#mind you I’ve only got the idea for the story not an actual plot lol

[mycological-mariner]

I really should go back to the short story about the fishwives and bal maidens tbh

[campfam4lyfe]

Got any campfam aus or ideas in the works?

hey anon! I wouldn’t say I have any ideas in the works, because I have what I like to call commitment issues when it comes to writing fic.

This means that while I have an abundance of ideas, outlines, and wips in my Google docs for the fandoms I’ve been in. I’ve never actually finished a fic and posted it.

In fact, the only single time I have, (diff fandom!) I am not counting properly, because it was a collab with a close mutual, and a lot of the legwork was them. I had the initial plot bunny and was going to leave it as a one off tumblr post, but my mutual rlly liked the idea and we bounced drabbles and such back and forth. We wrote a bunch of snippets and put them together in a doc, until we had cohesive chapters, as we filled the empty spaces with more and more work, ending up to a total of 18 chapters. It took us a year and a half to post it, and that was mostly my fault, as where my mutual had finished most of their allotted sections, different hyperfixations kept pulling me to other unfinished works. This is why I won’t promise anything—I don’t want to disappoint anyone.

But, that being said. I do have ideas, hcs, and aus! One that is currently consuming me, was actually inspired by this one other post I saw recently. (When I find the post ima link it dw!) OP of the post was saying that there should be a Carmen Sandiego au for CC and I jumped on that SO fucking fast anon. I LOVE Carmen Sandiego, and have since it first aired when I was in HS.

So. Here’s some of the Carmen Sandiego au thoughts copy/pasted from my Google docs. (Yes I do always write out my outlines as if I’m taking to someone but that’s bc i sometimes end up sharing the doc link with some friends)

JWCC Carmen Sandiego AU:

Y’all know Kenlynn is my JAM and so is RedCrackle. So obvi I thought of mixing the two right? But here’s the thing. While I love Carmen/Gray, I am also in love with Carmen/Ivy and Carmen/Julia.

So with that in mind. Kenlynn is going to take a backseat for a second (meaning tho they'll become a thing and obvi they will bc they are a constant to me, theyre not the center of this), and my fave girls YASAMMY will be at the forefront of this au.

I’m thinking. Carmen Sammy. But I’m not entirely sure about whether or not that’s what I want? It could be argued that Sammy’s love for her family is a core driving force in her character, and Carmen doesn’t KNOW her family. But also—a huge plot point is that she’s looking for her mom. So. Tentative Carmen Sammy.

MANTAH CORP AS VILE MANTAH CORP AS V.I.L.E MANTAH CORP AS V.I.L.E

So I figure not everything is going to be one-to-one. This means I am placing Kenji in the role of Gray/Crackle. His story is going to be different tho, bc whereas Gray was a recruit, with MANTAH CORP AS V.I.L.E that means Daniel is already on the board. So kenji trying to make his dad proud? More likely than you think.

(I just wanted my Sammy&Kenji besties. Bestie betrayal can be just as good as romantic betrayal)

I’m sure you know where I’m going with this if we’re not going the redcrackle route. Thats right. YASMINA JULIA.

I considered at first, YASMINA CARMEN and SAMMY IVY, but in the end the need for Sammy Carmen was too great.

So I also considered Dave and Roxxie as Chase and Julia but, I decided to scrap that idea for now. You know me, at some point I might revamp most of the au anyways lol, now is not a time for fine tuning it’s just a tentative starting point.

Torn between DARIUS as Player or Brooklynn as Player. I considered Ben of course, but I think we need to put him on an island at some point—he needs a Bumpy, no matter the universe.

WAIT. REVISITING BEN AS PLAYER. BECAUSE DARIUS AND BRAND AS ZACK AND IVY. This means no Carmen/Ivy vibes but since we ditched the Gray/Carmen as well in this au I think it’s fine.

Ben still has to end up with Bumpy somehow tho? Original Ben plan, when Darius was a Player candidate, was Ben is also a V.I.L.E recruit.

V.I.L.E having a faction that deals with genetics and cloning (in addition to like. Kash and his robots) and ending up with a dinosaur—Bumpy! And that being Ben’s flip to the other side/Team Sammy. He defects and steals Bumpy on his way out.

Okay I’m a little too attached to that, so yeah. V.I.L.E recruit Ben, so Brooklynn as player??

Oh! She doesn’t have!!! IRL friends!! Brooklynn being an Internet famous vlogger as in canon. So we get that running gag of Sammy and Brooklynn always being in contact and Brooklynn being a big part of the heists through investigative work and such, yet she’s constantly on the other side of the globe? Sammy needs to be in Sydney but Brooklynn is in New Orleans. That kinda stuff.

Works with Brooklynn having traveled all over the world, she can also do those factoids player does—she’s got the deets.

Oh!???? THATS HOW WE GET MY FAVE DUO OF DINOSTAR BESTIES!!! They both love their facts. They’re nerds.

Mae as shadowsan? Tentatively?

Okay. Player Brooklynn. Except instead of being home most of the time, she’s usually on the go. She’s talked to kenji a few times during Sammy and Kenji’s V.I.L.E recruit era.

Kenji as the Gray of this au. he’s a V.I.L.E legacy. he became friends with sammy his recruitment year, and he'd talked to brooklynn a few times, due to sammy introducing them because kenji was curious about whether or not sammy has friends in the outside world, and sammy noticing brooklynn feeling a little left out/jealous that sammy had friends she was hanging with in person rather than over a phone call.

kenlynn kenlynn kenlynn

does he recognize her voice from her vlogs? does he even watch them? i dont think hed be a brooklander, guys got a lot on his plate and thats impressing his dad

ben is a V.I.L.E. recruit. maybe a bit of mime bomb, in that he was. not as close? with the other recruits. i do think having ben come in as a recruit the year sammy defects would be cool tho. so he doesn't know her as "black sheep" or whatever code name V.I.L.E refers to her as. he'll first meet her as Sammy.

yaz as JULIA!!!!! a junior agent? a former athlete. trying to make it make sense, but i think it fits.

omg. yaz. is alex rider basically holy shit

was thinking of dave as chase, and decided that i was going to keep it.

roxxie as the Chief.

mae as shadowsan.

yes. it IS because i want a roxxie/mae/dave love triangle and that need's final form was ot3

DARIUS AND BRAND AS ZACK AND IVY. i dont want their mom to be dead. but i dont know WHAT happened to her and why theyre involved in this life of crime? i love the og carmen&ivy&zack meeting. and i love that they were involved with racing. trying to find a way to incorporate it and make it make sense

important question.....is darius and his dad's great shared love still dinosaurs?

OR IS IT CARS? RACING?????? BRAND BEING INVOLVED IN THE RACES BC IT WAS IMPORTANT TO DARIUS AND THEIR DAD AND DARIUS CANT DRIVE YET

AND. SAMMY. AS CARMEN!!!!!!

okay so carmen's dad was a former V.I.L.E. agent who left it all behind for the woman he fell in love with right? well. obvi this au isnt a one to one. like there clearly have been changes in characters and dynamics. but i think involving elements from this could work. lemme map it out to make sense

okay so in cc sammy spies for mantah corp despite her parents not wanting her to. meanwhie carmen's dad defects from V.I.L.E., i think shadowsan was there and so was the chief and he dies.

okay so--sammy's dad was a V.I.L.E. agent, fell in love, defected. V.I.L.E. catches up with him, and does A.C.M.E. and in the fallout, the house collapses. A fire? an explosion? they think sammy died. (im not killing off sammy's dad bc damnit she needs a happy ending)

yaz losing faith in the system and having her hot girl summer being romanced by the pretty thief she's supposed to be catching

ben ditches VILE/Mantah Corp with Bumpy and meets Darius at some point--oh!!!

mae/shadowsan joins Team Sammy at the end of s1 i think? okay, so, when she joins, she brings ben, a fresh defector with her.

obvi ben left after he stole bumpy from them

at some point during their occasional talks, kenlynn became friendly with each other. then The Train scene happens. and kenji is promptly deemed a disappointment and dealt with the way gray is.

brooklynn ends up coming across a memory-wiped kenji during one of her vlogs. he doesnt know he knows her, just that something about her voice seems familiar.

brooklynn brings it up and the other are Concerned but also have a lot on their plate rn/dont truly trust him again or are unclear on whether or not they should. darius/brand bc their experiences havent been good so far, and sammy doesnt want to risk them. but he was still one of her first friends. shes torn

brooklynn making contact with him. smth smth she ends up needing a camera man for one of her vlogs and kenji volunteers. they grow closer during her sporadic visits. he asks her out.

DANIEL KON HAS ENTERED THE CHAT. SAMMY NEEDS BROOKLYNN TO DO HER THING. SHE MISSES THE DATE.

Meanwhile, that entire interactive ep??? of carmen sandiego with the julia/carmen??? THAT. THAT HAPPENS. YASAMMY DANCE AND WE GET THAT SCENE YOU KNOW THE ONE

[hotchocolatefanfics]

Hi I really loved your fanfics they are so interesting and quirky! I hope you continue to write and explore those ideas and your writing in general. I can empathize with your sentiments about your dad, my father also passed away a few years ago and IK what you mean by being angry with the world and its continuous pace. I really resonate with your statement about being angry about how the world can keep moving when your father is not in it. I really love the PoTA films as I also used to watch them with my dad as well! A question I guess I have for you is if the movies could be played out differently how do you think Koba could be reformed? In other words if things were different how do you think Koba’s story could have gone? Do you think he could ever be written as a reformed character? Thank you for reading and my sentiments and condolences go out to you ❤️

Hello, and thank you! I’ve really grown to love angst and romantic themes since writing PoTA fanfics so I hope to explore them in the PoTA world soon. I’m sorry about your dad too. It feels weird that things keep happening without him there, doesn’t it? I hope re-watching the PoTA movies remind you of good times with your dad as they do with me. 

And now for your question! 

If there were to be any reform in Koba, something would have to change his mind about humans. Thanks to Rise and the Firestorm book, we get a very in-depth idea of Koba’s backstory leading up to his escape in Rise. We know that Koba faced years of abuse and torture at the hands of humans which caused his deep hatred of them to begin with (which I think we can all agree is valid but still). 

Koba rarely encountered a friendly human during this time and when he did they didn’t stay long enough to show him kindness that could have changed his mind. Because of this, Koba has a very narrow view of humans. The ‘all humans are evil and dangerous and must be killed’ mentality we saw in Dawn. 

He was willing to listen to Caesar and express his concerns to him but I don’t think this could have been enough to change Koba’s mind (like even if Malcolm and the humans never entered the forest, I do not think anything Caesar said or done would have convinced Koba otherwise).

Basically, the only way Koba could have changed his mind about humans was if one of them were to show him kindness. For example, what he were the one who got sick instead of Cornelia and Ellie helped him? It doesn’t have to be Ellie specifically, but something serious would have to happen to Koba and he’s put into a vulnerable state and the only one to help him is a human for him to actually see that humans aren’t all bad. 

This isn’t necessarily a solid theory because, for all we know, Koba could very likely still try to kill all humans and just spare that one who helped him but this just means it would have to be more than one human involved (like maybe a few humans and some of the apes). Even if this does happen, Koba would still have to actually chose to change and do what he can to stop the war from happening. 

Plot-wise, I do not know how something like this would have fit in the movies but I could see it easily extending into Revelations (where Koba’s followers sort of picked up with where he left off-mainly Red, Grey…(other apes who’s names I can’t remember at this moment lol). Before War was released, there was some idea of bringing Koba back (that he somehow survived his fall) which could be utilized for this as well but it all depends on how much of the original plot you want to keep or change and what actually happens to Koba.

There’s actually a really good fanfic called Dawn of War on FanFiction that explores all this beautifully. To briefly explain it with no spoilers, Koba isn’t the one who started the war but is involved (sorta) in it’s creation and has a solid redemption arc. I highly recommend it if you haven’t read it!

[mydearestbeloved]

I've really been enjoying the story up until now but the last few asks have kinda made me hesitant, especially your explanation/idea of both the bittersweet ending and rough concept of your guide AU. I understand they're just that - ideas and concepts, but honestly they're just making me not want to continue reading your story tbh. I'm here for an x reader with a happy ending, which is what I kinda thought this was?? (Sorry if I misunderstood or something lol). Like you're writing an AU, nothing says you have to be so canon compliant and include JinHae (even to a small degree), but also it's your story and you're allowed to do whatever you like, but I also think it's totally fair for us as readers to ask that you kinda include that since the beginning so we don't get invested and then sorta disappointed when we don't want to continue reading. Kinda sucks but live and learn I guess. I think you're a great writer and I've loved looking forward to your posts but you should probably have a concrete idea of an ending before you start writing the story to avoid situations like these in the future. Good luck to you and all the best

Hi there! First of all, thank you so much for your kind words about my writing and for sharing your honest feedback. I truly appreciate that you took the time to voice your thoughts, and I completely understand where you're coming from.

To clarify: the Trial Player AU will have a Happy Ending.

Addressing the Bittersweet Ending Discussion

No, you didn’t misunderstand. The Trial Player AU will have a Happy Ending.

The topic of the bittersweet ending actually originated from a discussion in the comments section, and I understand that not everyone may have seen the full context. My apologies for not making things clearer earlier! The increased interest and back-to-back questions about the bittersweet concept got me overly excited to share and expand on the idea, which might have made it seem like I was changing the story’s direction. I assure you, that’s not the case.

From the start, I’ve been leaning toward a Happy Ending as the canon ending. While I’ve brainstormed multiple possibilities (Happy, Bittersweet, and Bad Endings), the Happy Ending is the focus of the main story, and I’m not planning to change that. In fact, I already have drafts for side stories that build on the Happy Ending.

The bittersweet ending came up as part of my thought process for an initial idea for a sequel (Guide AU in the context of Solo Leveling: Ragnarok). That idea stemmed from the bittersweet route, but even then, it was an early concept that I never fully committed to and am already working on revising to better align with the Happy Ending. I’m so sorry for any misunderstanding this has caused!

Regarding Jinwoo x Hae-In

The mention of Jinwoo x Hae-In was also part of the bittersweet route discussion, but I want to emphasize that I don’t plan to delve deeply into their relationship in this story. The closest we’ll get is perhaps Jinwoo/Reader/Hae-In or just Jinwoo/Reader featuring Cha Hae-In.

In this story, Jinwoo is already deeply attached to Trial Player!Reader, even if he hasn’t fully realized the extent of his feelings yet. Likewise, TP!Reader and Hae-In already share a strong foundation of mutual respect and camaraderie. Even in a hypothetical situation (emphasis on hypothetical), their bond wouldn’t be easily broken, as Hae-In and TP!Reader found each other long before Jinwoo officially entered the picture.

Jinwoo x Hae-In is only mentioned in the story because of TP!Reader’s internal struggle to align herself with the canon events she remembers, as well as the system nudging her toward a canon-compliant path. However, this is tied to a deeper plot that will become clearer as the story progresses.

Again, I’m so sorry for the confusion and for making it seem like the Happy Ending wasn’t the focus of the story. I’ll be more mindful of clearly communicating my plans moving forward. I’m incredibly grateful that you’ve enjoyed the story up to now, and I hope this clarification helps ease any concerns. Thank you again for your support, feedback, and patience—it really means the world to me! 💖

[actual-bill-potts]

A question I’ve always struggled with when writing about the First Age is: how did the non-Fëanorions (particularly the Arafinwions) react to the first Kinslaying?

Alqualondë has an outsized impact on the narrative - it’s responsible for the ban on Quenya, for most of Thingol’s hostility towards the Noldor, and of course for the Doom of the Noldor, which is arguably one of the over-arching conflicts of the story. But we don’t really get to see anyone’s reactions to it (besides Thingol’s), and - oddly - in-text, no one performs any action in response to it. Finarfin explicitly turns back after the Doom is pronounced, not after Alqualondë itself!

Isn’t it odd that no one saw all the dead bodies and stayed behind to help? Not one of the Arafinwions - you know, the kids of Eärwen, Teleri princess? That it was never even under discussion?

In my opinion, the only way you can justify this without making most of the Noldor completely morally bankrupt (and you can certainly argue that at this point in time, they’re already remorseless killers - but I think there’s some moral difference between a fight that got out of hand in the heat and desperation of the moment, and coming upon the aftermath of a fight where people are lying dead and dying everywhere, and completely ignoring it) is if the Teleri basically kicked them out. And I think what’s ignored in a lot of readings of the Arafinwions’ decisions is the agency of Eärwen (understandable, Tolkien doesn’t really mention her at all, nobody ever said the Silm was a feminist text lol).

Here’s one plausible interpretation of what happened, feat. Eärwen making actual decisions that help drive the plot:

To the Teleri, the idea of leaving Aman to honor Finwë would be insanely disrespectful. Finwë pled with the Valar for years to bring the Teleri to Aman! Finwë led his people through great danger to Aman! And now that he is dead, they want to immediately undo his actions and abandon his life's work? No way! Fëanor will do what he wants, but surely the rest of the Noldor won't go along with it...?

Eärwen is of like mind with the Teleri - of course she grieves Finwë, along with Finarfin, but in her mind the best way to honor him is to stay in the place of safety that he gave his life for. To leave would be a grievous insult.

But Finarfin won't abandon his brothers, and their children are also set on going, for all the textual reasons: Finrod for Turgon and to see Beleriand, Aegnor and Angrod for Fingon, Galadriel for new lands to rule. Orodreth doesn't want to leave, but he's the consummate middle child and doesn't want to be left out by his siblings either. Eärwen is furious: from her point of view, her husband is choosing his insane brother over her (as he's probably done at many points during the relationship if we're honest...), and he's taking her children with him!

But she's also the daughter of Olwë: she knows how hard it is to travel between Valinor and Beleriand. She doesn't think they'll make it. So she just says, come to me when you've come to your senses, and goes to take refuge at her father's house.

But then! The Kinslaying happens. oops :)

From the Teleri point of view: the Noldor tried to steal their ships, they fought back, and they were slaughtered. From Eärwen's point of view, the brothers that her husband and children chose over her killed her people. Her sons and daughter betrayed and murdered their childhood nursemaids, their swimming teachers, their friends, their people. She declares to Olwë: I have no husband, and I have no children.

Olwë says: all right then, there goes my one remaining reason to play nice with the Noldor. He decrees that no Noldor will be allowed within their city, on pain of death. Maybe a slight overreaction? But if the Noldor are allowed to be insane in their grief then so are the Teleri.

From the Arafinwion point of view: they came upon a battle already done, and the ships gone. They saw Noldor and Teleri bodies mingled together, and probably couldn't get a clear answer out of anyone about what happened. Then they're chased out of the city at spearpoint when they try to help. Finarfin, without fully knowing what's happened, tries to play the peacemaker bc that's his automatic response, and says, "is there any way we can make amends/make this up to you?"

Olwë hears that and assumes that Finarfin participated in the Kinslaying. He's like "HELL no, get the FUCK out and your children with you!"

Finarfin and his kids ask to see Eärwen. They're vehemently refused.

From there, what can they do but go forwards? They can't help the Teleri, or do anything to make amends; the Teleri won't let them. Finarfin&co can't even see Eärwen! They have no reason to go back to Tirion, and every reason to go forward with the host - they still don't know what happened, and they can at least help the Noldor, who were also killed in droves.

But then they get the full story out of the Nolofinwions, and they're horrified. No wonder Ammë didn't want to see me, Finrod says miserably, I wouldn't want to see me either.

But they still can't go back to Alqualondë. And all the reasons they had for leaving Tirion are still there: friendship, the desire to see Beleriand, wanting vengeance for Finwë and to regain the Silmarils (which are, remember, the only remaining source of light they have besides the stars). And besides, pretty much everyone besides a few assholes and Fëanor is torn up about the Kinslaying, and regrets what happens.

At least some of the Arafinwion host is still on fire to go on - if Finarfin and his kids turn back, they'll be leaving their people to the leadership of Fingolfin and Fëanor, who are both completely insane with grief and rage currently. And they'll also be leaving their cousins to the responsibility of....all that...alone. Finrod and Galadriel decide to go on. Orodreth wants to turn back. Aegnor and Angrod are undecided. Finarfin is so torn up he doesn't know what to think.

Then the Doom is pronounced. And I think the response from the Arafinwion host would be: what the fuck?!

Remember, the Arafinwions (and at least some of Nolofinwions) have done absolutely nothing wrong besides express a desire to leave. And now they're being told that the wrath of the Valar lays on them just as much as on the bloodthirstiest of their Kinslaying brethren. Maybe, they think, Fëanor had a point about the Valar. Maybe Olwë was in the wrong to not let them have the ships. Maybe the Kinslaying wasn't so bad after all! Most of the Arafinwions are now completely enraged with the Valar and totally ready to follow Fëanor.

But Finarfin - Finarfin cannot believe his brothers. He cannot believe what they have condemned him and his people to, in their rage and pain. They have lost him his wife. Their people killed many he counted as close friends. They have placed him and all his children under the wrath of the Valar.

For the first time in his life, he gives up on peacemaking. He tells his children, "Let's go home."

But they won't go. They're as furious with the Valar as anyone else. They're angry with their mother, for refusing to see them, for believing that of them; and they won't let their cousins face their doom alone. Besides, Finrod at least still doesn't want to abandon their people.

Galadriel and Finarfin get into a screaming fight, the first of their lives. Finrod tries unsuccessfully to mediate and ends up snapping at his father and leaving. Orodreth is weeping in the background. Aegnor and Angrod, angry with their father, turn heel and go to stand with Fingon.

Finally, Finarfin just...gives up. He takes those who are willing to go, and leaves without a word to his children or brothers.

After he has received a pardon, he eventually reconciles with Eärwen. Apologies are made on both sides.

But Finarfin's biggest regret is the way he parted with his children - and he won't get to see his youngest again until three Ages of the world have passed.

[aquarii-if]

out of curiosity, what made you want to start writing Aquarii?

Ooh, this has a looongg story to it, lol. I’ve put most of it under the cut, so be warned! This is a long post!

Aquarii just so happens to be the first ever story that I’ve ever created. I’ve had the story of Aquarii in my mind since I was very young, though it certainly wasn’t as developed as it is now!

Originally, the story just started out with Liviana, who was my first ever original character. She was basically a character that I carried across thousands of different universes as I thought up of new fun plots to imagine. I didn’t come up with a full canon backstory for her, I would usually just make up one that fit whatever plot line I had imagined at the time.

But I eventually got bored of just having one OC carried through different stories, so I decided to create an actual plot line relative to Liviana, and make her a more linear character. That’s when I had the idea to make her an alien. I’ve always been really into space and sci-fi, so I decided to incorporate that interest into my favorite character.

I began developing the galaxy she lived in, its history, its ecosystem, the government, and all other properties that a society should have. I also decided that it should have a neighboring galaxy, Chronos, similarly to how The Milky Way has a neighboring galaxy, Andromeda. But I of course decided Chronos and Aquarii would be closer and actually know each other, and then I figured out the plot line for the two galaxies relationship. I also decided to make Liviana queen because I thought it made the most sense. But of course, a queen requires subjects, so I decided to take some of my favorite characters from past plot lines I made for her, and make them important characters in the story I created for the galaxy of Aquarii.

After I developed the galaxy, the history, and the characters, I thought it would be best to begin working on the actual plot. I’ve always known from the moment it was created that Aquarii was going to be made into a book. If I ever started my writing career, this would be my first ever published book.

But I ran into a lot of problems writing Aquarii, I couldn’t decide on a linear plot line. There was just so many possibilities that any time I found myself writing one plot line, I’d accidentally write myself into a corner. Sure, maybe Aquarii could be made into a linear story, but I’m not sure how to go about that.

Then, in 2021, I discovered my first ever Interactive Fiction, and it opened my eyes to many possibilities. I then began learning to code in Twine and tried writing Aquarii.

It was… not easy. Writing Aquarii proved to be a very hard task, even when I was using a non-linear plot. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to have the MC be completely new to Aquarii, and it made the most sense to have them be abducted there. But I couldn’t figure out the reason behind their abduction. My original reasoning was that it was just a completely random choice, MC just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Which might’ve been an interesting plot line, but I ended up getting bored writing it and, I don’t know, it didn’t feel right to just have MC’s abduction be completely random. Maybe it was the fact that I would have a hard time explaining the point of keeping MC there? Or I would have a hard time incorporating MC into the main plot since there was really no point in them being there? Again, I’m not sure, but something felt off about it.

While I was working out the problems with the original plot for Aquarii, one of the characters I created for Aquarii caught my eye. Vega.

Vega’s original character was COMPLETELY different from the Vega you see now. They were kind, shy, reserved, socially anxious, just the complete opposite of what you see now.

I thought they were kind of boring like that. Not only were they completely overshadowed by Ellery, who already kind of matches that description, they also, similarly to MC, didn’t have any specific role to the plot.

So I took a break from writing Aquarii to focus on Vega, and since I was already really into sci-fi, and had started watch Black Mirror a few years before, I decided to have them be the inventor of some mind altering tech, and then I fixed their personality to be what you know them as now. THIS was interesting, and the concept of The Systematic greatly helped me develop the plot of Aquarii.

As I returned to Aquarii as a whole, I still had some problems with the plot. At one point, I decided to try a new angle, and make MC a Mitan themself and just have the plot line be a couple years after the revolution and Liviana comes back to MC to ask for their help against Vega, but I kept writing myself into a corner and was honestly kind of bored, so I scrapped it.

I tried a few different plots that I have trouble remembering now, but none of them worked either. It was back in late 2023 when the Percy Jackson show came out that I had a breakthrough.

I had already developed religion in Aquarii many years ago, so the Gods had been around for a while, but then I was like, “The Mitans and Virrians are already scared of humans, I made that a main plot point from the beginning, so why not just make MC a half-human, half-god individual?”

And that’s how Aquarii was created! I had been working on it for around three months before I finally published it. But yeah, Aquarii has a long history, but I’m very proud of how far it has came. I’m also glad you are all enjoying it. ❤️ Young Evie would be jumping off the walls if she knew Aquarii actually had a fanbase. This has always been a dream of mine, and I hope I can eventually finish and publish Aquarii and make all of my dreams come true. I’m so excited for you all to see the world I’ve created in full. ❤️❤️❤️

[wcbweblog]

WELCOME!

WHAT IS ‘WHAT COULD BE WORTH ETERNITY,?

What Could Be Worth Eternity?, or wcbwe for short, is an art/storytelling project of mine! I currently have a comic (very early stage) in-the-works, as well as some writing and other art pieces. In short, wcbwe is what I call the original universe that holds a number of stories and characters I want to share!

OH, SO THIS BLOG IS FOR THAT COMIC?

………not exactly, unfortunately. The comic is still very early in its production, and as the only person working on it, progress is slow going. I think taking the extra time will be worth it in the end, but I’m biased lol. As it stands, this blog is not specifically for the comic in the works, but when I am ready to start posting pages, this is where it’ll happen!

…ALRIGHT. THEN WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS BLOG? WHY THE COUNTDOWN, IF THE BIG PROJECT ISN’T GOING TO BE READY FOR A WHILE?

Wait, countdown? For anyone who doesn’t know, for about two months, I was doing a… daily, countdown on my main blog, and it ended today, 2023.08.28, the day this blog goes up.

To be honest – the countdown wasn’t for this. In fact I’m writing out this lil intro post the day it’s supposed to go up while at work haha! I am incredibly unprepared. The countdown was to something at work (that never ended up happening, to my knowledge), I think we were supposed to do some sort of… media blackout? Like I said, it didn’t happen, so it doesn’t really matter. But, well, a couple of my moots saw the countdown and got curious, and I thought ‘well I should do something on tumblr, too!’. So here we are. Art blog! Yup, this is an art (and sometimes writing) blog centered around the wcbwe universe. Right now the plan is to update every Monday, but that’s subject to change because I have no clue what my uni schedule is yet XD

YEAH YEAH COOL. GO BACK TO THAT COMIC FOR A MINUTE?

Ah yes. The comic. My pride and joy, should I actually manage to stick with the project. Like I said, it’s still very early in its production; only the prologue and first chapter have been scripted, and only half the prologue has been storyboarded. And it’s going to be a very long comic, so that’s not a lot. I’d prefer to have the whole thing, or almost the whole thing, storyboarded before I start making pages. If you want an estimate? I’d say it’ll be about a year or more before I can start posting pages.

OKAY, SO IF YOU WEREN’T PREPARED TO START THIS BLOG, WHY DO IT?

Well, there’s no time like the present! I need somewhere to organize my thoughts and concepts for the universe, story, and characters, and I’m hoping having a dedicated blog might motivate me to sort out my ideas haha.

*INSERT FANCY LIL PROGRESS BAR HERE*

Wow! What was the progress again? Not to worry! I’ll keep the progress updated here :]

scripted up to chapter 4

21/? pages storyboarded

0/? pages completed

IF THIS IS AN ART BLOG, WHAT KIND OF ART WILL YOU BE POSTING?

In short, anything wcbwe related! Digital art, traditional art, short writing things, animations, concept art, storyboard sketches, etc. etc. Anything I make that has to do with the wcbwe universe will end up on here eventually! Not all of it will be Quality Art TM lol

ALRIGHT, BUT WHAT’S THE STORY ABOUT?

I don’t want to get too into spoilers, especially since I don’t have most of the plot ironed out yet. Up until the comic’s production is further along, the main focus here will be on worldbuilding and designs. With that said – you might be able to put together pieces of the plot with the art provided! I’ve got a couple big pieces coming up that have some kinda major spoilers. I just don’t want to actually talk about the plot things until I know what I’m doing. With that in mind, some art might end up getting retconned in the final production. Though, there’ll be a liiiiiiiitle plot sneak peak at the end of this post. Very small :p (it comes with art!)

ASKS ARE WELCOME!

Idk haha, if you’ve got anything to say, or any questions, drop an ask! It might take me some time to answer or I might want to save it for whatever reason, but I’ll answer eventually! Oh – asks are exempt from the Monday Updates btw! I’ll answer them whenever I answer them :3

…oh yeah I should probably mention. C a t s. (also tags are in the. tags-)

Without further ado – welcome to What Could Be Worth Eternity? Let’s dive in.

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Arceli dies.

And then she doesn’t.

[wormtime123]

AAAAAAAAAAAA DRAMATURGY EPILOGUEEE

I love the lengthy wrap up of so many loose ends, the slow mend of things torn and that utter contentment to be found with people just existing right there. This is going to be my go-to comfort fic for found family to re-read over and over and over and over

Now I wanna pick your brain on all the bits; worldwalker shapeshifting Gem? Its so coool I love it. When did you decide to give her and others (Scar, Cub?) powers? What did Cub actually do at the end of Grumbot there? What was your favorite part of the epilogue to write? And which part was the most emotional for you? (tough question, I know I can't choose between Pearl & Gem's or Pearl & Grian's conversations)

WHEW dear god thank you for presenting me a pass to go insane on a silver platter. i’ll be putting my answers under a read more so i don’t explode people’s feeds with nonsense

most of the magic decisions made are based ~mostly in what i know about canon, i just ended up filling in some blanks and playing around with what’s already there! i’m endlessly fascinated by gem’s dimension-hopping (empires isn’t addressed in dramaturgy, but i operate on everything she said about her powers in e2) and i think the idea that she can open portals at will and freely travel between worlds/universes in a way that other players can’t is amazing. then the shapeshifting just made sense to me in how she changes her appearance around to fit into whatever character she wants to take on in each world.

cub and scar lore i’m a lot less familiar with since i only know of certain clips about their vex deal, but i kind of treat it similarly to gem in that i assume they can shift their forms around (ie. how often scar changes to fit a character like gem does, cub going from old man to s8 e-boy skin) and have a peculiar knowledge around portals (ie. the big dig, scar using his “wizard portals” to travel between seasons.) however i think gem has a different kind of expertise working with portals with how often she dimension-hops, so those two were kind of just doing unethical science at the rift to see what stuck lol.

the rift on its own is its whole thing in my Fanon Brain, but i have a strong image of it as a living, breathing entity that sucks things in and spits them back out in other spaces indiscriminately. dramaturgy scar describes it as hungry and i think that’s about as apt as it gets. stuck perpetually wanting to consume yet unable to hold anything in. then one of my biggest plot problems to solve was making the story line up with grian’s lore, aka grumbot (prime) getting tossed in the canon timeline ominously hinting at the other grian’s crimes, so i asked myself how dramaturgy hermits could have weaponized the rift and that’s where i landed! i admittedly don’t have a specific answer to how cub would have aggravated the rift enough to make it go hogwild in chapter 10, but i personally just imagined him figuring it out at one point or another by throwing shit in until something worked

dear god this is already getting long but epilogue!!! my answer for favorite scene to write is a little anticlimactic but i love writing all the evo flashbacks. if you couldn’t tell i am completely evo enamored. i love the strange, off-putting, nostalgic innocence of “something unpreventable and life-altering is about to happen and they Don’t Know.” i love them working together to get to the stronghold and entering the end portal thinking it’s going to be another task of teamwork as always and then just *silence* on the other end. amazing incredible tragic love it

(also on that note i loved writing the scene atop the mansion. just one last hermit acting entirely too normal while subjecting pearl to cursed knowledge before we go)

and lastly for most emotional to write i’d definitely say the scene at the hobbit hole! i’ve had that one as well as the sleepover at impulse’s in the back of my mind for so long i’m just glad i got it out. getting there was like the end of an era for me. everything with grian and pearl finally being back together but still not quite on the same page. i think pearl seeing grian so taken aback in the face of the tangible proof of his actions and mumbo’s feelings was the straw that broke the camel’s back, because at this point in the story pearl’s finally willing to see herself in mumbo’s situation. she’s finally realizing how badly she needs this specific closure but grian’s too busy going ???my actions… have consequences? i can’t just run off into the night with no negative impact on the people around me?

(which is of course also a matter of a warped sense of self-image and understanding emotions, but grian will go on murder sprees in the 3rd life time loop box before exercising an ounce of self-reflection, more at 11.) and only after seeing pearl shaking like a sad wet chihuahua clutching this random notebook of his like it’s the sacred texts does he really start to grasp how genuinely bad it’s been for her. like that would have been obvious to anyone who’s normal but whatever. i love studying skyblings like bugs

ANYWAYS. i hope you enjoyed this thought dump and thank you again for the ask i owe you my life

[goodboyaudios]

i’m evil like that muahaha~ also!!!!! congratulations on 40k!!!!!!!!!!!! i’m sure you’ll be getting way more recognition in the future:D

since you gave permission:

you said you’re finishing off uni, did you always know what you wanted to study? i’m at the (depressing) stage in life where i’m fully realizing how many curve balls life throws at you:) the path to success usually isn’t linear, so i’m curious about your journey!

it seems like you’re always asking for feedback or addressing issues, etc. do you have any feedback for us (as in, the community)? most people i’ve interacted with are pretty chill, but idk maybe there’s we could improve on?

this one might be a bit personal, so feel free to ignore! do your friends or family know about your channel/work? i’d imagine it’d be nice to have someone you could bounce ideas off of before publishing stuff! if not, how do you manage to hide all that stuff hahah~. you’ve built an entirely different universe, so i refuse to believe a sane man can keep all of that in his head and live a normal life simultaneously:p

if you could befriend any oc of yours, who would it be and why?

i’m not sure how to word this question properly, but are there any endings/plot points that you had initially envisioned differently? like, did you think a story was going one way and changed your mind half ways through?

you don’t have to answer all of these! you did ask for it, but i hope i’m not overwhelming you haha~

Absolutely not. School didn't do anything to prepare me for the world. My college has done less than nothing in preparing me to get a job in my field, YOUTUBE HAS DONE MORE FOR ME THAN COLLEGE AT THIS POINT and if I'm completely honest with you? That's fuckin sad. No, I had no idea what I wanted to do and I wish I was that kind of person who knew right out the gate. (lucky bastards) Okay, I'm done with my rant lol

I didn't know what field I wanted to study in, so I took a chance and jumped into something I knew I had some knowledge in and hoped for the best. Really that's all you can do. I have learned that, when you get out of highschool and you don't know what to do, do everything until something sticks. Trial and error. It's not the most efficient, but it works!

Any feedback to GIVE to the community? Let me think. Honestly, the community has been very wonderful to me. Occasionally something pops up, but it's usually squashed. The discord server is full of wonderful and creative and talented people who have always had my back and support the work I do. I hear all the time about drama in fellow creator servers and toxic behavior in the communities, etc...but my end of things has always been super nice! (that might have something to do with my lack of NSFW content) But yeah! No notes really! Everything good in our little neighborhood!

My family is aware AND so is my extended family lol! They are supportive, but they don't really give me ideas to bounce off. I have other fellow writers and creatives or that! And I do write everything down and go back to it in case I forget something. But typically speaking its all in my head, yep! I just...don't know how to do other things! Like...dress fashionably or...function in a normal society...you know useless stuff like that!

Zed. He needs a friend lol

Only with Bastard Warrior actually! Every story, I envision how I want it to end first, but with Bastard Warrior, I had thoughts of changing it because it was supposed to be enemies to lovers, yet the canon ending isn't Albus getting with Faith. So, I made 3 endings to appease everyone lol

Hope I got all of the them lol!

[aceofstars16]

1, 3-5, 8-12, & 16-20 for Jade Torch, please?

Finally getting around to answering another one! 😂

1. what got you into this story?

Haha, well I’ve been friends with @dragonanne for…almost 10 years I think??? So I’ve know a little about it/seen art of the characters for a *while* and even read some of the webcomic she started before deciding that a book would work better. So…yeah…and like I mean, dragons, why wouldn’t I want to read about dragons???

3. quickly list 3 things you like about the story!

Interesting and fun characters, beautiful illustrations, a very intriguing plot and world that is so thought out I LOVE IT

4. assign this story a hyper-specific genre name, e.g. "inspirational religious semi-horror sci-fi western"

Uhhhhh…I’m so bad at these…political intrigue/adventure/fantasy with Christian undertones/ DRAGONS

5. do you have a favorite character? who?

Oh man….this is so hard! Ughhh how do I pick?!? It’s hard not to love Gabryl, but I LOVE Lune too, and Kenneth…and so many others pfft 😂 (also this insanely minor character that hasn’t even shown up yet, but I got to help name him so I love him lol)

8. what questions are or were you most excited to learn the answers to while experiencing the story for the first time?

Well…it’s still ongoing so uh…there are a lot of things I still don’t know haha, I genuinely think I just…am curious about the…gosh what are the called, like the forgotten lands? (I’m too lazy to grab my book 😅), I don’t know if they will come up later but they intrigue me 😂 (and just like….how everything ends up too lol)

9. give the most UNHELPFUL and/or SILLY summary possible.

For the first book: A princess goes on a mission and ends up severely traumatized (sorry, not sorry 😂)

10. if you made an amv about this, what song would you set it to?

I was literally blanking but uh….then I remembered “Unpack Your Heart” and yes, it’s a Henry/Jo song for me but I actually love the idea of it for Lune (maybe with a specific person *cough* Kenneth *cough* but….it really could work with a lot of her friends cause they all care for her a lot 😭)

11. if you were put in the main character's position, how well would that go for you on a scale of 1-5?

Nooooo! Please no! 1 maybe, I already have enough trauma…though having a dragon bond would be cool…so that part would be fun at least 😂

12. assuming your loved ones would be there, would you want to live in the world of the story?

Hmmm…if it was post war era then yeah, I want a dragon 😂

16. do you think this story has broad appeal, or is it meant for a very specific audience? if it's more "niche", what kind of person would most enjoy this story?

I mean, I feel like anyone can enjoy it? It’s fantasy but with some political elements and Christian themes, which I feel like isn’t really niche?

17. compare this story to your usual tastes. how does it differ from what you've already enjoyed?

I think the only thing is the politics. Normally I’m not big on those in stories, but they play into the story and it’s not like, as confusing to me as other stories so I don’t mind it and genuinely do enjoy how they add to the plot

18. compare this story to your usual tastes. what parts of it are exactly the kind of thing you've always loved?

Close friendship! Dragons! Adventures! Just the love the characters have for each other makes me 🥹

19. pitch an idea for a sequel or spinoff novel for this story!

Oooo, honestly a prequel about Noein and how the whole Eliesic Corps was founded could be really cool!

20. what's the WORST thing about this story, in your opinion? (feel free to be positive, e.g. "it's not longer", if you want!)

I mean…I just want to read more of it but also like, I knowing writing takes time so, I will wait 😂

[just-a-carrot]

hi carrot

its kinda a long speech and not really a great one so i’m sorry if you’re not used to criticism(i haven’t seen any of it yet) but i’ve been talking about it with my friend and i can’t hide the urge to ask you what happened

i’ve been following OW updates for a looong long time now, and i feel like what you started with isn’t really what you’re going with right now, i’m not telling you that you should change the whole plot that you have or anything, i’m just saying that OW kinda lost this vibe that i’ve got while playing the first 4 arcs

before it was a disturbing, kinda frightening, messed-up in its own way story, with fucked-up characters and the same fucked-up backgrounds. while playing it i’ve felt like you didn’t give a shit about how gory or wicked the novel is because it’s just how the story was! you made me feel conflicted emotions towards every character, everyone had their EXTREMELY bad side but in the same amount a good one, and nothing of it was left aside like it’s nothing. Technically, the only reason why i loved OW so much is because of how much crazy stuff was going on, like literally my heart was on FIRE after each arc, i was only thinking about how fucked up(in a good way) this story is!

So… Since the first part of Arc 5 i knew that it wasn’t it anymore, everything felt too rushed and too…kind? I mean, i didn’t really get the whole thing about how Iggy and Genzou just let all of the things that Gidget did slide, they didn’t even really apologise for anything? I get that it’s wonderland who messed up their minds and finally they’re free from it whoohoo but no way that it could be THAT easily forgiven. I liked the ending of second part but? Genzou was a fucking dick for more than a decade and literally ruined Orlam, and definitely did something terrible at some point(that you decided to keep behind the scenes(i’m talking about the one thing that he regrets)), it’s just NO WAY that a “sorry” would cut it. He didn’t do anything yet to earn it. And Iggy isn’t a perfect guy either. It’s okay for now, no time for heart to heart talks and stuff, but it would be really sad if everyone just gonna accept things just how they are.

so um shit that’s a LOT of words, but i just wanted to tell that it feels like you’re either holding back or just decided to turn everything into semi-sweet story about forgiveness and mistakes and power of friendship?? i know that everyone like it right now, and you really really improved on technical and artistic side, which is fantastic

i’m just curious about how do you see OW as of now, what story is it, did i missed some parts which made me think like it’s a whole another thing? feel free to tell me “YOU’RE WRONG” if it’s really like that

hey!! thanks so much for sending this in. i don't mind criticism at all and i would never tell you that you're wrong 🤣 i know fully well that this is far from a perfect game and there are many things wrong with it. both simply because nothing is ever perfect and also because my skills and capacity as a solo developer have their limits (even putting my own mental health on any given day aside alkdjfalsd)

this turned out really long and rambling so i've put it under a cut LOL

that's a good question tbh -- if something changed since i began working on the game. quite a few things have i will admit. many plot points weren't developed until mid-way through production. character arcs went in new ways. new characters came into being that i had never planned for. so i do think you're exactly right in that yeah, the game has taken a lot of turns and the vibe of the end is probably quite different from the earlier stuff, in particular Arc 1. actually my very first iteration of the initial idea was just to have the whole game be Arc 1! 🤣 it was only after sitting on it a while (still long before actual production began) that i happened upon the idea of the loops and then began thinking about each of the characters' initial core arcs. and then by the time production of each arc came around, they changed even more as i actually began writing them. i think Arc 2 was probably the one that changed the least from my initial ideas. then starting in Arc 3, things began to change a lot. and that compounded more and more, to the point that Arc 4 was almost nothing like my initial idea aside from the fact that I knew it would focus on Gidget. for instance, plot points like after-prom and everything involved didn't even come into being until I was working on Arc 3. so there were a LOT of like, plot lines that didn't really work their way into the game until various points throughout production. and a lot of that just comes down to me living with the characters and story more and discovering new things about them while writing. and also adding more and more of myself??? i think that was also a big thing. the more i worked on the game, the more of myself went into the game, and the more "courageous" i felt about what i was putting into the game. i will be completely honest here and say that when i released Arc 1, i was actually afraid of saying there was going to be some "gay stuff" in it 🤣💦 i was nervous about being so open and out there with my creative works, especially as someone who's a bit older and keeps to themself more in general already. but then the more i worked on the game, the more courageous i felt, and the more of myself went into the game, and the more open i started to feel, which allowed me to be myself a lot more. in a way, in my head at least, my mindset from back from when i was working on Arc 1 is a lot different from now in that at the time, my goal was to just create something horrific and more in the general horror category, but now it's become much more personal to me and i don't really care as much about being shocking and horrific as i do about about the characters themselves and how important they've become to me and how my own personal stories have evolved through them. so it is perhaps a bit of a different mindset and is probably evident even in the way i talk about the game too 💦💦💦 and i also realize that this might be not what a lot of people like, especially if they liked the game more for the dark and horrific aspects. so for that i apologize to anyone who also feels let down by some of the directions the game has taken that may not be in line with their expectations 😞

i'm also really sorry that Arc 5 has felt rushed to you so far. for me personally it doesn't feel rushed at all as i've been working on Arc 5 on its own for over a year now and it's still not done and i've burnt out multiple times on it 🤣 but i can understand how on a player side it could feel that way, especially with all the other unmet expectations about the game and story. i have always been heading towards what i refer to as a "light in the tunnel" with the ending of the game. i think even as far back as responding to comments on itch from like Arc 1 and Arc 2 era i wrote things like that, especially when people would ask about the eventual ending LOL perhaps because with my previous game it did NOT have any kind of hopeful ending. but i did definitely want to lead into an ending that wasn't completely hopeless. that even if not everything was "fixed" (since there are some things that just will never be fixed) it's at least better off than things were before. but i freely admit that the way i handle reaching that point might not meet everyone's expectations (and this is one of my biggest fears and anxieties tbh... because there's been so much build-up and people have a lot of expectations now and there's basically no way i'm going to meet them all 💦)

Arc 5 is interesting to me in that there are quite a few things about it that actually do match my initial ideas for it almost exactly -- even back from when i was still working on Arcs 1 and 2 and just thinking towards the future. for instance, i actually started randomly working on some Arc 5 sprites in december of 2021 (and accidentally left them in the Arc 2 game files that some people found LOL). they were similar to what they would eventually become (orlam was basically zombiefied, gidget was wearing a very fancy dress, and genzou looked mentally traumatized), though i didn't end up finishing/using them as there were slight things that changed about them and also my drawing skills had gotten better by the time Arc 5 rolled around too lol. so i did have a general idea of how each character arc would culminate even if i didn't have all the ideas worked out specifically (most of the final details weren't worked out until i was literally writing things). i also drew this picture in summer of 2022 while working on Arc 4 that would eventually become a basically 1-to-1 CG because the scene was so visceral in my mind:

however there were a lot of other parts of Arc 5 that didn't come into being until i was working on it. cecil's involvement for instance, since cecil himself didn't come into being until Arc 4. jerry's involvement, since jerry didn't become more of an actual character until i developed OFW (rather than just the one-off joke in Arc 2). the final collector scene was one i knew would happen but didn't know exactly how i was gonna do it until i actually wrote it (and was also influenced by my work on OFW). the iggy dolls i did come up with somewhat early on, though their kind of quirky manner and scenes didn't really develop until i was actually working on it. and the spider idea for gidget's finale was something that didn't develop until i was actively working on Arc 5. the scenes in orlam's castle were actually pretty close to my original visions for them (i even had the music picked out for the chase scene already since like Arc 1 or 2 LOL) even if it wasn't until i was working on 5.15 that i figured out exactly how to do the final genzou/orlam bit (i had a few different potential iterations in my mind for it, though they all had similar vibes)

i'm probably writing way too much at this point 🤣 but i guess i just wanted to show how indeed a lot has changed since production started and Arc 1 was released, though there were still other parts that did remain at least basically the same in spirit. so i guess it's kind of a mixed bag! but you're definitely right that no matter how many specific scenes might have remained the same or changed, the overall vibe likely has changed, which all comes down to me and how i've changed and how my approach and mindset has also changed

to that end, i can really only apologize 😞 the game is in a place where now where i'm happier than i've been with it since all of production, but i freely admit it might have turned into something that people don't like anymore or that doesn't meet their expectations. also that i could have done things better -- devoted more time to it, written it better, developed the characters better. i am only human and so the things i create will have many flaws. i'm always trying to improve! but no matter how much i improve there will always still be issues. game dev in and of itself is just something i do for fun because i want to tell stories. it's not something i ever want to make money off of for instance. i really just do it because i enjoy it (and sometimes it's the only thing that keeps me going through my mental health stuff) and i also know that i don't have the skills to make anything that will ever be more than that. i'm really sorry to anyone i've let down because of the direction of the story and the changes in how i've approached the game. i wish i could have made a better game for you 😭

[daydreamtofiction]

Hello! Firstly, I wanted to say just how much I adore your writing style. There's just something ever so beautiful about the way it flows. And speaking of flow... I wondered if had any tips for making a story flow better, I've so many ideas but I just can't seem to figure out how to put them all together in a coherent way. Thank you!

Firstly, thank you so much.

This is such a good question but it’s one I’m having a really hard time coming up with practical advice for! I’ll try my best, but I’m sorry in advance if this isn’t helpful.

As always, I like to start with the disclaimer that I’m 29, I’ve been writing since I was a child, went to university at 18 for an undergrad in creative writing and got my masters in creative writing at 23. I’ve also had another 6 years since graduating in which I’ve been incredibly privileged to be mentored and supported by some amazing people and organisations in the literary space. So I’ve got a lot of years worth of practice and development under my belt. I’m not saying anyone needs degrees or training or anything to become a good writer, because you don’t, I’m just trying to emphasise how time is truly the best aid for anyone looking to hone their craft. And there’s never a set formula you can follow when it comes to improving your writing.

Funnily enough, I enjoy creating fics so much on this platform because it allows me to be a little more lax with my writing. Some things I’ve published under this alias would never fly with an editor and would probably be torn apart in developmental feedback. I don’t edit and redraft as much as I do with my irl work, I’m not as economical with my words and I try not to overthink things too much. So first and foremost, I’d say go easy on yourself. You write your fics for you, and you write them for free! Fanfic readers, on a whole, consume works that range drastically in author skill level. And for the most part, they will still enjoy and appreciate a fic despite its flaws.

That being said, let me try and actually answer your question lol.

When you say ‘flow’, I’m not sure if you mean the narrative or the actual writing itself. So I’ll give separate advice for both.

The narrative

Some good ways to make a narrative flow better is to think about pace, character and storyline.

Think about a TV show, I’ll use Fleabag season 2 as an example since it’s fresh in my mind from my priest fic. The basic premise is Fleabag meets a priest, fancies him, they hook up, but in the end he chooses God. If that’s all the story was, the show would be an episode long. What makes it so much more compelling is all the little ‘side quests’ she takes, the exploration of herself and other relationships, the time they take to allow that tension to build, little scenes that have no bearing on the main plot but add meat onto the bones of the story.

This helps control the pace; makes it feel more substantial and gives the readers time to bond with your characters and become invested in the story. It also stops you and your readers becoming fatigued by the main plot. Think about your day; you got up, went to school/work/wherever, came home and went to bed. But that wasn’t the extent of your day. You also might have noticed some new freckles while washing your face that morning, had an interesting interaction with a shopkeeper while buying your lunch, you might have found yourself dwelling on something that happened years ago which affected your mood, it might have rained when you weren’t expecting it to. All those little things are what make the journey from A to B truly flow.

So don’t be scared to divert from the main storyline with extra scenes, or create secondary plots that run alongside the main narrative. Not only will it help with the pace, but it will also force you to create more well-rounded characters. A well-rounded character is another great way to make a story flow, because they feel more real and less like a device.

Having lots of ideas and no idea how to make them flow is a problem I think many writers have. My advice for that is to not attempt to squeeze everything into one story just because you’re overwhelmed with a plethora of ideas. I know it can be hard when you’ve thought of a great plot point or scene but you just can’t make it fit, or you can’t figure out where in the story all of your ideas should go. That’s why it���s good to create a rough outline of your story in advance (either mentally or written out), piece together where all of these ideas might go before you start to write your story.

You can keep a note of your ideas in a separate folder/journal/document, that way you won’t feel as compelled to fit everything in one fic, because you’ll have this great selection of ideas you didn’t use that can be utilised in other projects.

If you’re still struggling to make your ideas flow into one coherent narrative, then it could be a sign that the story you’re wanting to write isn’t a fully developed concept yet. It might be worth taking some time to read other books/fics you like, watch tv/films and take note of how they’re structured, even daydreaming about your ideas can be useful, as the more you play them out, the more you may begin to notice how your mind naturally puts them together.

The writing itself

Read 👏 your 👏 work 👏 aloud 👏. It’s easier to detect issues in the flow of your writing when you speak it out loud - if you trip over your sentences, then you can almost guarantee a reader will. Pay attention to where you naturally take pause, that’s usually indicative of a comma being required or a sentence running on too long.

Be mindful of your story reading like ‘and then they did this, then they did that, then they went here’. Not everyone writes in a flowery way, but it should still have texture, some light and shade. Similarly, make sure you’re not repeating yourself. Nothing interrupts the flow of a paragraph like seeing the same words or descriptions over and over again.

Also, I know I said I’m less economical with language here than I am in my real life work. But I still advise trying to lessen unnecessary words/sentences. Give readers credit that they can fill in blanks themselves. Do you need to tell them the character is holding the phone in their left hand specifically, or can you just say they’re holding their phone? Do you really need to describe a characters appearance top to bottom, or can you just pick out a few defining features? Do they need to be described at all? Could you take a sentence like ‘I walked over to the table and picked up the camera, then I turned around and took a picture of the flowers in the vase.’ And turn it into ‘I took the camera off the table and snapped a picture of the flowers.’ It’s only a small difference, but in terms of flow, the key is making it require as little effort as possible to absorb.

I also just realised you could be asking about dialogue, which is its own challenge entirely. But I did give this advice to another person asking how to make dialogue sound more natural.

I really hope this helps! Sorry I went on a bit lmao.

[bonesandthebees]

Second, the Glass adaptation. Aren’t there a shit ton of Whatpad books that not only got published, but then also turned into movies? I don’t really think you have to worry about it. From my own experience with writing original ideas, they chance a lot over time, so once you start writing, the world might still shift a little. Also, as you said, you are already changing the character’s and plot. So glass now is just you playing with dolls to iron out the worldbuilding. See it as a first draft you put out there to get feedback on (which very much works since we treat it like a book club).

Also, if you are that worried, it think it wouldn’t be that hard to scrub every trace of Glass of the internet when the time comes. And sure there are some written copies, but I think that rule for that has always been that people can do that if they keep it for themselves. So they should be chill about it.

Either way, this is the same, write for you rhetoric. Rewrite it as an original novel because you want too, and if you can’t get it published, at least you have that experience and you can work on a different story. Also I know an author who writes atla fanfics and publishes “serious face writing” in the form of an original series, and while it’s not entirely the same (as in they aren’t rewriting their fics) I still think that if they are fine, you will be too.

This concludes my covid pep talk. Remember to test yourself we you get sick people because I wouldn’t have remember to do it if a friend of mine (who I hadn’t even seen) told me they had covid.

(2/2)

-🎄

Yeahhhh I know I’m just being paranoid. I already know a lot is going to change with the glass rewrite/adaptation. My paranoia mostly resides in how distinctive the worldbuilding elements are but that’s also why I want to rewrite it so badly because it’s cool so that’s kind of a moot point.

I definitely will have to try and scrub glass from the internet if this ever goes anywhere. I just have to hope the people who have printed copies of it so far keep it to themselves and don’t out me years down the line lol (as a preemptive sort of thing for my own peace of mind I’ve changed my boundaries on my carrd a bit to specify that I don’t want anymore copies of glass to be printed and bound. if someone already did it that’s fine, but just be quiet about it)

Thanks for the reassurance lol I just get really paranoid about this stuff. I really do love the world of glass and I have so many ideas for the story I can tell with the new characters I’ve come up with and I just feel so excited bc I haven’t felt serious about writing an original novel in so long and now I’m like wow maybe I can actually do this

Hope you feel better soon spruce <3

[aeoneskova]

20 questions for fic writers :)

Thank you so much @ulouism for the tag! <33

How many works do you have on ao3? 7 works are currently available to read on my ao3 :)

What is your total ao3 word count? 569,216 words - i’m honestly flabbergasted

What fandoms do you write for? So far only Harry Potter, though I've been interested in some spiderman or stranger things stuff which I might write for soon.

Top 5 fics by kudos? In order: Honey Honey, Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy, the Funny Tricks of Time, Seven Dials, Just in Case.

Do you respond to comments? The majority of them! I try my best to answer every one, or at least one if you've commented on multiple chapters in a row :)

Which of your fics have the angstiest ending? this is hard, all my halloween one shots are very angsty but which is worse? James and Lily dying, Marlene and Dorcas dying, or Mary obliviating herself? I'll leave that up to debate lol

Which of your fics had the happiest ending? I'll go with seven dials, considering that's the only fluffy fic I've actually finished, though goflb might take that spot once its done :))

Do you get hate on fics? I had an incident a couple months ago where I got flooded with some nasty comments, and I've had a couple things in the past. But so many people here came to my defence, it was lovely to see and I can't thank you all enough!

Do you write smut? Not yet... I get awkward... and scared someone I know irl will see it... but you never know...

Do you write crossovers? I have a couple marauder fic wips which take a lot of inspiration from other stories, like the Martian and httyd, but I wouldn't mark them as crossovers when I post them cause they're mainly hp

Has anyone stolen your fics? Not that I know of, hope it stays that way lol

Have you ever had a fic translated? No but i’d be open to any requests if someone did want to :)

Ever co-written a fic? No and not sure if i’d want to, i’m a massive control freak and procrastinator so I think i’d get stressed

What's your all-time favourite ship? I’ve gotta say wolfstar, my loves <33 though I do dabble in drarry and perciver, I don't think anything will top them

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you will? I don't think I can pick lmao I have so many idea folders and half finished first chapters that I want to write but I can't balance them all. I suppose I'll go with my wolfstar pirate fic That's Life

What are your writing strengths? I think im good with characters and plot, or at least that's what I enjoy doing most and what comes most naturally to me. I waste so much water standing in the shower thinking through things... I'd say im quite a proficient editor too, but idk if that counts

What are your writing weaknesses? I'm gonna say dialogue cause sometimes when I read back over conversations, they don't feel right and I spend ages tweaking it. And can I say procrastination? I struggle so much in starting writing, but once I get into it i’m fine.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language? I don't trust google translate enough to write in another language unless I knew myself it was right, so in most cases i’d find a way around it. I don't mind dialogue in other languages if its for a reason, but if that means I have to translate every other sentence it can get a bit annoying

First fandom you wrote for? A Harry Potter x Percy Jackson fic on Quotev that we won't talk about ...

Favourite fic you've ever written? I have to say I'm most proud of Honey Honey, its the only full length fic ive finished but quality wise i’d say Seven Dials is my favourite

No pressure tags: @arakhnee @pretentiouswreckingball @residentrookie and anyone else who wants to join in :)

[chrkrose]

I hope this is ok to ask, but what do you think of Daemon and Nettles storyline? I know you ship them, but what about how Martin writes it or the story he wants to tell/thinks he's telling? I'm not really a fan, much less so because by the time I got to that chapter I was already fed up with Martin. He's pretty much using F&B to talk about his favorites characters and while if you can't play in your own sandbox then where can you play, it makes it a little difficult to take very seriously

I wouldn’t say I ship “ship” them because it’s kinda hard to ship something when you have basically just the Wikipedia summary of what their relationship looked like. I think I ship the potential of the couple to a degree lol. And because I love cliche romantic tropes.

With that said, I’ve always been very cool about my ships in the sense that I know when I’m the one reading into it more than the story is giving me anything x the story wants me to see it in a romantic light. And I think George couldn’t be more obvious about how he wanted their story to be perceived as romance.

It’s not very hard to spot when George is going to the romantic angle of something, because his couples follow similar tropes, same as how it’s easy to spot his favorite characters because they all share similar traits. Nettles and Daemon in particular play very much into those things: Nettles is the underdog, who comes from nothing and is shunned by society, only to be proven that they are actually exceptional and special (with his more developed characters, Brienne and Tyrion come to mind, although Tyrion also falls into the next category) and Daemon is the character who commits tons of atrocities but has also certain aspects of his personality that are actually good and therefore the reader has complex feelings about him (Jaime and Theon are a good example of that in the main saga).

It’s only natural that he would pair these two together, especially if he can play with ideas such as the two coming from opposite backgrounds or clashing when it comes to their beliefs or even how they defy societal expectations when it comes to those characters getting romantically entangled. He loves to add any of those tropes to his couples (Dunk & Rohanne; Duncan & Jenny; Alys & Aemond; Jaime & Brienne. The last two in particular, it’s very very clear that Daemon and Nettles are the Dance version of Jaime and Brienne, to the point that even some of Daemon & Nettles plot beats echo those of Jaime & Brienne).

I think both Nettles and Daemon had different purposes in the story, each one having a different arc with a different goal in mind, and their relationship can be read in three different perspectives: what it means to Nettles arc, what it means to Daemon’s arc and what it means to them as a couple and love story. I can go into more depth about this if you want, let me know lol.

Ultimately, like I said before, people (sometimes willingly so they can fit into their own headcanons/agendas) misinterpret their relationship because they either want to close their eyes to the reality of it (“they are father/daughter” when it’s not because the book canonically makes it impossible and cmon, never mind all the obvious romantic imagery of their scenes and goodbye) or because they want to push a problematic angle that wasn’t really George’s goal (“daemon is grooming another little girl because is he’s a pedo” cmon George has a serious problem with ages in general to begin with, to the point I’m pretty sure he never saw a child/young teen in real life. Almost all of his romantic couples have a problematic age gap, which is why I can “overlook” this when it comes to Daemon and Nettles because it’s clear it’s not important in their case. Finally, because he goes out of his way to show that even though nettles is “young”, she is “older” than the girls he used to sleep with, and that with her it is “different”. I said in another post, he never wrote their relationship as a commentary about Daemon’s pedo tendencies, but in spite of it).

I think the story he’s trying to tell, to simplify, is of two awesome characters (subjectively lol. Nettles is awesome. Daemon is up for debate) he likes quite a bit finding romance and having an impactful story because since he likes those two characters quite a bit, and he’s the one writing the story, he can give them all the cool tropes and ideas just because. Which I get. I love Brienne so she’s always the most special one and the queen of everything whenever I write a fic. I can’t say I blame him for it.

And feel free to send me asks, I love answering it!

[msfcatlover]

OKAY THIS IS A BIG ONE, just answer the ones you want to :D

DC (preferably Batman or Green Arrow or Superfam but actually everything) - games, comics, movies, books, fandom

what is your (can be more than one each category):

favourite fan AU

favourite headcanon

favourite female character

favourite male character

favourite comic

favourite canon AU (you know all these Future State and Kingdom Come and Injustice and Arkham verse and all that!!!)

favourite ship (IF you have one, otherwise the ones you can tolerate)

favourite death (if the character died more than in one universe or more than once, specify which death)

favourite powerset

favourite resurrection (LOL, same with #8)

favourite AU villain/antagonist (those who aren't villains but you imagine would be cool villains in your opinion)

favourite canon villan/antagonist (if characters like Jason or Talia then specify which plotlines/comics)

favourite DC loser.

sorry for bad English!!!! have a good day/night

Oh boy, that’s… that’s actually really hard for me. I have a hard time picking favorites, because I generally love things for very different reasons. I know much more clearly what I dislike when I see it; enjoying things is sorta my default state, y’know?

Like, take the AU question. I’d be hard pressed to tell you whether a good Reverse Robins setup was something I liked better than, say, @jube-art’s Superfam/Batfam role-swap (which, if you haven’t seen it, go check it out!)

I’m also working my way through canon chronologically, and am still in the early/mid-90s, so there’s a lot of characters I haven’t officially gotten to, and a lot of stories I haven’t gotten the chance to really dig into yet. (I made it to Knightfall, realized I hadn’t put any of the buildup to that arc in my comic library, and decided to go back and read Barbara’s time with the Suicide Squad instead.) I don’t feel comfortable planting a flag on this until… oh, at least until ~2006, probably. (Which, given just how many books/characters suddenly got added in the 90s, will probably take a while.)

(There are also lots of characters who have so much potential in their backstory/power set, but who never got to use them to their full potential. Or who only had the cool parts of their backstory tacked on as an obvious retcon in the process of writing them out of the story, because the fans were vocally upset about them, meaning they never got the exploration any of those story ideas deserved.) (I have a special level of ire for power sets that are really cool on a surface level, but where the creators added just one power too many to stop them from being fully interesting. For example, Menagerie’s bugs having mind control properties overcomplicates her too much, in my opinion. Or—if you’ll let me hop over to Marvel—a character like Alpha who has all the “standard” superpowers, but only one at a time? What makes that interesting is having to choose between being super-strong or invulnerable or super-fast (etc.) therefore this character should not have ranged attack options built into said power set; it disincentivizes him from ever getting up-close with enemies, forcing the writer to choose between having the character be stupid or having the character never use the interesting elements of their powers. (…I mean, Alpha being stupid is kinda the point of his plot, but you see what I’m getting at, right?))

I will say, I adored Jason’s post-Crisis Robin run (in both Batman series, though for very different reasons) and so far very little has brought me as much joy as reading DC’s Detective Comics from that time period! And those few pages of Dan Mora’s B&W cyberpunk short that went around recently had me absolutely frothing with excitement for the possibilities that verse holds. And Jason being Tim’s Robin brings me endless joy, which neither canon nor jerkfaces will take from me.

(Aaaaaaaand while shipping isn’t the catharsis I come to comics for (thank gods, basically every canon ship I’ve witnessed thus far has been awful in motion even when their potential is off the charts,) I can actually blame DCEU SuperBat for getting me into this whole mess in the first place. Blame @susiecarter, whose fics I found immediately after watching someone do a deep-dive analysis of everything that went wrong with BvS, which I paused when I thought, “Huh, these are actually all really good points… I bet fanfiction has done this exact story, but with much better execution, recognizable characterization, and probably a hell of a lot gayer. Let’s go check.”)