#this is a wip and spelling corrections are for a finished draft

[kingflups]

👉📝 Fingers-in-my-word-doc Friday 📝👈

Shout out to @payphoneangel for the tag! Get your fingers out of my doc!! I don't know how you knew this, but hands are a biiiiig part of my current WIP (draft of chapter 9 of Nights aren't so bad with you)

Rules: In honor of Friday, gimme a line from your latest WIP or project that involves hands. (Search-find hand, hands, fingers, fingerpad, nails, wrist, palm, thumb, heel, lifelines etc)

Tagging @wisecrackingeric-2 @hamartia-grander @courtofparrots @mooseonahunt @cruisingheightswithdragons and anyone else who wants to play! (please tag me so I can see your wips <3 if you do!)

[jkrockin]

Hi!! 1, 11, & 17 for the fic writer asks?

Even more answers for the more fic writer asks meme!

1. the last sentence you wrote

Steve has a dry leaf in his hands, which he's methodically shredding into tiny bits; a pile of leaf fragments is starting to gather between his feet.

11. a WIP you’d like to finish someday

Ahahahaha. Hahaha. Ha. Please don't look at my unhinged spreadsheet of WIPs when I say this, lest the others get jealous, but I'd love to find some spare juice to write some more of take the wheel, crack the whip someday soon.

17. talk about your writing and editing process

The suggestion that I have a process is immensely flattering. I fall victim to the dread curse, that ancient hamartia: editing as I write, which makes writing things very slow. Don't do it, folks! When I work out how to write drafts, I will be unstoppable.

Usually it goes something like:

I get an idea

Jot down notes or blabber about the idea in a friend's DMs

Pick a likely spot to start, and start writing down the thoughts I have. When I know where I'm going, I'll write down an outline.

Write the thing, chronologically, start to finish. Dialogue usually comes first, then I poke in prose around the edges. Sometimes I get a good line or a snippet of a key scene first, and I'll plonk that down to come back to, but writing out of order doesn't really work for me. Not only do I love to do a callback or repetition of phrases for effect, which is tough to do when you haven't written the origin of the echo, my great fear is that I'll get to the end, dust my hands off thinking "haha, I have a Finished Thing!" and then discover a whole chunk of story I thought I'd written is actually just some square tags saying something like [scene where they collect the Sacred Plunt from the Temple of Fleem] and I still have work to do. Yuck! Can't be having with that. Hence, writing in order.

Usually I'll do a last editing pass. I don't really use betas. Had some bad experiences, still learning to trust again, etc. Spelling and grammar are very much my wheelhouse, so I don't often seek help for that; my bugbears are (unintentional, non-stylistic) word repetition and character-accurate vocabulary choices, which I'll try to weed out or correct. When I can, I like to have a chum read over a fic before I post it to point out any really glaring errors or omitted scenes (with or without Sacred Plunt) and to confer and consult on tags.

Run that sucker through the AO3 posting script Gdoc, post, and go to bed so I don't spend the next six hours stressing about whether or not people like it.

Each of these steps, of course, happens on each of the seventeen WIPs I'm focusing on at once. I bounce around between stuff.

[babblish]

20 questions of fic writers

Thanks for the tag @creativenicocorner!

Tagging: @dreamcrow @renee561 @megan0013 @ihateblocks I know it's NaNoWriMo so feel to ignore this one this busy season, but likewise if you're not tagged and wished to join in, feel free to do so. 🤔 I feel like I'm forgetting several people as it is.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

20 (and 1 draft)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

710,674 so far (it should be 717,602 once the draft is published)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Tales of Arcadia, Dungeons and Dragons TTRPG, and this other one I won't share because I haven't finished the goddamn draft for yet and as such haven't published.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Under the Wave

Primordial Awakenings

Whispers Within

Honey and Lemon

Primordial Awakenings - Deleted Scenes

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

Yes, always, and I try to give out as much as the commenter puts in. So an emoji gets an emoji, a paragraph gets a paragraph, a short essay gets an essay, etc. I do this because I think it's nice balanced response policy and I don't want to overwhelm readers who sent a short sentence of approval with a wall of text over how I think they're great (even though they are, in fact, quite great.)

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

🤔Under the Sun: The White Rabbit.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Whispers Within.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not directly, certainly not in the comments of a fic. I know my ships and blorbos are not popular with everyone, but honestly this is how it's always been. I typically like writing the weirdos and cardboard cutout characters who get/got treated dirty in canon.

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

Yes I do now. I put it off for a long time because I wasn't confident writing it enough to share it publicly, but I started publishing that kind of thing last year in attempt to Get Good.

It's essentially a personal exercise routine, highly recommend this to anyone struggling with a particular element of writing. Obviously it doesn't have to be even remotely spicy, I know not everyone is comfortable writing that kind of thing and I certainly expect anyone to read mine. It's just I was struggling with interpersonal physical interactions, choreography if you will, and the easiest way to practice these was either smut or combat scenes, and combat scenes seemed kind of a massive downer.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

To the best of my knowledge, I have never in my life written a crossover, nor do I currently have any wish to. The absolute closest has gotta be including a lot of OCs to fill roles that aren't quite filled in the canon cast, which as we all know is not quite the same. Full respect to our troops in the crossover trenches, I just don't think I have a brain that works like that.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I've definitely had art stolen (rip that one cute gnome PC I did for a friend), but never a fic... to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No but I've had my grammar and spelling corrected once or twice when I attempted a language I am not fluent in and made mistakes. (I owe you my life.)

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

I have co-written before, back in the day, and I'm not taking about rp forums but the dark fantasy/sci-fi writing project I shared as a teen with my brother and friend at the time. For fic specifically I've only beta'd.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

As a polyamorous multishipper this is a homophobic question. There's room on my top shelf for as many I want. 🤔 Many are Morticia and Gomez Addams shaped, or whatever the fuck was happening in The Road to El Dorado shaped, one has to admit.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

Eugh probably The Homework Squad (a ToA fic with multiple PoV about Strickler's time as a teacher before he left that position.) Maybe I'll get to it one day, but I have so many other fics I'd much rather be working on now.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I've been told that I am very good at character voices and dialogue, and that I have the ability to control the tension of any given scene with pinpoint accuracy and twist the mood like a knife in the reader's heart without it seeming unnatural. This might be my dark fantasy background coming to the surface, ngl.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

These are such things that gets mentioned less in feedback because it would be a dick mood unprompted, but speaking as someone with no beta beyond myself and an ereader, I know that sometimes my prose can be stiff and awkward, and my sentences err towards the unwieldy to the point that reading aloud can be difficult.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Sometimes different languages can be important to the plot and characterisation, and in these cases I do write dialogue in other languages but also include translation RIGHT THERE for the readers instead of clumped down at bottom notes of the chapter.

Otherwise I will include a helpful little note in the dialogue tag to indicate if the speaker has switched languages.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Tales of Arcadia.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

It's probably Primordial Awakenings, but again I still have a soft spot for Whispers Within, and most if not all of my fics really. I pour a lot of myself into my fics, so they represent not just the fic themselves, but the particular time in my life when I was writing them.

[taddymason]

-20 asks for Fic Writers-

Thanks for the tag @rainofthetwilight!

Tags: @tik-ket and @fanficmaniatic and any fic writer that wants to do this!!

1.How many works do you have on AO3?

I have 5!

2. What's your total AO3 wordcount?

154,728

3. What fandom(s) do you write for?

For now, just Ninjago, but maybe I'll do some ATLA or BB in the future

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Stormbound: 406 kudos (I still can't believe it)

Everything I think I Know it's just static on the radio: 137 kudos

Lightning Pin: also 137 kudos

Let the poison bleed out of me: 60 kudos

Spirits in the sky: 19 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments?

YESS Almost always, I don't always know what to answer, so there are some that I don't answer, but I love each one of them.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angiest ending?

Eh, Let the poison bleed out of me… because Jay dies there so

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of the ones I write end with a bittersweet ending but I think it would definitely be Spirits in the sky! I actually really love the amount of fluff that that one has

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nop

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

No but... I mean, maybe in the future I will idk kdjd

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No, but I've been thinking for a while about doing one of Ninjago and Back to the Future. Simply because it's canon that lightning masters can time travel.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

As far as I know, no

12. What's the longest time you've spent working on a fic? And what's the shortest?

Stormbound: I think I spent about a year planning the whole story (?) and it took me about seven months to write it all. I swear that fic was one of the ones I'd been wanting to write for the longest time.

Home: I made that fic and the illustration in less than two hours.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Nop, but i’d be interested!

14. What's your all time favourite ship? From all the fandoms?

HiccupxAstrid from httyd

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The second part of Stormbound. I started making some drafts for some one shots, but a long time ago I decided that this fic didn't need a continuation. I think the ending is quite conclusive so I doubt I'll continue it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Describe the feelings of characters. I really like replacing dialogue of the characters saying what they feel with simple descriptions and leaving various things implied for the reader. Show instead of tell, I have received very good comments about it.

17. What are your writing weaknessess?

Action scenes. I'm still trying to make them more dynamic and not dwell too much on the descriptions.

And I don't know if it counts but... correct any spelling mistakes because english is not my first language, so every time I reread one of my fics and see some small spelling mistake, a part of me dies.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I haven't tried it yet, but maybe in the future!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Ninjago

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Everything I think I Know it's just static on the radio

I'm still proud of that fic and I think it was one of the ones that made me most sure to plan everything in advance and that there was some symmetry in the chapters.

-

[tss-storytime]

Hi!! I’ve done very few Big Bangs before, and I want to sign up as a beta, but I’m not sure what the different types you listed there mean?

Thank you so much for the Ask! That's an excellent question! There's also not a hard-and-fast rule here and writers and beta readers check in with each other in the request-a-beta channel, too, before partnering up because both beta reader and writer needs can evolve over the course of the event.

SPAG: Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar Someone who will take a red pen to a typically mostly-finished work and hunt down/correct issues with syntax, grammar, spelling, etc.

Developmental: A Rubber Duck Plus Editor Close to an Editor role once the writer's got some words to the page, may recommend major changes to story structure, plot, etc. Can also help while the ideas are still forming (a lot of the time, both.) Usually also someone who enjoys writing, but not required.

Characterization: Checks for consistent characterization (either within canon or simply within the universe the writer has crafted)

Cheerleader: Someone to drop into writer's WIP with those "oml, I love this part!" kind of comments that keep writers going. Big Bang stories can be a slog (15k is the minimum word count, and usually by the time you have an idea that large, it wants more words.) :D It helps sooo much to have someone playing tappy-tappy, excited for the next draft.

[memento-morianon]

Happy STS! Who is your favorite antagonist to write? What makes them so special? (Also, bonus question, would you give them a Disney villain song? Which one?)

aha, see thing is, I don't actually have any proper antagonists/villains in my stories. there are some vague figures who have done or are doing bad things. Morianon's abusive parental figure from early childhood, who died in the hurricane. some terrible politicians in another country neighboring the main setting country. that sort of thing. I haven't had a chance to write any of them yet and flesh out who they are and what they're doing. (the terrible politicians will be important for book 3, so i ought to flesh them out)

the closest thing I have to an antagonist in the first book is actually the personification of Death itself. I wouldn't call them a villain, but they are the source of some very big struggles for Morianon and he is justifiably angry and annoyed at them for it. Death is fun to write as a character, though it will be a while before they actually show up on page!

I'm kinda keeping their presence a secret until the climax of book 1, having Morianon finally tell his wife Evarin about them and the problems he has because of them. It's not easy to tell other people your soul is all tangled up with Death, who is an immortal being but not any of the particular deities your local cultures view as death gods.

and since I'm still working on and posting my WIP draft, I'll just put the extra details under a cut for spoiler reasons.

I don't think I would give Death a villain song, but I could see them having some solo numbers if this was a musical. maybe have a leitmotif for them anytime they're secretly present in a scene (like when the old orc He-esh dies, Death's leitmotif would be there quietly beneath Evarin's song)

they could have a solo number after their reveal, explaining their identity to the audience. and an argument duet with Morianon. that would be a lot of fun.

Death has been around so long, they often try to tell jokes that no longer make sense. they're socially awkward, moody, and a little pathetic. Morianon owes his very life to them, but he hates them for it. He's alive, sure, and he loves the life he has gained as a result. but Death only prevented him from dying, they're not the rescuers and doctors and adoption organizers who ensured his full recovery and placed him with a good family. Death's manner of saving his life also did irreparable harm to his soul. he can't interact with magic the way most people do. and the reason Death saved him was a petty, selfish, impulsive action done with no thought for the future of the poor dying half-quetzalin boy.

though the offer Death has made him in their attempt to right things without killing him is certainly a tempting one. (it's not great to deny a dying child the mercy of release, tangling their soul in a power they can't handle. but it would be undeniably worse to then correct the matter by murdering the child after you prevented their death.)

unfortunately, the nature of the spell Death used (forbidden and lost to mortal memory) means Morianon's soul is stuck to Death's and cannot be released unless Death personally kills him. the most normal option he has is just to live to old age and then let Death finish him off so he might have a chance at a normal afterlife. if he dies by any other means before that, even Death doesn't know what would happen to his soul.

(image description: an entity whose body resembles a heavy cloak of fur and feathers, with a gold collar at the top. Above the collar, a canine skull is floating. There are ragged lines etched beneath its eye socket, and a few smaller decorative lines along the top of the skull. it is also wearing a plume of feathers attached to the back of the skull. end description.)

[hillvalleywrites]

1, 12, 17, and 19 for the writing ask game!

1. The last sentence you wrote

'Thomas, why do you do this to yourself?'

12. A trope you're really into right now

I'm obsessed with time loops. It's a rigid mechanic that contains amazing flexibility. They're about how people can change and about how people can resist change at all cost. They're about hope and futility. They're about how you make your own bed and about how powerless you feel to control how you move through the world. I've always loved them but I read an incredible Death Note fic about two months ago that's had my brain buzzing about them ever since.I explored something time loop-esque with I Just Can't Stay Here Every Yesterday, but I'd love to write a true time loop fic.

17. Talk about your writing and editing process

My writing process can definitely vary depending on the project, and also my mental health/state of mind whilst I'm writing it. For a longfic, though, I like to loosely plan each chapter (I use flashcards for this, a few bullet points on each one), to get a shape of the overall structure of the story and the key points of each character arc. From there, I start writing. I like to write chronologically, so that I'm not tempted to skip straight to the parts that excite me most and leave myself filling in all the 'functional' gaps later. However, I also like to give myself a bit of flexibility, so if I feel like there's a scene I'm really really drawn to in that moment and it's crowding out the scene I'm meant to be writing, I'll write that one instead. Depending on how I'm feeling that day (I struggle with agoraphobia), I either write at home in silence, or I'll go to a cafe/bookshop and write there, using the people around me as ambient noise. Usually as I work through a draft, I'll have more ideas for the later half of the work, and I'll add any more ideas to the flashcards or flesh out existing ones to come back to later. I'm most productive when I write every day and set myself word goals. For example, with my current WIP, I wrote ~33,000 words in six weeks by being consistent with it. However, my mental health in the six weeks since then has been...awful...and I haven't written anything. But I'm finally in a place where I'm ready and excited to get back to it and finish this draft. I only have two chapters to go!

With editing, I like to have a full first draft of the entire fic before I start editing. I make a copy of the draft and change the font (my first drafts are in calibri, second in times new roman, third + beyond in arial). Then I read the draft in full and write, on paper, some notes about how I feel the pacing, structure, and character arc play out over the fic. Does it feel fast? Slow? Where does it drag? Are there any points where I don't believe the characters' decision-making is convincing? Are there any threads that feel dropped or unresolved? I leave comments for myself on the draft and turn track changes on. Then I use the search function to find all the words I tend to overuse: 'just', 'felt', 'turned', 'looked', 'breathed', stuff like that. I consider the sentences where I find them and ask myself: are they necessary (usually not). I mark them up too, then go back and begin the process of rewriting sentences and fixing any structural and pacing issues. At this point, I'll send it to my beta (if I'm using a beta). Then I go through all their suggestions and make the corrections I want to make, and disregard the ones I don't think are useful. Before I upload a chapter, I'll do a final pass, checking for punctuation, spelling, and other minor copyedits. I like this process because it's very thorough and produces, I think, the best version of my work, but it's also hard because no-one is reading it until a very late stage in the process. I've toyed with the idea of editing and uploading the first chapter of my current WIP so many times because I hope the positive reinforcement would push me to actually finish it, and would maybe be a boost to my mental health. So idk, I might break my own rules.

19. The most interesting topic you've researched for a fic

My fics don't tend to require large amounts of research - I didn't have to research wedding planning that much for this WIP, for example, because I've been heavily involved in wedding planning a couple of times in my life. Most of what I research is location-based, so for I Just Can't Stay Here Every Yesterday, I spent a lot of time on Google Earth in Cicero (Indiana), El Paso (Texas), and Palo Alto (California), because I've never been to any of those places. I'm really interested in both dreams and memory, so I researched more about the science of them both for IJCSHEY (although, the science of dreams is elusive).

I also enjoyed researching more about Romantic literature for my current WIP. In it, Thomas is writing a PhD about water in Romantic literature, so I wanted to read a little of what I imagined he would have read in order to write it (although none of that made it into the actual fic).

Thank you for the ask! :)

[glorious-blackout]

Writing tag game

I was tagged by @elorianna @alexxturner-me-on and @lanatural-books - thank you! 🥰💖

How many works do you have on Ao3?

I have 54 works on AO3 and 73 on FFNet (though there’s a lot of crossover between the two). I’ve been at it for ten years now so the list of fandoms is broad to say the least...

What's your total Ao3 word count?

479558... I have a feeling my current WIP might push that over 500,000 🤯

What're your top 5 fics by kudos?

Watch Our Souls Fade Away  (Infinity War/Guardians of the Galaxy)

Silence is Golden (Guardians of the Galaxy)

What Might Have Been (Coco)

A Father’s Pride (Guardians of the Galaxy)

Way Down We Go (Guardians of the Galaxy)

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! I always aim to say a quick thank you at the very least, because it always takes me aback when someone says something nice about my work. If I’m particularly busy or if there’s an overwhelming number of comments, I’ll at the very least leave a massive thank-you in the notes to everyone who commented 💜

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

God, I was such an angst junkie in my teens that I could give you at least ten examples. I’ve abused the Major Character Death/Tragedy tags often enough in my time... Of the ones I can actually remember, We Are The Universe is possibly the bleakest overall.

You’ve Always Been Here should be an honourable mention, considering the implications of that ending were so grim, I had to write a 38,000 word fix-it to make myself feel better 😅

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

Most of my The Martian fics had nice, light-hearted endings. I also had a series called ‘Brothers in Arms’ based on the friendship between Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes which ended with them as bickering old men, which is still an image I’m very fond of.  

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've written?

I’ve only written one (technically two but they’re part of the same series) which is You’ve Always Been Here. I guess it counts as crazy considering it was wildly self-indulgent and is more a crossover between two albums as opposed to the two bands (Muse and Arctic Monkeys) involved!

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not hate necessarily, but occasional comments that have rubbed me up the wrong way or left me feeling a bit deflated. One example I can think of is someone who read seven chapters of my story and the only comment they could offer was ‘I don’t like that (insert random event) happened, I would have preferred it another way’. Or you occasionally get people who only comment to nitpick on one typo in a 1000+ word story and offer no other feedback whatsoever.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nope! I can handle reading it regardless of the genders involved, but I am far too much of a blushing lesbian to ever write it for most of my favourite ships 😂 

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge - I've had a couple reposted to other sites but they usually credit me.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I’ve had a couple translated into Cantonese, and I stumbled upon a Thai translation of one of my stories once (they didn’t ask for permission but I was credited, so I just found it really cool).

What's your all time favourite ship?

Not sure I have an all-time favourite, but Milex currently own my heart. 

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

Thankfully the only unfinished WIP on my plate is one I definitely intend to finish! Still at the first draft/basic editing stage though so we’ll see 😉

What are your writing strengths?

I’m terrible at judging my own writing, but I think I’m pretty good at introspective character writing and I have a weird knack for emotional/intense scenes. 

What are your writing weaknesses?

Too many to count. I’m absolutely terrible when it comes to wordy, run-on sentences. Especially with unedited first drafts - I could honestly put Charles Dickens to shame. I’m also pretty naff at dialogue, which is why I prefer writing moody introspective stuff. 

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

I've incorporated occasional words in dialogue but never full lines, and only after ensuring I had the correct spelling/definitions. I probably wouldn’t be brave enough to do full lines of dialogue in another language.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

My first ever fic was a Muse one which has long since been deleted. Weirdly it took me nine years to write for them again, though they’ve been an inspiration more times than I can count. 

What's your favourite fic you've written?

I’m torn between ‘You’ve Always Been Here’ and ‘Watch Our Souls Fade Away’ and in both cases it’s more because of the enormous fun I had during the writing process than the quality of the fics themselves. I think the former is the better written of the two, but I’ll always be proud of the latter. The response it got was incredibly overwhelming at the time and I still can’t believe that a story centered around Nebula got so much love and attention. 

Also whenever I look back on it, I’m astounded that I managed to write a 60,000 word story within the space of about 3 weeks. I want that motivation back...

I think most of my writer friends have already been tagged (except @rock-n-roll-fantasy  but I don’t think you have an AO3!), but feel free to join in if you’d like a go 🥰

[p-and-p-admin]

Interview given to The Severus Snape and Hermione Granger Shipping Fan Group.  (sharing here Admin approved)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/199718373383293/

Hello Ciule and welcome to Behind the Quill, thank-you for sitting down with us for a chat.

SS/HG readers might be familiar with your stories “Awkward” and “Headmaster’s Wife”. 

Okay, let’s jump right in. What's the story behind your pen name? Well, I sort of took one of my real names, swirled the letters around in the air with my imaginary wand, and I ended up with this. Can’t begin to imagine where I got the idea from... ;-) Later on, I realized that Ciule is actually a name in Romania. I had no idea, but there are people out there carrying this name for real. I guess I’m #sorrynotsorry?   Which Harry Potter character do you identify with the most? To be quite frank: No one, really. This is more about the characters I like, than truly identifying with them. I can relate to parts of some of them, but not the whole package. Primarily, I write about Hermione, Voldemort and Severus, and the one common thread between those three is the search for knowledge. That’s a trait I can identify with, but I’m neither an evil bastard, a grumpy protector nor a fretting, intelligent activist. I am, however, a swot. If you had asked who I’d want to be, the answer is clear. I want to be Albus Dumbledore. Though I can’t agree with the things he did, I feel absolutely certain that he’s the one who has the most fun during the books. I want to have that twinkling fun in face of absolute chaos.   Do you have a favourite genre to read (not in fic, just in general)? Fantasy! Definitely fantasy. While growing up, I read ‘everything’ in every genre, and in my twenties, I decided I’d spend my time reading what I loved the most. So, fantasy it is. Do you have a favourite "classic" novel? You landed me in an existential crisis right there. I mean, there’s so many to choose from! ‘Wuthering Heights’, I think. It hurts so good. Or maybe ‘Rebecca’, at least, I loved that when I was younger. Or the fairly obscure ‘Lorna Doone.’ When I was a kid, I wanted to be a film director, shooting Lorna Doone into an epic film. Oh well, there might be a theme in this selection of books which reflects in my writing… At what age did you start writing? The creative process has gone on since forever. I’ve told myself thousands of stories in my head, but rarely written anything down. At the age of ten, I had a co-writing project with one of my friends. We created this secret room in her basement, and painstakingly wrote a ‘novel’. It was fun, though the writing ended as it became too cold down in the basement during winter. How did you get into writing fanfiction? In 2009, I became completely obsessed with a TV-show in the last episode. I was watching the entire series, casually enjoying the murder mystery, and in the last episode, the villain said: “I can do the math,” and I was literally gone. That obsession sparked writing my first fanfic stories. Those stories are still on FFnet, but they aren’t any good. *shrugs* What's the best theme you've ever come across in a fic? Is it a theme represented in your own works? Compromise. The world isn’t a perfect place, and will never be. You can, however, make it more to your liking. It may not be perfect, but if you play the cards you are dealt, you might improve something. In Robert Jordan’s “the Wheel of Time”-series, one of the characters goes through a test in a parallel universe of sorts, and she thinks: “The world was not what she wanted, not anywhere near it.” I loved that: trying your best to make things as you want them to be in the face of dangers and difficulties.   And then there’s time travel! I love messing with time, and there are so many great Time-travelling fics. Plus, I have to say I have a certain love for the villains...   What fandoms are you involved in other than Harry Potter? Currently, I’m not writing for any other fandoms. I read Star Wars, GoT, POTO and LOTR, and in the past I read Smallville. Though it’s more of a type of ship for me, because I only read Reylo, SanSan, Erik/ Christine, Lex/Lana and ….drum roll… the extremely small and quite oddball ship of Eowyn/ Grìma Wormtongue. If you’ve never tried the last one, go search for the fantastic stories by auri_mynonys. If you could make one change to canon, what would it be? Do you have a favourite piece of fanon? One change: duh, that’s easy, isn’t it? Severus lives. Or, maybe Dumbledore acting more rational, not keeping so many secrets. Maybe telling McGonagall that Severus is on the Order’s side… (Interviewer is laughing - ”NOT so easy”) I do write Voldemort wins AUs, but I wouldn’t want canon Voldemort to win. I prefer him to be more sane than in canon. My absolute favourite piece of fanon has to be the Black library. I thought it was canon, but it’s not. This is a thing that really, really should exist in canon! Do you listen to music when you write or do you prefer quiet? I’m very much inspired by music, and sometimes I listen as I write, but not always. Some fics are heavily inspired by music, such as ‘Absence’ and the last epilogue to ‘The Manipulation of Time and Matter’. What are your favourite fanfictions of all time? Definitely ‘Two Steps from Hell,’ by the amazing Ssserpensssotia, but that’s a Volmione. This was such a wild ride, I felt like I was on the edge of my seat, holding my breath the entire time. Those twists and turns were so unpredictable and … Well, I’m in awe. The SS/HG fandom is so massive, there’s a plethora of great stories out there. The unfinished ‘Self-Slain Gods on Strange Altars’ is a wonderful story by scumblackentropy, and I love Slytherpoufs stories, especially the wip ‘Ghosts’, but also ‘Angels to Fly’. And then there’s the one that got away - it means, I can’t find it. In this story, Severus watches the thestrals, befriending one of them, I think, but they’re unpredictable and maybe even dangerous. He’s heartbroken, and knows how it all will go down, having bitterly accepted his role. It made me cry. And then there’s the works by Aurette, and lena1987, Subversa, Kittenshift… Are you a plotter or a pantser? How does that affect your writing process? I need (strike that: want) to draft the entire story before I post, to have some idea on how it goes. That makes it easier to write, but if it’s a long story, I’m happy as long as I know the general direction. This year, I finished a story that was on an unintended hiatus for two years, and I think part of my problem on getting back into writing it up was a too vague idea for the ending.   What is your writing genre of choice? Uh. I don’t know? Basically, you could argue that I’m a porn writer, or at least it’s fuelled by sexual tension and angst. So, romance or drama, bordering on erotica might be correct. To be frank, I haven’t really thought about categories after I started posting on AO3. Which of your stories are you most proud of? Why? Hard to say. I might go with “the Manipulation of Time and Matter,” because I think it’s the best plot I’ve created. Besides, I managed to write Hermione having a relationship with both Severus and Voldemort in the same fic. My favourite “clean” SSHG would be the short story ‘Grimmauld’. Did it unfold as you imagined it or did you find the unexpected cropped up as you wrote? What did you learn from writing it? In Grimmauld, the house became a character. That was unexpected, and not something I had planned from the beginning. So the lesson would be “don’t start posting until you know what’s going to happen.” Or else, this story might have turned out very much different. I had to throw in a little made-up lore on how you set blood wards on a house too to make it sentient. That proved to be a quite chilling piece of magic.   How personal is the story to you, and do you think that made it harder or easier to write? I love old houses. Exploring abandoned houses, going inside to see what remains of furniture, tapestries and everything is so exciting. (It can also be dangerous, but that’s another matter). Such houses makes me feel .. nostalgic, plus I get those nice little shivers down your spine that is a little like a horror story. So, I wanted to use Grimmauld as a setting to explore that in a fic, to really dig into the aching loneliness of a lost house. The story came very quickly to me, so I guess that helped me.   What books or authors have influenced you? How do you think that shows in your writing? Big question there. Hmm, I think … it’s hard to say. I’m a reader, really, and I couldn’t easily pick apart any influences. Though I have to say that one of the things I enjoyed when reading ‘Two Steps From Hell’ was the attention to magic. I think it’s important to include spells, rituals and the use of magic in my fics, because that’s what sets it apart from a Muggle AU, for example. That’s an important part of the world-building.   Do people in your everyday life know you write fanfiction? My significant other knows. I didn’t tell him, but he found out for himself, probably by spying on me. When he told me, I almost couldn’t stop laughing, because he… erm, he said he had thought about reenacting a scene in my PWP ‘Twenty Points to Gryffindor’, where Severus shouts the title as he… well… you get the gist. If he had done that, I’d have had a heart attack. I would literally be dead. Instead, I laughed non stop for an hour.   How true for you is the notion of "writing for yourself"? Haha, so true. You spend all those hours in front of your laptop - and if I wasn't motivated by doing it for myself, I can’t even see how I’d force myself through all those hours. It’s fun, though. I do this because I love it.   How important is it for you to interact with your audience? How do you engage with them? Just at the point of publishing? Through social media? Very important. I'm on the publishing sites (visible interaction is why I prefer AO3 instead of FFnet) and on Facebook, mainly. I love feedback (as all authors do), and when people form theories or make comments, I get an insight into my own writing. I know how it’s going to pan out, but the audience doesn’t, and how they perceive things might be different from how I think it is. At times, it influences how I go forward, mostly because I need to add things, to explain what’s going on. What is the best advice you've received about writing? Don’t post until you know the ending, and remember: the devil on your left shoulder will be at war with the angel on the right side. Listen to the angel telling you to wait a little longer, and not to the devil chanting: ‘Post, post, post!’ In the end, of course, you’ll give in to the devil, regretting it until you’re done. What do you do when you hit writer's block? Read. Read a lot. And read some more. Has anything in real life trickled down into your writing? Certainly. I’m a foodie. For example, everything that Voldemort eats is stuff I love. His food habits are primarily mine, and I love cooking.   Do you have any stories in the works? Can you give us a teaser? It’s a short piece, maybe three or four chapters, with the title ‘Transference’. The point of departure from canon is during their time in the tent at DH. Hermione wakes up in a bed, in a room she doesn’t recognize, having no idea where she is, but she spots a large, moving picture on the drawer:  Feeling panic rising, she stared hard at the moving and smiling pictures, and her heart leapt into her throat, pulse hammering as she recognized herself in the largest picture. A slightly older Hermione, in a white wedding dress, kissing and laughing at someone who simply had to be a much younger Severus Snape. It had to be him: Long black hair, hooked nose, sallow skin - but then he looked so young, carefree and happy - expressions she had never seen on her dour Professor's face. Beside the picture, there were numerous cards, greetings and well-wishings for their wedding - the date an impossible 21 August 1982, and amongst the cards, the largest one stood out, the black ink showing an elegant handwriting: “Dear Hermione and Severus! Best wishes for your wedding, Lord Voldemort.” Any words of encouragement to other writers? Read and write, in that order. Don’t worry about trolls, because when you contribute something that you created, it makes you so much more than people spending their time just raining on anyone’s parade. You brought something new to the world, they’re just reacting to things. If someone accuses you of a self-insert, go ahead and lecture them on the intentional fallacy. I promise, you won’t regret looking it up. ;-)   And please, mind the normal physical limits when you’re writing smut. Unless you give the male a stamina potion or put him under the Imperius, it’s unlikely that his refractory period allows him to come five times in one hour. Realistic smut is so much more sexy, lol. Thanks again for speaking with us Ciule.

[the-prophet-lemonade]

i adore your writing and you inspire me to improve myself, which leads me to my question: what's your writing process like? i've noticed that you usually double the length of a chapter as you edit, do you leave scenes out and return to them later (when editing)? and also, i've noticed that you switch text colours as you write, is that helpful? or do you have any other tips or tricks you use that help you write? i'd love to learn more about your technique, if you don't mind sharing. 💕

i don’t really know if i have a ~process~ because i feel i do something different for each fic i write! 

with A Cold Night, i did something i’ve never done before: pre-write the entire fic from beginning to end. i spent all of 2018 drafting this fic without publishing a single word, and it has helped me a lot, as something i struggle with when it comes to multichap fics is losing steam half-way through a wip

so, i spent 11 months writing the whole story, and now i have all the drafts stored safely in my google docs and once a month i pull out one chapter’s worth of material and spend the month editing and polishing it (which sometimes takes a lot of polish because these drafts were written over a year ago now!)

for the last few years, i’ve been a big proponent of not writing a story chronologically. for some people, this does not work at all, and you do need to be very careful that you still allow a character to grow organically if you’re jumping back and forth in your character’s journey. however, for me, i like writing based on whichever scene i want to write next, and then going back and filling in the gaps later. this is also the reason my drafts are full of multi-coloured text - every time i sit down and write, i colour code that “session” with text colour, just so i can visually see where there are gaps and where certain scenes start and fnish (especially useful when my individual documents are super long and it takes ages to find certain things in them lol) 

editing, for me, is a very in depth process, which i know differs for a lot of people. i’ve known fic writers who edit as they go, and i’ve known other writers to let their edit just be a quick one-hour skim before they publish, but i just can’t do that. i probably spend longer editing than actually writing, but that’s entirely down to my personal style as a writer: i like layers, symbolism, foreshadowing, and syntax. the syntax element is especially important as i will fuss over paragraphs for hours just so i can get the rhythm and sound of the words correct and evocative of the mood i’m after (i read most things aloud to check sentences sound good and are audibly symmetrical and balanced, for example). 

i also tend to leave a lot of gaps in my drafts - as you mentioned - so editing sometimes involves finishing scenes i never originally finished, adding in scenes i realise subsequently that i need to flesh out the pacing ... and this is why i tend to double my word counts when editing! i’m very much of the mindset that a first draft should just be “get the words on the page” even if it’s only the bare bones of an idea, and then you can come back later, view the words with fresh eyes and with the hindsight of the whole chapter, and make better edits. 

once i’ve done a content edit, i will usually go back through a draft again to do a technical edit, which is where i shoot rogue adverbs and get ride of passive voice and unnecessary commas and fix my terrible spelling lmfao 

hope that answers your questions! i do have a writing tag on my blog which might have some more detailed asks on this topic buried somewhere :D 

[jack-irallie]

Chapter 1 - Lost and Found

Slice of life story about gay couple and their daughter, but whoops the new biology teacher at the daughter's school is an old boyfriend of one of the dads! 

Only the first two chapters are finished (WIP/First Draft), but I’m dying to share, so...

The high school was bustling with activity, from students running around with poster boards and projects to teachers greeting families as they wandered past the booths lining the front walkway and through large double doors. 

In one of the cars that had just arrived and found itself on a curb bordering the main street, a young teenager sprung out, already racing across a patch of grass and toward the parking lot. 

“Hey, where are you going in such a hurry?”

She glanced behind at the voice, one foot already on the concrete. “Can I go practice cheerleading drills with my friends while you guys do all the boring stuff? Please? I told Tiffany I’d meet her over at the basketball courts.”

“And I’m only just hearing about this?”

“I didn’t think you’d care.”

He huffed a sigh as he stepped out of the car. “Only if you promise to meet me back at the front doors at six.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

“Amber.”

She rolled her eyes, but was quick to drop the brattiness for a more genuine attitude. “I will...is dad coming?”

He gave a nod as he pulled out his phone to skim a text that had just popped onto the screen. “Oh, he just left work, actually.”

“When does the…” His voice trailed off before picking up once he had fished a folded up flyer out of his pocket.

Bright, bold word art spelled out ‘Back to School Night’ on the top of the page with a bunch of fine print under that he had to squint with a squint. “Who even makes these things; it doesn’t even have the time.”

Amber stomped over, glancing over his shoulder and almost immediately pointing out what he had missed. “It already started like ten minutes ago, which means I’m late.”

“Hey, I’m not stopping you.” He put his hands up in mock defense as he leaned some of his weight back on the car. “Go have fun with your friends; I’ll be here...well, until your father shows up.”

“Have fun with all the boring teacher stuff,” were her parting words as she turned on a heel and rushed towards the school.

“Love you too.” He replied with light sarcasm as he unlocked his phone, scrolling through the contacts until he clicked on ‘Richard’ and hit call. 

A few rings later, and a voice slightly muffled by the sound of traffic picked up. “Hey, I was just about to call. Almost there.”

“How was work?”

“Eh, same old stuff. Got some good tips.” A swell of music started to overtake the call, but it was promptly turned down a few notches. “I can meet you inside if you want.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m just out here in the cold; I’ll be fine.”

Richard chuckled. “You poor dear; made the mistake of wearing shorts again?”

“I can’t help if the weather is so inconsistent.” He grumbled, just getting more soft laughter that turned out to be quite contagious. “Know you’d never make that mistake, with your life all together and shit.”

“It’s not that hard to know not to wear shorts in September, darling. I’m sure it’ll be warmer inside. But um...I’m just around the corner, so I’m going to let you go.”

“Yeah…see you in a sec.” 

There were even less parking than there was prior, but a quite ordinary blue sedan found a spot across the street; Richard quickly got out to rush past a horde of cars that were still on the hunt for a place to park.

“Grant...you really did wait out here for me; you must be freezing.” He muttered as he stepped up onto the curb and slipped out of his jacket to drape it on his boyfriend. 

“No use going in and awkwardly standing in the hall.” He shrugged it off like it was no big deal, but was obviously grateful for the warmth, which only grew as they started to walk and Richard slipped a casual arm over his shoulders. 

“Where’s Amber?”

“Ran off to practice cheerleading with her friends.” He answered as they weaved between impatient drivers and the shrubbery that lined each row of the parking lot. “I don’t think she has to come in with us?”

Richard gave a lax shrug, though he swiftly put his arm out when a car whizzed by them only to pull into a parking spot a couple dozen feet away. 

He muttered an obscenity under his breath, relieved when they finally reached the school’s sidewalk. “I swear; you think people would be more careful with kids around.”

Grant gave a long sigh as he patted the other’s back. “You okay? You seem a bit tense tonight.”

“Me? Yeah; I’m fine.” He looked down at himself, adjusting his turtleneck and thumbing away a leaf that had blown over and stuck to the fabric. “I just hate how people are looking at us...at you. Wish I could give them a piece of my mind.’

“We are kind of the token gay couple here, huh?” He joked as he glanced around at the sea of straight parents. And, leaning in to whisper, he added, “Fuck em’; Amber is doing great and that’s all that matters.”

That got a chuckle out of Richard. “You’re right.”

Before their conversation could continue, a cheery lady behind a colorful booth was ushering them over. “Hello! Are you here for back to school night?”

“Yeah, Grant Miller; my daughter is a freshman here.” He approached the counter, putting a hand out for a shake before noticing a sign in sheet that he scribbled his and Richard’s names onto. 

“Wonderful, what’s her name?”

“Amber.” He watched as the woman searched through a large folder and pulled out a slip of paper with a list of classes and a simple map. “Ah, thanks; I was just going to ask where we had to go.”

“No problem; have a nice time.” She said, her attention already on a different set of parents. 

“Where to first?” Richard asked, glancing down to skim over the paper. “Sure you know your way around better than me.”

“Probably, but I doubt any of the classes are where I remember them…” Grant muttered as they entered the busy hallway. “Yeah, looks like Biology is in the old English room…Let’s go there first; it’s right down here.”

Past a row of lockers and some more judgemental side eyes, they came across the correct room number, but took pause at the name plate hanging below it as they continued inside.

A man in a lab coat turned on his heel at the sound of the creaking door, giving a warm, inviting smile. “Let me guess; the name on the slip is different than the one on the sign? I just took over a few days ago and...it’s a long story.”

Richard peeked back at the correct sign for a moment before putting his hand out to the teacher. “Well, it’s lovely to meet you Mr.Moore.”

“Likewise.”

“Alan?”

The teacher’s demeanor shifted at Grant’s questioning, causing him to squint his eyes in thought before they went wide with realization. Though, he was quick to dart them towards the ground as he adjusted his glasses. “You look quite different with facial hair; I almost didn’t recognize you. You’re daughter is Amber Miller, correct? I’ll go grab her folder.”

Richard glanced between them before he turned to his partner with a hushed voice. “Is he an old boyfriend of yours?”

“Heh...is it obvious?” 

“A little; I can handle this if-”

“No, no; I’m fine.” Grant cut in before the other could continue. “I just wasn’t expecting to see him here of all places.”

“So...oh, yes, Amber.” Alan mumbled as he pulled a few papers out to slide across the table. “She seems like a very bright student, got a ninety-nine on her first big test when the average was closer to eighty.”

“Wonderful.” Richard said as he sat down and skimmed through some of the other assignments, all which had high marks. “She’s always been a pretty good student.”

“Yeah…” Although Grant was happy that his daughter was doing well, there were obviously other things still eating away at his mind. “What are you doing back here, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Oh, they offered me a higher pay than the other high schools in the area; wanted their ‘star pupil’ back.” He chuckled with a slant of self deprecation, clearing his throat before continuing. “I thought you would’ve gotten out of this town by now; I’m surprised to see you here.”

“I uh...I did for awhile, but I’m glad to be back. It’s been a wonderful town for us to raise Amber in.”

“Ah, so you are a couple; I was about to ask. I actually got married awhile back; this year is my fifteenth anniversary.”

Grant leaned in with a delighted smile. “Oh? And who’s the lucky man?”

Alan simply spun a frame around that had been previously facing him with a picture of a bride and groom smiling cheesily for the camera before going back to some paperwork. “It’s was lovely to see you and your husband; I hope your daughter enjoys my class.”

“We aren’t…” But his voice petered out as his mind filled with a growing list of questions that he tried to push aside. “It was nice to see you too, Alan.”

The silence that followed was their cue to leave, and after a couple of awkward seconds, Grant grabbed his daughter’s work and stood back up. 

Though, just as the couple reached the door, Alan spoke up once more. “Wait...I’m sorry.” He said as he hurried over with a tired smile. “Seeing you just put a lot on my mind, and…”

“Hey, I get it. Me too; don’t sweat it.”

The old friends stared at each other for a moment, Alan speaking up first as he nervously stumbled over his words. “You know...my wife and I were going to go to see a movie tonight; you and your husband are more than welcome to join us.”

“We are only dating at the moment.” Richard added. “But that sounds lovely. Long as you’re okay with that, dear.”

Grant gave a nod as he pulled out his cellphone. “Why not; might be nice to catch up. What time?”

But, even after the conversation had ended positively, with the couple leaving for the hallway after exchanging information, Grant was hit with the reality of what had just happened and made a beeline outside. 

It was much calmer than the bustling hallway, though a cold wind made him cross his arms to rub them for warmth. “I’m sorry; I just...I needed a breather.”

Richard was right by his side, patting his back for comfort. “We don’t have to-”

“I want to.” Grant assured forcefully as his eyes darted up to his partner’s, but were quick to fall to the ground. “I just didn’t think back to school night was going to make me feel emotional.”

“Aw, hon…” He sneaked a quick kiss on the cheek, pulling his boyfriend into a side hug. “Go wait in the car; I’ll handle the rest of it, okay?”

“But…”

“I insist. I’m sure the rest of it will be super boring anyway.”

The genuine smile from his partner lulled Grant into a calmer state as he leaned into the hug. “I love you, but you baby me too much.”

Richard laughed at the comment, and they shared teasing looks before he finally pulled away. “Love you too. I’ll see you in a bit.”

After parting, Grant wandered back to the car, plopping down in the front seat and pushing it back to get more comfortable. 

Soft rock filled the space as he rested his eyes and rubbed over them. Part of him was excited to see the man he used to date, but the other...the other was terrified. 

Ignoring his problems, he pulled a sudoku book out of the glove box, zoning out until it was time to leave.

[rosecorcoranwrites]

Editing Advice Part 4: Copyediting

Now that you have checked your WIP for continuity, addressed every plot hole, and finished all rewrites, it's time to put on the final touches by copyediting!

Now, just to be clear, the term "copyediting" usually refers to when an editor, not the writer, reads the manuscript looking for errors, and it actually does include a lot of continuity editing and fact checking. But this series is for writers editing their own work before another soul reads it (regardless of if the work will then be self-published or sent out to agents and editors). It is my belief that, for a writer, continuity editing should come long before the final stage of the editing process. Thus, for our purposes, I'm going to use "copyediting" to refer to correcting errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and other such things.

Obviously, this involves going through your manuscript with a fine-toothed comb, on the lookout for misspellings and typos. However, there are a few items to especially  watch for, roughly broken down into the categories of spelling; grammar, usage, and style; and punctuation, spacing, and everything else.

Spelling

Spelling of made-up or unusual words: If you write fantasy or sci-fi, odds are you're using at least a few words that don't exist in the regular lexicon. Make sure you use consistent spelling for these. This is especially true for different forms of said words. For example, I chose to spell "Lesse" in Lesse's Moor with and "e" at the end, which is easy to remember. Yet, when spelling the adjectival form of that word, I used either an "e" or "a": Lesserian and Lessarian. I had to choose one to use throughout. This goes for non-made-up words as well. "Empyreal" of the Empyreal Palace is a real word (it means celestial), but it's not like I've known how to spell it from my youth, so I still had to double check it every time I came across it to make sure it was spelled correctly.

British vs American spelling: If you spend a lot of time reading books from across the pond, you might have picked up some foreign spellings. As a child, I would always spell "gray" as "grey", because I liked it better, and to this day, that spelling sneaks into my writing from time to time. There are many such words in the English language that you should watch out for.

Hyphens: Make sure that you know which words are hyphenated, and that they are always hyphenated in your manuscript. Pay attention to height and ages: "six-foot tall",  "four-year-old" and so on. Keep consistent for made-up words as well. Will you use "mechano-magical" or "mechanomagical"? Whichever you choose, you have to use that spelling every time.

Homophones and similar words: You might think that this is dumb to mention, since you, of course, know the difference between all the homophones in the world, but that's irrelevant. I know the difference too, yet I mix them up all the time in my writing. Some people picture the spellings of words even as they speak, and I am not one of them. I know the difference between "their", "they're", and "there" like the back of my hand; I still write the wrong one about a third of the time. Why? Because when I write, I'm picturing how the words sound and, moreover, how the scene looks, not how the text will appear on the page. That's what copyediting is for. You can Google lists of commonly misspelled or mixed-up words, or write down your own list if you have certain words you personally get confused.

Grammar, Usage and Style

Subject-verb agreement: By the time you're at this stage of editing, your manuscript is likely a Frankenstein's monster of sewn-together old drafts, and that tends to lead to some weird grammar. Make sure your subjects and verbs agree. That means that if the subject is plural—they, policemen, the dragons, or whatever—the verb has to be one you use on plurals—were, know, have eaten. If the subject is singular—he, a policeman, the dragon—the verbs similarly have to match—was, knows, has eaten. If you're not too keen on grammar, read it out loud and see if it sounds right; even if you don't know all the proper grammatical phraseology, you know English and you'll be able to pick up on errors that you hear.

Writing out numbers or not: Generally speaking, for narrative prose, you should write out the numbers zero through one hundred. For larger numbers, 101 to infinity, you can use numerals, but some guides suggest that numbers ending in two or more zeros should also be written out: two hundred, five million, etc. But I think you can get away with writing out larger numbers as well, like three hundred seventy-three; it looks nicer to me. Whatever you choose to do with larger numbers, stay consistent. Special numbers like years and addresses, however, should be written in numerals: 221 B. Baker Street, 1984, etc.

Capitalization of titles of people: Obviously, if the the title comes right before the persons name, and is thus part of their name, it's capitalized: Queen Delilah, Doctor Mario, Professor Moriarty, President Coolidge. But what about when the title is by itself? Well, it depends on how you're using it. If the title is used to address the person, it's capitalized: "You saved his life, Doctor!" or "Well, Professor, it looks like your theory was wrong." Obviously special title have special addresses which are obviously capitalized: Your Majesty, Mr. President, etc. If, on the other hand, you are talking about the person, or the office in general, it's not (usually) capitalized: "The professor is getting on my nerves!", "That doctor is a quack", "The president has to be an American citizen". However, for certain fancier offices, if you are talking about a particular holder of that office, you do capitalize it. Now, I found a few competing sources on this, but from what I could figure, the only titles that work this way are Pope, King, Queen. Again, you have to be referring to a very specific person to do this: "The Queen has been slain!" "The Pope blessed the travelers". Some sources also said this could be done for the president's of countries, but other said not to, so... I guess pick which way you'll do it an stay consistent.

Punctuation, Spacing, and Everything Else

Extra spaces: Get rid of 'em. This included two spaces after a period (for us old people who learned that that was the correct way to type!) as well as space at the end of paragraphs, between two words, and so on.

Missing punctuation: Don't forget commas after opening phrases like "Well, you see..." or "Of course, I'd never say that," or when separating a name when being addressed: "Are you ok, Constance?". Double check that every paragraph has a period or closing quotation marks; somehow, these seem to disappear on me and I've never figured out why.

Smart quotes, … vs ..., and m-dashes: This is almost getting into formatting territory, but I'm going to include it here anyway. Depending on what word processor you use to write your WIP, there might be some differences in how certain characters are automatically formatted. For example, some programs will turn quotation marks ( " " ) into smart quotes, i.e., one that wrap toward the text and have different opening and closing characters ( “ ” ). Something similar happens to ellipses, which may be typed as three periods (...) but turned into a single character (…). Finally, there is the m-dash, that long dash used in a way similar to a colon. When you type it by itself, it typically looks like two dashes (--), but if you type a letter, then two dashes, then another letter with no spaces between, it turns into a single character (—). I'm in favor of all of these automatic changes, as they look nicer, but depending on where you typed what part of my WIP, they don't always happen. It's a good idea to go though your manuscript and add them in, or set your word processor to change them automatically.

Personal foibles: Finally, know thyself. Are there weird mistakes that you always tend to make? I myself tend not to use question marks (they are a silly punctuation mark and ought not exist!). I have to be careful to check that all of my questions are, in fact, marked as such. Maybe you tend to spell one particular word incorrectly, or are really bad at using commas. Know your weaknesses and make an effort to fix them while writing and catch them while editing.

Tips to Make Life a Little Easier

The greatest tip I can give you is to embrace your Find and Find/Change or Find/Replace functions of your word processor. You'll find these in your edit menu.

Find should be used to check homophones and commonly misspelled words. When editing, I'll Find the word "its" and go through my entire document to check each instance of this word to make sure it should not be "it's". then, I do the reverse, searching every instance of "it's" to make sure it should not be "its". I do this for each of the words that I, personally, confuse. Know thyself; if you never confuse "it's" with "its", don't bother checking it, but if you know that you often confuse "principal" and "principle", use the Find function. You can also use this to Find quotation marks and replace them with smart quotes if your word processor doesn't have the option to replace all quotation marks with smart ones at once.

And then there is my favorite, Find/Change. This should also be found in your edit menu, sometimes with the "Find..." feature and sometimes as a separate "Replace..." option. What Find/Change allows you to do is enter in some word, like, say, "Lessarian" and replace every instance of it with a new word, like "Lesserian". I use this to do a quick fix of made-up words and British to American spellings. I also use this if I have changed character and place names, so that I can replace every instance of, say, "Robert" with "Brother Roberto". It's also useful for catching double spaces, as you can Find "  " (two spaces) and Replace them with " " (one space). You can also replace two dashes with an m-dash or the three-character ellipsis with a single character ellipsis.

And with that, you'll have a sparkly new manuscript, ready for the eyes of agents, publishers, or—should you go the self-published route—your readers. Speaking of which, you self-pub peeps out there might need a bit of advice on formatting and proofreading. I just so happen to have some such advice! But it will take some doing (mostly in the form of screen shots), so that post will have to wait for a while. In the meantime, get to work polishing that manuscript! If you come across some weird editing issue and need particular advice, my email, Facebook messenger, and Tumblr asks and messenger are always open. Happy editing!

[pocket-luv101]

Umm there’s this post abt Hyde and World End arguing abt whose the best eve and you mentioned that you had a WiP abt the servamps arguing abt who had the best eve. Is that posted somewhere or is it still a WiP? If so, good luck!

I did post the intro to this fanfiction [Here].

“The Race of Champions” is still in its draft stage I don’t know why I chose that title when it’s an obstacle course and not a race. It’s a really fun project for me and I wanted to celebrate all the Eves in it. The fanfic’s mostly finish (I have 8/9 of the major scenes finished). 

But I don’t know how long it would take me to finish because of the revisions I might make. 

I have Tsurugi as the Eve of Wrath but I don’t know if I will switch him out if the manga does go with Tinker. I like what I have with Tsurugi so far even though I had to fill in a lot with headcanons (like his Lead, item, etc). While I do want to be faithful to the manga, I’m more attached to Tsurugi than Tinker. I like her but I just think Tsurugi is a better character.

I’m also on the fence on who I should have as Gluttony’s Eve. I’m going back and forth between Shuhei or an OC. I actually wrote three variation of a Gluttony portion of the fanfic and can’t choose which one I like best. 

Aside from those two things, it’s pretty much finished. I did decide to wait until the C3 arc is over to finalize it. But I do have small snippets/previews if you’re interested. 

Power couple Tetsono:

Misono ran as fast as he could so he wouldn’t lose his lead. He needed to find the location of the first obstacle before the others could.He knew that he couldn’t compare to the others in terms of strength of speed. Misono hoped that he could pass the seven obstacles with his strength but he doubted that. If Hugh or Hyde made them, it would likely be designed to show off their Eve’s strengths. 

He swore when he heard footsteps behind him. Misono barely turned his head to see who it was before Tsurugi passed him. The other Eves were following close behind him. Muttering curses, he did his best to close the growing gap between him. But he became tired quickly and leaned against a tree. “Damnit. I can’t believe I have to participate in this damn thing.”

“Are you okay, Shorty?” Misono looked up and saw Tetsu in front of him. He thought that he had passed him already so he was confused. They were competing against each other so why did Tetsu come back for him? He looked worried so Misono tried to hide how tired he was.

“I’m fine. I’m just catching my breath.” He told him. Tetsu didn’t leave after he said that and Misono tilted his head at him. Strangely, he knelt in front of him and patted his shoulders. “What are you doing?”

“Climb on. I’ll take you to the finish line.” Tetsu explained.

“Why do you want to help me when you could lose something important to you?” Misono asked him. Still, he climbed onto his shoulders. Tetsu caught his hands to keep him from falling as he stood. He tilted his head slightly to look up at Misono and make sure he was comfortable. Misono was looking down at him as well, trying to find Tetsu’s motivation in his blank expression.

“I want to help you. Big Brother Lawless didn’t steal anything from me. Hugh just told me to win. But he did take your mother’s picture. I’ll make Hugh proud and help you at the same time.” Tetsu said decisively and ran forward.

Kuro’s Obstacle

“It looks like I’m here first but where’s the first obstacle?” Mahiru stood in front of the red flag and looked around him. There was only a man made pond in front of him. Considering some of the Servamp’s boisterous personality, he thought that the obstacles would be outlandish and needlessly complicated. Then, his eyes fell onto Kuro sleeping beneath a tree. He gently shook him awake. “Get up, Kuro. Where’s the first obstacle?”

“What?” Kuro reluctantly woke up. He groaned when he saw Mahiru frowning at him and forced himself to his feet. He walked to the red flag and gestured to the deep and wide pond next to the flag. It was too wide to simply climb across. “This is your first obstacle: cross this pond. You can’t go around it.”

"That’s all? You didn’t put any thought into this!” Mahiru placed his hands on his hips. While he disliked being forced to participate in the obstacle course, he also didn’t like how Kuro halfhearted attitude about it. 

“What’s wrong with me obstacle? It’s simple. You like simple.”

“It’s lazy.” Mahiru countered and then turned away from him. “I don’t have time to lecture you right now. We’ll talk when we get home.”

Mahiru quickly summoned his broom. He was glad that he mastered his lead and its many forms. He didn’t like how unfair it was that he could fly but hedidn’t trust Hyde with his wristband. With his broom, he started to fly over the water. His body suddenly stiffened and he froze in the air. He thought that it was another of Mikuni’s tricks but it felt different.

“Sorry Kid, but you can’t go any further.” Mahiru’s body wouldn’t move even as he saw a torrent of water rush towards him. He was forced backwards to the other side of the river. He landed in the water near the shore. His paralysis disappeared and he was able to swim to the surface. Once he was on the shore again, he looked up to see Gil and Ray on the other side of the pond.

“What are you two doing here?” Mahiru stood.

“I asked Wrath if I could borrow her subclasses. They’re here to keep you guys from crossing the pond.” Kuro answered for them. He wanted to help Mahiru but that was against the rule. He also told Gil and Ray that they couldn’t hurt Mahiru. Anyways, he knew that Mahiru could evade their attacks. He did watch over him as he faced the two.

Mahiru flicked his wrist and changed his broom into a spear. With the two on the other side of the pond, it would be difficult to fight them. He knew that Ray would use his spell to trap him if he tried to get close enough to attack them. He raised his spear when Gil pointed at him and controlled the water to attack him. He twirled his spear in front of him and deflected his attack.

“Illumination!” Mahiru felt his body freeze again and he dropped Lead. When Gil would’ve attacked him again, someone pulled him away from the water’s path. The sudden movement broke the spell over Mahiru.

“Tsurugi?” He looked up at him. 

“How about we help each other like last time? I can’t swim across and you can’t fight those two at a distance.” Tsurugi suggested. Mahiru nodded and changed his back into a broom. 

Lily’s Obstacle

“What the hell is this?” Licht was taken aback by Lily’s obstacle. On the table in front of him was a chessboard. One of the Alicein’s servants was sitting across the table, waiting for him to play. “What kind of challenge is this? This is obviously skewed in Misono’s favour! I don’t even know how to play this game!”

“Well, you can’t go forward to the finish line until you beat me.” DoDo reminded him. He didn’t flinch when Licht glared at him He was used to Misono’s temperament so not much fazed him anymore. “Lily did say to teach you if you don’t know how to play.”

“Fine. I shall defeat you!” He couldn’t lose his lead when he knew the others were close behind him. Licht took a random piece, the knight, and knocked over the king. “Check mate.”

“... The knight doesn’t move that way.” DoDo corrected him.

“Damn these demons’ games!” Licht flipped the table in his frustration. He had fallen out of trees, gotten attacked by animals and he was covered in mud. Moreover, he was beyond irritated with their games but he was far from giving up.The finish line was just behind DoDo and he could see Hyde holding his precious teddy bear. 

He took a deep breath and collected himself. He righted the table and ordered, “Teach this angel how to play so he can quickly beat you.”

[dickbaggins]

oookay, trying this top 5 wips list again (my computer crashed last time and I had not saved a draft)! I was tagged by two fucking megababes @jazzforthecaptain and @samanddeaninpanties

1. Nanowrimo 2016 - ah the treasure hunters/monster hunters/egyptian excavation in the 1910/20s wincest(iel) au. I have completed my first read through and spelling edit and let’s just say this needs a lot of work. So much work that I’m really kind of down on it right now as being something that is really worth finishing. But there’s 50k of words there so that’s something, isn’t it? idk. I’m very on the fence about this guy. 

2. Heart Throb - yess contemporary teen j2 au! It is almost finished. It got less angsty the more I wrote of it but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, right? god I hope no one rails me for a happy ending. 

3. DeanCas Tropefest Big Bang Thing - old west au, check. That’s about as tropey as you can get, right? I’ve got like 10k done already and I’m really excited about completing my first bang aaaaaaaand the resulting art work of fucking course because I am greedy for that like you wouldn’t believe. I don’t think I’m supposed to talk much about the plot but it is also tropey. TROPES ARE FUN. 

4. That big boyking!au with Anna/Jess - will I ever finish you?? I haven’t even read it back to correct spelling or edit it or anything. It’s been a year. 

5. And lastly, this old old rock band j2m au - like oldold, like I wrote it in a feverish few weeks in summer 2013. 25k words. Probably 25k more to go with a sequel planned as well. I think about finishing it a lot but in light of other similar verses becoming popular (and the slow trickle of hate I still get from unfortunate entanglements) I’m not sure what to do with it now? I’m worried people will think I’m just copying ‘them’ or something or trying to leech off the popularity and adgl;kajg;ka idk what to do about this mammoth unfinished thing. Like there’s so much of it but you know other people are doing it better so likea;kljajkg;la sorry, I have a lot of issues with this fic rn.

I’m not tagging anyone because everyone else has already done this!!! if you haven’t, then consider this your invitation (and tag me)

[vldtropesfest-blog]

Fest Rules

Welcome to the first VLD Tropes Fest!

This is an all-inclusive, fandom wide fest that welcomes everyone to participate and is open to all pairings and content.

It’s recommended if you are participating that you follow vldtropesfest on Tumblr or Dreamwidth to keep up with important announcements, check-ins, and the actual posting of the submissions!

General Fest Rules

Schedule:

Sign Ups - September 25 - October 2

Assignments Sent Out - October 10/11

Check-In #1 - October 25

(Optional, this one is just to let the mods know if you still plan on participating (please do!!!) and if you’ve thought about what you’re going to work on for your submission yet.)

Check-In #2 - November 6

(Mandatory, if you miss this check in we will have to hound your inbox (please don’t make us do that) and if we can’t get a hold of you, we’ll have to drop you from the fest and we really don’t want to do that. In the event someone drops out or is dropped from the fest due to missing the mandatory check in we’ll put out a call for pinch hitters to sign up and complete a piece for that trope.)

Beta Sign Ups - November 7

Submissions Due - November 22

Posting Starts - November 25 and will continue until all entries are posted

Author/Artist Reveals - 1 week after the final work is posted

Requirements and Information

Open to ALL ships, characters, authors, content, and ratings!

1,500 word minimum for fics and art effort equivalent, no upper word limit.

Fic participants will be capped at 50 sign ups. Extra creators are more than welcome to sign up as pinch hitters. No cap for artist participants.

Sign ups to participate will be first come, first served. Proxy sign-ups are allowed! We will also accept placeholder sign-ups. Meaning that if you are on your mobile device or you’re in a hurry, you may comment on the sign-up post with “PLACEHOLDER for [YOURUSERNAME]”, however, you must edit/reply to your comment with your fully filled out sign-up form within 24 hours or we will not be able to accept it.

Signing up with a partner/collaborator is fine, but please only submit ONE sign up form filled in with information for both of you or all members of your collaboration team (ie: usernames, AO3 accounts, emails).

Sign ups will be accepted via email to vldtropesfest@gmail.com or on the sign up post on our DW community.

Works cannot be a WIP or part of a series, submissions must be a newly created stand alone work for the fest. Pieces submitted must be completed works. If you are submitting a chaptered fic, please be sure to upload all chapters when posting to the fest’s AO3 collection.

All fic submissions must be beta read. Please utilize the @vldbetareaders directory on tumblr to find a beta! The fest will also put out a call for beta signups closer to the submission date for those that need a beta. Mods reserve the right to correct any obvious spelling/typos/grammar mistakes in your submission without asking permission first.

Only Fic and Art submissions are eligible for tropes fest, we will not accept graphics/edits/playlists/moodboards/etc as a submission. We will only count traditional or digital art mediums for artists. If participants are creating traditional artwork, please scan or take a high-quality photo of your piece. CamScanner is an app on both iOS & Android that can help you with this!

NSFW is welcomed! NSFW content for this fest will only be accepted if you are over the age of 18. Attempting to submit NSFW content if you are under the age of 18 will result in a ban from this fest as well as any future fests hosted by the mods.

This fest is anon, which means that participant submissions will be posted to AO3 anonymously and creators will be revealed after all of the works have been posted. Please do not reveal your identity or share your submission with anyone except your alpha/beta readers so that you don’t give yourself away when your submission is posted! It’s part of the fun of an anon fest! We also ask that artists do not put their usual watermark on their art submissions until after the fest to keep your identity hidden, even those who have a very distinct art style. We can provide an anonymous watermark ("Anonymous Submission for @vldtropesfest") PNG file, or artists may use a watermark along the same lines until after reveals, where you are welcome to share your art as you normally would.

Extensions + Drop Outs

We understand how life gets. It’s ok to request an extension or to drop out from the fest. We hope if you do need to drop out that you’ll come back for the next round!

Extension requests will be granted on a case-by-case basis (email mods at vldtropesfest@gmail.com) — when making your request include your draft and a timeframe for how long you think you’ll need to complete it. If you think you’ll need an extension please let the mods know ASAP so that we can work out the posting schedule accordingly.

Please inform us ASAP if you need to drop out so we can find a pinch hitter for your trope assignment.

We reserve the right to drop participants at anytime if we believe they will not finish their submission; please do not string us along and be honest about your submission progress.

We reserve the right to remove participants from the fest if we think they are flaking.

Participants will be dropped if they do not check in at all and miss the mandatory second check-in.

Posting

All fic entries will be posted anonymously on AO3 to the fest collection. Art entries will be posted to Tumblr and Dreamwidth.

This is an anonymous fest. Don’t post your entry anywhere else on the internet for the duration of the fest until after reveals, after which you are free to share it wherever you’d like.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the process of posting to an AO3 collection for a fest please take a look at this post explaining how everything will work. This process means that authors are able to make changes to their fics after they've been submitted. Please reserve this for minor edits only. If you feel the need to edit/revise large sections of your fic, please contact the mods. We'll be putting a lot of effort into proofing and coordinating posting, and all of that can get jumbled if a participant decides to add a large chunk of words and a new ending to their fic without the mods' knowledge.

[fyeahsaiyuki]

Saiyuki Bang!

In honor of Saiyuki’s 20th birthday, we will be hosting a fanfiction big bang! If you’ve ever participated in one before, the rules will be very similar. Participants sign up to write a fanfic of at least 10k words, and then artists claim the fics and illustrate them. Stories get posted in full with their art once everyone is done.

This bang will be hosted on tumblr, because that’s easiest for the mods, but we will be cross posting to the livejournal community.

We will be requiring beta reading for this fic event, and we encourage authors to also sign up as betas! If you can’t write a fic or make art but still want to participate, beta reading would be a great way to do it. We aren’t going to screen quality, but we want to know that every fic got a second set of eyes before it got published.

We’ll also need pinch hitters for both artists and writers. A pinch hitter is someone who can fill in with a fic or piece of art in case someone drops out. There will be an option to sign up to pinch hit on the form.

All Rules under the cut. Also, view the full document here. We also have a page on our blog with the rules here. 

(Everything pertaining to the bang will be tagged “saiyukibang” if you want to track or blacklist it.)

Timeline

Today: Sign ups open. Artists can sign up HERE and writers can sign up HERE.

May 30: Beta & Writer sign ups close

May 30: First writer check in. Stories must be 7500 words long by now. Summaries are due

June 3: Beta Claims.

June 20: Artist sign ups close.

At this point we will make sure that the writer/artist ratio will let us keep the rules the same, or if we will need to change the plan.

June 20: Second writer check in. If your summary has changed, submit it again.

Drafts must be 10k words by now, preferably finished. They can be very rough but we want to know that you have a draft so that artists won’t be left with nothing to illustrate. This is the check in where you will send us a link to your story. If drafts aren’t done, you can still post your story as part of the bang, but you won’t be part of the art claims.

June 22: Summaries go live. This gives artists 24 hours to look at summaries before claiming fics.

June 24: Artists claims.

August 20: Final check in.

Artists AND authors need to check in and let us know how the work is going and if they’ll need to drop out. Authors should be polishing their drafts and artists should have at least their line work done. At this point we’ll ask for pinch hitters if anything has come up for participants.

August 25th: Posting Dates announced

September 1st: Posting begins

Writing Requirements

Writers must have some experience writing fic before

Fic must be 10k words in length

You must have it fully beta read by the deadline. This includes a check for spelling, grammar, plot holes, and general style/cohesiveness. Quality is subjective, but the fic should look like you put effort into it.

When you sign up, include a brief pitch for your story. This only needs to be 1-2 sentences, but it should show us that you have a plan. It should also include any warnings (like the ones you would apply to a fic on Archive of Our Own), pairing, and the rating of the fic.

Until a fic has been claimed for art, please keep your fic a secret! This keeps art claims fair for everyone and makes posting at the end all the more exciting.

Beta Requirements

Betas will help with 1-2 fics depending on their preference/time/the number of betas who sign up

Must be fluent in English

Should have experience either writing fic or editing it

Must be willing to point out plot holes, OOC moments, weird sentence structure, etc. While betas who function as cheerleaders are great, we want some proofreading to happen as well.

Authors and artists are encouraged to sign up as betas as well!

Artist Requirements

Artists will create one full illustration for the fic. Art should be stylistically comprehensive - fully colored or outlined and shaded. There’s no “right” way to do art, but it should look complete, even if it’s done in pencil.

Traditional art must be scanned, color corrected, and cropped to look neat and square. No phone pictures or lined paper.

Digital art should also be clean and finished looking as well. Keep the coloring clean and the visible pixels to a minimum.  

We also allow photomanips and fanvids. These follow similar guidelines - make them clean and pretty.

Artists can draw for up to 2 fics

Age Restrictions/Requirements

Sending pornography to a minor is illegal in the United States. Because of this, we have a mandatory section on the sign up sheet for your age. This is, of course, an honors system, so we also encourage writers to communicate and double check with their artists to ensure they are of age, and ask that artists please be honest with us and their writers. Content of the fic must comply with the rules and regulations of whatever site you post it on - in the case of Archive of Our Own, underage and rape/non-con is allowed, but it must be properly tagged and warned for. We want this to be a fun, safe experience for everyone, so please keep these rules in mind when you sign up and claim works.

Claims Process Overview

All claims will be done through public Google Spreadsheets.

Beta round: Writers will submit a short summary to us three days before claims. The summary should include the plot summary (of course) as well as any pairings, warnings, estimated length, and a title or working title we can use for the list.

Summaries will be posted to the blog under their titles for everyone to read.  

On the day of claims, Betas will pick the 1-2 stories they want and write their names next to them in the excel document. We will get in touch with betas privately to tell them who their author is after claims close.

Artist round: On the day of claims, Artists will pick the 1-2 stories they want and write them into a shared excel document. Stories will be able to be illustrated by up to two artists. We will get in touch with artists privately to tell them who their author is after claims close.

Artist round 2: If not all the stories get claimed by artists, we will have a second round. This is when writers can double up as artists. We will also accept claims from people who had not previously signed up as artists.

FAQ

How do I share for check ins? First check in is an honor system - we’ll have a google form for you to let us know. Second and third check ins will be through google docs. Send us a sharable link to your story/art so we can verify the word count.

What if I miss a deadline? If a writer misses draft deadlines, they are welcome to continue working, but they won’t be eligible for art claims. We will still post the fic and the end of the event. If an artist misses their check in, their fic will be given to a pinch hitter.

What kind of fic can I write? Pretty much anything--AU or canon-compliant, gen or X-rated kink fest, gensomaden or gaiden, we’re cool with it! Just be sure to tag carefully in your summaries.

Is anything off limits? For any graphic/questionable stuff, please be sure to warn about it. Better to spoil something than to trigger someone.

Can I co-write a fic? Go for it!

Can I write more than one fic? This time, we’re going to say no. We would rather you put together one really good fic. Also, this is our first bang and we don’t want to overwhelm ourselves keeping track of stuff either.

Can I submit a WIP? Not if anything about it has been posted online. We want the author claims to be anonymous, which means that you may not talk about the plot of your fic before claims, or post any of it online. However, you are welcome to use a draft that you haven’t posted yet.

Can I draw for more than one fic? Yes. Artists may sign up for up to two fics, and a third if they choose to be a pinch hitter.  

Can I sign up as an author and an artist? Writers can sign up as artists during the second round of art claims. Since we want as many people as possible to participate, we want to give the art only folks first priority.

Can I make more than one piece of art? Of course! Once your main piece is done, you can make as many additional illustrations/ banners/ icons etc as you want.

Posting

Stories should be posted on AO3 in our Bang Collection on their posting date. The entire story should be posted at once.

Art should be posted on Tumblr, Livejournal, or AO3 and be linked to in the fic.

Both can be cross posted to other platforms, but must be included in one of the above places.

On a fic’s posting date, you should submit a post to our blog. The submission should include the title of the fic, the author and artist’s names, the summary (including any warnings), and a link to the fic and the art. When it gets closer to posting, we will have a template up for you to use. This will create an archive on tumblr as well.

These rules may change a bit as we go. We’re still trying to decide the best way to do it.

Got more questions? Send us a message on our tumblr blog. If you don’t hear back within 48 hours, don’t be shy about messaging us again. We may be busy, or tumblr may have eaten the ask.