#i... may need divine intervention when i start editing this actually

[lumienn]

Happy 10k to me + I can't believe I'm more than halfway thru the wildest west of a first draft I ever saw

[wannabanauthor]

Part 3 of the BuckTommy Slow Burn Summary Fanfic

Note: I wrote this last night and did some light editing, but here you are:

Tommy drinks heavily while watching Love, Actually with Buck on the floor in the loft in front of the TV, and he’s drinking a really good craft beer that Buck bought for him.

Once the movie is over, Tommy is drunk, and Buck is just slightly tipsy. Tommy wants to get an Uber home, but Buck says “It’s way too late for that, just stay the night.”

Tommy’s mind sobers up instantly even though he’s drunk. He knows Buck doesn’t have a couch. He says he’ll sleep on the floor with some blankets.

Buck says “Absolutely not, you can sleep in my bed. You may be big, and so am I, but it’ll easily fit us both.”

Tommy can’t really disagree because a bed does sound nicer than the floor. He tells himself he’ll leave the moment he wakes up and is sober. Maybe Buck loans him some pajamas, and they’re a little tight on him, but Buck’s looking at him like a juicy filet mignon with a garlic butter sauce.

They fall asleep with Buck on his back and Tommy facing away from him.

When Tommy wakes up, he feels a weight across his chest, and a leg thrown over his. He also has morning wood, and curses himself for not just taking an Uber home because now he’s cuddling with a supposed straight man in said man’s bed. He needs to leave immediately before he does something they both regret.

He tries to disentangle himself from Buck, Buck just clings tighter to him, his arm is wrapped around Tommy’s torso, and his head is right near Tommy’s neck.

Tommy tries again to no avail.

“Evan,” he says quietly.

Buck mumbles something in his sleep.

“Evan.” Louder this time. Still no movement.

“Evan!” Tommy snaps because he is way too close to Buck’s lips and is trying to get out of there with his dignity intact.

“Five more minutes, Tommy,” he mutters in his sleep.

Tommy has no idea what to do now. He’s trapped under a cute guy on a bed, and he’s praying for divine intervention. He’s slightly hungover, so he starts to notice how comfortable he feels being in Buck’s bed. He’s warm, cuddly, and ridiculously cute.

Just this once, he tells himself and closes his eyes to go back to sleep.

When he wakes up again, Buck is in the shower. There’s painkillers, a water bottle, some electrolytes drink, some crackers, a protein bar, and note on the nightstand on Tommy’s side of the bed.

While he’s slowly waking up and consuming the relief items, Buck strolls out of the shower wearing only a towel around his waist. Maybe Tommy drools a little bit, but he quickly recovers when he sees Buck smiling at him.

“Hey. You’re up. Sleep well?” Buck asks and walks over to his dresser.

Tommy averts his gaze. “Uh, yeah. Would you look at that, I was supposed to meet a friend for lunch. Shit, I gotta go. Thank you for everything.”

Buck seems kinda disappointed. “Oh, you’re leaving?”

“Yeah, I’m meeting up with an old friend I haven’t talked to or seen in awhile.”

He really does have to go meet a friend. Former friend. Maybe former something else, but that was a long time ago.

“Okay,” Buck says with a slight pout.

Tommy averts his eyes, grabs his stuff, mumbles out an apology, and flees the loft.

Once he’s back at home, he takes the coldest shower he can stand.

To be continued

[themculibrary]

Maria/Steve Masterlist

Adjectives Assemble (ao3) - SugarFey M, 26k

Summary: Natasha wants to find that rare edition of The Master and Margarita before her rival at the Russian language bookstore does. Kate is distracted by the cute barista next door. Carol and Jessica dance around each other. Maria just wants to keep her business afloat without being bothered by pesky police officers or high school art teachers, no matter how polite they may be.

Another average day at Adjectives Assemble.

As Safe as Houses (ao3) - DizzyDrea T, 25k

Summary: Senator Steve Rogers (R, NY) is a decorated war hero who has a deep and abiding desire to serve his country, which may or may not include someday running for President. Maria Hill is a veteran Air Force pilot working in the private sector and bored out of her mind. When Steve finds himself needing a private security detail for a trip to France, he hires Shield Security and Maria becomes his constant companion. They grow closer as the trip progresses, but can they survive what's coming to find out if their Paris sojourn could turn into something real?

A Woman Of Edges (ao3) - tielan G, 12k

Summary: "I’m beginning to think you’re the most terrifying woman I’ve met." Learning to like, live with, and love Maria Hill.

can't carve a whistle (ao3) - irnan G, 3k

Summary: Maria Hill's never found it easy to explain why she became a SHIELD agent, but she knows why she stays one.

chiseled out of brick (ao3) - Anonymous T, 23k

Summary: He was a grown man, hell, he was a superhero. Asking a girl out for a drink wasn't that hard. It wasn't rocket science or espionage or math or divine intervention - it was just asking a girl a question. Out loud.

conversations with other women (ao3) - zauberer_sirin G, 9k

Summary: Steve still believes that someday someone is going to teach him how to dance.

Counterfeit and Counterpart (ao3) - Frea_O T, 28k

Summary: Five times Maria Hill doesn’t understand Natasha Romanoff, and why she might be better off that way.

Dinner In Other Languages (ao3) - tielan G, 3k

Summary: Maria can manage professional colleagues with Rogers, but she values her place in S.H.I.E.L.D more.

From A Certain Point Of View (ao3) - tielan G, 9k

Summary: Of friendship, love, and best-laid plans; small gestures and public displays of possessiveness; enlightenment, advice to young padawans, and the loyalty routines of JARVIS.

Gone But Not Forgotten (ao3) - Shorti G, 4k

Summary: They say that history is written by the victors of war, but a war fought amongst brothers has no winners. That's when you need a woman like Maria Hill to step in.

The one in which Maria and Steve are actually on the same side.

Holding Out For A Hero (Or Maybe Not) (ao3) - tielan G, 7k

Summary: The first time Steve Rogers notices Maria Hill is when she steps into the discussion about Loki's capture, and he realises nobody questions her right to be there. And that's just the start.

if time is all I have (ao3) - tielan G, 4k

Summary: Maria knows what that look means. She knows the mindset behind it. She's seen it in the resolve of agents who knew the odds of going in, heard it in field operatives calling for an exit in impossible situations, witnessed it in extraction targets who didn't believe that they'd actually make it out. And sometimes the odds were defied, the impossible happened, and everyone made it out in one piece. Sometimes.

To see that expression in the man they call the Winter Soldier....

I'll be There (ao3) - Lokisarmy0602 T, 2k

Summary: After DC Maria felt she needed to go see Steve in hospital. After dealing with the congress and Stark, she knew she could deal with an injured Super Soldier. Sam called to ask her to do the same thing as she had done in DC... press the button to send the missiles.

Look Clear and Calm (ao3) - Beatrice_Otter T, 13k

Summary: The Avengers need oversight, but Ross's plan is dangerous and unjust. Maria will have her work cut out for her, if she wants to stop it. Meanwhile, Steve has a question for her.

Maria Hill's Late Lunch (ao3) - tisfan E, 2k

Summary: Maria is cranky. Her lunch is late, her boyfriend is a jerk, and she has to deal with Secretary Ross. Could this day get any more torturous?

Yes, yes it could.

Radio Silent (ao3) - hecklesyeah M, 77k

Summary: "I shouldn't be doing this."

"What, stuff yourself with breakfast food for dinner?"

"I haven't even decided which pie to have for dessert. No, this," she says and gestures between them. "I shouldn't be doing this. And yet here I am."

- - -

Alternately: the one where Maria and Steve navigate a relationship and where Tony and Bucky figure out how to move forward from a murderous elephant in the room.

The Odd Couple (ao3) - tielan T, 8k

Summary: He's fast and she's weird.

Twice the Joy (ao3) - sbarmarj G, 3k

Summary: Maria spoke again after a moment. “There is a Swedish saying that shared joy is twice the joy, shared sorrow is half the sorrow. Maybe you felt normal because you could finally share your sorrow.”

At Tony's memorial service, Maria and Steve discuss the last five years, his impending time travel, grief and finding joy before he leaves once more.

Two Lies and A Bit of Truth (ao3) - igrockspock T, 3k

Summary: Maria Hill has a lot of back stories. One of them is even true.

[owlsandwich]

Happy Thursday! Thank you for following us (@ask-a-thon) from the previous blog, or finding us in general! Now, on to your questions!

How long have you been working on each WIP? How do you plan your WIPs (timeline, outline, seat of your pants, divine intervention, etc...)? Have you ever regretted inserting a character or plot point but ended up loving it, or vice versa?

I'm back from holiday in Wales and finally getting around to this :) Sorry for the delay and thanks so much for the ask!

How long have you been working on each WIP?

So Mechanics was technically published last year, but I still count it as a WIP as I am going through another round of edits with an editor now that I can afford one in order to release a second, better edition. I had the original idea for it back in 2011 just after I graduated from university, but after writing a few chapters I put it away and didn't look at it again until 2019. At that point I scrapped all my old work and started over, and so I would say that the project took about 3 years from that point to hitting publish in March 2022.

For Darkness, I posted the first chapter to AO3 in November 2022 and I hope to finish it before the end of the year. I may well end up editing it as a whole once it's complete, and expect to spend a few months doing so, but for now I'll be happy to say I wrote a story in a year.

2. How do you plan your WIPs (timeline, outline, seat of your pants, divine intervention, etc...)?

I mostly like to use a flexible outline when I work, where I tend to know the start of the story quite well, then plot a few chapters ahead of where I am writing in detail, with a vaguer outline for later parts. I also enjoy overlaying an act structure once I have most of the story plotted, so that I can see where the work might be running slow or where I can swap elements around to give a greater impact.

Being flexible has saved me a few times, where I have been dwelling on events a few chapters ahead and suddenly realised I needed to change a chapter before I actually wrote anything down. It saves me from wasting work, which is invaluable considering I am such a slow writer.

For Darkness, I wasn't intending for it to become a full book, and I wrote the first and second chapters on a whim. I wanted to see how I would do without plotting, but whenever I am thinking about a story my brain jumps to where it would go next, and so I always end up with an outline before I manage to get to writing it. I can thankfully hold a whole outline in my head, so only need to start making notes on it when getting to the granular level.

3. Have you ever regretted inserting a character or plot point but ended up loving it, or vice versa?

I don't think I've ever regretted adding anything, as a lot gets cut from my outline before I ever end up writing it. It's almost as though my actual written draft is already a second draft, with a lot of structural edits already done. I have cut characters and scenes that never made it to the point of actually being written.

[bangtansfavwriter]

🥞☕brunch café owner! jin☕🥞

tw: a tiny mention of anxiety and shitty people that you may have encountered in school / uni ( but a lot of fluff to make up for it! )

- so far, your day was a complete catastrophe, im not even gonna tone it down, it was a complete shitshow to be honest

-it was like god woke up and went "i’m gonna let y/n have a shit day lmaoo"

-you overslept and missed your bus... on the day you had an appointment with your lecturer about your term paper

- after tripping on the stairs and hitting your knee, you hobbled to the office where this gollum lookalike was already waiting for you

- your lecturer was unreasonable enough to not let you extend your deadline for your paper... the one book you needed wasn't in the library for the past 3 weeks and there was no other edition available. so you explained the situation multiple times even at the beginning of your writing process, you even wrote him mails to explain the issue

- but this man who literally radiated boomer energy with every particle of his being really had the audacity to not answer, not even to your second mail and then he actually said that he does not understand "how someone of your age doesn't manage to even get a simple task as writing a paper" done

-you explained the situation again but he was pretty much tone-deaf to your situation and didn't even care when you said that you're actually gonna go to the library now to get the book scans

- so you went there already drained and exhausted from that conversation

-but the library was an even worse experience tbh .......

[fic mode: on, hohoho]

The lady in the library yelled at you for no apparent reason after you informed her that the scanner wasn't working and made you look stupid in front of other students who were there until one of them intervened and helped you out, which you appreciated. But this whole situation grew even worse on you after you left the library because your anxiety kicked in. You went straight into a quiet alley nearby and started crying quietly. "But hey!" you then exclaimed angrily, while wiping away your tears "At least the paper is gonna get done, right?! because who gives a shit about mental health and all huh, Mr. Go?!" and you started sobbing again. "Dickhead... And that stupid library lady... with her stupid fat 80s glasses. And her ugly yeehaw look...". This was something you wouldn't ever do in public, crying and ranting that is. but the alley was quiet, your only company was a stray cat that was sleeping underneath a tree's shadow. or so you thought. "Ugly yeehaw people and their ugly ass clothes, like... go read a magazine or something...". You started feeling more liberated with each mild insult you'd utter, so you went on. "Ugly library lady and her giant wart, like who the fuck are you? yubaba?" you heard someone snort and start laughing a squeaky laugh that almost sounded like a windshield wiper. Taken aback by the unexpected witness to your mild breakdown, you stood still at first, then looked around, left and right, but you couldn't see anyone. "Over here!" you heard someone say. You looked around again and sighed when you still couldn't see anyone. "Did I finally lose my mind?" you mumbled to yourself, only to hear the squeaky laugh again. "Hey! Turn around and look up!". You got up the bench and did as you were told by the omnipresent voice and finally saw the person it belonged to. Up at the 1st floor, there was a guy looking down to you from his tiny balcony that had plants hanging down from it. He smiled at you when your eyes met and you felt your heart rate go up in an instant, as you realized this stranger, this awfully handsome stranger witnessed how your petty little rant and crying about yubaba's twin in the library. "Tough day, huh?" he asked, you just nodded and quickly wiped your face with your sleeve. "Oh no, hold on" he mumbled and suddenly disappeared from his window, leaving you behind with a surprised look on your face. A box of Kleenex suddenly landed in front of your feet, as he reappeared at his window. "Just one would have done it, too, but thank you. I appreciate it!" you said and smiled at the guy. While you wiped your face, you heard another something land on the bench. You looked up again to the guy who, all of a sudden, avoided your gaze. "That'll help, you know..." he said and looked at you in surprise when you started laughing. What he threw on the bench was a... bar of chocolate. One that also happened to be your favourite. You looked at him and gave him a huge smile that made his heart flutter. He looked away shyly and scratched his head. "Tough day, yeah... but this right here," you raised the chocolate bar, "this makes it all better, you're right about that. Thank you!" The stranger couldn't help but look at you once again. He almost felt compelled to it. It was like staring at the sun when it sets, you know that you shouldn't stare at it directly, but it's so breathtakingly beautiful that you can't help but look. He intently watched you while you happily munched on your chocolate and smiled to himself. "What's your name?" he asked you. "Y/N! How about you?" - "I'm Seokjin. You can call me Jin..." - "Nice to meet you, Jin. I wish it would have been under different circumstances, though. I'm actually quite embarrassed about that, but chocolate helps with that, too." You two smiled at each other. "You know what, Y/N? Sometimes good things happen at weird times. Don't be embarrassed about crying earlier. I'm the last person who'd judge you because of that. I know that library witch, by the way... That Yubaba comparison was spot on!" You laughed out loud - he very much wished to hear this sound more often now. "Y/N, I gotta get ready for work now. But I'm gonna share one last bit of wisdom with you. I know a good remedy for bad days." - "Better than chocolate?" - "Oh, yes. Even better than chocolate. There's a café in XX street. There's a whole lot of lavender growing right in front of it, you can't miss it. That cafe has the best pancakes in the entire city." - Oh my god, pancakes are the best thing on earth!" - "(!!!) You must go there and try then! They're fluffy and come in 5 different variations and the sweetest maple syrup! I'm telling you, if you have a bad day like this again, go straight to that café." He already got you at pancakes, so you definitely would go there. "I'll finish this damn paper and then go reward myself with pancakes! In one or two weeks I'll get like 2 plates of pancakes then!" - "That sounds perfect!", he laughed. Shortly after, he excused himself and you two bid farewell. He disappeared from his window and your troubles had disappeared from your soul. You went home with a smile on your face, thankful for the kindness he had shown you and hoped that you would see him in the café some day. "Who knows... Maybe he's a regular there. It sounded like it."

~

Roughly one and a half weeks later, many all nighters and a whole lot of take out food, you finished the paper and handed it in. Liberated from this massive pain in the ass, you went straight to the café that your thoughts circled around during the times you weren't busy with your paper. "God, I hope he's there...", you thought and thought of Jin, who you thought about as much as you dreamed of the huge plate of pancakes you were going to get now. The café was not very far from where you lived, you walked there in about 15 minutes and recognised the place by a very accurate description Jin has given you. The smell of lavender bewitched you as soon as you stepped into the alley the café was in. Lots of flower pots were in the front of it, not only was there lavender but also gardenias and petunias. The flowers were all around the tables outside. "Of course, the flower boy loves the flower café" you said to yourself and smiled. The café wasn't too busy, as you came by at a rather early hour, when there were still lectures for most students and older people were busy at the local market place. You were greeted right away when you entered the café, by a younger man, probably also a fellow student, who was wearing an apron and gave you a warm welcome with his bunny smile. He showed you to your table at the window side from where you could watch bees hurdle at the lavender pots outside. You ordered shortly after, it didn't take much thinking when you saw the "Eat the stress away" menu, with regular pancakes, hashbrowns and a tea/coffee option. "Excellent choice! It's my personal favourite~", your waiter added. You glanced at each other. "Fellow student?" you asked and laughed when he suddenly looked at you with a gloomy look, but joined you in laughter right away. "Shared struggle", he said laughing, leaned over real quick and whispered: "I'll get you some blueberry pancakes, too. I'll tell the chef you're a friend of mine." - "Oh my god, thank you!" He winked and went straight to the kitchen, while humming a tune. Well, this was certainly the sweetest waiter you'd ever encountered. But you had your eyes on the door, hoping for a divine intervention that would lead to Jin coincidentally walk into the café when you were there. Around 15 minutes later you finally sipped on your coffee and were about to devour the fluffiest pancakes you'd ever had on a plate in front of you. The hash browns were a tad bit disappointing, as they had a slighty burnt taste and weren't spiced very well, in your opinion. But the pancakes were absolutely amazing. Their soft and fluffy texture was  complemented with butter and the sticky-sweet maple syrup that as truly as good as Jin said. And the blueberry pancakes were so good that you feared losing control over your facial expressions. Your waiter came along to your table, after he got the newest customer orders to the kitchen. You invited him to sit with you, which he gladly accepted. "How do you like it? They're really good, right?" - "I think this is what the kids call 'foodgasm'...", you answered and the two of you giggled. He looked at your plate and noticed the hash browns that you put at the edge of your plate. "Oh? Didn't like the hash browns?" he asked with wide eyes.

"They're slightly burnt, I think..." you said shyly. You were never one to criticize the cook when you didn't like your food in a restaurant. The only time when you actually complained was when you once found hair in your soup in a restaurant, and even back then you apologised for the trouble whereas it was clearly the chef who was at fault. "Please don't tell anyone, this can happen sometimes, I accept that." you quickly added, but your waiter shook his head ferociously. "You paid for this, so it is our duty to bring good food to your table. Our chef is a perfectionist, I don't understand how this can happen anyway. I'll get it sorted out, but not without teasing him. Can you wait a little until the customers are gone here. We close for lunch time. So people are gonna leave soon." You agreed and waited, while befriending the waiter - Jungkook, a 2nd year student who was currently doing a side job at "Café Smeraldo". After the last customer left, Jungkook decided to call the chef by yelling across the café. "He's also the manager you know. We're a bit short-staffed, you know... This is gonna be funny~~ JIN-HYUNG!" You almost spat out your coffee and started coughing as soon as you heard that name. "JIN-HYUNG COME OUT OF YOUR BUREAU! YOU BURNT A CUSTOMER'S FOOD!" He cackled after he heard noise coming from inside, while you sat there mortified. The door from the staff room slammed open and you instantly wished to turn into dust, as said manager/chef was the guy who consoled you on one of the worst days you've had in your academic life. The two of you stared at each other in shock, but before he could say anything to you he started scolding his younger co-worker and the two of them started bickering, while you continued sipping on your coffee, because this whole situation was soon more entertaining than it was mortifying. At some point Jin shushed Jungkook who shut up right away when he realized that this wasn't playful bickering anymore. Jungkook bowed deeply and went to the kitchen where he started cleaning. "You're friends with the boy?" Jin asked and sat down at your table. He looked tired, you thought. "No, actually we met earlier, but I suppose we just clicked very fast." - "So this kid got you my famous blueberry pancakes on the house, huh?" - "...I guess so. Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause you trouble. I really didn't want him to say anything about the hash browns either." He quickly glanced at them and grabbed one to take a bite, but put it down again before doing so. "I can see it already", he said "you don't need to apologise, it's my bad." He sat there with a gloomy expression and sighed. "Tough day, huh?" you asked and smiled at him when he laughed at your reference. "Tough week is more like it. We're a bit short-staffed at the moment. But enough of me and my manager melancholy. Finished your paper?" You were surprised by his sudden change, but you went along. "Yeah, I turned it in earlier and came here right after. I gave you my word after all." You smiled at him, and he felt the same rush that he had experienced the day he first met you. You continued: "You were right, by the way. These pancakes are everything!! Especially the blueberry ones. Is that your recipe?" He laughed and nodded. "I'm glad you liked them!" he said. "I'll serve you better hash browns the next time, pinky promise. I got a phone call while preparing 3 orders, yours was the only one that suffered from it." - "It happens sometimes. Don't dwell on something so minor." - "Says you, who cried beneath my balcony because of some witch!" The two of you giggled. He looked at you with a look, that made your cheeks burn. His gaze was fond and soft, it was the kind of look you have whenever the sky looks pretty, or when a bird lands near you and sings a little song. Neither of you could break the look you shared, as neither of you could describe a bond that was apparently now formed with chocolate and pancakes. It was him who spoke up first: "Got room for more pancakes?". This question took you by surprise, but pancakes are always a welcome surprise. "Hell yeah, you can never have enough pancakes." - "I need more proof for that, but based on that sentence alone I can say that we may be soulmates, Y/N." You started laughing, as did he. "But why? What do you have in mind? Also, I'm surprised you still remember my name." His cheeks got a very apparent pink hue after your remark and you noticed how grossly you were endeared by this man. "Y/N... How could I forget..." he said with a low voice that made your heart flutter. "How could I forget someone who made me believe there was a banshee at my door for a solid minute!" He broke out in his loud and squeaky laughter as soon as he saw the pure offence and shock on your face, after he said that, because *that* was certainly not what you expected to hear.  "You're mean, oh my god!" you exclaimed but had to laugh, too. You guys needed two minutes to calm down again. The pink hue on his face was still there and you felt the rush of confidence in you. He noticed you looking at him and spoke up:

"Y/N... How could I forget someone who has made me smile on a day I didn't feel like smiling at all? I got the news my cook had to quit on the day we met. I thought this was the end for my café. But then, I met you, shortly after I got the news. And seeing you going from crying to happily munching on some chocolate despite having issues that made you cry in public in the first place... Seeing you forgetting your troubles with something so small as a chocolate bar. I don't know... I felt hopeful for some reason. And I love this feeling. And, god... I really hoped you'd take my advice and come here to have my pancakes! (he chuckled) But I have to admit something... I so regretted not asking for your number. For the past week I jumped through the kitchen door everytime a customer came in...". You were pretty sure your heart was soon gonna explode through your chest. He hid his face with his hands and sighed. "I'm not like this at all~" he whined, before facing you again. "But... How about I make us some more pancakes now? And hash browns, if you like. I haven't had breakfast yet and well... I really want to make you pancakes. Can I?" His voice became thinner with each sentence he added, since he came shyer with each bit. You chuckled, in disbelief about how your rapidly beating heart became so calm, yet so full when this man told you he wanted to make you pancakes. No nervosity whatsoever, no second thoughts, nothing. An epiphany over pancakes... Who would have thought? This was safe. This was a safe place for both of you, and both of you felt it.

"A breakfast date then?"

"Breakfast date it is."

"I like the sound of that."

💕

epilogue:

-you two enter the kitchen after you insisted on watching him cook for you-

jk: hyu- oh, hi y/n! you guys know each other? ah hyung, i cleaned up everything and tidied up in the bureau. i'm sorry about earlier. (bows again and stands there shyly)

jin: (sighs very deeply) come here, you dodo.

the two of them shared a short but sweet hug, after which jungkook had a huge smile on his face again. jin and you shared a look and the same thought as you looked at jungkook after.

jin: jk, you wanna have pancakes with us?

jk: huh? yeah sure, i'm actually pretty hungry... (he smiles at you two) I'll go clean up inside real quick and prepare the table! yayy, pancake brunch with friends ☺️ (he leaves you two in the kitchen)

you turned to jin and smiled. "don't even start." he said quickly, while he started getting the ingredients out. "AWWW~~" - "NOOO!"

-the end-

[probablyottrpgideas]

Backstories

I’m gonna do something a little different for this blog. I’m going to try and do something helpful.

I know, I know, terrible idea.

But I’ve been in enough groups now, playing enough different systems, with enough different sorts of players, to know that backstories can be daunting. Hell, they can even grind a campaign to a halt if they aren’t handled right; if the players aren’t invested in the major arc for the story you’re running, but you have no personal hooks to get them invested? It’s an uphill battle.

So what makes a good backstory? Critically, the backstory has to achieve three main goals:

1. How did my character get to this point where the Campaign begins?

2. What does this tell me that I want out of being in this Campaign? (as a character; players have their own reasons for being there)

3. What has been left in the past that can show up again in the future? (The “Knife Theory” post floating about is a great one!)

Now, there are 2 major schools when it comes to problematic backstories, and they overlap more than you’d expect. School number one is the “Dunno”s, the thin backstories where there isn’t much of anything to work with. School number two is the “Epic Protagonist” players, who give you far too much. We’ll look at both of them, but also the in-betweeners, there “here is a bunch of stuff that happened, but all those stories finished and there’s nothing left to do” will get a mention because that takes very specific skills to unravel.

Now, I don’t remember the specific post, but I saw once a piece of advice that said that character backstories should be about 100-500 words / starting level; this is great advice on a general level. But for the “Dunno” player, who doesn’t have 5 words strung together for their character, this can seem insurmountable. 

Thankfully, 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons has already done some of this work for us; the Backgrounds mechanic. In fact, I strongly suggest even people playing other games, if you’re struggling to build a backstory, try throwing together an ad hoc 5e-style background as a starting point. The background gives you a former occupation/lifestyle, a guiding personality trait, an ideal, a bond and a flaw. Straightaway, even if you’re just taking the suggested material out of the book, you have some idea as to the sort of person that your character is. 

So, we look to point 1 above; what happened to bring your character to this point? If you are a criminal background, did you run with a crew, or work alone? Did you have rivals? A victim who knows your name? Did you have entanglements with law enforcement? Are they still after you, or did they help you turn your life around (or both, rival forces at work within law enforcement)?

What about point 2; what does your character want out of adventuring with the party? Following the criminal background, are they looking for redemption? Forgiveness? Or maybe just one big score? Or revenge? (One big revenge score is also fun; Leverage/Hustle style con the con, steal from the thief stories are rich with betrayal, conspiracy and wild plans. If that’s your thing, have at it!)

And lastly, point 3; what in the past has consequences for the future that haven’t been dealt with yet? Perhaps you skipped out on a job, or ran when the cops showed up, and now a former confederate is in prison because of you? Perhaps you killed someone you shouldn’t have, and there are wanted posters of your face up in a distant town that the party might one day pass through? 

The 100-500 words can easily be replaced with the three dot points, although I’d suggest breaking them down further to 3-9 dot points, giving you a couple of options for each point.

The other side of the coin though, the “Epic Protagonists”, need the 100-500 limit to stop their stories from getting too intense. The thing to remember is this;

THE MOST INTERESTING PARTS OF YOUR CHARACTER’S JOURNEY SHOULD BE THE PART YOU PLAY/SEE IN GAME

Don’t try and pull focus before the story even starts. Just because you are a noble does not mean you are the lost prince of the kingdom (unless your DM is telling that specific story, absolutely no-one at the table wants to be your sidekick). Also, try and keep it relevant to the actual character you are playing; as an example; a recent player, a relative newbie, started her character backstory with 

“Trained as an assassin from birth...”

To which my response was

“You are playing a level 1 wizard.”

Now, I don’t blame the player; she’d never done this before. But this is an example of how “Epic Protagonist” players think; everyone wants to be Drizzt Do’Urden, no-one wants to be Frodo Baggins. 

So if your instinct is to write 5 pages about how wonderfully talented your level 1 cleric is, try and cut it down to 500 words of just the things she’s done.

And then, crucially, roll some dice to see if those deeds are actually possible. Or if it’s critically unlikely, make sure your DM is in on the story; your cleric may have performed a miracle through the 1% possibility of a random Divine Intervention, but she sure as hell isn’t doing it again any time soon.

------------------------------------

Okay, I think that’s enough. Backstories are the best gift a player can give a DM at the beginnings of a Campaign; individual investment in the plot is the quickest way to a mutually rewarding story experience. But you want them to be open-ended, character relevant and plausible; otherwise there’d be no point to the dice, or the other players, or even the DM. Go write a book instead.

[jihoonmi]

hello!! ❣

hello mi!! i’m so excited to be here (again!!) many of you know me! i’m carly. i was previously @jeonggukxmi​ last time mi was open, and thankfully, i’ve returned with him-- same exact muse, but after undergoing some pretty drastic changes since i dropped him at the end of 2017. i also have my new little baby monster, jihoon here, whom i might be even more excited for (yes, for those of you that follow me on twitter, this is [redacted])

 for those of you that don’t know me, it’s great to meet you! i hope we’ll be fast friends ;w; a little bit about my history with mi, because a bitch is emo: i actually founded this roleplay back in 2014, first edition of mi-- murder inc. we closed after about three months because none of us were cut out for adminning at the time, and then we reopened mi again with some of the same staff and a new addition sometime at the end of 2015! i was actually mod of another roleplay at the same time i did that, and eventually had to step up to admin that and could not admin two roleplays, so i stepped down in mi, i think in 2016. that’s when our current champions, bek and abbie, stepped into the arena and grew mi into a wonderful community up until august of last year, when the last iteration of mi went on hiatus. now, we’re back with a new mi, better than ever!! and words cannot express how proud i am of bek and abbie and how grateful i am that they ended up inheriting the roleplay and making this new (beautiful!! showstopping!! spectacular!) version of it. it was divine intervention tbh, i’m convinced

AS SUCH i am so so happy to be here and get to be a part of this!! i apologize for the mi history lesson...i just got in my feelings. more importantly, the muses!! i have jeongguk’s profile here, and his full length novel of a life story is linked at the bottom. jihoon, on the other hand, has no pages because i’m a big flop, so i’ll put a rundown of him under the cut.

i’m going to try and avoid plotting on jihoon (see: try) because i’m holding myself hostage until i get at least a profile page done for him, but anyone that is interested in plotting with jihoon or jeongguk, please like this post. i’ll find my way to you as soon as i can so we can at least start talking, even if you want jihoon and i have to kindly ask you to wait on me hahaha. alternatively, contact me on twitter @taekaimoon! (i also have discord) feel free to follow me and talk to me even if we aren’t plotting, too ;w; onward!!

jihoon is a ‘99 liner, he will turn 20 at the end of may

born and raised on the island!

he is seemingly a human emoji, very ^o^ uwu ^ ^ on the outside, but do not be fooled, the cuteness is merely (mostly) an illusion meant to manipulate

in reality, his dad was a successful businessman due in part to making deals with all of the gangs. he never pledged loyalty to one, thus acting as a middleman of sorts. to his credit, he did build up his reputation and and fortune on his own, he wasn’t born into it

jihoon’s mother always dreamed of being a chef but worked most of her life as a seamstress, not ignorant to but ultimately avoiding the crime of the island, until she married her husband. true love flowed and prevailed and she didn’t leave his ass despite his shady dealings, and instead she learned to defend herself too

about a year before jihoon was born, jihoon’s dad surprised his mom on their anniversary with a deed to a building that would be their restaurant, co-owned by both of them. they named it the crow’s nest

jihoon was born not long after, and tcn’s head chef couldn’t just abandon her post, so jihoon essentially grew up in the restaurant

this was not any ordinary restaurant, however, and quickly became a neutral hub for gang activity, including but not limited to meetings, deals, and alliances, though they always exercised a no violence policy (sometimes resorting to violence themselves to enforce this)

therefore jihoon was exposed to the gangs very early on despite his mother trying to protect him, and grew desensitized to the dark side of myeongcho very quickly

since his mother couldn’t shield him from the reality of myeongcho, his father trained him to protect himself in it. thankfully, this was not in an unhealthy way, and consisted mostly of street smarts, self defense training, how to shoot a gun, and other useful things for someone frequently dealing with gangs

he’s never really had a normal life, and hasn’t really tried to. sometimes he resents this fact, but it’s rarely-- he usually enjoys it just fine

this has had some troubling impact on his personality, including but not limited to him being manipulative as hell and a spoiled little punk, having kleptomania, having a twisted nature, fixating on people instead of developing healthy feelings for them, and having a deeply sarcastic, controlling, and broody nature underneath all of his saccharine candy floss pretense. when his uwuing fails to manipulate you, sometimes the act will drop and he he’ll get a dark glint in his eye and turn all stone-faced and start threatening you and he Can back (most of) those up

he grew up “working” at the crow’s nest from as early as he can remember, but only really officially once he became a teenager, where he was a waiter. after he turned 19, his dad promoted him to manager and fired their old one. dad is in and out these days because he’s traveling back to the mainland a lot for a potential crow’s nest expansion, so jihoon is The Man In Charge when he’s away, yes he is way too young for this, no he does not think so

he has already confirmed shot a man dead and broken a plate over a man’s head to maintain order in the past year, and i’m sure he’s done more he hasn’t told me about yet 

somehow in spite of this the crow’s nest is still a largely trusted neutral establishment, and most people that come trust the staff to also remain neutral and protect all activity remaining civil. maybe their commitment to this aids that reputation?? maybe it hurts it?? we don’t know...you decide

@gahyeonmi is his cousin, but was essentially raised as his sister after her parents passed away early in their life. their relationship is...complicated, but he cares for her

he was pretty popular in high school because it turns out acting super friendly and cute even when you aren’t gets you that. he went to myeongmoon! he played soccer, and he dated a bit but decided pretty quickly that dating wasn’t for him because he just felt Nothing on an emotional level. also discovered pretty quickly that he likes boys, though he’s still not sure if that’s entirely exclusively or just a heavy bias

he’s now going to myeongcho university, studying pre-law with no intention to actually become a lawyer, he just thinks the knowledge is useful and figures he’ll inherit the restaurant anyway, and he’s fine with this

he picked up magic tricks in middle school because he needed a hobby, and since has become pretty passionate about it, TOTALLY not because it gives him an excuse to pickpocket people, not at all. his specialty is card tricks, but he’s not limited to that, and can also break out of some handcuffs and supposedly a straight jacket though he hasn’t actually tried that yet

yes, he is a thief. he steals things from everyone and keeps what he collects on a bookshelf in the dorm he shares with @mihaknyeon. he used to keep them in a display case back when he lived with his parents, yes he is a freak

he’s not just a pickpocket, he also picks up larger scale thief missions from the crow’s nest patrons that know his skillset, and as such has a little experience with everyone under the sun (his favorite gang to work with is lynx)

i think that’s all i’ve got, and SURELY it’s enough!! excuse me as i paste this word for word on his profile page thank you for reading! [jihoon vc] ^^