#second: once you’ve got an idea of a story write an outline

[we-re-always-alright]

I’m at the part in my fic writing where I now have to put in my placeholders as a checklist for the sections (parts) that I need to write to connect the parts that I wrote immediately because I could see how they should go down. is it the most weird way to write??? maybe so but it does get done.

[writingdotcoffee]

Writing Challenge: Fast Drafting

Fast drafting, or vomit drafting, is a pretty self-explanatory approach to writing. You try to get the first draft down as fast as you can. Contrary to what the name suggests, it's not all about speed (or, well, indigestion).

In this post, we'll go over the benefits of fast drafting and why you should try it at least once.

Why Fast Draft?

Although you write faster than usual when fast drafting, speed isn't the point. For most writers, speed isn't a concern at all. Who cares whether it took you three, six or nine months to finish your book?

The problem many writers face is getting bogged down and never finishing at all. You probably heard the stats before. Nine out of ten writers who start working on a book will never finish the first draft.

Often, the issue isn't time or energy. These aspiring authors are paralysed by self doubt, second-guessing everything.

I still remember my first attempt at writing a novel. I spent weeks writing and rewriting the first few paragraphs — about 700 words. And that's it. I never got beyond that.

It starts by going back to edit stuff — rephrasing a few sentences here and there. Any bigger issue you can't fix right away will gnaw on you. Suddenly, you've got this feeling simmering inside of you that the story won't work.

You go back to your outline and start moving things around. Maybe you killed the sidekick too early? Isn't the build-up too predictable? Ugh! The whole thing is a mess, and you don't want to be working on it anymore.

How Fast Drafting Works?

The goal is to keep your mind focused on making progress. You don't want to give it a chance to second-guess anything until you've finished the first draft.

It's surprisingly difficult to do if you haven't done it before.

Your first draft will be a mess. All first drafts are. But you will have to ignore that and keep ploughing ahead. Your inner perfectionist will be in agony.

To stay disciplined, many writers don't allow themselves to fix anything. Mistyped a word? It stays in. No exceptions.

Editing is a slippery slope. You fix a typo here and there. Next, you're fixing the odd structural issue, moving a few paragraphs around. Before you know it, you're outlining again, wondering whether you should rather kill the sidekick in chapter 24.

That said, a messy first draft can be a blessing. Instead of seeing your first draft as this seemingly polished thing, you see it for the mess that it is. No matter how much you edit during the first draft, it will never be perfect.

When you start editing, you'll fix the typos and obvious issues. That will help you get into the flow and be ready to tackle the big things next.

The Editing Lock

Writing Analytics (the app that I built) has a thing called the editing lock. When you enable it, you won't be able to delete anything from your draft.

Every time I use it, I'm surprised just how much I go back to edit stuff. It's so helpful.

It was a suggestion from one of the readers of the blog a while ago (massive thank you 🙏).

If you'd like to try it, the app is free for everyone for the first two weeks.

The Challenge

Spend an hour or more this week fast-drafting a story. Come up with an idea and stick to it until the end — no matter what. Put the editing lock on if you're struggling and crush all the self-doubt that comes up with a steamroller.

I set up a challenge where you can write along with me (and others):

https://app.writinganalytics.co/challenge/646c860be7b6ddfbda016a9c

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  fragilecapric0rn! @fragilecapric0rnn has written 22 fics in the Stranger Things fandom and 21 of them are in the Steddie tag!

@cheatghost recommends the following works by @fragilecapric0rnn:

It Might Be Worth It For Once

clown music at the disco

you can take the heart from your chest to use as a compass when you are lost

Catch Me (I'm Falling)

Anyway, It's About Old Friends

"Sen's body of work is like a truly love letter to the characters. No matter the universe, Steve and Eddie always feel authentic to themselves. Sen's love for classic rom-coms influences a lot of her writing and makes for really romantic, touching stories. It's an absolute delight to dive into a world crafted by this author!" -- @cheatghost

Below the cut, @fragilecapric0rnn answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

I think in May of 2022 I was bit by the same bug as everyone else. Before I started writing Steddie, I was on a 4-year fic writing hiatus, and it was like seeing those two interact on screen zapped my brain awake. The chemistry, the potential, the fact that one half of the ship got ripped away from us too soon. All of those components really did something to my brain and I decided I had to write them and I haven’t looked back since!

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I love a idiots to lovers! These two really have the potential to fit that trope so well!

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Second-chance at romance! If you’ve seen any of my fics, you know that I love and will take any chance to write 90s older steddie, haven’t spoken or seen each other in years, who re-meet and fall in love. It is so them, it is my favorite version of them. It’s the version of them that lives in my head!

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

There are so many good ones to choose from, but I think I have to go with Show Me the Place Where He Inserted the Blade by the incomparable, the magnificently talented and outstanding Cheatghost. Lou, who I am very proud to call a friend, is one of the most talented people I know and I feel very lucky to have had them brought into my life via the Steddie brainrot.

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

Is it lame if I say no? LOL. Honestly, I have written almost everything I have felt the need to explore with this pairing. A lot of my ideas moving forward are expansions/continuations of ideas that I already started or have posted before. 

What is your writing process like?

Right now it’s at its most unstructured because I am rawdogging life without my ADHD meds for the first time in 7 years, which has been a whirlwind but I am managing. However, it usually depends on the fic I’m writing! For a lot of my longfic, I have a physical notebook that has an outline and major plot points I want to hit at certain times in my stories. Other times, for the shorter fics/one-shots, I just write them all in one go. It starts with a (usually silly) idea, and then I get possessed by the writing demons, and suddenly, I haven’t moved from my chair in 2 hours and I have four thousand words on my screen. I contain multitudes!

Do you have any writing quirks?

I am a victim of the: One word. One phrase. Lin breaks for emphasis. And I will be doing it until someone who is being paid real money to publish one of my original works tells me to knock it off!

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Again, asking if it’s bad if I say neither? When I first started posting fic again, I was very much writing it all and then posting it over the course of a few days. But now, I tend to write sporadically and post even more sporadically. And I prefer the latter! Fanfiction, and fandom in general, is a collaborative experience in its heart and soul. One of my favorite things about longfic is posting a chapter and seeing what people take away from it, because 9/10 it’ll be different then what the writer thinks they’re going to take away! And the chance to change and rework and let yourself be influenced by other fans of the ship is taken away when you write it all at once and post it all at once.

Which fic are you most proud of?

Anyway, It’s About Old Friends. Even in its unfinished form, it is my magnum opus. My white whale. I have done some of my best writing in it (chapter 2 MY BELOVED) and the fact that its so close to the end is both exciting and terrifying. It is a fic I wrote and continue to write for me, and the fact that other people are reading and enjoying it is a win!

How did you get the idea for It Might Be Worth It For Once?

HA! So, I was chatting with my friend Emily (JudasofSuburbia) about a potential Pornstar!Steve AU offhandedly back in the fall. Then, I got paired with them for a little fic exchange between friends, and it felt natural to take that one off little conversation and turn it into a fic for her. It was one of those fics that started out as a silly idea and then suddenly it’s been six hours and I wrote the whole thing in one go! After some polishing and editing, it became a Pornstar!AU with not as much smut as I expected. It was so fun to write, made even more fun as it was for a dear friend.

When writing Anyway, It's About Old Friends, what was something you didn’t expect?

I didn’t expect it to change and mold and morph in the way that it did. There is a version of this fic where they do hook-up earlier, there’s a version where they re-meet at gay club and not a wedding, there’s a version where Steve marries a Evie and Eddie is Raul. But, this version feels the most right. It’s a story about heartbreak, about finding love (in all it forms) in unexpected places, and it’s about found family most of all. All of that was stumbled on accidentally! My only intention was to write a Steddie-fied When Harry Met Sally fic, and accidentally flashed my heart and soul. Whoops!

What inspired clown music at the disco?

I used to be an opener at a coffee shop and there is something so disorienting and mind altering about having disco music blasting on the speakers at 4am. But, it was in one of those moments, where I was so tired I was nauseous, that the fic idea came to me! I had already been thinking of writing as my first fic, Steve and Eddie accidentally have a Devil’s Sacrament moment at the gay bar, but the line “But it’s Disco Night”, came to me at the ungodly hour of 4 in the morning. What a time!

What was your favorite part to write from you can take the heart from your chest to use as a compass when you are lost?

The Never Have I Ever Scene! It was the first time I wrote the entire party in one scene and it’s chaotic and a little messy but it was one of my favorite parts of the fic. It also made me realize how much I love writing ensemble scenes! Just everyone trying to talk over each other, chaos in its best form.

How do/did you feel writing Catch Me (I'm Falling)?

I wrote this fic in the span of like almost 3 weeks? I was sick and burnt out for most of the time I was writing it, but it was almost a compulsion. I had the idea and I just HAD to write it. No outline, just vibes and Steve Harrington in a cheerleading uniform! I took it down for a while because I was turning it into something else, but then had a change of heart and put it back up. And part of me is glad that I took it down for a moment because people love to be weird about the feminizing Steve’s character, and even though I was writing him as a cheerleader, I tried really hard to keep him earnestly himself, and in character.

What was the most difficult part of writing Anyway, It's About Old Friends?

Writing about San Francisco while being the most homesick I have ever been in my life. Also writing Eddie in those first few chapters as an asshole but not unlikable. I didn’t want him to be “fine” (because no one is fine in this universe, especially not in the beginning) but I also didn’t want him to do or say anything too bad. I think I got a handle on it pretty well.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

In Faces Freedom With A Little Fear, the first scene in the hospital with Steve’s sister. She storms in, threatens federal agents, all for her brother. JJ Harrington you will always be famous!

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

Just my current WIPs! Anyway It’s About Old Friends; the When Harry Met Sally AU of my dreams. Hand on My Stupid Heart; the modern AU, where the UD exists but everyone has iPhones and Steve deals with his bisexuality!

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

Shout out to my boys! Kkpwnall, judasofsuburbia, figthefruitfaeth, gideoncharov, cheatghost, fastcardotmp3, snowangeldotmp3 you guys rule and they’re all so talented!!!! Thank you to whoever nominated me! I feel the love and give it back to you tenfold!!!!!!

Thank you to our author, @fragilecapric0rnn, and our nominator, @cheatghost! See more of fragilecapric0rn's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[bxriles]

Thank you for tagging me @viktoriaashleyyx 🥰🥰🥰

Describe your writing process from idea to posting/publishing?

I typically get an idea and then I sit on it for a little while. Could be anywhere from weeks to months. I'll write little drabbles for myself that will never see the light of day so I can get used to writing from certain perspectives. When it comes to posting fics, I typically like to have the fic completely outlined from start to finish and also have the first full draft of the fic being 60-75% complete. Once I decide to actually post it, I'll do a reread of each chapter, move things around, and then proof it. Then I wait a few more days and read and proof the chapter that I'm about to post one more time. And then I'll save it as a draft on ao3, read it from my phone (I feel like it helps me catch typos if I read it on a different medium from where I wrote it), make whatever edits/revisions I need to make, and then finally post it!

I know. That's a lot. It's a labor of love!

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I straddle the line between the two. I know I said above that I have a full outline before I post, but as I write, I almost always end up abandoning it. I never completely abandon it though. My outlines almost always have the big beats that I want to reach, but the little spots in between those big beats often change a TON. By the time I'm 40% through a story, I've likely deviated from my outline almost entirely, save for those big beats I mentioned.

What do you listen to when you are writing?

Depends on what I'm writing. But I'm a big fan of those dark academia playlists on youtube. I just like the moody classical music tbh.

What’s your drink of choice(while writing)?

Also depends! I always have my emotional support hydroflask from 2016 full of water with me and then I likely also have an iced coffee or bubbly water as well.

Promote yourself! What’s your favorite thing you’ve written?

I really adore my Rosinante fic Dust Specks. It's a modern AU revolving around Corazon and Doflamingo from One Piece and it has such a special place in my heart. It's definitely not perfect and there a lot of things that I would go back and change, but I just really love that one 🥹

Share a fic of yours that you think is underrated/deserves more love.

I will again answer with Dust Specks. I feel like it gets overlooked because it doesn't focus on any ships whatsoever (I guess you could say there's Doffy/Vergo if you squint).

Do you have any advice for new writers?

Enjoy the process. The finished product is so wonderful to have and it's such a great accomplishment to finally mark a fic as Complete, but the finished product doesn't matter if you didn't enjoy writing it. As someone who's DREAM it is to be a published author, I do a disgusting amount of writing that will never see the light of day. I don't write because I want the feedback (though it's so wonderful to receive feedback at all), I write because I literally don't think I would still be alive if I didn't. As someone who is 29 who has been writing stories since she was literally 4 years old, write for the process and enjoy every second of it. The finished product is just the cherry on top 🩷

What is a writing style/technique that others do really well that you'd like to get better at?

SETTINGS. SETTINGS. SETTINGS. SETTINGSSSSSSSSSS.

I suffer from White Room Syndrome sO BAD. Which is ironic because high fantasy probably makes up about 90% of what I read. I have no idea what it is for me and writers who execute a perfect setting are absolutely unreal to me. Ask me to write a horrible, cutting argument? Happy to oblige! Ask me to write some wild ass internal monologue? FUN! But ask me to describe what someone's room looks like? My brain blue screens. I've been working on this issue for at least decade now and I still struggle with it lmaoo.

Is there a character you were surprised you enjoyed writing as much as you did?

Utahime from JJK! Her perspective really got cut back in my Gojo fic (My Boy Builds Coffins because shameless self promo, right?) but I actually wrote from her POV a lot in my deleted scenes. She gets sidelined a lot in the manga (all the women in JJK do if we're being real with ourselves) but I actually really loved writing her. She deserves more love. I'm also having a lot of fun writing Az in my acotar fic Cave Canem. I'm pretty harsh on the IC, but Az has just been really fun to explore.

I am tagging: @olenvasynyt, @separatist-apologist and @serpentandlily! You all are so talented, I couldn't not tag you! (Absolutely ZERO pressure, of course!)

And anyone else who wants to do this! 🥰

[awakefor48hours]

hi luce!! :D congratulations on triumphing over the customer service prompt tree

🚀 Do you like to outline your fic first or create as you go?

🎨 If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

💕 What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

❤️ What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

Ask Game

Thanks, Alex, it was tough but it’s over.

🚀 Do you like to outline your fic first or create as you go?

When it comes to my more “serious” fanfictions, I like to outline beforehand (this is why they take so long to make) but when it comes to the unserious ones or crack fics I like to write as I go.

🎨 If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

Honestly, just the idea of anyone making fanart of a scene from any of my fanfictions is unbelievable to me. But if I had to say any of them then probably my Azulanette fanfiction (Stolen Hearts) or my Huntlow fic (Hidden In the Sand).

💕 What is your favorite fic that you’ve written?

My favorite fanfiction is definitely my Adrichat fic. It was a lot of fun to write but some backstory is definitely in order to fully understand why I love it so much.

For a while, I had another tumblr account but lost access to it in early 2020, and with 2020 being 2020, I just never thought to get another account until 2021 (which is now this account). But in April 2020, Adrichat (the selfcest ship between Adrien and Cat Noir) became a popular ship and I didn’t even know about it until the next day. I was really sad that I missed it but once again, it was 2020 and I had other things to worry about.

But when I made this account in 2021, I decided to make a few Adrichat memes that eventually turned into a one shot that then turned into the five chapter fic it is today. I suffered from a lot of second hand embarrassment but often found myself laughing while writing it.

❤️ What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

Yet again referencing my Adrichat fic but it’s the last line.

For context, in this chapter, Adrien had made an illusion of Cat Noir to have dinner with his father, who is Hawk Moth. But for reasons, illusions are only visible for five minutes so when time was running out, Adrien made up the excuse that there was a villain on the other side of town but Gabriel knowing there wasn’t one argued back with him. The story then ends with Adrien asking himself why Gabriel was so persistent about this and then the final line of the fic is this

I got the idea for this line when I driving home from work. I was trying to figure out how I was going to end the fic and this was the idea I got. When I had this idea, I couldn’t stop laughing so I knew I had to add it and it seems like everyone who read it loved it too.

[amethystwrytes]

heyaaaa.. do you think you could write a series or something about secret vampire Minho whose bestfriends with obsessed fantasy horror especially the genre with vampires but she doesn’t know Minho is a vampire, even tho he’s “weirdly faster” or stronger if that makes sense? :) <3

oo idea.. maybe slow burn enemies to lovers and sort of setting the plot maybe for the beginning, at school, during english, she spoke about vampire diaries or something and minho from then on continuously teases her about her “weird” obsession with vampires and how they’re “not real” even tho he’s literally walking sex and a vampire😂😂

p.s i LOVE LOVE ur writing it’s amazing!!!!

Well first of all thank you, I’m really glad you like my writing 🥹🩷 that’s so nice!!

Second thing is I gotta be fully honest and say that supernatural AUs are not really my thing. Like don’t get me wrong, I like vampire fics and such but I’m just not confident in my ability to write one lol I once wrote a short vamp story in one of my college classes (to be fair this was like peak Twilight popularity and I think everyone was just over vampires) and I got absolutely roasted in our workshop session 😂 I will keep this in an ideas doc I have but idk anon, I think I’d hella disappoint lol

Off topic (sorta but not really) but @lixiepeach has a phenomenal Jeongin/Hyunjin centric vamp fic called Love Bites, I honestly read it before I was a big Stay and had no real idea who these guys were and I was still obsessed with it. It’s not quite the basis of what you’ve outlined here but if you like vampire fics I highly reccomend ❤️🧛

[tnc-n3cl]

For the get to know your fanfic writer game: 7.How do you choose which POV to write from? 71. When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.? 74. You’ve posted a fic anonymously. How would someone be able to guess that you’d written it?

Thanks for the ask @unmaskedcardinal

7.How do you choose which POV to write from?

Whatever serves the story needs I guess. One fun, for me at least, thing I did in "The Amnesiac Hero's Quest" was to suddenly give Sidon a POV segment for most of the second to last chapter of what had been solely Link's story.

I had wanted to do at least him hearing Mipha's voice telling him to help Link (perhaps him just telling Link that when he returned), but then when writing the story I looked up some gameplay vids to path out what happens. At the end of the segment where you shoot the shock arrows at Vah Ruta, Link hops on Vah Ruta as it rises out of the water and the camera follows Sidon as he wishes Link luck before giving you control again. And that made the perfect spot to switch to Sidon's POV in my fic.

71. When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

Oh man. Hehe, with all the interconnected stories going on in The Realm Walker I have quite a few files for that. I've got multiple timeline files, a general purpose one, a backstory/worldbuildy one, and one with tables mapping out the events in The Ballad of Kass and Shifting Tides of Fate so that scenes link up, which I'll probably have to add more to once I write out Ildia's side of the story (since her story will run through pretty much everything), and events of The Long Nightmare that intersect with TBoK and SToF. (And I've still got to time out that sidestory for Virli...)

I've got a couple different files keeping track of characters, one's just a table with the 40+ Rito names I've already used. I've got a bulleted list of all the ultraviolet beak markings I've assigned everyone (I am running out of line patterns, lol!)

Then I've got the "Production Notes" file where I put most of my random plot ideas, notes for future chapters, keeping track of how many chapters of each fic has been posted (along with chapter names and if I've started working on them or not), times it takes to get from point A to Point B in-game and fun little encounters/resources to be found along the way, backstory/worldbuilding notes, and rough ideas on a posting schedule (more which story to work on/get something posted on as opposed to an actual date to post said chapter). I also put notes in each story about what will happen in that chapter (and sometimes things that I'll need to reference in the other stores), or things I need to change when I edit.

74. You’ve posted a fic anonymously. How would someone be able to guess that you’d written it?

Detailed descriptions of character gestures during dialog bits. Bird people, pretty much everything I've written has/had bird people in it (or bird/dinosaur hybrid-esque in my Stargate fic...). (Especially raptor-esque bird people...) Bird people doing bird-like things: weird head tilts, turning their heads almost all the way around, when speaking human language sounding kinda like a parrot or such imitating human speech. Bird people with some kinda ultraviolet markings. Detailed action scenes. I've been told that I'm fond of technobabble. Quirky or dark humor or at least attempts at it.

Get to know your fanfic writer.

[jupitersson]

9, 17, 22, and 28 for those weird writer asks?

hey anon!

this got long, going under a read more

9. Do you believe in ghosts? This isn’t about writing I just wanna know

so ghosts and god are kinda in the same realm for me. i've never had any paranormal experiences or anything, so i've never had like. hardcore proof that ghosts exist besides people i know sharing anecdotes. and i'm kinda an evidence-based believer of things so ghosts are like "it'd be cool if they existed, but jury's still out" for me

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

oh god so many WIPs to choose from. i'll start general and say if i Want something to happen in my fic, there's a 95% chance i'll find a way to make it fit, or i'll adapt it just enough to be recognizable as my initial idea, but able to fit into the story.

for a specific wip: i'll choose halcyon! people have probably heard me mentioning this fic a bit here and there, but it's basically my vexleth fake dating/destination wedding au. there's lots of random minutiae in that fic like the intricacies of academia (before i got into social work i wanted to be a professor), and then now that i'm In social work i would love to show some of what vax does (as, in the fic, he works at a children's shelter? i believe i have in my notes, i've adapted it a few times) as a reflection of what i do on the daily (i'm typing this from work rn lmfao). the lore of the whole fic is that vex was dating saundor but broke up with him after he started escalating in some abusive behaviors. saundor was supposed to be vex's date to vax and gilmore's destination wedding to the bay of gifts, and everything was booked already as the wedding is like Soon, so now they just have an empty spot on this trip. gilmore and vax asked vex to cover saundor's portion since he was no longer going, but vex, because she's cheap, ends up saying she needs a girlfriend.

enter, keyleth <3. the green assistant professor that vex has been semi-mentoring over the course of keyleth's first year in academia.

i won't say more bc spoilers and audrie might kill me, but that fic will... it'll happen eventually. i have plans.

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?

i used to be a pantser, if you'd believe, but in my second year of college i got really into outlining my papers in advance of writing them and it kinda transferred over into my creative writing!

depending on the fic i have a few different modes that are ever-evolving. for example, gravity's outline looked like this:

so in F you can see the actions and description happening in the scene, followed by 1-4 which is the dialogue, and then a) is the inner monologue.

for rites, though, i kind of just went into a fugue state and bullet pointed almost 70 scenes in order of how i wanted them to happen and then split these scenes into the 13 chapters we know and love. see this part of my messy outline of the scene bullets:

and then when i put them in the chapter outline, i would highlight completely written scenes in green, and then mark how many words they were for comparison:

so those are just two examples!

28. Who is the most delightful character you’ve ever written? Why?

delightful? in my fics i really enjoy writing the twins. vax has always been one of my fav characters, and once i got more into vexleth i found that vex is super fun to write as well! i love their emotional nuance, each of them, how vax has his goofiness and vex has her flirtiness and how both of these things are easily traceable back through their backstories.

idk. i just love the twins <3

[duckprintspress]

How the Disney Method Can Help Your Writing Process

A guest blog post by Mitchan!

Do you have problems beginning that new story percolating in your head? Are you feeling afflicted with writer’s block? Are you stuck on a scene with no idea how to move forward? Do you feel that your current ideas are stale and trite? Perhaps the Disney method can help you!

If you work in business or design, you might have heard of it before. The Walt Disney method is a creative strategy designed to find and develop unconventional ideas. While inspired by the way Walt Disney worked, the method itself was proposed by Robert Dilts in 1994.

In the Walt Disney method, the creator divides thmself into three separate roles: the Dreamer, the Realist, and the Critic. These three roles must work separately in three stages: 

First, the Dreamer brainstorms ideas in a focused way. The more the better. No limits or restraint. There are no “bad”, “stupid”, or “impossible” ideas; you can embrace the crazy and the stupid as much as you want. It’s still a focused brainstorm: you’re dreaming for an objective, say, a new amusement park attraction, ways to get your characters out of a pinch, the funniest and/or most character-focused problems you can add to your story... anything you need ideas for. 

Instead of sitting down and writing or typing your ideas, walk around and record yourself saying your ideas out loud. Speak without pause for 5 or 10 minutes. Look above the horizon to stimulate your creative brain. Some business websites recommend setting up different rooms for each stage of the process, so why not try a change of space? Go outside or to a room different from the one you usually work in. 

Once you’ve got loads of ideas, it’s the Realist’s turn. The job of the Realist is to look at the Dreamer’s ideas and think: How do we make them possible? The Realist doesn’t say “No”. It’s not the Realist’s job to say whether an idea is bad or won’t work. In this role, you must assume anything is possible and limit yourself to asking: How can I execute this? For our amusement park example, the Realist would select and bring in specialists who could make plans to turn a crazy idea into a real ride. 

Listen to the recording you made in the previous step. Without discarding any ideas, start with the most interesting or promising ones, and develop them. Write a rough draft or the details of what would happen in a scene. Do the necessary research. Reorganize scenes as needed. Try working on a whiteboard with markers and post-its: a place where you can stand up and look at your ideas in front of you. 

Once you have a solid proposal, or in a writer’s case, a complete first draft, the Critic comes in. The Critic’s job is to detect and correct flaws, mistakes, and risks (something crucial if you’re making an amusement park ride!). This is the moment to evaluate what works and what doesn’t work, what stays and what goes. 

Sit down with the printed-out draft on the desk, where you can look down at it, and use a red pen to mark places that need re-working or any contradictions in the narrative. Tighten the phrasing and clear up confusing details. Clean up the draft.

The stages then repeat as needed: for more ideas, go back to the Dreamer, then develop them, then edit again. 

The changes in position help to change your own perspective on the work, to dream or execute or evaluate more objectively. 

You probably already do something similar in your writing process: you have an idea, make an outline, write a first draft, then a second, a third and fourth and so on. You have alpha and beta readers who help brainstorm ideas, develop them, and correct the draft.  

Personally, the most helpful takeaway of this model is the neat separation of the roles. The Dreamer and the Critic cannot work in the same stage: criticism stifles creativity. When I’m outlining, brainstorming, or writing a rough draft, it helps me to keep this in mind. If I find myself getting judgmental about my story, I take a deep breath and tell the Critic to shut the fuck up. Whenever I’m blocked, I’ve found it often comes from me being too critical in a stage of the process when I need to be dreaming or just executing. 

Of course, the three roles are equally important in the creative process. Without the Dreamer we wouldn’t have new ideas; without the realist we would never do anything with them; without the Critic the work wouldn’t be as clean and clear as it can be. 

I have used this method before to write a stand-up comedy routine, which requires a lot of crazy ideas and well-developed set-ups and punchlines, but it can work for any creative needs. I have also applied the brainstorming method to develop the heist in my upcoming story in She Wears the Midnight Crown, as well as to think up character-based conflicts for previous fanfiction and original stories.

As with any other strategy or method, it’s up to you to try it, use what works for you and discard what doesn’t. I hope this can help you if you’re stuck, or at least inspires you to try something different! 

Have you ever used the Walt Disney method? How was your experience? Would you do anything differently? Are there any other methods that work better for you that you’d like to recommend? Let us know! 

[bleachbleachbleach]

10/30/22

My two goals this week were to 1) write fanfic for ~20min every morning regardless of the work situation, and 2) check Tumblr every night. Succeeded on the first count! And very much did not on the second, wherein I once again found myself speedrunning a week of Tumblr late on Friday night. I hate doing that, it’s less fun, I don’t get to see everything I want to see, etc. But any time I tried taking a peek before then it just felt very overstimulating because it’s this WHOLE OTHER THING to comprehend and rn I only have Work Brain, which cannot do that thing. Again, this is all very stupid because wow it’s Tumblr how hard can it be but here we are. I don’t think either of these goals are likely to hold in the coming week, because I will be traveling for work, but who knows.

As far as the writing goes, I did some broad-scale organizing, and the amorphous “Chapter 14+” now has a form. There’s two big thematic elements to this fic that need some major workshopping, but I’ll continue to see how the front of this plays out first.

I mostly worked on Chapter 11 Renji (who used to be Chapter 12 Renji but some things got reordered), as I promised myself, though I didn’t finish him. And, of course, I also worked on the Akon chapter, because who would I be if I weren’t in the Akon chapter.

I wrote a chunk of Kensei and Renji that I think could be good if I could get it to work, but I’m kind of ‘meh’ about it right now. I haven’t quite been able to get them to play off each other. At the sentential level it’s just kind of choppy, free-floating dialogue, and at the narrative level I want this conversation to prime Renji to react in particular ways in the scene that follows, and he’s not there yet, and rn I can only think of dumb ways to get him there lol.

But I did write a fairly gratuitous SC conversation, because all the outline said was “thoughtcrimes” and if left to my own devices I’m probably just going to talk about the SC. This isn’t even the Akon chapter, but I guess here he is again:

“Hirako-taichou, for example,” Akon continues, and Hisagi lets his hakama breathe again.

Renji, distracted, misses the example, but not Muguruma’s throaty guffaw.

Renji’s pretty sure he’s never seen the man so much as smile, and he’s seen Captain Kuchiki at least smile. But Muguruma is laughing now, and Hisagi’s knuckles have eased back into their skin, and even Outoribashi chuckles behind his hand, mellifluous and baritone.

Outoribashi says, “Glass houses, but please trust, all of you: You’ve heard no exaggerations. I speak from the experience of a hundred years of exile with the man. Shinji is a being. Oh, Shinji. Shinji—”

(“Glass houses?” Hisagi inquires. Outoribashi translates the idiom. Hisagi nods, looking not entirely satisfied.)

Akon continues, “Since this is a new development for me, I assume you all used to have other outlets. It makes me wonder what Unohana-taichou used to have to listen to all day.”

“I knew it was a metaphor,” says Muguruma triumphantly.

“What was?” Outoribashi asks. “Every Nook and Cranny,” Hisagi explains. “Unohana-taichou’s puzzle-maze column. The one with all the riddles. The kids loved it. And so did the adults.”

“Oh! How interesting,” Rukia exclaims demurely, though Renji has no idea who this act is for. Unohana’s column is Rukia’s third-favorite, after Soi Fon’s and, of course, Captain Kuchiki’s. She’s grudgingly admitted that Renji’s is “perhaps fifth.” Rukia is well aware of the prowess of Unohana’s metaphor.

“I do not read the Seireitei Communications,” Outoribashi announces grandiosely.

“Are you sure?” Hisagi needles, newly unencumbered. “Next issue’s gonna feature a showstopper. Sequel to the Substitute Shinigami Chronicles, Soul Society VS the Big Wave. Right, Kuchiki?”

Rukia laughs, still demure. “We’ll see if it’s a story worth telling.”

[wordsnstuff]

Guide to Drafting

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Planning v. Discovery

The first thing you must decide when you embark on the journey of drafting a story is how you’re going to get it done. Typically, there are two groups you can fit into, though most writers are somewhere in between. There are writers who plan meticulously before they begin writing to create a very clean first draft, or there are discovery writers (otherwise known as “pantsers”) who find more success in choosing a premise and then using a zero draft to explore the idea before gluing down any details. You are most likely someone who falls between those two methods. Some initial planning to feel familiar with your idea before you do some of the planning through the writing itself. Having some semblance of a method will help you narrow down your own process, which is immensely important if you want to get any substantial project near completion.

Consistency

Drafting is a difficult process because it’s either the revisitation of ideas you’ve already had, or the generations of ideas in quick succession. If you want to have a draft in a reasonable amount of time, you must develop a consistency in your writing. I won’t say that it must be a strict routine because time management can be a luxury, but you must make the consistent effort to write, and keep it in the forefront of your mind. Even if you don’t write every day, it should be something you try to make time for every day.

Know What You’re Trying to Accomplish

To get a draft done, you need to set expectations for yourself and they must be realistic. That doesn’t mean they have to be easy, or an amount of work you’ve been able to accomplish in the past. Considering how much time you dedicate to writing and your skillset, it should be a goal within reality. In addition, you must accept that you cannot create a masterpiece in one draft. For each version of your story that you write, you must have a focused goal, such as maintaining consistent characterization, making the plot concise and engaging, or making the prose more fluid and efficient. If you have a specific and attainable goal that you can accomplish in a reasonable amount of time with a fair amount of precision, each draft will be better than the last.  

Designate Work to Phases

As mentioned in the last section, it maximizes your time and effort to have specific and attainable goals for each draft. This doesn’t mean that you rewrite the draft each time (though that is very common amongst writers), but that you designate tasks to draft versions. I find it very helpful in clearing my mind and soothing my perfectionist anxiety to make a “schedule”, outlining what I’ll accomplish in each version following the zero draft. For example, my draft schedules usually end up something like this:

Zero Draft: Main plot line, basic characterization, key world building

First Draft: Finalize Timeline, research for world building, structure

Second Draft: (Rewrite) Plot Development Fine Tuning

Subplot development

Foreshadowing

Build up to climaxes

Tone & Pace

Third Draft: (Intermittent Rewrites) Character Development Fine Tuning

Backstory

Subtextual Development

Making sure motivations are clear

Relationships between characters

Reinforcing character arcs

Checking dialogue

Fourth Draft: (Give to Beta Readers) World Building & Prose

Descriptions & Flow

Finalize settings

Checking grammar & punctuation

Reader Immersion

Fifth Draft: Incorporate Beta Reader Feedback

Write for Yourself First

In what some call the “zero-draft”, there are no rules. This draft is purely for your eyes. It’s you telling yourself the story for the first time. So, you don’t have to write in chronological order, or know the right word you’re looking for, or take a break every time you run into a problem. The purpose of the zero draft is to get a rough idea of as much of the story as you can and avoid getting snagged on minor details. This part is important. A lot of writers like to outline meticulously before they begin drafting and if that works for you, that’s great, but the majority of writers who attempt that get stuck in the planning phase, or burnt out on their story before a word of it exists. The easiest way to avoid those two situations is to do a zero draft, which can be as long or short as you want if it provides a skeleton for you to add meat to later.

Common Struggles

~ How do you estimate the number of words/chapters?... That depends on the genre, mostly. However, that’s usually something you decide in the second draft and beyond, and it can vary because of factors you haven’t got locked down until the plot and character arcs are firm or final. This is also something you’ll probably do a lot of tinkering with, and receive feedback on, especially from beta-readers, who can advise you on where natural breaks could occur from their perspective.

~ Why, after planning everything out, do I always struggle to write the draft?... 99% of the time, it’s because you’ve either burned yourself out, or accumulated too much pressure. When you put that much effort and time into a story, you can either slip into a headspace where you feel little excitement about it because you’ve already done all of the problem solving and had all of the revelations. It’s usually beneficial at this stage to take a step back (even if you’re not burnt out) and give your story some space, so that once you come back to it, you’re enthusiastic enough to fully realize your vision. If instead you’re struggling to write because you feel a lot of pressure to do justice for a story you’ve put so much love into already, take a step back, remember that the first draft is just for you, and work on letting go of the idea that the zero draft is meant to serve any purpose beside simply existing. 

~ How do I come up with the necessary scenes to move the story forward between major plot points?... Most writing problems can be solved by asking yourself the right questions. When you’re trying to figure out what your reader needs to see next in order to effectively set up the next major event, ask yourself “What would happen between event A and event B that would add context or make event B more impactful?”. Treat it like a real situation and try to map out all of the tiny, notable moments that would take place between the major plot points, and then assess those moments on the basis of how impactful they would be to the coming scenes, and whether they can add context, set the tone, or aide in the rising action.

~ How do I balance sticking to the draft and following my own creative instinct in the moment?... This is a judgement call. Sometimes you’ll realize that maybe you should have just stuck to the outline, but remember that you can always go back, rewrite, test things out, etc. Always save every version of every scene, just in case, and go wild. Don’t be afraid to take detours just to explore. The writing process is anything but linear. 

~ How do I maintain momentum in my writing progress when I constantly have distractions or other responsibilities that take priority?... Work at it. There’s no magic trick or piece of advice I could say that gets rid of your personal responsibilities. Write when you can, don’t make excuses on top of the reasons you have no control over, and remember that you create your own deadlines and expectations. Be kind to yourself, do what you can, and don’t spend potential writing time punishing yourself because there isn’t as much as you’d like. 

~ How should I designate space (words/pages) to specific scenes/description/conversations, etc?... Trust your instinct and remember you can always cut/add later. In the earlier drafts, I’d advise you try to create as much material as possible to work with, and in the later drafts, be ruthless when determining what is necessary and adds value, and what doesn’t.

~ How do I finish a draft if I regularly lose motivation or interest in my projects?... Accept the fact that motivation is fickle, and that no writer in history has ever maintained “inspiration” for any project from the beginning to the end. There are going to be days where you’re like “ugh this is not what I want to do right now”, probably more than there are days where you’re stoked to work on your project, but that’s reality. If your goal is to finish a draft, you must recognize that writing is work, and nobody wants to work all the time. Try to supplement the lack of motivation by setting a positive and enjoyable routine so that, even when you’re not particularly motivated, you still know that your writing time will be peaceful and comfortable. 

–

Masterlist | WIP Blog

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[angelfishofthelord]

"I know what you did"

Whumptober Day 4: pushed. (also on a03)

From a dark au idea I've had for awhile where Cas goes off to be a vigilante post 15x03. And after seeing @dadstiel liveblogging about the end of s14 I wanted to write a scene about what happened in 14x19.

There’s been half a dozen similar stories in the past few months: a child trafficking ring in a state up north was busted and all the men holding the children were discovered either dead or comatose; an abusive father of two young girls was dropped off at the steps of a police station, reduced to a drooling crippled mess; an anonymous call about a factory with underage workers, and when the authorities arrived they found the teenagers huddled in the corner and the burnt, sightless body of the boss under the desk.

“He saved us,” the teenagers were quoted as saying in the article. Similar words used in the most recent news where a local gang that was using eighth graders to sell their drugs was uncovered in the same mysterious pattern. “It was this man...he just came in like the wind,” said Timothy Grant, one of the 14 year olds who was a runaway that had been promised protection by the gang but was then forbidden to contact his parents. “Everyone who ever hurt us was….gone. And he said we could go home now.”

Sam closes the laptop with a sigh. The descriptions in the reports vary, but there are always a few that are consistent: a man with inhuman speed, and the glowing light that either destroys the evildoer or heals the injured. It could be a rogue angel, or one of Chuck’s little comebacks like Lilith.

He ignores the other option, the faint suspicion niggling in the back of his mind.

No. It can't be.

Whoever it is, he’s finally close to finding them. They’ve been smart; security footage has shown that they change cars frequently. The most recent one was a blue pickup truck left under an overpass in the next town. Sam has been staying in the area, checking headlines and talking with local police to see if they’ve seen anyone with a penchant for dispensing judgement on those who hurt the innocents. Like some kind of vigilante, Sam thinks as he pulls up a few feet away from the dark outline of the barn. He got a call from the lady at the diner across from the motel he’s been staying at, saying her friend saw something outside the abandoned Miller farm. It’s probably nothing, but he's here to check, just to be sure.

The first floor of the barn is empty but Sam knows that someone’s definitely here. There’s a flicker of light in the loft above and the muffled sound of grunting. Sam puts the flashlight in his mouth and ascends the ladder carefully. He keeps one hand free and on the hilt of the angel blade in his jacket. As he gets closer to the top he sees a pair of black shoes and the bare, bloodied feet of another man tied to a chair. The man with shoes has his back to him; he looms over the seated man, one hand pinning his shoulder against the spine of the chair.

Sam reaches the last rung of the ladder in time to clearly see the standing man shove his hand into the other’s chest. Light swirls around the invasion, blazing and white-hot, before he withdraws his hand. The man in the chair slumps back, eyes blank and jaw slack.

He knows who it is even before he turns around. He always knew, in a way. “Cas?”

Cas glances back at him with a twinge of surprise in his eyes before he turns back around. “Sam.”

Sam steps closer to the man in the chair. His fingers are still close to the angel blade in his jacket. “Is-Is he dead?”

“No.” Cas keeps his back to him, folding up a map on the wooden table at his side. He sounds strange. Frigid. “That would be a mercy he doesn’t deserve.”

“W-What are you doing?”

“Recharging.”

“No, I mean--that’s not--” Sam rubs a hand over his face. “You’ve been doing all of this? All those people--you killed--why, Cas, why are you doing this?” He knew Cas must be devastated after Jack’s death, after Chuck’s betrayal, and some kind of subsequent fallout with Dean, but the reality of what he's been doing still feels like being hit by a tank.

“I’m saving people. Children,” he adds.

So it is about Jack. “Cas,” Sam moves closer, trying to sound placating. He puts a hand on Cas’ shoulder. “I know losing Jack wasn’t easy. I miss him too but this isn't--”

Cas whirls around, eyes burning blue, and Sam finds himself being hurled across the room, crashing into the wooden boards of the wall before landing hard on the ground. He gasps, trying to find his breath, and looks up to see Cas hovering above him, palm outstretched, face wreathed in fury. There’s a slight pressure on Sam’s shoulders; he’s not being pinned to the wall, but it’s enough to tells him that he absolutely will be if he tries to move.

“C-Cas?” Sam breathes. Maybe he's possessed, maybe Chuck is controlling him. He has to get through to him before it's too late. "It's just me."

“Don’t talk about Jack that way,” Cas says, voice low and lethal. “I know what you did. He told me everything.”

“What are you talking about?”

The shadows darken around Cas’ face. “You prayed to him. He was locked in that box because he answered your prayer.”

Oh. This isn't someone else manipulating Cas, this is really him. Sam feels the tug of shame sloshing in his gut but he brushes it aside and instead makes a faint attempt to rise, only to feel the firm nudge of being pushed back. “Look, I know it wasn’t the best thing to do, Cas, but there was no other way, Jack was dangerous, and he--”

“Did you even try to find another way?” Cas snaps. “You fought fiercely to keep Dean from his fate in that box. Yet you were ready to condemn Jack to an eternity of that same fate without a second thought.”

Sam swallows hard. He tries to remember all the mental gymnastics he did to convince himself why Jack had to go in there, but Cas is still talking. “Do you know why other angels don’t usually answer prayers? Because it makes us vulnerable. It’s not considered a wise strategic move because it calls an angel, by name, to a specific place. There’s no time to scope out the destination for danger or to evaluate the potential risks.” He moves in closer, towering above him. “Or if it’s going to be an ambush.”

“I’m sorry, Cas.” He really is. “We didn’t handle it right, and I wish to Go-” he catches himself. “I wish Jack was still here so he could know how sorry I am. But Cas…what you’re doing isn’t right either. You must know that.”

The eerie glow of Cas’ eyes pierce through the night. “You know, when the Bunker’s alarms went off, it wasn’t just because Jack was trying to break out of the box. I could hear him. He was screaming. The same way he was screaming when….” the light in his eyes suddenly dims and Cas’ hand drops back to his side.

The pressure on Sam yields abruptly and he immediately leans forward, gulping for air. He knows what Cas didn’t say; the sight of Jack collapsing in that graveyard, crying out as searing light ruptured from him, still frequents Sam’s own nightmares. “I’m sorry,” he repeats, useless as the words are. “It wasn’t--”

“I loved him.” Cas isn’t looking at him now; he’s focused on some distant point above his head, blinking hard. “You have no idea how much Jack meant to me, how much I--” his voice catches and he turns away. In between the shafts of light Sam can see his jaw working, the bob of his throat and clench of his fist as Cas struggles to compose himself. A cold, sickly way of guilt washes over Sam and he feels almost nauseous. Every excuse and reasoning dries up on his tongue.

After a minute Cas glances back at him, his expression once more glacial. “You and Dean have each other. Don’t come looking for me again.”

[isthatbloodonhisshirt]

Hello again, it's the guy who wants to write you a gift, his first ever Sterek fic. I've decided once I post my 100th work on AO3 - I'm only 2 away - I'll attempt to write something decent. It won't compare to your work 😂, but I'll try to make it good. I should warn you though, I'm VERY GOOD at not finishing what I start. I'd say about three quarters of my works are WIPS. But I know you were excited about spawning more Sterek in the world, so I guess one chapter is better than nothing right? 😅 All I can do is try I guess... I just hope you like whatever I come up with. I currently have 6 outlined plots... I don't know which one to choose... No pressure to make the right choice... 😅 PS: one is actually finished, but it's based on that baseball gifset and whilst I love that gifset and wrote something inspired by it, the characters are too ooc and I want my first fic to feel more authentic, if you get what I mean? So yeah, that can be my second Sterek fic, assuming people want to read anything more of mine after the first fic. 😅

Hello Anon!! o/

You seriously don’t have to gift it to me, you can gift it to the fandom as a whole just by making it exist ❤❤ But you’re super sweet, thank you :3 

I AM SURE YOUR WRITING IS BEAUTIFUL, STOP THAT *smacks with newspaper* As long as you like what you’ve written and you had fun doing it, that is honestly the most important thing, so make sure you write with your own happiness in mind :) 

And don’t worry about WIPs and about not finishing. I honestly have so many WIPs that sit unfinished, people just don’t know about them because I only post completed works haha. I’m sure that you can finish something if you get inspired, but whether that happens in a week, a month, ten years, it doesn’t matter. And even if you never finish it, as long as you had fun telling the story you got out to the point it’s at, that’s what really matters :) 

LOL too many plot bunnies is the struggle of every writer tbh XD Every idea wants to be written first, but we are all only one person and our plot bunnies need to just stay in their cages |< Write whatever you feel most inspired by, and I’m sure whatever it is, it’ll be amazing and you’ll have a good time with it ❤❤

(And sorry, but I turned Anon off recently for personal reasons, but just know I believe in you and I’ll be proud of you for anything you put out because every piece of work is always worth appreciating!) <3<3<3<3 

[deadbiwrites]

a video of supergirl grabbing lena luthor's ass starts circulating and it's very embarrassing for sc but extremely funny to their friends

(I am SO sorry. Where do these hide? Why do I never see them? How long has this been here?!

Anyways, have some cute nonsense!)

The day starts like any other, honestly.

Like, sure, Kara’s never thrilled when she wakes up 20 minutes late and has to use superspeed to get through her morning routine and into the office on time, but it happens regularly enough that she’s just sort of used to it by now. Like, the sky is blue, the grass is green, she manages time poorly. Whatever.

But she does get to work on time, with just enough to spare that she can make a brief detour to Nia’s desk for the coffee her protege has already bought for her, thank her profusely (with perhaps minor promising of firstborn children), and slip into the morning meeting just as Snapper, James, and Lena start handing out assignments for the day.

“Well, well, good of you to join us, Ponytail. Let me guess, a family emergency kept you out all night again?”

‘I mean, that Abraxian wasn’t my family, technically, but someone’s family, so…’ “Something like that. Sorry.”

Lena catches her eye and quirks a brow in question, but Kara just shrugs easily and sips her coffee, pulling a silly face at her friend when Snapper’s attention moves away from her. When her eyes uncross, she can tell Lena is fighting not to laugh, eyes sparking with mirth as she bites her lip. Kara takes another sip of coffee, feeling a bit smug that she can get Lena to smile without even having to say anything to her. That’s real talent, right there.

Especially since Lena has to stand up at the front with James, who has been by turns cold, dejected, and surly toward her since their breakup (a big, real, final one) a few weeks prior. Lena had said that the whole thing was a mistake, that she should’ve never gone for it in the first place because she’d been right the first time- they’d had some chemistry, after all, but it certainly wasn’t compatible long-term. 

Which… Kara can certainly relate. Like, a lot.

Especially about the whole… James being kind of wounded about it part. That part had really sucked- when he’d done it with Kara, who he’d gone on like, a date with, it’d resulted in him deciding to become a vigilante. Rao only knows what he’ll do when it’s someone he dated on and off for over a year...

“Ponytail!”

Kara jumps, realizing too late that her wandering attention hasn’t gone unnoticed. “Yes, sir?”

Snapper rolls his eyes. “Great, now that you’ve stopped orbiting Saturn, you wanna go get that article started?”

Kara’s eyes widen slightly in a panic as she realizes that she has no idea what he’s talking about. “Uh…” Behind his back, Lena catches her eye and nods subtly. Thank Rao. “Yes. I super do.”

Lena snorts, James sighs deeply, and the meeting is adjourned.

**

“So what exactly am I supposed to be doing today?” Kara asks Lena as they stroll out of the conference room together.

“Well unfortunately for you, you have to interview a big-time CEO. You have a meeting scheduled with her in three hours.”

“You?” Kara asks hopefully.

“You’re very sweet,” Lena chuckles. “No, Elena Watts. She’s a real estate developer, and she runs a nonprofit organization for homeless youth. It’s one of the articles we’re doing for next month’s spread. Contrary to popular belief, Cat and I weren’t the only women with high-profile jobs in this city. ”

“Oh, that’s pretty cool! Have you met her?”

“Not personally, no, but I have donated to her charity- it’s a very good cause, especially the outreach they do with queer youth.”

Kara elbows Lena gently. “You’re such a softie.”

“Mmm, maybe. But if you tell anyone, you’re fired.”

Kara clutches a hand to her chest, feigning horror. “Why Miss Luthor, what a blatant abuse of power!”

Lena shrugs. “I’m a Luthor, darling, I have to keep up appearances somehow.”

“Ouch,” Kara laughs. “See you at lunch?”

“Only if lunch includes a milkshake- I have a teleconference with both boards today. Unless you feel like joining me?”

“Wow, well as fun as that sounds, I’m gonna go do literally anything else.” Her comms crackle to life, alerting her of a hostage situation downtown, and Kara sighs. So much for a work day. “Alright, well, I’m, um, gonna go… see what I can find on Elena Watts. Maybe over another cup of coffee at Noonan’s.” She widens her eyes a bit, trying her best to convey that she’s going to be on Super-duty for a little while.

Thankfully, Lena picks up on it and grins. “You just want sticky buns.”

“Lena, I always want sticky buns. They’re like, my second favorite thing to eat.”

“Oh? What’s the first?” Lena asks, voice just a bit lower than usual. 

Kara opens her mouth and closes it, flushing slightly as she averts her gaze and adjusts the laptop bag on her shoulder. Stuff like that has been happening more and more, and she’s not 100% sure what to do about it. Because on the one hand, it makes her stomach do flips and tie up in knots and makes her brain do this… staticky thing where nothing filters in or out, just a pleasant buzz of how funny and smart Lena is and how much Kara likes hanging out with her and being flirted with (because that’s definitely what’s been happening, even if neither of them is really ready to address it) and just generally looking at Lena.... who is currently biting her lip and grinning up at Kara, and that buzz makes her kinda dumb, which is just really unhelpful. But on the other hand, it’s also kinda awesome and Kara really enjoys it, and-

“Kara?”

She spaced out again. Crap.

“Um. What time are you free for lunch?”

Lena sighs, seeming slightly disappointed that Kara isn’t flirting back at the moment (and thank Rao Lena can’t read minds), but she smiles back easily enough as they step off of the elevator. “I should be done by two.”

Feeling emboldened, Kara turns so she’s walking backwards in front of Lena and grins. “It’s a date,” she says with a grin, ducking forward to press a quick “friendly” kiss high on Lena’s cheek. She whirls and jogs out the double doors, leaving Lena smiling exasperatedly after her.

**

It is genuinely baffling to Kara that people still commit crimes in National City. It’s not even an ego thing, really, since Kara tries to keep herself humble (even when she manages to wrap up a hostage situation within twenty seconds of arriving on-scene without injuring any of the criminals or damaging the building too badly). Like, yeah, she gets that there’s a certain element of crazies who just sorta gravitate to places with a local hero, the big-bads who have their own suits and geek-toys and abilities. Them, Kara gets. Kinda sorta. But the regular ones, who are armed with like, pistols? Or knives? Just regular man made stuff without even the benefit of magic or kryptonite or something?

Why? 

She’s sure that if she asked, Lena would have some sort of statistical thing about large cities and poverty and all sorts of other factors that would end up making Kara feel like a jerk for being uncharitable to the criminal element of her city, but at the moment she’s mostly too annoyed by the fact that she has to spend her weekdays chasing them around instead of chasing stories.

Once all the hostages are freed and the cops secure the scene, Kara departs, flying into the alley behind Noonan’s and changing into her regular clothes before she heads inside to do a bit of research before her meeting with Elena Watts in a few hours (just because she’d used it as a cover doesn’t mean it was a bad idea…). She finds her favorite little two-person booth tucked into a quiet corner, plugs in her laptop, and gets to work, asking the waitress to please keep both the coffee and the sticky buns coming.

She gets a surprising amount done by the time she needs to leave for the interview, having a good foundation for what she wants to write and who Elena Watts is.

Ms. Watts turns out to be a pretty nice lady around Eliza’s age, if a bit busy and distracted by the steady flow of people in and out of her office. She answers all Kara’s questions with aplomb, happy to elaborate on most every point and eager to draw attention to the rising issue of homelessness among children and teens in the US.

“When I was young, my dad lost his job at the auto plant. It was supposed to be a temporary layoff, but the factory never reopened. We ended up losing the house, and we lived so far from our extended family that staying with them wasn’t much of an option. We lived in our SUV for six months, sleeping at shelters every now and again, if we could find one that allowed families to stay together. We showered at the local YMCA. Five people and a dog, living and sleeping in an old station wagon- even now, it sounds ridiculous. Eventually, we got back on our feet, but I never forgot that. It was just six months, but it was- and remains- the scariest, most uncertain time in my entire life, and it shaped me in a lot of ways I didn’t expect. And there are kids and families who do that for years. I just want to help them the way I wish that someone had been able to help us.”

At the end of the interview, Kara thanks her profusely for her time and for sharing her story before hurrying off to CatCo to type up a draft for Snapper (“What’s wrong with you, Ponytail, why is everything you bring me sappy and sentimental?”), which she finishes an outline of just in time to send it off before running to Big Belly and L-Corp for lunch with Lena.

She greets the newest in a series of secretaries (Anna? Amy? Ava? Lena’s really missing Jess, these days, but from what she’s told Kara, Jess is kicking butt in her new role as VP of Operations and will probably take over for the COO when he retires in a few years), and the girl waves her in distractedly.

And that’s when Kara’s day goes from normal to not, because inside the office are two masked men holding a stone-faced Lena at gunpoint on her balcony and demanding… something, probably. Kara’s a bit distracted by the loaded gun aimed at Lena’s head.

“Hey!” she yells, attracting both their attention. They whirl on her and Lena’s eyes widen in alarm, and Kara suddenly realizes three things- 1) she’s in her Kara Danvers clothes, not the supersuit, 2) she can’t speed into the suit now that they’re both looking at her, and 3) she has no plan.

Crap.

“Who the hell are you?!” one of them demands.

Kara… doesn’t have a good or snappy answer for that, and instead does the only thing she can think of- she throws the large milkshakes she’s carrying at them as hard as she can.

Which, in retrospect, is too hard, apparently because while yes, it is both funny and gratifying to see two grown men get absolutely leveled by a tasty dairy treat to the face, the one closest to Lena manages to elbow her in such a way that she falls backwards over the rail with an instinctual scream that makes Kara’s heart fly into her throat. She whips off her glasses, and by the time she’s out the window and speeding toward Lena’s flailing form, the suit is materialized. She gets under Lena, catching her carefully and dropping a bit further before slowing down (because she’s been made aware that when she doesn’t, the people she’s saving may as well be hitting the pavement), finally coasting to a stop about 20 feet from the ground.

Lena’s face is screwed up in a forced sort of focus, her hands clutching tightly at Kara’s shoulders and cape as she holds her breath.

“Are you okay?” Kara asks quietly.

Lena swallows thickly and nods, eyes still firmly closed. “I’m alright. Thank you- I’ll admit, I wasn’t quite sure how to get out of that one.”

“What was that? What did they want?”

Lena cracks an eye open. “Oh. you know, just my quarterly assassination attempt. I think my mother was starting to miss me, so she wanted to reach out.”

Kara snorts. “That really shouldn’t be funny.”

“Maybe not, but here we are.” Lena shifts a bit in Kara’s arms, cheeks a bit flushed from the adrenaline rush, and clears her throat. “Not to be rude, Supergirl, but do you think that perhaps we could continue this conversation… on the ground?”

“Oh. Oh! Yeah, sorry. I forgot we were, uh, flying.”

Lena chuckles as they ascend slowly back up to her office. “You forgot you were flying?”

Kara shrugs with an easy smile. “I guess you have that effect on me.”

Lena huffs a laugh against Kara’s neck, eyes squeezed shut again. They alight on the balcony, finding the two men still unconscious, covered in Kara and Lena’s lunch. Lena sighs as Kara sets her down, pinching the bridge of her nose. “What a mess.”

“Yeah, sorry, I sorta… panicked.”  

“I was so looking forward to a milkshake too…” Lena laments playfully.

“Well, then I have good news and bad news,” Kara says. She reaches out and gently wipes a bit of her own chocolate shake from Lena’s cheek with the pad of her thumb, tucking it into her mouth on instinct to get a taste of it. “The good news is, you do, in fact, have some shake on you!”

“Whats the bad news?” 

“Also that you have some shake on you.” Kara laughs, gathering the two men in her arms and hefting them a bit so they’re easier to carry. “I’ll get you another one. Be right back.”

She drops the men at the police station with a brief explanation before flying back into the office. Lena hands over her discarded glasses with a wry grin.

“I figured you’d need these before the police arrive.” She’s putting on a brave front, but she’s clearly still more than a bit rattled, if her too-bright eyes and thundering heartbeat are anything to go by. Kara steps closer and opens her arms in invitation, and Lena doesn’t hesitate to step into them. “Thank you,” Lena says fervently, tucking her face into Kara’s shoulder and wrapping her arms tight around Kara’s waist. 

“Always,” Kara promises, daring to press a reassuring kiss to Lena’s temple (and getting a bit of Lena’s strawberry shake for her troubles) before wrapping her up even tighter in her arms. “Are you actually okay?”

“I mean, my fear of heights has been reaffirmed,” Lena jokes, “but aside from that, I’m not hurt.”

“Good. I don’t like, love people pointing guns at you. Just so you know.”

“I’m not a fan either, for the record,” Lena drawls, burrowing even closer. “Even though I know you’ll save me, it still puts a damper on my day.”

Kara huffs a laugh. “Same.”

They stay like that for a few minutes, until Lena’s calmed down enough to stop shaking and calls her assistant (Audra, apparently) in, telling her what’d happened and that the police would be arriving shortly to take her and Kara’s statements, and please advise the security team to let them up discreetly. After the cops arrive, it’s a blur of questions, and Kara has to concentrate on telling the story of how she’d panicked and thrown the milkshakes at the men, and one of them had knocked Lena over the balcony (all true), and Kara had yelled for Supergirl, who had knocked the men out on her way to Lena (also technically mostly true. Technically. Mostly.). The police are sure to tell Kara that next time, she shouldn’t throw things at people with guns, and also to tell them both how lucky they are that Supergirl had shown up when she did.

“She’s always there when I need her,” Lena agrees, throwing a sly wink over the officer’s shoulder at Kara.

Kara just shakes her head and smiles. Even almost dying isn’t enough to make Lena not flirt with her. The woman is truly a marvel.

Kara’s comms crackle again, accompanied by Alex’s custom ringtone on her cell, and after assuring the police that she has no issue with giving another statement if they need her to later, hurries over to the DEO (making a quick stop in the back alley to change into her suit).

**

When Kara arrives, she’s told that J’onn and Alex are waiting for her in the Directors’ offices. She makes her way there, waving to the agents and scientists she knows. But it’s very weird, because every time one of them sees her, they start giggling before quickly hurrying off in the opposite direction. Like, literally everyone is whispering and pointing and giggling, and it’s giving Kara such visceral flashbacks to high school that it’s all she can do to not check her cape for a taped on sign that says ‘Kick me’ or ‘Freak’.

(Kids are mean.)

By the time Kara gets to her destination, she’s fully paranoid, sure that someone’s playing a prank on her, somehow, and that everyone but her is in on the joke. She opens the door with more force than intended and catches it just before the handle puts a hole in the wall, throwing Alex and J’onn a sheepish smile. She closes the door extra gently and leans against it heavily. J’onn and Alex just stare at her, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

“Busy day, Supergirl?” Alex asks, and after half a lifetime of spending time with her, Kara recognizes that she, too, is trying not to laugh. 

Kara’s had enough. “Okay, do I have something on my face? Or on the suit? Is someone messing with me?”

J’onn’s brow furrows. “No.”

“Then what’s the deal? Why is the entire DEO like… laughing at me? Did someone accidentally vent the lab fumes out into the main hub again?”

“No.”

“Did someone see me crash into that billboard last week?”

J’onn’s frown deepens. “What?”

“No,” Alex answers.

“Then why is everyone laughing at me?!”

“I mean, if I had to guess, I’d say it’s because of that,” Alex muses, nodding toward the big TV on the wall beside Kara.

She steps back to watch the news coverage of her dealing with the hostage situation this morning and frowns. “What, those guys? That was routine, what’s so funny about tha-”

“No, no, not that. That,” Alex clarifies, cranking up the volume.

“...reports are saying that the CEO of L-Corp, Lena Luthor, experienced an attempt on her life early this afternoon. Sources claim that she fell from a considerable height-”

“Hey, she was pushed,” Kara corrects.

“Shh!”

“...caught by Supergirl, who may have gotten a little… familiar with her.”

And there’s a video (clearly recorded on a cell phone but not the worst quality Kara’s ever seen) of Kara catching Lena and slowing to a stop above the sidewalk, of them talking quietly, of Kara’s hand definitely on Lena’s-

“Oh. Oh no.”

“Oh yes,” Alex drawls, clicking the TV off with relish, a large, evil-big-sister grin spreading across her face. “Congratulations, Supergirl- the world just watched you grope Lena Luthor’s ass.”

“But I’m not- I wasn’t groping, I was catching! My hands weren’t… If it was groping, I’d be all up on her, and I wasn’t!”

“Camera begs to differ. It’s already trending on Twitter in National CIty.”

Kara puts her head in her hands and groans. “Why?! I was trying to save her!”

“You were definitely trying to save part of her,” Alex agrees. “Granted, it’s a very nice part...”

Kara’s head pops up, and she shoots Alex a look that’s between a pout and a glare. “You’re not helping.”

Alex feigns confusion. “Am I supposed to be helping?”

“Alright, enough,” J’onn cuts in before Kara can retort. “We just wanted you to be aware. I don’t think that this is going to be taken for anything more than it is- a humorous moment in the middle of a successful rescue. You shouldn’t worry about the press.”

And truth be told, Kara isn't worried about the press- she’s worried about the fact that she’s going to have to face Lena after this. Lena, who she knows for a fact has google alerts set for herself, Kara Danvers, and Supergirl, a gesture which is normally actually sweet and kind but is right now definitely gonna bite her in the-

“Okay! So, is that all?”

Alex blinks, looks over at J’onn, and shrugs. “I mean, yeah. Try not to make a habit of groping your crush when you’re in the suit.”

“I wasn’t groping her-”

Alex grins. “So you admit you have a crush? Interesting…”

“Alex!”

**

J’onn’s prediction is mostly right- no one seems to be taking the shots of her grabbi- saving Lena as anything other than a funny blip of a moment in their coverage of it.

He was wrong about the sheer scale. The clip had gone totally viral in a matter of hours, and seemingly every major network in the country has run the clip at least once as a bit of filler-fluff, and almost every major network anchor (including the ones at CatCo, the traitors) has made at least a passing joke about Supergirl being ‘Super-Handsy'.

Which means that Kara is very late getting back to Lena’s office with replacement food. But like, she’s been busy, okay? It’s not like she’s avoiding Lena, or something, because she’s embarrassed- which she isn’t, because she didn’t do anything bad or wrong and-

Anyways, it’s well past sunset by the time Kara gets to Lena’s office door again. She hesitates outside it for just a moment before shouldering the door open and knocking tentatively.

Lena’s attention jerks from whatever she’d been absorbed in to Kara, and a relieved smile blooms across her face. “Hey there.”

Kara finds herself equally relieved to not experience a repeat performance of earlier scary situations. “Hi,” Kara says, unable to resist smiling back. She raises the bags and cup carrier. “I bring grease and milkshakes. Again.”

“Oh thank god, I’m starving,” Lena says, rolling her chair away from her desk and rising into a deep and probably much-needed stretch. Kara very determinedly does not stare at the slight sliver of soft tummy that appears between her blouse and skirt at the motion. “I’ve been staring at this screen for several hours. And Sam called to yell at me- she says hello, by the way- she and Ruby are in town next weekend.”

“Good!” Kara crosses the room to the couch as Lena does, easily spreading out the veritable buffet of fast food she’d brought over the coffee table. “I mean, not good that she yelled at you, or that you’re still at work, Miss Luthor,” she says pointedly, receiving only an unapologetic shrug in response. “But good that, um-”

“I get it,” Lena chuckles, resting a hand lightly on Kara’s knee and boy, if that doesn’t make Kara’s brain go fuzzy and dumb again… “Thank you, for checking in.”

“Of course I was gonna check on you, Lena,” Kara huffs. “Plus, I know you probably didn’t get lunch, so…”

Lena hums around a mouthful of burger, chewing until she can politely speak again. “Well it’s delicious. Did you make it yourself?” she teases with a sly grin.

“Oh, yeah, totally. Slaved away over a hot stove for this- I just wrapped it in Big Belly wrappers so you wouldn’t feel bad about it.”

“Very clever.” Lena pops the lid off of her milkshake and drags a fry through it (an advanced culinary delicacy Kara had horrified her with initially but had eventually become a bit of a guilty pleasure). “Although I have to say, traditionally you’d have to buy me dinner before you grabbed my ass.”

Kara chokes on a pickle. “Oh no,” she groans, dropping the burger onto the wrapper on the table and dropping her very red face into her hands as Lena laughs beside her. She peers out from between her fingers. “I am so sorry, I was just worried about you hitting the pavement and like, catching you in the least jarring way and I wasn’t paying attention to where my hands were and I didn’t even notice until I got back to the DEO and-”

“Well I have so say, I feel a bit offended that you didn’t even realize you were copping a feel...” When the only response is another groan and a deep flush spreading from Kara’s neck to the tips of her ears, Lena relents. “Kara, Kara, it’s fine!” she laughs, pulling Kara’s hands away from her face and giving them a grounding squeeze. “Nia’s been sending me memes about it all day, which has improved my mood significantly. On the grand scale of fallout from assassination attempts, this one was at least funny.”

“I know that’s supposed to be comforting, but all it makes me wanna do is wrap you in bubble wrap forever,” Kara informs her.

“Pass on that. But seriously, don’t worry about it- I know it wasn’t on purpose- unfortunately for me, you’re too noble to do something like that,” Lena laments playfully.

And whether it’s the knowledge that Lena is not, in fact, upset, the overall weirdness that has been this day, or this delicious burger fueling it, Kara feels a bit emboldened. “Hey Lena…”

“Yes?”

“What if I wanted to grab your butt? Just, y’know, as a hypothetical. For future reference.”

Lena quirks a brow at her, fighting a smile as she contemplates this. “Hmm. Strictly hypothetically?”

Kara scoots a bit closer on the couch. “Sure.”

 “Well, you’ve already bought me dinner…”

“And lunch, technically. Even if I gave it to the bad guys.”

“True. Plus you saved my life, so that gets you some points, probably.”

Kara pauses in her sly scooching. “Oh, hey, wait, no, that’s not-” 

“Kidding, Kara. I know you’d never use that to your advantage. I, however, have determined that strong moral fibre and nobility do, in fact, earn you more points, which is my choice on the matter and you get absolutely no say in it.”

“Oh. Um, alright, I think.”

Lena stares off into the middle distance, tapping her forefinger thoughtfully against her chin. Finally she shrugs. “Yes, I think you’re fulfilled the prerequisites for a bit of grab-ass today.”

Kara snorts, Lena laughs, and soon enough Kara takes her up on the offer.

**

“Hey Kara, remember that time you grabbed Lena’s ass and it made international news?” Nia asks around a mouthful of mushu pork.

“You mean last week? Yes, I remember,” Kara drawls. Beside her/halfway sitting on her lap, Lena snorts.

“That was the best.”

Alex glares. “Um, excuse you, no. No it was not. I had to sift through so much thirsting over my sister on like, every social media platform. It was the worst day of my life.”

Brainy’s brow furrows. “Surely that cannot be correct, Alex. Statistically speaking-”

Alex holds up a hand, cutting him off. “Trauma can’t be measured, Brainy.”

Kelly chuckles and presses a consoling kiss to Alex’s cheek, and it makes the tough agent melt into a doe-eyed puddle of mush that Kara snorts. And she says they’re gross... Kara sneaks a glance at Lena from the corner of her eye, and she catches Lena looking at her. She leans close and jostles her gently as she drops her head onto Lena’ shoulder. “We’re never gonna live that down, are we?”

“Probably not.”

“We have the worst friends.” When this elicits nothing but a chuckle, Kara tips her head back to see Lena still looking at her, a soft smile playing at her mouth and shining in her eyes. And like, this whole thing they’re doing is new, with the kissing and the actual dates and the... everything else. But the thing where Kara catches Lena looking at her and she doesn’t look away? That freakin’ knocks her out, every single time. “Hey,” she manages.

Lena grins down at her. “Hi.”

So yeah. Maybe the initial circumstances weren’t ideal, and she doesn’t love the mockery that’s been heaped upon her by all of her friends and loved ones (including Winn, who’d sent a missive from the future that literally just said ‘LOL’). But the fact is, Kara muses as she surges up just enough to kiss the corner of Lena’s mouth, that she doesn’t regret a thing.

[nanowrimo]

The Flash Fiction Approach to Writer’s Block

There are about a thousand tricks to help push yourself to write, so what about using flash fiction? Nano guest Michael Mortenson shares how flash fiction has helped him and his work.

Halfway through draft two of my novel manuscript, I hit a wall. You know the one—thick bricks that scrape up hands, barbed wire across the top, and no holds for your trusty grappling hook. That’s where I was when I discovered flash fiction.

I had been warned by other writers that dipping toes into the pool of sparkly, new ideas halfway through a project was a decidedly bad idea. But between me and the wall, progress wasn’t happening. So, I thumbed my nose at warning and told myself that writing something was better than writing nothing. I started writing flash fiction.

Flash fiction is any fiction under 1000 words. It aims to deliver the same results as long-form fiction (character, setting, conflict, emotional payoff, etc.), but in a compact space. Since I was writing sci-fi, I figured that I would write flash sci-fi and let some of the sparkly, new ideas breathe so they would stop crowding out my novel. However, a sense of foreboding lingered about the thought of letting new ideas run wild, so I set myself a limit. I would borrow from poetry and limit my stories to 17 syllables, haiku-style. 

Cautiously, I began writing sci-fi haiku flash fiction pieces, and the benefits surprised me. First, I was writing again. After being stuck at the wall for so long I had forgotten what writing was like. Seventeen-syllable step by seventeen-syllable step I started gaining momentum. Confidence in my writing ability I didn’t realize I’d lost came trickling back in.

Flash fiction forced me to economize. I learned quickly which words were doing the heavy lifting and which words weren’t. Flash fiction forced me to focus on the best detail, the strongest character attribute, the deepest emotion, and the best source of conflict. Cut the rest. There wasn’t room for anything else. If I wanted a certain voice, I had to establish it immediately. If I wanted a specific tone, each word had to reinforce it. I discovered weaknesses in my writing I hadn’t realized were there. And I actually enjoyed it!

The compact space also means that I cycled through edits quickly. I learned my process for editing and polishing, taking a piece from start to finish. This, I think was the key skill that I needed to learn to move forward with my novel’s second draft. 

Slowly, I poured what confidence and writing skill I could into working on the second draft of my novel again and the wall started to give way. When the wall grew stubborn, I would return and write a couple sci-fi haiku until I was warmed up, and then I would tackle the wall. Sure enough, flash fiction time and time again provided the extra boost I needed to move forward. 

If you are stuck at a wall or have been toying with the idea of writing flash fiction, give it a go! Here are some tips to get started:

Give yourself a word limit. Limitations force you out of the comfort zone and into the creativity zone.

Choose one or two characters. You don’t have room for more, but that’s okay. These will be strong characters.

Choose one setting. Home in on the key details (especially details that interact with the senses.)

Choose one conflict. Plots in flash fiction are often simple, perfect for outliners or discovery writers alike. Maybe you’ll try a twist ending?

Write fast and edit slow. Once you’ve got the first draft, take time to visit each sentence and each word. Ask yourself what could go, what could be better, and what needs to stay.

Smile, ‘cause you just wrote some awesome flash fiction! Flash fiction is especially fun because it is easy to share on social media or with friends. 

As an example, here is a recent sci-fi haiku from a series of small-town Americana themed pieces:

Unabductable

Oh, they tried beaming

Ol’ Bessie up, but that heifer’s

solid as bricks.

Flash fiction not only helped me solve my problems with draft two, but it also gave me a chance to discover and grow along the way. The next time you come to a wall, remember that the way over might be to let the friendly flash fiction space aliens beam you across to the other side. Above all, writing is an adventure, so hold on tight. We’re in for a wild ride.

Michael Mortenson is a science fiction writer from Las Vegas. His work has been featured in various publications including Scribendi, The Palouse Review, and Leading Edge. He has published two books for children: Gibraltar and Tell Me When I’m Younger. If you would like to read more, visit online or visit his sci-fi haiku work is available on Instagram.

Top Photo by Vlad Panov on Unsplash  

[middleearthpixie]

Damaged Goods ~ Chapter Thirty-Nine

Author's Note: Just a reminder that this story takes place following the events of the miniseries Stay Close and will contain spoilers.

Title: Damaged Goods

Fandom: Stay Close

Pairings: Ray Levine x OC female Theodora (Theo) Bailey

Summary: Following the events of Stay Close, Ray Levine has come to the US to begin a new life and is staying with Theo Bailey, the friend of a friend, who is quickly becoming his best friend and Ray is starting to wonder if there isn’t something more there between them.

Like Ray, Theo has her own demons and although she wonders the same thing about Ray, fear of repeating past mistakes keep her from moving forward. Or do they? Somehow, these two damaged people will come together and discover that maybe—just maybe—second chances are worth the risk.

Before leaving the States, Ray has one last surprise for Theo.,,

Warnings: None

Rating: T

Word Count: 3,071

Tag List: @tschrist1 @i-did-not-mean-to @lathalea @bitter-sweet-farmgirl @linasofia @fizzyxcustard @legolasbadass @kibleedibleedoo @xxbyimm @ocfairygodmother @exhausted-humxn-being @shalinizhara @rachel1959 @laurfilijames @sketch-and-write-lover @sherala007 @enchantzz @knitastically

If you’d like to be added (or removed) to the tag list, please just let me know!

Previous chapters can be found here and AO3

The apartment hadn’t looked this naked since the day Theo moved in five years earlier, and she hadn’t expected the lump in her throat as she stood in the living room, now void of all of her furniture, which had either gone into storage or would be shipped over later. The walls were bare, only outlines of where pictures had once hung remained as testament to something having been hung on the walls. They too were all packed away to be shipped across the Atlantic as well.

Donna gave her hand a squeeze. “You’re going to be so happy, Thee. And I’m so happy for you. You know that, right? And you damn well better ask me to come visit you.”

“You know I will. You have an open invitation.” Theo swallowed against that lump and nodded as she met Donna’s smile. “I know and you’re right. It’s just… it’s weird saying goodbye. I figured I’d be alone for the rest of my life. And when Ty asked me to do this huge favor for him… I had no idea what trick he had up his sleeve.”

“It’s a good thing he knew what he was doing.” Donna looked around. “Where is Ray, anyway?”

“He had a few last minute errands to run. Our flight isn’t until seven, so we’ve got some time.” Theo sighed softly. Ray’s room was empty now, except for the furniture, most his belongings had already gone on ahead of them, with Fester waiting for them in England. The walls were bare, the shelves were bare. It was as if he simply never existed.

The last six weeks had flown by, between packing and shipping, obtaining her passport and all of the other necessary documents she’d need. They’d gotten their marriage license two weeks ago, now they only needed a spare moment to go and make use of it. And when she woke that morning, Ray was already gone, a note by the coffeepot explaining his absence. He’d be home no later than three, he thought, plenty of time to hit town hall.

“Okay, well, I want to take you out to lunch, Thee. So, unless you’ve got any last minute packing to do…”

“I don’t,” she said softly. “I’m just waiting for Ray to come home and I’m ready to go.”

“Good. Let’s go hit the Sawmill because you know you’ll miss that most of all.”

Hints of spring were in the air, even if a good portion of the boardwalk was still closed for the season. The wind was light and playful, sunshine bathed everything with its warm rays, and Theo lifted her face to the breeze as she and Donna came up the ramp from the parking lot. She’d looked forward to showing Ray what the summer was like at the shore, and had to admit, she was sad that it wouldn’t come to pass now.

But as they crested the boards, she stopped. Out on the beach, a small archway had been set up and her mouth went dry as her gaze fell on Ray, standing there with Drew and another man she didn't recognize.

She turned to Donna. “What’s going on?”

Donna shrugged. “I don’t know. You should probably go ask Ray.”

“Donna.”

Donna smiled. “Come on.”

Theo’s heart beat faster as she followed Donna down to the sand, and over to Ray, where she said, “Ray? What’s going on?”

“One last surprise?”

“A surprise?” She looked from him to Drew, to the unfamiliar man, and back. “What kind of surprise?”

“We decided we’d get married before we left for the UK, didn’t we? And we haven’t really had a moment to do so, so I thought we could do it right here and now, instead of trekking to town hall.”

She stared up at him. “Here? It’s still so cold and windy out here.”

He offered her a level look. “Oh, don’t be such a wuss it’s not exactly cold, and this breeze can only barely be called such. Besides, it was far colder the night I proposed to you.”

“Well, that is true, but… here?”

He looked out at the water, the wind blowing his hair straight back as he squinted into the distance. “I like it here. It’s the only thing about New Jersey that I’ll miss.”

“Do you really want to be married here?”

“Yeah.” He looked down at her. “It’s been a rough few weeks and I thought this might be a nice way to end our time here in the States. A good memory to kick any shitty ones to the curb.”

“A wedding on the beach? In the middle of winter?”

“It’s almost spring.”

“Ray.”

“It is.”

“Ray.” She couldn’t hold back her grin.

He grinned back. “Is that a yes?”

“Of course it is.”

“Good.”

“But, there’s one problem.”

“What’s that, love?”

“I don’t have any of the paperwork.”

He shook his head. “Ah, but I knew about this, so guess what I’ve brought with me?”

“Are you serious?”

“Do I not look serious?”

“Ray.”

“Come with me. We have to sign this thing, don’t we?”

She tucked her arm through his, and as they neared the others, Drew said, “Please tell me she agreed to this, Ray.”

“Of course she did,” he replied, giving her arm a squeeze. “Why wouldn’t she?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

“No, actually. I don’t.”

Theo smiled up at Drew. “Hush, you. And just sign where you’re supposed to sign.”

The third man introduced himself as Nicholas Mancini, the county clerk, and he smiled as he instructed everyone to sign the license, then he said, “Well, now that that’s out of the way, shall we begin?”

“I think we’re ready,” Ray gazed down at her with eyes so soft, they took her breath away for a moment, “aren’t we, love?”

She swallowed hard, her eyes unexpectedly stinging. “I think so, yes.”

“Okay, then here we go.” Mancini cleared his throat as he looked from her to Ray and back. “Welcome, everyone, and we are gathered here—such as it is—to witness the marriage of Ray and Theodora—”

“Theo,” she interrupted softly.

Mancini looked down at her. “I beg your pardon?”

She cleared her throat and managed a slight smile. “It’s Theo.”

“Oh… right…” He nodded, then glanced at Ray. “Ray and… Theo.” He waited a beat and when she remained quiet, he offered up another head bob. “Okay, then. Have you both come here of your free will to take these vows that will bind your lives from this day forward?”

Theo couldn’t help smiling up at Ray as they said, “I have,” in unison.

“If there is any reason why these two people should not be married, speak up now or forever hold your piece.” Mancini grinned as he looked from Donna to Drew, and then said, “Okay then… onward. Do you, Ray, take Theod—Theo as your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, forsaking all others, from this day forth?”

Ray gave her hands a gentle squeeze. “I do.”

“And do you, Theo—ah, see? I got it right—take Ray as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, forsaking all others, from this day forth?”

She swallowed hard to get the words past the new lump in her throat, and nodded. “I do.”

“And have you rings?”

Ray nodded, releasing her hands to dig into his jacket pocket, where he came up with the simple platinum bands they’d picked out when they’d gotten their license. He handed the box to Donna after taking out the ring Theo had chosen.

To Theo’s surprise, Ray’s hands trembled slightly as he caught hers once more, and a sheepish laugh bubbled to his lips. “I can’t believe I’m actually nervous about this,” he said softly, his eyes locked with hers. “I know everything for us has been whirlwind and completely spur of the moment, from our first kiss, to a frigid, frozen night on the beach in the middle of January when I asked you to marry me. Hell, even this is spur of the moment. But, it feels so very right, just as every step we’ve taken together feels so right.”

He eased the ring onto her finger, and added, “I love you, Theo. So very much.”

She pressed her lips together as his murmured words brought tears to her eyes. Donna pressed the heavier man’s ring into her hand and she drew in a deep breath as she met his gaze once again. “Remember, I didn’t know we were doing this, so… you had an unfair advantage when it comes to this.”

She just gazed up at him for a long moment, trying to put her thoughts and feelings into words, which would have been difficult enough on a good day, but now? Under this circumstance, it was far more difficult. Ray’s blue eyes danced with mischief as she shook her head and began, “You know, I thought I just doing an old friend a favor when he asked me if I could spare a room for a buddy of his who needed a change of scenery. I had no idea what trickery Ty was capable of and I wish he was here to see how well played his trickery really was. I said I’d never do this again, but then you came into my life, Ray, and you completely turned everything upside down, and in the very best way. And now, here we are and I really can’t quite believe it and I know I’m babbling, but… I love you. I hope you know it because sometimes I know I’m not so good at emotions or putting them into words, but I do and I am looking so forward to what the next chapter holds for us.”

Her hand remained steady as she slid the ring onto Ray’s finger and he closed those fingers about hers.

Mancini looked from her to Ray and back. “Then, by the power vested in me by the State of New Jersey, I pronounce you, Ray and you, Theo husband and wife. Go on and kiss your bride, Ray.”

Ray’s eyes sparkled like the ocean beside them as he bent to her and Theo leaned in to meet his soft kiss. He slid both arms about her, tugged her flush against him, and when he broke the kiss, it was to whisper, “There is no getting away from me now, love. I hope you know that.”

“You say that as if I should be scared, but I’m not,” she murmured back. “And you couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.”

The clerk smiled as he said, “Congratulations to you both.”

Drew engulfed both of them in a hug, much to Theo’s surprise and discomfort. “Just as he said, congrats, guys. And Ray, do you still want me to take you guys to the airport?”

Ray glanced down at Theo. “If you don’t mind?”

Theo shook her head. “I don’t. I’d appreciate it.”

“Then I’ll be by to pick you up at three-thirty or so? Give you time to get through security and all that?”

Donna came up to drape her arm about Theo’s neck. “We need to celebrate. It isn’t every day you get married, Theo. So, let’s go find a bar that’s open here and do just that.”

The Seaside Bar and Grill was open and quiet when they arrived, but it didn't stay that way. Drew seemed to know everyone working there, and anyone else who came in was automatically invited to celebrate with them.

Ray couldn’t remember the last time he smiled as much as he had that day, and every time his gaze alit on Theo, he felt like he should pinch himself to make certain he really hadn’t just dreamed up the last three months of his life. It was too hard to believe that he’d come as far as he had in such a short time period. It felt like just yesterday that he’d finally found Cassie and thought maybe—just maybe—they could pick up where they’d left off. He’d foolishly thought that could actually happen.

When she told him she was married, it was like a punch in the gut. And then she told him in no uncertain terms that she wanted him to leave her in peace.

“You owe me at least a why, Cassie,” he’d told her, trying to keep his temper in check, which wasn’t easy because, damn it, he felt he deserved answers.

“I—I was scared, Ray.” Her dark eyes were wide with an innocence he no longer believed was real. “I saw Green, saw all that blood and—”

“And you thought I killed him.” Not a question. A statement. He already knew she thought so.

“Well…” she hesitated, then nodded slowly. “I did, yes.”

“So, were you scared because someone had killed him or because you thought that someone was me?”

“Ray, I—”

He leaned against the fender of his fifteen year old red Mercedes. “Fuck me, Cassie, you were scared of me?”

“I needed to get away, to get away from all of it.”

“You could’ve let me know you were at least alive. Do you know what I thought… son of a bitch, you just up and fucking vanished on me. Just disappeared. And now, you think you only need say you were scared and I’d just forgive and forget? I loved you, you know. And I still do, if you want the fucking truth. But, you had that little faith in me, you thought I’d done it and now you’re telling me I scared you.”

“You shouldn’t love me any more, Ray. Get on with your life. I have a family now, and I’m not… I’m not walking away from it to go back to that life. Cassie is dead and she’s going to stay dead.”

“That life. You mean the life with me.” He pushed himself away from the fender. “Seventeen years, I waited, I hoped, I wondered. And then I saw you and I thought maybe I’d get an answer. And your answer is that you just didn't trust me. If you’d just asked me, I’d have told you I didn’t kill him. But, you probably wouldn’t have believed me.”

“Ray—”

“Go back to your life, Cassie, Megan, whoever the fuck you are this week. I wish you well. I truly do.” He skirted the nose of his car and climbed in behind the wheel, turned over the ignition, and pulled away from the curb without looking back.

Now, as he watched Theo and Donna laughing over something, then clink their beer bottles together, he realized he owed Cassie a huge thank you. If not for her faithlessness, he never would’ve approached Ty about getting away from England for a while.

He stared at the email for a moment. It had been a long shot, seeing if Ty could put him up for a few weeks in America. He needed the change, needed a chance to start over before he went fucking crazy. Broome convinced the Crown not to pursue charges against him in return for his help in locating what was left of Stewart Green, and all Ray wanted was to put as much distance between him and Blackpool—and to some extent Cassie, since once she resurfaced, it seemed he saw her all the fucking time now.

“Ray, a good friend of mine has an apartment with a spare room. She lives near the beach and she’s a cool person and I think you’d get on great with her. Her name’s Theo, she works as a personal trainer and if you’re interested in sharing her apartment, I’ll let her know and set up the details for you. Let me know. Ty.”

It took a few weeks to hammer out all the details and then he was on a plane. Six hours later, he saw Theo for the first time and had no idea how his life was about to change.

“Where are you?”

He jerked back as Theo plunked down in his lap and draped her arms about his neck. “I was back at Newark, that first day in the States. You weren’t what I’d expected.”

“Well,” her eyes sparkled with merriment as she slid her fingers through his hair where it curled over his collar, “is that good or bad?”

“It’s good. All good. I thought you were cute and I was hoping like hell you didn't have fifty cats.”

“Your standards weren’t really all that high, were they?”

He gave her a squeeze. “I trusted Ty.”

She smiled, leaning in to sweep her lips across his. “Ty is very trustworthy.”

“We owe him.”

“We do.”

He tightened his ams about her waist. She felt so good against him, he doubted he’d ever get used to the feel of her body flush against his. She had a way of making him feel like a nervous fifteen year old all over again, and somehow, he didn't think that was going to change.

Drew came over and draped an arm about Ray’s shoulders. “If you two lovebirds are ready, we should probably go and get the rest of your things and get to the airport.”

Ray didn't miss the flash of sadness that slid through Theo’s eyes. It was one he recognized and knew himself, and he gave her a gentle squeeze. “We can always come back if we wish,” he told her softly.

“I know… it’s just… I’ve never lived anywhere else. I’m kind of scared.”

“You’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

She leaned into him, pressing her forehead to hers, a gesture he’d come to love from her, for it seemed just so… intimate to him… “I know. And I will be, in time, but I’m still nervous.”

“I know that feeling all too well, love.” He tightened his arms about her. “But, we should get going. I don’t want to get held up at security.”

She sighed and slid down from his lap and as he shifted, the overhead lights caught the new ring that still felt odd on his finger, as it was far heavier than the one he was used to wearing on that hand. Still, he smiled down at it, then looked back over at Theo, embracing Donna now.

His wife.

He liked how that sounded.