#havingbeenbreathedout

[sapphoshands]

For the excellent fic-writing meme (and apologies if some of these are repeats):

44 (modified): What mistakes do you keep making no matter how many times [you or a beta identify it as an issue]?

26. Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

13. What’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

44 (modified): What mistakes do you keep making no matter how many times [you or a beta identify it as an issue]?

hahaha wellllll i'm sure my betas would love it if i dialled down my predilection for exuberant punctuation! i like to think that i fall into the category of 'those who know the rules well enough can break them' and it is generally a conscious choice (when appropriate for the fandom), but certainly i do get called up on it regularly and usually my beta is correct to do so. i can tend to forget that my audience isn't in my head and it's useful to prioritise function over form.

i also tend to get quite lazy about clichés in the first draft, but mostly that's because i get stuck in the writing and trust they'll get pulled up at the beta stage so i can work out what i actually wanted to say.

26: Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

i went and skimmed back a couple of pages on my ao3 and i don't know that a lot of my fics are really what i would call wild rides? idk, maybe they are! the one i think probably most closely fits that description is Wagatha Christie, a Ted Lasso fic from a couple years ago, because it's at least got a bit of a mystery to it, some redirects, etc. i'm still pleased with it (although i chose a random player for a minor role and his suitableness was quite thoroughly jossed in the subsequent seasons, alas - i think sometimes i ought ot go back and re-write that bit) and i enjoyed getting comments from people who said they got caught up in the mystery!

13: What’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

one that i always try to follow is the advice to start in the middle. i think especially because i'm writing fic in order to spend more time with the characters i love, i have a tendency to put in way more detail than necessary and to start earlier than necessary. and again, you know, that's part of why people read fic, too, so it's not exactly the worst offense i could commit. but i am trying to be more deliberate about choosing where to begin my stories and what details are actually going to contribute to the narrative i want to tell.

thanks for the asks! ask me more from get to know your fic writer!

[dadvans]

5 boring things!

I was tagged by @havingbeenbreathedout to say Five Boring Things about myself. Thank you!

My most recent prized possession is a pair of MH40 wireless headphones in brown leather. I've been coveting them for years and finally bit the bullet and they're absolutely life-changing for office life + 3 hour commutes

I enjoy World War 2 history in a straight boomer dad kind of way

My dream job would be working at McMurdo doing literally anything during Antarctic winters

I am genuinely terrified of starfish

I collect airline safety manuals

Tagging: @thekookster (who has supplied me with so many wonderful airline safety manuals), @rcmclachlan, @newtkelly, @pnyng, @screamlet, @alchemistc, @door and anyone else who would like to :)

[theodoradove]

basically i need to find a trivia night where they are asking questions as if it is 1940 and then i would do very well

(@havingbeenbreathedout i think you would also be successful on this imagined anachronistic trivia night)

[sophia-helix]

Tagged by @sammaggs to say 5 Boring Things About Myself

1. I really like Cream of Wheat

2. I was supposed to skip second grade, but didn't

3. Got my license at 22, after college, and have been in only two minor accidents in the two-plus decades years since, neither my fault

4. I know my 4 top favorite movies for sure but can never settle on what's fifth

5. I was Lady Lovely Locks for Halloween when I was 8, because I was obsessed with the doll; my aunt sewed me the costume with the ribbon criss-crossed bodice and I was so happy

Tagging @heck @havingbeenbreathedout @drawsaurus @telesilla @ziusik and anyone else who'd like to play

[violsva]

What I want is an extremely Wodehousian series of short stories about a young lady who used to be Incredibly Efficient and Go-Getting and Businesslike and Problem-Solving at work and in her personal life and for all her friends and was also deeply deeply anxious … and then realized that she wasn’t actually getting anything out of that for herself (except perhaps a sizable nest egg in stocks) and decided to just Stop.

So she quit her job and shocked all her friends and family and now she spends her days sitting in coffee shops people-watching and never worries about anything.

Except that occasionally her friends still show up and tell her their problems, and she says, “Why don’t you break up with him?” and they say, “I can’t, I’m in love!” so she says, “Well, why don’t you do x, then?” and they say, “I can’t do x!” so she says, “Well, then don’t come crying to me when consequences happen.”

And they sniff and say, “You’ve become very cold, Isabel,” and go off in a huff, and she orders another croissant.

And then a week later they come crying to her because consequences have happened, and she sighs and pats their hand and then writes a brief letter to the young man’s mother and Everything Is Resolved.

I feel like that formula would take a long time to get old.

Who are my local Wodehousians? @havingbeenbreathedout, @unrealthings, @sanguinarysanguinity, @theodoradove, @neverwhere

[tiltedsyllogism]

for fic wip meme: 'wayne is not okay actually' because i'm apparently in a torment that little stoner kind of mood as of late.

(from this fic ask meme)

this is only a few days old (and a prime example of how making a you-have-to-finish-something-first rule never works.) It comes from a combination of two things: 1) @cicada-circuitry's Molly/Margo fic (or rather the tags on and comment conversation about that fic) about how it's quite possible and reasonable that some(/all) of Molly's extracurricular relationships might in fact be a point of tension between her and Wayne, and

2) ongoing conversations with @havingbeenbreathedout about how one of the strengths of FAM's characterizations is that we get to see (most of) its major characters engaging in self-deception about what the world is like or their role in it

they cross-pollinated in my head in a way that has me wondering about the kinds of stories Wayne tells himself about himself, about Molly, and about their marriage in order to manage any bad feelings he might have about her relationships with others. And also about how willing he is to own up to having those bad feelings at all! Because Wayne is amazing and all, but none of us are exempt from self-deception.

Anyway, here is everything I have that isn't notes a bit of dialogue. It's Wayne PoV, set around 1986, and the premise is that a) Margo and Molly have a long-term casual arrangement, b) Margo is becoming deeply invested in Sergei, c) Molly has just picked up on that and is feeling jealous and d) she and Wayne are discussing that. Below the cut:

----

Wayne follows her into the darkened kitchen, where she’s staring into the fridge. “Okay,” he says slowly. “Does it sound like it’s going in that direction?”

“Fuck if I know,” Molly says. “Probably not. You know what Margo’s like.”

Wayne doesn’t really know what Margo’s like. Wayne’s met her a handful of times but she’s always distant, always crisp. And there’s no way she’s like that with Molly, at least not all the time. Most of what Wayne knows about Margo are facts he could learn from a newspaper or the things he invented back before he took responsibility for his own fears and stopped letting himself brood about her. So no, he really doesn’t know, and it annoys him that Molly doesn’t seem to understand that. But that’s not a helpful response, so Wayne nods to himself in the dark, dialing down his heartbeat, softening his tone before it comes out of his mouth.

“So then what are you upset about?” he asks. 

“Leave it the fuck alone, Wayne.” Molly doesn’t turn around. “You don’t understand.”

“That’s right, Molly, I don’t understand.” His voice is getting higher, which means he’s probably upset and should probably stop talking, but he doesn’t do that. “Because last I checked your thing with Margo was, was casual and not –” 

“Not what?” Molly asks. She closes the fridge and turns around. “Not what, Wayne? You can’t fuck someone for seven years and not…”

Not what? he wants to ask. But that would be childish, so he waits.

“And not care about what they feel.” Molly has folded her arms and looked away. As if he could even see her face in their dark kitchen anyway. She can’t ever look at him when she says something important.

“Well that’s funny, Molly, because you’ve been fucking me a lot longer than that and in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m having some feelings about this too. Do you care about that?”

[sarahthecoat]

@havingbeenbreathedout possibly relevant to your interests.

[doctornerdington]

I was tagged by @oldshrewsburyian to list current, recent, and future reads. Thank you!

Current: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (it’s very fun) and Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative by Jane Alison (I’m taking it slow).

Recent: of course now my mind goes blank. Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue was recent, and it was lovely. The Casey Plett book On Community was very good. I dipped into it over Christmas.

Future: I just put Burial Rites by Hannah Kent on my list and it might be next. I bought Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice last month and immediately LOST it, so annoying. I feel stupid buying it again but I reallllly want to read it so I probably will.

I tag @unreconstructedfangirl @sassy1121 @hubblegleeflower @havingbeenbreathedout @pennypaperbrain @tiltedsyllogism @drgrlfriend @semiprofessionalmom @hedwig-dordt

[destinationtoast]

get to know me meme?

tagged by @multishipperpirateking

last song: "Past The Mission" by Tori Amos (I'm going to see her in concert in a few months! which I think I last did in ~2003... if anyone wants to rec me their fave songs of hers from the past 20 years, feel free XD)

last show: Just finished Yellowjackets S1 with HAMTACO (which we liked many aspects of but were overall disappointed by; not sure we'll keep watching)

currently watching: The Last of Us (love it; have cried so very much); Shrinking (liking it more with every episode, but don't fully adore it except Harrison Ford); ST:VOY; rewatching BtVS and ST:LD

currently reading: Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice -- the show got me on a reread kick! :D Last time I read the series, there were only 4 or 5 books, so I'm looking forward to reading some new-to-me Vampire Chronicles soon, too. (I'm also 5-25% into about seven other books, and I think I'll abandon most of them. Having a lot of trouble getting hooked by new stuff at the moment.) A fanfic I am currently enjoying is "to put the world between us" (a cherik actor AU) by @x-populuxe .

current obsession: Ted Lasso, still. :) I'm tbh a bit terrified of S3, because the last time a show I was this into came out with a new season, it was Sherlock, and that was a massive disappointment for me (both in terms of canon and in terms of resulting fandom drama). But I'm nonetheless also excited for the new episodes and the new fanworks they'll hopefully inspire -- and I'm happy to be writing fic again, thanks to two seconds of inspiration from the trailer, lol. (Edit: also still obsessed about the differences between F/F, F/M, and M/M, and looking forward to posting a new chapter about dark fic & related tropes in the not too distant future.)

no pressure tags: @anonsally , @shinysherlock , @wildwren , @havingbeenbreathedout , @rythyme , @bakerstmel , @nottonyharrison , @unreconstructedfangirl , @solrosan , @elizabethminkel , @b-a-n-d-e-r , @milarca , anyone else who wants to do it!

[amethystineprose]

@havingbeenbreathedout: #the cure for anything is salt water#tears sweat or the sea

[sapphoshands]

Last line meme

Rules: In a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words. Or as many as you feel like.

tagged for this by @havingbeenbreathedout - thanks! i have not been doing any fannish writing for longer than i really care to reflect on, yikes, but the last coherent line in something i would actually call a wip is:

Siuan smells of campfire and of horse; Moiraine smiles briefly before forcing her face back to neutrality.

i am also not tagging this many people but will pick on @sapphostistocking @fuel-prices @ylizam and @zulufic, you're welcome

[violsva]

I was tagged by @havingbeenbreathedout to post recent, current, and future reading. Unfortunately it is the middle of January, when winter seems eternal and focus nonexistent. However, it occurred to me as I said that that the middle of January is certainly better than the beginning of January, so there's that!

Recent: The last thing I finished at work was a collection of E. F. Benson's ghost stories. I've been reading a lot of Edwardian ghost stories recently and it's just so nice watching terrible things happen to near respectable academics while I wait for the printer to go off. Benson has some interesting interactions with modern technology (his modern) but an annoying tendency to try to explain the metaphysics. I prefer M. R. James.

I also read the most recent installment of the further adventures of Madame C—, which was excellent as usual. In audio there was Dead Man's Ransom by Ellis Peters--I find her work very one-note, but it's a note I really want to hear sometimes.

I have also been reading a bunch of RWRB fanfic. (I skimmed the novel this summer because the gifsets were hot but it really isn't my preferred tropes.) From the outside, it appears to be good in direct proportion to its smuttiness.

Current: At work I am now going through Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner, which I am enjoying as much as one can enjoy anything in January. It is kind of amusing how many of the "rules" of modern fiction writing it flat out has never heard of and doesn't care about. I do find it somewhat stunning that Warner wrote this particular novel when she was only just over 30.

I have just started Time Was by Ian McDonald, which I hoped would be a gay version of This Is How You Lose the Time War, and it looks like it may even live up to that.

I am halfway through the audiobook of The Intrigue by Marion Chesney (aka M. C. Beaton), which is nice enough, but I don't think I'll feel the need to continue the series. Especially as the narrator is just okay.

Future: My hold on Paladin's Faith by T. Kingfisher will hopefully come in by the end of the month. Other than that, I should probably see if I can focus better on nonfiction right now.

But I also have a skip-the-line copy of Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher for a week. I don't know if I'm in the best place to appreciate it but maybe it'll be a nice counterweight.

Tagging: The last five mutuals to interact with my posts were @tiltedsyllogism, @edenfalling, @unrealthings, @consultingpiskies (hi sweetheart!), and @oulfis.

[tiltedsyllogism]

10 Characters from 10 Fandoms

Thanks for the tag @gordopickett ! ...I think. I always tie myself into knots trying to parse out the criteria for these sorts of things. But here is one version of this list:

Toby Ziegler, The West Wing

Emily Prentiss, Criminal Minds

Dr. Elizabeth Macmillan, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries

John Watson, BBC Sherlock

Carol Peletier, The Walking Dead

President Laura Roslin, Battlestar Galactica

Captain James Flint, Black Sails

Father Paul Hill, Midnight Mass

Deborah Vance, Hacks

Margo Madison, For All Mankind

I am tagging (in two batches, so the tags work):

@masked-alias, @urbanhymnal , @fireandsoup , @havingbeenbreathedout, @isalabells ,

@naturaliseme , @orciny , @destinationtoast , @mercurialkitty and @jennamacaroni

[fansplaining]

Episode 144: Writing Women

In Episode 144, “Writing Women,” Elizabeth and Flourish celebrate Femslash February by talking to @havingbeenbreathedout, a longtime f/f fic and meta writer. They discuss her route into fandom through queer female erotica, fandom’s longstanding biases towards male bodies, what types of characters get to be “default” vs “political,” and the role desire can play in reading and writing.

Click through to listen or read the full transcript!

[moonblossom]

pillowprincesstonystark replied to your post: “You guys I am fucking *livid*. I just had the worst possible...”:

Holy fuck I’m sorry you had to deal with that asshat

havingbeenbreathedout replied to your post: “You guys I am fucking *livid*. I just had the worst possible...”:

wowwwwwwwwwwwww. some people!!

faffhrdleiber replied to your post: “You guys I am fucking *livid*. I just had the worst possible...”:

What the actual. So sorry you had to deal with that.

Thank you <3 Like, I’ve had my knowledge questioned here before but this was just so mind-bogglingly blatant and douchey...

[tyrannosaurus-trainwreck]

fursasaida replied to your post: havingbeenbreathedout: tyrannosaurus-trainwreck ...

is this whole thing a product of all the posts about how much writers absorb comments through their skin for soul-energy that are constantly circulating on this site? like, i have seen so MANY posts about encouraging people to comment, or about navigating commenting etiquette at such a minute level, that this seems like a kind of unavoidable development

Entirely possible?  It’s also possible that it’s the result of kids growing up with really invasive social media platforms and apps that feed the engagement habit by telling you who checked out your page, record every goddamn thing you do online to snitch on you to your parents or remind you of it later, etc.  Seeing high-profile social media shitstorms where people with a lot more reach and status than them “get in trouble” with their own social group for a non-response probably doesn’t help, either.

And it makes sense to encourage commenting--AO3 only lets you kudos a fic once, but (I think, it might be old info) the hit-counter bumps up every time you click on a new chapter, and certainly every time you access a fic.  If you really, really liked a story, sticking an “I really liked this story!” at the end of as many chapters as you feel moved to is a nice way to show the author that doesn’t leave them ballparking reception based on a kudos/hit ratio that keeps dropping every time they add a chapter. 

So that sensible, nice thing that you could do for an author if you like their story can slide in under someone’s bullshit radar and metastasize into “If you don’t actively do the nice thing, that’s the same as being a jerk.”  Which it obviously isn’t, but if you’ve never posted anything of your own and are already unsure of the norms around responding, it’s easy to tweak a little bit and assume everyone’s staring at you--yes, you, the person who stopped commenting halfway through like an asshole--and that you should say something before the author takes their ball and goes home.