#the other 3 sentence prompts will also get 1k fics actually

[fuwahua]

hewwo hewwo! may i please request lee!felix ler!sylveon with hips as the spot for the ask game? thanks <3~

HEWWO thank you for your patience!! This took longer than expected bc I cannot write 3 sentence drabble actually ヽ(；▽；)ノ please take this fic!

WC: 1.7k

Summary: Sylvain stumbles upon Felix training his Saturday away and decided to distract him. Totally doesn’t have any other ulterior motives other than friendly bromance, nope!

“Huh! Hah! H-aaurgh!”

“My, such a hard worker. Say, do you come here often?”

“Shut it. If you’re not here to train, don’t distract me.”

Wow, such hurtful words… if Sylvain were twelve. The redhead crossed his hands over his heart as he dramatically stumbled back, moaning in fake pain. “Felix, you wound me!”

“Good.”

Sheesh. Sylvain rolled his eyes behind his back, knowing full well that Felix would know, and just as expected there was that familiar “tch” noise from his classmate. Even so, Felix didn’t even spare him a glance as he returned to his practice and took up half the practice grounds with his setup alone.

Not that it mattered. It was a Saturday and this side of the Academy wasn’t exactly in high demand when classes were out—why would they be, when students can flock to the marketplace, study away in the library, or do, literally, anything else other than train their already sore muscles? Sylvain himself was raring to go for a hot Saturday night out when he was crossing the training grounds but then he’d seen Felix and. Well.

There was nothing that needed to be said about a lone figure training on a weekend. A little sad, in his (not) professional opinion. What kind of friend would he be if he just left his dearest childhood friend alone?

A bad one, of course. That was it: a desire to be a good friend and help out during Felix’s obviously struggling loneself. Totally nothing other than that. Nope! It wasn’t like Sylvain enjoyed the calm moments that stretched between the two in the classroom, when Felix was less pressed about glaring at everything that moved and stared diligently at Byleth with something that he could almost call respect. He certainly didn’t linger on the moments when they stood back to back together during the Battle of Eagle and Lion, feeling Felix’s warmth from where their arms had pressed together.

Definitely, absolutely, did not enjoy watching Felix’s hair flutter just slightly in the wind or the way his words came out tinged with an edge promising violence.

“Are you going to train or just stare at me forever?”

“Aww, Fe-Fe—”

“Don’t call me that.”

Sylvain’s jaw clicked as he offered Felix a lazy smile instead of replying. Felix’s brow twitched, turning back to his invisible enemy. Strike, strike, strike.

“I’m serious. Pick up a spear or leave.”

“I pick leave! Let’s go out to town together!”

“Don’t make me hit you.”

So rude. Sylvain tutted, though he remained where he was. It wasn’t like Felix would actually toss him out; they’d done this song and dance enough times for him to know what Felix actually looked like when he was furious. Shoulders raised, fist clenching, bloody nails—the whole shebang.

His shoulders were down now, almost relaxed with every practiced motion. Tempered breathing, easy and calm, and a smooth, beautiful series of steps as left crossed right and vice-versa, following a roadmap drilled into them. Felix, as always, executed it beautifully.

It was just too tempting to mess with him.

“Oh? Are you finally ready to—S-Syvlain! Stahahap!”

“Stop what? Didn’t you want some hand-to-hand practice?”

“Ehehe, this ishihin’t practice!”

“Really? News to me��” Sylvain grinned as his hands trailed along Felix’s sides, chuckling at the way his friend’s cackles grew in response. The wooden sword slipped from his fingers as Felix tried to pry his hands off, shaking his head between sputtered protests.

“Nahaha, Sylvahahain!”

Felix’s leg kicked out at him warningly but the threat wasn’t exactly effective coupled with the boyish smile that bloomed on his face and spread from rosy cheek to cheek. His brows were scrunched up as he slapped Sylvain’s arms, head tossed back onto his shoulder. Their height difference was easier to take advantage of this close and Sylvain took full advantage to blow against Felix’s ear just to see him jolt. “You called?”

“I didihiihihiHIN’T! FU–HAHAHACK OFF!”

Talk about loud. Sylvain’s hands tightened around Felix’s sides, earning a squeak, as he quickly ducked his head to glance at both sides. It didn’t look like anyone was running to the training grounds after Felix’s loud laughter: well, it was Saturday. He could, maybe, possibly just mess with Felix all day if he wanted to.

(An evil thought, if he were in Felix’s position. But who could resist turning grumpy Felix’s frown upside-down? The Professor wouldn’t be too mad, surely…)

It’d been years since he last had the chance to mess with Felix like this; not since they were kids. Even so, it was like muscle memory. He knew Felix liked a lighter touch along his sides but threw his head back in full belly laughs when his ribs were kneaded. His tummy was weak, but only in the upper half where it was easy for Sylvain to fold him over and tease the area. His knees were equally weak, though harder to reach, and Felix was a kicker in the true sense of the word.

It was kinda nice to see, despite all his moodiness, Felix was still just as ticklish as he was all those years ago.

“Doesn’t this bring you back?”

“SHUHUHUT IT!”

Sylvain hummed as Felix managed to grab onto one of his hands, prying it away from his side with a triumphant gasp, only to break into shaky giggles when his other hand skirted up to his underarms. Felix gave up immediately with a shriek that only redoubled when the distraction gave Sylvain the chance to grab his other wrist, holding them together with his one hand.

Which left his other hand the chance to explore. It was something they both realized at once, twin smiles on both faces: one nervous, one dangerous.

Felix swallowed. His eyes darted from his captured wrists, Sylvain’s free hand, and then his face in quick succession. “S-Sylvain… this ehehe is… your o-only warning…!”

“I better take that warning seriously, huh?”

“What do you—Ugh, nohohoHOHO! DoHOHON’T—NAHAA!”

Felix shrieked as his flailing redoubled, eyes squeezing shut when giggles escaped from clenched teeth. He lasted about two seconds before buckling, squirming where Sylvain’s right hand was rubbing small circles against the divot of his hips. It’d been a weak point of his since they were kids and it brought Sylvain great pleasure to see that it hadn’t changed.

Especially because weak point here actually meant weak: anywhere else was a threat of a kick or fist to the face. Glenn had favored tackling Felix and bringing him to his knees with giggly tears with his hips and Sylvain evidently had learned to do the same.

Felix had gotten a lot heavier since then though. Sylvain strained to hold him up properly once he leant entirely back, unable to hold himself up between giggles. Clearly Felix’s training had paid off in muscles (Sylvain’s lack of not-so-much) and Sylvain’s grip tightened on his hip as he brought them both slowly to the ground.

“Nahahahaha moore! SylvAHAHAIn!”

“I don’t know, I’m enjoying myself right now…”

“I CahahaHAHAHN’T! PLEAHAHASE!” Felix’s face was entirely red now, flushed from ear to ear, as his protests died into breathless laughter. His whole body shook with it, voice tinged with desperation, and Sylvain took a moment to stare at his face, the bob of his throat between ragged gasps, and acquiesced.

“Alright, alright. Just because you’re begging, Fe-Fe.”

The moment he let go, Felix’s hands darted away to rub at his hip as though soothing the lingering ghost tingles. He watched with a chuckle, raising his hands up in surrender when Felix’s eyes immediately darted to him at the sound, promising violence. He even scooted away for extra measure!

Felix’s chest heaved to take in proper air now that the tickling had stopped, wiping at the sweat that had gathered on his face in his struggle. The tremble of his body slowed as his shoulders sagged in exhaustion, rubbing at the knot of his hair and pulling at the base of his ponytail, grimacing as his fingers came away sweaty. Even so, the tickling-induced flush of his cheeks hadn’t faded yet and the way he glanced up at Sylvain with the lingering smile on his face was…

It was a little mesmerizing, he could admit.

“You’re staring.”

Sylvain jolted, though the words weren’t any different from the ones preceding it. If anything, they were less rude. Even so, he couldn’t help the tinge of red coloring his cheeks, and worse than that, knew that Felix wouldn’t even notice. “You already said that earlier.”

“Because you were,” Felix huffed. His breathing seemed to have evened out and he pulled himself upright, crossing his arms as he returned Sylvain’s stare with one of his own. “You’ve been staring more than usual.”

“Yeah, well…” Nothing to say to that. He huffed instead, turning his gaze to the flowerbeds decorating the side of the grounds. Pretty things. He just happened to like pretty things.

And if his gaze liked to wander back to Felix, well, it was out of an appreciation for the arts. He was a noble—couldn’t exactly help treasuring rare things. A soft, smiling Felix had to count for both.

Especially when said Felix was smiling at him.

“Come on.”

Sylvain blinked as a hand emerged in front of his face. In the moment of thought, Felix had gotten up and now had a hand outstretched to him. His mouth parted as Felix’s brow twitched. “Come on. Get up.”

“Uh, are we going to train?”

“What are you—stupid? No, don’t answer that.” Felix shook his head, sighing. “Didn’t you say you wanted to go to town together?”

Oh. He did say that, didn’t he? Sylvain hadn’t thought Felix had been paying attention, nor that he’d actually want to, when every attempt to invite Felix out in the past had been shot down with a quick and brutal rejection.

Yet no matter how much he blinked, the Felix waiting for him didn’t flicker. When he took Felix’s hand, the other was sturdy in his stance as he pulled Sylvain up. And when his hand lingered, eyes on the way their fingers joined, well…

Felix’s hand squeezed around his with a chuckle. A real one, something of a rumble that rose from his chest and slipped past parted lips; when he tugged forward, Sylvain followed. “Come on, Sylvie. Let’s go.”

Sylvain stared and resolutely, absolutely, did not acknowledge the way his heart thudded in his chest.

(Fuck.)

[vikingsbigbang]

Hey Everyone!

Thank you for filling out our Interest Sheet! Unfortunately, the responses we got are currently too small to consider doing another Big Bang so soon. We appreciate all responses that we did get though!

Because we don't wanna leave you empty-handed, we came to the conclusion that we might do something else entirely... if enough people are up for it! We know a few of you would love to stay active in the Vikings fandom and connect through an event. Will you help us one more time to make it happen?

Explanation for each option beneath the read more:

* Secret Santa: This means you will fill out a gift exchange on ao3. You'll have the option to say what you'd like to read, tell your squicks/triggers and what you love, as a guideline for the author. Our authors will tell us what they love to write, but also what they don't want to write. We will take all of this info into account as we pair readers with authors. You will be the reader of one fic created especially for you, and you'll also be the author of one fic you'll create for someone else! It's a lovely exchange between readers and authors for the holiday season.

** Zero Comment Challenge: This challenge has piqued our interest last year. We thought it would be a nice way of giving back to those who create for our fandom and may not have gotten a huge fandom response to their work. As one might instantly notice, the Vikings fandom is vast and there are lots of fics on AO3 that did not get any comments. Even those who've been there for years. We think it's a little sad that some authors never received a kind word for their work. It would be ideal to strike them off the list of "zero comment fic". It is important to note, that a proper comment for this challenge is one that is structured and longer than five sentences. This can be achieved by following a comment guideline we would post for you. A How To if you will. Also, the knowledge of making an author smile is such a reward! Spreading love is important.

*** Fic Bingo: This one's a bit like a collect 'em all. You will get a Bingo sheet with varying tropes and other fic characteristics listed. Every time you read a fic that fits an entry on the bingo sheet, you get to cross that entry out. You have to comment in some way for us to track it, i. e. reblogging with a comment in the tags also counts, or you comment on AO3. Obviously we will need to get the links to the fics you read (and where the comment will be visible to us) to check if you actually did read them. Hence why the comment or reblog is necessary.

To make both the Fic Bingo and the Zero Comment Challenge a little more interesting, there will be 3 prizes to be won. This is where artists and writers come in. For all three places you can get a reward of differing value.

3. Prize will be a art of any kind: edit, gif, moodboard, digital art of something the winner can prompt (i.e. specific theme or character it revolves around).

2. Prize is a ficlet of max. 1k words that the winner can prompt with explicit guidelines on what they want and/or not want

1. Prize will be a combination of a fic and art of any kind by two different creators that will come together and collaborate for the winner.

To make this happen, we will need artists and authors to sign up to be available- much like with the Big Bang. The prize doesn't have to be ready immediately and you will be given a generous time frame to finish. This also means that it's possible someone might not create in case the prompts given don't suit them.

[n7punk]

Hey there! Good evenin!

I wanted to ask for advice on posting AI3 stories on here? I’ve noticed you and other artists I favorite doing it for some time but I’ve never really gotten the hang of figuring it out for myself.

(well, tumblr gave me two notifications but only showed me one anon so... hope you're the only one LOL). I assume that's a typo for AO3 and not the crime of AI generating 3 stories XD

okay, so I'm guessing you're looking for tips on how to effectively share fics in a useful/concise way? i don't know what a lot of other people do since the fanfic authors i follow on tumblr dont usually make share posts, but i can talk about my thought process i guess.

i share the way i do because i used to write my fics direct on tumblr (which was fine when they were like 1k one shots and doesn't work for pretty much anything else). i had to include all the information someone might want at the start of a post by necessity. when i started sharing fics from ao3, i continued providing the same information with some changes/additions because like, if that's what they wanted to know to read it on tumblr, they probably want it in order to click through to another site too. i know a lot of people who post direct on tumblr will just include like two lines like [- ship name - prompt/summary (some people skip even this & just. pls. include it) - read more] but that's really not enough for me to read something new unless i already like the author.

(side bar: for long projects, i generally do one share post at the beginning and one at the end, occasionally with another halfway through if it's especially long. i used to do them every chapter but that's just Annoying (for me, people in the tags, and my followers probably) but i update really frequently, so if it's been 2 months since the last chapter, go for a new share post, why not.)

anyway this is my general formatting notes that led to how i do my posts:

either start with or end with the link. you can type a regular title/"Read here on AO3!" and make it a hyperlink, or include one of the embedded links tumblr has.

IF YOU USE AN EMBED LINK: for multichapter fics, it will title it only as "Show Chapter" which is totally unhelpful. ao3 links are roughly formatted as "ao3.org/works/[workID]/chapters/[chapterID]". you need to delete the "/chapters/[chapterID]" part to have it display the embed link the same as it does with one shots, with the fic title, author pseud, and "AO3" stuff. This will make the link title actually helpful!

think of what information you would need if you were browsing ao3 instead of tumblr. you would usually be in a fandom, character, or ship's tag, so that's going to be the most important information you want to be sure you include and get out first, since it's often the first qualifying/disqualifying factor for people looking at fics. personally, i include fandom and ship because those two characters will be the obvious focus and all the others can be found on the actual ao3 post. if it's not a ship fic, then you can list major character(s) instead (also, you can list ship as "Gen" for general, non-shippy fic).

obviously you need a summary (seriously, you need a summary. even if it's bad, or one sentence, put something), but if there's other stats you want to include (like how i do the rating - which i think is important - and chapter/word count) you might want to put those ahead of the summary just to keep things visually neater. what you view as important will vary.

if you want to literally copy what i do i dont give 2 shits lmao. if you like some things about it but would change others, go for it. to me, your hitlist of information should be: fandom, ship/characters, work title, and fic summary. pseuds can be skipped, especially if its the same as your tumblr name, but i generally include it. i think rating is important, and i include something indicating length since thats a big decision factor in when/if i read what fics, but it's not so important in a share post because ideally, if they're interested in the summary, they'll at least open the fic and add it to their saved for later if its too long for that moment, and they'll see word count then

[captain-aralias]

Six 'Carry On' recs for Sunday

thanks for the tags friends! i finished my fic last night, so i have nothing, but i've also been meaning to share some recs for a while, so here's a post! (6 is not enough, but ah well)

Teen

Worst Disney Princess Ever by @hushed-chorus - 9k, Complete

just read this fic this morning. it's so good!!! simon finds baz SUSPCIOUSLY being attacked by zombie rats, but then the rats... start to help baz. and by then simon is kind of weirdly charmed by them. very funny, lovely evolving relationship. i also really like the first halloween fic by hushed_chorus Call of the Sea which is just 2k. very different vibes

Solve Me by Angel_Wings14 - 1k exactly!, Complete

this fic was actually recommended to me by @raenestee - i love it! a super early watford era fic in which simon does something unexpected. i love the way it's set up and the way baz's emotions change, and for this small reason.

Mature/Explicit:

Intrusive Thoughts by brandnewbeepbeep - 35k, 9/9 chapters, Complete

not exactly a magical mishap, though similar vibes. simon can make baz hear his thoughts and (for reasons) tries to make baz think that he's gay. for simon. it's very funny and really good fun, also simon does feel very bad about what he's done (eventually) in case you were worried. i read this in one sitting.

I Knew A Boy, I Knew A Man by @shrek-gogurt - 3.5k, 1/25, WIP

another rec from someone else, this case @fatalfangirl. i'm loving this story already, worth getting on board now. baz is a famous footballer, he left simon behind at a 3rd rate club and now a 'gentleman's agreement' means he has to go back...... or at least, he wants to go back. great dialogue, flashbacks, really nice version of the tension of their relationship - somehow the most important thing in their lives even though simon doesn't know he likes baz (as you'd expect). no sex yet, in case you were wondering.

Lift Off by DubiousSparrow - 5k, Complete

normal AU but with fun teacher backstory (baz and penny live together???), i also really love where this story is set in time. it's exceptionally awkward for them to be stuck together because of an pivotal event that's already happened. which we find out about over the course of the fic.

Baker boxer teacher grief (Or: The thing that lasts) by ophelietta/ @chen-chen-chen-again-chen - 21k, 5/5 chapters, Complete!

this is by the same author who did the baz/agatha wedding/simon's a baker fic - it's ALSO very very good, strangers to lovers. baz needs support at a funeral, everyone assumes simon is his boyfriend, simon is unexpectedly very good with children. i thought about reccing lots of ophelietta's other fics (like, we all had a great time reading The tears of Mummers House, right?!) but i thought i'd go with this, as it's just lovely and 5 times longer. this is an author to subscribe to, though! i mean, they all are, but ophelietta is super prolific and thus far, entirely unexpected. v good.

i also obviously recommend EVERYTHING produced for Carry On Prompts fest. The masterlist is live, featuring 2 fics for me and 2 fics by me, as well as 10+ other brilliant new fanworks. really pleased with the output - it was great! and more to come.

tagged by: @hushed-chorus @stardustasincocaine @artsyunderstudy @orange-peony @martsonmars @cutestkilla @bookish-bogwitch @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @ivelovedhimthroughworse @larkral @ileadacharmedlife @creepyspice

if i tagged you in this, please post 6 sentences of something you're working on! or some recs! or just know i appreciate you <3

[wanderbythewayside]

So this was originally meant for a specific person but actually it’s pretty decent advice so I’m sharing it separately as well. 

I am going to be very blunt when I say this but I mean it with love:

Writing is not a tool to self-flagellate with.

That is the most important thing to remember when writing, especially writing for fun. This isn’t work, there are no deadlines or angry editors waiting for your drafts. If you’ve gotten to the point where you feel that you’ve given yourself an insurmountable goal no one will fault you for going easier on yourself. I will personally hunt anyone who says otherwise.

Think of writing like studying, when you first start you feel like you understand what’s going on, you’re reading the material and answering the questions and things are a little tiring but great. But then you hit the 1 hour mark and you can feel the effort it takes to keep understanding the material, maybe your head feels a little full or your eyes start to hurt. You hit the 2, 3 hour mark and you’ve started re-reading sentences half a dozen times and you still don’t understand anything. Your head feels both painfully full and completely empty and nothing is penetrating past that thick wall that has suddenly sprung up between you and anything you try to read or do.

Have you suddenly gone dumb? Has the material suddenly gotten harder? Are you suddenly losing interest in getting a good mark or understanding the material?

No, you’ve overworked yourself. No one expects to be able to push a tired muscle, no one should be expected to push an exhausted brain. Pushing yourself to still study once you’ve reached this point will do nothing but give you a headache, you have to be kind to yourself and take a break.

And you have to remember that sometimes you need a break for more than a few hours, sometimes it’s a few days. If you’ve gone a week pushing yourself full throttle it will take more than a few hours to recover.

And taking a break but stressing about the fact that you are taking a break is. not. taking. a. break. I feel very deeply about this one, like, I’ll come to your place and shout it at you through the door deeply. Trying not to do that is pretty individual though, is it cuddling with you cat? your friend? getting really high? I don’t know and I don’t care but please find something that works.

And barely 2k words on one sitting? Honey, darling, my guy, I can’t do 100 words of story writing before my brain goes kaput but I have still planned a massive fic, should I give up on that? Was I in the wrong for doing that? If you say no to this for me you have to also say there’s nothing wrong with it to yourself.

If you force yourself to try to write 2k words in one sitting but then are too tired to write for the next week than scale it back to 1k words and you’ll start to see that you can write more often when you put less pressure on yourself. In the end you will have written more with the smaller goal than the larger one.

Giving yourself an intimidating goal overwhelms you before you start and makes you reluctant to do it, you start dreading it and dread isn’t conductive to writing.

And try to remember what makes you want to write.

For me it’s good writing, I’ll read some beautiful poetry or an amazing short story and that will make me want to write something good of my own.

For some people it’s the aesthetic, they make a cup of tea or coffee and take a seat by a window with some good music.

For others it’s the fandom, re-read past comments and find someone to go off on about whatever your current idea is

And for others still its about inspiration, they go looking for good art or meta or prompts and headcannons.

There’s nothing weak about not being able to pull thousands of words out of your brain at any given moment. There’s nothing sudden about writing. You’re doing good, you’re trying you’re hardest. Be proud of that.

[lilolilyr]

Tagged by @ongreenergrasses, thank you!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Way over 300! Tho it feels like it's been at 300sth so long by now, it'll be weird to look at once it hits 400 :D

Btw, funny how this tag meme asks for so much stuff that can be looked up by just... looking at my Ao3... without asking for any commentary by me? Lol

Anyhow, rest under the readmore bc this is 20 questions and Long!

Personal post - do not reblog

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

995596 - just a few more ficlets or 1 longer fic, and I've got a Million! Hey, maybe I should try to write one with... 4404? (I'd need to ask a calculator xD) words exactly... not rly a hardship with how many drabble exercises (exact wordcounts, 100 is the most used, I also do 200, 500, longest was 10000 exactly lol) I've already done... we'll see!

Over 400k for this year alone, and over half of that is my actual writing (not translations etc), I'm so proud! Last year I only barely hit 200k and that included a lot of translating work

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?  

Again, one could look this up in my works filtered - sorted by kudos? But all three of my incubus!jaskier witcher series are in it, part 2 of the series is highest with 1091 kudos, then a Venom halloween oneshot, and 'Belonging', a fluffy snake-crowley piece from my ineffable spouses series (yes, sth with under 1k words - 666 to be exact - is in the top 5... my poor longfics lol)

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

...I try to? But atm I have 202 unanswered (and I always click 'mark read' on replies so these are all comments on my own fic) even tho I told myself I'd not let it get past 200, and now I'm doing a tag meme instead of replying to anything so ummmm

Edit: 203 unread now

But I do love love love all the comments I get! And while atm it's still semi-manageable, if it ever gets to the point where I really can't manage to reply to everyone cause it's too much, i'd rly take that as a compliment lol :D I'd still try to reply to the longer and/or more thought through comments tho :)

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

*thinks* I have an MCD fic? But not only is that very much a case of ~posting a draft version that's barely in complete sentences insgead of taking the time to turn it into a real longfic~, I also just killed off the mlm couple I only semi care about and left the wlw couple with a happy/hopeful (rly don't remember) ending, so... hm idk whether that counts for angsty ending

Apart from that... I dunno, I just prefer my babies to be happy and fluffy? *.* i remember a mirror milippa in the mirrorverse one where in the end Michael is worried about lying to Philippa about her identity... there are some angsty TOG and Gomens ones but I think they end happy-ish (my memory is. Bad. but looking through my 'angst' tag I just saw a lot of h/c and 'angst with a happy ending')

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

They're all happy???!?

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

Ahahahahahhahahaahaha

Check this out

I need you to know that all the works in that collection take part in the same universe (or rather, multiverse), and are alltogether just scratching the surface of my gigantic headcanon multiverse that I've been building in my mind since I was like 10

Actual crossovers other than that I don't remember writing

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yeh but I only remember clicking 'delete comment', as it should be

Recently I've just gotten a bunch of 'you Need to continue this' and 'omg why isn't there more' or 'this shouldn't end' type comments, not hate, probably not meant maliciously, but So Annoying (maybe espesh bc I don't want to just hit delete on these, but I also don't want to pretend it's fine, but I also don't have the energy for a fight, and trying to explain why that behaviour is entitled and annoying and that I write what I want to write and nice comments should praise what I actually have written, and hoping that they understand and don't get mad is... hard.)

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

Check out my rated E and rated M in my works

Mostly femslash lately, but I did also write other smut in the past

Most is a bit dominant/submissive play, but I do also like good fluffy smut with feelings! Best in combo, really :D

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not in the sense of pretending someone else wrote it (that i know of), but posted to other sites without my permission - writing 'don't repost to other sites' etc did Not help, they even copied those tags lol, so I just let it be, choosing my battles wisely etcetc, I'd prefer for my fic not to be cross-posted by others bc then I can't edit or otherwise influence the fic anymore and don't see everyone's reactions to it, but as long as it's not someone pretending they wrote it, I only semi care, not enough to fight it tbh

PSA: I Only post fics to Ao3 (and WIPs/prompt fills to tumblr&discord at times), if you see them somewhere else that's Not Me and you'd do me a favour by checking them out on ao3 and kudosing&commenting there instead :)

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yup, one to Russian a while back, a floreleine (Gunpowder Milkshake) one to Korean just today actually, and I translated a bunch to German myself

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

I made a TOG fic together with @cinnamonplums, well mostly I wrote and she made the art :D

Trying to remember whether I ever actually co-wrote anything... don't think so?

13. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Don't make me choose!!!

Atm Milippa is OTP bc I'm busy writing them for @discoveryfemslashfortnight (this is not a post to reblog for the fortnight), but I'm also still rly into Floreleine, Bering&Wells and Andromaquynh and Andronilynh, and I read a lot of Mirandy lately

All-time favs I'm not rly active in atm but will always be dear to me are the ineffable spouses, clintcoulson, heistwives, gosh so many more I'll stop here tho xD

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

A Heistwives Kinda Job immediately comes to mind

I also rly want to finish at least one cohesive original-ish storyline for the lverse that I already linked for the crossover question above, but I just have so much backstory (it's been over 10 years!!!) and it's... hard...

And everything else that's still WIP and untouched for more than a few months will probably have the same fate lol

Also have a few that haven't even seen the light of day at all, most recent a Mirandy ~what if Andy had been pregnant when Miranda hired her and how would it change the entire storyline~ bit - I wrote it in bulletpoints in one go as quickly as I could, I know I had the finished product in my mind, I don't remember anything now and don't feel like going through the bulletpoints painstakenly filling in the blanks

15. What are your writing strengths?

Writing one-shots quickly in one go

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Forgetting everything about a fic if I leave it in a draft for a second too long

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

There are many ways to go about it, and I think they all work (depending on the fic and the length and relevance of the dialogue)

I tend to leave single sentences as is, and for longer and important sequences use cursive and 'they said in xylanguage'.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

The Hobbit apparently? I remember thinking that fic was so long lol, it's 3k

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

Kat/Ana from Reef Break, they have Such Shippable Chemistry, and it would totally fit Kat's player personality to bang both siblings (she's canonically friends with benefits with Ana's half-brother)... but the ship has one (1!) fic on Ao3 *cries*

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

TOG Andromaquynh longfic In Your Stead has had the title since last year and probably for a while to come! I loved the story idea so much I really worked with several drafts and only! worked on that fic until it was finished so I wouldn't get distracted & forget about it, and the result was wonderful.

Tagging, if you want to do it, @sarah-fiers @purlturtle @cookie-sheet-toboggan @ussjellyfish @onaperduamedee @startrekgeorgiouery @rosalie-starfall @lonely-night @banashee @xvnot15 and everyone else who sees this

Questions to copy:

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?  4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? 5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? 6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending? 7. Do you write crossovers? If so what’s the craziest one you’ve written? 8. Have you ever received hate on a fic? 9. Do you write smut? If so what kind? 10. Have you ever had a fic stolen? 11. Have you ever had a fic translated? 12. Have you ever co-written a fic before? 13. What’s your all time favorite ship? 14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? 15. What are your writing strengths? 16. What are your writing weaknesses? 17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? 18. What was the first fandom you wrote for? 19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to? 20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

[katierosefun]

author interview tag game

thank you for the tag, @pandora15! <3

Name: caroline

Fandoms: mostly the clone wars, but i also have some marvel stuff, and waaay back in the day, i wrote some doctor who and merlin stuff!

Where you post: primarily on ao3! i mostly just write on tumblr when i’m accepting prompts from like...ask games or something.

Most Popular Oneshot: real

Most Popular Multichap: to these memories (this fic only recently hit 1k kudos, and my heart?? w h a t)

Favorite Story You’ve Written: def. to these memories because a) longest fic i’ve ever written, and b) oh, the hours i logged into writing this fic, and c) oh, the outlining that went into this fic...i’m very proud of myself for completing the fic, and of course, i credit this to everyone who showed their lovely support for the story. :’)

Fic You Were Nervous to Post: uhhh definitely too far just because it’s...rather personal. i sometimes say that there’ll be a scene or two or just straight up a line or two that’s plucked out of my real life, and i think it’s inevitable for writers of any kind, including fic writers, to isolate their real lives completely from whatever they’re writing, and?? this fic is probably the most personal for me because of that. i remember kinda hem-hawwing about posting it, because i was like whoa, maybe this is a little too personal? but then i steeled myself and was like, “okay, well, would this have lifted my spirits when i needed a story like this??” and then decided to post it.

How you choose your titles: i def. toss and turn between titles! there’s a few fics of mine that are straight-up song lyrics (no surprise there), but to my surprise (as i was looking through my catalogue of fics just now), i realize that a lot of my fics are usually just words or two about what i think might have been extremely important to the story. (or captures the overall tone/theme of the story, anyways.)

Do you outline? for multi-chapter fics and relatively long one-shots with lots of moving parts, i’ll outline. but for shorter one-shots and prompts, i’ll usually just stick with the image that compelled me to write the prompt/one-shot in the first place! (and then kinda write around that.)

Complete: uhhhhh, i’m gonna answer relatively for all my clone wars fics, because in total, i have 74 completed fics. (make that...75, hopefully in a few minutes or hours!) but out of clone wars fics, i have 46 completed fics! (and again, hopefully 47 in a little while.) a part of me is lowkey hoping that i’ll get up to 100 total fics by the end of this year. a part of me highly doubts it, but given how much i was able to write over summer break, i’m...intruiged if i wind up somehow writing another twenty or so fics by the end of this year. (asfsf my wip list is long enough to fill in for another twenty fics. caroline finish all your wips challenge.)

In Progress: okay, so officially, time, wondrous time is in progress and online. but in terms of the works in progress on my laptop...i have...*mutters, counting* fourteen official wips. (ten of them are one-shots, and the other four are longform fics. one of them, i’m hoping to release next week (!!!), and another, i’m hoping to release hopefully around mid-december. uhhh so fingers crossed??)

Coming Soon/Not Yet Started: oops, i guess i kinda already answered that question, but eh, might as well! the one coming out next week (hopefully!! caroline get your shit together challenge!!) is titled most ardently, and it’s an obitine au based off pride & prejudice because i cannot and will not shut up about obitine being the period drama ship out of star wars okay--

and then the other longform fic that is very overdue is called getting lost in a big galaxy, which is a fix-it of sorts taking place after season 5. anakin’s gone missing, and obi-wan winds up going on a galaxy-ride road trip with ahsoka (who, remember, has left the order) to find their idiot. this is honestly my excuse to just write more obi-wan and ahsoka content. hopefully, that’ll be posted in december!! (despite the fact i...originally meant to post it in august oOps.)

and then there’s this other longform fic which...might be coming in early 2021 called red, underlined, which is essentially...uh. everyone’s a stressed out law-school student, and anakin might have accidentally murdered professor palpatine, and now anakin, obi-wan, ahsoka, padme, and rex are all trying to find out what the hell to do with themselves because they’re all in on it. (def. influenced by how to get away with murder except without the criminal justice professor to lead them through the ropes. so more chaos. kind of a dark comedy vibe, if anything else? anakin no is major theme in this one. uh, i mean, maybe anakin was justified in murdering creep palpatine because our gang’s gonna find out what was going on in the background, but either way! lots of “holy shit are we good people are we bad people what are we doing”. lots of questions about morality! ethics! law school student study nights with anakin sprawled out on the floor and obi-wan wearing glasses (which he pushes up the bridge of his nose whenever he’s about to lecture anakin that no, that’s not how that statute works, dumbass) and ahsoka just bringing snacks and rex catching paper airplanes and padme being the one to supply everyone with very neat flashcards. this fic is gonna be an absolute beheamoth, and i’m estimating about 45 chapters? like...130K+ words? help? yeah idk either this really blew up in my head

and then...this stupid, wonderful, boring, amazing job, which is...office x tcw au. only not? it’s very, very loosely based off the office, but not really. obi-wan moves in as a new manager of a company, and we’ve got anakin being like “lol new guy i’m gonna mess with him”, and ahsoka being the one who’s both like “please don’t mess with our new boss” but also being like “actually, wait, lemme help”, rex being in hr and being like “i don’t get paid enough for this”. (also there’s some parts that are written like actual interviews like you would find in the office, so there’s this one bit where uhhh

Obi-Wan flicks his eyes to the cameras in silent question before turning back to Ahsoka. “Well, if you need to call maintenance, then I hardly think you need my permission—”

“Thanks!” Ahsoka says quickly, and she’s about to disappear from the doorway when Obi-Wan stands up.

“Wait, Ahsoka, what exactly—”

Ahsoka re-appears at the doorway. “Oh, right,” she says. “Um—maybe just stay away from the men’s bathroom for a little bit.” She pauses.

“Actually, just stay away from them for the rest of the day.” She hovers by the door for a minute longer, and then she adds quickly, “And maybe also avoid the breakroom. Everything’s fine!”

And with a perfectly not-fine smile, Ahsoka disappears from the doorway.

Obi-Wan stares at where Ahsoka was just a moment ago, and the he turns to the cameras in disbelief. “Did she just—” Unable to finish his own sentence, Obi-Wan starts out the door. “Ahsoka?”

The camera follows Obi-Wan out of the conference room and into the breakroom. There are only muffled shouts—Anakin’s shouts, and then Rex’s, and then Ahsoka’s frantic “no, sorry, everything’s fine!”, and then Obi-Wan’s loud, “What is going on in here?”

surprise y’all just got a snippet i’m sorry can you tell i’m weirdly into this au?? i need to rewrite some scenes but uh there you go

Prompts: for the most part, yes! i have some stuff in my faq about prompts that i’ll probably turn down (mostly anything that’s...above a certain rating/really, realy heavy themes that i just don’t think i can tackle with justice or with enough education on my end). i can be a little slow with prompts, but i’ll get to all of them in time!

Upcoming Work You’re Most Excited About: uhhhh i have too many that i’m excited about. literally i can write a mini essay on every single one of the fics i’m working on? but uhhh i guess since i already talked about all my major longform fics above (asdfasdfsd didn’t mean to do that, i’m so sorry for everyone who had to scroll past that word-vomit), i guess the one i’m most excited about releasing is the post season 7 obi-wan-and-ahsoka-finally-talk-about-how-they-miss-each-other-also-sorry-for-fighting-with-you-i-know-you-were-just-trying-your-best fic. (not a whole ton of spoilers for this one, but uh. i’m looking at some of these scenes and making frustrated sounds because there’s this one particular instance where i’m like, ahsoka. ahsoka just talk to him just ta lk to him but then lol no talking :)) also maybe some h/c? lowkey sickfic might be involved in this somehow? might have accidentally served as a precursor to to these memories? help? this fic just ballooned. caroline keep your ideas contained challenge!)

No Pressure Tags: @lightasthesun @soplantyourownflowers @ohhellokenobiand anyone else who wants to join!

[metalbatandzenko]

all the numbers owo

GrCUnA gaoh god sdljhdkjshfkjsh

This is gonna get long so I’ll put it under the cut. I’m also gonna remove the ones I’ve answered already.

1. What fandoms do you write for?

OPM and AtLA. I have a Miraculous Ladybug fic, but the creator is a nightmare and I hate the way the show treats the main character (literally the creator said part of the show’s episode formula is the main character “learns a lesson” every episode: usually through humiliation) and all the characters of color so I really don’t write for it anymore.

2. What pairings do you write for?

Batarou, Mumensai, and I do general fics.

3. What is your most popular fanfic?

My Miraculous Ladybug fic. By like. a lot akfdjhlgkjhfdlkg

It’s got triple the subscriptions and bookmarks, double the hits, and more kudos than any of my other fics. And I haven’t updated since January.

4. Do you write original stories as well?

I do! I’m a creative writing major, so I do a lot of memoir nonfiction and poetry, but I also write fictional short stories.

5. What fanfic of yours should everyone have read?

I don’t think there is one! Different strokes and all. But if you weren’t aware, I’m working on an ATLA fic rn about Zuko trying to repair his relationship with Azula. Not for this fandom, but a fun fic for me because it’s a bit out of my wheelhouse.

6. What is a fandom you will never write for?

Out of the ones I’ve been in, voltron.

7. What is a ship you will never write for?

There are...a lot. For the sake of my mental well being, I will not list them. But I will say any ship between a teen and someone in their mid twenties or beyond is a no go for me.

8. Archive of Our Own, FanFiction.net, Wattpad, Tumblr, etc. which platform do you prefer?

Begrudgingly, Ao3. I have my issues with Ao3 and I think I’ve made those pretty clear (and they’ve gotten me into some hot water lmao) but it’s a good place to put fics.

10. How do you stay motivated to finish what you’ve started?

I could not tell you. I am so bad at staying motivated. Certain fics I love writing. Others feel like I’m pulling teeth.

11. What’s your longest fanfic?

Hidden Horns. By a lot. like 20k words a lot.

12. Do you want to break your readers‘ heart or make them laugh?

A bit of both, but I lean towards laughing. The world needs more light.

13. What is your planning process?

Depends on the fic. For short ones or oneshots, there really isn’t one. For longer fics, I’ll have an outline, but a lot of times I’m laying tracks as I go. If I think of a good scene or line, I’ll write it down and just keep it at the end of my doc until it comes up in the story.

15. OCs or no OCs?

OC’s only when they’re necessary for plot. For example, Madame Oshitani in Hidden Horns only really showed up because I needed a piano teacher, and I couldn’t have it be an existing hero. Outside of that, I tend to avoid putting OC’s in fics, because I find them disruptive when I’m reading fics.

16. Do you use sentence starters, writing prompts and/or fandom headcanons for your fanfics?

Sometimes! Hidden Horns was based off of this fanart. If they are, I make sure to note that in the notes.

20. Can we get a list of all of your current available fanfics?

Yeah you got:

A (Not So) Brief Hiatus-Miraculous Ladybug

Promises to Keep-OPM/batarou

Little Boy-OPM/Metal Bat centric

A Game of Chase-OPM/batarou

Not Invincible-OPM/batatou death

Someone Fun-OPM/Mumensai

Date With the Devil-OPM/Mumensai sequel

Something of Note-OPM/Mumensai

Conduct Evil-OPM/batarou

Grief and Other Intangibles-OPM/Zombiedad and CE death

Horns and Fangs Series (Hidden Horns and Fear and Fangs)-OPM/batarou

Spaghetti and Juiceboxes-OPM/Zombiedad and CE

I guess they don't like me but I never figured out why (I guess they think I don't like them either)-ATLA/Zuko reaches out to Azula

21. What’s your shortest fanfic?

Conduct Evil at a whopping 354 words.

23. Long chapters or short chapters?

They vary! Mine tend to be pretty short, like 1k-4k.

24. How many WIPs (work-in-progress) do you’ve got?

*sweats* Like 17 at least

25. How many WIPs will you finish?

Rude to assume I won’t finish all of them eight if I’m lucky

26. First-person-narrative or third-person-narrative?

Third. I hate writing in first person except for in nonfiction.

27. Do you take requests?

Kind of. If people send me an ask that I vibe with, I might write something, but as a general rule, no. I’ve been considering doing commissions though, so if you want to toss a coin to your bitcher lmk

28. I will name you three things (object — scenario — fandom/ship): write a paragraph or two!

I can’t do this one without those three kdjhflkjsdh

29. What’s more difficult? Fanfics or original work?

They’re difficult in different ways, but original is way harder.

Original work means there’s zero scaffolding to build off of except for the scaffolding you make yourself, and there’s a lot of issues with worldbuilding and creating complex and relatable characters.

Fanfic relies on a solid understanding of existing characters and dynamics, as well as the internal logic of the world. The scaffolding is there, but often times it’s stifling.

30. What writing software do you use?

Word and Google Docs fkjhslgkjh

31. Do you use beta/sensitive readers?

Nope. I probably should though.

32. Past or present tense?

Past. I can’t consistently write in present.

33. Do friends and family know that you write fanfics?

Some of my friends do. I’ve shared some with them! I use fanfic as warmup, so a lot of my writing friends know about my fics.

34. How did you find the world of fanfics?

I wrote Adventure Time fanfic on middle school and published them on an Adventure Time facebook group. They were wildly popular in the group.

36. Did you ever delete a work of yours?

I don’t think so tbh.

37. Did your work ever get plagiarized?

If it did, I wouldn’t know. But I highly doubt it.

38. Do you partake in any fanfic/writing events? (Big bangs, zines, NaNoWriMo, etc?)

No because I can’t stick to a deadline.

39. Collaborations or working solo?

I’ve never done a collaboration before.

41. What is something you don’t like about your writing?

I rely really heavily on dialogue and I’m suuuper aware of it. I think the thing is I do a lot of domestic fics, and even my story fics tend to be pretty domestic. I’m looking at you Hidden Horns

My original work doesn’t tend to lean on it as heavily.

43. Guilty pleasure tropes and scenarios?

I am a die hard found family bitch. Nothing guilty about it.

44. Does fanart of your fanfic exist?

Yes, actually. The aforementioned middle school fic got mini fancomic for the first chapter, and I wrote a Miraculous Ladybug ficlet in a fic chain that got fanart.

45. Do fanfics of your fanfic exist?

I think there might be one that was inspired by my fic, but I can’t remember tbh.

47. What fanfic of yours is truly underrated?

My ATLA fic!!! give it some love tf :/ (kidding of course.)

50. Can we get a teaser for an upcoming chapter?

Yeah, here you go:

The hero removed his coat and dropped it on the ground, where it landed with a solid “thud”.

He unhooked the holster under his arms, removed a knife from both boots, and unstrapped the machetes from his back.

They joined the trench coat in the pile.

Garou watched in equal parts awe and horror as Zombieman continued to produce weapons from increasingly improbable locations.

Finally, when the pile at his feet was large enough to arm a private militia, Zombieman stopped.

“I’ve got a pistol in my chest, but I’d prefer not to take that one out,” he said, pushing past Garou. “Feels rude to invite myself over then get blood all over the tatami.”

[mad-madam-m]

So I'm just curious, how do you get yourself to write? And do you use prompts and if you do where do you get them? I meant to use NaNo to get me to write but it took 4 days into November for me to realize November started so I failed lol. I've been meaning to start this original thing and it's just not...working.

First of all, anon, you could start writing RIGHT NOW (yes, with 10 days left in the month) and you would not fail NaNo. You might not hit 50k (although I know people who have hit 50k in that amount of time, or less), but you won’t fail. NaNoWriMo isn’t about hitting 50,000 words so much as it is about putting a stake in the ground and saying, “Here. Today. I will start writing the project I’ve always wanted to.” And doing it. Doesn’t matter what that project is—original novel, short stories, fic, poetry, revising something, a series of blog posts—NaNo is about just. Fucking. Doing it. And you still have time to Do It.

To answer your questions:

Do you use prompts and if you do, where do you get them?

For original stories, particularly novels, I usually don’t. For fic, particularly short fic I’m writing for events, I do. Tumblr has a wealth of writing prompts that range from “here’s a situation” to “here’s a line of dialogue GO,” and I tend to reblog them under the tags “fic prompts” or “writing prompts.” Honestly, most of them would work for either original fic or fanfic, so if you are a writer who likes to work from prompts, go forth and enjoy!

How do you get yourself to write?

That’s kind of a big question, and uh, the answer to it got long. Very long. (I said once that if you give me half a chance, I’ll talk about writing all the live-long day, and this answer is no exception.)

Different things motivate me for different projects, and as with all writing-related advice, YMMV, but here’s a few things that really help for getting myself to write:

1) Develop your story.

The current original story I’m working on, for example, I have not really had to struggle to get myself to write at all because 1) I’m stupid excited about it and 2) I have developed the hell out of it.

I’ve talked before about outlining my stuff here, so I won’t go too much into it again; suffice it to say that I have done about the same amount of development on my current original story that I had on ADA by the time I started writing. I started around the very end of September developing my characters and spent a good chunk of October working on setting, worldbuilding, plot, and finally my notecards.

Shockingly, having some idea of what’s happening and where I’m going is making this story easier to write.

Right? Like WHO’D HAVE THOUGHT.

Because of that, I’ve been excited about writing my story, so getting myself to write on it has been (comparatively) a cakewalk.

That’s not to say any of the writing is good (oh God no) or that there aren’t parts that need fixing, or that I haven’t been stuck. But it’s been stuck like “how do I describe seeing a tree-covered mountain in the middle of fall from the POV of someone who has never seen something like this” rather than “I have no fucking clue what happens next uh…”

The stories I struggle the most with writing are the ones that I’ve worked the least on developing. The stories that have been the easiest to write have been the ones I’ve spent at least a month doing prep work on before I ever start drafting.

2) Love your story.

Being in love with a story makes it a lot easier to write, at least for me. Because here’s the thing, ideas are easy.

If you’re a creative person, you’re going to end up with a file of story ideas—maybe prompts you liked, dialogue that stuck with you, one of those “humans are space orcs” tumblr posts that’s just really clicking in your brain—that will be longer than you could conceivably write if you had a hundred lifetimes. That’s okay! That’s great. But it means a lot of them are never going to get past the idea stage.

For me, the stories that get finished—the ones that not only get started but actually make it through the first draft and then three rounds of editing and revisions—are the ideas that I’ve been percolating on for months, if not longer. They’ve been cooking in the back of my brain while I’ve been doing other things, sorting themselves out, and most importantly: they will not let me go.

Coming up with ideas is easy. Finding an idea that will last and sustain a story and my interest for at least a year, if not longer? That’s harder.

Y’all know how much I’ve been talking about Tiger & Bunny over the past year? We’re talking that level of obsession with a story that I want to write, whether it’s fic or original. Sometimes it takes months or years for all the puzzle pieces to come together. Sometimes the whole thing will congeal within a few weeks, or there will be one crucial piece of story that will just make EVERYTHING come together, I will literally shout “OH MY FUCKING GOD” and that’s it, I’m off to the races. (In this particular case, it wasn’t anything I’d done in the first two weeks of poking at steampunk-y ideas; it was the realization that I could put a circus on an airship. The whole story just went WHOOSH after that.)

BUT. But. Sometimes you don’t have that. These stories are great and I love them and they remind me why I love writing so much (and if you’re writing something that’s gonna be 90k+, like I have a tendency to do, you need to be in love with it, IMO), but sometimes you’re in situations where you just have to get it done. In those cases:

3) Resort to bribery.

I’ve been poking at the third part of Alpha & Emissary, oh, basically since I posted the second part. My problem is that my fandom focus has been, shall we say, split for the past year. *coughs delicately, shoves Tiger & Bunny fics under the bed*

But here’s the thing: I hate having a published WIP on AO3 (it’s why I don’t publish long!fics until they’re completely drafted and mostly edited). I hate—HATE—having an unfinished series on AO3.

So that’s the rub: I have an unfinished series that I want to finish because I hate that it’s not finished. I also have a new fandom that is wresting my attention and inspiration away from said series. What’s a girl to do?

A girl tells herself she can’t write any more Tiger & Bunny fic until she finishes this one WIP, that’s what she does.

And it’s motivated me to sit my ass down and work on that WIP, because goddammit, I have a “but there was only one bed” TaiBani fic that I would really like to have up by New Year’s.

Your bribery will be different. Maybe you get to watch 1 episode of your favorite show per every 1k you write, or you get to try a new knitting project when you finish this short story. Maybe you binge-watch an entire season of your favorite anime if you exceed your NaNo goal. Or you write 50 words and get a cookie. The point is, find what works for you to get it done.

4) Figure out a minimum daily goal and stick with it.

For me, this was 500 words a day. 500 words. That’s it. That’s one 30-minute word sprint for me. That’s something I can do without stressing myself out.

Because of this point and point 3, I wrote more than 7000 words on a story I’d been stuck on for the better part of a year before I had to stop to work on NaNo stuff. Another 7k, and I’ll probably have it finished.

Your minimum word count will almost certainly be different. Maybe it’s 300 words a day, maybe it’s 1000. Hell, maybe it’s 100 words. Again, find what works for you, what you can write regularly without stressing yourself out.

Another important thing: If I didn’t hit 500 words, I didn’t beat myself up about it. Maybe I wrote 350. Or 220. Or just 93. The point is, did I write? Yes? Then I did good. I got myself a sentence or a paragraph closer to finishing. And it all adds up.

(And hey, you don’t have to write every day. I do, or I try to, because that’s what works for me. If it stresses you out to do so, then find another way to make it work.)

5) Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.

This one’s hard because I can rarely keep a deadline that’s not set by an external source. If you tell me on December 20 that you need a story by December 22? Then on December 22, you’ll have a story, edited and ready to post. But when it comes to something I set for myself, the chances of a deadline working are 50/50.

That being said, it is something that helps me keep on track and even if I don’t finish something by a self-imposed deadline, it does get me writing.

6) Sprint with friends!

NaNo is really great for this because all your writer friends are coming out of the woodwork going I need to hit 5k by the end of today, will you sprint with me? Sometimes it just helps to have that kind of accountability. You all get together (I’ve used Discord, Google Hangouts, IRC, and Twitter DMs for this), set a timer, and write for 15 minutes or 20 minutes or 30 minutes. Then, when the time’s up, you post your word count, everybody congratulates everybody else, and then you take a break before doing the next one.

Sprints are the reason I’ve been able to make some pretty significant headway on my word counts, and few things get me writing like knowing I’m going to have to tell everybody in my group what my word count is in 30 minutes or less. >.>

Like I said earlier, YMMV on all of these. What works for me may work for you, or it might not. But if you aren’t sure, it’s worth giving it a shot.

Happy writing!

[ineffablecolors]

O’Donocrew Fundraising: Fic for charity!

Hello, wonderful people, I’m joining the amazing folks at @odonocrewfundraising to support Colin’s cause and help raise some money for the BC Children’s Hospital.

The Fundraising:

* You can donate straight at the O’Donocrew GoFundMe page or by purchasing something from the O’Donocrew Redbubble or you can check out all the other awesome things you can do and buy to raise money by scrolling around at @odonocrewfundraising * All you gotta do after is send me a screenshot confirming your donation/purchase and my writing skills, such as they are, are yours * Every person who donates gets a fic. Doesn’t matter if you bought a 3 dollar sticker or donated 300 dollars. I mean, it does, it’s absolutely fantastic if you can donate 300 but I know that not everybody has the means and I believe that everyone who wants to participate and help in any way deserves recognition. And fic. We all deserve fic.

The Fanfiction:

* You can check out all my fanfics here to see if this is worth your trouble (but the BC Hospital is definitely worth your help so please donate even if you decide my writing is shit :D) * You can request a fic with any of Colin’s characters and any ship with said characters since this is a Colin-inspired fundraiser but, full disclosure, if you request a Captain Swan fic it is much more likely to be longer and better simply because they are the ship I know best, write for and, well, actually ship. :D * You can send me a trope, a one sentence prompt, a longer idea that you always wanted to read, a fic of mine that you want a continuation for or basically anything - you are the boss! * All fics will be at least 1k. I’m setting no upper limit, we’ll see where my muse goes ;) * I will try to write all fic within the month of September. However, because I’m putting no constrains on the amount of fic I’m gonna write and the amount you must donate to get one, I hope you will be lenient with me, if I need more time :))

Other Writing:

* In case you are not into fanfiction, I will be more than willing to write you an original short story, a poem or a review of a movie or book of your choice. * You can check my non-fandom writing at my blog and my Instagram (also if you wanted to follow any of these I’d love you forever but that’s obviously in no way required)

So I think that’s it? Bottom line - it’s for a good cause, it’s for Colin, it’s fandom at its best. I always have and always will be extremely proud to be part of a fandom that does this kind of amazing shit and even prouder to be a fan of Mr Colin O’Donoghue who inspires this kind of amazing shit.

Thank you and lets raise some funds! 

[flintsjohn]

61.“Welcome back. Now fucking help me.”-silverflint pls

John iswaiting on a bench outside the school, checking his phone and trying to avoidother parents, when a familiar squeal gets his attention and he suddenly hasan armful of overtly excited three-year-old.

“Chiquito! What did I tell you aboutsneaking on papi?”

Alexcompletely ignores him, and John only chuckles as his son starts blabberingabout his day at preschool. He stands from the bench and shifts Alex on his hipso he can hold him better as they get out of the crowded courtyard. As they’repassing through the gate, Alex already squirming on his hip to be put down, John has toquickly step aside to avoid being bumped by a tall blond man he has never seenbefore.

The manimmediately starts apologizing, and John is already shaking his head and sayingthat everything is fine when a deep voice cuts in.

“Thomas!Oh, here you are. Help me?”

John turnscuriously to see a man slightly taller than him, with bright copper hair and afull ginger beard, balancing a raven-haired girl in one arm and two backpacksin the other, another girl – this one blond - following closely behind. The manthat almost bumped into John, Thomas, steps forward to take the girl – who gigglesand leans into the kisses he peppers on her chubby cheeks. She looks likeshe’s about the same age as Alex, John thinks.

As he’swatching them, the second man clears his throat, and John nearly jumps out ofhis skin, and then he flushes, realizing he’s been staring and that Alex hasgone quiet and is also staring at the strangers with huge curious eyes.

“Uh,sorry,” John starts, but he finds himself at a loss for words when he suddenlyhas four sets of eyes turning on him.

“Oh, James,I almost made this young man and his kid fall, can you believe my clumsiness?” Thomasexplains, with a tone so dramatic that John can’t help but chuckle, “I have tomake up for this. Will you let us take you out for coffee?”

John shiftsawkwardly on his feet, his eyes flying from the family in front of him to hisown son in his arms, who’s now looking at him with a hopeful expression.

“I – It wasnothing really, you don’t have to-“

“Oh, butwe’d love to, wouldn’t we, James?” the man doesn’t have the time to speakbefore Thomas continues, “And our kids all go to the same school! We can get toknow each other!”

It takessome more convincing, but when Alex grumbles about being hungry, John ends upaccepting the couple’s offer. They set up at a corner café that John has neverbeen to before, though he walks by it every day on the way to the school.

The thankyou coffee turns into a full afternoon hang-out, and they spent almost threehours together, getting to know each other as the children – John learns thatthe girls are named Abigail and Eleanor, and through Alex whispering in his earhe also learns that Abigail is in his class – play next to them. James andThomas tell him that they’ve been together for close to ten years, and marriedfor four, and that they got to know the school through the principal, MirandaBarlow, who is a common ex. John raises an eyebrow at that, but doesn’tcomment. They also tell him they’re both university professors – James teachesClassics, while Thomas’s field is History.

He himselfoffers little about his personal life, but he talks about Alex and the progresshe’s been making since they moved from Spain during the summer, especiallythanks to Madi, his teacher. He tells them he’s working as an editor at anindependent publishing company and that he also does translations, and that heloves it because he’s able to work around his schedule when he needs more timewith Alex.

By the endof the afternoon, they’ve exchanged numbers with the promise to hang out againsoon, Alex can’t shut up about how amazing the Hamilton girls are, and Johnfeels like he finally made some friends.

***

If someonehad told John when he moved to London than in under a year he would be in astable relationship with not one, but two amazing men that cared deeply notonly about him, but about his son like he were one of their own, he would havelaughed in that person’s face.

If he’sbeing honest with himself, he would never have thought that in mere months hewould be able to get so close to two people as to reveal so much about his pastas he did to Thomas and James. He’s told them almost everything about Alex’smother, Charlotte, and her death, and the accident linked to it in which helost his leg. He told them stories about his childhood in Galicia, about losinghis parents and spending most of his childhood in foster homes, in Spain and inEngland. He even told them about his real name, Juan da Silva, that hetranslated into English when he was still young so he could fit in.

And now, ashe’s lying between Thomas and James, with the kids safely sleeping in the nextroom, he actually has to keep himself from sighing happily. He buries him facefurther in James’s chest, barely containing a purr, and feels James shakingwith laughter under him.

He’s about to swat at him when the door creaks open, and they all scramble to right themselves even if allthey were doing was cuddling and dozing off together. A small figure waits inthe doorway, only outlined in the darkness, though John immediately recognizeshis son’s mop of curly hair, so alike his own.

“Mijito, ¿qué pasa?”

As soon asJohn says that, Alex runs into the room with a screech of papi! and climbs onto the bed, crawling among the sheets until he’scrashing against John’s naked chest with a sob. He’s muttering in Spanish aboutmonsters and the sand man and John can feel his heart breaking as his sonshakes in his arms.

“Shh, mi amor.Solo fue una pesadilla. Estoyaquí, Alejito.” John keeps murmuring calming words into Alex’s hair until hecalms down enough for John to lie back down, Alex cradled against his chest anddozing off again. Only then, John lifts his gaze to see Thomas smirking atJames.

“What?”John murmurs, his head shifting gently on the pillow to watch both of them inturn.

“Oh,nothing,” Thomas snickers, “I just think you should start speaking more Spanisharound James.”

At that,James groans and covers his flushing face with his arm, and John can feel hisown face reddening as he smiles shyly at both his partners.

“You likeit?”

“Oh, Ithink he loves it.”

Thomas’slaughter only gets louder when a he gets a pillow to his face, and they allultimately dissolve into giggles, so loud that a sleepy Abigail also appears inthe doorway and demands to join the pup pile. They cuddle close, Alex andAbigail tucked in the middle of the big bed, and for the first time in years,with James’s arm thrown over his waist and Thomas’s hand holding his, Johnfeels safe.

***More headcanons!

John’s full name is Juan Salomón García da Silva (”da Silva” being portuguese, which has some influence in Galicia because of the proximity), and he changed it when he moved to England with one of his foster families. He then moved back to Spain when he was of age.

Alex’s full name is Alejandro García da Silva (he got both John’s last names because Charlotte didn’t have a spanish last name).

John and Charlotte were mostly fuckbuddies, though he took full responsibilities when she got pregnant. She then started dating Logan, and they died in the same car accident that took John’s leg. After that, John got full custody of Alex.

John and Madi had a brief fling when they were younger, and he partly chose the school Alex goes to because of her.

Eleanor is 10, Abigail is 3. They’re respectively James’s and Thomas’s god-daughters and they adopted them.

After the night of Alex’s nightmare, John starts speaking a loooot more spanish around Thomas and James ;)

[darcyfirth]

Hartwin fic recs (2/?)

[Long post]

These are lovingly saved in my laptop's Kindle and I love them dearly. It's umbrellas this time, glasses if I made part 3.

Authors' tagged tropes are included and I tried my best not to include spoilers. As usual my comments are in italics.  

☂️ Sparking - LapisLazuli. E, 2k. Traped in a closet trope. 

“Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while,” Harry whispers, calm as you please, as if Eggsy’s face isn’t pressed directly into the little hollow between his neck and his shoulder, as if Eggsy isn’t drowning in the fucking scent of his cologne, as if the fabric of his bespoke suit isn’t caressing Eggsy’s cheek like a goddamn lover.

☂️ Red Striped Ties - violentcheese. G, 1k. Red string of fate AU.

"Eggsy is the ragamuffin kid who refuses to stop hanging the Kingsman Tailor shop because he has a crush on Harry Hart, the owner."

Eggsy follows his string patiently. Harry ignores his.

☂️ You Get Up With Fleas - evil_brainmate. T, 74k. Corgi/prince!Eggsy. My first time prompting someone (with my old url) and the result is so much more than I expected.

Eggsy is a fairy prince, trapped in the human world and cursed to transform each day into a corgi. Harry Hart is a gentleman spy, and mortal, who picks him up thinking he's a stray. The two of them must work together to find a way to break the curse.

☂️ Paint With all the Colours of the Wind - Della19. G, 1k. Soulmates AU. 

Harry x Eggsy soulmate au where you only see colour once you meet your soulmate (so you don’t know them until you see them).

And it goes away when they die.

☂️ our vintage misery - fideliant. E, 23k. Pining, slow burn. 

hey young blood, doesn't it feel like our time is running out?

On a difficulty scale of one to saving the world, love shouldn't be this far off the charts.

☂️ into the wails of your windfight - fideliant. E, 8k. Pining. 

It takes a mission gone wrong for Eggsy to find out that even in real life, the dead don't always stay dead. Sometimes the movies get that part right, it would seem.

☂️ Class Of Conduct - fideliant. E, 13k. Slow burn. 

Or, Six Things Eggsy Has Learned About Being A Gentleman

“Lesson number one,” Harry says. “Manners matter.”

☂️ Random Access Memories - fideliant. E, 20k. Memory loss.

Having a supercomputer in your head isn't all that much to be cracked up about.

☂️ down dark tides the glory slides - fideliant. E, 23k. Pining, memory loss. 

You only ever truly hurt the ones you love.

☂️ Or Else - breakdancingfish. M, 4k.

Before they’re allowed to go out on their own, Eggsy and Roxy form a four person team with Harry and Merlin, completing several missions together. Oh, and Harry is the world’s biggest tease. Of course.

☂️ We Are Faking It - lokidiabolus. T, 62k. Fake relationship, slow burn.

For Eggsy it was a thing - he was taking from Harry enough, now was the time he should give something back. Even if it meant playing his lover to get the mission going and catch the culprit. Who would it be if not him, right? Right.

☂️ 57 Degrees. Precisely. - Galahard. M, 6k. Marine!Eggsy, texing, coffee shop AU.

In an alternate world Eggsy goes into the Marines, and stays in the Marines. This is a take on that au, though please forgive my lack of actual Marine knowledge. Also included: finicky coffee drinkers, texting addictions, and baristas with ulterior motives.

☂️ A Not So Lazy Evening - Galahard. E, 3k. Bottom!Harry, PWP. Really good read.

☂️ Vermillion - Galahard. E, 14k. Shy!Harry, slow burn.

He didn't know what to do with that. He didn't blush. He wasn't some teenager to be so affected by anything Eggsy did. Though really, he couldn't remember the last time he'd looked at someone and not pictured them in his bed but rather his dining room, chowing down on too sugary cereal while loudly revealing his plans for the day.

☂️ Soulmates - Galahard. 1k. Soulmates AU. How much do I adore this? A lot.

For Harry Hart's 16th birthday he not only gets his soul mark.

He gets a complete sentence.

☂️ Withdrawal - Saucery. T, 1k. Pining, finger kink.

Eggsy goes into withdrawal without Harry’s touch.

☂️ The Language of Flowers - Saucery. M, 1k. Flower shop AU, florist!Eggsy, lawyer!Harry, meet-cute, mutual pining.

Eggsy is a florist with an attitude. Harry is a lawyer with a conscience. Flowers bring them together.

☂️ The King’s Thief - twentyfourblackbirds. T, 8k.

"Harry," Eggsy said one day, while Harry was deep in a report about weapons smuggling in Ukraine. "I really fancy you." "Mmm-hmm," Harry responded, flipping to another chapter about airline safety standards in Indonesia. "If I had to say it," Eggsy mused, slightly put out, "I would, in fact, say that I am deeply, wildly, and madly in love with you." "That's very good, Eggsy," Harry said absentmindedly, scrawling his signature at the bottom of the paper. Eggsy sighed. "Sometimes, I might think you don't listen to a word I say."

☂️ Patience and Sheer Determinaiton - blacktofade. E, 47k. Fake relationship, prostitute!Eggsy.

Harry goes undercover to infiltrate the circle of a corrupt overlord and is given Eggsy, a young prostitute, as a token of goodwill. Harry has to live with Eggsy and keep him safe, while maintaining his cover.

☂️ Care and Custody - esama. T, 50k.

Eggsy takes out the medal in slightly worse circumstances, asking for a miracle.

☂️ How Eggsy Met Harry, As Told Through A Series of Soul Marks - thayde. 91k. Soulmates AU, WIP. I would warn you that this hasn't been updated for a long time now but if you have a brave heart then march on soldier.

Eggsy stares at the Mark on his chest sometimes, and wonders if his soulmate would ever settle for street trash like him.

☂️ Boyfriend Material - Deepdarkwaters. E, 3k. Mutual pining, oblivious!Eggsy.

"Are you a cigarette? Cos you're smoking hot and I wanna put your butt in my mouth."

☂️ Pig Latin - aerospaces. E, 10k. Fluff.

In Kenya, Eggsy falls off a flight of stairs. Or: lessons in cohabitation.

Eggsy discovers the joys of a home-cooked meal among many other things.

☂️ Considerably Less Cannibalism - LizaPod. E, 6k. Shaving, barebacking. This  one is the myth, the legend, the fic.

It is a real, physical struggle to not stare like a dogger while Harry shrugs off his jacket and undoes his collar, sets his signet ring aside. He has detailed, minutely detailed, fantasies about unbuttoning that fucking collar. At least he’s not wearing the holster right now, or Eggsy’d be sprung already. “It’s time you learned the fine art of the straight razor shave.”

Eggsy gives him his best you havin’ a fucking giggle, mate eyebrows. “Like Sweeney Todd?”

Harry’s sigh is just bordering on melodramatic, but he’s also got that odd— Roxy calls it enigmatic—smile he gets when Eggsy trots out some unexpected bit of culture. "Yes, Eggsy, like Sweeney Todd."

☂️ Kiss Me Now (before I can run) - persephoneggsy. M, 37k. Soulmates AU.

It wasn’t unusual, Eggsy told himself. There were plenty of people- just a little under half of the world’s population, really- that weren’t with their soulmates. Some of them just hadn’t met yet; others had died beforehand; and then there were the people in Eggsy’s situation. Sometimes people genuinely didn’t want their soulmates. Either they were in love with someone else, or they just didn’t like what they got stuck with, and Eggsy imagined the latter was very much the case with him and Harry. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must have felt like for him, the world’s prime example of a posh bloke, to have his soulmate be some beaten-up kid. He would have rejected him too.

Or: soulmate AU where you know your soulmate from the moment you touch them, and when you do, their name gets written over your heart like a brand. But that's not always a guarantee.

☂️ “It suits you, you should keep it” - eggsystolemyhart. G, 600-ish.

"What...?"

"Pardon, Eggsy."

"What...?"

"Did you not hear me previously? I said it suits you, you should keep it."

"What...?"

☂️ Five Stars, Would Shag Again - EmmyAngua. E, 6k. Seduction.

This time, the penultimate task isn’t to seduce an heiress, it’s to seduce an agent. Merlin assures the final three that the agent is chosen entirely at random.

So of *course* it’s Harry.

☂️ are we human, or are we dynamite - randomhorse. M, 13k. Pacific Rim AU. 

It’s been seventeen years since Harry has lost his co-pilot Lee Unwin in the drift, and still the world won’t stop ending.

In the Hong Kong Shatterdome, Merlin is launching a new line of Kingsman Jaegers fit to fight Category 4 Kaijus emerging from the Breach.

In the suburbs of London, Eggsy Unwin gets the draft for Jaeger Academy.

☂️ who got the keys to my bimmer - hartwinning. M, 69k. Mutual pining, mechanic!Eggsy, UST, slow burn.

"What's the difference between a BMW and a porcupine?"

Harry gives him a slightly bewildered look and furrows his brow.

"A porcupine has the pricks on the outside," Eggsy finishes.

☂️ hold courage to your chest - Fahye. E, 46k. I adore this.

Eggsy slumps against the wall, feeling every bruise like it's new, and tells the truth.

"You want to make sure I jump when I'm told?" he demands. "It'd better be you doing the telling, Harry."

☂️ Bang to Rights - concernedlily. E, 17k. Police AU.

Constable Unwin never met a tailor before, but he knows this bloke who keeps turning up at his crime scenes ain't one.

☂️ Breakeven - theshizniiit (orphan_account). E, 85k. Omega!Harry, mpreg.

When Harry walked inside the church (and then out of it, and right into Valentine's bullet) he didn't know he was pregnant.

And now he's back from the dead. This time, with an extra passenger and quite a few problems.

☂️ The New Age - DivineProjectZero. Soulmates AU.

It starts with being cursed.

No, scratch that. It starts with a garden and a serpent. And no, it goes a little differently from what you’d think.

☂️ You Are Beautiful - Sheepie. G, 8k. Coffee shop AU.

Eggsy Unwin works as a barista at the Suited Bean. He's been in love with regular customer Harry Hart for a long time, but he never said anything. Who would want to date someone his size? But Harry sees nothing wrong with the way Eggsy looks.

☂️ Couple of (Couples) Mugs - ilokheimsins. T, 2k. Fluff. 

Harry and Eggsy absolutely do not have couples mugs that proclaim their love for one another. Harry is about 70 percent sure of this.

☂️ Gimme All Your Love - midnightsurge. M, 11k. Fireman!Eggsy, rimming.

“Sorry,” a soothing, male voice started hesitantly, “but… didn’ I pull you out of a burnin’ building a few weeks ago?”

Harry nearly choked on his drink as the question registered in his mind, his brown eyes flicking to the side to confirm that, yes indeed, it was Eggsy standing there with wide eyes.

“Fuck, sorry!” Eggsy apologised profusely as he held his hands up, wanting to help but unsure how to do so. “Ain’t meant to startle you!”

Or

Eggsy is a fireman. He saves Harry's life when a mission goes awry. A few weeks later, they meet again.

☂️ Rules of Insanity - inthepapers3times. E, 54k. Dark!Eggsy. 

The worst mistake of Harry Hart’s life started like many of the minor mistakes he had made: with a one night stand. If only he had taken the taxi all the way to his house. Maybe then he wouldn't have met this particular young man, and he wouldn't have taken him home. Maybe then all of this could have been avoided.

Harry gets pulled into a dangerous game with Gary, a disturbed man he barely knows, and has no choice but to play along.

Gary is in control completely. He makes the rules. Harry is just forced to follow them.

☂️ dig in your fingers - kirkaut. E, 42k. First time, body worship.

The lack of a silver suppository has set Eggsy upon a certain path. The way that Eggsy looks, dripping wet and half naked, sets Harry on another.

(Or: Total Canon Re-Write, aka The One Where Harry's Libido Saves His Life)

☂️ sins without tragedies - kingstier. T, 11k. 5 + 1. Fake marriage.

"Harry, are we married?"

"Aren't we?"

Or, the five times they're practically married and the one time they're not (yet).

☂️ 5 Knots Harry made + 1 Knot Eggsy tied - therune. T, 2k. 5 + 1. I love this immensely!

Whenever Eggsy gets dressed in his suit he purposefully skips a button or struggles with his tie so that Harry is forced to step into his personal space and fix it for him.

☂️ Like Real People Do - coloursflyaway. T, 3k. 5 + 1. Undercover, first kiss.

Five times Eggsy called Harry a pet name, and one time Harry called Eggsy one.

[starrnobella]

What Are You Waiting For? starrnobella’s New Year Resolutions

2017, it was one hell of a year, both for me personally and for my writing. Although I wouldn’t trade it for the world if I’m being honest. The song “What Are You Waiting For?” has been resonating with me a lot lately. I haven’t been able to get the chorus out of my head. So I’m here to ask you, what are you waiting for to achieve your 2018 goals? I’m about to open up to you about my own personal goals for the year and I’d love to know what you’re willing to do to make your goals come true. If we are honest about our goals with ourselves and tell others about them, then we are more likely to keep them going and actually succeed. So what are you waiting for? If it’s to see what I have say about my year, then that’s okay. Otherwise get your ass to work! We’ve got a year to make a difference so the time to start is now!

I’ve made some amazing friends through writing and without them, I don’t think I’d still be writing. They have been amazing influences on my skills as a writer and aesthetic maker. Also they have given me people that I can turn to in a time of need whether in my personal life or fanfiction life and they are there to be whatever I need at the time. So before I get on with my resolutions, I’d like to take a few minutes to give a shout out to a few of those friends who have really stuck out this year. @freya-ishtar-deactivated2017101 Ishtar: I never thought that I would be able to say that I was friends with someone who is so well known in the Harry Potter fandom, but I am so happy to call you a friend. Your writing is amazing and I love reading your work. I also love getting a sneak peek into the new plunnies that have been bouncing around in your Plunny Farm. You make the most beautiful manips and aesthetics that I have ever seen! My only hope is that I can be even half as good as you are in the future! Here’s to a prosperous New Year full of plunnies and wonderful stories! @articcat621: You are one of the most supportive people I have ever met and I am eternally grateful for it. Every time I get an email with a review from you, my heart skips a beat because you never have a negative thing to say. You are an amazing author and I love reading all of the work that you have brought out in the last year. I’m so happy to call you my friend! All the love <3 @gaeilgerua: I can’t even begin to thank you enough for all of the help that you have been to me over the last year. We all have had one hell of a year and it’s been full of ups and downs as well as craziness that we never would have expected to have to endure. I’m just happy to see that it was able to bring us closer. I know that you are only a message away if I ever need something read over quickly before I go to post it or if I need help with a summary or a title for a fic. I can’t wait to see where the New Year takes us! <3 @squarepeg72: You, my dear friend, are one in a million. I can always count on you for a pick me up, a quote, or a sentence prompt. Sometimes I don’t even have to message you and say I’m in need, you just send it anyways. I’ve had so much fun writing the ones that you’ve sent and I can’t wait to see what else you send me in the future. I’m also so happy that I have gotten to see you grow as a writer. I’m so happy to see you expanding into the world of prose, even if I do love your poems. Lots of love! <3 And last, but certainly not least, because without this woman there would be no starrnobella, @xxdustnight88: I’m not even sure where to start with you. Let’s be real here, 2017 started as the year from hell with everything that we have dealt with both in real life and in the world of fanfiction, but we survived. I do think part of the reason for that is because of our friendship. You are an amazing person with such a big heart and I’m so happy to have you in my life. I’m also beyond happy to have you as a roommate! These last six months have been a roller coaster of an adventure, but it has definitely been a fun ride. I’m beyond excited to see where 2018 is going to take us in terms of our friendship and our writing adventures. You are the reason that I have been able to continue writing and I will be forever indebted to you for opening my eyes to the world of crossovers. 2018 is going to be our year, I can feel it! Alright, now with that out of the way, let’s talk about my writing in 2017 because according to Archive of Our Own there’s been a lot of it. Word Count for 2017 (as of 12/13/17): 223, 183 words Let’s be honest, I didn’t even think I was capable of writing that much. Ideally I’d like to be able to at least double that next year, but I’ll talk about that during my resolutions. Those 223k words were written across 63 stories along with updates to two of my Works in Progress, one of which I was able to finish this year. Those sixty three stories were written across 6 fandoms, three of which I had never written before this year. I must say I’m beyond impressed. I was able to accumulate just under 1k kudos, but I was also lucky enough to have a fic hit 100+ kudos this year. I’m grateful to all of my readers in every single fandom that I write for. I really wouldn’t have a leg to stand on if it weren’t for them. Enough with the numbers already, let’s talk about what’s coming down the pike for the 2018 writing year from the production line of starrnobella. 1.) The big thing this year is that I am out to double my word count production for the year. That’s right, I’m looking to write 400k this coming year. Overall that would put me at right around 700k for my lifetime on AO3. 2.) Going along with the first goal, I’m aiming to actually sit my ass down and write something every single day. Even it’s just a quick little 100 word snippet of something else that I’m working on, I want to write every single day. I may need some help being held to it, but I’m going to try anyways. 3.) I’d like to finish Forever and Always this year. I’ve been working on this fic for the better part of two years and I’d like to bring it to a close. It’s been worked on for two NaNos and it has taken on a mind of it’s own, but I do think I’ll be able to regain the reigns and complete before December 2018. That way I can start the sequel, because let’s be honest, there’s a lot to that fic that won’t fit in the first one and will require a second. 4.) An additional fic writing goal I’d like to complete is to get ahead of my writing for A Series of Moments. That story is so unique in the way that I’m writing it, but it has been fighting me for a while now and I’m pretty sure that’s why I’ve been avoiding it lately. Fingers crossed I can get out a head of it before the year is out.    5.) I’ve dipped my toes into the pools of a few other fandoms, but starting in 2018 I want to take a full blown dive into them as well as a few others that I’ve been tinkering with. Those fandoms would include Arrow and Gilmore Girls. Both fandoms have welcomed me with open arms thus far and I’d like to see what else they are willing to give the pieces I have to share. 6.) My final goal for this year would be to clean up my Google Drive of my half started one-shots and other fics. I want to make sure that they all get written and shared with the world. I’m just hoping to do them all justice. These goals are all achievable as long as I actually strive to complete them, especially thanks to the many friends I’ve made through writing. All I have to do is keep myself accountable for them all. Maybe if I get control of my fanfiction life, I’ll be able to get a handle on my real life too. To all my friends who have become family, the fans who have stuck with me through it all, and the new readers that are sure to come in the New Year, I hope you have a successful year and I can’t wait to see where it takes you! Like I said before, the year is your’s to tackle. So what are you waiting for? Love always, ~starr

[ptw30]

Stories & Prompts by ptw30

Updated: ...I don’t remember, actually. 

Prompts:

Ficlets - 500-1k words - open! 

Three-sentence stories - open! Please see details below. 

Blade!Shiro ficlets/meta - open! Leave an ask in my box about the series and I’ll answer either with ficlet or a meta response.

Voltron: Legendary Collections & Series

VLD Drabble Challenge - Masterpost - 30 Days, 30 drabbles/ficlets with gen fics, bromances, and the following pairings - Shallura, Klance, Heith, and Kallura

Blade!Shiro Series - Masterpost - How Shiro becomes the only human member of the Blade of Marmora

Galra!Sheith Series - Masterpost - Prompt fills about Keith-turning-Galra and Shiro dealing with Life After the Arena 

Blood Brothers Series - Masterpost - a series of Shiro & Keith bromancing stories written before VLD Season 2; complete

653 Followers Giveaway - Masterpost - Drabbles/Ficlets/Prompt-fills for the celebration of 653 followers! Thank you all! 

VLD Ficlets

Gen Fics

Yes, Sir: In his first year at the garrison, Keith comes within one demerit of being expelled. Shiro won’t stand for it.

Space Dreams: Sequel to “Yes, Sir.” Shiro helped Keith survive his first few months at the garrison, so Keith returns the favor during Shiro’s first months training for the Kerberos Mission and discovers some secrets about Shiro and himself.

To Infinity and Beyond: Shiro kidnaps Keith for his last birthday before the Kerberos mission.

Sacred Prayer: Pre-Kerberos, Matt and Shiro discuss the dangers of the mission ahead of them. (Drabble, written after I saw the leaked photo of Shiro and Matt from Season 3.) 

Letters into the Void: “It kills me when you’re away.”

The Calm Before the Storm: Following the events of “Across the Universe,” Pidge watches as Shiro continues to battle and comes to a few conclusions about her team.

Hug It Out: Yeah, this takes place during The Hug.

Sixth Sense: Set directly in the Black Lion’s cockpit after the events of “Blackout,” Lance refuses to believe Shiro is gone. Now, if only the team believed him.

Grounded: Set after “Sixth Sense,” Pidge helps Keith deal with the loss of his older brother. (I needed to write a Keith and Pidge - B/SOTP.)

Learning Curve: Can be read as a sequel to “Sixth Sense” and “Grounded;” what happened to Shiro after “Blackout,” featuring Lotor.

Paladins’ Day Out: prompt - The paladins visit a Galra zoo where the Holts are on display.

We Freed a Zoo: prompt - sequel to “Paladins’ Day Out” - The paladins go back to the zoo for the Holts.

Kuroweek2k17 - Black and White and Red All Over: Shiro comes back for Keith, who is now a part of the Galra Empire.

Disruption: prompt - a Paladin cuts a silent but deadly one.

Cloak and Bayard Meeting: Keith isn’t the only paladin Shiro spoke to about his contingency plans. 

Right Arm: Shiro’s in Galra captivity following the events of “Blackout,” and his caretaking is very interested in a certain paladin.

Short Fuse and Ryou: Post-season 2 - If Ryou Shirogane will be introduced in Voltron: Legendary Defender - this is how I envision it. (written before the clone’s introduction)

Basic Maneuvers:   Hunk said in S3E1 that Shiro taught him everything he knows about being a pilot. Hence, this. (Plus, y’know, feels.)

Armed and Ready to Go: Post-season 3 - Keith finds Real!Shiro. (can be read as a sequel to “Yes, Sir” and “Space Dreams,” but also stands as its own ficlet.) 

A Secret to Share: Another post-season 3 story -  Shiro kept a secret from Keith - but it just might save his life.

Stay: Post-season 4 story - Keith gets dragged by the scruff of his neck again.

Under the Skin: Post-season 5 story - “In every reality, there is always you and me.”

Warmth: Post-Season 6 - Whump! Shiro fic - Shiro gets sunburn. 

Homecoming: Post-Season 6 - Red is corrupted by Haggar and begins to lure Keith to the Dark Side. 

Sparkles: Post-Season 6 - Shiro is allergic to the Cosmic Wolf. 

Resurrection: Post-Season 6 -  On the journey to Earth, the team struggles to form Voltron. Lance knows the answer. (Minor AU)

Ship Fics

Shallura Week - The Secret Meeting of Pancakes: Pre-Kerberos, Shiro and Keith made pancakes depending upon specific circumstances in Shiro’s love life. Now, as Paladins of Voltron, that hasn’t changed.

Never-Could-Be: Shallura; Reminiscing brings closure…and other stuff.

Of Rings and Things: Shallura; Klance - Soul-bonding is one thing, but wearing a finger collar? Allura thinks not.

Saturday Morning: Shallura; Klance - prompt: “Shiro, but Happy” - e.g. Fluff Warning to the Extreme

Klangst Week​ Day 3 – Purple: After Keith’s heritage is revealed to the team, Lance helps Keith comes to grips with his past – and his present.

Klangst Week Day 5 – The Ultimate Betrayal: Keith commits the ultimate betrayal in his relationship with Lance. Can they get past it? (Warning: …crack)

Claiming: Shiro once called Keith his alpha, but that was before Shiro went off to Kerberos - and before he started covering his neck. (Warning: non-graphic sex)

Custody Agreement: Post-Season 7 -  Now that the Captain of the Atlas and the Black Paladin have officially begun dating, there’s a matter Lance can’t ignore any longer.

Atlas’ Last Stand: Post Season 7 -  Shiro always knew he’d die before natural causes could get him.

Three-Sentence Stories

PROMPTS: OPEN - Click for details.

Galra!Keith bleps

Sequel to Keith’s blep, enter Shiro

Sheith - Keith gets a tail

Klance - More about Keith getting a tail

Pidge has the hiccups; Coran freaks out

Lance has a wandering itch on his back that he can’t reach

Hunk, Pidge and Lance trying to explain Nutella to Keith

Keith and Lance get shrunk (Warning - innuendo)

Lance and Pidge milk-chugging contest

VLD Positivity Three-Sentence Prompts

Plance/Pidgeance - tall helps smol

Plance - “We shoudln’t be doing this.”

Kidge - trees 

Heith - survival 

Shance - hero 

Kallura - flower 

Zalivan - flowers

Shallura - comfort 

Sheith  - moonbeams 

Piance/Pidgeance - illness

Wednesday Prompts  (I was bored one day at work.)

Uliro - Greetings

Shendak - Shiro and Sendak have kits (the paladins). 

Shallura coffeeshop AU

Shendak - Sendak dies (character death)

Stories That Fit in Nowhere/Voltron AU Stories

There Be Monsters: Shiro & Keith bromance - It’s hard being alone in the middle of a night in unfamiliar places.

Package Deal: Shiro & Keith bromance - They go together or not at all.

His Universe: Fluffy Family AU – Sometimes the most difficult decisions are actually the easiest to make.

How Shiro Became Dad: I felt like writing a super fluffy, domestic AU drabble. This is that drabble.

Dad Duties: Sequel to “How Shiro Became a Dad” - more domestic, tooth-rotting fluff

Castle in the Sky: Takes place after the VLD season two finale, and it should be 70k and show Keith and the Paladins saving Shiro. Instead, it’s quick 1k I needed to write to indulge my muse.

Sleeping with the Enemy: Shendak; modern/crime au -  Shiro and Sendak spend a night together and reaffirm some details about their relationship. (Warning; possible NSFW)

Kuroko no Basuke Stories

The True Shadow and Light (prompt: Kagakuro, year three)

All posts are tagged with #ptw30 pens!

[taesthetes]

Hi cat, what advice do you have to keep a writer's inspiration/motivation up and going? Your masterlist has me in awe of how many fics you've written (they're all written very well btw 👌🏽) I've barely written anything all this year, I've finally started something, and it's really messy but I'm excited and yet kinda scared because I've never written something this long 😅😭 Thank youuuuuuu *hugs and kisses* 💓💓

Hello there, sweetpea! 🌸 First of all, thank you for reading my fics!! The thought of people actually wanting to read my writing still seems surreal to me even now haha 😅 And secondly and more importantly, congratulations on starting your first writing piece of the year! 🎉🎉 I’m so proud of you! that’s a huge accomplishment in itself already because the first step (in this case: starting to write) is always the hardest to take, in my opinion.

Pertaining to having constant writing inspiration and motivation, I’ll divide my advice up for the two separate topics. Personally, I constantly have ideas roaming my mind, but I simply lack motivation to write them all. But here are some things I learned about inspiration and motivation.

My advice for inspiration:

Use your personal experiences. I frequently formulate storylines about the things that have happened to me, and in my point in life right now, I’m in college where I have gotten a bunch of crazy experiences. That’s why my recent fics are mostly college au. Sobriquet was written almost identically to my own experience, whereas Caprice stemmed from me seeing a guy in my chem class regularly playing pokemon go instead of paying attention to class and grew in my mind into a fic idea. You can embellish and fluff up your life experience if you don’t think it’s interesting enough, thus whipping it up into great fic inspiration.

Use your dreams. Not everyone remembers their dreams when they wake up, but I remember a lot of the ones I have, and I use them as inspiration for writing. The majority of the dreams I wrote about in The Universe of Us are ones I actually had and then altered them slightly to fit into the storyline. I also have a lot of bizarre dreams that can actually turn into some very interesting fics lmao

Embrace the fangirl life and use it in your stories. Do you like Disney stories? Harry Potter? Anime? Find inspiration within other fandoms you enjoy. Write a hogwarts au, write a hunger games au, write a fic based on The Little Mermaid, etc.

Listen to music. Music is a huge source of inspiration, and you can think up fic ideas based on lyrics for example. Taylor Swift songs always help me when I’m trying to write a angsty scene, like a break up.

Check out prompt blogs. There are many blogs (ex: @/dailyau or this post that compiled a lot of au’s) out there that have writing prompts, which is super handy, if you lack inspiration. You can read through some of the prompts and see if any of them catch your attention.

Read. A lot. Writers get inspired by other writers. A wonderful way to fuel your imagination and inspiration and make them widen their horizons is by learning from other writers.

Be observant. Observe your surroundings, and you might just spot some inspiration. See the two baristas at your local coffee shop always bickering? Or perhaps, notice the boy who made a very creative promposal? Pass by someone and overhear them say something very interesting? You can turn those observations into fic ideas.

Be open to requests or suggestions. Your readers may have interesting ideas, and if you lack inspiration, you can open requests. You are by no means obligated to write them all, but they can spark up some inspiration. You can hold a drabble game, such as having them send in a song to write a song-inspired fic or picking a one-liner prompt. There are a lot of prompt lists out there that you can use for drabble games (ex: here, here, and here)

Daydream. Honestly, just relax somewhere with no distractions that makes you feel calm and stress-free. And let your mind wander. I get inspired as I daydream during car rides or whenever I’m simply sprawled out on my bed, doing nothing except making up ridiculous scenarios in my head.

My advice for motivation:

Be excited about writing. You certainly aren’t going to get any motivation if you’re not excited at all about writing. And, you said you’re excited and a little scared about your writing? That’s great! You should definitely feel excited about what you’re writing. You’re eager and happy to write then. And feeling a little nervous and scared is also good because that adrenaline rush and the feeling of butterflies in your stomach also adds a bit to the excitement, right?

You have to love the idea you’re writing. If you don’t like the prompt you’re writing, you aren’t going to feel very satisfied with your writing. You might even start to dread writing it and lose motivation. So, make sure that you actually genuinely enjoy the idea you’re writing.

Set the mood for writing. Is there a certain time you write best? Is there a certain place that you enjoy writing in? Do you write better when you listen to music? You will feel more motivated to write if the setting is ideal for you.

Write your short fics all in one sitting. This is just something that works for me personally. I have a super short attention span, which leads me to losing motivation quickly. This is why the majority of my fics are 1k to 4k oneshots because I write the entire fic at once. If I get an idea for a short fic, I write it immediately whether it be on my phone or my laptop because I know I won’t be motivated to write it in the future.

When you think of an idea for a long fic or series, wait a day before you write it. This is another thing that personally works well for me, but might not work for others. With long fic or series ideas, I want to know that I will finish it. I know I won’t be writing it all in one sitting since it’s going to be a long af fic, but I don’t want to write like 10k and then suddenly be like “I’m throwing this out. I don’t like this idea anymore.” I’m a very lazy person, and I don’t want to trash 10k of writing that I had spent hours on. So when I want to make a series or simply a long fic, I think of the idea and mull over it for a bit for a day or even weeks. And then, the next day or week, I ask myself, “Am I still interested in this idea?” If it’s a yes, then I begin to write it.

Make an outline of your fic before writing it. I only use this for long fic ideas that I have, but it works with any fic idea. Having an outline is sort of like seeing a schedule or a to-do list, which is quite motivating because of the sense of accomplishment and pride in yourself that comes when you check off something on the list (or checking off a scene you just completed writing from your outline). And studies show that people are more motivated to do something if they have it written down somewhere and see it daily.

Share and talk about your fic ideas with a friend. I never realized this until now, but having a friend hype up your ideas really boosts up your motivation to write them out. I tell all my fic ideas to fae and she’s always super supportive of them. I sometimes ask if I should do this or that, and she gives suggestions (oh, look at that, more inspiration courtesy of friends!!). I also give her various excerpts of the fic I’m working on, and she yells at me about them, so it’s like constant motivation throughout the writing period. So thanks, pablo, even though you show your support by screeching at me in all caps @zephyoongist​

It’s okay to take a break from writing. If you are feeling unmotivated for a certain idea, don’t force yourself to write. Take a break. Go write a different scenario or make a snack or hang out with friends. When you come back, you will feel refreshed and ready to write. You can reread your writing with fresh eyes and may have new ideas or inspiration on how to continue the fic.

Just write. Let out all your emotions and everything you want to say or convey. Don’t be afraid that it won’t make sense. It’s okay for your fic to be messy during the writing process. You can always go back, cross things out, move sentences around, revise it, and fix it up until you think it’s perfect.

I hope these tips are helpful to you! It’s like 3 am for me now, so I should go to bed, but this is also my prime time for writing, so I’m a little conflicted lmao but anyway, once again, CONGRATULATIONS ON STARTING YOUR FIRST WRITING MASTERPIECE!!! ☺️❣️Best wishes for your writing journey, and I know your story will turn out amazing! And I hope you send me a link to your writing if you do publish it because I’d love to read it 💞💞 And, here are lots of hugs and kisses being sent your way from me to you as well 💌

[kpop-shenanigans]

Tzuyu’s Birthday

Word Count: 1215

Prompt: You discover a new flower shop called “Twice” and Tzuyu is a worker there. You’re both flower language enthusiasts and on her birthday, you decided to confess with a bouquet made out of love.             Inspired by the manga: Kawaii Hito  > I couldn’t stop myself and since it’s also tradition now, I wrote another Birthday fic!  She looks so cute in that gif too <3

There’s more under the Read More because seriously, who wants to see +1k words on their screen out of the blue!

Anyways, Happy Birthday Tzuyu! 

I hope you enjoy!

-Sam < 

WARNING As I know not everyone has a nice relationship with their mom, I’d like to say that there is a moment in which you (the reader) spend time with her and have fun. It’s just one paragraph and can easily be skipped over since it doesn’t affect the story at all! It starts with “ After that”. 

           When you discovered that there was a flower shop in your area, you decided to buy flowers there. Not only were you late that day, but your mom would appreciate the beautiful red carnations that were displayed in front of the store.

           As you entered, you noticed the person who was working. She was a bit taller than average girls, with long brown hair and brown eyes. When she heard the ding from the bell above the door, that indicated a new customer had entered the shop, she quickly turned around. “Welcome to Twice!”

           You shyly replied “Hello.” And, to avoid being awkward, you pointed at the red carnations in front of the shop. “How much is it for a bouquet with only carnations?”

           She left the counter and went near you. “They’re on sale today, it’s 2.000 won for a bouquet with 5 carnations.” She replied, speaking in a formal tone. “I’ll take one!” You cheerfully said.

           She quickly took the redder carnations she could find in the batch they had in the store and quickly started worked. She even added some lavender heathers. You had always liked knowing what flowers meant and luckily you knew that both flowers had the same meaning: admiration.

           When she finished, she presented you with the bouquet. “Is it to your liking?” she asked with a polite smile. “Yes! It’s beautiful! I really like the detail of the lavender heathers! That way the bouquet still has just one meaning! Thank you so much!” You took out your wallet and gave her a 5.000 won note and bid your goodbye. “Excuse me, your change!” She said. You quickly put your hand up. “There’s no need. I wasn’t expecting to see the heathers, and the fact that you used lavender ones made it even better. You know flower language?” You asked. “Yes, I do. When I joined my friend and opened this business, I decided to learn it. It’s actually quite fascinating and I ended up loving it.” She replied truthfully. “Well then, fellow lover of flower language, I’ll be taking my leave. Thank you once again.”

           After that, you left and ran to the place you were going to meet your mother. Thankfully it was nearby and she also loved the bouquet. When you explained the meaning behind the flowers she teared up a bit, and you too managed to spend a quite joyful day.

           The following day, you went back to the store and you found the florist you had met the previous day was working again. This time you had decided to get a bouquet to decorate your living room, as the fake plants you owned had turned bland and you needed something new.

           “Hello again! How much is it for a bouquet made of cheerfulness and beauty?” You said, as you went up to the counter. You warmed up to the employee after your talk the day before. “Good afternoon! A bouquet with 5 flowers at your choice is 5.000won! Would you want to add a Hibiscus rose to your bouquet of crocus and calla lilies?” She asked with a genuine smile, and not that polite smile she had giving you the day before. “Maybe a goodness or a happiness would look nice as well?” she recommended.

           You smiled as you remembered the flowers that corresponded to that meaning. “A white zinnia and a dandelion would look amazing together. Thank you!”

           For the remaining time you stayed there, you learned her name was Tzuyu had she was only 17! She mentioned her birthday was soon, so it made you curious as to when her birthday was. As a freshly-turned 18-year old, it made you realise you two actually had quite a lot of things in common.

           For the following month, you kept going there. “One bouquet of truth please!” and you’d leave happy with a bouquet of white chrysanthemum or an occasional “One bouquet of 2 good lucks, please!” and you’d be given a bouquet with bells of Ireland and white carnations.

           When June arrived, you heard her talking to her friend, who was helping her today. “Hi __________! What kind of bouquet would you like today?” She asked, practically ignoring the shorter female who was beside her. “Hello! Thank you for choosing our job!” She said to you, and then turned to Tzuyu. “I’ll be in the back if you need me.” which was followed by Tzuyu saying “Thank you Chaeyoung.”

           “Today is a very important day for me. I’d like a bouquet made out of love. All kinds of love!” You said, placing your arms on the counter. “Oh, today is a special day. Who are these from?” She asked out of sheer curiosity, slightly sad as she realised the customer she had grown to like was in love with someone, the thought of that someone being her never crossing her mind.

           “Someone I came to really like has their birthday today. We both have something in common and we see each other every day, so I decided to give them a bouquet to tell them that. Hopefully they’ll get it.” You said, smiling softly at her when you finished the sentence.

           As she finished making the bouquet full of white carnations, daisies, forget-me-nots, jonquils, orchids and, of course, the classic red roses. “Here you go.” She said, trying to be as cheerful as she usually is. After you paid, you held the bouquet in front of you. “I heard today was your birthday! So happy birthday Tzuyu!” You said. She laughed as she accepted the bouquet. “Thank you so much _____________! I really appreciate it.” She quickly looked around and spotted the recently-received batch of ambrosia flowers. She placed the bouquet on the counter and quickly grabbed an ambrosia and gave it to you. “This is for you. Thank you for everything.”

           Had you not been paying attention, you wouldn’t have noticed the slight blush on her cheeks as she gave you the flower that symbolized reciprocated love. Yet, you wouldn’t have to even look at your face to know you were slightly blushing.

           Then you heard the sound of the flash of a camera going off and, when you looked behind Tzuyu, you could see her friend with a camera smiling widely. “Tzuyu, you can go. I’ll take over the shop for now. Have fun with your new friend.” She said, winking at her, making Tzuyu’s blush even more evident.

           She quickly excused herself and went to get her stuff and left with you, not forgetting to take the bouquet with her.

           Walking with the bouquet in her right arm, and you with the ambrosia in your left hand, both your right hand and her left hand were occupied holding each other’s hand while talking about any subject that came to mind in mind. Yet, during your talk with her, you made sure that you’d remember to buy her a cake, or at least a cupcake, to make it seem as if both of you had not only just recently confessed to each other but so it also seemed your original intention was to celebrate her birthday with her. Of course, you couldn’t forget to ask to put her birth flower on the cake: a rose.

           What a flowerful day it was.