#idk what to do if I should rewrite it or scrap it or just finish it and post as is

[kihteyu]

Indulged a little too hard in this fanfic I’m writing that now I’m worried it’s so far removed from canon that it might be completely distinguishable from the source material

[saveahorserideaneddie]

Still with you in the wait and see approach. I need to be confident that relationship is bones and there won't be signs of it until at least the premiere.

that’s where i’m at too. i also just think someone needs to remind tim minear of what exactly his job is. his job isn’t to stir up fandom drama (and then complain about drama that he himself is partially to blame for but then refuse to directly call out the toxic ones) his job is to tell a story; but he decided that wasn’t what his job was the moment he scrapped 7b to rewrite it into whatever that mess was rather than just giving us an (admittedly) rushed backhalf of the season, and then open s8 up for NEW content.

No instead, he’s rehashing old storylines (gerrard), driving (literal) dead plotlines even further into the ground by creating new elements that there has never been any evidence of before (shannon), as well as actively giving the toxic fans he complained about the ammunition they need to continue being toxic (bt).

it feels like when he came back, he got this kind of god complex and is deciding to use 9-1-1 as his dollhouse for his wacky “masterpieces” that aren’t even that well thought out, and thinking that he needs to come up with these convoluted crazy plots to keep audiences interested, when most of the fandom have been vocal about how they miss the s2-4 era where it was just a procedural drama… not a hitchcock remake or an homage to classic b-movies.

i miss the energy of past seasons when yeah there was drama, but overall it was still a silly feel-good show; but then in s7 rather than emulating s1 and having it be a shorter reestablished character-focused season, he had it be both a character focus season (that decided to retcon and rewrite entire character traits of some people) as well as trying to cram in crazy drama plots (like listen, the cruise ship arc was decent, but it should have been focused on the storm/wave ONLY rather than the dumbass pirate plot that only took 10 minutes 💀).

so yeah, i’n trying to still remain positive and interact w headcanon/fanfiction content and posting the occasional “i hope we get this in s8”, but as far as actively speculating and teying to figure things out from photos or 2 second clips that will most likely only result in disappointment or frustration upon seeing the finished product, i’m not gonna hold my breath for anything.

Again if you wish to engage in spec and have fun with that, then by all means do! I just don’t have the mental capacity to do that healthily so i find it oftentimes more rewarding to keep my expectations low (especially after i got kinda spec crazy last season)

but also if you DO engage in spec, don’t try to gaslight and bully people, telling them that their interpretation is wrong just bc it’s not yours (meaning if someone is cautious about whether or not we’re getting buddie canon, don’t tell them they are delusional and insane bc ‘we absolutely 1000% are and there is no possibility we aren’t’ even tho it is very likely that we unfortunately won’t get buddie canon) i’ve had to make the decision to unfollow so many larger buddie blogs that i used to enjoy bc seeing the way they interact with fans’ concerns, low expectations, etc made me feel so icky bc they were beginning to sound like a certain part of the fandom (👀) and i don’t like that.

like i’m not going to go on someone’s post where they’re voicing their concerns and say “this is stupid that would never happen you’re delusional”

it’s one thing to be like “hey, i get that you may be stressed, but i look at it this way and that seems to help me” or to be like “good points, but if you look at this and this” but to actively make people feel stupid for having (objectively based on how s7 went) concerns about s8? that’s icky behavior to me idk

anyway i kinda hijacked this ask and went on alittle tangent, but no i am right there with you too on the “wait and see” of it all bc so far i have not seen anything truly promising about this season, and i honestly probably won’t until the show comes out and we actually get a feel for where tim’s brain is at this season (which…. knowing where his brain went last season doesn’t fill me with excitement)

[eruherdiriel]

I get a little sappy about writing fic under the cut.

Sometimes I am astounded that I'm writing fic at all. For years, most of my life really, I kept these things all in my head. And it wasn't as detailed or complete as what I write down now but still, it was just there and I didn't do anything with it until one day I thought, "maybe I should write some of this down" (I had tried to do it once maybe 6 years ago but it was an anomaly and therefore I barely count it). And for a few months my writing was only summaries of ideas and maybe one scene, but I built from there, writing and rewriting and deleting, stringing disparate scenes together, scrapping ideas completely and letting others grow into something new. And now I've published seven works to AO3 (maybe they are "short" but I am slow and even if you're a fast writer, it's more time-consuming than I think nonwriters realize), and I have lots of unpublished material and, damn. Wild. I've written plenty in my life but it was almost entirely nonfiction before this. I hope this doesn't sound self-congratulatory or some shit because that's not how I feel; I'm just, idk, amazed at how small things can build into something bigger until there are finished stories where before there was nothing tangible, only my thoughts. Now I have something I've made. And I know a lot of people write fic so it's not like this experience is unique but it is special, at least to me, and it has been an important outlet for me the last year, year and a half.

If you've ever read anything I've written, thank you. I write for myself first (or I try to), but it means a lot to know anyone else sees, and likes, what I make.

[misailurist]

State of the Fanfiction

Wanted to talk a bit about fanfics I wrote back in the day and plans for the future. tldr: it's (almost) all weird-ass Simeon Saint rarepairs

Eight years ago, I wrote Simon Says, a way-too-long story about Simon Blackquill's time in prison... which quickly became focused on him dating/breaking up with Simon Keyes. There had been some interest in that pairing, and I liked it myself, but keeping them together felt antithetical to the story's overall message of "Blackquill is OK now and has learned to stop martyring himself for others," and also I not-so-secretly think messy breakups are more fun than successful romances. So that's what I did. Despite that, I'd had a lot of notes at the time about what a sequel might look like, where Keyes got out of prison and had his own redemption arc and became the kind of boyfriend who wouldn't destroy Blackquill's life. But when it came to actually write it, I decided that redemption arcs were boring, scrapped it all, and started working on my bonkers Keyes/Phantom fic where literally the only reason behind the pairing choice was, "Phantom is about as emotionally functional as an animal, so I bet Keyes could train him into being his dog." I wrote two chapters and then wandered away from fandom entirely to try being a functional adult for a while. Now, a whole ass time skip later, being a functional adult sucks ass and AAI2 finally got localized, so here I am again. I ended up reading all my own fanfic -- do you know that if enough years pass, you'll forget enough of what you wrote that reading your own fics feels like finding a new favorite author who made a bunch of shit just for you? Do recommend. And in those fics, I found three stories where I were mad that they hadn't been finished. Did you know that if you're your own new favorite author, you are now burdened with the knowledge that unfinished fics won't be updated unless YOU, YOURSELF update them? Awful. Terrible. Do not recommend. The three fics were: 1. Just Fake it. My post-bad-end Blackbright fic. I should go to jail for not finishing that. (On the bright side, it's what made me hyper-vigilant about backing up my writing, which is why I have the remnants of all the stories on this list at all.) I would like to finish it but I am in the middle of replaying the games and don't want to touch it until I've replayed Dual Destinies. (I am currently on...... Turnabout Big Top. Sigh.) 2. Impostor Syndrome. The aforementioned Keyes/Phantom fic, which I have updated with the new localized names so it is now a Saint/Phantom fic. Although it is currently just "the meandering post-prison adventures of Simeon Saint" fic because I am completely, utterly making this shit up as I go and haven't gotten to the shipping part yet. Does anyone want to read this but me? Trick question, I don't care. I'm basically in a fugue state right now and I don't think I could stop if I wanted. Also we are T-minus-two-chapters to where there will, in fact, be some actual for real Saint/Phantom shipping, so idk hang in there. 3. Simon, Horace, and Miles. The "what if there were no IS-7" AU. This one sucks actually. But I still love the idea of it. There's meat there. But the whole thing needs to be scrapped and restarted from the ground up. Something to consider once Impostor Syndrome is out of my system. Also I would rewrite it to be properly soutamitsu. That's a pairing the world needs more of, damn it. Also I lied, there's a secret fourth one that I never posted anywhere publicly: 4. Fabulous! A Simeon Saint/Max Galactica smut fic I started and then remembered I don't like writing smut. But the setup was pretty good so maybe I'll try again to finish it???

[buckysgoldenheart]

Protect You

August Walker x Reader

Summary: You discover August is working with Lane and it crushes your heart, but he’s not about to let you go any time soon. He’ll do what he must to prove that you are more important to him than what he wanted before he had you.

Warnings/Notes: Fluff, some smut, cursing, maybe slight angst if you squint (like super hard), Sort of breeding kink (kinda hard to say (it’s like one sentence)).

The details of this story, with Lane and August and their plan/how their relationship worked, are not 100% accurate. There are slight changes, but I just did it for the sake of plot. And dear lord, there are questionable writing choices, but after writing and rewriting this idk how many times, I can’t tell what’s good and what isn’t. So, sorry in advance :’]

Words: 4k…Way too many (my bad).

You ran as fast as you could through streets and back alleys, your steps disturbing the settled water puddles on the cobblestone. Escaping where August had tied you up proved to be much simpler than you were sure he imagined, and he unintentionally gave you enough of a hint to know exactly where he was going.

God, you felt so stupid. He deceived you, fooled you, bound your wrists around a bedpost and gagged you, leaving you behind like trash while he went after your friends; your team.

You shoved through the side door of a parking garage and sped down the stairs. You paused before the last door that opened to the basement floor, inhaled deeply then peeked through the small window. Your vision went red at the sight of your team, their hands raised and weapons scattered at their feet.

“Take them--” August began, his voice devoid of all emotion as you ran in.

“Stop!” You shouted, only slowing your pace once your body was a small barrier between your friends and the crowd of armed men with August at their side. One of many masked men in vests immediately turned his gun your way, ready to pierce a bullet through your heart without a thought, but you didn’t care, your heart was already broken anyway.

“No!” August snapped, his face twisting at the sight of you. He was instantly pissed, you could see it in his body, in the way he now stood. No one else would be able to tell, but you weren’t just anyone else. You knew what every stance, every lip quirk, every flash of emotion in his eyes meant.

He looked away from you for a moment, then shook his head with a curse on his lips. “Not her.”

Masks or not, you knew the men seconds away from killing you had surprised looks plastered on their faces. “Sir?”

“Bring her,” August looked at you. “Inform Lane you have these three,” He said, and you darted your eyes to the panicked faces of Ilsa, Benji, and Luther. “And find Hunt.”

Another man grabbed you around the waist at his order. You kicked at legs and clawed at the arms around you as Benji shouted your name, his voice falling farther and farther away with every step you were dragged from them.

August walked ahead of you, not daring a look back.

“August…” You growled, ready to tear into him, but a needle was shoved into the side of your neck and your vision was quickly blurring the form of his body.

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

Your head jerked up and your eyes burst open. You tried to rub the haze from them but couldn’t.

Tied up again…wonderful. This was not something you enjoyed getting used to, at least not in this way.

As your vision cleared, you saw him sitting across from you, his shoulders hunched forward, elbows on his knees, and hands clasped as he stared at the floor. You had no idea how long you’d been out or how long he’d been watching over you, but by the look of him, he hadn’t slept much in the time since you last saw his face.

“August!” You wiggled in your chair, trying anything to loosen your binds.

August’s head shot up. He looked relieved despite the furious way you hissed his name, but his annoyingly handsome face quickly succumbed to irritation. “I told you to stay put,” He said, a certain grit to his voice. “Why couldn’t you just listen?”

“You tied me up and left me in a room so you could kill my family, you asshole. What did you expect, huh? An obedient little girl? I figured by now you’d have learned I’m far from that.”

“Y/N—”

“How could you do this to them, to…me?” Your voice broke, and god, if your hands were free you would’ve slapped yourself silly. Letting him see a crack in your rage was not a power you needed to give him.

“It’s not what you think. At least, not anymore.” August stood from his chair and crossed his arms. “I didn’t betray you. It’s just complicated and, believe me, you are the last person I wanted to get caught in the crossfire,” He said. “I wish I didn’t anymore, but I have a vital role in Lane’s plan. I don’t just get to back out because I met you. I can’t say ‘sorry, I don’t want to work with you anymore because I have a thing for the girl on the other team.’”

“That’s pathetic,” You spit out. “You’re pathetic, and your loyalty to him is disgusting.”

He hummed, seemingly unaffected by your outrage. “Loyalty is not something I have the luxury to hand out like little candies, sweetheart. It goes to whoever I benefit most from.” He paused. “I get something from Lane believing in my loyalty, but it’s not real, baby.” He leaned down and cupped your jaw. “Every last scrap of devotion I have in me truly goes to you.”

You hated the thought of you and him. You grew more nauseous with each memory you replayed in your head. They were lies. Every move you made while he infiltrated your team he’d observed with a sharp eye. Every kiss you gave him he dissected to discover exactly what to do to make you melt in his arms. The way you spoke, what it took to make you smile, what he needed to say to get you into bed; all of it he must’ve stored in the back of his mind to use against you later. It was all fake; every loving gesture he made, a complete ruse. It had to be.

“What do you mean it’s not real?”

“Lane doesn’t know how I really feel about you,” August said simply. “He thinks I’ve been manipulating you for information.”

A scoff left your throat that you couldn’t help to hold back. As far as you were concerned, he was.

“And he needs to keep believing that, because if I suddenly decide not to finish this,” He continued. “Lane will find a way to make me regret it. And I fear if he gives it too much thought, he will realize the truth; that the only way to break me is to hurt you. So, I tried to separate you from it. I tied you up and I told you to stay there!” His words grew harsher with each one that passed his lips, and by the end of his rant his frustration was more than palpable.

“And what, August, starve to death?”

“I was going to come back for you!”

“Why should I believe you?” Tugging at your ropes again, you groaned. Clearly, he tied this knot better than the last. You looked at him again. “My friends could be dead because you handed them off to Lane, so spew all the pretty words you want but nothing will change that. I may never see them again because of you. You might as well have shot them yourself!”

August was in front of you in an instant, his large hands gripping the arms of the chair you were bound to as he leaned down to look you in the eyes. You glared back at him.

“I don’t give a fuck about them! I give a fuck about you! I don’t care who dies as long as you don’t!” He yelled, scolding you like a child. Then he straightened up. He was so tall, hovering above you. “When this is over…when Lane gets his revenge on Hunt, then I’m done. I will have held up my end of the deal, and that is all he cares about. He has no interest in how I choose to spend the rest of my life, a life with you, as long as he gets what he wants. If the bombs go off and Ethan goes down, you and I can--”

‘A life with you.’ Those words made the steady pounding of your heart stumble, but you shook it off. “I won’t help you find Ethan. I won’t help you pin a massive bombing, the loss of so many lives, on him.”

“No, you won’t,” He agreed. “Because you won’t be doing anything. You are going to stay here, out of harms way, while I make sure everything else goes to plan. I killed one of Lane’s men, the one I told to bring you, so we could get away, and that is all the complication I can afford right now.”

Get away to where, you wondered and looked around. You hadn’t taken to time to process where you were, but as you scanned the room, it was not what you expected. It was something of a small apartment. One common area; A small kitchen that was really just a stove and a fridge, and a couch that pulled out into a very uncomfortable looking bed; A single window carved into the wall to your right allowed just enough light seeping through to tell the time of day. “Where are we?”

“My place…temporarily, anyway.” He mumbled. “But, Y/N, I have to go back. I have to play the part until Lane wins this.”

He’d been playing a part, alright, but you weren’t so sure who he was trying to manipulate anymore. You or Lane. Lane or you. The training in you told you it was you, it was always you. His goal, the reason he planted himself in your team, involved taking you down and you had no reason to believe otherwise. But if there was a chance he wasn’t lying, if he really wanted you to be his, you weren’t sure you’d have the willpower to turn him away no matter what horrible things he may have done. He had that unforgiving power over you, unfortunately.

“Don’t do this, August.” You said. “Lane is a villain, he—”

“I know what he is.” He shut you up.

“If you know what he is, then why would you ally yourself with him?”

He sighed. “Y/N…”

“Tell me the truth,” You pressed. “You want me to believe you? Then be honest with me. You owe me that much.”

He paced once, an agitated look marring his beautiful features. At war with himself. You’d seen that look before when you laid in bed together. Now you knew why. “You don’t understand what I’ve been through, and one day I will explain it to you, but I was angry, and working with Lane presented me an opportunity to change things in my own way. To create a better world.”

“Then why give it up? Why bother dropping that fucked up dream of yours? What, have you suddenly seen the error of your ways, August?”

August’s eyes softened as he took a breath. He studied your face in a way that made the last ounce of your tenacity shred to bits. “I’m giving it up because if I don’t, you won’t want me anymore, and I can’t have that.”

“If you still plan to help Lane then it doesn’t make a difference…and I don’t want you.” You lied. Two big, fat liars. Perfect for one another.

“You did a couple days ago.”

Yes…a couple days ago you were kissing him in the early morning before joining the team, musing over the idea of that life together. The idea of being with him, being happy, you craved like nothing else before. He made promises he said he intended to keep. ‘No matter what happens,’ He’d said. ‘One day, you and I will have everything we want.’

He continued. “Y/N, you are all that I care for. I’d give up anything you asked me to. But I’ll also do whatever I have to in order to get us a chance to be together. If that means working with Lane a little longer, then that is what I’ll do.”

“So, to avoid raising suspicion you just had to give my friends over to him, is that right?”

He grabbed the chair he was sitting in earlier and placed it in front of you before taking a seat. “Look, baby, I don’t care about your friends or if Lane kills them, but I know you do, so after I put you in the car, I created a tiny diversion, an advantage over Lane’s men.”

He brushed a few stray hairs behind your ear. You savored that touch, brief as it was.

“Getting you away from there was my main priority, and I didn’t stick around to see the outcome, so I make no promises as to their fate. But…I wanted to do this for you.”

Your eyelids fluttered as you pushed yourself to focus more on his words than the feel of his fingers on your cheek. “So, Lane doesn’t—I mean…they could be fine?” The thought that August spared your friends, or at the very least, gave them the opportunity to escape, made your chest swell. That was the man you had fallen for.

“As long as they took advantage of my generosity, then they could be alive, yes, and might remain so if they don’t run headfirst into the war zone.”

“You know they will.”

“That is not my problem.”

“And Ethan…”

August shook his head. “I won’t give you hope when it comes to Hunt,” He said. “To get what I want with you something must be sacrificed.”

Something? Someone; Anyone, you realized. August clearly didn’t care who. “Then help us take down Lane before he kills all those people. Ethan could get him, and we could escape before Lane even realizes that you aren’t on his side any longer.”

“What?” He rose an eyebrow. If it was anyone’s idea rather than your own, you knew he would have dismissed it without a thought. Assisting Lane was the path of least resistance.

“If all you want is to be with me, for Lane to not cause us any trouble, then why does it matter who you ally with? If something must be sacrificed, why not him?”

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

Four Months Later -- Scotland

“Goddamn, baby,” August growled around your nipple in his mouth. He lightly bit down, and you yelped, the sting of it only adding to your desire.

Roughly thrusting into you once more, he pulled out and crawled off your body to stand at the base of the mattress. You whimpered at the loss of contact. Without him on top of you, your internal temperature dropped to unsafe levels.

With his arms under your thighs, he yanked you to the edge of the bed. He kneeled and placed his warm mouth on your cunt, licking and sucking until you were writhing around, clutching the sheets for dear life. God, you loved what he did to you. You loved the feel of him. You loved the way his beard scratched your inner thighs until angry red marks remained long after he left you sated.

He had grown out his facial hair; kept it neat and manageable to avoid the homeless, mountain-man look, but it was no longer close shaven like it was when you were first together. Warm water didn’t exactly make it to shabby, man-made shacks on the abandoned, cliffside beaches of Scotland, and if August didn’t have warm water, he wasn’t shaving. Without a proper hot water system, the hard and frigid ocean was your only source. You only ever bathed together; your combined body heat the one thing that saved you both from freezing to death.

You came with his name tearing from your throat. You could feel his smirk as he lapped at you two more times before kissing his way back up your body to your swollen lips. He placed his mouth on your own, forcing you to taste yourself, then slid himself in you again, thrusting deep until he filled you with his cum.

You knew you were being stupid; that choosing to have sex without protection while hiding from a man that could kill you at any moment was one of the worst choices you could make. But with each day that passed, you cared a little less. The thought of carrying August’s baby turned you both on like nothing else.

He collapsed next to you then tucked you into his side and sighed.

You looked up at him and he smiled back at you. “I fucking love you,” He said.

“I fucking love you, too,” You chuckled as August ran a hand up and down your arm.

He hugged you to him one last time, kissed the top of your head, then untangled his limbs from yours and hopped up from the bed.

You stared at his ass with a grin on your face as he strutted to the kitchen.

“What do you want for breakfast, babe? Oatmeal or…oatmeal?”

“Both,” You called back, sitting up and stretching.

You followed him to the kitchen a moment later, snickering at the small apron he’d tied around his naked waist as he started up the portable camping stove. They weren’t meant to be used indoors, and the breeze from the open windows for airflow chilled your skin.

“Don’t laugh at me, Darlin’. We can’t have sex again if my dick gets burned off.”

Wrapping your arms around him from behind, you placed a feather light kiss between his shoulder blades and said, “Well, I can always find someone else to fuck.”

August tensed on spot and spun around in your arms with a scowl. “That’s not allowed,” He growled.

“The having sex with someone else, or the mentioning of having sex with someone else?”

“Both!” He snapped but all you gave in return was an innocent grin. “Though, secluded, misty beaches are hardly tourist spots. I don’t know who you think you could find to fuck you around here.”

He suddenly made a face as if a bitter flavor coated his tongue.

Your eyebrows rose. “What’s wrong?”

“Having ‘fuck’ and ‘you’ in a sentence without the words ‘I’m going to’ in front of them just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

“You’re a dork.” You slapped his chest and pulled away from him, then nudged your head toward the water starting to boil in the pot. “Now pay attention or you’ll burn the water.” You winked.

Just as August was turning back around, his secure phone on the table flashed red and began to buzz. Both sets of eyes darted to it then you looked at one another. Your breaths hung in the air. August quickly took the pot off the burner and tossed it in the sink.

“Get dressed. Get your stuff,” He said sternly, and you jumped into action as he untied the apron and hurried behind you. You both threw clothes on your bodies, then you went to grab the emergency bags from under the bed while August punched some numbers into the small gun safe. Who the fuck knew you were here? You prayed it wasn’t who you thought it was. You knew Lane hadn’t succeeded in his original plan, but that didn’t mean he had been caught. He was resourceful. Regardless, the alarm was tripped so you needed to get the fuck out of dodge. You’d only have minutes.

“Passports.”

“Got them,” You said, running into the bathroom to grab a couple things.

“The cash.”

“Yes.”

“What about—"

Your eyebrows scrunched together at his pause and you dipped your head around the corner. All of the blood drained from your face.

“Drop the gun,” Ilsa’s deep, feminine voice demanded as she held her own gun to the side of August’s head. His lips thinned but he did as she asked. A loud thump sounded through the room that matched the beat in your chest. “And do not move,” She snarled.

With a smirk, August casually put up his hands. “Don’t worry.”

“Where. Is. She?”

You rushed into the room. “Ilsa!”

She looked at you, her confusion evident, then pushed the gun harder into your boyfriend’s temple as if she thought the image of you in front of her was an illusion meant to catch her off-guard. She didn’t trust August, and you couldn’t blame her.

“Ilsa, please. Just put the gun down.”

Her eyes narrowed as they grazed you up and down. You knew she was wondering how it was that you had not a scratch on you, how you had all of your limbs still attached after months of being held captive by the man she considered an enemy.

“Benji, she’s here,” She spoke into her earpiece.

August stared at you, unconcerned despite how close he could be to death. Your fingers twitched. You wanted to run up and yank him away from Ilsa. You wanted to lock him in the bathroom, out of harms way so you could talk your friend down.

Benji came crashing through the front door not a minute later and all tension in his body visibly released at the sight of you. “Oh, thank God.”

“Guys—” Your trembling voice began.

“You’re alright.” Benji blew out a breath. “I gotta tell you, we weren’t sure we would find you there for a second. This asshole is clever,” He said, throwing his thumb over his shoulder in August’s direction. “We have a chopper a couple miles south, so let’s go. Ilsa can deal with--”

“Guys! Stop.”

Ilsa’s lips parted. “Y/N…”

August chuckled at their obliviousness and you glared at him. “We should’ve moved last week,” He said.

You rolled your eyes. “They clearly aren’t Lane, August.”

“I don’t like them any better.” He crossed his arms in defiance, ignoring the gun at the ready to blow his brains out.

“Y/N!” Both Ilsa and Benji shouted at once, drawing your attention to their bugged-out eyes.

“Look,” You made a noise somewhere between a sigh and a groan. “There’s a long story and I will explain but put the gun away. You don’t need it.”

Dubiously, Ilsa lowered her weapon, and with every inch it traveled further away from your boyfriend, the easier it became to breathe.

You reached your hand out and August tried you walk your way, but Ilsa put her arm up, blocking his path. He halted though he could easily snap that arm like a twig.

“Someone needs to speak…now,” She said.

“Where are Ethan and Luther?” You asked.

“Reykjavik,” She replied. “We had two potential leads of your whereabouts.”

It had been easier to track you than you hoped. You’d just left Iceland a few weeks prior.

August looked at you smugly, but his eyes held their usual hint of love that no expression could erase. You knew what he was thinking. ‘I love you, babe, but you should’ve listened to me. If we kept moving, we could be having sex right now.’ He was right. You’d been moving every couple of weeks to throw anyone who might be tracking you off your trail. If you stayed in place, Lane had a better chance of finding you, but you were tired and you liked Scotland. August, soft as was with you, hesitantly agreed to one more week before packing your bags again.

You didn’t notice Benji’s eyes examining the two of you like a hawk honing in on his next prey until it was too late. “Holy shit,” He said, almost stumbling back. “He actually loves you.”

Your head snapped to the left. “Benji—”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! He took you because he loves you! All this time, we thought this asshole was torturing you, maybe even killed you, but he took you because he wasn’t lying about being in love with you?”

You only nodded. He summed it up so eloquently there was little left for you to say.

“Oh, Ethan is going to lose it. This might actually be the thing that does him in.”

You opened your mouth to speak but Benji continued his rambling, now looking to August.

“So, was that the only part of your undercover bullshit that was real, or were you secretly planning to save the rest of us as well?”

“No, I didn’t care if you got killed. Still don’t, actually.” August retorted with a sarcastic smile. “But she does.”

“So, you weren’t with Lane or…?” “Ilsa asked.

“I was, but not since I left with Y/N.” August nudged his head in your direction.

Your friends turned to you. “You should’ve told us,” Benji said.

“I know. I’m sorry, but once we tipped you off about Lane, we had to hide. If he found out it was us before you guys could get to him, then he would’ve killed us both. We didn’t want to take that chance.”

“You tipped us off?” Ilsa’s eyebrow quirked and you could tell her mind was shuffling her thoughts.

“Yes.” August had given you all information he had on Lane and you hoped, after anonymously sending all of it to your team, they’d find a way to take him down. You considered seeing them once more and explaining everything in person, but August wanted to leave immediately and demanded there be no paper trail with your name on it.

Benji sighed. “Well, it worked.”

“What do you mean?”

“Lane is dead,” Ilsa said. “Last month.”

“What?”

Lane...

…dead?

Suddenly, nothing else mattered.

He was gone.

No one was coming after you.

You could go home, wherever you and August would decide that be. You could live the life you promised one another without a threat at any wrong turn.

August rose an eyebrow at you, and when you let out a breathy laugh of relief, he shoved his way past Ilsa.

“Come here, baby,” He whispered only for you, then pulled you to him and kissed you hard.

Benji roughly rubbed his fingers along his forehead, creating wrinkles that were sure to last. “This is so not how I thought this day was going to go.”

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

Tags: @dugan365 @moonlightimagination @pietrotheavenger @marvel-fanfiction @hawkeyeharrington @dani-si @wintersoldier98 @then-there-was-me-emily @prxttybirdz @xceafh @jazzwoman897 @meganwinchester1999 @ufffg @debra77 @rebelliouscat​ @anise-d-castle6​ @projectxhappiness​ @buckybarnesappreciationsociety​ @lowkeysebby​ @quotemeow @notmyfault404​ @jjamesbbarness​ @guera31​ @sophiatomlinson23​ @thisismysecrethappyplace​ @hiddles-rose​ @mywinterwolf​ @picapicapicassobaby​ @genius2050​ @lokilvrr​ @sunshine-seven @missjayi @agniavateira​ @tumblnewby @forthebrokenheartedthings​ @summersong69​ @starlite13​ @mstgsmy​ @purplelove75​

(Message me if you want on or off the list.)

[shrinkthisviolet]

1, 3, 8, 29, 37 💕

1: if you could reboot one TV show, which one would it be?

Well I know OUAT did a soft reboot with their seventh season, and...honestly, if it were up to me, I’d de-canonize that seventh season and make it the first season of a spinoff called “Hyperion Heights” or something. The seventh season was fantastic, but...it does not fit in the main OUAT show. It just doesn’t. Move the series finale to the end of S6, cap it there, make the 7th season its own show, and keep it going for a few seasons. There’s a lot to explore in Hyperion! I wanna see more!

...then again, I would also like to scrap Wandavision’s finale and rewrite S1-finale Agatha Harkness as a better villain who isn’t so one-dimensional and does genuinely want to help Wanda but has a different moral compass or smth. Something to help Wanda grow as a character. We were so close, but the finale really dropped the ball on that 💀 and I’m mad about it

3: have you ever quit a show before it finished? why?

Funny you should ask, because I’ve decided to do that with the Flash 😂 it’s been getting worse the more I’ve watched, but Season 7 was the last straw. I don’t acknowledge anything past S6 as canon (up to 7x3, technically, since that was the S6 finale), and even within canon, there’s a lot I don’t like. I’ll tune in for any crossovers, and for the eventual series finale, but other than that...I’m out. Fandom content only for this one.

I’m also on the verge of doing this for Cobra Kai, but that really depends on what they do in S4. Some of the rumors I’ve heard (like about Silver being someone’s dad), K*enry apparently becoming canon next season, the way S2 mishandled a lot of their conflicts and how the show never really recovered from that...idk. I think I’ve talked about my grievances with S2 before, I’ll link the post if I find it. I’m happy to talk about them again, in any case 😂

8: do you prefer week-to-week content, or just binging all in one go?

Definitely week to week 😂 I don’t really have time to binge stuff in one go, so I have to space it out, and that means I can’t really go looking for content until after I’ve caught up (I spoiled some parts of 2x10 of Cobra Kai for myself this way 🙃). Weekly releases mean I just have to watch an episode a week to be caught up. Plus, speculating is fun! As much as Wandavision disappointed a lot of fans because of all the theorizing happening...I loved that experience. Fandom theorizing is just fun, and I miss it.

29: do you tend to quote TV shows a lot? have you ever started using a word/phrase because of a TV show?

“Ya basic!” from Good Place is part of my vernacular now 😂 other than that...none that I can remember off the top of my head, but I’m sure there’s at least some that I’m forgetting.

37: which TV show setting would you most like to visit?

Ted Lasso! I wanna walk around their football club and meet everyone 🥰 and I wanna be Will’s friend!!

ask me about tv shows!

[myriadimagines]

End Of The Year Faves 2020!

Rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 8 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome work!

i was tagged by the lovely @lxncelot & @musicallisto !!!

i’ve only written 10 one shots this year since i stopped taking requests rip. i only ended up picking 5 of them bc i didnt like the rest. also i love talking about the behind the scenes of writing like its just so fun. i literally went through my revision history in my google docs to see how i wrote these akjsdhasjd so literally........... if anyone wants to talk to me about a piece........... just shoot me an ask bc i will gladly tell u all about it

1. Lifetimes (Sebastien le Livre) 

this might be my number one bc it’s the most recent and i havent decided i hate it yet but wrote this as an alternative to therapy lmfaooooooo and it’s been a month but um. it still hurts. but anyway, i started off with the below paragraph:

And Booker has centuries of pain under his belt. Endless years of trauma that he cannot even begin to unpack. But you don’t have centuries. You don’t have lifetimes to reconcile with all the cruelty in the world  —  you just have one, and Booker knows he of all people should know just how much hurt one lifetime can contain.

and just worked around it, bc i was just really obsessed with the concept of having multiple lifetimes and all that, and just the fact that life has so much pain and hurt and it just sucks. i edited the first sentence for the final but otherwise it’s the same. i think i came up with some pretty good lines in this if i do say so myself, and i mentioned it in the a/n, but i intended for it to be longer but didn’t want to push it after i feel like i had written all i wanted to. i just wanted someone to hold me and comfort me clearly. 

2. Cursed Blood (Renfri)

i am obsessed with renfri as a character and her whole story, and the whole concept of her being cursed just felt like something that i really wanted to explore and write about. these were the first lines i wrote for the piece:

But every time you kiss her, you swear that it’s impossible her lips could be poison. Or perhaps you grew so used it, that the poison tasted sweet. 

i ended up editing this a lot for the final version, but a trend in my writing seems to be i always come up with how to end a piece and just work around it. i really enjoyed going into depth into renfri’s character and it kinda felt more like a character study than a reader insert? but eventually i found a way to work the reader in there and i liked where the story went, bc renfri deserves happiness and someone to be there for her.

3. Roadside (Robin Buckley)

still in shock at how many notes this one got and i am forever grateful to everyone who reblogged/left comments!!! this was for lacey’s ( @moonlit-imagines ) writing challenge, and idk why when i saw the prompt i immediately decided to use robin. for this one, i actually started with the beginning, which was the prompt, “Let’s take a walk. Just you and me.”

i mentioned this in the a/n, but i planned it to be a lot more angsty and wasn’t even planning on ending it on a happy note askjdhaksd the original plot i had in mind was that robin and the reader were into each other but were dancing around each other’s feelings. so one night, the reader drunkenly kisses steve at a party to try and make robin jealous, but it ends up just causing a rift between robin and the reader even after they confess their feelings. here is a part i wrote for the original plot before i decided to scrap it and go with the final plot.

“Look, I don’t even care if you and Steve get together.” Robin waves her hand, and you’re not used to seeing such disappointment on your best friend’s face as she lets out a shaky breath. She looks as if she’s struggling to collect herself before she asks, “I just… why did you lie to me?”

“I didn’t.” you desperately blurt, and Robin’s eyebrows furrow. Shaking your head, you take a step towards her as you explain, “I didn’t lie, Robin, I swear. I don’t like Steve. What happened at the party meant nothing—”

Robin scoffs. “Then why—”

“—because I wanted you to see.” you finally confess, and Robin stares at you. You’re shaking, tears welling in your eyes as you continue, “Because I thought I could make you jealous, because I was just too afraid to make a move and wanted you too. And I know that’s silly of me, and I never meant to hurt your feelings—”

i changed the plot because i didn’t think i could pull it off, and i didn’t know how to fully end it. i liked where it ended up going anyway after the change of direction so all good!!

4. Games (Michael Gray)

so this was inspired by a gif imagine request that @fangirlsarah16 sent me, which you can find here!! you can literally see me already plotting for the piece in the tags aksjdha i just loved how angsty the situation was, and i love michael, so i decided to just run with it. i put what i had already written into a document and just pieced everything in around it. this is definitely one of my more dramatic pieces, but i just loved how the story came together and how all the other characters were included. 

i already planned to write a part 2 while i was still writing this piece, but obviously that hasnt happened yet. also i got discouraged bc i thought it would do better in terms of notes but oh well. i wrote around 300 words of where i wanted part 2 to go, and i still have it saved, but i dont want to share it in case i end up writing it. also, i have 2 plots in mind for where i want part 2 to go, and haven’t decided which one i want to go with. we’ll have to wait and see i guess >:)

5. Off Limits (Cassian Andor)

ah yes, the first in my rewrite project that is going along very slowly. basically, im planning on rewriting my super old one shots in hopes that i’ll like them. i swear i’ve got the next one shot in my drafts but i just havent had the time to finish it yet. anyway, the original piece, which i wrote 4 years ago (!!!!), was the piece that really got my blog started and helped me get activity/attention, and it has around 500 notes, which kinda makes the new version look depressing bc it only has 97 and it’s definitely a lot better in my opinion. 

i don’t really have a detailed process for this one, seeing as i was just improving upon an old piece, but one of the main things i did want to change was cassian’s characterisation. i felt like i just made him too mean in my old piece, and i wanted to loosen him up a bit. i managed to bang this one in one day and i just think it’s some cute content and i miss the rogue one squad!!

i’m tagging @moonlit-imagines @emcon-imagines @lotsoffandomimagines @dannyboy-writes @murswrites @randomfandomimagine @sonsofeorl @spxder-mxns & all other content creators that see this!! i’m definitely missing a lot but everyone should share their favorite pieces from this year :’)

[annacwrites]

the wip list

Alright, gang. Buckle up. This is going to be a long one, and at this point I can’t even bring myself to be sorry about it. I meant to put this off but then I started thinking about it, so here we are (at 1:05 in the morning when I have to work at 8:30, what am I doing?). 

I’m going to break this down in a couple of ways—fanfiction vs. original fiction, fandom (if it’s a fanfic), series/universe (if it’s in one), and then the individual books themselves (if I have the ability to do that, because quite frankly, for some of these I don’t because I have no idea what the titles are or where I’m splitting the story yet).

Also, “WIP” is an incredibly broad term here. In some cases it means I’ve already written the whole thing but I plan to 100% rewrite it (and haven’t started yet). In some cases it means I’ve written half of the thing but haven’t finished yet. In some cases it means I have it all outlined but haven’t started writing yet. In some cases it means I haven’t really touched an outline on paper yet but I have it all worked out in my head. Take the “in progress” part of WIP with a grain of salt.

(Putting this whole thing under the cut because it is so freaking long. I apologize if the read-more doesn’t work on your dash. Idk what tumblr is doing.)  

Starting off easy—the fics:

Harry Potter: (JKR can fuck off with her transphobia and cultural appropriation and all the other stupid and fucked-up shit that she’s done/promoted but, as I said to my friends, she can pry my next-gen fanfics from my cold dead hands. Cursed Child is not canon in my life because I’ve never read it and I don’t care what nonsense she came up with.)

The “In Your Arms I’ll Stay” universe (Tedtoire/Scorose): 

The first fic in this universe is the first fic I ever finished. 110k words followed up by a ~137k word sequel. It is a disaster and a half but it’s also my baby and I fully intend to rewrite it one of these days. It is full of standard Tedtoire trope-y nonsense—best friends since childhood! two-year age gap! jealousy about other relationships! obliviousness!—and at 15 I thought it was a really good idea to try to turn it into a mystery too, which is a mistake that I have every intention of rectifying because it was unnecessary and I just didn’t know how to do drama and tension back then. 

Anyway. It will probably be two parts again when I rewrite it because one part per school year just works, yeah? We’re covering Vic’s fifth/Teddy’s seventh year and Vic’s sixth year/Teddy’s first year out of school over the course of these parts.

Within this universe we also have Heartbeat and Bone, which is a Scorose fic that I’ve written probably 75% of already but have no intention of actually finishing before I rewrite it. I want to get the stories in the right order so that I can get details straightened out, so Teddy and Victoire get the rewrites first and then I’ll be revisiting this fic. Also full of trope-y nonsense (and my continued acceptance of the headcanon that the Heads have their own dormitory at Hogwarts, because it’s just too much fun that way).  

some things were meant to be (Tedtoire):

Oh god, another fic with a cliché title taken from Can’t Help Falling In Love. I have zero regrets because it fits them perfectly.

This one is... half-done? I fully intend to finish it but I need to finish the outline first. It was my 2019 NaNoWriMo project and I am 100% just writing it for the lols (and because Teddy and Vic are like... my comfort ship where writing is concerned). I wanted to play with a different universe and change up their relationship and roles at school a bit, but once again... trope-y nonsense. It’s unavoidable with them. There is obliviousness everywhere. 

Star Wars: (it’s Reylo, okay? It’s Reylo. I don’t want to hear it about how the ship is ~so terrible.~ That is literally the furthest thing in the world from a hot take, you can’t say a single thing that I haven’t heard before, and I’m a grown adult and can do what I want. Bite me.)

looking for the map that leads me home (Reylo): 

Stole the title on this one from We Take Care of Our Own by Bruce Springsteen, because why the fuck not, right? 

To put it simply: musician AU. To put it a little less simply: he’s got a dead career, she wants to have even the slightest shot at one, Rose is the best, Poe’s a singing heartthrob, Finn is a love-struck goofball. You know, all that fun stuff. The entire thing is based on a playlist that I made and every chapter has a song that acts as its theme. I haven’t touched it since January 2018. I want to finish it eventually but it’s not really at the top of the priority list. 

There’s a few other fics from other fandoms that I’ve started and never finished but the odds of me touching them again are like... nonexistent, so I’m not including them here. I’ll update this post if anything changes on that front (but it probably won’t).

Now for the complicated part—the original fiction:

Maker’s Magic 

This is a trilogy (or at least, it’s supposed to be). This is also a rewrite of the first story I ever finished—the fantasy novel that I wrote for my first-ever Camp NaNoWriMo back in August of 2011, when I had literally no clue what I was doing at all and essentially stole the plot structure from The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and built my own story around it. This is not a good way to write a piece of fiction that you want to publish, kids, but it is a damn good way to get your feet wet when you’ve never really written before.

I am reworking this story entirely from scratch. The characters are... kind of the same as the original story. Kind of. Maybe. I’ve changed a few names and merged a few people together and scrapped some others and entirely shifted the backstory of pretty much everyone, but... they’re definitely still the same, right? 

Basically, at this point the plot is really only similar to The Obsidian Trilogy in that we’ve got a trilogy, we’ve got some elves, and it’s your standard good vs. evil fantasy story (in its own unique fashion, of course). I’m still working out the details of this rewrite, but this is kind of the Holy Grail of all of my writing projects and the one that I’m most concerned about getting right, so I’m anticipating that I’ll be in it for the long haul on this one. I’m hoping I might be able to get a draft of the first book done this year, but... we’ll see.

(I also don’t want to give too many details about this project, ‘cause it’s the one that I’d really like to maybe publish one day, so...)

The Willow Hill universe

This started as a single story plus a standalone sequel set in the same universe, conceptualized when I was fourteen and missing horseback riding terribly (so yes, it is a story for all those Weird Horse Girls™ out there). I wrote a good portion of it, then deleted it, then rewrote the entire thing, then deleted it again a few years ago because I was no longer satisfied with the writing quality (after hitting top 100 on the Teen Fiction list on Wattpad way back when, so... I didn’t do too badly as a 16-year-old, but the writing still sucked). I’ve been promising a rewrite to my Wattpad followers since 2016 or something like that (2014? Whenever the hell it was that I deleted it the second time) but haven’t delivered at all.

I now envision this universe as a duology plus the aforementioned standalone sequel, except it’s not entirely fair to call it a YA duology in that the first book is definitely YA, but the second is more romance-y?

I originally just revealed the main character’s endgame relationship in the epilogue of the story, but I love both her and her boyfriend and their relationship so much that I decided that I’m going to be self-indulgent and write the story of them actually falling in love with each other, so that’s book two (so really, you don’t actually have to read book two to understand anything, I’m just writing it because I want to and it’s also kind of a present to anyone who read the original story when they were also a teenager and is now an adult who wants to read other stuff). 

Book one is now about the teenage struggle of crushes and trying to figure out what it is that you actually want out of your life and what you value (I say “now” because it was definitely way more self-insert-y the first time I wrote it and it is decidedly not at this point). It’s also sort of a love letter to trainers who are amazing and the kind of person we should all be so lucky as to be coached by.

These characters are my comfort characters where original fiction is concerned since they’ve been bouncing around in my head for the last ten years or so, and I’m hoping I can get at least the first book rewritten in the next year-ish, partly because I’ve been promising it for so long, and partly because I just really enjoy this world and I want to get back to it again.

The Coffee Shop Chronicles

AKA, I lived in one coffee shop on my university campus for pretty much the entirety of my college experience and it was a very inspiring place to be, so this has less to do with coffee shop AUs and more to do with the fact that I met several of my favorite human beings on this earth over a vanilla chai latte and mutual sass with the baristas.

(One of said baristas is very near and dear to me and introduced me to another regular who is now a very good friend with the statement “You’re both sarcastic assholes. You’ll love each other.”) 

None of the characters in this universe are based on actual human beings whom I know, but I liked the idea of the campus coffee shop serving as this thing that tangentially connected all of these people to one another, much in the way that I am tangentially connected to god knows how many people via my barista friend. Essentially, the idea is that the stories in this universe are all standalone, but the characters sometimes cross paths with one another at Caffeinated, so it’s sort of... Easter-egg-y in terms of who pops up where in which story. 

Currently I only have two stories in this universe that are legitimately plotted out, but there is room for any number of spin-offs based on whichever characters show up in those stories (or don’t—that’s the fun of it being a coffee shop. The barista is the only reliable character). Those two stories are as follows:

Chance Encounters (title so totally subject to change, also stealing the terribly summary from the Wattpad draft that never saw the light of day):

For Bennett McGuire, things with guys just didn't seem to want to go her way. From the disasters that were her attempts at dating in high school to the problem that had been Elijah Becker, she hadn't exactly had the best luck. With all that in mind, it made perfect sense to swear off dating until she finished college—that is, it made sense until one frozen day in February when Gordon Evans walked into her life. After that, who was to say what would happen?

What’s Your Metaphor? (once again, enjoy the terrible summary from the Wattpad draft that never was. I am cringing reading it but also too tired to come up with anything better):

"What's the point?" 

It's a question asked widely, for all sorts of reasons, and it's one that April Hayes didn't know the answer to any better than anyone else. All she knew was that she had her plan, and she was going to stick to it, because it was the only thing that seemed to have any sort of logic to it in her life. The things she thought, the things she believed—well, they all fell before the plan, because she didn't have time to ask herself "What's the point?"

That is, she didn't have the time to know the answer—her answer—until one guy by the name of Drew Collier showed up and made her consider things that she had never even thought of before.

High Blood

Yinz can go read my WIP introduction post for this one. It’s a fantasy story. Just for the hell of it, here’s the summary from said WIP introduction post: 

At the age of seventeen, Thessaly of Averak had a choice—take the crown of her people and her place as her father’s heir, or set it aside to become one of the High Warriors, dedicated to protecting their people and the country that her long-dead ancestor Enred built after leading its citizens out of a long and bloody war. Amidst raids and famine at the borders, she gave up her crown to better serve the people that her family rules.

Ten years later, all is quiet. At least, all is quiet until Beca’s pendant is stolen by a thief who disappears into the night on the journey back from the summer palace, Tess gets herself stabbed, and the discovery is made that the rock-solid foundations of their family’s claim to the throne—and the peace that depends upon them—are laced with hairline fractures.

(I didn’t write anything to speak of for Camp NaNo July 2020 and actually wound up deleting my project for this on the NaNo site because my dad was hit by a car while cycling the Friday before the weekend when I was planning to write like... 30k words to catch up, so obviously I gave up on that plan (he is doing well now, thank you for asking). I’m hoping I’ll get around to this one eventually because this particular universe arguably has the most potential for having multiple stories set in it, fantasy-wise.)

Emerson’s Lights

Natalie Flynn has been best friends with Evan Acheson practically since birth. They've stuck together through thick and thin, from her braces in seventh grade to his jump to stardom as a singer-songwriter their freshman year of college. 

She’d do anything for him, but spending a week with him on tour involves a lot more than she bargained for, culminating in the turn of events that is Caleb Blake, lead singer and primary songwriter of opening act Emerson’s Lights, moving into her house for the better part of a month.

She always knew there would be complications being the best friend of a rock star, but this? This was one that she didn’t bet on.

(Aka, girl meets boy in a band trope. Yay.)

(NaNoWriMo 2020 project)

The famous musician story (this thing doesn’t have a title right now and I’m not even going to try)

Stupid, trope-y nonsense idea that I came up with for my own personal amusement and nothing else. I’ve written a few chapters of it but genuinely have no idea where this falls in the hierarchy of things that I want to get done. Long story short, she’s in grad school for history, he’s a famous musician in town recording for a new album, they meet in the library, she pretends she has no idea who he is, and shenanigans ensue.

And that is where I think I’m going to leave it. There’s four other stories that I can think of off the top of my head that I could theoretically add to this list, but they are legitimately just ideas right now so they can be added at a later date when they’ve manifested themselves a little more strongly. There’s also another quartet in the Willow Hill universe that I came up with in high school that could theoretically be added but I think I might just steal those character names and give them their own little world instead. We’ll see.

Basically, if you didn’t get the point from this list: I am working on a lot of things, and when I say I’m writing, it could mean literally anything on this list (or any of the other ideas that I have floating around). The stories/universe here are the most likely candidates for my time, depending on whether I’m doing a deep dive into my writing or just playing around with something fun, and hopefully (god, hopefully) I’ll be able to move one or two of these to a “completed works” list in the next year(ish). 

(Or at least, as complete as a draft ever gets before you start going in on it again.)

[elliot-orion]

An Overdue Writing Update 8/9/19

Word Count (today): 8427

Favorite Line: “Do you hate me?” I wonder. “Just curious.” “I hate this you. This awful person you became once Sophie left. I actually really liked the you I saw with her.” Grace sighs. She sounds… sad. “How funny. I’m the same way.”

(the month overdue) Update: So we’ve hit writing well over 5000 today so that means i need to stop writing, which also means i’ve been bored as heck for the past three hours with nothing to do because all i want is to KEEP WRITING DFSGHFKJLGH so i thought i’d pop back to tumblr and catch yall up since i’ve been absent for exactly a month, funnily. Its under a read more because... long...

In this month, I’ve written... 38k words for this rewrite of a story i discontinued years ago because it fucking sucked (obviously, i wrote it when i was 12 for gods sake). Its just hit the Finale where i left it, but i’m intending to leave it there because i dont like the Finale i’ve set up and intend to change it completely in the rewrite ANYWAYS, so who cares right? Since ive been doing rewrites and comparing them to how i do first drafts, i’ve been noticing that my first drafts have shit pacing (i mean obvi it’s a first draft), but that turns into underwriting like fuck, aka ending at 40k-50k words. Sparks Fly T1 was barely over 50k, T3 ended at 62k, and i intend to do a T4 at some point too, where i expect it’ll get even longer. So ive actually been putting less pressure on myself to get pacing and length and whatnot right in the first draft, and really just getting the idea and general plot. Which, okay, i know is what you are SUPPOSED to do in first drafts and this isnt any big revelation, but you need to realize, i haven’t rewritten anything in the past 9 years of writing until Take 3 of sparks fly (T2 didn’t get past 20k words, but im counting it as an attempt). For 9 years of writing novels, i did my best to get draft one PERFECT because i knew i wouldnt redo it, and i think that caused a lot of my unfinished wip actually. Too much pressure. Now that i know i CAN do rewrites if its worth it, its not as big a pressure.

So because of this realization, I finished the rewrite of the old thing, which im considering its first take(idk why i call them Takes, not Drafts? idk its just a thing i do). i’m changing the title, most of the characters are massively changed, the plot is entirely scrapped and redone, like it’s just a new story now with vague inspiration from that old thing at this point. It’s shit, it’s not good, but it’s done (mostly, again didn’t do the end bc it’s being overhauled anyways and i can’t find a way to change the ending that draft has set up without rewriting it all so. shrug. might do it anyways, prob wont). I’m also starting something new in the DHU universe that i cant say anything about, but i think i started it like, two scenes after it probably should start, the pacing is truly terrible, but im having a ball because im not putting any pressure on myself to do those right, i’m just exploring the characters and piecing together the plot. It’ll probably wind up being around 30k, but hopefully its more. So this story is going great, and i’m really happy i figured this out about myself. Finishing rewriting Sparks Fly was honestly the biggest achievement i’ve ever made in writing, and i’m so proud of it, and just. I’m so glad i did it, because it’s just made things so much better for me, simply because i proved i can do it. It might take a few years breathing room, but i can do it. Any just... yea.

So that’s what i’ve been up to this past month basically. The redo of the thing from when i was twelve, and this new project i can’t say anything about yet. Oh, also a shitty fanfic or two. I won’t be coming back to tumblr except very sporadically to make an update or say hi to someone, by the way. It’s been so amazing for my mental health to be off here, and my writing productivity has gotten much better to, and... yea. I have a discord though, so if you want to keep in touch with me, that’ll be the way to go! just shoot me a message and when i see it, i’ll give you my username. ^^

[reyneclaw]

just a quick draft. i believe you can guess her name. ‘(name), dear, come with me for a moment please. I have something to tell you in private.  now, would you help me get that book from that shelf up here...’ ‘An obscure medical textbook? Auntie, you know I know nothing about medicine...’ ‘Not exactly, dear, not exactly. I know y’all think auntie is growing old and out of her wits...’ (approximate - idk the exact expression she used) ‘I certainly don’t think so!’ Ángel appeared at the open door. ‘Shoo! We’re having a nice little private chat with your daughter here’ The daugther looked up at Josefina, unsure where all of this could be going. Closing the door, the smile vanished from her face, and the kind, humorous tones were gone. ‘No, I’m not drunk. I’d hate to spoil the occasion with alcohol. Been waiting for it half my life. For him to kick the bucket... (again - approximate, it was something much more suitable originally). Now, open it’ She gasped as the contents came streaming down. The book was hollowed out after the first twenty or so pages, and held...  Letters. Photos. Documents with seals no loger in use. Pages and pages filled with quick, nearly illegible writing. Picking the mess up off the carpet, (name) stopped halfway with a photo in her hand. ‘Dad?’ ‘Took you a second to recognize him, right?’ ‘But...’ Carefully, she put down what turned into an impressive stack of papers and photos.  ‘Later, later. Now, I want you to listen, attentively, this won’t take long. Do you understand what exactly is kept in here?’ She nodded. ‘I think yes’ ‘No, you don’t. That’s alright. You won’t understand until you’ve read through all of this, thoroughly. Perhaps not even then’. ‘Then why let me in on your secrets? I do understand, Auntie, I’m...’ ‘Too young. End of discussion. You don’t, you cannot, have the same idea, the same emotioanl response to this as I do, sad as it sounds. This here is only a small part of what I have saved, referring more or less directly to our family. There’s more. Then, there are some papers I’m simply keeping, those will be of more interest to your mother...’ ‘My mother?’ ‘Seems you weren’t the most curious girl growing up, were you? What a shame, (name). Yes, your mother, as well. Luckily, not everyone is such a fool as to marry a cat in the bag...’ ‘Who are you hinting at?’ ‘Oh, just a general warning, and a bit of advice from your old, senile auntie. You’ll understand, once you have read all of this’. ‘So, the part that doesn’t belong to Mom...’ ‘It’s yours. You’re young, you’ve got more time and better eyes than mine, and you have the wonderful ability to keep things organized, I’ve heard. So I was going to ask you to rewrite this’ - Josefin carefully pulled aside a stack of pages containing her own writing - ‘And to share it far and wide’. (name) nodded.  ‘As far as would be... reasonable. The first obvious exception, keep your father out of it, please. For some time at least. It’s up to you to decide when’. (name) couldn’t help but to start reading right away. she sat silently, trying hard to come to terms with the surprise. Josefina could practically hear her brains buzzing. My children were brighter. ‘You’ll have plenty of time later. It’s not nice to hide from family’ ‘Okay, but still... please tell me, why? Why me, why now, what exactly do you expect me to do and why do you even need my help if you’re saying I can’t understand it?’ ‘Because we, including your parents and me, have done a lot of work that must be continued with. Who else? Because I’d like you to grow up, to be more self-reliant, and not to come running for help from Dad - or anyone else, least of all, your future spouse’ That last warning hit a sore point.  ‘Shh, this isn’t anything private, this we can discuss together, and probably should. The one thing I want you to realize now...’ Josefina struggled with words, too. She felt as though everyone but (name) would prefer not to go through this talk. Besides, she imagined this situation differently. She didn’t sign up to be a marriage consultant for a girl she had no real relation to. Considering her own only marriage, which fell apart in less than a year, and the rest of her love life which was a disaster... the position she was dragged into looked hilarious. However, this didn’t matter. It wasn’t her responsibility anymore. After finishing this one task, nothing was her responsibility. She sighed with content. It was done. Finally, done. Almost.  ‘The only thing you need to realize before you dive in. That’s my entire life documented in here, or rather the scraps left of it. Not only mine, of course. Our life. Now, it’s long past time that life was brought back out’. ‘Thank you’, (name) said. That was out of the blue. ‘For handing this responsiblity to me’.  ‘Thank me later’.

[aka-willow]

Stepping Up

gif

Words: 658

Characters: Willow Wren, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff

Summary: Tony catches Willow on his flight to Berlin

Timeline: June 2016

Song: Stepping Up - Henry Jackman

A/N: sorry for the delays! I’ve been thinking about rewriting part 1 and part 2 and actually put effort into it instead of flying by the seat of my pants, so part of me just wants to scrap everything and rewrite but also I feel obligated to finish this arc? Idk. I’ll probably finish the arc and then complete it and begin the rewrite.

—————————————————————————–

“You better have an unbelievably good explanation, kid,” Tony said as he pulled me out of the cabinet and into the cabin of the quinjet. I hit the ground and scrambled back until I could stand and confront him. “You had one job. One job,” he said, holding a finger up. “Stay at the compound. Don’t cause trouble. That’s it.”

“That’s two jobs,” I mumbled and instantly regretted it.

“No!” he yelled. “No more talking, you’re done! You understand that everyone is watching us right now? What are they going to say when I show up to Europe with an unregistered powered kid in tow? Huh? This is the last place where you should be right now.” He paused, resting his hand over his mouth as he thought. “Does Romanoff know you’re here?”

I shook my head.

“Do you want to be the one to tell her? Or me?” He turned back to the quinjet’s console and flipped a few switches, what I could assume were communications. “She’s not going to take it kindly either way.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I—I saw the news and when I heard HYDRA… I…”

“What, you decided to jet on over to see your buddies?”

“No!” I yelled back. “I’m not with them. I hate them.” I took a deep breath. “I’m worried that there are others like me, still with HYDRA. And if that’s true, I can’t sit at the compound and do nothing. I have to do something.”

“That’s not your job,” Tony snapped and then held up a finger to cut me off before I could respond. “Romanoff, come in?”

I shut my eyes tightly, feeling sick to my stomach as I heard her response crackle back over the comms. “Tony? What’s your ETA?”

“About twenty minutes,” Tony said. “But I seemed to have picked up a stowaway and I’ll need assistance at the landing site to deal with that… guess who?”

“Is it Willow?” I could hear the disappointment in her voice.

“Bingo,” Tony said. “She’s your kid, so, all yours when we land.”

“Thanks. I’ll let them know.” In my jacket pocket, I felt the micro EMP emitter I had taken from storage, and for a moment…

Tony doesn’t have his suit. You can fly. This ship goes down… I shook my head, horrified with myself as I pushed the disk up under my ponytail, securely against my head in case I was searched.

“Look, you could let me go now,” I said. “I’ll… fly out or something— no one has to know…”

Tony sat back down in a huff and turned in the pilot’s chair to face me. “Wanda and Sam and all of them may have forgotten you’re in custody, but I haven’t. This isn’t negotiable. You were on lockdown at the compound. You ran away. These are the consequences.” He shook his head. “You know, I thought Romanoff and Cap were crazy moving you from SHIELD’s facility to ours. Maybe I was right. Tesseract or not, you could move planets for all I care, and I’d still say you should have stayed in their facility.”

“I know,” I muttered. “I know everyone thinks it. I know Rhodey doesn’t trust me or that Wanda always seems afraid that I’m moments from snapping. I didn’t ask for this.”

“I know,” Tony said, the edge disappearing a little. “And I’m sorry. But you’re… what… thirteen? So… you know.” He sniffed. “Stop being a pussy about it.” I glared at him, but I had nothing left to say, because it’s exactly what I’d always tell myself.

“We’re coming up to Berlin now,” Tony said. “Don’t try anything when we land; Romanoff already has police waiting to escort you. This is not a place where you want to mess around. You’ll be put into lockup until SHIELD picks you up to extradite you back to the United States.”

“And then what?”

“That’s not up to either of us.”

[neoncathedrals]

11 Questions Tag

thanks so much for the tag @byjillianmaria!!

Rules: always post the rules, answer the questions given to you, write 11 questions of your own, tag 11 people.

1.) What’s a line of dialogue that you’re most proud of?

Ooh this is a toughy. I’ll use a line from my big WIP that I like:

“I had control over you like I hadn’t had over anyone else before. You were the perfect little doll…” He removed his hand from Adam’s cheek, rolling his eyes as he turned his gaze off to the side, his actions clearly meant to be taken as rejection. “But tonight, you broke. And I don’t play with broken toys.”  

this was the line that gave me the sense that “YES, I am doing what I’ve wanted to do with this concept for the last 2 years, but never could until now.” It was a great feeling.

2.) Which of your characters would you most like to hang out with?

Oh god a ton of them are total jackasses who would probably hate me but I think the one who’d be the most pleasant to hang with would be this oc I have named Parrish, either him, Marcus, Virgo or Caroline. They seem like the least Debbie Downers of the group, and they know how to have a good time!

3.) Do you have any goals for the rest of 2017?

Finishing my novel’s first draft, and if I’m allowed to be ambitious enough, I’d like to either start editing the second draft or getting a cover scrapped together.

4.) What season inspires you the most?

Fall, the entire atmosphere of the season gets me pUMPED.

5.) If you could rewrite one part of an already-published work, what would it be?

uhhhhh I have no idea but the worst book I’ve ever read was like, something called “Out of the Ashes” or something, about people who lived under this dome and were shielded from the outside world.. there was this near-rape scene that ended with the main girl actually falling.. for.. her attempted rapist…. I’d like to rewrite that whole book but ESPECIALLY that god awful shitshow.

6.) Do any of your characters have pets? What kind?

A few! My main man Adam has a cat (although the cat isn’t a thing in the novel… It’s a weird caveat don’t question it), Marcus has an elderly golden retriever, Caroline had some parakeets as a kid… I think there’s more but those are the first that come to mind!

7.) What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re feeling uninspired?

Scroll through pinterest, listen to music, skim through favorite scenes in my favorite movies, or just wallow in my grief of being uninspired and watch stupid youtube videos to numb the pain.

8.) Do you have a go-to writing snack/drink?

I drink water but that’s about it, I don’t usually eat when I write. Gets distracting.

9.) Do you have any self-indulgent stories/characters that you’d never publish (or even write down)?

I do! But the thing is that I do just.. write them down. I’ve never been one to shy away from writing something because it might be “self-indulgent.” If I wanna do it, I wanna do it. Writing itself SHOULD be self-indulgent, everyone should create for THEMSELVES first, and fuck everyone who criticizes you. It’s like the phrase “guilty pleasure”, ugh it just grinds my gears.

10.) What works inspire you to be a better writer?

I don’t have any in particular, but just reading the things my friends create gives me inspiration and motivation enough to keep doing what I’m doing and improve myself.

11.) Say something nice about your writing! (Not a question, don’t care).

Haha this one’s nice, idk I guess I like how unique my characters are? I feel like they’re interesting and cool, and they should be, given how much time and effort and research I put into them. I like creating characters, it’s like, my favorite part of writing in general.

Now the 11 NEW questions:

1) Do you have a favorite genre to write for?

2) What’s the word count on your current WIP?

3) Do you make playlists and/or aesthetic boards for your stories and/or characters?

4) At what age did you first begin to write?

5) Is there a certain age group you like to write for?

6) Do any of your characters mimic some your own real life behaviors or personality traits? If so, maybe give an example?

7) What time of day are you most productive?

8) Briefly describe your creative process (how do you formulate ideas and plot stories? are you a planner or an improviser or something different altogether?)

9) Is there anything you won’t write or have yet to write as a creator? (gore, smut, certain phobias, etc.)

10) Which one of your characters would be the worst guest at a dinner or party? Why?

11) (this isn’t technically a question but I don’t care) In one sentence, describe the plot of one of your favorite stories in the dumbest way possible.

Tagging: @robinbibliophile​, @gloriawriting​, @wchwriter​, @writebruh​, @pretendingtowrite​, @lizard-is-writing​, @lianabrooks​

I’m gonna stop there and break the rules a bit because I don’t feel like scrolling to find more random people haha.