#i actually have chapter 2 in my drafts like 85% done

[redo-rewind-if]

Hi all! I've decided that since it'll likely be at least a couple of months before I can get the next update out, that'd I'd do short weekly progress reports to let you know how things are going!

These reports will be pretty informal. I don't like to do word count, since it can get tricky with all the different paths, some of which are just variants of another. So instead, I decided to do estimated percentages of how much is done. You'll see what I mean below.

Next Update (Chapter 3):

Intro Scene (if not on music fest route): 100%

Music Fest Routes (Solo, V, and Amara): 85%

Club Pyre Path: 5% (mostly just in outline phase, some written)

August Part 2 Electric Boogaloo: 0% (not started)

Avoid Death (Eventually?): 0% (not started)

Work Time! (End of Chapter): 0% (short outline, not started)

As you can see, there's still quite a lot left to do. I blame the music festival for that entirely, it's become somewhat of a beast in my drafts. Why did I think adding so many paths was a good idea?? Oh well, I'm committed now lol.

And as for those of you not on the music fest path, you'll actually get the option to go too! Just for fun the day before you're meant to scope out the club, and with not nearly as much content as the main fest path. Still worth checking out tho!

That about sums it up! But, of course, if you have any questions, feel free to drop an ask! Thank you!

[meanlesbean]

Chapter commentary

are people interested in seeing my chapter commentary for Cadence of a Legacy? idk. I'm posting it anyway. voila.

Chapter 1 notes are longer than the others because I included more detail about the planning of the fic. Anyway, here there be: musings on family and brotherhood and how it shows up in linked universe fanworks, Hyrule as an arsonist, Wild's economy, and more info about card games than anyone else probably cares about. minor totk spoilers about one sidequest but nothing plot related (if you need, skip the bullet that starts "pre-totk release".) Here we go:

Chapter 1 - The Woods Between

I am not joking about having a phone note that says “making peace with your inner child when your inner child has physically manifested and wants to cause problems on purpose”. I would include a screenshot of said note, but then you would all see how long I have been toying with this idea and that’s too embarrassing

IMO, there is an astounding lack of fic focusing on the relationship between Time and Twilight even though they are the only ones who interact in game canon. And I’ve read every good Time-centric fic probably a dozen times. So unfortunately that meant I had to go write my own. Unfortunately the plot that I came up with doesn’t work with Time (or Mask) as the POV character, so it evolved into a Twilight-centric fic as well. 

The bones of this chapter were mostly written in a notebook last year at my terrible job when I had a desk in the corner and nothing to do 85% of the time. Large parts of the set up of the chapter remain the same from this draft, with even a select few of the lines staying the same word for word. But the handwritten version, which covered all of Chapter 1 and parts of Chapter 2, was only about 7 pages front and back (rip to the 11k monster it became)

Literally I never would have posted this fic if I hadn’t read the the FMA fic series demon alchemist and realized that the reason I hated my draft so much was because the narrative voice was too impersonal

So I started working on this fic again last fall with a lot more attention paid to establishing a clear voice, and I finally started making solid progress, to the point where I made it a goal to share it on AO3, which I have not done in a long long time

Hyrule’s missing fingers are a reference to the demon alchemist series btw. I do imagine he lost them from an enemy’s throwing ax or mace. Twilight complaining about the number of enemies with throwing weapons is also me complaining about how hard Zelda II is. fucking Dairas. 

Other fic inspiration includes: Call Them Brothers, for getting me thinking about situations in which Warriors doesn’t know that Time is the kid he fought with in the war, and more generally, Sinnatious’ LU and LOZ fics for inspiration on Time’s voice. 

I cannot tell you how much time I spent rewriting and reworking the first half of the chapter. Honestly writing that first part was just like. Agonizing. Nothing was working for so long. Every time I tried fixing a problem, I created two more. I was very close to cutting out the scene of Twilight scouting and the camp shenanigans and skipping to Twilight meeting Mask, but then it felt like everything went way too quick. I was very relieved when people liked the wrestling scenes because that whole section had me tearing my hair out. The things that kept me going were spite and also how desperate I’ve been to get back into writing. Literally that one defunctland tweet. 

In contrast, the second half of the chapter (everything from the Epona grooming scene on) came so easy. All of the latter stuff was written and edited within like 2 weeks. My favorite scene from this chapter actually ended up being that part with Twilight and Time taking care of Epona. 

More specific notes:

My take on Twilight’s aversion/distrust of magic is that he has a really strong sense for it, but he doesn’t have much of a knowledge base of how magic works. So this results in Twilight frequently getting a lot of information that he can’t make sense of, and it really fucking freaks him out. 

I know fandom likes to characterize Wild as the group arsonist, but I think Hyrule would be just as big if not a bigger arsonist, which was why I had him be the one to suggest using fire. If you want to uncover all the hidden items/heart pieces in the OG Zelda without a guide or walkthrough, you have to burn so many trees. Like, if you are ever stuck in that game and don’t know where to go next, 70% of the time your solution is either bombs or fire. 

I played ten thousand rounds of “should their titles (ie. rancher, captain, etc) be lowercase or capitalized?” while writing this. I know people usually have them call each other their fandom names, but tbh that always throws me off just a little, even though I 100% get why people do it because good lord it would be easier.

I feel like a lot of LU works (speaking generally about the fandom output as a whole, not about any particular fic) leans heavily into the emotional support and comradery aspect of the chain as family, and does not include nearly enough of like. annoying each other on purpose and play violence and rubbing each others’ faces in the dirt. which is a big reason for why I kept the wrestling scene.

Maybe it’s because me and my family members were little demons but like. I have brothers and mostly boy cousins, and a solid 60% of our time as kids/teens was spent playing some variation of King of the Rock. I appreciate the found family softness, and there will definitely be a lot of that in this fic, but my experience with siblinghood includes a lot of chasing each other around with wiffle ball bats and trying to strangle each other. The Links are brothers! and sometimes that means that you will try to ruin your brother’s whole day just because you are mildly bored. 

Warriors and the teens are playing Rummy. I imagine that the group plays a lot of card games, and since I grew up playing tons of cards, I have put way too much thought into all of this. Other popular games among the group (depending on how many people they have) probably include Texas (Ordon?) hold em, whist, knockout, BS, gin rummy, and hearts. Hearts can get contentious with them though because you can engage in coordinated sabotage. Four and Legend are not allowed to be partners in Whist because they’re the only ones who can count all the cards in play. There is a near-unanimous group ban on Spoons because it got too violent.  

Legend having heterochromia is inspired by an Oracles manga panel redraw someone posted on here years ago that I cannot for the life of me find again

I have this headcanon that Wild, in comparison to the rest of the gang, is absurdly rich but does not really realize it because he just does not have a ton of shit to actually spend money on. This is based on the ridiculous amount of rupees/gems I have on my 100% botw file and also my own musings on the state of Hyrule’s economy post-calamity. Mostly I think that post-calamity Hyrule does not have super discrete classes like most other Hyrules do, and that a luxury economy does not really exist. 

Pre-totk release I actually thought: okay, Wild has a lot of money, but his luxury purchases are limited to like fancy armor, which is directly related to doing his job as the hero. It’s not like most other eras where you can go build wealth by buying up a ton of land. And then totk came around and let you go buy a sizable swatch of land. I still think my original idea mostly holds true, if only because the monster-free areas of Hyrule where someone could safely make a land claim still seem to be pretty limited (even the totk house has monster camps right across the road from it). 

Mask is not dressed in the green tunic for two main reasons, one of which I’ll keep to myself because it felt way too spoilery when I wrote it down. Most importantly, it shows that time has passed since Majora’s Mask. In fact, in chapter 3 we'll learn that it's been just about a year since then. The Kokiri tunic is no more because he grew out of it :( 

I didn’t find this reference until after publishing, but I imagine he’s dressed more or less like this. Except he has his green cap and a leather belt, baldric, and boots.

[unspeakable3]

self-celebration!

doing this bc @broomsticks asked me to 💛 (and also bc it's actually v nice?? @broomsticks you have the best ideas!!)

things i've done this month so far:

✨ wrote 25k words in total, including: -- initial rough drafts of my next batch of chapters for stars shine more darkly (ch.13-18!!) -- a bit of plotting for [untitled professor black] fic -- a bit of plotting for [untitled first wizard war] fic -- a bit of daydreaming for [untitlted helen of sparta??????] fic

✨ replied to some comments!! (i love love love receiving comments but i sometimes get v overwhelmed when it comes to replying to them. i'm trying to get better at this!)

✨ kept on top of replying to my fan-life and work-life and real-life messages 💛 (these things overwhelm me too)

✨ had a v successful collection launch for work!!

✨ got offered a v cool work commission & get to meet the person it's been commissioned for and they're one of my favourite people and it's all very exciting AHH

✨ started designing my next collection for work which is also v cool if i may say so myself 😌

✨ not only survived my mum coming to stay for 4 days, but actually enjoyed it!! we had a big explore and ate fish & chips and excellent chocolate and also did some charity shop shopping (i bought 6 new books oops) and ate excellent souvlaki

✨ went out for pancake day and ate savoury pancakes even though i was a bit scared and i wouldn't order them again but at least i tried a new thing

✨ got a hole in one at crazy golf!!!

✨ bought some lovely new bedding and kitcheny bits and bobs inc. replacing the oven gloves that we've been meaning to replace for ~3 years but kept putting off

✨ read 5 books (2 plays, 1 collection of short stories, 2 novels) + am 45-85% through 4 more (3 novels, 1 childrens book)

✨ sewed half a pyjama shirt

✨ doesn't technically fit the brief BUT today is the 12 year anniversary since i met my husband and that feels like a nice thing to celebrate too (he keeps calling it our 'barniversary' bc we met in a barn) (technically it was a byre but i'll let him have it) (no we are not cows)

tagging anyone who wants to play and/or needs a bit more self-appreciation in their life (that means YOU if you're reading this 💛💛)

[prism-rush]

Prism Rush Main Story Episode 1 Chapter 1 (King of Prism)

Beyond the Rainbow!! -sparkling acceleration to spring-

Episode 1: The Challenging Road to Revival #1

Translators note:  I have skipped over the first two episodes “Digest” and “Prologue” because they are largely just a recap of the first King of Prism movie, and have gone straight to “Episode 1.″ So, this begins right after Shin has performed Over the Sunshine at the end of the first movie. This story ultimately links the first movie with Pride the Hero.

Oh, Yukinojo references a Kabuki show in this one. I didn’t get the joke. If you got the joke, let me know.

Shin: The future of Edel Rose is up to us....

Yukinojo: With everyone’s feelings abreast, we must embark on a new journey.

Yu: And our powers combined we’ve got to revive Edel Rose...!

Shin: Yeah!!! Alright, let’s do it!

Leo: Hey, Shin-kun?

Shin: Hm? Leo-kun, what is it?

Leo: About what we’re gonna do... what should we do?

Shin: Um... about that.....

Kakeru: Shin-chawan.... could it be that you don’t have a plan?

Shin: Umm... well..... yeah!

Taiga: Seriously?! How can you be so straightforward about even that!

Minato: Well, you have to admit Shin’s honestly is one of his good points.

Shin: I’m sorry....

Minato: Don’t apologize! From here on out we’ll decide what to do together. 

Shin: Yeah!

Taiga: If it’s gonna get all lovey-dovey I’m out of here. 

Minato: Oh no you don’t. We’re all going to figure this out together.

Taiga: You guys can just decide whatever you want.

Minato: But it’s about all of us! So. Let’s. Talk. It. Out. Together. .....Right?

Leo: Minato-san... even though he’s smiling, his eyes are scary. 

Yukinojo: He’s torturing him with kindness....

Taiga: O-okay!! I got it! We’ll talk!

Minato: Yes, yes. Good boy. Now, Ichijo, where do you think we should start?

Shin: Um... well, I want more people to find out about Prism Shows! I want everyone to know how much the world is shining!

Kakeru: Well, how about we do a spectacular spectacle, like WOW! We can rent out a hotel in Macao. Oh, and call the president!

Yu: Sure. Like we have the money for that. The one who has money around here is...

Yukinojo: A show that will captivate everyone’s eyes. Leo, how about we do  Father and Son Lion Dance?

Leo: I don’t think so! Twirling like that will make my head spin!

Yukinojo: I see. Too bad.

Kakeru: It seems the princess of the Kabuki world has some... different ideas...

Leo: Let’s do a show in animal pajamas! I’m sure the kids will love it!

Taiga: NO WAY IN HELL.

Kakeru: Well, Taiga, do you have any bright ideas?

Taiga: To get lots of people.... Ah-ha! A festival!

Shin: Oh? A festival?

Taiga: A festival is the best way to bring people together! If we give out rice cakes lots of people will come! 

Yu: I don’t really think people care that much about rice cakes these days...

Taiga: What. Don’t you start talking shit about rice cakes. 

Minato: Boys, no fighting. 

Kakeru: How about we cover an Over the Rainbow song? They are so popular it will have lots of appeal. 

Yu: No, wait...! 

Shin: What is it, Yu-kun?

Yu: I am the all knowing all powerful Zeus! I’ll show you something even Over the Rainbow can’t do!

Kakeru: For example...?

Yu: That is.... well... I’m still thinking!

Taiga: UGH. Just like I thought, this is getting us nowhere. 

Kakeru: It seems we all have different business tactics...

Shin: But, no! We have to work together....

Yukinojo: I’d like to be alone to think for a while.

Leo: Oh! Yuki-sama wait!

Yu: Ah, dammit. What should we do. 

Minato: Maybe it would be better if we all took some time to think. 

Shin: ....Okay....

(Shin goes outside.)

Shin: Nobody can agree on anything. How are we going to get anything done when we’re all so different. I have no idea what we should do...!!! 

Shin: Ah.... I’m yelling at a river. ....Huh?

Louis: Shin. Long time no see.

Shin: Louis! We both ended up here again. 

Louis: I came here because I wanted to see you. Ehehe.

Shin: I have to do my best for Edel Rose. But everyone has different opinions and nobody’s getting along. Oh... what should we do... Ah! I’m sorry! You have nothing to do with this! I shouldn’t be taking it out on you. 

Louis: Shin, do you like Prism Shows?

Shin: Well... yeah, of course I do! I saw my first Prism Show because of you, Louis. My heart was thumping and it was like my body was wrapped in such happiness! Everything around me was bright, as if to tell me, the world is always shining! 

Louis: ........

Shin: Louis? You staring at me like this is making me kind of embarrassed... 

Louis: You just look so radiant whenever you’re talking about Prism Shows. 

Shin: Radiant... 

Louis: I want to see more of your Prism Shows, Shin. 

Shin: ...I see. I want more people to see Prism Shows. I want to tell so many people that the world is shining! I want them to know about how much fun it is! So!! There is no reason for me to be moping around! Thank you Louis, I think I finally.... huh? Where did he go?

(Back at Edel Rose.)

Hiro: I’m home... huh? You could cut the air with a knife in here. 

Minato: Welcome home, Hiro. We had a bit of a falling out...

Hiro: What happened? And where is Shin?

Yukinojo: It seems he was really worried about us not being able to agree... he went out and he hasn’t been back since. 

Leo: Shin-kun... I’m worried about him....

Yu: Without Shin, things just don’t seem right.  

Hiro: Shin... I hope he’s alright....

Shin: Hey everyone I’m back!! Oooh, it looks like I’m just in time for dinner!

Hiro: Huh? He doesn’t seem like he has a care in the world!

Shin: Yup! I stopped worrying myself! 

Hiro: Already? That was fast....

Shin: Since everyone is so different, I don’t think we’ll always get along.  But, for the sake of Edel Rose, we just have to keep moving forward! So, let’s just do our best together! 

Leo: Shin-kun!!! I’m so glad you’re back!! 

Shin: Ahh! Leo-kun, my face!!

Yukinojo: Just as I thought, when Shin’s gone it’s lonely in here, as though we’ve lost our light. 

Yu: Shin, where were you!

Taiga: Ugh, you made us worry....

Kakeru: The party can’t start without you, Shin!

Minato: Ichijo, everyone was waiting for you!

Shin: Thank you! From now on we’re gonna do this togeth--

Yamada: Hey! Are you all in here?

Shin: Yamada-san? What’s wrong all of a sudden?

Yamada: Just shush up and watch.

Shin: ....wHAAAAAAT?! Louis... is doing a Prism Show with “pride”?!

Hiro: HuaahuhhaaaaAAAAAh.

Click for Chapter 2!

[nossbean]

Fic writer meme

Nicked from @captainelliecomb some time ago and rediscovered half complete in my drafts today!

name: jellyb34n on AO3

fandoms i write for: atm it is pretty much just ASOIAF! Predominantly JB. Anyone else/any other ship is secondary, really. Back in the times before tumblr even existed I played in Merlin: Gwen/Arthur and then Gwen/Merlin after the show went to pot. And more recently but before I returned to tumblr, I wrote one Star Wars fic, a character study of Leia.

two-shot: I don’t think I’ve ever done a two-shot!

most popular multi-chapter: it’s not much (but my money’s on you) Which honestly is a complete surprise because I figured many folks would be entirely politicked out. But I love it and I’m glad it’s also working for some others 💕

actual worst part of writing: editingggggg. Why can’t it all come out right the first timeeeeeeeeeeee.

how you choose your chapter titles: i actually like choosing chapter/fic titles! Often I choose them around the beginning of writing, and so far it’s roughly split between song lyrics and a quote borrowed from the source material.

do you outline: For multi-chapters: ish…? Usually I get super excited, outline everything, then get to writing and the characters do/say something unanticipated or I get another idea/want to explore something else, and then the old outline gets pushed down the page as the top of the page fills with new details and ideas and character notes. Or as with the politics AU currently, the rewritten outline for the remainder of the fic is sitting at the bottom of the chapter 11 draft. I’ll also have additional outline notes scattered in various notebooks or apps on my phone or in emails to myself. At that point I know the shape of the story in my brain and typically work in 2-3 chapter chunks at a time.

For one-shots: heh, I started answering this one way and then came to a different conclusion. So the answer is yes, by a certain view on outlining. It isn’t a case of numbering or bullet points, but more like notes scattered down the page of what’s happening next or emotional beats to land. If it gets to the point where numbering and bullet points are needed, it typically then falls over into a multi-chapter... 

ideas I probably won’t get around to but wouldn’t it be nice: I have this crack fic I’ve been poking at for over a year whereby Brienne’s meant to be the honeypot but feels so awkward about it that Jaime takes over - that started out with them in law enforcement but moved into them as Robin Hood/Leverage-esque thieves. I did borrow a bit from the rough draft and expanded it out into a fic about their first kiss which I really like. There’s a lot about that concept I like (thieves! Brienne is desperately touch staved! Jaime is a heartsore shard! They steal Podrick! It’s mushy! Did I mention thieves???) But anyway it’s a whole lotta concepts and lacks a whole lotta plot, so. Never say never, but.

The other big one in this category is the book canon fic playing with the “but what if LSH has moved on by the time JB arrive at the (former) BWB camp?” thing I ramble about below. I’d say about 85% of that is written and every few months I pull it out and dust it off, so this one might one day come to be...? It’s mostly feelings anyway, tbh.

callouts @ me: I have not yet been called out by one of the masses, though confess I am sort of curious what someone might say! If I were calling myself out: probably things don’t need to be edited to within an inch of their lives maybe 🥴

best writing traits: I think I capture emotionality relatively well! And I like that I do fairly divergent things by way of story setting and theme. (Theme, ish. Almost all my fics can be boiled down to one central thesis but 😌😶‍🌫️)

spicy tangential opinion(s):

Lessee: poss my spiciest by way of diverging from what seems to be the agreed fanon is that I don’t think Brienne took to knighthood and swords just because her romantic dreams were squelched. I think she’s inherently inclined to both.

Second spiciest is perhaps that I agree with the fandom that a lot of Jaime’s gentleness got buried by his family BUT I think he was also always a bit sharp.

Aaaaand to round things out, I’ve got a nearly complete answered ask in my drafts wherein I talk myself into thinking that JB will *not* meet LSH immediately in Winds. I think LSH & co will have moved on by the time Brienne gets Jaime there, and that the ultimate confrontation will involve Arya as well, and possibly Sansa. BUT I caveat that my asoiaf reading and recollection is patchy so I’m open to discussion but, like, casual discussion haha 👀👻

Oh, bonus non-JB opinion: Elia Martell/Lyanna Stark rights ✌️

No pressure tagging @halfagod @theunpaidcritic @im-auntie-social  @scoundrels-in-love @it-may-be-dull-but-im-determined @the-world-unseen @angelowl-fics and whoever wants to have a go, I have tagged you too! <3

[origami10]

Ajin ch. 85 thoughts

Spoilers under the cut! Although I’m really late after the chapter so who can say if these’ll even really count as spoilers anymore.

Okay, so, I was already late in getting to this chapter because I had a bunch going on, heard it wasn’t the last chapter, avoided spoilers, and basically just had a hard time coordinating the time, technology, and energy that I feel it deserved... and then I started reading and got interrupted and lost the posts I had drafted. So, take 2, I’m going to read it in English and then go back to the Japanese for my vocab post, so I at least read the chapter now that it’s been more than a week and a half. Otherwise I’m going to fall into the “can’t read this manga I love because what if it ends and there’s no more” trap. 

Things I remember from my drafted post:

They found a dead body, so Tosaki’s either really dead for real, or it’s Sokabe. 

They took in Takahashi and two other ajin who are probably the randos we saw them fighting at the base. 

They’re changing legislation about ajin, but not because they were directly persuaded by the Kei/Tosaki group, rather it was because that one lady (who is a legislator?) turned out to be an ajin.

There are just straight up a lot of words in the chapter. The editor was having fun with wordplay in their comments.

Okay, so new thoughts: 

Wow, I didn’t realize there were only what, 8 pages? Reading through the magazine it felt like a lot and also I didn’t pay enough attention to the table of contents to realize ahead of time how short it would be.

wow, that IBM-on-the-TVs page looks WAY different in the English version vs. the magazine: (just in that it feels a lot starker since they don’t have all the magazine editor chatter)

Oh, that was a previous thought- tying it all back to the beginning with the Saitama police.

I had also been thinking, it’s interesting seeing this from the media’s perspective first since we know that in the past they haven’t gotten the facts or the whole story, so it makes me wonder if we can take what they’re saying as the truth of what’s happening in the story.  (Oh, I was thinking this particularly about it saying that Tanaka is still “at large”)

Oh, and also that for this chapter to come out on Jan. 6th given real-life events just seems weirdly appropriate...?

Okay, I was wondering about this part about Tosaki and what the translation would say. So not having read the rest of the chapter yet, maybe they’ll clear it up, but my confusion was about the fact that the state that... hm, well, I guess 戸崎優氏が遺体で does sound like it’s Tosaki that’s the dead one. But in the newspaper article it says the body is unidentified... so is it Tosaki, who they’ve identified (but maybe only the TV news has identified and the newspaper hasn’t), or is it Sokabe who may still have been working secretly for the Ajin Management Committee (Control Commission). Other previous thought... why am I so sad about Tosaki being dead ;o;  (And how did I not see any spoilers about this?? Maybe because it’s been three and half years that we’ve been assuming he’s dead?) I prefer denial...

oh jeez “unprecedented” made it into this chapter I guess they really did have to translate all the random text floating around on these pages.

Oh, I was thinking they were going back to school for the fall, but maybe the schools were closed because of the attack?  (I feel like I’m going to realize a lot of small stuff like this if/when I go back to reread)

augh there have been like 15 million distractions of varying scale in the entire process of making this post! Why is it so hard to find the right time to do this ><

OH YEAH NAOMI!! I did see that before but forgot! So she survived and is okay!  (so the Naomi/Tanaka ship is still afloat...)

Okay, so I had only read four of the nine pages so far. Time for new pages.

huh, is it that they couldn’t see the IBMs on film? (I don’t think they can, right? I forget ><)  Media coverage has always been a big theme in this series. Also, so totally relevant in a way to current events ><

“Immortal Powers Through Intense Psychoplasm” does sound like it’s pretty much how ajin work though...

Are we actually going to see any of the characters in this chapter...? D:  (Although Naomi showing up is a pretty big development)

Glad they recognized that Kei helped! I wonder where they all are though...  Hopefully Tanaka is with them...

OH JEEZ WHAT? SATOU DIED?  (Don’t know whether I can trust this... which is probably why I haven’t seen any spoilers...? I’m getting concerned...)

ok, so the point being that the news cycle is done with it already...?  (also feels relevant, sigh)  And that all major developments and events that we tell stories about are only fleeting hearsay in the lives of the majority of people...  

I don’t know how I feel about this chapter, it’s simultaneously MAJOR information in the most low-key presentation possible, and also I don’t know whether to believe it. SIGH   CONCERN      

oh shit though, (editor’s note so take with a grain of salt) the tag at the end says “次号、永井圭はどこへ行った。大増ページで、すべてが収束する！！” “Next month, where did Nagai Kei go?  Large increase in pages, everything will converge/conclude/return to normal!!”  THAT DOESN’T SOUND GOOD, THAT SOUNDS LIKE IT MIGHT END...

[bouwrites]

Even Heroes Have the Right to Dream: Announcement

My next long, chaptered story is officially scheduled to begin posting on Friday, May 1st. At the time of posting this announcement, that’s a little less than 2 weeks away. As always, chapters will be uploaded every other day following the first.

Therefore, since I now have a dedicated writing blog, I’ve decided to try something a little different and make an announcement post ahead of time. I’ll be reblogging this to this same writing blog on both the 29th and 30th of April, as well as possibly once to my main blog on the 30th.

But, for now, some details on the story:

Summary:

MariJon college roommates AU. Marinette and Jon have decided to give up being heroes in favor of an ordinary life. This story follows them throughout their college careers, and their mutual journey to find what life holds for them without heroism.

Notes:

(This is my rambling commentary part of the announcement, wherein lies further details and background on the story. Under read-more for your convenience.)

The story takes place over 4 years and 17 chapters. And, being a college AU, the characters are obviously aged up. At the start of the story, Marinette is 20 years old, and Jon 19. ML x DC, if anyone isn’t already expecting that from the names and my prior work.

It will be rated T on Ao3, merely because of them all being in college and the occasional themes that go hand in hand with that. There is no sex or drugs, but some light sexual themes and alcohol are mentioned, largely by the supporting cast.

Speaking of the supporting cast, there will be OCs, since Marinette and Jon will meet people while they’re in college, but they’re fairly background as far as my stories go. They’re important enough to be mentioned, but they really are just supporting cast for the story.

This story’s inspiration was the “Superman Playlist”. I put together a Spotify playlist with a bunch of songs I knew that mention Superman, and this story concept arose from that. The playlist does still exist, but it has since been supplemented with additional songs that aren’t restricted by the rule of mentioning Superman. Each chapter title, and indeed the title of the story itself, is taken directly from lyrics from the songs on that playlist.

The drafting concept, that is, the theme behind which I created the story, is “Life post-heroism.” People who have grown up as heroes leaving it behind and trying to figure out where they go from there without being the thing they’ve literally grown up to be. The original tumblr post, which was created the very night I first began brainstorming, can be found here.

If you’re familiar with my work, you know the drafting concept and the final product are often quite different since ideas need to be edited to make a story actually good, but I think there’s value in seeing the inspiration behind a project. This announcement post is, I think, a good place to talk a little about that.

Generally, the story is fairly slice-of-life. A good amount of time is dedicated to small moments, though obviously there are larger story arcs over it all, and time passes rather quickly to cover all four years in merely 17 chapters. As such there are time-skips and moments where months pass in the blink of an eye. I have no current plans for, but am open to, supplemental oneshots to fill in some of that space.

The story is also themed around hurt/comfort and fluff, in a “post-heroism” theming. The kids aren’t alright, but they’re going to be. Happy endings because I prefer it that way.

As of the posting of this announcement, writing is not 100% completed, so the chapter number is still technically an estimate, but it’s fairly solidly in place at this point. I’ll keep you updated if things change, but there’s a reason I wait until I’m nearly done with projects to announce them.

For a length estimate, I try to make chapters just above 5k words each, so 85-90k in total is a safe bet, though that’s also just an estimate, as I haven’t finished writing, nor added up the total word count thus far.

Oh, and just to be explicit, chapters will be posted on both Ao3 and Tumblr, in the same format as my previous stories, so you can choose which platform you’d rather read on.

I may speak more on the story leading up to it’s release, but for now I suppose this is enough. Frankly, it’s a lot more background than I usually have the opportunity to give (I like this announcement post idea, lol). I hope you all can get excited about Even Heroes Have the Right to Dream, and look forward to it coming in May.

Thank you all for your time <3

[illfoandillfie]

Top 5 fics you have written?

oh this is hard!! Okay, in no particular order:

1. Future Management

This one was quite tricky to write but I am so proud of how it turned out and I have gone back to re-read it a lot lmao plus i got a lot of people responding saying they’d found a new kink and all that which was very validating and flattering. And then of course it’s spawned a sequel and plans for more set in the same universe so, definitely has to be in my top 5. 

2. Platonically 

This was one that once I’d made up my mind to write it I couldn’t not do it y’know. It is definitely the fic closest to my heart just because it’s so heavily based on me and my own personal identity and all that. It was so nerve wracking to put so much of myself into it but writing it was such a wonderful experience and really helped me clarify some stuff. I honestly didn’t expect it to get more than a handful of notes, certainly not many from outside my bubble of the community but the response to it was so incredibly positive and touching. I’ve had comments from people who were happy to find something they could relate to, and comments from people saying they have a better understanding of what aromanticism is which are both so nice to hear. It wasn’t the first time I’d written somethign with an aro!reader, I have plenty of scrapped drafts and half mapped out ideas, but it was the first time I actually convinced myself to finish it and share it even though i had doubts about it, and those comments are proof that it was worth doing.

3. 5 Simple Rules series

This series got me back inspired to write again after a while of not feeling particularly creative and I am so so so happy with how it turned out. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pull off a full series like that. I’d flirted with series in the past like Seaside Rendezvous but either they were only a few chapters long or they weren’t intended to be series when I wrote them so I didn’t really have a planned ending. 5 simple rules was longer and fully planned out and i just loved writing it so much. 

4. Quiet In The Library Series

One of the aforementioned series that wasn’t intended to be a series and the first part was like the second thing I wrote so it’s maybe not quite as well done as later stuff but i still fucking love it tbh. It’s just fun and hot and thats all that matters

5. The Dinner Party

Look, I am not afraid to admit to my kinks I think we all know that. Like at least 85% of what I write is because I personally find it hot. And the idea of being a pass around free use toy to a room full of people is still something I am hideously into like it’s pathetic how much I think about that. So add in the borhap cast (all of whom i adore) and lots of aftercare from a soft and loving ben and honey this is the fucking dream. 

Honourable mention goes to Code Red because I’m still like super proud of what I wrote for it. That was a tough request to fill and required a lot of balancing to get the tone right and not make anyone out to be the bad guy and I think I pulled it off. 

[kelyon]

TMI Tuesday!

Helloooooo Tumblr!

Welp, I am feeling A LOT better about things than I was last week. A very sincere thank-you to everyone who reached out with encouragement, especially about Live Wire. It is so gratifying to know that people want more of that story. To anyone who asked a question, commented on AO3, or reblogged with a comment here on Tumblr--you are the reason there’s going to be a Chapter Two of that fic. 

(For the record, Tumblr likes and AO3 kudos are both great. But I’m a writer, I get charged up by words. No one is obligated to comment on anything, but if you like something that I’m doing, use a human language to tell me and there might be more of it. This principle is the only thing that’s keeping me from pulling the plug on Nephila’s life support.)

Anyway, thanks to the interest in Live Wire, I decided to take another look at what I had started for Chapter 2 (Moving In). My big hangup before was that I felt like I had run out of things for Bae to do and say and think at this point in the story. I didn’t want anything to feel forced or have to add extra complications to what was supposed to be a pretty simple story. It was really bugging me, trying to figure out how to write the second half of that chapter.

However, after re-reading all four pages of Chapter 2, I realized that it was done. That chapter was as long as it needed to be. There was no reason to bang my head against a wall trying to write a second half of something that was fine as it was!

So Chapter 2 of Live Wire will be posting on Friday. Probably early in the day, since I’ll be off work. 

I’m 484 words in on Chapter 3 (Reading Up). I couldn’t write as much as I wanted to because I have to play a whole level of the video game Bae is going to be playing for less than ten seconds of page-time. But I’ve got an idea of where I want this chapter to go. AND because Live Wire is so short, I can just jump to the interesting bits! I don’t need to get bogged down in the character’s daily lives and routines. This is an ink drawing, not an oil painting like Dark Mistress. 

Speaking of Dark Mistress...

Since the last chapter ended on something of a cliffhanger, I couldn’t wait to start writing Chapter 20 (Desperation). I’m about 85% done drafting. Part of my process is to try to think of a really good last line for every chapter. Problem with that is that sometimes a conversation between two characters can take on a life of its own. That’s when I have to try to coax things back to a place where my really cool final line still works with the flow of the scene. Either that or I have to come up with another cool final line. Right now I’m trying to wrap up the conversation, make sure everything is said that needs to be said, and have it mesh with my preplanned last line.  

So I’m actually ahead of schedule and going above and beyond my standard. Let’s see if we can keep this momentum going!

Ask me anything, you beautiful people!

Dark Mistress is here

Live Wire is here

My inbox is here

[emletish-fish]

Worst Prisoner chapter 10 rambly notes:

chapter here:

A03

FF.net

Today I'll ramble about:

Sokka

homophobia in ATLA

Zutara are mirrors and character foils for each other

The spirit oasis

Healing

Yugoda and Katara's character path

So, despite his advice to Aang, Sokka did not 'play it cool' when he was into a girl. He is, in fact, a massive dork when he has a crush on someone. His developing relationship with Yue is going to take up a lot more of his attention, so he will not be as focussed on Katara's love life, now that he has one of his own.  I wanted to give Yue a little more agency, and a role beyond being an idealised princess. Yue tries to involve herself in the Tribe's politics and strategy in my fic. Look at her, she can do so much more than sit and look pretty.

In my first draft, there was a huge bit about Sokka's reaction to “the armistice” between the Northern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation. The FN haven't attacked the NWT in 85 years, and it's implied there is an agreement of some sort.  The Northern Water Tribe effectively threw the Southern Water Tribe to the wolves and never lifted a finger to help them in canon. If you compare the two places, it is obvious that the Northern Water Tribe prosperity came at the cost of the Southern Water Tribe decimation – which makes Hahn attitude towards Sokka eight hundred times more frustrating. Sokka had a lot of feelings about the Southern Water Tribe being abandoned by their sister tribe, but if I followed that thread it lead to a mega depressing place where Sokka felt at odds with Yue and Zuko. I much prefer my boys roasting each other and budding romance because Sokka is a dork in love. So I cut it. Just look at this dork!

Instead they have a super awkward conversation about sexuality. Poor Zuko lands himself in two of these situations, but he brings it up. Romantic love and sexual thoughts have been much more on his mind lately.

Now, @araeph wrote a wonderful meta about the homophobia in the ATLA universe.  Rigid gender roles and homophobia often go hand in hand. The Water Tribe do have very strict gender roles, and it would make sense that they would have been more homophobic. However I think any gender subversion would have just been labelled as “wrong” and swept under the rug. Sokka's knee jerk reaction is because Sokka has also been brought up with this view.  Homosexuality and bisexuality is something he's vaguely aware of, but has never thought about deeply.

However, Sokka is not naturally a judgemental person. I think he would have a live and let live attitude about it, especially because Zuko doesn't have an issue with it, or see it as any kind of threat to his masculinity. Sokka would never tell him in a million years, but he does admire Zuko's “manliness”.   He learned to get over his sexism very quickly, and I think he would same about homosexuality. I think he would be more inappropriately curious, to be honest,  and he'd probably still see relationships through traditional gender roles for a while– eg asking who does “the boy bit” between two girls.  It would be your Pakku types who would be more rigid in their reaction I think.

This chapter was shamelessly fluffy and soppy for Zuko and Katara. The spirit oasis makes an appearance!  However Zuko and Katara are blithely unaware of the significance of the decorative garden they've chose to spar in. Zuko and Katara will still fight each-other here, mostly because I love the visuals, and the symbolism and everything in the spirit oasis In my fic, however, are coming up for friendly training, and will discover more about each other. Their elements are opposites, but there is a lot they can learn from each other.  They’ll always work well together.

They say that leaning fighting styles is like learning languages, if you already know a couple, it is easier to learn more. Zuko is a very versatile fighter. He's a ninja, sword-master and fire-bender, and in the show he actually uses fire-bending to copy Katara and Aang's moves a few times. He uses their moves when they would be more effective.

I wondered how he would go if he deliberately put his mind to trying to copy water-bending style moves, and I think he's actual be very good at adapting them. I also think his own style would need to adapt given his situation. Fire-bending is very dynamic and energetic, but relies on shock-and-awe style offensive tactics and quickly overwhelming an opponent. It's not good for long draw out fights, or days of repeated fighting.  Even someone with Zuko's stamina would get tired after hours of it. I think the tricky part would come in trying to teach Katara through fire-bending, because fire-bending is more aggressive. However Katara's style is more aggressive generally. look at her go!

Katara is driven. She is passionate about learning bending and she obviously worked her butt off to master it so quickly. I think in the show, she must have been teaching herself from scrolls and practising in her spare time, to make as much progress as she did so rapidly.  She'd probably make even better progress practising against someone who'd do their best to help her learn though.  

One of the things I really like about Zuko and Katara together is how they are opposites and mirrors at the same time. They actually both embody the underpinning philosophy of each other's elements. Water is the element of change, and no other character goes through as much change as Zuko. His life circumstances change very rapidly in the show, and he adapts himself to each new challenge, learning and growing all the while.  Fire is the element of willpower, and Katara is one of the most determined characters in the series. Through sheer force of will, personality and hard-work, she masters water-bending, saves villages, and brings her little family out of the desert alive. Katara's got a fire in her belly. They are learning to meet in the middle, even if the differences between them sometimes seem very large. It’s why the Yin/Yang symbolism is so fitting for them.

The whole thing about Zuko and Katara being mirrors comes into play in their attitudes towards healing. Katara has come from a culture where it is expected that she will fulfil a nurturing and healing role. She rejects this role, and even when she does learn healing it is because she can see how necessary it is, rather than because she is genuine interested. Katara would much prefer to kick butt.  

Zuko, on the other hand, has come from a very militant and competitive  culture that demands he become a violent and aggressive fighter. But Zuko was/is a sweet, soft boy, even despite being horribly punished for not living up to the vicious ideals of his father.  He knew enough about medicine to heal his Uncle when Iroh was struck by Azula's lightning. That to me indicates that he would have been genuinely interested in healing enough to teach himself more than rudimentary basics in his spare time.

He would be fascinated by Yugoda's powers to almost magically make people feel better. In more wistful moments, he would wonder if Yugoda would have been able to do anything for his scar had she been there when it happened, but he's not ready to ask her directly yet. Also what Yugoda told him about the spark of life will be important, when I get around to writing book 2.

So Yugoda got a longer bit here, because I think she's great and I also wanted to put some ideas about healing out there. I think there would be forms and techniques that Katara needed to learn to be a more effective healer, and Yugoda would do her best to teach her.

The gorgeous Boogum has a great fic called the Undying Fire in which Zuko has healing abilities, which I recommend to anyone. I also had a chat with paperman0 about healing in the ATLA universe. I wanted to explore healing and this is my take on it.

I think our bodies are at least eighty percent fluid, and it makes sense that waterbending is the most effective. However, Earthbenders would be much better at bones and firebending could be used for a variety of purposes that we use heat for today, such as muscular-skeletal issues.  Also “Fire is life” is repeated through out the show, and so I interpreted that a bit literally, by having firebenders able to give their chi or life-energy to others, for a brief window in certain circumstances.  

The Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation have never really investigated healing with bending, as their bending healing scope is much more limited. There maybe some healers/benders in the other nations who have experimented with using their bending in more complex healing, but it isn't widely practised, or documented.  Collecting all that healing knowledge and finding out best practice would be an emerging field that would be interesting to explore post-war.

I wanted Yugoda to be an example of an older, female character, who is badass in her own way and  has the power of agency.  Yugoda chose healing and feels called to it. And choice is super important. In Bryke's canon, Katara is just labelled as healer almost by default. It does not seem like Katara actively chose it or is passionate about it.  So many wonderful metas have been written about what a tragic thing this is for Katara, to be so robbed of her inner fire by crappy writing.

If it must be Kataang, why couldn't Bryke have done something like have Katara interested in a goal of her own, like writing an international healing book, and have Aang devote time to taking Katara where she needed to go? If she pursues healing post-war, I would much prefer to see her actually passionate about it.  I would prefer she grew up into a sassy, wise older lady who enjoyed her job, like Yugoda.  The old, sad, regretful Katara we see in LOK is not my Katara.

Next chapter there will be drama and shenanigans. Zuko will get protective, Hahn will get punched in the face and someone will finally agree with Aang that violence isn't the answer.

Til then.

[starsinursa]

Shout-out to @saminzat for tagging me! Like I needed an excuse to waste time. ;)

LAST

1) Drink:  Coffee... it’s like 10 p.m. at night, but I’m trying to stay awake to finish some work from the office (and yet I’m on tumblr doing this quiz instead, oops).

2) Phone call: A coworker called me so I’d have her new phone number.

3) Text message:  “FYI, they don’t give you the money right back, you have to wait 4 - 6  WEEKS for a check in the mail, uggggh”. I bailed the same coworker out of jail about three months ago and went to the city municipal court today to get the bail money back... turns out things aren’t that simple.

4) Song listened to:  Umm...so I’ve been listening to the Moana soundtrack pretty much non-stop for the last week. :D

5) Time you cried:  A couple of weeks ago, reading the fic “Cursed or Not” for the first time (hey, you get to chapter 18 and try not to ugly cry, okay?).

HAVE YOU EVER

6) Dated somebody twice:  Yep. Good ol’ high school.

7) Been cheated on:  Not that I know of.

8) Kissed someone and regretted it:  Yep. Good ol’ college.

9) Lost someone special:  Yes, a couple of times.

10) Been depressed:  Yep, special shout-out to my Prozac and Wellbutrin, love you guys. ;)

11) Gotten drunk and puked:  Yes, a few times, unfortunately. Again, good ol’ college (although I can’t use that excuse for the last time because I had already graduated... to whomever had to clean out that train car up in Minneapolis, MN, about 2.5 years ago: I am so, so sorry, I’ve learned my lesson about taking it easy on the Everclear, you have every right to hate me).

THREE FAVOURITE COLOURS

12) Green

13) Purple

14) Blue

IN THE LAST YEAR YOU HAVE YOU

15) Made new friends:  Kind of? Do work friends count? 

16) Fallen out of love:  Nah, gotta be in love for that

17) Laughed until you cried:  Yes, most recently was while watching “Impractical Jokers” with my aunt (they took a guy who is terrified of cats and made him teach an improv “how to bond with your cat” class, okay, I found it hilarious as a cat-owner).

18) Found out someone was gossiping about you:  Yeah, there’s a lot of gossip about everyone at my second job. Look, I’m sorry I go through all the water bottles, okay? I drink a lot of water...

19) Met someone who changed your life:  Not anyone specific in the last year that I can think of...

20) Found out who your true friends are: Meh. I’ve always kinda known.

21) Kissed someone on your Facebook list:  Nah

HOW MANY/MUCH

22) Facebook friends:  256

23) Pets:  Two! One dog, one cat, the best of both worlds.

24) Want to change your name:  Nah, I like my name.

WHAT

25) Did I get for my birthday:  Books, I always ask for books.

26) Time I woke up:  Around 8:30 a.m. this morning

27) Were you doing at midnight: Probably surfing tumblr, tbh, I am sadly predictable

28) Can’t you wait for: MY VACATION THIS NEXT WEEK

29) Was the last time you saw your mom:  A couple of weeks ago when I went home for a dentist appointment

30) Is something you wish you could change about your life:  I need to buckle down and really focus on paying off a couple of bills. It helps having a second job, but I’m just so impatient.

31) Are you listening to right now:  Nothing at the mo

32) Gets on your nerves:  Whiners. Don’t get me wrong, I love to bitch and complain as much as the next person, but people who blame the world/ everyone else for their problems? Just....yeah.

33) Talked to a person named Tom:  ...this question doesn’t make any sense. “What - talked to a person named Tom”? Also, no, I know several Tims, but no Toms.

34) Is your most visited website:  Pffft, tumblr, of course, is that even a real question

35) Elementary school/primary school:  [Name of my hometown] Elementary School

36) High School:  [Name of my hometown] Jr./ Sr. High School

37) College:  I’ve already mentioned in a couple of posts where I went to college, so I guess I’ll just say it: Kansas State University. EMAW!

38) Hair colour:  Dark brown

39) Long/short hair:  Long! It’s currently the longest it’s ever been in my entire life, I’m so excited (although holy shit, I shed a lot).

40) Crush:  Nah, not for a while. I creeped on a cute security guard a few months ago, but he turned out to be a jerk with a classic “crazy ex-girlfriend” (I put that part in quotation marks because I have no idea if she’s actually ‘crazy’ but he kept insisting she was...which is, just, y’know, a red flag on his part).

41) Do you like about yourself:  I’m actually pretty fond of my hair now, after a lifelong love/hate relationship. I also like to think I’m okay at singing sometimes.

42) Piercings: None at the moment, actually

43) Blood type: A+

44) Nickname: My family has always called me “Foo” (as in, “little bunny foo-foo”)

45) Relationship status:  Single, ayyyyy

46) Zodiac: Leo (pffft, but not really)

47) Pronouns: She/her

48) Favourite show: Supernatural (of course!), Psych, Once Upon a Time, Firefly, Scrubs, Nikita, Game of Thrones

49) Tattoos: None. I’m too fickle, I’d get one and then change my mind two weeks later.

50) Left or right handed: Right

FIRST

51) Surgery:  I had my tonsils out when I was 17 thanks to multiple bouts with strep throat. Oh my god, never wait until you’re that old to get your tonsils removed, it was absolute hell. 

52) Piercings: My ears. If we’re talking unusual piercings, I had a “nape piercing” for a while in high school.

53) Best friend:  Probably my cousin Kayla, since we grew up together

54) Sport:  I played softball for several years as a kid, until I got a bloody nose when the ball hit me in the face. Then I had to quit because I was gun-shy. To this day, I’m still afraid of balls flying at my face (hehehe).

55) Vacation:  I visited my dad in San Diego, CA for a week when I was ten years old

56) Pair of shoes:  First pair of shoes? I don’t know, I was a baby. Probably some over-priced cutesy pair that never even got any use because I was a baby.

RIGHT NOW

57) Eating: Spicy Doritos

58) Drinking:  Still drinking coffee

59) I am about to:  Sort through my tumblr “Saved Drafts” and add tags for everything, then try to get some writing done

60) Listening to:  Nothing at the mo (this is the same question at #31?)

61) Waiting for:  Saturday when I leave for vacation! *o*

62) Want to see: Honestly can’t think of anything. I’d like to watch Moana again but it’s not on DVD yet?

63) Want to get married:  Sure, someday

64) Career:  Human services/ social work-ish? Basically, I work at a non-profit agency helping adults with developmental/ intellectual disabilities to get/ maintain services. Oh, and I also have a part-time job at an adult store. Gotta make ends meet, y’know.

WHICH IS BETTER

65) Hugs/kisses:  Really depends on who they’re from. Probably hugs for the most part. :)

66) Lips/eyes: Aaagh, I don’t know... I love gorgeous eyes, but I also love me some tasty lips... y’know what, I’m gonna go with lips. Yep.

67) Taller/shorter:  Taller

68) Younger/older: Older

69) Romantic/spontaneous:  I can be romantic when I have someone to be romantic for, but I’m not the most spontaneous. :D Like, let’s just stick to the PLAN, okay?

70) Nice arms/nice stomach: Arms. I like squishy cuddly tummies anyways.

71) Sensitive/loud: ...I don’t know. Sensitive, I guess, because being around loud people wears me out pretty quickly. But sensitivity needs to have limits too...

72) Hookup/relationship:  Relationship. Been there, done the hook-up thing, not worth it. Good ol’ college.

73) Troublemaker/hesitant: At this point in my life, I’d say hesitant. Trouble-making was fun in the past, but, like, I’ve got an actual career now that I could lose if I go around trouble-making/ hanging out with trouble-makers.

HAVE YOU EVER

74) Kissed a stranger:  So, so many times. Good ol’ college.

75) Drank hard liquor:  Yep. Still love me some vodka. It just mixes with everything, y’know?

76) Lost glasses/contact lenses:  Contact lenses, yes, but luckily I’ve never lost a pair of glasses

77) Turned someone down:  Yes. I hate doing that. I’m a horrible, cowardly person who would rather “ghost” someone than have to deal with an uncomfortable confrontation. 

78) Canoodling on a first date:  Depends on the definition of “canoodling”. Are we talking cuddling or snuggling up during a movie? Sure. Making out? Maaaybe, depends. No copping a feel on the first date though, c’mon now.

79) Broken someone’s heart:  Yes. Breaking up with someone in high school is intense. 

80) Had your own heart broken:  Kind of, not really? The only person I legitimately had feelings for, I never told them how I felt, so they never really had the opportunity to break my heart but it hurt like hell anyways. Have I mentioned I’m a cowardly piece of shit? :D I mean, that was like 10 years ago in high school, but I haven’t changed that much.

81) Been arrested:  No, thank goodness. There were a couple of close calls during my partying days, I’ve definitely been luckier than I probably deserve.

82) Cried when someone died:  Yes. Doesn’t happen often, luckily.

83) Fallen for a friend: Not really? Had crushes on friends, had friends-with-benefits, yes, but never technically “fallen for” a friend.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN

84) Yourself: Depends on what we’re talking about here. In general, yeah, I like to think I do okay...

85) Miracles:  Ehhh, I can’t decide. It’s a wonderful thought but I’m also kind of a pessimist realist. You know what they say: “hope for the best but prepare for the worst”.

86) Santa Clause:  Not for many, many years

87) Kisses on a first date: Sure! End-of-the-date kisses are sweet.

88) Angels:  I...think so. 

89) Love at first sight:  I don’t know? It’s a wonderful thought but I’m just not sure. Maybe not love at first sight, per se, but I think there are definitely people out there that you can just tell right away they’re going to be special to you.

OTHER

90) Best friend’s name: None, at the mo

91) Eye colour: Brown

92) Favourite movie:  That’s a tough one... I think it depends on my mood. Do I want to laugh? Something trashy like “Sorority Boys”. Do I want to cry? Probably something steeped in existential crisis like “A.I.”. Do I want a feel-good adventure with talking animals? “Homeward Bound”.

Holy crap, that took like 1.5 hours. Anyone need an excuse to waste some time/ procrastinate/ be distracted? Tagging @magnificent-winged-beast, @helianthus21, @destielmixtape, @beesandangelkisses, @emotionally-compromised-idiot, @castielsgracex, @apritelleorai, @honeybee-and-batman, @sunshine-hunters, @waaaaaayward-assbutt, @cool-fallen-angel , and anyone else who wants to do it. :)

[hermanomayorycelador]

My Publishing Journey

I don’t know when I became a voracious reader, but by the time I was maybe ten, I had a hundred Scholastic books on my shelf. Reading very likely contributed to my desire to become an author. I don’t exactly remember either why I decided on the subject of my first book, but the more I became committed to the arcane topic the more I wanted to get my father’s story out there to preserve a dying tradition for my culture. With that in mind, in 1990 I wrote my manuscript, revised it, and gladly turned it over to a dear friend who was fluent in Spanish (some Spanish/Spanglish is included but most is also defined in context) so she could go over the whole thing. When I was pretty confident with the revisions, I printed it out and submitted it with my query to four publishers one at a time (I’d read somewhere that it wasn’t kosher to submit simultaneously.) When the first publisher kept it for three months, I began to feel optimistic; however, they sent it back with the rejection rationale that it read like more of a biography than a novel (guess they were looking for the novel). So I promptly sent it out again, and six weeks later received the second rejection; this time the reason was that it read more like a novel than a biography (guess they were looking for the bio that time). Anyway, two more rejections followed in the next few months. Snail mail made the entire process take about six months. Disheartened by my rejections, I put the whole project away and devoted my time and effort to my family and my career. Teaching English required so many hours of essay grading, lesson planning, taking courses to become a bilingual teacher, taking more courses to become an Advanced Placement teacher—the next two decades quickly passed. In 2014 several months after I retired, I decided I would try one more time to get my father’s story published. So with new fervor, I rewrote the entire manuscript, all 289 pages because the only draft I had was my old hard copy—printed on a Dot Matrix printer, no less—I’d used for submissions back in the ‘90s. Also, since it had been written with some program from the mid ‘80s and no PC currently has any portal for the old five-inch floppy disk the manuscript was saved on, what else could I do? So I typed my fingers off for the next few months, did some research on details I’d added, edited, revised, edited again until I was once more satisfied it was the best I could do. (It wasn’t.) What follows is a timeline of the process I’m still undergoing to get my book out there to the masses. 1. 4.16.16 I sent out queries only after researching what I needed to do to create a query destined to hook whomever read it. 2. 4.18.16 I received four acceptance emails from each publisher. After following up with each, I found that three wanted cash up front—one promised to help me self-publish for a little over $2K; two wanted about $1,500 up front; and the one I went with only asked that I purchase 200 copies of my own book at a 50% discount. If/when I sold them all, I’d double my profit. So I sent the last publisher my manuscript to see if he’d actually want to publish. 3. 4.19.17 I created my Facebook author page, linked it to my Tumblr blog and Twitter. At least once a month, I post a teaser to keep readers interested. 4. 4.20.16 I sent publisher my Facebook business page and Tumblr links so he could see the promotions I’d already started. I also sent my attachments to the manuscript: forward, afterward, dedication, and author bio. 5. 6.22.16 My publisher finished reading my manuscript and we decided to go forward. 6. 7.18.16 We discussed the contract. 7. 8.11.16 Publisher sent contract which I promptly forwarded to a lawyer for advice. 8. 8.18.16 I returned the signed contract to publisher after we discussed the lawyer’s concerns. 9. 8.30.16 Meanwhile as all this time was passing between emails, I had decided to go over my manuscript again and to my dismay discovered about 55 errors (a typo, redundant use of same word, personal preferences in changes to syntax or detail, and oh my goodness, a dangling modifier! How careless I’d been, thinking it was pretty perfect the first time.) I resent the corrected manuscript that would be also forwarded to the editor my publisher chose. 10. 9.15.16 This was the date my publisher and I agreed upon for all attachments. 11. 9.16.16 Editor emailed so we could get acquainted. 12. 9.21.16 Editor phoned and we exchanged information regarding manuscript. 13. 9.22.16 Publisher and I discussed through email photos to go with text and reader reviews. I snail mailed a request for a review from a well-known author, Rudolfo Anaya, who’d actually written me in the nineties when I asked for publishing advice. Another request went out to Barbara Villaseñor, owner of Charles Publishing in California, for permission to use the review she’d written back in the 90s also. 14. 9.23.16 I sent the publisher two positive and complimentary reviews I’d gotten back in the 90s. 15. 9.26.16 Editor emailed that she was in the midst of reading/editing the manuscript. 16. 10.13.16 Publisher acquired a well-known local artist to do the cover art. 17. 10.14.16 R. Anaya responded with his review and B. Villaseñor also replied that I could indeed use her review if I sent her a copy of my book. 18. 10.19.16 Editor sent me her notes. 19. 10.23.16 Editor returned the first edited manuscript. 20. 10.26.16 Cover artist sent her sketch. 21. 10.30.16-11.2.16 I went over editor’s comments, corrections, suggested changes. Reviewed the manuscript three times during this time period. 22. 11.15.16 Cover artist made the deadline for spring catalog with her first painting of my book cover. 23. 11.18.16 Sent the manuscript for the second time back to the editor. 24. 11.27.16 Editor sent some changes I rejected immediately. 25. 11.30.16 Well-known author James Santiago Baca is reading my manuscript to offer a review. 26. 12.9.16 Received amazingly detailed review from JS Baca and just about cried with joy. 27. 12.12.16 Editor reviewing attachments (foreword, etc.)/12/14 she returned them. 28. 12.20.17 Editor finished 2nd edit of manuscript. 29. 1.7.17 I emailed/messaged 12 famous authors for marketing advice. Within a week 4 replied with great suggestions. 30. 1.10.17 Cover artist finished book jacket completely. 31. 1.16.17 A Facebook friend, a follower of my author page Googled me and found my book up for pre-order on Mountain Press, my publisher’s book distributor. I emailed him with the news; he responded with a link to us on Amazon. 32. 1.16.-19.17 I put my 200 books up for pre-order on my Facebook author page linked to my personal page; they all “sold” in 4 days. 33. 1.17-21.17 We are now on Target, Goodreads, ETextbooksNow, Barnes & Noble, Fishpond (German), Bol (Dutch) websites. Created my author pages on Amazon and Goodreads. 34. 1.31.17 I started researching more marketing ideas and author support groups. Discovered a talented self-published author who is also a graphic artist. He created my bookmark, connected me to a colleague who made me 1,000 beautiful bookmarks; they’re made of durable card stock and glossy, vivid colors. 33. 2.23.17 My publisher returned my manuscript proofs in PDF format. I had a week to search for any typos/errors everywhere from chapter titles to font to photo captions. I also had to write captions for photos. 34. 3.2.17 My publisher informed me that I now have a Library of Congress number (meaning a copy of the physical book will be housed in the Library as well as having more copyright protection). Wow! 35. 3.6.17 My editor emailed that we’d done excellent proofing of the proofs 36. 3.9.17 My publisher is getting 8 galleys to deliver to reviewers, including NM magazines and book stores. NM and other states’ book sellers, including museum shops, will receive information, in not actual sales calls from representatives. 38. 3.10.17 My galleys arrived (two copies of uncorrected ARPs); Mike and I cried. 37. 3.13.17 I sent Karen (book club coordinator for Las Comadres in Denver) newsletter and 85 bookmarks for promotional purposes. 38. 3. 14.17 My publisher asked me to provide him with a list of places I’d like to go on a book tour. Oh my! My very good friend arranged a connection for me with the Citizens' Committee for Historic Preservation; my launch will be at their location in the first week of May; some of the artifacts in my possession will be displayed there for the entire month of May.