#the longer answer is that poly routes take a lot of thought and planning that I haven't been able to meaningfully integrate into the games

[heart-forge]

Is there a poly in bad ritual?

not as such; when I invented tahira she said she would exist only under the condition that I wouldn't make her kiss siruud.

[salthaven]

Make a Change P15 (an Explanation and Summary)

Part Fifteen (An Explanation and Summary)

So, as I recently posted, I don’t plan to continue this story any longer. As much as I loved writing it, I also...fell out of love, I suppose. I just don’t have the time, passion, or motivation to try forcing myself to write it anymore, and it’s unfair to you guys to have to accept a sloppy second, something thrown onto a document for the sake of a word count and an update. I want to write stuff I’m proud of, and that just wasn’t happening with this story.

That said, one reader asked for a summary, so that they could get some closure. Luckily, I have some notes that I took as I planned the story and started writing it, and I thought you’d like to see some of them. This includes three things: 1. The schedules for most of the main characters 2. The heroes I was planning on bringing in and 3. All of the ideas I had for “Who on Earth will Marinette end up with?” (This was a doozy.) Along with this, I want to talk about other pairings I had in mind. 

With that all said, let’s hop right in!

The Schedules:

I really planned out their schedules, just so I could start figuring out who the Quantic Kids would be. I had a general idea in mind: Each student at Collège des Arts would have to take their four core classes (History, Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science), a language, and then their last period would be a two hour block that focused on their artistic talent. I set it up this way so that I could integrate the Quantic Kids into Marinette’s life. (Along with this, I made it so the whole school had lunch after fourth hour, so that the morning had four hours of classes, and the afternoon had three. I note this, because some schools separate lunches based on fourth hour, so that there is an A, B, and C lunch. I...did not feel like dealing with that, and I wasn’t sure how French schools do it but I doubt it’s like that.) 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s schedule: 

1. History (right next to Félix, later on stuck between him and Adrien) The original plan never had Adrien’s arrival, it was supposed to be a moment of comic relief where Marinette and Félix were just kind of half awake and barely conscious at any given time during first hour. This is why their history teacher, Mr. Marcel, was either wide awake or dead asleep. I thought it’d be a cute moment to show off the dynamics of their exhaustion or energy, depending on the day. I didn’t show this off nearly as much as planned, however, because I shifted my focus soon after.

2. Language Arts (with Allegra). A nice, calmer class seemed perfect for Marinette, who’d probably still be waking up. Allegra is calm and classy, so it only made sense to pair the two up for the second hour.

3. Science (Claude’s here!) Loud and exciting, just like their class seems to be, it was a perfect pairing. 

4. Math (with Allegra and Claude) I wanted to show off Allegra and Claude’s...chaotic dynamic. 

5. English (with Allan) Marinette wants to be a fashion designer, and she had to take a language, so she thought “hey, fashion is pretty big in America, let’s learn English”. (It was also the only class I could think of that she and Allan would take...more on that later.)

6. Fashion Design. Pretty self-explanatory.

Allegra: 

1. German. Allegra likes opera music, and wanted to mimic the sound of some German singers accurately. 

2. Language Arts (with Marinette, as mentioned above)

3. Science (a different teacher than Marinette and Claude, though. What a pity) (Also I apparently called it ‘physics’ in my notes and I just noticed.) 

4. Math (With Marinette and Claude)

5. History

6. Choir (She’s a singer.)

Claude Mercury:

1. English (It was for the theatre, but also for Shakespeare, but more accurately….for Shakespeare’s more inappropriate humor.) (and memes)

2. History

3. Science (with Marinette) (Lots of explosions and fires were planned)

4. Math (With Allegra and Marinette) 

5. Language Arts

6. Drama. He was just a simple thespian lad who wanted to have fun and make friends, what can I say?

Allan:

1. Math

2. Science

3. Language Arts

4. History

5. English (with Marinette) He likes hip hop and rap, and wanted to learn English rap, too. He, like Claude, also loves their memes, and I planned to have a few moments where he explained some to Marinette. 

6. Dance. Mainly hip hop, although the boy can break dance a little bit

Félix Agreste: 

1. History (with Marinette) He’s tired in the morning, but good at reciting dates. Again, had a lot more planned for this.

2. Math

3. Spanish. (“Come on, guys, it’s logical. It’s one of the most spoken languages in the world.” -Félix, probably.) I also planned for Félix to already know English. I wanted a cute chapter where he tutored Marinette, only for Claude to start dramatically monologuing because ‘why do you help her but never help me? The betrayal, Fe, the betrayal!’ 

4. Language Arts

5. Science

6. Music (he’s a piano boy in my heart) (maybe also good at violin) (a classy young man) 

Adrien Agreste:

1. History (with Marinette)

2. Language Arts (with Marinette)

3. Science (with Marinette)

4. Math (with Marinette)

5. Chinese (with Marin- oh, wait, we’re done with that!) This class, along with his next, is another reason Adrien relaxed so quickly at the school. By taking Chinese at school, he was able to convince his father to stop the at-home lessons, clearing up some of his schedule.

6. Music. Same as above, playing piano at school meant he didn’t have to do it at home so much.

The Heroes:

“But salthaven, you already introduced the heroes! Envision and Viperion, remember?” Haha, as if those were the only guys I had planned?

Yeah, I had more. Four more.

I wanted the Quantic Kids to be heroes. I had three of them for sure chosen, names and Miraculi assigned to them. (Allegra was my only problem child, but I’ll explain that below.)

The first was supposed to be Allegra. I was going to make her the Fox, with the name Mélodie. I’m pretty sure that was her original hero name, back during the PV stage of this show, and I wanted to pay an homage to her inspiration. But then Félix got it, because I didn’t end up giving him the Cat (yeah, I was really salty when I started this, and I was planning to go the same route that I do in my ao3 fic, Of Patience and Pettiness, and take away the Cat from Adrien to give to Félix.), as Adrien learned from his mistakes. So Allegra waits, and Envision springs to life with Viperion.

Next would be Allan. Miraculous: Bee. Name: Mellifury, based on Mellifura (aka the Africanized Killer Bee) + Fury. He was supposed to be an unexpected storm. A dancer, he uses rhythm in a way that throws off opponents. Uses the spinning top like it's another limb, throws the game way off when first introduced. 

Then we’d have Allegra. After a while, I decided that the Rabbit would be best suited for her. Messing with timelines is a tricky business, but Allegra has a knack for details and organization that would leave her cruising through her tasks with some practice. While it’s nothing musical, it would be fun to see. Name: Cottontail. 

Finally, after an interesting fight that would cause Nathalie to lose the Peacock...Claude would step in. Bold and flashy, the thespian knows how to strut his stuff. But again, he’s a thespian, and theatre kids know when it’s time to hide in the shadows and stay unseen and unheard. With dark blues that can hide in the name and stand out in the daylight, Claude would become Le Paon, turning the tide and becoming a major help for the team. [At first, he dealt with some sickness, but after a talk with Ladybug, who in turn talked to Fu, the Miraculous was fixed and Le Paon could fight as easily as the rest.] He’d use sentimentals wisely, although he’d have a bad habit of monologuing as he created them. 

The Ships:

The moment we’ve all been waiting for. Our first question: Who the hell was Marinette going to end up with? Well, that answer changed throughout the story.

The first choice: Félix. I wanted Marinette to move on from Agreste...and fall in love with Agreste. It humored me, and I was in love with a bunch of Felinette one shots at the time. (And, again, very salty towards Adrien at the moment.) 

But then I redeemed Adrien. No problem, I thought. Marinette could choose between one of the boys...and the other would date Luka! (I mean, did you see the Instagram picture of Luka and Adrien. Luka with either Agreste would be cute, just imagine the musical moments they could have together)

But then I Akumatized Juleka, and Luka was right there...and I made Marinette fall for all three guys. So I decided “Hey, she can just date all three!” And so that’s the final choice, because I’m apparently a sucker for poly ships. 

But I mentioned other ships, didn’t I? So let’s talk about those!

First: Luka with an OC. Yep, I was going to bring in a new girl. It was actually going to be one of my friends, due to a conversation we had that went as follows:

S.H. (Salthaven): So I’m thinking that I’m going to pair up Félix and Marinette. Thoughts?

F. (Friend): Okay, but what about Luka?

S.H.:  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

F.: Well then pair me up with him!

So I did. Or I was going to...but then poly ship idea happened. 

As mentioned above, I also considered Luka with either of the Agreste boys. Whoever Marinette didn’t date. Again, couldn’t happen because I went for that sweet poly route. 

Finally: Claude and Allegra. What can I say, they act like an old married couple in my mind!

And that’s everything! Once all the heroes were chosen, and romantic confessions set aside, the Miraculous Team was going to gear up and take down Hawkmoth once and for all. Fun times, the end, we all get a happy ending.

So I hope that makes up for my rather abrupt end to this story. Thank you all for the time you put in, reading my writings, and I hope you enjoy the other works I plan to create! Until next time. <3

[louandhazaf]

Annual Writing Self Evaluation

1. List of works published this year: 

All the Silver Moons (Tomlinshaw)

Back to School Again (Niall/Hot Luke)

Thinking Out Loud (Larry)

Vision of a Reckless Love (Liam/Zedd)

Quiet Ones (Ziam)

Big Dicked Bottoms Make the Rockin’ World Go Round (Larry)

beneath the sound of hope (Larry)

Tell Me It’s the Strongest Shape (Louis/Nick/Elgar)

The Only One To Get It (Larry)

Just Say the Word (Larry)

Theory of Evolution (Larry)

Plus 4 100-word drabbles

Most of this year I felt like I was not being very productive with my writing, but putting together this list was the first time I realized that I did actually post a whole lot of fics this year. A lot of them were shorter than in years past, but I did have a fair amount of output, even if I didn’t reach my word count goal and there were many fics I gave up on, or put to the side. But, overall I’d put a tick in the ‘positive’ box because I did accomplish a lot and I’m proud of this year’s fics!

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

Far and away what I’m most proud of this year is Tell Me It’s the Strongest Shape. It’s the longest thing I’ve ever written, and the first time writing a poly fic, and with a character who is not well known in the fandom. I love these characters so much--flaws and all--and it was important to me that I told their story correctly.

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

Hmmm, I wouldn’t say that I’m not proud of Vision of a Reckless Love, but it’s the one that I’m really not sure if I nailed. Looking back on it, I think I wanted to explore the reasons why the events played out the way they did, and I ended up with something a little more plot-based than I realized I wanted. It’s not a bad fic, but normally when I want to write about something, I work through a lot of The Stuff while I’m writing so that I can stop thinking about it, and this one is still bouncing around my head so I’m not sure I did a great job working through The Stuff. (Which is a me problem, and not a fic problem--I still stand behind the fic, but I didn’t get what I wanted out of it.)

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

I love this bit of Tell Me It’s the Strongest Shape for a few reasons. I love the growth shown in regards to Louis feeling more confident about the sex stuff, I love how gently Elgar prompts Louis into communicating with him, and the way that my brave, brave Louis is still not always ready to put himself out there.

Elgar didn’t particularly want to give Louis an out but he found himself saying, “Maybe you were just tired, but it felt like something was wrong. And if it was something, I’d like to know.” After they got home, Louis hadn’t been snuggly like he got when he was tired, like he was this morning, curled at Elgar’s side. He’d been prickly and non-communicative.

“It’s nothing,” Louis said.

“I don’t quite believe you. Seemed like something at the time.”

Louis shrugged against him. With a big sigh, he sat up and turned around so he was in Elgar’s lap. “Hi,” he said. He bit his lip and rolled his hips.

Elgar clenched his thighs to keep from bucking up. “Hey you.”

Louis rolled his hips again. Elgar placed his hands on Louis’ hips out of instinct as Louis kissed under his jaw and along the column of his throat. Louis was awfully good at this particular route of distraction. Elgar would have to stay strong.

“Lou. Lou, are you sure? I’d rather we talk about it.”

“Nah.” There were another series of kisses and another round of Elgar using his super human skills to stay still. “It’s nothing now, anyway.”

Elgar squeezed his hips to still them. “It was something.”

Louis stopped what he was doing. He sat back on Elgar’s knees and rolled his eyes.

“Do we have to? It’s uh…” Louis fixed his eyes on something behind Elgar’s shoulder. “It’s embarrassing now and honestly not a big deal, so…”

“Seems like you’re making it into an awfully big deal for something that was nothing.”

5. Share or describe a favorite review you received:

I think all the comments on Tell Me It’s the Strongest Shape. I was so nervous to post it and then everyone who commented was so lovely. I loved everyone who said that they liked it even though they didn’t know who Elgar was. I loved everyone who said that it was a good representation of an actual polyamorous relationship. I loved everyone who said they were moved by it in some way.  

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

June, July, August, and December were really hard for me. December always is because my schedule becomes so erratic, and the summer because, well... I’m going to chalk it up to spending that time doing some hard thinking about how my words were coloring my characters, and how I needed to structure the story, and telling myself that I could, in fact, finish it, even if it was hard. I had planned on finishing Tell Me It’s the Strongest Shape by the end of March, and I hit a hard wall and it was super frustrating to not make much progress when I felt like I was ‘behind’ on my own schedule.

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

I was really surprised that I finished my girl direction fic, Just Say the Word. I had tried and failed a few times to write girl direction before, and then with some looming deadlines, I thought I was going to have to drop from the fest. But then it all came together rather quickly!

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

I think this year was a lot about patience. TMISTT took so much longer than I thought it would. And I had planned to write a 90s Smashing Pumpkins-based fic for @fullonlarrie‘s birthday in ‘17, and it just never solidified in my mind, so it took a solid year for beneath the sound of hope to be posted. So, I hope to remember that in the future, that it might just take some time to come up with the right plot for the right characters. 

9. How do you hope to grow next year:

I hope to not be as hard on myself when things don’t go as planned. I hope to challenge myself, and play more. I hope I can stop, or lessen, comparing myself to others. 

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

Oh, wow. I have so many. @jiksax was an amazing beta and cheerleader for TMITSS. It literally wouldn’t exist without her. And her own writing is so amazingly compact and powerful that it’s a joy to try and learn from. @gettingaphdinmomo and @myownsparknow always always always make my fics better. @fullonlarrie is willing to talk fic to me all day every day. And all of my group chats and friends on tumblr who are the best cheerleaders a writer could ask for!

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

yes, of course, always.

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

I think the only wisdom I have this year is that you just have to do it, and then keep doing it until it’s done.

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

I’m doing the big bang this year, which is very scary. I want to finish the sequel to Swallow My Words. I’d love to do an advent fic next year. 

14. Tag three writers whose answers you’d like to read.

@fullonlarrie @allwaswell16 @gaycousinlarry

*All answers should be about works published in 2018. Also, you can skip any questions you hate or don’t want to answer, but please leave them on the list so that others can do them if they want.

(also, here’re my responses from 2016, 2017)