#i have so many human au wips that i start and then abandon

[angelmichelangelo]

can i offer anyone a human!mikey from the au that i started writing and then forgot to finish…?

[badbatchposts]

🎱 🍓 🌵🔪🪲. I reblogged the ask game from you, so I wanted to be courteous and send you an ask! I'm honestly curious about these.

Thanks for the ask, friend! It's really nice to be able to reflect on some of these things!! Sorry in advance for the super long responses lol.

🎱 ⇢ post your AO3 total stats:

Works: 2

User Subscriptions: 6

Kudos: 204

Comment Threads: 84

Bookmarks: 67

Subscriptions: 51

Word Count: 67,351

Hits: 4,652

I honestly have no sense of how these stats compare for the usual fanfic writer, but it makes me happy to see how many people have subscribed to my longfic, especially since I don't always get a ton of comments on new chapters. But it seems people are reading! And definitely more people than read my dissertation, lol.

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

I used to write a lot of original work in high school and early college, but then as things got busy--and as I convinced myself my writing wasn't good enough to be worth it--I largely stopped. I always felt guilty about it. I really enjoyed writing, but didn't think I was creative enough or had the right amount of stamina that it took to complete a long work, and I had this perfectionist idea where it felt like it wasn't worth doing if I couldn't be the best at it.

Then right as the new Bad Batch season came out this year I was struggling a lot with burnout and found that I was spending a lot of time thinking about the show, and decided that I might as well start reading some fanfiction--for the first time ever--and felt like writing it would be a nice creative outlet that might help me recover from my burnout. It really has been great, and some of what's made it so good is actually exactly the sort of things that used to make me think writing fanfiction wasn't worth it. Namely: it's not professionally publishable.

That is, legally, I will never be able to professionally publish and profit from any of what I write--it can only be posted and enjoyed. This actually just took so much of the pressure off. It doesn't have to be perfect--it doesn't even have to be very good, because that's not what it's for.

I started thinking of it more as an exercise for working on my writing skills (things like, okay, in this chapter I'm going to practice writing dialogue, or in this next one I'm going to work more on establishing an interesting setting). As a result, I'm now thinking more about the writing process and improving my storytelling, rather than worrying about trying to make it perfect or good enough to publish or feeling competitive or down on myself when I encounter writing that I feel is much better than my own. It's been really freeing.

All of this happened over ten years since I stopped writing in college, and the other great thing has been seeing that my writing skills didn't disappear. In fact, they've gotten better and grown as a result of the learning I did in the meantime. I'm now much better at envisioning narrative arcs, outlining, getting myself to write consistently instead of just waiting for inspiration to strike me, and a whole load of other skills. It's really helped soothe a part of me that worried that I had abandoned writing, that it was too late for me to "do" anything with it, or that I only would have gotten worse.

🌵 ⇢ share the link to a playlist you love

Parasailing in Rio de Janeiro with a Caipirinha in Your Hand

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

I've been spending a lot of time researching historical kitchens on sailing ships and historical brothels for the Pirate AU that I'm working on. Once for an academic paper I was working on a novel that depicts a (non-sexual) human-animal relationship but through very intimate and erotic terms, and I accidentally googled a combination of terms that came back with information on bestiality while on my university's wi-fi.

🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here

The most recent thing I wrote for my Pirate AU (I'm skipping ahead SEVERAL chapters to inspire myself with the steamy bits haha)

“I hardly think I can get into much trouble here. Your crew have been perfect gentlemen.”

Hunter’s eyes glinted in the half-light of the lamps. Though he didn’t move, all of a sudden she was all-too-aware of how close he was, how easy it would be for him to reach out and touch her. “And what about me?” he murmured. “Haven’t you heard from the ladies in port? I’m a scoundrel. A very dangerous man. Maybe you ought to be afraid of me.”

Thanks again, this was a lot of fun!!

[waxwings2046]

All That Is the Case - Chapter 2: A Logical Picture

Chapter 2 of All That is the Case is finally up! Apologies for the delay in posting, work got a little crazy these last few weeks. As ever, many thanks to my invaluable beta readers @calaisreno, @7-percent and @jrow, whose suggestions really helped improve this chapter.

To recap: This is a Sherlock/John 1940s spy AU, *completed* (not a WIP). The prologue introduces Sherlock, Mycroft, and several other characters, and in Chapter 1, John and Sherlock finally meet.

Here's a snippet from Chapter 2, which is called "A Logical Picture". It's the spring of 1947. In this scene, Sherlock and John are on a walk in Hampstead Heath:

They walked on a little further, until they came upon the famous promontory that overlooks the city. There were other people there taking in the view. A young family, several couples, and solitary figures, too. It had been extraordinarily foggy, but the mist was starting to dissipate a little, revealing pockets of the landscape below. They could just make out St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster, and beyond that, the Thames. A world that was starting to become more and more known to him, though the more he learned of it, the more he began to understand how much of it might always remain unknowable. Either way, he felt he could gaze upon it forever, this city where one could appear and disappear into at will, which could well have been snuffed out had a far more terrible confluence of events come to pass—but which also felt outside of time, rolling on and on beneath the clouds, without end. Abruptly John said, apparently out of somewhere deep in his thoughts, “Sometimes it is too difficult to make sense of events. Sometimes…things just happen, and they are what they are. You look for reasons or a greater pattern so you can make a story out of it, so you know where you fit in, but it just gets too convoluted and messy. Or contradictory.” Sherlock said, “But isn’t that just human nature? A reflex to aid in coping. It can’t be forced.” “No, it can’t.” What stories had John tried to tell himself, wounded in action, struggling through an uncertain recovery, and ultimately deprived of his profession? Aimless in London. A hero, abandoned by his country. He seemed to be doing well enough for himself now, but it was likely that he had struggled through some dark nights of the soul. It seemed very unfair to Sherlock, that John should have ever felt forsaken in any way. “I don’t know if you feel that way yourself. Or how you could, if you have, or do,” Sherlock attempted, fumbling a bit. “It seems to me that you’ve lived a life to be proud of, that anyone could find meaning in.” John laughed, somewhat bitterly. “This may come as a shock to you, but I’ve done a thing or two I wasn’t so proud of. I may not be as—” He stopped, cutting himself off in the middle of an aspirated syllable. Sherlock thought he had been about to say the word honourable, but he wasn’t sure.

🤔 Read the rest of Chapter 2 here!

[incorrectcoldflashblog]

Any fic, number 4 and 27?

Hi, friend! Sorry this took me almost two days to answer, haha, I was in Paris for a concert yesterday and only just got back.

4.) If the fic required it, what did you research in order to write it?

The only fic I’ve published that really required any research is What Happens in Vegas and the goddamn tornado warnings. I don’t even know why I was so obsessed with getting this right when I was writing Chapter 4 because in the next chapter I just gave up on even trying to make it realistic, haha, but there you go. I did do a lot of research about ancient Mesopotamia to write my Genie AU, which is why it’s ironic that it’s now completely abandoned^^’

27.) Share a piece of lore you made up for the story

Well, obviously my Genie AU is also probably the WIP that required me to make up the most lore, since Len was a 5000-year-old genie in that one, although I did try to keep some key elements of his backstory, like having started life as a petty thief. I’ll use this as an excuse to share a little more of this fic since I’ll sadly probably never actually finish it (trigger warning for implied child abuse and suicide):

Cold couldn’t really remember the earliest millennia of his life. He supposed they must have been alright; they were just a very long time ago, and after a while everything just kind of tended to blur together.

The earliest he could remember clearly was a young man in Egypt. After he’d finished screaming, he’d been so excited. People always were excited by magic, back then. They would never have locked him away, or asked if they could return the children he’d created for them. Not like today’s ingrates.

Europe had been a funny little…continent? Glorified peninsula?

Whatever it was, Cold wasn’t sure how he’d ended up there in the first place, any more than he was sure how he’d ended up in this new place. The first human he’d encountered there had been an impeccably mannered little girl with bright blue eyes and brown curls, and a funny habit of speaking to him in Latin.

He was glad to have been discovered by a child. Little girls rarely made him hurt people the way adult men did.

Lisa was a lonely, unloved child—her parents had wanted a boy, she told him, but all of her baby brothers had died in infancy. It wasn’t an unusual request—he’d lost track of how many requests for baby boys he’d fulfilled over the years. Lisa had hoped that if she wished for her mother to fall pregnant with their long-desired son, her parents would stop being so cruel to her.

It turned out she was wrong.

He’d always suspected why Lisa had kept him around for as many years as she had without making her third wish, but what little heart he had had still sunk when she’d confirmed it.

“Please,” she had pleaded. “I’m decided. Just do it painlessly.”

“Absolutely not.”

“I thought the purpose of you demonic creatures was that you do whatsoever I desire.”

She was right, of course. What choice had he had?

Thank you so much for asking <3

Even More Fic Writers Ask

[deliciouskeys]

Writer Tag

Thank you for tagging me, @kosmochlor and @saintmathieublanc<3

How many works do you have on AO3?

47 apparently.

What's your total AO3 word count?

469,180

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1) Attack on Titan rated T fic, macro micro (it was part of the canon there lol), blind character element

2) Zinc Molybdate (rising star but very far behind #1)

3) Another Attack on Titan fic rated T. Anime fans are all under 18 I guess.

4) Negan/Rick mpreg lol. I abandoned it when TWD season 8 deeply disappointed me and hopefully that doesn't happen again with the current fandom D: (I don't think it will unless they do something truly idiotic like kill off Ryan in an inexplicable way)

5) The Selfish Gene

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes I do. It's the least I can do when someone takes the time to write something. Plus many of the comments are so thoughtful and sometimes helpful to the writing process. And I just enjoy responding.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Um. Probably an "original fic" set in the holocaust, unfortunately. I've written fics long ago where main characters die, but those are not angsty somehow, just dark/shock value.

What’s the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I think it might be Zinc Molybdate lol. First of all it has an ending. And I'd say it's very optimistic about the human spirit and possibilities for change.

Do you write crossovers?

The only true crossover I ever wrote was Alex from a Clockwork Orange x Norman Bates. But I never crossposted it to AO3 from LJ. Can't imagine why XD I'm more of an AU where you recast the characters into a different world girl.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yes, writing bible fic is controversial apparently. Writing holocaust fic is controversial apparently. Mpreg is controversial apparently, although I have never received hate for mpreg on ao3, only on tumblr.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do..... I wouldn't say it's my forte, despite having it in almost every fic and fic chapter lol. I'd say there's always some element of something being 'off'. Normal people having bad sex, or a fucked up pairing having unsettlingly wholesome sex.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so. In small enough fandoms some ideas become sort of communal, but that's usually just fun 'sharing'.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

YES! And it's in a language that I'm pretty fluent in (but maybe not fic-writing fluent) so it was a surreal, amazing experience. I've translated several fics from Russian and one from French which was a stretch for me.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Only in terms of translating others' fics. I've always wondered if I'd be able to do it with the right person.

What's your all-time favorite ship?

Butchlander. Which probably means my favorite ship is whatever I'm currently hyperfixating on, but I've been on this kick for like 20 months now, so I don't take these things lightly :)

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

My very first fic, which I started writing at 18 and abandoned at 19 or 20. I couldn't do it, I couldn't give them a happy ending because the pairing was just too messed up, I couldn't give them a sad ending because that's just not within the realm of what I'm willing to do.

What are your writing strengths?

I think I am all about the Emotional Journey, and thus by extension, characterization. I like writing dialogue, so hopefully that's a strength, otherwise the readers get to suffer lol.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I have to remind myself to write even the most basic setting/scenery details. Most of the time I don't think it's very important. I'm probably not a very visual person (although that doesn't mean I don't love art and fanart!). I can write multiple characters outside of the pairing, and those scenes are fun, but I tend to prefer hyperfocusing on just the 2 mains, which is probably a limitation.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Oh god, I did it in a fic, and ... I shall leave it as I wrote it in my 20s, but... it was ill-advised. I'd say don't do it unless it's a language you know, and even then... why.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Uh. Peter Pan. And I don't mean during the Once Upon a Time craze that happened much later.

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

Within the Boys, I'll also say Starlander. I like it, and honestly the canon leaves much to be desired, so it's fertile ground. Fandomwise, I read quite a bit of Batjokes and Symbrock, but never wrote anything for them.

What's your favorite fic you've written?

I'll go with Zinc Molybdate. It's got that new relationship fandom energy that is impossible to just bottle up and deploy when wanted. But I like them all.

Zero pressure tags (and sorry if you've been tagged elsewhere) @phoenixtakaramono @eutz @merry-andrews and anyone who sees this and has ao3!

[wolfjackle-creates]

20 questions for writers, tagged by @gremlin-bot

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

10

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

87,995 (What the hell? I thought it was, like, half that 🤯) [This will increase dramatically once I get a few more things transferred from tumblr to AO3]

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Right now, it's mostly dpxdc. I'm trying to break into more solo DC and DP stuff. I also have a few works for Good Omens that I'm not ready to abandon.

4. What are your top 5 fics by Kudos?

The Nurse's Demands

Electricity

Remember, Remember

Want to Hold on and Feel I Belong

Answer My Call

5. Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

Yes! I'm in fandom to make friends and have fun. I made one of my best fandom friends through AO3 comments. Besides, talking about things I've made and my thoughts behind them is fun. ^.^

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

On AO3? Probably Carry On. It's a Good Omens two shot that more-or-less starts with Abel's death. It then follows Crowley and Cain as they experience exile together. But I don't really do sad endings, so it ends with Cain finding a degree of peace, even if Abel is still dead.

In general? Never shared, but it's another Good Omens story. A sequel to the above. I wrote 3 fics/chapters that explore a Fallen Raphael!Crowley coming to terms with the fact that he can't heal. So in the 2nd installment, he gets close to some humans and when one is severely injured, he fails to heal them and they die. I won't share more than that, but I literally can't read that fic without crying and I wrote it. (The fourth and fifth part of the series are him wresting the ability to heal back from the binds that were placed on it, so even those have a happy ending in a way. The people who died remain dead, though, so I think it still counts.)

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Considering none of my dpxdc longfics are finished yet, I'm gonna go with another Good Omens fic, The Demon Piper. This is based off the story of the Pied Piper, obviously. Hamelin, Germany is experiencing a famine due to rats getting into the winter stores. The adults are desperate and many are considering selling their kids to indentured servitude or worse. So the kids and Crowley make a pact to run away together. They they go off and set up their own little settlement in the mountains and everyone lives and it's super sweet. I have a few sequels I need to post that get even fluffier.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Haven't yet! Y'all are the best <3

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

My third Good Omens fic! An Evening In! It's an 18k PWP with Soft Dom Aziraphale and Service Bottom Crowley, human AU. Really, it's just two men who love each other very much. It's so soft and self indulgent, even if they do explore some kink dynamics.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one?

DPxDC is my first time in a crossover fandom. It's been a blast! IDK if it counts as crazy, though.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope. Wouldn't that be the biggest flattery, though.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

No. I don't think my writing style lends itself to co-writing. I'm very particular about how things get phrased and I'm a plotter and most of my planning happens mentally while driving or at work or something.

14. What's your all-time fav ship?

Oh, I don't have one! I have a fav ship in certain fandoms, though. I was in the Sherlock fandom for a while, so Johnlock obviously. For Be More Chill (the musical) it's Michael/Jeremy. For Good Omens it's Crowley/Aziraphale. For Avatar it's Zutara. Newsies has Jack/David. For DC only fics, I'm an avid Tim/Kon shipper or Core Four. But for DPxDC I'm a multishipper. I was also a multishipper when in the MCU fandom (though Steve/Tony became a nOTP for me and was never a favorite even before Age of Ultron).

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Oh, damn. It's hard to say. I plotted out a whole Good Omens Parent Trap Fusion. (Aka take the plot of the Parent Trap and fit in the characters from Good Omens.) I hate to call it abandoned since I would like to go back to it. But time...

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I do panic attacks and emotional breakdowns very well. I'm also proud of how I can weave a complex plot into a coherent story which will hopefully come out once I get further along in some of my long fics (particularly Answer My Call and I'll Carry Your Heart (Until I Find You Again)).

17. Writing weaknesses?

I don't think I'm very good at making sure all my characters have distinct voices. I've gotten way better at that this past year, but I'm still working on it. I'm also too much of a perfectionist which makes me slow. And I jump around ideas too much which makes it harder to finish projects.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages?

I will never do it. Way I see it, if the POV character understands what is being said, the reader should understand, too. Which means it needs to be written in English (the only language I can guarantee the reader of an English story can understand). If the POV character can't understand what is being said, neither should the reader. If it's omniscient POV, I will put it in English if I want the reader to have that information and leave it out if I don't. Not give some readers extra information that others don't get.

19. The first fandom you wrote for.

Naruto. I wrote it by hand in class on lined notebook paper and passed it over to my best friend. She, in turn, gave me drawings of my favorite characters.

20. Fav fic you've ever written?

God, I have no idea. I love so many of my works and each one represents something. The Demon Piper is the fic that got me back into writing at all so that's super special to me. Bring Me Home is the one that got me writing for the DPxDC fandom. An Evening In was my first attempt at smut and I am so happy with how it turned out (never thought I could do it). I'll Carry Your Heart (Until I Find You Again) has a premise I'm absolutely in love with and I have so many plans for it. Want to Hold on and Feel I Belong is proof of how much I love emotional breakdowns and I love how much of a punch it packs. Remember, Remember is my first time writing an introspective piece that covers a long time period and I think it works really well.

No, I don't have a favorite work. No way I could pick between them all.

Tagging: @greensword101, @isalisewrites, @britcision and anyone else who wants to do this!

[eggwars]

temptation tuesday

rules: share something about an idea you have/something that's speaking to you/an au you'd like to see and are considering writing/etc. etc. Basically anything that is tempting you away from your current wips!

Thank you for the tag @just-slightly-chayotic and @viva-yas-vegas

since I got tagged twice I guess I'll share two tidbits? I currently have four-ish chaptered fics I'm rolling around in my brain. What to share~? What to share~?

I'm putting this under a cut because it got quite long lol fic below!

Okay so my second or third most developed one is probably my KimChay mermaid AU?

So for the mermaids, it started off as a branch idea from another AU I'm working on with Tea. They have also been my muse for this one, which is going to have some Little Mermaid vibes (Kim is nosy in every universe) but with some fun twists. I have some snippets written for this one already!

Sound travels differently on the surface. In the water, his songs are close, intimate. The sound doesn't travel as far, but it's rounder, a bubble of music.

On the surface, sound is sharper, it travels farther, straight across the air like a thrown spear. Kim can't decide which is better. Some of the songs his mother used to sing sound better above the waves, so he finds the closest abandoned beach to sing.

But one day, he's swimming to shore when dulled notes drift over his ears through the water. It's not singing, it sounds like one of those many-stringed instruments humans bring on fishing boats. 

Kim hovers in the water, indecisive. The sound's coming from above the waves, close to where he was going to perch for the evening. Kim should turn around. That's what his brothers would say. He hasn't listened to them in years. 

Kim makes his way inland, belly close to the sand, making sure the powerful beats of his tail don't make waves in the calm evening surf. He's maybe 5 meters from the small beach, when the first hummed notes of a song filter through the water to him. He needs to surface, he needs to hear it. Coming up behind a convenient jut of rocks, Kim's ears finally hear that clean air-sound.

It's beautiful. The singer is clearly young, their notes hesitant, but warm. Kim can't help himself. As he pulls the bulk of his torso on a flat part of the outcropping, he begins to harmonize under his breath. It's as easy as swimming, singing with this boy. And the human's a boy, he can see that now. He misses a few notes when he sees him. He's odd-looking. Humans usually are. Their two legs make them appear shorter than merfolk, and their skin is soft all over, like a hatchling's nascent scales. 

But there is something about this one that gives Kim pause. Maybe it's his voice. Maybe it's the way his fingers cleverly find the next chord to play. Maybe it's the glowing golden of his tan skin.

No.

It's those eyes, Kim thinks, as they meet his. It'd almost be comical, how round they become, if not for how the setting sun has turned those driftwood eyes a deep sea-glass amber.  

Kim has slipped off his perch and is streaming back into deep water before he realizes. 

Oh, he's beautiful.

He wants to sing with him again.

Boom. mermaids. I have some fun world building I'm working on for that :)

Alright and another one for ya! I'm not gonna go into too much detail on the premise of this one, but the Clown Car, y'all know. I haven't written anything for this AU yet, but it's my baby. My child, my most unhinged of thought spirals. My clowns have been subjected to it, there's a playlist already, I have yelled about the world building and I have tortured friends with all the potential angst, but I have not put any thoughts to word.

So, now you're gonna get my first snippet.

The first thing that hits Chay, when the smell of burning oil stops singeing his nose hairs, is how green it all is. He’s not really surprised, he saw Earth from the portholes aboard Orpheus every day. Logically, he knows there were still swaths of green speckling the planet, but seeing it is another beast altogether. For one, it’s greener. Whatever had happened, whatever they avoided all those years in orbit, it had at least done some good for the local flora. 

A shout from behind him drags Chay out of his trance. The spacecraft he called home for three years, The Orpheus, lay in a hulking mass of twisted metal and black smoke, the smell of exhaust still hung heavy in the air. Most of the crew had managed to crawl their way out of the smoldering remains, tarnishing their white landing suits with dirt stains and holes, but Bank has a leg pinned under what used to be the support strut between two habitation pods. It now resembled something like a melted twizzler. 

The shouting had come from Ice, calling the other crew to help fish Bank out of the wreckage. Chay turns to move toward her, but is caught, enraptured by a streak of color in his periphery. A flower. It’s a stark orange, with five petals curling outward invitingly, its pistil and anthers long and the same color as the petals. Some kind of rhododendron, Chay thinks. He hasn’t seen a flower in the wild since he was a child. 

More noises echo through the crew behind him, but Chay can’t pay them any mind. A flower. A flower, growing right there out of the dirt with no greenhouse, no fertilizer, exchanging gas with the Earth’s atmosphere. And it’s blooming, He traces a fingertip reverently over a petal. He’s almost sure his fingers will pass right through it, but they don’t. Its petals are soft and slightly warmed by the afternoon sunlight streaming through the forest canopy. It’s real. 

The murmuring behind Chay grows pointed and excited, before Song calls his name in a whisper shout. Chay turns around to see the crew, standing hushed and quiet. They look like they’ve paused in the middle of what they were doing, and are staring off somewhere into the brush behind the wreck of the Orph. Chay leaves his flower with one last caress, and walks parallel to the wreck so he can get an angle on what’s caught everyone’s attention and then– 

There. In a gap between two wild, untrimmed bushes stands a doe. If wild plants were rare then wild animals– well. 

She stands, ears and nose twitching as she stares down the eight of them. Chay remembers Porsche telling him once about a deer he and Mom saw when they were camping. In those days, the outdoors were more livable, he’d say. The deer had been a stag, young with short antlers. They had come across it while hiking a short trail, and it had skipped away in its hopping gait before Porsche could get close. Now, Chay waits for the doe to realize what they are and bolt. Her nose twitches one more time, and she takes a step forward. 

And then the doe charges. 

heheheee

So. That's what's tumbling in my brain right now. I don't know when I'll write it bc I have a lot of world building to do and lots of different ideas for plot points. Basically it's gonna be novel length and i'm dreading it :')

okay so that's it for me, idk who all's been tagged so i'm just gonna throw my seeds to the wind. @shubaka @fuckyeah-itme uhhhhhhhh yep idk. anyone else who sees this and wants to do it! Have fun!

[zukkacore]

i can't. remember if i sent in numbers for the writer's ask already. if i did, crying ignore this but: 11, 12, and 30?

11. a wip you'd like to finish someday

Oh god i started so many just w/in the past few days. Jace hireling au obviously. jaceporter first time. Actually, the true honest to god earnest answer is i always felt terrible abandoning my multichap danganronpa talentswap. It's so old i really don't think its indicative of my current skill level but it was so much fun and it means so much to be and its so long and i did have a whole ending planned out but im just not that good at writing detectivework. I do think there's some good shit in there still tho.

The other answer that's kinda cheating is i have a fantasy based Taming of the shrew retelling i've been like retooling for like a goddamn year. It's such a fucked play but i have so many mixed feelings abt it. My feelings on taming are very similar to del toro's on pinocchio in that it's very pro domestication of the human spirit that i think is kinda depressing. Like im very centrist abt whether the play is irredeemable or whether its not meant to be taken seriously, but the themes are interesting. In my mind, there's like. all this stuff abt performance and palability and. Individiuality vs community. Acceptance vs ostracization. This tension between vulnerability n connection vs. power and control and how those are competing needs w/in people. Like. Kate n Petrucchio are both outsiders and petruchio could choose vulnerability and connection w/ his wife and instead he chooses social approval in a patriarchal society which he gains through proving how good he is at subjugating his wife. The themes are INTERESTING it's just the fuckin CONCLUSION (aka its morally good and just to gaslight your wife actually) are fuckin DIRE. On the other hand. Kate and Petruchio have mad chemistry and is it so wrong to think they should fuck nasty?

12. a trope you're really into right now

... 4 jaces? I feel like i have a weird stance on the clonefucking joke poll that goes around every few months (in that its not the same as masturbation b/c the minute their consciousness is different from yours thats like. a full person but not a person i would be compelled to be with but maybe im to arospec for that) so its never particularly compelled me before, like i thought that shit in Loki was kinda cringe. but just bc i don't find the idea particularly compelling for myself doesn't mean Jace can't be a little obsessed w/ himself. Tbh the idea of being a xerox of a xerox of a xerox in general is very interesting for me tho.

There's also something I think i keep returning to abt like. Having to renegotiate or reclaim power and love in a relationship that should otherwise be fucked and heartbreaking. By all intents and purposes, there should be one break at the heart of this that ruins everything, a moment at the beginning that should have ruined everthing from jump. but if we're stuck together, I'm determined to reconcile w/ myself that there's love there. It's very Jaceporter. It's very Kate n petruchio. Very hades n persephone I have another very old school ship that actually has something very similar happen. If you can figure it out based on this text i sent my friend then you were probaly on tumblr when a certain webcomic was updating.

30. share a fic you're especially proud of

I feel like me giving so many answers to these is a total copout. The truthful answer is that I have like a 10k togakure (hiro n togami for those curious) pwp fic thats on my google drive somewhere that i've never posted bc ive been too embarrassed and the ship is NOT that popular so i think like .5 people would read it. But it's like my favorite thing i've ever written. I might post it eventually. If i pluck up the courage. I have sent it to like 2-3 people in my lifetime. I'd cite a scene i like, but I like all of it. And also most if it is smut.

The half-hearted answer is my talentswap bc i am fuckin proud of it im just embarrassed bc i abandoned it. I'm legit so sad. I'm such a Hiro n Mukuro should be proxy siblings truther and im glad their scene was the last thing i posted but now it will never come into fruition.

So i guess. My default answer is my Sky High AU for It chapter 2. It's called Welcome To the Loser Track and it's reddie and in it Richie is the kid who glows and Eddie is the kid who turns into a guinea pig. I actually really like the movie Sky High a lot, I think it's a really good kids movie and it's got a lot of fun setpieces and cool design components and even some of the camerawork is pretty neat and cute stuff in it that's rly underrated. Its like one of the main Things i feel like ppl who are my friends or have been w/ me a long time know about me, and the silly thing abt me is that i really do earnestly like Zack/Magenta as a ship, but mainly bc i just think Zack gives off baby butch dyke vibes (and. I hate to use the phrase. but it's kinda black cat x golden retriever vibes). I actually like it so much that Sky High reddie is probably my favorite version of reddie, and i do think the other Losers in that mode are also very fun (Bill is strong n can fly, Mike controls plants, Stan melts, Bev is pyrokinetic, and Ben is a technopath). The main thing abt it is that it's COMPLETE (i have so many abandoned wips), but i am geuinely proud of it. I don't think the writing is like always the most polished but i think there is a lot of interesting queer subtext in that movie (in that there is basically a coming out scene even if the conclusion of the story is that he was straight the whole time lol) that i kinda picked at and did a good job elaborating on. There's actually a lot of underutilized subtext in that movie that isn't rly interrogated that i think is fun. I just think there's very romantic abt two people with "useless" powers seeing the beauty in each other.

I feel like some old school mutuals from my IT days already know this, but this is probably my favorite scene from the fic:

[kae-karo]

is it bad I want to see your other ideas anyway-- adsagkljdslkgj. HOW MANY WIPS DO YOU HAVE actually scratch that I cant say shit because I have a kise wip in progress rn oops-- cant wait for your rnis work to drop <3<3<3

ahahhahaha no no ur so valid!!! for context (x) i'll do uhhh a quick synopsis below the cut for anyone who's interested in what i didn't mention over on twt !!! and i'll talk abt wips too LMAO i love a good excuse to talk abt what i'm working on. and omg dw u are so valid !!!!! and i take no offense i am always in wip hell (affectionate) (i like having things to jump around between so i never get too frustrated if i get stuck somewhere)

if any of yall see anything below that ur super into, let me know!! always cool to know what people are hyped about, may influence what i work on next lmao

first, wips!!

as mentioned i have a rnis fic which is VERY very loosely based on the concept from this post (x) ft background ryusae lsjdffsd cause i apparently can't write a fic without them

also if ur a fan of the mall au (x) i'm currently posting, u will be thrilled to know that i am neck-deep in part 2 which will feature sendou (some ryusaesen but endgame aikusenbarou), charles (one-sided pining for shidou + endgame niko/charles), isagi (kaisagi and some bachisagi), and karasu (tabieita fake dating flavor) !!!!

ryusae praise kink gone wrong !!!!! i love the way shidou is so complimentary of others and i Bet he has a praise kink himself and i just think that sae'd pick up on that and (completely on accident) say smth that rly hits on something shidou's actually sensitive about (like, smth he's self-conscious about that sae compliments) and it turns the whole 'about to hook up' vibe into smth rly soft and tender

ouuuuu ryusae Again but this time, sae got machine-ified at a young age to basically be used as an enhanced human processor for a research facility (where he's basically always hooked up to wires and whatnot, processing research data etc) and shidou's the new maintenance person assigned to take care of him :)

i think i mentioned in passing that i had some other ideas for spinoffs of the kaisagi counterspell fic (x) but i have actually started working on the initial ryusae spinoff which is a getting-back-together vibe where shidou broke it off bc sae couldn't accept the idea that shidou might like him just...for him, so he used shidou as a test subject for various spells he was developing in an effort to push him away

ryusae Again i swear i think abt charas that aren't sd and se lmaoooo this one's fully just pwp and my ovipos kink + shidou with tentacles :)

ough a longfic idea that i wrote a little bit of the start of that's ryurin but i think i need to rethink the actual dynamics of their relationship bc i might prefer platonic ryurin (like,,,,relationship but not romantic) but high school au with rin who's crushing on kaiser (bear with me) bc he thinks kaiser's so Cool and Punk only for kaiser to start changing his behavior bc he's crushing on sae who is very Uncool and Preppy (in rin's eyes) only to find out that sae's annoying friend shidou is actually very cool and punk and likes the same music etc etc chaos ensues

ryukai i just think they should be messy together and the line "are you seriously hard right now" felt hilariously perfect to make kaiser say to shidou. while they're watching rnis fight on field. i think this one includes some repressed kaisagi emotions on kaiser's part tho so i have to think abt how deep or not deep i wanted to go with those

kise spinoff of spellbound (x) the ryukuro fic !!!! that goes into detail on when sae first showed up at the castle and how he ended up staying

and then tbh i have a number of other wips that i refuse to say ive abandoned but also i have not touched in a While (zhongli x kaeya/childe/diluc/aether, bakutodo boarding school au, a kunigiri i halfway rewrote when i found out i accidentally completely deleted a kncg fic i wrote that couldn't be recovered)

and then other ideas asdkfjklsfdj

isagibowl actor au that i did not delve into plot wise any further than that lmaoooo frankly i just think i need to write isagibowl at some point cause that boy deserves to FUCK

my cousin's best man at his wedding gave a speech abt how my cousin FORGOT WHO HE WAS after they'd already met and been on like. the same baseball team or smth and idek what ship this would be (probs smth with rin or sae) but it made me laugh so hard i had to write it down

sae who Refuses to form attachments with anyone and hooks up with many people (this is labeled in my notes as 'sae using whoever as basically a dildo' and frankly i'm right)

everyone in ng11 having a tattoo so sae has a tramp stamp. idk if it's when he acquires the tattoo or what but i just think i should write abt it

siren sae ryusae this is a GREAT idea i should rly write this but siren sae who gets captured on purpose to bait someone on the ship into going overboard (ofc it ends up being shidou that he fixates on) and eventually he succeeds and nearly kills shidou except shidou's just looking at him like he sees sae and not some Evil Creature and sae's just like. fuck. and doesn't kill him, just tosses him up on some beach which is a pain in the ass cause no legs and then shidou finds him again and sae tries to scare him off by being all demon siren like and shidou is just ENAMORED

throat goat shidou ryurin where shidou'll give basically anyone head and most of the pxg guys have taken him up on it. rin hasn't (but he will :) )

another nontraditional fic format concept where sae keeps detailed records of everyone he's slept with, notes on preferences kinks how good/not good the sex was etc etc in like. a Form format

o i'm redacting this one cause i decided to use this idea for an original story instead lmao

noaego outsider pov "i wonder if your therapist knows everything about me" based right before noa goes to bllk to coach the bm team i just think noa's poor therapist would be so exasperated abt him going back to his ex like that

ryurin neighbors au where rin can see in shidou's window and that guy is ALWAYS half-naked and doesn't have/doesn't close his blinds/curtains and rin gets so fed up with it that he leaves a note on the door except then he swears it's happening MORE often, chaos ensues and rin goes over to Confront the guy. horny chaos ensues :)

kaisagi pov of fanfic writer hiori where kaiser's desperately trying to figure out what the hell is happening with all this fic stuff. bachira keeps sending isagi kaisagi fic from his fave author (hiori, not that he knows that) and isagi ends up reading it (out of morbid curiosity ofc !!!!) unsure of the resolution but it would be very cracky i think

saesagi my beloved but it's a seat chat fic bc i'm unwell about seat chat on airplanes. anyway 12yo isagi finds out he's on a plane with ITOSHI SAE (13yo, when he got scouted for real madrid) and sends him a seat chat message just talking about how amazing a player he is etc. ffw however many years and sae is lowkey obsessed with him (maybe in a 'his encouragement is what got sae through some of his darkest times in madrid' sort of way)

ryusae it's always ryusae lmao pop idol sae and budding makeup artist shidou. sae's notorious for being insanely picky abt his makeup (brands, application, style, etc) and regularly fires new artists. at some point, he fires one right before he's supposed to go on stage, calls kaiser in (old friends, and kaiser did his makeup before kaiser made it big & started his own company) and kaiser's like just this once, then i'm sending you someone else. and sends over the guy that barged into his office trying to get a job with no credentials or pro experience or references (aka shidou lmao)

ryusae (again, i know) trans camboy shidou and very invested watcher sae, but it's set in canon, and that's actually part of why sae picked shidou for the u20 game

ryusae (i knOW) where shidou wakes up multiple times to sae fucking him (or riding him, blowing him, etc) and he's like. pretty boy. I wanna be involved in this, wake me up next time. and sae is like rly cautious and hedgy abt it. won't say why but could go lots of ways - he thinks he wants it too often and shidou will find him annoying, he's still struggling to say when he wants smth, etc

ryukai dying each other's hair. bonus points if they both end up with purple tips

ryucha where charles clocks shidou's boner on field and follows him into the locker room to get dicked down about it

kise based vaguely (plot whomst we don't know her) on not the one by movie night (x)

kaisagi fwb i typed 'ypichi' in a fic on accident and published it not noticing the typo and i think kaiser would typo isagi's name and then put him in his phone as 'y🍑y' which would irritate isagi to no end. other than that, plot whomst?

rin&sae 2nd person pov fic about destroying your brother's dreams or smth along those lines. i have like. one starting line to potentially use here lsdjfklfs

either ryusae (iKNOW okay i know) or rinsagi based on i like me better by lauv (specifically the spotify studio recording version) (x) where they're just being. so unbearably soft for each other

rinsagisae based on in the middle by dodie (x) idk which one would be the ex of isagi's but i have written ryurinsae before and i wld rly like to try my hand at rinsagisae as well

ryukai i am deeply obsessed with them both having this core motivator of 'proof of existence' and i think that could be a fun idea to incorporate into a pwp fic

this is so important to me i need to write an h2o fic some day and i think it being about sae, isagi, and kaiser getting mer'd would be the best way to hit on all the relationships and dynamics i would want to explore

phew. okay. sldkfjklsfdjsfd. hey if u made it this far, thanks for checking this out !!! i think i unironically have another 11 fics i've finished that are in the queue to post over the next couple months so hopefully u will enjoy those as well!

and hey if any of these sounded particularly interesting (or any of the ideas i mentioned on my twt thread - x) feel free to let me know!! no promises, but i could possibly be steered toward certain ideas over others once i'm done with this rnis fic lmao

[missjessefantastico]

20 Questions For Fic Writers

Starting a new thread bc the original was getting long

Thanks so much for the tag to the bestie @reallyreal-madeingold

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 5

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 54,497, going to get way longer once i finish and post paper dolls, which i'm still working on but yet...

3. What fandoms do you write for? i have only been writing for btvs these days, i once wrote a sanders sides fic i never got around to writing the sequel for bc i went thorugh a years long period of burnout

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? this is... basically just a list of my ao3 fics lmao

Shelter - sanders sides. it's a human au where roman is trans an tbh i don't really remember the plot, sorry lol. it has light analogical tho

Paper stars, empty caskets - btvs. it's the start of my vamp willow origin story and it's the most canon compliant part of the series

Paper cloud, open windows - btvs. second part of paper stars and uh... remember those kids that got possesed by hyenas? this is about the blonde girl and vamp willow kissing (kinda)

Paper butterflies, something amiss - btvs. third part of the vamp willow origin story, it deals with some flashbacks about jesse willow and xander, but also about some of the things we didn't get to see vamp willow do in part 2

it was an hp fic so here's a link to donate to help trans youth instead

5. Do you respond to comments? yes, i love them, i in fact eat them yum yum

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? paper butterflies for sure

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? it depends on what you want from happy, shelter has a hopeful ending, paper stars has a gory yet cathartic ending imo, paper clouds... well... it has a fade to black but i promise you they were very happy

8. Do you get hate on fics? i don't think so, the closest it ever got to it was when i was posting one of my original stories to a forum and someone gave me recommendations, but it was very constructive and polite

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? does it count if i never actually write it down? lmao

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? i don't think this counts as a crossover, but i used to write rpf for was used to be my favorite band and i would just... insert other famous people in it

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?  nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? i feel like i have but im not entirely sure. i remember a friend helped me with a chapter of an rpf fic so i just added her as a cowriter, then when i started to write another fic she just assumed she was a cowriter for that one too? i never finished either of those fics and they weren't on ao3 tho

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? to write? whatever fits the story i guess, but otherwise i just like almost any willow ship, she can do whoever she wants and i will support her

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? can't think of one, the ones i abandoned are better off abandoned and the other unfinished story i have is paper stars and i do intend to finish that one

16. What are your writing strengths? by virtue of "i just re-read a scene of paper clouds where heidi is spiralling and i liked it very much", im going to say that writing spiralls is my strength

17. What are your writing weaknesses? dialog, idk how to mix it with inner thoughts, working on it tho

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? i like it, i havent done it in a long while but im not against it, i think it's cool

19. First fandom you wrote for? it's either that band i mentioned earlier, or phineas and ferb, except i never posted the pnf one and i did end up turning it into an original story (that i never finished)

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? so far it's paper clouds, idk if paper dolls will surpass it, i'll have to wait and see bc my love is getting stronger

this is very long so these tags have even less pressure than usual: @haikyuupaladin @meddlelyn @juniperhillpatient @mrsmarymorstan @sinomin @siriwesen and anyone who wants to do it, tag you're it

[formosusiniquis]

what if i said multiples of 5 for the writing asks 👀

What if you did say that? Most of them are below the cut cause I don't know when to shut up 💕

and here are the writing asks for anyone else who wants to send some

5. What's a tag you never want to use for your works even when it applies?

Angst, like just the straight up angst tag for some reason I'm worried is going to deter people from reading so I end up softening it with something else instead. So it's always fluff and angst or angst with a happy ending.

10. Top three favourite fic tropes.

Enemies to lovers, Soulmates, Fake Dating - this was the hardest one to answer. It's like getting asked what your favorite book is and you don't remember how to read or what books look like.

15. What's your favourite plotless fic you have written?

This describes half of my catalog, plot I do not know her it is only vibes.

I'm gonna go with the bells, the joy (together in darkness) my Stobin hivemind fic which is plotless in the sense that it's more of an exploration of new Stobin unity and what a hivemind with humans would even look like. And any time I get to write Steve and Robin I have a good time

20. Do you work on a single project or many at the same time? How does that work for you?

Many at the same time, it does not work for me but it is what I do all the same. My writing tracker (where everything goes once more than 10 words have been written on a project) has 33 entries currently from the last year or so that are unfinished and in varying stages of progress. But if I start something and don't finish it immediately esp one shots they tend to get abandoned on the pile.

At least until they're lucky enough to grab my attention on a procrastination re-read and I finish them in one sitting (looking at you have your cake)

25. Is writing the whole thing beforehand better or worse than writing it as you go?

For me personally, I have unfortunately realized I have to have the whole thing or almost the whole thing completely written beforehand. I think I may be used to be able to publish as I wrote (like back in high school when I was writing The Mentalist stuff on ff.net under a pseud none of you will ever find). But with my chronic pick it up and abandon it once i'm bored disease I'm just to bad about actually finishing stuff. (RIP mi media naranja some day I will at least post the other chapters I have written that I've felt too bad about posting since it's been so long. but also i still want to finish you)

30. Describe a fic that almost happened, but then it didn't.

I hate saying it didn't happen, because if it's a Wip in my folder there's always a chance I'll finish it one of these days. And I'm so one track minded that I rarely make massive changes to fics once I start them that drastically alter the plot from what they could have been.

That said it's been so long since I've written anything for Vandal that I feel pretty safe describing this Wip that will possibly never see the light of day.

It was one of those fics where the title comes to you first, y'know. So it was going to be called intricate rituals and it was a soulmate and magic au, convoluted already I know, where soulmates amplify your natural abilities through proximity and touch. Gabi has found hers in Jenna and Sam is a little upset about it. So he performs an ~intricate ritual~ that's supposed to bring his soulmate to him. This is of course where Peter comes in and they bond interpersonally but never touch because of character anxieties and social taboos so they don't realize they're soulmates for ages. There was probably also going to be a miscommunication element where they've touched but not touched like a hand through a shirt not counting it has to be skin on skin contact.

35. Thoughts on writing challenges/contests.

I enjoy them! I always end up trying (and usually failing) nanowrimo every year. I've participated in both a big bang and reverse bang now, and am currently white knuckling my way through this year's steddie bang. I like a challenge to get more creative and a deadline and accountability to actually finish something with some plot.

40. Write a 9-word fic.

Eyes met for a first time, Steve's first time.

[splendentgoddess]

Okay, so like I want to know to know about every single WIP you have on that list, because like I'm obsessed with your work, so instead I'm gonna ask for you to tell me about the top three you're most excited to write about. ☺️

Hiya @heynikkiyousofine !

That's also a tough one, LOL. Well not really. I had BETTER say my top "most excited to write" WIP is No More Secrets, eh @hnn-wnchstr ? LOL

I'm working on that story for her! It started as a request-fic/birthday-fic that I realized would actually work perfectly in the Secret Santa universe, and so I started it as part four of that once-trilogy. It was originally supposed to be a long one-shot or maybe two (or possibly three) chapters, and now I'm hoping it'll cap at five chapters, LOL. This is the WIP I am currently working on! It will be the next story I post on AO3! It gives us a larger look at how humans interact with youkai in this world, and I go into more details regarding how I've recreated the inu-youkai race to be inherently protectors of humans. I also make use of the evolution of there being 'soulmates' in this universe, which wasn't originally intended back when I wrote the first fic but I already leaned that way in and towards the third story, where Inu/Kag had decided they were soulmates. Since I already went that way I just decided to go for it and so soulmates are totally a thing now, just very rare. There is a decent amount of Inu/Kag in the story because of course, they are my OTP, and specifically we get Inu/Kag being bad asses because there's a wee bit of a youkai problem they both have to help out with, but there is also a lot of Rin and this story features a Sess/Rin pairing. It's an AU and she's a grown ass woman! LOL

The next fic I think I'm most excited to finish is Freak Show, which once upon a time had been my active WIP and so it's pretty far along and close to finished. The reason I called it a 'semi-modern' AU is 'cause it takes place in like sort of the 1930s, but not the real 1930s in either Japan or America. It's also a fake Americanized Japanese-esque sort of mixed world, but it's 1930s technologically, and so old school traveling freak shows are totally a thing. Also too, Kagome is a reiki user, but in this world, reiki users are a secret society of very rare humans. The ones who know youkai not only were real, but are still real, while most humans think youkai (and reiki users) are just myths. So how's a hanyou supposed to earn a living in a world where most humans think youkai aren't real? Come one! Come all! Meet Dog Boy! A man who is half human, half canine beast!

Man, I am torn on picking only one third one, LOL. I'll tell you about a few more, but I'll try to be less wordy, since apparently I can't put a 'cut' in Ask answers.

Heat of the Moment is a canon divergence that opens like a moonless night blanket fic (Inu/Kag alone and huddling in an abandoned hut to survive a blizzard and then whoops they had sex) but then instead of ending shortly after a morning after love confession, the intention is that it will be a long fic and one of my more epic adventures when everything's said and done.

Her Father had a Daughter is another major epic canon divergence that, spoiler alert, includes an OC who is INUYASHA'S DAUGHTER! *gasp*. All will be explained, but the long short of it is she predates Kikyou, her mother was an inu-youkai so she's 3/4 inu, and I arbitrarily decided slow youkai aging means she still appears to be around age 12-ish (if memory serves). Don't worry, Mom's not in the picture and it's an Inu/Kag fic through and through.

I think last I'm gonna just pick A mid-spring moonless night's dream which as stated is the first upcoming sequel for my post-canon After The End universe. It's just a fluffy/lemony new moon one-shot, takes place during the first new moon after Inu/Kag moved into their own hut together as husband and wife, but I'm excited to get it finished and posted because I have SO MANY IDEAS FOR THAT UNIVERSE OMG. I just wanna get the ball rolling already.

In fact, after I finish and post No More Secrets, finishing my reread/editing of ATE New Beginnings and getting it posted on AO3 is my next project before I get back to any other WIP.

Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask!

[seventhfracture]

I had a very productive conversation with @owl-mug about world building and creating AUs. This builds off an earlier post I have made but I felt like there were enough solid points raised to make this.

This post covers; -Brainstorming an AU -Inspiration -World Building nuts and bolts -How do I write 20 chapters?

How do you come up with so many ideas and then actually get yourself to execute them?

I generate a lot of ideas. About 90% of them are trash. If you’ve been on my tumblr a long time you might’ve seen a few months ago I did an experiment where I tracked every idea I had and how many actually ended up finished projects. Turns out for ever 2-3 good ideas, I throw away about 23 bad ones. And, from the people I’ve spoken to, that’s totally normal!

I start a lot of stuff I never finish. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try things. Sometimes the only way to know if an idea is going to work or not is to try it and then discard it. You’re not ‘abandoning WIPs’ you’re taking part in a natural process of sorting through the ideas in your head and settling on the ones with meat on their bones.

When you go in for a first draft, what do you have? An idea of how things start and then you just go from there?

Usually, it’s a question or a problem.   Question: what if Light wasn’t wearing his watch? Problem: two characters are lost in the woods Question: what if homophobia had a monstrous manifestation? Problem: Princess doesn’t want to get married The question can be vague too; “Do only humans feel empathy?” “Is empathy essential for compassion?”

Sometimes I might even start with the twist and work backwards. Like “Boy doesn’t know the coma patient he’s caring for is an eldritch god”, etc.

I would really like to try writing a Lawlight AU completely removed from the canon setting one of these days, but I feel like most of my ideas stem from an emotion/feeling. Like “snowstorm” and “betrayal”. Then I kind of built a fic around that. So, sure, I could theoretically take something like that with an AU setting but how do I build a world? How does one even come up with something like “what if Light was a literal start and there’s a whole space empire and etc etc etc”?

You need a core idea that you build around. You start with something like “Matriarchal Vampires” and then you build. “Well, what would that look like? What would the ripple effects of that be? What other systems would that call into necessity?”. But you also need an actual plot. World building without a plot is just nonsense. Half your world building might be irrelevant if the plot never goes there. So ideally you want something like “L is a powerful CEO but he’s turned into a vampire and, oh no, vampires are matriarchal. He’ll need a female vampire to sponsor him if he wants to get anywhere in this new world.”

I’m playing with a Soulmate AU where different cultural groups have different soulmate marks. So if you’re ethnically French you might have your soulmate’s name on your wrist but if you’re ethnically Japanese you might not see colour till you meet your soulmate. Each country would naturally have their own traditions and cultures around their marks. And then I asked; “how does that work in a multicultural world? Especially if you and your soulmate come from different cultures?”

Where do you find inspiration? And, if for instance its another piece of art or something like that, how do you turn what inspired you into an original idea?

First, you’ve got to be comfortable with the fact that all art, especially all good art, is theft. We all take inspiration from other people. It’s just like when you wrote notes in class and they told you to “put it in your own words”. So “Black Diamond” for example. I liked the gem system from Steven Universe. But I wasn’t interested in 80% of the other shit so I sliced away the stuff I didn’t want and added stuff that made sense in my new system, or sounded interesting, or could be used to build the sexy kind of scenes and tension I wanted for a Lawlight story. If you’re willing to inject yourself into the premise and really play around like a little kid you’ll make something totally new without much effort. You’re going in a different direction. You have a different goal.

How do you keep going with an idea? In order to make something multiple chapters, for example. How do you come up with something you can effectively split into parts that keep people coming back?

I never sit down and go “this is going to be 20 chapters”. Some ideas feel bigger than others. But I let them be as big or as small as they want to be. I just write what I’ve got until there’s an ending that makes sense. Then, whatever I have at the end, I decide if I’m going to cut that up into chapter or not. Depends on what it wants to be.

Would you say that a “bigger idea” has a more complex plot/problem to be solves? Or maybe the core issue is something that is harder to solve than whatever the character’s first attempt might be, or maybe there are simply more obstacles in the way?

A “bigger idea” definitely has more to solve and more obstacles. But it doesn’t have to be inherently complicated. Stephen King has a great novel (Gerald’s Game) where our MC Jessie is handcuffed to a bed, in a holiday house, when her husband dies of a heart attack. That’s pretty simple. She doesn’t fight aliens or anything. But for 300 pages there’s a LOT she has to do to survive and to even start considering how the fuck she’s going to get out of that situation alive.

The problem doesn’t have to be complicated. The problem just has to seem impossible. And then you chip away at it for a long, long time.

I think it’s a lot of fun to start with a really awful premise, that seems helpless, and then make yourself try and think it out. Write it out. Something really hard like “Light has to confess his love to L but he’s in a maximum security prison awaiting execution”. Okay, how would he even contact L? Let alone get L to talk to him? Let alone get any privacy? And even if L knows would that change anything? And even if it does change anything how could they possibly have a future if Light’s going to die?

You just work through it, step by step, problem solving with your characters.

(A massive thanks to  @owl-mug for letting me share this and for helping build a really interesting conversation with some great insight and questions. If you’re interested in any of the fic ideas check out my A03. Most of them are posted or going to be posted between my fanfic and original accounts in the coming months!

Please hit @owl-mug up too. They’re an incredibly talented writer!)

[phoebenavarro]

WIP ask game

Rules are: post the barebones plot of your wips and let people send you an ask with the title that intrigues them the most, then post a snippet/tell them something about it! Then, tag as many people as you have wips. I was tagged by @organchordsandlightning, thank you!!

all my WIPs are The Magnus Archives, soooooo

First off we got fics that are in progress but have been posted in part

We’ve got my JonMarTim fix-it AU, “Only One to Trust,” where Jon decided to trust Tim in s2 and they started dating. We’ve gotten into s3 now, Jon’s on the run, and Tim and Martin are bonding. We’re slowly getting to the polyamory here

My longfic vampire AU “Fight Another Day,” Elias is a vampire, Jon is his thrall, Martin is a vampire hunter and he gets captured by Elias while trying to hunt him, and Elias decides he’s going to take his time killing him. Cue horrible sexy supernatural love triangle (and a ‘true’ love triangle). Right now Jon is reading the diary of one Dr. Jonathan Fanshawe, who was also Elias’s thrall back when he went by the name of Jonah Magnus

Mike Crew/Jon AU: I have a few little pieces here that I’ve got written, no idea how/if they’ll come together. Martin being worried for Jon that an avatar has basically imprinted on him (and jealous), Tim being pissed that another monster (Mike) is just hanging around in the archives, Jon trying to get some answers about the larger supernatural world from Mike, but Mike doesn’t really pay that much attention and is no help

And now.... the true WIPs

A TimElias AU: Sensing his volatility, in order to secure Tim’s future loyalty, Elias seduces Tim shortly after he joins the Institute and they begin dating. Elias means to just use Tim, but he actually starts to catch feelings. But Elias is still planning to end the world. Cue a whole lot of betrayal and angst when Tim finds out what Elias really is

MartinElias Pretty Woman AU: After Martin drops out of school, he is unable to find a job that pays enough for him to be able to support him and his mother, and he turns to sex work to make ends meet. Elias becomes one of his regular (and favorite) clients. Elias makes an effort to actually get to know Martin while still respecting his boundaries, and after Martin tells him about the reason he’s in this line of work, Elias offers him a job at the Institute.

A fill for the kinkmeme, a rape recovery fic for Jon set in s4, with Martin abandoning his plan with Peter and being there to help Jon through it, as well as Melanie and Basira being forced to see that Jon is human and as much a victim of their situation as they are

A piece for Jaisy week exploring Jon and Daisy having to work together during s3 to stop the Unknowing, the camaraderie they develop even though Jon is terrified of her and Daisy is still fully planning to kill him

so now I gotta tag some folks! I’ll be honest, I haven’t been super active on tumblr lately and I don’t know a ton of people who are actively writing, so I’ll tag a few people, no pressure to do it, and if anyone I haven’t tagged sees this and wants to do it, go for it and you can say I tagged you :)

@voiceless-terror, @shadow0haven, @lo-fi-charming, @fataldrum, @probsnothawkeye

[sesskagarchive]

Hi! Do u have any fics where kagome goes to stay with sesshoumaru in his castle and he trains her? Thanks!

Hi Anon,

Here is what I was able to find for fics fitting that description. Enjoy!

- Admin Sage

A Little Green by mynightshining

Posted on: A03, Dokuga, FFnet Rating: K Summary: Perhaps Sesshomaru made a mistake in gifting Kagome a weapon so early in her training? A drabble for SessKag Week 2021 - Day 1. Status: One Shot

A New Life by Carla Vough

Posted on: Dokuga Rating: MA Summary: Kagome's heart was broken the last time she had gone through the well, only to find Inuyasha with Kikyo. This time, Kagome returns and becomes Sesshoumaru's apprentice. She starts to discover things about his castle and about him that scare her, yet also allow her to find out who she really is and her role in the life she has chosen for herself.

Bonded by Reflection of a Broken Dream

Posted on: Dokuga Rating: MA Summary: Past AU. Many years ago, the great priestess Midoriko faced off with the greatest evil to rise- a demon called Magatsuhi. Unable to defeat him, she sealed their souls away in the Shikon no Tama...but slivers of their souls escaped when the very power she used to seal them away negated their stone bodies while they were being sealed. One piece acts as a spiritual force of good or evil, respectively, trying to gain allies for the war that still rages across the lands. And they each have one sliver of their soul that reincarnates again and again until the battle is ultimately over. Kagome is part of the newest generation of warriors to rise, unaware of her soul's origins and what that will mean in the days to come. What will happen when she becomes soul-bound to an arrogant demon lord intent on doing everything his way and training her up in the demon's way? Status: Abandoned

Heart of a TaiYoukai by Adrian Elijah Hill

Posted on: Dokuga, FFnet Rating: MA Summary: Sure her friends have no idea where she is, and sure she has a crush on the TaiYoukai. That doesn't mean she can't learn to love him with time spent at his home and in his company on the training field.

Innocence, and Beauty with the beast inside by Terra

Posted on: Dokuga Rating: M Summary: Kagome recently found after killing 3 girls that were bullying Sango by accident that she has Demon Youkai Powers as well as miko powers. After she killed the girls she felt bad even though they were bullying her best friend. Sesshomaru had realized the threat that posed if she was not trained in her powers and learned to control them. Seeing this he took her in saying he would train her. Not knowing this was only the begining Status: Abandoned

Kazekage by Azuka

Posted on: Dokuga Rating: MA Summary: Sesshomaru and Kagome start out in the Bone Eater Well... how, fortuitous of a start. Yet when he spies the priestess attempting to 'train' with the kitsune and his illusions, Sesshomaru offers to train her, without her knowing at first the extremes he intends to go, but before long they unravel a story that was told between them ages ago... A story of pain and shared suffering, and the mutual loss of a father. ****Now Rated M for Sexual Content and Adult Language **** At ALL TIMES I will accept any Prompt someone either leaves as a Review or leaves in a PM, for this story :) Status: Abandoned

Lessons in Parenting by Sage McMae

Posted on: A03, Dokuga, FFnet Rating: M Summary: Sesshomaru finds Rin not as a child but as an infant. Unsure how to care for a baby, he seeks help from the only trustworthy human he knows: his brother's miko.*2nd Place Winner - 'Best Characterization' for Feudal Connection's 2021 3rd Quarterly Inuyasha Fandom Awards!* Status: WIP

Life After Loss by Chie

Posted on: A03, Dokuga, FFnet Rating: MA Summary: The notion was utterly absurd. Kagome could not really imagine the regal daiyoukai  mating anyone – let alone her! Only he would be so arrogant as to propose on the very day she had buried her mate.

Night Terrors by Mythicamagic

Posted on: A03, Dokuga, FFnet Rating: MA Summary: In a haze of bloodlust caused by his demonic heritage, Inuyasha kills his beloved friends. All except Kagome. Finding them too late, Sesshoumaru takes the traumatised miko into his group. Sesskag. Status: WIP

Temptation by BittersweetLady

Posted on: Dokuga, FFnet Rating: MA Summary: It has been seven years since Kagome fell down the well. Seven years trying to defeat Naraku. What happens when Sesshomaru is forced to protect and train Kagome? Will the Kamis' plan to use the two to defeat Naraku work? Or will they fail and the world be plunged into a never ending darkness? Status: Abandoned

The Art of War by Jessica

Posted on: Dokuga, FFnet Rating: MA Summary: *My first fanfic* Set in the Feudal Era. Sesshomaru, the eldest son of the Great and Terrible Dog General-Inu No Taisho, is charged with the responsibility of training a new wave of Western Militia. Employing youkai, monk, and miko, Sesshomaru perfects the art of cunning. The art of control. The art of war. Status: Abandoned

Training for Tomorrow by Bird That Flies at Dawn

Posted on: Dokuga Rating: T Summary: Kagome's sick of being useless, and Sesshomaru finds her to be a possible asset in the battle against Naraku. Maybe something more will come from her training, but definitely not without a generous amount of humiliatingly humorous bumps along the way. ~Written from various prompts and DDNs Status: Abandoned

[pingnova]

WIP title ask game

@marypsue as if talking about myself is ever a problem outside of therapy

The spn-killjoys crossover sparked from both of them involving apocalypses. I was interested in how they both have different takes on it, and how the sci-fi aspects of Killjoys could make up for the fantasy aspects of spn. They also both deal heavily with resisting fascism (religious doomsday and capitalist technological). I have also always wanted to write a story that involved the real science of digitally preserving human conciousness and saw that as a good mirror for possession. So I put the spn characters and story into the Killjoys-verse! And you know promptly never finished it lol.

Midnight Rider grew up in the rough and tumble life of the zones. He knew how to trick, steal, fix, and charm anything. Restless by definition, he never settled in one place long, hitting the red line through the zones, scouting out his next firefight.

He had vague memories of a childhood in Battery City, more shapes and impressions than anything concrete. There was never any color, just starched white, inky black, and neutral gray. He knew he’d had a mom at some point, but he’d never known her, too doped up on BLI’s mind-numbing medication to form any meaningful connections. Despite this, he felt a duty to this dead, mysterious woman. She was almost a mythical being, built up into a tragic, selfless figure by his dad’s stories. It was her death that brought him to the zones, and her life was his mission to avenge.

The spn-LOTR au... lotr is one of very few fandoms I am actually actively curative for, vs purely transformative. It's already so rich lol. I was going to take the Fellowship storyline and plop the spn characters in again - so a fusion. (I really fucking love fusions bc I can make the most clever callbacks and parallels to either media.) I have a lot of NOTES on what I want to do and no actual writing. Bc I was still researching exactly how I wanted to manipulate the lotr lore to get the winchesters in there, lol. 100% started because I wanted Castiel to be a cousin of Galadriel. It all went from there. Inspired by this armor. Dean and Sam would share Frodo's role, and it would be a prophecy from their bloodline the Dunedain. Dean is a ranger partially because of this quote straight from the books.

Lonely men are we, Rangers of the wild, hunters - but hunters ever of the servants of the Enemy, for they are found in many places, not in Mordor only.

And I had a flash of inspiration for the destiel. It's all I've written lol.

[ The elves of Lothlorien are leaving Middle-earth. Dean is angry about it. ]

“You’re just leaving us here? It’s the damn apocalypse!”

“Dean, this was long foretold.”

“So the plan was to always abandon us to burn? Isn’t Lucifer your guy? Fight him yourself!”

Castiel meets Dean’s eyes, shining with such righteous wrath to produce unshed tears. He thumbs them away, cradling the man’s flushed cheek in a palm.

“We are the first children of the valar, made of their song and stars. Middle-earth has never been our home. It is domain that was gifted to men, the second and most precious children of the valar. Our time has passed and we must go home. But you, Dean. You and Sam, those of the Dunedain and all men, your season has begun.”

A glittering tear did fall from Dean’s eye this time. He stank of grief and betrayal. “So you’re leaving too?”

Cas pulled their foreheads together and breathed in the dirt-leather-sweat scent of Dean with closed eyes. The scent of his man.

“I’m already home,” he said. “I would choose a mortal life for you, Dean. Not even the valar may separate me from you.”

A nervous sort of uncontrollable grin split Dean’s lips. He was overwhelmed by the admission, but relieved beyond compare.

“I’m glad, Cas. I don’t know if I could do it without you.”

Old timey vamp and priest was me going "hey that opposites attract trope is pretty great" and then thinking of van helsing interrupted by that romance. I have a fixation on Christian lore and have already extensively thought about how vampires (and most monsters) fit into it, because that's me as a person. So Cas would be a priest and dean a vampire. Enemies to uncomfortable allies to lovers. And discussion of the loneliness of immortality. You know how it is.

Zombie!Dean was another like that, with me going "what if dean came back wrong in Lazarus Rising?" Before anyone was resurrected in spn multiple villains made it a point to bring into question whether the right person was summoned or whether they were now evil by virtue of it. Or just "off." That quickly was dropped and never a question again tho lol. Lazarus Rising is on repeat in my head so imagined all is the same but Dean's body is really dead, or in some kind of non-living stasis - so he's essentially a zombie. And Cas gets reamed for bringing him back wrong, which should be impossible. Its later revealed someone set Cas up for that and he couldn't have done anything about it. I wanted to use it as a parallel to deans lack of self worth and his mental health - he's made dead man walking comments more than once. OK bitch, literally dead man walking now. And i love narratives about coping with your own monstrousness. Dean has a very black and white view of monsters at that point of time so being one would be a lot of angst. Just a good old angst fest for me.

Criminal Minds is my favorite spn crossover for fic. I just want more so I was trying to come up with my own to satisfy that. The winchesters get caught by local police during a hunt, and they're transferred to the FBI, thus the BAU. They were on America's most wanted list at least once in canon so it definitely fits. There is an episode I jokingly refer to as "supernatural guantonamo" where the boys are arrested by secret service and tortured in a government black site for supposedly trying to assassinate the president of the United States of America. (Late seasons is just. So bizarre. I kind of love it.) So I figured they'd get transfered there in my fic and then the BAU would be called in on the investigation. They'd find that the winchsters don't really fit anything they think and blah blah blah. Lots of tense interaction. Dean and sam eventually die (in canon they die to escape, like that's where we're at with death as a concept in spn) and there's philosophical jabber about it from the fbi profiler perspective. Meanwhile sam and dean are resurrected and off to do their thing with the govt none the wiser. I really love procedural shows trying to logic with the reality TV levels of nonsense in the spn plot and also the reality of monsters. I think both genres can learn from each other so I have characters play that out. It's also just a good ass time lol. Who doesn't like to pick dean and sam's totally convoluted personal problems apart? want to study them like bugs.