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[sickficideas]

gotta hear me out || sick Akutagawa w/ caretaker Atsushi - chapter 2 of 3

ao3! 5.1k/10.6k - please refer to the tags in the link for content + warnings! sicktember 2024, day 30: past prompt (2022, day 27: sleepless night)

Atsushi tries to keep himself busy. There’s not many signs at all that Akutagawa has done anything in his home outside of his room - there’s a few dishes and a pot in the sink that Atsushi decides to clean and put away, dishes far fancier than necessary, he thinks - a rice cooker and a teapot on the counter too. He thinks his next objective is going to be to get Akutagawa to eat something. Rice is probably an easy start.

The storm seems to have let up a bit. It’s still raining, sky still filled to the brim with dark clouds, but he hasn’t heard thunder for a while. He knows that it won’t continue like this, but it’s a nice break for now. He really hates having to listen to thunder.

He finally finds a thermometer, too. He snuck into Akutagawa’s bathroom through a second door, finding one buried under other medical supplies, without charged batteries, of course. At least the batteries were easier to find, and now he has a working thermometer.

He checks his own temperature, laying the thermometer under his tongue for a few seconds, to make sure it’s working properly. He’s been told by Yosano that his temperature is higher than the average human’s, closer to that of a tiger’s, and the thermometer reflects that. A hundred and one point one. That would be a decent fever on a normal person. He washes the thermometer and sets it on the counter beside the rice cooker.

Atsushi turns the TV in the living room after peering around for a remote. Thankfully, it was already on a very low volume. He doesn’t need it loud at all, he really just wants to keep track of the news. They’re actively reporting on the storm, confirming his hypothesis that it will indeed continue on through the night.

He bites his lip.

He wanders back into the kitchen, deciding he’ll work on the daunting task of trying to figure out how the rice cooker works. It’s more difficult than it looks. It’s way, way fancier than one he’s ever seen, and he thinks he might have to give up and opt for cooking rice in a pot, but luck is on his side, and he finds a manual.

He turns back to the island in the kitchen, opening the foldable manual to find the section that explains which buttons do what, and he catches something dark in his peripheral. Atsushi backs up, nearly hits his back against the other counter, arms defensively over his chest as he gasps.

Akutagawa just raises his eyebrows in vague confusion. He’s sitting at the kitchen island on one of the bar stools, one arm crossed and his head propped on the other.

“You scared me,” Atsushi says with the heavy sigh, lowering his arms and closing his eyes for a few seconds, trying to lower his heart rate. “How long have you been sitting there?”

“Not long,” Akutagawa says simply. Atsushi has no idea how he didn’t hear him leave his room. He doesn’t even really look half-asleep, his eyes just squint, bothered by the overhead light. Atsushi wanders over to the light switch to turn it off.

“Do you ever have these on?” Atsushi asks him, realizing a pattern from earlier.

“No,” Akutagawa says. “I hate having the lights on. Such a waste. I can see perfectly fine without them.”

“Maybe you’re still a vampire after all,” Atsushi jokes, finding the connection a little amusing.

“Ugh, shut up,” Akutagawa grumbles, bringing his head down into his hand and pressing them against his temples. Atsushi realizes he still definitely has a headache, no wonder the lights are bothering him so much. He’s slept a few hours, at the very least, Atsushi was hoping that would help. He definitely needs something in his system.

“When was the last time you had something to eat?” Atsushi asks him, folding up the manual after figuring out enough to be able to do simple things with the rice cooker.

“Not sure,” Akutagawa murmurs, lowering his hands back onto the counter, “a couple of days ago.”

Atsushi’s eyes widen. “Days?!”

“I don't eat often. That's not abnormal,” Akuatagwa huffs, like that’s an easily acceptable answer.

“Well, yeah. That's clear,” Atsushi mumbles. Akutagawa is ridiculously thin, which he’s sure has something to do with his illness, but he’s seen him regularly refuse to eat. “You should eat every day. No wonder you're passing out all the time.”

Akutagawa seems taken aback by that accusation. “I do not pass out all the time.”

“I can't count the number of times I've seen you pass out on two hands, so, that's too many,” Atsushi chides. It’s not always for a long time, but Akutagawa clearly never has enough energy to fight regularly. He’s seen him pass out, just for a few seconds, many times after using his ability for extended periods of time. “Also, you literally passed out when I got here.”

“I’m sick, in case you forgot,” Akutagawa grumbles.

“I thought you’re always sick,” Atsushi says, mocking how difficult he was being earlier. Akuatagwa just rolls his eyes, props his chin up on his palm and stares out the window, childishly pretending Atsushi isn’t there.

Atsushi opens a few cabinet drawers and doors looking for rice, surprised Akutagawa doesn’t try to wring his neck for going through his things, but he finally finds the rice. He takes the container out onto the counter.

“How’s rice sound?”

“Nauseating,” he answers, still staring out the window.

“Okay, well you have to eat something, Akutagawa,” Atsushi tells him with a half-pout. He wishes there was some way to help his nausea without him taking medicine, because he’s sure any of that would make him feel terrible on a completely empty stomach.

“Do as you wish,” Akutagawa huffs, repeating his earlier sentiment. Maybe he's realized that Atsushi won't back down.

Atsushi takes that, and decides to continue.

Akutagawa doesn't say a word to him for at least the twenty minutes while the rice is cooking. He stays on the chair for a while, listless and staring out the window, deep in thought. Atsushi wonders what he's thinking about, or what's ever on his mind in general, but he thinks that's something he'll never find out.

He disappears behind Atsushi's back once he's turned around and scooping the rice into a bowl. He sees he's gone and sat down on the couch, his eyes now on the TV screen instead of the window. They're still covering the weather. Atsushi suspects they'll probably be doing that through the night too.

Atsushi wanders into the living room with two bowls of rice and just sits with him and watches the news for a little while. It's kind of nice - calm, quiet. Akutagawa doesn't turn it up and neither does Atsushi, so at times the raindrops against the windows are louder than the weather reporting, but Atsushi doesn't mind it. He wishes Akutagawa had some sort of rice seasoning or chazuke packets laying around, but based on what he found in his kitchen, he gets the feeling that the latter never cooks at all. He thinks eating rice plain in solidarity with Akutagawa is fine in the end.

Akutagawa eats more of the rice than Atsushi expected him to, considering he hasn't eaten or taken medicine in days due to his nausea. Maybe he had been mistaking hunger pains from not eating for nausea. Atsushi decides he'll see how it goes, and if that's really the case, maybe he can take some medicine.

He's relieved at the idea that Akutagawa might be fine after all. He just needed a few simple things, just to be taken care of for a few hours.

The weather report starts to show aerial clips of Suribachi City. Atsushi's been through there several times in his time at the Agency, being it's an area of high crime that even the mafia seems to stay out of.

He'd never thought out how horribly prone to flooding the crater-shaped slums are, but it makes perfect sense. The reporter talks about how many of its inhabitants will be found in Yokohama during the storm to avoid drowning in the floods. They have nowhere else to go.

Akutagawa takes the remote, changes the channel to the next one down and hands it to Atsushi.

“Choose something else to watch,” Akutagawa tells him. Atsushi takes the remote, a little surprised by the sudden demand, but the look in his eyes is strange. It's not fear, is it?

“News not good enough for you anymore?” Atsushi says, testing to see if he's receptive to teasing, because even the tone of how voice is a little concerning.

“Are you enjoying watching homeless children drown?” he bites back. It's not quite as mean as he usually is, more defensively, and a strange comment considering nothing of the sort was shown on screen. It was simply implied.

“Since when do you care about kids? You kill people,” Atsushi reminds him. He's really just teasing him, but he's never seen Akutagawa interact with a child other than Kyoka, and he wasn't good to her. “Or, used to.”

Akutagawa looks angry for a few seconds, like he's trying to figure out what to say, but it seems Atsushi's comments have left him speechless enough to decide against it. He just sighs and turns his head back towards the screen.

Atsushi thinks the entire interaction was strange. Akutagawa getting so defensive out of nowhere isn't like him. Atsushi at least knows what to avoid in conversation most of the time so he doesn't get choked out, but this time, he has no idea what set it off. Or, if he does, he doesn't know why.

He knows a lot less about Akutagawa than he thinks he does.

Akutagawa coughs into his hand a few times before he places his bowl of rice on the coffee table, chopsticks laying over the top of it, to then cough into his elbow. Atsushi gets up quickly and decides he'll get him a glass of water. He needs to start getting hydrated anyway. The dizziness and headache could certainly be lessened if it wasn't dehydrated.

Atsushi hands him a glass of water once the coughing dies down. Akutagawa is hesitant on taking it, looking like he's considering ignoring Atsushi's presence, but he gives in and takes the glass from him, only taking a few sips of it.

“You're aware my lung illness doesn't care if I'm hydrated or not,” Akutagawa mumbles, ignoring Atsushi's eye contact as he stands in front of him.

Atsushi's heart sinks a little, hearing him say that.

“Let me look at that wound again,” Atsushi decides, not wanting to start an argument on how Akutagawa should care for himself. It's a losing battle with how unbelievably stubborn he is. He takes the glass of water and sets it behind him on the coffee table.

He leans forward over Akutagawa, who doesn't resist, pulling down the neckline of the sweatshirt to reveal the bandage. Blood has seeped through it already, but not enough to stain the sweatshirt, it looks like. He lifts a knee up onto the couch to avoid awkwardly leaning over Akutagawa, trying to inspect the wound a little more closely as he peels the bandage back.

It looks okay. Not better by any means, but cleaner at least, from Atsushi's earlier work. He thinks this should be stitched up, but it's far too old to do that now - it would only trap the infection the way it is. He thinks right now all he can do is keep it clean and covered, but once Akutagawa is feeling a little better, he needs this looked at by a professional.

He wishes he could lend Akutagawa some of his self-healing. It would make his life so much easier.

“You're too close,” Akutagawa mumbles suddenly, and Atsushi realizes how close he really is.

He's almost straddling him. One knee leaned against the couch and the other propped up on the other side of Akutagawa’s leg, almost leaning against him. This would have been much easier to do from the other side of the couch, but he was already here.

Akutagawa doesn't do anything to push him away, but his cheeks are suddenly red.

“Right - sorry,” Atsushi stammers awkwardly, standing and backing up. “I'll be - right back. I think I just need to change the bandage.”

So he does just that. He takes some supplies out from the bathroom and leaves the basket on the counter, since he'll certainly need this again later.

Atsushi just sits beside him this time, taking off the bandage as carefully as he can. Akutagawa doesn't react to much of what he's doing, aside from when he tries to clean it up. He can feel him flinch and tense up, but he doesn't make any noise - just staring forward, even though he's paying no attention to the random channel he flipped to on the TV.

Atsushi looks up every now and then, just to peer at what he can see of his eyes, and he's deep in thought about something, so much so that Atsushi is worried he'll scare him if he suddenly speaks.

He wishes he knew what Akutagawa was thinking about.

As he finishes up the bandage, he eyes Akutagawa’s unfinished rice. He ate a fair amount of it, but not as much as Atsushi would have liked him to.

“You need to eat more than that,” Atsushi tells him after he pulls the collar of Akutagawa’s sweater back up over the new bandage. He thinks he'll have to change it every few hours or so. 

“Do you want me to vomit?” Akutagawa grumbles, using the armrest of the couch to force himself up, an action that seems to be rather painful. He's sore. He hopes that doesn't mean his stomach is already hurting.

“Does that mean you feel sick?” Atsushi asks him.

“I wish you would leave,” Akutagawa mumbles under his breath, not with any intention of hiding that sentiment from Atsushi. He thinks that's a yes, then, with how he's deflecting. His arms are crossed over his chest, very defensively, but Atsushi's at least glad to see he can stand on his own.

“I don't get all your back and forth. You let me bathe you and then you want me gone,” Atsushi huffs. Akutagawa has never made any sense to him. He can never tell what he's thinking or what he'll say next.

“You're only here because of Dazai, are you not?” Akutagawa says, walking towards his bedroom, “Tell him I'm alive and go home. He doesn't care how I'm doing beyond that. As long as - I can still use my ability.”

Atsushi can't see his face, but he can tell by the way his tone wavers that it hurts him to say out loud, like it's something he's only recently come to terms with.

“That's not -”

Akutagawa slams his bedroom door behind him with the help of Rashomon, as if it's helping him prove his point.

That can't be true. Dazai isn't like that. Sure, he did ask Atsushi to make sure Akutagawa wasn't dead and really didn't say anything beyond that, but it was because he hadn't heard from him in over a week, and he wanted to make sure he was okay before the storm came in. He doesn't think Dazai would be okay with Atsushi leaving as long as Akutagawa’s still breathing. He still needs help, he's not okay by himself.

Surely that doesn't have anything to do with the usefulness of Akutagawa’s ability.

As the sky gets darker, it brings on more thunder. He thinks the storm is starting to kick things into gear, and he changes the channel to confirm his suspicions. They talk about how the worst of it will come at around three in the morning, and they're still only at eight in the evening. He shivers at the thought of having to deal with the thunder all night.

He decides to force himself back into Akutagawa’s bedroom.

Akutagawa's sat up against his pillows with his comforter up over his knees, reading a book, of all things. He looks a little cold. Atsushi doesn't understand how he can read the words with how dim the light on his nightstand is, even with the pair of glasses he's suddenly wearing.

Akutagawa glares at him, and Atsushi stares back, but only because he can't stop thinking about the glasses. Does he think they look cute? Stupid? He doesn't know, but he's staring, and Akutagawa doesn't like it. The way he looks at him almost make it seem like he's taking it as a challenge, like a dog would.

“Glasses?” Atsushi just says.

Akutagawa tilts his head, confused at first. He rolls his eyes, visibly annoyed, before lifting his book back up. “I have terrible eyesight.”

“You do?” Atsushi says. That's new. He's never realized that. Does he wear contacts? Akutagawa doesn't seem like the time for that. Maybe he only needs them to see close up. Why does he even care?

“Must you always bother me? If you refuse to leave I'd rather not have to interact with you,” Akutagawa grumbles. Atsushi's realized over time that when he says stuff like this it doesn't sound genuine at all. Akutagawa thinks it does, that's what he's trying to put on, but Atsushi doesn't think he wants to be alone. But Atsushi doesn't have any idea how to call him out for it.

“Just shout if you need me, then,” Atsushi says, feigning indifference, nonchalance, he doesn't know, he just doesn't want Akutagawa to know it doesn't bother him.

“I will not,” Akutagawa says in some feeble attempt to defy him, but as if immediately struck down by karma, he suddenly groans from some intense pain, painful enough to make him drop his book and wrap an arm around his middle, painful enough to catch him off guard like that.

“Are you okay? Atsushi asks him, cautiously approaching the bed. “Is it your stomach?”

Akutagawa nods with a little noise of discomfort. He has a feeling this is a result of him eating, and he's got a lot more to be concerned about if Akutagawa throws up.

“Please just - leave me be,” Akutagawa groans quietly, his book already forgotten and off to the side as he doubles over, clearly in pain. Atsushi doesn't want to leave him. He is a little afraid of the backlash he'll face by ignoring him, but he thinks Akutagawa has other problems to worry about right now.

Atsushi wonders for a moment if maybe he has a heating pad somewhere that would help the pain a little bit, but Akutagawa derails any of Atsushi's mental plans to prevent him from getting sick when he gags.

Atsushi is fast enough to get the trash bin under his chin just as Akutagawa shifts to the edge of the bed, presumably to vomit on the floor to avoid the bed. He has his mouth covered and he's breathing fast and heavy, staring forward like he's too focused on avoiding throwing up to see Atsushi has the bin for him.

“Here, use this,” Atsushi tells him, fairly certain that whatever Akutagawa is trying to do to breathe around his nausea isn't going to work, and he's right. As soon as Akutagawa is aware of the bin, he coughs and retches, and a rush of vomit splatters into the thin bag.

It's not much at all, just a few bits of rice mixed in with saliva. Atsushi is fairly certain that there's blood there too, but he's not sure if it's a result of

his cough or how poor his health has been the past several days. He bites his lip, trying to stay as still as possible as he holds the bin.

He breathes heavy, shaky over the bin, strings of saliva caught on the sides, his lips shining from it. He spits to break them off and tucks the side piece of his hair that's facing Atsushi behind his ear. Atsushi holds his breath. That was weirdly attractive.

He groans quietly, gagging one more time over the bin, catching him off guard. Atsushi reaches over to lay a hand on his back to give him some comfort, but before he can, Akutagawa shifts himself back to the center of the bed to lie down, arms wrapped around his abdomen.

Atsushi sets the bin down on the floor, assuming he doesn't need it anymore, but he doesn't look any less nauseous.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Akutagawa grumbles. Atsushi didn't realize that he was making a face. “I'm not…a stranger to this.”

Atsushi feels his stomach sink. He knows that. This isn't even the first time he's seen Akutagawa throw up, but seeing him in so much pain and discomfort without much of a way to help him still makes him feel awful. Atsushi really wants him to see a doctor.

“I think you should -”

“I'm fine,” Akutagawa mumbles, now letting Atsushi even finish his suggestion, “let me sleep. I'll be fine.”

Atsushi doesn't believe him. He's still visibly nauseous. He thinks Akutagawa just wants him to leave to save him some embarrassment, but really, Atsushi has no real power over him there, as long as he's not actively throwing up right now.

Atsushi takes the comforter and shifts it around a little before laying it halfway over Akutagawa, who pulls it up closer to his shoulders. He doesn't say anything, doesn't ask Atsushi to leave or to do anything else, he just shuts his eyes and pretends he isn't there.

Atsushi supposes that's better than pushing him away.

…

Atsushi thinks it's around one in the morning when he hears Akutagawa's bathroom door shut.

He hopes for a few seconds that maybe he's just gone to use the bathroom, but the coughing and retching that follows is enough to get him off of the couch and headed that direction.

It's dark. It's probably midnight now, Akutagawa somehow slept for longer than expected, at least as far as Atsushi is aware. He left Akutagawa’s bedroom door open just enough for him to still hear anything, but even so, his enhanced hearing helps as a backup.

Unfortunately, though, it makes him extra sensitive to the thunder roaring overhead and the needle-like raindrops flying against the windows, too.

Atsushi sneaks into Akutagawa’s bedroom, peering through the first door and allowing the dim light from the living room to spill into the bedroom. Akutagawa isn't here, of course, he can still hear him coughing in the bathroom, but his sheets are strewn across the bed as a sign of a very restless sleep. The sweatpants he wore are tangled in the sheets, too.

He opens the bathroom door now, carefully, and flips on the light switch because it's far too dark for him to see anything right off the bat. Akutagawa is on his knees in front of the toilet, his forehead pressed against it for a moment before he lifts his head to hiccup, and gag unproductively into the bowl. He's just wearing the long sleeved shirt and a pair of boxers now. He must've gotten too hot and taken his sweatpants off.

“I don't need you in here,” Akutagawa grumbles, whipping his head to the side and attempting to glare at him, but the light is too much. He hisses through his teeth, like he didn't realize it was on to begin with, turns his head back and presses a hand up against his forehead.

“Does your head hurt?” Atsushi asks, his hand on the light switch.

“Turn them off,” he mumbles. “Please.”

Atsushi shivers as thunder roars over head just as he turns off the lights, and he swears he sees the same reaction from Akutagawa, barely lit by the plug-in light near the sink.

“I didn't know you knew how to say please,” Atsushi teases, trying to keep his voice quiet, now that he's aware of his returned headache - if it ever even left in the first place.

“Leave me alone, Weretiger. I don't need you to sit here and watch me vomit,” he mumbles back, his tone weak and desperate, almost, the bite from his tone completely gone now.

Atsushi's heart sinks. He sounds miserable. He really sounds like he's in a lot of pain, and Atsushi can see it, too. He moves and sits beside him, close enough to be useful but not too much in his space, and watches him wrap an arm tight around his stomach, groaning quietly from the pain. His skin is paler than before, in a harsher contrast against the dark circles under his eyes, and there's some shine against the sweat collecting on his forehead. He’s certain his fever isn’t any better.

“You don't wanna try taking anything for your stomach?” Atsushi asks, clicking his tongue. He knows anything Akutagawa swallows will just come right back up. There's injectable medications for nausea, but he doesn't exactly have those resources in this situation. He thinks Yosano would kill him if he even attempted asking her.

“There's something I have that -” he stops, his body tensing up sharply as his stomach cramps,  but his mouth stays closed through grit teeth and nothing seems to come up, “in the mirror…that can melt under my tongue.”

“The mirror?” Atsushi repeats, standing up and headed for the absurdly large sink counter where the mirror, three times the size of his own at home, stands. He didn't know such a medication existed, but Akutagawa certainly would, considering how often he's sick.

“Just press the corner of the left panel,” Akutagawa mumbles, laying his head against the porcelain with a shiver and a defeated sigh.

Atsushi does so very gingerly, not entirely sure what that will do, but the panel pops out at an angle, like a cabinet would. He takes the corner and opens it all the way, revealing six or seven shallow shelves filled to the brim with various medications. Most of which are in prescribed amber bottles.

Atsushi's stomach twists at the sight of all of them. He doesn’t think that even Yosano has this many in her in-house supply. They all have his name. Akutagawa Ryuunosuke. He catches sight of various dates, ranging from a month ago to two years ago, and so many medication names he doesn't recognize. Doxycycline, Azithromycin, Prednisolone, and dozens of others, some unfinished and some empty. There's over the counter stuff in here, too - Midol, Theraflu, extra strength Tylenol, and more - some of which he's never seen before.

“Which…one?” Atsushi asks, overwhelmed by what he's looking at. He had incorrectly assumed it would be easy to find.

“Zofran,” Akutagawa murmurs quietly. Atsushi can barely hear him. “Or…Ondansteron.”

Atsushi scans over his collection and finds it labeled under the second name, carefully removing it as not to knock over the others, one hand splayed out just in case they happened to fall. He’s tempted to make a joke about it to lighten up how he feels seeing this collection, but he doubts Akutagawa wants to hear any of that, being this sick or not.

“I need to sort through those,” Akutagawa mumbles when Atsushi kneels down next to him, crossing his legs just a foot or so away as he opens the box and pulls out the silver packing. “It’s…it’s not as much as it seems.”

Weirdly enough, Akutagawa seems to be saying that to make Atsushi feel better about it. He doesn’t think that it’s true, and that makes him feel worse.

Akutagawa twists up in pain again, breathing out a pained groan as his eyes screw shut. He shifts to gag over the toilet bowl, an arm still wrapped around his abdomen, but he still can’t bring anything up. Atsushi doubt he has much left anyway with how little he’s had to eat.

Akutagawa breathes heavy over the bowl, very visibly nauseous now, having trouble focusing, it seems like. Atsushi hears more thunder, louder than before, and Akutagawa shakes at the sound of it, this time, apparently not caring much to hide that fact from him right now.

Atsushi bites his lip. He scoots a little closer and lays a hand between his shoulder blades, surprised to not see him lash out considering how much he wanted him gone.

“I’d be surprised if you had anything left to throw up,” Atsushi says with a quiet sigh.

“I don’t think I do,” Akutagawa mumbles back, “that’s - the problem.”

Atsushi tries to shift his hand a little in attempt to rub his back, give him some comfort, but he fliches at the sudden movement and Atsushi takes his hand back. It’s strange, how he won’t allow this despite the fact that Atsushi bathed him not too many hours ago. Maybe the fever was subduing him. Maybe he’s a little more with it now.

That’s good, he thinks, but it means Akutagawa is pushing him away.

Akutagawa lays down on his side in front of the toilet, slowly. almost holding his breath. He wraps both arms around his middle with a quiet groan and almost relaxes on the floor. Atsushi would rather he realx in his bed, but he’ll let him rest here for a moment before he makes him move.

Atsushi's pained to see how battered Akutagawa’s thin legs are. There's awful scars of all shapes and sizes - Atsushi can pick out several from bullets, he's able to recognize those fairly easily. There’s newer injuries, too, as new as the one on his shoulder, but none nearly as bad.

He doesn’t often think about the kinds of things Akutagawa has suffered through. He’s sure bullet wounds are just the surface, even despite how long something like that must take to heal, and the nasty scars they leave behind. It’s no wonder Akutagawa’s body can hold up long anymore, illness or not.

“Do you wanna go ahead and take it?” Atsushi asks him quietly, trying to ignore how loud his own thoughts are. “You can lay here for a little to see if it works. But I don't think you should sleep here.”

Akutagawa lets out a quiet, defeated groan, and reaches a hand out to take the pill from Atsushi. He watches him take it, but he can’t use that to ignore what he’s thinking.

He doesn’t think he could ever convince Akutagawa to leave the mafia, but he’s worried he won’t survive through it much longer in his condition.

Why does he care, anyway?

[bourbon-ontherocks]

20 questions for writers

I was tagged by @pia-writes-things (ty!!! ❤️)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

46!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

703,271. Which is, um, a lot.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Good Girls (formerly), HPI (formerly), and l'Art du Crime. There's also a random bit for les Combattantes, and one GG fic has a shared universe with Graceland. I'm very mono-fandom lol.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Take A Dip

It's All Coming Back To Me

It Hurts When I See You Struggle

Love And War

We're Living In A Powder Keg And Giving Off Sparks

Unsurprisingly, these are all GG fics, although I don't think my kudos ranking is accurate because most of these were impacted by the great kudos-bombing gate from 2020 so it's hard to tell what's actually my most kudo-ed fic.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Absolutely. My secret goal is to keep the conversation going back and forth for the longest possible time because I love the opportunity for a good ramble about my writing 😈

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

I wanna say Ad vitam æternam (L'art du crime)? I mean, it's literally an MCD fic, so, not that merry... Also if I remember correctly, Always lost in the sea (HPI) doesn't end on a very hopeful note either.

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

I don't know? All of them? None? I generally tend to go for happy open endings with that extra bit of bittersweet so I really couldn't tell. But hey, maybe the ending to that thing I'm currently writing actually is the happiest of it all, because oh boy, things do get cheesy at some point 🥺

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No at all! Unless you count that one person who commented on several chapters of whichever long GG fic I wrote just to point blank hate on Beth character lol

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

Of course I do (in English only), I like my porn toxic and desperate and angsty with just the right amount of power play and mutual hatred. Basically, I write hatefuck 😂

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

Not really, no... I've tried a couple of times, but I think I'm better at/more interested in mimicking existing interactions than inventing a dynamic between characters who never met canonically (and also, boy the kind of SETUP you need to justify some characters crossing paths... it's just too much work). I'm more of a cameo/easter egg kind of writer, so once in a while I'll allow a character from another fandom to pop up in a fic and say hi, but it's really a blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of encounter.

I guess my craziest attempt would be that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend / Good Girls crossover that I never finished though, cause like, super different moods?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of but I don't really attempt to know

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! By myself lol. I once posted a fic in two languages before acknowledging it was a hell of an additional work 😭

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

Kinda? We never finished nor even posted it but at some point we shared a quite unhinged co-writing story with @whiskeyjack and @00gangfriend00 and it was a lot of fun 🥰

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

You... you guys have that? You don't just live by your Ship of the Moment just to instantly forget about it and hop on the Next Ship when it shows up? I'm sorry but I don't think I have one of those.

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

What a trap question!!! 😂

It's All Coming Back To Me, obviously. Look, I really really want to finish it, not even for me at this point, but for the 120-something people who subscribed to it, for the faithful readers who still leave me comments every now and then hoping for closure. I know how it ends. I have it partially written. I just don't seem to know how to write for Good Girls anymore, and getting my head back into it feels like such an insurmountable load of work, I just- I'm trying, ok?

But like, if someone's interested in helping, or even writing that ending based on my notes (and getting full and proper credits for it obvi), just let me know! I'm really open to it 🥲

16. What are your writing strengths?

Probably dialogues? I've been told many times that my dialogues feel very close to the original, and the thing is, I write about TV shows and I have a very good ear so I think I catch quite easily the actors' voices and tones and mannerisms in my head, so every time I write down a line, I play it several times in my mind with the character's voice to determine whether they would say it like that or not. Looks like it's not working so bad.

Also I *think* I'm not too bad at stream-of-consciousness inner monologues. At least it's one of my favourite things to write so there's that.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Action scenes (that includes sex lol). Filling the gaps between the important parts. Descriptions. Setting up the scene.

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

Like, featuring two different languages inside the same fic, or writing in different languages? I'm not sure I've ever really written the first one? I guess I find it a bit clunky, occasionally I've written scenes that included a character whose native language wasn't the one of the fic, and I'd give them a line or two if that's relevant to the plot (for instance, if characters are lost somewhere in another country, I can add a line/dialogue in another language for comedic effect. Or it can be a way for a character to whisper something for themselves), but the logistics are quite nightmarish, you gotta either assume your audience knows the second language, or translate the lines in the author's note, or have another character translate it in a way that doesn't sound too articifial, that's really really tedious haha

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Good Girls.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

You think I know that? Out of FOURTY-SIX??? Lol. Get out.

Tagging: @sdktrs12 @joeyjoeylee if you're around @riosnecktattoo @humanbra @hemerae-ramblings @sothischickshe @asteraceae-blue

[thunderbottle]

Hello king, I am a new asker, i hope you’re doin well!

I have no name for myself yet, I will gladly be remembered as a c!/sbi!wimble sot enthusiast

For like. A While. I saw stuff about SBIVerse and thought to myself “I will keep this in a tab, and one day I will read it”

I don’t know why it took me about over a few weeks to read, but I am so, so glad that I binge read it in a day. Your characterisation and story telling is absolutely beautiful, and I really love the way you’ve set this story out.

I am biased to SBI!Wilbur, because of course I am, this is not a shock to me, so I will ramble about him only for a bit because he is my absolute beloved. (all of the characters included in the fic are so well written and designed, I’ve never seen Sally designed this way and I absolutely adore her)

Wilbur’s character is so amazing, I love the latest chapters when you really tried to show how affected he really was during the scene with Fate and the world going…yknow…

ANWAY!!

His character design is so pog, I will think about his struggles constantly (and I will not ignore how he tells Absolutely No-one But Tommy) and how he’s developed to really, really care about Tommy, Techno and Phil. Especially having his character to be disabled and have different struggles, it’s something I really enjoy and absolutely love reading about :D

Thank you for creating such a beautiful story, it’s such an incredible read. If anyone following you hasn’t read it yet, they should, they won’t regret it.

Ooohhh you wanna subscribe to thunderbottle on ao3 and and follow here on tumblr and you also want to subscribe and leave kudos on 4OAK and every other fic that has been written sooo badddd /lh

ghsfdgd hi tysm.. this reads like i wrote it which is VERY funny to me bc yes... sbiverse!wilbur is my little guy my pathetic soggy cat. he's awesome i'm so excited to wreck his shit for a few more chapters hgsfgdfh. also i'm excited to give him a happy ending <3

i'm really glad you enjoyed reading!!!! i'm getting closer to being like... finished with the main plot of the story which is insane. like obviously we have a lot more to go but the fact that the end is in sight is crazy

thank you as well for the free advertisement yes omg you should all totally be reading Four of a Kind by thunderbottle on ao3-

tysm anon <3333 i hope you like what i have in store!

[babbushka]

Blog PSA Regarding Fics

Hey guys, I’ve got a little announcement to make regarding the future of my stories. I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time now, but from now on, all my chapter fics will be uploaded exclusively to AO3. 

The sinday writing, oneshots, headcanons -- all of that will be posted here to tumblr still! That’s not going to change. But for me, the hassles of dealing with long-format multichapter fics on tumblr are just becoming too frustrating. 

I know I’m not the only person who does this, and this isn’t a new concept or anything, but I just wanted to make this announcement to let you guys know that the way things will be moving forward are as follows: 

When the new chapter has been published to AO3, I’ll make a post here on tumblr with the link to the chapter, complete with the chapter content warnings and the gif header so everyone knows which fic I’m talkin’ about. I’ll continue to tag those who have been asked to be tagged so they’ll get notified that the chapter is up. 

However I’m no longer going to be posting the entirety of the chapter in a text post here. I’m very sorry, it’s just too much hassle between tumblr hiding the post in the tag due to there being links (both for the tumblr masterlist and the ao3 redirect link), tumblr hiding all your kind comments and not allowing me to respond to them, tumblr not showing my posts in the tag for whatever reason, tumblr not giving the tagged people the notification that the post has been published, and a whole mess of other things. 

For those of you who might be new to fandom, I’m sure you want to know why AO3? I’ve got 3 main reasons:

Better organization system. You can sort through my works and search through my entire archive with ease by using the filtering system! You can filter by pairing, by tag, by length, by completion status, among numerous other options. You don’t have to rely on tumblr’s faulty search where it only shows you half my writing, it’s all there neatly and easily accessible for you. 

Better notification system. If you like a particular story of mine, you can subscribe to it or add it to your bookmarks, so that when a new chapter gets posted you are notified via an email. No more missing posts because tumblr didn’t tag you even though I put in the tag! 

Better comment system. You can leave a comment and I’ll actually be able to reply to you. In fact, not only will I be able to reply, but we can start wonderful comment threads together in a clear and accessible manner! Plus, you do NOT need an AO3 account to read stories, to comment, or to leave a kudos! (the ao3 equivalent to a ‘like’) 

I love you guys so much, and we’re approaching a really significant follower milestone for this blog, and I’m so grateful that anyone reads my work at all. I hope that you guys continue to read and enjoy the stories through AO3, and that you can understand why I’m shifting all the chapter uploads from here on out, to my AO3 profile. 

I’m sending you guys all my love, please don’t be too upset with me over this lol, I hope everyone’s doing well! 

[onlyonewoman]

Eleven very problematic heartbeats

My Juice/Tully altenate ending AU is among the top 100 SoA fics on AO3 in terms of kudos, without any category (sexuality, warnings, content rating etc) weeded out.  If this sounds like bragging then yeah, of course it is to some extent, but mostly it says more about how plenty of people are able to read stuff that’s: - Non canon - Uncomfortable - Morally challenging - Problematic and toxic without loosing the moral compass! After that stupid shit happened when someone in the SoA fandom decided I was a threat to the fandom, toxic and shaming self-shippers (which I don’t, I just don’t understand the concept wich is a whole different thing than shaming) and also shipping a rapist with his victim without any context added to exactly HOW this fucked up ship set sails at all, I am so greatful for all the people who gave my story and chance and tell me how: - They KNOW how absolutely horrifying this idea would be IRL but still love it in this imaginary bubble. - They feel challenged by my portrait of Tully and pulled between the realisation of his awful actions and my background history for them. - They WANT to hate him and KNOW they should, but can’t, because that’s how we learn empathy. My story doesn’t excuse or defend rapists, it only declares them humans and no monsters.  My story is an AU where so much of the roots come not just from the prison stuff in SoA, but from Oz and where I deliberately try to dig into how we see a rape as more unforgivable than a murder and how we, as an audience of shows like SoA, slowly get dragged into the main characters moral compass (or lack there of) and how it completely clashes with everything a reasonable human being would think and do, yet we still root for them. Eleven Heartbeats is NOT a defence of rapists or a clear case of Stockholm Syndrome, but an exploration of what we’re willing to do to: 1. Survive when we’re not supposed to. 2. Hold on to a company we can’t choose when we’ve been sentenced to isolation. 3. Look the shame and self-hatred in the eye and let go of toxic pride in order to tell ourselves that being alive and find some happiness even at the bottom, is a natural instinct and not something we do or do not deserve. It’s a moral greyscale where Juice and Tully both are forced to live with their crimes and both have the choice of die as they lived (like Jax) or keep on living without regret (like Happy) or try and scrape out the good crumbles of them that remain and let go of the toxic fucking “honor code” that says death is the only way to pay for grave sins.  We let Kurt Sutter drag us through 7 fucking seasons of more and more moral decay and we loved the sociopaths and psychopaths he let us close enough to get to know on the safe distance from the screen. It means a lot to me with the support and comments and kudos on Eleven Heartbeats, since you lovely readers seem to understand so well how this isn’t a defence of rapists or a “bad guy turning good with love” or a black and white Stockholm Syndrome case. Neither is it a Tully/Juice canon shipping story because clearly there was no such thing as consent between them in canon. And why do I have the bad taste of bragging with my statistics for this? Well, because I want to encourage people who write highly problematic ships that as long as you KNOW what you’re writing and don’t seriously PROMOTE abuse by pretending it’s a form of a healthy love (yeah, E.L. James, I’m looking at you!) it’s completely valid and okay to step into the grey zone and play around.  Eleven Heartbeats is NOT a story about saving “the bad guy” with love. It’s not a “he didn’t know any better” story, it’s not a “you can change him with love” story or an “it wasn’t really rape” and I really love how my readers always keep that in mind, not forgetting about or forgiving Tully’s transgressions, but also not dehumanizing him for them. I’m so happy that this story that some people actually made “we should erase this from the Internet” posts about (yeah, they wanted it to be fucking ERASED), keeps getting more readers, kudos and new people commenting and sharing their thoughts - and of course I can’t stress enough how absolutely crucial the support from the readers giving this a go from the very beginning has been! All the love to you and remember: exploring emotions in fics is normal and healthy and a great outlet for thoughts and ideas we don’t dare to share openly. It doesn’t mean we endorse them all, doesn’t mean we’re loosing our moral compass or our capability of separating fiction from reality. It doesn’t mean we’re promoting rapists and their victims in Stockholm Syndrome situations, but that we challenge our comfort zone while being completely clear on where the fic stops and reality begins.  Thank you, every single one reading, subscribing, leaving kudos and commenting - and now also TRANSLATING!!! - Eleven Heartbeats. You make this journey to one of pure joy, despite the grave and dark content. And of course, all the gratitude in the world to the one who inspired this story: @ineedthesons and her increadible The Comforter series. Eleven Heartbeats wouldn’t exist without that. Also, thank you @theruneofkenaz for your support and don’t miss her amazing Wait for me story and thank you dearest GirlWhoLovesMonsters for the support and equally awesome Hell Has A New Name story. And if you’re in a toxic relationship or suffer from PTSD or something else due to trauma like those described in this story, remember that your life is not a fanfic and that fanfics like this aren’t some creative excuses for an abusive partner - or parent or friend or sibling or whatever - but just a fan fic with roots in what I hope we all realise is a world that we’d shun if it hadn’t been fiction: Sons Of Anarchy.

[ao3-elle1991]

elle1991’s 2019 round-up!

Wow, it’s hard to believe the year is almost over. It’s been an exciting one, so let’s take a look back on what’s happened, and what’s coming up in 2020!

The stats...

In 2019:

I wrote 3 stories

I wrote 171,836 words

25,110 of you read my stories

The fics...

Here are the stories that I wrote in 2019:

Time After Time (124,026 words) - Steve Rogers, Iraq war veteran and long-time loner, feels like his life is stuck in a rut. With no family and a grand total of two friends, he spends most of his spare time alone, painting, jogging or having flashbacks of the war. Which is why when Natasha invites him to a masquerade party at a kink club, Steve throws caution to the wind and decides to give it a go. There he meets the mysterious Winter Soldier, but as things blossom between them, so does a dangerous undercurrent. Both are harbouring a big secret from the other, and the fallout could have lethal consequences...

Memento (31,043 words) - A deadly virus has decimated the world's population. The lucky ones die quickly. The unlucky ones die slowly - becoming increasingly zombie-like and aggressive. This is the post-apocalyptic world that Steve Rogers wakes up to, after a 4-month medically-induced coma at a military base - his memory gone. As food supplies run low, he and a handful of other survivors - fellow amnesiacs Bucky and Natasha, along with the mysterious Dr. Banner - are forced to leave the relative safety of the base. With their memories gone, they have only their instincts, one another, and mysterious mementos they left for themselves prior to their amnesia - objects that they hoped might one day manage to make them remember who they really are...

Dear Steve (16,767 words) - What if Bucky never fell from the train and was never captured or frozen by HYDRA? "Dear Steve" explores that idea, This is a series of love letters written by Bucky Barnes for Steve Rogers, starting in 1945...

Captain America Reverse Big Bang 🎉

I cannot talk about my year in fandom without mentioning my favourite fandom event, @capreversebb! This was my second time taking part in this event, this time solely as a pinch hitter. I was lucky enough to write for the incredible @diurnaldays / @diurnaldaysart and together we produced the art and story of Memento. A big thank you also goes to @nursedarry who betaed for me at such short notice, and of course the amazing mods who ran this event and made this all possible: @potofsoup2, @kajmere and @artgroves! Thank you to all of you for helping make fandom a fun and positive place, you are all super-awesome people 😀

Coming in 2020...

New year, new decade, new fics! I look forward to continuing to entertain you guys in 2020 with more stories! Here’s what’s in the pipeline:

Dear Bucky, part II of The Stucky Letters - 17 chapters, starting immediately after the end of Dear Steve.

UNTITLED - Stucky holiday romance ❤

Like the sound of these fics? If you want to get an email whenever I post something new, then click on my AO3 profile and become a user subscriber.

A special message for you...

And last but certainly not least, I cannot talk about 2019 without giving a huge hats-off to you guys, my readers! I love writing and would do it even without an audience, but the fact that there are thousands of you out there who read my fics makes it a million times more rewarding!

THANK YOU for your readership, your loyalty, your kudos, your comments, your love, your excitement and your enthusiasm for my stories. You make writing so much more fun, and knowing that you guys enjoy reading my works and that these stories touch your lives in some small way is such a humbling and wonderful experience.

I look forward to sharing more stories with you next year, and reading your thoughts in the comments section of AO3! And if you’ve been a silent lurker so far… come and say hi! I’m not scary, I promise, and I love to connect with readers ❤

All the best for 2020, folks. See you on the other side!

Lots of love,

Eli

xxx

[insfiringyou]

1,000 kudos on Ao3 - Thank you!

Just a think thank you to all of our followers/subscribers for getting our BTS fics and scenarios to over 1,000 kudos on archive of our own. 

Our account can be found here

We made the account in light of a lot of our fics being taken down from tumblr around Christmas time (although nothing we have ever posted actually breaks the new guidelines!) Frustratingly, there is no option to have these reviewed anymore. :( 

Therefore our complete masterlist (found here) links mostly to Archive. 

Thank you to everyone who has ever liked/shared/commented/subscribed/re-blogged - you guys are so amazing! :) We have a lot of new content coming soon, particuarly really important Suga/Jeong-sun works and also some important Jungkook/first girlfriend stuff :) Admin N is also going to be working on some fan art soon. 

P.S the new album is so amazing! Mikrokosmos and Dionysus are my favourite tracks and I got version 2 in the physical album. (picture below) (Admin N has 3 versions and managed to get Yoongi’s photocard in one and is now refusing to give it to myself despite Yoongi being my bias :( I believe a petition should be formed for this! :)

- Admin M

[notesintheflyleaf]

I got tagged by @superhappybubbleslove Thanks for the tag!

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

Uh. If I’m being honest I have an old FF.net account I never posted on and only created so I could comment and follow fics, too chicken to post anything, from like 5 years ago with the name, and it was all i could think of when I made my tumblr. I’m not incredibly inventive with screen names. I don’t even remember what got me to use that name on FF because it was so long ago and I was too chicken to post!

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/favorites, follows/subscriptions, visitor hits, kudos)

I only have 3 Fics out right now, so of the 3, it would be Coincidences Lead to Consequences, which was my first fic posted, the first fic I have written in over 4 years and I was so shocked by the overwhelming support I got from the fandom!! 

SO appreciative for the feedback and understanding, as now, I am even scared to look at it because I am sure it is scary bad.

3. What is your FFnNet/AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

I actually never put one up ? I guess I could do that...

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

Two regular, supportive commenters who make me feel like utter MUSH and give me the motivation to try harder,  (you guys are amazing) Joanna and Sarah

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

I read probably 3-5 of them over and over. 

Talk Too Much by @xaphrin

All I Ask of You and As the World Falls Down by Khirsah on AO3 , they are the same story told by the perspective of the two main characters, same events but totally different outlook- Dragon Age fandom. Great read. 

All of The Wild Florida Bay,- but mostly Merry and Bright (Because I giggle and roll around in joy) by @sabraeal

And Pas de Deux -because it is written so viscerally and beautifully that my whole being wants to weep with a myriad of emotions that overwhelm me,  by @superhappybubbleslove

There’s more but these are the MOST frequent ones

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

2 Subscriptions... I don’t relaly understand the the bookmark thing.  I should use that stuff more.

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

Uh. I’ve only really posted the 3 fics but i write Magical AU that I don’t post.. I have one right now that I am considering posting. When I’m done fiddling.

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

2 Subscribers and 13 bookmarks HOW NICE !!! I did not know this. 

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are 😨 of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

There’s a few fandoms I wanted to contribute to, but they’re so large and I’ve seen people be judgey and I am scared to post in those because I am still getting into the swing of doing this.

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

Everything. I know I am coming from a very rudimentary level of skill where I am fueled by passion and not so much by ability. I would love SPECIFICALLY to get better at nailing tension in scenes a bit more fully, I kinda feel like those fall flat sometimes for me. 

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

Ah. It’s noncannon but definitely not a rarepair, and the stuff I’ve written but not posted have also been for cannon or somewhat popular noncannon ships.

12. How many stories have you posted on FFNet/AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

3 Haha

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

GOD. 7 ? 8? Some are scraps not finished others I hate and want to redo or as stated before I am scared to post. 

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

I take notes sometimes, I guess. 

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Nope but i think it would be very fun and it would be awesome to have someone giving me feedback before I post it!! I would love to , I think I could learn a lot and enjoy the experience!

16. How did you discover FFNet/AO3?

Google.

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on FFNet/AO3?

Nooooo no no no. Very new. Used to be just kinda creeping on other peoples stories, dolling out kudos but scared to comment. 

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

Nope, it’s “Hey guys!” or “My dudes!” at the beginning and end of my apologies. 

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

Several !! I saw how open and accepting the fandom was and I wanted to be part of that!

I don’t want to over tag but I have several above already mentioned.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

Jeeze I am a beginner and I do it for fun myself. Maybe have fun and don’t stress yourself too much because it should be fun?

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

I mostly get hit with inspiration on an outline but I miss large portions of plot so I add those as I go but I do have the biggest arcs planned.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

Nothing bad, I don’t actually think anyone in this particular fandom would leave a bad comment? everyone is THE MOST KIND OMG

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

Ah. Romantic tension that leaves that burn in your soul where you are just like OMG BUT WHY NO KISS ? I struggle cause I ALSO WANT KISS

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

One called “The Door Down the Hall” and one like.. short couple chapter thing called “Curiosity Killed the Cat” Hopefully this one won’t run away and become longer than intended like Magic In The Woods did ahah *cough*

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

Sometimes inspiration sparks and I have to get the planning down before I forget but I AM TRYING not to juggle too many at once. So maybe 2 small fics at once is my limit.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

No but I’ve been told I should so that’s the plan starting next week. 

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

I hope so !

28. What is your favorite story(s) that you’ve written?

I only have the 3... so. Idk, I think I like the premise of Magic in the woods best, maybe.

29. What is your least favorite story(s) that you’ve written?

I trash the ones I hate before they get posted. And then intentionally forget them. So. Yeah. 

30. Where do you 👀 yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

I do this for fun so I Just want to improve and continue to feel stress relief from it? 2017 was rough for me, I have a 1 year old and a 4 year old, and my dad got SO sick. So the writing was a nice personal escape when I have a little time to myself at night. 

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

Uh. Planning?

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Not trashing everything in editing because I end up thinking it is bad.

33. Why do you write?

Stress relief ! It has been great to have something to do with myself, that’s just for me and retains my sense of identity among the other hats I wear of Mother, Wife, and Employee.

For tagging: @katcchako @fadedforyou @bouncyirwin

[pain-somnia]

Writer Asks

Writer Asks

tagged by @wolf08 :) thank you so much for the tag and sorry for being so late, i literally waited until i came home from work. Warning: this is LONG.

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

my tumblr url is based on the chronically ill made up term painsomnia. i have always had sleep issues but they got worse when i became ill due to being woken up constantly with pain. my username on FF is ChronicallyChill which is based on, yet again, me being chronically ill.

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/favourites, follows/subscriptions, visitor hits, kudos)

The Planning Of A Matriarch wins, hands down. I was so insecure and nervous about sharing anything I wrote but it was so well received! But it’s comedy and so much fluff and who doesn’t appreciate a little fluff? I have lost a lot of love for it because it was stolen and the whole event made me feel like shit. I think I owe a lot of it’s popularity to @mycherryqueen because she rec’d it on her blog. I plan on updating by the anniversary of this fic. But I may put it on hiatus indefinitely after that.

3. What is your FFnNet/AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

I actually don’t have one! I keep thinking I’m going to sit down and draw one or wait until I have the money to commission one of my favorite artists for something. I don’t create anymore but maybe one day I’ll dip back into it so I can finally have a profile icon.

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

OMG YES. I get sooo excited when I see familiar guest names or usernames. I get so gooey inside and melt when Spanish speakers leave reviews (I can read Spanish guys, feel free to review in Spanish if that makes you more comfortable!) because they wanna share their love even if they can’t write in English well. I have an absolute fave and I shouldn’t but I can’t help it. Monika aka @mcornilliac leaves the BEST reviews and she reviews every chapter.

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

Oh tons. Tons, Tons, Tons! Here’s a few:

The Colors of Midnight by SouthSideStory is possibly my favorite thing they’ve written. I love so many of their SS fics but that’s the one I go back to the most. (also Providence, I love me a soulmate au)

Carrying On by Kiwako

Daimyo’s Daughter by Sakura’s Unicorn (but literally everything of theirs is re-read all of the time)

Spar by D.C. Filbert (warning: major smut)

Life After Detainment by merinxD

You Could See It Change by lavendersakurasasuke (it’s a Gothic Victoria AU but with ninjas!)

Chained by Kirikizu

xxlovendreamsxx has these LOTR AUs....fucking amazing. unfortunately I seem to have lost the link to them

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

lol...i’m just gonna say A LOT. I lost some of them when I didn’t have a FF account and if I didn’t I would have way more but trust me... A LOT.

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

NON-MASS IS WHERE IT’S AT~ give me more SS non-mass and I will be the happiest person in the world.

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

if I’m looking at it right....only 373 (me as an author not the individual works). and I love every single one of them.

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are 😨 of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

Sex scenes. I write it but I always feel nervous about them.

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

I wish I was more comfortable writing action. Also I do so much dialogue...I feel like it’s too much. I wish I was better at replying to comments (I try! like if someone writes me a hefty comment I’m likely to respond if I’m able to). Updating. If I could I would write and update every day.

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

I write for the most popular ship in the Naruto fandom. But I also write ShiItaIzu and as a friend of mine has said before I’m not on an island by myself, I am the island. Google ShiItaIzu and posts to my content is what pops up. my readers seem to like them though so that’s great.

12. How many stories have you posted on FFNet/AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

5. Soon to be 8 if I ever get to publishing the other three. (not including prompt drafts)

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

*maniacal laughter ensues* i have so many....fanfic and original work....some of them are prompts...I’m a mess

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

mostly in my head but some things are written down. Most of those are rough drafts already.

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

No. I’ve made fanfics based off headcanons I practically threw at friends and they told me how they felt about them. But never. I don’t think I ever will, at least not for SS.

16. How did you discover FFNet/AO3?

uh...i have no fucking clue. August of 2016 was when I started loving Naruto again and jumped into consuming all of the SS content I could find. I just googled and read like...everything.

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on FFNet/AO3?

LOL....fuck no. I actually think I’m pretty insignificant in the Naruto fandom. But that’s okay.

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

no. maybe I should.... how about Loves? I’ll try it out in my next author’s note.

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

I don’t really have an author that inspired me. But @bkceallaigh is the reason anyone reads my stuff. she encouraged me to write and then finally publish a fanfic. And here we are.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

Write. Write what you feel. Write what you love. Write what makes you happy. Don’t worry about pleasing people, someone is always going to hate. Just write something you would want to read.

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

LMAO. no. the closest I actually get to planning is something like “this is my goal. let’s get to it somehow.” i think I've only planned one story and hopefully I’ll post that prompt soon (it’s the Shape of Water AU).

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

Duh! I ranted and bitched to my friends. Some of them were sooooo bad. Like when I say bad it’s like they never even read the story or want to fore their interpretation on people. and then some anti-SS found me and decided to trash SS. like thanks...why the fuck are you here? so I will complain but I don’t care to confront them. Just...don’t like then don’t read.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

Smut and action. Mainly ‘cause I want people to see the action in their head when I write but it doesn’t come out right... smut is bad sometimes ‘cause I get a little mechanical and describe the process and forget feeling sometime.

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

Currently I’m mulling over Can I Be Yours? and Kingdom For Two and A Gift From The Universe. I’m really into A Gift From The Universe because it’s non-mass and I’m going to put a lot of focus on InoSai and ShiItaIzu, way more than I’ve done before.

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

lol....I have my WIPs going on at the same time....I’m nowhere near finished.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

nope. Just write when I can. And wish that I was writing when I wasn’t.

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

I want to say yes.

28. What is your favorite story(s) that you’ve written?

honestly....Kingdom For Two is my fic baby.

29. What is your least favorite story(s) that you’ve written?

The Planning Of A Matriarch actually. Like I could have done so much better. It’s still my baby but it’s the one that embarrasses me the most.

30. Where do you 👀 yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

hopefully with a finished original work lol

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

The easiest? I don’t know...I can’t really think about it right now...I guess for me, creating dialogue is the easiest thing....I’m really tired right now and may come back to edit this answer lol

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Telling myself to love what I write despite not getting the response that I want. There are people who love what I write and I move them with my writing. And I should appreciate what I get.

33. Why do you write?

It’s...so wonderful to see a world that’s trapped in my head come to life in front of me.

I will tag: @kuriquinn @roraewrites @xxxsasusakuxxx @randomwhorcrux @bkceallaigh and anyone that wants to do this

[nichetales-archived]

About Me As A Writer

Tagged by @shitabukenjirou ~ <3 

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean? Foxyena and FoxyenaArts is my name for all platforms. It makes me easy for commissioners to find, and dates back to my years doing furry art commissions, which is also where the name originates. 

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos).

Well, the most hits & kudos is Skipping Practice with nearly 17k hits and ~630 kudos, but Courtship of the Owl has the most subscriptions and bookmarks. 

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

The same as the one I use here. I tend to only use one icon for all sites at once, and I love Matsukawa + glasses and smoking aesthetic so~ 

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

I do! I don’t know most of their tumblr usernames, but there certainly are a few lovely people I am always excited to see comments from. 

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

Honestly, there’s a few. I reread fics a lot, but my favorite that I find myself always coming back to is  Lust and Lies by DeathBelle aka @worthlesspride. 

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

I currently have 253 bookmarks and 223 subscriptions. 

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

I don’t have a particular AU. I have ~50 fics in progress and aside from those in a series, they vary from Transhumanism/Cyborg AU to cute lil’ Coffee Shop AU. I actually try really hard to have variety. 

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

348 Subscriptions and 525 Bookmarks

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

I have a TenSemi fic titled Human Juice that is literally nothing but all of my kinks out in the open and I’m so sorry for anyone who chooses to read that whenever I release it. It has everything from Erotic Electrostimulation to Blood Play and more. So much more. If you wanna know more about it, feel free to ask I guess lol.

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

Fluff and just.. happy things. I thrive on painful/angsty/poetic forms of writing and I struggle with just letting them be happy for once. 

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

Both! Right now my posted works are mostly popular ships for main ship, but I have dozens of fics in the works for rare pairs like MatsuKuro, GoshiShira, SemiSuga, OiYama, and more. Courtship of the Owl even has Komori/Konoha in it. 

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

Only 9, but that is about to change real soon ‘cause Avery here has no self control and can’t write just one fic at once apparently. 

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

63 total. 7 of them are for YOI, and the rest are all Haikyuu!!

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

I write down all of them. My process actually starts with coming up with a title and creating a premise and theme around the title of the fic. 

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Yessir! I have co-authored 2 works with @tettsuroo, though one is not complete yet. 

16. How did you discover AO3?

I honestly don’t remember. 

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

Absolutely not. 

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

nnnnoooo? 

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

Several, but most notably was @worthlesspride, @tettsuroo, and @kaiyouchan.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

Learn from other authors. Pay attention to what you like about their works and learn from your peers. Don’t be afraid to reach out, make friends, and create a network of support around you. Learn from others, but always be you. 

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

I’ve done both. Courtship of the Owl has a 22 page outline detailing everything that happens in it, while Petals of Pining never had an outline at all. One-shots normally don’t get outlines either. Just lengthy, detailed multi-chapters that have complex plots and subtle details/foreshadowing. 

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

Yes, I have. Someone who I had read and commented on their work supportively commented on one of mine; they disagreed with the ending I wrote and tried to “fix��� it, telling me what should have happened and ending the comment saying something similar to “now all is right with your world”.  I simply commented stating I had revoked any and all support/comments/bookmarks of their work and that I didn’t want to associate with someone who thought that was appropriate behavior. 

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

I struggle with scene transitions sometimes. How does one get from point A to point B... 

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

You Can See My List of Current Projects Here But Courtship of the Owl and my Secret Santa ficlet + art is my primary focus atm. That list is roughly in priority order. Roughly.

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

I mean... have you seen my Current Projects list? 

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

Mm not really. I try to at least work on something daily, though. The amount may vary depending on how strenuous my job was that day or if I had time to be on the computer or if I was writing on my phone. 

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

Sometimes I wanna vomit when I read work that I wrote only a few months ago so I would assume so, yes. 

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

Demons Wear Contacts.  It’s not released yet, but it’s a Demon!Matsukawa MatsuHana fic. I’ve never had so much fun writing before. The fic is in Makki’s perspective, and will be my next multichapter fic after Courtship of the Owl is done. 

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

My early works, especially the YOI ones. I had never really written before and while I’ve still only been writing for about a year now, they make me cringe so hard. I’ve been thinking about orphaning them, honestly. 

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

Probably doing the same thing I am now, maybe for a new fandom.  I hope to do more zines though. I’ve quite enjoyed those. 

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

For me, it’s sensations. I love writing what people feel, the emotions, the sensations of touch, taste, see, etc. Or planning. I’m really good at plannin’ stuff. 

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Finding the time and energy to dedicate to doing it. Also writing fluff. I’m so bad at writing happy things, you guys. 

33. Why do you write?

It’s something I enjoy, and it’s another way I can be part of a community, a network of people who enjoy what I do and I can build friendships with. 

Tagging: @tettsuroo, @worthlesspride, @madamemalfoy21, @hajiiwa, @rhealmobsidi, @quinnlocke, @crown-of-winterthorne, @aizawa-shoutas, @mystictrashheap

[velkynkarma]

Get to Know the Author

@bosstoaster has been tagging me all night :P

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

I’ve had the name ‘Karma’ for about 17 years now? I don’t even remember where it came from. The ‘Velkyn’ got added a little over 10 years ago when I decided I wanted to get back into fic writing. But I was still in that phase where you think you’re supposed to ‘grow out’ of fandoms and writing fanfiction, so I didn’t want any of my friends to know I was doing it. I was embarrassed. It was silly. I picked a different handle, VelkynKarma, which actually means ‘hidden Karma.’ Later I just liked the name and also got over my embarrassment for fic writing and just started using it everywhere.

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos).

No matter what statistic you look at, Routine Maintenance wins across the board by a large margin. Parasite Knight only has 1 less subscription, though, so I guess it’s a fair contender on subs.

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

Same as my tumblr icon, it’s one of my OC’s, Morrigu Lovel. He is a little smartass and I love him.

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

Oh for sure, there’s a few lovely readers that come back every time and always have something to say. I love you guys :) And a few others that don’t comment on every chapter or every work, but the comments they leave are always phenomenal and make my day.

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

Depends on my mood, and I don’t necessarily read the entire fic, just the paragraphs/scenes/chapters that really stick out to me. But yeah, I’ve got some favorites I return to a lot.

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

Oh geez. This one’s hard to say since I watch stuff on AO3 and FF.net. A lot? I think a lot of those fics are dead now though.

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

Mmmm I don’t really have a tendency to stick to any particular series or AU for very long? I guess in terms of general themes I’ve done zombie AU’s the most, between Age of Heroes for Young Justice and Road Trip to End Times for Voltron...something about zombie apocalypse scenarios just fascinates me, especially since it can be done so many different ways.

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

252 user subs, 444 work subs, 2039 bookmarks. I didn’t even know that until now, huh

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

There’s some character interactions that are such hot-button topics in the VLD fandom I’m cautious about approaching them because I don’t want to deal with people complaining or begging for things to get escalated. Like, I love Keith and Lance’s interactions in canon, but don’t have much fic centered around them because ship lashback is real.

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

Short fic. What is brevity even? I can’t do zines or commissions because I can’t figure out how to manage a damn word count.

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

Nope! I don’t write any ships at all. I just write platonic interaction. Though I guess I wouldn’t be adverse to a platonic ‘rarepair’ as long as I liked the characters’ interaction potential.

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

So far, 25. 23 of those are Voltron, 1 is Young Justice, and 1 is Supernatural (experimenting with cross-posting on both of those last two, some fandoms are just hard to break into or not on certain sites).

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

Oh boy. In progress? I wanna say 3. Notes? A lot, lot more.

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

I jot down notes! Or email myself ideas if I’m at work/out and about. Or speak them into a little portable digital tape recorder I keep next to my bed, if it’s the middle of the night and I have an idea, but lack dexterity to type.

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Not in a long, looong time.

16. How did you discover AO3?

Through TVTropes. Every time I finished a new series I’d swing by to read tropes pages and see if there were any decent fic recs. At first they all went to Fanfiction.net or livejournal but, over time, this ‘Archive’ thing kept showing up. I made an account to lurk or subscribe to things but didn’t actually start posting to it until at least a year later.

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

Moderately well known in the platonic corner of it probably assuming people know bosstoaster and I are not actually the same person lol but probably not well known outside of that. Once upon a time I was a Big Name in the One Piece fandom, but after the timeskip I fell out of the fandom and lost my pirate king throne. That’s okay, it was fun while it lasted.

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

No but you all are too kind

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

In terms of ‘official’ authors, Brandon Sanderson is everything I ever aspire to be as a writer, and I take a lot of inspiration from that. For fic? My buddy BlackFriar was super helpful during the Young Justice era. More recently in the VLD fandom, @maychorian was big for just...getting me to stay in the fandom at all? One of her fics got me hooked and I stuck around, and then felt compelled to write, instead of just drifting off to the next interesting thing. And the Think Tank ( @bosstoaster @butteredonions @ashinan @mumblefox ) have all been huge for getting me to keep writing, between writing sprints and interesting discussions and a lot of encouragement, so that’s been huge for me this past year.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

At the risk of sounding like that one video...just do it. It’s scary to put yourself out there, but just do it. You learn by doing. You also learn by absorbing new things around you, so read a lot and try new stuff; you never know when something completely random or a personal experience might actually add a lot to your story. And finally, write for you, first. Write the stories you want to see. Writing for comments/bookmarks/reblogs only goes so far. It means your motivation is reliant solely on people liking your work, which means you start writing for other people and not for yourself...and if reception is lackluster, it can kill your ability to finish a project, which hurts your practice at follow-through. It’s a slippery slope and starts to make the whole thing a lot less fun and a lot more of a chore. Write things you want to read, and if you feel like sharing them after, other people might like them too, but it’s important that you like it, first.

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

Has to be plotted completely. If I try to wing it I meander or get hung up on trying to keep track of details. Turns into total garbage.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

A few times, sure. Happens to everyone. Most often, it’s people begging, demanding, or insinuating that my platonic fics should include a ship, especially if the fic focuses on the interactions of two specific characters. Those are very frustrating because I’m always upfront about the fic being friendship only, and there are usually a million other ship fics already out there. Leave my platonic fic alone! I usually ignore the comments, or just politely remind people it’s friendship only and will remain that way. In one bewildering instance in a different fandom I had somebody who had been thoroughly enjoying the fic up until the climactic battle, whereupon they were furious at how it was resolved, and took great pains to tell me just what they thought. That one stung. I had to sit on it for a few days before I worked up the nerve to respond, and chatted with a few friends over it too. In the end I realized that it was more comparable to a fan really enjoying a canon work but being mad about a sudden twist that just didn’t seem right to them. It happens. I thanked them for reading, explained that I disagreed with their comments but did hear them, and thanked them for their time. Best I could do.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

I am straight-up incapable of romance, period. Even so far as to slide into ‘fake’ romance (I once got prompted for fake marriage/dating and literally couldn’t envision how to do it? It’s just so foreign to me). Or flirting. I can’t even identify flirting IRL. Basically anything in that general area of writing is completely out of my league. I can write intense scenes that are intimate in non-romantic, non-sexual ways, but those are really difficult for me to do too and I’m constantly second-guessing myself in case it’s maybe too much.

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

If I told you I’d have to kill you. But no, srsly, I don’t like to share ideas in progress until it’s almost done, just in case. Sometimes I share and then immediately lose interest, but I’ve already raised peoples’ hopes, and that’s just a dick move.

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

I’ll have outlines, or sometimes need to plan around prompts. I don’t usually do series, so I never really need to plan too far ahead though. Sometimes if I’m plotting a crossover/AU I’ll obtain the source material and read/watch/play it to start gathering notes for that fic while working on a different fic, so that by the time I’m done writing the current story, the AU’s skeleton is plotted out and I have a place to slot in all the characters.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

No. I’ve gotten better habits since working with the Think Tank but I still tend to be more of a ‘burst’ writer (no activity for days or weeks, and then suddenly word vomiting 100K in a month).

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

By a HUGE margin

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

Oooh, that’s a toss-up between Phantasmagoria and Prince of Memory. The former because I love writing horror and it’s an idea I’d wanted to tackle for a while. The latter because it was a personal writing challenge to myself that I honestly wasn’t sure was going to go over all that well, but the response was stunning, and I was quietly surprised.

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

Caged Bird, from a different fandom. I make it a personal rule to never delete stories that I’ve posted, but ooh man, I wanted to get rid of this one really bad. I was happy when LJ gutted it. I actually don’t have any real dislike for any of my Voltron stuff.

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

Still writing because I’d die if I stopped. Like a shark. But with writing.

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

That flash of inspiration, when you get an idea and suddenly it’s building itself almost too fast for you to keep up. Dialogue. Action sequences.

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Getting started. Titles. Editing. Research. Any particularly emotional moment.

33. Why do you write?

Because fandoms are fun but I have so many questions after. “What if X happened? What if Y was a factor? Why not Z?” I try to hunt down answers to these questions in fandoms and if the fic isn’t already written, I write it. Also to challenge myself to do things that haven’t been done in the fandom yet, or to tackle things I haven’t tried yet.

I think everyone’s been tagged already so...feel free to play if you want, I guess!

[eastofthemoon]

Get to Know the Author

Tagged by @bosstoaster So here goes!

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

Well, to put it simply, I like picking name with celestial themes (it’s an aesthetic for me) and one of my favorite fairy tales is “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” so I combined them and got “Eastofthemoon.”

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos).

According to AO3 stats, Offerings to Spring (a Rise of the Guardian fic) has gotten the most hits, and after that Mini Lions from (Voltron) and then Awkward Questions (a Zootopia one shot).  

With that said, I know the fics that heard the most feed back from recently was The Empress’s Tears, the What if the Storm Ends? series, and also the Not Another Trip To the Space Mall.

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

It’s Zelgadis from the anime Slayers reading a book.  LOL Slayers was the first fandom I really got into writing fanfics for, and Zelgadis was my favorite character from it.  It just feels fitting to still have him as my icon there for it.

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

I do and I appetite all of them! You know who you guys are.

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

Depends on the mood I’m in.  I do know that I have gone back to re-read @isabeau25 platonic coffee shop AU and her Babes in Space.  They’re just what I need when I need a fluffy read.  WIth that said there are a bunch of other fics I re-read that would take too long to list here. 

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

Subscribed...um about five that I know still update and lost count for bookmarks.

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

HAHAHAHA that’s like asking me to pick between my children.  I have a few AUs I write.  Currently, I’m really enjoying the Spirit Cats AU which is basically my kid AU, my BoM Keith met the Paladins in the space mall and a few others.

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

1483 for subscribed, and 3175 for bookmarked.....I have written for a lot of different fandoms

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

Um....there have been some ideas I have gotten, but never wrote mainly because the idea is usually a bit more revolved around an original character (and original character is often a kid of a canon character) like say in the future Shiro having a daughter...but I doubt I’ll write it since people tend to read fics for the canon characters and not original ones.  

If I ever wrote it I would definitely try to balance it so there was equal screen time for the canon and original characters.

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

 I wouldn’t mind trying to write something darker someday...but knowing me I imagine it would be rather tame compared to other people.

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

*shrugs* I multi-ship a lot, so I tend to write whatever I’m more in the mood for and sometimes I’ll just write gen because fandoms REALLY need to have more gen stories.

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

In total, 145 fics (a lot of those being one shots).  As for how many unfinished....about 3?  I try to have a story full written before I post it on AO3

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

.............Too many to list. 

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

I tend to write them down so I don’t forget, but I do often sometimes just leave an idea in my head for a few days.  I find it’s easier to write it down once I’m able to think of more ideas for it.

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Yes, I have! I have done it with @cutekittenlady, @isabeau25 and with @ladydouji

16. How did you discover AO3?

From other authors/friends that began posting there.

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

Not sure at what point you can call yourself popular.  I don’t tend to keep track on that kind of thing.

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

Naw, not really.

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

Actually, yes.  Long ago, and far away, 19 year old me was into this cartoon called The Magician (I doubt many people remember it, had a character Ace Cooper in it) and about 2 years later, I discovered these authors who co-wrote this whole massive fanfic series for it. 

I had read fanfics before this, but this fanfic author was the first to make me realize that fanfics could feel like the published books I had on my bookshelf.  Her stories had so much emotion, and details that I can only hope to capture in my stories.

Throw in loving the works of Patricia C. Wrede, Megan Whalen Turner and Terry Pratchett and I just got a big urge to write right there.

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

Read a lot, and write a lot.  I know that’s the common advice a lot of writers give but there’s a reason for that.  When I got into the ROTG fandom, I started a habit of trying to write a bit of something everyday (even if it was just a sentence) and I can honestly tell you it does pay off in the long run.

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

I plot out my stories mostly.  I tend to prefer to know where I’m going/how it’s going to end before I start seriously writing it.  I may write a random scene in my head that I want to put into something else later, but I prefer to plan it out first.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

Yes, and I just tend to ignore.  I got enough stuff in my life without worrying about that.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

Action scenes!  Giving two character chatting over coffee and boom I can write a scene for you easily, but action scenes are something I don’t look forward to writing.  I’m trying to get better at it since they do rather come with wanting to write fantasy/sc-fi stories, but it’s not my first pick to do.

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

Part 2 of Spirit Cats (I want to have the whole thing written before I start posting that), next part of the BoM Keith meets paladins in the space mall AU, and slowly poking at a feral child Shiro AU I can tackled with the other day.  Granted,I also like to write a followup to Death Wish, and there’s a Coran lost his memory fic I want to tackle more at some point to.

.....I got a lot of wip is my point I guess.

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

Yeah....probably do it more often than I should.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself? 

One sentence in something a day, just to try to keep my skills sharp.

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

Yup!  I’m definitely better at writing then when I started over a decade ago.

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

Um...currently, I’m rather fond of how The Empress’s Tears turned out because that was a darker fic that I tend to write, but also thrilled at Spirit Cats (that series is a lot of fun/fluff), but I also like the BoM Space Mall Keith AU....it’s hard for me to choose.

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

My very first fanfic....that was a crossover that makes me cringe now since I was only 18 when I wrote it, and I’ve gotten so much better since those days.

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

Hopefully stronger at action scenes, and maybe having a self published original novel to show people (I am slowly working on that) and also still enjoying writing fun stories.

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

Getting the ideas!

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Sticking to said idea and finishing it.

33. Why do you write?

I got a big imagination and it’s a way for me to tap into it.  It’s also fun to just share with people and hear their reactions, and I just enjoy it. 

Tagging: @maychorian @isabeau25 @ladydouji @cutekittenlady and anyone else who follows me and wants to try this.  Feel free to say I tagged you if you want. ^_^

[4nimenut]

is this an AO3 tag thing

tagged by @aja154ever...!! thank you for the tag aja~

calling my lowkey writer status out though LOL SWEATS

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

sachiyoumi

THIS IS SUCH AN EMBARRASSING REASON BUT

my original writing alias when i was still writing was kimura yumi, named after my dragon nest character after looking up japanese names and their meanings (look 12y/o shao was a huge japanophile shh) before realising there was a real person named kimura youmi (the singer of itsumo nando demo)

and afterwards i took this online test thing that would tell you your name in japanese and i got inoue sachiyo

and then i decided to mash both together and got sachiyoumi / sachiyo yumi and it just stuck ever since LOL 

i wish i had the creativity for a cooler alias though, now thinking back o)-(

plus it coincides with my real name initials ssssso yeah. its hella cool.

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos)

transience

it’s like, my only fic on AO3 HAHAHAHAHA

there used to be an OnS fic up there but i decided to take it down until i have time to get back to it and revise it and post it when it’s more complete, perhaps

(will i ever finish it though)

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

idk it looks p aesthetic LOL i kinda like how i drew akira here//

(please see this post for reference)

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

i only have one fanfic that i’ve written after a number of years of not writing / completing a fic soー s w e a t s,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

favourite-wise i love all comments...! it means so much to me that people would go out of their way to enter their name if they’re anonymous, and write a comment about the fic q_q thank you.... even though my writing is really just subpar uuu

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

Fox Chimes by Kuranoa / @kurapls

i love reincarnation and youkai tropes so this just perfectly hits the nail on the head KURA I LOVE YOU THANK YOU FOR WRITING THIS FIC BUT MY HEART,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, cries pools of blood

Three Fundamental Truths by @likeshining

STAR SAN MY FKING HEART SHAKES FIST

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

9 subscriptions, 52 bookmarks www

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

i’ve only ever written one fic, so....... if anything, it’s canon-divergence LOL

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

2 subs, 18 bookmarks (there’s people that are actually subbed to me wh a t)

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

probably sensitive things, but i think i’d still write it (or draw it out, at least)

as far as i know i don’t think i have anything i’m paaaarticularly afraid of, but if there is now, or in the future, then i think i wouldn’t post it publicly ww

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

everything

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

i don’t have a good basis for judgement, but based on really old fics, i think i’ve been writing popular ships more often...!!

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

one finished LOL

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

about 3 or 4?

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

i tend to write on paper if the idea just hits me, and transfer to a google doc afterwards! ///

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

nope. im too noob lol + i hardly write orz

16. How did you discover AO3?

i used to read on fanfiction.net! afterwards there were some writers i followed that mentioned that they were moving to AO3 and i just found out about it afterwards. though i ended up largely lurking because i didn’t have the confidence to write anything decent.

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

what

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

i only have one fanfic what are you talking about

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

hi star san

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

if the idea comes to you, just yolo and go for it LOL don’t let your dreams be dreams

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

in the past when i was still writing i tend to figure things out as i go, though that was because i was writing multichapter stories. but this resulted in me being confused over my own plot and i was hesitant to continue writing anymore, along with RL stress and stuff so i eventually dropped writing altogether. though that was... 4-5 years ago?

now i barely write still, but i lean towards monster oneshots now so i tend to plot out and find references for better clarity ^^ though finishing them and posting them is another story altogether LOL

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

not really,,,? but i’ve only ever written one (complete) story to date, and the comments on it have been rather heartwarming (i’m glad it was to your liking...!)

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

i haven’t ventured deep into writing yet, but i think i’m really bad with flashbacks  www

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

chuuya goes through traumatic shit

courtesan!AU

unfinished fics wise that i’m not sure if i will ever touch and continue include something about granblue’s percival and lancelot

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

i... i guess LOL I REALLY JUST WHACK AND YOLO

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

i’m more of an artist so i usually write when i have time to spare ; v ;

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

definitely...!

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

transience

it’s my first (finished) fic after a long while

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

transience (GUYS I ONLY HAVE ONE FIC)

i really dislike how i wrote the opening paragraphs as compared to the rest of the fic to be very honest;; i think i could have written it better....! i’ll work hard and improve if i ever continue writing things 

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

writing only to fuel the angst in my art

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

definitely the ending. THE ENDING. 

ITS THAT FEELING OF LIBERATION AFTER xxx AMOUNT OF WORDS OF SUFFERING wheezes

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

everything else aside from the ending the torture sucks im jk im sorry

33. Why do you write?

honestly there’s some things that i find it difficult to portray through my own art, and i lack the stamina to draw comics proper so i turn to writing...! it’s a really fascinating form of contribution to a fandom to be honest x.x)a most of my time has been spent making art so writing feels like a really exotic kind of art to me ;v;

also i think it’s also a way to keep my english intact HAHA

i tag @adargo, @nugget-writes, @memosfromchuuya, @catsbythegreat, and.... i think all the other writers i know have done this already ww,,

[kittyboo8015]

I was tagged by my one of my favorite authors and cat @kaguneko *scratches your ears* 💕💕💕

Questions for Ao3 Writers:

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

My username is kittyboo98 lol So it’s pretty much me being unoriginal again. Kittyboo is my childhood nickname and I was going to use kittyboo97 (birth year) but it was apparently taken? I find it fascinating that there could be another kittyboo out there lol

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos)

I’m going to answer this based on my Eruri fics only because I stopped writing reader inserts over a year ago. So with that being said, Milestones has the most kudos at 43. Bookmarks are tied: Milestones and Clueless both have 5. Clueless has the most hits followed by Bad Behavior.

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

My Ao3 icon is my RAH Levi’s face XD. I love it because I’m pretty sure the look of utter disgust on his face would be his response if he ever read my fanfics.

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

I have two I think and I’m very grateful that I have any at all 

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

I think definitely Sugar by imawarlock (goddamnchou) I now own it in print 

Dancing in the Dark that Tanya and Zed wrote for my birthday this year (I love you guys) Ache and aisle 10 by Kaguneko. Good Southern Boys by Minxiebutt jfc hnngh There’s so many more but I’d be here all night lol

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

I’m subscribed to 20 stories and have 97 bookmarks.

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

Modern au, definitely.

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

18 subscribers 15 bookmarks.

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

Not that I can think of lol

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

Canonverse! I need to learn to write it. I love to read it though!

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

Popular because pretty much just Eruri 

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)? 13 lol

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

Ummmmm like 15 ahahaha

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

Yes in my phone. So much rambling lol

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Not yet but I’d like to!

16. How did you discover AO3?

Tumblr lol

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on AO3?

Lmao not even close

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?Nope but I love you all

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

I’ve told this story like a million times but I met Zed about almost 3 years ago on Ao3 in the comments of a fic and shortly after Zed started writing and somehow we became friends. When I said I would like to write someday, Zed just kept telling me to “Doooooooo it.” So I did and I was hooked lol Thanks Zed :*

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

I guess write what you like and write it for yourself because you want to and never force it. Write what makes you happy 

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

Plot so much plot. Sometimes too much XD

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

I got a pretty vague condescending comment on a reader insert once (the fic was old lol) telling me that I need to write dialogue better followed by a sarcastic lesson in writing a dialogue. I just shrugged and moved on.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

I am working on getting better at smut. Hopefully I’ll improve over time. I need to add more details I think?

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

Still working on some prompts. (Vampires, Neetwin, Mobuhan) My freaking canon fic jfc By the New year, I plan on starting a Cop au series of one shots. I have a plot line and all.

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)? See above XD

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself? Impossible with school going on. 27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started? I really hope so….

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

I think Milestones and Bad Behavior because the former was my first fic and cake theif Erwin is dear to me and the latter was launched by my obsession and thirst for Officer Erwin RIP me.

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

I like all of my fics.

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

Well, I’ll be writing probably during summers because I’ll be teaching by then. I’ll write in my cozy apartment with my future cats Erwin and Levi lol

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

Definitely thinking of the plot.

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Probably getting down the ideas in writing and trying to have it go as well as it did in my head.

33. Why do you write?

To preserve my sanity. Comfort definitely. I just love writing Eruri so much 

This was pretty interesting and fun! Thanks for tagging me! 💕💕💕I hope this is readable because this app is broken as Fuck.

I will tag @shippingeruri @hedera-helixwriteseruri @chuulain @tsukinoyoukai @tsukareta-levi @erurifluff Only if you want to of course! I can’t wait to read all of these!

[ao3-elle1991]

elle1991's 2018 round-up!

Wow, it's hard to believe the year is almost over. It's been an exciting one, so let's take a look back on what's happened, and what's coming up in 2019!

The stats...

In 2018:

I wrote 9 stories

I wrote 313,591 words

88,619 of you read my stories

The fics...

Here is a full list of the stories I wrote in 2018:

Steve And Bucky's Kinky Alphabet (176,544 words) - 26 chapters of explicit porn-with-plot featuring Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. Each chapter focuses on a different kink, with one chapter for every letter of the alphabet. Or: the one where JARVIS goes rogue and kidnaps the Avengers until they can sort their mental health out, and Steve and Bucky fuck a lot and fall in love.

I Like Cats, Too (10,526 words) - The Avengers are more than just a team; they are a family. When that family is torn apart by the split caused by the Sokovia Accords, Natasha regresses into herself and lapses into a prolonged period of silence. As Team Cap hide away in Wakanda under the protection of T'Challa, will anyone be able to help Natasha overcome her depression and mutism? Enter a very special cat named Midnight...

At Your Service (12,931 words) - Clint and Natasha lose a bet. For the next 24 hours, they have to dress up in matching outfits and do everything Phil Coulson says... Or: The one where Phil gets Clint and Natasha to dress up and act out some of his many, many Captain America fanboy fantasies.

Secrets (40,706 words) - Bucky Barnes is a man with a lot of secrets: he is a member of the elite Avengers squad; he is 100 years old; for 70 years, he was HYDRA's weapon, carrying out countless acts of horrific violence whilst under their control. Nevertheless, despite his dark past, he is trying to move on with his life, working hard as a SHIELD agent and even developing a relationship with Tony Stark, a fellow SHIELD agent who heads up the R&D division of the Tech department. All seems to be going well, until a security breach at SHIELD threatens to expose Bucky's past as HYDRA's secret weapon. With one SHIELD agent already murdered by the mystery thief, it is a race against time to find the individual responsible and put a stop to their sinister campaign. Just how long are Bucky's various secrets going to remain secret...?

The Adventures Of Steve Rogers, Newsboy Extraordinaire (11,161 words) - 7-year-old Steve Rogers does not have many friends. The other children in his class think of him as the weird kid who can't speak. His next-door neighbour Bucky Barnes doesn't care about Steve's Selective Mutism though. He thinks Steve is awesome and is willing to fight anyone who says otherwise. When Steve gets a part-time job as a newsboy, it triggers a chain of events that no one could have predicted. A mystery robber is targeting local businesses, putting Steve right in the firing line. Will Steve find the courage within himself to save the day - and even find his voice?

The Black Widow Ice Cream Parlour (3,746 words) - Natasha Romanoff is used to being the least celebrated, least appreciated Avenger - which is why it comes as a shock to stumble upon an ice cream parlour devoted to her whilst on holiday in an obscure corner of Italy. Or: The one where Natasha meets one of the people whose lives she has saved, and finally gets the appreciation she deserves.

Love Is Blind (14,512 words) - After a mission goes horribly wrong, Natasha Romanoff is left completely blind. Whilst SHIELD scientists desperately seek a cure, Natasha struggles to come to terms with her disability. With boyfriend Clint Barton by her side, can she come to terms with a world without sight?

Black Widow By Day, Black Kitten By Night (6,164 words) - Natasha has a kink for kitten pet play. Clint is only too happy to oblige. Or: the one where Natasha dons her cat ears, Clint ties up his pet, and hardcore, steamy sex ensues.

Time After Time (work in progress) - Steve Rogers, Iraq war veteran and long-time loner, feels like his life is stuck in a rut. With no family and a grand total of two friends, he spends most of his spare time alone, painting, jogging or having flashbacks of the war. Which is why when Natasha invites him to a masquerade party at a kink club, Steve throws caution to the wind and decides to give it a go. There he meets the mysterious Winter Soldier, but as things blossom between them, so does a dangerous undercurrent. Both are harbouring a big secret from the other, and the fallout could have lethal consequences...

Captain America Reverse Big Bang ❤️

I cannot talk about 2018 without mentioning the incredible @capreversebb. It was my first ever time taking part in a fandom event and I want to thank the organisers for all their hard work because I had an amazing time! I wrote fics for two incredible artists (@massivespacewren and @ranaraeuchle) and made friends with a bunch of amazing creative people along the way. @chiyume, @velvetjinx, @whatthefoucault, @thelittleblackfox, @cryo-bucky, @buckities and so SO many more folks, my life is richer with you guys in it. Thank you for being so lovely and friendly and just fantastic human beings. You guys rock and I love you all ❤️

Coming in 2019...

I look forward to continuing to entertain you guys in 2019 with more stories! Here's what's in the pipeline:

Finish writing Time After Time (Estimated completion date, based on posting one chapter per week: early May 2019)

Dear Steve (Part I of The Stucky Letters)

Dear Bucky (Part II of The Stucky Letters)

UNTITLED (A Clint Barton origin story based in my Fearless universe)

Like the sound of these fics? If you want to get an email whenever I post something new, then click on my AO3 profile and become a user subscriber.

My personal life...

2018 has been quite a special one in terms of my personal life, too.

At work, I got promoted... twice!

And the one I'm most proud of: I overcame a lifelong dental phobia! Honestly, it has been a rollercoaster journey, but now I've finally done it, I feel an incredible amount of relief and empowerment. If you're struggling with something similar, it might be useful to (1) try to identify exactly what you're afraid of, (2) try to identify what things will help to reduce that fear, and (3) just take things one little step at a time. Keep chipping away at it and, most importantly, don't give up! Good luck, with whatever it may be. You deserve to live a life without fear and if someone as once-terrified as me can do it, it is absolutely within your ability to do it too ❤️

A special message for you...

And last but certainly not least, I cannot talk about 2018 without giving a huge hats-off to you guys, my readers! I love writing and would do it even without an audience, but the fact that there are thousands of you out there who read my fics makes it a million times more rewarding!

THANK YOU for your readership, your loyalty, your kudos, your comments, your love, your excitement and your enthusiasm for my stories. You make writing so much more fun, and knowing that you guys enjoy reading my works and that these stories touch your lives in some small way is just such a humbling and wonderful experience.

I look forward to sharing more stories with you next year, and reading your thoughts in the comments section of AO3! And if you've been a silent lurker so far... come and say hi! I'm not scary, I promise, and I love to connect with readers ❤️

All the best for 2019, folks. See you on the other side!

Lots of love,

Eli

xxx

[kaseyskat]

Writing tag~

Casually pretending that @meimagino tagged me because this looked fun and technically she tagged anybody with an ao3 account which I indeed have-

I am tagging @thesameoldfairytale @ashthe7th  @sheldilocks and @theinsanefox

1.  How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

On AO3, my username is just a shortened version of my tumblr username. As for that, well… I came up with ‘cherryfeather’ years ago when I first started rping on websites. It came from the book series Warriors by Erin Hunter, where Cherryfeather was my oc’s name. When I started creating usernames, I tagged 101 on the end to add numbers and give my username at least some originality, and… I just haven’t stopped using it. Cherry is an irl nickname for me, so it works ;)

EDIT: I’ve changed my url to karinathekitkat - Karina being the name I’m going to change my name to at some point(hopefully soon) and kitkat being an alliteration with Karina. 

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/subscriptions/hits/kudos/)

Supernova has the most kudos at 109(followed by Sorry, Honey with 106) but And These Promises I’ll Keep has the most bookmarks at 19. 

3. What is your AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

I still do not have a profile icon, because I have no clue what to use. I’m torn between a picture of Yuri Plisetsky or a picture of cherries. Lol.

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

I think the most regular commenter I have is @thesameoldfairytale because she loves my writing for whatever reason XD Besides that, I love all comments. All of them.

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

Ha. Hahaha. Yes. Most definitely. Um… here, lemme list them.

Tomorrow’s Yesterday is Always Today by Hey_Diddle_Diddle25

~Victor is a superhero, Yuuri is a supervillian, and Yuri is caught somewhere in the middle. Sharing an apartment complicates things.~

The plot of this story is amazing, everything about it is amazing. Featuring angsty backstory! Viktor and Yuri, misunderstood villain! Yuuri, and ultimate villain! Celestino.

Kingdom Locked Up by soliloqui

I’m not pasting the entire summary here, but this is the fic that introduced Viktuurio to me, and omg I love it. Lilo writes Yuri so freaking well, and captures his emotions so well, I can’t believe this isn’t actually a canon manuscript. If Viktuurio isn’t your thing, at least read the first chapter because holy crap I’m in love with this fic.

Permafrost and Frostbite by StardustCoeur

Suuuper heavy fic, guys. Read with caution. That’s really all I’m going to say, because I’m addicted to angst and this has loads of it.

There are lots more, but those three/four are the most prominent.

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

I have 12 stories bookmarked, because I’m good at remembering titles so I usually just search the title if I want to reread a fic, and I’m not subscribed to anything because I only recently learned this was a thing. Lol.

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

The only AU I’ve written more than once has been Hanahaki, but that’s not my favorite. I’m counting my The Night Is Restless(with the sounds we hear) as my favorite because I’ve thought on this one the most. It’s a fantasy/royalty AU featuring Otabek and Yuri, and I love it.

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total?

8 subscriptions and 179 bookmarks. Not much compared to some authors, but I’m still proud.

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it?

...yeah. I’m actually starting to become a bit more adventurous, but… I have two questionable stories in the makings, and depending on how those do will determine what I write about in the future.

10.  Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

Oh definitely! I want to be able to write longer stuff, and I want to be able to actually finish something. When I get a new idea, I tend to abandon the previous, and it’s frustrating.

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

*glances at amount of otayuri fics she has* *glances at the one rarepair fic she has* I write popular ships more often - or, I should say I write OtaYuri more often. I would like to write more YuriYuu stuff, but…

12. How many stories have you posted on AO3 to this day(finished and unfinished)?

26 and counting!

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

...I’m not even going to attempt to count. At least 20. Probably more around 40. As I said, I abandon a work when I get a new idea, so my ratio of finished drafts to uncompleted drafts is like 20-80 out of 100.

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

I write down an idea if I don’t have time to start the draft itself. This way I’ll remember it. However, most of the time, I start writing the intro to the story and keep the idea in my head.

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Yes, years ago on fanfiction.net me and another author created a joint account and we worked on a story together. It’s awful and in need of re-editing, but it’s something. @thesameoldfairytale and I have planned to co-author a story eventually, once I get the idea written down…

16. How did you discover AO3?

Well, after being forced to switch to fanfiction.net mobile and hating it, I needed something else. I had used AO3 a couple of other times when needing a good story about a pair that fanfiction.net lacked, but nothing serious. Seraph of the End got me firmly hooked on AO3, and I finally made the switch entirely. Now, I only go on fanfiction.net to read updates from one author, because her Hetalia stories are amazing.

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom on AO3?

HAHA no. I may be somewhat well-known for my angst(maybe?) but that’s it. I would love to be a bit more well known, but…

18. Do you have a nickname or a fandom name for your readers?

No? I don’t think so.

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

I mean, @thesameoldfairytale still is encouraging me to write. Lin is amazing, and she has so much faith in me and my abilities, and it’s kind of scary, actually. Other than that, Patient Harmony on fanfiction.net helped me a lot(the author I co-authored with) and there are several people on here who have helped me as well, like @phaytesworld

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

Don’t let anything stop you from writing. It doesn’t matter if you don’t think people would like it. Heck, it doesn’t even matter if they don’t. It doesn’t matter how others perceive your work, because it’s yours and not theirs. Just be you.

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

I normally plan out at least a couple of events. Actually, when I get an idea, I like to play it out in action - I talk to myself, pretend to be a bunch of characters, all to get a good sense of what I’m doing. I don’t write down any plot points, but I do plan.

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

The only “bad comments” I’ve gotten are people yelling at me for making them cry, so… I apologize, of course.

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing?

Anything super lovey dovey, because I’m a bit uncomfortable with it. I don’t do smut(although I’ve insinuated it a couple of times, only briefly) and it’s really hard to write romance.

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

Besides my original work for nanowrimo, I have an otayuri soulmate au, an otayuri/yuriyuu/viktuuri story(aka where both Yuri and Yuuri are poly and are dating each other as well as their significant others), and the next chapter of Threads of Time. I also have another prompt for the Writers Society on the YOI Amino I need to work on, and a little something I’m writing for the author of Permafrost and Frostbite. ahahaha...

25. Do you plan your next project before you finish your current ongoing story?

Obviously, although it’s all accidental.

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

No, because then my writing will be forced and come off as stiff. I write when I have the inspiration for it.

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, so yeah.

28. What is your favorite story that you’ve written?

Um… I love all of my stories, but I think Plague is my favorite, simply because of the style. It’s not a style I use all that often, but it really builds suspense and I love it.

29. What is your least favorite story that you’ve written?

Probably Runs In The Family, because it’s rushed and I don’t even believe in my own headcanon anymore lol

30. Where do you see yourself(as a writer) in 5 years?

Hopefully actually able to finish things XD By then, I hope to have written my first novel at least, maybe more.

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

Beginnings, for me. I love using hooks to get people interested, and hey, I’ve written a beginning for every single draft I have! XD

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Finishing. Seriously.

33. Why do you write?

I write for the satisfaction of knowing people will read my stuff and enjoy it. I write for the satisfaction of getting my own ideas and characters onto paper(metaphorically speaking) and for the rush that happens when everything is done. I write for fun. I write to explore my own creativity and imagination.