#now if I could apply that to my own characters and some wips that would be great

[loisroo]

day three on straterra: so far i successfully made a ‘favorite’ list and wrote a few prompts so that’s something!

[the-golden-comet]

✨💋Friday Kiss/Last Line/ OC Confessions/Writing Share Mega Tag (wew)💋✨

Thank you for tagging me for writing shares, last lines, and OC Confessions @thecomfywriter , @saturnine-saturneight , @davycoquette , @sableglass ,@wyked-ao3 , @fortunatetragedy , @the-letterbox-archives , @theink-stainedfolk , and @drchenquill ! 💛✨

I know it’s still a little early, but it’s Friday somewhere (right? 🤣) Time to SMOOCH (among other tags. Thank you if you have tagged me recently, by the way! I may miss some, but I always appreciate being tagged 💛✨)

Rules: Pick one of these tags (or all, if it applies) ✨to do:

Rules: Post a scene where one of your character's does a confession to another character from your wip. It doesn't have to be a love confession. Maybe it's a lie. Maybe it's a crime. Maybe it's betrayal. Go buckwild, go crazy!

Rules: From your story/WIP, share a kiss. It can be any kiss, from forehead kisses, familial pecks on the cheek, platonic kisses, to full-blown make-outs.

Rules: Post a last line from your story/WIP

Rules: Post a snippet from your writing

Rules: So many rules. So little time 😵‍💫

The Peter Hart confession that covers ALL OF THESE lovely tags. Prepare to melt 🫠

Benji hiccuped as tears fell down to the floorboards. Too emotional for words, he mustered a quick head nod. Peter sighed low, shaking his head. “Oh, Benjamin….why on earth didn’t you tell me?”

The noble shook his head once more. Peter tried again, his tone greatly hurt now, yet soft and unthreatening: “ Benjamin…. ”

Through his gentle sobs, the prince spoke in a cracking voice. “I….I didn’t want my heart to break…..” His lips curled as he tried to bottle his sorrow, but the waves wouldn’t cease. Finally, the onslaught of passionate grief overflowed from his chest to his tear ducts, and down his freckled face.

“Benjamin…..” Peter whispered low and gently.

“…..J-just break my h-heart already…..!” Benji’s crying breath hitched. The amulet was glowing brightly around his trembling bosom, yet the light did not detract the tears.

Peter cupped his hands over Benjamin’s cheeks, wiping the streams away with his thumbs. Tenderly, he tilted the prince’s head up to meet his eyes as he cooed gently down: “You should have told me, Benjamin….because you’d never know that….” He confessed through his own swelling voice. “…..that I feel the same.”

Benjamin’s shining eyes widened in shock. But, before he could let Peter’s words sink in, the captain leaned forward and met their lips. Slowly, sweetly, he kissed Benji as he tried to calm the crying mess of a man in his arms.

The noble’s breath hitched into Peter’s mouth, but he didn’t fight the kiss. Instead, he leaned into it with his whole heart as he finally relinquished his remaining reservation. Giving Hart total control, Benjamin moved his lips and jaw in tandem with the captain. Much like their dancing, he let Peter lead…..and Peter would absolutely take.

I am leaving this as an +open tag for anyone who wants to do one, some, or all of these ✨

✨👇Tag list for writing snippets below the cut. DM me if you’d like to be added 👇✨

Tag List for writing tidbits (lmk if you want + or -)

@jev-urisk , @talesofsorrowandofruin , @glasshouses-and-stones , @alinacapellabooks , @fortunatetragedy , @deanwax , @dyrewrites , @honeybewrites , @drchenquill , @paeliae-occasionally , @lychhiker-writes , @thatuselesshuman , @katenewmanwrites , @zackprincebooks , @fantasy-things-and-such , @billybatsonmylove , @madi-konrad , @houseplantblank , @far-cry-from-finality , @froggy-pposto , @avaseofpeonies , @topazadine , @thecoolerlucky , @theaistired , @willtheweaver , @rivenantiqnerd @somethingclevermahogony , @noxxytocin , @leahnardo-da-veggie , @addicted2coke-theothercoke , @illarian-rambling , @the-letterbox-archives , @theink-stainedfolk , @ominous-feychild , @saturnine-saturneight , @words-after-midnight , @sableglass , @cowboybrunch , @moltenwrites , @pixies-love-envy , @davycoquette , @writeahurricane @nczaversnick , @greenfinchwriter , @oliolioxenfreewrites , @lavender-gloom , @smellyrottentrees , @aintgonnatakethis , @thecomfywriter

[vavialdavi]

Frozen fandom, I have a message for you!

Y'all really need to calm down on the asumptions cause it's possible that none of them turn on canon. I'm gonna adress the two big ones: Norse myth and Hans (by extension Helsa)

Unless, we've heard completely different speeches, Jennifer Lee never mentionned Norse myth. The castle in the sky could be Asgard as much as it could not. Let's not forget the question castle ruins in Ahtohallan. Ahtohallan already being its own entity. Norse myth could play a role in F3 and F4 as well as it could not. Yes, Frozen has inspirations and references to Norse myth, but it's not the only one . One thing you tend to forget is the great inspiration of Saami culture the Frozen franchise have, especially in the second movie. It would be more logical if they keep that way for the new movies instead of going after Norse myth as their main base. Nothing's confirmed.

Y'all have the right to make every theory you want but, keep in mind that at the end of the day, they remain theories. Mrs Lee told us to not hold onto that concept art. Let's consider all possibilities. It could be completely wipped off and we wouldn't know before 2027. Don't forget they were still chanoine the script a few months before F2 premiere and that Elsa was villian before Mrs got involved in the project. We're never sure with Frozen.

I'ma be fully honest, I don't want Hans to be a relevant character again and I'm quite fine with him being a joke along the franchise. The idea of a redemption arc with him having a positive role in the sisters' story, the possibility of Helsa even more make me sick. BUT all I'm about to say could also apply to my views on Honeymaren and elsamaren.

"Coming out of Frozen 2, we still have some questions. A lot of questions. That is just page one. Now you see why it will take two films to answer them. Just a tease, once again just a tease." These are Mrs Lee's words

This more looks like a list of the questions they've received. Rather than the ones F3 and F4 are gonna answer. Mrs Lee didn't say that. Considering the fact that the first two are already answered. Ahtohallan. The fifth spirit is the human spirit, Elsa and Anna are the bridge between spirits and humans (one side of each). Just watch Frozen 2 and the Myth short, please.

But let's say, all of these questions are gonna get answered. Some of them can just be mentionned a few seconds. And It's still not a confirmation of Hans's return and even less of a potential redemption arc. You can theorize what you want but Hans could also remain a blatant franchise joke. Or we could just see a memory of him in Ahtohallan showing what he became. Mrs Lee didn't confirm which characters are coming back for the sequels (even though it seems clear our five MCs and the Nokk are). We don't know anything about Hans's future.

1- Long story short, I'm not telling y'all what you should believe or not, I'm just asking to not act like what is NOT confirmed is. Don't hold too much on your asumptions cause you might end up not appreciating the actual movies if none of them happens. As an elsamaren shipper, I feel what I say.

2- I also fear y'all might start a new misinformation wave. Critical thinking and media literacy being concepts unknown in most of the fandoms, it can turn out really bad. I haven't forgotten how dirty some of you did Honeymaren just you didn't like the idea of lesbian Elsa. To this day, there are still being convinced she is her cousin. I remember really well how many people fall for that ai fake news made by a SATIRE disney account that Elsa was getting married to a woman in F3...

[ghost-bxrd]

I think the one that concerns me most that I really want to know more about is "little birds in little graves" because, given context, one bird is for sure Jason. So who the other, or others, is, has my morbid curiosity. I'm also hoping this is mostly a metaphorical title.

It could be Dick. We've all seen how well you write those two being brothers. It's wonderfully heartbreaking. The 'grave' of his being depression, guilt, or regret of not saving Jason, or being distant with him, whatever, pre-death.

It could also be Tim. I haven't seen much of him from you, which is a lil sad, he's probably my favorite. This isn't pressure to write him more, you're doing fantastic! I just have a lot of thoughts on his character. The 'grave' for Tim being his personal mission to keep the Batfam on track in the wake of Jason's death. Something he never really digs himself out of.

The last real option I'm seeing for our second bird, is Calvin. You've been focused on him, you've had thoughts! And I'm really thinking "Screaming sounds a lot like birds singing" might be a more Calvin focused WIP. But it could be Calvin! This is a much slimmer chance than Tim or Dick, but it could be! I think it was an ask, but someone mentioned Calvin saving Jason from Joker after the Court had him watch Joker. So it could very well be inspired off that.

Damian or Steph could technically also be the other bird, but I really haven't seen you mention them, so really low hopes on that.

Personally, the most interesting, and most complicated, way to explore the "little birds in little graves" thing would be to explore how that applies to ALL of them. How being Robin is a sacrifice, a burial, of youth and innocence had before. I know Gotham isn't a great place, but the Robins have definitely seen more than the average Gotham kid.

I have many thoughts on this title, and what it could mean. I do know for sure, it will probably make me cry.

Hehe yes my first thought reading through half of your ask was “awe, why assume there’s only two birds and two graves?” Especially because Bruce has so many birds flying around. 🤭 although, arguably, we could say that Dick wouldn’t need his own grave because he’s .1 seconds away from crawling in beside Jason anyway. 👀

I love your thoughts on the title btw! And I’m DYING to share the contents with you guys but first we need to build some more suspense 😩

Rest assured though, Tim is going to feature a lot more frequently in the series from now on. ✨ I’m really going to put our poor “Replacement” Robin through the (proverbial) wringer, wahahahaha!!! 😈

As for Calvin… well, we’ll just have to wait and see. But one thing is for sure, the Court of Owls isn’t as “destroyed” as everyone suspected 😌🦉

[bibibbon]

Hi, 👋 so I saw a post about overhaul from Delaware where it says how overhaul shares paralels with afo...which is interesting as he is doing all he did thanks to his trauma.

Afo creating villains careless seems something he would do, intentionally or not (not sure why he didn't kill overhaul before)

So here my question, all villains in canon are people with some trauma. Izu has a trauma ...how he would be as a villain?

Just fishing thoughts/ideas I do have an idea for a villain Izu that I will write(another wip in the make)

Hi @mikeellee 👋

I understand and actually agree that overhaul and AFO do share parallels with one another especially when it comes to their roles as leaders and how they treat the people they're supposed to be carers of such as tomura and eri.

In reality, MHA presents all of their villains as doing something due to trauma and this also applies to AFO especially his obsession with yoichi.

Now to your question, there are so many outcomes for how villain izuku would be like or how he would act however, I think he would be a character that walks the line of villainy and vigilantism very closely.

Now there are and could be many versions of villain izuku and to be honest my favourite will always be quirkless villain izuku over quirked izuku.

Quirkless villain izuku would be a character that again realises and sees the inequalities in society he sees and realises that not every man is created equal but he chooses to try and help change that. He wants to allow for everyone to have the same opportunities in life and he uses his own trauma as a motive so no one will have to suffer like he did.

This izuku would form connections with various characters like nedzu, Lady nagant, Stain and gentle criminal. He works from the underground and uses his plain qnd forgettable looks as an advantage so he operates everywhere. His plans start from wanting to help everyone to starting to look closer and realise the flaws of hero society, the flaws of the hero heirachy, the flaws of all Might and he sees how these flaws make others suffer turning children into child soldiers under the promise of fames and riches. Izuku acts he sees and he acts and gets into illegal things.

On the other hand, a quirked villain izuku would also do the same thing yet he would use his quirk to uphold a fearful and frightening image. He is kind to the innocent and a villain to the enemy. His quirk would allow him to do many things a lot more quickly but may put him at a higher risk due to various factors whether that be AFO or the commission going after him.

Shigaraki would hear of this new vigilante/villain and choose to investigate out of curiosity realising that they couldn't be more different in how they would like to achieve the same goal. Both want a better society but shigaraki wants and believes that this society can be achieved through destruction whereas izuku believes this society can be achieved through rehabilitation.

They would argue, going back and forth both believing and upholding their ideals. Izuku would say, "you can't build nothing from nothing. If there is nothing then there can't be anything".

Shigaraki would retort saying that, " it is easier to create what's desired when there is a blank slate".

Ultimately, I believe that shigaraki would see and understand izuku's perspective slowly the two would start to gain one another's trust and become partners with izuku being his own independent force in the playing field offering ideas and plans to shigaraki who would be the leader of the MVA.

[compacflt]

I just wanted to say as someone who has stumbled across your blog and has read your Wednesday wips and posts about anything topgun related that your thought process and consideration of mav and ice, specifically their political beliefs and relationships with their own identities, is honestly so impressive and cool. You have brought such realism and life to these characters which is just so refreshing to see. idk i just wanted to express how cool and awesome i think that is

Because of the thought into these characters does it make it difficult to like them or understand them if you have differing opinions from them? for me personally i feel like if i were to ever actually have a convo with ice or mav regarding identity politics i would actually start to lose my mind (like how one feels when your dad or fun uncle talks for too long at thanksgiving dinner). If it does make them difficult to like, does that make it difficult for you to write them sometimes?

oh yeah! i think, my ice i really empathize with & really love & really could get along with, once he grows out of the sexism of his teens & twenties, but my maverick drives me crazy. someone sent in an ask a while ago that was like “WHY is cyclone simpson your one true love??” And it’s because i too would absolutely hate maverick & hate working with him lol. people who are overly cocky & un-self-aware & a bit self-centered make me CRAZY. (narrator voice: compacflt is a hypocrite as all these things also apply to compacflt.)

Politically… It’s difficult to say. no one really wants to hear the intricacies of one person’s political journey, which is why i won’t give you mine, but suffice to say—since the start of the russian invasion of Ukraine, and my semi-concerted effort to learn more about the political landscape of modern warfare, my own personal beliefs have shifted a whole bunch. definitely aided in that shift by my top gun fic project that specifically aims to understand the conservative straight-passing male mindset as it relates to military matters… there are many end goals to a project like mine, but one end product is a filter you can take away and hold up in front of your eyes and see the world through it. When writing from the eyes of a conservative straight (passing) white man, your priorities totally shift. I had to write from the perspective of someone who doesn’t care about identity politics. Because they don’t! A core tenet of conservatism is very proudly not caring about that stuff, and being very annoyed when people (usually left-of-centers) make that stuff very visible and want you to care about it! “Don’t shove it in my face,” etc., etc. Don’t force me to care about this taboo, private thing I really don’t care about. It violates my freedoms, or whatever, to be forced to care—or even bear witness to—stuff that i don’t care about. Etc. And then, to be nominally a part of that community that you really, really don’t care about, and then to be told that you have to care about it because of your publicity… people asking you to be proud of something that has had a negative connotation for much of your entire life… that’s not a transformation that happens easily.

Jesus, I could write an essay about this. I have, several times by now in responses to asks over my blog. But there is so much that I could talk about. I think… I really worry that some of my writing falls into the first of the below categories:

I really try not to romanticize conservatism in my writing—I tried to show that ice and mav’s happiness is the price they pay for their conservatism. They’re actively choosing to be unhappy—but because they prioritize their honor over everything, due to EXTERNAL PRESSURES they cannot control, and which I think are often ignored in the fandom space for one reason or another. The fact of the matter is, in 99% of IPs, characters prioritize something other than their sexualities. It’s never Maverick’s personal identity that is at stake in either Top Gun or Top Gun: Maverick, because he has built himself so impermeably masculine that there are no grounds upon which to question his personal identity. He just isn’t thinking about it. He’s thinking about how to get into Charlie’s pants, how to win the Top Gun trophy, how to uphold his promise to Goose, et cetera. If he’s fucking guys on the side, it’s because he wants to and because hes maverick and he does what he wants without thinking about it—that’s the whole point of his character, from a story-construction standpoint. That’s his archetype. He’s a renegade maverick superstar who is both thoughtlessly brilliant and thoughtlessly dangerous. He’s thoughtless. His priorities are to survive and to look cool doing it, and that’s it. He is a savant in the Naval Air Force, where honor is your lifeblood, who feels he has been dishonored by his own family name, and who willingly joined the conservative post-Vietnam Navy right when/after Ronald Reagan was elected President, and who wears cowboy boots and who disrespects women to their faces, and who is eager to get into altercations with Soviet-Chinese-DPRK-X-second-world-country-coded-but-EXPLICITLY-Soviet-manufactured-Mikoyan-Gurevich-MiG-28s(-F-5s-painted-black)… I’m sorry. In my opinion, the conservatism is baked into him as a character. I find it extremely difficult to separate him from his conservatism, because in some ways his patriotic conservatism is his raison d’etre. IMO if you take that away from him, he ceases to exist.

Same thing with Ice and his unwillingness to openly rebel or go against the grain. That is his whole reason to exist in the story at all. I know that I’m saying this in a fandom space where the whole point is to change characters & put them in different situations (fanfic) but… in kind of a perverse self aware way, as in I know I sound ridiculous and pretentious, i guess i don’t really understand an impulse to change the core tenets of a character irreparably in fanworks. We are shown that ice always goes by the books in TG. Then we are shown that he achieves the fruits of that labor (four stars) in TGM. So he is rewarded for never rebelling, whereas Maverick, who always rebels (but NEVER in a way that challenges his personal identity), has stagnated in the ranks at full-bird O-6. And that’s Ice’s character. That’s what he’s there for in the story—he’s a tool to show us the value system of rank and prestige you earn by following the rules of the Navy. Why take that away from him? That’s his priority! Canonically, that’s his priority and reason for existence! And historically the way to achieve that priority is through conservatism.

And you ask me if it’s hard to like my ice and mav. Yes, but that’s not my choice. The movie already did that for me. They are not, I’m sorry, likable people. I am not a straight white conservative male writing about straight white conservative men to validate my own beliefs—I’m a queer AFAB person of color writing about straight white conservative men because I want to understand the limits of their conservatism. What they do and do not care about, and what it takes to make them care. And from what we are shown in TG… ice and mav would not care about ME. At all. And they would not want to be forced to care about me. Ice’s casual careless dismissiveness… “the plaque for the alternates is down in the ladies’ room…” mav following Charlie into the bathroom… turning the key in the ignition and driving away while pretending not to hear her… “what?? i can’t hear you! ��” … they do not care. They have no desire to care.

Again. Maybe I subscribe to a very very old-school and labored and pretentious ideology when it comes to writing… I know a lot of people write just to have fun. I do not. I wish i could, but I don’t. And when you’re not writing to have fun, you don’t have to like the characters you’re writing about. They’re nothing more than tools at your disposal to get your point across more effectively. No, I don’t like them! Of course not! My ice is cruel and cowardly and careless and hypocritical and subservient and weak, and my mav is demanding and dangerous and dismissive and oblivious and so, so, so unbelievably bitter.

And that’s what my story needed, to get my point across. So, shrug. My point was my priority. I don’t care too much about the characters themselves.

Re: icemav & identity politics. Part of hopefully selling this story is the attempt at empathy for the conservative male, to bring this discussion back to the top. Why write fiction at all if you’re not going to write about people different from you, and why write about people different from you if you don’t want to understand them? So… part of trying to understand them was to understand and have empathy for this shift in priorities. Conservative guys do not want to care about labels, or sexual orientations, or, God forbid, discussion of their gender identities. I can kind of see Ice tolerating it by the end… but, there are limits. Again, it’s supposed to be private. I think he’d chafe against getting labeled gay—he wouldn’t want to be called the first gay compacflt, or SECNAV, etc. He can’t say, “i slept with like a hundred fifty women before I even MET the ONLY man ive ever slept with,” because that’s like intensely private personal information!! No one deserves that information, but people still want to call him gay, even though in his head he really is not!!!! Again—from the conservative perspective, it’s a public imposition of left-wing, overly sexualized, too-neat labels and politics onto an area of life that has typically been kept private and respectable—I don’t agree with the conservatism, but I can at least empathize with it. Pre-Maverick’s death (pre-coming to terms with it), it would’ve been shameful & embarrassing to him; but even after coming to terms with it, it’s still not something he “takes pride” in. I think he thinks of it like this—most people aren’t proud of being straight. Like, it’s weird if you are. Same thing with being proud of being white, etc. Why be excessively proud of things you have no control over? Why not take pride in your ACTIONS—for instance, his career that he has actively sacrificed so much of his pride for? I can really empathize with that thought. I don’t necessarily agree, but I get it, especially in his professional circumstances, where he has so much to be professionally proud of, and yet people keep wanting him to publicly care about this private part of him he has no control over and can’t change.

Maverick though. I think he’d be actively hostile about talking about it in public. He Does Not Care. he does not want to care. It’s all an insult. They call him the first openly gay Ace cause he’s married to another man— “okay, but, like, I’m not. Stop calling me that. Neither of us are. Oh my god we have slept with so many women. Stop calling us that.” Ok then what do you want us, the press corps, to call you? First openly bisexual Ace? “No that’s worse!! That’s a word some teenager made up and doesn’t mean anything!! I’m sixty years old stop asking me to talk about this stuff im too old.” What do you have to say to LGBT kids who want to go into the navy? “😎👍 there’s a place for you etc etc. Let’s go back to talking about all the planes I shot down.” Maverick does what he wants without thinking about it. That’s the core tenet of his character. Very conservative. Don’t ask him to care too much.

Idk. No I don’t like them. But I understand them, if that makes sense. Like their conservative anti-label logic does make emotional sense to me. So that’s part of what I took away from this project, for better or worse… probably worse: I understand why conservatives don’t like the modern over-publicity of sexuality. They don’t care and they don’t want to care. And because they are small-C conservative, my ice and mav still don’t care lol. So, yeah. It doesn’t make them hard to write, because thats why I wanted to write them in the first place.

[ichorblossoms]

wip wednesday three (nothing wrong with me)

thinking of mmmaybe doing these every other wednesday....? we'll see. it honestly just may be whatever wednesday i feel like. i'm balling

usual caveats apply. this is basically the first pass of things, and this snippet in particular is a bit older and now i'm waffling abt when lucy is introduced in-canon so this is one of those scene's that's definitely teetering between actual canon and a character exploration

--- [P3- Grimm POV, it/its for Grimm, they/them for Yarrow]

Have I started a family? Grimm didn’t know where Lucy was going to end up. She was sticking with the two of them for sure, at least until they no longer had to look over their shoulders constantly, but after that? Would she be adopted by someone else? Would Yarrow and it become her parents? It didn’t think it could raise a child, Yarrow had some sort of inclination towards nurturing a kid, but Grimm? Grimm was good at wrangling animals, sneaking around, and aiming a gun. 

Its thoughts shifted to its own parents. They had been good parents, loving, the kind that wanted to have children for the sake of sharing the joy of life with others. Things had been peaceful for the first twelve years of its life, really. A lot of places, a lot of music. But they had died more than half its life ago, how much of what Grimm missed was actually real?

Yarrow would never get to meet them. Then again, Grimm didn’t think it would ever meet Yarrow’s parents either, but from what little they knew, they were still alive—a rope severed instead of snapped. It had a feeling they would have taken a liking to Yarrow. He was charming, and hard to dislike at first meeting. He was also still awake, and shifted to kiss Grimm on the underside of their jaw.

“Everythin’ alright?” Yarrow murmured into its neck.

[the two of them laying there, possibly other flourish details]

“I’ve never told you the name my parents gave me.”

Yarrow stilled. Fully stilled in the way they usually were only in sleep. Grimm couldn’t tell how Yarrow had been fidgeting with their hands or their feet a moment before, only that the whole world had stopped and turned its eyes toward Grimm. All six of them.

“You can’t tell anyone.” Was it too late to back out? No, but it shouldn't.

“Never.”

“And it’s not my name.” It belonged to a dead kid, Grimm only carried it with them for sentimental reasons. 

Yarrow nodded. A blanket of quiet settled on the two of them before he spoke, “You don’t have to tell me, Grimm. I don’t mind if you keep it for yourself.”

It didn’t want to keep it to itself, not with Yarrow, who knew almost everything else about it. Who had given them so much with no expectations in return. Grimm would only die with Yarrow, for Yarrow, or by Yarrow’s hand.

And so it spoke that name, the only gift it still had from its parents, the one that hadn’t been said in years.

“You have a saint’s name,” Yarrow said, amused, “That’s fitting, in a way.”

"What does that mean," Grimm asked flatly.

[tommycorriander]

Skipp from Ramshackle, Pokemon AU 🔥🔥

Wips + ramble under the cut, as per usual

Watched Ramshackle, thought it was neat. Joined the discord server, it's also pretty neat. I have pokemon brainrot so I decided to take a crack at designing a Pokemon AU for Ramshackle, which I know is not a particularly unique idea at all but who gaf. I'm having fun, I'm frolicking and playing BITCH.

Anyways. I thought it would make sense for Skipp to have an Oricorio PomPom forme, because he's a very upbeat person and he's the one that has the violin. He also taught Maggot to do the Worm, which is a dance move, and Oricorio is based all around dancing and music and whatnot. I imagine PomPom forme is the usual forme it takes but given that scraps have to adapt a lot, Skipp has probably experimented with different nectars based on what was available to him.

For other partner Pokemon, not pictured here of course, I gave him a Sunflora and a Solrock, to tie back around to his sunny personality (the casting call likens him to SpongeBob and Wander, so these mons seemed fitting). It also allows some variety on his team, which I would like all of the scraps to have to circle back around to the idea of adaptability and 'making do' with what's around you.

I obviously don't have a big fanbase, but if people wanted to have their own Ramshackle OCs also take part in the AU but they struggle with team building, you're more than welcome to reach out in DMs or through the ask box for advice. I'm basically the Laios of Pokemon, without the eating bits.

Anyways. Here's the WIPs:

This particular piece was a bit more difficult for me, given the complicated pose and inclusion of a non-human character. I think I did pretty well all things considered, and I'm definitely proud of how that hand turned out, especially since with the foreshortening it's a prominent aspect of the piece. You can see in the sketch WIP that I had to take a couple passes at it before I got something I liked, haha. Next time I'd like to have the final product a bit more fluid, as it stands the pose right now feels a little stiff to me, but that could just be me being overly critical of my own work.

As usual, the sketch and lineart were done traditionally, the lineart was scanned into IbisX and cleaned up, and then flat colours were applied. The shading this time around was done with a dark purple at 20% opacity, similarly to my Iono drawing.

[oh-no-another-idea]

Writing Questions tag

Thank you for the tag @moonluringfrost! <3

What is your absolute all-time favorite idea you’ve ever had?

The whole premise of Invisible Girl is up there. :) To have an idea so vivid that it stays with you for four years...that's special, and it's the first one I've had to stick around so long.

Is there a question you’ve been asked in the past that really stands out to you, and you still think about sometimes?

Not sure what this question means, but I always love it when I see a family friend after a while and they ask me "how's writing going?" It means a lot, even if my answer is a lot of flailing and stuttering ;)

What is your favorite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?

My favorite part is playing dolls and making the characters interact/grow/change. Bonus points if I have a fleshed out world or plot! That part right in the beginning when you don't have names for literally everyone and you don't know exactly where it's going to take place...I'm not the biggest fan of that. I like knowing what story I'm trying to tell.

What is your greatest motivation to write/create?

I love it and it feeds me and fuels me and if I go too long without it, I'm sad :(

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever read or been given as a writer?

Right now, it's write a little every day you can. Even if the numbers aren't big, even if you don't end up using the text. I can tell I'm still honing my skills and learning the best ways I work, and it really is like creating a habit for myself. If not that wip, than another. But write something! 😉

What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?

Maybe start smaller? Try out some shorter stories before you attempt a novel, to understand the arc of a story? My younger self probably wouldn't have listened though lol...

What is your favorite story you’ve written to completion? Link it if you’d like and can!

Fanfiction and short stories have been my only journeys to completion so far and been super helpful in helping me see the targets with my novels. Alas, no finished novels yet :)

Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so, and how do you personally feel about their ideals?

Azrail Greenfield from my wip Cemetery Sisters is a twenty-something guy on his own path through life with remarkably little care about sticking to the norm, and a lot of his journey is based on my own thoughts as I navigate my own very different path. He talks a lot about what human beings were designed to do, and what kind of life he wants and whether or not he needs a college degree for it, and it's all the sort of thing everyone (and my protagonist) would first agree with upon hearing, but struggle with applying it anywhere in their own lives. We have so much internalized about the way our society works, even when we can see parts of it are unhealthy! Anyways. Many thoughts. We'll see what comes of it.

If you, when you first started writing, met you now, what would younger you think?

I think they'd ask for tips, read my stuff and copy it shamelessly ;) And hopefully, be pretty proud! And also say "Um. Why isn't your novel done yet." 😂

I'd love to see everyone's thoughts and answers to these questions--but no pressure! @sleepyowlwrites @sleepy-night-child @drippingmoon @blind-the-winds @reneesbooks @eccaiia and @talesofsorrowandofruin <3

[seiko-koko]

Back for more 😭

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction?

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

-🌱anon

Welcome back once again!

1. Okay my circumstances are quite odd so I’ll just explain the full ass story:

So when I was like 8 or 9 maybe I was reading Warrior Cats like every other kid at the time cause I loved cats and stuff and I remember I was reading book 4 of the first arc and I remember thinking ‘wow! Sandstorm and Fireheart sure are a cute cat couple!’ So due to the fact I didn’t have my own tablet or anything at the time (something to do with lesbian sex mind you, that will be a story for another time) I decide to sneak onto my mom’s computer while she’s at work and while my dad’s at work

So I go on her computer and I type in ‘Fireheart and Sandstorm’ because I wanted to see art of them or whatever and as I’m scrolling I see this odd thing called Fanfiction.net and I’m like ‘wow! What’s this!’ In my ripe 8 or 9 year old mind and the fanfic itself is innocent. So that answers how I got into fanfiction but im still gonna describe my trauma from this lmao.

So I click off the tab and I keep scrolling until I see the word ‘lemon’ and im like ‘what’s that?’ In my ripe 8 or 9 year old brain and so I click on it and im immediately met with cat sex. I processed it due to the whole lesbian sex thing from my tablet incident but I think I was more so horrified by the idea of cats fucking and just penis in general.

Now to actually explain how I got into specifically writing fanfiction: I don’t know

Pretty sure I clicked on Wattpad and I was like “woah I can write stuff now!” And my first fanfic was based on Vivziepop’s ocs so that’s some lore for you guys.

2. Moving on from all that! Hmmmmmmmm I’m trying to think in real time because my phone is dying but hmmmmm I don’t really think I have any unpopular opinions about any characters because I’m basic as hell. Maybe one I have (not sure if it’s unpopular) but I notice that in many Aventio content ratio never smiles like he doesn’t go

But I don’t think that’s too too controversial so apply that with Alhaitham

3. My dream fic is an owlratio story that lasts at least 5 chapters. If not I don’t know who would write it best but mark my words if I have to actually commit to a fanfic then I will. My second dream fic is ratio riding aventurine to oblivion (but I already have two-three wips with that) so I think either secretlovesick on ao3 or jive on ao3 could write it best

[girlfromthecrypt]

My first Writeblr tag game!!

Thanks so much for the tag @mthollowell-writes! This is one of my first ever tag-games, so I'm pumped. Also, this made me realize I rly need to do a WIP intro for my main project. It's a dark fantasy/horror with some romance, too. The working title is Fucked Up Fairytale. That aside, let's goooooo

1) What motivates you to write?

Anything and everything! Writing is my coping mechanism, for good times and bad. It helps me keep hold of happy feelings and release negative ones. 

2) A line/short snippet of your writing that you are most proud/happy of. If not maybe share a line of someone else's work you love (just please credit them)

I have multiple WIPs, but I'm going to refer to the one I plan on actually turning into a book. The working title is Fucked Up Fairytale. That may undergo revisions. Anyhow, I'll share two lines/snippets, if I may! Mainly because the first one is very short indeed. Here it is:

I braced myself for stupidity, and he didn’t let me down. —This is in the main character's (Margot's) narrative inner voice during a conversation with her little brother. 

And here's the other one, same chapter, same conversation! I feel like I may have gone a little overboard with Margot's world-weariness, but I kinda like it:

“The world I dream of has me making six figures at a job where my boss doesn’t need me to show him my tits,” I said, a chill creeping into my tone. “It has me going home at a reasonable hour so I can watch TV and fall asleep with a bag of spicy chips, preferably next to a spouse who doesn’t mind that they make me gassy.”

Neither of us spoke for a couple beats. Then, softly, my brother asked, "And where's the magic in that?"

"Nowhere, Callie. That's kind of the point."

3) Which OC makes you smile every time you think/talk about them and what are they like?

That would apply to Margot's love interest from Fucked Up Fairytale. He's, um… special. To me, and in general. Seeing as he's one of the Folk, it would be unwise to share his name, especially since not even Margot knows it as of right now. He calls himself the Huntsman, so that'll work for now.

He's this rather delicate-looking youngish man; slender, short and long-haired—he's quite pretty, really. And he's the smuggest, most self-satisfied dork you've ever met, but in a sweet, non-threatening way. I just love his and Margot's more wholesome exchanges. They clash a lot; she's a recent university graduate, has been a skeptic all her life and didn't mean to get roped up into any supernatural stuff, and he's this forest-dwelling fairy-like entity. But they end up being really good for each other, despite (or perhaps because of) their differences. Even though their dynamic starts off based purely on physical attraction, it grows into something more and their interactions really feel cathartic at times.

4) What process of writing do you enjoy the most?

I love what happens shortly after getting the idea for something. It's like a little twitch in the brain that grows and grows and it's just… awesome. And I'm not actually doing anything at that stage, so it's also the easiest step. Also, I just love writing dialogue.

5) What part of writing do you think you are the best at? (Yes stroke your own ego it's okay)

I think that's also writing dialogue! Not much else to say there. Oh, and nature descriptions sometimes. I've been told my nature descriptions are beautiful.

6) What is something in the writeblr community is most enjoyable?

How passionate everyone is! We all do the same thing, we write, and we all love doing it. And there's such an undertone of positivity to it all, of openness. That's really nice.

7) A writing tool/device you use that helps you with writing? (It could be speech to text, a writing program etc)

Oof. This one's too hard for me. I'm honestly struggling with a lot of writing software so… I don't have a good answer to that. 

8) A piece of worldbuilding that you like in your own story? (It could be the magic system, a particular place in the story, a law etc)

The majority of Fucked Up Fairytale takes place in a single location. It's a magical forest that is its own entity, almost deity-adjacent. Certain characters worship it to gain its protection and power, but it can also be dangerous, trapping humans and turning them into so something they're… not. 

I just really like that forest! I enjoy describing it, I enjoy creating new creatures it may be harboring, I enjoy lending this seemingly inanimate idyllic environment a personality that kind of shines through in a lot of scenes. I almost wish it were real. Almost.

9) What piece of advice would you say to encourage others to write if they are having a rough patch?

I'm with you.

That's all I, or anyone, can really offer, I believe. I've dealt with month-long dry spells, really horrible ones. I know it's shitty, I know it sucks. My advice, if I had any, would be to force yourself to write anyways. It's the only way to get back into it, and you should never ever give up writing. Writing is worth it.

10) Tag some people whose works you love/have been your biggest supporters

Well, obviously I'm gonna have to mention @prismatic-bell who once wrote a wonderful thirty-part fanfic to one of my stories and is, in fact, amazing. Xe has contributed greatly to a lot of my stories and I will be forever grateful for that. Also @rehnwriter who helped me set up my blog because I'm bad at internet stuff and need constant surveillance.

I'm tagging… uh… anyone who sees this and wants to participate! I'm really eager to get to know more folks from this community.

[encrucijada]

once, future gods please 👀👀👀

once, future gods is what i call my "modern greek mythology universe". it is vague at best because the rules that apply to something like astral convergence aren't the same for, say, antigone's modern lament. it's more about the ✨️vibe✨️ and that they all Could exist in the same universe.

here are the wips that fall under this category

astral convergence: my darling. my love. in this modern au artemis and apollo left olympus and became assassins for hire after killing the children of niobe. now a group of mortals and goddesses (but Especially their stepmother hera) wants them to kill zeus, their father and king of the gods. narrated by artemis in first person referral with apollo as "you", the job is muddied by their own complex relationship with each other and towards zeus. this wip has some of my Favourite prose, i really just need to... actually figure out the sequence of events to get from point a to point b. artemis is living through a never-ending existential crisis while she grapples with her divinity, as she is relatively a very new goddess

she's history, & hyacinthus,: in like 2015 i was part of a greek gods rpg where i played the muse of history clio so naturally i became obsessed with her. in this rpg a relationship sprung between her and the bodyguard of zeus, kratos. this has 0 mythological backing but it holds a special place in my heart so now i must write for them because if i don't no one else will. she's history, follows clio's spiral after finding out she's pregnant (in the mythology she's hyacinthus' mother) so she asks kratos to get her out of olympus, all kratos can offer her is one night as he has to be back by zeus' side come morning. hyacinthus, is kind of a continuation, kind of an au where clio moves in with kratos and his sister bia and lives with them in a little rundown apartment.

oh, glory!: my iliad au where the trojans and the achaeans are rival gangs. that's it. that's the plot. i started writing this because when i took greek lit 1 in uni my class came up with this elaborate au where briseis died instead of patroclus and how or if that would change the course of events. now i'm sticking closer to the actual text but ✌️ yeah

the moon like a thin smile: sort of like an au to astral convergence?? because while being aroace is a huge part of artemis' character in astral convergence, moon like a thin smile is me indulging in some orion/artemis because deep down i will always be that 15yo girl* who got way too attached to this pairing despite it barely having any mythological backing. i did a combination of things to make it interesting: the world is recovering from the titanomachy still, which has left everything in a post-apocalyptic state, and the first ever winter (hymn of demeter!) is underway. this will have a sad ending

antigone's modern lament: a post-apocalyptic retelling of antigone by sophocles, my favourite play <3 started out as a hadestown au that sprung in my head while we watched a movie adaption in my greek lit ii course, this was 2019 and i was obsessed with hadestown at the time. so i imagined a version where antigone is "saved" from hanging herself in the cave by persephone answering her lament and inviting her to hadestown (which kills her anyways but... y'know). this short story is none of that! i am doing away with the hadestown angle and just telling it straight with the modern twist

moonburn: a retelling of the death of orion by the hands of artemis due to apollo's trickery, my Favourite version of his death just for the drama. this could potentially count as a prequel to astral convergence, as orion's death is a a huge source of conflict between artemis and apollo in that

[kurenaicrush]

Kurenai Nikki Entry 15

Talking about my future as an artist.

My love for creating art has died. I forced myself to work on a manga that I lost interest in for over a year. After finally finishing that manga, I've escaped my toxic mindset and am allowed to draw whatever I want. So then I thought why not make some fanart?! I could draw all my favorite characters and it would also help me build an audience on social media! I started doing a lot of sketches of random characters, but I just couldn't be bothered to finish any of them. I just wasn't emotionally invested into the drawings of those characters. Fanart just isn't fun for me anymore. And I think I had an ulterior motive for wanting to make fanart. I wanted to use it as a way to build an audience. I always thought to myself “Can't put on a good show without an audience!” The truth is I didn't actually care about what I was drawing. I just wanted to get attention so I could have eyes on my next big project. 

Another thing that ruined art for me is perfectionism. I always tried to draw every single thing to the best of my ability every time. I'd always hate every drawing I'd make because it would never match the great vision I had in my head. Sadly my art skills are not on par with my imagination. I've desperately tried to reach a level of skill I can be satisfied with. I always train in my sketchbook, trying to perfect the skills I've learned. But no matter how good I get I can never seem to make art satisfying to me. I honestly hate perfectionism, it really holds you back. Something could be beautiful, but I wouldn't be able to see it because I'd be too focused on what's “wrong” with it. I showed a wip sketch to a friend and they made a recommendation on something that I should fix. It was a really minor thing and it was helpful, but after seeing that comment I didn't even want to finish the drawing anymore. I was just so done. Why should we care so much? (Also sorry friend if you happen to be reading this, please don't feel bad!) 

I think I may have a solution to fall back in love with art again, so not all hope is lost! That solution is self indulgence! Complete selfishness in art. I want to go back to my roots and do what made me start loving my art to begin with. I've got a future project I'm working on that I'll refer to as “Project Crimson” for now, can't reveal it yet. Before working on my manga Blight and Hollow, I was doing character concept art for Project Crimson. During that time I was having the most fun with art in my entire life! The reason why that is? I was making the art completely for myself. I wasn't even posting them online and I didn't care if even a single person saw the drawings. I wasn't thinking about building an audience or future career to make money with art, none of that mattered to me at the time. I need to go back to that! Also it's time to throw away perfection! Forget anatomy, forget perspective, forget all these so called right and wrongs! It's MY art, so for now on I'm doing it MY way. These rules don't apply to me anymore. The only thing that matters now is if something is visually appealing to me. I don't care if something is “fundamentally correct” or not. There are no art fundamentals in my world, I'm throwing it all away. There will be no more right or wrong way to make art. Relieving myself of these restrictions is how I'll be able to enjoy creating again! In these dark times I'm living in, I still have my love and passion for my project, so I think it's time I go back to my self indulgent creation of my own little world!

[wanderingaldecaldo]

💕 self-love time! talk about which ones of YOUR creations (edits, artworks, fanfics) you like the most then send to other creators to do the same 💕

Thank you so much @kohnnor!! 🥰

I posted about Val as the creation I like the most for the first ask I got, but by god I'm gonna answer every one of these because I'm really proud of all the stuff I've made in the last few years!

My longfic No One's Gonna Love You is right behind Val as far as creations I love. As I mentioned in that post and in others, I hadn't felt compelled to write in a long time. I have a couple of WIPs from DA:I and ME2 that I would pull out to work on whenever I had inspiration, but that wasn't often. I wouldn't say that I missed writing so much as the idea of being a writer.

When I started Cyberpunk, I had no preconceptions about the NPCs or romances, and I certainly didn't expect to fall for a minor NPC with not much screen time. (This is the first time it's happened to me, actually.) Initially I was captivated by Goro like so many others, but I fell in love with Mitch when V woke up in Pan's truck during The Star ending, and he was waiting for V to wake up. Any thoughts of writing a Pride & Prejudice inspired fic between Goro and V flew out the window because of those beautiful blue eyes.

For months Val and Mitch consumed my brain. I stayed up late every night to write, pouring more and more of myself into the story, learning more about both Val and Mitch as I went. At the time, I felt it was some of my best prose, like the intervening years that I hadn't been writing but was still consuming other media didn't matter. As if I was able to translate the years of experience I'd accumulated into words that could evoke feelings. What was meant to be a fun, smutty romp turned into a study of grief and loss.

And I found a new freedom to play like I hadn't experienced before. I experimented with the narrative; used repetition in different ways; played with flashbacks and dialogue; left room for characters to breathe and tell the story their own way. I had more fun writing that story than just about anything else I'd written to that point in my life.

More than that, I also learned how to create for myself. It didn't matter that I ended up in rare pair hell with few people there to cheer me on, because I was the target audience for the fic. It's the most self-indulgent thing I've written, because I wrote it for me.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. Words aren't as exciting or captivating as pictures, but words are my life, and these words in particular are some of the best words I've ever put together.

Chapters: 7/7 Fandom: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Mitch Anderson/V (Cyberpunk 2077), Female V/Mitch Anderson, Referenced Mitch Anderson/Scorpion, Mitch Anderson (Cyberpunk 2077)/Original Character(s) Characters: V (Cyberpunk 2077), Mitch Anderson (Cyberpunk 2077), Streetkid V - Character, Panam Palmer, Carol Emeka, Cassidy Righter Additional Tags: Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Mental Health Issues, Spoilers, The Star Ending (Cyberpunk 2077), Angst, Angst and Feels, Porn with Feelings, Porn With Plot, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Gratuitous Smut, Shameless Smut, like a ridiculous amount of it, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Male Character, Bisexual Character, Stand Alone Series: Part 2 of Into My Arms Summary:

V studies his face, half shadow, half moonlit. He is handsome, now that she’s looking for it—once broken Roman nose, full, expressive lips, slate blue eyes now full of concern, the scar exaggerated by the shadows. How could she have missed this, missed him? So much time wasted.

[teosartcorner]

(Posting this one here, ‘cause it has a few short OC trivia moments, if you're curious)

I was tagged by @eve-to-adam, so here we go! It might get long, so buckle up for the ride. 😂

1. How many works do you have?

I couldn't tell you a number, because I've had multiple stories over the years. Some were short comics for semester projects I had to do back in uni, others were WIPs I started and abandoned, others are ongoing personal storytelling projects I'm working on at the moment.

2. What fandoms do you write for?

I don’t really write for any fandom right now, I prefer to focus on my own, original stories and OCs. But I wouldn’t put that idea past me entirely, with the way my hyperfixations work, you just never know. 😂

3. What are your top 5 stories by kudos?

I don't really want to make a top, but some of my favorites include a few short stories I wrote for Project Paranormal, which is a shared universe I'm co-creating with Andreea (@eve-to-adam) and about which I'll be talking about at Question 9.

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Absolutely I do! I even went to war with the “promote it on ->” bots on Instagram at one point, by replying with passive-aggressive comments, so. 🤣 Jokes aside, people who take their time to interact with my work and express their support mean the world to me, and I’m incredibly grateful to have them around. And those who even come back regularly? You deserve the world and I love ya 🥹✨

5. What’s the story you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmm… Depends what you'd consider “angsty”. I guess one that could count would be a short, horror graphic novel I've done for uni. One of the main characters dies, while the other ends up in a mental institution, unsure whether the previous events truly happened or not, but haunted by some… otherworldly things that tend to suggest everything has, in fact, happened. I wouldn't necessarily see it as angsty per se, because that was never the aim when I wrote that ending, but it’s the only one I could think of.

6. What’s the story you wrote with the happiest ending?

Do on-going storylines whose development I know, count? Whatever, I’ll pretend they count. 🤣

I would say one of the happiest ones would be Hubert and Dolly's relationship (two of my OCs from Project Paranormal). Even though they didn't start on the best of terms, they ended up progressively discovering they actually... enjoyed each other's company, once they started chatting like, you know, normal people who weren't looking for a silly argument just for the sake of it. Because that's what they were doing in the beginning; their personalities clashed in a way that turned all their encounters into a match of "who annoys who first". To the point where they couldn't even remember what was the precise starting point of that whole thing. 😂 But then, little by little, once they started opening up, they both fell for each other pretty damn hard. Their relationship was obviously not gonna be without any hardship, because they both had their own flaws and things to work through (especially Hubert), but they found a tremendous amount of love and support in each other. They realized they simply… get each other, you know, on a level they couldn’t have anticipated, but which was there to last for a lifetime! So yeah, they’re definitely getting their happy ending. :D

7. Do you get hate on stories?

Not that I’m aware of. And even if I did, I wouldn’t… really care that much? ‘Cause I’m not writing for them haters, lemme tell you. 😂

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

I like to depict sex and intimacy in my stories, so yeah, my writing kinda covers that stuff too. I usually prefer to go with the flow in those instances and see where the scene is taking me, in terms of description. Whether it’s gonna get more explicit or it’s gonna be a “fade to black” thing, depends entirely on the moment itself. I also like to be as character-centered as possible in my approach (which applies to every aspect of my storytelling, for that matter). I wanna take into consideration each character’s relationship with sex and intimacy, when I’m describing them; slight nuances to convey the moment in the same way each character is experiencing it, you know. What things they like, how they like them, how they communicate with partners etc. Like, take Delicia for example (my OC from Project Paranormal): she’s an experienced gal who likes to be creative in the bedroom (and outside) and is slightly more into the rough side of physical love, so depictions might get more blunt and slightly more explicit in her case. But at the same time, it wasn’t always like that, was it? Because she, like everyone else, had her own starting point, her own journey with intimacy and self discovery. And I want to capture that feeling as I’m writing her character. I want to capture that feeling with all of my OCs; I’m always trying my best to write as naturally as I can, to make the story really feel as if it’s a close look into one’s life and experiences. The spicy scenes are no exception to that! :D Now, whether I’m successful in this approach or not, is a completely different topic, but that’s beside the point. 😂

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

Not necessarily, but I do have one ongoing storytelling project that could technically count. It's a shared universe I'm co-creating with my friend, Andreea (@eve-to-adam). For the sake of this post I code named it “Project Paranormal” because it pops up for some other questions.

It's basically a story that revolves around two main families (Marlowe, written and created by me, and Elkins, written and created by Andreea) and their lives, as well as extra folks like friends, lovers, their pets etc. It's a romance meets supernatural (there are ghosts, ghouls n’ curses) meets historical fiction (it spans over the entire 20th century and goes until present day) meets drama type of story, with slice of life sprinkled all over. The slice of life aspect is kinda my favourite, because I generally enjoy writing the everyday experiences of my characters, those that don't necessarily tie into a specific plot point; like some sort of a “fly on the wall” approach. The story has a main plot, of course, and a main timeline of events, but under that we're essentially having fun with all sorts of storylines and moments. Right now I would say it's an open format story/universe, meaning we're drawing/writing different out-of-order parts and tidbits, but ultimately they all tie into that main timeline and plot we've set. So, at the end of the day, the story can always be put together chronologically, into a graphic novel type of format.

Ah shit, I almost forgot. The “crazy” bit about it (Andreea mentioned it in her own post as well) is that it all kinda started from a bunch of sims we created in Sims 4 one day. We were simply chatting and having a laugh about it and then we went “🤨…🤔” and bam! here we are today, with a bunch of Marlowe and Elkins generations and their storylines. 😂 ❤️

10. Have you ever had a story stolen?

Either I haven't OR the thief is hiding exceptionally well, I can’t tell. 😂

11. Have you ever had a story translated?

Does self translation count? 😂 If so, then yeah. I usually write in my native language, but I translate into English once I decide to post some of it online. The funny thing is, the English translation actually improves the writing in some cases (specifically the dialogues!), because I have some English, Irish and Scottish peeps amongst my OCs, and in their case I can play with things like slang, accents, cussing etc, which gives a more natural vibe to their conversations (and is kinda fun to work on).

12. Have you ever co-written a story before?

I’m currently doing that with Project Paranormal (see Question 9)! :D

13. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

— Aragorn&Arwen from The Lord of The Rings, always! They're probably one of my oldest ships, too, and they will always hold that special place in my heart. Aaand they’re definitely the reason why, to this day, I have a big thing for elf+human couples in fiction. XD

— Bill&Frank from The Last Of Us (show version), because people finding their lil’ corner of love and happiness in a dying world?? Hell yes, all the yes! 🥺

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

Hmm… There is this one fantasy story I've been trying to put together for the past 2 years or so, but at the moment I kind of lost my passion for it. I tried to rethink and revive it in 2023 and it worked for a while, but ultimately I put it back on the shelf again, at least for now. In a way I wish I will regain that passion to continue, because I have some characters there whose stories I'd still like to tell, but right now I don't see it happening. Besides, I have other story ideas I want to test (and possibly pursue) right now. But who knows? Maybe one day?

15. What are your writing strengths?

Okay I totally suck at identifying my own strengths, lmao. 😂 But let's give it a try. I would like to think I'm good at allowing my characters to shape the language I'm writing with, instead of me shaping the language for them. I always love when, in literature, dialogues sound like things people would say in real life, or when the writing imitates the manner of speech people use on a daily basis (one of the reasons why I like Stephen King’s writing style, for example). I strike to achieve the same in my stories, so I give my OCs the freedom of talking in their own, individual ways.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

I tend to write too slowly for my own liking. I'm also a bit of a scatterbrained type of writer; let's say I write a certain scene, when suddenly I wanna jump to a totally different one. Nothing wrong with that, of course! But in my case, at the end of the day, I either end up in a writer’s void and I can't write for either scene anymore, OR I constantly switch back and forth between them and I can't concentrate on either one. Sucks to be me sometimes. 😅 But I'm trying to improve this in myself, so let's hope for the best!

17. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a story?

It’s a pretty cool thing and I like seeing it in stories. It's a concept I'd like to play with, too. For example, some of my characters from Project Paranormal have Portuguese ancestry and speak the language: Delicia was taught by her mum, Dolly, and by grandpa Thomas (Dolly's father). I'd like to think Dolly and her lil’ lass would frequently switch to chatting in Portuguese, during Delicia's formative years, which helped her learn the language and become fluent (and later on in life, Delicia will do the same with her own daughter). So, naturally, I'd love to have at least a glimpse of those conversations in the story as well! :D However, I will have to rely on the mighty internet to help me with that, because I don't know any Portuguese. XD

18. First fandom you wrote for?

Ooooh, you’re digging up very old memories with that one. I think the first fandom I ever attempted to write for was InuYasha, an anime I watched and enjoyed back in the day, when I was a bit more into the anime scene. But you can imagine how that went, considering I was like 12 years old or something like that. 😂

19. Favourite story you’ve ever written?

The most recent one I did. It's called “By The Alley” and it's a short story from Project Paranormal that features two of my OCs: Hubert and Paddy. I like the story flow I managed to capture there and I feel like I'm finally finding my writer voice, so to speak. I also had a lot of fun writing their dialogues! Both Hubert and Paddy were born and raised in Leeds, West Yorkshire (although Paddy has Irish heritage) and they are “raised by the streets” kinda guys. The way they speak reflects that pretty well, so I had fun trying to put some of those nuances in their speech. And the cussing, I loved writing the cussing. I discovered this to be a very odd pleasure of mine, writing people who curse. 😂 And Hubert's definitely the right person for that, because the man has no filter whatsoever (with Delicia being a close second – like father, like daughter, am I right?). 😂

—

That's it! If you actually made it this far, have a cookie and a beer: 🍪🍺

…along with my undying gratitude, of course! 😂🫶🏻

I will tag: @theeuropeanidiotverse and whoever else wants to join! No pressure whatsoever, though! <3

[clairelsonao3]

Characters Out of Context Tag

I have @j-1173 (whose post is here) to thank for this procrastination tactic today! The challenge is as follows:

Rules:

Include one character quote — of your choosing ⁠— from each chapter of your WIP (or as many chapters as you'd like)

Give absolutely no context, save for what's between two parts of an interrupted sentence, should that occur. You may mention who said it.

Have fun, no pressure!

I gave myself some additional rules: Since I'm up to 23 chapters of GSNBTR, there's no reason not to include one quote each from ALL the major primary and secondary characters up to this point, so I'm going to do that (it won't quite equal out to one per chapter, so the MCs will get a few extra ones!). And because I'm doing that, I'm going to try to choose quotes that kind of encapsulate the "essence" of each character, or at least who they were at that point in the story. Wish me luck!

Oh, and I'm not going to mention who says what because that makes it more like trivia. And if there's anything I love, it's trivia!

Ch. 1

“Is that any way to talk to me?”

Ch. 2

"What have you so-called ‘experienced slave handling professionals’ been doing to the poor kid?"

Ch. 3

"Now a guy can’t even have sex with his own property without some social justice warrior calling it rape?

Ch. 4

“And calculus, and physics, and engineering. If I were free, I’d be a certified nerd,” he said. “And probably rich, too. But who’s complaining?”

Ch. 5

"You can tell me, you know." 

Ch. 6

“Your back isn’t nearly as pretty as your face, boy.”

Ch. 7

“You’ve been quiet. Secretive.” She kept poking her rhythmically with one of her sculpted coral nail tips. “But inside, you’re glowing. I see it.” Poke poke poke. “So there’s no use denying it, sweetie. What’s his name?”

Ch. 8

"Thanks for the relationship advice, dickhead. Have you ever even seen a girl naked without having to hide behind a bush?"

Ch. 9

“Nobody does anything for me. Ever."

Ch. 10

“And why shouldn’t they?” he said. “I mean, what are we trying to do here, Keith? Disrupt slavery, right? You’ve been in the corporate world too long, that’s your problem. You don’t question things anymore."

Ch. 11

"He's not mine," she said. "He's his own."

Ch. 12

"You could never, ever let me down,” he assured her.

Ch. 13

"And by the way, if you’re looking at the master being away as an opportunity to get away with murder, forget it.”

Ch. 14

“I’ve always wanted to see the ocean. But he didn’t take me, so I’m stuck here with a shit ton of time on my hands, and you’re still in the hole from the last one.” 

Ch. 15

“You know who I’m talking about. You have to find him, Louisa,” she continued. “Immediately. Normally I would never betray the confidence of a slave who came to me like this, but I can’t reach him now."

Ch. 16

 “The stuff he said about you was really awful, Lou; I’m not telling you this to cause drama. I just wanted to warn you.” She glanced quickly at the boy again. “Both of you.” 

Ch. 17

“She learned, and grew, and changed. She had a pilgrim soul.”

Ch. 18

“You’re so wrong. If I could only give you one thing in this life, it would be to give you the chance to see yourself the way I see you. Now and always.”

Ch. 19

“And to never, ever give up on me.”

Ch. 20

"You know you seem to have a real problem telling the difference between people and things?”

Ch. 21

“And everything I said the other day, about not giving up? It all still applies. Nothing's changed. Whatever happens. We'll figure it out. We always do. ”

Ch. 22

“Well, it’s a perk, no doubt. She invites some of us here sometimes to hang out, and of course, for such a rich guy, Jake is pretty chill. I like his vibes.”

Ch. 23

“What’s he been telling you? I don’t trust him. He’s a snake.”

I don't think I forgot anyone, but there is one character missing. It's better to leave them out at this point for spoiler-avoiding reasons, though.

I'm gently tagging @tabswrites @mysticstarlightduck @whither-wander-whump in case they would like to participate in this!