#so many good fics in 00Q fandom

[silverdragonreads]

Grace Period by junetangerine (culuyetille)

Fandoms:James Bond (Craig Movies)

Explicit

No Archive Warnings Apply

M/M

Complete Work

31 Jul 2016

Tags

No Archive Warnings ApplyJames Bond/QJames BondQ (Bond - Craig movies)Eve MoneypennyAlternate UniverseHumorFluffAlternate Universe - Pre-CanonDomestic FluffRomanceSlashSmutBondlock(only mentioned)

Summary

In retrospect, the whole thing was a series of extremely poor decisions on Q’s part, none of which he regretted in the slightest.

Or, AU in which IT-techie!Q is chatted up by one James Bond and doesn’t have the heart to tell him that he’s also MI6.

Language: English Words: 22,609 Chapters: 6/6

[sunaddicted]

Instead of a 2024 fic review, in honour of 2025 being my 10th year posting my writing on ao3, I thought it would be fun to do a little recap year by year of my most liked fics.

It's fascinating to see which fandoms came and went and which turned out to be there to stay!

If you're as curious as I was and maybe want to (re)discover some of my older fics, some links and stats await you under the "read more" 💛

2015

My resolution for the new year is to go back to my origins and start writing again for the Tolkien fandom!

Enthralling (Silmarillion, Angbang) is hands down one of my best fics to this day, despite the fact that my English wasn't as good as it is now! If you want to read about Mairon seducing the mightiest of the Valar, this is the best take I wrote on it!

~

2016

Sentient Reflection (DCU, Superbat) not only was the first superbat fic I wrote but it also was my first one in the DC fandom and folks, as you very well know, I've been digging this particular hole deeper and deeper with no signs of hitting rock bottom.

One sour note, is seeing Selfish Prayers (James Bond, 00q): I'm sorry to everyone who followed it and was a fan but it will never be finished 😔

~

2017

It was the year of James Bond AUs! Omega!Bond and alien!Q clearly were the favourites, with The Odd One (James Bond, 00q) - the first instalment of the omega!Bond series - being one of my most liked fics ever in the fandom.

Aside note: in 2017 started my descent into the garbage fire that was Gotham (my beloved) and I've been steadily writing for this fandom for years and none of what I think are my best Gotham fics - my best fics in general, actually - ever made it to the top 5 😱

~

2018

Superbat won hands-down that year, what can I say? Not to toot my own horn but I did write some bangers.

*peach emoji* (DCU, Superbat) is all about Bruce's ass - enough said, right?

~

2019

Superbat kept winning 😮‍💨 Whipped (DCU, Superbat) is there for you if you want to have a laugh.

~

2020

My Bond fics showed up (I did participate again in the 007 Fest after many years of absence so, that probably helped)! Alas, as the rare pair gremlin that I am, Everything They Said (DCU, Superwonderbat) came to eat - if you're in the mood for some delicious Trinity angst, all in Bruce's head, you're definitely going to enjoy the fic!

~

2021

Daniel Craig bowed out of the franchise with a movie I absolutely, 💯% despised and if your liking of Unfixable (James Bond, 00q) shows anything, is that a lot of you hated it too 👼🏽

Honourable mention to Between Us, In The Dark (WWDITS, Nandermo) - I wrote like.. 4 fics for this fandom and still one of them made it to the top 5!

~

2022

Finally, some of my Gotham fics got to the top 5! And they're not as good as some real fucking bangers I wrote hahaha

Dancing in Circles (James Bond, 00q) got top spot and with a good reason: old geezers in love, dancing circles around one another? They will pine for forever, sign me up.

~

2023

You can pry my rare pairs from my cold, dead hands 😮‍💨 Three of Cups (DCU, Superwonderbat) is the soft Trinity smut we all deserve.

~

2024

Listen, it was a bad writing year: writer's block has been kicking my ass to hell and back relentlessly.

But you know what? I still write some damn good superbat smut! Fire on Fire (DCU, Superbat) is filthy and loving and a take on alpha/alpha relationships I don't see much of!

I hope you had as much fun reading this little review as I did discovering all of this! 🤩

[solarmorrigan]

Hello! I was tagged for this by the marvelous @paperbackribs about... *checks watch* four months ago! I'm so late, I'm sorry, time is meaningless and slippery!

How many works do you have on AO3? 300 (!)

What’s your total AO3 word count? 976,101

What fandoms do you write for?

At the moment, I'm only writing for Stranger Things, but I've written things for about 40ish fandoms over the years.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

In Phony Matrimony [Fantastic Beasts]

Shared Space [Homestuck]

Simple Association [James Bond - Craig movies]

Made with Love (and Yarn) [Stranger Things]

These Days I'm Fine (These Days I Tend to Lie) [Stranger Things]

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! I used to get fewer comments, and it was easier to respond to each of them. Having recently been in some much larger fandoms, though, I've kind of been getting overwhelmed and have fallen behind. I'm so grateful that people take the time to even just send a little heart--to tell me that they read this thing and enjoyed it--and I'd love to respond to everyone, but at this rate I'm not quite sure I'll manage to catch up D:

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably either For the Love of You (James Bond, established 00Q, in which Bond is forced to go after Q when he turns out to be a traitor) or either of the fics in the Forever and Ever, Amen series (also James Bond, 00Q, in which Q is a necromancer and won't let Bond die). I've written other dark things, but I tend towards hopeful endings even with those

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most things I've written! I'm a big fan of happily ever after and I write a lot of short fluff pieces. But as far as fics where the happy ending is sort of earned, I'd say maybe He Dreams, Until Such Time (Hades game, gen, in which Hypnos is the Elysium boss fight after having been banished from the House, and Zagreus finds a way to get him back in) or We Have Surplus If We Need It (Pacific Rim, established Newmann, in which Newt tries to figure out who he is in a post-kaiju world and cooks a lot about it)

Do you get hate on fics?

Not particularly. I've gotten a few randos trying to tell me off for writing slash, and one or two people who were clearly just mad at a specific trope and happened to land on my fic, but I've been very fortunate to get largely positive feedback

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do! I'm not sure it's exactly my strongest suit (and, in fact, often worry that it's not very good at all), but I guess I keep at it?? I've written PWP and plotularly significant smut before; whatever serves my purposes at the time

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

Not often, but I have! The first fic I ever tried writing on my own was a Buffy/Scooby-Doo crossover, and I've written a fair bit for Gravity Falls/Over the Garden Wall. Not sure how wild either of those are, though?

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I've been alerted to, but I've been posting fic for something like 20 years now, so it wouldn't surprise me if at least one of them has cropped up elsewhere under someone else's name

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yyyyyes...? Pretty sure I remember that happening! I think it was over on ff dot net, so I don't remember which one it was. Good odds it was one of my Criminal Minds fics, though

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A few times! I've done RP-style co-writing, round robins, half-and-half, and just plain collaborating. Most of them never reached the point of being able to publish, but they were still fun

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Gotta confess: I don't think I have one. My favorite is usually whatever I'm focusing on at the time; I don't dislike ones I've shipped previously, but they tend to settle fondly into the background once I've left a fandom

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

I had a whole Stranger Things fic planned out exploring the potential relationship between Steve and his mom, and I'd love to get at least the bare bones of that done, but there's something about it that just kind of refuses to come

What are your writing strengths?

Characterization and emotion. Emotion is something I feel like I don't identify particularly well in real life, but I think I'm pretty good at getting the intended response from people in my writing. (Also maybe dialogue, but that's just so fun to write)

What are your writing weaknesses?

I! Am! Impatient! I tend to rush through things sometimes and screw the pacing up or skip over important details because I worry writing it out in full will take too long and I'll lose interest. I can also get a little too rigid in trying to achieve a particular outcome, instead of letting the story flow

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't tend to do it, but that's because I'm only fluent in English and don't want to jar anyone with a bad auto-translate job. If someone is speaking another language, I usually try to find a way to signify that based on whether or not the POV character also knows that language

First fandom you wrote for?

It was either HP (forgive me, this was over 20 years ago) or Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Scooby-Doo (crossover fic I wrote when I was, like, nine?)

Favorite fic you’ve written?

Ever?? In my life?? My dude, I could pick a favorite per fandom maybe, but just straight up favorite?? I cannot. Of things written more recently, I'm very fond of Under My Skin (Steddie, exploring the possibility of Steve with physical scars). Of things written slightly less recently, I still have a complicated soft spot for We Have Surplus If We Need It

Gently tagging (if you've already done this, I'm sorry, just ignore me): @spiritofcamelot @ato-the-bean @puppy-steve @emchant3d @lexirosewrites

[drgrlfriend]

Author Ask Meme

I was tagged by @bittercape.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

61 works

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

1,124,553 (June 2, 2024)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I am a serial OTP-er. I started with Wolverine/Rogue (X-Men), jumped to Johnlock (BBC Sherlock), to Sterek (Teen Wolf), to 00Q (James Bond), and am currently in Winterhawk (Marvel). Usually I get sucked into a new fandom by following a favorite author. I also read quite a lot in The Witcher fandom but haven't made the jump to writing (yet?).

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Windows (Sterek), Layover (Sterek), Quriosity (00Q), Hide (Sterek), and I'm Game (A Very Craigslist Thanksgiving) (Sterek). Sterek is just a huge fandom, but interestingly one of my X-Men fic used to be one of the most popular fics on FFN, so that has given me perspective about how it's not necessarily all about the fic but rather some magic combination of fandom and tropes and web audience and luck as to which fics really catch fire.

5. Do you respond to comments?

I try to, but if I'm actively writing a fic I get behind because if I'm on the computer with spare time I want to be writing instead. Then it gets overwhelming. :-(

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Happy endings always! I guess the closest would be My Heart Will Be Your Home because the epilogue / last scene is less about the Winterhawk happy ending and more about Clint coming to terms with the failure of his first marriage and Phil Coulson's death. [insert "growth gif" here]

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Again, I really only have happy endings. Hmmm. In this time of trouble, I'll put in a plug for For Everything There Is a Season, my Four Seasons Total Landscaping fic, because it ends with the world being safe from Trum-- I mean Pierce. ;-)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

For how much I write some sensitive stuff I surprisingly don't! In particular the Four Seasons Total Landscaping fic I was worried would attract some rabid Trump fans to hate on me but so far so good. I have had people be really rude about my characterizations at times, or occasional plot decisions, but I've been getting better about deleting and forgetting (after I vent to a fandom friend or two of course).

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

I write smut for sure! All kinds, kinda, except not maybe what would be considered hard kink. In particular pain or knifeplay or whatever holds no attraction.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

I just wrote my first crossover! Jason Todd has crept into our hearts thanks largely to @thepartyresponsible and I just wrote two Winterhawkhood fics -- one extremely smutty (Finders Keepers) and one that's T-rated with just OTP3 implied (First Glance) so something for everyone. :-)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of, although I wouldn't be surprised, especially for my one Sterek fic that's gone "viral." I did weirdly have someone reach out and ask if they could copy a whole section of my fic into theirs (I had a very well-researched series of deductions from Sherlock as to how John was injured in Afghanistan). Nice that they asked, I guess, but I was like -- "... no?"

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! People have been amazing with translations. I can't imagine the dedication it takes to translate some of my longer fics. A lot of times people start and then life happens and they don't finish, so I'm not always sure which ones make it to the end, but I know I've had requests to translate into Spanish, Mandarin, Russian,

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I did a Winterhawk Round Robin thing {You and Me (Telepathy)} where each of us wrote our parts in a serial fashion. I wouldn't call it co-writing, though because it was deliberately kind of non-collaborative (e.g. an "exquisite corpse" exercise). Probably the closest I've come to that is when my amazing beta, @kangofu-cb bails me out with an awesome suggestion!

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

Whoa, ask me to pick a favorite child why doncha? ;-) I will put a plug in for 00Q, though -- I wasn't in that ship for a very long time but there is so much latitude to play with Q, who at the time I was in the fandom only had like ten minutes total of screentime, as well re-imagining some of the James Bond toxic masculinity tropes. And Quriosity is still one of my all-time favorite fics, and the first fic I think in which I really abandoned the "big bad is defeated in the third act" structure and made it purely about relationship development.

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

I usually write one fic at a time start-to-finish so my "WIPs" are more daydreams than actual fics-in-progress. I did write a few chapters of a fic with night-shift homicide detective Derek and magical Stiles that had more of an Enemies to Friends to Lovers structure but I don't think it will see the light of day.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Hmmm. I have the patience to persist with a long fic even if most of them take me a year or more each with the limited free time I have -- I don't typically lose interest or give up (please don't let me jinx myself).

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Probably a lot, but keeping things short and evocative is definitely one of them. Sometimes I'll read a fic that seems like a longfic crammed into 2000 words and I don't know *how* people do it. I have a lot of trouble with timeskipping or skipping unnecessary actions/conversations. Getting better at it, I hope. At least I'm not making sure my characters eat three meals a day on the page anymore. ;-)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Hell on earth. I have one fic where German readers are arguing endlessly in the comments about my word choice for endearments and insults and every time I changed it one way the next person would tell me to change it the other way. I finally gave up on reaching a consensus. I feel more comfortable writing ASL, because I have some background in that, as well as French, Spanish, and Italian which I learned at various points in school.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

X-Men (Wolverine/Rogue). Was sucked in by a fic that ended in a very ambivalent point and (extremely rudely) wrote my own ending to it and sent it to the author. Geez, I am so lucky they responded kindly! I was so new to fandom I had no clue.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Again like asking me to pick a child, but I'll put a plug in for Freedom's Reach. It's a Winterhawk set in the American West post-Civil War (e.g. the real American Civil War, not the Marvel one). It took a lot of research and that younger, more naive Clint (I call him Gosh!Clint Barton) holds a special place in my heart. It also let me explore something I'm realizing is a bit of a "this better not awaken anything in me" scenario, which is setting up a relationship dynamic that is inherently uneven and then making sure the person in the position of power is scrupulous about not taking advantage of that dynamic. Weirdly specific, but you learn something about yourself all the time!

Tagging -- oh, shoot, I don't remember who bitter tagged so I'll throw in @kangofu-cb, @pantstomatch, @noxnthea, and anyone else who wants to do this!

[roosterbox]

hey! found your blog the other day and i love it<3

do you have any arthut/eames fic recommendations? i rewatched the movie a week ago and can't stop thinking about them

(sorry about the wait!)

First of all, hey there! Hello! Glad you found me, and glad to know you liked Inception. Hard to believe that it’s still drawing so many people in, 14 years on.

Second of all…

Oh baby. Oh man. Not just fic recs, but A/E fic recs? Yesssssssss my time has come.

First, there are a couple of writers whose entire oeuvre you should definitely check out if you haven’t.

Lolahardy, whose Dreamhusbands work is vast and varied, but here are a few of my own favorites (important note: no links because Lola’s fics are currently locked, but they are easily findable if you have an AO3 account, and you should definitely check out all of them, not just the few I mentioned here!):

In Every Universe - the fic that will never die, lol. So many great A/E stories here, but for me, the biggest draw are the other JGL/TH ships contained within. My personal favorite is Forrest/Evelyn, who I almost love even more than A/E at this point. Also, so many tropes and kinks and whatnot. Safe to say, I’m positive you’ll find a lot of different things to enjoy!

Le Mal Du Pays - this one is just lovely. I reread it again for this rec list and boy… still amazing. The chapters set during canon are so good, it’s like watching the movie again, but with the added bonus of actual A/E in the plot, you know?

Love is Strange - A/E by way of Dirty Dancing! I love it when you can enjoy an AU based on a very specific property even without having seen said property. For example, I adore everything about this fic even though I have never watched DD, not even once, lol.

OneWhoSitsWithTurtles, whose A/E work is never anything less than stellar and beautiful, and regularly makes me cry. Also, they have works in other fandoms that are equally worth checking out!

Christmas Without You (Is a Christmas Not Worth Having) - the best. The pinnacle. If ever you (or anyone else, for that matter) were curious about what my favorite A/E fic of all time is? Here’s your answer.

Dream of Me - This one is just beautiful. A simple little somewhat canon-compliant love story. So sugary sweet at times, it runs the risk of being tooth-rotting. But I’m always willing to take that risk.

39 Days to Fall in Love - the survivor AU you didn’t know you were missing. Seriously, it’s so good it might make you want to watch Survivor if you haven’t already, even if you know there’s no Arthur or Eames in it, lol.

Lullaby - Hands down, the saddest A/E fic I have ever read, and certainly in the running for saddest fic period. Seriously, it’s beautiful and worth reading but don’t go in without some tissues.

The Bumblebee and the Flower who Fell in Love - Also very sad, but so very whimsical and sweet besides. A/E works well in seemingly silly setups like this.

And now, for a few more individual recs. Mind you, a lot of my recs are a bit older - I really need to go back and peruse through the ship tag to find new stuff to bookmark - but hey, something something wine metaphors, lol.

End of the Road - this one is so cool. If you like Mad Max Fury Road and ever wondered what it would be like if you combined it with A/E (sort of) and some A/B/O Dynamics, you can’t do better than this.

Quiet Desperation - a lovely little A/E and 00q crossover story! I would read an entire series of this if it existed.

Next Big Thing - A/E as judges on a HGTV reality show. Classic! The exact kind of fairly low stakes drama I can get behind. No spoilers, but my favorite character is Misty Rainbow. For one scene in particular. If you read it, you’ll know exactly which one. Also I wish this show was real.

The Party - heavy subject matter in this one (heed the tags), but getting through the rough stuff makes the eventual fluffier bits almost extra sweet.

Out of Reach - a recent addition to my ranks, but absolutely beautiful. The emotions are so palpable and heartfelt.

And… would it be completely shameless if I included a couple of mine? I don’t like to toot my own horn too much, but since nobody else ever puts me on their reclists, why not, right?

Darling I’m Killed - my somewhat still ongoing Inception/Bond crossover. There are two sequels, and I have no concrete ideas for more yet, but there’s potential.

(I Would Like To) Paint the Way a Bird Sings - the Paint Shop AU that wouldn’t quit, lol. Still can’t believe I actually finished it. Four ships for the price of one in this fic!

Other inception fandom peeps, feel free to reblog and add any fics or authors you like! Especially more recent stuff because I am such a fandom oldtimer, lmao.

Thanks for the ask! I love recommending fics! Also thanks for the follow!

Happy reading!!

❤️

[bittercape]

I was tagged by @mightymightygnomepriest, thank you lovely

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

204 posted works under 2 pseuds

2. What is your AO3 wordcount?

484,365 as of 2/6/24.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly DC and Marvel now, but I'll dip into others from time to time

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Kiss and Tell (DC, M, wc 1,845) Paradise At My Fingertips (DC, T, wc 1,559) a bird on the edge of a blade (DC, T, wc 1,261) The Unbearable Lightness of Bedding (DC, T, wc 2,045) raps at my window, waits at the gate (DC, E, wc 2,865)

5. Do you respond to comments?

I want to, and I try to, but it's difficult when I fall behind. I cherish every comment like the treasures they are, but it's sometimes very difficult to respond.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't really do angst, and at least not angsty endings. The closest I get is Once More Into the Fray or The Road to Tartarus, both RQG fics and both ending with MCD. Somehow they're still not angsty.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of my endings are happy, or at least funny. I think maybe What Spring Does With the Cherry Trees?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Very rarely

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind?

So much. Mostly M/M, but I occasionally do femslash, and sometimes omegaverse. I am far too willing to answer any challenge (or percieved challenge) that comes my way, so I have written a lot of different kinks, some of which were a struggle.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written?

Yes! I love crossovers and write a lot of DC/Marvel, which is not crazy at all. I'm quite happy with the DC/Discworld fic I wrote, though.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of, but there are some fics similar enough to mine that I have gotten anon messages about it.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! Baguettes At Dawn with @mightymightygnomepriest, and The Care And Feeding Of Tjelvar Stornsnasson, Or, What I Did Last Summer, by Edward Keystone, aged 27 with @ex-libris-craux a couple of years ago

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

So many. So, so many. Like many others, I shipped Gigolas before I knew what shipping was, and I don't think I'll ever stop shipping 00Q and Arthur/Eames. Current favourite is Jason/Slade, but I'm willing to ship Jason with almos anyone. Sailing up as a new fave is Jason/Frank Castle. And of course Winterhawk, which truly has some of the best writers out there.

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

Avignon, which I struggle with because of JKR. It's been ten years, so if I don't manage to pick it up this year, it's probably officially abandoned.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I've been told I'm good at beginnings, and I like to set the scene with a bang -- which is a necessity when mainly writing shorter fics like I do. I've also been told my dialogue is good.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I like writing long paragraphs, which is not universally appreciated. I'm trying to find a balance. I struggle a lot with writing longer fics, and I think it's unlikely I'll aim for anything longer than 20k again, at least when I'm writing on my own.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I've done it a couple of times, mostly single sentences in Russian for Nat or Bucky. As a reader, I enjoy it a lot.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

What Spring Does With the Cherry Trees is probably the one where I made the most effort and I think it shows. How To Get Ahead In Gotham was probably one of the most fun to write. But I think my actual favourite is Seven Days in June, which is a tiny little found documents-style thing and possibly the most me thing I've ever written.

No-pressure tagging: @ex-libris-craux @there-must-be-a-lock @drgrlfriend @katzynia @daisyapples

[earlgreyinpajamas]

omg wing aus for both plzzzz

00q

pt 1

Reciprocation by Casstea

Q wasn’t sure what the punishment was for hitting on an angel, but the worst that could happen was that he was sent back to hell again.

~~~

this fic brings me back to when i dipped my toes in the spn fandom for a hot sec lmao

2. On Flight by beaubete

The one where feathers appear out of nowhere.

~~~

i screamed at the ending

3. learning to fly by reallyneedsalife

Many jobs in the world were decided by people's wings. MI6, mostly, was no exception.

James had always been an efficient flyer, so when Eve tells him Q is afraid of flying he wants to know more.

After all, Q was an avian too, and it was almost unheard of for them to fear the sky.

~~~

the use of the superstition!!!

merthur

An Angel in Disguise by Elveatas (Ricecake)

Arthur finds out that Merlin is his guardian angel. Literally.

~~~

i love thiss!!

2. A Kind of Magic by schweet_heart

“Must you be tiresome about everything? How long have we known each other?”

“A while,” Merlin allowed. It had been at least six thousand years by last count, give or take a decade or two. “Are you saying you fucked me simply because I was available?”

“No.” Arthur sounded almost exasperated. “I’m saying I’ve been wanting to do that since the Garden of Eden.”

In which Merlin is a demon who did not so much fall as saunter vaguely downwards, and Arthur is the insufferable prat of an angel who loves him.

~~~

fhsjdsh a good omens fusion??? yesss

3. light as a feather by apileofashandember (@apileofashandember)

based on yashershum's post/art on tumblr -- Merlin should really learn to stop taking spells meant for Arthur.

~~~

i cannot lose you!!! i cannot lose you!!!

[aniron48]

20 questions for fic writers

Thank you for the tag, @anyawen! These were so much fun!

Answers under the cut, and tagging @sweetbabyangels, @mr-iskender, @stinastar, @aprettyspy and @thestalwartheart, in case you haven't done this already and it's of interest!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 30! That number seems astonishing to me now, considering I started writing fic in earnest like a year-and-a-half ago. 😁

2. What’s your total A03 word count? 138,358

3. What fandoms do you write for? James Bond, Glass Onion/Knives Out, and I just wrote my first fic for The Old Guard fandom, which has pulled me in by the lapels and refused to let me go. And the very first fic I ever wrote was for Stardew Valley.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? 1. A Good Man (Benoit Blanc/Phillip) 2. rain (00q) 3. open line (00q) 4. The More Loving One (00q) 5. Must Love Cats (00q)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Ok yes I definitely do and I love to *and also* I'm so sorry, I'm 288 days (yes I just checked) behind in responding to comments, because this year has been...something else. So, taking the opportunity to say that a) all of your comments are incredible bright spots for me, and b) I am working my way steadily through and enjoying your comments all over again as I re-read and respond to them.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? WELP (eyes my pile o' fics warily). If we go based off the fics with "Major Character Death" as a warning, for a certain value of angst, it's a tie between offering and and the wind at their backs. But both of these fics deal with grief, and the complicated emotions that result from the persistence of love even after the object of that love is gone, and there's some hope in that, too, I think.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? lmao most of the rest of them other than the two in number 6? 😂 this is a hard one to answer, so I'll list my RomCom-iest fics for now (Must Love Cats for 00q and in a space that they belong for The Old Guard). Special shout-out to 'tis the damn season, though, because the happiness at the end of this fic feels like some of the hardest fought, to me, and some of the tenderest I've written, I think.

8. Do you get hate on fics? No--I've gotten a few less than diplomatic comments, and a couple people making unflattering notes in bookmarks that I don't think they meant for me to see, but nothing terrible.

9. Do you write smut? ::offers you rain and for the age of the earth, and after as if I am a sommelier presenting you with some very fine wine:: "this one has notes of--" you know what I'm just going to stop there.

10. Do you write crossovers? I haven't yet!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? No, thank goodness (knocks on wood).

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Not yet! #goals

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Use. Your. Words., which was a collaborative poem for 007 fest 2023. 😁

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship? I spent about five minutes hemming and hawing about this but you know what, it's impossible to pick. 😂

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Like Anyawen, I have aspirations of finishing all the ones hanging out in my Scrivener app...someday. Probably the one I have the most doubts about is a 5 + 1 fic where Bond tries out different activities post retirement. I still love the idea and some of the vision I had for this one, but it lives almost entirely in my head, still.

16. What are your writing strengths? I think maybe I have a good ear for language, both in terms of the rhythm of sentences and paragraphs, and for conveying a character's voice or accent. But it's hard to assess your own strengths, sometimes, so that's just my best guess!

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I'm actively working on trying to be better at descriptions, especially in giving details about setting or background. I realized I give these things short shrift, sometimes, and want to change that!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I'll do it with languages I'm fluent in (and have done it with Spanish, since I'm a native speaker).

19. First fandom you wrote for? Stardew Valley, in What Dreams May Come.

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written? Omg, another one that is almost impossible to answer! I think I have to go with all the flags we've hung. This is one of my least popular fics--it's a rarepair, the love depicted in it is complicated (though no less real), and it deals with light topics like, you know, structural racism in the United States. As one does. But it's a fic that's incredible close to my heart, for many reasons, and I remain so proud of this one.

Phew! If you have read all of this you deserve a cupcake. 💜

xoxo, Ani

[lilolilyr]

20 questions for fic writers

Thanks so much for tagging me, @purlturtle :) you have 1/8 of the amount of fics I have but a higher wordcount, do you write super long fics or do I write super short ones? xD I think the answer is Yes To Both! :D

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

574 when counting the normal ones as well as both the ones posted for ao3 users only, and the ones posted on anon! (If you also have anon works and want to know your total, you can get to the view in the screenshot when you have or are part of a collection and click on ‘people’ of the collection)

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

1,346,577

largely due to the craziness that was 2021 when I was supposed to write my bachelor thesis and instead(I did manage to write my thesis) also wrote over half a million words in fanfic.

And I’m almost at my goal of 100k for the year! Which I didn’t think I’d reach, but flufftober helped a lot there :D

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Too many xD

atm I’m actively writing for Warehouse 13, Holby City, Star Trek, Lie to Me and Hacks

Some other fandoms I’m still in and will probably write more fics for are Good Omens, Gunpowder Milkshake, The Old Guard and Lord of the Rings

You can find my whole fandom list on Ao3, 70 fandoms if I counted correctly!

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

All three parts of the Inkubus Jaskier series (The Witcher, rated M-E) have 600-1000 kudos, I do like these fics but I think the fandom is also just very large.

As it Should be, a 00Q meets Q is a Holmes (James Bond + BBC Sherlock) fanfic, and probably my fav fanfic I’ve written that deserves the ‘humor’ tag, has 617 kudos

Spooky Eyes, the one and only Venom fanfic I’ve written (I have not watched the movie and I haven’t even spent thaat much time in the fandom either) has 588 kudos, and has been my most kudosed fic with over 500 kudos for quite a while before the others overtook it

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

I usually do, yes! I love getting comments and want to encourage people to comment by replying to them, and also lovely conversations can happen in the comment sections, as well as mini ficlets of their own! So yes I do want to reply :)

If I don’t, it’s probably just that I didn’t yet, either because I didn’t find the time or because while I did reply to other comments I’m waiting to reply to some because I want to wait until I have the next update in the fic/series/fandom so I can let the commenters know in my reply that there’s more

Or if a comment is really long and detailed and I want to reply in the same detail but don’t currently have the energy for it, or there’s sth complicated in the comment I want to address, I might not answer it yet even though I’ve replied to other comments since

Also sometimes a comment is just really neat and I want to keep looking at it in my Unreads :D

But I do plan to answer all comments eventually:) (unless I ever get so swamped in them that I can’t, but I’ve by no means reached that level of comment spam - I have gotten 2686 comments total, 298 unread, of the unreads probably a hundred are real old ones that are left unread for one reason or other, then probably another hundred I want to reply to if/when I post more, and the rest I’m just gonna reply Eventually xD I’ll have you know that I did reply to most flufftober ones more or less immediately while the event was still going and I even went through some of the backlog while I was at it!)

The only times I don’t answer a comment is when I don’t know whether the commenter meant to be rude (if I know they’re being rude on purpose I just delete, not counting those here) and/or I genuinely don’t know how to reply, if it’s a co-authored work and someone else already replied and I have nothing to add, or if it’s a reply to a reply to a comment and the conversation has petered out

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I think I’ve got a post-canon TOG ficlet with Romeo and Juliet vibes where everybody dies in the end?

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I live for happy endings, no idea what counts as ‘happiest’, all my shippy little getting together and/or everybody lived nobody died fix-its are pretty darn happy imo :D

8. Do you get hate on fic?

Not usually, there have been some that I know I immediately deleted and now can’t remember anymore bc I was clever and immediately deleted lmao, but idk whether anything was ever bad enough to be called hate… and I never had to restrict comments on any fic before

9. Do you write smut?

Oh hell yeah! :D

Though, and I’m always surprised by this, I’ve only got 71 (out of the 574) E rated fics! And 56 M that might have a smut scene or some violence idk, and the 81 not rated ones are more often left that way for violence or angst reasons than for smut… so yeah, main chunks are G & T rated with 198 and 168 fics respectively!

Still, I definitely do write smut, and there’s some quite good erotica there if I may say so!

10. Do you write crossovers?

Rarely, I think most of what shows in the ‘crossover’ tab is just fic I tagged with more of basically the same fandom (Star Trek, Star Trek: Discovery, etc), and the rest is probably AUs set in another fandom’s world without character crossovers

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I’m aware of!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yeah :D most notably the chaotic Mirandy smutfic ‘Surrendering to Andrea’ with 5 authors: @athousandforests @guardianrock @scarlet-heels @stupidsexycopshows, and most recently the latest fic on my Ao3 actually, Bering and Wells ‘Drunken Considerations’ with @lavendelhummel!

I also made different sorts of collabs with Podfic and arts etc for events and just for fun with @thewalkingmeepa (DWP) @bookgirlfan (Star Trek) @artax-risen (Dracula) @badasspantiestalker (Star Trek) @cinnamonplums (TOG) @jackwolfskid (TOG) sorry if I forgot anyone!

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

Don’t make me choose!!!!!

Like literally I can’t! And I don’t even know how to define favorite - 1 the one I enjoy to write for most, 2 the one I like to read most, 3 the one I’m fangirling most about, 4 the one that wrecks me most with feels, 5 the ones I can always return to… those are different ships! Also because my favs are not necessarily the biggest fandoms, so I might not be able to spend so much fandom time on them bc I read all the fics ages ago already lmao

In order of above categories: 1 Milippa Prime, 2 Mirandy and Berena, 3 Bering and Wells, 4 again Milippa and Bering and Wells and also Floreleine(&Librarywives&Killercule) and Andromaquynh(& also the ot3) and Jadzia x Lenara, 5 Bering and Wells and ClintCoulson and J7

By sheer ‘has been mentioned most often in this list’ I suppose the crown goes to Bering and Wells!

But I really just love them all. And others too.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

The Ocean’s 8 series ‘A Heistwives Kinda Job’ I started in 2018 and kinda lost track of. I think the parts stand well on their own though so it’s not sooo bad but I’m still a bit sad that that never got finished and now probably never will because I just don’t know where I was going with it anymore & also don’t remember the details from the first parts well enough to continue it anyway

16. What are your writing strengths?

I can write pretty quickly and when I’ve got an idea I can just write it down in one go!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

If it’s too long to be written down in one go or I don’t have the time I will forget about it

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

There are different ways to deal with this and my preference Depends - if the characters and therefore the reader don’t need to know what it says, or it’s even relevant that they don’t understand, I’d leave the foreign language in as is, maybe have a chapter end note with what it says, same if what’s said is already explained by the reactions of the characters or something

If it’s one or two languages that are frequently used in the fic and with relevant info, I’d have a note at the beginning of the chapter saying which one’s cursive and which one’s bold and then type everything in English. If the character is abroad or sth and all the dialogue is for example French I’d just mention the fact that it’s French in the note or have it mentioned in the fic that they’re speaking French the first time it happens, but then proceed as usual without even making it cursive or anything

For anything in-between, like relevant info mentioned in foreign language once or a few times, I’d write the foreign language in fic and link down to an end note with the translation and a ^ link back to text. I don’t like having original and translation in-text side by side because imo it just reads in an annoying way, and it’s especially annoying if the reader knows both languages.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

According to Ao3, it’s The Hobbit. According to old sheets of paper somewhere in my childhood bedroom, it’s probably self-insert Hanni & Nanni (St Clare’s) ficlets xD I think I called my SIOC ‘Lilo Liliana’ to be fancy and that’s the origin story for my username! Adsfghjkl I hadn’t thought about that in ages.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

That would still have to be Andromaquynh In Your Stead.

Now closely followed by my Milippa road-trip AU and my Star Trek University AU (that I’m still writing more one-shots for) though!

And you can find all my author’s favs in the tag on Ao3!

Tagging, only if you want to do it of course, everyone I’ve already tagged above as well as @die-schwanenkoenigin, @squishmittenficfan, @xvnot15, @viharistenno, @wellsbering, @lesbianlotties, @batnbreakfast, @danisnotmyname, @charlottepriestly, @onaperduamedee, @lonely-night, @sapphicscholar, @73chn1c0l0rr3v3l lavendelhummel and everyone else who sees this :)

Blanks to copy:

1. How many works do you have on ao3? 2. What’s your total ao3 word count? 3. What fandoms do you write for? 4. What are your top five fics by kudos? 5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? 6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? 7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? 8. Do you get hate on fic? 9. Do you write smut? 10. Do you write crossovers? 11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? 12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? 14. What’s your all-time favourite ship? 15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t? 16. What are your writing strengths? 17. What are your writing weaknesses? 18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? 19. First fandom you wrote for? 20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

[seiya-starsniper]

20 questions for fic writers!

TRIPLE TAG THREAT from my faves @arialerendeair @bazzybelle and @honeyteacakes, I love you guys so so so much!!!!! 💖💖💖

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I have 36 in total published, a whole bunch more in drafts!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

167,076 which is crazy when you consider 146,736 are just from THIS YEAR

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The Sandman, currently! I have a couple of WIPs for other fandoms but I just haven't gotten around to them.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Dreams for a Dozen Cats - 527 kudos A Dream for a Viscount - 513 kudos and if I get burned, at least we were electrified - 504 kudos Wake Up & Smell The Flowers - 457 kudos Let's conspire to ignite - 397 kudos

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

I do! I've been bad about it lately, but I love responding because I absolutely adore the dynamic of being able to communicate with my readers. It's just a tiring exercise and I have to be really in the mood to do it! But I absolutely love and adore every comment I receive 💖💖💖

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

A sweet dream - it's the only one where I've used the tag Main Character Death! The ending is quite hopeful, but the death is in fact permanent, take care if you choose to read it!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hnnnnnnngh I have absolutely no fucking idea because they almost all have really happy endings! That's like asking me to pick a favorite child. Honestly though, if you want sappy and sexy romance throughout an entire fic with literally zero conflict, then my happiest ending is probably A Dream for a Viscount. If you want ANGST ANGST ANGST with a massive payoff and a lot of hurt/comfort leading up to a soft ending, my happiest ending is the one in and if I get burned, at least we were electrified

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not on AO3! In my ff.net days though, whew lordy the salt was strong whenever I wrote somebody's NOTP and dared to publish it. Those were some interesting days.

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

Well, seeing as I am a mod for @monsterfucktoberbingo....I think you can probably guess what type of smut I write LMAO. I do write quite a bit of omegaverse too just to spice things up 😄

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

I have! Back in my ff.net days, my teenage self LIVED on the high school fandom crossover fic. I shall never return to those days ever again, but I had a good time. I also recently wrote this Dreamling/SnowBaz crossover for my beloved @bazzybelle💖💖💖

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge! I never really participated in fandoms where fic stealing was common thankfully.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have! I have absolutely no idea what site it ended up on, but I've had my fics translated into Russian and Chinese.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not in a really long time! When I was a teen, I used to RP characters with my friends as a writing exercise, and then that would turn into a fic! I also absolutely LOVED the round robin fic culture back in the old livejournal days. (can you tell I'm dating myself heavily lmao)

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

00Q hands down. I'm still reading old favorites to this day. Although, I will admit Dreamling is a pretty damn close second considering *gestures vaguely(

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

Oh lord, I have quite a few, published and unpublished. Most of my published unfinished WIPs are just rotting on ff.net and I've made my peace with them. Unpublished WIPs...I have quite a few SamBucky fics that never made it out of drafts and I'm really sad about that because I really loved that ship at one point :(

16. What are your writing strengths?

I have a few I'm pretty proud of: - Succinctness: I can tell a whole story in under 10k words. One-shots are my bread and butter. - Angst: Do you want to cry? I'll make you cry and wring your soul out with no regrets. - Fluff: On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you want to feel soft and like you're snuggling with a cloud, I can do that for you too. Fluff is such a delight to write, because I like to feel good, and I love making others feel good too 💖 - Dialogue: I love writing dialogue. It's such a delight to try and figure what a character would say when placed in ~situations~

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Whew lordy, here we goooooooooooo: - Longfic/Multichapter fics: I can and have written longer fics, but it's highly demotivating for me. I am struggling so hard to finish my multi-chapter fics right now, it's a nightmare. I'll get there, but... - Descriptions: I AM SO BAD AT MAKING SETTINGS AND DESCRIBING HOW PEOPLE LOOK. I'm sure some people will disagree with me, but I some days I truly hate my inability to describe things the way I want to, or the way I've seen other people be able to. It is a thing I am working on, for sure, I know it's just a matter of practice. - WIP hell: I start and stop things at the drop of a hat. Rest in pieces to all my ideas stuck in partially written states - Plot Summaries: I can write a whole thing and be utterly unable to give you a plot summary. Save me hahahahaha

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I LOVE IT. It's not for me since I only speak English, but I love coming across it in fic.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Yu-Gi-Oh!

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

...heh. I thought this was gonna be harder but it's definitely and if I get burned, at least we were electrified. This fic dragged me out of lurking in fandom to full on writing and participating again. It's my most canon-adjacent fic. It's got angst and action and feelings. It has tentacle sex. It has the Corinthian being indulged within an inch of his life. This fic is a love letter to myself, it the reason I am here, in sandman fandom, writing as much as I am. Is it my best written story out of all my fics? No, it was my first fic after a long writing hiatus and while I consider it a well written piece, I also like to think my writing quality has increased since I first wrote it. But it is my favorite fic, for all the reasons above, and for the sheer joy it brought into my life then, and in the subsequent months after.

Tagging: @valiantstarlights @five-and-dimes @chaosheadspace @ironwoman359 @silver-dream89 @rosaren2498 @bruce-wayne-simp @acedragontype and whoever else wants to do it!

[silverdragonreads]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: James Bond (Craig Movies) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James Bond/Q Characters: James Bond, Q (James Bond) Additional Tags: Romance, Getting Together, Post-Movie: Skyfall (2012), M | Olivia Mansfield Lives, Mutual Pining, Jealousy, Jealous James Bond, Jealous Q (James Bond), Friends to Lovers, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Happy Ending, One Shot Summary:

The first time it happens, it is pure impulse.

Pure, pathetic, perplexing impulse.

[themirokai]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged in this by the incredible @pellaaearien . Thank you so much, dear! I really did start working on it when you tagged me and have picked away at it ever since. It’s quite long!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

49

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

122,560. I write short things.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

In chronological order I have written:

BBC Sherlock- Mystrade only

James Bond

Doctor Who

Star Wars

Person of Interest

Arcane

Cats the Musical

Sandman

In theory I’m open to writing in any of those again and any others as the inspiration strikes.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5 - Worship (Sandman, Dreamling), also received the comment that inspired my first tumblr post to breach containment.

4 - Who He Is (Mystrade), my first fic on ao3 besides the ones I moved to the Other Account. I’m a bit surprised by this honestly. It’s got age on its side but my writing has improved a lot since then. It reads as a bit clunky to me now.

3 - Loverboy (Sandman, Dreamling + Matthew the Emotional Support Raven), first time I brought my 2 Sandman series together and my first multi chap Sandman fic.

2 - The Century Gentleman (Sandman, Dreamling), I got this written and posted pretty soon after the show aired when there was a massive demand for Dreamling content and before there was a tidal wave of content to meet the demand. I have mixed feelings about it now.

1 - Sort It (James Bond & Sherlock crossover, 00Q + Mystrade), fills the niche of “Q is a Holmes brother” + fluffy Mystrade. I do still really love this story.

5. Do you respond to comments?

My rule is that I do. And I’ve generally been very diligent about it. But I burnt out a little while writing Grave and I currently have an embarrassing number of unread comments in my ao3 inbox that I keep telling myself that I need to respond to…

So if folks have commented on my stuff in the last month or so, I’m very sorry I haven’t responded.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Sequenced Proposals. No contest. Look, the character is terminally ill in canon and it’s a lawyer AU so it wasn’t going to end with him becoming a cyborg. I cried a lot while writing it. Apparently a lot of people cried while reading it. Technically he’s still alive when the story ends.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

With the one notable exception discussed above I pretty much exclusively write warm, fluffy, occasionally funny stuff. They pretty much all end happily. I am a quokka of fan fiction.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven’t! Someone called me a bitch in a Sequenced Proposals comment but even though we had never interacted before, they meant it positively.

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

Not on this account. 😏

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I’ve written 2: Sort It, as mentioned above, and Dreaming of Leverage, which is a Sandman & Leverage crossover. I’d say the latter is crazier.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nooooo. And I can’t see ever doing it. Writing is very much a solo activity for me.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

I can’t pick a favorite. I adore every ship I’ve written.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I will probably not finish Law School Days. I know how the story ends and that’s good enough for me and no one was clamoring for it. I still like to think I’ll finish Lonely Two-Legged Creatures some day.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I’m good at dialogue, especially dialogue in which characters talk about their feeeeeelings. I guess I’m also good at emotional intelligence in stories. And creating the warm & fuzzies.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Plot and description. I almost exclusively write very short things because I am incapable of plot that would carry a longer story. Also, if I’m being honest, one of the things I like about writing fan fiction is that I don’t have to describe what anyone looks like or sounds like! Y’all know that already. But I do get the flop sweats if I have to describe someone wearing clothing that is not a t-shirt and jeans.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I wish I could! More than 15 years ago I was basically conversational in Spanish, but now I’m functionally monolingual. I do appreciate when people who do this provide translations.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

As a kid, before I knew what fan fiction was, I wrote at least 100 pages of what was essentially OCs in Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar. The first fandom I intentionally wrote and posted fic for was Mystrade.

20. Favourite fic you've written?

Can’t do this, sorry. There are some of my stories that no longer resonate with me the way they did when I wrote them, but they’re in the minority and of the rest it’s impossible to pick a favorite.

Phew! That was a lot. Whenever I tag people in these I always say no pressure but really and seriously this time there’s no pressure and you don’t need to tell me why you’re not doing it. Just ignore. ALSO, if you’ve already done it and I missed it, apologies! With that said @once-in-a-blue-moon-rising @lavenderandvanilla @ml-nolan @mashumaru @ibrithir-was-here @karalynlovescake @stormofsharpthings @argylepiratewd

[rarepairnation]

20 questions for writers!

tagged by @emyn-arnens literally over a month ago and im finally getting to it now lol much love thank you for continuing to tag me in things even though im the worst at doing them sometimes.

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 65 (15 of them are under my archive pseud though lol)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 265,381

3. What fandoms do you write for? actively writing for lotr, pacific rim, my secret little marvel rarepair

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? these are so funny they're all my avatar work from before i remade on this blog. well throwback i guess. they're still dear to me.

open arms, atla sokka coming out to his dad

earth system history, atla sokka/zuko college au where zuko is an earth scientist

[redacted h*rry p*tter work from 2016]

love's not for show, atla bato/hakoda sokka creates a master plan to get his dad and bato to admit that theyre dating but they're NOT

knife loves heart, human loves human, james bond 007/q post-spectre fixit fic (my Only 00q and possibly also my only fixit fic?)

5. Do you respond to comments? i try so so so hard but the executive function that allows me to say anything coherent only comes around every so often lol

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? a couple contenders for this one but if we're talking strictly the ending probably i'm not leaving (til we make it home) (exu calamity patia & laerryn / patia & the ring of brass exploring her relationship with love and loneliness and finally being free to express how much she loves her friends only in the last hours of her life and dying happy for it).

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? also a couple contenders for this one but i feel like many of them are tinged with not a small amount of melancholy. so we are going with a big throwback to sun through open windows (atlok mako/wu plotless little morning routines fic that is about nothing in particular but also about realizing you have everything your younger self thought you would never have).

8. Do you get hate on fics? not in a long long time (like probably 7-8 years) thank god!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? yes although none of it is published (yet). what kind? idk man whatever im horny about this month. ok but for serious. really been into character developing smut. do u know what i mean. i’m telling you something about who each of these people are and how they view each other through the way they fuck. this probably says quite a lot about me

10. Do you write crossovers? i'm not much for the kind where characters from different franchises Interact, but i am partial to taking some guys and translating them to a different setting. ah to put characters in a situation and watch as the fundamental core of their being stays the same....

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? hope not lol

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? not that i'm aware of!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? yes! we have not finished it but it's absolutely CORE thesis-level influential on my entire psyche. even if we never get back to it i'll think about it until the day i die and that is not an exaggeration.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? of ALL TIME? i straight up dont know if i can answer this one. ALL TIME???? my long-term emotional permanence is NOT good enough and my recency bias is too strong for this. ok i think the only way i can answer this is with the ship that has gotten the deepest into my psyche and my soul. which is yancytendo pacific rim. they. affect me. on a level i will probably never be able to fully explain. the 'giving a guy built only to be a thematic device a personality and a history and deep gut-wrenching grief' of it all. the 'you are in love with a guy who is doomed by the narrative and despite your best efforts it means that he is a personification of all the grief you carry inside of you' of it all. yancy becket you will live forever in my heart tendo choi you will ALWAYS be famous. augh. yeah i picked right

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

hmm probably something about the way you look tonight, my mallorytanner thesis statement fic, the genesis of which was genuinely a life-altering event to me. i was listening to the titular elton john song walking home from a general chemistry exam in the snow and i was struck so violently with An Image for truly the first time in my life. truly not ONCE before that moment had that happened to me. this was in my freshman year of college this fic has existed in various forms for going on FIVE YEARS. will it ever be done. GOD i fucking hope so. i actually do hold out hope for that one.

the one i am actually hopeless on ever finishing is orogenesis, the sprawling expanded stemverse pianjeong backstory au fic. the whole structure of it is quite clear in my head actually. i just didn't have the life experience to create the plot structure to go with the emotional beats when it generated itself in my mind in 2020-21 and now that i DO have it the problem is that the inciting event is incredibly clear to me and yet bears too close of a resemblance to. personal events and horrors. for me to ever finish it! i'll think about it forever though. creating and writing that au changed my life for real it was the longest thing i'd ever written and the best when i wrote it and it's still very close to my heart.

16. What are your writing strengths? characterization and character development baby. evocative use of metaphor in descriptions of both character and setting. lavish description.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? PLOT. cant create that from my brain and i rarely attempt it. i have plenty of stuff to write about that does not require it. relatedly not great at worldbuilding.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? generally don't do it much except for a stray word or two. i don't mind reading it though! tolkien fic writers who translate full sentences you are god's strongest soldiers.

19. First fandom you wrote for? ough this one will be embarrassing. entering the archive pseud. wait is it also tolkien that's funny. life is a circle in some ways. this is first fandom on my ao3 account btw. the VERY first one i wrote for...i will take that knowledge to the grave.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

ah i feel like my answer for this one changes every time but i can't help it, i love many of my darlings equally. this time im giving the spotlight to life holds onto you, my chris pike & jim kirk post-star trek 2009 fic that is a few thousand words of 'what if your sort of son feared that you thought he was taking everything you ever wanted from you and he is right that you have thought that but you are learning how wrong you are.' i cried in the university library writing it and reread it recently and remembered it was good. recency bias baby

tagging the usual suspects @potatoesandsunshine @aaronstveit

[mi6-cafe]

End of the Year Survey Summary

Thank you all for all of you who left feedback this year! We’ve had the chance to look through your comments and, with the help of our new volunteer team, have distilled them into some actionable items. Now a community survey is nothing without the community, so here we’ll provide a summary of some responses, hint at some plans for the future, and share your best moments!

Full details under the cut, but in short: One new rec list focused event, many returning events, and look out for a quarterly theme coming near the end of the year.

007 Fest and WIP Wednesday are always at the top of the favorite events list, but it was nice to see some newer events were in the top five as well, like Remix and our Halloween commenting challenge. Both of which we plan on doing again this year.

There wasn’t really a huge consensus on whether you all prefer themes or prompts, so that won’t be changing much. We will keep sprinkling in specific prompt lists throughout the year, but some months will just have a broader theme for you to draw inspiration from.

A few people suggested doing more to encourage rec lists, and we are trialing a new event: Weekend Wonders. Once a month we will give a theme/trope/character and ask that you suggest one fanwork in which it features. We will then do a round-up post of all the recommendations at the end of the weekend. You can see the January one here.

It’s been some time since we had writing workshops and there’s been some requests for these again. We are working on trying to develop something with a simpler format so that it’s easier to host. If you want to help with this, please reach out and let us know!

There’s also some interest in creating a zine, but your mods know nothing of this. If any of you do and would be willing to create a community document of what it involves, please do and share it with us!

Saturday Cafes have been much quieter lately, but we now have a set of prompt questions pinned to the writer’s corner slack channel for anyone to answer and hopefully spark some more discussion with whoever else is around and writing.

We tried doing a year-long theme of Characters of Bond last year and it... well, middling success. You seemed to like the idea even though we sometimes forgot to promote it and many of you were busy. Someone suggested quarterly themes and we really like this idea. We likely won’t start until the end year, but we loved the idea!

You all said you do enjoy our creatively named months even if there’s not a specific prompt to go with it. Which is good, cause we enjoy coming up with silly alliterations. Those won’t be going anywhere.

And finally,

Do you have a fun fandom moment/highlight from this year to share? 

Definitely Mac making her entry in the 00Q fandom! I’m not an avid fic reader but her work is always so on point I have a hard time not seeing 00Q through her lens anymore.

i'm obsessed with WIP Wednesdays. I adore seeing snippets of new works

Getting kidnapped during Fest was pretty cool!Honestly the slack in general has been fun. It's hard to have a place to feel safe in fandom these days.

I absolutely loved Remix! It was such a fun challenge and I loved seeing how my own work was remixed.

During Fest, Team 00 had a spreadsheet for contributions (like lyrics to be inspired by, photos, etc). The absolute chaos as we discovered only two of us knew how to use a spreadsheet was AMAZING (and hilarious).

I loved interacting with the authors and getting to know them through their writing and ongoing works and prompts.

Fest was awesome.

This year was a blast. I worked on 4 longish 00q fics (two of which were based on MI6 Cafe themes). My collaboration with Anya for Harry Potter and the Fucking Audacity was possibly the most fun (and also stressful because it was unplanned and I had other things to work on), but I also enjoyed writing my crossover AU and my NTTD fix it. Basically, toward the end of last year I was worried that I was running out of stories in this fandom, and the themes MI6 Cafe supplied definitely spurred new ideas that kept me excited and creative... even if I only used one or two of them in the year, they kept me busy much of the year. And Fest is always fun, but I particularly enjoyed this year. Seriously love you guys! I feel so fortunate that you maintain this wonderful fandom community and space that feels safe and I can contribute to, but that will survive without me when I get too busy with RL (or FTH) to participate much. Thank you!

I’ve enjoyed the fandom since joining, thanks for the work you do and spaces you keep!

Fest is usually a delight

I very much enjoyed the 007 fun Fest and being able to participate in the smaller, less time consuming challenges. It was the first time I had done something like this and my personal highlight was being able to come up with my very own 4 line poem in a bid to rescue the fic author from the villains team :D

For me it was just joining the fandom. I joined around the start of summer this year and it has been a blast so far. I don't engage in fandom spaces often and to join one that is so supportive and chill in its own way is definitely a highlight.

appreciate everything mods have done! This was a fun year.

Oh goodness: Fest. It was amazing! LOVE all the creativity! And it seems like it created a momentum throughout the year.

There have been so many moments for me, as a new member of the fandom, to be bowled over by the sheer talent and incredible camaraderie. Thank you, thank you, for the welcome and the amazing creative community!

[wordsonamission]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks so much for tagging me in this, @acetonitril! Sorry for the delay, but I wanted to really think out my answers.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

12 currently! This is my first year actually posting fics and I'm happy with my progress.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

118,159! There's a chance I'll get another fic finished soon, too . . . And maybe I'll be able to sneak in something short and smutty before the end of the year.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

All I've published is Top Gun. I'm not going to be surprised if I end up writing soapghost for the COD games. Y'all have some superb writers and artists that keep drawing me in. Historically, I started some small 00Q and Destiel stuff back in ye olde golden days. There's a dramione fic from on my old computer from years back that was like 30k before I stopped.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Kissed By The Sun

Falling Into Place

A Safe Place to Land

Running on Empty

Spare

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

Yes! If someone was kind enough to make the effort to leave a comment, I want to make sure that they know I saw it and that I appreciate them for letting me know what they think. I don't generally reply the same day, but I try to reply within a couple of days. I love hearing what readers think and I hope that me engaging back only encourages more comments

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmmm I have a couple. Mission Report is a whole pile of angst just as a concept. It's short and sad all the way through imo. Spare ends on a really big cliffhanger which can be read as sad; a character is left in a really fragile medical state. Snow Day is so sweet but then the end is just a gut-punch. You could say that I like to temper fluff and steamy stuff with sadness and angst.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

If the ending isn't sad, it's usually pretty happy. Or at least hopeful. I think I'll give happiest ending award to A Cookie Conundrum. It's so silly and light, no angst.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

None that I've ever seen. But I'm still new and I write safe fics as far as subject and pairings.

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

Yeah lol. I'm still getting used to writing it. What kind? Pretty standard MLM fic smut. I'd like to write harder edged stuff in the future, but right now it tends to be really loving stuff.

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

I haven't. That's not something I'm super into as a reader or as a writer. Never say never - it'll only take the right combo to get me going I'm sure, but it hasn't happened yet.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I've seen. That is a worry of mine.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No. I'm still new and I don't see that Top Gun has a lot of fics that get translated (I could be very wrong and missing out)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No I haven't.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

All time ever favorite? Yeesh. Uhhhhh I'll cop out and say that I enjoy a similar dynamic to my favorites - they're highly competent in their field but often less confidant about romance, there's a degree of imbalance in the relationship (rank, age gap, experience, etc), and I'm an absolute sucker for a character that doesn't let anyone else emotionally close who lets That Guy in.

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

I don't think I'm going to finish any of the old fic I mentioned, like from years ago. If I pick up those fandoms and pairings again, I'll start over.

16. What are your writing strengths?

God I don't know. I consider myself someone with a good grasp on grammar and how things Should be written as far as that goes (please go ahead and point out all of my mistakes, I know they're everywhere) which helps with readability. Comments repeatedly point out that even my smut is very tender and emotional. I tend to write characters affirming each other and being very giving lovers. I'm sure that says nothing about me as a person. I really like to dig into missing scenes to expand the emotional complexity of the canon story.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Knowing when and how to end a story. One of those writing posts that go around here mentioned going back a couple of paragraphs when you get stuck, which has been so true for me. But endings are still so hard. Writing sex is still weird, too, and I can get stuck on a single scene for days. Coming up with titles is also so, so hard. Occasionally one will appear and I'll run with it, but usually it's one of the last things done before I post. I'm really not happy with the titles for my Ace Week fics.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Do you mean including characters speaking a different language and writing their dialogue in that language? A block of text in another language is rough on a reader and there's not really a good work around. Asterisks to the bottom of the page don't work on A03.

If I want a reader to know what a character is saying, I'd make note of the language change and use italics in dialogue but otherwise write normally. If the characters are in a situation where I DON'T want them or the reader to understand, then I'd type the language in italics.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

I've written what I would now call fanfic off and on my whole life. When I was seven, I wrote a horribly indulgent self-insert fic of me joining the characters of one of my favorite book series (Pony Pals) for an adventure. In middle school, before the publication of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I wrote my own version. I think I filled like two notebooks. I wonder if it's still around somewhere - I had some good ideas, some that were better than canon ended up imo

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

Running on Empty! I loved it as one chapter but I really enjoy the whole story as it turned out in three. The only big thing I might change is tweaking the emotions Maverick feels after he and Ice finally get together. But that story flowed so well while writing and I really loved the world that I created with their families and especially Lisa and Jason for Slider. Plus I feel like that fic really addresses some of the trauma that Maverick went through and how he wasn't getting the support he needed in the OG movie.

That went long! Thanks again to @acetonitril for tagging me in this. I'm sure everyone else has already chimed in, but feel free to jump in if not. These are some great questions!

[killerandhealerqueen]

For the 'ask a reader' meme - A3, A9, B3, B4, C4, C9, D2, D6, D7

A3. When did you get your AO3/FFN/Wattpad account (whichever was first)?

Oh lord...I got my FFN account first and I was in highschool then, probably 9th grade so...2014? I had an AFF (AsianFanFics) account and a DeviantArt account before that where I posted fanfics. That was in middle school so...maybe 2012-2013?

A9. Who was your first ship?

Goku/Vegeta. I still enjoy reading fics for them every now and then but it's very hard to find good ones

B3. What’s the best device to read on (phone, laptop, tablet…)? Why?

I like reading on my phone, just cuz it's right in my hand, but I also don't mind reading on my laptop if I'm alone in my house. I'm on my computer almost all the time, so it's just convenient for me

B4. Who is your current favourite author? What is their best story?

Okay, so other than myself (because it's very rare these days for me to read something other than my own fics) I'd have to say Only_1_Truth. I really enjoy their 00Q fics. My favorite of theirs is Noster nostri. I go back and read it quite a bit. But all of their 00Q fics are really good

C4. What thing that fandom loves do you actually kind of hate? Why?

Hatewatching? I guess? Or like...continuing to watch a drama even though you like...aren't happy with it? Cuz like, if it's not vibing with you or you don't like the characters...just stop watching? And stop making posts about how much you either hate the drama or hate specific characters and shit cuz like...the rest of us don't wanna read that, you know? (I don't know if fandoms love doing this but it's something that irks me. Like if you're not enjoying something, just stop doing/watching it)

C9. What show did you really try to watch, but you just couldn’t?

Uh...I watched the first 2 episodes of Vigilante but I just can't get into it. The reporter in it pisses me the hell off and idk, the MC is overly violent for a vigilante. Not that it's a bad thing, I'm just like...some of his methods are a little...much. For me personally. I normally like these kinds of shows but I think the reporter pisses me off to much for me to enjoy it. Same with My Roommate is a Detective. I got through 10 episodes before I had to call it quits because the reporter in there just pissed me the hell off. In both cases, these reporters care more about stories and fame than actually reporting the truth and sometimes they don't even care about the consequences that their actions might have on the victims of the cases. And as someone who works/has works/wants to work in forensics...you gotta be mindful of the family and their feelings as well as the victims (if they survive the attack). And like...if you blatantly disregard that all for a story...then you're just a piece of shit whose journalism license should be revoked

D2. Who/Where did you get your last fic rec from?

Last fic rec was from a mutual on here who reblogged a Beyond Evil fic. It was really good

D6. How many bookmarks do you have?

352. I'm very picky with my stories and like I said, I mainly just end up reading my own because I write what I wanna read

D7. Why did you leave your most recent comment? Will you share it with us?

The last comment I remember leaving was on a CSI: Miami fic. I wrote: "I adored this fic. It’s so well written, I feel like I’m reading an actual episode. Well done, I loved this"

I left it because the fic felt like I was reading an actual CSI: Miami episode even though it wasn't one. It was just so well written, all the characters felt true and not ooc and just...it was just a nice read. Had me on the edge of my seat the entire time

ask a reader meme | send me asks