#originally this was going to be a one sentencer about how i miss messaging my friends on wechat and line. oh well

[hungwy]

We missed the last train of the night due to the snow. It was the first snow Tokyo had in a while, apparently. None of us seemed dressed for that kind of wet cold. No gloves, just jackets, hats. We were worried for a little bit about how we would get back to the dorms. We waited a long time for a taxi. A long time. The snow had built up on everything in thick layers. I was used to snow but could not ignore how the cold penetrated my pocketed hands to the bone. We stood outside some building, I cannot remember now what it was, but freezing puddles formed around our shoes, kept liquid by some unseen heat source. The puddles reflected all the reds and blues and golds of the city lights. It was quiet for a city. I was tired.

A taxi finally arrived after a while. Just long enough to make its arrival a celebratory affair. We hurried inside it. I sat in the back, on the left, behind the passenger seat. My friends took the front seat and the seat next to me. Someone showed the driver the university address on their phone. In broken Japanese my friends both attempted small talk with the driver, an older man, but he seemed reticent, probably tired. I can't remember if he even responded with real words--probably focused on not crashing the taxi in the fresh slick snow. I knew how to drive in snow. I wonder, in all his long years, if he ever got used to it. The snow had been falling for some time now. Everything was capped in that snow, diffusing the golden glow of the street lights. Were they gold, I wonder? Maybe some were silver. I can't remember any more. It reflected the colors of the night, the still, freezing night which churned under an endless dark grey cloud. I'd seen those clouds before, in the winters of home, and they made me feel comfortable, warm, like a great blanket stretched across the sky.

I remember how the taxi cruised through the thin residential alleys of Tokyo, lined with small one- or two-story houses, stone fences barely interjecting between the property and the street. Most houses did not have their lights on. Fence after gate after fence after wall flickered past. I fell asleep, or pretended to be asleep, or failed to fall asleep, for a long while. I love sleeping in cars. I always have, since I was a kid.

It was a very long drive. I don't remember how I ended up back in the dorm. Where were we even coming from, then, when we missed our train? Were we split from a larger group? By ourselves, us three? Did we go out to eat, go to see some place? I don't remember any more. I remember the night, the cold, the snow, the frozen world, and the pleasant doom of knowing something would become a memory. Something I would regurgitate and reconsume in my mind until all the realness had left. The snow made sure the memory would become imaginary, picturesque. My eyes engulfed the fluttering, transient frames of the lamp-lit snowy streets. Those pictures which with use would eventually smear and blur into puddles of soft form and color, as they do even now. I wish I had written anything at all then. None of it would've been good, but just to preserve the detail, to remind myself of real, solid things. It's all slowly melting away, now, so soft

[darlingdaisyfarm]

texting Stan and Ford headcanons

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ Stan Pines

✧ Stan is the kinda guy who thinks emojis are a scam, but somehow, he figured out how to use the "thumbs up" and "money bag" emoji. so, expect a lot of those in your chats.

✧ his text tone is rough, a little misspelled, typed like he's yelling even when he isn’t. Half of his texts are in all caps, and he absolutely does not care about grammar. but he gets the point across, always.

✧ you’re getting messages at 3 am about some ‘brilliant’ scheme to make a quick buck. he’ll send, “LISTEN, doll, what if we made... GIANT… glitter-filled eggs for easter? Tourists'll go NUTS." you reply, half-asleep, with “Stan, ily but go to bed." and all you get back is a “🤬 YOU GOTTA THINK BIGGER!”

✧ Stan sends those weird chain messages he swears are from some “hotshot businessman” that’ll make you rich in a week. and when you don’t respond immediately, you get a: “Fine, Miss Doubtful, see you when I’m rolling in gold.”

✧ there are whole days where he just floods your phone with random, blurry photos of some new Mystery Shack "artifact" he found. It’s usually junk he picked up at a garage sale, like a “haunted” ashtray or some knock-off painting that’s “probably ancient.”

✧ If he’s feeling sappy (and tipsy): you might get a rare “thinking bout you, sweet thing” at 2 am. but if you try to call him on it the next day, he’ll just be like “Didn’t say that. You’re makin’ stuff up.”

✧ when he’s really riled up about something, though? then his messages are just. . . a stream of caps-lock curses, mixed with misspelled attempts to describe whatever nonsense he just got himself into. you just sit back and let him rant; he’ll cool off eventually.

✧ and the voice messages are something else. they sound like he’s talking through a fan half the time. one minute, he’s rambling about how tourists are “the dumbest suckers on the planet” and the next, he’s ranting about how “bigfoot definitely broke into the shack last night!"

types of messages Stan texts: 

"So… whatcha wearin’? 😏"

“Hey doll, I just found a penny on the ground! Maybe today’s my lucky day… hint hint ;)"

"I’d say somethin’ romantic, but I think my brain just shorted out. You’re a little too cute for a guy like me."

"Just tried that new café downtown. Ordered coffee… tastes like they filtered it through someone’s laundry. You’d hate it. Wanna come mock it with me?"

"Not gonna lie, I miss that face of yours. So what’re we doin’ about it, huh?"

“Again missin’ that cute little smile of yours… maybe you could send me a pic to remind me?”

"Wanna help me scam the tourists today? I’ll split the loot with ya… maybe ;)”

"You wouldn’t believe what I caught Ford muttering in his sleep. Man’s like a walking encyclopedia, even when he’s unconscious."

“Got any plans later? Thought maybe we could… y’know… not have plans together."

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ Ford Pines 

✧ hehehehe he’s like an old-school emailer who’s just now getting the hang of messaging apps. texts in complete sentences, full punctuation, like he’s drafting a dissertation.

✧ He sends you whole paragraphs at random hours, talking about some discovery he’s made, like he’s reporting directly to NASA. you’re like, “Ford, it's just a weird-looking squirrel." and he's already typing another essay about its "possible interdimensional origins."

✧ once in a while, he’ll send you a message that says, “Are you awake?” at, like 3 am followed by a string of thoughtful yet completely bonkers hypotheses. you find it cute, though, his mind never stops, not even for a second.

✧ If he’s feeling bold, you might even get a “hypothetical” confession out of him: “Hypothetically, if one were to develop... strong emotional attachment to a certain person... how would one proceed?" You tease him about it the next day, and he gets flustered, “It was purely scientific curiosity."

✧ Ford isn’t big on emojis, but he likes the brain and alien ones, using them poetically. he’ll sign off texts with a single brain emoji, like it’s his version of a little goodbye wave.

✧ on really rare occasions, he’ll send a voice message. they’re always way too long, and it’s usually him whispering so he doesn’t wake Stan up. he goes on about cosmic rays or “gravity anomalies,” his voice dropping lower when he gets excited. you live for those moments

✧ and if he ever texts you a “good night,” you just know he’s been up thinking about it for hours, trying to figure out if it’s “appropriate.”

types of messages Ford texts: 

“It’s been approximately 3 hours, 12 minutes, and 23 seconds since our last conversation… not that I’m counting or anything. Just… miss you."

sends a meme about science nerds “Us. But mostly me.”

“My hands ache from writing… though perhaps if it were writing about you, I wouldn’t mind.”

“Do you think about me too, or am I the only one utterly ruined by this… whatever this is?”

“I’ve been thinking about that book you lent me... 🤔 It’s honestly so much more interesting than I expected, thank you for recommending it."

"I don’t know how to work this... But I managed to send a meme! It’s not the worst thing I’ve done, I suppose? 

“I did it. I fixed the telescope. Finally. Now we can actually look at the stars like we’ve talked about. :)"

"I hope you’re feeling okay today. I noticed you seemed a little stressed the other day. Don’t forget to take care of yourself. :) It’s important."

"If I could rearrange the periodic table, I’d put U and I together. :( Sorry, nerdy joke... :’D)”

ps - I CANT THEYRE SO CUTE BOTH I WANT TO SMASH THEM AGAINST THE WALL

lmao if someone wants, i can write some spicy types of chatting with them :)))

[imagining-in-the-margins]

CM Autumn Air Challenge

Hey everyone, I’m back with another monthly challenge! For the months of October AND November, I am formally challenging any willing writer to take a stab at writing fanfiction including the season of Autumn using their choice of Criminal Minds characters! Reader, Original Character, Character/Characterships, Gen/Platonic fics are allowed! Please check out the Rules below the Keep Reading.

There are a LOT of prompts below the cut, so keep going!

(**This is NOT a request list for me—this is a prompt list of other writers! Feel free to request from someone else, and be sure to let them know about the challenge!)

General Prompts

Characters fight over the perfect pumpkin.

Characters share a bale of hay on the hayride.

Character A helps B cope with the lack of sunlight.

The BAU takes a holiday trip to Rossi’s hunting cabin.

Character A “helps” B with baking for the Fall Festival.

Character A is shocked by how cold B’s hands get in Fall.

Character insists on getting the perfect apple. And then they fell on their ass.

The BAU’s Missed Holiday Meal is the first family meal Character's ever enjoyed.

It’s unseasonably warm, but that won’t stop Character from wearing fall sweaters.

Character A tells spooky stories around the bonfire. Now B is afraid to sleep alone.

or anything else you can think of!

Halloween Prompts (SFW)

Wait. That isn’t fake blood. Oh no.

Character has a “secret admirer” for Halloween.

Character A thinks B is in costume… they are not.

Characters argue about the accuracy of a costume.

Character A hates Halloween. B tries to change that.

Character A grabs the wrong hand in a haunted house.

Character is very brave while watching the horror movie.

Character A catches B’s wardrobe malfunction seconds before disaster.

Keep reading for more prompts + rules!

Halloween Prompts (NSFW)

Character's costume is multipurpose.

It’s okay. Screaming is normal on Halloween.

Characters have sex... with the costumes on.

Period sex is, in a way, thematically appropriate.

Character A’s costume is awakening something in B.

Character A dresses as B’s fantasy to fuck with them.

Character A’s obsession with lollipops is becoming a serious problem for B.

Dialogue Prompts

"That is NOT a horror movie."

"Wait, are you afraid of the dark?"

“You’re scarier without the mask.”

“Am I meant to be afraid or aroused?”

“No way, you’re a fan of (sports team)?!”

“Gourds are very versatile.” “You look insane.”

“If the leaves are allowed to change, so are you.”

“My costume is not cute. It’s scary and powerful.”

“Stop looking at me like that. The candlelight is for dramatic effect, not romance.”

Your fic can be a Reader insert, an Original Character, a character/character ship, a platonic ship, or a Gen fic. It can feature any Criminal Minds character. AUs and crossovers are more than welcome.

Tag me in the fic, or send the link to me in a Direct Message. It can be already written, or you can write it for the challenge - I collect both! You can also tag “#mentioningmargins”

The fic can be any genre, but ONLY send me smut if your bio states you are 18+. I DO NOT WANT smut written by minors. Ever. At all. I will check. Platonic ships and pure, fluffy fics are 100% allowed. Please also include some indication of rating if it is NSFW.

Please include Content Warnings and a one-sentence Summary of the fic in your post. For xReader fics, PLEASE specify if your reader is Female, Male, or Gender Neutral.

Have fun!

The Masterlist of fics will be posted around Nov. 30. If you finish after that, no problem - just send me the fic once you’re done and I’ll add it after-the-fact!

Feel free to message me if you want help developing a plot, have any questions, or just want to gush about your fic. I’m happy to help, and I’m happy you’re here ❤️

Happy Writing!

[twst-drabbles]

Malleus 15

Summary: A way home was finally found a year after you rejected Malleus's advances. Once you got home and were settled in, an invitation made it's way to you, written to you by Malleus Draconia, King of Briar Valley. How many years have passed?

(I've been on an odd writing spree, but for my original writings. It's weird, but I'll take it! Anyways, have a what-if situation of a King Malleus still yearning for the Prefect! Might continue it if people are interested enough in this what-if scenario.)

"Then would it be possible," Malleus reaching out to you as you faced the star-filled sky, "for you and I to share in each others lives?"

…and so the day finally came. When Malleus would gather up his courage and confess in the way all faeries do, in sentences layered over passionate feelings.

Honestly, the thought of being in a relationship with Malleus didn't sound all that bad. He's a sweet man, if a bit air headed with how easily lost in.

You do feel bad, honestly, for the fact that your feelings never ran deeper than general interest. You don't yearn for him, you can't. Especially not when you know that he's a prince. If you want to love him properly, if you want to build upon this general interest, you'd have to accept that specific part of him.

However, when you imagine the future laying before you, you see that it has nothing to do royalty.

Malleus has done nothing wrong. It's just unfortunate that he's a prince. His future was simply not one that will mesh well with your own.

"My life in my own," you said, "I don't intent to share it anymore than I already have. I'm… simply not interested."

You knew him too well. You can't pretend to be ignorant and go through hoops just to convince yourself that surely he didn't mean that, that he meant something different and that it's all platonic. Because, to you, that's just an excuse to not be blunt and say no. To avoid hurting the other party.

But avoiding what needs to be said is worse.

So, you had to reject him and leave it at that. You didn't like hurting him, but you also can't delude yourself and think that everything will somehow work out, especially since your feelings don't match his own.

Malleus didn't push and you didn't make him leave. And so you both stayed, continuing on as you always have, two people with positions too unique to truly be ignored.

The day came that you would leave. You said your goodbyes, you had your parties and feasts, and when all was said and done, you were relieved to be leaving. To finally go back home.

You waved to them all, to all the people you've met along the way, and passed through the mirror without a second glance back.

Time barely passed by when you got home. So little time, in fact, that your phone was still near to full battery. Dust didn't collect on your bed or dining table like you expected, and there wasn't a single voice message or text asking about your whereabouts.

It's as if you didn't vanish at all. Well, to be fair, you weren't the kind of person to keep in constant or close touch with anyone. You liked your alone time a little more than the average person, but it wasn't anything to make you feel guilty over.

In fact, you're relieved, that only a minimal amount of time has escaped you. You didn't have to go home to frantic worries, to people getting angry out of concern for your sudden disappearance. Everything was calm and level. It was easy enough to go back to the routine you had before.

You missed this, you will admit that. You missed the air and scent of your bed, the grocery store and all its busy chatting, the scent of baked or fried snacks surrounding the local flea market, and even the way the wind flows through the trees. Sure sure, the land you were previously in had all these things, but they weren't yours if that made sense.

Honestly, after a while, you were almost convinced that everything that went on back in Night Raven College was just a dream. If only because, like a dream, you can really only enter and exit such places once.

But then an invitation entered your hand.

Addressed to you, handwritten in such a way that can only be taught in professional calligraphy classes. It tells of a tour around the gardens in the abode of the King of Briar Valley.

King, huh? Has that much time really passed? Putting that aside for a moment, you can't say you were shocked that, out of all people to be able to send a letter right to you, you would place your bets on Malleus.

That being said, you couldn't say no. It's been a while but you're familiar with Malleus's language. A simple tour just for the sake of a tour? No, that's not it at all. He probably misses you. And, to an extent, you miss being over there. A visit is probably due right about now.

And, if things go the same way as they did last time, you'll be gone then back in the blink of an eye.

So, you wrote your reply and placed in on the nearest full body mirror.

You probably should've practiced your landing when it comes to mirror traveling. You fell right through, though you were lucky enough to grab the edge of the mirror before you could crack your knees.

Immediately, you were hit with the scent of cold and old magic, that sharp scent, not quite ozone, less metallic than that, less chemical-like than that. It was neutral magic, subdued in smell but overpowering enough to fill your sense anyway.

It's been a hot minute since you've been here. You're not quite to magic anymore, and you couldn't help but start coughing and clearing your throat.

Then, you were practically washed away with the smell of fresh rosemary.

"You…" And, as you expected, his voice stayed the same, and yet you can hear it, that small bit of quivering, as though he can't believe what's before him. "So, the invitation did make its way towards you, dear Child of Man. Are you alright? Are you sick?"

You held out your hand and coughed into your hand, trying to get this weird stickiness out.

"I'm, ugh, I'm fine, Hornton," Ah, should you really be calling him that now that he's king, apparently? Ah, who cares, you're the guest, you can be forgiven. "It's been a bit. Not all that used to magic anymore, is all."

And then, you looked up. Before, you wouldn't say his horns were malleable or soft, but there is a difference to them. Their color has darkened, and there these silver decorations about them that made those horns seem longer than they actually are.

There was a laugh. "Are my horns truly such a marvel? Well, if you so ask, I won't mind you touching them, if only to prove to you that they are no mere illusion."

"No, I'm good on that front," you sighed then finally looked to Malleus's face. "Huh. You look… older."

Older, and that's honestly kind of concerning for you. He isn't aged, not in the same way you've felt around Lilia. Yes yes, Lilia has a youthful face to him, but after a while, you can't help but notice the little things that betray his true age. Much like now, where you can see the slightest dips in his eyes, near his mouth.

Like most fae, they seem forever young, but the signs don't skip anyone no matter long they stay alive.

The fact is, enough time has passed that Malleus visibly aged.

Malleus, in all his kingly regalia, closed his eyes and took a deep breathe in. "It hasn't been that long. How many years…twenty? Perhaps thirty or less? Ah but, that's an age for children of men, isn't it? And yet, time hasn't so much as glanced at you. You look just the same as I remember, perhaps more youthful. But, that aside, I'm glad to know that this invitation made it you, before life has left your body."

…thirty years? Thirty years? So, time really does pass by differently in your home, huh? That's… you don't know what to think, honestly. Awful? Interesting? It certainly doesn't feel good.

"That long? How much did I miss?" Were there reunions? Letters written to you but could never be sent? And how is everyone else doing with their lives? Are they still alive? Did someone die an early death potentially? And what about families? Did they start some?

…ugh, you hate this feeling. You only have theories and questions and already you're feeling left out from it all.

Well, all you can do is take it one step at a time. Get to know what has happened, and move forward from there. You have no choice but to do so.

Malleus placed a gloved hand on his chin. "…it would take too much time to say right now. Perhaps I'll tell you all that I know as I walk you around the garden? You did accept the invitation, did you not?"

Your mind wasn't quite here, so you just nodded with a, "Right, right."

"Then," Malleus turned, his hair much longer now, perfectly groomed without a knot in there, "shall we be off?"

And you followed, feeling a bit awkward in the fact you were just wearing casual wear.

"…is that lipstick you're wearing, Hornton?" Probably not what you should be focusing on, but you couldn't help but notice. You're more used to his pallid lips than that luscious color.

"Hmm? Why, yes. It was shade recommended to me by one of my servants. If I remember right, this was something crafted by Schoenheit."

"Oh, so his stuff's world famous now, I take it?"

"World famous? Hmm, not quite sure what that entails, but the influence has made its place here. So, influential enough. Does it look odd on me?"

"Don't worry, it looks nice."

[onlyhaos]

I need the longer version of it please I think you know what I'm talking about I'm begging you 🙏🏻😭

this is pt. 2 from this fic!!

pairing: seungcheol x afab!reader

genre: angst, fluff

warnings: small mention about alcohol, the day after the fight

[a/n] It’s crappy and def not proofread (😭😭) I’m so sorry, but here you go!! (And thank you, you’re my first ask🥹🥹💞)

You wake up, not feeling relaxed at all.

Your head was still buzzing, just worse than last night. You let your head fall down again, but your head fell into a.. pillow?

Looking around the room, you noticed that you weren’t on the couch or in the living room anymore. You were in your bedroom, under your familiar sheets.

With a swift movement of your head, you immediately looked to your left, in hope for Seungcheol to be in bed.

But he wasn’t.

Memories of yesterday evening and night crossed your mind again.

Closing your eyes and turning your face into a soft frown, you began to bury your head into your hands.

Confusion about how you got into your bed quickly disappeared, because you were telling yourself that you probably went to bed, and you’re just not able to recall it.

Wanting to pick up your phone, you realized that it wasn’t on the nightstand.

So you got out of bed, putting on your slippers and going to the living room to get it. Until there laid a well-known someone.

“Cheol..?”

No response. Was he still sleeping? You tip toed closer to the couch, seeing your boyfriend’s eyes closed. His beautiful lips slightly parted as his breathing was a steady rhythm.

Quickly grabbing your phone, you went back to your shared bedroom. Leaving Seungcheol, still sleeping, on the couch.

You cuddled back into the sheets, fishing for the charger, that was always under your pillow whenever you didn’t load it. And when you began loading your phone, your lock screen lit up.

There was the message that you didn’t get, anymore, after you fell asleep.

Cheollie 🎀🍒

[…]

I love you, Y/n.

That last sentence was all you focused on, and also the sentence that quickly brought tears to your eyes again.

Opening your message app, you read the rest.

Cheollie 🎀🍒

I'll be back tomorrow, when we're both a bit more composed. We'll talk about every single thing, that made us come to thinking that breaking up would be a good idea.

Because I won't and I don't want to let you go that easily.

Tomorrow we'll decide how things will be in the future. If we'll still have one.

I love you, Y/n.

More tears stumbled out of your eyes. And before you could even notice, you began to sob.

Which, eventually, woke up Seungcheol. You didn’t know he woke up, though.

But when you heard the bedroom door opening you found out.

“Cheol.” You sobbed out, not able to keep it in anymore.

And your boyfriend couldn’t see that sad face of yours, so he went over to the bed and pulled you into a much needed hug.

Not able to stop the crying, you buried your face into his chest.

“I missed you — I shouldn’t have said that. I just felt so lost at that moment and didn’t think properly.”

That’s what you originally said, but it only came out in slurs and gasps for air, from crying that much.

Seungcheol quickly shushed you.

“Be quiet, baby, just cry it all out. We’ll properly talk after that.” He comforted, kissing your forehead.

Soft strokes through your hair, and on your cheek, calmed you down. Only the smallest tears escaping you, as your eyes met his.

“Y/n, love, I never want to see you like this. Especially not when I see that our fights end with you blacked out on the couch from my whiskey.”

He spoke, the smallest smile on his lips, as he wiped away any remaining tears.

With a small sniffle, you smiled, too.

“How are you feeling, baby?” Seungcheol asked you.

Looking into his eyes, you mumbled, “My head’s buzzing. I think I’ve got a hangover.”

Seungcheol recommended making you a soup, to feel better and more comfortable. To which you agreed, almost immediately.

So when your boyfriend made you sit on one of the stools in your kitchen, he prepared your favorite soup as hangover soup.

Talking about all the things from yesterday and clearing any misunderstandings, finding solutions for possible next times, both of you still shed a tear.

But that was nothing that a hug couldn’t fix now.

With a full stomach from eating your favorite soup, Seungcheol and you now had the time to comfortably cuddle on the couch.

With a random movie playing in the background. (Which obviously was ignored) You both made up for the time, that was not able to be shared yesterday.

“I love you, Cheol.”

“I love you, too, baby.” Was his response, smothering you with loving kisses.

[skipper1331]

Obsessed // Alessia Russo

Alessia and you were lying on the couch watching modern family. Well, that was the original plan, however Alessia had a different one. The TV shouldn’t have your attention. Alessia should have your attention.

"Lessi, what are you doing?" you giggled.

The striker had her hands on your sides, pulling you into her while peppering kisses all over your face.

"I‘m so obsessed with you, baby." Her eyes were nothing but full of love. Still, all these years later she made you feel like a lovestruck teenager.

Alessia often used that phrase. Because it‘s true. That girl was head over heels for you and has been since the moment she met you.

Many years ago

Alessia and her friends were playing football in the park.

And then there was you walking around with your little brother. Normally, you would be studying but your mother was still working so you had to take care of your brother. You enjoyed it though. Your brother was a little sunshine. Smiley, goofy, laughing. A boy who enjoyed his life.

"I want a dog, missy. You know? It would be so cool! I could play with him all the time. While I throw him his toy I would train my arm. So I can be like gramps." Your grandpa was an absolute legend in handball. The same passion he had, your brother has now. And to be honest your brother was quite good at it.

So the reason why you were at the park was to let him play. You knew there was a little goal which he could use. Nobody used it. You have never seen someone besides your brother use it.

As soon as he saw the goal he ran to it and threw the ball. "MISSY! HURRY UP!!!" he shouted while you walked (slowly in his eyes) to him. His shouting got Alessias attention. She and her friends a bit away. But not only Alessias attention, everyones attention. They all shared a look before they looked towards the both of you. When Alessia saw you her world stopped. You might think of it as a cliche but Alessia Russo had never seen a girl prettier than you. She watched the way you played with your brother, the way you would jump in the wrong way so the ball would go in, the way you played catch and throw.

The whole time while playing with her friends she couldn‘t focus. She was too focused on you. Too obsessed with you.

Her touch was sloppy. Her passes were sloppy. Eventually her friends gave up on having a good game. When they started their journey home Alessia thought about doing it too but she couldn‘t go home without knowing your name. She would regret it. Being bold in that moment she walked over to the two of you. "Wrong choice of sport, mate" she joked. "Hi, i‘m Al-" she couldn‘t even finish her sentence because your brother was so offended. "Excuse you! My gramps is a H-E-R-O in this sport." She didn‘t think that her choice of words would lead to this. She just wanted to get know you. "Scotty, be nice. She was joking." In that moment she could‘ve sworn that she was about to faint. Your voice was music to her ears. "I‘m Y/N"

And that‘s how your relationship started.

some years ago

Alessia and you have been a couple for about 2 years and you both couldn‘t be happier. But what Alessia was feeling right now was anything but happiness. Her day already started shitty and it only got worse. Last night she forgot to charge her phone so this morning it didn‘t have any battery. As a result she couldn‘t read your daily morning messages. In school she found out that she left her homework at home which were due today and training in general was just not it. The worst part of all was that she missed you. She wanted to be in your arms. They would make anything better. Immediately after training was finished Alessia made her way home. She knew you were at her house waiting.

You and her mom were sitting in the living room talking about the new recipe she tried a few days ago when a moody Alessia came home. She didn‘t even say hello. She just walked up to you, grabbed your hand and pulled you along with her. In her bedroom, she wordlessly laid you down on her bed and flopped onto you. Instantly your arms went around her. Her face was hidden in the crook of your neck while she inhaled your scent. "Hard day today, baby?" you asked quietly. You could feel her nod. You pressed a kiss to her temple and started tracing patterns on her back, so she would calm down. You didn’t know how long you‘ve been doing it but when you heard her sleepy voice say "I‘m obsessed with you" you knew she was about to fall asleep.

a few years ago

It was family trip time.

Alessias family had invited you to come with them to Italy. Of course you agreed. You have never been in Italy before and with all the stories Alessia told you about her nonna you were excited to meet her. Alessia loved Italy. How couldn‘t she? She loved everything about it. The food, the people, the weather, everything. And now the person she loved most came to the place she loved. She was excited. On the whole journey (the flight and car rides) to her nonnas she couldn‘t shut up about the things she wanted to show you. She was so enthusiastic and full of joy that you couldn‘t stop smiling (at her).

In the first week Alessia showed you around, took you on romatic dates and you, her and her family had almost every night a game night. It was perfect.

One night her nonna made dinner (she always did but this time it was different) she asked you if you wanted to learn how to make a real italian lasagna. You didn’t let that opportunity slip through your fingers. Her nonna showed you how to make the perfect lasagna and while she taught you it she also taught you some italian words and phrases.

Alessia was head over heels. She loved that her nonna liked you, she loved that you and her nonna connected so well. She felt special because you were special. Her nonna had never asked someone who was not blood related to help her make her lasagna. Not one of her brothers girlfriends, nobody. The only thing Alessia could do was watch. She watched you the whole time with big heart eyes. "You really love her, don‘t you?“ her brother asked, snapping her halfway out of her trance but not completely. “Yeah. I‘m so obsessed with her.“ she answered honestly, still with her eyes fixed on you. What she didn’t realize though was that her answer was in fact loud spoken. Not in a whisper like she thought. "I always knew you‘re obsessed with me“ giggling you pressed a kiss on her cheek. Her face turning a deep shade of red. "Look at the lasagna we made!“ you stated with so much pride in your voice. You were really proud of that lasagna, hoping it would taste good. "It looks almost as amazing as you“ your lover replied whilst smacking her arm around your waist. "smooth“ the other Russo brother laughed.

The rest of the night was filled with a delicious meal, laughing and enjoying each others presence. That night was one of the happiest Alessia ever had. She was in the country she loved, around the people she loved most. She was at peace.

present

"Still? Years later?“ you whispered against her lips, an inch away. ”Yeah“ she breathed.

With that being said she kissed you. She kissed you like there was no tomorrow. She kissed you like you were the only girl in the world (because for her you were). She kissed you like she would do it for the rest of your lives.

After all those years Alessia was still obsessed with you and neither of you wanted it any other way.

—————————

[bookshelf-in-progress]

For the writer asks: 2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 19, 20. And 21 for Arateph.

2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

Right now, I'm just hoping I can figure out how to write a longer work. There are several options fighting for attention, but I'm getting more excited about Arateph than I have in a long while (though this does tend to happen around early summer, so we're right on schedule), so I'm hoping that can translate into finishing one of my ideas. The top contenders right now are my Cinderella retelling (set after "Out of the Tomb") and my Princess and the Pea retelling (set before the revolution), which both have strong heroines whose painful lives have driven them to make some bad choices that they're going to have to overcome, and I'd be excited to write their perspectives and see their journeys play out.

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

I really like this paragraph in "A Garden of Wishes". To my mind, it's the center of the romance and the themes that I'm trying to draw out of the fairy tale.

In that moment, the sun shines full upon you, setting the gold and brown streaks of your hair alight. Suddenly, you are not an ethereal being, too high and fine for me to reach. You are here, with me, laboring in the Earth—and you glow with joy. It is not the blazing joy of your dances in the midnight palace—burning bright and fast and destructive. This joy is gentler, life-giving—like a hearth fire or a candle flame. It warms and nourishes, comforts and caresses. For the first time, I can picture you as a gardener’s wife, laboring with me in a cottage, caring for our children, giving life to sons and daughters and helping me to make good things grow.

7. What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?

Branching out from sentence-level style and into themes/motifs, I write a lot of:

Quiet heroines who doubt themselves

Outspoken, practical heroines

Heroines with various intellectual interests

Basically decent human beings just trying to get along in life

Married couples who are madly in love with each other

Mentor characters who get to explain the themes to the POV character/outspoken best friend characters who cut through the POV's self-doubt

Overt messages

Fantasy worlds with Victorian fashion/imagery

Surreal second-person fairy tales

Original fiction that riffs off of concepts from one specific work/genre

Retellings that can include romance but also focus on the wider world of the fairy tale (and sometimes turn romantic tales platonic and vice versa)

Anything I missed?

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

Kind of? I don't read as much fantasy as my writing would suggest--I do read quite a bit, but I do tend to read a lot more vintage/classic fiction from roughly 1800-1960 and historical fiction set in that time frame, and I don't have the courage to write realistic fiction yet. I do like to read fairy tales and fairy tale retellings, but it's getting harder and harder to find retellings that are written in the styles I like to read.

I do sometimes lean heavily on works that I've read to inspire my work. "The True Story" was "84, Charing Cross Road" done as magical realism. "The Return of Queen Emma" and "Honors from the King" involved me riffing on Narnia concepts. "A Feast in the Lanternwood" started as "What if Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote fantasy?" And sometimes I'm just drawing from tropes and settings in things that I've read and mashing them together into something original.

10. How would you describe your writing process?

Chaotic but focused. I'm constantly spinning ideas, tropes, images, etc. into stories. Lately, my writing process has involved writing a list with a whole bunch of ideas (it helps if I have a theme and a deadline, like "I want to write a flash fiction retelling" or "I want to write an intrusive fantasy for Inklings"), and then choosing one and writing it in the document underneath. Once I've finished a draft, I do some polishing passes, and if I have a bit more leeway/I'm not feeling impatient, I'll wait at least overnight, if not a couple of days, to come back and do the final edits.

For longer works, I try to keep my outline focused--I'll write down the initial ideas, then pare it down to the important stuff as I develop.

19. Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)

I use the words "glory" and "joy" way too much. I also have a bad habit of repeating words multiple times in the same paragraph or work--in my head, it seems like the only fitting word or like poetic repetition, but on the page, it looks like I have no vocabulary. I'm sure there are other specific reused words that I can't think of at the moment.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

@lady-merian's comment recently reminded me of a bit of meta for "Honors From the King". In the opening scene, the elf has a line about "If he offers you half of his kingdom, don't take it. It's just a polite phrase." That was a bit of a personal joke, because I've always wondered what a king would do if someone took them up on the offer and asked for half the kingdom, so I thought I'd have her warn against the possibility. It wasn't until a long time after I'd written the story that I realized I'd thrown in some unwitting foreshadowing, because the king winds up offering Mia his entire kingdom, and she's going to wind up accepting it.

21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)

I've already envisioned "Out of the Tomb" as a musical, and I've pictured at least the first act of a musical about Marastel and Jemrauth's courtship, with several songs that are key to my understanding of the story, so that could be fun. I also think it could be fun to see it as an animated series (you could properly portray the human-but-not-quite-ness of tephans) or as an audio drama (you could have some fun portraying the layered sounds of the tephan naming language)>

[aquamine-amarine]

Shugo Chara! Sequel Manga

I was supposed to make this post shortly after the news broke on 10/3 about the manga getting a sequel, but I got lazy. So it's late. And then it ended up being super long...

I saw the sentence on the cover of Nakayoshi earlier that weekend, and it didn't specify if it would be a sequel manga. It just said something about the issue containing information about a new project. So it could have gone either way, with that sentence being so vague. It was either a sequel manga or anime reboot. I was personally hoping for the latter. When there was a leak about it being a sequel manga I initially dismissed it. There was no concrete source for it, and with my prior knowledge of how this fandom lies I wasn't going to blindly believe something. I remember first joining this fandom way back in 2008, on a SC! forum called Guardian's Wish. Around 2009 when Crunchyroll first started streaming numerous ongoing anime at the time - the second season of SC! being one of them - the girls on Guardian's Wish would talk about how everyone on the Crunchyroll forums were leaking and lying about all kinds of things for SC!, claiming that their leaks were telling them what was to come in the manga, and it was ridiculous stupid shit like Ikuto having a dog Guardian Character. Lol, no. It was very hard to get Japanese raws back then, so leaks were all we had. Most of them were obvious lies. So I've grown to never believe anything the western fandom says. If I don't have a Japanese source for it, it's bullshit. This fandom still doesn't have its manga lore straight after all…

It was around Sunday night on the 1st (which was actually already the 2nd in Japan) that a Japanese Twitter account finally posted more concrete proof - an actual picture of the article in the issue. I had my legit source. It was a sequel manga… and honestly it wasn't what I wanted. I'm probably the only person in this fandom that didn't want a sequel manga. I wanted a faithful anime reboot. I was scared of a sequel manga. I didn't want them to give into pressure from fans and Nakayoshi to make a sequel manga and then have the story be worse than the original manga or have it ruin the ending. That would have disappointed me so much. The ending was perfect, I didn't want them to ruin it.

I feel like this fandom has constantly missed the point of this manga with the constant ship wars and cries for a sequel. The story of the Guardian Characters ended in Chapter 48 (Volume 11). Why do you think Volume 12 (the Encore chapters) was such a ship fest? That was them wrapping everything else up. Because they finished the main story with Volume 11. They pretty much say this here in a very old blog post about Chapter 48. They purposely made the manga very fast paced, and they admitted that some things had to be cut because of that, in particular chapters dealing with the other Guardians. Which is why Encore focused on the other characters initially.

I think we, the readers, were never supposed to know what Amu's would-be self is, because that would ruin and contradict the message the Guardian Characters were trying to send - that you can be whatever you want to be. It's a very positive message to send, especially to children. Why would they cancel out this message by immediately having Amu decide what she wants to be? This was always supposed to be left open ended. An answer to a fan question about Hikaru's egg hatching back in a 2010 Q&A session kind of supports my theory that Peach-Pit meant to leave things a little open ended. They said they had initially planned to have Hikaru's Guardian Character be revealed in the final chapter, but decided to leave it up to everyone's imagination instead. So that's why I didn't want a sequel. Clearly the ending of the manga was meant to be open ended, and it wrapped almost everything up perfectly.

And as for the shipping, because of course this is going to be brought up within this stupid fandom… I just laugh to myself whenever people STILL naively wonder who Amu ends up with. Are you kidding me?

First, did you not read my previous paragraph? Romance was not the main point of this manga. The Guardian Characters were. Plot first, romance second.

Second, are you people blind or just still willfully ignorant and unable to accept reality? Did you not actually read the manga? Did you not read the last chapter? Did you not listen to the drama CD of the final chapter? Most people haven't and it's shocking, even among the Japanese fandom, the amount of people who don't know about the drama CD adaption of the final chapter. The panel where they start holding hands at the wedding and Amu is having an internal monologue, reading it you think she's the one that says "one day", but in the drama CD both Amu and Ikuto say that line together. I need no other proof that this is canon. The kanji in their last names were also a dead giveaway, and as for the artbook notes for the final chapter title page…

万里: グランドフィナーレですね. 白い服の2人とブーケ…, というのは最初から決まってました. 12巻でバージョンちがいを描きましたよ.

Banri: It's the grand finale. Two people wearing white clothes and a bouquet​… that was decided from the beginning. The Volume 12 version is drawn differently.

This was planned from the beginning. Obvious to anyone with functioning braincells, of course. And people who actually read the manga and not that awful, filler infested unfaithful train wreck of an anime. That's a different rant. It's no secret that I despise the anime and how it ruined everyone's character development, especially Amu's.

I did always find it rather odd that there were literally no title pages with just Amu and Tadase in them. You can see the artbook scans for the first artbook here and second artbook here. There was either a third person there or it was a group shot with the other Guardians. There were definitely some chapters early on where a Tadamu title page would have made perfect sense given the content of the chapter. But they just… never did it. It was always strange to me since every other shoujo manga in existence loves to troll readers with the love triangle (and Peach-Pit definitely did plenty of that) and usually that includes being on the title pages an equal amount… but not here. Sometimes I wonder if because this was their first shoujo manga, they didn't know what they were doing. Or maybe they were doing it on purpose.

I can't believe I've never talked about this one before, because it was something I noticed back in 2021 when the new editions were first revealed. A juicy little line I saw on the back of the new Volume 2...

元気と勇気をもらえるミラクルファンタジー, あむとイクトの恋も仲間たちとの友情も深まる第2巻.

A miracle fantasy that gives you energy and courage, Amu and Ikuto's love, as well as the friendship between friends, deepens in Volume 2.

I remember thinking... did I read that right?! Is my shitty Japanese working right?! Did they just admit this so blatantly?! It wasn't the word "suki" they used here either, they used "koi". Even with all the new illustrations, especially this one, they're not exactly being subtle about it anymore. I think that covers the shipping now...

Also, the "miracle fantasy" bit is the tagline the manga had when it was serialized in Nakayoshi.

I also really, really did not want a time skip sequel manga, and I am forever reminded of how badly time skips can go whenever I think of the Digimon Adventure 02 ending. They wrote themselves into such a fucking corner with that epilogue the current movies dealing with them as adults are so messy as a result. Not everything can have a nice clean time skip ending like FMA… and of course the shipping elements in SC! would have just made things even messier, further making people forget once again that the point wasn't the romance, it was the Guardian Characters...

So after this announcement I was left wondering, what kind of sequel manga is this going to be? Is it going to be like Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc and take place immediately after the original manga, or is it going to be like Mermaid Melody: Pichi Pichi Pitch Aqua, taking place in the future and being about the main character's children instead? I wanted the former, I was terrified of the latter.

Thank God Peach-Pit immediately came out and said exactly what kind of sequel this is going to be in a post on their pixiv Fanbox - it is going to take place while Amu and the others are in middle school. Hopefully that eases some fears like it did for me. Normally their pixiv Fanbox rules state not to share the information found on their pixiv Fanbox posts, however this particular article is listed as "All Users", and can be viewed by anyone who doesn't have an account or isn't paying for a plan. I think it's safe to share then. Everything else is locked behind a paywall, so I won't talk about those posts.

I honestly don't even know how they plan on continuing the story. I'm still convinced this is just Nakayoshi being greedy and forcing Peach-Pit to do a sequel because Nakayoshi's current cash cow - Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc - is ending soon. And with the success of SC!'s 15th Anniversary celebrations, with constant new merchandise and new illustrations, Nakayoshi knows they can milk this next. This is also why I think an anime reboot is still possible, and that they're just saving that news for much later. You don't spend almost 3 years now making new illustrations and merchandise just to give everyone a sequel manga which doesn't cost nearly as much as an anime adaption to make. Yes it still costs money, because art supplies are needed and publishing companies need to print it. However I imagine an anime reboot costs a lot more, especially if they want to get the original voice actors back, all of which are even more popular than they were back then. And they better get them back, because it would break my heart if they were all replaced. Don't even bother to reboot it then if it's not possible to get the original voice actors back. It just wouldn't be the same. And I only really care about the Guardians and Easter, all the minor characters and parents don't need their original voice actors back. Unless someone retired or passed away, then obviously a replacement has to be selected, and in those cases it's understandable. So again, I'm still hoping for a reboot, and I'm convinced they're just hoarding money in the meantime while they wait for a perfect chance to announce it. There's also the matter with Utau's songs... they definitely need to get the rights for those.

Another thing that makes me annoyed with Nakayoshi and the current state of shoujo manga as a whole is that trash like this gets an anime adaption before SC! gets a reboot?! Holy hell this manga is just so bad. I've been so disappointed with the crap running in Nakayoshi nowadays. Obviously I'm not talking about Cardcaptor Sakura, that's good, but everything else in Nakayoshi (like Vampire Dormitory) is just so bad. Shinkon dakedo Kataomoi does actually look sweet and wholesome, it's a shame there are no translations.

And then there's Chou ka Han ka: Gokudou-sama Afurete Afurete Nakasetai, a manga that used to run in Nakayoshi but it got so fucking raunchy they transferred it to a different more adult magazine. The shit I saw when I skimmed those pages make the shit Peach-Pit got away with in SC! look tame. SC! and Arisa really were one of the last good shoujo manga to run in this magazine… and I still need to get around to reading Sugar Sugar Rune and Mermaid Melody: Pichi Pichi Pitch. I've heard good things about them both.

The stuff running in Nakayoshi today is so bad that they have to bring back old classic stuff, first giving CCS a sequel, then Mermaid Melody, now SC!. In one way, it's a compliment to that classic stuff, finally giving them the recognition they deserve because they really were good. And then on the other hand it's insulting to the new stuff running in the magazine because Nakayoshi is basically saying none of them are good enough to compete with what came before them. I find that kind of sad. Instead of cultivating that new talent they just go back to manga that ended a while ago. And I'm afraid that doing that would just end up ruining everything that was good about those manga. They don't need sequels, what they need instead are faithful anime adaptions that respect the source material this time. That Tokyo Mew Mew reboot was so awful though, and it wasn't faithful to the manga at all.

I'm enjoying Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc though, so thankfully that sequel ended up being fine. At least Clamp's art actually improved a lot from the original manga, which brings me back to what I've been ranting about lately regarding Peach-Pit's art style not looking the same as it did back in 2010 when SC! first ended. I really hope they use this time before the sequel starts to work on their shoujo art style again, and making sure the story is just as good as the original. I really want this to do good because I love this manga, I'm just hesitant to trust Nakayoshi's intentions here. I'm convinced they're just doing this because CCS is ending and they needed something new to milk money from.

Holy shit did this end up being really long. Damn, I had way too much to say about this, hopefully it isn't too much of a confusing mess.

[mvrkieboo]

(3/3) THAT IS WHY....... i kinda support tragic sad ending lol. I am IN for a realistic road. I think fiction is a perfect chance to make shit goes up in flames.

Everything stressed me the hell out, but yk after finishing P43 i blowed out the heaviest sigh and thought 'well the worst that could happen is she dies, so if by some miracle she's not then living her life w everyone hating her is not so bad' it's all about ✨perspective✨ everytime i read a chapter i was spiraling then after finishing it i blowed out the breath i was holding and found a 'you know what?' consolation bc i refused to be stressed out.

Yoonsu was hella smart, and the day she chose to be under his mercy was the day she chose a death sentence. And ofc yoonsu is this sticky parasite-like bitch that u just can't easily swat or kill, so i KNOW we're not getting rid of him that easily.

Now i think either everything burns down to the ground first then she can rebuild her happy ending orrr everything burns down to the ground, period (i'm leaning towards one side guess which one 😜).

I love me some catharsis, and easily-attained happy ending just won't do it for me 😌 So I support whatever u want to put me thru. You rarely get a good heart-wrenching stories here and i'm hella grateful for yours.

oof. a tragic sad end. personally, even i don't have the heart to do that. i mean, yeah i enjoy the pain im putting everyone through rn, but i feel like it could become so hopeless that this story would have a tragic end.

because, realistically, do you really think yoonsu's going to execute the murder-suicide sloppily? he really fucking hates y/n so much that he's lost all of his humanity tbh. back then, in his own sick way, he did actually care for y/n. now? he'd make sure she won't ever have a moment of peace, even in her death. once he's had his fun of isolating her from the people she loves, he's going to kill her and commit suicide in an isolated spot, just to really drive the nail that she's always going to be alone with him, even when all that's left of them is their rotting corpse. and the reason why i can explain how this tragic ending is going to be is because this was my initial ending for old bloodhounds.

he kills her and kills himself, and y/n's friends and family are going to report her as a missing person because she's missing her classes and not seen anywhere else anymore. then, a few months after, some poor hiker stumbles upon y/n's and junyoung's corpse.

only then are they going to find out that junyoung wasn't junyoung, but actually cha yoonsu. especially because authorities in gangnam already uncovered the original junyoung's body. dna testing proved that the corpse beside y/n's was yoonsu. then as the authorities investigate this fucked up case, they'd find the messages y/n and yoonsu shared and the blackmail material yoonsu had over her.

as the authorities explain what really happened to y/n, it would dawn on them that they had a hand in making y/n's worst nightmare come true—for the people she loves to abandon her once again when she needed them most.

BUT that's not my ending anyway but if you guys want this ending as a bonus chapter once old bloodhounds end, just tell me okay???? 🥰🥰🥰

[alexsfictionaddiction]

Review: Great Expectations by A. L. Kennedy

Despite having a degree in English Literature and a special interest in the Victorian era, I haven't read much Dickens. I would like to try to change that but unfortunately, I haven't really got on well with much of the Dickens I have read (Hard Times and A Christmas Carol). I think I only really understood what was going on in A Christmas Carol because well, it's A Christmas Carol. So, an abridged children's version of Great Expectations was probably exactly what I needed in order to digest one of his best loved works.

Great Expectations follows a young orphan named Pip, who is raised by his tyrannical older sister and her kind blacksmith husband. One Christmas, he meets and helps an escaped convict. Soon after, Pip is invited to play at the strange, dusty house of Miss Havisham where her ward Estella teases him for looking so poor. Despite this, Pip falls in love with Estella and takes up an apprenticeship with his brother-in-law before learning that he has an anonymous benefactor, who wants Pip to grow up to be a gentleman. He assumes his luck is turning thanks to Miss Havisham but that soon becomes apparent that it isn't. Will Pip ever manage to gain Estella's affections and who is looking out for him?

This version has some gorgeous illustrations to help the story along and they are perfect for this young reader's edition. Although much of it is simple and all of it is colourless, my mind could paint in the colour easily myself and bring the settings to life more vividly.

The opening chapters are what I think could be considered quintessentially Dickens. It's a family Christmas dinner setting and everyone has whimsical names and manners. Although Pip is treated terribly by his sister, even at Christmas, the scene itself all felt quite familiar to me as a typical English Christmas family get-together. I love that Kennedy managed to still capture that ambiance throughout the abridgement process.

Although I didn't expect it to happen, I was willing Joe to leave his cruel wife. I would have loved this to be a story about a hard working man raising his young brother-in-law as his own son, having taken him away from the vicious treatment at the hands of Mrs Gargery. Pip adores Joe and I was really happy that at least, he had an adult friend who could protect him to some extent.

This one sentence that describes Pip's feelings about Miss Havisham's house on his first visit is truly haunting. From what I knew previously about Miss Havisham's character, this dark, cold, decaying house is exactly how I always pictured it and that stopped clock image fits it perfectly. For Miss Havisham, her wedding day was when time stopped and never restarted, so I found it really chilling to walk around her frozen house and indeed, her life.

As he gets older, Pip becomes a respectable, considerate young man and his sense of justice becomes apparent. He cares about people and respects women, which was perhaps not exactly the norm in Dickens' London. He's very easy to root for and I was excited to see him get his happy ending.

Occasionally, the story does speak directly to us, the reader. A lot of books for very young children do this and I like that this version of a classic does it. It allows readers to directly engage with the story and its themes. By asking the reader to think about their choices and what they mean for the future, we're being encouraged to reflect on our actions and think about whether we're happy with them. If we're not, this gives us a chance to change how we react in the future. I thought this was really clever and it keeps the core message of the book at the forefront of the reader's mind.

Great Expectations is a really thoughtful story with an important lesson for us all. I'm really glad I found this really accessible version of it, as I'm pretty sure I would struggle to get through the original. If, like me, you face barriers when you try to read certain classical authors, I recommend looking for some abridged or children's versions of them. Chances are, the story is something you enjoy but if things like language or writing style are preventing you from accessing the story, it doesn't have to be this way.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

I am a new reader of your blog, and that is something I want to know (but it's totally okay if you want to ignore this ask!) why you stopped liking [with you]? Is there something in particular that bothered you about this fic?

That... is a question with a loaded answer.

The quick answer is:

I put way too much pressure on myself with [with you] that caused terrible burnout and I couldn't do any creative writing for a long time after; a small portion of my readers were pretty hostile about slow updates; there were criticisms about the story that I had a hard time with; and there are a lot of story beats and writing decisions I made with it that I'm very critical of. All of those things combined, I now have a lot of negative feelings associated with [with you].

The not-so-quick answer involves a lot of self-criticism about my prose, poor choices, the criticisms by my readers, and some behind the scenes stuff. I'll put all that under a "keep reading" for anyone interested in more detail.

When I started [with you], it wasn't meant to be a 50k+ story, it was just going to be a simpler story told in a couple parts... that I then kept expanding. I'm pretty sure every note I have on the original version posted on here starts with, "hey y'all, this story is this many parts now whoops haha"

I had very little planned out, I was just discovery writing my way through everything. I wrote a chapter, read through it a couple times, said, "yeah that's good enough," then posted. Y'know, like what a lot of people who write fics do. "no beta, we die like Ben falling down the bell tower" and all that.

I had ideas of where I wanted to go, but I didn't start an outline until I was well into the story. It was bloated. I felt like I needed to add every single idea I had, and needed to expand on every character, even if it didn't do anything to advance or enhance the story... and that became overwhelming for me to keep track of since I wanted it to all tie together in the end and please my readers.

When I read through it now, there is so much that can be cut that no one would miss. It would flow better and be easier to read.

My prose [the actual writing style] is all over the place and reads like a first draft, especially in earlier chapters. Spelling errors, run-on sentences, whole paragraphs that I should've cut. While I feel better about my dialogue, there are some conversations that read as awkward.

Honestly, the best part of the entire fic is Clementine and Louis' story, which... yeah. I'm pretty happy with the way I portrayed their dynamic, dialogue, and romance. I just wish I hadn't bogged it all down with everything else, like... that's all it needed to be, it just needed to be about clouis.

Oh, and I still like the dream sequence. That's probably one of the better chapters, if not the best chapter.

Now, when I say I made bad choices with this story, one of those choices I'm referring to is my "big rewrite." This was incredibly stupid. Past CJ thought it was a good idea but she's a dumb ass. You can't listen to anything she says.

Basically, I got the brilliant idea that I would take [with you] down and rewrite the whole thing before I wrote the final chapters. I wasn't satisfied with how it was written. I felt I could do so much better. I was going to trim unnecessary fat, expand on important details, make some heavy changes, improve everything, and then repost it with the ending.... so I deleted it off AO3 and got to work.

Terrible idea. Don't ask me why. What I should've done was discontinued that version, made a note that it was old, and then published the new version separately. But I didn't. And a lot of people were pissed at me. Shocking.

I should've just finished it. I should've finished it, posted it, and then went from there. But I didn't. Ever since then I've gotten a lot of readers who would go on anon and send me messages about [with you] that are passive aggressive or guilt trippy. That soured my feelings about the story and myself as a writer tremendously.

Then there's Violet.

I wrote the first few chapters before Ep4 of TFS was released, meaning I wrote Violet before we found out that she's blinded in the explosion in her kidnapped route. I took the "Violet despises you" route, and a big plot point of the story is Violet dealing with all these conflicting feelings about Clementine, hating her but also not, distancing herself from the group, the strain it put on her and Louis' friendship, etc.

I don't like how I portrayed Violet for a number of reasons. I know what I was trying to do, and I knew I couldn't [or wouldn't] scrap everything I already wrote about her and rewrite in a blind Violet on friendly terms with Clementine... because sure, I wanted to do this grand rewrite that sounded easy enough on paper, but in practice that was so much work that intimidated me.

Because behind the scenes fun- for the rewrite, I wanted to do that. That was a major change that would've cut so much from the story I wasn't happy with, and would've been a more positive portrayal of the character. But then I saw just how much would be cut and how much I'd have to write and it scared me off from the idea... so I tried to work with what I had and I still hate it.

Violet's very antagonistic in the story. She attacked Clementine after the boat explosion. Everyone thinks she'll attack her again. Mitch calls her a traitorous bitch and doesn't trust her to not stab Clementine in a conversation. There's even a point where it's mentioned that in the past she slapped Louis during a conversation. She just has a pissy attitude throughout the story but then berates herself for it and I just... I was going for a slow burn recovery that explores her trauma and ends with her reconciling with Clementine... but it doesn't come off that way? Some parts I think I executed better than others but most of it I look back at and say, "...No, past CJ, that doesn't read like you think it does...."

But that wasn't my only criticism I got about the way I wrote Violet, and this one is... a little complicated? And something most probably wouldn't take issue with or even notice unless you're a major Violet stan... but I pretty much gave Mitch [a character I loved at the time] a lot of Violet's canon character points and explored them more positively, then turned around and made Violet more antagonistic, which......yeeeeeah.

The only defense I have for this is it wasn't intentional. It really wasn't, but I understand and think it's a valid complaint. Like... I used to get these anons who would tell me this and I'd quietly delete them because, "...nope, not touching that. If I don't acknowledge it, it doesn't exist."

Lemme explain: In my fics, Mitch is gay. He had feelings for his best friend and roommate, Justin, before he died to walkers, and Mitch hasn't trusted "gross feelings" ever since... until James shows up and Mitch has to face the fact that he has romantic feelings for him while not being completely over Justin...

...y'know, totally different from Violet who is gay, had feelings for Minerva before she "died," and hasn't trusted mushy feelings ever since... until Clementine shows up and Violet has to face the fact that she has romantic feelings for her while not being completely over Minerva....

It's surface level stuff since they are written differently, and it's not like you're not allowed to have more than one character with character beats like that, but it's enough of a similarity that I get why it would rub Violet lovers the wrong way. Especially since nothing about that is canon with Mitch's character, y'know? It's the character I gave him.

I don't think it was coming from the Violet crowd [the aggressively obnoxious fans no one likes], I think it came from people who were genuinely bummed or put off by my more antagonistic portrayal of her, only to see similar traits portrayed positively with Mitch.

And that bothers me. I do like the way I wrote Mitch, but I hate the way I wrote Violet. It's made me step back and analyze why I wrote them the way I did, y'know?

But the BIGGEST criticism from readers I've gotten?

[with you] is unfinished.... valid, but there isn't anything I can add that. Sorry y'all, it's discontinued, I'm never going to finish it.

The best I can give you is what I planned: a big wedding scene where Clementine and Louis exchanged vows and kissed. Violet showed up and made amends with Clementine. Clementine talked Mitch into dancing with her even though he hates dancing. Aasim tried to ask Ruby to dance, panicked, and asked Mitch instead who was like "...Fuck no, RUBY COME DANCE WITH AASIM!" Louis and Clementine left early to head back to their room and it probably would've ended with some sappy line about being together to the end.

So... there ya go? It's not a final chapter but that's the gist of what would've happened.

But moving on, I was also going through a lot of things in my personal life that I won't get into. I was working on other writing projects that I had more interest in, so [with you] was put on the backburner. Then, over time I grew more sour about it the more pressure and guilt I put on myself, added with the pressure and guilt put on by my readers.

I do want to clarify that it's not like ALL of my readers were like this. Most of them were sweet, supportive followers who only had nice things to say. But you know how it is... you could get ten comments/asks, nine of them positive and one negative, and it's the negative one that's going to stick to you.

So, to my lovely readers, I am sorry that I let you down by not finishing it. To the rude readers, I'm less sorry because y'all were dicks.

Y'know... I can look at all of my other works and either be like "Yeah, I'm really proud of that story," or "Eh, it was one of my earlier works, so I can't be too hard on it."

But [with you] puts me in a crisis of "oh god I'm a fraud, I was never a good writer, what am I doing??? why?? why are you like this??"

and I have to snap myself out of it. That's why I'm so like this about it now.

There are other little things I could go into, but this answer is long enough. I figure if anyone has any further questions or criticisms, they'll send 'em in and I can answer them that way.

I've moved on from all my twdg writing, I'm writing dragon age stuff now, and it's finally working for me so it's not like [with you] has me all hung up still. Plus, I think it's good to go back and learn from mistakes made in old works, y'know?

[foxymoxynoona]

miss foxy,

i don’t know if the publishing industry is just filled with no one but shitty writers OR youve ruined romance novels for me.

ive read about 30 of them so far since i found you and you know how many of those that i actually have 5 starred on StoryGraph?

five. FIVE BOOKS.

four starred? TWO books.

and you know what runs through my head every time a book disappoints me?

“i can’t believe i paid MONEY for this garbage. how come miss foxy with god-tier writing writes for free?”

like this is such bullshit/;@&”$ i am SOO MAD

thing is im not even like picky with plots and storylines and stuff, so if anything im actually pretty easy to please in terms of ~originality~. you could recycle the same tired storyline or trope or whatever and id still give it a read, no problemo. as long as the characters get proper character development, im good. trust me. im an EASY reader.

no. you know what usually BOTHERS me about these ~published~ writers that forces me to give their books less than 3 stars?

THE FACT THAT THEY CANT EVEN WRITE DECENT DIALOGUE.

DECENT. DIALOGUE. THAT. SOUNDS. NATURAL. AND. REALISTIC.

LORD GIVE ME STRENGTH AND PATIENCE BECAUSE I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD IF I READ ONE MORE FUCKING BOOK WITH SHITTY DIALOGUE IM GOING TO SCREAM THE WHOLE BUILDING DOWN.

like it’s just a pandemonium going on in my system whenever i read shitty dialogue because it makes me want to crawl out of my skin. that’s how SHITTY it is. one or two lines i can let slide (im not that much of a bitch… probably) but a WHOLE DAMN BOOK? REALLY?!

mind you, these books are mostly four starred 🤢🤢🤢 some even FIVE starred and im just like ARE WE EVEN READING THE SAME BOOK?!

this is why i don’t play when i tell you your writing is a GODSEND. i MEAN that shit. every sentence literally has me 😮😮 like, you actually KNOW what to do with words. now THATS a writer.

sorry. rants over.

PS: now that i think about it, my rant could be read as me putting you on a pedestal and i understand that could put you off because you think i have high expectations from you but trust me. you could NEVER disappoint me. EVER.

I'm very very very flattered by a message like this. I have been secretly poking a little at what it would take to publish things for real, because if I could just write all the time instead of 40+ hours a week at my current day job, it would be so heavenly. I could publish real books to subsidize my fanfic writing🤣🤣

Sometimes I'll read published books and be like hey, I could write that! But then I'll read other ones and be completely intimidated by how amazing they are, and it's also so hard to be objective about my own work so I'm just always like... no way could I pull that off. I do love words though. To my writing is like baking braided bread or something, all the massaging and careful selection, and I just really enjoy it. That's why I've always been writing, even when it brings me no fame nor fortune haha, I just have to do it.

I don't know, maybe someday. Supportive comments like this puff me up with the belief I could do it! Anyone know a good agent or publisher (like if you read a book and it kinda reminds you of something I write) lemme know! 😂

And thank you for such a sweet praising note, I will save it forever for when I'm feeling down about a chapter 🥰

[riverstardis]

crazy little thing called love:

the previous episode’s post isn’t showing up in the tag for some reason? not for me at least

alicia’s parents are back together… but not for long!

cal’s leaving alicia a surprise in her locker because he feels bad about not trusting her but he discovers that she has a second phone💀

ah alicia’s dad’s “business partner”

oh look they’re kissing!

aand he ends up pinned against a skip by his car🙃

LMAOO alicia goes “ethan you remember my mam yeah?” and he goes “yes, you had the gonorrhoea! … sorry…” SKDKFKKFG WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT😭😭😭 ohhh i miss him

oh yeah this is cal meeting alicia’s parents for the first time lol

i love dylan’s outfit

oop cal’s noticed martin holding howard’s hand

lmaoo ethan telling cal how it was awkward having to treat alicia’s mum after the whole sti thing and cal just didn’t know about that at all so ethan explains how she got it off the dad because “apparently he was sleeping around with other women” and cal’s like “well i’m not sure about that last part” 😭😭😭

cal says do you think being a player runs in the family and shows ethan alicia’s secret phone and guesses her pin because she’d leant him her bank card to get drinks one night (her pin is 4421 if anyone was wondering - for her bank and her secret phone💀)

she has flirty messages with “loverboy” that mention scrubs so they know it must be someone in the hospital

it always makes me laugh how ethan is very clearly just as upset, if not more upset, than cal is at this development, and not in a supportive brother way! but cal just doesn’t notice at all😭

cal tries to say martin can’t come into resus but alicia’s like “come on cal, martin and my dad are close” and cal’s like “you’re telling me”😬😬 so of course they then have to come clean

alicia telling them the origin of her nickname ‘scoobie’🥺🥺

“i always loved you jackie, i never lied about that. but you knew my parents, you think my father would’ve accepted a gay son 40 years ago? my friends? so i did what everyone was telling me to do, i conformed. and then i met you and we had alicia, my beautiful little girl, and suddenly i’ve got everything in the world to lose”😥😥

aww he’d been with martin for over 9 years

gem’s had 2 weeks added on to her sentence

cal’s now having second thoughts about meeting up with alicia’s “mystery man” because “maybe sometimes things are better left alone” and ethan goes “we need to know, cal” WE???? then he corrects himself “i mean, you need to know”😭😭😭 ohh ethan you’re soo lucky cal’s distracted

LMAOO louise getting noel and max to model wedding dresses for duffy

“loverboy” turns out to be max and he’s SO confused. ethan’s like “you’re sleeping with alicia? behind his back?” well one of you certainly did! max is still so confused bc he didn’t know he’d been talking to alicia and ethan PUNCHES HIM AND CAL HAS TO HOLD HIM BACK😭😭

that’s soo out of left field for ethan and i remember people at the time theorising that this was a sign of his huntington’s starting as aggression irritability and mood swings are often some of the first symptoms and even now i still think that makes the most sense. with hindsight idk if that’s what the writers were actually going for because they never made it explicit or anything but it could be! the psychiatric symptoms often start years before motor symptoms (the prodromal stage) and ofc from cal’s death onwards it’s impossible to pick out what’s caused by hd from what’s caused by, well, literally everything else, but at this point this really stands out. he’s obviously hurt and angry, as is cal, but his reaction is so extreme and sudden, like his emotional response has been exaggerated

tbh the writers probably just thought it was funny to have ethan reacting in a way that’s obviously not just anger on cal’s behalf but cal still not notice anything suspicious. and it is funny!

alicia tells them she was just pranking max😭😭

“we’ve had fun together, cal, haven’t we? why’ve we stopped?” “i do trust you” “you hardly know me, not really. which is why it worked so well before, it was just” “fun” “everything eventually falls apart when it’s held together by a lie” :( she seems like she’s about to tell him about sleeping with ethan but then she changes her mind

poor alicia :(

aw louise bursts into noel’s interview to tell them how he saved a kids life and the machines can’t do that

aww jackie realises that howard loves and needs martin and goes and tells martin to go and be with him. funny how she didn’t need to try and rape him isn’t it🤔🤔

LMAO charlie and duffy are practising their first dance in the staff room and some others are watching them but then dylan comes in and puts his tea in the microwave without even acknowledging them and they’re all staring at him and he genuinely doesn’t even realise why😭😭😭😭 i love him sjskdkfkk

robyn goes to cal “hey that’s gonna be you and alicia next” yeahhh i don’t think so

they’re all getting ready for the stag do and duffy says to bring charlie back in one piece lmao well they will eventually

max tries to get dylan to come but he’s like “i don’t think there’s a thing in the world worse than stag nights” but then he says they can give him a lift to the kennels because he has to pick dervla up and max is like “you can do whatever you want, you’re driving” “you what?” “everyone else has had a drink” “oh my god this day just gets better and better doesn’t it” skskfkgkgk

alicia tells cal that her parents split up but it’s probably for the best and cal’s like “yeah it’s never easy though, no matter how old you are” hmm interesting… definitely sounds like he’s implying his parents split up which again doesn’t fit with the original backstory richard winsor talked about where ethan stayed at home and had a more family oriented upbringing than cal did does it?

lmao cal makes alicia think he’s proposing and the absolute FEAR in her eyes SJSKDKFK but it’s just lingerie and he’s like “see we can still have fun together”

cal’s like “we good?” and alicia says yeah… but not for long!

alicia goes “bet you give these to all your girlfriends” and cal goes “only the ones i’m in love with” oh poor cal

lmaoo ethan gives cal his stag do t-shirt and shows him his which says ‘barry 2017 world tour “ethan-ator”’ and cal’s like “oh you are not my brother” and ethan just laughs and goes “THE ETHAN-ATOR” DNDKSKJFF just how much has he had to drink already??? he’s also wearing it OVER his shirt???

the cuff link falls out of cal’s jacket as he goes to get changed and he says to charlie “can you believe i nearly blew it all for that?” and charlie’s like “but you didn’t!” but then ethan comes back over, notices it, and goes “hey where’d you get that? i’ve been looking for that everywhere!” and cal is SHOOK but ethan has no idea what he just revealed😭😭

yay the stag the dog and the sheep time!!!!!

[misssugarpinkshome]

Omg I saw the funniest thing last night when I went through my old fictions on an old website I frequented (which I should really update and go back to)

On one of my fics I posted in 2014 (so, you know, at age 17), I received a comment from this person that was clearly “criticism” but… well, I’ll get into their comments. They were fairly high and mighty about it. Mind you, this was a quick, not even 2k oneshot about… a character… going to bed. That’s it. It was just a little slice of life fic about a character overworking themselves and their assistant helping get them to sleep.

Their first message was about a single missed apostrophe and an extra space, and they said “Nice fic but not great.” I asked them about the grammar (because I thought it’d been right, but I struggled a lot with apostrophes) and they said explained how it worked and said, “Source: I teach English to ESL classes.”

[Stares in “I am now an English teacher and I still don’t get my grammar 100% correct 24/7”]

Anyways, I asked for clarification on why my fic wasn’t good, and they said, “it’s very poetic, but it feels forced.” Which. Bruh I’m 17 and it’s a pithy little oneshot. Get a life? But they responded that they would “come back and give it another shot one day.” I awkwardly thank them for their entirely unsolicited grammar and vibe check criticism and we move on our way.

… so cut to 8 weeks later, and I get another message from them. It’s correcting another apostrophe error, and then says “Ouch, touch start. Pass.”

Do you notice anything about this?????

Anyways. Being the pedantic 17 year old I was… My response was a my attempt to match their level of pretentiousness and spite.

Plain text:

Now, allow me to question you for but a moment, Sir. I seem to recall you commented on this fanfiction once before with a very similar comment - that is, you felt the need to correct my grammar. For one thing, I have to wonder why you didn't catch this grammar mistake the first time you read through this. Obviously, a teacher of ESL classes is an absolute expert in the English language; as such, I would assume that you would catch a simple mistake in what was quite literally the second sentence of the story on your first read through. I recognize that I missed it, but I do not proclaim myself the most grammatically correct aspiring young author in the world. Moving on from that fact, you have commented on grammar in this fan fiction before, and mentioned that you thought it was a "nice fic but not great." I have to wonder why, after 8 weeks, you decided you suddenly enjoyed this fanfiction you thought was "very poetic, but feels forced." You mentioned you would read through it again because I took criticism so well; after 8 weeks, I rather gave up on receiving any extra comments from you. Perhaps it simply took you this long to read a fairly short fanfiction. Perhaps you had grading of your ESL class to catch up on.

I understand that my fanfictions are not loved by all, and that my flaws in grammar and spelling might make you dislike my fanfictions. But seeing as the only way I can interpret "Ouch, touch start. Pass." is that you did not want to read my fanfiction (despite having read it once before), I can conclude that you, sir, are a tad bit of a fool. If you think this is a pass up fanfiction, then by all means, stop reading it. And, if it truly was so unmemorable that you forgot you read this, then you're in luck: your original comment was so unmemorable, I had to scroll all the way down to this comment box just to remember you had commented on this fanfiction already! Had you not angered me, you would not have another essay to read from another aspiring fan of the English language.

Have a lovely day (Website Emoji)

PS: I am not quite positive what a 'touch start' is. Perhaps you meant 'tough start'?

[End Plain Text]

AND YOU KNOW WHAT CAME OF THIS?

The fucker updated his comment with the typo to correct it, and that was it. No reply, no taking down his comment. Just leaving it there for the world to see that this man in giving my fic a "second chance" revealed he didn't even remember critiquing it 2 months prior, and didn't catch the Obvious Error in the second goddamn sentence.

Strangers online who critique writing are wild.

I think that one thing people fail to understand is that unsolicited literary criticism coming from an online stranger who is reading with no knowledge of what the authors intended goal is, is not going to be received the same as say: the authors beta reader or friends who know what the authors intended goal and has the sufficient knowledge and input to help the author reach that desired outcome.

"But I'm only trying to be helpful" How do I know you have the knowledge and literary skill for you to be able to actaully do that when we don't know each other and you are essentially a stranger to me? Are you applying this criticism based out of personal biased experience and desire to see the story or characterization be driven in another direction or tweaked, or do you know the author's intentions for the character? If the story is incomplete, are you basing your criticism of a character on the incomplete narration with only partial information available of them or are you building up a report until the story's completion? Did the author provide you with the information needed to make a fully informed criticism?

Have you discussed with the author what their plans are or are you assuming them based off the narration, especially if the narration is proven or implied to be unreliable or missing key points of the plot? Are you unbiased enough to help them reach their desired outcome for the characters and story regardless of your personal feelings towards the characters/antagonists and setting? Can you handle being told your specific input isn't wanted because you're a reader and/or have no written anything relating to their genre or topic? Do you understand and respect that the author's personal experiences might influence their writing and make it different than how you would have done it personally? Do you understand if an author only wants input from a specific demographic relating to their story?

If it's for fanfiction or other hobby media, are you holding a free hobby to a professional standard? Are you trying to give criticism because you feel like the author has produced 'subpar job performance' of their fic? Are you viewing their work as a personal intimate outlet or something that must conform with mass media? Are you applying rules and guidelines when the fic is shared for simple sharing sake? Is your criticism worded appropriately and focused on the parts where the author has requested input on rather than a general dismissal and or disapproval?

Have you put yourself in a place where you assumed you have the input needed for the story to evolve better, or have you asked what the author needs and what they're having trouble with? Can you handle having your criticism rejected if the author decides their story doesn't need the change and not take it as a personal offense against your character? Are you crossing that boundary because you think you are doing the author a favor? Are you trying to be helpful, or do you just want to be?

I think sometimes when people hear authors go 'please don't give me unsolicited writing advice or criticism' they automatically chalk it up to 'this author doesn't want ANY constructive feedback on their stuff at all' and not "i already have trusted individuals who will help me with my writing goals and- hey i don't know you like that, please stop acting so overly familiar with me'

[thebreakfastgenie]

1, 4, 14, 19, 28 for the writer asks!

Finally answering this 😅

the last sentence you wrote

His gesture jostles BJ’s half-raised coffee cup and it sloshes. 

4. a story idea you haven’t written yet

Oh I have so many. Putting aside the ones I've written tiny bits of, the one I think I care the most about but haven't actually started at all is the MASH AU where the original cast works in an ICU in New York at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. I have a lot of ideas for drawing parallels between the situations and reworking certain elements of MASH. I wasn't going to spoil it but I'm pretty sure I have before and who knows when I'll get to it so what the hell: The main plot points I have worked out so far: Henry Blake, who runs the unit, finally retires/transfers/takes leave/whatever. Everyone is happy for him, sees him off, and puts him in a cab. A few blocks away he starts feeling sick, gets out of the cab to avoid further exposing the driver, walks back to the hospital, and collapses as Radar checks him in. Radar then tells the rest of the unit what happened. Henry deteriorates quickly and as he's dying, Hawkeye knowingly violates PPE protocol to give him some human contact and comfort. This leads to Hawkeye getting quarantined and he forgets his phone charger. He doesn't get sick, but when he gets out of quarantine he finds out Trapper quit. He plugs in his phone and finds several missed calls but no voicemail, only a single text message that just says "😘" Radar tells Hawkeye there's a new doctor on the unit and the story ends with Hawkeye giving BJ a tour. I have a pretty clear vision for all of that, but for the pacing to work right I need to show the day-to-day of the unit for a while and get the audience attached to this version of Henry before he gets sick. I have a few ideas based on episode plots, but they're a lot looser right now. I think Henry getting sick is really the climax so I only have like the last one third of the story plotted out.

14. where do you get your inspiration?

Most of it just kinda... happens. With fic it's usually something in the source material, but with original fiction I get inspired by very specific observations from real life, and sometimes that happens with fics too. So one time I was carrying a bottle of wine into the house and it was super icy and I imagined what would happen if I slipped on the ice and broke the bottle and that's where Chianti came from. But usually it's either something that went by quickly in the show that I want to dig into more or something that makes me say "what if?" like "what if Margaret was pregnant and got an abortion?"

19. the most interesting topic you’ve researched for a fic

You know, it's funny, I'm a researcher when I'm writing something research-able, but a lot of the fic I write is very character-driven and short so there isn't a lot of in-depth research to do. I did get into the weeds on buildings at Bowdoin College in the 1930s to make sure I was making plausible references one time but I think the most interesting was the fairly quick "is yellow fever endemic in South Korea?" (No, but it doesn't matter for my purposes.) With The West Wing I don't need to do as much research because I already have a government degree and studied that era of politics a bit. The main thing holding me back from writing my COVID MASH fic is the research, though. I need a better understanding of exactly what an ICU in a major city was like in March-Summer 2020, even if I take creative liberties I want to do it from an informed position. I'm not one of those people who never wants to hear about COVID in fiction, so I'm not put off by the topic, I'm just not sure exactly how to find exactly what I need and haven't yet been motivated to figure it out.

28. your least favorite part of the writing process

Just... being stuck. That part where you have to just sit and marinate an idea until you're ready to write it. It's maddening! I actually like everything else... I mean writing is torment but if it wasn't it wouldn't be worth it. I like writing more than having written, even when it's torturous, because the satisfaction comes in doing it.

[thebeloathed]

Idk if anyone cares BUT I do so I will rant about this

Buying physical things. I love physical things, I loved going to the store as a kid and browsing the dvds.

Every grocery store run, me and my mom passed that One Aisle that had a bunch of movies on dvd and like every other time we went, I'd find a movie I had heard about and wanted to see or one that looked like I'd enjoy it and I'd ask if I could pretty please have it.

And when I got home, I could put it on and watch it and find a good place for it on the shelf. A nice neat row of colorful spines of dvd cases, next to books and physical copies of video games. It made me happy seeing them.

I have propably over 100 dvds. They are not going anywhere.

I got reminded of all this because I wanted to watch the httyd trilogy, but I couldn't find the first movie on any streaming platform available to me.

The MENU. It's incredible. It has a bunch of animation, the main characters run around the screen and the dragons bounce around the characters. Yeah the animation looks Old and Hiccup slides while standing up more than once but it is unique. Even going to the settings has a transition animation, and it's own animation in the settings menu itself.

So, after I finished it, I put on the second movie since I also have it on dvd.

It's dissapointing. It's so dissapointing. No animation in the menu at any point. It's just still images. Even the arrow that tells you what button you are on is just a regular red arrow. There's a few drawings of dragons around the option boxes but that's it. No cool transitions. No animations. Just the theme song in the background.

I will remember one of those menus years after, and it is not the second one. I don't have the third movie on dvd so I don't know how the menu on it looks but. Damn.

And the video games. Every couple of months, my dad would tell me to pick a game or two from the ones I had, and we'd go to the closest store that sold games to trade and get a discount. It was 45 minute drive away, and I was so excited every time. Not to mention my brother worked in that store for a bit.

One time, he comes for a visit and he, with dramatic flourish, pulls out a copy of Rayman Legends from behind his back. Me (and a few of my friends) had pretty much played everything Rayman Origins had. All the levels had been played, just a handful of electoon medallions (I had no idea what they were called but the case has a booklet that has the names of all of the enemies and instructions and what the controls are. It even has some lined pages so you can take notes) were missing. This was huge.

That store is not available anywhere in my country anymore. I have no idea where to even start finding physical games anymore.

This thing doesn't really have a point, I'm just upset and kind of angry and decided this was better than me sending an entire novel's worth of sentences as text messages to my friends