#there's so many awesome ideas out there already so I'm in the process of figuring out what I like best

[desertedhero]

It's like 5am and I should sleep but my head is SPINNING

I'm currently making a revision plan for its prologue and brainstorming for the main plot of my current fic and man. Forzen.... I love an AI who's so distinct from every other soldier and all of the possible conflict between who he is and what he's programmed to be

And his friendship with Benrey!!!! I love reading ideas about their shared backstory so I'm taking a stab at it myself

[novella-november]

Not to harsh your joy regarding your personal project, (which does sound awesome!) the fact that you keep answering the "can I do fanfic?" questions with "technically yes, but have you considered not doing that?" does not actually *feel* very fanfic friendly. (Especially for anyone who enjoys fanfic as a hobby and isn't also an ofic writer. For example, I personally write almost exclusively character studies that are an explicit reaction to canon; there is no real way to write that sort of thing except as fanfic.)

Which is just a long-winded way of requesting that you maybe consider less of a caveat with the FAQ if you make one, please.

oh that was definitely not my intention, thanks for the ask! I think it was mostly just because I got that same question a few times in a row from various anons within the same time span (including some that were not published publicly), it just happened that I was thinking of my own project(s, plural now) in the last day when I answered those two, for those who want an extra creative challenge.

There's a reason my own original thing has been in my head for the last ten years without me actually writing it while I've written and posted tons of fanfiction, and even now some of my original works are going to be based on Arsene Lupin, so they'd technically be considered fanfiction since they're based on and use an established work for the characters and settings --

--writing completely original fic *is* harder, and that's exactly why I'm *suggesting* (not requiring!) that people consider taking 1 out of short story 4 challenges to look at their work in a new light.

90% of what I read and (until I actually start and finish my original works) 100% of what I've written in my life is fanfic. I have nothing against fanfic, otherwise I woudn't even be interested in creative writing.

But its also not a diss to say "Would you consider looking at your [fanfic] writing from a new angle and try to figure out different ways of going about it?"

Honestly, being able to even consider this option *as a fun extra challenge* is meant to help improve your writing and creative skills; it's not meant as a cheap shot at people who choose to write fanfiction because I my self write and read tons of it,

it's me saying "if you want even more practice at creative writing during these monthly challenges, try branching out a little bit from your comfort zone, you may be pleasantly surprised."

People who write and read fanfiction already have tons of creative experience, and if people like me and many other fanfic writers who one day dream of being published authors, want to broaden our horizons and seek new experiences, one of the easiest exercises is to take something we're planning on writing or already wrote, and see what we would change to make it brand new and standalone--

-- something that not only helps you come up with new ideas, but also will help when it comes time to *edit*, which can be, depending on the length and complexity of your story, can be a complicated process:

whether that means having to delete scenes entirely,

changing what a character says,

altering an aspect of the worldbuilding to fix plot holes

, re-writing your character so they're not overpowered because it was ruining the stakes and tension,

changing the POV of chapters because it was ruining the flow of the story,

etc etc etc.

I love fan fiction.

I love reading it and I love writing it, and for many people who take on monthly writing challenges, it is a way to test ourselves and gear ourselves up and prove to ourselves that not only can we write x amount of words, but it proves to ourselves that we are *capable of creating*, and for many creatives, that ultimately leads to crafting our own unique stories;

if you're already taking place in a monthly writing challenge, why not push the bounds a little bit *if you're so inclined* and test the waters? Especially when you're surrounded by a community who is cheering you on, every step of the way?

Every Nanowrimo I ever won was fanfiction. Heck, even not during November I once did 40k words in two weeks for a fic.

I always stalled out when I tried to write original works;

it is much easier to start small with a single short story than it is to try to write an entirely original novel, and my encouraging people to try baby steps by *experimenting* with one short story out of four in a month is not meant to be a diss against fanfiction,

but an *encouragement to those like me* who were so eager to write original works but floundered when I tried to jump into the deep end and felt disheartened.

Many fanfic authors aspire to write original fics, and thats who that challenge is for, for the people who want to write original works but are too afraid to fully commit; I'll still be writing and posting fanfiction even if I become a published author, even If I just have to come up with a few new pen-names to post them under.

There's absolutely no judgement on anyone who wants to write fanfiction for these challenges, my "caveat" as you say, is only there as encouragement to those like me who are afraid to take the first step, or uncertain of how to even *begin* that first step, not any kind of condemnation.

TL;DR:

I did not mean for my responses on the "can I write fanfiction" to come off as rude or looking down on fanfiction, its meant to be an encouragment to all the people like me who love fanfic and started out writing fanfiction, and dream of writing original works to take the first step, with a community of like-minded people all taking the same challenge.

Like every other challenge aspect of these events, taking a fanfic idea and turning it into an original short story is completely optional and meant as inspiration, just like following prompts for events is not mandatory, and even completing the 30k word goal is not mandatory; the goal for this month is to create, get in the habit of creating, and having fun with it!

[not-poignant]

Question! You juggle so many projects at once, and I think that's awesome. Do you have any advice for how you stay motivated (and/or organized) to work on so many different things? If I'm inspired by something, I want to focus on That Thing and Only That Thing — I have a really hard time pulling my brain away to work on other projects.

I'm wondering if a schedule would help? How do you even set your schedule?

This is a lot of questions packed into one ask, I realize — I guess I'm just in awe of your NaNoWriMo progress (you are insane (affectionate)) and want to pick your brain about your process a little.

Hope you have a lovely day!

Honestly anon, we all have our ways of writing, and it's best if you stick to what actually works for you instead of forcing yourself to do something different.

I'd recommend looking into some of the coaching / videos / podcasts by Becca Syme. A lot of it is simply based around accepting who you are, instead of forcing yourself to write like other people. Part of that is finding your strengths, but some of it is simply...being like 'okay, I'm like this as a writer.'

I don't write lots of projects because I taught myself to, but because I love doing it. I write more when I work on more projects. If I forced myself to only focus on one thing I'd feel stifled and held back, I'd write slower, and I actually think my writing would be muddier and less good.

Other people do best and write fastest when they're focusing on only one project at a time.

And which kind of person you are anon is something you'll figure out over time. Though it sounds like you might already know.

If you wanted to try working on multiple projects, I'd look at adding just one more into the rotation and seeing how it feels. Does it make you write more? Does it make you want to write more? Is it pulling focus? Is it making you lose inspiration on the other story? It's not so much a scheduling issue as it is simply...which one gets the words out?

The goal isn't to become like me as a writer, just like my goal isn't to become like other writers. The goal is to get your words out in the way that works best for you. If that's slowly, that's amazing. If that's fast, that's great, and while there are techniques you can try, it should always be with a view to respecting your organic process.

Many writers quit, or burnout, as soon as they stop respecting that process, or when they start feeling ashamed of their natural process and put pressure on themselves to do it another way.

Also I'll be honest, I'm working on too many projects right now and even though I'm loving it, I know it's too many. Like, I've deprioritised Underline the Red for my own sanity, and I am actually really looking forward to clearing a couple of stories from the schedule so I can focus on other things. About 3-4 stories is my sweet spot.

I don't exactly 'stay organised' anon. I actively want to work on all of these stories. And tonally they're all different, so if I feel like something more wholesome, or something darker, or something more pornographic, I have options. I do have a monthly kind of idea of what I should be working on (i.e. based on the upcoming schedule), but I can only really do that thanks to ADHD meds and I'm cautious of recommending techniques that I personally can only access and make use of because medication has fixed some of my executive dysfunction issues. If you're playing with any kind of unmedicated ADHD, there are tools that won't be as useful without tangible medical or therapeutic support. D:

I set my writing schedule via a mix of the writing that makes me money, alongside extra writing that I enjoy that doesn't make me money. Ideally I enjoy all of it and it's all fun. But the stuff that makes me money has to come first, because of like...life reasons. Idk where you're at professionally, or even if you want to do this professionally, and that would profoundly influence how I'd even suggest scheduling. If you don't have to schedule your writing, don't do it! If you don't have to make decisions like this, then don't make them!

Also, if I hated any of these stories, I'd put the story on hiatus. I don't believe in writing stuff I hate or resent writing. I know other people can make themselves do this and I'm glad that works for them, but I can't do it and I just...yeah. I have to love the story and enjoy it and not resent it to see it through, it's probably why there's so much drama happening all the time, and angst, I'm keeping my dumb hurt/comfort brain engaged lmao.

Never underestimate the power of also just 'I've been doing this for 10 years and I'm very practiced at stuff that other people will only learn with years of practice.' Some of this stuff doesn't have shortcuts, it just had a lot of time and 5 million words sunk into it. When I first started writing on AO3 I wrote one story at a time (though I did quickly become bored of that and moved to two). I wasn't making money. I didn't have a schedule for 9 years. I didn't want one.

The things I've learned... my wordcounts are reliable because I've just had a lot of practice writing. Unfortunately there's no trick to that, beyond sitting down and writing. The more you do, the more you learn about your own process and respect it, the more you write the stories you love, the better you'll get. And I've had times where I've burnt out, times where I've needed long breaks, times where I pushed too hard or forced myself to be like other writers and ended up wondering if I'd quit.

I want to give you easy answers, but the easiest one I have is - which way of writing brings you the most joy? Which way makes the words flow? Is it just one story at a time? That's great - that's your way. That might change in time, but don't force it to. You can experiment like a scientist and try different things, but be compassionate and accepting of whatever your innate way of doing things is.

I struggled so much with the fact that serials is just my way in a world of novelists. I cannot tell you how much misery it has brought me, trying to force myself to be a dedicated novelist when I always just wanted to write sequential stories live. And I really thought I was doing things wrong and you know, other authors thought I was doing things wrong.

It turned out I wasn't, but self-acceptance of my own methods and style went a long way in that process.

You might not like this response anon, and I apologise for not actually just lining up a schedule for you to try (I don't listen to my own schedules), but...it's okay to be someone who works on one story at a time. Or two stories only. I actually think it's awesome, and my writer-friend in my writer's group whose work I've been helping beta for years is a 'single project at a time' writer and a *rewriter* (no one wishes they could change their process as much as rewriters imho) and her writing is amazing. Like, incredibly good. (That's Stephanie Gunn by the way, for anyone who wants to read some cool science fiction / gothic fantasy).

So that's her process, and it's an amazing one, because it creates the writing that it does. Whatever your natural process is, anon, it's okay to write that way, trust me.

[skaruresonic]

My bf linked me this article that just dropped today about Bioware's hypothetical vision for a Chronicles sequel and I'm like, lol okay. Bit too late for that, Bioware, but sure.

This is painful to read, even as someone who thinks Chronicles' core concepts weren't all that bad in theory.

Big oofs ahoy.

"Nocturnes." You didn't actually play the game, did you? I can tell.

First the Encyclospeedia's "Precurator Shade," now this.

Collectively, they're called the Nocturnus clan. The individual soldier or unit is a Nocturne (as well as the clan's base of operations seen at the climax of the first game), but the game doesn't pluralize the name as "Nocturnes" with an E.

Research fail.

Also, I find it kind of weird that real-world locations are figuring into Eggman's conquest. Most locations in Chronicles were based on locations in Sonic's world (if they weren't already just those locations wholesale, like Green Hill), such as Blue Ridge being the remains of a post-Chaos Station Square.

So basically just Forces but several years before Forces.

"Terminator future" - ah, yes. Much vision, many wow. I can completely see how much it would suck to be oppressed by Eggman in such a future.

Also, don't you love the Big Bad Monster of the Week usurping Eggman yet again? Except this time it's so omgwtfbbq superspeshul that not even Super Sonic can defeat it, ohhhh noooo whatever shall we doooo, and... Wait, have I heard this somewhere before?

:/ The more things change...

"DYKG also says that Shade and Knuckles will be able to 'continue Knuckles' bloodline.'" - well that's a totally cool and normal thing to say about two characters in a kids' game who so happen to be the same species. not creepy at all

I love the implication here that Bioware were so certain their mega-awesome sequel would be such a hit with Sega and the fans that they believed they would have been able to get away with implementing yet another cliffhanger ending in order to keep pumping out sequels. You gotta love the hubris.

...Argus' motivations make no sense. It's a god, but apparently was so afraid of death at the hands of a mortal that it... trapped the most bloodthirsty races in the universe in the Twilight Cage to let them duke it out for the rest of time... because...? Stay tuned for the answer, ig?

Plus, why is it Bioware couldn't have answered the questions the first game raised in the second game? What would be the point of even making a sequel if that's the case?

This is the exact same problem Valve is having right now with Half-Life: they keep making sequels that end on cliffhangers while postponing the narrative. "Haha we totally have an awesome conclusion in the works, you guys, you just have to be patient ;> (doesn't even have an outline written)."

It could not be more obvious that they don't know how to end the story. Or, perhaps more accurately for Bioware's case, don't care, since apparently "they considered their obligations finished after the first game."

So like... What the hell were they even complaining for when Sega gave Chronicles the axe, then? If another party would have had to make the sequel anyway because Bioware washed their hands of the development process, then it inherently stands to follow that some of Bioware's Artistique Vision would have had to change.

Iizuka has... questionable ideas about the series, so I don't really place as much stock in his creative vision as that of other ST members. No offense.

In all honesty, though, as someone who likes the theoretical ideas underpinning Chronicles and Shade's character, I'm struggling to consider how Shade and Argus would impact the series in any substantial way without radically altering Knuckles' character and role. It's not like they'd have anything to do after Chronicles is over.

For all of this speculation about Argus, who was nothing more than a diablo ex machina only mentioned in passing in the first game, I can't help but notice that, conversely, almost nothing has been said about Shade and her motivations aside from her possible use in perpetuating Knuckles' bloodline, which... I find a little distasteful, to say the least. I mean, it isn't surprising. Whatever character development she could have had while battling alongside Sonic and co. in the first game is overlooked in order to turn her into an exposition fairy.

But, given that Bioware intended for there to be multiple sequels and for Shade to possibly earn a place as a permanent fixture in the cast, I'd at least expect something in the way of character development? Is she connected to Argus in some way? Is Argus the reason her warp belt hasn't yet broken, allowing her to stay on Earth for much longer than she should have? Better yet, how does Shade feel about helping other conquered peoples rise up against Eggman? Does she feel ill-equipped to lead, having served a tyrant for 4,000 years? Does she see similarities between Eggman and Ix, and internally kick herself for being so foolish as to fall for the same trick twice? Does it give her trust issues? Does Knuckles help her work through these issues and overcome her prejudices? Does her character actually matter here in an appropriate context given her circumstances? Does she have any internality of her own, or is she just a convenient sexy lamp means for Knuckles to not be so alone anymore?

[runawaycarouselhorse]

I got so, so, so close, but I'm back where I started, huh...? It's gonna take another month to get back to normal, but it's alright!

That aside! I attended two days of the three day Global Health Emporium! It was fun listening to the speakers. Owing to, uh, unforeseen outside circumstances and danger, I had to skip out on day three, but 2/3 isn't bad and should be more than enough to secure credit hours! There's blessing in it, I'm sure. ^^

Happy to be back home and resting. Having some tea and toast. A little cupcake too. Also happy the laptop is working again (!!!), it's been so long...

There was a mental health and wellness section that had a lot of artwork and a big canvas for us to paint on too! ^^ They wouldn't let us use more of the acrylics, but, I could use the paint others already used and left in plastic trays turned makeshift palettes... that's more than enough for me! I had fun. Most people just wrote their names or dripped paint beforehand and someone drew an eye, but I wanted to paint something different.

I saw some very amazing new technology too! There's some powerful (amazingly clear!) ultrasounds and endoscopy systems, there was a cute bot with heart eyes who greeted us all in different languages, the government... really loves pushing AI (one of the speakers was so enfatuated by AI, he called them "digital gods" [?!], while using...... Google's Gemini.......... as his example [are you sure you want this for a god?], and immediately after his segment, the lady introducing the speakers casually informed us how it took ChatGPT 8 minutes to figure out she was human before reminding her of her schedule for day of the conference, PFFT, so there's definitely kinks to work out...), but it was also nice to see it used for good (to help people with their health!!!), we saw so many applications and platforms (some I had no idea about!), we also saw stuff about the new unified medical record system (not implemented yet at my rural hospital, our records are only cluster-wide!), I really enjoyed the digital twin concept and how it could be used to predict before you ever have any adverse health events, based on your DNA (which would take SO, SO, SO long for human beings to go through, but AI could speed up the process because that's what it's good for!!!!) what illnesses you are most at risk from, so you can take preventive measures. Awesome stuff.

The funniest comment I heard on Day 1 was "some people have no social anxiety." Really? Is that how I seem? I'm flattered.

I was just eating my food in public (harira soup--the grilled rice and chicken, I picked at, but saved it for dinner, owing to lack of food at the place I was staying [it made a lovely dinner, by the way]) and talking to mama on the phone. I did notice few women eating, but who cares about them, and I don't wear niqab, so I it's not hard at all for me to eat in open/mixed places. Maybe it was the loud phonecall. I am a very loud person.

Day 1 was calm, Day 2 had some catty Mean Girls-esque girls making stupid comments behind me in English (I wonder if they're any relation to my medical school bullies who never, EVER mentally grew up past catty high school bully), poking fun at my figure (they were always jealous of it and that was part of the reason for the bullying), and more of that silly pushing me around/knocking into my shoulder/bumping into me even when I'm painting (I initially thought that one was an a honest mistake, but looking back at the trends, nah)... or it could be someone affiliated with my sister who also went into medicine, who knows.

[fallen-knight]

Hello! The portrayal of the Gerudo is something I've also thought a lot about - as someone who dearly loves BotW, but also values sensible character design/worldbuilding and respect to real-life cultures, it's one of my few real problems with the game. So far, the core issues I've gathered from the conversation are:

the out-of-universe design and writing choices uncritically perpetuate orientalist tropes and sexualization of women and people of color, and

the designs (in particular clothing and armor) make little sense in-universe for a group of desert-dwelling warriors.

Both points can be resolved by researching and thoughtfully implementing designs inspired by the real-life desert cultures whom the Gerudo were based on - broadly speaking, various peoples of North Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. I can offer a limited perspective on this kind of design process from an in-universe standpoint; far more qualified people have explored the real-life angles in depth. I'd recommend blackautmedia's analysis video for one, if you haven't encountered it already.

So, to break it down further, the problematic and impractical aspects of Gerudo outfit design, and potential solutions for them, include:

high heels that would realistically be terrible on sand (solution: for characters who travel outside of cities, their footwear can be changed to flat or low-heeled slippers or sand boots - of which we do have ingame examples that are said to be worn by Gerudo, though they aren't actually modeled on anyone besides Link iirc),

warriors having armor that exposes vital organs and limbs (solution: extending the breastplate to protect the abdomen, and perhaps adding metal or padded cloth/leather armor to protect the limbs), and

not enough outer layers of light, flowing fabric to help protect from sun and heat (solution: adding cloaks, robes, or other loose garments, patterned after the actual clothes that people living in deserts traditionally wear day-to-day - even magical sapphire jewelry can only go so far against sunstroke, after all.)

Here are some very old, very rough Urbosa redesign concepts from my own drafts that took these ideas into account, while trying to stay close to her ingame appearance. First one went for an OoT Ganondorf-inspired layer of leather armor, second changed it for a Grecian-style muscle cuirass (taking the Gerudo's mythical Amazon inspiration into account), and both versions have sand boots and a cloak for traveling. These are just a few ideas, I'm still figuring it out - and of course, there are many other ways you could alter her design.

And under the cut are some of my favorite Gerudo redesigns by various artists, to give examples of different ways the original designs can be changed for the better, while staying recognizable and true to the characters.

Hope this is helpful in some way! It's been awesome to see your art progress so far, and I'm excited to see how the animatic turns out.

Hello,

I’m trying to draw Urbosa (botw) for my animatic, she’s only in one panel, but I’m unsure of how to draw her in a way that isn’t orientalist or racist in the way Nintendo keeps pushing. I want to try to modify her outfit to be more respectful but I’m unsure where to start, if anyone has ideas or resources I’d be eternally grateful. Thank you so much, I just want to do this character justice in a way the game refuses to do for her.

[sevi007]

Technically the whole you can't be hypnotised without consent is a bit of a simplification. To kind of very very roughly explain it, It's a case of trust and alarm. Alec trusts nate and listens to him, nate is also someone whose super good at Manipulation and using the right words to get what he wants. It's not out of the question for Nate to subtly guide Alec towards relaxation and then slowly take him down into trance and deepen it over time. Especially if he used several sessions to build up his influence before planting a trigger. 1/3

Basically since he already has Alec's trust so as long as nate doesnt say or attempt to do anything that that would alarm Alec or cause his consciousness to react I.e. do something that he would instinctively object to. he could technically slowly convince Alec to want what Nate wants to do to him. As long as he words things in the right way and has enough time to build up his control. This is very rough and not exactly 1:1 with reality and definetly not what a decent 'tist would do. The only thing that would make me question it was how little time it took. But that can be handwaved as nate just being an awesome mastermind. Also shaking off hypnosis and hypnotic triggers in real life can be incredibly difficult depending on how deep they were and how long the 'tist has been reinforcing and using them. Its a long process and people who have really strong triggers can have certain things that just won't change or ever go away

TLDR: Alec wouldnt necessarily need to consent or be fully aware to be hypnotised. And actually what nate did is super scummy even though its played for laughs. And Alec is well in his rights to be super upset and angry at nate for what he did. Eliot too has a right to be upset and gry for when Sophie conditioned him without his consent especially considering what we learn in future episodes about him. These are people with a position of power and trust who decided to use it to fuck with the brains of people who rely on them. For basically a laugh. Nate could have just asked for Alecs consent and co-operation in order to hypnotise him and plant the trigger but instead did it the way he did. If it was me I'd be terrified because Alec can never be exactly a hundred percent sure what Nate has done to him or gotten him to do. Same with Eliot or even Parker. How can they be 100% sure that they don't have triggers or conditioned responses they arent aware of?

Okay so I already thanked you in another ask for this detailed and very interesting explanation,but I gotta have say THANK YOU again. I mean, wow! I didn't realize how many cliches and simplification I had already in my head about hypnosis - say, the part with "you need to agree to the hypnosis to make it work", I really thought that's real- so this was honestly an eye-opening read here!

And now I understand the team's reactions much better. Honestly, I never thought that Nate did this was played for laughs (I mean, everybody stormed out on him right after) but for me who really believed the whole "consent for hypnosis to work" bit, it was real confusing to figure out if that meant Hardison was hypnotized against his will. Hearing now that this can ACTUALLY happen makes his fear and anger much more understandable! I also would not like the idea of someone messing with my head like that, especially if it's someone whom I trust and someone who could have freaking asked before attempting this.

In this new light, I wonder why Nate did not just state what he was about to do. He did it to relax Hardison so the heist would be successful and Hardison could shine. That's a very good reason! Had he explained it like that, I don't think Hardison would have disagreed. Okay maybe he would have been like "yeah as if that's gonna work bro" but he would have agreed, I'm 99 % sure. What is this about - showing Hardison that to be a team leader, you need to be an icecold ass???

Also sheds a new light on Sophie's bit with Eliot and the tea pouring here. It's the same freaking thing! I think. At least to me as a beginner in manipulation, hypnosis and what not, it sounds incredibly similar. Suggestion, and planting triggers, and the fear of the victim that it could happen again.

Now it's kind of ironic that it's Sophie who gets to call out Nate for provoking everyone into leaving him alone, when she did the exact same thing earlier. Huh.

Alas, all in all, this leaves a really weird feeling with me. On one hand, Leverage is trying to tell me that these guys are like a family and trust each other (see: "Inside Job") and then the next episode, both the "heads" of the team manipulate their team members and make them understandably angry.

Show runners, are you trying to tell me this is a wholesome weirdo family with some problems now, or are you not? Gotta decide here, I'm getting very mixed signals on the "wholesome" part now.

EDIT: (I'm two episodes further now and the problem does not even get addressed. I do not like that it does not get addressed.)

[your-daily-biaswrecking]

Your ot7 drabble was awesome! Do you think you can do something similar with just the hyung line? I'm sorry I'm such a slut for the hyung line

The ot7 drabble that's being referenced

Hoseok wasn't your ex. You only hooked up with him for a while, you were never really dating. But that's what Namjoon seemed to think since when you flirted with him he talked about how he couldn't do that to his best friend. He did it though; fucked you once or twice. With Yoongi it was a one-time thing, you swear, and it was only because you were both drunk. And now Jin… He was a new one. Perhaps you should feel bad for getting with almost everyone in their friend group... But was it your fault they were all insanely hot and horny for you? What, you can't just say no to them!

The way you had ended up out for drinks with Jin was almost accidental, but the way you were making out in his car certainly wasn't. A "finally" whispered in between your lips was what gave him away, but you couldn't agree more. Finally. He drove you back to his place and there was excitement bubbling in your gut, until you walked in and saw three more boys waiting on the couch.

"What, you thought I wouldn't tell them?" Jin asked from behind you when he saw how you had frozen, mouth open and eyes wide. He was so casual about it, walking up to his friends as they all checked you out nonchalantly.

“Even Jin?” Hoseok spoke first, laughing but not seeming amused. “Wow, you really are a little slut.” You had no idea they knew what you had done, yet it was now obvious they didn’t keep secrets from each other. How was it that this was allowed? If they knew, why did they all try to get with you?

“Hobi, I—” You were at a loss for words. Do you apologize? But you didn’t do anything wrong. If you did, shouldn’t they be feeling guilty, too? They did this on purpose.

Namjoon got up suddenly, walking to you. “It’s okay, sweetie,” he murmured, and a hand came to stroke your chin momentarily. “We like you because you’re a little slut. All we want to know is what you plan on doing now.”

You blinked, looking at him with your eyes still wide as if you were terrified, not really understanding what was expected from you. And Jin, as if he knew, draped an arm over your shoulders. “What he means is… are you gonna make up your mind about which one of us you want?”

“Or are you just gonna keep fucking all four of us?” Yoongi’s voice was coarse and he didn’t even look at you. And you gulped.

“And what’s wrong with that?” you mumbled. Like you said, you weren’t dating any one of them. So why would it be wrong if you wanted to fuck different men since you were single?

You heard Hoseok chuckle from behind you as he was circling you. And then he leaned in right next to your ear. “Careful what you say or you might get yourself in a difficult situation,” he whispered, making you shiver.

“Baby,” Jin called to get your attention. “If you don’t want to choose, you don’t have to.”

“Right…” Namjoon breathed next to you, getting closer and closer to you. “I don’t mind sharing.”

Perhaps you should indeed feel bad. You should act decently. You didn’t though, let them know how much you wanted them. All of them. Because if they all wanted you, why would you say no to them? Yoongi pushed through the others to kiss you, lips harsh like they were trying to hurt you, and you figured it was desperation deriving from the fact that he probably couldn’t remember your kisses very well. And then Jin made sure to devour and feel you up for a long while, since he was the one still processing the feeling.

“Wanna see how good you are,” he admitted. “Wanna see if your pussy is as good as they say.” Had they been talking about what it’s like to fuck you? The image made you moan hard.

“Shit,” you heard Namjoon cuss while he was palming himself through his pants. “Missed those pretty moans of yours, baby.” And you whined louder for him, reaching out until you were kissing him sloppily.

“I missed that hot body,” Hoseok countered. “C’mon, little one, take those clothes off and show my friends what you got.”

You were spread on the couch, naked, and the boys let Jin handle you first, out of respect for their hyung and his curiosity for you. He chose to have his asymmetrical fingers diving in and out of you while he licked your clit. And the other three boys observed you for a while, marveling at your expressions and noises. Something about being watched by them got you so worked up, feeling an orgasm already near. And then Yoongi came closer, caressing your cheek before he let his thumb press on your lip.

“Do you want something in your mouth, baby?” he asked in a low tone, remembering how you had loved to suck on his fingers last time. This time he filled your mouth up with his dick instead. Hoseok joined too, wanting attention so you alternated between their cocks, sometimes even licking both of them at the same time, hands stroking them and keeping them close. Of course, Namjoon wouldn’t be left out; he brought his mouth down on you, kissing your tummy and inner thighs at first, until Jin allowed him some room to suck on your clit while he continued to fuck you with his hand.

You came like that. Screaming loudly as you creamed Jin’s fingers and choked on Yoongi’s dick. You were instantly being turned around, on your wobbly hands and knees, and the eldest man grabbed your ass to drill into you. A grumpy Hoseok was shutting you up very soon —because you were being too damn loud— by fucking your throat properly. The other two enjoyed the view with their palms around their dicks.

“What a good girl,” Jin said one too many times. “She takes us so well.”

“You like being fucked like that, don’t you, you little whore?” Hoseok was growling, always harsher than the rest. And you had tears rolling down your cheeks from gagging a bit too much around him, your pussy pulsing around Jin from the effect their words had on you. You came another time, freeing your mouth and Jin pulling out, falling down as you tried to catch your breath.

“I know you can do better than that,” Namjoon was scolding right as he grabbed you by the waist to lift you off the couch completely. He laid on the floor. “Ride me, baby.” So you straddled him reverse cowgirl, taking him deep inside you before you started bouncing up and down, meeting his own thrusts. Your legs were shaking but you were fucking yourself on his cock hard, his thickness always making you crave more of him.

“Yoongi,” you moaned, reaching out for the man that was keeping the quietest through it all. “Fuck my mouth, baby, please.” And he immediately carried out your wish, standing in front of you with his hands buried in your hair and letting you take him to the rhythm your rocking was creating. Jin and Hoseok were on either side of you, enjoying you stroking them as best as you could with your bad focus. All four of them fucked by you at the same time. And when Yoongi lost his control and spilled down your throat, it triggered another orgasm for you. Your pussy getting so tight around Namjoon’s cock that he cursed and pulled you off him in order to coat your ass white, too.

“She can still take more dick,” Hoseok said with confidence. “Let me fuck that pussy till I fill it up, yeah? Just like the old days.” Making sure Jin was included, he was sat on the couch while you bent in front of him and got railed by Hoseok from behind. Trying to keep the older member in your mouth but moaning so much it was hard. The sight alone was enough for him though, and he spurted all over your face. Hair pulled until your back was arched and you were crying, begging for Hoseok to be gentler as the rest of the boys could only watch how he abused your cunt in a practiced manner, feeling their dicks slowly get hard again.

He spanked you a few times. “Gonna fill this slutty cunt up,” he grunted, getting close. “Look at how many dicks you let fuck you like that. How many dicks you need to be satisfied. Fucking whore.” He did just as promised, seed flowing inside you with another spank and his fingers rubbing your clit in a desperate attempt to make you milk his cock.

And you came for the fourth; one for each of the boys you couldn’t choose from.

Masterlist

[gallavichthings]

Today’s interviewee is the lovely Emma ( @livinginsunnyhell / ProstheticLoVe), author of hits like Never Tear Us Apart, Homecoming and The Evolution of Kissing. While she might still be considered somewhat new to the fandom, having been here for a bit over a year, she has already largely contributed to it and I’m sure will continue to do so in the future! 

GT: What can you tell us about yourself?

E: I am an American female who wishes she lived in Europe. I recently transitioned from working in marketing to data analytics. I love traveling, reading, exercising, knitting, coding, and writing. I’m also in the process of moving across the country for the second time. I’ve been writing fanfiction off and on for about 15 years which is nuts to think about. Actually more like almost 20 years but I didn’t publish anything until I was 14. I love writing, it’s my greatest passion, but since I’ve transitioned more into a STEM field it’s exciting to find other things I’m good at too. I definitely have a growth mindset when it comes to my hobbies and in my life in general.

GT: Wow, sounds like you have multiple skills! That's incredible! How do you choose what you want to do when you have some free time?

E: Lol thanks. Yeah that’s a great question cause I honestly have no idea. I wish I had more free time. I’m in the middle of knitting a dog sweater for a friend and I haven’t had as much time as I want to work on it. It was a lot easier when I wasn’t working.

What works for me is having a set goal of what I want to do everyday for writing, exercising, and coding. I got into a really good habit of doing all three of those things after I lost my job and it all kinda stuck. I’ve also virtually stopped watching TV except for new Shameless episodes. I just haven’t had the time. Since I have such little free time right now I’ve been focusing on what I really want to do which is make my writing better, get better at coding, and exercise for my sanity. So it’s really a juggling game and utilizing what little time I have for things I want to work on.

GT: I'm so jealous of your focus. I just graduated in webdesign and I should DEFINITELY practice coding and learn more, but I just feel so tired! Same with writing, I spent a long time not writing anything, trying to get back to it now… And don't even get me started on exercising… Seriously jealous.

E: I know exactly what you mean. I should preface this with saying it took me a very very very long time to get to where I am with writing every day and exercising. I went years without writing especially when I was working in marketing because of writing content for websites everyday and I was burnt out, so I definitely get it. For me, covid weirdly centered me and helped me figure out what I wanted my life to look like going forward. Losing my job really was humbling and a blessing in disguise cause it helped me kinda get back to where I wanted to be. Obviously it’s difficult and I was lucky but it’s not something you do overnight it’s taken years to get this mentality.

So don’t be jealous! That’s awesome that you graduated in web design! It’s a very fun and growing field. I have friends who really love their jobs.

GT: Tell me a bit about your history with fanfiction. You said you started writing it really young. What fandom did you write for?

E: So initially I was obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I have notebooks upon notebooks full of Buffy fanfiction that I never published (and that’s deeply terrible). But after Buffy my first fandom I posted in was That 70s show. Then there was Veronica Mars, Lost, Sons of Anarchy, The OC, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, Once Upon A Time, Arrow, X-men, and Degrassi (over several years and flowing obsessions). They were all generally never finished.

As I got older, I started to write better and focus more on the art and process of writing. I also developed better grammar and storytelling. I’ve gotten many, many, reviews saying very critical things that in the end helped me be a better writer.

After a while of not writing, I came back to fanfiction for The Vampire Diaries fandom and Veronica Mars when the movie was released. And I think that’s when my writing went from cobbled together fics that were rarely finished to an actual story I was proud of.

What’s really interesting is seeing the upward trajectory of my writing. I wouldn’t recommend anyone reading those early fics (I’d even argue no one read my very first few gallavich fics from last year) but it’s fascinating to see how I went from tiny very terrible stories to ones that were much more in depth and well rounded. The last fandom I was in before gallavich was a super tiny one called Veep and prior to that I hadn’t written in years.

GT: What made you want to get into the Gallavich fandom?

E: I had seen Shameless when it first came on Netflix many years ago. My mom actually watched the show since the beginning and loved it and kept telling me to watch it. Finally I got around to doing it and really enjoyed it until I found out Mickey wasn’t on the show passed s5 so I stopped watching at s5. (Most of my ships never got a happy ending so I didn’t want to watch another ship crash and burn.) Then right before season 10 came out I think I was on Tumblr and saw someone post about Mickey returning so I went and did some research. Once I found out it was true, I decided to rewatch and rediscovered gallavich. And as always when I develop an obsession with a tv show/movie/book, I turned to fanfiction. It’s funny cause I was in a very small fandom so coming into Gallavich was almost overwhelming because it’s so big and there’s so much to read.

GT: Tell me about it! It's impossible to catch up, not that I'm complaining. Which of the fics you've read did you enjoy the most?

E: I know right!! It’s incredible! So the first multi chapter fic I read that really solidified my love of gallavich was The Road To Ruin by bricileur10. I was blown away by that fic. Holy shit. I also loved The Sun, Chasing The Moon by devovitsuasartes. I really liked the method of storytelling and where they took the story post canon. And the other one I read in the beginning and loved was When the Party’s Over verse series by emryses [@merlinoutofcontext]. As you can see I’m very into canon compliant. I also really enjoyed the Our Souls series by @wehangout and Drop Your Guard by allysavedtheday (also I highly recommend Seal my Fate). Now, I’ve also really enjoyed Like Real People Do and Everything About You by grayola [@gallavichy]. And anything by Coldreign, gallavichsecurity, AnnaNSmith [@annansmith], sadwhales, and @captainjowl​. I’m trying to get away from only reading one shots but right now that seems like the only thing I have time for. 

GT: And what was the motivation for your first Gallavich fic?

E: That’s a great question. So my motivation in general for fanfiction is if I’m dissatisfied with something that happens in canon, I feel unfulfilled, so I need something to help wrap up the story. The reason I write in general is two fold: 1) I can’t find a story I want to read that has the specifics I’m looking for and 2) I can’t get an idea out of my head.

I hadn’t written for about a year I think when I wrote my first gallavich fanfic. (Like I said I had a lot of WIPs that were abandoned and I didn’t want to do that to another fic.) So I started off slow with a fix it fic, which turned out okay. It’s called Fifty-Five Fires and it was set right before 10x10. Then a multi chapter evolutionary fic about their kisses which I loved writing because it expands over 1-10 and I really wanted to write something that explored their history together. I got the idea for The Evolution of Kissing because I saw a showtime compilation of their history and it triggered the idea of exploring their kisses. I was hesitant to write the fic but the idea wouldn’t leave me alone so I did and promised myself I’d finish everything I started and I have.

GT: Has the fandom reception to your fics surprised you?

E: Yes! It does surprise me. It’s funny when I look at my writing I think it’s okay. It’s better than where it was but I still struggle with a lot. It’s such a process. When I read over my older fics and when I say older I mean in the last year, I see the weak areas I should’ve written better rather than what’s actually really good. There are areas I definitely want to work on like I’m too introspective and I need more action. I’m hoping with my upcoming fics I can change that.

GT: When did you start watching Shameless and what attracted you to Ian and Mickey's relationship?

E: I started watching Shameless when it came out on Netflix a few years ago and then came back right before season 10. I’d seen it off and on through the years but until it was on Netflix, I hadn’t seen more than a few episodes here and there thanks to my mom who watched it religiously. I remember her telling me about Mickey and Ian’s relationship and now when we watch it together, she always awws when something happens with them. One of the first episodes I saw was when Ian left Mickey at the border and I remember being intrigued by it.

Initially what attracted me was the bad boy liking the ‘good’ guy. But then I got to know the characters (and understand them more) and I really liked Mickey’s internal struggle toward accepting himself and then his fierce love for Ian. I also loved how Mickey took care of Ian when he was diagnosed with bipolar. I really enjoyed Mickey’s transformation and I loved how sure Ian was of Mickey. Initially, I was really drawn to Mickey but now I’d say I enjoy watching Ian just as much. I have a newfound appreciation for Ian, especially when I rewatch. Mickey’s so much more in your face with everything and Ian is so much more subtle and I really enjoy that juxtaposition. The biggest attraction to their relationship is the history, their deep love for each other, and their friendship. Their relationship is also so layered and there’s so much to explore as a writer and an audience member but you know these characters love each other deeply. You can feel it.

GT: Do you have a preference for writing one of them?

E: I go back and forth cause I want to show both of their POVs. In my multi chapter fics, I switch off. I find writing Mickey easier but I relate more to Ian. Ian I find to be very difficult to write especially as an adult. In the beginning of s11, I found it difficult to write Mickey too. I always worry I write them too soft. But I like writing them equally.

GT: What's the most difficult thing about writing them?

E: Oh that’s a hard question. I’d say 1) keeping them in character. I really strive to keep them in character no matter what and sometimes it’s easier to do than others. I’ve nixed huge scenes and entire ideas cause they sounded off to me or I know I couldn’t keep them in character.

2) the emotional scenes. I’ve written some scenes where they talk to each other and try to work through their shit. This is most evident in Never Tear Us Apart and it’s difficult to balance who they are with what they would say and do in an emotional situation. There are some things I want then to say but I know they’d never say it. So specifically in Never Tear Us Apart Ian and Mickey both open up to each other about different things and they are long speeches but I wasn’t sure how to write what their character would say without it coming off as unrealistic and preachy and off putting. So it’s really that balancing act between believable and being true to their character. I found this particularly difficult with Mickey in the beginning of writing gallavich and then after s11 started. I worry I write him as too soft (and sometimes too smart, even though I think he’s smart) vs. keeping him in character.

GT: It really is a trick balance.

E: It really is!

GT: What's the best thing about writing them?

E: The best thing about writing them is that there’s so much to explore. I love writing canon compliant fics (although I do have an AU coming out for the Big Bang and I’ve started outlining another AU) with them because there’s just so much there. They have an incredible amount of history to choose from and explore and I feel like every time I watch a new scene I discover something else about their relationship I want to write about. You can write teenage gallavich or explore Ian just being diagnosed with bipolar and Mickey finally coming out. Then there’s post s5 and all the things you could imagine after that. There’s Mexico or prison. Finally established gallavich which is my preferred writing niche is a lot of fun to write. My favorite part about writing them is how they take care of each other. I like reading and writing Mickey taking care of Ian when he’s having a low episode and I like Mickey working through his internalized homophobia with Ian’s help. What’s so great about writing gallavich is their history and the foundation of their friendship. They genuinely like being together and that’s the basis for all the fics I write about them. They genuinely just like each other.

GT: Do you do any research before or while writing?

E: Yes lol. I have a whole process. Either I’ll rewatch a few scenes or in the case of Chocolate and Cigarettes I rewatched the entire first season. Generally I’ll bookmark a part to look into later so I don’t lose the writing flow. Usually I research while editing or to get into ‘the mood to write’ I’ll rewatch some scenes.

GT:  How much of your fics are outlined and how much is written "on the fly"?

E: All of my fics are outlined. From the multi chapter to the one shots. Outlining helps me so much. I mentioned before that I have a lot of abandoned fics in other fandoms and that’s because I wrote on the fly with no idea where the fic was going. I slowly got into outlining in the last fandom I was in but it wasn’t as intensive as it is now. When I wrote The Evolution Of Kissing, I wrote my first in depth outline and I contribute that to how quickly I finished that fic. Now I outline everything and it’s also a way to help me figure out if I genuinely want to write the fic. If I finish the outline and I’m lackluster about it, then I won’t write it. However I don’t always stick to the outline. Sometimes the fic has a mind of its own. But usually outlining helps me finish the fic, know where I left off, add in little hints to wrap everything together, and check off the scenes and themes I want to incorporate.

GT: How often do you post when you write multi-chapters? Do you write chapters in advance or do you post them as you write them?

E: So generally I post once a week. Usually on Wednesdays or Friday/Saturday. I got into a really good habit of posting once a week. (I used to post sporadically. The gallavich fandom is the only fandom I’ve written on a schedule.) The outlining really helps to guide the story for me. I’ve never written chapters in advanced except for the Big Bang fic I’m working on. That’ll be my first story I’ve written all in advanced and posted at once.

I prefer to write as I post them because sometimes people will leave comments that make me think about adding in other scenes or going in a slightly different direction.

GT: Yes, I totally get that, feedback is important. Speaking of, what are your favorite kinds of comments to receive?

E: It is! And it’s fun to see what people think of the story and what will happen. Lol any comment really, whether someone wants to leave an emoji or a long comment, I’ll take either. It’s just nice to know people are enjoying the story. I do like hearing where people think the story is going or what their favorite parts are. I recently had a lovely reviewer leave an amazingly heartfelt comment that was really impactful. I also love to see people who have read a few of my stories return and leave their thoughts. Honestly I just like engaging with the readers and hearing what they think of gallavich and the storyline I decided to explore.

What I like about aO3 though is the ability to give kudos. I like that you’re able to see if people are enjoying the fic even if they don’t feel comfortable enough to leave a review.

GT: I wish we could leave kudos in every chapter.

E: Yes! I agree. I wish that was a feature too.

GT: What kind of fics do you write the most?

E: Mostly I write canon compliant. I have written a lot of one-shots lately that are bunched together in different series but I like writing multi-chapter fics more. Recently, I’ve had a lot of one-shot ideas. Most of my fics are established but I also like writing pining and getting together. I’m tentatively stepping into the AU world with my Big Bang fic and the next multi chapter fic I write, which I’m planning to be 20 chapters.

Lately, most of my fics are fluffy, but I also have smutty and a little angsty. It’s hard since most of the oneshots I’ve written recently have been very soft and transcending through their history. But for my next fic, I want to move away from that and write more angsty and lots of pining. This is a long way of saying I like writing different things so you’ll find a little of everything.

GT: What about reading, what kinds of fic do you usually read?

E: Oh wow I have so many open tabs right now. Lately I’ve been reading established and s11 fics. I have really enjoyed watching the new episodes and then reading new fics that help to fill in the gaps. I love established gallavich and reading where writers are taking them. I love the little cute domestic moments in fanfic that really bring gallavich to life.

Overall, I love reading canon compliant but I have enjoyed reading AUs with chef Mickey, best friends, enemies to lovers, soulmate, and meet cute fics. I also enjoy reading fics that explore their issues too such as Ian’s bipolar and Mickeys internalized homophobia.

GT: What makes you close the tab and give up when you're reading a fic?

E: Generally my computer crashes lol. Or I finally get around to reading the fic. I also have a spreadsheet of fics that I sometimes put everything into to help keep track of everything. Honestly I’ll close a tab and five more will pop up of fics I want to read or saw recommended. I think right now I have 80 tabs waiting to be read.

GT: Lol no, I meant, what makes you stop reading?

E: Oh lol! Duh. Sorry. I’ve been reading a lot of one shots cause I can’t get away with reading a one am fic right now so that’s helpful to stop reading organically.

Also, I’m picky about what I read. I dislike reading OOC, pet names that wouldn’t happen in canon (like baby and sweetie), saying I love you too quickly, slow burns that aren’t actually slow burns, large grammar mistakes (everyone makes them but when they are happening consecutively it can take me out of the moment.), actions that take me out of the moment or words that a character wouldn’t say, and lots of telling vs showing. If I like the summary, I’ll definitely check it out. This is across all fandoms for me. I really value when someone can write a character in character and show they understand them so fics that miss that mark I can’t get into as much unfortunately. Oh! Also character bashing. And I mean any character.

GT: To be fair, Ian did call Mickey "baby" canonically now lol

E: That’s true and I have to come to terms with that. I also took it as more of a yeah baby type deal! But it’s all up for interpretation. I do like coming up with nicknames Mickey would use for Ian so there’s that.

GT: Which other characters from the show do you like? Do you ever read or write about them?

E: I love Fiona and Carl and Lip. I don’t write anything other than Ian and Mickey but I have my own head canon about Mandy and Carl. I also really like to write family scenes and Ian and Mickey with the rest of the Gallaghers. I guess I like writing Mickey and Ian interacting with other characters (except Frank and Terry) but I wouldn’t write a whole fic about another character on the show.

GT: Wait, tell me more about that headcanon about Mandy and Carl.

E: I’ll probably get a lot of hate for this and it’s not a popular opinion but I think Carl would be great for Mandy. He is the sweetest. I think (minus his White Boy Carl phase) he treats women well and Mandy needs someone who appreciates her. I think her and Carl could be happy together.

Lip was always so awful to her and I think Carl would be the badass she liked from lip with the sweetness of Ian. Carl just had to grow up. It’s really weird I know.

GT: It's definitely unusual, but I've seen worse pairings. It's difficult for me to imagine because I still think of Carl as a child, but in reality Mandy is what, 5 years older? But yeah, it's a bit weird for me, though I've definitely seen weirder, so maybe someone will agree with you.

E: Yeah I know what you mean. I still see Carl as a little kid too. And this is so a futuristic head canon. It wouldn’t happen for like 10 years when it’s one of those things where they run into each other at gallavich’s first kid’s birthday party. They just happen to be eating together and Mandy still sees him as a little kid but they become friendly and hang out at these whenever they’re put together. And a few years after that they slowly become friends after Mandy moves back to a Chicago and Carl randomly runs into her. Over time, Mandy stops seeing Carl as a kid and Carl admits he used to have a crush on her and they one day decide to start dating after they’ve both been stung too many times by other people. So it’s all very much in the future. Like I said it’s kinda weird and I don’t actively ship it. It’s just a nice way for two characters who have been dealt a bad hand in love to get a happy ending.

GT: What's your favorite Gallavich fic that you’ve written so far and why?

E: They’re all my favorites cause they’re my kids lol. But I’d have to say that I’m more proud of some of the fics I’ve written than others.

I really enjoyed writing Never Tear Us Apart and the oneshots that came after that. I loved writing established gallavich and having them start to work on some issues. It was a lot of fun to write the holiday oneshots and dive into their first year of married life.

The fic I’m most proud of though is the Chocolate and Cigarettes series. It’s two five chapter fics, one takes place from Mickey’s POV and the other from Ian’s and it’s from before canon to 1x09. Cigarettes is about Mickey learning to come to terms with being gay and what that means. It’s a deep dive into his sexuality and Chocolate is about Ian learning what love really is. It’s basically how we got from Ian thinking he’s in love with Kash to running to Mickey when Monica comes back. This is the fic I tell people to read when they ask what they should read by me. I really like the themes it explores and how it all comes together. I think it brings to life what could’ve happened behind the scenes in season 1 that we didn’t see.

And after it comes out, my Big Bang fic will be my favorite cause I really love the pining and sexual tension in this fic. There’s a scene that is all sexual tension and it’s description, so it was difficult to write but it came out really really well.

And lastly my favorite one-shot is tied between Sensory Detail and Bathtime For Bondage. The first one deals with clothes sharing for gallavich, which I loved to dive into the history of some of their clothing items and how it ties into their own history. The second one is about them scheduling bath tub dates and I really enjoyed writing Mickey’s growth of enjoying baths and that romantic time with Ian.

GT: Where do you get the inspiration for your fics?

E: Everywhere. It’s really a disease. I get inspired to write all the time. Sometimes I get ideas from moments in the show that I wonder what would’ve happened if something changed or I get inspiration from metas or other fanfics. When I talk to @annansmith​, I get a bunch of ideas as well like the bathtub fic. Sometimes I’ll just be running or taking a shower and an idea will hit me that I can’t shake. I have a lot of ideas but not enough time to write them. And also I’ll see prompts on tumblr too. @ianandmickeygallavich�� just posted a bunch of great prompts that looked fun to write. So really it’s everywhere but it’s what sticks with me that I end up writing.

I have a google doc I dump all my ideas or situations I want to explore into. Sometimes I’ll just write hand holding and I know I want to write a fic or a scene about hand holding. The google doc is about 5 pages and color coded to help me figure out what’s just a fleeting idea and what I genuinely would have fun writing.

GT: Again, I'm very jealous of and amazed by your organization skills.

E: Lol I will gift you my skills. I have a lot of anxiety and planning helps to combat it.

GT: How many fics do you have in the works now? What can we expect from you for the future?

E: So I am working on a little series called The Passing Of Time right now. I have two more parts to finish in that series. It focuses on specific moments in gallavich’s relationship such as friendship, hand holding, romance and shows the development from the beginning to now.

I also have a Big Bang fic that will be coming out that’s an AU. I’m really excited about it. It’s very different than any fic I’ve done before. And it’s an idea I’ve had for a really long time so it’s been great for that to come to fruition.

And then my next project is a multi chapter fic that will also be AU. I would like to write a post s11 fic exploring gallavich’s new life living on the west side. I’d also like to write another fic that continues in The Rest Of Our Lives series which dives into season 11 with fix its and filler scenes. But I only work on one fic at a time so there’s a lot of things I want to write and it’ll take awhile to get around to it. So yes you can expect a lot more from me in the future.

GT: Awesome!

E: Lol thanks! I’m looking forward to it.

GT: Back to Shameless, if you could change one thing that happened to Ian and Mickey on the show, what would it be?

E: Hm... that’s a great question. You know I’m not happy with all of the decisions that have been made or the directions they chose to go in. I had an issue with the start of s11 for instance, but I am happy with where they have ended up. As someone who wasn’t sure after watching 11x1 I have been really happy with the season and I think the finale will be really good. Obviously it would’ve been great if Mickey stayed through the series but I’m not sure if we would’ve gotten the same ending that was as satisfying. I think we would’ve gotten way more drama for drama’s sake rather than letting the storyline go organically. Obviously we’ll never know what would’ve happened post s5 if Mickey stayed, but I would love to know what they had planned. So it’s probably an unpopular opinion but I am happy with the trajectory of the show. There were a lot of trials and tribulations but I’ve never shipped a couple who got that happy ending, who got married, and who we got to see grow. And if we had to go through all of that just to get a really great ending for them, then I think it’s been worth it.

That being said I do have issues with certain aspects of the show. I mean I wouldn’t write so much fanfiction if I was completely satisfied with it. There are areas I wish we would’ve gotten to see more of and themes that I think should’ve been further explored and interesting to see in their story.

GT: Such as?

E: I would’ve liked to see more about how they fell in love back in season 1 and the summer of love in season 2. What was going on in season 2? There’s not much there. We know they hook up but Ian overall doesn’t have a huge storyline in s2. And how do we get from Mickey and Ian just hooking up in season 1 to Ian running to Mickey post Monica’s return? I’ve written my own what I think happens but it would’ve been great to see just a tad more to really understand and see Mickey softening to Ian and Ian learning about Mickey.

In season 4 to 5, it would’ve been interesting to see what happened after Ian wouldn’t get out of bed and how they got to cohabitating with Svetlana. What are Mickey’s feelings there? Especially with Yev. It would’ve been interesting to just get a little more feelings about how Mickey balanced all of it. As for the first low episode, how did they both deal with that? Did Mickey try to talk to him? Did Ian tell him it was just the drugs?

While Mickey was gone, it would’ve also been nice to see Ian miss him more. We’ve gotten some great Mickey missing Ian scenes but it would’ve added to the story (and the heartbreak) if it was reversed. Ian is really depressed in s6 and we can assume why but does he still have Mickey’s stuff around? Does he think about him at all? Does he tell stories about him? Also what happened between s5 and s6 with Mickey’s sentencing? Was Ian there? And Ian visiting Mickey in prison and in juvie. What happened? Did he go often? Did he visit once a week or once a month?

I would’ve also loved to see them more in prison and their life there. What was Mickey thinking? Was Ian more remorseful? How did they come to terms with being back together? Did they have any conversations about the past? Or did they just pretend everything is fine? Prison I think would’ve been the most interesting storyline they pretty much skipped over their time there to get them back to the Gallagher house.

Also later on in their relationship in s10 and s11 I would’ve liked to see how they dealt with Ian’s bipolar. It was such a big thing to tear them apart and yet we don’t see much of it since it doesn’t add to the story so it’s not utilized. I also would have liked to see Mickey talking about Ian leaving him in prison and the border. How did they work through all of that? Or have they? And it would’ve been interesting to hear the follow up and the rationale a little more about the monogamy conversation. How did they end up there? Why are threesomes okay? Will they reevaluate the rules later on? And how does that mash up with Mickey beating someone up when he found out Ian did the porno/was cheating in him? Also the porno? Is that just totally forgotten?

I guess I just wanted to see a bit more into their lives and how they ended up on certain topics and things together. And the themes I’d want more explored are: falling in love, heartbreak, Ian’s bipolar, Mickey’s past, Ian realizing he needed to do better, monogamy, staying in love, parenthood, and dealing with the past.

GT: Basically, we all wanted the Gallavich show. Or at least for Shameless to have better writers lol. I understand the feeling, it's the wasted potential. They could have done much more with them, showed so much more, that we can't help but feel disappointed that we didn't see more. That's the great thing about fanfiction though, we fill in the gaps ourselves, many times over.

E: Yes exactly! It is wasted potential! I actually feel like that too with Fiona's storyline as well. They basically made her storylines all about guys after season 3 and it’s really a shame because I love the family aspect of the show.

GT: What's your favorite season of Shameless? Do you have a favorite episode?

E: Oh shit lol. Hmmmm I really like seasons 1-5. I think they are really well done. I could watch those five seasons again and again. (And I have) without skipping any scenes. But if I have to pick a favorite season... I think I’d say 4 cause that’s where a majority of my favorite episodes lie. However, I’ve also really enjoyed seasons 1 and 11.

Yes I have a favorite episode. I have several. I love 4x11 and 4x12. I also love 10x12 and 5x09. But I’d I have to choose 5x08 because the sorry I’m late scene is my absolute favorite. There are many scenes I’ve watched over and over and have really enjoyed.

GT: That's about all I had to ask! One last thing: how did you come up with your AO3 and Tumblr usernames?

E: Sweet! Well I love Buffy the vampire slayer and one of the characters refers to Sunnydale (the name of the town they live in) as Sunnyhell cause it’s the mouth of hell. And my AO3 name is actually a song by typhoon that played during an important Veronica Mars scene and LoVe is the name of the ship that I enjoyed in Veronica Mars. So it’s a play on the song and on the ship.

I just wanted to say before we finish up that this has been really fun to do and I thank you for the opportunity. I’ve read a lot of the other interviews and I love that you’re doing a wide variety of authors in the fandom. It’s neat to see authors that I’ve read and enjoyed and writers who I’ve never read but now know about and am looking forward to checking out. So thank you so much for doing this and showcasing a wide variety of authors and artists. It’s a great opportunity and I appreciate it as a reader and writer.

GT: Thank YOU for participating, it was a pleasure. 

[gigglebug]

79!

*scrambles to find the list since I forgot I stuck it in my queue*

79. Do you have any writing advice you want to share?

boy howdy I sure can! but it's probably not what you were expecting but here it is:

find your process

this was the literal single thing that helped me with my own writing. I used to read all the lists about what would make a better writer: about what words to use, what words NOT to use, how many adverbs is too many, blah blah blah.

but also, here's the thing about that: that's editing advice, not writing advice. writing advice is just getting the words, the ideas, the general shape of the darn thing on the page. sculpting it to perfection is editing. they're not the same!!!

but I'm a perfectionist, so it took me a long freaking time to figure that out.

SO! of course this will be different for all, but for me, this meant I had to find a way to separate the inner writer from the inner editor. they both wanted to work at the same time whenever I tried to write, meaning most days I would open my laptop and write maybe 3 sentences and feel like junk cos I ""wasn't doing it right"" or whatever.

but then I discovered two things about myself through trying a lot of different things: my inner editor goes to bed EARLY. and also, I trick myself into feeling amazing about writing a little if my screen is smaller. which meant a) writing at night was more likely to get words down, and b) writing on my phone made me feel even better because omg look how far I have to scroll to get to where I was when I started! I must've written so much!!! (reality: it's still a few hundred words. but I feel amazing so I'm more likely to be happy and enthusiastic about the project in the future!)

all this to say, brains are weird and if you find a way to trick it into working for you, awesome! keep doing it! if not, mess around and see what you find out about yourself.

(and if this all useless and you're like "but I already know that," then my advice is to read more and take note of what works for you in the narrative, what doesn't work, why it does or doesn't, and then do or don't do those things.)

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Do you think animorphs would do well condensed into like, four or five long novels? I feel like the sheer amount of books can be bewildering to a modern audience even if they're so short. I'm a warrior cats junkie so i'm used to it, but if the story was rewritten slightly i bet perception would change a lot

That is a very interesting question, and I think you’re right that if the series came out today it’d be six giant books rather than sixty-odd mini ones.  Sort of like Percy Jackson or Septimus Heap.

I think a six-book series would make the most sense because then you’d be able to keep the rotating narration — one of Animorphs’ greatest strengths — and you could have one book for each of the kids.  Which then begs the question: what story would each of the kids tell?

Ax’s Book: Might make sense to put first in the series.  I get why the original marketing team was hesitant to start with the alien protagonist, but his story is so much about becoming an Animorph that I think he makes sense as a first narrator.  So his story could start with the sequence where he says goodbye to Elfangor and then ends up crashing to Earth.  From there we could get some of the events of #8 with him trying to phone home and discovering in the process that the andalites aren’t quite the saviors he took them for.  Then we could get a plot similar to #18 where Ax is forced to choose between andalite and Animorph loyalties (maybe with bonus elements of #38 thrown in) and ultimately decides that he’s an Animorph first.  It would be a great way to establish the team as a team for the rest of the series, and a chance to convey some important exposition about the whole war between the yeerks and andalites.

Marco’s Book: Would probably cover the Visser One plot.  So the timeline on The Decline and Fall of the Edriss Empire would have to be massively compacted to make it one story.  Which is a shame — I think we lose a lot of nuance if their story isn’t spread out over the course of three years, and if we don’t have Visser One’s and Visser Three’s relative statuses driving a lot of the other plots.  On the other hand, that change could compress a lot of the semi-redundant parts from #15 and #30 into one story, as well as a lot of the semi-redundant parts of Visser and #45.  So there’d be one sequence where Marco finds out about Eva being Visser One’s host, one sequence where the Animorphs help Visser One at Visser Three’s expense and the Yeerk Empire becomes convinced that Visser One is a traitor, and one sequence where the Animorphs end up charging in to rescue Eva from Visser One’s trial.

Tobias’s Book: The hork-bajir plot, of course.  Honestly I think that the events of #23 could easily become an entire Septimus Heap-sized novel without bringing in anything from any other books, just because the plot with Toby and the plot with Elfangor’s letter are both so rich.  However, it could easily loop in some of the events of #13 in order to help establish the hork-bajir, and give us flashbacks to the highlights of The Hork-Bajir Chronicles to give us a sense of the broader scale of the war.  I think the A plot of this book would be the hork-bajir and the evolution of the Animorphs’ complex alliance with them, while the B plot would involve Elfangor’s letter and maybe some of the sequence from #33 with Ax teaching Tobias How to Andalite.

Cassie’s Book: Should probably come somewhere in the late middle of the series, because she’d be alone for a lot of it.  Her story could focus on her relationship with Aftran, including elements of both #19 and #29.  Maybe it could open up with something like #9 with the kids stopping a logging effort in the woods, then go into Cassie ending up separated from the team and forced to rely on Aftran like in #19, culminating in their alliance.  That could launch the plot with everyone getting sick (maybe Ax picked up andalite-flu while looking for Cassie in the woods?) and Cassie going to save Aftran from the yeerk pool alone.  Heck, maybe things could get really interesting at the end if Cassie lets Aftran morph and then makes the mistake of loaning the morphing cube to a different yeerk, who takes it back to the Yeerk Empire and kicks off the plot of #50.

Rachel’s Book: Would be picking up in a very different place from most of her canon narration, if most of the events of #1 - #50 have already occurred.  However, I do like the idea of placing Rachel’s story right as the yeerk threat massively escalates, because so much of her story is about balancing her occasional excesses of violence against the need to do whatever it takes to keep her friends alive.  That means Rachel’s story could cover many of the events of #37 and #7 against the backdrop of an army of morph-capable yeerks who are using open warfare in mass infestation efforts.  We could see a lot of Rachel’s struggle in #41 and #52 with tending to rage against everything that moves, only now with the complicating factor that that might even be a proportional response to the situation.  I love the idea of the climax of the book following #7, with the kids destroying the ground-based kandrona and Rachel trying to figure out if they did enough to make a difference.  Maybe the very last scene of the book could be that conversation with Jake about the final battle plan, only this time we’d get to see Rachel’s thought process as she makes that decision.

Jake’s Book: Would cover the final battle, and most of the story leading up to the final battle.  I love the idea of the book opening on Jake recruiting James, and having most of the emotional core of the story be about that relationship.  There could be so much delicious painful irony if Jake’s stepping into a big-brother role for the Auximorphs while simultaneously planning Tom’s murder.  From there, we could see the final battle play out mostly how it does in #51 - #54, with recruiting the taxxons and dealing with the morph-controllers’ rebellion and preparing the Auximorphs and getting human allies and fending off the andalites’ well-meaning genocide.  Things could play out more-or-less how they do in canon.  It’d be awesome if (much like in the original series) we also get a good long sequence of the book just about the aftermath of the war, with Jake quietly keeping tabs on his team as they spread out and struggle to adjust after the battle is over.

Obviously the story would have to leave out a lot of elements — David, the Ellimist, the chee, most of the Chronicles, over half the plots — but I think if you’re going to do six big stories, then sacrifices must be made.  There would also be a lot of necessary reordering of events if the books are trying to achieve a single story for each of the kids, but I think most of the major beats could be kept intact.

[paint-lady]

hey, if you don't mind, i want your advice: i'm going to be running a chronicle set in chicago (i am using the chicago by night 5e book) for players who are new to vampire for the most part in a few days and i can't For The Life of Me to come up with an interesting chronicle hook (yeah i have read the hooks in the book). any ideas/suggestions/general advice?

Hiya! I could talk your ears off on how I write my chronicles- so hopefully I have taken all my processes and reduced it down to a lovely World of Darkness jam. 

Here are two good hooks I just came up with- feel free to use them! The third is what I got for my first chronicle, and I just think its a narrative that works very well for new players.

>Option 1: Guilty Until Proven Innocent ”Chicago is a series of paradoxes and transitions, of ever changing paradigms and whimsy,” (CbN 47). Have your coterie be newbies to the city. Ask why they have come to Chicago. Power? A new start? Perhaps this is a political arrangement between the clan of one city with another. Whatever their reason, they have arrived right when a Primogen vanishes- and guess who is first on the suspect list? The fresh faces on the streets >:) The coterie, having barely settled, has to suddenly prove their innocence. And finding evidence lets them uncover something much more sinister....

This one is ideal for new players as it sets everyone on an equal footing. Even if they create a character that has been a vampire for 50+ years and has amassed several dots of influence, herd, status- whatever, they are still new to the city. And being new means you have to start all over again. (This may be frustrating to a player that invested all those points at character creation- but it is on you as the ST to make sure they have opportunities to use those dots and on them as a player to think cleverly.)

Starting the tale off with defending their innocence is actually a very engaging questline. It effectively sets the stage for the political powerhouses. It lets new players know there are rules- and those in power are watching. It also sets the consequences for failure. Understand that the Camarilla probably isnt going to outright kill the coterie if they fail- always make the punishment just harsh and grueling enough to make final death feel like a mercy. Failure isn’t the end of the story.

For new players- I would be lenient with the time it takes for them to find evidence. But within reason. Think like your Prince and Seneschal. Do you really want this coterie running around for a full week, unsupervised, making more messes? No. You don’t. (You might wanna send an npc with them to watch and keep em out of trouble. Your npc is also able to vouch for them.)

This story lends itself to be a Camarilla Chronicle very easily. You can go Anarch, but an Anarch leader suddenly vanishing and blaming the newbies is much more quickly going to end with blood spilled. Thank your local sweeper.

> Option 2: Containment Breach Blacksite 24 (Loresheet on page 264) was temporarily occupied by Operation Firstlight. It has now been transformed into a medical research facility. While most kindred of Chicago know of Blacksite 24, they have zero clue what happens inside other than bad news for them- the less they know the safer they are. The chronicle opens with a car crash. The captured soon-to-be coterie was in transit to this feared medical facility. The crash did kill the driver and the agent in charge of transporting them. The crash did not fully break their restraints, but it did enough damage that first responders are freaking out. They are all at hunger 3. The chronicle is a hunt. The coterie should have some knowledge of what had happened to them and how lucky they are to have escaped. Operatives are already on their way to recapture them. They must hide in this city- and do their best to survive and stay out of sight.

The point of this story is to invoke dread. I highly recommend one player either being a thin-blood (or an npc) with the Daydrinker merit, or a player to have a ghoul. If they decide to not have a daywatch, they increase their chance of being found.

This story also sets up a feeling of desperation. They would be willing to take shelter from anyone- anyone. Eventually the other kindred will catch on that these guys are on the run from something. Any sane kindred would toss them out to protect themselves. A compassionate kindred who takes them in will suffer the final death as a compassionate fool- or join them in captivity. 

This story lends itself to be an Anarch Chronicle much more easily. This is the time the Camarilla will likely be a bit more paranoid and bloody. While they might not outright kill the coterie- they will send them somewhere that is a death trap. They wont dirty their hands with this. After all, you do not want any evidence to fall into the hands of the SI if you hired the hit.

This story is ideal for newbies without background merits. No allies, no influence, no herd. Let them take more mythic merits such as bloodhound and unbondable (Consider finding some from V20 too! There are some really awesome supernatural merits!). These powers would certainly be more fascinating for a medical team to study- not how many instagram followers they have. This kind of story also lets your players feel more powerful- but out of the loop. It lends itself to them forging alliances and getting caught in one-sided favors a lot more quickly. 

The challenging aspect of this story is that is starts with a masquerade breach. New players may not know how to handle such a blatant breach and thats okay. I would let the crash slide- and the Camarilla in the background handles it. Breaches after the crash need to be handled with proper consequences. 

> Option 3: New Blood This is what my storyteller did to me and my first time players (and its also very close to the plot of CoNY). We were shovelheads. Embraced to make a huge mess for the Camarilla and die quick deaths. We were all thin-bloods. The last thing the pcs remember is the sweet rush of ecstasy washing over them, before clawing out of the earth and driven mad by an insatiable hunger. The thrill of the hunt, and the sweet, warm blood on their tongue, nothing was going to be better. All three will awake next to each other, surrounded by the corpses they drank dry in their frenzy. What a way to play the name game! The players have three nights were they figure out their new condition or coverup their tracks (if they think to do it). They contend with their hunger and hatred of sunlight, wrestle with accidentally drinking their family member dry. After three nights, the Scourge comes knocking. Rather than outright killed, they are dragged to Elysium. For some reason, they are adopted by an upstanding member of the Camarilla- or the Prince orders a political rival care for them (hoping they fail). The players are the errand childer of this kindred, and slowly they figure out what they have been gathering through all these errands....

This one lets the characters all have the moments where they discover their disciplines and powers- and bestial tendencies. It naturally flows to allow players to slowly discover the rules and mechanics as well. All players must play fledglings for this tale. 

This story is much more a personal tale than a political one. Eventually politics makes its way in...but it does not have to be a focus. 

This story has less of a hook and more of a “Figure it Out” survival mode until the errands begin. The story is how the character’s react to their condition. It very quickly lends itself to a narrative of finding your own path in the night, rather than mindlessly obeying.

So here are a few questions that I ask myself when crafting a chronicle story:

1. What kind of story do you want to tell? Not asking for a plot hook, I’m asking for a general concept. Is it a tale of good triumphing over evil? (Not necessarily a wrong answer, but if you wanna play good guys...vampire is not the best game for that). Is this a chase? Is this a race against time? 

2. How do you want your story to make your players feel? Do you want to tell a story that invokes as much dread as possible in your players? Do you want them to feel ultra powerful? Vampire is both a power fantasy and a dread inducing game- it can do both. 

3. If you don’t know what kind of story you want to tell, switch gears to worldbuilding. CbN has so many NPCs with the rumors already written for you. Its your setting, perhaps switch two rumors around with prominent NPCs. Decide which ones are true in your setting- Maybe Primogen Annabell did kill her predecessor. Perhaps the Lasombra are attempting to infiltrate the Camarilla as everyone fears- but no one is able to prove it or stop it. Deciding what is true, false, and undetermined usually blossoms into hooks and stories worth investigating.

4. What is a historical event of the city that the Vampires would have endured/ scars would have remained? For example, in my chronicle set in Richmond, the tale of the Richmond Vampire is true. Depending on who you ask, it is the Camarilla’s best or sloppiest cover up. Have the chronicle coincide with the events and the coterie live through them. No one said this must take place in 2021- you can do 2015, 2008, -hell go back the 1990s. Its actually super fun if you set your chronicle in the 90s and your Malkavian is using phrases from 2020.

5. One of my things I do when writing scenes and moments is play Dread by myself. Dread is a role playing game played with jenga. There are no dice rolls, if you want to attempt something, you have to pull pieces from the tower. If the tower falls, you die. If there is a moment where I really really really dont want to pull from the tower, though the reward for succeeding is so so sweet- I keep the moment. If its really easy to shrug and go eh, I can live without performing that action- go back and rewrite it. If you have no incentive to pull from the tower, why would they?

6. Examine your player’s desires and ambitions- and do not neglect them in your chronicle. The plot wont magically allow all of them to achieve their ambitions. However, provide opportunities for them through the plot. Its on them to strive for what their character wants- its on you to make them struggle but have the path to get there. For example, if a player wants to become a Baron, provide a political opening. Perhaps then by announcing their power, they have made a bigger name for themselves and it has become harder to hide. Perhaps by doing this, the kindred they owe a favor is suddenly much more vocal about it. 

Here are some suggestions for handling new players:

> You are going to have to handhold them through some things. New players to vtm won’t be able to see the cascading political web and how the consequences of their actions will ripple into waves. I like to use Wits+Insight and call it Common Sense. Common Sense was a merit in V20- and damn is it WONDERFUL. All they need is just 1 success (they can take half) to have you explain how whatever plan they just thought of is actually a TERRIBLE idea. 

> Do your RPG consent list. Know what is safe to discuss and what is off the table. I highly recommend utilizing something my Storyteller used for my first chronicle, and subsequently I use for all my ttrpgs now: Invoking the Veil. The metaphor is that you are slowly lessening the intensity of a scene- as if raising the opacity or looking through layers of fabric. Eventually, there is too much fabric and you can no longer see the scene. If something is too intense, the ST or the player may announce they are invoking the veil. Reduce the scene by lowering music, speaking in third person, or avoiding heavy descriptors. You can reduce it further to just dice rolls. Role play stops, and the consequences of the scene are solely dictated by the dice. Or fade to black. If a player is repeatedly fading to black on something- ask to talk to them about it. Clearly something is too intense and they are not having as much fun as they can. Debriefing after a session is also a good idea. Do something silly! Share and check all the memes in the discord chat. Its important to make sure you and your players know that at the end of the night- its all just a game.

> I find the sabbat and new players don’t tend to mix well. You may absolutely still use the sabbat in your chronicle! But the dogma and philosophical ideals of the sabbat can be offputting and downright upsetting to a first time player. You may absolutely build to it- that’s what I did to my players. And in the moment of the truth, they chose to cling to humanity. 

> The taking half mechanic is your friend! V5 says players may announce how many dice they are rolling- and if the dividend is greater than the DC- they auto succeed. This streamlines play. Of course, you as the Storyteller may say this is a roll they are not allowed to take half on. Usually these are contested rolls (combat).

> The three turns and out rule keeps combat intense but not too lengthy. It actually streamlines encounters super super well. 

> My ST used a phrase, “The quickest way to kill Cthulhu is to give it a healthbar.” If Methuselahs and Elders are involved in your game- avoid giving them stat blocks. This cultivates a conflict that new players must find a way to overcome without brute force combat. It makes them think critically and defy these super old antagonists through narrative means. This also gets the notion out of your and their heads, “if they die, its over.” Its never that easy. Never. 

[laynemorgan]

I'm sure you've already provided it, but I'd be curious to hear your road to becoming a staffed writer. What first got you interested in it? Does it go back to school days?

Man it goes back far. I mean, I guess in some ways it doesn't. Since you asked more about what got me interested in where it goes back to, I'll give you the lest technical and more biographicl explanatin. My first goal was just to become a writer. I've been writing since I was a really little kid. I actually recently found journals from like the elementary and middle school days just filled with them. And it was never small scale, I'd always be planning out the whole fucking setting, how all the characters were connected, full universes. I made a fake fantasy. land in my backyard because my parents live on a lot of land. I called it Teleterania. I remember very little about it besides that that was the name hahah but I did do it!!! Everything I read only made me want to write. Everything I watched made me want to write.

Sometime around late middle school and early high school, I started watching more TV. I found soap operas and was OBSESSSED with their flare for drama. I found BTVS, Charmed, Smallville, Veronica Mars, OTH, etc. And all of those shows really got me actually looking at TV in a way I had never before. I got obsessed with their worlds and into their fandoms. I became the liek TV guy in my high school. There was even a group of girls I never got to really hang out with that would always call me over to their table to ask about what I knew about OTH stuff hahaha and 17 year old me thought that was awesome. Before my sister passed away, she and I took a road trip down to North Carolina to tour the One Tree Hill set. OTH was like the one thing that she and I agreed on. And it was so awesome. For me it was a first look at what the industry actually looked like, to see the sets and what went into it and all of that.

But I don't think my eyes really opened to actually WORKING in tv until college. I went to school for English Lit and Creative Writing in New Hampshire. My school had a great writing program and I was right at home there. i still credit my first writing professor who was only a grad student for really teaching me what I know about writing and editing and reading my own work for error and she passed me on to her favorite professor which was a hugely flattering moment for me. AND THEN -- I fell in love with PLL. And for me, that was really where shit started. I didn't realize it at the time and it wasn't even the show that did it it was what the show showed me. Through my tumblr at the time which had very little to do with fandom, I actually wound up running into Patrick Adams and Troian Bellisario. We all were always sharing each other's posts and at the time I was working for a journalist covering random TV out of a shitty free magazine in Boston doing work for peanuts. But I was going out to LA to meet up with a friend and we all decided to meet for lunch and they let me interview them for my magazine and stayed really rad people. They also helped boost my PLL photo recaps which I was doing at the time and those got the attention of the Director, Normal Buckley who asked me out to coffee and talked to me about my goals and what I was doing. He was the person who first really helped me understand that there's an approachability to the TV world that to me had always been this like magical hollywood bubble I didn't understand.

I went home THRILLED about LA, dropped out of college and set out to go to film school. From there, I hated film school because it was too technical adjacent, dropped out again, spent all the money I had on that move twice, and went home to boston broke and lost. I spent two years after that maybe more saving money, working in fandom, and waitressing while I went back to college online. That era wasn't super writing focused but it's where I found myself. I realized I was queer, I came out, I got into tumblr rpg, I met my fandom friends, I found tumblr fandom in a way I hadn't before. And then a couple years later I found tl100.

From there, the rest is kind of wonky. I had a big fan blog for the show and talked a lot about it on my twitter which lead me to many interactions with the writers who then invited me to dinner at comic con one year. I had a long talk with Shumway abut my goals and what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I wanted to be in TV somehow. I knew I wanted to be in writing somehow but I couldn't figure out how those two things aligned. I was doing a lot of journalism and critic stuff because that felt like the clsoest way to be both a fan and workin in the world I loved but it was really Kim and Shawna that opened my eyes to the ability to just .... be a TV writer. Film school had made me terrified of the wrtiing side but I think it was because film school was so much more about writing for film which I learned isn't my thing. But TV is a writers' medium, unlike film which is more fo a directors medium and suddenly I was like -- MIND BLOWN. It was everything I wanted in a career and married all of the things I loved. It was something that had previously felt like unattainable but they made it seem human and approachable.

They helped me get my first WPA job, I saved up 3 grand working and with the help of some friends and moved to LA to start that. And suddenly I was in a whirlwind of catching up on everything I felt like I had missed. I was reading scripts, learning what the process looked like, doing everything I coudl to figure out what being a TV writer looked like. After that job, I got another WPA job at Millar Gough on Into the Badlands and later Shannara.

THEN I got hired on Daybreak which I can fully credit with being a huge stepping stone for me and changing my life in a lot of ways. Aron was the best showrunner. He was educational and he taught us shit, he let us in the room, he let us write stuff, he let us pitch and try and fall on our faces and never judged us for it. My second season there he moved me up to writers assitant and patiently walked me through all the stuff I didn't know yet because he had faith in me and my voice and my ideas. He let me writ e afreelance episode that year and pitch it in the room and do all the things that real w riters get to do.

So after Daybreak season 2 got cancelled I was pretty ready to spend my next year or two just writing, finding an agent and moving forawrd. And then I got an email to go and work for Moira Walley Beckett. She was looking for an assistant with serious room experience to help develop something in a small room and stay on with her later. I took the job becuase she's MOIRA and I was stoked to learn from her and work for a woman for once. I ernded up very fortunate becuase a month later we were all surprised by the covid mess and I was fully employed that whole year while many people weren't which was a huge help. Moira was a STELLAR boss. I had thought I was ready and what she taught me was that ther's always so much more to learn. She walked me through the process of applying notes and taking notes and changing draft after draft of your story. SHe walked me through breaking a whole season of television. We had a great partnership for the year and I'm so grateful. And then that project didn't end up seeing hte light of day and we our separate ways as well.

Cut to a few months ago, I was still at home in Boston, post-covid, having been sick for most of january. My friend Rachel dared me to write a spec in a weekend for the Warner Bros fellowship deadline. So I did. It was a Legacies Spec. Given that we didn't have access to the WGA library because of the pandemic, Legacies was an easy and obvious choice. I had already seen it inside and out and didn't need as much access to learning a show from scratch. So I wrote what I loved, wrote a season 2 legacies spec that embraced my favorite things about legacies: the high school soap of one tree hill, Lizzie doing wild dialogue, buffy-esque monsters, and themes of grief and humanity.

AND THE REST you know.

Here we are. I'm still lost as fuck. I'm still running full speed through a world I don't always feel like I"m ready for. I'm still a perfectionist and an obsessive overworker. I still take notes I don't need to take and do work at 10pm and come in early and stare at the story boards. There's a whole journey in all of this about representation and coming to find myself and queer media and wanting to make more of it but that's one I don't feel like I can fully get into until I'm decades out of it and the world is truly made better. But I'm here. And it feels like the end of a journey and liek I'm standing at the edge of a brand new clif because I've only just started.

[shanastoryteller]

Hi Shana! I'm a big fan of your work, especially your Gods and Monsters series! Speaking of, can you do a bit on Nike please? Only if you want to of course! Keep doing what you're doing and have an awesome day!

Styx knows Ares needs help.

Hades knows this. Charon knows this. Persephone knows this.Icarus knows this. Athena, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hera, Artemis and Apollo knowthis. Possibly everyone who’s not Zeus knows this.

But there’s only so much any of them can do.

Hades and the underworld is always a place that he can cometo, a place for him to rest. Ares will go to his brother’s volcanoes and soakhis aching muscles in the magma, Artemis finds him on the battlefield, Apolloplays him to sleep, Hera turns the tide of wars by whispering in the ears ofmothers and wives, but it’s not enough.

There’s so much war in the lives of mortal men, and Aresstruggles to shoulder it all, to endure it all.

Athena had helped the most. Having another war god to sharethe load helped, and it’s not like Athena is displeased with her increase infollowers. But the wars didn’t stop, or even end more quickly, and if theyweren’t all praying to Ares they were still praying for aid in war.

Styx wants to do something to help. But she’s tied to thisriver, to this place, and she doesn’t mind, exactly, except of course for whenshe does.

That’s okay. The underworld is where everyone ends up oneday, and there’s someone right here who can help her.

She’s not afraid to go into Tartarus. Her river flows even there,and unlike those who are imprisoned there, she can leave whenever she likes.But just because she’s not afraid doesn’t mean she likes it, doesn’t mean it’sa place she goes often.

The edges are lined with active volcanoes, and the light oftheir magma is all there is to see by.

Those titans who retain their sanity, their personhood, arein the center of Tartarus. Those on the edge are more monster than god. Theytend to eat every soul that they find that’s less powerful than they are, andStyx wouldn’t say she’s less powerful, but she is differently powerful, and shedoesn’t want to have to call out for Hades to save her.

She can’t die. She is the space between life and death, but beingconsumed by a titan isn’t something she wants to experience regardless.

Unfortunately for her, the titan she needs isn’t the type tohang around the center of Tartarus, not causing trouble. He’s right on theedge. He’s always looking to cause trouble.

Pallas is large even for a titan, standing at the sameheight as a giant, so big that Styx could stand in the palm of his hand. Hisskin is mostly intact, but it’s stretched taught over his bones, and his mouthlooks like it’s filled with jagged glass rather than teeth. “What does thegoddess of the river of the dead want with me?”

His breath comes out putrid and rotten, like something diedin it. Probably several somethings did. She wrinkles her nose. “I need tocreate a person, and I want your help to do it.”

She’s a child goddess, and she can’t bring about a child likeother goddesses can. She may be one of the oldest being of the universe, but itdoesn’t change her body, or her mind, doesn’t change the fact that in many waysshe’s just the age she appears.

Besides, even if she was old enough to conceive a child, Pallaswouldn’t exactly be her first choice.

Pallas laughs, sending more of his rotten breath into herface. “Why should I? Why me? You’re powerful enough to make a person all onyour own.”

“Any being I make on my own will be of me, will be a pieceof what I am, and that’s not what I need,” she tells him. “You are the titan godof warcraft, of battle campaigns. I want your power, and I want your domain.”

He leans over, his eyes as large as a wagon wheel and soonall that she can see. “Direct little thing, aren’t you? You still haven’t toldme why I should help.”

“Why not?” she counters. “A piece of you will be walking theearth once more, a reminder of you to fly in the face of all the gods who stolewhat you had. Why wouldn’t you want that?”

He makes a motion with his face that Styx thinks is supposedto be a smile. “And if I refuse, you’ll take it by force, is that right? Youcould take me on your own, and even if you couldn’t, Persephone could.”

It’s true. She wants to do this on her own, as much as shecan, because she doesn’t want anyone to try and stop her. But if she asked Persephoneor Hecate or Hades, or anyone else in the underworld, for help, then she’d getit. “It’ll work better if you give it willingly.”

Pallas laughs. “Very well, little girl. But remember this. Youasked me for something, and I gave it.”

He raises his hand to his mouth, bites his thumb, and holdsout his hand. Styx realizes what he’s doing just in time to summon a basin underneathit, to catch the couple drops of blood that falls from his thumb.

He’s so large that it’s enough to fill it, enough to fill abath with, even if just the idea of it makes her stomach roll.

Pallas has already turned away from her, lumbering in theopposite direction, and Styx peers down at the titan’s blood. It’s not red, butblack, the same consistency as oil. It’ll do.

She drags the basin to the edge of her river, not willing torisk any of her magic altering it by transporting it alongside her. She hasn’tdone this before, hasn’t done anything like this before, and she’s only goingto get one shot at this. Possibly two, if she makes a small person.

Now she’s grateful that Pallas lurks on the edges ofTartarus rather than the center. It makes hauling the basin to her river a muchshorter process. She can see other titans in the distance, nothing more thanhulking, dripping figures, but they don’t come too close. She wonders if it’sanother favor of Pallas’s, or if it’s just because they know that messing withher means messing with Hades, and their bloodlust isn’t quite that self destructive.

Once she makes it to her river, it’s easy enough to guidethe basin upstream, until she’s out of Tartarus but not quite back to the innermostcircle of the underworld where the palace it. It’s in one of the many in-betweenspaces that Hades and Hecate have made, because she wants to be someplace wheresomeone won’t accidentally stumble across her.

With a tug of her hands, the basin widens, doubling in size,and she uses her river to settle it on the bank of her river, make sure she’son the side of the mortal world. She buries her hand into the earth of hershoreline, the soil damp and dark, and drops it into the basin.

The blood bubbles and steams as the soil hits it, and itsmells just as bad as Pallas’s breath had. That almost makes her pause andreconsider what she’s doing, but instead she bends over to scoop up more soilin her hands to add to the basin. What’s she’s trying to make won’t comeeasily, after all, so there’s no reason to think that it’s gone wrong.

She keeps adding soil, and the smell gets worse, like sulpher,but she ignores it. She has to mix it together evenly, but she tries using astick and it just evaporated as soon as it touches the bubbling mixture.

Fine, then.

Styx plunges her hands in the mixture, ignoring the tinglingon her skin. Her waters are more corrosive then a titan’s blood, but not by much.She beats the mixture until it’s the right consistency, moldable but stillkeeping its shape, until it’s more clay than anything else, and when she pulls herarms out they’re irritated and tinged purple, but her skin is still intact.

Now for the hard part.

She’s no artist, she’s not Athena or Hephaestus, she doesn’thave an eye for beauty like Aphrodite.

“Helen,” she says, and she doesn’t use her powers often, butshe’s of this place more than anyone. She can command the dead just as well asCharon or Icarus.

There’s a ripple, and then Helen of Troy is standing infront of her, head tilted to the side. “Yes, my lady goddess?”

“Can you just,” she bites her lips, looks down at her hands,then says, “Can you just stand there?”

Helen raises an eyebrow, but says, “Yes, my lady goddess.”

Styx forms the clay into roughly the shape of a person, eyesflickering between her creation and Helen. She’s not talented, so she can’t usetalent to make this. Instead she pushes her will into the clay to make it intothe right shape, until she’s got a copy of Helen standing in front of her. It’snot exact, her mouth too wide and her nose too broad, her hips slimmer and legslonger, but it’s clearly a person, clearly a woman, and it will have to do.

“Thank you,” she says, and then dismisses Helen back to her homein the underworld.

There’s one more step to this, but she doesn’t look justright, there’s something missing.

“Icarus,” she sighs, because she’s exhausted and sore andwants to be done with this now, the whole idea had seemed much simpler in herhead.

She’s not summoning him, just calling out for him, but there’sno hesitation before he’s beside her, ink smudges on his hands and his hairaskew like he was running his hands through it. “I’m in the middle of,” he cutshimself off, and his eyes go wide. “Styx. What are you doing?”

She tells him, and he shifts his weight from side to side,nervous, but he doesn’t tell her that it’s a bad idea, doesn’t kick hercreation into her river. “She’s missing something,” Styx says.

Icarus rubs his arms, but looks into the basin, then says, “Ihave an idea.”

He’s not as resistant the effects of titan blood as she is,and he winces and curses as he works, and several times he has to take a breakto wait for the skin on his hands to grow back before he can continue. But hedoes continue, and even though it’s been so long since he’s done this, since hewas trapped in the labyrinth, his movements are easy and confident.

There’s no more clay left in the basin, and on her back aretwo large wings, just like the kind Icarus was wearing when he plunged into thesea.

It’s perfect.

“Now what?” he asks, and she stands in front of hercreation. This isn’t easy for her, to breathe life into something when death isall she knows, but she’s not just death. She’s the River Styx, the barrierbetween the living and the dead, and so she is both living and dying andneither. She breathes in, goes on her tiptoes, and then breathes out. The aircoming form her lungs is golden and sparking, and when it touches the figure’sface it spreads, until she’s a figure covered in liquid gold.

Then it all sinks in at once, the glow that’d been surroundingher gone, but she’s not clay anymore.

Her skin is dark and her hair is the same shade, curled andfalling to just below her chin. The lightest thing about her is her eyes, a softbrown.

Well, except her wings, of course.

They’re golden, unfurling from her back and spreading wide,and those soft eyes focus on her, and she says, “Hello, Mother.”

Icarus shifts on his feet, and it must be as strange for himto hear this as it is for her. “You know what I made you for?”

“Yes,” she says, because how can she not, when Styx pressedher intent into every inch of her.

“Go to Hera,” she says, “tell her. She’ll help you.”

Her creation nods, but Icarus coughs, and then in his handsis a short white chiton and a pair of sandals. “She may be more amendable ifyou don’t show up at her door naked, my lady.”

A smile curves around her lips and she takes the clothes fromIcarus’s hands. Styx is running her eyes over her, looking for any mistake, anysign that she was once soil and blood and not a goddess, but there’s nothing.

For her first time making a person, Styx thinks she’s done arather good job of it.

Her creation takes several steps back, snaps open her wings,and then is soaring into the air, flying away from them and towards Olympus.

Icarus is silent until she disappears from sight, then asks,“Are you going to tell Hades, or shall I?”

Styx gives him a reproachful look. “I really don’t think that’snecessary.

“I suppose,” he says, and Styx is relieved until he follows itup with, “It’s not like he won’t find out all on his own soon enough.”

She scowls and jumps in her river, where Icarus can’t followher and tell her true things she doesn’t want to hear.

~

Hera feels the moment someone dares touch her throne, andshe’s there the next moment, fury in her veins and power gathering in herhands, because whoever dares be so disrespectful of their queen is soon goingto find themselves nothing more than a pile of ash.

It’s a woman, pretty but mostly unremarkable.

Except for the huge golden wingsattached to her back.

Hera pauses, mouth open, thrown enough off kilter that thewoman has time to say, “I apologize, Queen Hera. I needed your attention.”

“You have it,” she says, and there’s power in this woman, enoughof it that if she’s here to steal herself a seat on the pantheon she just mightmanage it. How could Hera have missed this?

She steps forward, and Hera’s prepared for a threat, but shedoesn’t offer one. Instead the woman whispers in her ear, “I was created tohelp your son, my queen. But first I need you to help me.”

A goddess cannot be truly formidable, cannot consider herselfa true deity, if she doesn’t have a domain.

And she was created to have one very specific domain.

She doesn’t have the time to build it naturally, but withHera she won’t have to.

Hera will speak her name and her dominion into existence,and it shall be hers.

When she hears the details, Hera throws her head back andlaughs. There’s a grin curling her lips as Hera opens her mouth to announce herto the world.

~

Ares is exhausted. That’s not new, or unusual, but his limbsfeel heavy and his movements sluggish. A sword gets past his defenses and splitsopen his shoulder, and he doesn’t even have the energy to wince. This battlehas been raging for weeks, and he’s been fighting for all of it. It feels likeit’ll never end, and he can’t even slip away. The solders believe in him sodeeply, they call out his name in their sleep and give him offerings every hourof the day. No matter how badly he wants to rest, if only for a couple hours,he can’t, not when their belief pins him in place.

Then the battle begins to shift.

They’ve been struggling to hold this ground the whole time,but now they’re gaining it, pushing their opponents back, and Ares lifts hissword with renewed vigor. They’re winning. If they win, then maybe he canfinally rest.

“You’re welcome,” a voice whispers in his ear, but when he swingsaround, sword outstretched, there’s no one there. For some reason, his eyes aredrawn up to the nearest tall hill, and someone is standing there, glinting goldin the rising sun. He thinks it’s Apollo at first, but the silhouette is allwrong.

He’s beside her in the next moment, this goddess with darkskin and golden wings and an eager, greedy mouth. “Who are you?”

“I am who will soon replace you in the hearts of men,” shesays. “Not all of them, perhaps not even most of them, but many. Their beliefwill make me stronger, and I will answer more of their calls, and even more ofthem will flock to me, until I’m as powerful as you or Athena. They pray to you,but what they really want is me.”

“Who are you?” he repeats, and there’s something familiarabout her, something he can’t quite place but that puts him at east in spite ofwhat she’s saying.

She smiles, tilting her head up towards the sun. “I am Nike,the goddess of victory.”

Victory.

Victory is how wars end. Victory is how he gets a chance tocatch his breath.

All his exhaustion is gone, replaced by joy, and he liftsNike up by her hips, spinning as he holds her up in the air, her golden wingsgiving off a kaleidoscope of light all around them.

As soon as he touches her, he knows why she feels sofamiliar.

It seems he owes Styx a thank you. He wonders if she’ll takehim distracting Hades from whatever lecture he’s intent on giving her asgratitude enough.

Now that he’ll have the time to do it, after all.

gods and monsters series, part xxxi

read more of the gods and monsters series here

[luvdsc]

hello cat! i've seen you make so many posts about this with like advice and stuff but I really wanted to ask- what was your own personal process of figuring out what you want to major and minor in? did you do any extra curriculars? what subjects were you confused between? i'm at that point where i have to pick a major and I could really use some help 😬 I hope this is not much of a trouble 💟 also, your previous education-related posts are super helpful-thanks a lot ✨

Hi, sweetpea 💞 ah, I can relate this question so well because I changed my majors twice and my minors twice because I honestly had no idea what I wanted to do 😅 it’s kinda ridiculous that society expects a teenager to know what they want to do for the rest of their life tbh.

for my own personal process, I started as a computer science engineering major. It’s the easiest to transfer to a different major from engineering, which is why I chose that major and also because I was a huge robotics nerd and did it all four years in high school and loved it. However, I wasn’t completely sold on being an engineer, so during my freshman year, I overloaded and took the required classes for a business major as well. I had five classes and two labs every quarter during my first year, and I don’t really recommend it unless you know you can push yourself to stay on track. From that one year, I discovered that I didn’t like engineering. The material is awesome, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love learning about technology and artificial intelligence, but the job itself is so isolating. I was basically resigning myself to sitting in a cubicle and debugging code with zero communication for the rest of my life. The stereotypes about engineers being bad at communication and talking are true from what I experienced in that one year. As an extrovert, I couldn’t stand that kind of career lifestyle. I needed human interaction in my job, so I dropped engineering. Engineering also made it difficult to add on any minors since the coursework is already so rigorous and your class schedule is essentially already planned out for you. I wanted to do art, and I wasn’t able to with engineering.

During my second year, I declared myself as a finance and studio art double major and added on an entrepreneurship minor. I really like making money, and I’m good at reading/talking to people, so business really piqued my interest. I chose finance because I wanted to do investment banking. If you get hired by a good company, you can be making 100k straight out of uni. This is where the overloading from freshman year helped because since I overloaded on business classes, I was still right on schedule to graduate on time. Actually, I could have graduated a year early. But then I took this financial accounting class that was a requirement for all business majors. That class literally changed my career plans. I never thought I’d like it, but the professor changed it all. I really, really like that professor and his teaching style, and everything just clicked in that class. It was challenging, but I enjoyed that class so so much because of that professor. Honestly, if I had a sucky professor for that class, I wouldn’t be on the career path that I’m on today. I still keep in touch with him :’) anyway, I started to research that major more and discovered that I could also pair it with an information systems major aka a coding major. tbh I lowkey missed coding so I thought this was the perfect combination for me.

During my third year, I switched to double majoring in accounting and information systems with a minor in studio arts. I did have to overload a couple quarters in order to graduate on time, but it was worth it in my opinion :’) so yeah, that’s how I figured out what I wanted to major and minor in!! It was a long process, but I’m satisfied with the end result 💓

as for extracurriculars in uni, I was a part of the robotics club, art club, and accounting association! I also applied for and was accepted for a year long volunteering fellowship during my junior year where I volunteered for 25 hours a week the entire school year and worked at a nonprofit, helping them with the business side of their organization 💞 I volunteered at a hospital weekly all four years of high school, so that’s how I ruled out working in a medical field because although I did enjoy the volunteer work, the stakes are way too high in that job and the hours are 😬😬

I also did internships! I did a sales and marketing internship during the summer after my freshman year. For my fellowship I mentioned earlier, I worked in business administration and client relations. And in the summer after my junior year, I worked at a big 4 firm in IT accounting / cybersecurity, and they extended a job offer at the end of my internship, which I accepted 💕

I wasn’t really confused in any subjects, but I hated abstract math, organic chemistry, and engineering physics the most 😅 I’m still lowkey salty that I had to take those for engineering and now they’re all useless because I didn’t need them for my business majors 🤧

I hope this is helpful for you, lovebug!! 💖 I know picking a major is super hard, so please feel free to send in another ask if you have any more questions! And I’m so glad my previous answers were useful for you :’) I wish you the best of luck, honey bee 🐝💛

[not-poignant]

Hello! I was wondering if you always plot the whole story before you start writing or tend to make up things as you go. Sorry if it's a weird question, but I'm really really new to writing and trying to figure everything out. Also I already went trough your writing tag and your advice is always very helpful, thank you so much for taking time to write such detailed answers!

Hiya anon!

It really depends on the story! But this is actually something I’ve written about a bit, so I can link to a few things that might help.

This post talks about the stories I’ve chapter planned on (not many), and how I go about linking plot details together.

Being flexible if you’re using a chapter plan (I don’t for about 50% of my stories, and it’s really common for me to wing the first half of a story, and plan the rest too).

Being new to writing means you can experiment with a lot of different things! You have people who always outline, and very rigidly (plotters). People who outline loosely. People who half-outline, half-wing it (plantsers). People who only ever wing it (pantsers). And people who change it up per story. You’re not going to know which one you are until you start doing them, and some things will feel more comfortable than others!

Like, you might be someone who likes the idea of an outline, but then gets bored once the entire plot is written out. Or you might be someone who hates the idea of an outline, but gets stuck 5 chapters in and doesn’t know what else to do, and that’s where an outline can help you! (In good news, you can literally start outlining at any point of writing your stories, I prefer to wait until I’ve written a good 6-10 chapters in my longer fanfics, sometimes even more chapters. Some stories didn’t get a plan until the last 5-10 chapters).

There’s pros and cons to every technique, but the ones that suit you will have more pros to them. Basically if the technique helps you write more, it’s a great one. :D

I love the feeling of making up stuff as I go. I can’t afford to do it with my original writing, so I do it as often as I can with all my fanfiction.

Also, don’t expect to have everything figured out before you start. A lot of this stuff you learn as you go. It’s really hard to Hermione the writing process (i.e. learn what your likes and dislikes are beforehand) - but it also means you get a pretty exciting journey of discovery, and no matter how you prefer to do it, it means you’ll get some writing out of it! Which is always awesome. :D