#talys edits his novel

[talysalankil]

i don't think i ever really took the phrase kill your darlings to heart until now, where i'm realizing i'm probably gonna have to cut a scene oh my boys skinny dipping

[swaps55]

Fic Writer Meme

Tagged by @nug-juggler​. Thank you!!

Name: Swaps55, online and often in real life. People usually omit the ‘55’ in conversation.

Fandoms I write for: I have been a one-trick pony in the form of Mass Effect for over 8 years. I did write other things in the Before Times of Geocities and notebooks I carried around in high school.

Most popular oneshot: On Tumblr, it’s still Stars, the first mShenko doodle I ever did, by a lot. I have no illusions I will ever top that one.

On Ao3, it’s Celestial Navigation, my only mShenko smut one shot, which unsurprisingly leads both hits and kudos because this fandom is thirsty. The non-smut piece with the most kudos is Plans, my mShenko post-Mars reconciliation “after all this time” story that I am very proud of. Surprisingly, the smut-free oneshot with the most hits is Noel, my ensemble Christmas story. Both Plans and Noel were ME Holiday Cheer gifts.

Most popular multichapter: Sonata, and it’s not even close. Fake dating mShenko drowning in pining, every feel-good trope under the sun, banter, and Tali and Joker being obsessed with romance novels.  

Actual worst part of writing: The initial act of creation. I’m a fixer. This is why I love fanfic so much. I’m a shit world builder, but if you give me a sandbox I can make it sing. If I worked in Hollywood I’d be a script doctor. I live for working with other writers to give and receive concrit, help an idea grow from a seed into something spectacular. But that first act of creation is really difficult for me. Getting that skeleton on the page can be a struggle. Once it’s there, I’m off to the races and having the time of my life.

How you choose your titles: I have no set process. With Opus, everything is derived from song titles or musical forms in some way. With Exordium, I put everything in Latin so it would sound cool. I sometimes just pick a word or two that’s representative of a prominent story element, like Stray. Once in a blue moon I get blessed with a fucking stellar title out of the blue, like The Life Cycle of Butterflies. I’ve stolen titles from West Wing episodes, too.

Do you outline: I’m a pantser with plotter tendencies, but I have started doing more outlines lately. Some are super vague, like a one-sentence summary of what I want to have happen in a chapter, others are more detailed.

Here’s an example of a recent more detailed one that I used while writing the last chapter of Cantata:

Compared to the bare bones I had for Fugue:

Ideas I probably won’t get around to: I stay pretty committed to what I put any creative energy into developing, so I don’t have anything burning a hole in my pocket that I don’t intend to write. If there is a part of Opus that has the greatest risk of not getting written it’s Concerto, which would be the ME1-era stories. I have plans for it, but Sonata’s unexpected appearance kind of killed the momentum for it. But I’m not saying it won’t happen.

Callouts @ Me:

Me: This thing I’m working will be quick. Only 4k words, tops.

RLRO: [falls off his chair laughing]

Me, 20k later: STOP LAUGHING.

Best writing traits: I can write some delicious banter, if I do say so myself, and I live for threading details that lurk in the background, so that no twist or plot development or character arc ever feels like it comes out of the blue. Because when you look back, all the clues are there.  

Spicy Tangential Opinion: There is no right or wrong way to write fanfic. If this is your happy place, and all you want to do is blissfully write whatever the fuck you want, DO IT. If you don’t want to deal with betas or they intimidate you? Fuck it, fly by the seat of your pants. You don’t even have to do an edit pass if you don’t want to. If you want to hone your craft and become a better writer and want concrit on every single thing you produce, DO IT. Fanfic is here to make you happy. Approach it in whatever way brings you the most joy. There are no rules.

Tagging @theoriginalladya​ @shadoedseptmbr​ @mallaidhsomo​ @alyssalenko​ @pigeontheoneandonly​ @nightmarestudio606​ and anyone else who wants to share (no obligations!)

[ljandersen]

Author Interview

Thank you for tagging me @painterofhorizons  @rpgwarrior4824  @ripley95things   This looked familiar.  When I looked back, I realized I had done this meme before, but I realized a lot has changed.  Instead of reblogging, I decided to do an update.

I know some of you may have already done this meme, but I’ll go ahead and tag:  @pigeontheoneandonly  @spook-queen  @maxrev  @swaps55  @soldiermom1973  @salamanders-please  @ooachilliaoo  @citadelsushi  @that-wasnt-so-bad  @aricazorel  @pushingsian  @shotce @forlornmelody  @serioussamiam  @xenowriter  and anyone else who wants to play.  No obligation, of course.  If anyone follows me who would enjoy being tagged in these games, just let me know.  I’ll add you in the future.  Likewise, if someone would rather I didn’t continue tagging them games, let me know that too.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Name:  LJAndersen

Fandoms:  Mass Effect Trilogy

Where You Post: AO3 and FFN  (I’m not planning to post on FFN in the future.  The decision is multi-factorial -- low traffic, security issues, and disapproval of their business philosophy)

Most Popular One-Shot:  The Favorite  It’s a Garrus/femShep and Wrex/femShep love triangle one shot set during ME-1 (humorous rivalry and grudging friendship).  I wrote it for the 2019 Christmas gift exchange.  Naturally, since it’s (slightly) Shakarian, it has the best stats. 

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story:  “About Mars . . .”  It’s my ME-3 fShenko story that fills in gaps.  I explore Shepard and Kaidan's reconciliation and how Tali and Garrus got together.  It’s a lot of crew antics: the space hamster escaping, Christmas gift exchange, matchmaking trickery, drunk poker celebration, raiding the mess at night.  It’s fun and fluffy with a touch of angst and bittersweetness.  When it comes to why it’s the most popular, it’s a combination I think.  It’s the last thing I posted and readership is probably highest on the last thing a writer posts, if they post consistently.  It’s the longest story I’ve post chapter by chapter giving it more search air time.  It’s fluffy/slight angsty and relationship-centered, which is probably more in line with what the average fanfic reader is looking to read (vs. something plot-heavy and involved).

Favorite Story You Wrote: “Burning Barriers”  It’s my fShenko ME epic set post-war, action/adventure romance with some mystery and suspense thrown in.  It’s actually three novel-length stories bound together: Shepard’s first mission aboard the Normandy after defeating the reapers, retrieving an artifact to restore the Sol relay.  Kaidan’s Spectre investigation into what happened to Shepard on the Normandy and confronting his ghosts on Jump Zero.  The last part is Kaidan and Shepard’s POV overlapping.  It’s a joint Spectre investigation, sparked from what they learned in other parts, and their efforts to stop a catastrophic attack targeting the Council in Vancouver.  It’s my favorite story, since it has an original plot, and I had freedom to stretch and explore the characters past canon.

Story You Were Nervous to Post:  I haven’t been nervous posting my stories beyond the fear of hearing silence.  There have been chapters or subplot directions where I wasn’t sure of the readers’ reactions.  For a story as a whole, though, I haven’t been especially anxious, at least, not about living up to a standard or receiving hate for my story. What makes me anxious when posting is what makes all writers anxious.  We all worry our hard work will be lost in the void.  No one will read it.  We won’t get feedback.  I get anxious I’m wasting my time on something that won’t matter to anyone but me.

How You Choose Your Titles:  I don’t have a method or a pattern.  It’s what fits the story.  Sometimes it pops out, an obvious phrase, and sometimes it’s a labor in discarding and narrowing ideas.  Honestly, I don’t think any of my titles are particularly spectacular.  

Complete:  Six completed stories posted (2 one-shots and 4 multichapter fics)

Incomplete:  None that are posted.  My long-term WIP, “Someplace Like Home,” is in the second-draft stage. I don’t post until I’ve finished a story and edited it.

Do You Outline?  No.  I know the ending of my story and I know the beats I want to hit along the way, but I’m more of a discovery writer.  I make up as I go how the points connect.  It feels more organic and surprising.  When I’ve tried outlining a story, it becomes mechanical and joyless.  Since I do intensive editing after the first draft, I can fix the mistakes I create in discovering the story as I write it.  After the first draft is written, I can streamline, reshape, and trim the story into something more polished.

Coming Soon/Not Yet Started:  I have a few one-shot ideas, even one I’ve started, but my main push is to get my long project to a point of posting.  “Someplace Like Home” took a year and a half to write, and I’m finally in the second draft stage.  Since it’s such a large piece, I’m planning on breaking the story into parts.  I’m focusing on completing a second draft of part 1, then I’ll do a third draft and start posting it.  While posting part 1, I can work on the second and third draft of the next section.  It’s been a long effort to get it this far, and it will feel kind of surreal to have a part of it finished.

Do You Accept Prompts?  I had a reader say she’d enjoy seeing my take on Horizon and Mars, which actually led me to write my multichapter fics “About Horizon . . .” and “About Mars . . .”  It was a nice break from writing my plot-heavy main WIP.  I’d never considered writing anything set in-game, because it felt too restrictive and redundant for how I like to write.  From that reader’s encouragement, though, I actually ended up writing something I never would have considered writing before.  That’s the closest I’ve come to receiving a prompt.  I would eagerly accept them, of course, and be flattered.  I couldn’t promise I’d do them right now.  I have a lot of emphasis in my larger project right now.

Most Excited to Write:  Though the first draft of “Someplace Like Home” is written, I’m excited to write the second draft.  Since I know the whole story as whole now, it’s fun to flesh out the second draft, add more foreshadowing and create some irony.  It’s been fun rereading my story as I do the second draft.  The third draft, though, which is less broad in scope, more paragraph/sentence level will be like pulling teeth.  I love to tell a story, but I hate nitpicking the way it’s told.  It’s an important focus of editing, though, and certainly an area where I need the most work.

[gideonaceleigh]

Intelligent Design Beta Call

warnings: violence, swearing, abuse

tags: scifi, pirates, sirens, AI, prophecy

Summary:

Pirating runs so deeply in Iris Turner’s family it may as well be a part of their genetic makeup. If there’s one thing pirate families understand, it’s a decades long feud with another family; the Turners and the Young’s are no exception. No one remembers how the feud started, though it’s theorized to be over a stretch of contested territory, but the bad blood remains. After a brief fling between Iris Turner and Taylon Young a peace between the two families seems within reach. But some feuds run too deep to overcome and Iris finds herself forced to flee when Taylon discovers she created an illegal AI. It doesn’t take long for his father to capture her.

Now gun shy and hesitant to daydream about living on her own terms, she finds herself following Zerich’s every order, no matter how much she hates it. When his right hand, a woman named Cat Iris has heard a hell of a lot about, takes her under wing she’s surprised to learn that his most trusted adviser isn’t all she’s been made out to be. With Cat’s help, Iris regains her fighting spirit and works out a new plan for escape. She will regain her life and independence, no matter what it takes.

What I’m looking for: I’m looking for people able and willing to give me big picture feedback! How is the plot, are they plot holes, is the characterization compelling and consistent, etc. I am not looking for line edits!!

Apply Here ~ Intelligent Design WIP Tag

Mood Boards/Characters: 

~Summary ~ Iris ~ Talis ~ Cat ~ Jamal ~ Teddy~

Even if you're not interested I'd appreciate reblogs for a boost!! 💖

tag list: @oscarfuckingwilde​ @diseonfire​ @aroace-in-your-face​ @minnowf​ @dove-actually​ @dahladahlabills​ @writingwithhotchocolate​ @reeseweston​ @zburatorii​ @all-my-novels​ @gabbysmadness​ @asherscribbles​ @crazycoffeemermaid​

[gingerstorm101]

Confrontation Over Laundry

Summary: New to the city, Ziva fins herself in a predicament.

Words: 1550

Tiva

FF.net/A03

A big thank you to misspatchesmom for editing this story! Enjoy!

She bundles up in her sweater as the winter breeze comes through the front door of her building, questioning why she lives in America again if she has to deal with the dead of a Western winter. Her large laundry basket held tight in her grip as she heads towards the dreaded laundry room. The building's laundry room. Too public for her taste, but there weren't any apartments available in a build that had them in each suite; she was only a week too late or else she would have gotten the last single bedroom.

Ziva grumbles disheartened at the memory, if it wasn't for her father having her go on that family vacation against her will, she would have been in the country much sooner to submit the application.

Oh well.

Sorting through her delicates and outerwear, she fills the two farthest washing machines from the door. She heard that there are a couple of people in the building who have been switching out clothing to get a free wash. But that wasn't happening to her, she was taking precautions.

Afterfinally inserting the coins for the first round of washing, she sits down in the chair under the window and pulls out her latest novel. And with the rattle of the washing machine, she starts to read.

Not even five minutes passes before her phone starts to ring. Smiling at the screen, she places her book down beside her and answers the phone. "Shalom Tali." Getting on her feet, Ziva leaves the loud room and to the lobby.

With a smile, she hangs up the phone to her baby sister. The girl, now in her final year of high school, talked her ears off about her first week. And Ziva couldn't be happier. With their parents separated, and her older siblings no longer in the house, something to take her sister's mind off the loneliness. Tali had even mentioned her teachers are preparing her to get a scholarship for singing by the end of the school year. With her range, she doubts a university won't take her.

Strolling back into the laundry room, Ziva is too caught up in her musings to notice a wet pile of clothing sitting on the center table. All it took was a double take when she noticed that on the table was a very wet black tank top and a pair of cargo pants sitting on top of the pile of laundry. It can't be. She thinks, slowly reaching out for the pants. She takes them in her hands, the extra weight takes a milli-second to get used to, but once she holds them out, she knows it is hers.

Her eyes narrow, her head shooting over to the shaking machine in the corner. Dropping the pants, she marches to the washer and hastily opens the lid; the rattling stops instantly. Just as she suspects, she finds a different set of clothing in the machine, and when she pulls out a grey sweater, the letters OSU pop out at her in red.

She knew what she had to do.

She smirks as she posts the sign on the laundry room door.

'To:

The person who stopped the washer in the middle of my wash cycle and took my clothes out just to wash yours…

YEAH, YOU'RE AN ASSHOLE

Unfortunately for you, so am I. You can find your wet clothes frozen outside in the snow.

Any problems? Come see me in 301.'

So far no one has entered the laundry room as she dried her clothing. She suspects the person will stay out of sight until the room is clear. Which didn't bother her a bit. When her clothes were finally dried and folded, she takes her basket up to the third floor, preparing herself for the confrontation her father has prepared her for her entire life.

Only thirty minutes have passed since she put her laundry away and she hears the unforgettable sound of knocking on her door. Marking the place in her book, she stands to answer the door. She opens the door in one swift motion to find a handsome man before her, his striking green eyes meeting hers.

He opens his mouth to say something, but she cuts him off.

"Who do you think you are? You think you can just dance right in here and remove my laundry from the washer just so you can get a free load? What type of goose are you? I should report you to the landlord and have you removed from the building completely! Wait until I tell all the residents of the property. You won't be trusted again! Khatikhatt menuval khaser khutt shiderah, titenaheg kemo gavar!"

The man gives her a smirk, a twinkle in her eye before he purrs. "If I didn't know better, I'd like you just called me a name." Her eyes harden at him. "And I think you mean 'waltz right in here' and 'what type of loon' are you, Ms.?"

Ziva straightens her back, rolls her neck and gives the man a short laugh. "Ha! As if you think I'll fall for your charm."

"I think you might." He smirks again, looking her up and down. She doesn't say anything for several seconds before he wears her down. "The name is Ziva, Ziva David. And you?" She looks up at him with her large brown eyes.

"The name is DiNozzo, Tony DiNozzo. And how would you like to settle this the old fashioned way?" He brings his fingers to his lips, playing with them, watching her eyes as she watches him.

"You mean a sparring match?" DiNozzo chuckles, his eyes creasing as he smiles.

"No, no." He leans against the door. "How about a date? Let's say seven?"

Ziva's jaw drops. "You can't be serious?" She sees him peek behind her to where she has his laundry on her balcony.

"Oh I'm serious, madam." She rolls her eyes, thinking it over. It would be a good change, she's been in the country for almost a couple months now, and she hasn't run into anyone she's wanted to have a date with. This DiNozzo guy is cute enough for a first date, but she doubts with his attitude he'd even get a second date. But what's a free dinner and a drink? Besides, by the time they get back, she can return his clothes and they'll be frozen solid by then.

"Fine, you can pick me up at seven, no later."

"I'll be waiting." He winks and strolls away down the hall. Blinking, Ziva closes the door before leaning against it. What did she just agree to?

And he does.

Right at 7:00 she hears a knock at her door. Truthfully, she isn't expecting it, nor was she expecting to open the door to find Tony dressed up in a penguin suit, or have flowers in his hand.

None of the guys she has dated in her seven years of actively dating and having real boyfriends, has ever bought her flowers and dressed up for a date. But then again, she's rarely had a real date that she could relax. He must be up to something.

"Wow," he says, looking her over as she takes the flowers. "Ms. David, you look fetching." She blushes slightly, looking away from his gaze. Was that lust? She asks herself.

She pushes her thoughts aside, grabbing her purse and locks the door behind her. She wasn't going to let one of his goons come steal his clothing back.

He takes her to a fancy restaurant, only of the type that her mother had told her of when she and her father were still together. When he had spoiled her before things got rough for Mossad and the David family. He pays for everything, and only buys the table one bottle of wine. She agrees that she isn't going to get drunk, she isn't going to let this man take advantage of her.

It is nearly ten when he walks her back to her apartment, his hand resting on her lower back. He doesn't offer her a kiss, nor does she lean for one. But she can't keep her hands off of his arm.

"Thank you for dinner, Tony." She says, rolling his name over her tongue. "Maybe we can do it again some time."

He gives her a smirk, hunger in his eyes. "Let's."

Ziva opens the door to let herself in. She's about to close the door on him when he puts his foot in the door.

"I think you're forgetting something Ms. David."

"Hmm?"

"My clothes?"

Her eyes widen before she speaks. "Oh!" She opens the door wide. "I completely forgot! Just a second!" She runs to the balcony, opening the door to reach for the basket. The cold wind chills her as she grabs it. Finally in her hand, she closes the door behind her and marches to the front door where Tony is waiting. "I'm sorry it's frozen, but here you go."

"So you weren't lying." He mutters, taking in his solid sweater.

"Are you still up for the second date?" Ziva asks, worrying her lip between her teeth.

He looks up at her, and soft smile on his face. "Oh, most definitely."

[thewintersoldierdisaster]

2020 IN WRITING

tagged: @indestinatus :)

tagging: whoever wants to take a stab!

under a read more so you’re dashes aren’t clogged up :)

1. List of works published this year:

48 fics published and 32 finished and waiting for editing before they can be published fics 

i’m not going to link to 40 individual fics so here are links to my ffnet and ao3 pages :)

2. Work you are most proud of (and why):

i think it’s paciencia y fe, a star wars, poe dameron x rey fic that i wrote back in may! it came out exactly how i pictured it in my head, which is always nice. 

3. Work you are least proud of (and why):

fatherhood is just bribery (and hugs) - it was one of the first star wars fics i wrote and it’s just not very good. it’s rushed and the writing is meh, for me anyway. 

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

honestly, this bit definitely isn’t even close to the best thing i’ve written, but the mental image i had while writing it makes me all warm and happy inside

Before either Tony or Ziva can respond, the band switches songs - beginning to play The Beatles' "With a Little Help from my Friends" - and Tony grins. "Hey, I love this song. Let's dance," he grabs Ziva's hand and in turn, she grabs Tim's hand, pulling him behind her onto the dance floor. They trip over each other's feet and only Ziva really has a sense of rhythm, but Tony twirls Ziva under his arm and Tim pulls her into an over dramatic tango and they're laughing like they've never laughed before.

Tali joins them, Johnny and Morgan following close behind and then they each have child sized hands grasping their own, twirling the next generation to the beat.

Tim catches Ziva's eyes and then Tony's, wordlessly asking 'can you believe this? Can you believe we're here?'

Tony grins his patented DiNozzo grin and says out loud, "Never doubted it for a second."

5. Share or describe a favorite review you received:

i’ve loved every single one! @indestinatus leaves wonderful reviews specifying favorite lines, which always makes me happy! duchessofthemoonbase on ao3 leaves long reviews with gifs that are always perfect for the fic and so fun!

6. A time when writing was really, really hard:

actually, the past few months! i’ve been working on original writing since september-ish, so fic sort of took a backseat. but both original and fic writing was hard in october and november - definitely a product of my seasonal depression settling in!

7. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you:

everything i write surprises me when it comes out decently lol. but the handful of vampire academy fics that i wrote this year (after not writing anything for that fandom for 6 years!) surprised me a bit!

8. How did you grow as a writer this year:

i think my style is always evolving and changing with the more i read, so that’s always nice to see. i branched out into original work too, which was scary but so so fun!

9. How do you hope to grow next year:

i’d like to write longer fics, to develop a storyline further and see how the characters blossom. maybe take a foray into different genres!

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

as always, @kavileighanna is the very best friend a girl could have and is the best to bounce #writerproblems off of!

the damerey discord gang have also been so much fun and the biggest enablers ever!

11. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:

song lyrics!!! also the pandemic/quarantine/lockdown worked its way into a few fics, unfortunately lol

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

honestly, just write. even if it’s bad, write it down. and read!! reading fics and novels has been so helpful to my writing!

13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

yup!! i have a few ideas i’m working on and the above mentioned fics to edit and publish lol. i’m also excited to work on my original novel idea! 

14. If you could recommend only one work from yourself published this year:

oh, that’s so hard!! it really depends because i wrote for star wars, ncis, vampire academy, hawaii 5-0, blindspot, and lucifer this year, so it depends on which fandom you’re in! go read them all ;)

15. Year word count: 48,179 words according to ao3 and god knows how many from the fics in my notes app ahah

[talysalankil]

so i'm cutting stuff out which means i'm basically entering the end game and i'm at 118k words. fantastic lmao.

[talysalankil]

so i just realized i never. finished. the previous draft.

it was 130k words and it didn't get to the actual end of the story.

worry intensifies.

[talysalankil]

and what if i rewrite a secondary character to be kathryn hahn as agatha harkness, hm? what then

[talysalankil]

I would love it if i didn’t get a great idea at 4:20 am when trying to sleep

[talysalankil]

I’m not posting about it much but the writing is somehow still going well despite everything in my life very quickly spiraling

[talysalankil]

well. it's going so far

[talysalankil]

okay so. i'm not touching nanowrimo anymore obviously. but i did intend to write during november, and that didn't happen.

anyway i'm doing it this month instead i guess. which means it's time for fteits v5: maybe this time i'll be satisfied. (i have high hopes honestly. i have good ideas to work with)

rereading the previous version i'm like. huh. this was very good actually. shame about the ridiculous word count. i even included elements i thought i came up with after that rewrite. that's certainly going to make things simpler, if nothing else.

[talysalankil]

so i've been quiet on the writing thing but i have in fact still been at it after finishing the book. going back over things i was dissatisfied with, stuff that didn't end up mattering in the end or could be better set up. A little under 7k in 6 days, which isn't huge, but i did need to slow down lol.

anyway i think I'm going to stick to my guns and try drafting the rest of the series. or at least book two. rather than, you know, keep toying with plans and never following up on them. i know it's risky, that i might end up scrapping a lot of it, but it's easier to rework existing material than do things from scratch anyway, so I don't think it'll be lost either way.

i had a point with this post. so. i always meant for each book to introduce secondary POVs to complement Adam's, who would remain the main protagonist. but due to how wildly different the story has developed from when I first had this plan, the pov i had for book two at the time (adam's sister) doesn't really make sense when her side of the story is not really what book two is about. this isn't a new development btw i'm just recapping things i've mulled over for years.

anyway. tiny problem: the pov i have chosen is a character who i haven't spent quite as much time developing. specifically, i have a solid enough grasp of who she is by now because 1) she was always meant to be a pov, just later on and 2) recent rewrites biased in her favor because i knew she'd come into play sooner. but. i haven't really delved into her backstory, which becomes more of a necessity to make her a pov. at least i think so.

so i was thinking about what i could do and an idle thought i had was to use tarot. i hear people do that to generate ideas. why not.

anwyay i got my kingdom hearts tarot, the spread from agatha all along, it's almost magically mapping onto what i had already planned and i will not rant about how that's the issue with divination, you read into it what you want, because more importantly, none of these fucking cards help.

oh cool my character's main obstacle is the loss of friendship. thanks. i already knew that, cards. that doesn't really tell me what her home life was like or what job she had. lmao.

[talysalankil]

Well

i guess that's this rewrite complete. 47 days. 142k words written, but with the discards, total word count of 132k.

could be worse. i mean i'm glad i made it at all, and on such good time.

i still have a few things i want to go back over, a change i made in this rewrite that i think was unnecessary given where i took the characters after all. but still. this is satisfying.

it's also…a little disheartening that so much of the stuff i thought were fresh changes were things i had already done in either the past version or the one before that. but actually? i think that's actually not a bad thing. i think i just have to accept that this story has probably done as much maturing as it probably will. so now I have to just grow the fuck up and 1) dare to commit to working on the sequels and 2) dare to show it to people. including, you know, maybe trying to publish.

[talysalankil]

what's up i've been up since 6am with like 4 hours of sleep and it's now 4am but hey i rewrote the fuck out of that climax