#have you heard of The Brassica Heresy

[scribefindegil]

authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love❤

Yayy! Thanks Mary! <3 After agonizing it for a while, my top 5:

The Real World (Mob Psycho 100, post-Mogami arc) is absolutely my favorite fic I've ever written. It's some of my best prose, I'm really pleased with how concise and focused I was able to keep it despite touching on so many characters, and it let me distill down a lot of my thoughts on the themes of the show and why it's so important to me. And I wrote it during the absolute worst stretch of the curse, painstaking sentence by painstaking sentence over the course of half a year. I am so so so proud of it.

Fisherman's Knot (Gravity Falls, post-canon fic focusing on the Stans, their deeply-entrenched mental health issues, and their eventual recovery. Also there are selkies.) At 104k words, the longest piece of writing I've ever finished. Writing it was a journey; I took a long break but I'm so happy and proud that I managed to come back and finish it and that there were still people who were as excited as I was to get to the end. The response to this fic blew me away; it started out largely as a coping mechanism to deal with my own poorly-treated mental illness and I feel really honored that my writing resonated with so many people dealing with similar things. I grew so much as a writer over the course of it. Both the big moments of catharsis--Stan's glitter and Ford's realization by the harbor--were things that were so powerful and electric in my head that I worried I wouldn't be able to put them down in words that did the feelings justice, but I did!

Bloom (Discworld, a Glorious 25th of May fic set a few years after Night Watch) Everyone who sets out to write a Discworld fic is undertaking an extreme act of hubris, because not only are you trying to emulate a specific writing style, you're trying to write like Terry Pratchett, which as we all know is basically impossible. Still, I think I hit some good resonant Discworldy notes in this little piece and really nailed the Themes I was going for. Periodically the Tumblr post version gets a little burst of notes and it always makes me really happy that people are enjoying it.

First And Final Orders (Mob Psycho 100, Dimple character study) Hi. Have you heard of ring composition? I love ring composition. It is my single favorite literary device (and I love a LOT of literary devices), so I had to include one of my fics that makes heavy use of it. I also love pointing at a piece of media and going "Hey. Hey have you thought about how there's kind of some Discworld themes here? What if we thought about the Discworld themes together?" And ALSO i love DIMPLE!!! I hope this fic helps explain why.

Casualties (Gravity Falls, missing scene from the finale) So the reason this fic makes this list isn't so much its quality (though I do still really like it!) but the fact that it was my first-ever completed fanfiction. I'd idly poked at the idea of writing fic a couple times before but never made much progress. I hadn't actually done any creative writing for years at that point. I came to fandom late due to a combination of being scared of the internet and, when I did check out my real-life friends' fandom blogs, feeling like everything was so focused on shipping that there would be no place for me and the kinds of stories I cared about. Gravity Falls changed that. I'd made friends and felt like part of a community for the first time. I'd read fanfic that I loved and that focused on the sorts of relationships I really cared about. And so finally I decided that even though it still felt really scary, maybe I would try my hand at actually writing and posting a fic of my own.

360,000 words and 54 works later, I still think it was a pretty good idea.

[scribefindegil]

The Brassica Heresy: Prologue

Ask and ye shall receive! Everyone was so excited about the Tsubomi-centric broccoli horror idea that I’m turning it into a full fic. You can learn a little more about this AU (including a bonus ficlet from later in the story!) in my "Heretic AU" tag. 

I'm trying to keep chapters for this one shorter and punchier (although this prologue is a baby chapter; the rest will be longer), so hopefully it's easier for me to update despite my curse.

Read the prologue here or on AO3!

On a warm November night, Tsubomi found herself wandering downtown towards the Divine Tree, caught up in the crush of the crowd, to see what all the fuss was about–

No.

On a warm November night, Tsubomi made the pilgrimage towards the Divine Tree, caught up in the throng of fellow worshipers. She smiled as the voice of Psycho Helmet-sama echoed through her mind, telling her that a second Founder was approaching, and she applauded as her childhood friend entered the Tree to converse with God. She watched as the sky was illuminated by branching lightning in familiar colors, and then with explosions in rainbow hues as the Tree defended itself from a speck that shone like gold in the dying sunlight, and–

No.

On a warm November night, Tsubomi made the pilgrimage towards the Divine Tree, caught up in the throng of fellow worshipers. She smiled as the voice of Psycho Helmet-sama echoed through her mind, reminding her and the rest of the mob that he and he alone was the God and Founder of their faith. She watched as the sky was illuminated with branching lightning in colors that reminded her of nothing at all, and then with explosions in rainbow hues as the Tree defended itself from a speck that shone like gold in the dying sunlight, and when the last echoes had died away she heard the voice of the Founder again.

A great threat to their happiness had been defeated. The city would prosper now. The Divine Tree would prosper now. The degenerate world would change, as their hearts had been changed, to become a perfect vessel for happiness. Tsubomi clapped and cheered and smiled with the rest of them.

She fell into step with a boy from her neighborhood as she wandered back home. The two of them used to play together as children, although it had been a long time since they’d spoken. She remembered him as standoffish, someone she’d only really been friends with because their families encouraged it. It could be isolating, being an only child like her. Like him.

But that didn’t matter now. Now they had the Divine Tree. Now neither of them would have to feel lonely ever again.

She smiled at him as he turned off towards his own house and walked on, the dying weeds that sprouted from the sidewalk catching at her shoes.

Tsubomi opened the curtains in her bedroom so she could sleep with the Divine Tree watching over her.

She was happy, of course. Everyone under the auspices of the Divine Tree was happy.

No.

No.

No.

On a cold November morning, Tsubomi wakes up with her head clouded with memories that feel like dreams and dreams that feel like memories. She swallows an aspirin before brushing her teeth in the hope that it will dispel the fog that seems to have settled over her mind.

Her curtains are open. She pulls them shut; she’s tired of seeing that broccoli everywhere. Of all the fads for Seasoning City to get obsessed with, this has to be the strangest. The celebration last night had been . . . fun, as far as she can remember, but it feels like the city is getting a little carried away. Her blouse from the day before smells like vegetation and dust.

Tsubomi shakes her head. These people are just enjoying themselves. It’ll be like every craze that sweeps through the school; one day everyone will get bored with it and move on, just like she has. All she has to do is wait, and everything will go back to normal.

The grass outside her house is wilting when Tsubomi leaves for school. Her neck prickles like she’s being watched, but when she looks around there’s nothing.

She picks her way over the fresh cracks in the sidewalk.

In the distance, the Divine Tree looms over the city.