#i must not get distracted by new fanfic ideas

[spacemothes]

hnnnngggg i have.. to finish secret santa drawings

i have to stay focused.. but

hnrbfhjiewjk

I want to write isafrin mermaid au

or write a fic where sif is obsessed with photography

or mayhaps

write a sif as spiderman fic

hnnnnnnnggggggg

torture

this is

hell

[colour-me-katie]

The Umbrella Academy ideas that are stuck in my head (part 2): Training

A fanfic idea where Klaus was involved in his siblings trainings cause Reginald saw he wasn't making enough progress in is own and "You must contribute somehow Number Four". But no one knew what each others individual training involved cause they hated taking about it. But one day after the not-apocalypse or whatever the conversation gets brought up and one of them mentions that Klaus was involved in the their trainings and they all are like....wait he was in mine too. And Klaus is like "yeah, I always preferred your trainings over mine" Then they ask Klaus what his training was and if anyone else was involved but he doesn't want to tell them about the mausoleum or how he later found out that Reginald used to kill him/let him die and time how long it took him to come back.

Luther (I'm not really sure how to include Klaus in training for him yet)

Diego's training included having him throw knives and things at various targets until his hands ached. Then Reginald wanting him to practice curving the projectiles so he made Klaus stand in front of a target (cause he knew Diego had a "weakness" for Klaus and also that Klaus couldn't die, not that he told anyone that) and made Diego throw knives at him. Later upgraded to Reginald throwing the knives and making Diego try to stop or repeal them. And he messed up sometimes and got so upset at hurting Klaus but Klaus is just like "Don't worry Di I trust you not to hurt me on purpose" and "It's okay Di, it's just a scratch". And Klaus just got used to the pain and build up a high pain tolerance.

Allison's training included rumoring over and over until her throat hurt. But she needed to rumor someone for Reginald to see the effects and how different wording and even languages changed the results. So Klaus got picked cause he was the best at/knew the most languages so he could understand (maybe because of the ghosts). And Allison kinda hated doing it to him but was afraid of Reginald and wanted to prove herself so she just made Klaus do a bunch of things. And Klaus got used to the idea and feeling of his body and mind not really being his own and kinda just dissociated after a while.

Five's training included practicing jumping until he felt like passing out. Then one day Reginald wanted him to practice with another person and chose Klaus. And Klaus got so dizzy and sick the first time he threw up so Reginald forbade him from eating on Five's training days cause "I will not stand you making a mess Number Four". Klaus didn't tell anyone and when asked why he doesn't eat sometimes he just said he wasn't hungry. Later Klaus thinks back on this when he is living on the streets and is already familiar with the feeling of hunger.

Ben's training didn't involve Klaus because it was too dangerous even for Reginald. But Klaus was always there when Ben was finished. And he would drag him to the bathroom and clean him up and then they would cuddle under blankets together in Ben's bed and Klaus would talk about anything and everything just to distract Ben from thinking too much about the Horror. And sometimes Ben hated when his stomach was touched cause it hurt or he was afraid that the Horror would just react without his control but other times when they would cuddle, Klaus would lay his hand or even his head again Ben's stomach and for a moment Ben knew how much Klaus trusted him and how much faith he had in him and in that moment it made Ben feel safe and in control.

Viktor obviously didn't have training like the others but he remembers when he would learn a new song and finally be able to play it through without messing up and wanting to show Reginald or his siblings but was afraid they wouldn't care. But Klaus would come into his room sometimes and listen to him play and he would sit on his bed and fall asleep. Viktor admits that at the time he thought Klaus was just bored and it hurt that he never listened to the whole song. But present Klaus says that he wasn't bored but that Viktor's room never had any ghost (unlike his other siblings who became murderers/haunted way to young) and his music was so beautiful and peaceful. That Viktor's room was safe, that Viktor was safe. And feeling safe was something Klaus rarely felt as a kid but in those moments with Viktor he was able to relax and actually sleep.

Anyway I just want a hurt/comfort fic with Klaus and his siblings.

[sunnycanvas]

Hi! New to Tumblr here and I love your Baldwin fanfics. Could you please do one where female reader is drunk? I just wanna know how would he reacts. Smut or fluff it's up to you hehe anyways have a good day 😊

Thank you for request, have a nice day as well

Baldwin iv was tired, the meetings with high court had taken much longer time than he expected. When he walked in the room he expected you to find in bed reading a book immediately smiling with the sound of door and opening your arms to welcome him. Alas, you weren't there. The room looked gloomy and small without you there. Has it been always like that? he wondered. He craved your smell, your affectionate smile, your beautiful eyes which lighten up whenever he sees you. He missed you so much. Baldwin iv felt bad he knew you felt neglected. He barely spends time with you and whenever he comes, he directly goes to sleep. You seemed upset but were understanding. Baldwin iv still felt that his royal duties were no excuse to neglect you

Just then he heard the door opening. Thinking it was you he turned around with excited smile. He was ready to pounce at you and shower you with kisses for ignoring you. However his expression soon turned to confusion to worry and lastly anger.

You entered red faced giggling. Baldwin iv was furious. You are engaged to king soon going to be future queen of Jerusalem. What were thinking going drunk like that? What if someone had taken advantage of your drunken state? Did you not think what would happen to him? Thinking someone taking advantage of you in your drunken state made Baldwin iv furious. Luckily your friend was nice enough to leave to your room

Seeing Baldwin iv cold gaze she placed you on bed, curtised the king and ran away as fast as she could, she was so fast that Baldwin iv didn't have time to scold her to be careless enough to let you get drunk.

He was soon distracted with your giggles. "Hey handsome, would you like to go for a drink with me"

"Your flattering wouldn't help you my lady, do you have any idea how dangerous it could be"

You frowned confused. Your frowned expression with flushed face tickled Baldwin iv's heart and he had strong urge to kiss you. It's difficult to stay angry at you he thought. You always have your way with your cute expression but this time Baldwin iv was determined not to let you win by charms.You got up and and layed your hands on his shoulder. You squinted your eyes as if you wanted to read his expression. At last you pounted and said

"I am afraid Sir, I don't recognise you"

Baldwin iv was mixed with worry and anger.

"Why would you drink to such an extent that you wouldn't recognise me, do you have any idea how what would happen to me if anything happened to you!? How could you be so careless?"

Hearing this you started cry. Baldwin iv was greatly upset seeing you crying. He never yelled at you also you were drunk. That must have gotten you emotional. Sighing he gently layed you down on bed in sleeping position. He layed beside you and hugged you. Whispering apologizes he kept kissing your temple. You sniffled and said

"Since you are kissing me sire, I am going to forgive"

This time Baldwin iv frowned and asked

"Angel you never call me sire"

You giggled hearing this and asked

"Do I know you?"

Baldwin iv remembered that you were too drunk to recognise him. He sighed and hugged as you both went back to sleep. "I will ensure to scold you tomorrow when you are well enough. Hopefully you don't get a hangover" he thought.

[duhragonball]

Roundabout

I watched CJ the X's video about Rick and Morty, mainly because I kept seeing people screencap the parts about perfectionism near the beginning. Well, I thought I should see it for myself, and then I wound up getting pulled into the "Story Circle" concept used by series co-creator Dan Harmon.

This may be old news to a lot of people-- in fact, I'm sure it is, because Harmon admits that this is heavily based on the monomyth concept popularized by Joseph Campbell. I've never fully appreciated the "Hero's Journey" idea before, but I think Harmon has refined it by simplifying the names of the steps. "Atonement with the Father" just becomes "Take", and that's a lot easier for me to grasp. Campbell probably never meant to suggest that every story features a literal "atonement with the father", but his work involved identifying common elements in story structure, so I'm sure he had trouble coming up with fitting names for everything.

Harmon's circle might be a little too simplified, since there's a lot to unpack in the word "Take", but his model is focused on making a formula to write new stories, as opposed to comparative mythology. What I like a lot about the Story Circle is that Harmon insists that it's not a rule that must be learned and followed. Rather, it's an observation of something all humans do when they tell stories, whether they realize it or not. But sometimes it can be helpful to be made aware of the pattern, like checking a map even when you're familiar with the route.

It can be fun, although probably distracting, to apply the circle to existing works. The Star Wars movies used Campbell's monomyth as a blueprint, so that's probably too easy. But it can also be used on individual scenes too. Luke(1) falls down a trap door and now he has to find a way back out (2) before the rancor eats him (3). He manages to avoid being eaten using a bone and some nooks and crannies in the pit (4) but at last he finds a door out of the dungeon, except it's locked, leaving him cornered (5). But he manages to drop a heavy gate on the rancor as it approaches him, which kills it (6). The bad guys then open the door to bring him back to Jabba (7), who now prepares to feed him to an even worse monster outside (8).

And that probably sets up the next cycle in the movie, where Luke saves everyone from the next monster, and so on. I think at long last I understand why these kinds of story structures are presented as "circles" or cycles". You don't have to do multiple laps, but the structure allows you to do so, and acknowledges that multiple cycles can also form a larger circle, and so on.

With episodic television series, the final step, change, often means reverting to the status quo. There's a M*A*S*H episode where Radar tries to become a serious writer, and he keeps trying to inject his army reports with purple prose, until finally Hawkeye explains to him that he has to use his own words and stop trying to imitate what he thinks the "pros" use. So Radar does learn a lesson, but the lesson basically puts an end to the weird dialogue he was using the whole episode and puts him back to normal. The Korean War doesn't end, and Colonel Potter doesn't die, and Klinger still wears dresses, but the structure is still followed and sets up the next cycle.

I can see how this is very useful in a writers' room for a television show, especially one like Rick and Morty, where the characters seem to be capable of almost anything. It probably helps to take stray ideas like "Rick turns himself into a pickle!" and run that through a formula to make sure you can get a working script out of the gag.

Anyway, I'm currently trying to use it to flesh out some ideas for my fanfic, since I have a lot of story beats I want to accomplish, but I don't have much to connect them together. Using the Story Circle seems to be helping me figure out which pieces I'm missing, so maybe this will compensate for all those years where I could just use DBZ Episode 66 and Xenoverse 1 as loose outlines that I could follow. This fall, I gotta build my own story skeleton before I can fill it in, and the clock is ticking...

[fractualized]

Hey

Don't really consume original batman comics, can't have acess to this things but I started to read and watch batjokes stuff. I'll say that I consume from the dark and reflecting to the wholesome peak, and one of that keeps heartwarming me is Telltale batjokes. Love how John can go from scary smiling creature to a precious sweetheart. Also like to see different versions of Joker interactions with the batfam in the various fancomics and fanfics. What makes think how I don't see many fics about John Doe with the batfam. Of course I see that is because the Telltale universe doesn't have the Bruce's kids, what is really sad because I think that "collision" could give us some truly great things.

What scenarios do you think it could be treated on these stories that you haven't saw being made yet?

Also, I saw once a post a person made talking how they'd like about John exploring more his sexuality. Like, that would focus more in the John's experiences out of Arkham BEFORE meeting Bruce again. Trying new clothes, talking with new people, discovering makeup (that I think he wouldn't get acess in Arkham). Do you have any thoughts about that too?

Recently I watched some videos that talk about John's possible disorders. How looks like he keeps switching from 'John' to 'Joker' and how he was way more "Joker" in Arkham, maybe having a kind of personality disorder. Sure, must be in that way because they wanted a different John from the one that we have in season one, but we can dream about this a little bit, can we?

That was long. Sorry for the errors, english it's not my language. Like your fics btw. The more I read some things, more I like the whole fan creation stuff and understand better too.

Thank you for the message, and for enjoying my fic! No worries about the length. I'll take your questions one by one:

John Doe and the Batfam

I think one of the reasons not a lot of people (including me) have incorporated the batfam into Telltale fic is that a big selling point for writing it is that the Telltale-verse is its own thing. There's much, much less history to complicate matters if you want to write a canon-compliant story, which includes there being no children to distract Bruce from his relationship with John, which a lot of fic focuses on. The batjokes is certainly what I enjoy! I don't have anything against the batfam (and I'm actually trying to read a little more about at least some of them), but since that interest has never been super high, my fic ideas never went in that direction.

If I do think about bringing in batfam, well, I get a little stuck.

While John is a lighter flavor of Joker, he's still a Joker, and Joker is not a parental person. In the comics he has had some interesting nonviolent interactions with kids, indulging or even protecting them, but that's not the same as being responsible for them. And one of the stronger Joker characteristics John has is his obsession with Bruce and wanting his attention. I don't think John would go all "Death of the Family" on a kid brought into the manor, but he would be wildly jealous. Like, my first plot bunny is John getting a visit from Bruce, who tells him about witnessing this tragic accident at the circus that left a poor child acrobat orphaned, and wanting to help him. Then over more visits, we get a story of little Dick Grayson insisting on investigating his parents murder, so intently that he becomes Bruce's vigilante partner. And John, who's been gnawing on his jealousy over Bruce spending all this time with some kid, loses his shit that an 8-year-old is a better vigilante than he ever was. Just spiraling about how Bruce is forgetting about him. He breaks out, insisting he can help, but just gets thrown back in again. A tragedy!

Okay, let's try one with John out of Arkham, and let's go non-chronological this time and say Bruce meets Jason Todd first. Jason's trying to steal the batmobile's tires, of course, but he's also a witness to a murder or something, so Bruce brings him home. This time John directly witnesses Bruce bonding with a troubled kid, and the jealousy is worse because John recognizes all the ways Bruce calms him down. John and Jason don't get along at all because John is constantly trying to get Bruce to shuttle this kid off to a nice foster home, but similar to the scenario above, Jason's moxy earns him a Robin spot. Then a twist! Jason has leaned into Bruce's mentoring because he wants to find his mother, who he's sure is alive! And John is like, well dang, I'll help you find her if it gets you out of my house. And in some eerie parallels to Jason's comic death, they end up overseas and find Sheila Haywood, who it turns out is defrauding the aid organization she works for. On being discovered, the men she's working with attack Jason, and John has this terrible opportunity to take his jealousy past the brink and let whatever happens to Jason happen-- but he doesn't. He saves Jason instead, not just because he knows Bruce would be wrecked but because he sees parts of himself reflected in Jason. There, that's sort of nicer! I still don't think John would be parental after that, but it would be nicer??

John's Self-Exploration

See, the thing with John having new experiences after getting out of Arkham is that they have to be limited, because that's key to what happens with his character in the game. He's really struggling with finding who he is, because he keeps trying to emulate other people rather than figure out what he personally wants to do with this life. (Which would be understandable even if he was the average person. It's easier to model yourself after somebody else than to put yourself out there again and again to figure out what works for you.) Before Bruce reappears, John is focused on being who he thinks Harley wants him to be and having a place with the gang. It ties into his hatred for Riddler, who just outright disdained of him instead of simply tolerating him like, say, Freeze.

He still naturally does some exploration, of course. He has to dress himself outside of Arkham, and he's a talkative guy so he managed to find, uh, acquaintances outside of the Pact at the Stacked Deck. It probably would have helped him a lot if he'd done more of that, but as much as he seems to act independently in the game, all too often it's in service of impressing Harley or then Bruce. If I were to write about John's exploration, it would probably be about restraint. He would be full of curiosity about the ways other people express themselves, and he'd stifle it because he's not sure if that's what Harley would want. Makeup would be a big curiosity for sure, but I can see John not indulging either because he doesn't see a lot of other guys wear it or because he asked Harley if he could try her kit and she decided to psych him out about it because she could.

Is it too drastic to say that a John who had even trepidatious confidence for self-exploration might have found more balance and avoided his fate in the game? Maybe, but I have to wonder.

John In Arkham Versus Outside Arkham

Personally I tread lightly when it comes to assigning specific disorders to John. It's one thing if someone recognizes their own diagnosis in him and uses that to inform a fic. When it comes to the writing in the game, as far as I can tell, it was just working off characteristics common to the Joker: impulsive, manipulative, self-important, and infatuated with violence, with a poor sense of boundaries and an inappropriate sense of humor. Those traits may be consistent with certain disorders, but there aren't that many fic scenarios where I would feel the need to specify what applies to John, and in those cases I would be extremely careful. When it comes to pure speculation? I'm just not qualified. Heck, I have a fic where I gave John a heart diagnosis and I'm still hoping I wasn't super off-base.

As for the shift from "Joker" to "John," I ascribe to the fish-out-of-water explanation (which, yeah, papers over how Telltale simply needed to change his character for the story). John learned a more aggressive way to navigate life when he was incarcerated in a corrupt asylum, and when the rules he lived by there did not apply outside of it, he had to re-map. Not only did he have to learn different ways to behave, but he had to do it while feeling more off-kilter than usual, exposed and vulnerable. Make a mistake when living in Arkham, you just get put in a deeper hole in Arkham. Make a mistake outside of Arkham, you lose all your newfound freedom and get thrown back behind bars. I don't see a "switch" in John, just him reverting to more aggressive behavior at times, especially when he's under stress.

Well, I hope my thoughts were… interesting? I feel like I pushed back on most of your starting points and that's probably annoying. Sorry!

[imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese]

hi moon, just wanted to let you know that your fanfiction and other's artwork who i follow here have inspired me to make fanfiction. i've written tamer stories but i've also written nsfw stuff as well about eris and drifter. i don't run out of ideas but i run out of steam and motivation to write, even when it involves characters that i love to either draw or write about. do you have any tips to keep going if, for example, you run into an art block of some kind? how can you filter out junk ideas for a good one to write about? also dialogue, it is my weakness but you pick up their mannerisms really well based on some of your work i've read. any tips to get them right in fanfiction? thanks for your time

I cannot express how delighted I am that things I have written have inspired you to write - especially things with Eris and the Drifter. I hope you will consider posting them somewhere and sending me a link either on here or in DMs (or if you are not posting it and still want to share, I invite you to email me - my ID for gmail is the same as it is here, on Discord, and on Ao3.)

Regarding motivation: Writing is a muscle and creativity responds well to routine use of it and sustenance. Motivation is also like a small child and sometimes needs coddling and protection.

I have found the most effective way through blocks is to freewrite through them, By this I mean set a timer, get a pen and paper (not keyboard unless you need one for accessibility reasons) and write whatever comes into your head for five or ten minutes (the number of minutes can vary - I often go up to 20 but even five can be hard at first). Your job is not to actually write, and the words don't actually matter, you just need to keep the pen moving and are not allowed to stop writing words, and then you want to try and do this every day. The point is not to write creatively, it's exercise. Most commonly this begins with phrasing like:

I must write words. I must keep them appearing on the page. I must not stop until the timer ends. I must write. I must write words.

And eventually you get very bored of writing the same thing over and over again and start including other things. For me the most common thing I start to write is lists of things I need to do that are not done yet or lists of things that are emotionally bothering me.

Eventually you run out of things and/or get tired of writing the same problems over and over again and your brain gets bored and starts dreaming up new things. That is good. Let your mind get bored. You want that. Let it play. Grammar is not important. No one else needs to ever see this, including yourself. Ethics/morality is not important. This is pure brain-vomit straight from within. You are teaching yourself to have a conversation with your mind in a nonjudgemental manner. If critical thoughts happen you can write them down, but try not to focus on criticism because that is the enemy of creativity.

For when you're not completely blocked and trying to avoid becoming so, write full first drafts before going back and editing them. Editing engages a different part of the brain from creation and engaging too early can divert your focus and sometimes make it hard to get back into the creative mindset again.

Take breaks. Play games (if you're writing D2 fanfication, this counts as research!) or step away from the computer (or paper). Eat a food. Drink a water. Human bodies were not designed to write for long periods of time. Too much and we start to cramp up and have bad posture and this eventually leads to being distracted by pain.

Protect your creativity. This may be more of a depression thing than a writing thing but few things strangle creativity more than immersing ourselves in toxicity. I curate what media I ingest very stringently. I've had to block people who I still consider to be fantastic artists and writers, whose work I genuinely respect, because it's just not healthy for me to interact with them. Constructive criticism is healthy and good to engage with, but when you encounter a person (or a group) who makes you feel bad routinely, ask yourself if you're actually getting anything out of that relationship. Are they making you a better writer (or a better person) or are they just shitting on everything you love? Sometimes we stay in places (especially online places) that are hostile to us because we feel socially obligated to do so and it harms, not just our creativity, but also our self-esteem. Remember to evaluate these things routinely. Sometimes the reason you're creatively blocked is simply a symptom of something larger. Sometimes your unconscious mind is trying to tell you that it's being poisoned and you need to change your environment so it can breathe again.

Regarding how to filter out junk ideas:

There are no junk ideas, only poor implementation. And even poor implementation is better than no implementation. Write them anyway. You can always edit it later. If your mind thinks something is shiny, pursue it, no matter how 'junk' you think it might be. If your mind thinks something is junk, put it aside, but keep it. It may become shiny later. It may be useful in another form.

Do not filter your ideas. Pile them in a giant heap like a dragon and lie on them. Roll around. Kick your feet. Play. Let your brain be a two-year-old magpie and just pick out whatever is shiniest at the time. Be indulgent. Be decadent. It is your mind. You can have favourites. You can get bored and pick up something else. It's allowed.

You are also allowed to force yourself to finish something when you are unblocked (if you wish) but you may find that doing so causes you to be blocked. Be careful of that. Human unconsciousness and creativity is very cat-like. It gets bored easily and will often be contrary just to fuck with you. It will sit in front of a door, demand you open it, and then begin to lick its ass. It didn't want to actually go through the door. It just wanted you to open it. And that's fine. Let your mind be flighty. You are not on a time limit (unless you are being paid - then it gets more difficult).

In my experience, when you are blocked, or close to it, the restrictions need to come off. Let your mind play and pick up shiny things and get distracted by something shinier or different or otherwise weird. Treat your unconscious like an unruly child, give it breaks. Let it take naps. Give it a cookie when it's done eating its vegetables (but also let it have cookies just because). If you end up with 300 unfinished things that's fine. I, myself, have oodles of them. I look through them and often later find them shiny again. This is fine. Keep your half-done things. Allow yourself to make them and to have them. They are part of your horde. Go looking for more. Shuffle them around. Mix them. Throw them against different walls periodically to see if they stick. Sometimes two things are not interesting but when you put them side by side a third thing appears, within or between them or in reaction to them, that is more lovely than either of them could have been on their own.

When you are writing something and feel bored with it, ask yourself if maybe it's just that you need something else happening at the same time. Maybe this part could use some foreshadowing of something dramatic that isn't yet stated. Or perhaps another scene could be woven into and happen simultaneously with what is happening now.

I work very hard at my dialogue. I am delighted you like it. Some voices (such as the Drifter) come to me far more easily than others and for some (like Eris) I need to immerse myself in them to get a good feel of them. Yet others I simply copy and paste some of their in-game dialogue into a notepad file and then replace individual words until it is saying something else. Or I splice two in-game lines together to make a new one with existing phrases. I often work with a notepad of just copy-pasted dialogue from the game along side what I'm writing so I can use it as a reference for how the character talks.

Conversations also don't tend to begin at the beginning and end at the end. If more context is needed later, you can fix that when you're editing. You're allowed to just skip to the fun parts. You're allowed to have external things interrupt.

Sometimes I go stand by a character in-game that has idle dialogue (both the Drifter and Eris are lovely for this) and I just listen to them while I do other things in an attempt to absorb their speech patterns through osmosis. Sometimes I look up transcriptions of their voice lines from the game, or find quotes from them, or play scenes from the destiny lore vault on youtube in the background, or look up transcriptions on the ishtar collective. I read through them and analyse them. I look for patterns and note them down for use later.

Distinctive character voices have distinctive quirks. Eris, for example, tends to use poetic language, and often uses a bigger word when a smaller one will do, but only when the meaning of the bigger word is actually more precise:

"We do not seek to exculpate the Witch Queen."

Her humour is subtle and pointed, often a little creepy or mean.

"Ikora and Zavala are dear friends. Even if we don't always see eye to eye… to eye."

She is also very blunt, not only in not sugarcoating anything but also in being forthright with her feelings and her tendency to state the obvious, sometimes uncomfortable things no one is talking about:

"Did Zavala send you? He does not trust me." "You give me hope."

Drifter loves colourful gritty memorable metaphors and his humour ranges from self deprecating and flirty to bleak as fuck - sometimes one after the other or at the same time for shock value.

"Otto does it so beautifully that, when he's done, you're standing there holding your guts in your hands and thanking him for the show."

But he's also prone to dispensing unrequested, often highly practical (but a bit unnerving) advice:

"The bullet always comes when you're not moving." "Ever headbut a Kell? Don't. You'll break your neck. Use bullets."

Dialogue also works best when something else is happening at the same time. People rarely talk to each other with their full focus unless the situation is emotionally charged and/or the conversation is extremely important. Figuring out what each one of them is doing in addition to talking can be very helpful even if it never shows up directly in the dialogue at all.

Dialogue also tends to work well when each character has a reason for having the conversation. The reasons don't need to be complicated. The Drifter can be hungry and want to eat dinner. Eris can be busy and want to finish the conversation quickly so she can go back to what she was doing. But having what the character wants in the background of what is being said can really give weight and context to what's being spoken.

Not all responses need to be verbal and many characters have distinctive non-word responses to things. Drifter often laughs, says 'Oooh!' or 'Huh.' Eris often says 'Hmmm…' or sighs. These are as important to their distinctive voices as the words they use.

Dialogue between two people may not need attribution if the voices are distinct enough but any more than two people in a conversation and attribution is usually needed or the reader will become confused. The goal for dialogue attribution is to make it as invisible as possible unless you are using it for a specific effect (for example, I often use attribution as pacing or to achieve a specific rhythmic effect). So anything that might confuse the reader and make them need to re-read or otherwise ask who is speaking is to be avoided. This means that 'said' is not a sin, and neither is 'growled' as long as whatever you choose doesn't stick out and draw attention to itself.

I hope this is useful to you. I love writing, and reading, and delight in sharing stories and ideas. I very much look forward to anything you write and, while I know it is challenging to show your work to others, it's also very rewarding. I hope some day you will be willing to share your things with me, especially if they include Eris and/or the Drifter. I tend to be a very sympathetic reader and will delight in your words and cherish them as expressions of joy and care.

Let there be more love in the world. Let us write it into existence. Let us sing our songs to the universe and delight in the songs we hear in return.

Aiat.

[burningblake]

Hi :) I'm new to the chenford fanfic game and I loove yours. I was wondering if you ever wrote one about 4x01 after the hug? If wesley hadn't called tim, I bet lucy would have crawled into tim's bed (maybe I'm delusional but it would have made such a good story 🔥)

Hii and welcome, I'm so happy that you like my fics, thank you so much! (Sorry that it took me some time to reply, but I wanted to include the fic in the answer.) This prompt intrigued me a lot tbh so thanks a lot for sending it to me! I, too, believe something spicy would have happened that night if they didn't get interrupted and here's my version of it ^^

#

She didn't expect him to actually hug her when she asked him to. He's usually so guarded, so by the book, that it would be natural for him to simply offer her a polite rejection. 

But Tim said "Come here" and now his arms are wrapped firmly around her and he's stroking her hair and her nose is dipped in the clean fragrance of his chest and all she can think of is taking it a step further. 

Normally she'd reject any thoughts of the kind—Tim's mouth on hers, his breath driven out of control because of her—but the pain and loss she feels right now are like a whirlpool pulling her into a deep abyss and she's scared to find out what's in the bottom. So as soon as the distraction appears, she latches onto it with tooth and claw. 

She lets her mind flood with images of him kissing her, of their naked bodies tangled in his sheets, of her chanting his name as he makes love to her. She knows he'll be gentle with her, respectful, loving even. More than anything, she's curious to find out how it sounds to give him pleasure. She's imagined all that in the few seconds their embrace lasts. All she needs is to make the first step, plant the idea. After all didn't he compliment her at the wedding? Checked her out and asked her to save him a dance? He must find her a little desirable at least.

With that confidence instilled in her, she slowly raises her head and rests her gaze firmly on his lips. Tim looks at her and then at her mouth and for a fraction of a second, she's almost certain he'll kiss her. Her pulse quickens, her breathing stops. 

But he looks away, tells her "Goodnight" and retreats to his bedroom.

Reality comes crashing on her like a bucket of cold water. What was she thinking? What did she really expect to happen? He's her boss. 

And yet, and yet. The sting of his rejection is a much more manageable pain than the chaos she's trying to escape from. And so her embarrassment lasts only for a few moments. 

By the time her head falls on the pillow, her thoughts are again preoccupied with fantasies of him. It's not long before she starts feeling restless and hot all over. 

And what if she regrets it? Regret sounds like a healthier feeling than whatever that hole in her chest is. 

She woke up this morning with Jackson in her life. And now he isn't in it anymore. It feels unrealistic. Wrong. Like he's simply going to be home in their apartment when she returns. She doesn't want to think what will happen when she doesn't find him there. 

Perhaps if she has her thoughts flooded with something as overwhelming as having sex with her boss, it will be easier to face that reality.

But then she can't ignore the fact that part of her is also glad for the excuse, as morbid as that may be. She's relieved that she has the opportunity to experience Tim erotically and then be able to blame it on a moment of weakness if things turn out awkward. God, she's such an awful person. 

But right now, she doesn't care. 

She tosses the covers aside and gets on her feet, letting the boldness inside her take full control. She walks barefoot towards his bedroom door and raises her hand to knock. At the last second, she regrets it, goes for the handle instead. Softly, she turns it down. 

She realizes this might be all in vain if he's asleep. But when she steps inside the bedroom, Tim's eyes meet hers in astonishment.

"Lucy?" 

He's on his feet at once, his gaze filled with concern. He walks towards her, but stops at a normal distance between them. 

"Are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?" 

For a moment, as she studies his intense expression and works up the courage to name her request, she considers lying to him. A nightmare is exactly the kind of thing that would justify her mindless behavior. But she's not that far gone as to use such a cheap excuse. 

"No, I'm fine," she says, her clear voice cutting the charged atmosphere in the room. 

Tim looks at her with slight confusion, the question evident in the air. What is she doing in his room? 

Instead of an answer, she simply steps closer to him, so that they're again at the same position that they were in his living room, seconds after they hugged. 

His eyes widen in surprise. Still, he doesn't step back. 

"What are you doing?" he asks with warning. 

"Continuing from where we stopped before?" she says. It's not exactly a question, but her voice raises up a little at the end as though it is. 

His surprise turns into shock. His gaze switches frantically between her mouth and eyes. 

"Lucy..." he starts, his voice clearly affected. "You know that this is wrong in many ways and you're going to regret it afterwards. Grief isn't helping you think clearly right now." 

She knows, she knows she'll be better off if she accepts this soft, rational rejection now, instead of pushing it further. But it's like she's stepped into deep water and she can't seem to find her footing. 

"Are you going to regret it?" 

Tim shakes his head. "That's not the point. Lucy, you know me better than to think I'd take advantage of you this way."

"You're not taking advantage of me. I'm a consenting adult. I came to your bedroom." She realizes she's started sounding like a lunatic. 

His hands are suddenly on her shoulders, his head lowered to level her gaze. "This is not happening tonight, alright? Please try to get some sleep." 

She pauses, looks into his eyes, tries to find more fight inside of her. But the rejection is dampening her courage. She exhales in surrender and finally nods. A moment of silence passes and then she spins out of his hold, a little more forcibly than she intended to, and walks out of his bedroom, shutting the door in her wake. 

She had it all wrong. Rejection is what finally pushes the tears that have been gathering behind her eyes, waiting for her permission to spill. She cries silently for a while. Finally, exhausted, she falls asleep. 

Ironically, she has a nightmare.

In her dream, she's back at her apartment and Jackson greets her with a goofy smile, tells her, "I saw you dancing with Tim at the wedding." 

She nudges him and laughs. "Stop, it was just a dance."

Jackson gives her a meaningful gaze that says she can't fool him. 

Lucy pokes at him and they both start laughing together. 

"I missed you at the wedding," she tells him then. "Where did you disappear?" 

"Well, I went to see Angela. I wanted to give her something." 

Angela? 

The scene abruptly changes. It's not Jackson sitting in front of her. But her mom. Her mom telling her what a disappointment she is. Lucy can't sit and listen to her. She gets up, starts searching for her roommate, because if there's anyone who can put her mom in her place, it's him. But Jackson is nowhere and her mom keeps yelling in her head. 

Until it's not her mom at all who's yelling anymore. It's Lucy. Waking up screaming from her sleep.

"Lucy! Lucy!"

Tim's voice comes from right above her. She feels his touch on her shoulder, her cheek.

"It's alright, it was just a dream," he reassures her.

She meets his gaze in a frozen state. Slowly, reality sinks in and the tears come back. Tim sighs and in the most gentle gesture ever, pulls her onto his chest. Her tears stain the soft cotton of his top. 

They stay like that for a while. She can't help but remember another place, another time, a similar gesture. The safety of his embrace after she'd been buried alive into a desert. Somehow his arms have always meant safety for her. She realizes her hands have started shaking. 

She pulls away from him in order to meet his gaze. 

She doesn't say anything, but she can't help the pleading look that forms in her eyes. Tim's gaze turns incredulous. She expects that—the shock and rejection. What she doesn't expect is the conflict that follows  it. The clear signs that he's also struggling with desire. His expression becomes almost pained before something goes loose inside him. As though he gives up and gives in at once. 

His hand slides from her cheek to her hair where he latches on to pull her close. His lips land on hers with a soft moan of surrender. 

At first she's too stunned to react. His mouth is warm, gentle. She'd always expected him to taste like coffee. But as she closes her lips around his bottom lip, Tim tastes like warmth, like the sun-kissed aura of a summer morning. She lets out a shaky breath and brings her hands onto his cheeks, opening her mouth just as he dives in for a deeper connection. 

She grabs onto his shoulders to lift herself into a sitting position. Tim's hand slides from her shoulder to her waist, the other one still buried into her scalp. 

She can hear his breath accelerate and it makes her feel dizzy with power. She's never seen him this out of control. Tim kisses her again and again until she gasps for breath and then still he moves on to kissing her neck. 

Slowly he moves from the floor to the couch on top of her, adjusting his weight carefully so as not to crush her. He has to lift her leg off in the process and his hand lingers on her thigh, caressing her up and down, as his tongue dips into her mouth to entangle with hers. In a moment of impulse, Lucy wraps her legs around him, gratified by the groan the movement evokes from him. Tim buries his face underneath her chin, where he starts leaving a trail of wet kisses. 

She finds the hem of his top and pulls it upwards. He lets her take it off of him. Then he gets on his feet, gathers her up in his arms and leads her to his bedroom. 

She doesn't know how much of it she's going to regret later. Right now, all she knows is that it's never felt this good.

(masterlist)

[porkcutletbowl44]

I'm genuinely surprised that you made me love far From Perfect so much that I was giggling and kicking my feet like a 10 years old girl when I noticed you had posted a new chapter😭 it's my favorite fanfic so far on the whole ao3 already, reminds me of when I first discovered the website and started liking fanfics.

Talking about the chapter itself now, before you posted it I was thinking that Simon MIGHT had let himself get shoot because he was too distracted with the whole situation with mama and Keegan. I'm actually a bit glad it wasn't it(sometimes I let my mind wander into multiple theories for too long😞). The scene of the mission made me so anxious too, I was scared that Keegan or any other would also get shot or that Simon would get even more injuried💔. I hate him BUT he has a daughter to take care of, and he can't make things right with mama if he dies. Simon being jealous of the attention mama was giving to Keegan because he has a small injury made me laugh so much. I live just to see this man mad and dealing with the consequences of his actions. Sadly my happiness didn't last long because Collen show up 👎.

But seriously talking, Simon is being horrible for both mama and Collen. I mean, she's an annoying bitch but imagine your soon to be husband keeps his ex-wife instead of you on his emergency contact list and acts like he still loves her??? I'd be so jealous and frustrated on her place. Jesus Christ he can't be a good partner not even once😭. Althought she isn't so smart too, picking fights with mama won't make Simon a better partner and only seems to annoy him further. Also her wanting to adopt Fawn just so Simon won't have an excuse to see his ex? If she's so insecure that he may go back to mama and cheat her on it's better if she just dump him (and technically he kind of cheated her already considering chapter 4). At least he's against her stupid idea because I'd be so sad if they had decided to have full custody of Fawn, mama would be devasted if it happened.

Gladly she had a good time with Keegan while the other two were being idiots. They're so sweet together and I just can't stop smiling whenever they're chilling or just having a good time😭💞. I was also expecting for their first kiss to happen but sadly it didn't happened this time, but at least he got a kiss on the cheek! He deserves more tho, he's such a lovely character here and mama needs to be with someone who really is there for her(something Simon can't be since he's too much of a pussy to make things right👎). And I never laughed more while reading an fanfiction than when Keegan just decided that Simon should shut his mouth and pumped sleeping medication into his body😭.

But seriously talking, I wonder if Keegan is going to tell mama what he heard Collen saying to Simon because it's actually concerning that she's willing to go this far just to get rid of her into hers and Simon's life. Now about Keegan again(I love this man so much help), I'm wondering how he's going to "play dirty" to have mama, like what is he planing to do? I really want to see him formaly taking her to a date, just the them and see him saying with all the words he's taking her to a date. I need to see them so bad😞❤. Something I also noticed while re-reading the first few chapters and I noticed that on chapter 2, between its middle and start it's said that Simon is playing the role of stepfather too because COLLEN HAS A DAUGHTER??? I really didn't remember that and I'm genuinely surprised like, was she married before? She got pregnant by accident because of a one-night stand or something like that??? I'm so confused help😭.

Anyways, I hope the hurricane hasn't affected too much you or your loved ones, I really don't know how bad it can be to experience that since where i live doesn't havw hurricanes, earthquakes etc but it must be hard to go throught it❤. I'm really happy that you managed to post the new chapter even with it and I'm happily waiting to see what you're going to post on Tuesday💞💞💞

Hello! I'm so glad you love it 💗💗

And I LOVE the theory about Simon's injury, but it was a big ol oopsie because the mission went to shit. Simon isn't going anywhere, I have too much angst planned 😈

ALL WILL BE REVEALED!!!

Both Keegan's plan and Colleen stuff, and yes she does have a daughter! I just don't mention it because of the direction of the plot heh.

But no worries! The hurricane has left us alone for a whole day now, no tornados thankfully, everyone is safe and sound thank you 🫶🏻��💛

[monstersinthecosmos]

Do you have any advice/tips for writers with ADHD? I have ADHD and dyslexia on top of it and I've recently started writing fanfic. I love it but it takes so long for me to actually order my thoughts into something readable and find the right words to put down. I get distracted easily. I usually need to get in the mood of the fic I'm writing to have a decent flow but it's rare that I can do it. I just feel distressed cause I have so many ideas but I'm so slow at writing it takes me months to write a 5k oneshot.

Hello!!!!!!!! Yes I have some advice, I would love to share what helps me! I do want to acknowledge that what works for me might not work for you, but something that I find like mega super-duper important as an ADHD life hack is to be honest with yourself and start learning what works for you and how to find tools that work with your specific life. Like, for example, I heavily rely on routine to function AT ALL, but I know that I have to come up with a NEW routine every few months because when they become too familiar they get boring and stop working. And it took me a long time to learn it was okay to just like, leave an ineffective routine in the past and come up with a new one instead of beating myself up because it wasn’t working anymore.

(Please keep in mind that I’m in the US and I don’t have insurance so I’m like learning all this shit cold brew, white knuckling it on my own where like maybe this is extremely pedestrian advice that a mental health professional could’ve just told me years ago and saved me the time LOL)

And re: Dyslexia! I am not dyslexic so I’m not qualified to give you advice about this; if anyone wants to pop in and share please do! The one thing I know that can help is picking fonts that work for you!!!!!!!!!! Using a screen reader can also help when you’re reading to proof read so that you can hear typos or wonky sentences that your eyes miss. (I do this for all my fics and it’s so helpful!) Also if you’re in a frenzy to jot ideas down in your notes to start organizing yourself it might help to use voice to text!  

This is gonna be long, I apologize LMAO. Easy for me to scream and shout because I have ADHD but perhaps not easy to read if the reader has ADHD SORRY SORRY, take it a piece at a time if you must. But I’m gonna break this into two main parts, the ADHD Life Advice Stuff and the ACTUAL WRITING STUFF.

ADHD Life Advice Stuff:

I mentioned a couple things in my last post about how I approach writers block & burnout and I think tbh I approach this from an ADHD perspective, as well, particularly the burnout part. I don’t wanna repeat too much of that but basically for me, I think it’s just extremely essential to be honest with yourself, know your limits, and build your life AROUND the ADHD. You really can take any ADHD life advice and apply it to writing. I’ve done it a lot with house cleaning advice!

I’m a slow writer, too! And it’s taken a ton of practice to get to a place where I write longer fics. But like, five years ago I don’t think it would’ve been realistic for me to sit down and crank out a huge fic, I just didn’t have the skill and practice and confidence and patience yet.

This is not a race, it’s not a contest. Patience can be frustrating but getting to where you want to be might be a slow process and take practice, and if you sit down to write and think you’re gonna crank out 50k fic on your first try it’s probably not realistic, and if you push yourself and fuck it up, it’s only going to wind up being discouraging and unmotivating in the end. Imo it’s better to be gentle with yourself until you feel confident and have the hang of it; set smaller goals and be realistic about where you’re at NOW. It doesn’t mean that you will ALWAYS be at that level, it just means you have to walk before you can run.

I would say this also goes towards having a million ideas; THIS IS ME, I HAVE IDEAS ALL DAY ALL THE TIME, but I realistically know that I do not have the time to write all of them. Sometimes I write them down in my notes app so I don’t forget, but it doesn’t mean I’ll commit to writing a whole fic. Again, you have to be realistic about the time you have and the level you can write at. Prioritize ideas that really inspire you and make you excited.

In my last post too I mentioned that a lot of times my “writing advice” is more like, COPING WITH ADHD advice and tbh I think they’re inextricable. My life was a COMPLETE disaster before I found out I had ADHD because I was constantly forcing myself to try to live like other people, to some “normal” standard, and it’s just not how my brain works. It’s important to set up your life FOR your ADHD and just make things easier for yourself. And a lot of that is very personal and individual, so when I say be realistic and be kind to yourself, YOU know you more than I do. You will know if turning your wordcount goal into a game is more motivating than not stressing about your wordcount. You know if writing in a noisy Starbucks is more motivating than writing in your cozy silent home. I think sometimes you have to just try stuff on and see if it fits and create a routine that helps you, and sometimes the routine is gonna wear off and you come up with a new one. And it’s frustrating as fuck when you haven’t figured out what works yet. It’s a fucking process!!!!!!!!!!!! But there’s something to be said for being kind to yourself and saying “It’s okay, this doesn’t work for my brain, we can try something new tomorrow” instead of “This sucks and I’ll never be good at it and I can’t do the thing everyone else can do.”

So I’ll share some like actual technical tools now but I always feel like it’s important to talk about the ADHDness of it FIRST, like. This is you, it’s how you are. Find ways to make it work for you and don’t force yourself to use random normies’ routines if they aren’t built for people like us. Personally when I started being kinder to myself and making accommodations and cherrypicking random bits & pieces of advice that I thought I could manage, I became a lot more productive and had a lot more fun writing!!!!!!! This is like putting the oxygen mask on yourself before your child.

Actual Writing Stuff:

OUTLINES.

I feel like ADHDers don’t want to hear this LMAO. And it took me a suuuuuuuuuuuuper long time to figure out a method of outlining that worked for me. I was against it at first because it made me feel way too constricted and I thought I wouldn’t be able to be creative if I was sticking to one.

People talk about planners and pantsers with writing and I started thinking of my outlines as a TOMATO CAGE. (I found out this is also called tentpole method LMAO but I’m still calling it my tomato cage.) But picture that you have enough of a framework to have some structure and keep the story moving forward, but the plant will grow however it wants to and you can arrange the limbs accordingly.

I talked about how I outline a while back in this entry too so I don’t want to repeat too much, but basically I try to think about like what’s the structure and pacing of the story and build from there. For example, my longest fic on AO3 is called Tonight the Stars Revolt! and I started it by listing out 14 kinks/sex acts and arranging them in order of escalation. So that was my outline.

Chapter 1 – Jerking off in front of each other

Chatper 2 – Jerking EACH OTHER off

Chapter 3 – Oral

Etc!

That’s how the story started, that’s all I knew, but it gave me a roadmap to work with.  So you can start an outline as vague and broad as you need to, and as you approach each chapter you can start adding more detail. You can also leave yourself notes as you have ideas, like as an idea strikes you, go ahead and park it in the outline where you think it might fit. This is so helpful if you're trying to build motifs or foreshadowing so that you can be sure to plant all those seeds earlier in the story.

And again, like I said with being flexible about routines and accommodations, it’s okay to rearrange your outline! It’s not the end all be all, it’s your story! I’m constantly tinkering with the outlines as the story evolves.

But for example, say you know chapter 3 is about oral, when it’s time to write chapter 3 you can then start thinking about what scenes you might want to include, like

Chapter opens with them fooling around in a closet

They get called away to do a mission

Mission is very scary! Action! Danger!

Blowjob when they get back!

And then you add to it EVEN MORE as you approach each scene. Like, when it’s time to write the actual scene about the mission you can break it down even more

Open with the team strategizing how to escape

They get separated

There’s a fire

I also like to choreograph all my smut scenes LOL so like when it’s time to write the blowjob it’ll be like

He grabs at Shiro’s waistband

Gets on his knees

Shiro is telling him he doesn’t have to

He does it ANYWAY

Shiro tries to pull out to not come in his mouth!!

So that way when it’s time to actually WRITE! I just have to look at the next point. Like, instead of climbing the mountain that is a WHOLE FIC every time I try to sit down, I can check the outline and go “Today I just have to write about the fire.”

It breaks the story into manageable pieces!! And if your attention span is such that you can’t focus for a LONG time at once, that’s perfect! And if you’re someone who can like get into the zone and need to be really tuned in to get there, it works for that too! You’re just leaving yourself a trail of breadcrumbs to follow so that you always remember what’s the next part you need to write.

I also prefer to write full screen so that I’m not distracted (I use Scrivener which has a full screen and you can customize the colors so I have full screen & dark mode!) and I keep all my notes in the bottom of the document, so I always to make it that I can SEE the next point at the bottom of the screen so I’m always sort of typing towards it. (Scriv also has typewriter mode which is awesome for this, where the line you’re typing on is always centered!)

SPRINTS.

This goes both towards the “small manageable pieces” concept but also towards the “set a time of day to write” concept. But if you have any friends who also write and would want to write WITH YOU to stay accountable, it’s fun to text them and you can both start the clock and write without distraction and then compare at the end. (I’m gonna come back to this in a sec re: wordcount games.) But having someone to spend that time with you really helps.

There’s a Discord bot called Sprinto that you can use to have it in your chat but you can run it on your own too if you want to have a log. I use this a lot! I also sometimes have “sprint time” with my friend who ISNT writing, like she’ll do her dishes while I work on my fic. LOL. It’s just about having someone to be accountable with.

PRODUCTIVITY APPS.

Speaking of sprints, for me personally I try to be like DISTRACTION FREE while the clock is on, and on days where my attention span is particularly garbage I have some apps that lock me out of distracting websites/apps. On my phone I have Forest App, I THINK IT’S A DOLLAR? But very cool and cute. It plants a lil tree and if you leave the app the tree dies and you feel bad. So I’ll put that on when I’m writing so that I don’t pick up my phone and start fucking around.

I also use StayFocusd on my laptop for Chrome. This puts a daily timer on how much you allow yourself to use certain websites and then locks you out. I tend to write at the end of the day so I’ve usually used all my fuck around time by then.

WORDCOUNT GAMES.

Personally for me, I don’t like to agonize over my wordcounts because I worry I fall into “quantity over quality” mindset. I just have my lil challenge to write 100 words a day, but other than that I don’t worry about it. But if that’s motivating to you, you can make it a race or a challenge. Even doing sprints you can see if you can write more than your friend.  I think Scriv lets you set a word goal for a session so you can watch the words count DOWN as you’re typing.

I just know for me I have to turn everything into a fucking game to make it interesting LOL so I would encourage creating wordcount games if that will work for you.

TIME OF DAY.

I tend to write at night because I have too much to do in the morning before work, but I like to write in the morning on weekends when I have the day off. Figure out which time of day works best for you!!!!!!!!

Writing in the morning can be awesome because your mind isn’t smushed down by the decisions fatigue of a whole day. Writing at night can be awesome because it’s dark and quiet and time to be cozy. Maybe you’re most alert after lunch, idk man! Figure that out and work with it.

ATMOSPHERE.

When I write at night I like to fucking, put the appropriate music on, turn all the lights off, get my purple fairy lights going, light incense, have a snack, etc. This is gonna be different for everyone. I also live alone so I have the luxury of controlling the environment the best I can. But create a space for yourself if you can, something that works for you. If you get distracted easily try noise cancelling headphones, if you get overstimulated by something try to remove yourself from it. Wear comfy clothes if you need to, etc. Make it easy on yourself so that you can show up and be present with your writing.

I also wanna mention if you can’t write with music on, try ambient sounds. I know there’s a bunch on YouTube and some other writing sites but you can like, listen to ambient café noise, or traffic, or the woods! It can be really immersive!!!!!!!!!

TRY DIFFERENT LOCATIONS.

It can be helpful to write in a different location, if you’re able to. (This is not easy if you’re writing on a desktop but!!! If you’re able to move around sometimes it helps.) If you’re stuck in one space try to change the lighting, or hang up a new picture, get a plant, whatever you wanna do to make your desk feel different.

I do most of my writing at my desk, but I also have my WRITING CHAIR that I sit in sometimes, and when I’m really stuck sometimes I write on the couch, or on my bed! This is the same as if you go write in public. When I used to work on ships I’d go out in port and write in the woods, or in libraries, or in cafes. Inside the ship I’d try writing in my room, in my office, in the crew bar.

I think people call this “change your environment writing” like I’ve seen articles about it and everything. But it’s the theory that being in a different space sort of unlocks different parts of your brain, stimulates you differently, etc.

OF COURSE, if you are too distracted where you NEED to be in the same old boring space, don’t do this!!!!!!!!!! But it’s worth a shot. This is my main trick when I’m STUCK on fics and it usually works. :D

and finally THINKING ABOUT WRITING IS WRITING.

I set aside an hour a day to write, and sometimes it's 53 minutes of zoning out to music and tinkering with the outline, and 7 minutes of writing LOL. It's not a failure or a waste of your time if you sit down to write and the process isn't JUST writing and isn't JUST words coming out of your head. I think there's a lot more to writing than the words coming out of your head. Spending time with the ideas internally and letting them grow is so important and like, I think if it makes you more in love with your story or more confident about the story you're trying to tell, the words will follow!!!!!! Make a playlist or a mood board or some shit, too. Invest in that time because it'll help you stay inspired. (At least, it does for me. :D ) I know there's a balance here on like, at some point you DO have to actually write the words, but I don't think it's bad to invest in your inspiration as part of the process.

Anyway I know this was a lot, but it was really tough for me to figure out what worked for me so I just wanted to share as much as I could think of at the moment. I’d rather overshare if it can help you!!!!!!!!!

As always, take or leave it as needed, modify it to your own needs, do your best!!!!!!!!!!!

Writing fanfic above all else is supposed to be FUN and if it takes you months to write 5k that is FINE. What’s the rush, what’s the race! Be patient with yourself and go at your own pace!

[sailoropal]

My Pinned Bio / Summary

Hallo // This pinned bio makes it easier to explain myself, this blog, and what content will likely be spammed with it. As well as reaching out to other fans also thriving here, heh.

I must quickly clarify I do interact with 18+ content, so please, minors DNI and everyone else, proceed with caution; however, this post is SFW, hah!

About Me:

I go by Fae or Spec (She/They).

I am 24 years old - ENFP and queer [not a shock considering my sailor moon core]

A recent postgrad burnout woman who has resigned from the stressful 9 - 5 STEM grad job I had to now work as a disability student support worker. There's a lot more flexibility in this role that allows me to have passions and personality outside my Degrees and Academics, haha!

Regarding birth charts and for the sake of astrology I am Taurus Sun, Capricorn Moon, and Sagittarius Rising.

I have ASD - Like many women, I was late diagnosed due to many in my community dismissing my observational signs as "quirks" and "A wee bit away with the fae". I masked a lot in my life, but I realize it is essential for my mental health to unmask where possible.

My first language is Gàidhlig; later in my life, I learned English when I wanted to move from the Scottish isles, where I grew up. So, if you have a DnD/OC character influenced by Celtic Myth/Gaelic culture, I am happy to give advice and commentary.

Anime/Shows:

Attack on Titan, Avatar-The Last Airbender, Aggretsuko, Anohana, Bleach, Berserk, Chainsaw Man, Devilman Crybaby, Digimon, Dororo, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Made in Abyss, My Hero Academia, Naruto, One Piece, Pokémon, Sailor Moon, Shiki, Yu-gi-oh!, Yu Yu Hakusho, Lovely Complex, My Love Story!!, Wonder Egg Priority, Romantic Killer, Toradora, RWBY, ROTTMNT, Adventure Time, Bee and Puppycat, and a TON of K-dramas/C-dramas/J-dramas - atm I am watching a K-drama called The Glory and my most absolute fave is Strong Girl Bong-Soon.

I am starting the likes of Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer, and I am open to more recommendations!

Video Games:

Animal Crossing, Bloodborne, Baldur's Gate 3, Fire Emblem, Bravely Default, Cult of the Lamb, Dark Souls, Diablo, Hades, Stardew Valley, Rune Factory, Monster Hunter, Minecraft, Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, The Sims, Style Savvy DS series (Dress-up Games are my weakness), Pokémon, Super Princess Peach (also looking forward to the switch release!)

Okay, I am also obsessed with Dating Horror Games:

John Doe, Something's Wrong with Sunny Day Jack, DachaBo!, Frost Bite, My Dear Hatchet Man, House Hunted.

(I know Your Boyfriend is a popular one - the game is fun, but I am not a fan of the creator.)

I intend to play the likes of Touch Starved, Courtin' Cowboys, Snaggemon, Trapped with Jester, and more, heh. :^

Books:

I read a lot of Fanfiction alongside actual works by Elizabeth Lim, Sue Lynn Tan, Sarah J Maas, Judy Lin - Anything that is literally Chinese Mythic Based Plot, and Fae Smut, if I gotta be honest with you PFFT. I am on Booktok a ton, so recommendations are appreciated while I organise my Kindle.

Roleplay/Writing:

I have been roleplaying/writing since about 15/16, so I have a few years of writing experience creating OCs and writing out RP Ideas. I went on an extended hiatus as I finished university and took time off to deal with my mental health as I settled into a new routine. I am currently not outright seeking RP partners as I slowly find the time to write again, but I am open to people reaching out to discuss their OCs and RP ideas!

I am such a recluse who will binge fanart, headcanons, and fanfics - I love listening to people talk about their OCs, Fanfics, AUs, and the works. If you share my hyperfixations, don't hesitate to infodump! I might get distracted and forget to respond- but I WILL respond.

[serafiel-jacobs]

Formalities (Fanfic)

New chapter from my main series 🩷

Frederick Garret was at his home, reading the newspaper, hearing about the incident that happened at the Opera House, and how a stalker and Geppetto's puppet were the ones to “save the day”. That puppet sure knows where to stick his nose in things that are none of his business, and sure what was happening inside the Opera House was not his doing, but he needed to get the girl, and had his men not been there earlier, they would have been caught by the crowd that formed inside the place.

“That's kind of scary isn't it?” Blue was trying to make conversation, “I know that it was because of the crystals but the idea of another frenzy happening is terrifying”

There is a huge commotion about the two puppets being the ones to have killed those people, another distraction that works to his advantage. Most people don't seem to believe another frenzy could happen, the explanation given by the workshop union was extremely reasonable, but still, some fear it could happen again.

A series of knocks could be heard, Frederick opened the door of his home and he saw the man that he had just been expecting.

“Mr. Conrad good to see you” Then Frederick turned to look at Blue Canary, “Would you mind giving us some privacy? Stand guard just in case, you never know what could happen these days”

“I understand,” Blue said in a formal voice, he is right after all, there was a body discovered nearby just yesterday, “If you need me for anything, just give me a shout”

Both men were in a luxurious room, as Frederick's mansion has many places where one can relax in peace, the many perks of being part of an affluent family and winning up to the thousands each month because of his services.

They made small talk for a few minutes before getting straight to the point.

“The shipment of the crystals will come tomorrow, and I added some extra, as the mining team is going to have some difficulties,” Conrad said.

“What difficulties?” Frederick did not like hearing that.

“Due to that earthquake that happened recently new precautions are being taken, the mine will shut down for two weeks” Conrad gave out a sigh, “Those extra were ones we use at the union, but I made sure to make everyone believe I was using them for a project”

“Very clever” In the end, Frederick was pleased with the results, although it could have gone better in his eyes.

They made more small talk again, but Frederick had in his mind Geppetto's puppet, surely Conrad must know a little about it.

“Mr. Conrad, what do you know about Geppetto?” Frederick knows that the key to Pinocchio is to get to his father first, “I’m just curious, I have heard nothing but praise for him over the years, although from time to time I have heard certain rumors”

“I don’t know what you have heard but they are probably right” Conrad poured himself another glass, “The man has issues, specially with grief, he likes to be in denial about his family dying, and I understand, that losing family is hard but come on”

“Are you saying that because of his puppet?”

“Of course, just look at that puppet!” Conrad was glad to finally rant about Geppetto, “An exact copy of Carlo, I’m surprised he didn’t give the thing the same name, although I wouldn’t be surprised if he calls it Carlo behind our backs” he just knows that Geppetto learned his lesson about giving the puppets the same names, considering what happened to his wife.

Conrad starts talking about how Pinocchio is a marvel of technology, something that proves how far puppet creation can go, something that breaks all the norms and all the limits, no puppet ever created by anyone else has come even close to Pinocchio, hell not even halfway there.

“And Geppetto uses it to play happy family? What a waste”

“It is a shame” Frederick doesn’t care about puppets at all but he has to play along.

“But it has always been obvious not sure why only some have started it to point it out now” Conrad takes a sip of his drink, “That other puppet, what was its name? Yeah Romeo”

Frederick is very aware of who Romeo is or rather was. Geppetto was so overprotective, he wouldn’t let any alchemists near it, hell he wouldn’t let anyone with any association with the alchemists get close to the puppet. He even heard that not even Valentinus despite the close friendship and despite how Valentinus allowed Romeo to attend school alongside Carlo.

“That puppet was so impressive as well and what did he use it for? To give Carlo a playmate obviously” It frustrated Conrad, he is a man who values technological advancement, a man that believes machines should have a purpose, to serve, to make things easier for humans and not exist for ridiculous things like that.

“I heard a rumor that Carlo married the thing before he passed away” Conrad rolled his eyes, “I mean it was obvious that Carlo was a faggot but I didn’t think he was also that type of degenerate”

Frederick is a man of high society, Geppetto’s son was well known by everyone, even by the common people. He had that infamous reputation of being a troublemaker, but also in some circles, there was the speculation that he “enjoyed the company of men”. The boy never had a girlfriend, he was handsome yet he rejected a few girls his age. It’s not illegal to be a homosexual in Krat like in many other places yet it’s not exactly well seen by most. Neither by Frederick, humans are supposed to reproduce to advance the human race, that kind of behavior only slows down valuable progress.

Conrad gave out a sigh “But the first and biggest red flag was when Camille passed and he built that puppet”

Camille, Frederick is even more knowledgeable about her, after all, he is the one who tore her apart to find the secret of why she awoke an Ego.

—-

“You are telling me this puppet became sentient?” Frederick was having a hard time believing it, “And how exactly did that happen?”

“That’s what we want you to figure out” Paracelsus had been the one tasked with explaining to Frederick what he is duty would be.

Frederick began to read the report, a puppet maid tasked with caring for a young boy, while she was making a meal he accidentally bumped into her while playing, the boiling water would have fallen onto him but she pushed him away, getting burned in the progress. Something that was not in her programming.

“She has only been around for a few months and she bonded with the child that quickly? Actually, can puppets even bond with people?” By that time Frederick had less of an idea of how they worked.

Paracelsus gave Frederick a few notes, “Apparently the Ergo of the puppet was made from the child’s mother”

“That’s oddly specific”

“Geppetto’s wife, he made the puppet himself using her Ergo”

Interesting, “And why me and not someone else?”

“Valentinus is busy and Simon and his followers are too busy planning things behind the man’s back”

“And you?” Frederick knows that Paracelsus isn’t supposed to be doing anything important right now.

“I’m making a new weapon, and I’ve been too busy with that”

Sometimes Frederick finds it hard to believe that Paracelsus can wield a weapon, considering how meek he looks and due to his playful demeanor but he can’t deny that the weapons he has made are very effective.

“I doubt anything interesting will come out of this but I have nothing better to do at the moment”

Send. Me. Back. To. My. Child.

The puppet kept repeating that over and over again, it was annoying, he ended up destroying her voicebox so that she wouldn’t distract him any longer, but he was proven wrong when he thought nothing interesting would come out of this. It showed the true power of Ergo, it showed the powerstone of life.

Everyone was delighted by this discovery and he expected to be praised by it. Not reprimanded.

“Did you really have to take her apart like that?” Valentinus asked as he was sent to his office, “Not just the puppet’s body but her Ergo?” Frederick was rather crude in his process, not caring about the machine that he completely broke. It was all for the sake of research.

“Of course I had to you know that” Frederick was looking around Valentinus's office, maybe the cleaners don’t get paid enough because dust is already accumulating, and it’s starting to bother him just being here.

Valentinus sighs, “Geppetto is a good friend but he is furious at me and Simon”

Frederick wasn’t paying attention to the rest of what Valentinus was saying, the uncleanliness was so much that he even started cleaning the place himself.

Valentinus was a good man, he wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, and he knows how Frederick has his strange obsession with cleanliness maybe it’s best he leaves.

“Frederick I appreciate the help but… never mind you are dismissed”

—-

“He even built her a statue in her name, how absurd” Conrad couldn't believe it all those years ago and he still can't believe it now, “Does he not realize how weird it is for everyone else? His wife dies and he builds a puppet, then his son dies and he builds a puppet and wants to pretend that’s normal?”

“Yes I heard of that, it does seem like Geppetto has a problem when it comes to losing loved ones, denial is a powerful thing” Frederick tapped his fingers on the table, “Does the man suspect anything of the disruption crystals?”

“He has no idea, the subdirector Harvey, he did try to investigate but I covered our tracks”

Frederick raised an eyebrow at that.

“Don’t worry, the man is too trusting, he was satisfied with a normal excuse and lies about where those shipments are going” Conrad did find out who was selling the crystals to that bakery and fired them immediately, “As for the ones in the Opera House, those are crystals that were supplied for a play legally, just that some idiot must have forgotten to get rid of them properly” That wasn't their problem so not something they had to worry about.

“Hopefully that’s the case, it would be a shame if all this research got wasted for something so simple as that”

“Speaking of, how is your research going?” Conrad has been intrigued since the first time he learned, in a way he believes he and Frederick are similar, he wants to push the limits of what a machine can do, and Frederick can push the limits of what a human can do. He was sold on the idea of finding a way to prolong life.

Although truthfully Conrad has no true idea of what he is contributing to, just the surface and he certainly has no idea of all the horrible things Frederick and his followers have done.

“Better than expected and for your support I’ll make sure that once everything is set in place you get to treat yourself to the fruits of our efforts” It’s not a complete lie, unlike Simon he isn’t dumb enough to get rid of every asset he has due to paranoia but he will delay as much as he can and not give him a proper version of the power of the stone.

Frederick looked at the clock, they still had a little more time to talk.

“Sorry for bringing him up again” Frederick doesn’t want to sound too obvious of his motives, “But the reason Geppetto has been in my mind, is I’ve seen him recently”

Only a few glances here and there, as Frederick has seen Geppetto in the waiting room for a collage of his, Conrad is right, Geppetto has issues since he knows that doctor is a psychiatrist.

“Don’t blame you for thinking about him, just like Venigni everyone talks about him and mostly positive things despite not being deserved” Conrad really hates those two, “If only I could prove how incompetent he truly is”

“Mmm,” Frederick thought out loud.

“What? Is something in your mind?”

“Oh no please forgive me, just remembering when I caught a glimpse of him, he goes to the hospital for some appointments, not with me however” Frederick was smiling he had the perfect idea.

“I had no idea he was having health issues” Conrad was surprised, Geppetto looked well for his age.

Frederick put his hand on Conrad’s shoulder, “You did not hear it from me, however, Geppetto’s doctor is the last one in the hall on the 4th floor”

A little something for Conrad to investigate and put two and two together.

Meanwhile Blue was wandering around the mansion, although the place already looked like it had been given a deep cleaning she decided to clean what she could as her client likes it when she does this for him, and while doing this, she heard one of the windows of the house being open, strange, no one else is supposed to be here right now, and upon closer inspection, someone had broken inside the home, Blue wasted no time in restraining them, it was easy as this person was only carrying a knife as a weapon, a knife he tried throwing at her but she used her lantern shield to deflect it.

“What is going on here?” Frederick demanded an explanation.

Conrad wasted no time in leaving already, just mentioning that he hoped to see him soon again.

“I know you are up to something Garret!” A woman was shouting, “The papers might try to silence me but I know the truth!”

“Great a yellow journalist” Frederick waved his hand, “Miss. Cassandra call the police and get rid of her”

“Yes sir” Blue did as she was told, the woman said nothing to her, no trying to convince her of whatever she was looking for, she didn't try to warn her about anything, she just kept quiet, it was odd so Blue assumed that she truly was just a yellow journalist, her family had to deal with one of those once, they broke into their home because they wanted “proof” of an affair because her and two other sisters don't look at all like their father, obviously they all don't look like exact copies of their mother or father that's how genetics work.

Still, this is too strange, the other day someone came to the doctor's office and began to threaten him and she had to intervene, she was outside when that happened so she entered the door quickly, she couldn't hear what that was about, she did hear the word Ergo, the man also mentioned how they used to work together before; yesterday someone was following them and she had to deal with that as well. But she is the one who wanted more action in her job, so maybe this is what she gets for asking.

According to the doctor, it is because he is a public figure and many don't like how he is doing for others. He is an excellent doctor, by most considered the best in Krat, even if he can be a little weird behind closed doors.

The police came and went, taking the woman away with them and the two of them were alone again.

“Good job” Frederick was praising her, “Specially for the cleaning perhaps you are better suited for being a maid or one to stay in the household, you clearly know what spots are the ones that get truly dirty and I assure you any man would love a quality like that one in a woman”

“Um… thank you?” It looked like the doctor didn't know what he could be implying when he said that.

“The maids don't work today, so if you could help me clean the rest of this place I'd appreciate it”

Well, he is paying her extra when she cleans and she doesn't mind it at all, so she does what he tells her, the doctor does seem to have some issues with it comes to what he thinks is “dirty” but well, more things to do for her. As she cleans the place, she moves around a few things there are many shelves filled with notebooks, all completely full, she doesn’t know how he can write so much, but she accidentally drops a notebook and a small desk decoration of a horse, she goes to pick it up, she knows she shouldn't read it but curiosity gets the best of her.

—--𖦹—--

The Stone of Transmutation

The mythical stone has been set to have many properties, the one that has been more sought searched for is transmutation, more specifically to create more gold, a valuable asset in medical studies and a resource that is hard to get.

But it can do more than just that, it has the key to something even greater, but the problem always lies in others assuming the form of the stone, why is no one bothering to form one? Do they believe it will magically again its shape? Unlike them, I will not wait for the stone to appear, that is something only dreamers do, I will make the stone myself.

It just needs a vessel, a condensed vessel that has to be turned into the stone but it has to have a proper form first, and once all of the ingredients are set then the stone can finally be in my grasp.

I already have the Ergo and the crystals and soon enough my listener, the only thing left is to perfect her power. —--𖦹—--

“Miss.Cassandra” Frederick spoke behind her.

Oh no, quick, think of something.

“I accidentally dropped this while cleaning, my apologies” Blue set the notebook in place but kept the decorative horse, “I got distracted by this, how lovely, did you know that Shire horses are the biggest horse breed?”

Frederick was not amused, “Do you want it? It's only there accumulating dust on that shelf”

“Oh, I can't accept this-”

“No, no no take it, I insist” The less mess his home has the better.

“Thank you so much” Blue was smiling, she didn't get caught and she got a nice gift.

“I must leave now, I am dismissing you, I was tasked to help with a surgery, it will take many hours and this is a medical matter, you cannot be there with me”

He has to see how his experiments are going and he is always well-guarded in the labs, no need for her assistance. Not to mention how he has been working nonstop on the girl, losing sleep in the process, not even the smallest of flaws will be tolerated.

Blue simply nodded and left, she should go to the stables and see if she could help there, is that or going to that fancy ball with her family and she isn't in the mood for that.

—

Pinocchio was petting his pony, things had been really tough lately, and going to see her was a good idea to cheer him up.

He did apologize to his father about the other day, he knows that it's not his fault that his coworkers say things behind his back. His father said that it was okay, that he understood that he wasn't feeling well, and that Arlcchino showing up to torment them only made everything worse.

“Do you think I can ride her?” Gemini has always wanted to ever since Pinocchio got her.

“Of course! That's a great idea!” Pinocchio was so excited for Gemini. He carefully placed him on top of the pony and Applejack began to slowly walk around outside the stable.

“Pinocchio we need to get me a cowboy outfit as soon as possible” Gemini was enjoying himself too much.

“I keep spending my allowance on buying things for you”

“Aren't we best friends?”

“Yes but I also want to buy my own things and its not only you, Sophia is also my best friend”

“Thank you” Pinocchio heard her voice from inside.

“What are you doing now Sophia?” Pinocchio said out loud, even if he could have just used his mind, he wanted to keep Gemini in the conversation.

“Tell her I say hi!” Gemini shouted from on top of the pony.

“Gemini says hi” Pinocchio can feel his heart pounding.

“Oh just relaxing, Krat has been on my mind, hopefully, you are safe and sound” Sophia was lying in the bed of her current hotel room, her last sightseeing was a little exhausting: her gears started to sound loudly she got worried because some people were nearby questioning where that noise was coming from.

Pinocchio then starts to wonder, Sophia knows a lot about Ergo, maybe she can tell him information about those notes in the notebook he found.

“I can try to see if I can understand them,” Sophia said, “When you have time, open it and show me the page, I will see what I can do”

“Thank you” Pinocchio was grateful that no matter how far she is, Sophia always helps.

After a few more minutes, they made their way back, Pinocchio leaving the pony back at the stable, giving lots of pets to Applejack before leaving, but as they were close to the exit someone riding a horse made their way towards them.

“Good to see you again!” Blue was excited to see Pinocchio again, she got off her horse and stood next to him, “I heard about what you did at the Opera House, great job!”

Pinocchio was playing with his air, “Oh it was nothing”

“You seem to be a skilled fighter, would you mind sparring with me?” Blue had nothing better to do and sparring sounded like a great idea.

Pinocchio was carrying Misericors and he welcomed using his weapon without being in any real danger, so he agreed, both of them going into a place where the vast field was deserted.

Blue plays more defensively, her lantern shield covering from her attacks, but Pinocchio is a worthy challenger so she uses the trick of her shield, reflecting the light of the sun into Pinocchio’s eyes blinding him for a moment, and putting her rapier blade next to his chest, but not actually touching it.

“I win” Blue was smiling.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” Pinocchio rubbed his eyes, it wasn't fair.

“That’s the point of the shield, to blind your opponents silly” Blue gently touched Pinocchio’s forehead with two fingers, “At least you know the trick, play around it if we ever spar again”

“Oh my, look who we found here”

Both of them turned around and saw that it was The Red Fox who said that, her brother next to her.

“We obviously expected to see you here Blue, but it’s a pleasant surprise to see you here as well Pinocchio” Red Fox was smiling under her mask.

“What are you guys doing here?” Blue was a little confused but hoped they had come to see her.

“To see you of course,” Black Cat said but then laughed, “Just kidding client business”

“Brother don’t be rude”

“Just teasing her, nothing serious”

“Client business?” Blue had no idea what they were referring to.

Black Cat got closer to Blue and patted her shoulder “Our client thinks that your daddy is rigging those horse races”

Blue raised an eyebrow “So you guys are detectives now?”

“No, but we needed the money, can’t afford to miss the rent in our new office” Black Cat was doubtful about accepting the job but money is money.

“Plus we know that you could help us with that” Red Fox said elegantly, “We know your family is not like that and you might have the proof that”

Blue looked relieved, “My father owns the horse track but not the horses that participate, I can show you guys some of the documents”

They have strict policies to prevent things like that from happening, very restrictive rules, that's the reason no races have ever been rigged, if they suspect that there is even the slightest chance of it happening, a full investigation is launched.

“So that person just has bad luck?” Pinocchio thought that it sounded dumb to think races like that were rigged even if he didn’t know much about horses.

Black Cat now moved next to Pinocchio and pulled him in for a shoulder hug, “Look our brother is so smart”

He had expected Pinocchio to just let go of him quickly but that didn’t happen and Pinocchio pulled him for a big hug.

“Okay, I’m happy to see you too but that’s too much hugging for a day” Black Cat was getting suffocated, Pinocchio must have forgotten his strength.

“Brother don’t ruin the moment,” Red Fox said, then she turned to look at Blue, “We would be really grateful if you could help us out, we could even give you a cut of the money”

“Oh no no guys that’s too much and the doctor pays me well” Sometimes she feels the doctor has more money than he knows what to use it for, each time she is outside with him he buys so many cleaning supplies and so many notebooks as well.

“Great more for us” Black Cat was happy about that.

“Money isn’t everything” Pinocchio poked him so that he would get the message.

“Brother he is right and you know it” Red Fox has a serious tone.

Black Cat looked away for a second, his sister left her family because of him, they are true siblings, but the Volfe’s refused to accept that, accept that their father had an affair, she could have just left him, abandoned him like everyone else had done until that point, but she refused, she left a life of luxury for him.

“Sorry, looks like I’m not as funny as I thought”

“You are right about that” Gemini chirped from his cage.

“What did you say you dumb cricket?!” Black Cat shouted and huffed.

“Dude, you are beefing with a cricket, calm down” Blue was teasing him now.

“Hey, Gemini is more than a cricket he is my friend!” Pinocchio knows that they are joking but he has to remind them.

“Would love to keep chatting but Pinocchio we have to leave, it’s getting late” Gemini knows that they got too carried away, and twilight is starting to be seen in the sky.

Pinocchio waved them all goodbye, saying that he hoped to see them again soon.

“You know I would love to properly hang out with him one day” Red Fox gave out a sigh, “Invite him to eat or something along those lines”

“He can eat?” Blue may know Pinocchio but he doesn’t know him that well, but they explain to her that they heard it from Pinocchio that he can.

“Wow, he is more special than I thought” Blue wondered how else Pinocchio is different if only she knew all the crazy details.

“So Blue how are things with doc?” Black Cat was playing with his weapon, feeling bored.

“Everything is going swell, a little more exciting recently”

“Mmm really? The doctor is the center of a lot of attention so I can see it” Red Fox waved her hand so that her brother would stop playing with his weapon, “Everyone always sings praises about him”

Black Cat stopped “Yeah, I heard he is bisexual but with his hands”

Red Fox facepalmed, she couldn’t believe him sometimes.

“…yes the doctor is ambidextrous” Blue has seen him get tired of writing with one hand and switching to the other, he writes a lot of stuff in general, she knows that he is a also researcher so it must be because of that.

“I do wish I had another client”

“Are you still concerned about it not being too exciting?” Red Fox was ready to give a speech about how that’s not the point of being a stalker.

“No, I just feel like he isn’t the kind of person he says he is” After today she definitely has a weird feeling around him.

“I see” Red Fox got serious again, “Sorry to ruin the chat, but if you could help us out”

“Oh right! Follow me guys”

——

The house phone was ringing and Venigni felt like he was going to have a panic attack. Each time that phone rings he feels dread, Pulcinella is the one to answer all phone calls because he can’t do it.

That monster is out there again, worse is that the last body that was found was placed in his parent's graves. He is taunting him, treating this as some sort of game, worse is that because of where they were found rumors and gossip started, rumors about his parents.

Pulcinella answers the phone and it’s not him, but Venigni feels as if he is going crazy like he isn’t safe in his own home. Because Arlecchino knows where he lives and he can just break in like he did all those years ago, he can-

“Master Venigni”

Pulcinella snapped him out of his trance.

“Yes?” Venigni is someone who can talk and talk for hours but at this moment just saying those simple words is too much.

“If this is too much for you, perhaps it would be best if the young master-”

“No no no, please let's not involve Pinocchio anymore in this” Venigni knows how Pinocchio was already put in danger, his rational brain knows how capable the boy is but at this moment his emotions are running too high and he is afraid that he would be hurt.

Pulcinella stays quiet for a few moments, it pains him to see him like this and he would rather avoid causing him more stress, however, a letter that arrived in the mail is of utmost importance.

“You remember Miss. Belle correctly?”

“Yes, I remember her” Venigni was starting to compose himself, “How could I forget her? I think she left an impression on all of us”

Pulcinella handed him the letter; Belle talked about the decoded message Pinocchio gave her a while back, how that led her to more clues and left her to this.

“It came with this cryptic vessel”

Belle trusts Venigni and she knows his capabilities, that’s why she sends this to him, stressful as this is, he won’t allow Arlecchino to keep getting away with this or anyone else for that matter.

Venigni deciphers it quickly, which leads him to more clues, this will take a while, this is a massive web he is willing to untangle, this time he won’t be a coward and talk be game, he will do something about this before it’s too late.

[willien00dle]

Little bit more of the fanfic today

Chapter One

Winter 

This was it. His first day at the new school. Winter absolutely despised it, along with everyone there. They were all awful, rude, and selfish. Especially those blasted NightWings. 

Winter had to tell himself to not engage, no matter what the back of his mind told him. He was stronger than that. He didn’t need anyone else but himself. He could do this just fine. 

His older sister Icicle went with him, as well. She was the only dragon Winter would tolerate. She was a respectable IceWing, and she didn’t give in to all those sappy emotions like some dragons. 

When they got to the entrance of the school, a NightWing with a purple underbelly and wings stood to greet them. “Hello, there!” She said, grinning widely at them. “Welcome to Jade Mountain Academy! I’m Fatespeaker, and you must be… Winter and Icicle, yes?” 

Winter nodded, but Icicle only said, “Yes” and scowled. 

“This is such a waste of time,” growled his sister as they entered, lashing her long, serrated tail. “What in the three moons above made Queen Glacier think this was a good idea?” 

Winter shook his head and shrugged, looking at his surroundings. “You think I know?” He snapped back. “I just want to survive this so I can get out.”

Once they got inside, Winter was overwhelmed by all the new sights and sounds and smells of everyone in the mountain. It was too much. There were signs hanging from each corner that told them the names of dragons, pointed them in the directions of the caves… RAGHHHH! Too much!

Sunny, one of the teachers, led him to his cave. Another dragon led Icicle to hers. Winter’s cave was… alright. But that was only the cave. The dragon he roomed with was a whole different story. 

“I’m Qibli,” exclaimed his clawmate, putting out his talon for Winter to shake. 

Winter glanced down at his hand and backed up. “Great,” he said, not making eye contact. “Why does it matter to me?”

Qibli raised a brow at Winter, but didn’t stay anything else. He nudged his shoulder and said, “Come on, I’ll show you around.” 

“I don’t need to be shown around,” he growled. “I can figure this all out for myself. Sunny, I demand to have a room with my sister instead of this SandWing.”

Sunny looked at him and chuckled. “I’m afraid that’s not quite how that works. This school was made to bring the different tribes together, so you’d better get used to each other.” 

At that, she left the two of them alone together. Winter hated Qibli already, but what else could he do? Ughh, this was outrageous. Stupid SandWing, stupid other tribes! Why did this school have to exist?!?

Winter dug his claws into the stone below him and tried to keep his anger in check. He couldn’t make anything go wrong. No, he had to prove himself. He needed to finally prove he was worth something; to his family, his tribe, his queen… he needed to do this. He could do this. He had to. 

Chapter Two

Qibli  

Qibli couldn’t think of the last time he had been away from Queen Thorn this long. Had it been two days now? Three? Was she okay without him? 

He had to shake it off. Of course she was okay. Why wouldn’t she be? She had over a dozen guards. Even though Qibli was no longer one of them. 

Qibli’s thought process was interrupted by the shuffling of his IceWing clawmate, Winter. His scales glimmered in the light of the room, making Qibli envy the scales he’d always wanted on himself. 

The IceWing quickly sorted all of his items into his side of the room, making it clear what was his and not his. He glanced back a few times to see Qibli watching him, until finally he said something. 

“Mind your own business, SandWing!” He exclaimed. “Why must you watch my every move?” 

“Sorry, Mr. Grumpypants,” said Qibli, “but how could I not watch you? All that sorting and quick movements, it’s kind of distracting.” 

“Do not call me ‘Mr. Grumpypants’!” 

“Well then, what’s your name?” 

“Winter. Prince Winter.”

“My dearest apologies, Your Highness. Shall I respond with grace to your every request?”

Winter didn’t respond this time. Qibli just saw him stamp his foot and seeth a bit before going back to his work. 

After a few minutes went by, the gong rang for lunchtime. The two of them made their way out of the cave and into the lunch area. 

There was so much prey! Pigs, chickens, cows… and ugh, fish. Not more fish! 

He went over and caught a cow between his talons, quickly killing it. He sat in an area by himself when he spotted a NightWing. She was so… unusual. She had a lighter shade of gray that ran down her back that looked almost white, and scales by her eyes of the same color. She was… beautiful. 

Qibli was amused when he saw his clawmate’s gaze on the same dragon. Did he notice her difference, too? Maybe he could bring it up to him later. 

[fauxpaux]

Goose's Fic Log (Aka: Glareandgrowl)

Howdy to ya all!

Here’s a comprehensive list of all the fanfiction series and oneshots I’ve written and published on my Ao3 acct: Glareandgrowl

All of the things I write are PG-13 at best, and R and worst, so be conscious of that when perusing any of these stories—

Assassins! AU series

My magnum opus. A three part series (one and a half parts are done atm) mainly from the perspective of Kiyotaka Ishimaru as his story unfolds to a terrifying degree of torture, heartbreak and misery all highlighted by the job he has unwittingly devoted the remainder of his failed life to.

-YouTube Playlist-

Part 1: One Mistake- (Chapters 6/6)

Ship Tag: (Slight Chihiro/Kiyotaka, it comes back in part 3)

Kiyotaka Ishimaru; level-headed, strong, quick-witted, morally balanced, independent, trustworthy. All of these things could be used in any context to describe him. But romantic was not one of them. Yet somehow, he had found himself in a deadly love triangle between a hot headed prick and the soft eyed, soft spoken Chihiro. Both of them dragging him down a path of distraction from his desire of becoming the worlds greatest prime minister. Hijinks and heartbreak ensues… and everything goes horribly wrong.

Part 2: A Path Split in Two- (Chapters 8/?)

-YouTube Playlist-

Ship Tag: None

He stared at the tv screen, his mouth hung open in a display of the absolute mind-numbing shock that clouded over his wide eyes. His face was inches away from the screen, feeling the buzz of electricity. Unseeing.

He couldn’t believe it.

His mind would simply not let him comprehend the facts presented in front of him. He had lost. Kiyotaka Ishimaru, the boy who had claimed since he could speak, from early childhood to not even three minutes ago, that he would become Japan’s, if not the world’s, greatest prime minister. A leader fit for the history books, one to be sung praises for years to come. Had failed.

He had lost, and he wasn’t prime minister.

Part 3: Thrice Since the Death of Oneself: (currently unpublished)

Ship Tag: (Kiyotaka/Mondo)

When life closes one door, it opens a horrible chasm beneath you instead.

Kiyotaka is tasked with his most difficult job yet. He has only one week to eliminate an enemy of the senate, feared gang leader, Mondo Owada. But what happens when Kiyotaka falls for the suave bad boy? Will he risk his whole life’s work for a delinquent who gives something nothing else can, Happiness?

Cigarettes are Love Letters in the Eyes of Addicts

-YouTube Playlist-

A slice-of-life esque story told mainly from Mondo’s perspective that is only one part. (Chapters 5/17)

Ship Tag: (Kiyotaka/Mondo)

Mondo Owada, brother to the leader of the Crazy Diamonds, and feared by most, has only one enemy. A pretentious Hall Monitor who won’t leave him alone. But when he is forced to work with the guy, he finds out that maybe he judged him a bit too harshly at first.

Dear Dictator

-Youtube Playlist-

(Chapter 1/?)

Junko Enoshima has finally been captured by the Future Foundation, and will be tried for her crimes against the world. The dead will play witness to her testimony, whether Kiyondo is willing to hear or not.

Managing to survive what would have been a fatal blow to the head, Kiyondo Ishida, formerly known as Kiyotaka Ishimaru, must now traverse this strange and new world with only the memento of his Kyodai's jacket on his back, and an unquenchable rage in his soul.

(A solo chapter character study on if Kiyotaka had been one of the survivors, based off the song Dear Dictator by Saint Motel)

NSFW stories under the cut–

Goose’s Naughty Corner (Tread with Caution!!)–(ALL COMPLETE!)

A couple of short form smutty writings that have no ties into each other-

Follow The Rules or Get The Boot- (Chapters 3/3) (COMPLETE!)

Two (about to be three) short form smut fanfics featuring Dom! Kiyotaka and Sub! Mondo. A rare idea, I know!

Ship Tag: (Kiyotaka/Mondo)

Kiyotaka Ishimaru has had just about enough of Mondo Owada’s undisciplined lifestyle, but his tipping point is reached when his uniform and shoes get completely ruined by Mondo’s recklessness! Mondo must be punished for this! >:(

A Finger Prick is All it Takes- (Chapters 2/2) (COMPLETE!)

A long short story featuring Vampire! Kiyotaka and Werewolf! Mondo. Was originally going to be a fully fledged story, but I decided against it and now you get two very long chapters of bloody smut instead. Enjoy!

Ship Tag: (Kiyotaka/Mondo)

Kiyotaka Ishimaru is a vampire with needs, and Mondo is a werewolf who can provide them.

A Halloween prompt about consensual vampiristic blood drinking ;)

GlareandGrowl’s Bodyswap fic- (working title)(Chapters 4/4)(COMPLETE!)

A pretty bog standard smutty body Swap AU. Hagakure does something weird and Mondo and Taka switch bodies. They go through the day trying to act the most like each other and not ruin each other’s reputation.

Ship Tag: (Kiyotaka/Mondo)

[fanficclub]

Very long post about romance in Shadow and Bone

The romantic relationships with the main character in Shadow and Bone are all somewhat strange. They are always not just relationships, there is some deeper meaning embedded in them. I suppose it’s not that strange for a fantasy story with some talk about destiny, but I disapprove(:

Disclaimer: I only watched the show and haven’t read the books.

In the story, Alina has three main hinted (or not so hinted) love interests: Mal, Aleksander, and Nikolai.

Judging by fanfiction prevalence, most people find the Darkling the most exciting among the three - and I can’t blame them. However, I trust we all know why their relationship is unhealthy and extremely disadvantageous to Alina: he is much older, much more informed, much stronger than her - there is literally noone in the world who could save her from him, if something happens (and it does, many times). This would all be already enough, but in addition, he also believes her to be his divine soulmate, his destiny, regardless of her personhood. She belongs to him, and it just a natural conclusion, it is not a question. To him, she is not a person, she is an idea.

So, of course, a hard no to this one. Regardless of how dreamy he is))

Now, Mal... Mal is a harder question. I don’t like this relationship either, but it’s much harder to find and formulate why. In the show, he is a piece of dry bread - completely plain and watery character, with zero personality traits that would distinguish him from the rest, except his long association with Alina. And that’s really all what they have going for them: their shared childhood. I don’t know if in the book it is shown differently - but in the show, they only seem to cherish their past together. All their considerations of their relationships come back to their past, to how nice was it to be children and to be carefree. One fanfic I read pointed it out very well: they long for each other, because they long for the time before change, before the weight of responsibilities they are forced to carry, and they believe that they can get this feeling, this innocence, back if they stay together. And this is just not. It’s not it.

The whole mess of their relationship has another layer for Alina. It is her powers that start the wheel of change, if not for her, Mal wouldn’t be drawn into the whirlpool. And in the story, I feel like, the narrative works to punish her for straying. She needs power to win, but she can’t want it too much, she has to step up to face the challenges on her way, but she can’t change too much, otherwise, she’ll “stop being herself”. Her relationship with Mal works like this as well: if she leaves him, it will feel like she’s betraying their past. Her virtue hedges on it, her honor. It’s now a moral question, instead of being a personal one. She must choose him, or else accept being corrupted. She must not let herself be distracted by all these new, bright, and interesting people she meets. No, she must persevere, she must not fall to temptation.

It is unfair to expect people to be unchangeable in their feelings, and yet we have to, in this narrative. Otherwise she loses. None of her other friends really have a chance.

How very sick.

It’s not even only romantic - the point is to not allow the changing world to change her. She has to be able to go back to her quiet life after this, she must not get used to the palace, or the pirate ship, she must not get closer and better friends than Mal - she must not change. How unfair.

Of course, noone else fits into this picture - Nikolai included. I root for him, just because I like his character the most, but also because, in the show, he and Alina have the most real and fun interactions. They seem nice together.

And honestly, at this point, it doesn’t even have to be him - I would be already happy if Alina doesn’t end up with anyone by the end, or finds someone new. It would be natural, it would be a change.

So I was very happy, when Mal said "I want us to be together by choice, not by destiny". Very unexpected, and very mature of him! I'm almost proud?) I didn't know that could happen, it's such a divergence from how the books ended. It is not often that a show changes the plot of the source material so much, and I approve of it)) Let them have a normal relationship for once.

[p1nkwitch]

I’ve been trying to finish all the fanfics I’ve had in my tabs for like weeks now but everytime I get close I just get distracted by a new fic of yours I’ve found. I’ll be down to two and then I’ll see you wrote for a specific trope I didn’t know you would before and suddenly I’ll have like 7 on my hands-

(It’s just!! Your stories are always so fun and amazing!! How am I supposed to pass them up!!)

AWW thank you so much!! thats such a great honor. ghdkfd i always try to write about different tropes cause, my brain is just, oh i need to do more i cant repeat my ideas. I must reinvent this in a new way. Which is fun but also my god. I am so glad you are enjoying my silly little stories with the awful old man!!!

Just delighted and it really makes me so happy to know it!!! i always want to rant about my fics if given a chance.

[gravitywonagain]

“Nobody asked about my writing” meme

thank you for tagging me @amethyst-noir <3 you're wonderful

i'm not sure i did this right; i'm working on too many things at once...... so i picked a few :D

 1: what are you currently working on? 

umm... several things. if we're going to stick to the immediate and not look at my entire wip folder, currently i'm working on finishing wagbfm, an external porny wagbfm oneshot ch, and a fic with the working title "under streetlights" as my main fan projects.

but then also, because i hate myself or something, i have (oh god) two (2) original projects that i'm building. the first shares a universe (or at least a magic system) with a fanfic that i'm not allowed to touch until i finish wagbfm because it will be a similar undertaking in length and world building, and it has the working title "desert mirage". the second doesn't quite have a plot yet, but i've been spending a not insignificant amount of effort developing the magic system for it from scratch (must be masochism), and its working title is "rebel yell".

2: summarize your current project 

which one? okay, i'll do the fics here and the original ones next.

wagbfm (taken directly from ao3): Wei Wuxian died and Yiling Laozu rose in his place. He has avoided the Triad societies he grew up around, maintaining his anonymity and forging a new cultivation path. Now, thirteen years later, Hanguang-jun walks into Demon-Subdue Hall and requests Yiling Laozu's services for GusuLan Triad. Something is stirring in the world. Something that necessitates his return to a life and to people he’s long since mourned as lost to him.

"under streetlights" (significantly less polished): 13 years after the car accident that took Wei Ying's life, Lan Zhan has fled the memories and grief that haunt him in San Francisco, only to find himself making a strangely compelling connection on Grindr in Florida.

3: summarize your current project poorly 

"desert mirage": Girl magically decapitates herself only to find out that it's not even her own head.

"rebel yell": In the world of genetic magic users, the one-armed whistler with perfect pitch is king.

4: describe your favorite character or characters

i think almost every character from mdzs could fill this list. plus several from my many other fandoms (looking at you, asami sato). but this seems aimed at ocs or other characters i haven't already spent time dissecting on this blog so...

meet calliope burns: she has two love interests, one arm, and zero fucks left. her default mode is research spiral. her glasses are always dirty. and she once threw her cheap-as-they-come prosthetic arm across a room because her roommate would not stop punning at her.

(also, worry not, i don't do love triangles unless the triangle gets closed... with polyamory, in case that wasn't clear.)

5: post a line from your current project without any context 

“You’re dead,” says Lan Zhan, and Wei Ying feels glass splintering around his temple.

6: how do you get through writers block?

patience? or, more accurately, distraction. i have no cure for it. i mostly just wait it out by doing other things. sometimes that becomes very difficult and aggravating, but i have not yet found another solution. sometimes making playlists helps?

7: would you want to live in the world of your current work? 

hell no. i do not write fun places to live; i write interesting places to live. and as we have all discovered by now, interesting is exhausting.

8: briefly discuss your outlining process, if you outline 

um... sporadic? it tends to start as a vague idea in a note on my phone. then when i've added enough to that note, it gets a onenote. on the onenote i collect a lot of larger character and world building things, in addition to figuring out the plot. the plot gets a bullet list with an associated timeline. then when the prose starts, it gets a google doc. from there the prose and the bullet list inform each other back and forth until i get something coherent out of them both. which is to say, mostly it's pretty freeform.

9: what is the aesthetic of your current project?

wagbfm: a darker chinese version of Romeo + Juliet (1996, dir. Baz Luhrmann)

"under streetlights": cigarette smoke and that fever dream feeling that accompanies yellowed, peeling motel wallpaper, but in, like, pretty sunset colors

"desert mirage": american southwest cow skull art

"rebel yell": 1980's punk scene meets 1950's technology meets 1910’s human rights violations and eugenics… plus magic!

10: what song sums up your current work the best?

wagbfm: the title is based on a lyric from "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes, but i think the song that gets at the heart of it might actually be "Freak" by Sub Urban

"under streetlights": the fic is inspired by "3 Nights" by Dominic Fike, but the song that it most resembles is actually "Hurting on Purpose" by Whethan

"desert mirage": "Black Magic" by Magic Wands but also "Corazón Espinado (feat. Maná)" by Santana... it's complicated

"rebel yell": "It's a good day (to fight the system)" by Shungudzo though the working title is obviously taken from "Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol

Tagging: @dovebeast, @epistemologys, @jasontoddiefor, @eldritchjackalope, @iamwestiec if you feel like it, and really anyone who wants to play!