#i've had the final paragraph of like the sun written for like a YEAR already

[ofherlionheart]

writer's meme

tagged by the illustrious @dickpuncher420

How many wips do you have currently?

let's say … three? docs are entitled: renaissance indulgence ch 5, sublimation, and body talk. (guess which one is like the sun lolol)

Which one are you finding the hardest to finish?

all of them? lol. sublimation is stalled because i successfully sublimated my troubles into the draft so far and now i don't really care, at the moment, to finish resolving the story. body talk is stalled because idk man i gotta be in a certain mood to write in a werewolf-esque a/b/o universe. renaissance indulgence is not necessarily stalled but it is slow going because god won't let me settle for a normal word count

What does it usually look like when inspiration strikes for you?

usually starts with "oh my god what IF —" and then a scramble for something, anything to write down the thing my brain just spontaneously birthed. alternate option, but far less frequently occurring: letting my mind wander on long airplane flights. do i look like im zoned the fuck out staring at the seat back in front of me? shhh. she's rotating blorbos in her head

Do you curate playlists for each fic or is your process different?

long ago i'd usually inadvertently associate a song w/ a fic (the reason why so many fic titles are modified song lyrics) but now i work on such fat ass stories that by the time i've completed a story (or a chapter) i've gone through at least 10 different album/genre phases

Do you go balls to the wall and write as you go or are you more organized?

organized chaos! there's a general map, and typically a final destination as well, but i let myself consider detours

tagging the beautiful bitch reading this post <3 (aka im so sorry, i'm so offline idek who's still online atm)

[sflow-er]

Signal boosting this! If anyone knows of such fics, I would love to read them as well.

My closest matches are probably these two, but even they aren't fully focused on him. Also, I'd advise you to read the tags/warnings first because some of them can be very triggering.

Han har inte haft det så lätt (English translation: He's had it rough) by @silvagrey (2k, written post-s1 but mostly works with s2):

Wilhelm and Felice are sitting in the spring sun in the private part of Drottningholm's garden, enjoying the first really warm day. They have joked that perhaps, after all, they should get married, as a friendship marriage. It feels like a complete failure to both of them to turn 50 next year without a partner by their side. They have speculated more than once what actually went wrong back there at Hillerska. The most reasonably scenario they have come up with is that - someone, perhaps not either of them, but someone should have reached out to August already during that Christmas break, not leaving him alone at Årnäs.

One-shot where Wille and Felice discuss August's extremely tragic fate (as well as post-canon developments in Wilmon's relationship). I read the Swedish version myself but the author kindly provides English translations so I've linked both above!

Heart and Homeland by @bluedalahorse and @heliza24 (241k, historical AU, Chapter 32 which I've linked to is ~10k focused on Sargust and can be read as a standalone):

In 1808, against a backdrop of war between Sweden and Russia, two young men meet at school and fall in love. Simon Eriksson, the democratically-minded son of a disgraced smuggler works to secure a better life for himself and his family. Wilhelm Vasa, a second-born prince in disguise, strives to uphold his family legacy while exploring the world beyond the palace for the first time. Meanwhile, the observant and beleaguered Sara Eriksson works as a governess on the nearby estate of the wealthy Ehrencrona family, whose beautiful and cunning daughter Felice is reluctantly engaged to the manipulative August Horn. When a shift in the line of succession puts Wilhelm in the crosshairs of a political conspiracy that threatens to change all of Sweden, each character faces new dangers. They must all decide what is truly important to them and what is worth fighting for. Expect slow burn romance, political intrigue, and a sprinkling of spice in this epistolary alternate history.

Ch32 description: Sara takes action, and August finally faces consequences.

Full disclosure: I have not read this entire longfic. It is on my list, but I haven't had as much time or energy for reading this year as I would've liked...

However, I have done a quick read of ch32, which consists of about 10k of tragic, married Sargust from Sara's POV, after the authors mentioned here on tumblr that it could be read as a standalone! Also, it mostly consists of a dramaticised scene, which is nice if you (like me) are a bit out of your comfort zone with the epistolary i.e. letter format.

Word of warning (putting a cut here because it's a potential spoiler - if the cut doesn't show up for you but you don't want to be spoiled, just skip this last paragraph):

I adored what I read of ch32, but I was unsure if I wanted to spoil the story for myself, so I only read maybe three quarters. I have since decided that I will read the chapter properly, but I haven't got round to it yet. However, I got an extremely tragic vibe from where I left off and there are some pretty severe tags on the story. So, as I cannot be sure how the chapter ends, this recommendation comes with a warning to check those!

Do the helpful folks here have any recs for fics focused on August where all his nuance is brought to the table? I have a bit of a craving.

[elsdaydreams]

Finally Finished

Altair x Gender-Neutral Reader

Warnings - Stress about exams, eating food

Word Count - 990 words.

Description - Finals have you stressed out. Luckily, you got someone in your corner making sure you're okay.

Authors Notes - Second installment of making my six year old writing not out of character. In the original imagine I'd written, Altair gifts reader with a small necklace. Upon further deliberation (i.e. me rereading that and thinking that doesn't seem very Altair), I've decided that his love language is not gift-giving, but acts of service and quality time. So now, this story is a little bit longer and you've got a little more depth to him. Also, reader is in college, and Altair is a wee-bit older than reader. Hope y'all enjoy this one as much as I did. Ella x

Your feet tapped at the ground, eyes skimming the same paragraph again. You'd been studying for hours, and still felt like you'd learned nothing this semester. Finals week sucked the life out of you and replaced it all with anxiety.

Leaning back, the chair creaked underneath you. Your eyes took in the room, once basked in sunshine, now covered in the cold darkness. Nervously, you stood up, stretching to loosen the stiff muscles. You'd shuffled over to where your phone was on the charger. A sacrifice you'd made to ensure you were actually studying, and not scrolling on your phone.

A couple text messages blinked up at you, mostly from your friends and classmates. There were a couple of e-mail reminders, all from your teachers about the impending exams. It was nearing 8 o'clock, and you frowned.

You were hopeful that the early setting of the December sun would've tricked you, and that you'd had more time. Tomorrow was the start of your exam schedule, and you weren't looking forward to it. Not to mention, Altair mentioned that he'd be coming over - right about now.

Like he'd known you were thinking of him, you heard his keys enter the locked door. You'd padded out of your bedroom, turning on a few lights to make it seem like you weren't panicking about the finals.

By the time he'd managed to swing the door open, you were just about in the living room. Judging by the look on his face, you'd surprised him a little bit.

"Thought you were studying," he'd said quizzically, shutting the door with his keys in hand.

"Break," was all you offered in exchange, gargling it between the yawn and your sweater.

Altair hummed, toeing his shoes off with a gracefulness you envied. Meeting him halfway, you heard his keys hit the coffee table. When the two of you were alone, there was a delicateness not many saw from either of you. It was not very often when the two of you openly exchanged kisses or said I love you around other ears. Most times, you'd often just sat near each other, leaning into the other occasionally.

In the quiet of your shared apartment, however, Altair wrapped his free arm around you. His lips pressed against your forehead, he whispered, "picked up some dinner for you."

You hummed, appreciative of the gesture. The only thing you'd eaten today was a blueberry muffin and some coffee - not having time between classes and studying.

"All for me," you asked, a smile evident in your voice. "Did you eat already?"

Wintertime for Altair meant longer hours at work. For the past few weeks, you'd been living almost separate lives. It was hard for both of you, but sometimes it felt like it was worse for Altair.

"Mm, no," he sighed, lips chasing your cheek before leaning to put the bag down, "wanted to wait."

"How sweet," you grinned, wrapping your arms around his shoulders. "Just for that, you get to pick the movie."

He rolled his eyes, pulling you down to sit on the couch with him. You ended up in his lap, though neither of you were complaining.

"It was my turn anyway," he reminded you, hands trailing against your back pulling you closer.

"No, I don't think so," you teased, looking into his warm, brown eyes, "I think I'm just being extremely generous."

"Oh, that's it," he said dryly, nose pressing against your cheek. "Do I dare ask how studying's going?"

"Well, now you've gone too far," you laughed, nerves setting in at the thought of it again. You rolled to the side of him, grabbing the remote and tossing it his way.

Trying not to look at him, you distract yourself with serving both of you. The bag was stapled shut, you began tearing into it.

"I dunno," you began, a frown forming, "I feel like this review I've been working at is the first time I'm seeing some of this stuff. And obviously it's not, but I'm just..."

You passed him his food, the container still fairly warm. Setting your food onto the table, you fished at the bottom of the bag and grabbed the plastic forks.

"Nervous," he offered, taking the fork with practiced domesticity. "Are you gonna keep studying then?"

"Yeah," a humorless laugh escaped you, "it feels like I should, shouldn't I? At least till I feel semi-comfortable about it."

Altair flipped through a list of movies, "if you wanted, I could help you."

"What, study?" You shot him a look, taking a bite of your food.

The television screen flashed, shutting off abruptly. If it weren't for the lights still on around you, you would've assumed you lost power. You couldn't be shocked at all though, because once Altair settled on something, it was as good as done. It was even less shocking that he was taking your exams more seriously than you.

"Yeah, study," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm very studious."

You laughed, earning a nudge from him. It certainly wasn't a lie, he had earned top marks when he was in school.

"So funny," he frowned, tossing you a glare, "you don't need my help then."

You gasped, leaning into his arm gently, "yes I do."

"I don't think you do."

"I do, Altair," you whispered, placing a kiss onto his shoulder. A little sucking up never hurt, especially in the case of his pride. "I just didn't think you'd want to spend your time off from work studying."

"Well, I don't particularly want to," he said, taking another bite of his food, chewing carefully. "But for you, maybe."

You grinned, eating your food to hide the blush spreading across your cheeks.

"The sappiness," you groaned, not minding it one bit, "just for that, you get to pick the next movie."

He scoffed, rolling his eyes, "it's still my turn."

[zutaraplatter]

Avatar: The Last Airbender Critique

There are already a million of posts like this one, and I might be saying things that’ve already been said a million times but I’ve recently become reheated about the ATLA ending and wanted to let it out -_- No one asked, this is true, and this may or may not be a way to stall from this final project I still have to complete, but here’s 10 things I didn't like and/or would change about the show that likely shouldn’t need changing because they should have been done in the first place.

1. Katara should have apologized to Sokka after TSR

It should have happened and it didn't. In my canon-avoiding mind, Katara and Sokka have a heartfelt conversation where she apologizes for the awful things she said, Sokka says he forgives her and he's sorry if he wasn't as there for her as much as he should have been, which he follows up with "but I'm happy you listened to Aang and took his advice," leading into my next point

2. Katara should have said that not killing Yon Rha was her choice

And thats why it was the right one. Not because Aang already said it was wrong. No no. It was the right choice because that's what she chose. I love my mom to death and can't imagine losing her in any way, let alone the way Katara did. And I can't say for sure that if I was in her shoes that I know what I would have done f that yes I do I would have killed that motherfucker. But I also know that if Katara decided not to kill him, then that was one of two correct choices because they were Katara's choices to make. Not Aang's or anyone else's and this should have been clarified. I know it's a kids show but I said what I said. Next point.

3. Katara should have said more after telling Aang she was unsure at the Ember Island Players

Katara hasn't had any trouble saying how she feels, especially when it comes to helping others and making them feel better, whether she was right or wrong. But she holds back or overly softens blows and seems to even shrivel up at times when it comes to Aang. And me no likey. I had a boyfriend who I adored and admired and just genuinely looked up to. I'm also a shy and anxious person who hates confrontation, but because I loved him, I never refrained from telling him when he was wrong. I might have been a little shaky about it but I did it tho because when you want to be with someone you walk through the grass and stomp through the mud. And I personally feel like either in that moment or later on in an added scene that Katara should have voiced to Aang how unheard and disrespected she felt about his words before TSR and his actions on the balcony. I hate being uncomfortable and my secondhand embarrassment is toxic but I would love to see a scene of this. I always imagined Katara saying stuff like "But I'm not you Aang, and I'm not an Air Nomad," or "Zuko could understand why I needed to go, and I'd hoped you would too," or...I'm out of ideas but you get the idea. And you know what, I know I'm a hard Zutara shipper, but them having this conversation would honestly make me respect their relationship a whole lot more should it be believably written to end on a good note (I don't see how it could be but hey I'm an open minded person and I did think they were cute together once upon a time). Basically, all I'm saying is that Katara is no small voice and she should have been written that way when with Aang. Boyfriends can make you shy but should never make you weak. Period. Next point.

4. No rock! ONLY GROWTH!!!!!!!!!!!

I still squint my eyes whenever I remember that rock that unblocked Aang's chakra. What even was that? The laziest writing possible in my opinion. That's what. And Aang deserved better. What should have happened should have been that Aang started to lose to Ozai. And then as Ozai's about to deliver the finishing blow, Aang has flashbacks of everyone he's trying to save and honor, ending with a very prominent flashback of Katara with the guru's disembodied voice reminding Aang to let go of his attachments to become all he needs to be...then BOOM! Baby boy is back on his feet, chakra unblocked, he kicks Ozai's ass, I'm crying hysterically on the floor, as are the rest of us, and he wins. Then at the end of the series, instead of a kiss, he gives Katara an apology. She accepts, everyone else comes to join them on the balcony, cinematic group hug, camera pan into the sun. I don't know lol. Basically what I'm saying is that Aang did not deserve some deus ex machina. He deserved to grow and become his best self like everyone else got to.

5. Aang should have heard differently in The Storm

Katara is a very fate-minded person and this is when I saw potential for her to become a toxic character in regards to Aang. When he admits that he ran away from home 100 years ago, Katara tells him that that was basically a good thing because he was meant to be here and now. Like...no? What Aang did, though understandable for someone so young, was still wrong. Yes he would have maybe been killed but I'm like 10000000% sure they had a plan to protect and evacuate the literal avatar. And what was technically "meant to be" was a new avatar. But hey, what's done is done and kicking Aang while he's down is a no-no in this household. But that doesn't change the fact that Aang needed and deserved honesty. Maybe the fisherman could have said this, I don't know, but I feel like Aang should have been told by someone that although running away was wrong, it's a blessing he and Appa were able to survive and be able to help save the world now with his amazing friends found-family. Maybe this is too harsh, and maybe even outright wrong, but I felt like Aang deserved a truer answer here to support and comfort him.

6. MAILEE!!!!

Do I even need to go into detail?

7. Spiritual sigh*

Don't make me go into detail -_- I will say though that although Aang and Katara are both amazing individuals capable of earth shattering things, they were not a healthy fit for one another. This is evident in the original series and especially in their children from LOK. They both deserved the best but better than one another.

8. ZUTARAAAAAAA

This is a Zutara blog you KNEW this was coming, as it should. There's just too much. There's too damn much. I would give a real paragraph to this too, but, I mean, there's already so much proving that this was the pair. Fics, metas, rants, this site. Scroll through my blog or any of the ATLA related blogs I follow and...dude. These two were meant to be together and I'll mourn the narrative brilliance WASTED for no good reason every day for the rest of my life. No reason these two shouldn't be married with three kids. sob. I will take this part to say thank you to the amazing fic writers that gave Katara, Zuko, Mai, and Aang what they deserved that the writers didn't have the guts to give them themselves. Next point tho.

9. AANG AND ONJI

Good God almighty. Why not this? WHY NOT THIS? I'm putting on my bullet proof vest and I'm going to say this; Aanji is cuter than Zutara. Now before you scorn me or whatever, let me explain. Zutara for me is like steak. No. Chicken parmesan. I like chicken parmesan better. The point though is that Zutara is savory. You know? I don't see them as cute, I see them as Obviously. Aanji on the other hand is like a bag of my favorite candy. They are like a brownie. A cookie. Girl Scout Samoas!...I don't know what words are anymore. This post got way out of hand. I guess what I'm saying is that for Zutara, I scream, but for Aanji, I squeal. I hope that makes sense. But here's the main point I want to make. Onji never knew who Aang really was. And Aang was always, at his core, himself. She very obviously had a crush on Aang for his personality and that was crazy cute and frankly preferable to Katara's "I...guess he is." (you know exactly what I'm talking about) Anyway, I kept wanting more of them together. I wish all the time that we'd gotten to see her again, with a more fleshed out character and all. And in the way that I imagine the show should have gone, she could have been the perfect love interest for Aang, during this episode or way later, even in the comics! Another WASTED opportunity for greatness and I will, again, never recover T-T

10. Iroh get your ass back here

Maybe this is a misguided critique but I hated that Iroh just left Zuko alone in the fire nation at the end of the series. Baby was in trouble in every sense of the word and Iroh was just like "See ya! You got this nephew." I'm expected to believe that? I'm expected to accept that? No no no. He should have at least stayed for a few years to help Zuko stay upright and, you know, alive. And by "upright" I don't mean "good." I just mean been there to support him because Lord knows he needed it, at least in the beginning of his reign. It was cute that Iroh was able to settle down with his own teashop after all those years of violence and mourning and running and this and that. I was more than happy for him for being able to have that peace finally. But I still think it could have waited a little while longer so he could support Zuko.

That's it I guess. I know not everything I've said makes the most sense in one way or another, but I enjoyed putting it together all the same. Thank you for reading and have a great day. I'll go finish my final now.

(Edited for a typo)

[omgdexnursey]

hey again its crisis anon and i'm starting to rly want to try my hand at writing fanfic!! embracing the "fuck it" mentality atm🤪🤙 & i think i have the language aspect of writing down, like i'm good enough at it lol, but i've never written for a fandom before so its kind of daunting :( if its not an inconvenience i'd love to know if u have any tips!!

sorry on the lateness of this reply!! i’ve been thinking about this ask pretty much since i got it.

(this got kinda long oops i hope this is useful)

first and foremost, i would say that when deciding to write fic: write the stories you want to read. that is absolutely essential to fic writing because if you aren’t inspired by a story or it’s not something you’re all that interested in, chances are it’s either a) not gonna be all that great because you weren’t invested in it or b) it’s not gonna get finished because you’ll get bored of it. also, while i do write because i love the community aspect of it and i love people commenting and sharing my stories and talking about them, the core of my writing stems from me wanting to write and getting excited about a story i think is really cool. sometimes i think: am i really going to write this stupid au that no one else cares about and the answer is usually yes because I want to write it and therefore to me, it’s a story worth telling. this also applies if you’re writing a story you feel has already been done a million times - even if it has, it’s never been told by you 

second: be patient with yourself. if you’ve been following me for a while, you probably know that my tag for posts about writing and its struggles is “writing is hard” and it is! sometimes i start stories, get only a little bit of the way into it and then think of a new story and start writing that instead. it’s totally okay (and not unusual) to bounce around in fics, especially if you’re stuck, because otherwise it’ll start feeling less like a fun hobby and more like a chore to finish. i have fics i started over a year ago, or haven’t worked on in months because i got stuck, and a lot of times i find that after working on something else or just giving my mind time away from it, i’ll think of a scene that i want to add or how to get around where i’m stuck. sometimes i open up a doc that’s been there for months, write one sentence i thought of, and then leave it again. 

(as an add-on: writing is not linear! sometimes i know how i want a fic to end or start or just one event that happens somewhere in the middle and nothing else, and i start by writing the parts that inspired me to write it, then build around it.)

writing is also very fluid. by that i mean there’s so many times i’ve gone into a fic with an idea that is the core of the fic only to get partially or completely through writing it and realize that i want to change it in some way or go in a different direction than when i first started, so don’t be afraid to reshape an idea you originally had.

on a practical level, if you have an idea, write it down somewhere. there have been so many times that i’ll just randomly have an idea pop into my head and i’m like trying to fall asleep or i’m doing something else and i foolishly tell myself that i’ll remember it later so i don’t need to write it down now. (you might be able to guess - i do not remember a lot of them) i have notes on my phone that have just like lines of dialogues or the outline of a scene and some of them don’t really mean anything from the outside (ex. from a note about an artist au i have in progress: “dex wakes up and nursey’s painting - it’s really late”) just something for you to read and remember what you wanted from it.

also, don’t completely delete scenes if you want to take them out of a fic. i have a document titled “random unused ideas” and part of it is just scraps of ideas referenced in the above paragraph, and some of it is scenes i’ve taken out of fics but don’t want to get rid of because they might come in handy in other fics. i just recently decided to take a bunch of the snippets of scenes i had and put them into one fic to be worked on in the future. i also like to make an adjacent doc to put scenes in just in case i want them back in the fic i was writing. so for example, when i was writing “under the summer sun with you” i had a doc titled “fishing trip au extras”, and there was an entire scene i ended up taking out but i had in that doc because i wasn’t sure yet if it was going to make the final cut. (now it’s in my general “random unused ideas”)

finally, if you can, find people to talk to about writing. i get so excited when people want to talk about my stories and my friends here bounce ideas back and forth, which has helped me work around some of the roadblocks i’ve encountered. 

hope this helps and if you do write good luck!!! my inbox + messages are always open and i love talking about writing!! it’s scary and challenging but if you find that you enjoy it, that’s really what matters!

[diamondnokouzai]

like, my dream is to walk into some hotshot thirty-something year old author's office as a paid editor and they drop a 700 page tome on the desk for me to take and i sit right there across from them and i brought my own portable battery-powered shredder and every so often i painstakingly shred entire chapters page by page. "if youre really a good author," i say, "then you'll be able communicate all the information that was necessary" —here i raise my eyebrows condescendingly, glancing between author and manuscript— "in that chapter in a fourth of the word count." i do this until ive finished the tome. the sun is long past set, the author is grinding their teeth. don't i know that theyve published with the new yorker? don't i care that their average goodreads rating is 4.78 stars? no. i don't. i stand up to leave. "i'll see you in twenty days for your updated manuscript." i say. i exit. they flip through what remains of what was to be the highlight of their ouvre, the first book in their new adult trilogy which already has a film deal. every page is coated with red pen markings and highlights. on the final page i've written a paragraph-long summation of my thoughts and a rating out of ten. it never surpasses 6. the author has never wanted anyone dead as much as they want me dead in that moment. twenty days later, they have spitefully finished their second draft. it is now a paltry (paltry! they had to cut most of a romantic subplot!) 500 pages. i repeat the process. this time, the rating out of ten may go as high as 7. i repeat the process until the author either goes mad or has a 400-450 page novel to show me. i allow them to publish it. infuriatingly, it is their highest-rated work. their average goodreads rating is now 4.86 stars. they want me dead.

editors and beta readers need to be so much fucking meaner like seriously if you arent occasionally making world-famous authors cry then you arent making them edit hard enough