#they need to make a spreadsheet with all their character details or something because I feel like sometimes they forget stuff about them

[darkacademiaarchivist]

i have such mixed feelings about the new night vale episode

[wannab-urs]

The Spreadsheet Digest - Fic Recs | Vol 7

Howdy, folks! It's time for this week's recap of what I read :)

As always, you can find the spreadsheet here, and you're always more than welcome to tag me in your fic if you'd like to be included. New and old fics both appreciated; anything from a drabble to a 400k word series is fine; and the only Pedro boy I don't really read is Pero Tovar.

Without further ado here are the fics I read this week and the unhinged ramblings of a madwoman (me) to substitute for a coherent recommendation.

One for the money, two for the show a Joel series by @cowgurrrl

Rockstar!Joel AU with such a sweet fake dating trope lead in and then the most delicious yummy angst. As your resident angst whore this was everything because it was so REAL and so fucking heartbreaking. And then the happy little hopeful ending and then all the drabbles and extras??? AH! My favorite part was the lil instagram stories i think <3

sharing is caring a Frankie/Santi one shot by @walkintotheriveranddisappear

Your friend Santi introduces you to his friend Frankie and uhhhh you guys go make a sandwich.

Only Lovers Left Alive a Joel series by @atinylittlepain

I love every single thing about this. Revenge. Vampires. Blood play kind of? Biting. Etc. This shit rocks.

Waiting Room a Joel one shot by @beskarandblasters

I fucking love what kel did with this song. The repetition of one for the road really fuckin got me too. Angst angst angst.

The Special One a Joel series by @toxicanonymity

What if a reluctant soulmates AU was also a vampire!Joel AU? It would be perfect, that's what. I'm loving vampire!joel rn anyway, but this was such a cool twist on it. Also his vibes in this are fucking immaculate

Copycat Killer a Joel series by @beskarandblasters

Bitch this is so good. Stalker!Reader x Rockstar Joel... fucking perfect. I love how they both kind of suck as human beings a little bit. And that blow job oh my GOD.

Sweet Creature a Dieter series by @wildemaven

I really really love how this story is going. The little town is so real to me and I love all the little places we get to see. The bookstore sounds like a DREAM. And I can't wait for Reader to bond with D over art ahhhhh.

Stitches a Din series by @djarinsbeskar

This fic is so fucking good dude. I love the set up for the whole thing and the reader character is really fuckin' cool. The like... 8 consecutive parts of incredible smut that continues to be genuinely interesting and really fucking hot even after like 200K words is extremely impressive. I'm also pretty sucked into the story and the way Medic is being interwoven into canon. Oh and the introspection we get from Din's POV is *chef's kiss*.... anyway pls god finish this story i need it

False God a Frankie series by @swiftispunk

Frankie asking for what he wants is so... yummy... especially when it's wanting to be your subby lil pussy eating king like... PLEASE. And his praise kink??? I am in Frankie heaven

102 a Frankie one shot by @tieronecrush

I fucking love this ahhhh. I felt so bad for Frankie but also their friendship is so cute??? I love the unrequited love//idiots to lovers trope

Safe in my Arms an Ezra one shot by @mishasminion360

Ezra struggling to adjust to having one less limb and me crying about it. This was so fucking good. The raw emotion he feels and reader's unwavering support... the realism in saying something that accidentally hurts his feelings and trying to take over tasks he might find difficult AGH. I love this so much

Leave Off Your Wandering a Joel series by @oonajaeadira

Adira, I fall in love with every single little world you create without fail. This is obviously no exception. Your sheep ranch is a dream. The way you build up this backstory with the Roostlings and the friendship with Tommy and Maria and just all these extra little details you take the time to flesh out and weave into the story... makes my heart sing, friend. I adore this <3

-------- fics i read a while ago and never recommended -------

Name a Javi P one shot by @joelscruff

Consent a Dieter series by @fuckyeahdindjarin

Whiskey, Dark and Deep a Jack one shot by @prolix-yuy

Stay on the Screenplay a Dieter series by jazzelsaur (ao3)

A Safe Haven a Joel series by @joelsgreys

Psychomanteum a Dieter series by @whatsnewalycat

In Name Only an Oberyn series by @forever-rogue

------

I haven't written a word in weeks, so once again no updates for me :/

-----

Happy Reading

[lotusclans-luck]

Do you have any tips or recommendations for someone who wants to make their own comic based on their ClanGen save?

ooh man Well. take this with a grain of salt because i am definitely not an expert on storytelling Or clangen stuff lol ! but heres what id suggest/what i do:

log/write down what happens every moon, patrol, etc. personally i write down EVERYTHING (moons, patrols, some relationship events, and each cats personal status) so im certain i dont miss any potential details/scenes i want to add. however this does leave you with way more information than you'll need in the long run so feel free to just log what you want to! dont go overboard if you dont want to

when writing down everything make sure its organized in a way you'll understand later. for example, i use google spreadsheets and have all the information grouped into specific sheet pages; from there i list everything according to which Moon it happened in for timelines sake

if you dont like something that happened ingame and you want to void it because its inaccurate for the story, Void it. If you want to move an event to a different moon so it makes more sense in the story, Do it. you dont have to include every single thing that happens either, pick things you like or think would work best for the story. its all up to you and should be something you're having fun with!

make sure your character designs are ones you'll be able to draw over and over again– dont feel like you cant get creative with them, just keep in mind youll be drawing these characters so so so many times so make sure youre prepared for that

i cant think of much else off the top of my head.. i kind of just do what i Feel like doing theres no real rhyme or reason to it.. as long as you're having fun bringing these characters to life , you're doing it right !!

[finnlongman]

tasty data, get your tasty data here

All right, I finished putting TBC2-LL into my Unhinged Spreadsheet, so here are some observations about this text. Long post incoming.

Caveat that this spreadsheet is a work in progress and all the data collection is being done manually, aka trawling the text with my own eyeballs and looking for words. It's entirely possible I've missed some.

A Mo Phopa

There are 47 instances of the word "popa" in this text that I've found.

I had to zoom out to fit them all in. This is so many.

What's really interesting, though, is how terms are paired. If I were to put the spreadsheet back in its original order, showing them in the order they occur in the text, we would see that the use of a phopa for Fergus is almost always accompanied by daltán or a variant ("fosterling, pupil, fosterson"): either Fergus addressing Cú Chulainn as a daltán, or Cú Chulainn identifying himself as such. That means the term in those contexts is firmly established as a fosterage term used with a generational difference.

On the other hand, when a phopa is used by Cú Chulainn to address Láeg, it's very often paired with Láeg addressing Cú Chulainn with an affectionate diminutive like a Chúcúc. The only other person to use a diminutive like this is Lug (or, well, Cú Chulainn's "friend from the Otherworld", who isn't named in this recension), and he only does so once. Láeg does so repeatedly:

By pairing this with a phopa, we're establishing an age difference, but the absence of obvious fosterage terminology and the subversion of expected hierarchies makes this seem more like a "big bro, little bro" relationship, as far as terminology is concerned. A Chúcúc is typically translated by O'Rahilly as "little Cú"; you could also go as far as "little Hound". It's very much both affectionate and emphasising Cú Chulainn's youth.

(In TBC1, by contrast, Láeg only uses a diminutive like this once.)

Putting the rest below a cut to save your dash, because it got long.

Gilla

The term "gilla" is a flexible one: it basically just means lad, boy, servant. It's often used in the narration for charioteers, but I noticed something interesting about its usage in dialogue as a term of address.

Notably, that in TBC1, Cú Chulainn never uses this term to address Láeg, but in TBC2-LL, he does (usually while giving orders, though the spreadsheet doesn't offer that level of detail) (yet). It's used in narration to describe Láeg, I think, but never as a term of address.

Is this a matter of date, and the shifting use of the term chronologically? TBC1 and TBC2-LL are close enough in date that I would be surprised if the term "gilla" had a significantly different meaning at the time of writing.

It does show up quite a bit in late texts, though, so there might be something in that. Need to look into that more.

Comalta, comaltus, daltae

TBC2-LL typically shows a lot more instances of fosterage terminology: comalta, comaltus, and daltae all show up more times. This might just be that TBC2 is wordier than TBC1 and likes to repeat itself more, but the mess of orange on my spreadsheet suggests it also has a greater preoccupation with the web of family, fosterage, and provincial connections between characters.

[ETA: it's just an error that lists one of the comaltas as pupil, fosterling; I think Excel got too enthusiastic with the autofill. The same error occurs below. It's not significant.]

Cú Chulainn once uses the term daltán to address Láeg in TBC1, which doesn't show up in TBC2. I did a post about that a while back; it comes in a line where Cú Chulainn is explaining something to Láeg, so might have a pedagogical usage, although also seems like it might be a little bit sarcastic. Need to explore that one further.

(Note that when Cú Chulainn appears in both the "used by" and "used for" columns, it's because he's describing himself, e.g. Fergus says, "Who's there?" and he says, "It's me, your fosterson and the fosterson of the Ulaid." The relationship given in the column after that is therefore the one being identified in those moments.)

Cara, cairdes, caratraid

TBC2-LL also has more uses of the word cara, friend, for a much wider range of relationships and hypothetical relationships. ("Be it friend or foe" kind of thing.) Cara is used for allies, fosterbrothers, family connections, and some relationships that look like "straightforward" friendship, i.e. there isn't any other clearer connection between the characters mentioned in the text.

The term caratraid for friendship shows up five times in TBC2, and never in TBC1. Three of these instances are to describe Cú Chulainn's relationship with Fer Baeth, one of his foster brothers; one is to describe his relationship with Fer Diad, another foster brother; and one is to describe his relationship with Lugaid mac Nóis, his ally in the Connacht camp (who is also, I think, a foster brother?).

Cairdes shows up three times in TBC2 - twice about Fer Baeth and once about Fer Diad - versus only once in TBC1, where it refers to Fer Baeth (and is in narration rather than dialogue). TBC2 also introduces "cardes sliasta", intimate friendship, with which Medb bribes men.

Fer Diad

Here are all the terms used for Cú Chulainn & Fer Diad's relationship across TBC1 and TBC2-LL:

Let's filter that to get a sense of TBC1 vs TBC2, bearing in mind that Comrac Fir Diad is way longer in TBC2 and therefore likely to have far more terms in it.

TBC1:

TBC2-LL:

So we've got a lot more repetition in TBC2, but we've also got some differences. TBC2 loses some of the endearments, like "a lóeg" and "a airer na súl", which are more typically found in romantic contexts. But it gains two instances of "inmain", beloved (a semantically wider term: we often get a mic inmain between family members, for example). Both use the term "dil" for "beloved", though, inserting it into Fer Diad's name: Fer dil Diad.

Both use the term "cocle", possibly "coicéile": comrade, friend, companion, vassal. TBC2 uses it a lot more, though. It also adds "cara", friend, and the related terms "cairdes" and "caratraid" to describe friendship.

Both use "acme" and "fine", in the same context/sentence: "you are/were my kith and kin". TBC also gives us "fir chomdéirgide", men who shared a bed. There is another reference to bed-sharing in TBC2, but it uses a different term, so this one is distinct. The term "dérgud" seems to refer to the making of a bed, so the vibe seems to be more "men who made a bed together": travelled together, made decisions together, shared intimacy, etc.

The term Cúa is etymologised as an insult in TBC1, but treated as a straightforward diminutive in TBC2. Meanwhile, TBC2 introduces the concept of Cú Chulainn as Fer Diad's "forbfer", or serving man/attendant, introducing hierarchies into their relationship. I was surprised this wasn't in both, but I guess the whole thing is just so much less developed in TBC1, and most of the backstory there comes from Fer Diad's conversations with his charioteer rather than his dialogue with TBC2. I do want to go back and double check it, though, in case there's another related term that slipped my notice.

Conclusions

What is the second recension of the Táin about? Well, statistically, it's about relationships between people.

TBC2 cares a lot about fosterage and the friendships that go with it.

A phopa is the most common term of endearment in this recension.

Combinations of terms tell us more than just looking at terms in isolation.

Spreadsheets can be fun, I guess.

Beyond that, I don't know. I need to add more texts before I can draw more meaningful conclusions about changes over time. But I thought you might like to see where we're at, anyway.

Next up is probably Cath Ruis na Ríg, for vibes, although I also need to add Stowe to this spreadsheet in case it changes anything about TBC2 compared to LL.

[scribefindegil]

71?

71. When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?

A big old messy scratchdoc!! I try to use headings to keep the information somewhat organized, but they work best if I let them stay pretty sprawling. It's usually something like:

Top section: What are The Themes? Why am I writing this story? Are there important symbols or visual motifs I want to keep track of? Are there reminders to myself that I want to see frequently to bring myself back into focus (re: tone, characterization, types of description or details to focus on)?

Character Section: I don't always do this, but for big fics or things with a large ensemble cast I usually lay out each important character, the basis of their arc/conflict, and how they contribute thematically to the story. If it's AU or set post-canon or there are other reasons that information about the character would be different from their canon counterpart, I note it here.

Reference section: Any specific research I've done for the fic. Lists of things like minor characters' names, descriptions of settings or OCs, etc.

Revelation List: I stole this from DMing advice blogs, but any time there are mystery elements to a fic I always lay out the Revelations (what the characters need to learn) and the specific clues or circumstances they encounter that allow them to reach those conclusions. Do they find and interpret evidence? Do they get information from another character? Do they do research? Even if I don't plan out all the details of the plot, I need to understand how the characters are going to reach each of the Revelations or I'm going to get stuck.

Timelines: I don't always do these either; it really depends on the fic, but if there's a specific chronology I need to keep track of (or a secret structure that would get lost in the full outline) I try to write it down

The Plot: Finally!! The actual outlining part! I start by writing bullet point versions of the events I know will happen (I usually have a pretty strong sense of the beginning and climax of a fic by this point, even if I still have a bunch of fine-tuning to do) and then work backwards or forwards to fill in the gaps. If it's a mystery fic (and most of my longer fic has at least some mystery elements) I refer back to the Revelations list to make sure I have scenes that cover all the necessary Leads and Revelations to get the characters to the endpoint.

Snippets: For certain scenes, the outline version doesn't accurately capture the Vibe I'm going for, so I have a section at the end where I write quick, tiny, scaffolding-style first drafts. These usually have almost no relation to what the final scene actually looks like, but it's about pinning down the idea and the atmosphere.

These documents are really big and messy and I usually need to go back and edit them as I go, because my original ideas inevitably undergo some shifts as I figure things out, but that's the fun of it!

It has to be the right type of fic to make this worth it, but sometimes I'll also do a scene-level outline in an Excel spreadsheet, with columns for Scene, POV Character, Location, Characters Present, Events, Reactions, and Plot-Important Info. This is good for super plotty/mystery-heavy fics and fics with big ensembles that I can't keep track of other ways. I have an enormous and beautiful outline in this style for the Owl House Tam Lin AU which I do still want to write someday, bc while I didn't end up loving TOH as a whole I do love a lot of the characters, and also we came up with possibly the best plot twist of my life involving 400 years of moon phase records so. It's on the back burner but it's still on the stove, as it were. And the good thing is that because I have such an exhaustive outline it will be easy for me to pick back up at any time if I want to!

[virtualcarrot]

[KKIR] The smell of another

(Posted on AO3)

-

Some things, Iruka doesn't notice straight away. Truly, between the bafflement and the awe that is dating Konoha's Rokudaime, man of a great many legends and mysteries, he's a bit too starry-eyed to process additional information. He's also, frankly, waiting for the other shoe to drop, likely in the form of a laconic dumping.

The shoe doesn't drop. The relationship holds. It's shaken, a bit, when Kakashi reveals his face with a moment of gravitas that rings a thousand alarm bells in Iruka's mind over an imminent break up. Which he admits out loud, a bit hysterical with relief.

On that day, he sees the sheepish tilt of Kakashi's lips--his bare lips!--give way to a cold, toothless sneer. Then the whole thing is masked up again.

''If you believe it so fragile, I don’t think we’re on the same page regarding this relationship,'' Kakashi says, going on the offensive as he so often does when upset by an unfair assessment of his character.

Luckily for Iruka, because it sets him right back on track.

''Oh grow up, Kakashi, you don't have a monopoly on insecurity. Now show me again, so I can be smug about it when people speculate.''

Things go smoother after that and Iruka’s now blessed with the bare sight of those sharp, high cheekbones and thin lips on a regular basis.

Anyway, Iruka had way too much going on in their early relationship to notice the subtler details.

''What are you thinking about?" Kakashi asks, dipping his head on his way to the kitchen to briefly trail his nose over Iruka's nape.

It tickles a shudder out of Iruka. The flash of Kakashi's smug grin as he turns away says that hasn't gone unnoticed.

''How much of a pissbaby you can be,'' Iruka replies, still half a mind on his spreadsheet of the Academy's budget for the next semester.

The following bark of laughter is muffled by the fridge, but only barely. ''What now?"

"Oh, Iruka ,'' Iruka starts with great sarcasm, ''if you haven't picked names for the four hundred fifty nine ninken we’re gonna adopt or started to look into houses for us to move in, you must not be serious about me.''

''Oh, grow-up,'' Kakashi says good-naturedly, plopping beside him at the kotatsu. One steaming mug he sets on the table, the other he keeps in his cupped hands lowered on his lap. The smell of masala chai is quick to carry over.

''Thanks,'' Iruka says, sipping from the one that was left for him.

''Hm-hm.''

The solid heat of Kakashi's body sinks bit by bit into him, with something sleepy and languid to his posture. His nose finds its way to the hollow between Iruka's neck and shoulder.

With a huff, Iruka switches his drink to his other hand so he can ease his left arm in an inviting arch that Kakashi is quick to lean into. The nose, though, stays put.

''I still can't believe you're a cuddler,'' Iruka snickers gently, broad hand drawing swipes over Kakashi's flank.

''You'd best believe it,'' Kakashi mumbles with suspiciously accurate inflections. He rubs his face against Iruka, who briefly presses back with his lower jaw before resuming his accounting.

Tries not to get distracted by the intermittent nuzzling.

''Are you smelling me?" he ultimately asks, feeling amused in that fond way that makes his chest ache.

''Yes.''

''All right, then.''

''Do you mind?"

''Just don't tickle me, I've got to concentrate. I need to be convincing so the Hokage approves my new budget.''

Burrowing even deeper, Kakashi nudges past the neck of Iruka's shirt to where the collarbone emerges from the generous muscle padding of his shoulder, right at the base of his throat.

''I'm sure you'll do fine," he murmurs with some humor.

And then he settles, dozing off to the warmth of Iruka’s scent.

It’s one of the quirks Iruka notices, now, and that he cherishes.

He tucks Kakashi's drink away before it spills from hands gone lax--though not without stealing some, just for the sake of wincing at the unsweetened taste of it--and hugs him closer, poring over dreadfully boring numbers to the soft snuffling of his companion.

And if he sometimes pauses just long enough to breathe from the spiky hair within reach, well, Kakashi doesn't have a leg to stand on on such matters.

[jorvikzelda]

May is looking like an intense month for Star Stable.

Previously, Star Stable have stated in various places that the next main quest, in addition to the Pintabian and some new Morgan coats, will be released in May. Now, we know that the Horse Progression (and new UI) will as well, and the Player Character update is slated for release before the Rainbow Festival... but when, exactly, can we expect these things?

The Equestrian Festival will end in two Wednesdays' time, on the 3rd of May. The road maps of this year have so far not stretched further than 4 weeks, but for the Rainbow Festival to begin on the 7th of June the roadmap will need to be five weeks long. For the past 2 years*, the Rainbow Festival has begun on the second Wednesday of June (while the 7th will be the first Wednesday of June), but as a six-week roadmap would be unprecedented (and as the Rainbow Festival has not in the past two years released later than the 9th of June), I find it most likely that the next roadmap will run from the 3rd of May to the 31st of May, with the Rainbow Festival commencing on the 7th of June.

*Before 2021, the Rainbow Festival was not officially acknowledged as a Pride celebration and could begin as late in the summer as July or August. Now that it is officially Jorvik Pride, though, I expect SSE to keep the June date.

In those five weeks, the following updates are either confirmed or very likely to be included:

Pintabian and new Morgan coats

Horse Progression and new UI

new Main Story Quest

player character update

...and let's be honest a HoJ because they probably want to return to the monthly Guillermo rotation after the festival.

Per the blog post today, the player character update - if everything goes smoothly - is slated for release "just before we enter into the Rainbow Festival" - meaning we can pin it down for the 31st. The week after a festival is usually something pretty light, so we'd be looking at either the new horses or HoJ for the 3rd; I'd bet on HoJ, because a 3rd of May Pintabian release would make the gap between two horse breed releases (Pintabian and the Lippizaner, in this case) a record-breakingly short three weeks. Lastly, if I were SSE, I would not want to release the Horse Progression and the new player character in immediate succession as both of those are pretty likely to bring bugs both of the "urgent fix" and the "oh god, that's complex" nature.

With all that accounted for (as well as some additional details from my spreadsheet detailing every road map ever), here is my semi-informed, semi-Moon Circled guess of SSO's May updates:

May 3rd: Horses of Jorvik May 10th: Pintabians and Morgans May 17th: Horse Progression May 24th: Main Story Quest May 31st: Player Character Update

Oh, and MC 2.0 beta test from the 15th of May to the 22nd of May.

[jamiesfootball]

⭐️ here's a director's cut question for OGYGGI(YHNBGL) (side note: i love this acronym. it may not be convenient to type but i hear it in my mind as the sound of a giant sea monster rising from the deep):

do you have a process for figuring out how to hint at what's going on with jamie and the other characters before roy knows about it? are there any alternate-pov versions of scenes that live in your brain, like with Low Battery?

also, anything you want to talk about with the 5+1 falling asleep fic! i love all the snippets you've posted from it very much

I too love the acronym. Look at it. It's so silly. I love the thought of it as a giant see monster rinsing from the deep - honestly I've looking at it and my dyslexic brain keeps filling in 'Oingo-Boingo.'

do you have a process for figuring out how to hint at what's going on with jamie and the other characters before roy knows about it?

Part of the fun (for me) with keeping everything in Roy's pov is the challenge of balancing how to get across what is happening elsewhere. Which is why I have The Spreadsheet:

(I think I have appropriately blurred this out enough that there shouldn't be spoilers)

(Also this has reminded me I have more notes that need added to it)

So on the left I have my List of Things. On this list are:

-Characters: anyone I regularly check in with and/or who has something going on in the background (Roy, Jamie, Colin, Keeley, etc)

-Character groups: any combination of characters who have plot beats going on as part of their group dynamic (Roy & Jamie, the Diamond Dogs, Roy & his family, etc)

-Specific plots: any recurring plot thread that I need to keep an eye on (Jamie's impending Brazil photoshoot, the Roy & Jamie Book Club)

-Recurring details: anything recurring that changes but doesn't necessarily impact the action (for instance, the renovation and maintenance being done to the Richmond locker room that Roy witnesses over the course of the month)

-The Thesis Statement: this is the BIG ONE for me and it's right at the top. With so many interwoven stories and Roy's journey of big mental health stuff being the big driving focus, I needed some way of making sure I was always moving the story forward for him, even in the chapters where he doesn't have a therapy session. So each chapter has an I-Statement for Roy that is a clear idea of where he's at that point in the chapter. Here's the one for chapter one:

"I am angry and miserable and lonely. I don't know how to show people I care. I don't want to fuck this up. I will change something"

They're not elegant - they're raw and simple and to the point. It helps me keep on task and make sure the chapter is hitting the right notes.

EDIT: realized I forgot to explain- the column headers are chapters.

are there any alternate-pov versions of scenes that live in your brain, like with Low Battery?

YES THERE ARE. The big big BIG one being Jamie's eventual trip to Manchester to visit his dad in rehab - a scene that I have honestly been considering writing just so I have a version of it in my head to reference when he's telling Roy about it. I already have some of it figured out and ooof. OOF I say.

Another one that I've been considering is Jamie and Ted's eventual Talk about what's been going on - both with Jamie and his dad, and with Jamie having finally finished reading The Beautiful & Damned. That one is tricky, because Roy isn't involved or around for that conversation at all, but he does speak to Ted immediately after.

A much smaller one that's recently crept into the running is Jamie's reaction to finally hearing from his dad for the first time, which is.....it's going to be very soon.

also, anything you want to talk about with the 5+1 falling asleep fic!

The big one there is that I SWEAR IT'S STILL IN PROGRESS. For a while there, I had time reconnecting with it, and I realized (this morning actually) that part of my issue was that I was struggling to reach that raw place that wrote most of it. Now that I've let it set a bit, I've recharged, and it's back on the writing block come new years!

From this ask game but specific questions only please!

[hypnotisedfireflies]

Prompt Update

Hi everyone! Okay, to help get my head on straight and bring you all up to speed on what this is looking like, here's quick rundown of what's happening with these.

First I just have to say I still haven't picked myself up off the floor: thank you all so much for being so supportive and interested in Driftersverse. I never expected this and then comments, asks, prompts etc just mean so much. And I really do want to do them (and all the love) justice by getting to as many as I possibly can but I am quite behind and need a rich benefactor so I can quit my job to catch up, lol.

Some stats: so far I've had 46 recorded prompts, plus a few casual conversations that didn't make it to my spreadsheet. Of these, we've had six stories combining about 15 prompts from about 12 different people. Then there's been a handful addressed here on Tumblr as drabbles/thoughts.

I have a lot to go. O_O This is what's coming up, but that doesn't mean anything not mentioned here isn't happening/won't be addressed in an ask/won't suddenly appear. I don't do one shots well and prefer to work prompt ideas in with each other to create a larger story. So it sometimes happens that I don't have an idea for something, but then another prompt sails in and they feed off one another.

Details below the cut ...

THE AU

This will start on the morning of 28 September 2003 and is a Driftersverse AU of Tess and Joel meeting without the end of the world. It will probably be written a lot slower than usual stuff and hum along in the background while I continue to write canon-AU-Drifters stuff, so maybe like ... updated weekly or something. It has a 20-chapter outline so far and isn't done so ... yeah, there's that.

Bonus: There has already been a preview of this story buried in one of the others, if you can find it. ;)

THE SUPPLEMENTARY STUFF

In writing all the extra material it made me realise there were a couple of things I overlooked in Drifter's Dawn. I promise not to George Lucas my own shit but I really think it will strengthen the story to add this supplementary material in. It's already kind of there but it's not pronounced enough and I think it's important. It will occur early in the extant story.

Bonus: There may also be an additional later chapter just before Boston.

THE OC/SUPPORTING CHARACTER COLLECTION

So something I never expected was that my OCs would get so much love? That makes me just ... guys. O_O;;; There have been a few requests for stories that focus on these guys (still mostly with a Tessjoel bent) so I thought I would group these into one collection and it, like the AU, can hum along and be added to gradually. Characters featured here so far include Lachie and Rachel POVs, plus some supporting canons getting their own POV chapters like Maria and Ellie.

Bonus: Lachie-finds-out-what-Joel-did is probably the first one I'll write.

THE OTHER STUFF

Then there's the other prompts that don't fit into the above categories that I'm really excited about writing - I'm going to try and priortise ones taking place prior to TLOU as my prompts so far have leaned heavily in the post-TLOU arena and I want to address some of the earlier ones.

Bonus: I had a prompt for more top!Tess and that may be one of the few one shots I do write because YES.

[beaconfeels]

I missed WIP Wednesday for the @steter-bang since I was traveling, so I’m posting now to motivate myself:

It’s getting warmer already, the temps climbing along with the sun. He’s not fond of office work, but it’s something of a relief to sink into his chair at the old desk in the cool, dimly lit office he has near the back of the house. Even after watching at his Dad’s right hand all these years, the amount of paperwork and phone calls needed to keep the ranch running was still the most surprising—and challenging—part of the job when he took over.

He’s always had a mind for details though, and he likes negotiating with suppliers and buyers. He even finds spreadsheets satisfying, a fact that his family never stops teasing him about.

He’s been lost in his work for awhile when Erica pokes her head in. “We met him,” she says, with a broad smile. “What a cutie pie, and smart too.”

“Hmm?” Peter says, shuffling some papers to the side. “Oh, right. Stiles. You like him?”

“Yup,” Erica says, popping the p emphatically. That’s good news actually. Erica’s usually a good judge of character for all her posturing and teasing might hide it from people who don’t know her. “I think he’s gonna be great, and now that he’s here we can make sure that asshole next door can’t hurt him, right?”

“Right,” Peter assures her.

“Good, because I’ve got a good feeling about this one, boss.”

Peter smiles at her. It’s hard not to when she’s in a good mood, especially not when he’s seen her at her lowest moments—when she was a shy, sick kid, so unsure of herself, but desperate to work on a ranch, to do the things she loved anyway. He’s as proud of her as any father could be.

She taps the doorframe twice, and leaves with a little smirk on her lips. It’s good. If Erica likes Stiles, then probably most of his workers will too, and there’s something about the kid that makes Peter want to protect him. Not just from Argent, but from everything else that seems to haunt him too.

[talenlee]

The Brilliant Fool

Normally when I write here about a Transformers character, it’s a character who has some significance to me as – well, honestly, as an example of a kind of person I could be, growing up. Blades gave me a lesson about quelling the want for violence inside me and also how defensive violent bf /softboy medic bf was a top tier pairing, and Dinobot gave me lessons about dying well in the face of oblivion, a lesson that I thought I needed really soon when I got it. There are Transformers I love because of jokes, Transformers I love because of association with toys and there are some Transformers that I love because they are, through no fault of their own, completely useless doofuses.

Let’s talk about Wheeljack

Wheeljack is an OG Transformer. Not only was he present in the original TV series, he was the first ever Transformer to be animated, the first one to appear on a cell and the first one to say or do anything. Wheeljack was also in this privileged position because he was from an earlier time, an earlier toyline, one of the diaclone toys that needed minimal changes to come on over. And not only was this the 1980s but this was a Japanese toy from the 1970s, so his toy was a really nice model that was also, coincidentally, made largely out of die-cast metal and had all sorts of lovely detailing and stickers that you could use to show how good you were at putting on stickers unless you were a fumble handed gallumphus like myself.

Don’t worry, I never had a Wheeljack, but I knew someone who did, and that toy was nice.

Anyway, Wheeljack as a character was one of the huge cast of Transformers who got a personality written up in what feels in hindsight like filling out a spreadsheet, where the writer got a picture of a character and had to devise a name and personality for them and keep moving, while also doing everything they could to keep them from overlapping with one another, which, of course, they did. Did you know that Grimlock (A t-rex) and Fortress Maximus (a city) and Brawl (a little guy about the size of a VW bug) are all listed as the strongest Autobot? Making sense of these original bios was like digging through Biblical harmonisation, but at least Transformers admit they’re making stuff up.

Anyway, Wheeljack got given the personality up front of being a crackpot mad scientist working for the good guys, which meant you took an archetype normally full of potential malice and potential goofiness and then just stripped out all the malice. Wheeljack in G1 was a guy who would invent things, and those things would have to be useful to pretty much only anyone in exactly one episode. This meant Wheeljack was either solving the problem of the episode by techno-babbling up a device that would fix it, or causing the problem of the episode by techno-babbling up a device that unfixed something, and sometimes both.

Wheeljack served a good, steadfast, mechanical role in the story of the show and to that end he hung around a lot. He also had a really easy face to animate – rather than flap a mouth or move a visor, his face lit up when he was talking, which meant you just changed its colour. Real convenient, real nice when you wanted to have him talk at length.

But this is just ‘why Wheeljack showed up a lot,’ it’s not by any means an explanation as to why I liked Wheeljack. What I like about Wheeljack is instead something created in the negative space of the character by what the people making it didn’t intend to do.

Here’s how it cooks out. First of all, Wheeljack is an inventor who is memorably depicted screwing up and eating dirt, regularly. He’s an inventor but it’s easy to feel like his hit rate is half and half, and a bunch of the things he makes have the weirdest solutions to them and ways they work. It’s not true in the comics, mind you, those are written a bit less for, y’know, four year olds in the 1980s, but the ‘crackpot inventor’ element sticks around.

The other thing is that Wheeljack’s disguise sucks.

It’s not that he doesn’t look like a car, he sure does look like a car! But Wheeljack doesn’t turn into ‘a car.’ Wheeljack turns into a sports car.

Well, so what you may say, it’s not like sports cars are that rare.

And then I go, he turns into a Lancia Stratos

And you’d interrupt me, comically, — Well, okay, no you wouldn’t, you’d say what and I’m embellishing for the bit — and say, hey, no no, see, you’ve got a specific name for it, a model, that means it got made in some degree of mass production,

And I respond with yeah, we know how many of his type of Lancia Stratos got made. He’s the Group 5 Lancia Stratos. He has specific racing regalia on him for sponsor material. Because he didn’t copy ‘a car’, he copied a race ready Lancia Stratos Group 5. There were only 500 Lancia Stratos made, and only a small number of them – like, less than ten – were ever put into racing colours, and then they were deomissioned. Imagine if while trying to blend into a location you picked the disguise of ‘recognisable celebrity,’ or maybe tried to blend in at the zoo as an endangered animal of which they knew they only had two. This means Wheeljack was in a position to scan the Lancia Stratos Group 5 (which wasn’t run in many races after it failed!) and then drove around after it left!

It plays into the way that his inventions seemed to fail a lot, or seemed to work in weird ways. It depicts a person who has somehow a skillset that’s suited to making big, impressive, technically challenging accomplishments and not a goddamn lick of sense about what he can do with it. This is a guy who can invent a teleportation machine and his idea of how to use it to solve the war is to let humans move more quickly to and from the base to update them on what the Decepticons are doing. This is a guy who makes a blender with a frappe setting that retasks a satellite. This is a guy whose first appearance on screen is using a machine he built that then immediately backfires and sets the tone for him for the rest of his life.

Wheeljack is one of my favourite Transformers, but only in the way that I love to watch the way fans talk about him, because of the beautiful alignment of super genius and fantastic idiot.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[booksandabeer]

Hi heloo!! I was just checking through your reclists and TYSM FOR MAKING THEM OMG?? The fandom needs people like you, you've become one of my favorite blogs on here in like the last half day haha! But also while I was reading through your asks and the lists you made, I couldn’t help but notice how LONG most of the fics are? Like there's oneshots with 10k words and so many series and one fic has 300THOUSAND words and is still a wip somehow?? Which don't get me wrong, I love long fics as much as the next guy and won't complain for people writing so much about stucky. Like imagine the kind of time it takes to do that, blows my mind every time. BUT ALSO (and this is where I get to my point lmao sorry for spamming you) how do you have TIME to read ALL THAT and take notes on all of it and sort them into that system you talked about and like.  HOW??? I envy you. I admire you. I fear you a little <3

Hi hello to you too!!

First of all, thank you for your lovely words, I'm quite overwhelmed by the praise & enthusiasm. ❤ Believe me, there's absolutely no reason to fear me.😜 The rec lists are really just my way of trying to give back to a fandom that has given me so much joy (and pain, but I kind of asked for that, so it's ok--one has to be a bit of a masochist to be a Stucky shipper).

I definitely have a preference for long, character-driven stories and slow-burn romances, which by definition, you can't really do in a 5K oneshot. That's not to say that shorter fics inevitably lack depth--not at all! There are writers who are absolute masters at creating whole worlds in just a few thousand words, and indeed it can be a bigger challenge (and a skill!) to tell a decade-spanning story in fewer words and to decide when something does not have to be spelled out in great and sometimes unnecessary detail, and to just trust that your readers will get it. But yes, in the end, we all have our reading preferences, and I just really love to get lost in a long story. If you offered me a well-written fic that features all my favorite tropes and the exact kind of characterizations that perfectly align with my headcanons and you'd say "hey, you want the 5 or the 50K version of that?", I will almost always go with the latter option.

Still, I've actually gotten much better at reading shorter fics over the past year... maybe I should do a rec list for Great Fics under 10K... would anybody care for that?

Now as to your question how I manage to read ALL THAT. I don't know? Honestly, I'm certain there are people who read way more than I do, but yeah, I read A LOT of fanfic, it's true. The funny thing is, I'm not even a very fast reader, or no... the reading itself doesn't take up a lot of time, but thinking about fics, taking notes, writing comments does. The whole spreadsheet insanity was not only born out of a desire to track my reading stats, but also to put down my thoughts and to really ruminate on what I'd just read. Before I got more actively involved in fandom, I didn't really have anybody to talk to about this, but the thoughts and feelings still needed to go somewhere. And now that I've started making rec lists, I'm so glad that I did this because I can pull from them when I'm looking for specific tropes/genres/etc.

Finally, ever since I started beta-reading, I've gained a WHOLE new appreciation for how much thought and heart and time and--yes!--work goes into a fanfic. And all that with little to no guarantee for recognition or even any sort of response at all.

Fanfic writers are goddamn heroes. To borrow your words: I envy them. I admire them. I fear them a little.

Fanfiction Forever. ❤

[fireolin]

Hi! How are you? I hope you're doing well.

I re-read The Wishing Hunt and I was amazed! You are really doing an incredible work! The fact that you're writing it on the go and depending on the votes to know how the plot may change is... wow! It's not easy, I can't even begin to imagine how hard that must be! When reading it on one go, it seems really well-planned. Truly, everything —the writing, the characterization, the relationship, the plot, the world-building, the so many winks to canon and more— is soooo but sooooo well done, and to think you started it a couple years ago!

I'm enjoying it a lot, and I'm so looking forward to read how the story develops. I just wanted to come by and tell you this, but I'll try to write a more detailed comment next time in ao3 (so many things to say). Thank you so much for writing such an engaging story!

Thank you so much for this incredibly kind comment. It's just so good to hear you enjoyed reading the entire thing again, and especially that it's all hanging together, lol. I won't lie, you're right that writing this isn't easy (but writing usually isn't for me, unless it's something quick and spontaneous). I'm tracking the plot events and emotional arcs through a spreadsheet with columns for each aspect, so I don't rely only on my memory. It's harder now because more of the plot is set in stone and drawing to resolutions rather than being open to spontaneous branching. (If I let it keep branching, it will never conclude - although it's the kind of story and world that could keep going if I wanted.)

I'm still loving the world and every chapter pulls me in as I write. My process takes a few passes, and by the end I feel I've 'discovered' that chapter, while at the start, sometimes I have no clue myself how it's going to work out, only faith that it will.

Even for characters that have smaller roles, I often need to sketch a back story so I can get to know them and write them in a way that works for me. A lot of that never makes it into the fic, but it adds to my sense of the world.

It means so much to know you're still enjoying this after two years, with my updates that are spread weeks apart. It's a labour of love for me, but I'm not sure how I'd keep going without the kind of encouragement you and others provide. It really makes a difference and motivates me, letting me know the effort is worthwhile.

Thank you again so very much for being kind enough to send this message!

[aribaran]

10 & 19 !

10. write in silence or with background noise? with people or alone? i'm always writing with noise, but it's music. i have some pretty intense playlists for my work, haha. i prefer to write alone whenever possible.

19. when it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, etc.?

so i use scrivener for my project planning and it has a great feature where you can put all of your meta work into folders but it won't be included in the compiles. i usually do character profiles there if i need to, for the hockey books i have full rosters for every team, spreadsheets with all of the team names, etc.

for the rest of it, it's long, so.

it does depend on the book. i structure and write a fantasy novel a little differently from my romance novels (they are m/m hockey books. i know this comes as a huge surprise lol). i always use scrivener for my outlining and drafts, but you don’t have to buy a fancy program, you can do the same thing in open office or google docs.

no matter what the book is, i start with my characters. who are they as people? where are they from? what is their ethnicity and what are their families like? what do they like? how do they interact with others? sometimes guys just show up in my head fully formed and in those cases, it’s a lot easier to write their stories because they’re just…there. like real people. but the central question of every book is: what do these people want and why can’t they have it? sometimes those questions are internal (is this guy incredibly insecure and doesn’t truly believe that his best friend is in love with him even though all of the evidence is right there in front of his face?) and sometimes it is external (these guys are trying to kill each other, but they don’t realize the game is rigged against BOTH of them).

but start with that question and i think then it’s a lot easier to come up with the rest of the story.

after that, i pick a starting point and i usually pick an ending point. i almost always write my last scene first, or at least write some notes. i just like to know where i’m going so i can pace how i’m getting there.

how i ACTUALLY outline is where it really starts to split up based on book. for my hockey novels, it makes sense for me to outline and structure them in an actual timeline, since the plot is based around the season.

each folder is a season, split up into months, split up into scenes. i find it helpful to label whose POV is in which one so i know at a glance if things aren’t well-balanced. and then i just keep doing that until the book ends, which is usually between april and july, depending on if they make the playoffs.

what you end up filling it in with is varied. i usually like to figure out the conflict or breaking point, and where that goes in the general timeline. in my first book it’s an enemies to lovers so the conflict is front-loaded at the beginning, but something external happens to them towards the end that they have to overcome. so in that book, all of the scenes are building from them learning to get along, and falling in love, and then eventually overcoming this obstacle (this is really simplified discussion of this plot lol). in my second book, they’re best friends starting out, so it’s building up to them hooking up, then the process of them really falling in love, and then the misunderstanding/breakup and eventually the reunion and the [redacted really happy thing]. during this time there are obviously subplots, but i find it’s easier to string the subplots along when you have an idea of when the main big plot beats have to happen.

as i am filling in individual scenes, i like to jot a little note about what is going on in the scene in the header. so whether it’s brojobs or a hockey game in a particular city, i have that all in the little title. scrivener has a notes section for each “scene” where i can put any other details i want about the scene in there, and sometimes i will use that to a) put down what i want this scene to accomplish in the larger book, b) any dialogue or things i want to make sure i remember to include in the scene because a lot of the time, i get great ideas right when i’m falling asleep, or in the shower, or somewhere convenient and then i don’t remember if i don’t write them down. but you can also write this down in a separate document.

as for figuring out subplots, i come up with them based on what makes sense for the characters, whether that’s depression/addiction, helping out a rookie, or whatever.

for fantasy novels, the process is less rigid. i usually have to do some worldbuilding first, so that’s a separate document where i just jot down all of my thoughts about the world and how it’s constructed and why it works the way it does. sometimes i will write little “in world” texts to give myself a flavor of how people read or what their culture is like.

again, i come up with the beginning and end up split the book up into sections based on the main plot. so for example in one of my WIPs (and this is a VERY pared down version of what actually happens in this book haha), the first part is the road adventure where one of them is trying to take the other one back to [redacted] and the second guy is trying to escape or kill him, then they accidentally get soulbonded and the section is them learning to work together and trust, and then the third section is the betrayal and eventual rescue. then i fill in the scenes from there. i’ll be honest, some of it is based on vibes–what do i want to write? sometimes i get whole subplots purely because i think they sound like a blast to write (and that’s a bit thing about plotting for me–if it’s not fun and i’m not excited to write it…no one’s going to be excited to read it, either, so some big advice is if you’re really forcing something, it might be worth trying something else).

a lot of my plots come from knowing the characters really well. what situations would make them uncomfortable and react in certain ways? what situations would test or challenge their beliefs, either about the world or about themselves? what character can they fall in love with that would offer interesting conflicts?

so that’s basically my plotting and outlining process.

[birgittesilverbae]

aaaaaask meme

7, 10, 18, 24, 26, 29

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

I answered this previously, but 7 when it comes to you specifically is making you yell at me. fills me with warmth

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

Your star wars au Shannon death makes me want to disappear (and your description of Bea's elbow stuff) asking this question has made me forget everything I've ever read tbh. I've been haunted by stuff I never finished, and I'll stumble over it and just get slapped in the face

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

from tmtl ch5, rewatching ep6 for the millionth time I got stuck on the fact that Bea's had to drive out to Ronda alone and then back with Mary and sit in the knowledge that they've lost Lilith too and their family of four has been cut in half in the blink of an eye

outline/v1: The return trip with Mary. Quiet, stilted questions. Not on the same wavelength, interrupting each other and apologising because they don't know how to fill the spaces that have been left for other voices.

v2: "Would you just look at me?" // "I can't. Because I look at you and all I see is her."

v3: "You're all I have left. Shannon's dead. Lilith's dead. Mary, you're all I have left." // "I can't." Mary's voice is hoarse. "Even just sitting here– You still use her soap." It's not a question. "I sit here and I smell her and when I look at you all I can see are the fingerprints she left behind. And I'm sorry, Beatrice, but I can't fucking deal with that right now."

v4: "You're all I have left,” Beatrice continues, unable to hold her tongue now that the first stones in the dam have cracked. “Shannon's dead. Lilith's dead. Mary, you're all I have left. Look at me. Please." // "I can't." Mary's voice is hoarse. "Even just sitting here– You still use her soap." It's not a question. "I sit here and I smell her and when I look at you all I can see are the fingerprints she left behind. And I'm sorry, Beatrice, but I can't fucking deal with that right now."

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

it depends on the story; tmtl for each scene I had a one sentence outline for the exact emotional beats I wanted to hit, and then a paragraph outline with scene beats and callbacks, and then a bulletpoint outline to detail the exact shape of the scene. fic: nature is gonna end up with the same sort of treatment but probably less intense about it. tmau prep work has involved a shit ton of academic papers and spreadsheets. if it's not clear, I really love prep work, I haven't had as much opportunity for research work in my day-to-day lately so I've been really digging in. honestly fic: dads has been such a departure in that it's been an exercise for me in trying to do absolutely no planning

26. How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going in there in the first place?

I'll typically have a song assigned to a character for a specific fic and listen to that repeatedly if I'm having trouble getting into their mindset. getting out of it usually isn't that difficult, head empty brain go brr etc. but if I'm getting to stuck in something I go watch cooking videos on youtube tbh. there are a couple points I've hit where I've been writing something and had to take a step back and go 'okay, it's not good for me to be here right now I need to walk away' but I don't know that I regret those points so much as they give me more insight into myself

29. Where do you draw your inspiration? What do you do when the inspiration well runs dry?

I usually turn to my sad bangers playlist (which I've been familiarizing you with cas hehe) if I'm in the need for inspiration, and lately when I've been stuck on something I've gone and stared at @princington 's art until I'm Fixed (read: made worse (affectionate))

[ftb-dafanfiction]

Happy New Year and Update

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope 2023 is filled with blessings for you and your families. This year, I am also hoping to add a handful more chapters to From the Beyond, but I think we all know how making plans and finding time for hobbies can work out, right? :P

In any case, the next chapter is finally going into its official "sketch” stages, and with that, I wanted to give you all an idea of what that’s like for a fic this size.

With 74 chapters and counting and over 640,000 words, make no mistake about it, managing FtB at this point is work. Hard work and intensive planning. This is one reason why it takes so long between chapter releases (in addition to my fear of burning myself out again).

Before starting a new chapter, I reread and edit/proofread the previous one one more time to get back in the “zone”. One thing I have a huge concern about is maintaining a consistent tone throughout the fic, especially since it has spanned 5 years of work so far; a person’s style can change a lot in that time, and the last thing I want is for the first chapter and the last chapter to sound like two different people wrote it.

Reviewing notes is a must. I have nearly the entire fic already planned out as far as rough plot points go, with a detailed outline in a separate document. As a matter of fact, FtB is slated to come to an end at approximately the same "place” storywise as the canonical Inquisition main quest. Two sequels have also been tentatively planned, one that spans the timeline of The Descent and Jaws of Hakkon, and another that covers Trespasser and the epilogue. I haven’t done much detail work with either storyline, however, as the events of Dreadwolf and what lore I learn in that game may impact how those sequels go.

That brings me to another big task - keeping the timeline straight. I have another document, an Excel spreadsheet, that charts out the contents of each chapter in the story separately, including a rough summary, which major characters appear, key plot events that can’t be forgotten, an estimated day-month-year-season span, and of course, any romance plot points. I’ve even made notes for any unique characterization elements that have been revealed (IE: Tamsyn’s hatred of clowns and her inability to swim). Further charts keep track of major and minor characters and their ages, as well as whether or not they’ve been eliminated from the storyline.

After reviewing all of these notes and making even more notes to follow in the WIP chapter, then I can finally start writing. Each chapter averages 8k-10k words to cover everything required.

As you can see, this is a lot to keep straight in a person’s head, and with so much information that can’t be forgotten, it can feel more than a little overwhelming, sometimes. Fortunately, there are fewer chapters to go than have already been written... relatively speaking, the story is fairly close to the end; after all, only the Arbor Wilds and the events afterwards are left to cover in the canonical timeline.

Knowing that is one thing. Getting there, though, is quite another.

In any case, it’s not something I’m planning on giving up on. However, because of the amount of work required and the time and headspace I need to accomplish it, I can’t give any estimations for when a chapter might be released. The best I can give you is “I’m working on it”. Which I am. :D

If you’ve gotten this far, thanks for reading, both this and FtB itself. No matter how difficult it may be to accomplish, I sincerely can’t wait to share the rest of Tamsyn’s story with you.

~ Auri