#like i'm terrible at committing to writing a multi-chapter fic but this would be so so fun

[t1oui]

fic where evan follows barty and regulus into the death eaters. regulus has been fed propaganda by his family his entire life and barty doesn't really care, but he knows that being a death eater will piss off his dad, and that's all he really wants.

but then evan almost dies, and his whole world view changes.

within seconds, barty is grabbing him and running. he doesn't give a shit about his dad because while his dad has never been there for him, evan always has been.

this doesn't mean that barty doesn't care about voldemort or the war, though. the war almost took his evan away, and the war is voldemort's fault.

the day after evan's almost-death, the two of them show up at pandora's house. she lets evan in without a second thought - he's her brother (or sibling, bc i love genderqueer evan), after all - but she just watches barty for a while. but she sees the haunted look in his eyes, and she knows that he's learned. that he's come back.

she brings both of them to the next order meeting, and chaos breaks loose. people are fighting and screaming and suddenly barty is standing on the table holding a list of all the plans the death eaters have made for the next three months. he's passing it around, letting them all have a look, giving proof and explanations and answers to everyone's questions. and he's not in as quickly as he was with pandora, but he's in.

surprisingly, the person to warm up to him the quickest is lily evans. she's a muggleborn, so she should hate someone so careless, so bigoted, but she doesn't. instead, she seems fascinated by him. he's smart and that's so underappreciated, she thinks, and by his third day with the order she's begging for him to teach her italian.

a month after barty and evan defect from the death eaters pandora is acting weird. pacing, never sleeping, never eating unless evan forces to until finally she bursts into their room in the middle of the night and says that regulus is in danger.

rescue mission time!

i'm thinking horcrux hunt feat. barty of course and also regulus 100% (long distance rosekiller might give some nice angst ok. so evan is not guaranteed as part of the hunt) but i can't decide between lily and pandora as the third?? or maybe dorcas?? or maybe lily and pandora and they end up kissing?? so much can happen, guys. so much. for now:

[knickynoo]

Do you have any 1985A Doc headcanons? Also, do you think he and Marty might still have met in that timeline (before Doc was committed/Marty got sent to boarding school)?

I don't have too many headcanons, but here are a couple of general thoughts:

• 1955 Doc definitely follows all the happenings in the initial years after Biff gets the sports almanac, though he doesn't immediately suspect anything is wrong. I can see him starting to hear talk and see articles about Biff and thinking it's strange, though. But he probably shrugs it off at first as things playing out the way they're supposed to. Maybe Marty just hadn't mentioned that his dad's bully was wildly wealthy in the future.

• Eventually, as things progress and it becomes clear that the town was going downhill and falling under Biff's control, Doc realizes something had gone terribly wrong. Marty would have mentioned the state of the timeline he was returning to. He wouldn't have been so eager to return to such a terrible place. But he hopes the timeline will smooth itself out and that he's wrong about it all.

• Still, he goes carefully over that entire week spent with Marty, analyzing every interaction & conversation in the hopes that it might offer some clue.

• The IDW comic "Biff to the Future" series has Doc join the secret resistance movement against Biff, which George is also part of. I like that detail, so there's definitely a point early on where Doc realizes things are undeniably wrong, and events aren't unfolding as they were supposed to.

• I think he and Marty probably meet at some point, but briefly and in passing. They aren't friends, and though it kills Doc to see what's happening to the McFlys and that sweet kid who showed up at his house all those years ago, he knows not to interfere. With his resistance work and the tight leash Biff keeps his family on, it wouldn't be safe to reach out to Marty. It isn't like he knows how to begin fixing the timeline anyway. He's just a stranger to Marty.

• Honestly, though, even before he gets committed, Doc might drive himself a little mad just having to shoulder the burden of knowing how horribly things had skewed but having no clue why. Plus, he'd been so looking forward to meeting Marty officially once the 1980s rolled around and getting his friend back, and it's all been destroyed. It's so sad.

Also! I've actually been hard at work writing a multi-chapter 1985A fic that I'm very excited about. Gonna be a real deep dive into the sad state of affairs of the McFly family of that timeline. I do have a chapter that includes Doc!

Thanks for the ask :)

[purdledooturt]

Thank you, @cinnamontails-ff, for tagging me - I really enjoy filling out these things 🙈

How many works do you have on AO3? 25.

What's your total AO3 word count? 50,253

What fandoms do you write for? I am currently writing for Baldur's Gate, and I'm thinking of dipping my toes into Spy x Family, but according to AO3 I have written for: Baldur's Gate, Layton Brothers: Mystery Room (the iOS spin-off), Professor Layton, Persona 4, Pokemon, Welcome to Night Vale, Fire Emblem: Awakening, League of Legends, Frozen, Resident Evil (Village, to be specific), Lovely Complex, and Mystic Messenger. Additionally, from Fanfiction.net, I have written for Twilight, Legend of Zelda, Doctor Who as well.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. Pecking Order - Fire Emblem Awakening (305 kudos) 2. Backseat Gamer - Lovely Complex (237 kudos - smaller fandoms are sleepers, I swear) 3. The Rules Don't Apply - Layton Brothers: Mystery Room (218 kudos) 4. Happy Birthdays - Layton Brothers: Mystery Room (163 kudos) 5. Trapped in the Courtroom - Layton Brothers: Mystery Room (146 kudos)

Do you respond to comments? I used to not - mainly because I forgot my AO3 details and I never checked it! I don't actually get emails from AO3 to let me know I've gotten comments, so by the time I'd noticed it would be months ago that someone had left it. But I'm more on top of it now, and I try to reply to everyone who comments to thank them for their time at least.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Got me out here checking my fics and trying to remember what's what - I think I tend to avoid angst because I have to fight myself on the daily to get out of that mindset, and mentally I'm not quite separated enough from it to be able to look at it objectively without it absolutely ruining my mood. Apparently my angstiest fic in AO3 in general is Accepting Defeat, and on the grand scheme of things it's actually quite mild, so there you go. There's probably some borderline depressing things on my Fanfiction.net account, given I was a teenager with no emotional regulation back then, but I ain't digging for that.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I love 'love'. I love hope. I love happy endings. Soooo this question is actually terribly difficult for me. Hang on, let me have a look at the old catalogue and see. I'll give you the gremlin is encumbered again, only because that made me laugh the most and I really liked exploring that minor camp dynamic in BG3 for the ending.

Do you get hate on fics? Thankfully, no - I usually write for smaller fandoms so normally people are just stoked to see content.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I've only recently started, so I'm still working on it. I have a few on the pipeline but my first one is my currently only contribution to the Resident Evil: Village fandom, and it's for the Heisenhoes. I like to provide.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I don't have any crossovers published anywhere but I'm sure I've written them when I was younger, in some notebook somewhere, but nothing comes to mind. It was definitely, most likely, an anime x anime crossover.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I am aware of.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Again, not that I am aware of!

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No - I have commitment issues and writing comes and goes for me as a hobby.

What's your all-time favourite ship? Oh god, this is hard. I don't know!

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I don't write multi-chapter things because I am useless, but I did have this Egoshipping fanfic I wrote that I have published in Fanfiction.net (I really ought to move it to AO3 - maybe I'll rewrite it). It's called Being Second (warning, that's a fanfiction.net link), and it was pretty angsty but the last update for it was nearly 10 years ago now.

What are your writing strengths? I'd like to think I do humour pretty well.

What are your writing weaknesses? Oh, boy, where do we start? I can't finish anything multi-chapter for the life of me because I lose interest so quick, and the weight of expectation gets to me. I can't be consistent with anything, and I've only started writing out plot instead of just pantsing it with no general idea of what I'm doing. I tend to get lost in characterisation because I'm too self-indulgent. I have a lot.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Here's the cringe bit, because I was young when I started writing - I used to type out Japanese phrases in romaji in my Detective Conan fanfics. It definitely would take me out of the experience now if I were reading it, so it might be a bit jarring if not done right.

First fandom you wrote for? I'm checking fanfiction.net for this one, because that's where your girl's roots are. Apparently, Twilight! 2009.

Favourite fic you've written? Please don't make me choose between my children. I'm proud of everything that I put out, because it is a battle to even muster up the courage to put myself out there in that way. BUT if I had to, I would pick Pecking Order, not because it's the one with the most Kudos but because I genuinely blow my own mind when I read it, thinking 'I wrote this?'

I can't think of anyone to tag so I'll leave an open invite to whoever would like to fill this out too 🥰

[bettsfic]

1/ hi betts. i have kind of a specific resume question that i'm struggling with and was hoping if you have any extra time i could hear your thoughts on? right after i graduated undergrad, a lot of Things happened and then i ended up having a good old bona fide Mental Breakdown™ and spent the next two years just living at my mother's house just straight up doing nothing. like, crawling out of bed at 7 pm to get water from the kitchen and then going back to bed for 2 years straight type nothing

2/ now, a little over 2 years later, i'm finally approaching the place mentally realizing i can start partially digging myself out of this via employment and my own income, and am starting the whole job application process. my undergrad degree was a combo of history + media studies, i had gotten in to do my history phd at yale, Things Happened before i could get there, all combined with the realization that a phd is not something i can commit to right now given the dismal career opportunities

3/ thereafter, so now i'm floundering and ready to apply to anything across the board, just ANY type of position to hire me so i can at least get on my feet after a couple of years and figure out what the fuck to do. except now, my problem and query, is that i have an over 2 year gap in my resume, with absolutely nothing to show for it, other than just straight up going batshit insane. i have no idea how to go about explaining that gap in future interviews, other than lying, and i don't even

4/ really know how to go about doing that either. i would really really appreciate any of your input on the situation, or any general advice? thank you either way. btw, your writing and multi-chaptered fics were one of the only consistent and good things about those two years and gave me something to look forward to and think about, and i can't even put into words how much that Helped.

first of all, thank you, and i’m glad my fics could help a little. second, congratulations for beginning to get out of what seems to be a very dark place. i’m sorry you’ve had such a hard time these past couple years, and i hope things continue to get better for you.

keep in mind, i’ve never been on a hiring committee before, so i’ve never seen this situation from the other side. i’ve only applied to a lot of jobs, and i had the opposite experience -- how to explain juggling so many jobs at once, and why i felt i had to do that? it felt the same though in some ways, two years of my life where i couldn’t grow as a person or feel any emotion, because i was working every minute of every day.

so, you can only really do 3 things: tell the truth, lie, or don’t mention it.

if you tell the truth, you put yourself in a difficult position. even though it’s horribly ableist, hiring managers may hold a 2-year gap in your resume against you. i imagine they’re looking for any reason to deny your application. that said, you could also indicate that you took a long-term health leave and not say anything more. they’re not allowed to inquire further, and you never have to give more information than you’re willing to. i think sometimes there’s this assumption you have to explain the why of things in the working world, but you really don’t. you may have a manager that demands to know things, but if you work for a corporation, even if a manager demands information, you very likely will never have to give it. at work, you are a veneer of yourself. you do not have to be vulnerable or open. you only have to do a job. in the hiring process, all you have to do is prove that you can do a job. so, focus on that.

i don’t like lying, but it might not be a terrible idea to indicate in a cover letter that you’ve spent two years as, say, the primary caretaker for a sick/dying relative. it’s noble, sympathetic, sadly very common, and nobody would interrogate it because it’s such a sensitive topic. the trick is how you would sell it in an interview, i think -- you wouldn’t bring it up on your own, and if asked about it, you would have to put on a professional facade over grief, in other words a non-reaction, and politely side-step the question to indicate it’s too painful to talk about, and you understand why they have to ask but you’d really rather not get into it. while i don’t think anyone would catch onto the lie, i personally would be nervous about the karma that would invoke. (to this day i still feel guilty lying to my professors about skipping class and late work by telling them i had to take my dad to chemo appointments. my dad was actually dying but i only ever took him to one appointment. on one hand, i forgive myself because i was clearly suffering in ways i didn’t yet understand. on the other hand, i feel bad for using my dad’s cancer to my benefit [but less bad knowing my dad, a serial work-skipper himself, probably wouldn’t have cared]). also, you’d have to keep up that lie for the duration of your employment, especially if the fake relative passed away, and that’s your reason for seeking employment. the good news is, in my experience, when my dad actually did die on my first day of work, nobody brought it up, because it was a very uncomfortable situation.

lastly, you could just not mention it. especially if you’re applying for entry-level work, it’s very possible your interviewers or hiring managers just aren’t going to care. depending on the type of job, they may just be looking for a body and it doesn’t matter where you’ve come from or what you plan to do. in the grand scheme of things, two years isn’t a long time. it’s possible, if the hiring manager is older, “2018″ and “2020″ are not far enough apart to put up any red flags. especially having just graduated, there are lots of easy assumptions that can go there. looking for jobs, pandemic, applying to grad school, etc. but, you know, that’s a risk. you might default to this option and see what happens. if you’re not getting any calls for interviews, then try a different option. 

personally, my belief when it comes to work is always, “it’s nobody’s fucking business.” i’m one of those people who only ever shows a very specific, narrow piece of myself to others that i think is most relevant to them, even in relationships.

(an aside -- one time i was complaining to my bff about money troubles, and keep in mind, we talk every day, and he was like, “well you could always get a job?” and that was when i realized, my best friend didn’t know i had a job. because i never told him i had a job. so he thought i just didn’t have a job. it’s definitely a consistent pattern, that i’ll say something about myself, and someone who thinks they’re close to me will go, “you WHAT” and i’ll shrug and be like, “i don’t know it just never seemed relevant.”)

which is all to say, in workplaces i’m even more of a closed book. whether or not that’s a good thing is debatable, considering how i’ve hated pretty much every job i’ve ever had (besides teaching). but the point is, professionalism is a performance, and the cover letter/resume is just a script. it’s a picture of you, not you, and you can choose how to portray yourself. 

sorry this is such a long answer for what amounts to “i’m not sure.” any followers who have experience on the other side of the hiring process, do you have any advice for anon?

[sohereweare1]

UGH I just discovered Robbsa recently and I'm so sad that you're no longer writing them when you've got the best fics out there. My heart is weeping. Is there anything that will convince you to revisit the pair, even a one-shot or a short, multi-chaptered story? Maybe an art piece? I know the GOT fandom has died down and I'm devastated I missed it at its peak. I used to like Jonsa until I found Robb x Sansa which was more up my alley. Now I'm super duper hooked but I've read all of them fics XD

Hi Anon,

Thank you!

I’m sorry you got into the fandom late, I know how it feels, especially in such a small fandom that we don’t have much content as it is. I agree the GOT/ASOIAF fandoms have died down, only natural not just due to the show ending and no new book, but because of the awful way everything went in season 8 of the show.

I haven’t been writing much. Too much going on IRL and spare time is rare. I only have one WIP and it’s for the Merlin fandom. I’ve written Robbsa so much and in so many ways that I don’t know if I will write them again but as always, I never say never. I do have some ideas for one-shots but I am terrible at one-shots and always seem to want to turn them into multi chapter fics. But I am at a point in life that I can’t commit to another long Robbsa fic and honestly I don’t have a storyline to hold my interest. I am always open to ideas so if you have something you might like to read about, send me a message. I can’t guarantee I would use it but again, you never know. I never cared for Jonsa even though it’s how I found fanfic in the first place. Robb and Sansa have a canon closeness and potential for AU situations that Jon and Sansa do not have.

Thank you for the message. If I do write any more for Robbsa, I will post the link here. ❤️

[juju-on-that-yeet]

Hey JuJu! I have a question for ya. I have a ton and half of ideas of fanfics I want write so my question is. Do you have any tips or advice on planning a fic? I'm absolute terrible and I'll admit I'm more of a "Write As I Go/Post When Inspiration Hits" kinda writer. But with me trying to branch out. I want to actually finish the stories! Any ideas?

Omg sure!! :D

First thing, “write as you go and post whenever” is totally cool if you’re writing something short, like something you anticipate only needing a chapter or two. I never plan my one-shots, even if they take me more than one session, but they always just work out. If you plan out your one-shots you’re mostly just wasting time you could use to just write the thing XD

But for longer, multi-chapter works, yeah, planning is good. I tend to make outlines for my multi-chapter stories, basically saying in plain, summarized terms what I want to happen in each scene/chapter. I’d recommend that, but don’t feel a need to make it super-detailed. Give each scene/chapter a few sentences at most. For example, here’s the section of my outline I wrote for Chapter 7 of Worse Things (idk if you’ve read it, but even if not, hopefully this is still helpful ^^”):

“Over the next few days, the egos think they see signs of Yancy in security cameras and other things, but the trails always go cold and no investigation turns anything up. Lio is beside himself with worry and begins to truly understand how much Yancy means to him. He still fears commitment, though, and is afraid it’s too late to go back on his inaction.”

Pretty short and pretty vague, but that’s the point! It’s got the plot stuff I want to get across and the emotional stuff I want to get across. As to how I make that happen, that’s up to me when I write it! If there was something specific I wanted to include (like, if I had thought up the part at where Lio eavesdrops on Dark and Yandere’s conversation back when I was writing the outline and not when I was in the middle of writing the chapter :p), then I would mention it so I didn’t forget. But otherwise, it should be pretty simple, especially if you’ve got a bunch of chapters to plan. Writing the outline shouldn’t be as arduous as writing the fic, otherwise you’ll finish neither XD

Also: It’s better to use your outline as a guide, and not as an instruction manual. If you end up wanting to add/take away/change something? Do it! If you think this chapter would work better if it was split in two/combined with the next/previous chapter? Do it! Outlines are helpful for organization but don’t feel beholden to them. And it’s easier not to feel that pressure if your outlines are vague and simple in the first place. It’s all connected, very big brain stuff here XDDD

TL;DR, use outlines for multi-chapter works, but don’t reinvent the wheel with them, and let your story evolve past them if it so happens! Hope this helps and good luck with your writing! :D