OCs found here!

Name: Alyssa Clayton

Fandom: The Flash

Fancast: Mary Wiseman

Series: The Shieldmaiden Saga

Tags = oc: alyssa clayton

Steph’s best friend at Athena Labs with a Doctorate in Physics, she becomes one of Steph’s confidants and the first person she tells about her powers. She’s known Steph for nearly six years and they jokingly call themselves the ‘Science Twins’ - Alyssa sees her as a younger sister, and is incredibly protective over her, especially once she gains her powers, and is the one overseeing Steph’s training.

Name: Dr Charlie Kumar

Fandom: The Flash

Fancast: Dev Patel

Series: The Shieldmaiden Saga

Tags = oc: charlie kumar

Head of the Astronomy Department at Athena Labs and a close friend of Steph and Alyssa, he’s not looped in to her meta status until a few months down the line, though has his suspicions given that she's one of the pioneers of the Meta Outreach Project. He doesn’t help directly with that, but is the one to alert them to the fact that there was another unknown energy source on the night of the explosion - which wasn’t thrown out by the accelerator.

Name: Tanya

Fandom: The Flash

Fancast: Janelle Monae

Series: The Shieldmaiden Saga

Tags - OC: Tanya

A biologist at Athena Labs and another member of Steph’s team, they agreed to help with the study of Steph’s powers, and they’re to be the main researcher for the Meta Outreach Project as they’re a trusted friend and team member, and want to make sure that all metas have access to the help they need.

Name: Zoe Thawne

Fandom: Legends of Tomorrow

Fancast: Freema Agyeman

Series: legends of earth-4 (hasn’t yet shown up)

Tags = oc: zoe thawne

A descendant of Eddie Thawne and Brianna Thawne’s first cousin, she is one of the most renowned quantum physicists of her era and one of only a few family members that Brianna feels she can talk too, partly because she was one of the few to accept that the Blue Flame was more magical in nature than meta powers traditionally are, and Zoe is one of the ones who defends Brianna after she stops Kate Allen changing time.

Name: Ashton Thawne

Fandom: Legends of Tomorrow

Fancast: Garrett Hedlund

Series: legends of earth-4 (hasn’t yet shown up)

Tags = oc: ashton thawne

Another descendant of Eddie Thawne and a distant cousin to Brianna and Zoe, Ashton specialises in 20th and 21st century electronics and computer restoration - something that is looked down on by several family members for being a ‘useless’ job. He’s good friends with his cousins, though, and also jumped in to defend Brianna, excited (and proud) about her joining the Legends and hoping she’ll bring some old-school technology back with her.

Name: James Connors

Fandom: Cobra Kai

Fancast: Matt Lintz

Series: Nicky Connors, Cobra Adjacent (will appear in the Cobra Kai segments)

Tag = oc: james connors

Nicky Connors’ adopted son, one of Robby’s friends (due to them practically growing up together), and later friends with Miguel and Aisha, James doesn’t have any interest in karate and would sooner spend most of his time in the library, but is supportive of his mother when she decides to become co-sensei of a revived Cobra Kai and often cheers on his friends when he can.

Name: Lizzie McKinney

Fandom: Cobra Kai

Fancast: Robin Wright

Wip: gemma laura mckinney au

Tags = oc: lizzie mckinney

Gemma’s mother and Johnny’s aunt - though she’s only older than him by five years - who came looking for her older sister after decades of estrangement, finally finding her a few years before her death. After Laura’s passing she decided to stay in the Valley, and became something of a good influence on Johnny.

Name: Sarah Barnes

Fandom: Cobra Kai

Fancast: Shailene Woodley

Series: bad boy (no more) - hasn’t yet appeared

Tags = OC: Sarah Barnes, bad boy (no more)

Mike and Leah’s eldest child, she is currently studying for a law degree out of state, though is always happy to listen to Elaine or Alex’s problems, and returns home when she can as she misses her family, though she doesn’t always admit that. She’s distinctly unimpressed with the karate wars, and is already crafting plans if her siblings happen to get caught up in them.

Name: Alex Barnes

Fandom: Cobra Kai

Series: bad boy (no more) - recurring character

Tags = OC: Alex Barnes, bad boy (no more)

Appearance: 5′5, white, black curly hair, blue eyes

Mike and Leah’s youngest child and only son, he has no interest in karate at all, being much more into football and thinking that karate is a stupid thing. He also took his dad’s warnings to heart, disdaining Cobra Kai and backing up Elaine in the stories whenever she ends up affected by the events.

Name: Bridget Alvarez

Fandom: Supergirl

Fic: to live and rise (and hope again)

Tags = oc: bridget alvarez

One of Eliana’s adoptive aunts alongside her partner Hilda, they were both good friends of Lana Lang’s back on their Earth, and promised to look after Eliana if anything were to happen. Bridget is currently a councillor in Coast City as well as a metahuman with the ability to manipulate water, which is why she specialises in environmental issues as she can use her abilities to suss out where water is polluted or contaminated. She has always known that Eliana would one day become a hero, and though she worries for her is nonetheless determined to support her.

Name: Hilda Green

Fandom: Supergirl

Fic: to live and rise (and hope again)

Tags = oc: hilda green

Bridget’s long-term partner and Eliana’s other aunt, she works at one of Coast City’s museums, a job she chose because she has the ability to tell the history of an object just by touching it. She was one of the first to realise what was happening on her Earth and worries about Eliana overworking herself by becoming a superhero on top of her studies to become an advocate for extraterrestial rights, but like Bridget is also supportive and willing to help her niece whenever she can.

Name: Isla McGregor

Fandom: Supergirl

Fic: to live and rise (and hope again)

Tag = oc: isla mcgregor

Eliana’s best friend at college who is strongly pro-alien and equally determined to become an advocate for extraterrestial rights alongside her friend, she ends up being the first person outside of her aunts that Eliana reveals her powers, as well as (some) of her backstory, later becoming Eliana’s ‘girl in the chair’ and biggest supporter.

Name: Zhān Xiulan

Fandom: Firefly

Fancast: Xu Jinglei

Wip: sophia reynolds au

Tag = oc: zhān xiulan 

Sophia Reynolds mother, a former ranch worker on Shadow, and one of Mal Reynolds closest friends, she was convinced that her life would be ruined when the man she was dating and in love with turned out not to care about her at all and left her days before she found out she was pregnant - she wanted to keep her child but couldn’t see how. Then Mal offered to marry her and take on the blame, which she accepted, and they spent seven happy years co-parenting before Mal left for war. She has always hated the Alliance, and this was solidified after she and her daughter ended up being one of only a handful of survivors from Shadow after the Alliance firebombed it - and though she never said so to her daughter she was convinced Mal was dead as well, killed in combat, and is relieved when it turns out he’s alive.

Name: Emma Taylor

Fandom: Diagnosis Murder

Wip: sophie sloan au

Tags = OC: Emma Taylor

Appearance: 5′8, white, black hair, brown eyes

Sophie Sloan’s maternal aunt who stayed in her niece’s life even after her sister Erin left, and who has a strained relationship with Erin as a result as she thinks her abandonment of her daughter was appalling. She adores Sophie and has a good relationship with Steve and Mark, often stepping in to look after Sophie when they were busy due to their work, to the extent that Sophie even has a room there.

Name: Ksenia

Fandom: The Witcher

Fancast: Antonia Thomas

Fic: when a friendship is found (across the seas) - hasn’t yet appeared in person

Tag = OC: Ksenia

A bard who specialises in the violin and loves nothing more than creating music, and a good friend of Áine an Tordarroch’s, she also happens to be a Żar-ptak - an Ember (or fire) bird- and is a few centuries old who has seen kingdoms rise and fall, and who has a terrible feeling about the rising threat of Nilfgaard. There are very few Firebirds left on the Continent, as they were often hunted for their blessings and then blamed for any misfortunes, which is why she made the choice to have a human form several decades before, and she rarely taps into her full power. Only very few people know what she truly is, but she makes the decision to tell Áine after it’s clear the Islander doesn’t hold the same prejudices, given her strong friendship with the witcher Eskel.

Name: Lia Mayfield

Fandom: Uncharted

Wip: joanna mayfield au

Appearance: Brunette, brown eyes, 5′7

A Canadian with a degree in history who lectures at universities, Lia dated Sam Drake for several months in 1992 and was very much in love with him, but also realised that he wasn’t one to stay around - figuring that he wouldn’t want to be tied down with a kid, so she made the decision to part amiably from him in September of that year, despite being three months pregnant. She was, however, determined to keep the child - she got kicked out by her parents as a result, but her sister Sonya helped her out and she moved in with her, her brother-in-law Nicky, and her niece Sophia. She was a devoted mother, and always planned to tell Joanna more about her father at some point, but that day came sooner than expected when she fell gravely ill in 1996 and she asked Sonya to track down Sam, not wanting Joanna to be without a parent. She recovered and became friends with Sam again, but was devastated to find out he was killed on a job, as she still loved him. Since then, she has focused on her family and tried her best to make sure Joanna gets a legitimate job, not wanting her to go down the same path as her father.

Tagging: @shrinkthisviolet​ @dream-beyond-the-fantasy​ @vexic929​ @negative-speedforce​ @starstruckpurpledragon​

Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!

[dragonnarrative-writes]

Hi Dragon! I hope today is treating you well. :D For the Writer's Ask Game: (If you've already asked these, author's choice on skipping or picking a different question to answer.) 14. How do you write emotional scenes? Do you ever feel what the characters feel? Do you draw from personal experiences?

39. Share a snippet from a WIP(pet). (Sorry my brain needed that to rhyme and also I'm greedy for your writing.)

Hi Gemma! It's a beautiful Friday (and I am a horrible goose)!

14. I'm a very sensitive person, so when I'm reading or writing an emotional scene, I'm feeling it. I don't read angst without fluff because I will be wilted all damn day about it. Writing smut scenes does make me a little hot under the collar.

When I'm writing, I tend to start with what a character is thinking, because our thoughts lead to emotions. Why is a character excited, heartbroken, or blindingly horny? Then I'm thinking of what's going on in their bodies, how they physically feel. I build from there!

As for personal experience... some things yes, some things no. I haven't done a lot of the things I write about (Thank fuck, I would not do well in a Slasher situation), so there's very few one-to-one comparisons. But I do draw on my personal experiences to help me convey the characters' emotions.

This is actually a very tough question, and I'll be thinking about it for days!

39. A Snippet from a Wip(pet)!

Have some of the Exhibitionism prompt that can't seem to make up it's mind. Nothing too spicy!

John Price x Reader in her 40s

Your neighbor saw you masturbating through your window. You want to combust. You want to break your lease and move to Alaska. God, he���d told you, years ago now, that he could see into your bedroom from his office. You couldn’t swap rooms with your son, so you’d bought a reflective film for the window. Clever, you’d thought. And then John had come home from deployment, taken one look at your work from the courtyard, and said, “Looks good. And I’m not complaining at all, ma'am, but you should know those mirror films don't work at night.” You’d made a point to close your curtains after that, but John was so rarely home for more than a day or two that you’d been lax. You hated feeling shut in, would forgo curtains altogether if you lived out in the country alone. After the divorce, you’d picked this flat for the natural light. Why would you close your curtains? Well, they’re certainly closed now.

You know what? Have some of the original ramble (i talked about my process here) , so you can see some of the differences in my drafts. (This part is spicy.)

Okay, so: reader character is in her mid 40s, I've decided. Divorced mom of one kid who's gone off to college. She's super embarrassed when Price tells her he could see through her window.

---

And it's a nice day out, for once, and her neighbor is never home. So she leaves the curtains open when, after a shower, she luxuriates in bed with a rose toy and a good sized dildo and reminds herself that no one can do her like she can.

And Price, standing in his office, much harder than he planned on being, cannot help but wish that she'd left the window open so he could hear the way she moans. He should leave the room, should give her some privacy, but goddamn.

And remember, she's luxuriating. She's not worried about much of anything. She's got no where to be. So she gets herself off in a moderate amount of time. Gives herself a bit of a water break. And then she's right back to it after pulling up a spicy audio on her phone. It's one of her favorites, one she can really sink into.

Price, across the way, barely restrains himself from pulling his cock out in the middle of his office like he's ten years younger when he sees her arch into an orgasm. Almost comes in his pants when he sees her pull the dildo from herself. But the show is over, so he starts to shuffle out of room - slowly, so she won't notice the movement from the corner of her eye.

And then she picks up the rose toy again.

He still shuffles a little out of sight, but only far enough to pull up a chair.

Ask Game

[gemmahale]

I’ve found when I’m writing, I almost picture it like a play on the stage.

I’ve usually nailed down the tone of the scene first. I have a rough idea of what’s going to happen - usually general dialogue tone and a few key actions.

I block out the action first (A swings left hook, B dodges down and away). I add in speech and sounds as appropriate to the scene, usually between action shots. (I find they end up linked together with action because people are always moving.)

Then I add in flavor text (impact, smells, emotions) to slow the action down and give the reader a bit of a breather before the next bit of action.

Pacing is hard, but I’ve found ramping it up and then slowing “the camera” down with emotions really helps with keeping me engaged as a reader.

ok i have a question, for readers and writers

writers - do you have any tips or tricks around writing an action sequence (a scene that involves like running/fighting/intense movements, things like that)? what are you thinking about when you write an action sequence?

readers - what takes you out of an action scene? like, is there something that when you read it (like too much focus on the character's internal feelings for example), just bores you or takes you out of the moment?

[starlightswitch]

Sparked from a Match

(for Writer's Month day 7 prompts passion and tattoo parlor. And flame from the day before snuck in here as well I guess! Loosely connected sequel for my WIP The Transfers-- it comes up a few times that Jillian wants to go into the medical field. The prompt made me think of my answer years ago to a character question of which characters would get tattoos and what they would get, which sparked-- ha!-- this fic.)

It was the Olympics that gave Jillian the idea. At her grandparents’ with some of her cousins, squeezed onto the couch watching the synchronized diving, a conversation started about how many of the divers had tattoos of the Olympic rings and whether they would get tattoos if they were in the Olympics. There were some obvious yeses—Bryce, who had started getting tattoos as soon as he could do it without his parents’ permission and for whom it was more of a question of ‘where would there be room for him to put one and have it be noticeable’—and the obvious no of Nina who was always saying she would never get a tattoo.

Most of them were in the middle, not planning on getting a tattoo but saying they would do it for the huge achievement of getting to the Olympics. Which made Jillian think about the huge achievement she was heading for.

The obvious symbol would be a caduceus, the snake wrapped around a stick. (Not two snakes with wings. She’d had a professor who was very serious about the difference.) The more she thought about it, the more it felt a little too obvious. Did she really want to announce to anyone who saw her in public that she was in the medical field?

She liked the idea, though, if she could come up with something less obvious. And before the end of second year, she did—her graduation date.

She imagined it sometimes, as she went through Step 2 and third year and residency interviews. It started really feeling like she might do it when she got the name of a tattoo shop from another student, who’d just gotten a tattoo for her mom. She just needed to find some time between graduation and when things got crazy with moving to wherever she was moving to.

Before graduation was Match Day, when you found out where you were moving to. Some people’s families came to see them for it, or got on a video call with them when they found out. Jillian’s family let her find out in private and tell them later. She appreciated that. But it was sort of anti-climactic to just open the thing, find out where she was about to move to and start her career as a doctor… and then do nothing.

The medical school was having a event. She headed over there.

As she was looking for food—there had to be food, right?—she heard an excited chant: “First choice! First choice! First choice!” She turned toward it, saw a couple of girls she sort of knew in the same way she sort of knew most people in her class, and saluted them with a light fist pump and a “Whoo!”

“What about you?” said one of them.

Jillian gave a cheerful shrug. “Top three. And my top three were all kinda pros-and-cons honestly.”

“Nice, nice.”

She got pulled into the group a little, talking about not having family here to take them out to dinner, saying they should go out to dinner or something, drinks maybe.

“It’s so weird,” said Ivy, one of the ones whose name Jillian remembered. “I feel like I should feel something. Not that I’m not excited, but I’m not—It doesn’t feel like something just happened that determines the rest of my life.”

“It should feel more like… ceremonial.” Another girl, the one whose name Jillian didn’t remember, rubbed her face and set her chin in her hands. “It’s weird that graduation is the ceremonial thing when this is really the big day.”

Gemma said something about the pressure if they had to find out where they matched and if they matched in front of everyone, but Jillian barely heard it. Caught up in the moment, she said, “I was thinking about getting a tattoo. Maybe today’s the day.”

“Oh my gosh, you want to?” Gemma sounded caught in the moment too. “You think we can find somewhere? I’ll do it.”

“What would you get?” said the third girl.

“The date?” said Gemma, at the same time as Jillian was saying, “The date.” They grinned at each other.

“And maybe a match?” said Gemma.

“That seems a little bit extra.”

“I feel a little bit extra.”

 Ivy and the other girl tagging along, the other girl noncommittally and Ivy specifying she was just there for moral support, they went to the tattoo shop. They both decided to go with Roman numerals, and chose the same style, although Gemma, with a gleam in her eye, did indeed ask for a tiny match next to hers. “Are you sure?” she said, when Jillian lightly rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Ceremonial,” said Jillian. “And serious.”

“It’s very serious,” said Gemma, very seriously. “It represents the burning flame of my passion for the field of medicine.”

 The other girl snorted.

They both wanted their tattoos somewhere they wouldn’t be visible when they were dressed for work. Gemma picked quickly, one side of her lower back. Jillian didn’t want it somewhere she’d need a mirror to see it, so she thought about the side of her foot for a while, but she ended up choosing the side of her thigh. It would be visible in a swimsuit or with short enough shorts, and she could casually rest her hand over it whenever she wanted.

The other two watched as Jillian and Gemma got them done. “It doesn’t seem like it hurts that bad,” said the one girl.

“Or they’re way tougher than us,” said Ivy.

Jillian and Gemma looked at each other and shrugged. “It’s mildly annoying,” said Jillian.

“Worth it,” Gemma added.

“You know what? I’m going to do it.”

“Shayna!” Gemma grinned, and Jillian finally knew what the other girl’s name was.

“Not in my plans for today,” Shayna said on the way to dinner—they’d decided to do that too, and picked hibachi.

“Twenty-four hours ago we didn’t even have residency jobs,” said Gemma, hand reaching to her back. “Now we have that and tattoos. Well, three of us.” She threw a glance at Ivy.

Ivy tossed a hand, unfazed. “I could get one for the end of residency. Or the end of fellowship. Hell, passing Step Three. I have a long way to go.”

Gemma blew out a breath. “Thanks for the reminder?”

Jillian sort of elbowed her, their arms just brushing as they walked. In a ceremonial voice she said, “Through it all, may the flame of our passion for medicine burn as brightly as it does today.”

Gemma laughed, her hand reaching to her back once again.

---

2020 Day 7: The Accidents That Happen (hurt/comfort x FFF60 soft bones)

2021 Day 7: Her Own World (feather)

2022 Day 7: Kings of the Castle (flag + castle)

2023 Day 7: When Storms Arrive (vacation + in the mountains)

[pfhwrittes]

What's a soup worm that's been wheeling around in your brain stew lately that looks maybe ready to surface?

What part of your WIPs are you the most proud of from this week?

Gemma! Bore da, cariad! 💜

A nearly ready soup worm...? Uh, hm. I don't think any of the soup worms are ready yet 😅 I want them to be ready but this seems to be a lonnnnng slowwwwwww cook.

I feel like I've done a terrible job on my WIPs this week, aside from yelling at @syoddeye in their DMs about Preston "C'mere Lover Boyyyyy" Garvey and a non-binary Sole Survivor. So the part I'm most proud of doesn't actually belong to me at all, it's all Sy's wonderful angsty idea!

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