#technically this is a rewrite of my first fic but im posting this first chapter for

[ela-arts]

"From the instant you woke up in a dark room surrounded by flowers and no memories you had only one surety: that you had to get to Great Britain. Once you reached that goal you earned a few more in the form of unwelcome gifts: a mask that told you your name and face were not welcome and a mentor who filled you with a sense of loathing that you could be assured would not dissipate easily.

Lastly, and this one was quite new, you were sure the man across the street from you was familiar."

Some MDRyuu in honor of ryuubowlweek

[starry-bi-sky]

ive been hesitating to ask this bc youve been on a roll with the clone^2au (which i am frothing over) but could i poke you for some childhood friend au? bc GOD i wanna see how danny reacts to reuniting w jason or how the rest of the batfam react to learning jason never told danny of his resurrection or wondering if dannys gonna put jokers dead body on a display/offering to jasons grave. i havent been normal about this since i first read it and was wondering. thank you for your writing.

RAAAAHHHH DON'T BE HESITANT I AM JUST AS FERAL OVER MY CHILDHOOD FRIENDS AU AS I AM WITH CLONE^2 I AM DELIGHTED BY THIS. Like.,,,, i literally love them,,, so much. I can't listen to The Crane Wives without thinking of them.

(which is my fault - the ao3 fic of them has literally only crane wives lyrics for each chapter title and summary (posted AND the ones not written) so of course im gonna associate with them.)

(if you wanna listen to some of their songs while thinking of cfau here are my recommendations: "Once & for All", "Here I Am", "Hollow Moon" is a Danny AND Jason song to me, this would be my go-to song for an animatic of CFAU if i had the skills for it. "Tongues and Teeth", "Curses" and "take me to war" is a heavy cfau danny song to me, and of course, "the moon will sing")

Like they're BEST friends dude, they're two sides of the same coin and when they were kids they would do this thing where their 'fingers crossed'/'double-crossed' was them hooking their index fingers in the fingers crossed gesture.

and i'm actually currently rewriting my original post into a more fic-like format, and when I'm done I'll post it on here under the cfau tag - with the original post still in tact. But its,,, gonna be so long dude,,,, the original behemoth was just over 9000 words,,, and I've written 3k words already of the new one and we haven't even reached Jason and Danny reuniting at the gala yet,,, i need to get back to that,,,

and then to answer your questions!! god im almost hesitant to answer because i dont wanna spoil the little fic i had planned for it but also like,, its not like im gonna spoil everything, right? and answering the questions isnt the same as writing the scene down so!!

i love danny and jason's reuniting, like i've thought about it SO much and I've thought about it happening after Danny kills the Joker. I know the reveal could have been before that, and it could have been equally just as dramatic but like??? Thematically, doing it after danny kills the joker is SO good. To me at least.

Because like?? Jason's been in somewhat denial about danny's plan to kill the joker for months. ever since danny told him that he wanted to at the gala. And from Jason's pov its not even technically a plan. He sees his best friend for the first time after five years and his best friend still isn't over his death. He hasn't stepped foot in Gotham since his funeral and now suddenly he's here.

And he's still so full of grief over his death that he tells a masked vigilante that he's going to kill the guy that did it, who lives in said masked vigilante's city. And danny's got that look in his eyes that Jason knows so well that means he's being serious. And yet he still doesn't know if he should believe him or not.

And then he does. Danny kills him. And Jason can't fucking believe it. And when he goes and sees Danny, Danny's hands are still covered in blood. And that reunion? God like a fucking firework show. Danny's so fucking angry, and pissed, and hurt, and so goddamn overjoyed that he's alive and here that he sends them both to the ground, and if he doesn't calm down he's gonna take out the power in a five block radius.

there's just so, so much yelling on Danny's end. And then so much crying, first from Danny and then them both. because god, you're alive. you're here. i've missed you so much. i'm never letting you out of my sights again.

and Joker's death! God I don't want to actually say too much about that, but the way I have it set up thematically makes me actually not want danny to take any part of the joker with him as an offering. and he may actually forego that particular ghost etiquette and offer something else as an offering to Jason in substitute to not bringing him the Joker's heart/head/ritualistic body part.

Because you know what the last thing a man whose been spending the last two decades of his life building himself up to be larger than life would want? A death that's unremarkable. :) and that's all i'll put on the matter for now.

and the batfam!! they technically already know that jason hasn't told danny he was resurrected, and plenty of them have mixed feelings on them. largely bruce and dick i think, considering they saw firsthand how close jason and danny were when they were kids.

Dick was honestly surprised at first when he found out that Jason hadn't told Danny he was alive - and on one hand he understands the reasoning for it, and on the other hand he isn't sure if it was such a good idea. Especially after he sees Danny again after he arrives back in Gotham and sees just how badly Jason's death was still affecting him. But it's not like he's going to try and convince Jason to tell him - he can make his own choices, even if Dick has questions about them.

Bruce has much the same thoughts as Dick, so there's not really much to add here other than he might bring it up once or twice to Jason like, vaguely. And then immediately drops it when Jason shuts him down. He might actually somewhat...?? prefer that Jason hasn't told Danny because that raises a lot of questions and could jeopardize their identities. However, again, Jason can make his own choices and there's not much Bruce can do about it other than disapprove from afar.

Tim who knew of Danny from stalking the Wayne family shares similars sentiments of being surprised that Jason didn't tell Danny, but again, yeah, understands the thought process to some extent. Doesn't bring it up ever.

Everyone else who hadn't seen firsthand how close Danny and Jason are don't really have much opinion on it -- Jason didn't tell his best friend he was alive, great, he also didn't tell them either so it's not like its that much of a surprise. It would've been more of a surprise to them if Jason had told Danny before he told Bruce and co. Damian may make a comment or two about Jason not telling Danny, but its not about how he can't believe he didn't tell him or anything like it.

[definitelynotshouting]

WOULD YOU STILL LOVE ME IF I WAS A WORM 😭😭😭😭 WHAT A THING TO WAKE UP TO!

-☀️

Oh my god thw wings being a physical manifestation of how Mumbo doesnt know Grian anymore. He is an entirely new person, definitely mentally, technically physically-- even if he looks the same. Mumbo honing in on the wings ("his wings ruffle...behind him" "it's a foreign motion...that escapes translation") that are the thing that's different and needs a "map" drawn of it, because it's the only thing that's actually different. Sure, Mumbo can tell grian doesnt even act the same anymore, but that's much harder to put a finger on. He didnt have those wings before.

^I like to think there's some form of uncanny valley effect that people who knew Grian before feel looking at him now, ignoring the wings.

-☀️

"Then he smiles, porcelain teeth flashing in the glistering sun.

The cold, open pit of his depthless eyes fails to catch it."

Really fucking love this description ough

-☀️

"“You’re not supposed to change me back!” Grian shrills, bristling."

IT'S TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING FOR THIS TEM WTF (it is past 10am)

-☀️

"with the exquisite delicacy of a Player"

I SEE YOU YOURE NOT SNEAKY

-☀️

The wings again!! *is in distress* (side note i love seeing the world building youve been telling us about finally in the fic!!) Ok this actually makes the way Mumbo focused on the wings mean so much more. Wings are dangerous to code in, thats why Players use spotters. Grian vanished from Evo and showed up on Hermitcraft YEARS(?) later, without a word to anyone, and reappeared with those wings. Imagine going on a trail with a friend whose never hiked before and then they stop responding to your messages only to show up again after a couple of months like "Hey I just climbed Everest". You would most definitely be distressed to say the least. (although, question: how proficient was grian's coding?)

-☀️

Man this one-shot. Too many feels this early in the morning 😭 The way you've managed to capture that sense of unease around Grian. His actions are unpredictable- you dont know if he's going to laugh or get upset- really nicely encapsulates Mumbo's internal feeling that he doesn't know grian anymore. Those moments where he laughs or stares with those blank eyes, those are normal-- but linger a second too long, or catch a glimpse of the worlds that have passed since Evo started-- and he can't shake the feeling that something is wrong with Grian

-☀️

AAAAAAAAA HI SUN ANON!!! omg im so glad you enjoyed the oneshot!!! :D

Omg YES im so so glad what i was aiming for with the wings came through, thats exactly what i was going for!! This is the only physical indication that Grian has changed, and therefore the most distinct!!! Ofc Mumbo is gonna hone in on that-- its the clearest aspect he can see. And yeah, i think the first few times people saw him with the wings, it was definitely a little uncanny valley, until they got used to it

OKAY I'LL BE REAL THE EXQUISITE DELICACY BIT WAS NOT INTENTIONAL BUT IS A VERY HAPPY ACCIDENT ALDJWKDNEKNDKDE altho i did really enjoy messing with some wordplay in other areas. My particular favorite is the "inner machinations of a dropper" line-- it was such a fun way to refer to mechanical parts while simultaneously making it sound like the dropper is up to no good 😂😂😂😂😂😂

It was super nice to really put this aspect of the worldbuilding into the fic-- one of these days i'll probably rewrite chapters 1 and 2, and maybe do a little editing on 3, just so i can sorta bake those concepts in there with a little more deliberation than i did when i was first posting :] BUT YES altho its not so much dangerous (for a Player, at least) as it is difficult, and very finicky. Grian's coding is super proficient as a Player (he's still working on melding the instinctive coding of the Watchers with his Player brain tho), so he was always very capable of it, but like you pointed out, under normal circumstances he would have 100% asked someone to be his spotter while he coded them in, just in case he bugged out

And yep, we're talking a timespan of years here!!! This is a bit loose, so its subject to some minor changes, but my general timeline is that Grian, once Watcher-ified, was trapped with the Watchers for about 2-3 years before he made his escape. After that he bounced between hubs and servers for a few months, before ending up on Hermitcraft to stay. The fic itself takes place somewhere around early mid-season, i think-- since i headcanon each season to take place over a few years rather than a few months, i'd say this means Grian has been with Hermitcraft for, oh.... a little under a year now by the time this fic takes place, if that makes sense. Again these are not concrete but thats the general timeframe we're talking here. I'll probably make a separate post about this later, but in Player culture its not SUPER weird to go gallivanting on your own for a few years-- but the complete radio silence and abrupt exit from Evo are what make this notable from the norm to Mumbo and everyone else who knew Grian before

Im so deeply and genuinely happy that the sense of unease came across so well-- i was admittedly worried that the pacing was a bit fast for how Grian's reactions kept turning on a dime, but this reassures me that it works :] i wanted it to really feel like this is a familiar stranger we're looking at through Mumbo's eyes, and also i wanted to give Grian some room to display those uglier trauma symptoms that nobody talks about much in fiction. I like to think that first year back on Hermitcraft was a difficult one for him, mood-wise, because behind that rough facade his brain is about as scorched-earth as it fuckin gets

Sun anon i always ADORE your analysis thank you so so much for sending them 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 it makes my day every time, truly. Im so glad you liked the fic!!! :D

[damagedintellect]

IM ON MY HANDS AND KNEES I NEED THE NEXT CHAPTER FOR FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT PLEASEEE

💌 I've been wanting to talk about FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT but it always feels like the wrong time so I will dump my thoughts here! 💌

I'm glad people still have a passionate interest towards it because that fic is my baby and Law lives in my head rent free!

A month after I posted chapter 13, I was in the hospital for a while. Naturally I didn't have access to a computer but I had my mom bring me a composition book so that if I felt inspired I could still write and technically I have some of chapter 14 written...

But uhh the real sad part is when I finally was discharged I started typing it out on my computer and I remember editing it as I was typing and I was happy with the results which almost never happens, I even made a few changes which I thought were genius....HOWEVER NOW I CAN'T FIND WHERE I TYPED THAT SHIT?!

LIKE I CAN'T FIND THE DOC I TYPED IT OUT IN??!!

AT THIS POINT IT FEEL LIKE A FUCKEN FEVER DREAM BECAUSE I CAN'T FIND IT!?

*For those of you who don't read on AO3*, in the authors notes I talk about how, I plan on rewriting this as my first publishable book because it's pretty far removed from one piece & I've based most of the interactions off of my personal life situations. Which means I have multiple stages of each chapter as documents floating around and while they are all labeled I CAN'T FIND THE ONE WITH CHAPTER 14

I keep thinking that I must have wrote it down on a different email and well I have like 7 emails it could have "accidentally" been written under TT^TT and I've checked those too and nothing! Sure I could just rewrite it, I have the base chapter in a composition book but the lovely additions and changes will not be there.

At this point I should just bite the bullet but it looms over me heavily especially since it's such a long standing work of mine. I don't often think about how proud I am of anything but I am proud of "Fake it till you make it"

[birdiesbuckley]

tactless its a test ch. 2/3 thoughts!

hey sexy people i hope you enjoyed that chapter. I've literally been writing this since I posted the last one but took a month break bc I randomly decided i hated everything i had written! honestly did not think a canon rewrite would be so difficult but here we are! some things in this chapter i wanted to talk about;

-yes i know samantha is mean to nancy. but listen. coming from a sister, this is appropriate sister behavior. sam realizes that shes kinda bitch to nance but doesn't care bc she hurt steve. yes i know steve and nance hurt each other, but sam is partial to steve obvi. they’ll be better post stancy breakup, and become the badass girlboss duo we want them to be i swear. i am a nancy lover first and foremost. 

- on that note i should mention i hate stancy. they are not good for each other

-yes i snuck rob in there for a sec. sorry not sorry, i had to write about the loml for a few paragraphs or i was gonna get separation anxiety before the st3 chapters. 

-also i wasn't originally planning on revealing sams sexuality until the great coming out scene but i decided to change how i was gonna do it bc i think I'm gonna write st4 now too so I'm plotting. 

-yes samantha’s costume is magenta in rocky horror. i love that musical with my whole heart, so obvi sams go to costume was gonna be my own go to costume. also im not sure if it was ever mentioned but samantha is blonde. 

-yes i had always planned the samantha scene. did i think about it after i changed sams name from scarlett... no... but honestly canon lesbian experience, and it was a brief enough scene that i decided it didn't matter. also you cant put a girl in a siouxsie sioux costume and not expect me to make her gay.

-dustin has a tiny crush on samantha bc i think its funny. sams style is not super common in hawkins and tiny twelve year old dustin is amazed. 

-on that note, in my mind sams style is very new wave. think a more rocker debbie harry. while new wave may be a basic 80s style, it definitely wasnt as common in buttfuck nowhere indiana. on the same note, her hair is blonde as i mentioned, and she has the debbie harry log bob with messy wispy bangs, minus the dark underside, for sure (see the top and bottom right pics below). she can also have a little metal/rock influence on her style as a treat. here's some style inspo for my girl 

-however, sams music taste is not new wave at all, she is a rock girl through and through. she def loves led zep. you’ll see her fav song in the st4 chapters teeheehee. but anyways she can dress new wave and listen to rock bc she can do whatever she wants and this is my fic. here's my spotify playlist for sam, tactless

-in the junkyard scene i picture sam in this cute little number, patterned jeans and leather jacket, everyone say thank you madonna. its more late 80s but i do whatever i want. also technically the real outfit is jorts but ignore that in my world its jeans. 

-sam taught steve how to do his hair. its canon. they both definitely smell faintly of hairspray.

-on that note a little bit of a gay backstory for sam. if you notice, i make several references to 80s queer culture, and that is because i have a huge hyperfixation for it. as a queer person, it is so important to recognize what a queer elders have done for us and part of that is acknowledging queer culture. so yes, sam is kinda my love letter to 80s queer culture. with rocky horror, siouxsie sioux, bronski beat, and anything else i mention. in future chapters i will go back into how sam learned all of this, bc you dont just learn it living in a small town in the 80s. but shes also gonna get to have her queer mentor moment which i love, so get excited for that. 

-sam has adopted max. she loves all the kids, but she is closets to max, will, mike, and eleven, as youll see in future chapters. shes fighting for the elmax friendship train. in this fic, steve is closest with dustin, lucas, and max as well. sam and steve love them all equally, but based on how close their friendship are thats how it it. 

-hopper is a softie agenda. thats my dad for reals. some of my own fav fics have hopper as a father figure to steve, so i just had to add it. hopper has a huge spot in his heart for kids with shitty parents, and he wants to protect them all. and later in the chapter, joyce has her pseudo mom moment. i love fics where steve somehow ends up adopted into the byers-hopper household. 

-the action scenes were definitely the hardest to write, and i rewrote all of them several times. the junkyard scene was similar to my og plan, but the billy fight at tunnels completely changed. originally i had no clue how i was gonna knock sam out, bc there was no way she’d go to the tunnels if steve was passed out. her using a pocketknife is slightly unhinged, but tbh love that for her. unfortunately, the harringtons are destined to receive concussions. 

-originally it was gonna be sam holding onto max in the tunnels, but i didnt wanna take away from steve, so i had a twin moment. you may think it takes away a part of steve and dustins friendship, but i dont think so, i think dustin is already obsessed with steves companionship. 

-say goodbye to saint cecilias bc this is the last time we’ll see it! good riddance i think! 

-also sam was originally gonna help max get ready for the snowball, but i think her having her mom help is important, and el needs girl time so that happened instead. the snowball scene is so special to me, and has been since i first watched the season when it came out. els dress is so cute, and im pretty sure i heard somewhere that it was nancy who helped, which is why i added the shoes bit. 

-also the timeline in this is fucked and i know. you mightve seen my timeline related mental breakdown, but in my defense it is seriously confusing no matter how many times ive seen the show. it starts to get fucked once they go with dustin to the cellar, like i know that technically its night when they go, and then railroad tracks scene and junkyard is the next day but in the show theyre also wearing the same clothes the the next day? making it two separate days made the flow weird so i chose to ignore it, even though i know it would mess up every other storyline going on, esp nance and jons, but whatever. so if its messed up at all in this fic my apologies. i had to study the season two fandom wiki page and make my own timeline.

those are my full thoughts on these chapters, hopefully i get my shit together and keep updating but im about to go to uni so we’ll see! if i havent updated in awhile, feel free to come threaten me on insta/tiktok same user as here! ive written some stuff for the future chapters (rating might be going up) so that should keep me motivated. look forward to multiple s3 chapters, goodbye my lovelys!!! 

[arthurandhisswordbros]

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Thank you so much for tagging me @burglarhobbit !!!! Ily!!!

Rules: post the top 5 works you’re most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular), your top 4 current WIPs that you’re excited to release in the new year, your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year, your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year, and your number 1 favorite line you’ve written this year!

5 works in 2022

Well, I only posted like 4 works total in 2022 so I’ll rank them lol.

1. You Have To Chase It: My Merlin Twitter fic that I did for glompfest 2022. Or, Immortal!Merlin goes on Twitter to complain about his dead king. Unrelatedly, Arthur joins Twitter. This was a labor of love done in the midst of finals and I genuinely think it’s the fic im most proud of out of everything I’ve ever written. It makes me very very happy lol.

2. Chapters 7-9 of You, Servant!: okay this is kinda cheating because it’s technically still a wip, but I had a horrible period of writers block between chapter 6 and 7 and I’m just so proud of myself for getting back into it and churning out some of, imo, the best chapters of the story.

3. Questions: or my ace!Arthur and grey ace!merlin fic set around The Changeling. Listen, I am NOT a short form writer by any means. My brain doesn’t work like that usually. So, to my surprise, I was so so happy with how this one came out. It was a valentines mini exchange fic and my giftee liked it, so that also made me very happy.

4. The Little Things: I made a post earlier in the year that got a lot of traction and wrote a little drabble based on it that was sitting in my wip folder for so long and I had some future plans for it, but just couldn’t find the time to write more, so I posted it. I think it came out great and I’m still hoping to either return to it one day or hoping that maybe someone else will do something with it Lolol.

4 WIPs I’m excited to post in 2022

1. My RTGE fic that I still haven’t posted but have about 3 chapters for. It was supposed to be a simple prompt, but kinda turned into a s1 rewrite. Oops. I really really love where it’s going so far though.

2. The rest of You, Servant! This will be my first ongoing WIP that I finish and I swear I will finish it if it kills me. I’ve had the ending planned for almost two years now, it’s just about getting it written.

3. A series of snippets set in the You Have to Chase it universe. Aaaaaand a possible sequel. I have Plans hahaha.

4. Futuristic Merthur Soulmate AU: I have a vague idea of where I want this to go and a few plans for how I want to write it, but I probably won’t get to it until later in the year. It will probably be my next big project though.

3 things I’ve improved on

Ughhh i think one of the biggest issues in my writing is syntax. Sometimes the words just sound right to me but don’t sound right to anyone else. But I think I’ve gotten a lot better at being more concise and getting rid of clunky descriptions/dialogue. I also think I’ve gotten better at writing romance, which was very hard for me for a long time. I think I was just worried that anything I wrote would be too cheesy, but then I realized that romance is cheesy. That’s kind of the point. Last thing is I’ve gotten better at not using em dashes every four lines. Like I still use them a lot, but not as much.

2 resolutions

1. I want to get to a point where I don’t have to reread what I’ve written four hundred times before I settle on something I like. Just two hundred times is enough.

2. I want to be able to incorporate more motion in my dialogue scenes. I’ve always admired people who could make a scene feel grounded and alive while their characters are speaking. I want everything to move and breath and vibrate like it does in real life.

My favorite line I’ve written in 2022

“You deserve everything you want in life. But the thing is, sometimes you have to chase it. You can’t wait for it to come to you and you can’t pretend that it doesn’t exist when it doesn’t.”

Tagging: @loanmeadragon @spiritofcamelot @tolkienlockian @sauraunderscore @follow-your-fire @peaceheather @fifty-5ty and anyone else who wants to do it!!

[stuckontheflipside]

ohhh god ok. why wiukd you subject me to this.

1. apocalyse⁉️ - Rewrite of my first apocalyse au oneshot

2. more rainworld - EOTS and SRS' meeting, subject to change.

3. the sillys fistfight the void - Self explanatory. Rewrite of Call Of The Void

4. never gonna post this enjoy - That one joke idea I came up with where I put the apocalypse au fellows into Normal Guy Land

5. gguh - Steven/Dave smut except Steven hates both himself and Dave

6. wing au fluff!!!! - Self explanatory. Wing au Steven proposing to Jack & Dave.

7. apocalypse...... - Apocalypse au main story, still mostly just planning and some of chapter 1.

8. :3 - Series of scenes of each of the dsaf phone guys waking up after getting phoned

9. !!! wimh - Probably(?) the one where Steven is molting? Unsure what else it would be

10. location 14 !! - Self explanatory. My doc for Location 14 chapters

11. bgugs - Harry shows his love intrests bugs with varying reactions

12. vituap assistant - Same virtual assistant au as prev

13. buckshot roulette - Put Steven in buckshot roulette

14. aorry guys im ill - Literally just OLM neutral ending Steven killing himself

15. smmut? - Not smut

16. two codes - Self explanatory. Steven and Harrys code meeting

17. feeling sillyyyyy - Harry (guy with no prior piercing experience) gives Steven a tail piercing (place with no already existing piercings)

18. wing ay!!!! - Self explanatory. Yet more wing au fluff

19. joyful! - Stevens Flipside layer but hes lost it a little more and is overly joyful

20. Entomology (experiment au but bugs) - Self explanatory. I mean, I put it right there in the title

21. cotl :3 - Like my 3rd document I've tried to start a COTL au in

22. olm noncanon - OLM good ending, Steven gets the code taken out of his brain and put into a separate body

23. Dave and Steven go to vegas - Self explanatory. Very much so.

24. steven rots in purgatory - Self explanatory. Steven refuses to go with the flipside crew and just stays there.

25. tome tavellye - Time travel au main fic, Steven and Harry go back in time and have to fix everything despite having no idea what their goal is and not being a major part of the main story.

26. blank :3 - Roger meets Harry's code for the first time. Not the original intent, I think it was originally going to be how Abel discovered blanking

27. cannibal :3 - Apocalypse au Stevens first taste of human

28. apocalyptic au fluff - Self explanatory, apocalypse au fluff (as fluffy as anything can get there)

29. lol!! - Steven/Dave directly post vegas

30. me when subnautica - Subnautica au. Like 8k words and these idiots just repaired their lifepod.

31. lethal compny - Self explanatory. Lethal company au.

32. royalty type au - Self explanatory. Created to explore the possibilities of my "the phone guys are technically immortal" headcanon.

33. villan steven but not really - Self explanatory. Not even sure why this one still exists, it's really old.

34. factoryswap .... - Factoryswap wip, only got like ~200 words in and haven't touched it since.

finally. now for tags. i dont know 34 people unfortunately so im just gonna tag my mutuals

@jjackbox @torchiember @cr1minalc1minalcr1minal @axeylotl @the-acid-pear (cant think of any others rn apologies)

WIP tag game - thanks @bossboudicca for the tag!

rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

i'll just share some that i'm comfortable sharing publicly right now...

wherever your world is (chapter 2) - my tbb little mermaid au still in the works (chapter 2 coming very soon!!)

backstory 6 - this is literally the file name of one of the backstories for one character in my what if au

cadets./"you really think you're going without me? not going to happen." - the file name of my upcoming prompt fill for the summer of bad batch event

a day in the life of a sith - a qimir (the acolyte) fic being figured out bc he's a very intriguing character

jedi dance ritual - the current file name of a top secret fic

no pressure tags: @royallykt @locitawritingsblog @third-generation-female-warrior @lukascastelan @fritoley and anyone else who wants to do this!!

[ellstersmash]

fic writer ao3 questionnaire thingy

tagged by @bearlytolerant and @ejunkiet for this 💙 thx buddies

1. How many works do you have on Ao3?

37

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

79,572

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

these are all solavellan which I guess is not surprising... but to be fair, my mass effect fics just missed the cut

three (modern!au WIP that could technically be finished where I left it but needs a rewrite bc i started it before i learned how to make more thoughtful choices)

nothing on my tongue (collection of playlist-inspired <500 word vignettes that sort of work as a whole story)

awake, alive (two-shot ? about not-kissing in the rain. *smacks the roof* this bad boy can fit so much romantic and sexual tension in it)

the naughty list (a very smutty christmas fic, and another two-shot)

waking up (post-trespasser prompt fill about kissin your not-ex-boyfriend to help him see how dumb he's being)

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

yes, I do. commenting can be intimidating when you don't know the writer, so in that case it feels disrespectful not to even acknowledge the effort. same with extensive comments. and oftentimes the commenter brings up questions or points out interesting moments that you can then have mo re of a conversation about.

honestly comments aren't about the compliments (though those are always nice to hear), they're about the connection. I wrote this, you read it. we both want to feel seen. consider my response an acknowledgement of our connection.

5. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

principles, which is just a one-shot so the whole thing is angsty, but it definitely ends even less happily than nomt...

6. What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

probably three, but since the last chapter is technically not the ending... I think to the water (smutty dragon age OCxOC indulgence) takes it! it is also, coincidentally, some of my tightest writing.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what's the craziest one you've written?

i do not. i don't generally love reading or writing them tbh

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

nope, but there's always tomorrow!

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

i sure do, but uh what kind? the um... the quick and snappy kind where you hope to squeeze at least a little heat out of those 600 words? idfk

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i am aware of

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

not that i am aware of

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

not that i am awa- wait, yes! i collaborated with my past self on not to keep, a shenko fake-dating one-shot that I wrote most of in 2017!! lol ok but like with other people, no.

13. What's your all-time favorite ship?

well that's not a fair question to ask. how about top three: mayo, solathi, and bethistair

14. What's a WIP that you want to finish, but don't think you ever will?

i mean there's always some hope, but.. arlathan!au. 🥀rip

15. What are your writing strengths?

being concise: i try to be efficient with my word choice, and cram a lot of characterization/meaning into a handful of words

i think i hit a decent balance of description, action, dialogue, and interiority?

giving certain sentences that satisfying cadence

im good at beginnings. fuck endings tho

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

dialogue. im a lot better than i used to be, but still struggle with it

i don't understand smut and it doesn't understand me

my stamina is shit!!! which is why i write small things and that works fine but when i occasionally want to write something long (beach fic my love) i get overwhelmed and discouraged.

im just.. not that creative lmao this head is empty

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

i do not do it, but all the best to ppl who do ig. hopefully someone knows how to do it well... once i read a longfic that did this sort of a lot and the translations were all in the chapter end notes on ao3 and it was such a PAIN to scroll down then find my place again

but i just don't do it bc im lazy :}

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

newsies lmao (which came out when i was 3! never been on time to a fandom in my life ✌🏻😌)

19. What's your favorite fic you've ever written?

uhhhhh well right now i am most satisfied with anybody's hands (pre-relationship mayo), but like the writing of be gentle with me (also mayo), but am most proud of nothing on my tongue. idk which would be considered my favorite.

-

idk who hasn't been tagged yet but @thevikingwoman, @boshtet-juggler, @kittlesandbugs, @ladymdc, and @writer-ish, if you've done this will you pls tag me in it so i can see?? and the rest of yall if you got this far and have stuff on ao3 i am BEGGING you to say i tagged you pls i do not even care if we're mutuals or not

[mexicancat-girl]

AO3 Wrapped/year in review

OG post here

For wrapping up 2021 (I know Im almost 3 months late but w/e)

Top Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug, with 49 fics

Date of First Fic Posted: In my entire AO3 history? June 14, 2014 For 2021 specifically? Jan 09, 2021

Top Multi-Chapter Fic: By Hits/Kudos: BF stands for best friend By Comment Threads: (same as above)

Top One-Shot: Threading The Needle, 3571 hits It’s technically another fic but tbh this is the better oneshot

Fic You’re Most Proud Of: Bf stands for best friend was a huge undertaking, a rewrite of season 1 of Miraculous Ladybug. It’s 72k long. I’m very proud of it.

Fic You Wish Got More Attention: Since I post a ton of one-shots for NathMarc November--and just in general--lots of them don’t get much attention. I think the one I want more people to notice is big lights will inspire you, a fic based on Miraculous New York special, told in the perspective of Nathaniel and Marc. I juggled so many characters and plot points in that fic, trying to give all the minor characters some love and attention. It’s barely scraping 300 hits.

Fic that Challenged You the Most: Strangely enough, A New Birthday. Mostly because it was for TheDjWifiZine, so it had a word limit of 2k (and I typically post oneshots much longer than that on the regular). Also because I don’t typically write much DJWifi centric fics, though I do enjoy them as a ship.

Favorite Quote/Passage: From chapter 5 of life’s waiting to begin, a hades/persephone marcnath AU (but things are gay and consensual) “...I wanted to stay by Marc’s side. Because I love him.” Silence, as if time itself was holding its breath. Then Marc speaks up with a warbled, quiet, “You do…?” “I do. To the ends of the earth and back,” Nathaniel says firmly, taking both of Marc’s hands in his. His expression is so earnest and his smile so soft, eyes full of adoration as he looks up at Marc. “I love you, Marc.” “I love you, too. Oh Nathaniel, I love you with all of my heart…!” (The fic is almost 35k and I wrote it as a birthday present for my friend Kiwibon. I still adore it, it’s probably one of the fics I’m most proud of.)

Total Words Posted: 366,305 Y...Yeah. I’m not surprised.

[cxcarmen]

Hey everyone!! Recently I had to take a hiatus from writing/this blog. I apologize if I worried any of you, but I assure you I'm in good health. I spent a lot of March writing and re-writing chapter 12, but found that none of it was really sticking the way I wanted it to. It got to the point where I wasn't able to focus on the story anymore because I felt like nothing was working. I think fic readers can tell when an author gives up on a piece/are writing out of obligation, and I really wanted to avoid doing that, so I took a month off to refresh.

The recovery/aftermath is what I've always planned to be the most important part of the story, but now that it's here, I've found myself stuck lol. I'm probably going to scrap most of what I've written and start fresh. I think my big issue was that I was pushing for scenes that I've had in mind since the start when they just don't fit anymore.

A lot of the other problems I'm having boil down to the fact that this is one of the first fics I've ever written, and when I posted the beginning chapters, there wasn't nearly enough outlining that went into them. I honestly wasn't expecting anyone to read it (although I'm so incredibly thankful for how supportive you all have been), and I definitely didn't plan for it to be so long. I wasnt super familiar with the characters and had absolutely no idea how to properly plan a story, so I made a lot of careless mistakes that were ooc/didn't fit canon. As the first few chapters are the foundation for the story, I really think they reflect on the later stuff, even if I've improved since they were made.

While I'm trying my best to be proud of it as a whole because it's really helped me grow as an author (and it's also incredibly important to me), I've been thinking about rewriting it from the start, and making a totally separate spin-off fic that's gonna be closer to what the story is to me now. I'd probably shift around some of the core elements and make it better from a technical standpoint. (Mostly fixing where I've messed up on the timeline, adding in/taking away some scenes, making an actual outline, and having Ed make some different choices that I feel suit him more as a character. It'd probably dive more into the realm of psychological horror, too.) I'd still keep up the original and I'd at least finish chapter 12, but it's something I've been thinking on as a possibility.

The only problem with this is that I really don't wanna give up on the potential that DLB has right now, and I'm also afraid it'll be rather draining to revisit the themes, both as an author and for all of you as readers. It's a heavy story, and while a lot of choices that I made early into it are bugging me, I think Ed/Al deserve a break. I also don't want it to get repetitive because don't get me wrong, some of the scenes would probably be kept almost exactly the same.

With those rambles out of the way, I hope you're all doing well. Thank you for the patience, and please let me know what you think!! All of you have been so great to hear from, and once again, apologies for ghosting.

(also depending on how much scrapped material for 12 I can't find a use for, I might just plop some scenes on here lol. A lot of them I'm absolutely in love with, but they don't fit quite how I want them to into the plot)

TLDR; Im rewriting all of chapter 12, and I'll post it when it's finished. Depending on how I feel after that, I might start a separate spin off fic that follows a similar premise but changes some core elements.

[lavender-lotion]

I was tagged by @lindstrom2020 for this! thank you <3

Rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (or so) favourite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought to the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

this was really hard. i’ve posted quuuuuite a bit this year and... a lot of it i don’t totally remember?? to figure out what i wanted to showcase here, i looked through my 2020 posting schedule and... wow. it’s been a long year, huh?

1. (baby) maybe that matters more - Teen Wolf | Steter | Mature | 16,610 words

the reaction to this fic (the comments, the kudos, the acceptance) single-handedly ignited a drive for writing teen wolf content that i thought was going to be dead forever after a serious of bad experiences. there are still some work i know i’ll never work on again, but i am so exciting to fall back into a world that i loved for so long. i can’t wait to see where this specific fic takes me :)

2. and all i know now is without you i could never find my way - X-Men | Various | General - Explicit | 55,310 words

this series is kind of cheating because 1. it’s a series and 2. i technically started it december 26th, 2019 BUT the other 54k was all written this year! lonk verse is on this list because this is the first thing that i have EVER written that has... transcended myself. i have birth to this four person, crack family, and i’ve seen it grow it something bigger than that. like, not only have i written 55k of this family, other people have written variations of this family, too. that has been one of the most amazing things in the world. i have so, so many plans for the four main family members of this universe that i can’t wait to work on! 

3. to love and be loved by you | MCU | Bruce/Peter | Explicit | 62,688 words

this is a wip, which... is one of the reasons why i wasn’t sure if i wanted to include on this list. another reason was i wasn’t sure if i wanted to include this on this list is because the rough draft for this work was completed in 2019. the reason it’s on here is because i am massively impressed with myself for having a work this long - a work that isn’t even finished! before i posted the first chapter i decided to edit this work. well, that “edit” turned into an incredibly thorough rewrite, and now the first 6 chapters are longer than the entire work used to be.it is the longest thing on my ao3. i know it is going to surpass 100k. it is. the biggest work i have and im so excited to get back to it in 2021!

4. patience is a virtue (i'll reap what i've sewn) - Push (2009) | Nick/Cassie | Explicit | 3,573

as im writing this fic currently has 22 hits and a single comment but... i don’t really care, because it’s one of the first things i’ve written in months that i’ve loved. i loved writing this. i love the story and the concept and the characters i got to play with, and i truly love the finished piece. it made me want to write more, and since usually writing is such a frustrating process itching to be done, that was amazing.

5. take us, together, like the stroke of a bow - Glee | Hummelcest | Explicit | 13,365

i love this fic. it is undoubtedly one of the longest smut fics i have EVER written but beyond that... it grew into a sprawling verse (that i just haven’t written it). i got to thirst of Burt Hummel, by first fatherly crush, and i got to write all the dirty father/son feels i hadn’t had an outlet for since leaving teen wolf. it was really nice to brain storm, really nice to read, and it’s a universe i really like to think about! 

honourable mentions (listen, i post A LOT): Lav's Original Fiction - some of my first ever original fiction what is the self amid this blaze? - really sweet trans gal loving its waters hold the dark of death - do i need say anything more than thunder rangerscest? i’d gladly break my own heart if it meant being loved by you - a really fun project i worked on alongside a close friend whom i adore Date me? - very fun fic to write of a sweet rare pair a single lie discovered is enough to create doubt in every truth expressed - my first ever team tony fic!!!

I AM TAGGING: @midrashic, @flightinflame, @stronglyobsessed, @elledelajoie, @ireneadonovan, @tinaxpow, @leviice458, @wolfgeralt, 

[readandwritesilver]

Writer Tag Game

tagged by @1mechanicalalligator

author name: rustyanklebraclet

fandom(s) you write for: right now mostly juts community, but im thinking about picking my shameless series back up

where you post: Ao3, occasionally tumblr

most popular one-shot: Heavy humid night, corner of Park and Main, which i have mixed feelings about (both the fics popularity and the fic itself).

most popular multi-chapter: ive never written a multichap, lol. i have two series, though, and the most popular of those is my Community episode rewrites

favorite story you wrote: long-term impacts of oceanic travel, i think. it was an idea i had for a while, this collection of different smaller stories that were all connected, but i was never sure how to do it. it went through alot before it got to what it is now, and it’s one of the few fics that i feel like the work i put into it is proportionate to the payoff, if that makes sense.

story you were nervous to post: probably  intro to unrequited love and dramatic irony. it was my first time writing anything even remotely like that (as in not about getting together/a established relationship) and i was just out of my comfort zone. i know i said long-term impacts is my favourite fic that i wrote, and it is, but this is the one that i’m proudest of.

how do you choose your titles? god uh. with the exception of community, where i just run words related to the story through my mental thesaurus (or thesaurus.com if i cant think of any) and mash them together with like an “advanced” or an “intro to” or something in there, either i think of a song that reminds me of the fic and look through the lyrics, or i literally just come up with vaguely poetic nonsense on the spot thats sounds pretty but is actually just horseshit.

how many of your stories are complete? uh, technically all of them? but neither of my series are.

in progress: none of my works, but my episode rewrites series is. not sure i can say the same for my shameless one.

coming soon: i’m working on a trobed fic thats basically a fake dating au? actually its a fake marriage. there are other circumstances, though. but i’m not going to give them away. shoot for the moon it’ll end up being like 15-20k spread over 3-5 chapters, realistically it won’t break 6k. also i have couple rewrites that i’m playing with in my head, but nothing on paper for any of them, as well as some ideas for a jabed fic or two. not sure about that last one yet, though.

upcoming story you’re most excited to write: the fake dating one !! i actually got the idea in the most ridiculous way, but i really like how it’s turning out so far.

do you accept prompts? always! it takes me a bit to write them (sometimes more than that) but i will get to them all eventually. how fast i can get them done depends on different things, but as long as theyre relatively sfw, i’ll do them.

top five favorite authors: just five?? god ok

@1mechanicalalligator

@figbian

@no-sweat-boba-fett

@abedkin

@jabedalien

tag six people: can i juts say them ^ ?

[tartagilicious]

author interview

Thanks a lot for tagging me @maanawa​~ :)

Name: grace! i’ve definitely said this before, but for anyone that doesn’t know, that’s my real name. It’s easy, so I prefer to be called it everywhere since people usually tend to assume it’s fake anyway (so if you for any reason want to call me something, this works!)

Fandoms: oh wow, too many. but here’s the rundown of the ones I’ve been into most recently:

-mr love queen’s choice

- mobile legends: bang bang (if that’s even a fandom lol. but pm me if you play, I need more friends on there 😔) 

- ikemen vampire

- ikemen revolution

- ikemen sengoku

- haikyuu!!

- fruits basket

- fairy tail

- my hero academia

- yona of the dawn

- bungou stray dogs

- nct

- seventeen

Where you post: mainly here! Though, I still do occasionally post on wattpad. It might be every once in a blue moon, but it happens.

My most popular oneshot: >:( my post popular oneshot is technically an Asra oneshot, but since I deleted the account it was posted on, the ‘keep reading’ on the reblogged post is broken. So, now it’s this Arthur oneshot! It doesn’t have nearly as many notes, but it’s definitely the one I’ve gotten the most feedback.

Most popular multi chapter story: oh man. um. so. As mentioned, I have a wattpad,,,,, and since used to write exclusively on there, I have this one Dazai (bsd) fic that’s just sitting around with 83k (I WAS A BABG WHEN I WROTE IT — THE RIPE AGE OF 11) it obviously sucks ass so im in the process of rewriting it and am very happy with the outcome so far. I kinda wanna post it on here but 😳 don’t know if these kinda fandoms will mix. I might anyway tho lmao

Favourite story you wrote: AHHHH THEO HAS MY HEART NEXT QUESTION 

Story that you were nervous to post: ..this was the first smut I’ve ever written, so I was soo nervous to post it. But it was taken really well, so I’m glad for that. (Theo - checkmate. link is broken, i’ll fix later)

How you choose your titles: it’s kind of hard to explain,, just vibes. I’ll either go with a face word or a phrase that I think goes well with the message of whatever I’ve written, but sometimes I use songs if I need an extra nudge.

Complete: my masterlist

Incomplete: ;)

Do you outline: absolutely! Even if it’s just me bullshitting on a google doc for 30 minutes (which, spoiler alert, it usually is) it helps a lot in the long run when I’m grasping for extra details later on

Coming up soon: hnnnngh matchups. I’m gonna fire them off like they’re t-shirts in a T-shirt cannon one day just you wait >:(. But other than that yeah I get new requests a lot so it’s not worth mentioning any here since if I do, it’ll probably already be up by the time I actually post this.

Do you accept prompts: of course! They’re actually one of my main source of requests, though, like the previous op mentioned, I definitely don’t do every single one ^^

Upcoming story you’re most excited to write: ..I’ll just give you a title for now. A very nice requester helped me lot with this one, so shout out to them! — spoken love, mlqc gavin

Tagging: I literally tried going through a whole list of people but couldn’t find anyone who hadn’t done this already T-T so if you want to do this, by all means do! 

[deniigi]

Hello! Just about to sit down and read your newest fic, so excited about it! I had a question for you (you very well may have answered this already, so sorry in advance!), but do you have advice for writing? Advice in terms of getting start, plotting out stories, helping get the creative juices flowing? I have all these ideas but seem to lack the drive to get things written out. I know the best advice is to just write, but I'm having a horrible time starting. What do you do in those moments?

Hello my dear!

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. The lord has blessed me with a head cold and ruined all my plans of productivity for the day, so I can finally answer this ask! I’ll talk a little bit about both how to get started with a story and then some little things that help me motivate myself.

I have started a tag for writing advice here: http://deniigi.tumblr.com/tagged/writing-advice

This is going to be a long post, sorry mobile users.

I am going to preface all of this with the understanding that I am technically a professional writer in terms of like, a handful of ways, but I have absolutely zero training in creative writing, so take everything I say with a grain of salt!

So, I personally find that, on the whole, that psychological hurdle of getting started comes a lot from the anticipation of the kind of response a story will get (how many hits, how many comments, how many kudos) in addition to a bit of anxiety or fear over  theloss of sustained interest in that story (by yourself and/or by your audience). I find that this can be alleviated by really, truly internalizing the understanding that you are allowed to write your work however you damn please, for whoever you damn please.

There will be work you write for others, and there will be work you write for yourself. Not all work needs to be published; sometimes, it is really nice to just write shit for yourself; it is a plus for humanity if you decide to share it with others, but you do not have to do that.

Furthermore, I would like to present you with this:

This is what my current folder for under fire looks like. And you might notice that there are almost always multiple drafts per chapter. Yes, I did in fact rewrite chapter four 5 fucking times, you bet your ass I did. And I’m not ashamed of it. I think the story is better for it. And that’s the important thing here: you do not need to produce a perfect draft the first time around. You will not produce that perfect draft. Accept this. Embrace this. Embrace it and your cat at the same time to really ingrain it as a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Liberate yourself from the pressure of needing to produce the perfect, most right draft and you may find starting the piece overall to be a much easier, more pleasant experience.

And along with this beautiful, uplifting spiritual advice, I also bring a practical thought: when it comes to getting started, a lot of times, people feel like they need to set the stage, yadda yadda yadda. Ha. No. Fuck that.

That’s a surefire way to bore the shit out of yourself. Start right in the middle of a scene that captivates you if that’s what you want to write. It’s a free platform. No one’s gonna arrest you if you stick Spiderman upside down in trash first thing. They might even applaud you actually, because you didn’t make them slog through some of that ‘It was the evening of the 25th and it was cold out in the streets” bullshit we all learned from Dickens.

Alright. Now let’s talk about actually getting started making words appear on paper.

So, from my knowledge there are generally two ways that folks write creatively. You have what I’m going to call the planners and then you what I’m going to call the monsters (I call them this entirely affectionately, I’m sure there’s a better word for these folks, but I don’t have it atm, all I have is a headcold). Planners are folks who sit down and work out their major plot points, who write outlines, and who create the scaffolding of their work before they set out on their magical journey. I think of these folks as architects.

And then you have the monsters and these are those fuckers who just sit down and write stream of consciously like the heathens all our high school teachers tried to teach us not to be.

I am both a planner and a monster. And a lot of that depends on the length of work I’m going for. I have never in my life planned a one-shot, for example. I just attack that as it is. I follow my heart, if you will. But when it comes to longer chaptered fics, I really do think that some outlining is super helpful.

You might find it useful for one-shots, though, I dunno. Maybe give it a try and see what happens?

The two main fics I’ve done proper outlines for are Inimitable and under fire and I actually find outlining to be immensely helpful in psyching me up to write the story (I go through and re-read my outlines when I start to lose interest or diverge too much from the plot outlined there in the actual writing. 9 times out of 10, re-reading gets me stupid excited to write all over again) and it also helps me keep momentum going throughout the plot.

Here’s a pic of some pages of under fire’s outline.

Physically writing the work is really important for me because it forces me to only put down key points/feelings/ideas I want to include, whereas typing gives me far too much room to get lost/distracted by extraneous detail. And since my handwriting is a teacher’s worst nightmare and I cross out shit and write huge with emotion, I’ll give you a little bit of what the middle page here says:

Miles-

there’s something thrumming

vibrating in his ears wherever he goes

-closes his eyes and somehow enters blackness- emptyness (Stranger Things style)

beat

beat

beat

“help.”

–BACK - everything is gone

closing his eyes doesn’t bring the space back

–it makes him panic. He doesn’t know why. His heart is pounding. He’s sweating He has a horrible feeling of doom.

beat

beat

beat

its gone.

he goes home anxiously. Pretends everything is normal.

his neck crawls

So basically it’s less of a formal outline and more of a collection of stream of consciousness feelings and screenplay directions which I’ll flesh out in the actual story.

Personally, I love writing these kinds of things because they get me pumped for the story I’m about to tell. I get to write out the key scenes and work through all the hard parts first, and then, while I’m writing, I work through the little fun details and banter and I have to write to figure out how we get from one scene to the next and I love the challenge of having to fit those pieces together. I very rarely stick strictly to my outline, (as anyone who is currently reading under fire can tell you right now), but I do try to stick to the main plot points in it and my writing is certainly better for it.

So yes. Outlining is very good, but it is even better when you do it to some kind of music. I listened to What’s Up Danger from the Into the Spiderverse soundtrack on repeat while I wrote this outline to kind of transfer some of the relentless pace conveyed in that song to the piece’s plot.

I highly recommend using music to set the mood of your piece while/before you write a piece of any length. It helps get you in the right headspace (excited or somber or angry) to write. You need emotion to write creatively. You can’t just make that happen sometimes; you need a little help.

A couple other things which might help:

1. Leave your house or the space you’re normally in. Go to a cafe and find a nice corner and have a think and a try in there. Sometimes moving to a different space helps you escape cyclical thinking patterns.

2. Write what you want to read. Don’t bother writing for other peoples’ interests; that’ll just bore the shit out of you all over again.

3. Find an atmospheric mood sound to listen to on Youtube or smth (I personally like Rain on a Car Windshield for slightly somber fics, but you might be into ocean storms or dripping caves or whatever).

4. Heat your feet. I don’t know why but I am entirely unproductive when my feet are cold. Maybe this one is me-specific, but whatevs. Heat the feets!

5. If you’re still having trouble just sitting down and pounding the story out, that’s okay! Maybe it’s not ready to be written yet. Maybe you’re not in the right headspace yet. Sometimes that’s just how it is. One story makes its way out in like, a hour, and the next one takes like, months to finally be written. We all work at different paces. We all write for different reasons.

It might help to figure out why you want to write a story before you write it. Like, if its for attention, it’s gonna be hard as hell. But if there’s an idea that you feel like is important or if there’s a mood you’re trying to work yourself into or out of, then that might be a little easier. For example, I wrote a piece called make it work which is about Fogs finding his motivation to be a lawyer and fight for justice when Kavanaugh was confirmed and I felt super helpless in the face of our present justice system. That story kind of wrote itself and it needed to be written, I feel, not just for me, but for others who were feeling just as helpless.

Writing is catharsis in that way. Maybe you just need to find out what you need to wring out of your soul.

Sorry that got very metaphysical. But I do want to stress that getting started and ending a story are the hardest parts of writing them, so you are definitely not alone if you feel like you’re ramming your head into a wall here.

I hope something here helps you, my dear!

[comefeedtherainn]

For the ask me: 5, 9, and 15 pwease

ohhh thank you fwiend! lmao i will assume this is for BoD but if not lemme know and i’ll do it again kdhgpaodghpdogh

5: What part was hardest to write?

GOD. OKAY. LISTEN. DO Y’ALL UNDERSTAND HOW HARD IT WAS FOR ME TO WRITE CHAPTER 50???? (minor spoilers below lmao)

like not in the “nooo i dont wanna hurt kaidan!” way but just like...idk WHAT it was but i just could not get that chapter out. i kinda went into it blind and that might have been my first mistake, but i also think that im not very interested in like “torture for the sake of it” type of shit?? like i didnt want it to be too outlandish and i didnt want kai leng to be too much of a supervillain??? it was a hard balance to strike and im not confident i succeeded, tbh.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

not REALLY, i mean the plot was always the plot and kaidan was always the mc, right from the beginning. BUT, for part three i did briefly consider doing alternating pov between john and kaidan. i ultimately decided not to because i do believe that one of the story’s greatest strengths is that it is limited to kaidan’s pov and the knowledge that kaidan is privy to, which (even without my au) is vastly different from shepard’s experience. 

chapter 50′s events is one of the big reasons that i considered this, along with other coming events. it was hard to do the kidnapping trope with EXCLUSIVELY the kidnapee’s pov...who is also going through beta blocker withdrawal and severe migraines and also malnourishment and is therefore not all there in the head (OR EVEN CONSCIOUS HALF THE TIME). not to mention the fact that we couldn’t see shepard’s face during kai leng’s video call, so that took a bit of working around to get his rage across to the reader. man, that chapter kicked my ass lmao and it WASNT EVEN THAT GOOD. if i had the chance i’d probably rewrite that chapter, or cut it completely...ALAS.

15: What did you learn from writing this fic?

A LOT.

i learned how absolutely vital outlines are, and how much a story can change even just during the first draft. this fic is technically a first draft, and not something i would consider publishable in THE LEAST. i’m just having fun so im fine with that, but im not even done with the damn thing and already i’d like to rewrite the entirety of part one. i would do it so differently. not to mention the clumsiness of part two; there was so much information to fucking put on paper, it NEEDS a rewrite to really do the thing justice. but, such is the nature of serial posting/writing.

i’ve also learned how to fit writing into my daily life, and how to prioritize it. the last couple of months aside, i really have written nearly every day for over a YEAR. and it’s made me a muuuuch better writer and a much faster writer, and it’s also made me believe that i can undertake something this large and finish it. i’ve finished a few fics before, but never one of this size. BUT I CAN DO IT. I CAN AND I WILL.

in the future, break of dawn has taught me that i will likely be prewriting all of my longfics before beginning to post them. just so i can really put out the quality that i want to be associated with. not that i think BoD is BAD, im actually very proud of it, but there’s issues and holes in the plot in places, and characters that could use more love. and being able to treat the process more carefully/slowly would help with that immensely.

[coldflasher]

Fic Writer’s Year In Review

I was mentioned by @silas-lehnsherr and @sophiainspace - thank you! this is such a nice way to look back on the year :D

General Fic Stats for 2018:

Word Count:  172,163

Number of fics: 7

Most Popular by Kudos:

aftermath

this fic is my baby and ate 2-3 years of my life - i entirely blame this fic for the reduced amount of things i’ve posted for this fandom, because it’s uh... long. 

summary: this fic is a rewrite of season 1 of the flash, but with barry and len dating from the onset. unsurprisingly, this causes complications. technically the third in a series but can also be read as a standalone. 

the fic is finished but i’m posting one chapter at a time - we’re currently on episode six and it’s uh. over 100k. that tells you everything you need to know about this fic probably

My Favorite Fic To Write:

i already mentioned aftermath, which i adored, so im gonna talk about sticks and stones - a constangreen angst-fest. this was my first time writing constangreen and i had a blast with constantine as a character; dialogue is my fave, and i heard his voice so clearly, it was so fun mimicking his speech patterns. also gary is a cutie. 

summary: the last time john constantine got involved with a guy named gary, it didn’t go so well. keeping gary at arm’s length seems like the best way to save his soul - too bad john’s drunk self has other ideas.

Funniest Fic:

i don’t know that i write many funny fics, per se, although i do like to include funny moments. but i guess the best fit would be take me out tonight. the idea was probably funnier than the execution, but i had a good time writing it haha.

summary: barry and len are having a nice, quiet date. unfortunately, central city’s metahuman population has other ideas.

Fluffiest Fic:

the promise 

this is a coldray fic that grabbed me and basically forced me to write it. also lowkey angsty cos i’m a monster whoops BUT THE ENDING IS FLUFFY I SWEAR.

summary: leo is returning to earth x to propose to the love of his life, and mick has the perfect ring. aka mick is finally ready to move on and figures his partner’s ring will do more good on ray terril’s finger than it will in his pocket. 

Saddest Fic:

faces to the moonlight

this one was for the coldflash valentines day event. somehow i took a nice prompt like slow-dancing and made it sad because, as mentioned, i suck. 

summary: this year barry allen’s valentine is a memory he can’t seem to let go of. aka barry spends the night dancing with a ghost in ferris airfield and mourning missed opportunites. and leonard. who is dead. happy valentines day!!! 

Most Challanging Fic To Write:

wow, can i say aftermath again. im gonna say aftermath again. the final draft is OVER 300k SO I THINK THIS IS JUSTIFIED

Fic I’m Proudest of Writing:

aftermath, hands down. i don’t have a huge pool of fics to choose from this year, but The Fic That Ate Three Years Of My Life will always be one of my proudest achievements. 

Least Popular Fic:

faces to the moonlight again! this is fair, it’s pretty sad. i don’t blame y’all for not wanting to do that to yourselves.

Honourable Mentions:

shoutout to all the fics that i haven’t finished yet!! none of these have titles cos titles are my kryptonite. hoping to finish and post these in 2019, fingers crossed.

1. the coldflash vegas fic. 

i have a horrible first draft of this and intend to rewrite it when i have the time! this was based off something we talked about in my old dctv discord chat, flashtrash, which i left basically because i got super busy and forgot to talk and then got too anxious to ever speak again so i just kind of. disappeared. oops.

anyway this fic was fun but i was depressed and burnt out when i wrote it and it deserves better. barry and len get whammied during a metahuman altercation and suddenly decide that getting married is the best idea ever. funnily enough, team flash disagrees. the fic is basically about barry and leonard running away to vegas to get married and team flash frantically trying to catch up to them before they make A Mistake. i really do love this fic and i wanna finish it but my creative writing degree is eating all my time rn... sigh

2. the dark!iris/killer frost fic

this one is slowly coming along and i reckon i’ll finish it soon...ish? when i have time? 

after her brief stint as the flash, iris becomes obsessed with becoming a speedster for real. the solution is to steal barry’s powers, obviously. when killer frost finds out, iris thinks it’s game over - but as it turns out, they make a pretty good team. 

basically, it’s about villain!iris and killer frost falling in love and stabbing everyone else in the back. it’s terrible, i’m obsessed with it. 

General Writing Impressions:

I haven’t had as much time to dedicate to fic this year because I’ve been devoting myself more to original projects. I’m doing a creative writing degree and so a lot of my energy has gone towards that. however, I do miss writing fic - it’s so nice to write just for fun, you know? no goals of publication, no impending grade that will, inevitably, make me feel bad about something i loved and was proud of... just writing for the love of it. i do miss that. 

in 2019 i’d like to strike a balance. of course my degree comes first, but i want to make time to write some (shorter) fics this year - it reminds me of why i love writing and why i want to do this. overall i’m never going to be a prolific fic writer who writes like, 100 short fics because i find them very hard, but i’d like to write more short fics and explore more pairings and just have fun, let loose and enjoy the process of writing fics whenever i get the chance. 

Writers You Should Read:

again I haven’t dedicated enough time to reading fics recently :( (i read over 130 books instead because apparently i always lean massively one way or the other. it’s either all fics or all books?? wild.) but here are some writers who wrote fics i enjoyed very much!

@sophiainspace , sandrineshaw (sandrine), crimsondomingo (of course!), harleygirl2648, katyakora, barrylen and more! 

(i don’t tend to tag people because uhhh anxiety, but feel free do this and say i tagged you!)