#i've re written the beginning of this chapter like five times now <3 so it's going great <333

[derelictheretic]

Wip not wednesday bc i'm in the fuckim upside down land

Tagged by @socially-awkward-skeleton @henbased and @clicheantagonist !! ty!! <333 (also tagged by beloved @adelaidedrubman <3)

Sending tags out to @englass @trashcatsnark @viktor-sinclaire @deputyash and anyone else who wants to share a wip !!

I actually have  few active wips again ! Been doin some research for the detective au and started chipping away at it again so ch1 wip!!

He let out a loud groan, sure no one could hear him from the comfort of his car as he slumped back into the flaky leather seat. He ran his hands down his face and he could feel the months exhaustion washing over him, everytime he took a step forward he got knocked back down a steep hill with broken glass at the bottom of it. He didn't know how many more falls he could take. The thought had tears pricking at his waterline, lips downturned and drawn tight as he tried to keep himself from falling apart. Like hell he'd risk anyone seeing that.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he let it go for a few moments, sucking in a deep breath and squeezing his eyes shut. As much as he wanted to drive back to his apartment and hide under the covers until hell froze over he knew it could only be one of two people calling; his sister or his boss. Neither one who'd be happy about having him miss their call.

He shifted to the side and shimmied the phone out of his pocket, not bothering to check the caller ID as he lifted it to his ear.

"Yeah?"

"Sinclaire where the hell are you?"

So it was his boss. And he sounded pissed anyway. Awesome.

"Midtown sir."

"Why the fuck are you in midtown? Jones is waiting for you in Tuxedo Park, get your ass over there pronto."

Tuxedo Park? What was he doing in the rich neighborhood? Another entitled asshole calling on some poor guy trying to walk his dog again? He did not have time for this stupid shit, he wasn't a cop he was a detective for fucks sake—

"Yes sir." He pocketed his phone, not really having a choice in the matter and lacking the energy to argue. He put the key in the ignition, turning it with no avail. It took a few tries for the engine to roar to life, spluttering in a way that would make anyone who had self preservation hesitant to drive. He pet the dash as the sound evened out and pulled out of the park, driving down the road and past the bar. 

The gamblers he'd spoken to watch him as he goes, offering shit eating grins and coy waves that make his blood boil. If karma was righteous they'd get caught out cheating at their stupid casino and thrown in a very dark cell.

[tathrin]

Writing Year Wrapped (2023)

Ooh, thank you for the tag @sallysavestheday!

3 Favorite Fics You've Written This Year:

Of course we have to go with my current obsession, And In The Darkness To Unmake Them, an as-canon-compliant-as-possible Fellowship-AU that asks, what would happen if Celebrimbor got himself re-embodied and came back to Middle-earth to try and make up for his mistakes by helping to destroy the One Ring (and brought all his unhealed trauma with him)? Plus a slow-burn romance for Legolas and Gimli, a whole lot of delicious world-building for Mirkwood, and a more active role for Arwen too!

Five Times Gimli Died (and One Time He Didn't) is, I think, despite the simplistic and trope-y title, one of the most elegant things I've ever written, and I am very much in love with it. It's the story of Gimli and Legolas's romance, from beginning to end (well...not really end, because the joy of them is that they're a story that doesn't end—Gimli Immortality Agenda, you can't stop me!—but the story ends with the beginning of their happily-ever-after, which is a sort of end, no?), told in a series of scenes that takes place from Moria to the Undying Lands, and could almost slip right in between the pages of canon if you squint enough to overlook a little bit of meddling from Mahal on behalf of his new favorite dwarf (don't tell Durin).

To Live In Undying Lands is a series of snippets set in Aman after Legolas and Gimli cross the Sea, focused on both their new life there and that of our beloved Hobbits who went over before. And I went back and forth several times deciding whether to swap the placement of this one and Last Temptation... below, but I ultimately think that was a bit more of a stretch than this one, despite the fact that I Never Write Hobbits and am writing quite a lot of Hobbits for this one, and also I Never Write Snippets Without An Overarching Plot—and because I'm such a sucker for Gimleaf that if I have to pick a favorite between any two comparable stories, it's always going to be the one with them in it! (Also: Gimli Immortality Agenda, always!)

3 Fics That Stretched You the Most:

Dead Faces In The Water; Dead Faces Everywhere - I don't write present tense, I don't write modern AUs, and I don't write zombie stories...but here I am, writing all three at once! (Thanks, @katajainen! This story is 1/3 your fault, 1/3 @roselightfairy and @deheerkonijn's fault, and 1/3 Mira Grant's lol. And you were the inciting incident, so you get first blame!) And somehow having a great time doing it! (So much world building! I'm in paradise!)

The Last Temptation of Narvi of Khazad-dûm - probably one of the most overtly ambitious stories I've ever done. It's likewise in present-tense, although that's considerably less daunting now after almost forty chapters of zombies; but there were a lot of other balls to juggle on this story, including my first time properly writing both of the main characters as well as anything set in Ost-in-Edhil; and of skirting right up against the line of how close it came to all ending differently and making that (hopefully) feel almost like it could have gone differently and avoided all that tragedy in a way that, hopefully, both satisfies and distresses the reader.

And (I suppose this is a bit of a give-away, but it's not like I tried very hard to hide anyway; the anonymity is mainly designed to make people feel more comfortable offering con-crit, which I have no idea if it actually helped or not but I did get some lovely and helpful feedback on it, so I'm going to say the tactic has been a success) definitely Cliffside Revelations, which has the honor of being my very first explicit smut fic...even if most of the smut is an excuse for world building, which I'm sure shocks all of you lmao!

(And sneaking in an honorable mention of On The Far Side of the Sundering Sea, because my name isn't on the previous one so it probably doesn't technically count...which means I can slip in an extra story as a technicality, right? Right. Shhh, it's fine!)

3 Favorite Lines You've Written (loosely interpreting "lines" as sallysavestheday has cleverly demonstrated):

Oh this is difficult. Most of my best lines are only their best because of the context around them; and it's hard to remember them as distinct lines after their sections have been finished and posted. But this does at least save favorite and not best, so that helps; let's give it a try, then.

First, from Five Times Gimli Died (and One He Didn't) we have a moment of a revelation on Gimli's part, as he discovers that his heart might not be as alien to his Maker as he feared it was:

He stood in silence, staring at the unseen form of he who had made all Dwarves; of the Maker of stone and rock and mighty mountain. Mahal, who had made the Dwarves…Mahal, who loved the green.

This is one that definitely needs the context to make it work, so we're including the whole preceding paragraph from Blows Uncounted, a little AU-take on Helm's Deep where either the uruks are stronger or Gandalf is slower, and the battle has a darker ending.

For Legolas was not simply any elf: he was an elf of Mirkwood. Taur-ne-Fuin, the forest under nightshade; Taur-e-Ndaedelos, the forest of great fear. These orcs and uruks of Isengard, used to preying on earnest horse-lords and forthright farmers, had never met an elf of his sort before. Their northern kin could have told them stories of what befell orcs beneath the black boughs of Mirkwood…but orcs did not often come alive from those dark woods, not at least without Nazgûl to guard their travels.

And there were no Nazgûl here.

And taking a complete one-eighty in tone from the previous, I am quite inexcusably delighted with this one from Honeysuckle and Cider, and still giggle to myself whenever I re-read it:

"Uh," says Aragorn, son of Arathorn, King of Gondor, first of the House Telcontar.

(The line after it definitely qualifies as a runner-up, but I do think this one beats it out. Sorry, Faramir!)

Actually there's one other line I really wanted to put in here, even more than the one about the Nazgûl, but I'm not going to, because it's the very last line of the story it appears in, and reading it before you read that story would suck all the wind out of its sails, I think; so if you want to know what that is, you'll have to go read The Last Temptation of Narvi of Khazad-dûm for yourself.

3 Characters You Enjoyed Writing (that surprised you):

Anntar (Sauron), actually! I got to play with him as more than just a Menacing Presence in The Last Temptation of Narvi of Khazad-dûm and oh, he was so much fun! This was Sauron in full-on seducing-the-Gwaith-i-Mírdain mode, with maybe just a hint of how he actually wanted to be stopped, so that he could let the schemes for world-domination go and just be happy here with his smith-lovers...or maybe that was all wishful thinking on Narvi's part. Regardless, it was great fun to play with both failed and successful manipulations here, as well as to actually write something with my new favorite OT3.

Boromir may have come as even more of a shock to me, actually. I very quickly went from "distant fondness but very little interest" in Boromir to taking great delight in him, thanks in largest part to Dead Faces in the Water, Dead Faces Everywhere (and a little bit to Two Fell Into Shadow, although most of that was written or at least sketched-out earlier; but I'm counting it, because I don't think I realized how much fun he was fifteen years ago or so when I was writing it initially). Also, of course, his part in And In The Darkness To Unmake Them, although I haven't gotten to the point of posting any of his Grey Company chapters yet (shhh). He's such a wonderful sort of "I did not sign up for any of this; I have no idea what's happening; but I Am Participating Anyway!" sort of character, dragged out of his element commanding Minas Tirith's armies (where he's an extremely competent and confident fellow) and tossed into this baffling world of weirdness full of elves and magic and nonsense, for which he is so ill-equipped and ill-prepared. And yet he gamely goes along with it, because it needs doing! Whatever the fuck it is! He has no idea!

And last but certainly not least: Gimli, although this one may be less of a surprise; but it was a surprise to me how often I ended up writing from his perspective. I did not expect that, because I'm much more interested in elves (especially Mirkwood elves) than I am dwarves in general, and I've done a lot less world-building (a lot less) for Erebor than I have Mirkwood; but it's so much fun using Gimli as "the sensible perspective" (as well as an excuse to get really flowery with my wording sometimes, shhh!), not to mention an extremely astute and observant one, that he makes for a very addictive viewpoint character. I actually ended up having to make a conscious effort to switch to Legolas's pov sometimes, in fact, because it was so easy and charming to fall into Gimli's head and stay there! That was definitely a surprise to me.

3 Unexpected Inspirations:

This fucking dream! I still don't know what the hell happened to me that night, but it sure was unique and extremely unexpected!

And quite startling was the time where seeing the Legolas-always-looks-back-for-Gimli gif-post from the LotR movies cross my tumblr dash right to an Orpheus-and-Eurydice poll basically popped this whole-ass story fully formed into my head in one big rush of inspiration. Although the same thing happened with this post and And His Hands Ran With Gold and Shadow, so maybe I should stop thinking "random post on tumblr" is unexpected inspiration...

And uhhh....this XD

3 WIPs You're Excited About in the Upcoming Year:

And His Hands Ran With Gold and Shadow which I swear I will get back into working-on as soon as I get some of my other ongoing stuff finished, because I absolutely adore it! and I definitely want to write more on it! very much so! but the vibes required for writing it are so different from the other stuff that it's hard to switch back-and-forth between it and them (same goes for the zombie-fic).

An As-Yet-Untitled story set many, many, many years after the end of the War of the Ring in the Undying Lands, where our three beloved Hobbits (and one Dwarf) living on those timeless shores discuss their mortal lives, and decide when and whether to let them end.

The sequel to The Dark Reborn, because I am at some point going to drag my brain back into the galaxy far, far away enough to start reading and writing Star Wars fic again, and I fucking will finish this fucking awesome sequel trilogy fic I started, kriff it!!!

3 People Tagged to Share Theirs:

Tagging with zero pressure: @babybat98 @bifuriouswaterbender @katajainen

[sendpseuds]

For the ask game: I'm going to be obnoxious and ask a shit ton but no pressure and just do the ones you feel like and/or have time for

How do you choose whose POV to write in?

What’s something about your writing that you’re proud of?

Is there a trope or idea that you’d really like to write but haven’t yet?

Does what you like to write differ from what you like to read?

How do you deal with writing pressure, whether internal or external?

What motivates you during the writing process?

Do you have any writing advice you want to share?

Dude. I have a surprise five-hour layover... I'm here to answer some questions hahaha

That being said, this first one...

1. I have no idea. POV is a real FEEL thing for me. I've noticed some patterns, for example, I tend to give the more tender smut scenes to whoever happens to be fucking Obi-Wan because I just feel like a soft Obi-Wan is more interesting through someone else's eyes, and Obi-Wan often gets his POV when he's hurting [of course].

This upcoming fic, [the infamous disaster threesome] has been a real lesson in perspective. Writing the same scene [especially a very intense and way too long smut scene] from three different perspectives has been WAY harder than I expected, but I really feel like it's only making me a stronger writer.

2. I'm really proud of the way my writing has evolved. I recently re-read a few early chapters and found myself desperately wanting to edit them. Not because I wanted to change any of the story or felt that my words weren't good enough, but because I can see how much I was clinging to traditional formatting.

I remember feeling like I needed to write in paragraphs and would get nervous when they didn't look as long as I thought they should.

Now, I've learned to embrace the return button.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Now, I'm writing the way I wanted to from the beginning but thought was WRONG.

I'm really proud of just letting myself write the way I want to.

3. I'm sure there are a million. The one my brain keeps coming back to over and over again is a Sith!Obi-Wan AU where HE is the one who tries to conquer Mandalore.

I have the vaguest of outlines and it's messy messy messy and maybe SOMEDAY I'll figure it all out, but alas, for now, it's just a mess

4. I... I don't read a lot. I'm a very slow reader which I've always been extremely insecure about [not that I think any of you would judge me on that but still].

This is actually one of the reasons I love fanfic so much.

With so many shorter works, I feel like I can consume just as many stories as my more literary friends in the same time.

5. NOT WELL! hahaha

Right now, the pressure I'm putting on myself is so intense, every time I open a doc I sort of just stare at the cursor until I close it. I actually haven't written more than a few sentences in, like, two weeks, because I just keep psyching myself out.

I'm working on it hahaha.

6. It was always FEEDBACK. Comments and Kudos are like a fucking drug that I need to ween myself off of, and what has replaced it had mostly been just fucking around? Just spitballing, brainstorming, and making stupid jokes and headcanons [mostly with @yourfavoritefridge who never yells at me].

7. A throwback to your second question: just write how you want to write.

Stop pretending that there is a CORRECT way to write. There isn't. Language is flexible. Grammar is made up. Punctuation is an incredible tool.

Write how YOU write.

🖤

[cuddleswinchester]

20 Questions For Fic Writers

thank you for the tag @remyfire - if any of my writer friends want to play too, please feel free, i am shy abt tagging people but ily all

How many works do you have on Ao3?

116

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

1,045,864

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, MASH. Though I did do a short LotR piece at the beginning of this year.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Oh they're all older ones. The top two are Data/Geordi fics! Then a Kirk/Spock/McCoy, A Garak/Bashir, and an IT Crowd poly fic.

5. Do you respond to comments?

If I understand them (I think I get bot ones sometimes bc they don't make sense). I figure I can never go wrong with thanking someone for their time reading.

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

If this means 'saddest' then it's certainly Hearts On Paper which I found fascinating to write and will still re-read when I need a good cry.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think most of my fics end happily or at least optimistically? I love ending with a big party or wedding or something like that. I have several that way.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not in many years. And to be fair I was like 12 and did not know how to spell, but I do remember some of those unkind comments still yeah :(

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

Sometimes. I used to write kink and then had a breakdown over it (I am still proud of what I wrote it just was not a sustainable thing for my OCD, is all) but now I write what I would describe as Fussy Sex. Literally the more compromising and special considerations made from one partner to another makes me so happy. Or solo sex acts, I have enjoyed writing those this year and that's new for me.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I don't think I've ever written one. I get very stuck in the rules of whatever universe I'm working in and it's hard for me to follow two sets of rules at once.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, I have, and was greatly honored! It was an older smut fic, quite dark themes, and a reader approached me and asked if they could translate it into Russian and I thought that was so amazingly cool. I'll go find the link if anyone is curious.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! Most recently, The Famous 4077 Dog Tag Party :) we picked pairings randomly and each did a chapter.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I cannot possibly pick just one. Every ship that appeals to me does so at a different time and for a different reason, and the journey they take me on is always emotional and much appreciated in hindsight. My little fictional couples or their families are my family.

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

oughhh presently I'm not sure if I have the right approach to finish Dull Instruments which is a shame because I really want to and I hate to start posting things I won't finish. But it feels awkward to me so I may not do it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I like my character voices.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I try to give each piece its own style on a sliding scale of casual-formal but I wish I had more variety in like POV and stuff. Branching out into present tense this year has been nice.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I do write dialogue in American Sign Language sometimes. Because I am fluent in it. If I'm not fluent in a language I won't write a lot of it, maybe a few words here and there for the POV character to try and pick up, assuming they understand as little of it as I do.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Truly can't remember if High School Musical or 24 was first. The range, I know.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I don't know if I could choose! Sorry to give a lot of boring wishywashy answers but like. Whatever I'm writing is important to me at the moment I'm writing me, it's helping me get through something that may or may not be clear in the themes, and I am grateful to all of the stories I've written for letting me spend time with them. I've been working on some kind of fic almost daily for going on 15 years now, it's how I experience emotions and all the things in the world I'll never be able to do firsthand. It's how I have conversations I'm too shy to otherwise, it's how I see old friends, it's how I learn more about topics I never did in school. Fic is so dear to me, every word.

[advrik]

Books of the Year | 2022 Edition

I read a lot of books this year. Way more than on average. Partially thanks to a sudden overwhelming interest in the body horror genre, which I CAN link back to John Carpenter's 'The Thing' as being my favorite horror movie. I just love the concept of microscopic terrors getting into the living and turning them into horrific monstrosities.

As of the time of the first draft of this post (12.5), I had read a total of 15 books this year, with the 16th less than a hundred pages away from wrapping up. And while I don't think I'll be edging any more in that would make this list, I felt comfortable in compiling my thoughts of my Top Five for the year 2022.

#5

I had the Kingkiller books recommended to me multiple times throughout the years, but I just never got around to it until a co-worker gave me a few books that she didn't want anymore, one of which was the sequel and the novella. This had finally sparked the fire beneath me and I went out and bought The Name of the Wind shortly after.

And you know what? It is absolutely a must-read for fantasy fans. Heck, the school and emphasis on social links should put it on Persona fans' radars as well.

Rothfuss is a word wizard. The way that he writes is, to be frank, beautiful. Many times did I find myself re-reading whole pages just to fully absorb what he had written.

#4

I ended up picking up several books that were recommended to me based on my interest in parasitic-induced body horror. Most were good at best, while the rest were absolute filth (Scott Sigler and his Infected trilogy), it was Nick Cutter's 'The Troop' that stood out amongst the gross-out horror selection this year.

What Cutter delivered here was something very much akin to a Stephen King production, only it came at you much quicker than some of the long-winded tomes that King puts out. The violence was intense, the gore plentiful and the story fast-paced.

Without spoiling it, the interlude chapter that gave some background on the whole mess, the infected chimp and the following documentation of its horrific death from the second it was infected to the second it breathed its last breath was the type of horror that I had been looking for and will continue to look for.

Needless to say, however, if you are squeamish and/or are sensitive to violence against animals, steer clear of this one.

#3

If you're a creature-feature fanatic like myself, you've likely read one of Hunter Shea's books and you either loved it or you hated it.

I personally love his work as it's fast-paced, violent, and filled with cryptids.

But if you're of the latter and have not found much enjoyment in Shea's bread and butter, I suggest picking up 'Creature'. Now I'm not going to lie and say that it doesn't have any of the quality and monstrous charm that Shea is known for, but it IS a different beast from his normal output and one that DEFINITELY is not for the squeamish as the main character deals with a very real auto-immune disease that results in some horrific descriptions that had me clenching up on numerous occasions.

You really do end up feeling for the protag in this, you sympathize with her husband and can't help but commend his dedication to her. That's pure love, man, which was EXTREMELY refreshing to see in a book like this.

But again going back to the torture porn aspect of the book, the actual monster is hardly the most gruesome aspect of the book, and that is absolutely saying something when it's a Hunter Shea book.

#2

For years I've dreamed of a piece of zombie fiction that not only detailed the very chaotic beginnings of a zombie apocalypse in a realistic manner but also followed through to the very end while showing the collapse of the planet in between.

And The Living Dead delivered on that in more ways than I had imagined.

Now why The Living Dead is so high up on the list (It was originally #1) is because it's the Romero brand of zombie story; It has all his usual criticism of society at play, from consumerism to political and racial strife. It's all here and presented in a way that any fan of the Romero zombie flicks could immediately pick out. And for the real eagle-eyed reader and film connoisseur, there are references to particular places and events from the movies, though they are by no means pivotal to the stories being told within the book.

By the time the final pages flash by my eyes, I felt complete. That the story that George Romero started in Night of the Living Dead had finally seen a conclusion, even though it occurred years after his death. I was very much satisfied with how the ending came about, and just about every eventual happening along the way.

Honorable Mention:

The Shadow Glass from Josh Winning was a SUBSTANTIAL surprise to me when I stumbled across it while browsing the shelves at Barnes & Noble. It was accompanied by one of their hand-written placards that said "For fans of 80s dark fantasy like The Dark Crystal and The Labyrinth", and since The Dark Crystal is one of my favorite movies, period, I snatched the book up and began reading it before I even got out of the store.

#1

Oh boy. I was not prepared for this in the slightest.

I had this book recommended to me based on a request for Final Fantasy-like novels, and man did it deliver in spades on that front.

The Band, Book 1 is what I imagined the offspring would look like if Final Fantasy and Monty Python's Holy Grail had a child that grew up listening to rock & roll music from the 1960s and 1970s.

The characters are all extremely loveable despite being jaded middle-aged men. The fantasy elements more than makeup for the greater lack of it in modern fantasy following A Song of Ice and Fire's rise to popularity. Magic is plentiful, and monsters are everywhere, in every shape and size. There's no skimping on the fantasy elements at all, and I think that even before the hilarious dialogue and actions of the main band, were what kept me reading.

When I read epic fantasy, I want fantasy. Political strife is fine, but if that's ALL I'm going to be offered with the occasional reference to a dragon or some other common fantasy beastie, then you're not writing a book for fantasy readers. At least, that's how I feel about it. Warring kings are no different to me than a book/movie set in the modern day where two countries at going at each other's throats. It's not interesting, particularly BECAUSE it's constantly happening in the real world, and I read fantasy to escape this nonsense, not indulge in it.

And Nicholas Eames understands that.

I really was not expecting to read such a heavy hitter so deep into the year, but I'm glad I did because I can't stop thinking about the world within, nor can I wait to read the second (and eventual third!) book.

[yellowocaballero]

Hiiii i super enjoyed your fic! I love how subtly manipulative your protag was in the beginning lol. Also that part where she pondered about diamond/pearl oral traditions and how galaxy would likely record them with their own slanted perception was very sad to me :( and when she screamed at ingo abt how she'd never even Heard of the clans in the future that was super intriguing. I love how the protag has this slanted view of herself too, and how she'd like to be forgotten which probably stems from her home life, but she still wants to save her parent(s?)from the potential pain of losing her. I think that part where she wanted all her pokemon and closest friends together with no one abandoned was super telling. And when she thought she'd only ever get to have a pokemon as a helper :( her inner pov is very no nonsense and funny to me at times like when she apparently very sanely described how she would annihilate jubilife. It was also cute when she wrote that her mortality rate flying Graham was still 0 lol. How do you come up with these stories? And when you structure/map them out do you do it in bullet points or some other way? I always love your writing <3

YES HELLO THANK YOU.

I'm not much of a history person, I'm more soft STEM. But I recently wrote a book chapter summarizing the history of a civil rights movement, and it involved a loooot of oral history and taking down oral histories from people who are pretty old and aging. So much of what these really amazing old activists told me just were not written down anywhere! And there were so many amazing people and organizations that are either completely unknown or completely misunderstood, told by other viewpoints or influenced by media. It was a big honor to interview these amazing people, because otherwise what they did just wouldn't be remembered.

So that experienced influenced some of the story, haha. PLA has some really depressing implications :( One event has five different storytellers who will all tell it a different way which will all be a LITTLE wrong...but it's a huge damn shame that some of these voices will be lost. Protag wants to fix that. Kick off plot.

Re: MC: most of her characterization is done through how she interprets the world! I purposefully didn't go too deep into details and left it vague, so I'm seeing a lot of different interpretations of her character, which are all very fun and I won't deny any of them.

I think she has a stringent self-image of herself that is not very complimentary, and it's resilient against a lot of proof otherwise (Teens!). She doesn't like to inconvenience or take up space. She also did just never have an interest in becoming a battler or trainer - she grew up in the family business and expected to work there the rest of her life, and she never really stopped to wonder if she wanted something different. She's very serious and somber, but she is still a character who is written by me, so she is still funny ajlkdsf. I won't go too deep into psychoanalyzing her right now, so ask me again after the story's done!

How I came up with this story was...actually, it developed while I was playing the game, and then it got so big in my head like a rock that I had to write it just so it would go away. It's just a combination of a lot of different thoughts and a vague conviction that my MC would surely fix that terrible Diamond/Pearl situation. It is also a very affectionate homage towards all of the Pokemon fanfic I would read when I was, like, 13 - never naming her is actually a reference to my favorite fanfic when I was 13. (In retrospect, that story was BONKERS - Pedestal by DigitalSkitty? Anybody remember that one? What was UP with it?!)

How I get ideas in general is a different situation and hard to answer haha. There's always a lot of inspiration taken from a lot of different things I've read or watched, there's always a lot of joking with friends about really funny situations, and there is also a third thing that is just ??? brain go brrr I guess ????.

This 60k story was written in a week and it's a little obvious. I didn't plan or plot or anything. Very pantsed. I'm trying to remember if I even made like an outline and I don't think I did. Usually what happens is I get a certain amount in based solely on vibes, like 30 or 40 pages later I'm like 'oh this needs a plot huh', I type up like a '1-2-3' numbered outline of what happens next, I like 60% do that, and then I cut some stuff or add more scenes and then I'm done. If I'm actually "trying" with "effort" the outline is entirely written before the story, which is also '1a.->1b.->1c.->2a.' style.

Most of the outlining happens in my head, sadly. I know none of this is good advice or applicable to anybody. Sorry.

There is a nifty shortcut you can use in terms of story plotting, which is to just make your story structure extremely repetitive, so you don't have to plot a single thing. Life hacks!

Thank you for reading!!!

[variousqueerthings]

tagged by @secondclassfangirl

Rules: Post your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers!

Lol, four out of five of these aren't even Cobra Kai. Thank you though, this really gave me the chance to look at how much I've written (much more than I thought I had)....

For We In Our Youth Did These Things (Kingsman) M

Summary: Eight years after the disappearance of Merlin, Roxy Morton receives a mysterious clue that could lead to the destruction of everything that she once believed in.

This is possibly my least engaged-with fic in comparison to the effort and time I put into it, and I can't say I blame people. It's a lesbian rare-pair, I didn't finish it until long after Kingsman had lost its lustre because of the horrendous sequel, it's a a tinker tailor soldier spy AU, a sequel to a different (quite intense) WWII AU, and it's very bleak and novelly rather than fanficcy. There is nothing I've written that so much encapsulates the "I Write For Me" ethos of fanfiction. I haven't read it back in a couple of years, and I'm sure I could pull out things I'll want to edit on my next read-through, but holy damn! Good Stuff! I did that! My world-building and playing with a relatively twisty-turny plot and creation of the lesbian spy drama that we deserve was fucking incredible (if I do say so myself)!

2. the language of change (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) G

Summary: When Kira - newly-appointed ambassador for Bajoran/Cardassian relations - arrives on Cardassia to see her old friend Garak, she's immediately pulled into another one of his schemes. Not everyone is as convinced of the plan as he is, so now Kira has to try not to yell, punch someone, or accidentally engage too hard in argumentative flirting.

This began a longer endeavour (that I'm not finished with) across a whole series to create a post-DS9 climate that I wish could exist in Alpha Canon, where the end of the Dominion War, the destruction of Cardassia, and Bajoran politics affect the wider story (as they damn well should). I also wanted to create a story about various different DS9 characters and their continued relationships to each other, and finally let Kira be a lesbian! So much of my DS9 HC was born out of creating this fic.

To be honest I could put several fics from this series alone on here, because I love it very, very dearly, but I think this one. It makes me feel so so happy.

3. between the devil and the deep blue sea (Peaky Blinders) E

Summary: Tommy hallucinates that Alfie is Death and almost kills him. Alfie responds by trying to choke him to death. Tommy moans and well, who is Alfie to kill something that moans so prettily, while his hands are around its neck.

This was uh... lockdown gave me so much time and I live with kinky people who enable the fuck out of me. This is my first really graphic fic and it is really fucking graphic. I did not know I had it in me. What I really love about it, was that it felt like I was really beginning to understand what kind of a writer I am with this. The ways everything is to the benefit of character study, including sex, and the way I like to create large, intricate things that reference back to themselves and include a lot of re-read gratification (I think so at least)! It gave me so much freedom to push myself and - if you're into some serious dubcon - I think it's uh... pretty hot... to pat myself on the back.

4. Smalltown Boys (The Outsiders) M

Summary: Johnny and Dally survived, but it turns out living is very different to surviving.

This one is still in-progress, but the chapters work as their own little narratives. I have wanted to write this for awhile, and it's very rewarding. I get to think about queerness in a historical context and pay little pieces of respect to queer writers of the past in various little ways (either through plot structure, modelling characters off of them, or referencing their works in the text). And of course, I get to let these two flipping live! It's also started me on a journey of reimagining texts as queer in ways that for the most part just... nudge them to the left a little, because as anyone who hangs around me for more than 5 seconds knows, I'm obsessed with the ways creators use queercoding tools without knowing it. I just think it's a very beautiful little slice of life, with the realities of queerness affecting how they move through the world.

5. Breathe With Me M

Summary: Daniel discovers that all it takes for Johnny to do as he's told is the right touch

I wanted to include something from Cobra Kai, because obviously that's my main sandbox right now, and I think it's this one, simply because it establishes how far I've gotten in my thinking about Daniel, Johnny, and Amanda so far. It's also what I wrote while I was really getting into the fandom itself, while before that I was still getting to know people. I think cementing an aro-Amanda in my head was such a breakthrough to my view of her, before that I couldn't quite pin her down, but now I get to develop her in lots of different directions (and will do so!) -- as for this Daniel and Johnny... well, everything after this is painted a little bit by this dynamic.

I think? I've seen most everyone get tagged by this? @obstinatecondolementent if you haven't been tagged, @mimsyaf if you're around and feel like it, no pressure ofc!

[sin-cognito]

Okay, stupid question, top five fave fics?

This is such a difficult question!!! And not stupid at all!!! (This was supposed to be a quick answer but I don't know how to do that when it's Fic Promoting Time)

My absolute top 3 (in no particular order though because that's just impossible) has to be: Burden to bear by @yupimgross, longfic, fellcest with smut, mpreg, BDSM and plot. THE fic that got me into UT fics, fellcest and BDSM all in 1 place so it's very special to me. A friend in need turned lover indeed by @soloshikigami, oneshot, edgeberry, best edgeberry ever, smutty just like I love it. 100% perfect. To love again by @sinnyskelle, best longfic ever, fontcest fellcest and swapcest, what more do you want? Oh yeah, college AU. I used to re-read it from the beginning again each time there was a new chapter. And I started reading it when there was only like 8 chapters, so I've re-read it A LOT.

Those are the 3 I've read and re-read more times than I can count and I know if I had to choose between those and any other fic, I would always choose them. (While you're at it, I highly suggest reading all the other works by these talented authors! ♥)

As for the 2 other fics that would be in my top 5... I just can't choose only 2. Sorry. Let's have more: Sooner or later you're gonna be mine, longfic, Fell Frans (Frisk is female and aged-up), mobfell. Karmic retribution, longfic, spicykustard, KR is a real keystone fic for the fandom (or at least its fontcest side) so go read it NOW if you haven't. So much more, medium longfic fontcest, the first work I read from Mercy, oh I feel nostalgic :') Flipping the script, by @angelia-dark, medium longfic swapfellcest, THE fic that cemented the Swapfell AU for the fandom, no I don't take criticism, this fic is as much fandom history as the creation of Underswap, fite me. An unorthodox offer, by angelia-dark, medium longfic fontfest with sugar daddy. Underfell: A.D. edition, by angelia-dark, medium longfic series fellcest. Angelia Dark is the best author in the fandom, period. I swear to god go read their stuff. They also take commission I think, for like Hazbin Hotel, BNHA, etc... Of red cliffs and blue seas, by @readwithdetermination LONGFIC CHERRYBERRY, all in capslock because you don't know how rare it is to find a cherryberry longfic and I need to scream because I love it so fucking much. Lov ya, longfic spicykustard but also toxic UT fontcest, bad brother AU. This fic attacked all my weak spots and left me an emotional mess. Short King, by @absurdmageart, Swapfell purple/reader. The one I'm currently reading and commenting on so I'm very invested in it at the moment. For business or pleasure, by @askellie, medium longfic fellcest CEO AU, inspired by Eli-sing-G/Kolesjoie's art and written by one of the best writer in the fandom so of course it's perfect. the Replacement series, by @idontevenknowwhattoputhereugh, longfic series, toxic possessive swap Pap, with Blue, Sans and Red, mainly but we also see the swapfell bros, etc... Super dark, super non-con but in the best of ways, super well-written, especially the characters' psychologies. To love yourself, longfic, fontcest, fellcest, kustard, and uhhh, Red/Papyrus, another keystone fic for the fandom. But like, darker, waaaayy darker than KR. Textures, by @alicedragons, spicyhoney one shot, yes, a spicyhoney fic did make it to this list!! That says a lot about the quality of the fic! Sparks, by @drabbletale, yandere swapcest, only 2 chapters for this one, but boi do I love those 2 chapters. Burn, short multichap, all kinds of papcest, by the incredibly lovely @megalotrash, go read all of their stuff, I didn't know which one to rec so I picked this one, but seriously go read everything they've ever written it's all so good.

And there is one I can't seem to find... It was a NSFW UT fontcest one-shot probably from either 2016 or 2017 in which Papyrus and Sans attend a skele con (?) and at night Pap participates in a more adult version of the event and he gets edible paint all over his body and he's got a face cover and he gets paired up with another skeleton that really looks like his brother (wink) so he gets really turned on and they lick each other and fuck and I remember they use a popsicle to fuck, and that one-shot was soooo good but I lost it because I, being the fool that I am, decided to clean up my bookmarks so things were more organized and easier to find (HA!) and I don't remember the title because I'm worse than a goldfish. @unfoundedrobotaccusations found it, it’s Mystery flavor!!! (the funniest part is that I had it actually saved on my comp XDDD)

I also would like to list some recent ones I've found in 2020 and really liked (though I haven't been able to read and re-read them like I did the other ones I've listed):

Falling in love on paper, 3 chapters so far, Red/reader, incredible take on penpals and monsters coming to the surface, I'm very jealous I didn't come up with the idea myself. Moral compass, short multichap fic, blackcherry, I wasn't expecting it to be this good tbh. It totally got me and I love it a lot and I need to re-read it. Bet on it, by @mystery-fic-anon, oneshot, mafia Red and Sans, not really kustard since nothing happens. Expect in my imagination, in which a LOT happens. Whiskey dick, one shot kustard, best smut fic in 2020. Bad judgement call, by readwithdetermination, medium longfic, focused on Swap Pap with a hint of cherryberry in the background. Great, GREAT character writing.

T-there you go... Sorry for the long post, I know this was supposed to be a quick answer, but I couldn’t stop myself! XDD I tried to tag all the authors I could, if they’re not tagged, that means they’re either not on tumblr or I don’t know their blog, but feel free to tell me in the comments so I can tag properly! ♥