#like. 100k fics is insane I won't say it's not

[smokestarrules]

That one post about people "hating on Destiel bc they're white and male" is *wild* to me. I combed through the reblogs of the poll to see if I can find anything and stopped after like 50 refreshes bc my goodness over 9000 reblogs. I saw the main complaints and *real* reasons people are upset with Destiel/Destiel fans. Most notably:

- queerbaiting (the show doing so or the fans doing it to themselves [it's pretty split])

- forcing an actor to come out as straight

- apparently being salty toward bumbleby during their poll

- discounting Sulemio as a 'random anime lesbian pairing' / hyping Destiel up as being more important (having more fics on AO3, shutting down tumblr, mishapocolypse, etc)

- Super hell

Everyone that's hyping Sulemio up is doing so bc:

- canon on-screen marriage

- the sheer history and influence of g-witch internationally

- most Gundams sold from said fandom in a country that still bans same-sex marriage

- literally posting all the amazing sulemio moments

- and obligatory "let's go lesbians!"

I like both shows a lot honestly. Even without taking everything else into consideration, I think a lot of older spn fans feel burnout from the ship. Especially when it was *the* big Supernatural ship.

Either way, trying to pull a reverse racism/sexism card on a lesbian inter-race ship is distasteful. I'm glad you left the poster's name out. Ultimately a AO3 ship poll isn't something we should be tearing each other down over, but instead a celebration of fandom history and fandom history in the making as ColeyDoeaThings put it in her last ship poll video

Nonetheless thanks for taking my rambling! No need to respond to this! I just felt like sharing

Ooh, but I will respond to this, because I really like the points you've raised.

I actually really appreciate this perspective because I have never seen Supernatural, nor do I ever plan to, and obviously that and g-witch are on very different spectrums no matter what, so it's genuinely interesting whenever I come across someone who has actually seen them both.

And yeah, like, I'm sure it's being hateful on both sides, and I acknowledge that I am heavily biased, but from what I've seen, most of the animosity seems to stem from the Supernatural side of things. Granted, they're losing fairly badly at the moment, so maybe it'd be completely different if things were on the other foot. Who knows! I do think this is ultimately hilarious and that's always what side I'm going to portray here, but there's always going to be people who take it too far.

But yeah, I completely agree with you there. Popularity polls will probably always hold some sort of controversy with them, but to be honest, it could be far, far worse. Hence why I'm making fun of my favorite takes anyway! Keeping it anonymous, too, is better for everybody involved.

[singsweetmelodies]

not me opening up my AO3 stats at 2am and realising that if i post fake dating tomorrow i will officially have written more than 100k of piarles this year 🤯

[m3r1m4r5u333]

I've seen some speculation about either Eddie or Chris maybe getting hurt, and Buck and Eddie having financial trouble. I'm combining these to create a wilder theory!

Buck would have financial trouble because living prices have gone up (it was on the news he was watching while he looked at some papers, possibly bills), and like Tommy hinted, his condo is impressive for his salary, and also now he's trashed a very nice hotel room SUITE with the help of Eddie, and some randos - who have since fucked off and are unlikely to be found again...!!!!

Like holy shit, did you guys see the end result, there was even some shit on the CEILING? Hotels fee for damage like this mercilessly because they cannot room people in that space while they clean and renovate. So it's not just about replacing damaged property, and sending the bill for the new stuff they had to buy!!

Nope, they lose money not only from the new furnishings and materials needed, labour needed to do the repairs...

-- but also for the hotel days needed to fix the mess, from needing to cancel someone else's stay and losing the money for each day of their stay, and also possibly compensating them for whatever costs (travels, the price of another room etc.) this unexpected last minute room cancelation triggered!!

I looked up the bill of a real "hangover party" like this, it was on the news. The bill, the money that hotel charged for this fine party of pigs was nearly 100K!! The pigs were SUED!

So looks like Buck is fucked, that bill will be insane.

And Eddie? He's basically a single dad of a child with health issues, also living on a firefighter's salary - in a fairly big, nice house! (He just kicked Marisol out, they would not share a wallet.)

He's also into BUYING VERY STUPID CARS for his income,

and took part in the demolition of that very expensive hotel suite, too, he will certainly be held responsible!

So they're both fucked, both running into financial trouble!

And the theory about either Eddie or Chris getting hurt, and the titles of the upcoming episodes; Ashes, ashes and All fall down: the theme being nursery rhymes - those two lines are from a famously creepy one...

What if the DIAZ house burns down? That could be BAD btw, Chris doesn't move very fast.

And when they survive (shut up, they will), they'll need a place to live!!

Well, Buck would open his home to them, wouldn't he, he loves them, he has that condo, he's partly responsible for their financial ruin, and could also benefit from sharing the living costs!!!

But Chris can't really use the stairs can he? And that's where the sleeping space is, upstairs.

So tadaaaaah, Chris sleeps downstairs, and Eddie and Buck will share the bed 😁 Because obvs they're the best platonic buds eva and Eddie totally doesn't panic about sleeping in the same bed with his best, bisexual male friend...

Yeah. The greatest fucking pine forest of all time has been planted 😇

Oh and Tommy...? How would he not be jealous, his boyfriend now lives like he has a damn husband, and a child. Even if Buck and Eddie don't share a bed, it would still be Eddie, Buck and Chris sharing a home, living in a tight space, like a family.

Btw this probably won't happen but please do write us this fic if you got inspired...

But nobody can say there hasn't been foreshadowing if this does happen!!

Buckley parents, the couch, the talk of stairs in 6x11.

https://youtu.be/KghkBnwidAk?feature=shared

Eddie dropping Chris at Buck's after the tsunami, directing him to the couch...?

[aeithalian]

……you MUST know I want your director’s cut thoughts on a shard or two lol xoxo MJ/kiwiana-writes (my kingdom for asks from sideblogs)

OOOOH hehe hello MJ i keep seeing you pop up reccing a shard or two and just know that every time i see it, i send up a little prayer that your pillows are cold on both sides.

ANYWAYS (most of my followers on this blog aren't RWRB fans but who cares) a shard or two is definitely a weird fever dream of a fic. I read the entire book in like 24 hours (this was just before the movie came out, so less than a year ago) and I, having a strange interest in politics, was like 'hmm, you know what? not enough politics'. So now we have a shard or two. I've always had a interest in politics and I always felt weird about being that person who has a strange in-depth knowledge about the US government, but I think writing the fic helped me think about politics in less of a pessimistic way, like 'here's what I would want to see in modern-day politics'. It also kind of raises the philosophical question of how good people function in a corrupt system without being corrupted themselves, and Alex is such an interesting character to play with on that front because I view him as so idealistic that he refuses to be corrupted purely out of spite and stubbornness.

So, that's how it got started, I think. I told myself I wasn't going to start another WIP while I have one going for a different fandom, but here we are. I originally intended for it to be way shorter than it was (here I was thinking last October that 20k was an insane length for chapter 1, and then chapter 3 ended up being 100k all put together), but it's been such a fun passion project and a real stress-reliever for some reason, and a great way to develop my writing. Somebody in the comments asked me if I write professionally (I do not, and I likely never will, but I appreciate the sentiment).

As for director's commentary, I'm just spitballing here but I have so much fun stuff to share so here ya go.

I know there's this whole debate in the fandom about whether or not Alex goes into politics post-canon, like either go into local politics or start his own firm or whatever, and I generally don't see a lot of people saying that he would go into upper-level politics like he does in the fic. Very rarely do I see any post-canon fics that delve into what Alex's future career might look like if he ran for any office, so I kind of just did it myself, as one does. I do remember seeing CMQ say on their Instagram that Alex wouldn't run for president, but he might run for governor of Texas, but I kind of pulled a Harry Potter fandom and ignored the author (sorry not sorry), but I did make a reference to it early on in chapter 3 for anybody who's looking for any easter eggs). Regardless, it's very fun writing a Gen Z politician who gives no fucks (Alex is Gen Z, I'm taking no critiques on this). I'm so excited for people my age to start running for office. We're going to kill it, I feel it in my bones (you won't catch me up there, but maybe in some health policy behind-the-scenes work, who knows).

The names for the characters were a ton of fun to come up with, and I tweaked them all the time, but here are some tidbits behind some of them:

Edward McKinney's (opposed the amendment in chapter 2 and was Alex's opponent for the Democratic nomination in chapter 3) last name is a play on William McKinley (the 25th US president) to kind of bring this mindset to the table that McKinney is exactly who your stereotypical politician is who would run for president.

Pinkley's name is also a reference to Charles Pinckney, who ran for president in 1804 and 1808 as a Federalist. For no particular reason. I was just having fun with it.

Treacher's name actually comes from the word 'treacherous' because I originally intended for him to be way more of a villain than he ended up being, because I thought it would be interesting to have a political opponent who isn't necessarily an enemy.

Aksel Wolter's (the guy who overthrew my man Onderburg for the Baltonian presidency) name was originally going to be Signe Wolter, but then I saw a cool TikTok that compared some enemies throughout history and saw how similar their names were (George Washington & King George, Jesus & Judas, Obama & Osama, etc.) so I thought it would be cool to have an Alex and an Axel, but the spelling was too similar so that's how we ended up with Aksel because that's also a way it's spelled in northern Europe.

Erik Onderburg's (you know who he is, RIP 😈) original name was Henrik, and that got all the way into the published version of chapter 2 (he's mentioned towards the end), and then when I was writing the first scene of chapter 3 and realized that Henrik and Henry were way too similar, I had to change it.

Ellie (full name Elena) is named after Ellen, with a bit of a Hispanic twist. I think Alex and Henry's deal was if they had a girl, they'd name her after Ellen, and if they had a boy, they'd name him after Arthur. I like to think the middle name would have been Orion either way.

Hunter Weaver (the in-universe replacement of Anderson Cooper) has nothing to do with WASPY Hunter. That was a total coincidence and completely unintentional. But, hey, if you want to believe they're the same person, go for it.

All the research in there is legit! Wikipedia has been a fucking godsend for election results and facts about government structures outside of the US, but it kind of sucks trying to relay stuff into two decades in the future. You never know what kinds of issues are going to be important in 20 years, so I actually kind of avoided that problem by just relating it to some of our current issues today: queer rights, specifically in trans communities, election fraud, 3rd party candidates, human rights issues (ikyk) and so on. And the makeup of NATO, the UN, G20, etc. haven't changed because I can't see into the future.

I also had to do a surprising amount of math? Trying to figure out dates and stuff was way more difficult than I anticipated, especially for election results and percentages, but I realized I really don't need to pull out my TI-84 calculator for a fucking fanfic, but I'm also terrified of the prospect that somebody will correct me on any of my math or research so the calculator stays. It makes for some funny moments, though, like when I realized that if Alex actually ran in the 2040, he would really have Teddy Roosevelt beat for the post of 'youngest president' by, no joke, 3 weeks. So that's kind of fun (and how I firmly decided to have that be the timeline of things).

I write most of the speeches the characters give myself, but I use chat gpt to get me started sometimes (the product is always pretty bland, so it's really just a reference for structure), but I use real-life speeches for reference too. For example (and a bit of a sneak peek), in chapter 4, Alex is giving a speech to the UN General Assembly, and I lifted a couple phrases directly from one of Obama's speeches.

Writing this fic on google docs was a terrible decision. When i was writing chapter 3, the entire word count was well over 160k and the software was getting so laggy every time I needed to control f something for reference. So chapter 4 and beyond is currently being written in a new google doc. Speaking of which, having to switch all my formatting over onto ao3 with chapters this long is a pain in the ass. 0/10 do not recommend having to go through each chapter and fix the formatting every time just because I wanted to have fun little article inserts.

I was going to make it smutty and then i chickened out. i deeply apologize for my cowardice (i've never done smut before).

I guess if you want a couple sneak peeks for chapter 4, I can do that too 😜

If this next chapter had a motto, it would be "every president has their tragedy". Yes, that should probably scare you. (honestly, I'm a little nervous to write it too, just because I know it's pretty dark but hey, if Disney can show Mulan killing 2,000 Huns in an animated children's movie, then I can tag this as mature and not be worried about traumatizing people, okay?)

If it had a theme song, it might be 'Fourth of July' by Sufjan Stevens or 'Abstract (Psychopomp)' by Hozier. (Don't be scared, you'll be fine, because if the chapter after that had a theme song, it would be 'Dog Days are Over' by Florence and the Machine)

So, all the chapters are titled with 5 stages of career development (completely arbitrary, I worked off Indeed's for a while and then I said 'fuck it'). Stage 1 was Establishment, stage 2 was Maintenance, stage 3 (spanning ch. 3 and 4 on ao3) was Advancement. So stage 4 (ch. 5 on ao3) will be Obstruction, so take that how you will. But stage 5 (ch. 6 on ao3) will be Resolution, so that should make you feel better. They're sister chapters, so although the conflict itself is resolved in chapter 4, the lasting changes and long-term effects of that conflict will be mostly featured in chapter 5 (which, honestly, is the one I'm most excited to write because I feel like it's that moment when Alex really grows into himself).

And a little fun knowledge just for you: there's actually going to be a stage 6 (ch. 7, on ao3). I was going to surprise readers by adding on a chapter after I publish stage 5 with a 'psych! you thought this was over, suckers'. Stage 6 is titled 'Reflection', so I'm planning for it to be about how Alex leaves office dealing with the idea of his own legacy and accomplishments (but as I teased in Stage 3, he won't actually be 'done').

I think that's all I've got in me. Chapter 4 is in the works, but it's taking way longer than I'd like (I've only just started part 1 😬) since I started a new job that's kind of sucking the life out of me. I'm very excited to share it, though! I'll be sad when it's over (maybe I'll do a missing moments oneshot series after, who knows).

director's cut ask game

[hollywoodsargeant]

when you said in your previous post fhat boyish Oscar said the most insane stuff and you're going to murder him, I truly didnt think it's serious threat until I reach the scavenger hunt part I was like holyshit you can not just say that Oscar, have mercy some people have cardiac arrest tendencies jfc.. and then further down even crazier shit dude won't be and can't be stopped.

Also Logan kept calling Oscar 'baby' wherever whenever he likes is very very brave thing i guess. Spin the bottle?? Chef kiss. Ahhh what insanity they will unveil once again we shall see.

Congratulations on reaching 100k words your contribution to loscar tag is immaculate and immense.

YEAH. that post in particular was actually sponsored by "i don't think you're capable of hurting me" but there was a lot of insane shit being said in this chapter. As Always. perhaps

oscar is logan's baby... idek why i decided that needed to be a thing but it's really very much a thing. the first scene i wrote where he called oscar that actually has not been posted it lol it's from senior year. we'll get there. but idk if you have noticed he never calls anyone else baby that name is for oscar and oscar only. rest in pieces

and thank you! <3 i write the fic i long to see and who doesn't want 100k words of nonsense in their fav ship tag... 100k words of half-finished nonsense. let's not get into that. save my head from exploding

[blondiest]

So, like, what do you do if a fic is longer than you expected it to be? 💀💀💀

HAHAHA. HA. um. god i wish i had a good answer for you baby.

i guess the question is this: HOW much longer is it? bc like, for me, most of my fics end up......... 10-40% longer than expected. if my initial expectation was 10k words and it ends up 14k, that's manageable. but if i expected it to be 50k and it turns out that it needs to be like. 75k. oof.

for me the other question is how invested you are. right now i am writing a canonverse (but canon divergent) mellonear fic that is— so far (we'll see what editing it down does)— looking like it'll be 15k ishhhh. i meant for it to be, like, 8k. literally have a note saying "8k or less." but i added some elements / points that i'm profoundly invested in, so even if it does take another 7k, i feel it would be worth it. take for another example voted most likely— it's currently 65k, easily think it'll be 100k. but i love it so much. i really want to finish it— though i think it'll take me & dee a long time to get there, and though i don't think it'll be simple by any means, i like it enough that i want to see it through.

now, on the other hand. i have countless— like, for death note alone, at least 25-30— ideas that i won't end up writing in full. these are ideas that compel me but that i just don't see being doable in a small enough word count for the amount that they compel me, if that makes sense. this might not always be the case for all of them!! actually, my current aforementioned canonverse WIP is a combination of 3 different WIP ideas that i didn't think would ever get finished. to be fair... this one. isn't finished lmfao. but i do think it'll get there (pray 4 me babes).

uhhhh. i dunno if i said anything of value here but i think it boils down to: 1) how insane is the length gonna be? 2) does it need to be that long? (the answer is often yes! but it's worth seriously considering) and 3) how much do you love it? once you weigh all of these i think you can make a choice. as a girlie who almost never has ideas that can be executed in under 10k words, it's hard out here!!! but ultimately it's also usually a pretty good time. write stuff you really, really want to write, and it does get easier, though in my experience it's rarely actually easy. godspeed, good luck, and all my love to you, anon ❣️

[wispstalk]

For the end of the year writing ask game:

what was your writing-highlight this year?

what are three things you're looking forward to next year?

Also: I hope you have a wonderful rest over the holidays, and I wish you much health, wealth and happiness for the new year.

1 - what was your writing-highlight this year?

finishing a 100k+ fic by far. historically i'm not good at finishing things. I published it on AO3 as i was writing to hold myself accountable. probably wouldn't do that again (i still have to go through periodically and edit typos and such) but it worked. and it taught me that "i am not a person who finishes things" is not a statement that can be meaningfully true

8 - what are three things you're looking forward to next year?

(1) reading the insane backlog of fics i've piled up, (2) finishing this shivering isles wip and doing more writing about crabigail, and (3) i'm also pretty sure I've got a part time job lined up that i'm going to like. i won't say more for fear of jinxing it but it'll definitely provide fuel for future fantasy writing

[idknhlstuff]

Guys, the fics I would write if I had the teenies tiniest grain of writing talent...

Like I'm in my bed at 2 am fantasizing about a 1988 au (idk maybe it's an abo maybe not but Pat can have kids here in my head lol) where Jonny and Patrick are in their 30's and are talking about how both of them want kids, but the only issue is that they're both single. So they decided that they could have a baby together and just co-parent it's the 21st century they don't have to be together to raise a kid!

Only they both obviously have secret crushes on each other, duh. But that's totally irrelevant coz they're adults and won't let feelings get in the way.

So at first they think that they should get Pat pregnant in a doctor's office, but after the first look around they're like hmm...nah that's kinda weird. And now they gotta go about it the natural way and it obiously takes a few months till they get a positive pregnancy test and by that point they're both low-key disappointed they're gonna have to stop having sex ...but they get a baby, yay!

And it's all Jonny being crazy overprotective, insanely proud of Patrick and just straight up bragging about it to anyone who would (or wouldn't) lisen.

Anyways, it would obiously be a 100k slowburn with all the self indulgent good stuff like Jonny and Pat straight up being married without actually being married, health nut Jonny, bratty "the baby you put in me is doing this and not me" Patrick, loads of Jonny being absolutely hypnotized by Patrick's pregnant body lizard brain thots, family members who can see they'll end up together no matter what they say and are amused by it, sore feet massages, arguments about the baby's citezinship and so on....

It all boils down to 9 months pregnant Patrick standing in the kitchen with Jonny on his knees hugging Pat's tighs looking up to him and straight up begging Patrick to marry him. Just deciding that even tho Patrick might not love him the same way (fat chance lol) he's going to give it his best shot. Starting off strong with his love confession, but then just going on and on listing all the reasons like how it would be so good for the baby if they stayed together and how even if Patrick doesn't love him back (lol) to just give Jonny a chance to prove himself how if Patrick wanted to see other people sometimes that would be "totally cool too" as long as he come home to Jonny in the end. And by then Patrick's like shut tf up and then... "You had me at hello".

God, I'm so obsessed with this concept. If anyone wants to daydream with me I'm all ears...

[ialwaysknewyouwerepunk]

Do you have any underrated fanfic recommendations for me??

oh wow. okay. okay

Diamonds and Pearls by superglass E, 6k, genderqueer H

In the midst of the AIDS crisis, Harry meets Louis after coming home from a drag ball. 80s NYC au.

do you know me by heart by HappyPrincess E, 7k, a/b/o

i could cry about this one bc i've read it so often. it's......... it hits so hard and so good.

Harry comes back wearing alphas’ scents, a pleased smile and a lace dress. Somehow, Louis still ends up making him come until he cries.

Among Lavender Fields by homosociallyyours E, 70k, girl direction

this is one of those fics i think about a lot at random times of the day. so tender, so personal, slow and lovely.

At twenty-one, Louis Tomlinson is more than ready to shed the girl next door image that's been with her since her entry into film in her childhood, but with a mother and father steeped in Hollywood tradition it's felt impossible. Meanwhile, Harry Styles is a young, struggling musician new to London, friendless yet eager for the next phase of her life to begin.

When French director Marie Coutard casts the two of them in her film, it's a chance for both to break away from the people they've been. Together, they struggle through an acting process that's new and unfamiliar for both of them, learning more than they could've imagined about themselves along the way. As they spend long days picking lavender and long nights sharing the things they've never been able to tell anyone else, their love blooms.

Will the flower fade, or will the love they make among lavender fields be one they carry with them to the end?

The Altar Is My Hips by Anonymous E, 4k, girl direction

Harry is leaning against the tree in Zayn’s garden. It is warm today and exactly the right weather for the photoshoot Louis has been planning. She needs a project for one of her art classes in college and has been bothering Harry to model for her for quite some time until Harry finally caved. Normally she isn’t that fond of having her photo taken but it’s Louis who is asking so what choice did she have really.

and then uhm.... if you can handle it. here's a wip. bc......... it's so fucking good. it's so so so so so well written and intense and angsty and i won't touch it again until there's an update while at the same time i want to reread it right now. don't open it if you don't like an insanely introverted H. open if you love pain and amazing writing:

all is now harmed by fondleeds E, 100k (so far)

It’s still that dreamy kind of dark, nothing seeming real, but he knows that it’s time to go, to whistle for Pippa and eat whatever he’s got left in the fridge and start the drive down to Molly’s.

He can’t seem to open the door. Maybe he doesn’t want to face it, this new thing. Having Louis here feels like a betrayal. Harry tries not to think about what his Dad would have to say if he saw the journo sleeping on their pull-out, here to shake a settled sheet and watch the dust fly again.

-

AU. Harry's a farmer, Louis writes for The Age, and it hasn't rained in the Bourke Shire for six years.

[icehot13]

its been weeks and im still not over the way home (especially bc now Boba’s pov is still coming out like twice a week, how are you so fast), I’ve been thinking about it so much im going insane. I checked out Boba/Din as a joke but after reading 100k in like two days I have changed my mind this ship is amazing and very much underrated.

Righ when i started reading the way home i listened to “Line without a hook” by Ricky montgomery for the first time and i’ll just always connect that song to boba and din now, just... “[...] Oh Baby I am a mess when I’m without you, I need you here to stay. Broke all my bones the day I found you [...]” and “[...] She’s a, she’s a lady, and I am just a boy.”

Ah i guess what I’m saying is thank you for writing, it’s definitely one of the pieces I would pront out if I could and I’m already starting to re-read it again :)

i'm so glad you're liking it!!! as much as i love waiting as long as possible between chapters to get as many comments as possible (i'm a bad person and also, completely fueled by attention), this fic is gonna be like 30 chapters again and i didn't want everyone to have to wait until like, february to be finished with it aahhah. I have 16 chapters fully done so far!

i was totally the same also, i just watched hte mandalorian for the first time and was like, um who can i ship him with???? what about boba fett, sexy man of mystery who din probably won't ever meet in person??? and then i learned about boba's EXTREMELY COMPLEX AND SAD backstory, and here we are.

aaaah that's on the soundtrack!!! I LOVE IT!!! killed me the first time i heard it, it's the perfect boba/din song thank you so much!! I'm so glad you're liking it :)))