#i’m high on SQ fanfictions

[streepytime]

Here I am in 2024 new to the Swan Queen fandom… reading dozen of fanfictions a day like there’s no tomorrow… commenting each chapter but seeing the last person who commented did it 2 sometimes 4 years ago!! 🫣 I’m forever going to regret I missed this incredible era… I’m comforted to see there’s still a lot of people shipping it though.

[saltymongoose]

Y’know how there’s fan clubs and fanfiction and Player x Reader stuff?

What if the main four found it, or other people outside of the Reader fan club. I’m pretty sure 2bDamned would secretly use these to try and satisfy his suppressed needs only to find himself needing Reader like ten times more.

Hank would be jealous and try to kill the poor authors probably.

Idk about the rest but the idea of them constantly fawning over Reader even when they’re not around would be adorable.

I love this idea so much, thank you lol. I'm not quite sure how it would work chronologically for the Main Four, but let's say for brevity's sake that you happened to control them somehow before coming into Nevada and visiting the Nexus (also starting off their knowledge of and obsession with you in the process). The most likely scenario is that Doc and Deimos find a multitude of emails when they're going through a database. They immediately stop skimming the paragraphs once they realize the actual subject of them, going from bored to completely enthralled in an instant. The Nexus Core workers wrote fanfiction about you? And had dedicated clubs for it and your "fans"? They all reacted to it a bit differently.

To begin with those who first found them, Deimos kinda grows addicted to reading the fanfics? They fuel his already abundant daydreams about what being in a relationship with you will be like, giving him new ideas to think about and consider when he plans out dates and things like that. Don't get him wrong, he's a bit (extremely) jealous that all of these grunts have met you in person before him, but the content they make just gets him more excited to finally have you in front of him. He also probably makes a sock puppet account so he can infiltrate the chats they have to get more of the fics directly and fawn over you with the Nexus workers lol.

Doc is similar, but he initially uses them as a way to "act out" any fantasies he's been focusing on in his head to try and get them out of his system before he goes to work. He figures if he spends a few hours immersing himself in content about you, his brain might get tired of it just enough to allow him some actual focus. It doesn't work though. The temptation of having stories about you at his fingertips is something he can't help but fall into, and he has to catch himself before he spends the entire day reading story after story about you. It's worse because the writers have actually seen you up close, so he knows the details about the way your eyes appear, how you smell, or the little mannerisms you have are probably accurate. It only makes his obsession with you larger, and his yearning to actually meet you himself reaches a new high. He has to see you now, he needs to. Soon he's going back to the emails to find any information regarding your precise location. It'll bring the SQ in direct conflict with the Nexus Core if he isn't careful, but he doesn't care. Getting you was vital, no matter the consequence.

Hank is angry once he learns about it. He feels he should've expected it; you're absolutely perfect in his eyes, so of course people would fawn over you like this. However, the fact that someone other than him is doing it and having romantic fantasies makes him incredibly jealous. The fact that these grunts supposedly "know" you only makes it worse, since he considered them legitimate threats to your impending relationship. In all likelihood, he'll make a point of "visiting" any Nexus facilities they mention to get rid of as much of his competition as possible. Besides, maybe you'll even be impressed by his efforts. They are proof of his love, after all.

Sanford's a little ashamed by how much he finds himself liking them, and mortified by the thought of you finding out. As such, they're a complete guilty pleasure for him. Seriously, he's red with embarrassment the entire time he reads the words and he actually has to take a break if the fic gets a bit too hot and heavy (let's just say that Sanford's vivid imagination runs a little wild with this lol). He's self-aware to the extreme here, worried that you know about the fics' existence and thinks they're creepy so he'll be considered creepy by extension, it's a whole jumbled mess. And yet, he can't help himself. He's honestly a little jealous of how your "fan club" is so open about their love for you, but that's overshadowed by how envious he is that they've actually met you. It makes him wonder how much of these scenarios you'd actually do, cause they must've been inspired by something, right?

As for the others outside of the main four, Hofnarr is well aware of his worker's escapades related to you, and he feels a little conflicted. On one hand, he knows you personally, so he thinks it's very improper to be indulging in fantastical stories about you behind your back. (Especially with the more...risque things the Nexus Core grunts come up with.) But on the other hand, they're very entertaining? At least, that's the excuse he comes up with for reading them. (It's totally not because you're so busy that he finds himself yearning for more of your presence at all times, of course not, that'd be so selfish-) As for the fan clubs, let's just say he's a valued patron for some of their merchandise and may or may not be considered a senior member (even if it's honorary).

Contrary to popular belief, Jeb does have some idea of the stuff the Nexus Core does with regards to you. It'd be weirder for him not to, especially after finding a keychain with your face on it in one of Hofnarr's desk drawers. But he isn't clued in on the fanfics about you, which is lucky for the Nexus grunts considering his horrified reaction to Phobos' own works. He just thinks the trinkets they make are an innocent form of idolization; it's not like their devotion towards you could ever come close to his, so he sees no reason to intervene too much. (Outside of maybe keeping them from interacting with you for prolonged periods, if he sees them getting a little too comfy in your presence.) Although he's also seriously considering asking Hofnarr to get him some item related to you.

[bestworstcase]

farran rereads lost lagoon: chapters 9-10

it’s been a hot minute! previous installments here, in case you’d like to refresh your memory first.

- this chapter opens with rapunzel observing that cassandra is angry and concluding, correctly, that it’s because rapunzel followed her. i think this is a very interesting choice for howland to make. tts rapunzel is not like this. she often, particularly in s1, fails to notice when cass is frustrated with her and is startled when that frustration erupts into anger after repeated pushing. she is also generally quite bad at linking cause and effect together like this; she might recognize that cass is angry, but miss why. she stomps all over cassandra’s boundaries in large part because she doesn’t know any better. she can’t see how her behavior is hurting cass. but lagoon rapunzel does know better. she’s far more emotionally intuitive, and she can see right away that sticking her nose into cassandra’s business upsets cass, yet she will continue to do it. part of me wonders if this change is to facilitate the character growth lagoon rapunzel gets (which tts rapunzel does not)? it’s much easier, after all, to fix poor behavior if you’re able to see how it’s hurting people you care about.

- rapunzel here also observes that cassandra’s “eyes were wide and vulnerable,” indicating how afraid cass was of the water situation. cass denies that she was afraid when rapunzel asks her. this has a lot of similarities to how cass acts in fanon, cassunzel fanon in particular—outright denying her feelings, even when rapunzel accurately identifies them. and i know i’m beating a dead horse here, but tts cass is not like this. tts cass readily expresses her feelings to rapunzel—except when she thinks rapunzel isn’t willing to listen to her. in COTB, her reticence with rapunzel comes on the heels of rapunzel doing something cassandra pleaded with her not to do. in RATGT, rapunzel outright tells her to ‘be okay with’ the way rapunzel treats her, and in RDO cass bottles up her feelings and refuses to talk until rapunzel forces her to. actively hiding her feelings is a behavior she develops after becoming friends with rapunzel, because rapunzel continually dismisses or ignores her feelings. this is probably not the last time i am going to harp on this over the course of this little reread. it’s a huge pet peeve of mine.

- re: romance novel: “I hadn’t seen Eugene since the night before. After Cassandra left my room, I sent Pascal to follow her. I instructed him to come get me if she went anywhere.” ksdkjf

- cassandra, of course, wants the lagoon to be their—or rather, ideally, her—little secret, because she’s decided this is the thing that will prove she’s ready for the guard. her approach to getting rapunzel on board with this secret-keeping is to imply that frederic and arianna might compromise corona’s national security if they are informed. i think this is very funny.

- (again, contrast this to what happens in tts: when cass begs rapunzel to keep their midnight excursion a secret, she explains her reasoning in detail, because tts cass knows how to communicate like an adult.)

- “It’s so…blue” jksdfl cass has a way with words huh

- i do not think ms howland knows what a lagoon is, because what she is describing is absolutely not a lagoon. it appears to be a cenote. i suppose ‘rapunzel and the lost cenote’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, though, does it?

- cassandra reveals that she doesn’t know how to swim. i will get into this in a moment.

- corona has 315 miles of coastline, according to ms. howland. for purposes of comparison, rhode island has around 380 miles of coastline. now! in addition to those three hundred odd miles of coastline, corona has 212 lakes, 121 ponds, 67 rivers, of which 17 are significant in size and let out into the sea. with some cursory research i haven’t been able to get a precise count of the number of freshwater bodies of water there are in rhode island, but wikipedia tells me that about 90% of the inland freshwater in the state is contained in 237 lakes and ponds, which is a bit less than corona’s 333 total lakes and ponds, so… assuming the other 10% of rhode island’s inland freshwater is contained in a few dozen smaller lakes and ponds, those numbers are quite close as well. and according to wikipedia, rhode island has 59 rivers, of which 17 are ‘considered major rivers either geographically or historically.’ 

there is not really a point to this digression except that i think it is interesting. rhode island is 1,214 square miles in size and based on the general closeness of these numbers i have decided to tentatively conclude that corona is meant to be roughly similar in size. let’s call it a nice even 1,250 square miles for the sake of ease and to account for the greater number of lakes and ponds. 

this is quite a bit larger than the kingdom appears to be in tts—unless the kingdom is very lopsided and island city is situated within a couple dozen miles of the nearest border—but it’s also quite small for a country. (europe has a few very small microstates and city-states, but excluding those, the smallest country in europe is almost twice the size of rhode island). 

for my own writing, i decided that corona was quite a bit larger than this—bitter snow corona is in the neighborhood of 13,125 square miles, of which about ⅓ was formerly saporia and another ¼ is the disputed territory/province of malinar, meaning saporia is/was about 4,375 square miles, malinar is about 3,288 square miles, and pre-conquest corona would have been about 5,462 square miles—but, if you’re writing fanfiction and looking for an approximate ‘canon’ size for corona, 1,250 sq miles is not a bad guess. just remember that that big old wall rapunzel’s so eager to get to the other side of has to be within about twenty miles of the island capital in order for horses to be able to comfortably get there and back in less than a day! so either the island has to be very near the nearest border, or the wall isn’t actually corona’s border but rather a defensive wall around the capital or something like that. 

- now back to cassandra, and the matter of her inability to swim. i think, given that they live on an island and the generally high standards to which he holds his daughter, it beggars belief a little that the captain did not force the issue of her learning how. it’s a safety matter. if you live near water you need to be able to swim.  but, fine, she has a phobia, whatever. it’s for the romance novel™

- but i hate this. i hate it. ms. howland expects me to believe that:

1 - cassandra hasn’t been in swimming lessons since she could walk

2 - cassandra’s phobia was so severe that the captain never forced the issue of her learning to swim, while living on an island

3 - rapunzel magically knows how to swim, because the three or four minutes she spent almost drowning in a slowly flooding cave and then being spat out into a river and dragged to the bank by eugene was sufficient for her to become a great swimmer.

4 - all it takes for cassandra to overcome her debilitating phobia of water is for rapunzel to spend maybe ten or fifteen minutes gently coaxing her into the water and teaching her how to tread water

5 - swimming in the lagoon with rapunzel then becomes one of cassandra’s most treasured pastimes, and

6 - merely a few months after this, cassandra is a strong enough swimmer to (in fitzherbert pi) DIVE INTO THE FUCKING OCEAN FULLY DRESSED WITH HER BOOTS ON in order to rescue shorty before he drowns.

and NO!!!!!! NO! THAT’S NOT HOW SWIMMING WORKS THAT’S NOT HOW ANYTHING WORKS!!

now i get it. i get it. this is a romance novel and the symbolism of rapunzel liberating cassandra from her fears and teaching her a valuable new skill that they bond over and becomes their shared special secret thing to do together is obviously powerful and a staple trope for the genre. but it makes so little sense for this to be a skill that rapunzel has but cassandra does not. it feels almost infantalizing of cassandra and aggrandizing of rapunzel. like… rapunzel is an exceptionally competent young woman, yes. but no she can’t fucking swim you can’t learn to swim from that one time you almost drowned in a FUCKING cave. fuck!

- i’m still on the first page of chapter 10 and i am steamed.

- “It’s amazing how fast you can pick something up when your life depends on it.” FUCK you, ms. howland. you don’t learn how to turn sommersalts or swim laps by almost drowning. at most you might teach yourself how to doggy paddle.

- this scene would have worked just as goddamn well on the romance novel front if cass were the one who knew how to swim and rapunzel desperately wanted to learn and made big sad puppy eyes until cass caved and agreed to teach her. like! ffs you could even squeeze in the phobia stuff - rapunzel freaks out when she gets to a certain depth because it throws her back to being in that cave and cass, who has plenty of experience dealing with her own panic attacks, is able to gently calm her down.

- but that would require ms. howland to allow rapunzel to be bad at something. grumble.

- i don’t think rapunzel is qualified to give cass exposure therapy.

- this is nitpicky but i’m annoyed. this is not how you clean plate armor. “First you hang your suit of armor up to make sure every piece is properly aligned and that there’s no rust” WHAT? it’s not… like, it’s not like a onesie. plate armor is a bunch of individual components tied or buckled to an arming doublet or, in some cases, to other pieces of plate. you can’t ‘hang up’ a suit of plate armor the way you’d hang up, like, a jacket. you can put the pieces together on an arming doublet that you’ve hung up on a dummy, but… why would you do that in order to clean it.

“Then you attach the foot coverings” gjksdfjk just… the mental image of cassandra painstakingly putting a suit of armor together on a fucking mannequin and buckling the sabatons to the greaves or what the fuck ever she means by this and trying to clean the set that way is destroying me

“Then you need to polish the chest plate, with a soft cloth, work in circles, going outward” okay yes but you’d do the cuirrass separate from the rest of the set and you’d do the inside too and cass ought to know the proper name for all of these pieces please it’s not hard

“The arms can be tricky because the joints” WHAT. for arms you’ve got, like, a pauldron (or spaulder and rondel), rerebrace, couter, vambrace, gauntlets. these are separate pieces. you clean them one at a time, inside and outside. does howland think you just… don’t need to clean the inside of a set of plate armor? does she think the inside isn’t just as if not more susceptible to rust as the outside? does… does she realize that you can take plate armor apart i am CONFOUNDED

WHAT is a “mouth cover” in this context. is she refering to a visor. hinged pieces like on an armet? does she mean a bevor? the bevor isn’t even part of the helmet aljksdflkjsfdj

cassandra refers to cuisses and greaves as “thigh plates” and “shin [plates]” respectively i’m die. she also completely skips the poleyns. i do not think this cass has ever cleaned a suit of plate armor in her entire life.

i am losing. my. mind.

- in the immediate aftermath of cass learning how to tread water i think rapunzel asks her more personal questions than she does in the entirety of tts itself. like, it’s almost jarring how much more interested both rapunzel and eugene are in cassandra as a person in this book than they seem to be in tts. compare this conversation to the way cass opens up to rapunzel in beginnings - here, it’s prompted by rapunzel asking questions, expressing interest in cassandra’s feelings and encouraging her by telling her she’s brave. in beginnings, rapunzel builds a pillow fort in cass’s room because she wants to force a bonding moment and cass, after initially trying to kick her out, relents and volunteers some personal information as a kind of apology for being hostile. the vibes are completely different, so different that it feels like i’m not even reading about the same characters.

- like can you imagine tts rapunzel saying something like “it’s your story, that makes it important” to cass? lmao

- cass reveals that she’s afraid of water because she got dragged out by the undertow at the beach when she was small, and her dad saved her and then got so mad at her that she remembers being as afraid of him as she was of the water. this is not unrealistic per se, but… if cassandra was as scared of her dad that day as she was of drowning, then… shouldn’t that have more of an impact on her relationship with him? like…he screams at her after she almost drowns and she walks away with this debilitating phobia of the water but zero lingering fear of him?

- this chapter has given me a headache

- re: romance novel: “Rapunzel gripped my hand. This time I didn’t flinch.” snrk. 

[onyxblackthorne]

Working on SQ updates

I wanted to let everyone in SWEN that I'm taking a stab at my fanfictions that I abandoned: A Soulless Demeanor, and Wicked Turmoil.

I had a realization the other day. I'm currently in a process of healing from this past year and I've taken a step back from my other blog. With that free time, it made me realize I can get back to my old writing.

The fanfic community literally has shaped who I am as a writer and I feel I must give my appreciation back by finishing these stories. I had to completely restart an original novel I had been working on since high-school because my writing style had changed so drastically.

I thank all of you. I can't make promises how soon the next chapters will be out. Hold on!

...

[exquisitliltart]

Author interview with hummingbirdswords

An interview with @hummingbirdswords on "Love Undefined"

What inspired your Supernova story?

As is the case with a lot of my writing, the core idea of this fic came to me while listening to music. 'Extraordinary' by Idina Menzel (give it a listen!) was a huge inspiration. I didn't even think I would be able to participate because it was two days before first drafts were due and I'd started many ideas, but nothing was working. Then, Extraordinary came on and I spent ten hours talking out ideas with Kez because my brain was basically like !!!!! and there were just so many ideas coming to me. And then, boom! A lack of fics that I could relate to (the way relationships work, identity, labeling...) also inspired me to write this.

They say if you want to see it, write it, so I did. Plus, I know that if I felt that way, there had to be others who also felt they couldn't exactly relate to what has been labeled as the norm by many. So I wanted to put something a bit different out there. Writing the fic took about six weeks if I don't count the time I wasn't writing during the eight week period from start to finish. It felt like much longer, but that was probably because the story kept going in the wrong direction and not following the plan I had created. In the end, it was even better than what I was planning and gave more people something they could connect and relate to than I was expecting. Every long writing session full of me complaining was totally worth it because of that.

Tell us about your writing history for fandom/general, and have you participated in SQ big bang or writing challenges prior?

I've been writing fic for about five years now. It started out as a way to help me improve my writing and keep myself entertained after I had graduated high school and was kind of in this place where life was really complicated. Somewhere along the way, it became such a big part of who I am and it's helped me grow as both a writer and a person. This was my first challenge like this. I'm not usually the best with deadlines. (did I mention I started writing Love Undefined the day BEFORE first drafts were due? because, yeah, that's the best time to start writing something you need to submit.) The fact that I'm not good with deadlines usually makes participating in things like this impossible. I've attempted before in another fandom, but this was my first time actually sticking to it and finishing.

What is an interesting fact about you personally or related to your writing process?

Interesting fact? Are there even any of those about me? Well... I record myself talking when I'm stuck and can't figure out how to write the words I want to say. So, basically, I just talk about what's happened and what I would like to include, talk through scenes. I usually have trouble with dialogue, but that helps a bit. Then, I'll transcribe the parts that are useful and write around them.

What other stories have you written?

All of my SQ fics can be found under hummingbirdswords on AO3. This is probably my favorite I've written for Swan Queen. A Place to Belong comes pretty close, though. I enjoyed writing that one quite a lot.

What is your favorite type of fanfiction?

My favorite type of fanfic... I enjoy a story with a healthy relationship that has a good plot and doesn't rush into things. I enjoy a good balance of fluff and angst, but not an overwhelming amount of either. Also, good kink! If the kink is well written and there's an actual story surrounding it (not a PWP), then I am so there for it!

Is there anything else you'd like people to know about you?

[ratmor]

Fairytale Lies Along (OUaT fanfiction SQ)

Autor's Note [ I've been told That's actually a Very Heterosexual Way to Write SwanQueen, the Slowpoke Way, the way I live. That's what my girl told me and I can't disagree so I hope you'd like what comes next... No you wouldn't]

3. RASPBERRY

“I found my real mom!”

The boy screamed, twisting out of the arms of a beautiful dark-haired woman with tears in her eyes, and then the boy tried to rush past the sheriff into the house.

“Stop!”

Emma was fast to react, and I grumbled with contentment something like "idiots need to insert their brains back into their skulls only after the shit they did."

Not only the mother of the boy and the Sheriff, who was looming at the door like an uncertain shadow, were surprised at this roar, but Emma herself. The boy turned and walked in the opposite direction from the door, back to Emma.

“What’s happening?” - his mother asked my ward.

The Mayor wore a power suit or dress or whatever they call it, and the expression on her face was identified by me as something that was characteristic of my wife when she tried not to hit me for that special kind of stupidity, which I showed her completely involuntarily sometimes. Well, it seems that all women with certain powers have this expression in active use.

“Yes, Emma?”

The boy asked, but we were in no hurry to answer, looking at the woman standing opposite, and as soon as one of the eyebrows of the mayor of this town crawled up, Emma shifted her gaze to too insubordinate son.

“Are you all good with memory, kid?” - Emma asked him gently, folding her arms over her chest and raising her eyebrows. - “Less than ten minutes ago, I told you what? Can you repeat? Start with the word "she", please.”

“She is not evil …” - the boy mumbled and looked up, waiting for something.

“Further,” - Emma encouraged him, although those who were looking at the boy at that moment would hardly believe that she was encouraging. - “What did I say next?”

“She is the person who became my family, when you were the very first evil in my life!”

The boy sighed sharply and his face twisted sadly, but he still didn’t cry.

The mayor and, concurrently the dear mother of this blockhead gasped and reached out to embrace her cub. He no longer resisted, although I bet that for some reason he was offended by his mother. Most likely, the thing was precisely that they were making him look crazy because of these fairy tales, and his mother was the initiator of the shrink campaigns. As for me, as long as he does not rush out of the windows, let him believe what he wants, even if it is flying spaghetti.

“It's cruel!” - Henry squeaked, hugging his mother. And he really understood why he was forced to say it, and it was precisely because he understood that, the original goal pursued by Emma failed. He did not cease to reach to us, not physically, but emotionally, he didn't stop it. - “Why do you hate yourself so much?”

“Oh, Good God ...” - Emma rolled her eyes, and I’ve decided to remind her about the cake, so Emma only nodded her head in agreement and turned her face to the boy. - “Go, better take what you left in the car.”

Henry nodded grimly and dashed towards our Beetle full speed - his mother's hands only shrank in the air when she realized that she no longer hugs the little boy by the shoulders. She looked at Emma and smiled, though not really using her eyes in that smile.

“She really is, like a son, good at pretending. From tears to a smile - and that's instantly. The best, isn’t she?” - I drawled, even without expectations on any response from Emma, because she probably already made such a conclusion, but she nevertheless expressed herself.

“And she definitely loves apples. Seriously?” - Emma awkwardly sniffed. - “I smell Montale, Sunset Flowers? Perfume with apple flavor? Well, at least we have the same brand of perfume, and that’s a start! And I thought I’d smell something more… complicated.”

“I suggest you try the best apple cider in your life.” - Mayor said in an absolutely urgent tone, and I was again convinced that powerful women in all worlds are equally peremptory.

“I told you,” - it is not quite clear for me why Emma cheered inside herself to such an extent that she even sincerely smiled at the adoptive mother of her biological son in response and added. - “She is just an incredible fan of damn apples!”

“Well, yes, but if they are not rejuvenating, then what's the point …” - I wondered and Emma snorted at it, continuing to communicate with this apple-lady in the real world.

“Thank you,” - Emma smiled, as if she was high, while looking into the eyes of this woman, - “Henry’s bringing a cake. It’s delicious.”

“Cake?” - the sheriff asked in surprise, already getting closer to the mayor. - “In honor of what event exactly?”

“And what, the day, or rather the night, in which I was lucky to meet my biological son, whom I gave up for adoption a decade ago, is not enough for you as an excuse?” - snapped Emma but then she blurred slightly, meeting the woman’s skeptical gaze, and waved her hand at her face in a denying gesture. - “Okay, okay, it's just my birthday today. Henry rang the doorbell in the midst of my ... ahem ... celebrations, so to speak. I suggested that neither you nor I would want to end the conversation so ambiguously, and I simply wanted to offer to discuss what happened. Nevertheless, I would like to be sure that this will not happen again when I leave. I have a home, a job and a relationship in Boston. What happened today was a little unexpected, you know... By the way, I fed the kid tuna sandwiches with orange juice, no worries here?”

Emma couldn’t say out loud what she told me after her little speech.

“And it would be good for my well being to clarify how exactly Henry was treated in this family, and whether it is necessary to save him from his environment. Anything might happen in this world - even the most pleasant people turn out to be maniacs…”

“She is, according to you, the pleasant?” - I was surprised. - “Rather, she is that kind of strict mommy, controlling everything and everyone …”

“In my opinion, she is fully in line with her position,” - Emma slightly closed her eyes and looked at Henry, dragging the cake and smiling slyly at something. The ice in the eyes of the Mayor somehow melted. - “And you see that she loves him.”

“Sheriff?” - Henry’s mother addressed to the guy in an extremely hinting tone.

“And yes, I will go, I still have night duty, yes, ” - he scratched his head and hurried to close the gate on the other side, finally looking at Emma with a strange expression on his face, but without saying anything.

“Hmm,” - Emma cleared her throat, drawing the attention of both Henry and this woman. - “My name is Emma Swan. Nice to meet you.”

“I am Regina Mills. Mayor of this town. I won’t pretend it was that nice.”

“Oh, her malice erupted, it is as funny as I thought that would be!”

Emma did not restrain a grin, my comment caused, and looked with kindness I never expected, in our new acquaintance’s eyes, but the prickly look was difficult to bear, and she decided to distract this negative attention from herself.

“Henry, would you be able to eat the cake? Still, it’s night already, and you’ve eaten sandwiches.”

“Of course I would, Emma!” - the boy sound surprised. - “I carried it after all!”

Emma slyly turned this around - now the prickly look was on Henry, though that eyes fairly lost its’ intensity.

“Mom, please!” - he could not resist. - “It smells great! And I'm very tired of looking for Emma in Boston, Mom!”

“Indeed!” - failed not to chuckle Emma, and it was funny, because the kid still carried out her request to sit for a slice of cake with a member of his family. She took the cake from the boy's hands in order to immediately put her nose in the cardboard box in which this work of culinary art was located. - There is a special magic of friendliness and forgiveness in the cakes. And yes, it’s raspberry. Do you like raspberries, Madam Mayor?”

“Magic?” - Regina's eyes widened, and I suddenly realized that she had shaken unreasonably at the word, but then she stopped short and answered the question. - “Please, enter the house, miss Swan. I don’t mind raspberry.”

[theblindchick-blog]

TO ALL THE FANFICTION WRITERS I FOLLOW

*I am only speaking for myself, but I’m sure I’m not alone*

I know that things like fear, anxiety, writer’s block, real life, depression, etc can get in the way of updating fics. I get it. I used to write fanfiction too. The readers who demand updates or leave comments like “Loved it! Update soon!” really don’t seem to understand (or even care about) all the work the writers have put into their works. That can be so discouraging.

But I’m not here to talk about those people. I’m here to focus on you. The writers who write or have written amazing works from tiny drabbles to 60 chapter monstrosities. I see you. I appreciate you. Your works are art. They are gifts the world doesn’t deserve. They are often better than the show, movie, or book they’re inspired by. So THANK YOU for writing. THANK YOU for using your precious time to write and share your talents with the Internet.

That being said, if there’s ever a time you can’t write (for the reasons I mentioned at the beginning), or just don’t feel like it, please know that I’m okay with that. I’m not mad. I will not pressure you or attempt to make you feel bad for not updating. Even if you’ve previously said “I’ll update every week/month” & then don’t. That’s okay. Stuff gets in the way. I have literally waited 5 years before a fic was updated. Of course I love the instant gratification of getting to read things right away, but I also realize that’s not always realistic. So I will be a cheerleader & I’ll talk to you about past fics or previous chapters, I will never ask for more than you’re able or willing to give.

Lastly, if I follow you as an author, there is a high chance that I’ve also attempted to get to know you or am at least following you on Tumblr. When I like a story, it’s likely that it has touched me deeply & memorably & so I want to know the person behind those words. And because of this, I have made many friends (despite me sometimes fangirling 😅). I have gotten to know so many amazing people through fanfiction. And because I’ve gotten to know you all as people and not just untouchable writers, I want y'all to know that even if you never wrote or finished another fic, I’d STILL like you. I got to know you people outside of fics. And I adore you all. The people behind the fics.

So if you ever feel pressure or like people are going to be mad if you’re not updating as fast as you “should” be, please know that at LEAST one person loves & appreciates you no matter when or if you write.

(I’m sorry this is not as clean or coherent as I’d like it to be, but it IS sincere. I hope I at least got my point across.)

@a-e-radley @angstbotfic

@chrmdpoet @coalitiongirl @delirious-comfort @eirenical @freifraufischer @fullboyle @oparu @purple-hershey @rowark-sq @sgtmac7 @spoilersweetie @thelast-thingido @violetscentedwriter @wifeysforlifey @wily-one24 @wapwani *I know there’s more, but Tumblr just made me unfollow a bunch of people & I can’t think of usernames right now. 😤

[exquisitliltart]

Ughaghost SQSupernova Author Interview

 @ughaghost - Wrapped Up Tight (Safe In My Arms) - hear are some thoughts on the story: 

What inspired your Supernova story?

An offhand comment actually. I was looking for prompts. I asked a friend and she said, "Write something about blankets" The rest is history.

Tell us about your writing history for fandom/general, and have you participated in SQ big bang or writing challenges prior?

Gosh I'm super new to fic writing but not writing in general. That's been a hobby off and on since I was young. I'm also fairly new to fandom, I've been somewhat passionate about things before Swan Queen but never made the move to find others who were also interested. At least not since my younger days in the Degrassi fandom ( embarrassing). I never thought I'd post anything but then I got into Supergirl and wrote a little Supercat fic ( by little I mean it was something like 12k because I'm extra) and I've kept writing since, when I can push myself to follow through on one of my many ideas. I also did Swan Queen week in summer 2016 I think, right before I found out about supernova.

What is an interesting fact about you personally or related to your writing process?

 Sometimes I do write by hand and type things up later just for a change of pace. When I'm really pushing to get things done I write to Kid A by Radiohead. I'm not sure why that became a thing but it did.

What other stories have you written? Do you have a fic or author rec you'd like to share?

I have few things up yes and several things in different stages of completion I have yet to post. I think the best thing I've written so far is the last thing I posted. A fic for this most recent Swan Queen Week called I Never. It...was rough to get done because my approach to writing it was harried and very much helter skelter. I wrote so many sections out of order and had a heck of time putting it together but I feel like its my most intricate maybe? 

As far as recs I have over 500 bookmarks, so if you're ever looking for something to read feel free to peruse, I usually write a lil bit in each one. A specific recommendation I want to make is In This World Or Any Other by Jane_Bond. I haven't heard it discussed ever but it moved me so much when I read it I had to shout about it for a week straight. Regina is the Evil Queen but she's been defeated. Damned to fight a plague she's let loose upon the world eternally in repentance. She gets sent to our world when Rumple, her master, finds out it's spreading. Then she meets Emma Swan and things get WEIRD. It's the perfect balance of action, high stakes and sweet moments with the overwhelming sense of doom hanging over everything. I can't do it justice here but go read it, I implore you.

What is your favorite type of fanfiction?

Angst/Hurt/Comfort

Is there anything else you'd like people to know about you?

I'm always looking for more writer friends to bounce ideas off of. I've heard I can be intimidating but don't mind the salt. Shoot me a message here or on twitter ( same as my AO3 name) we can chat.