#it feels like I wrote the 10K post just yesterday?? :'D

[zu-is-here]

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[thischapstickaddict]

Thanks for the tag @tomicaleto! This was fun :D :D

How many works do you have on AO3?

20 as of yesterday! I just finished a new story for the Green Knight -- Are We Not Wise Enough?

What’s your total AO3 word count?

 688,174 words. As you’ll see here, I’m not succinct.

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

The Green Knight

Star Wars - Prequels, Sequels, and Rogue One

The Old Guard

Overwatch 

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Yuri!! On Ice

The BBC Muskeeters show from 2014

Middle Earth - Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit

Pacific Rim

Les Misérables - specifically, the 2012 film

Though in all honesty I’ve got little notes and thoughts on just about any media I’ve ever consumed that resonated with me. Most of those will never see the light of day, since I don’t have time to develop them.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

In a lovely ego boost, my top five are all my fics that’ve broken 1K kudos.

1. Endurance and Peach Tea (Yuri!! On Ice, Otayuri, Teen)

I somehow slammed out 10K of fic over a weekend in the middle of series, and hit the fandom at the exact right time. This is by far my most popular fic.

2. The Myriad Adventures of Mutant Goblin and Graceless Cat (LotR, Gigolas, Teen)

I signed up for the Gigolas Big Bang back in 2014 and 1k into writing promptly realized Fíli was my favorite character. That turned into an interesting balancing act.

3. Needing/Getting (Star Wars Prequels, Obikin, Explicit)

My baby! That fic that I can’t believe I wrote and finished, that got me through the horrible 2020 year. I will never not be so fucking proud of this story.

4. When The Cherries White With Blossoms, Be Ready & Be Brave (The Old Guard, Kaysanova, Explicit)

This fic terrified me for a bit because it was the first time I used emotional recovery rather than action/adventure for a plot. That was a lot harder than I expected, but I’m really happy with the result.

5. Day One (Les Misérables, E/R, Teen)

This was the first fic of mine to get immediate traction--i remembered posting it, going to a wedding, checking my phone at a break, and being so stunned by what I saw I ended up explaining fanfic to my stepdad in a fit of shock.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do my best because I love getting comments and want to return all the excitement and gratitude someone took the time to express for my work.

That being said i have to stop when it begins to feel like a chore. Then my anxiety kicks up and then they sit for months upon months. It’s....yeah, I’m working on it.

tl;dr--I try to.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I gravitate towards Happy For Now endings as a general rule. Of them all, I think Porthos The Pirate had the most difficult ending to reconcile.

In it, Porthos went from a renegade pirate who treasured his freedom above all else to a nearly-respectable Muskeeter with two lovers and a structure he had to work within. His acceptance of responsibly meant also accepting that his actions as a pirate, while moral, did nothing to resolve the deeper issues causing them. He was trying to patch a gaping wound with a band-aid.

That fic was really about growing up, and that’s always hard.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I avoid reading/writing crossovers as a general rule, since I have a hard time accessing them--usually I’m much more invested in one fandom over the other. The sole exception being Pacific Rim--I will jump through fire for a good Drift Compatible AU, though I have no compulsion to write one myself.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

A few sour comments over the years but nothing unreasonable.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Ohhhhhh yes. And, tbh, whatever kind I want. I used to be a lot more descriptive of how bodies met, but then I realized a few years back it wasn’t the physicality of sex that really got me, it was the emotional connection and intensity that came from it.

So, now I write sex scenes that talk about how a character is feelings when connecting with their partner. Why they wanted to be there, and what they’re getting from it. I love my sex scenes, and if I make sure they’re doing some heavy lifting on the plot/themes of my story I can put even more in!

It can sometimes come off purple-prosy and pretentious if i’m not careful, but it’s honestly the the kind of sex I really, really like to read.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yep - Play Nice (Hobbit RPF) was translated into Chinese.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have indeed -- my roomie @readwing and I have been in fan spaces for years together, though rarely in the same fandom. Every once in a blue moon our fandoms overlap, which got us:

A German, A Russian, and an American Walk Into A Bar (Man From UNCLE, OT3, Explicit) -- which, holy crap we finished!

AND

The Garrison Reserve (The Musketeers, The Inseparables, Mature) -- which, holy crap, we need to finish!

They're currently working on a couple BatFam projects I’m gonna lose my mind over when they post. 

What’s your all time favourite ship?

The Leverage OT3 of Hardison/Parker/Eliot. I love their depiction in canon so much I rarely need fic to supplement their story or personalities. I don’t think I could write fic for them --I’m a spite writer and I most often write fic when canon annoyed me about something. tbh I’ve yet to come across a Leverage fic that gave me the same emotions watching The Rundown Job did. 

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

@readwing and I are bound and determined to finish The Garrison Reserve....someday.

What are your writing strengths?

I don’t know if its a strength but I adore writing dialogue.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I start taking narrative short cuts that aren’t necessarily in the story’s best interest when I’ve run out of patience for a project. I know if I leave it for a week, maybe two, I can work out whatever it is that’s bugging me. It just sometimes feels like I don’t have a week or two to sit on it, I’ve got to solve it now, now, now. And that’s when I get sloppy. Usually, months or years later, when I reread something, I can tell where I fucked up.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Translation is a paid profession because its extremely difficult and nuanced task that takes lots of skill and insight. Not everyone can do it.

I did it once in one of my Les Mis fics--I knew enough French to be dangerous, and I still got it wrong. Every once in a while I think about going back and pulling that line. Then I remember I have about a thousand other things to do, and editing a nearly ten year old fic does not pay my bills. Eventually, you just gotta learn from your mistakes and get on with life.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

When I was 11 or so I wrote the beginnings of a Digimon fic that I think is out there in cyberspace somewhere. I couldn’t tell you were. In high school I wrote a few short fics for Teen Titans, Beyblades, and really obscure anime called Pilot Candidate.

What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

As I’ve just finished it, I’m pretty darn proud of my Green Knight fic and will likely be for some months yet.

That being said, Needing/Getting is by far the biggest, most expansive work I’ve ever managed as a writer. I will love that story until my end days.

Tagging next: anyone who’s interested :D Happy FanFic Writer Appreciation Day!

[runicmagitek]

Writing Progress

Ho boy, it's been a week or two.

I didn't do a writing progress thing last week, because my health was a flaming bag of dicks lemme tell ya. Work's been stressful. Health has been blah. Finding the mental energy and uninterrupted time to write has been... sigh... like finding a damn unicorn.

There were a lot of days where I didn't write. Like, a lot a lot. And that's never good, because I feel bleh when I can't write an adequate amount for the day. And even though some words are better than no words... it's difficult when you look at your word tracker and watch yourself fall behind tremendously every day. 800~ words daily suddenly becomes 1500~ words daily. Which again, isn't a lot, but when you're only doing 500 a day, if that, it builds up and it feels awful.

And I think this is the first time I've ever been this behind with a thing. I'm almost always ahead of my daily goals, especially with NaNo. Granted, this is just for my GYWO yearly word count goal of 250k, but still. It's hard. I did so well last month and February feels so... bleh.

BUT.

I'm not going to wallow in woe and instead remind myself of the things I did accomplish these past couple of weeks:

Wrote, edited, and polished five (5) fics for Chococlate Box. Sweet jeebus that's a lot. I think my shortest one was just shy of 1k. That's a lot of words!

I finally finished the first draft of another Chocolate Box fic that... um... look, my hand slipped and it's over 10k. I'm hoping to polish it up before author reveal so I can post it.

I also did a bunch of research for another treat for Chocolate Box that's going to be a fusion crossover thing. I'm really excited about it and hopefully - HOPEFULLY - it doesn't turn into A Thing and I can have it be... I don't know, under 3k? Maybe? That'd be nice they said as it blew up into another 10k monstrosity

I had some revelations with my Pharmercy high school AU fic and while I have yet to jump back into it since NaNo (uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh whyyyyyyyy), I'm still thinking about it a lot and am very excited to get back into it. Jotted down a bunch of notes that will come in handy for future scenes for it

And this doesn't include my reading ventures, because oh man, lemme tell ya, I've been reading a lot of novels lately. I want to get back into reading fics more, too, but atm, I'm really full with beta reading everything. Seriously, when did this happen. I blinked and I have five (5) fics I'm helping with beta'ing. Which is awesome!!! I love this! I'm so happy to lend my editing experience to others and help fellow writers make some awesome EVEN FUCKING BETTER :D :D :D that legit gives me life. But... I swear they're like bunnies humping in a corner and somehow multiplying. I'll get to all of them. I WILL, DAMN IT.

And not exactly writing related, but definitely helps, my new meds are maybe working?? Like I'm not nauseous 24/7?? I HAVE AN APPETITE AGAIN???? IS THIS WHAT NORMAL FEELS LIKE I HONESTLY CAN'T REMEMBER, GUYS. I went out for the first time since probably December to write. I went to Starbucks and a cafe down the street from me (which was... yeah, it was A Thing, I might make a separate post about it later). I was able to leave my house and do something and not be stressed over my symptoms making it impossible for me to exist outside of the comfort of my house. Fuck, it's really nice.

I also banged out over 4k words yesterday. What is this. Who am I. What year is it.

Here's hoping this upcoming week is also positive. Work is going to be... hahaaaaaaaaaaa, yeah... I'm going to hate this week work-wise, but damnit, I'm going to cherish whatever down time I have to all the writing. Because reasons.